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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Best Days of 2014

Keeping with the tradition I've done the last few years, I want to go over the Top 10 days from 2014!

#10 - January 19, the day I got my Durango. Jake listed his Chevy on KSL and it sold in a few hours and we got exactly what we wanted for it. We bought my Durango the next day from a guy in Lehi and I absolutely love it. It's been an awesome car and it works great with Kaycee's car seat.

#9 - August 27, the day our wood floor was finished. We started it in July if I remember right but it was finished at the end of August and oh my word was I happy when it was all finished! I absolutely love having it and don't miss the carpet at all!

#8 - March 30, the night Kaycee slept 12 hours straight for the first time. Sleep is incredibly important to me and that was the part of parenthood I was the most worried about and it turns out Kaycee is a fabulous sleeper! I got to go back to a regular night's sleep almost immediately!

#7 - September 6, the day BYU beat Texas. Yep, this is going in my top 10 days. BYU didn't have the best season but that was a dang good day. BYU pummeled them 41-7. Good job Cougars!

#6 - December 25, the day of Kaycee's first Christmas. I absolutely love Christmas and getting to experience it as a parent was amazing. Add on top of that the wonderful gifts I got and time I got to spend with my family, especially my dad, made it a fabulous and definitely top 10 worthy day.

#5 - April 4, the day that Kaycee was blessed. I had dreamt about that day a lot and had always wanted my husband to be able to bless our kids. Jake worked so hard and was worthy to bless Kaycee and I'm so proud of him for that. It was an amazing day!

#4 - February 25, the first time I heard Kaycee laugh. If you'd have told me before I had kids how magical the sound of your child's laughter is I would have said you belong in a Disney movie. It's so true though - the sound of Kaycee laughing can fix just about any problem I am having. I absolutely love to hear her laugh!

#3 - February 3, the day Jake went to day shift. Seriously, this was a FABULOUS day! I have LOVED Jake being on day shift and cannot even remember how the heck we ever saw each other when he was on graveyard. I am so grateful the opportunity for him to go to day shift came when it did - the timing could not have been better!

#2 - January 13, the day Kaycee came home from the hospital. I loved our hospital - Orem Community is fabulous and I totally recommend them but getting to leave with our healthy little baby girl and come home and introduce her to Max was the 2nd best day of my year. I remember I could not stop crying that morning when the pediatrician told us she was going to get to come home. We weren't going to have to go home without her - our little girl got to come home with us. I can only think of 1 day better then that day...

#1 - January 10, the day Kaycee was born. With her birthday coming, I've been finishing her baby book and going through pictures for her birthday video and I can't help but feel nostalgic. I think as mom's that's supposed to happen when your baby turns 1, right? I am so overwhelmed at the emotions I felt that day and how strong they still are. I hope to never ever feel that sense of fear and helplessness again as she nearly died after delivery. I cannot wait to feel that overwhelming sense of love when we have little siblings for Kaycee someday. I had no idea I could love someone so much that I had never seen before. I had read that sometimes it's hard to attach to your baby because you are used to them being inside and next to you and having them outside of you can be an adjustment. That was NOT my case. Yes, sometimes it felt weird to not feel her kicking but I loved seeing her and holding her and kissing her and snuggling her. I had no idea motherhood could be so amazing. I'd heard it was hard and emotionally exhausting and all that negative stuff but I wasn't prepared for the benefits and all the perks! Hands down, the best day of 2014 was the day I met my mini.

2014 was the best year ever. I am not necessarily where I wanted to be with my health goals, but all of that aside, it was still the best year. Having Kaycee in my life and seeing her relationship with me grow and seeing Jake with her has made this year so different. I can't believe it's only been a year and at the same time I can't believe it's already been a year. I'll make a super sappy post about all that next week when she turns 1 {WHAT?! How is my baby already 1?!}

Happy New Years, may 2015 be the best year EVER!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was absolutely amazing. Jake woke up at 8 and couldn't sleep anymore so he woke me up. I had finally fallen asleep so I was a little tired still until I realized it was Christmas morning and then I was ready to get up! Kaycee wasn't awake yet so we went out to put the finishing touches on breakfast and saw that Santa had brought snow!! 


Jake always turns on the Netflix fireplace. Over our real fireplace. Gotta love our dumb ventless fireplace!  
Jake made the bacon and the sausage while my dad and I set the table and then we excitedly heard movement on the monitor and hurried into Kaycee's room to wish her Merry Christmas! I don't think she was really awake but she caught on to our excitement pretty quick. We had our yummy breakfast casserole {seriously, it was fabulous and the whole house smelled so good when we woke up! I'll be doing that again!!} with bacon, sausage, orange juice and hot chocolate and then we piled all the dishes in the sink and opened gifts!! 

Kayc and daddy on Christmas morning
Kayc with grandpa
My dad's pile
My pile
Kaycee's gargantuan pile - someone was a VERY good girl! 
Jake's pile
Santa even remembered Max!
We recorded all of Christmas morning on my laptop so we didn't take pictures as we went. Except it didn't record. Womp womp. Totally sucks!! Next year we'll have to test it out first! 
All our loot before the mess commenced! 
My dad got a pillow case from Kaycee, BYU checkers and BYU duct tape, candy and cash along with all the fun traditional stocking hygiene stuff. Jake got a bluetooth sound bar for the TV, a bag for his quadcopter, props for his quadcopter, new garments, a penny keychain from Kaycee, a rice bag for his neck that I made, a new camo blanket I made, basketball shorts and fun toys in his stocking. Kaycee got a TON of books, bubbles, coloring book, temple blocks, a mirror, hair bows, clothes, a Leap Frog dog named Violet that knows Kaycee's name and sings, picture books of her family and of temples and a toy remote for the TV.  I got new boots, a new purse, the new Taylor Swift CD and a pair of GORGEOUS real diamond pink earrings that Jake custom designed. I LOVE them!! We were very spoiled this year!

Kaycee wasn't super into opening gifts and as soon as we were done she went back down for a nap. We attempted to clean up the mess in the living room and organize our gifts a little bit and then relaxed. We set up the bluetooth and then watched the rest of A Christmas Story and then as soon as Kaycee was up from her nap we went over to my mom's. As soon as we got there, everyone wanted to open gifts. Fine by me!!







Because of the 3 activities we do as a family, Jake and I don't get gifts from my parents but Kaycee sure does! She got SOOO many toys including another baby and a great wide base stroller that she can walk behind, super cute clothes and lots of books from my mom and my sisters. Seriously, you can DEFINITELY tell she's the only grandbaby/niece - she got SO spoiled! After we were done with Kaycee's gifts, we did our sibling gift exchange. Blake had Jake and got him a new hoodie that Jake had wanted, and he had no idea. It was a great surprise! 


Jake had Jeannene and got her a necklace that says "Here I am, send me" with a bike. She's getting ready to turn in her mission paper so it was totally fitting for her. 
She loved it so much she cried. Score! 
Jeannene had Blake and got him a Chic Fil A gift card. Since we'd completed that circle, I gave my gift to Brynne - a necklace that says "Mrs. Wise. It takes a big heart to teach little minds." She cried. Score!! 
Brynne had Popper and made her a HUGE Eeyore blanket! She loved it! Popper had me and got me an awesome autographed book that's supposed to be similar to Hunger Games - can't wait to read it!! 
We gave our gift to Poppa - a sign like Jake's grandma's that says "The best grandpa's get promoted to great grandpa's" and did our gift exchange with my dad. I got a TON of books including the BYU cookbook!! I'm SOOO excited about all the awesome books I got for Christmas!

Then it was time for my mom and Rick's gifts. We got Rick a little Christmas tree with gift cards on it for places he loves like Home Depot, Wal Mart, Chevron and O'Reilly. He loved it! Then it was time for mom - our favorite person to give gifts to. She always has the best reactions!

Kaycee's hand print
Kaycee got her a necklace that says "Grammy" and "Kaycee & Keaton" with their birthstones. Keaton is my step brothers son but we don't see him very often. 
We got her the Joseph Smith statue she wanted! 
And we got her the big Christus statue she wanted! She cried on all 4 gifts - mega score!! 
After gifts we played games and then had dinner. I love playing games with my family - we always have so much fun. We played this charades game where the first round you can say or do anything, the second round you can only use actions and no words and then the third round you can only say 1 word. It was SOOO funny. My dad and I were on the same wave length - he'd look frustrated not sure how to act one out on round 2 and I would guess it right off the bat. We were all laughing so hard!! Dinner was fabulous with all the traditional Christmas fixings.


Kaycee playing with her new baby and stroller 

Kaycee, me and my grandpa
Kaycee was being such a goof during dinner - she was being silly and making everyone laugh and then she'd realize they were laughing at her so she'd be even sillier.  
After dinner we booked it back to our house so Jake's parents could come see what Kaycee got for Christmas. Jake's parents and grandma came over and saw our gifts and then we got Kaycee in bed and called it a night pretty early. We were all exhausted from our super fun but long day!
I have always loved Christmas. I love seeing people's faces when they open a gift I worked hard to think of for them and it is 10x better with kids. Seeing Kaycee light up when she plays with her toys we got her makes me so happy. I am so grateful we are in a financial situation where we are able to buy gifts for each other and for others. We were also able to do a few secret Santa things for people in our community and at Jake's work and that was amazing. I love being able to serve others and bring joy to other people, especially at this time of year. Definitely my favorite Christmas ever!

Christmas Adam & Christmas Eve

Christmas Adam {Christmas Eve Eve} we did our family service project and then went to show my grandpa Brynne's cute classroom! 

Poppa sat in the back seat of the Durango so he could talk to Kaycee. They talked the whole time - she loved looking at him! 
Brynne had a genius idea to push him around on her teacher rolly chair and my mom pushed him some too - in her stiletto's! 
Then it was time for our family Christmas party with my dad's side of the family! It was so fun getting to see 3 of my 4 uncles together and spend time with them. My Wright side doesn't get together too often so it's great when we do! We've been doing it a lot more recently and I love it! 

I sure have a hot hubby don't I?
Playing the white elephant game - there was a LOT of us! 
Everybody! Sure love my family {and yes, I love Delaney and Troy's families too!}
After we were finished at the Wright party we came back home and brought my dad and Brynne and Blake with us. We all went to sleep and then woke up and went over to my mom's for breakfast as soon as Kaycee woke up. Jake had to work until 1:00 so he wasn't able to go with us. We had breakfast and did the second part of our service project and then came home and did Turbo while Kaycee took her nap! 

The 5 of us did Cardio Party together and then Brynne, Popper and I did HIIT 20 too! The family that Turbo's together stays together! 
After we finished our work, everybody went back to my parents house to hang out for the day. I stayed home and showered and got ready for the day while Kaycee finished her nap and then we opened our Christmas pajamas and our new Christmas book. *Jake and I got pajamas too, I just didn't take pictures of that apparently.*






Then it was time to go to Walmart! Jake and I have a tradition since our first year we were married that we go to Walmart right before they close on Christmas Eve and buy things for the other's stocking while we hide from each other since Santa doesn't bring gifts for parents stockings. It's always crazy stressful because we only have 15 minutes, we have a strict stocking budget, there is tons of people, things are missing or low stock throughout the whole store and we are hiding from the other person the whole time because they can't see what is in their stocking! It was super fun this year, just like always. I saw Jake like 4 times but never saw anything in his cart! He only saw me twice and fortunately he didn't see any of the stuff in my cart either! 

After triple bagging everything at Walmart and hiding it in the car, it was time to go to Jake's parents house for gifts and Christmas Eve dinner! We had a fabulous dinner with all the traditional Christmas foods and then opened gifts! We got Jake's dad a screwdriver and an ice cream scooper {he asks for the most practical gifts!} and got his mom a print with all the grandkids names and birthdays on it. We got his brothers framed prints too. Kenzie and Emrie got necklaces, Hunter got lego's and Adalynn got an outfit. We found a cute sign for Grandma that says "The best grandma's get promoted to great grandma's." 

*Side note: Sorry some of the pictures are so blurry - not sure what was wrong with my camera and it's a crazy mad dash to open gifts so there usually isn't tons of pictures taken. 


Kaycee got a baby doll! 


Our box of cash to help with our sink! I love how they wrapped it!! 
Kaycee got a pink camo 4 wheeler!! She loves having us push her around on it, she just needs to learn to sit square on her bum! 

Kaycee got some cute shoes, books, her 4 wheeler, a baby doll and a teddy bear. We got Sorry {one of my very favorite games growing up!} and cash!

When we were finished with Jake's family, we came home and put our little princess to bed. While we got her ready for bed my dad read "The Night Before Christmas" to us. My parents have been divorced for 13 or 14 years now and it's been that long since he had anyone to read that story to. It was fun for me to hear him read it again and he did such a great job of showing Kaycee the pictures.





After we finished reading "The Night Before Christmas" I read the Christmas story from Luke 2. I could feel myself getting choked up while reading but wasn't sure why and then when we said family prayer and I was asked to say it I totally started crying. I've worked REALLY hard this Christmas to incorporate more Christ and less Santa and regardless of if it affected Jake and Kaycee was too little to know, it affected me. I felt so much more this year and was really able to focus on the amazing story behind Christ's birth. Being a mom helps too I'm sure - it makes everything that Mary went through completely different when you've given birth. 

After we put Kaycee down to sleep I made breakfast for the next morning and put it in the crockpot and put out the milk, homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer and we watched part of A Christmas Story on TBS.  My dad had never seen it and was laughing super hard at all of the jokes. 


We started getting tired so we decided to go to bed around 11:30.  I felt like a little kid again - I had the hardest time falling asleep that night but I did finally get some sleep. It was an awesome Christmas Adam & Eve!