January Quotes

Sydney's cute antlers project

The writing says:  "If I woke up with antlers I would . . .

Sydney:  craiy and cut them off.

Drinking sparking cider on New Year's Eve, Sydney said,  "This drink makes my tongue frizzle-y."

I loved Hayden's New Year's resolutions

"My new year's resolutions is to finish the book of Mormon.  Next is to be more friendly to my sister Sydney.  I will use nicer words and not tease her.  Also help her with her homework.  Last of all to read a book to her evry night."
By Hayden Gariety

I was in another room, and overheard Bennett having this conversation with himself:

Bennett:  Hey Mom?  Can I play with you phone?

Bennett:   Well, no.

Bennett:  Why not?

Bennett:  Because it's not good.

(Can you tell we've had the exact conversation enough times that he's committed it to memory?  Although, my exact words are "It's not good for you.")

Sydney:  Mom? Why are we having another boy?

Me:  I don't know, honey, I don't get to choose what we have.  Heavenly Father chooses.

Sydney:  (tears filling her eyes) Well, that makes me feel like Heavenly Father loves boys more than girls!

So we had a little conversation about how Heavenly Father loves us the same, and some families get more girls and some families get more boys but it all evens out in the end.  She really wishes she was getting a little sister.

Bennett (in church):  We don't play with you phone in church.  Right, Mama?

Me:  RIGHT!  (I have told him that every single Sunday for the last year, and finally it sunk in!)

Later, not on a Sunday, Bennett:  We don't play with you phone in church.  BUT we can play with it at home! (handing me the phone to turn on the password. Oh boy.)

Hayden:  Mom!  I'm like totally rockin' on my cub scout stuff!

Me:  Bennett, do you need a diaper change?

Bennett:  Uh, no.  No I don't.

(He says it just like Lightning McQueen in his conversation with Sally when she asks him if "big city race cars ever just take a drive."  I'm telling you, this kid is already a natural at throwing movie quotes into daily conversation.  He was destined to come to our family!)

Me:  Bennett, there is a baby growing in my tummy right now!  He's gonna come out in the summer and you will have a new little brother.

Bennett:  There's a baby in you tummy?

Me:  Yes, there's a baby in my tummy.

Bennett:  Well get him out!  I want to see him!

Me:  He's not finished growing yet.  He has to grow for awhile in my tummy.  He will come out later.

Bennett:  But I want to see him!  I want him to play cars with me!

While watching Pride and Predjudice one night, Dallin observed that the title credits said the film was rated PG for some mild theatrical elements.  He said, "They should have just said the real reason it's PG is because it's too boring for kids."

Sydney (picking up this book off my nightstand): Hey, this looks like our piece of junk house, right Mom?

Clearly, I need to be more careful about how I speak about our home.  To be fair, I don't know if I've called our house a piece of junk.  But I've called a lot of stuff in our house a piece of junk.  This little comment just made me realize I need to speak with more gratitude about our home and the things that fill it.  

January Snippets

1. Arthur took the four oldest skiing up at Durango before they winter break ended.  They drove up to Farmington on a Thursday night and skied Friday.  The weather was great and they all had a glorious time!

2. One of my resolutions this year to declutter and organize our house.  I have been purging, purging, PURGING our belongings in preparation for adding another person to our home!  Since that person is a boy, I have been getting rid of all our girls clothes/shoes/accessories that no longer fit Sydney.  It was a little shocking to me how difficult that was.  I cried quite a lot as I packed up the darling shoes, the frills and ruffles, florals and sparkles.   

I've been getting rid of excess wherever I can, not only all the little girl clothes.  But trust me, no tears were shed as I got rid of these thrashed little boy pants:

Boy clothes are way easier to give up than girl clothes.

In January, I filled our trunk with donations several times and it felt GREAT!!  (And no, I didn't donate Bennett. He just wanted to be in the picture. ;0))

3. Journals and Juice

With our church meetings beginning at 1 pm this year, we have more time in the morning for this fun tradition.  It's not a weekly occurrence, but we squeeze it in when we can.  Daphne added cookies to our journals and juice, and truth be told, it's the only way to get the boys to participate.  Me and my girls enjoy journaling much more than the guys in our family.

4.  Just want to remember this cute little incident.  One day, I packed the kids lunches for them instead of making them do it themselves, as per our usual routine.  And on a whim, I quickly wrote a note on a paper towel for each of them.  I was taken back when both Sydney and Hayden came home and thanked me for the note in their lunches, and Sydney even saved hers and brought it back home for me.  Just made me realize I should try to let them know I love them in creative ways more often.  Their appreciation surprised me.

5.  January 28-30th.  Dallin and Daphne both made it into All-State Choir this year.  They took a bus down to Las Cruces along with over 20 of their choir peers from Eisenhower Middle School, and rehearsed Thursday and Friday.  Arthur and I and the four youngest drove down Friday night to be there for their performances on Saturday morning.  Daphne and these cute friends sang in the Elementary Choir which included 6th graders.  And Dallin sang in the Middle School choir which was grades 7-9.  They both had a great experience working with wonderful conductors and other kids who love music.  It was fun to hear how much they'd accomplished in those few days of rehearsal.

6.  We celebrated Arthur's birthday on Sunday, the 31st, (a few days late because of All-State Choir conflicts.)  Well, funnily enough, Bennett's birthday had been recorded wrong in the church records and the nursery had him on their list of birthday kids for that week.  He came home with a birthday crown and was thoroughly confused that the birthday cake was for Daddy and not him.  He kept insisting that it was his birthday, and he needed to blow out the candles.  So Arthur shared his birthday candles with Bennett, since, after all, it's really confusing to celebrate Dad's birthday when you think it's yours. 

House projects

Awhile ago Daphne mentioned that her room was making her depressed.  I looked around at the walls with things hung up all helter-skelter, mismatching blankets on the bed, and a big hole in the ceiling where we have had a perpetual leak since we moved in, and I also felt depressed.  Most of our house kind of looks like that--so far from the Pinterest version of our home that is in my brain.  

So I decided, it's time to start improving where we can.  This isn't our dream house.  We probably won't ever live in our dream house, but we can care for and beautify what we have so we don't feel depressed when we look at our house.

So I immediately got online and ordered some bedding and drapes.  They were a little different than I thought they would be, but they are cheery and they coordinate, so we're keeping them.

Next, I decided to do something I'd been meaning to for a long, long time, and that was painting the dressers white.  That project took way longer than I anticipated, (and as it turns out, Arthur and I have different opinions about painting wood furniture, so I only did one) but I think it is a big improvement!  I painted it white and put new knobs on it, and I LOVE it!  (I may just have to sneakily do the other one when Arthur is out of town so they match.)

Also, Arthur and I FINALLY finished this shelf I started last year.  I got stuck on the moulding that goes up near the top and Arthur had to help me reconstruct my shelf so it would fit properly.  Again, a project that took WAY longer than it should, but I love how it turned out, and it makes me excited to build more stuff with Arthur!

So here is our improvement for January:

After we finished, there were several days when Sydney would randomly say, "I'm just gonna go up and look at my room, Mom."  So much better!  And now my girls aren't feeling depressed when they look at their room.

Hayden's Baptism

January 2, 2016

Hayden's Baptism Day

Even though Hayden turned 8 in November, he had to wait all the way til January to get baptized because of when his birthday falls (last day of November) and the holidays.  He got baptized on the first Stake Baptism day after his birthday, but it just felt like a while.  He was so excited!  

There is always a beautiful spirit at baptisms, and when it's a baptism for one of your children, it's even more special.  Arthur baptized  and confirmed him, and Hayden asked me to give the talk on the Holy Ghost.  He also wanted our family to sing "The Miracle" and specifically wanted to be a part of it.  So after the baptism ordinance, we waited for him to get dressed and then he sang the first solo in that song.  It was really gratifying to play the piano and hear my family sing the chorus in 4 part harmony, Arthur on Bass, Dallin on Tenor, Sean on Alto and Daphne and Hayden on Soprano.  

We are so very grateful for all the friends who came to support him in his decision to be baptized.  Living so far from family really makes us appreciate friends who are like family to us.  

December quotes

Me:  (hearing some loud thumps and scuffling in Hayden's room) Whatchya up to, Hayden?

Hayden:  Oh just some light saber jedi training.

Bennett:  We don't eat spiders, right, Mama?

Me:  No, we don't eat spiders.

Bennett:  Yeah, that's yucky!  We eat waffles!  Yeah, that's a good idea.

(We've had that same conversation a bunch of times, and he always talks about eating waffles or macaroni instead of spiders.  I'm not sure what made him think of this in the first place, but he likes to have this conversation.)

Sydney:  Wait, why are you breaking that? (taking down the Christmas tree)

Dallin:  Cause Dad told me to put it away.

Sydney:  Why?  Is it time for Halloween or something?

Hayden:  No, it's time for the count down to New Years.

(Sadly, we don't really have any exciting decorations for awhile, which is probably what Sydney is mostly concerned with.)

Me: (Crying about something or another.)

Daphne:  Mom, are you okay?

Me:  Yeah, I'm fine.

Sydney:  I don't know what happened.  One minute she was smiling and the next minute she was crying!

(story of this pregnancy, let me tell you!)

Sydney: Something smells delicious!  I love that smell!

Me:  Tilex? I think you are smelling Tilex.

Sydney:  Well I love it!

Sydney:  Mom!  Bennett broke your green broom thing!

Me:  The swiffer?  Bennett, did you break my swiffer?

Bennett:  Yep.  I broke it really good.

Later ...  Sydney:  Mom!  Sean fixed your swiffer!  He's "Fix it Felix!"

Sydney came in from raking leaves in the backyard and showed me red hands.  She said, "I have to be done now.  Hayden was born in November so he's used to the cold, but I was born in the summer so I am used to the hot."

Bennett:  (holding up his sippy cup to clink with my cup) Cheers, Mama!

Bennett:  (sitting on the hearth) This is so very cozy!

Bennett:  Uh. Huh! (he responds with Uh-huh, but puts such a big space between the two syllables that it sounds like two sentences.)

Me or Arthur or anybody really:  Hey, how's your diaper?  Do you need a diaper change?

Bennett:  Nope. Still good.

(even if its clearly NOT still good.)

Christmas at Stonehaven

Dec. 21-27

Stonehaven, Northstar, CA

After a very fast whirlwind of a week unpacking from Germany, Christmas shopping, laundry, packing everyone's clothes and ski gear and Christmas presents, we began our drive out to CA for Christmas at Stonehaven with ALL the Stones.  It was crowded and loud and super fun to be together.  

We had fun making snow forts, homemade ornaments, gingerbread houses, skiing, sledding, games, movies, etc.  All the normal stuff that makes for great times.  The snow was great this year which always makes things more fun!

Christmas Eve some of us got hit by a stomach bug.  Julianne's family got it the worst, but I was also up most of the night throwing up.  As a result I missed Santa coming! (I was throwing up) and except for opening presents, I missed most of Christmas day as well!  So sad. :(  But I think it was a great day for everyone who wasn't sick.

We shared the news with our family that our baby in June would be another BOY!  So it's the boys for a solid 5-2 win in the Gariety family.  Everyone was excited except Sydney.  She's working through it, don't worry.

The next day, we packed up and drove down to Modesto so we could be there for Nathan's farewell talk in church before he left for his mission in Vanuatu!  We were happy to be there for that and to say good-bye to him for two years.