Sleep Walking?

I think maybe we just had our first experience with sleep walking... Andy and I were watching TV when all of sudden Sammy comes walking down the stairs. Keep in mind this was around 10:00 pm (she went to bed at 8) and we asked her what she was doing. She mumbled something about getting something... that's the most we got out of her. She then stumbled into the kitchen and Andy and I were a little confused as to what was going on as we heard the fridge open and shut. A few seconds later Sammy came back into the living room with her pj's down to her ankles (yes, that included the panties as well). We were a little shocked and said, "Sammy what are you doing?" She then mumbled, "I can't. I can't. I can't." She was doing the pee pee dance so I walked her toward the bathroom by the kitchen. She, again, walked to the fridge and then the drawer with the kid dishes. I had to take her by the shoulders and walk her into the bathroom! I don't know why the poor kid was so confused as to where the bathroom actually was, but there is one by her bedroom! Sleep walking? What do you think? At least she made it to the toilet in time and that she's not a confused boy. That would have been ugly... and nasty!

A New Nephew!

We have a new member of the family! Merridy brought Tanner William Anderson into the family yesterday at 7:04 pm weighing in at 7 pounds 15 ounces! He and mommy are happy, healthy, and doing just fine. Tanner makes number 47 for Andy and I! Can you believe we have that many nieces and nephews?! (And four of those kids are double cousins with our girls.) Congratulations Merridy and Chuck! We are glad everything went well.

Ringing in the New Year!

This year I sat around with family and friends on New Year's Eve playing games and visiting. We all joked around that we rang in the New Year with my mother-in-law telling a dirty joke... Well, it wasn't really a joke. She told us about something she saw on a late night show with Adam Sandler and breastfeeding. It was funny, but a little bit crude. It was just so funny that it came from my mother-in-law's mouth. She is the most proper person and never thought in a million years would she say something like that!

Just for kicks I would like to find out how you rang in the New Year! Either this year or one from the past. I think it's fun to reflect on how we rang in the New Year!

(WARNING: This is not for the weak stomach)

Last year Andy and I took a trip to Idaho Falls for New Year's Eve. During our visit we went to Brumfield's and Moss' cabin. We hadn't seen it yet and were looking forward to the tour and sledding with our nieces and nephews. Katlyn was just barely 6 months old and Lisa was kind enough to watch her along with Ashley so that Andy and I could go sledding together with the kids. The nieces and nephews had pushed snow up against the gate/fence at the bottom of this hill so that they could stop themselves without getting hurt. They also had created two different paths to go down. The one on the left was a little more bumpy than the one on the right. I chose to go down that one first with Sammy with a dinky sled, might I add. Sammy wasn't very impressed with me and wanted to go down with Andy. So I thought I would try and be the "cool" Aunt and go down on my stomach... with a much faster sled! Alexis and Hayden, my niece and nephew, told me to go down on the left but of course I didn't. On my way down Jayda, another niece, was right in my path and I yelled for her to move. She jumped out of the way as a swerved just enough to miss the mound of snow. I crashed head first into the wooden fence!!! As I knelt in the snow holding my head in my hands all the kids along with Andy at the top of the hill cried out, "Ally, are you okay?" Then Jayda so bravely said, "Uh, Aunt Ally... you're bleeding really bad." I felt the warm blood running down my face, then saw it streaking the snow and knew I needed Andy's help. We walked into the cabin and had my sister-in-law, Emily, take a look at it. (She's a nurse) For a moment she didn't think I would need to get stitches, but then pulled slightly on my ear... She very calmly said, "Nope, you need to go."

We left our kids with Lisa and drove back into Idaho Falls to our brother-in-law's Community Care. His staff was kind enough to stay late on the one day of the year they have off early just to help us out. The whole time Troy was stitching up my ear he kept saying, "Ah, Ally... frick... dang, girl!" I told him to knock it off because he was making me nervous. His reply was, "Well, you should be! Your ear is hanging here!" He said he had to reattach my upper lobe because it was sliced clean through. Troy also told us it was the second worst ear injury he had ever seen. The first was out of his hands at Community Care and that he needed to go to the ER.

We made a stop at the local grocery store complete with dried blood on the coat and neck, messy hair, a bandaged ear, and dried tears on my face. Brigetta also decided that she needed to talk to me so of course I told her what happened... Bad idea, since she had just had Porter a few days earlier and was still emotional. She started crying on the phone and my mom got nervous and asked her what was wrong. Brigetta said, "Ally's ear got ripped off!" I had to quickly correct her and assure her that I was fine.

We got back to Doug and Lisa's house with just enough time to take a hot bath before everyone else arrived. Everyone gathered around me to check out Troy's handy work. Sweet little Ally said, "Aunt Ally after you left we made a new rule... no going down head first. And we put snow along the whoooole fence." I'm sure I traumatized more than one kid that day. Ally still reminds me of it every time I see her and poor Sammy refuses to go sledding... still! And I get the occasional scolding from her on how I don't go down on my stomach head first. (Little does she know I still do.)

So with a Tetanus shot (ouch!) and fourteen stitches later I rang in the New Year 2008 doped up on drugs for the pain. Troy kept saying, "I want to watch Ally play charades!" My ear was so bandaged I was nicknamed Van Gogh... Left ear has stuck, but there's another part to that one. I picked the perfect day to get stitches! We had Katlyn earlier that year so we met our deductible and max amount out of pocket already! We only had to pay $10 of our $2,000 bill. Wahoo!

(This was after it started looking a little better... not as much yucky oozing and blood.)
Since then it has healed remarkably! There is hardly a scar! In Troy's words, "That is some dang good stitching!"

It is, however, in the most perfect spot. In the crease of my ear when the only time you can see it is if my hair is pulled back... almost never!

I'm so grateful that Troy was there to stitch up my ear especially knowing that he holds the priesthood. I knew I was in good hands and felt safe... even though it was very painful and such a scary situation. Thanks Troy!

Celebrate!

We've been away out of town, but now we're home and ready to tell you all about our trip. We were gone for 10 days and a lot happened so I'll show you some of the highlights of our vacation.

Christmas Holiday at Nate and Emily Koenig's house!... the before...

Finding our stockings filled with yummy breakfast, toys, and goodies. I'm not sure how awake Ashley was...

Opening presents with family... (Notice the apron? For all you BYU fans, it says, "I eat red meat on and off the field"

...During...

Of course the aftermath is impressive! The garbage man decided to skip Seven Iron Court for 2 weeks so all of this sat either at the end of the driveway in 3 giant garbage cans or in the garage!The tents were big hits! Sammy and Ashley both received one and they each match the sheets on their beds. What a lucky coincident that was!The Barbie doll house was the question of the morning! "Who is that for?" Andy is such a dedicated daddy... he stayed up late to put on all the ridiculously tiny stickers!But it seemed to be totally worth it!The inflatable chairs were also a big hit... unfortunately all three popped within a few days. Hopefully I will be able to exchange them.Yes, that is a night mask Sammy is wearing. It came in the tent package... and she actually uses it. Funny girl!Another thing we did, well the girls at least, was glitter toes!Emily has a friend that came to her house and we all got our toes done!The poor girl is pregnant and sat on that floor for a couple hours pampering us... but she made big bucks, too!Ashley had asked so sweetly if she could have sparkles on her toes, too. I couldn't say no to her puppy dog eyes. She was so happy to get them done that it was totally worth it.(Lexi and Jayda's friends left before the picture was taken, but these are the toes of the family girls! They turned out way cute!)Of course the cheerleading outfits were funny...Because Utah beat BYU! (This is a picture of Ashley watching the Utah vs. Alabama game)And to top it off... the ride in the car. (This was actually taken on the way to Grandma and Grandpa Wyne's house, but it was pretty cute.) The girls were amazingly great in the car on the way home. It was such a blessing! We ended up coming home a day early and Andy said, "Okay, we're not telling anyone that we're home so we can sluff church. Right?" I made him go anyway and it turned out to be a very good thing we came home early. Poor Melissa would have been left alone to conduct, float, and do sharing time in primary (1st Sunday of the year) if I hadn't come today.

Retaliation!

After the last U of U vs. BYU football game Andy called our beloved family BYU fans and had the girls chant, "Go Utah! Go Utah! Go Utah!" It was a bit of salt in the wounds for some... Nate and Emily in particular! So for Christmas (since we were at their house) there was some major retaliations!!! These were the first gifts opened!

They did look pretty dang cute, though! And for all of you that saw our Halloween pictures... or if you're a BSU fan... I thought you would like this little segment. I think they might be a little undecided on their team as of right now.