Slave-Driver Matt... Day 1

The day after Christmas was a day off for Matt from work, so what does he do? He puts ME to work! We have been waiting for a long time to get to work on our house, so we were excited to finally start working on the house. I have been especially excited to start framing so that I can actually understand what Matt is talking about when he tells me stuff about his job.

So, after the concrete was all good to go, we had to put on plate and rim for the walls of the garage and main floor to sit on. At first, all Matt would let me do was measure where the holes needed to be drilled. So he and Randy laid out all the plate and I walked around measuring where the holes would go. The holes needed to be drilled so we could connect the plate to the re-bar that was sticking out of the concrete. After Randy drilled all the holes, I put washers and bolts on the remaining re-bar and Randy came around and drilled them tight. You can see what I mean in this picture:

I started taking some initiative without Matt watching and started doing some of the drilling on my own. Matt actually let me do this! I think he was happy that I wasn't being totally worthless! After we finished the plate, we started putting the rim on top of the plate. I was in charge of measuring. Back to not being allowed to use the power tools! It did help me practice using a tape measure! Matt's mind does math with measurements SO much faster than mine!

We didn't really get started until almost lunchtime, so this took the whole day. There is so much measuring, cutting, and more measuring that goes into every single tiny step! Matt did let me know that I helped, I was worried that I would end up being in the way, or not have anything that I could do, because, let's be honest, wood is heavy and Matt wouldn't let me use any tools!

Christmas 2013

Christmas felt so different this year! I'm not sure if it's because we weren't in our own place and I didn't put up any of my own decorations, or if it was just a weird year, but it came and went so quickly, I almost missed it! On Christmas Eve, Matt went to work. Yes, he is the most exciting person that I know. After work, we went down to Salt Lake for our traditional Fischer Christmas. As we do every year, we went bowling. This year, Harrison and Reagan were old enough to bowl with us, so the kids all bowled on one lane and the adults bowled on another. Tim and Kamie didn't bowl because it basically takes two adults to keep Reagan occupied when it isn't her turn. Not to mention that Kamie is getting soooo close to bringing baby girl #2 to the world that she gets a free pass! Harrison liked to bowl, but liked sitting on this table and watching the rest of the bowlers just as much. He would take his turn and then sit up on the table and wait. It was so cute!

Cute baby Kailee... soon to be big sister! I can't wait to have another nephew!

After bowling, we went back to Diet and Myrna's house for dinner and presents! After opening a lot of presents, and the ensuing chaos, we couldn't find Harrison anywhere. We peeked into the playroom, and he was in there watching a movie with his eyes just glued to the TV. Of course, he caught me when I tried to take a picture and this is his "I'm caught!" face!

Brad and Claire are at such fun ages right now... it was fun to buy them things that they would love this year. And I think even more fun to see them snuggled up in their Christmas jammies looking at presents together!

After the Christmas eve fun, Matt and I headed out to my mom and Jeff's to sleep. We had Christmas morning at my mom's house. This is really different from Christmas eve with the Fischers. Much... quieter. And calmer. We even had to wait to open presents because Cassie was still sleeping. Matt was definitely spoiled this year. Can you tell my family knows exactly what he likes? Three Cabelas gift cards that he can't wait to spend!

Alex's gift card included this nice note!

After presents, we started making breakfast. Alex's bald spot was shining so brightly, I had to take a picture! She recently had a run-in with a drawer... clearly the drawer won!

Cassie cooking sausage and bacon!

Traditional Christmas breakfast with my mom includes our family favorite, Swedish pancakes. They are like crepes, but thicker. And we have to eat on fancy Christmas dishes too.

After breakfast, we hurried and got dressed for more Christmas at my dad and Laurie's house. We have seven nieces and nephews in the Hightower family, with one more coming in June, and Matt and I decided to buy presents for them all this year (so much more fun to buy gifts for kids than for adults!). I found the cutest Minnie and Mickey knitted beanies on Etsy this year, and had to get them for all the kids. Our youngest Hightower niece, Avery, LOVES Minnie Mouse and was so excited! She kept saying, "Minnie! Look at my hairbow!" It was soooooo worth it.

Trevor and Sadie Hightower...

Hopefully the Hightower kids will remember that Aunt Tori and Uncle Matt buy them presents and won't be so scared of us! Matt got a sweet surprise for Christmas from my dad... a box full of one dollar bills! He has been saving up to buy a gun and finally has enough money to do it! He said he REALLY wanted to throw them all up in the air and watch them float down, but couldn't bring himself to actually do it! My dad and Laurie had breakfast and it was fun to be around while all the Hightowers came and went. That is a big family and is hard to get everyone together, so it was fun to hang out and see almost everyone.

After "brunch" (for lack of a better word), we headed out to the District to see a movie with my mom, Jeff, Jeff's mom Ruth, my sisters, and Grandma and Papa Decker. We saw "Saving Mr. Banks" and I really liked it! After the movie, Matt leans over to me and says, "That was the worst movie I've ever seen! I literally fell asleep!" He claims that he will not see movies with my mom anymore, because she also took him to another movie that he hated, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". Hopefully next Christmas there will be a better movie out that we can see.

After the movie, Matt and I headed home for some much needed quiet time. Only when we got home, the kids' Christmas presents were everywhere! The adults were sprawled all around the room just watching the chaos, too tired to do anything else. What a great day!

Cassie Opens her Mission Call!

I definitely have the most brave sister in the whole world! For the past couple months, I have been helping Cassie put together her mission papers! I could never have done this myself when I was her age! It has been so fun to help her with this, and I am so happy that she trusted me enough to let me help her! Well she got the papers all signed and submitted the first week of December and was ready on Wednesday this week for her call to come! And it didn't. She was so disappointed. Luckily, my dad has some sweet skills and was able to track down her call and have it picked up in St. George and delivered to her in Salt Lake! Matt and I drove down right after Matt got off work on Friday to be there when she opened her call.

She was so excited for everyone to come! She was standing at the door looking out the peephole to see if people were coming!

Before she opened her call! She was soooo excited. She was running around, and jumping up and down and there was definitely a lot of screaming!

It was so fun to hear the excitement and emotion in her voice as she read her mission call aloud:

After! She was called to serve in Fresno, California, and is going into the MTC in Provo on February 26! YAY! YAY! YAY!

This was a special occasion that I never thought would happen in my family! Being from a family of all daughters, we never really thought much about having one of us serve a mission. Matt, being from a family of all sons, has experienced this several times. I am so proud of Cassie and so excited for her to go on a mission! She will be a fantastic missionary! Love you Boog!

Babysitting

I must be a terrible babysitter.

I think it is pretty hilarious to watch the babies do this:

And this:

And definitely this:

In my defense, look how much fun they're having!

How to Celebrate the Start of Winter Break in a Small Town

On Friday, December 20, school was released at 1:05 PM, not to resume until January 2, 2014! I got out of work as quickly as I could, and I'm glad I did because when I got home, I found all the kids getting in their snow clothes for some sledding! I guess I should explain that my idea of "sledding" included:

Harrison in his snow suit, too uncomfortable to move, and too scared of sitting on the sled to get off the porch...

Claire covered in snow from a few wipeouts...

Brad... you know, being Brad...

Reagan LOVING the sled and saying "again" after she got to the bottom...

The babies, who still haven't really figured out how to move in their snow clothes, throwing snow...

And eating snow...

But this is what the boys consider "sledding":

Randy puts a tow-rope behind the four-wheeler and attaches a tube... Jenny told Brad to put on a helmet...

 

Soon Nate Shields pulls up on his four wheeler with his two kids being double-towed in sleds...

And after only a few minutes, they have created a track through the empty field and are pulling many kids at a time through! 

Carter looked really sullen whenever they stopped, but I guess he was loving it while they were going!

All the babies in the sled! Reagan did not like this. She had more fun going down the little hill by herself than getting pulled around, which is funny because Harrison was exactly the opposite, he was terrified of the little hill but wouldn't get out of the sled being pulled by the four-wheeler!

Jenny F. hitching a ride to take some pictures and videos of the kids...

Claire and Lyndsee loving their ride!

Nate and Jenni S.

Jenny F. pulling Brad and Randy... even when the grow up, they are still kids...

Nate had to take Randy for a run on the tube too... Couldn't let the kids have all the fun!

Reagan really wanted to ride on this tube, but was too little. When I put her inside, she couldn't get out!

Harrison and Carter snuggling on the sled...

So much fun! This is why Matt and I are building a home in a small town! When we were at our house shoveling, our neighbor was pulling his kids around on a sled behind his four-wheeler. And we have a huge open field behind us where this will be really fun when there's a little more snow! What a great way to celebrate the start of Winter Break!

Concrete!

This post has been long time coming! We had our concrete poured for the garage and basement floor a little over a week ago, but since then it has been covered with concrete blankets/tarps to protect it from the cold weather and then when those came off, it was covered in snow. So sorry that it has taken so long to post pictures!

On Thursday this week, Matt and I went over and shoveled the snow off the concrete. Okay, so I only shoveled the garage and Matt did all the rest, I still helped! I love how it is all starting to come together!

Garage

Great room and bedroom in the basement

Two basement bedrooms, bathroom in between, and storage room

Cold storage

Front view of the house from the street

We are so excited to have this step finished, because now we can start framing! This is the part that we can do ourselves! Matt has been describing the steps of framing to me for weeks and I am excited to finally see what they all are! Hopefully Matt can get some time off while I am off work so I can help him!

Don't Try To Eat My Doughnut, Even If You're Two

We have now been living with Randy, Jenny, and the kids for over 10 weeks and it is starting to feel pretty normal. Even hearing Harrison crying in the middle of the night or early morning, having Claire salivating over every unhealthy meal Matt and I make, and reading with Brad, have all become a fairly normal part of my day. But my favorite story of late is about Harrison.

I have been on a real doughnut kick lately. I stop at the Sinclair on my way home from work a couple times a week to get a doughnut. It is a problem, but I like it. Last week, Matt brought me home a doughnut and set it on the table. Harrison saw it and Matt gave him a bite. When I got home from work, I started eating my doughnut and instantly had Harrison next to me saying, "bite, bite, bite." He hadn't eaten dinner yet (and, let's be honest, I didn't want to share), so I said no. Instantly Harrison is in my face screaming, "mine! mine! mine!" Normally I have no issues sharing treats, food, drinks, etc. However, when it came to my delicious doughnut, I did not act like the adult that I am. I was telling Harrison that it wasn't his, it was MINE! Not my finest moment. He was quite mad at me and Matt is still making fun of me. But even Matt knows not to get in the way of a woman and her doughnut. Not if you don't want any bruises.

Harrison playing with the bucket. Who needs the toys?

*Funny side story about this bucket. I was "watching" the babies, AKA keeping the babies away from the women cooking, when Harrison put the bucket on his head. Reagan saw him and put it on her head and started walking behind the couches. She bumped into the recliner and started giggling. She kept bumping her way past the recliner, giggling the whole time, until she finally got past the recliner then swiftly ran into the wall. She fell over laughing hysterically. I was laughing too hard to get my camera out fast enough and by the time I had it out, she found a fun place to leave her bucket and had moved on to another game. Moments like these remind me how much I love being an aunt!