Christmas 2010

Thanks Amanda and Family!

We love our presents!

Church Christmas Party 2010

As you can see from the pictures, the petting zoo was a big hit!

Dear Sadie,

Dear Sadie,

This is you and your Grandmama. We didn't get to see her very much on our trip to Utah because superstars just don't have very much extra time. But it's alright because she says she'll come and visit us soon. I wish I knew how to rotate this picture and make it stick, but oh well.

Last night, you shared your cookie with me. You were eating a snicker doodle and you decided I should have some, so you put it in my mouth.

Also, today at church, you were watching the chorister and I saw the wheels turning in your brain. Then you tried your best to lead music.

You are pulling up on everything now. You finally started drinking formula, once we mixed it with cream and strawberry Quik. (Don't judge me. My baby was wasting away.)

On Set...

During Christmas break, the Bryant Slade family made a trip to Utah to be in the new T.C. Christiansen movie, "Seventeen Miracles" with Grandmama. It was being filmed near Ogden at Snow Basin. As you can see from the pictures, it was quite an adventure for them. I forgot my camera, but Bryant was able to snap these with my phone and send them to my blog that way.

Needless to say, it was very cold. None of the snow in the pictures is fake. On the first day, it was so cold that Skyler and Sibley were done after lunch. They had had enough. Then, the next day of filming, they called and asked Skyler, Bryant, and Grandmama to come back because they didn't need any children for those scenes. They had figured out how to keep their feet warmer by then - feet warmers wrapped in several layers of socks wrapped in plastic bags wrapped in shoes. And the crew set up a warming tent, which helped out a lot. Also, the second day they filmed, they got to work with wolves, which was very exciting.

If any of you are interested in seeing more pictures, there are more, and better quality ones, on my facebook profile page under "profile pictures."

Sibley was so cold that she didn't even have to act like she was crying in the funeral scene. She really was crying because she was so miserable!

In this scene, the wolves were digging up a grave, which was really just some buried raw meat.

Skyler played a 15 year old girl. The first day she was a corpse in the snow. She said it was very difficult to stay still for 30 seconds at a time, especially when she was shivering from the cold. She said they would say, "Camera rolling...hold your breath...and action." Then she'd hear the buzz of the cameras. Then they would say, "Breathe." They'd give them five seconds to breathe and then start the process all over again.

The make up people painted the actors' faces to look like they all had hypothermia sores. The movie is based on stories of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies, so many of those poor pioneers really were hypothermic. It was tough enough for my little family to be exposed to the elements for just half of one day, so I can't imagine how difficult it was for the real pioneers.

Also, the actors' teeth were painted yellow. Grandmama, who has the most freakishly white teeth on the planet, loved that! She was threatening to sue if the yellow stuff didn't come off. Thank goodness it came off easily. Too bad I can't say the same for the grease they put in the girls' hair. That took several washings to come out, including some with Dawn dishwashing detergent!

Here's another one of the wolves. They had to leave a female wolf at base camp, and Bryant said she howled for the others to come back all day. He said it was the most eerie sound. The trainer warned the actors that if one of the wolves came near them to act very big and dominant to thwart an attack. Sure enough, one of them went into the tent and sniffed Bryant and Skyler, so he yelled at it and it went back out. The trainer also told Grandmama not to run away from them, because that just entices them to attack you.

The best snowman ever! We built this at Josh and Melissa's house in Sugarhouse. They had the best time. Sadie and I just watched out the window. Me hate snow.

Bryant napping with Jonah Bear after a hard day's work playing horsey.

Melissa set this cute table for us and Skyler snapped a picture with my phone. Thanks for hosting us, Josh Slade family! And Jacob Enslen family, thanks for being our would-be-hosts, if only your basement hadn't flooded!

Melissa getting Christmas dinner ready...yum! Thanks for everything!

Things I want to remember that happened this week with Sadie:

December 16 - Your first night in a hotel. You were mad because your sisters were sleeping and you wanted them to wake up and play with you. It was a miserable night.

December 17 - You stood up all by yourself for a few seconds at Josh and Melissa's house. You were playing with Sophia and you had pulled yourself up on a little stepping stool. Once you realized you were standing up, you panicked and fell down.

I had to wean you this week because of my diabetes medicine. You seem to be fine with it, even taking it better than I am.

Sibley's Christmas Concert

The third grade did a great job with the Christmas Concert this year. The songs were really cute and one of them was so sweet. We saw a teacher cry when she heard it. So, cock your head to the side and enjoy!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

As of this week...

Sadie is crawling, clapping, and waving.

My Early Christmas Present - Diabetes

Yep, it's back. And this time for good. Man, why did I have to find out just before Christmas? I'll miss you, Red Velvet Cake. I guess now I don't have a choice. I'll have to start taking better care of myself. I must say, this one really threw me for a loop. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. All weekend long...devastated.

Friendship

Last week I got the strength to look at pictures of Jaxon. This one's my favorite. This is Jaxon and his mom, Joy. She's beautiful on the inside and out. Ours is a friendship forged in trauma and sadness. I think that is the strongest kind. I love you, Joy. Your faith and courage inspire me. Even though you're younger than I am, when I grow up I want to be just like you.

Skyler's Christmas Concert

Thanks again for a great concert, Skyler! We're so proud of you!

[I'm not sure if it shows up on the video, but it even snowed on stage at the Christmas concert this year during "Winter Wonderland."]

Dear Sadie,

We figured out why you have been fussier than normal and not sleeping as well. Your daddy found two bottom teeth on Sunday during church. They were already out. I guess you had actually been pretty well behaved for a teething baby. That's a whole different category. [We weren't expecting you to get teeth yet because your sisters didn't get teeth until they were 10 months old.]

Yesterday, when you were sitting up and playing in the bathtub, you clapped your hands together.

This week you have been crawling a few steps at a time. Look out world! Here you come! Me and Daddy need to get busy childproofing.

P.S. Here she is ready for gameday. Thanks for the jersey, Grandmama!

Look! No more braces!!!

A Tale of a Dear, Sweet Sister

Since Sadie was born, I have been diagnosed with postpartum thyroiditis. This was a relief because my joints hurt so badly that I made the doctor do a lupus test, which was of course negative. After that I just chalked the pain and sleepiness up to having a baby in my mid-thirties and being heavier. Then they did some thyroid testing and sent me to an endocrinologist, who said my thyroid has started the process of burning itself out, and that I need to do more tests, etc., but can't until I'm done breastfeeding.



At any rate, the last day Jenny was here, my joints were giving me fits. We ran some errands and I had to just go ahead and stop in at a CVS to get some Advil. I bought a little travel pack of 4 pills. Not knowing they were in two separate packs of 2, I accidentally threw 2 of them away in the nasty trash can outside of CVS. I got in the car and realized that I had tossed 2 of them. My joints hurt something awful, so I had planned on taking all 4 at once.



Not to worry...Jenny Sue to the rescue. My dear, sweet, clean freak sister dug in that filthy trash can and brought out my other packet of 2 pills. (In her kindness and determination to help me, I saw my mother.) It may seem like a small thing to you, but I know it was quite the sacrifice for her! And then she sat down in the front seat of the car and proceeded to rub Purrell all over herself. So here's to Jenny, my hero that day.



And here's to my other dear, sweet sister who really wants to stuff my childrens' stockings on Christmas. And here's to my dear, sweet mother who offered to be Santa Claus this year. And here's to my dear, sweet father who pays my husband to type his old microfilmed journals. And here's to my dear, sweet brother and his wife who were exceedingly generous to me on my birthday. And here's to my dear, sweet other brother and his wife who showed their love for me and for humanity by donating money, time, and talent to the Payne family. And here's to my other brother who, despite having Asperger's, unabashedly tells me he loves me and misses me, both of which I know to be true.

So here's to the spirit of the traditional Christmas Enslen Family Love Circle, which lives on everyday in thought and deed. Money and things are good, but love and family are better. I am indeed grateful for my goodly family and countless other blessings this Thanksgiving.

"For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." (Isaiah 44:3)

Dear Sadie,

You're almost eight months old, and here are some things you are doing:
You try to pull my glasses off everyday.
You know my name and you call out for me when I am walking away from you. You also know who your daddy is and you say "da-da" when you see him. You think he is the funnest person in the world. I guess your sisters and I do too.
You are rocking all the time these days, priming yourself for crawling. Sometimes you get to rockin' so fast, I just have to laugh at you.
You will no longer sleep in your own bed. You much prefer sleeping with me and daddy.
Your favorite things to do are play with Sibley or watch Skyler practice the flute.
You waved at me a couple of times this week.
You still won't eat vegetables.
You still won't nurse during the daytime.
You've started dancing and it is very cute and funny.
I've been sick for two weeks and you think I blow my nose just for your amusement.
I went to the doctor on Thursday and you tore the paper off the seat and ripped it to shreds. You tried to eat that paper and the copay receipt. And you threw Cheerios all over the room. You tore the exam room up in no time flat.
You're a light sleeper and you still won't cuddle.
You knead everything with your strong hands and fingernails, so you and I both stay scratched up all the time.

Nevermind. She LOVES grits!

Sadie's tricks...

The Kosher Cat

I found a couple of these delicious-looking lower halves of mice out back today. Hey, at least she's kosher.

Gritfast

Bryant has been typing my father's handwritten journals from the 70's. I'm very glad my father kept a journal. I've learned so much about my childhood from them that I otherwise never would have known. For example, when I was two years old I loved grits so much that I called breakfast "gritfast." And I have kept the tradition of "gritfast" with my girls...until now, that is. Skyler and Sibley both loved grits from the time they could eat solid food. I fed it to them in their high chairs. It really is a good baby food. And they still beg me to make them grits. And they always talk about how Grandaddy and Papa make good grits. Anyway, I made some grits one morning while Jenny was here, and Sadie wouldn't eat them. She spit them back out and turned up her nose. I took it kind of personal. I thought, we live so far away from my homeland and this is one of the few Southern things I can enjoy with my children out here, and this child doesn't even like 'em. So, I've decided that Sadie will probably make up for disliking grits by being extra Southern in other ways...like maybe she will play the banjo, or live in a dogtrot house, or make homemade scuppernong jelly. After all, I'm steeped in Southern-ness and I don't care for collard greens. I think everything will turn out okay.

Jenny Sue, we miss YOU!

Thank you Troy for letting us borrow your wife, and Isaac, Elsa, and Lucas for letting us borrow your Mama. We know you missed her so much, but we sure had a good time with her. We can't wait to see her, and the rest of you for that matter, again! And thanks to everyone who helped out the Stubbs while Jenny was gone.

Casa Grande National Monument

On Saturday, the six of us literally piled into the car and took a short drive to Casa Grande National Monument. It is the remnants of an old Hohokam Indian Village, probably built around 1200 or 1300 A.D. It was fun to think about how when they were building castles in Europe, they were building villages like these here in America. The Casa Grande was on a busy trading route, as evidenced in the archaeological findings there, like sea shells and other things that are indigenous to areas far away. It was a fun, beautiful day and we couldn't have had better company. We enjoyed the sights and hope you do too.

It looks like John Enslen was here!

Bryant was looking at one wall of the Casa Grande ruins and he suddenly said, "Look! Your dad's been here." We all looked, and sure enough there was J.E.E., just like daddy writes it. Of course, my daddy is an avid history lover and would never dream of carving his initials into a national monument. But it was a funny coincidence, and Bryant took a picture so that we could show him.

Bush Highway Pictures

We managed to squeeze in a quick Sunday drive before church. I drove us along the Bush Highway. Here's a picture.