He Asked.....

She said Yes!!!

Mark proposed to Jana on Christmas Eve! We are so excited! Woohoo!

Baking Day!

My sisters and I had our first ever "Christmas Baking Day". We made tons of yummy treats all in the space of a few hours. We made a pretty big mess in Krista's kitchen, but had a fun time doing it. We learned a lot that we will apply next year, including not doubling all the recipes, Krista has the best kitchen/supplies, and no husbands allowed! Here are a few pics of our fun: McKay assisting Lisa and Krista.

Jana and me working hard.

The Fuehrer girls.

Jana and Lisa "acting" candid!

The finished product- way too many treats but oh so yummy!

"guy nurse"

The other day someone asked me what Brian does.

me: "he's a nurse."

her: "oh. really? you know i know a guy who is a guy nurse. he's totally not what you would expect a guy nurse to be. he's a hunter and just a gruff guy. you would never guess he was a nurse."

me: "hmmm. how 'bout that." as if a masculine man would never be a nurse.

Brian and I always think it's funny how some people just don't know how to react to him being a nurse. Some people act so uncomfortable about it and almost feel stupid and don't know what to say when they find out. It's as if they are embarrassed for us for him being in a field typically occupied by women. But we know that male nurses really aren't that uncommon. It is pretty typical for the male nurses to outnumber the female nurses on Brian's floor.

Some people expect all male nurses to be feminine. They are so surprised to find out that's what he does, because for those of you who know Brian, he is not feminine in the least bit. In fact, sometimes I wish he were more feminine. It would be great if he liked shopping and talking as much as I do! But honestly, how many people have actually met that stereotypical male nurse? I never have. Anyway, we get these reactions all the time, and we just smile because we know they have no idea how many male nurses there really are. Even if it wasn't just a stepping stone for him to get where he wants to be and he stayed an RN forever I would and will never be embarrassed. My baby's a nurse- I'll say it loud and proud!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

We braved the freezing cold temperatures and went up to see the lights. McKay wasn't too interested in the lights- it was the horse and carriage rides that caught his attention. We saw one on our way in and that's all he wanted to see from there on out. It was a very cold night but we had fun. There's something about going to downtown Salt Lake during the holiday season- it just feels like Christmas time.

This is the best picture we got- McKay is not interested in posing of any sort.

Elle stayed toasty warm all bundled up in her carseat the whole time. Didn't even make a peep-gotta love the newborn stage!

Mmmm...Trouble

My sweet dad dropped off the hugest box of Sees chocolates I've ever seen a couple days ago. A 3 pound box- do they make them any bigger!?! While I absolutely love having this giant box of candy all to ourselves, Brian and I just keep eating them. Not helping with the baby belly I'm still hanging on to. But I love it! And I'm not opposed to taking a bite and putting it back in the box- it's driving Brian crazy. But what a nice little dad I have...

An inspiring tale...

Well, I made this blog a few weeks ago and I just didn't know how to start it. But thanks to my little McKay, I received inspiration. What better way to kick off our blog than with a pumpkin seed up a two year old's nose?

McKay was eating "tiger food", aka organic trail mix, on the floor as I was feeding Ellery. He was growling and babbling, as tigers often do, while eating his food. I wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying but a few words would stick in my head. "That nut....up my nose...I put it up there...my nose....in my nose..." He was totally calm and still maintaining his tiger persona. As I saw him keep touching his nose I finally put it all together. "McKay, did you stick a nut up your nose?" He casually agreed. Was he just going along with me or did he really do it? I couldn't tell. I grabbed our otoscope and took a look inside and sure enough I saw the tip of a green pumpkin seed stuffed sky high in his left nostril. Great. We headed off to the doctors office to remove the offending seed. When we arrived at the after hours clinic McKay turned into Mr. Pumpkin Seed Personality. He proudly announced to the receptionist that he had "put a pumpkin eater" up his nose. He was running around the waiting room like it was Disneyland. He was thrilled when the nurse called us back to the exam room and couldn't wait to meet the doctor. Well...as you can imagine, extracting a pumpkin seed, or anything for that matter, from your nose is no picnic. By the end he was telling the doctor to go away, had screamed so hard that he popped several blood vessels around his eyes and was worn out from the struggle. Poor kid. The seed was crammed so high up there that the doctor thought he pushed it back into McKay's throat, hopefully causing him to swallow the little bugger. But we don't know for sure since McKay is only two and couldn't tell us. Now I'm supposed to give him nasal spray twice a day and watch for signs of a lingering seed. Ahh the woes of being a tiger.