i should have bought flowers. DOH.

never was there ever

a girl so fun as this.

she had specific hair and makeup specifications.

doll.

that's what i kept thinking.

then she sat through each dance at the recital,

star struck as usual by the ballerinas on pointe.

and when her dance was all over the one thing she wanted to know was where were her flowers anyway???

but in a sweet unassuming way.

like i felt badly i hadn't because she was so sweet about it.

i made up something about how that's only for the end of the year ones,

and then of course about five dancers walked past us with boquets in their arms

and max looked up at me like,

"uhhh mom, what were you saying???"

mmmmhmmmmm yep.

it was awesome.

i changed the subject to could she tell me what the words were again to let it go or something like that,

and then we went out for mexican food with all of our friends and family that were there.

cause ya know, i haven't heard that song enough times to know the words myself.

wait....

letters to Emily {embarrassing story, merry christmas in german, & relationships}

Dear Emily,

I did laugh so hard! Especially at the batman ornament! That was amazing. People usually say "frohe weinachten!" For merry Christmas... Emily, do you wanna hear a funny embarrassing story? Well, this would only happen in dear old Deutchland... But I think you will still appreciate the moment at least. So Thanksgiving. On the schedual to come to my house was the missionaries (elders and sisters) and a family. I was to make the turkey, the potatoes, carrot casserole, stuffing, and s desert, the missionaries were bringing a bunch of stuff as was the family. I woke up feeling my absolute worst. I couldn't even stand.. A bad virus. So we cancelled the whole thing! I felt so bad... So Bryce was rubbing my feet and I was laying in bed in a pool of tissues and blankets when we hear a knock on the door ( both kids are in school). And our apartments are installing fire alarms so the installers (who smell like smoke and cheap cologne) come in and Bryce tells them it's all good and comes back in the room where I look like a nasty sick woman and we hear a knock on our bedroom door and it's the installers and they need to install a fire alarm in our bedroom! So they install it with me laying in my sickness... I almost couldn't Handle it so I pulled the blankets over my head and just said over and over again to myself, "please go away, please be done, please go away, please be done. ". Then they leave probably feeling really sorry for Bryce, thinking wow he married a mess...! Haha! I just had to tell you that funny story, virus is gone and we were able to have a little thanksgiving on Sunday... It was so good. Just our little family, I love to say what we are grateful for from the year at the dinner table, and I totally lost it and I could barely start... But I was able to say my gratitudes. I think to the end of the movie jerry McGuire, when he hugs his one client with a REAL relationship, instead of the other agent with a lot of clients basically given to him with no real relationship. Jerry was uncomfortable and poor and he needed the people around him, they brought him comfort. And in the end it literally pays off for him to have real deep meaningful relationships with the people he is working for and his family. And not being greedy. I feel the struggles that Bryce and I are experiencing right now has brought us closer together then ever before. I hope that we remember our time together is worth more then a paycheck. And do cherish it so. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I love you,

Beth

letters to BETH {i'm yellin' TiiiiiiiiiMBerrrrrr--the tree came down}

{get your laughing pants on for this story my friend. 

you're gonna need 'em today;)}

dear beth,
our brand new vacuum is broken.
remember this for later.
merry christmas!
Weihnachtsgrüße!
AUF DEUTSCH!
did i get those right at all?
i blame google translator if not.
are you decking your halls yet?
we are slowly getting things looking festive around here.
this last weekend we took the kids out for pizza, because not even I, Emily Gibson, wanted to cook the day after thanksgiving.
so we took the kids out for pizza and then to the christmas tree lot.
we found THE ONE, and it was glorious.

{don't ask me why i have my coat on. i was sweating it was so hot.}

max was running around in a skirt and tank top because it was 65* at night in november.
it's freakishly warm right now in general and NOT snowing, and i'm sad about it.
except it's kinda nice that brennan can still play outside with his friends after school every day still.
so anyway, we put up the tree,
and on sunday max helped me string on all of the lights.
she was MADE for this.
i am thrilled to have a helper for this job, as it really does take two folks.

i FINALLY learned this year to just sit back and let the kids do the decorating.

which means that all of my ornaments were on the bottom 2 feet of the tree.

it was so cute and the kids were prouder than proud.

brennan kept saying that he knew santa was going to "just love" their work.

i left all of my most fragile ornaments in their boxes and figured maybe i wouldn't put them up this year.

well, after letting my kids decorate and UNdecorate the tree three times every day since then, i made the executive decision last night to go ahead and spend an hour after bedtime putting up all of my favorite ornaments in complete peace and quiet.

and then tell the kids no more touching the tree from now on.

i think because i let them put all of the ornaments on they thought that meant that the entire tree AND all of "their" ornaments were just more toys to move around every day.

and i just didn't want them throwing them across the front room anymore.

so i put up the rest of the ornaments by myself, and it was glorious. 

sean was in the basement working out.
and all three of the kids were fast asleep in their beds.

there was not a peep in the place.

it was so absolutely relaxing and wonderful.

after everything but the star was in place {i wanted to save that for the kids to help with today}, 

i stood back beaming at how beautiful my hard work had turned out to be.

and just how glad i was that i took the time to do it.

i just love looking at all of the personalized ornaments we've gathered over the years.

engagement, wedding, baby's first christmas 2008, 2010, 2012 for all of the kids, hand impressions of little tiny baby hands, and all of sean's hand made ones from elementary school that sean's mom has given me to hang. 

now, because our vacuum is broken there are pine needles everywhere in my front room.

and after decorating the tree, it was basically a LAWN of pine needles under the tree at this point in the night.

and like i said, since my vacuum is broken, i couldn't vacuum them up.

so i stood there looking at my glorious tree, wishing that all of the pine needles could just go away,

and that's when i realized a tree skirt would do just that!

so excitedly, i ran to the christmas box to grab the tree skirt.

to cover up the needles:)

i was feeling so smart, and i couldn't wait to take a picture of my newly decorated 2014 christmas tree.

so i pulled out the red, gold, and green one my mom gave me a couple of years ago,

and just as i was on my hands and knees, ready to slip it around my lovely lady's trunk's waist,

THE

ENTIRE

TREE

FELL

DOWN

ON

TOP

OF ME.

yep, that's what i said.

this was me:

or at least that is how i felt.

so there i am stuck under our big old fallen christmas tree,

covered in pine needles,

water leaking from the base ALL OVER the carpet and me,

and half of the ornaments i had so gently placed were now strewn about all over the floor,

with even MORE pine needles everywhere from the great TIMBER which was the fall.

so i start yelling

"SEEEAAAAAN!!!!! SEEEEEAAAAANN!!!! SEEEEEEEAAAAAAANNNN!!!!!"

because ya know, i'm stuck under this tree and all.

and he's down in the basement exercising and he can't hear me.

so i keep yelling until finally he hears me, but by this point i've taken matters of saving my life into my own hands and have pulled myself out of the rubble,

holding the tree halfway up as best as i can so that the water will stop spilling,

and the rest of the ornaments will stop falling,

hoping and hanging on for dear life so that our tree will not break in half.

and that's when sean walks in,

and we are both just standing there laughing because ya know,

the entire tree i had JUST finished decorating had just fallen on top of me,

and now it wouldn't stand up on it's own.

we kept trying to put it back in its stand, but it just wouldn't stay.

so sean went out to the garage and brought back some bright yellow rope,

tied it to the window shutters,

and then he put a weight to leverage it from the bottom.

{sean told me later that he heard this big thump from downstairs over his head, and then this faint call of his name, but it took him a minute to register what could possibly be going on. then he told me he wished he could have seen the tree fall down on top of me, and that was one picture he wished he had. this made me laugh really REALLY hard. i wish i had a video of it. 

good times. also, it was frightening. and awesome.}

so that my friend is how i spent my last night of being 31.

i will always laugh when i look at that batman ornament for the rest of my life.

and i will ALWAYS remember that one christmas where my fully decorated christmas tree fell down on top of me.

i think we're gonna need a new christmas tree base for next year.

this one has always been a problem!

because next time i might not escape certain death so smoothly.

just sayin.

i love when funny stuff like this happens to me in life.

it makes me happy because there's nothing like a good laugh at yourself to keep you humble.

i hope this story has left your day a little more bright,

and maybe with a little pee in your pants.

all my love,

em