Christmas 2012

The long awaited Christmas morning was finally here! Each year I get older, I do a smidgen better at getting a good nights sleep. Although Christmas morning isn't quite as magical as it was when I was a child, there is something ingrained in my head that makes it impossible to not wake up at least 5 times Christmas Eve night. But, I am progressing each year!

I was so excited to get the kids up and out of bed to see what amazing things Santa had blessed us with. However, it didn't go quite as planned.

They were both whining and uncooperative at the top of the stairs, neither of them wanted to go down! I was so bummed, I almost wanted to bah-humbug it and go back to bed. But I knew once they saw their stockings and presents the tears would have to go away.

We had a great Christmas, Santa was so good to Stew and Lily and knew just what to get :) Stew got his very own ukulele, Jake and the Neverland Pirate toys, and some yummy treats. Lily got a Belle doll, lots of Disney princess toys, magnets, and a scooter.

We gave Grandma & Grandpa Stewart and Grandma & Grandpa Heslop personalized videos of the kids sending a Christmas message and just being kids at the park. It was so fun to see how much they appreciated the love and time that went into their gift.

Children make Christmas so magical and I am so bless to have the most beautiful kids to spend every single day with, especially Christmas Day!

Christmas EVE 2012

With just a little bit of thought, I think that it is safe to say that Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the whole year! It is so magical. Everyone is in such high spirits, it is easier to think about and celebrate the Savior, and of course, DONUTS are consumed in ridiculous amounts! But it is totally justified because it is Christmas Eve and it happens once a year, right?!

I am so in love with that sweet husband of mine! So blessed to have him to celebrate these precious moments in life with. And especially this time of year I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending Christ to this earth to make it possible for me to live with my beautiful family for eternity. 

And my adorable mother...she is the kindest, most self-less person I know! I am still trying so hard to be like her. She is always thinking of others and she is always the one who makes Christmas Eve so special and scrumptious! Love you Mom.

 

Now this is where the "magic" of Christmas Eve happens! Thinking of the donuts makes my stomach churn because I have very little self control in this area, but it is always soo worth it. This year however, it was impossible to eat more than 4 - 5 donuts (normally I can throw down 7-10 like that!). The grease factor was slightly ridiculous. With each bite of donut, a splash of grease would ooze from the donut, they were soaked! After much investigating, Mom figured it was because she had to substitute margarine for butter.

- Lesson learned: never make homemade donuts with margarine -

But despite only being about to eat half the normal amount of donuts, it was still a successful and memorable Christmas Eve. And thanks to Cort and Leanna for forever now hosting Stewart Christmas Eve gathering!

I know there are minimal pictures, and they aren't that great. But I was busy enjoying the moment. And isn't that what it is really about?! Sometimes I put to much stress and pressure on myself to capture moments but than I end up missing them, so I'm just working with what I got :)

Hawaii...

a much needed vacation! Although we worked about half of the time doing Live Love Spa events and meeting with spa directors, it was so much fun to spend time with Paul. December was out of control busy and it was great to relax, work, and play with my sweet husband.

Surprisingly, me and some of the Live Love girls got Paul to wake up at 5:30 a.m. one morning to go on a snorkeling adventure. It was early, but so worth it! We rode that giant raft-boat over the another island, Lanai, and stopped at three different spots to snorkel. Paul had never been snorkeling so it was fun to experience that with him. The round trip took almost all day but the views and fish were amazing. We even saw a whale jumping as whale season had just barely begun. 

Stopping alongside the road to one of our meetings to enjoy the gorgeous view.

One of our meetings took us to the Grand Wailea. It was outrageously gorgeous there. We had a short visit the the spa director there, and after selling two blend bars (of which I am insisting I get commission on because I rubbed the feet of the two assistants there who were raving about us and our blend bar) she gave us a spa day as a gift to celebrate our seven year wedding anniversary! We started out splitting up and enjoying the bath treatments that are famous to that location. There are all different kinds of baths using beautifully colored salts, each representing an island of Hawaii. Then we met back up and had a couples massage. It was the perfect way to help us unwind from the whirlwind of the last couple months we have had.

We kind of decided to celebrate our anniversary over a few days. That is always my favorite way to celebrate anyway and since we were in Hawaii, why not?! The next day we were meeting with Four Seasons and in their Hotel we had heard of a great restaurant called Amasia. We splurged a little but it was sooo worth it. The food was probably the best I have ever had! We got a sampler item from the menu that came with about 8 - 10 different small portion dishes. Then it came with this huge coconut cream dessert. It was so a-maz-ing! It is one of those things I will be craving for YEARS to come.

I was excited to come home to my sweet kids knowing they had been parentless and passed around all week. As I was changing Stew that night, I got a little surprise! It completely freaked me out at first cause I just say this giant black mark up his leg. But soon realized Cort had left me a sweet marking, with permanent marker of course.

Oh, and HAPPY SEVEN YEARS to my SWEET HUSBAND! 
Salt of the Earth's take on our Hawaiian adventure found here. 

Keeping Afloat

Life is out of control right now. In my head, that is a huge understatement. Today Paul left for Florida. He will do a Blend Bar training for Salts, then fly straight to Arizona, do another training, then fly straight to California, do yet another training and have some meetings, then fly home next Friday, only to leave again on Sunday for Hawaii (at least I will be joining him on that venture!) Craziness!! There is so much to do at Salts. It is a huge blessing that things are kinda exploding there, just makes for some over-worked, exhausted people. My mind is fried with trying to remember and do all of the things I need to. Paul has put me in charge of training videos at Salts, which I am trying to teach myself from scratch. That in and of itself makes my brain want to explode. But then I am trying to help out with the everyday stuff and am spending the majority of my day at the warehouse or running errands.

My poor children, I feel like I am dragging them all over the place. Half the time, Stew's naps are in his car seat to and from who knows where. Or when he is super sad at work, I go for a drive until he falls asleep, head back to Salts, and he naps in the parking lot while I finish working. Sad to admit, but Lily is over-working the iPad. Noodle soup is becoming a staple item, and I can't even think about the last time I really cleaned the house. (Putting this all in a list is not as therapeutic as I was hoping it would be...it could go on, but I'll stop)

I just feel so stretched and thin right now. Like I have all of these things I am trying to do: be a good wife, mother, nurturer, employee, build an artistic bone... But I am not excelling, or even doing well, at any of them. I am sinking...slowly. When I think about going to Hawaii, or even Christmas, I am not even excited. Which is CRAZY! But I am too stressed out and exhausted, to have room for the excitement either of those deserve. So until life settles down, or I figure out some way to pull it together and handle every thing, I am just trying to keep afloat.

Halloween: part 3

With all the excitement and anticipation for Halloween, the night finally came! Lily has been loving her costume and was ecstatic to put her pretty dress and hair back on. And she was a trooping for wearing her hair all night - that thing was heavy for such a little head to support it! Speaking of her tangled hair, that wig took hours to make, it was full of two giant rolls of yarn which were each hand-cut and sewn into place. But I wanted my little girl to have a good costume this year, so it was worth the time to see how happy she was to have real tangled hair. 

Pascal on the other hand, was quickly and sloppily sewn together as fast as I could do it. It is a miracle that it actually fit him because I barely measured or pinned anything. But he was the most adorable little green chameleon. And every day he wore that costume, he kept his hat on the whole time too! My kids are amazing...

After a stop by the Brown's for some delicious BBQ and the best canned salsa I have ever had, we made our trek around the neighborhood. We figured we would just stop by a handful of houses, but Lily and Stew were loving it so much that by the time we were heading home, the streets were pretty bare! My little ones are already milkin' it out to the end.

Last year we went around with the cousins and we had to keep telling Lily what to do and to keep up with the other kids. But this year, she caught on so quick. She was literally running from door to door not wanting to miss out on a single piece of candy. I'm so proud of my little trick-or-treater.

While we were out, we ran into the Torres family. Little Jack was Flynn Rider...how cute that it ended up being Rapunzel and Flynn walkin' around together. They were adorable!

At home Stew and Lily each got to pick out one treat to enjoy for the night's hard work. Now we all get to enjoy the "treat bag" for weeks to come!

Halloween: part 2

I love this time of year because it is full of PARTIES! It is crazy and hectic and busy, but it is so fun to create these memories with friends and family. Grandma Stewart's Halloween party is always a blast for the kids. She always has creative crafts and fun treats for them to make and take home. And I love that she dresses up right along with them every year. All these little ones have the greatest Grandma in the world!

I love this time to mingle and laugh with my brothers. I think that I have the greatest brothers ever and I always enjoy when I get to hang out with them. They have the quirkiest quirks, and I think that is makes people. And little Stew Stew was looking up at me with those precious eyes most of the night. He was holding as tight as he could. Sometimes it is hard to have a mama's boy, but sometimes it is fun :)

Halloween: part 1

Grandma Heslop's annual Halloween party is my favorite Heslop tradition. It is always a blast and helps kick off the Halloween holiday. This year the theme was the 50's...or the 60's, I'm not sure if that was ever clarified, but, all the same. However, our costumes were to be of our favorite characters. So after much begging on my part to do a whole family costume theme, (I have been trying to get Paul to be one board with that since we were married!) we were the cast of Tangled. Lily was Rapunzel with gorgeous braided hair down past her toes, Stewart was her side-kick, Pascal, Paul was Flynn Rider, or as Lily kept saying all night, "Eugene!?" and I was the flattering floating light. My costume only lasted about 4 minutes, just enough time for pictures. But the other three were so adorable and that is what really mattered. 

Danny was Peter Pan, very fitting since he always seems to look like Peter Pan. Holland was the Nintendo character Kirby, which went well with her adorable 2nd trimester tummy. Grandma and Grandpa were dressed in the 50's. They got into the true spirit of their character's as they danced and boogied all night. Jessica, little Hazel, and Jeff were so creative! They were all from Monster's Inc. - Mike Wisouski, Boo, and Sully.

Grandma decorated so well, as she always does, with a true 50's atmosphere. We had a malt shop set up and groovy music all night as we ate and played games. And no Heslop Halloween party would be complete without the famous monster mash potoates, dinner-in-a-pumpkin, broomstick breadsticks, and a goulish green drink! So yummy! Stewart was devouring the broomsticks, he was in heaven.

After dinner, it was off to play some 50's inspired games. First was the "drag-race" where we raced each other around the kitchen on blankets. It was quite the work-out for the drag-er. (I know because someone had the bright idea that the wives should pull the husbands, thought I was going to have a heart-attack, but our team won that race!)

Then we had a "sock-hop" aka three-legged-race. Paul and I had worked over a great plan on syncrinization and how we were going to dominate, but once that whistle blew, it all went out the window! We did terrible! But had a blast... Lily liked the idea of just running around in a circle with someone, so she was exempt from having her socks tied.

Normally Dracula (best game EVER!) would come next, but we got a late start on everything and had to call it a night without the terrifying, hair-rising game. But there is always next year for that...

We are already looking forward to Heslop Halloween Bash 2013!