Another year over.....

so 2010 is coming to a close. i have mixed feelings about this year, it's been a good one, we got a squishy, beautiful baby, but i feel it's been an emotional year as well. i think you always feel that way after having a baby, it's such a HUGE recovery and adjustment. emotionally, mentally and especially for me, physically---but enough about all that, maybe sometime i will find another extra 15 minutes and blog more details but for now, let's focus on the events of 2010 in the gatherum family...here are some of the highlights {for me}

*this is the first year that our house and yard really came together, we have been working NON-STOP for FIVE long years on it and i felt that it was really awesome this year--JUST in time to put it on the market---maybe we are just crazy-who knows!

*we had our 20 week ultrasound and found out that our 4th baby was healthy, thriving and growing right on track, we also decided we weren't going to find out the sex--the funny thing is, the ultrasound tech told us that the baby was being VERY generous-so we totally could have found out, for some reason, her saying that made neal and i think we were having a boy...it just added that much more to our EXTREME surprise in july!

*we commemorated the 4th anniversary of nathaniel's death and the 5th of my moms...funny how i can now put these days on the lists of "highlights" from the year-it's taken many, many years of healing and grief to be able to list these days as anything but sad, so that to me is major progress, thus making it a highlight of my year!

*we switched the kids rooms around in anticipation for #4, painted, redecorated and made them all really cute.

*we started in the hellish i mean exciting CRAZY world of competitive soccer--holy cow, i NEVER knew something could be SO time consuming. jury is still out as to whether we are going to continue with that for the time being or hold off a few years---i am STILL recovering and it starts up again in less than THREE months---the kids did great though and they improved and learned a lot!

*boe turned SIX!

*neal and i celebrated NINE years of being married! holy cow-time FLIES by, in another 9 years, gage will be SEVENTEEN!

*neal got a sweet promotion at work--i am so proud of him!

*we got the BIGGEST surprise of our lives, when on july 15th, we had a baby GIRL! i kept asking my doctor if it was really a girl and he asked me if i knew the difference between boys and girls!

*ryder turned TWO!

*neal turned 34-OLD MAN-with the GRAY hair to prove it!

*we blessed lucy

*we went to bryce canyon for a week and lake powell for another

*kaylee got MARRIED--my littlest sissie is now a married woman, it was THE most beautiful day ever!

*neal got himself neutered-i KNOW this is TMI but most of the three peeps that still read this blog are family or very close friends and they already know and they know that neal and i have a very inappropriate sense of humor...so sorry if you are a random reader and this offends you---it is AWESOME to know that we are done--LOVE having babies and LOVE my kiddos but SO happy to move onto the next chapter of our lives.

*gage turned EIGHT!

*gage was baptized!

*we celebrated lucy's first halloween {she was the CUTEST lil pumpkin you ever did see along with a perfect harry potter, a "NICE" lion and a rad hip hoppin' michael jackson}, first thanksgiving and first christmas. she pretty much slept through it all!

*i turned 33!!! the jury is still out on how i feel about that one!

and here we are on the last day of the old year. there is something about this time of year that gets me sentimental. reflecting back on events and happenings. evaluating situations and thinking about how i could have done things differently or better. all in all, i feel this was a year of self exploration, of many, many realizations and reflection. i have made many goals for the new year. sure i have the old stand-by of "getting back into shape" i have discovered that no matter how thin {or not} that i am, i ALWAYS have this goal, so it doesn't really count. i want to focus on the inside this year (although, i feel that i need to be honest and give full disclosure for a moment--i am planning on getting a rockin' bod back AND getting breast augmentation {read: boob job} this year, so i am not going to pretend to be completely... um, pure? ;) continuing on, i really want to focus on being a better person, being more patient and kind and empathetic and less judgemental. everyone has a story and sometimes finding out those stories can change perspective and opinions. speaking of opinions, i am going to try to be less opinionated too---i know this one is a STRETCH, but i'm gonna try. i said T.R.Y! i have realized that while i am trying i can always TRY harder, so i am going to. i think my number one goal for 2011 is going to be to try to live in the moment. i have a hard time with this. i have a tendency to look ahead and always plan for the next big thing, i am going to try to enjoy the little moments of life that make it real and that truly matter. i am going to try to live everyday so that if something were to happen tomorrow, i WOUlDN'T have a regret from yesterday. i hope that each one of you has a happy new year, that you look back and reflect on another year over, and a new one just begun!

Christmas 2010

we had a great christmas this year. i was so excited--i put my tree up the second week of november---i NEVER do that but i have LOVED having it up for the last two months. (i am however, VERY ready for it to come down--that's my project for tomorrow) my kids were off track the entire month of december, so i felt like we spent three weeks celebrating before the actual holiday and then another two weeks after. it's been so fun. we have gone to classic skating, mcdonalds, the zoo (it was SO warm at the first of the month) the dinosaur museum, to several movies, sledding and ice fishing . those are JUST the activities we have done together, not to mention all the fun things the kids have done with my dad and kim. gage told me that this has been the BEST off track EVER---i am confident that will change come march when they go off track again, because we are going to DISNEY LAND!!! but i digress, back to christmas. my kids lists this year were super simple and short, they got everything on them and then some. the best thing about it all is the older two are kind of getting out of the "toy" phase and are totally into the "electronic" phase, electronics are SMALL and don't take up any extra room in my already overly crowded house so that is great for me!

we spent christmas eve at my dad's per tradition. we ordered chinese food and it was DELISH. my dad and kim gave my kids the micheal jackson experience for the wii---let me stop here and tell you that my kids (espesh gage is OBSESSED with MJ) they have wanted this game for forever, i adamantly told them that i would NOT waste $50 bucks such a dumb game---so, (Thanks Heather!!) my parents gave it to them and they opened it on christmas eve. they were ESTACTIC!!! i have to say, it is SO fun---i totally felt like the best dancer ever, and well, suffice it to say, i'm not! we also opened christmas jammies while we were there. we came home and retold the christmas story, put cookies and diet coke (funny thing that santa has kinda been in a diet coke phase lately, INSTEAD of diet pepsi!) out for santa, carrots for the reindeer and put the kiddos to bed. i have been done christmas shopping since the end of november and have been wrapping steadily since then, so we didn't have too much to do as far as putting the gifts out.

christmas morning the kids slept till 7:30!!! awesome for neal and i. they were so cute and loved everything they got. ryder is so funny. for the past two months, he has had a VERY consistent christmas list that HAS not deviated. when you ask him what he wants for christmas, he says "a firetruck, a backpack and a sleeping bag-that's all!!!!" sometimes socks (??) and elmo jammies would make an appearance on the list but the other three things DID. NOT. CHANGE. so, ryder got JUST what he wanted and he was super content. he carries his backpack with him EVERY.WHERE. he is so funny.

we went to my dad's christmas morning for brunch, more gifts and a little wii competition---that afternoon we went to neal's parents for {more} gifts, lunch and visiting. it was such a wonderful day. i am so grateful for the spirit of christmas and the way it changes the world every winter. if someone could figure out how to bottle it up and sell it the world would be a much better place. merry christmas!

CHRISTMAS EVE:

CHRISTMAS DAY:

THE DECK{ED} HALLS...

just a few pics of the merrimas and cheer that is decking our halls....

lucy at {five} months

i can only say that i wish pregnancy would go by as quickly as time does after birth. i can't believe my baby is FIVE months old! she is such a sweet, sweet baby. i can't imagine not having her in our family. we LOVE to hold her, probably a bit too much, but i am just enjoying this last stretch of babyhood in my life and i am sure i will not regret one minute that i spent holding her. here is a glimpse of lucy at five months:
*she is mobile! not crawling but she definitely gets from point A to point B by a combination of army crawling and rolling
*she LOVES to eat--she is still SO tiny but she eats A LOT. she does NOT however, like rice cereal, so she is still just on formula
*she is such a SMILER...she LOVES to smile and her entire face LIGHTS up when she does
*she LOVES her brothers, well, maybe she doesn't love when they hold her, but she loves attention from them
*she has full-on DEEP belly laughs-they are SO cute and we all make major fools of ourselves to hear them
*she sleeps 7-10 hours a night--YAY!!!
*she is happy and content, especially if she knows her mom or dad is in the room with her
*she loves to hold things and is starting to play with her little toys
*she sits up and can go from sitting up to laying flat
*she is already DRAMATIC!!! she can turn on the waterworks like NOTHING i have seen! so funny---{well, it's funny and cute now, don't know how i will feel about it when she is 5}
*still loving her bumbo chair {thanks cousin jack jack} but has figured out how to arch herself out of it-so we have to watch her carefully in it
every time i look at this little angel, i see my mom--i don't think she looks like her per say, i just think she brought a small piece of her grandma kimmie down with her from heaven. i love having a baby in our house. her little personality is really starting to show and we are just loving our little lulu.

The Giving Tree

last year i took my kids to the festival of trees. i was overwhelmed-oh the stories that accompany each of these beautiful trees! i called my dad as soon as i got in my car and told him that i wanted to do a tree (next year which is THIS year--follow that?!) in honor of either my mom or nathaniel. he of course agreed. we began planning our tree right then and there! the first week in january, we went to the after christmas sales and bought most of the ornaments and the tree. we decided to do one for my mom first, we wanted to capture her--she loved beautiful things, her house was always amazing, especially around the holidays-we wanted to capture "that" in her tree. all i can say is, we tried! all year we would add a bit to our display and we would talk and plan---FINALLY october rolled around and we had the decorators workshop-me, my dad and kim went to it and i was SO.EXCITED! i apologize to those of you who heard me talk about it NON-STOP but it was ALL i could focus on for those last two months---we decided to name our tree {the giving tree}. my dad wrote a beautiful tribute about my mom that we included with the tree. he is SO good at words, i won't butcher it by trying to restate it verbatim, but pretty much he said that just as she was always giving to others, we wanted to give back in her honor. the {gifts} around our tree were filled with coats, hats and gloves for children, the {stockings} were hygiene kits for children along with some fun christmas toys and candy. we asked that whoever bought our tree, continue the {giving} by passing these things along to others who could use them. not only that, but by buying our {giving} tree, they were giving back and donating a lot of money to primary children's hospital. when decorating day FINALLY arrived, i was SO excited--me, my dad and kim all got to the expo at 7 AM (that my friends is a RECORD for me to be out and about--i am NOT a morning person!) and we finished up around 2 that afternoon. i was SO happy with it-it was BEAUTIFUL (if i do say so myself ;) i just HOPED that it would sell at auction! the next night, we got to go to bid night, me, neal, my dad and kim and kaylee and mikeal all met there. our tree had SOLD!!!! we were so happy! we spent the next couple of hours browsing the other beautiful and AMAZING trees and reading the heart-wrenching stories that went along with them. i was at first filled with sadness and even despair. there was SO much loss,sadness and suffering in that one room. but then my sadness turned to hope and i remembered the whole point of the christmas season. i felt peace and comfort and i felt the TRUE christmas spirit stronger then i have in a very long time. i really needed that---i needed to get outside of myself and look around me. yes, our circumstances are sad and less then desirable. no, i would never in a million years want to go through this and lose two members of my family, BUT, why NOT us? why should we be spared the sadness and trials of this life? i know that i have learned SO much from what we have been through. i have gone through the grieving process and have come out okay, it is now my turn to take what i have learned and try to help others who are sad and lonely and who are in need of my empathy, love and support. it can ALWAYS be worse. that is the beauty of events like the festival of trees. perspective is gained, lives are changed and hope is given. we are already planning our tree for next year.

Gage's Baptism

i woke up very emotional-i just couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that my oldest boy was EIGHT! *the above photos were taken by my uber talented friend janelle-she is awesome
after the baptism we came back to our house for lunch. we did it OUTSIDE in our backyard-on the SIXTH of november-amazing! this weather can stick around as long as it wants to! we had so many family and friends there to support gage. it was such a great day. neal did an amazing job and i felt the spirit so strongly--it reaffirmed to me that this is what it is all about, this is why we are here on earth. it was awesome to think that gage had taken his first step to returning to Heavenly Father. the only regret i have is i didnt gt a pic of gage in his suit on his actual baptism day. oh well. a soon as we pulled into the garage he was up in his room changing inyo comfortable clothes--boy takes after his mom--i took off my high heeled boots in exchange for flip flops as soon as i could!

Carving Pumpkins

i forgot to include these pics with my halloween post but wanted to post them because they are so dang cute!