Christmas

As usual, Christmas came with much anticipation this year. With Kyle taking in every detail and Noah still trying to figure it all out. Kyle loved all the decorations including the lights on the house. Whenever we drove by a house that didn't have much if any decoration, Kyle would always show concern and say they must not be very excited for Christmas. And was therefore always insistent that our outside lights were on without fail.

We tried something new and went sledding on Christmas Eve. It was really fun especially since we didn't have to go far- just a near by elementary. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and warm. The boys were very excited to go so we expected the same reaction we got last year- from Kyle "Evil Kenevil Jr." in particular. No crazy, catching-air Kyle this year. He was pretty cautious and would only do the smaller hill.

This was the Year of the Bat at the Shiflett home. Santa made sure the boys were all set with Batman paraphernalia. This was Kyle's ultimate wish and so it was Noah's as well. Noah couldn't stop playing with the Bat Cave to open his other presents. When ever we brought him a present to open it he would pull one hand away from the bat cave to open it, never taking his other hand or eyes off the cave. (Like I said, he's still getting Christmas figured out.)

Christmas Day was spent, as usual, going to Nana and Papa's and then Grandma and Grandpa's. They both got very nice gifts from their Grandparents and the cousins that drew their names. Adam and I had decided that were NOT going to buy for each other this year and of course, ONE of us had to break the rules and it wasn't me. Adam spoiled me not having spent a dime. He used his AMEX points to buy my gifts, a Kitchen Aid mixer (to replace the one he blew up) and a Melting Pot gift card to name a few. He is really in trouble for one gift though (because he spent money on it). He got me InDesign, an Adobe design program so I can print my blog book (thanks Paul for the discount). I guess I can forgive him just this once.

Misc. Christmas Fun

Deaf Center Christmas Party

Gingerbread house including scary red-eyed snowman

Popcorn stringing with our new, exciting air popper. I had to post this pic because of the utter joy on Noah's face.

Oh Baby

I am now 3/4 of the way before before I get to meet my tiny girl. Despite the fact that I've felt sometimes extreme exhaustion (two little boys'll do that to you), mild insomnia (yeah, based on my afore mentioned problem, I don't get it either), typical pregnancy aches and pains, moodiness (this word doesn't do it justice), anemia (first time), *ahem* gas (we'll stop here), despite it all, I have enjoyed this pregnancy.

This baby girl is very active and always has some body part poking through my belly. Sometimes if I'm lying on my back I can feel her entire body. I can literally give her a massage because she is so close to the surface. This is so different from my boys so we mentioned it to my doctor. He said that my placenta is posterior this time which means it's in my back. There is nothing blocking me or anyone else from feeling every little thing she does. Its fun but the drawback is that any kicks to my ribs are felt more acutely. Something I never suffered with my boys.

She has had and will have a few extra ultrasounds because she has a little more fluid on her kidneys than is normal but my doctor isn't at all concerned. So we will just enjoy being able to see our girl a few more times before she is born.

She is measuring right on so it will be fun to see how big she ends up. Kyle and Noah both measured about two weeks big. They were both big boys.e still have a lot to do to prepare for her to come but we are waiting for the craziness of Christmas to end before we start the craziness of Megan. I'm looking forward to it.

WhAt'S uP wItH tHe ShIfLeTt'S

...Last week I hit 30 weeks. "Only" 10 more weeks to go. It feels like forever away but I know its going to cruise. We still have a lot to do in preparation for our baby girl's arrival.

...Wishing the mucky skies would go away and give us some sunshine and breathable air! The upside to this nastiness is the "rime" (frost) that covers the bare trees and shrubbery. Its beautiful!

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...Temple Square with Grandma and Grandpa (for Grandpa's birthday). And a Christmas party with Cheryl's side of the family. It's always good to see everyone since it only happens once or twice a year.

...Kyle sang in his first Christmas performance of many more to come, I hope. His preschool class sang at Legacy Retirement Home. He did a really good job and sang out so we could hear him above others. He's his Daddy's boy. :) His favorite song, not surprisingly, was "We FISH you a HARRY Christ-MOOSE and a HIPPO New Year."

Kyle and his buddy rubbing Rudolph noses...hmmmmmm....

...Adam and I got ALL the Christmas presents wrapped BEFORE Christmas Eve! This is quite the feat!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!

Adam 3.0

Well I'm finally there. I am at the point where I have to leave all the excuses, justifications and straight out lies... I am getting older. 30 is the age when I used to look at other guys and say "they are old". Well now that is me. According to my younger self by this time I'm supposed to have conquered the world and made billions of dollars while thinking about retirement.

I'm sure if you would have told 12-year-old-Adam that by 30 he would not live in a mansion, be a baseball and football hall of famer (breaking every record for every position), invented flying cars, traveled around the world twice and been to space (sorry 12-year-old-Adam if I missed something) he would be pretty disappointed. 30-year-old-Adam sees things differently. Celebrating my birthday yesterday at my party with my wife, beautiful boys, baby in belly, family and friends is exactly where I wanted to be. Forget about all that other junk.

The "big" birthday did not really do anything to me as far as aging. I still have all my teeth (although some of them are crowns), but it does make me pause to think about my life to this point and what is ahead. I feel I've lived a good life. I may not have done everything perfectly (like the time I threw up on my piano teacher's piano and she had to have it completely dismantled for cleaning), but I am very happy with the outcome to this point. I am amazingly blessed with a wonderful, growing family, have a good job and great friends. I don't know if anyone could ask for more.

Enough with the sappy stuff here's an overview of the Party:

My wife threw me an "Ugly Christmas Sweater" party. It was a blast. Along with being the birthday boy, I was also the official judge of the worst sweater. Here are some of the contestants


Here is my beautiful family. Happy to be sharing our holidays with friends. Yes, my sweater has lights. They had to be plugged in so I did not have much range during the party. My wife is sporting a lovely denim vest with snowmen enjoying a winter day.

Here are my in-laws. Dad won for the worst Christmas expression.

Whitney and Ryan Wall. Whitney's bear vest was very fetching. Meanwhile Ryan stopped by a sweater factory picked up the scraps and pieced them together (or at least that's what it looks like).

Ethan and Amy were sporting sweaters from the Richard Hind collection. Hand made and preserved by Richard Hind himself. If they look too happy to be wearing really itchy sweaters its because they are newly weds.

Mindy and Emily came perfectly match and are definitely the winners of the best mother/daughter combination.

Mary and Von. You may be confused why we have two Christmas trees in our front room, but to clarify one of the Christmas trees is actually part of Mary's sweater (the sweater is the one that is more heavily decorated). Don't feel bad if you were confused, I was too.

And so was Von. Apparently someone told him this was a totally awesome sweater party. He accidentally wore his favorite BYU sweater. Von is the Y's biggest fan, even though he graduated from the U. You should have seen him when Max Hall (his favorite player) hit George for the touchdown. I have never seen anyone happier. Moments later Max Hall's comments created paralyzing inner struggle within himself, since Von graduated from the U and therefore was called classless and hated by his favorite football player... It's okay Von, Max hates a lot of people. I don't think it is anything personal.

And the winner of the worst sweater... Mary Anderson.

Ryan takes the runner up prize and probably would have won if his sweater had more of a Christmas theme.


To finish off this post I had to add my favorite photo of the day.

"We join our hero as the masked crusader waits impatiently for the Christmas sweater party."

********See November 22nd to view my "October" post*********

Random iPhone Pics

These are pictures I have taken with my phone camera when I didn't have or had forgotten my regular camera. I always mean to download and blog them but just never have. Some of these pictures are priceless and NEED to be seen. So now you get to enjoy a random, conglomeration all at once!

One of my all time favorite Noah pictures. He looks like a little elf.

I believe this may have been the first time Kyle ever sat on Santa's lap (deaf center party). Poor deprived child.

'Nuf said. (This shirt is actually referring to Jazz player, Kyle Korver)

My hottie

Angel boys.

We went to a friends house and had some great ribs. Kyle shocked us by gnawing the bone CLEAN. We all had a good laugh. He sure doesn't take after me!

Cheese!!

So if I take a picture with my iPhone turned the wrong way this is what happens. And no, I can't simply rotate it. But these upside down pics are still so cute I had to post them. (If anyone knows how I can fix this, a quick comment in my comment box would be greatly appreciated.)

Even big boys like to bounce!

Noah and Reagan enjoying a good bounce.

The chubby Kyle I never had.

Cool dude.

Kyle's first trip to the dentist. Movies on the ceiling? Sa-weet!

Yum.

Wal-mart bikes are for sissies. Power Ranger bikes rock.

Beautiful brothers. It has been so fun watching these boys become friends.

Reagan, Noah and Ava. 3 of the 5

This elephant made Will a little nervous. Just another excuse to give each other a snuggle.

Hogle Zoo- Aug. 2009 @ the bird show

Noah, his name sake and their boat.

Ahhhhhh. Lily, Madison, Kyle and Noah

Kyle's first day of preschool.

Me trying but not really succeeding in taking a belly pic. About 15 weeks.

What can I say. These boys appreciate a good lovin'. :)

Lyndsee and Ernie

Kyle is in the middle of telling me just what he wants for Christmas. (Pretty much everything in the ad.)

Thanksgiving chaos. The toddlers were keeping us entertained with their dancing shenanigans. It was really cute.

I'm actually really grateful for my phone camera. I remember when they first came out with them, I thought they were lame but obviously I have now seen the error of my ways. There have been plenty of times where having my phone camera has saved my hide since I am good at remembering my phone but not my camera.

*These pics are in chronological order starting in Nov. 2008 to Nov. 2009