Christmas 2012

Here is a little back post about Christmas. We had a great Christmas full of Love, Family, and Good Friends. This Christmas we started a little tradition of letting the kids go to the store and choose a gift for their Grandparents all by themselves. My hope was that it would help Ellie to see how much fun it was think about others and of things they would like. It was a wonderful disaster that still cracks me up. Great Grandma Murray ended up getting silly string, and Great Grandpa Lifferth ended up getting a dog chew toy. The picures below show them opening them up. Ellie could hardly wait to give them their gifts. Then she explained what it was to them. They were a bit puzzeled at first but we all had a good Christmas laugh.

 Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma Sherills and Grandpa Larrys. We are so lucky to have so many Cousins!

 Ellie was a cow in the church 'activity' (nativity).  Try telling her it's called a nativity instead of 'activity' she won't listen. Oh well.

 Here we are in the Lifferth nativity. Mitch is Joseph, Ellie Mary, and Me 'The Donkey'. :) Taylor, Our oldest niece cast the roles for the nativity and did a great job.

Here again is Ellie as Mary, taking her job very seriously. You'll notice our nephew Jackson with the couch arm cover on his head as a hat. He was insistent about that. I Love his personality. Let's just say with 15 grandkids under the age 12, our nativity is a bit of an organized disaster.

Overall, A great christmas, oh and Mitch got me a Kitchen Aid! Hurrah for cooking!

Adios Tonsils, Hello Flu

Ellie got her tonsils out this month. The two weeks after were absolutely miserable for her and everyone around her. It was sleepless nights full of pinning her down and forcing lora tab down her. We are sure glad that its all over. Here are a few pics from the ordeal. We had a long wait as her operation kept on getting pushed back so we had some fun playing "Ellie has a hat", a favorite song/game she likes to play.

January has been miserable for us. Can you say FLU SEASON! We even got our flu shots! I told my mom that I was pretty sure that if we were pioneers we would all be dead by now. Let me just calendar this out for you.
Weeks 1 and 2 Ellie was out with tonsil recovery. Miserable, enough said. Week 3 Sun-Max throw up flu, Mon- Max flu continued, Tues- Ellie Cough flu  & Pink eye for Max. Wednesday- Max double ear infection and pink eye for everyone. Thursday- Stacie Strep, Friday-Strep continued, Saturday- Everyone recovering.    The fun continued the following week as Mitch started running a fever on Monday, then both kids had colds for the next three days and finally again on Sunday, Max started with that nasty stomach flu ALL OVER AGAIN. I think we should have just put up quarantine signs on our front door. I kept thinking, 'man i'm glad I only have 2 kids right now, what would I do if I had 6 and they were all sick! It has been a very, very long, sleepless month. So so glad February is here!

Winter Blues

We've had a long few weeks as Ellie got her tonsils out just after Christmas.  We are VERY HAPPY to report she is feeling much better now. Today, Dad took her for a quick zip on the snowmobile out in the fields behind our house. Max and I happily watched from within our warm home!

Our new ward has been very welcoming to us in our new place. Each presidency has been stopping by to visit. When the primary presidency came they were asking Ellie her favorite color, food etc. When they asked her what her favorite thing to do was, she replied, "I like to play with my Mom." Man I wish I could have bottled up how good that made me feel and keep it for a rainy day! That little lady just melts my heart.

    Ellie has, surprisingly to me, had a difficult time adjusting to the move. She kept telling us on Sunday that she 'just wants to go to her old primary.' Through many tears and discussion we finally got her to church. On a play date with our new neighbors El refused to go play with the kids while the adults talked. After about an hour she left the room and I thought she went to play. But fifteen minutes later she walked up to me and as I grabbed her hand it was freezing! She looked at me and said, "Mom, the door is locked. Could you go unlock it?"  The little Stinker walked home in 15 degrees!!! Yep, bad mom moment right there. We are hoping to have a little tea party soon to help her find a few new friends.

    Max is growing too! He eats like a horse, and my favorite is that he has recently learned how to give hugs and occasionally he just keeps his head laying on your chest and falls asleep. He continues to be sweet, loving, and happy. Mitch and I just can't stop counting our blessings!

Side note: Ellie LOVES play-doe. I LOATHE play-doe. It's the smell. It makes my toes cringe. After we clean it up I sanitize the counter as if a raw chicken had been dancing on it. I have to be in a darn good mood to let her play with her 24 PACK that her friend gave her for her birthday. I will say her rocket ship looks pretty good though! 

We Are Not Exempt

Tonight we went bowling with Grandpa and Grandma Lifferth. Grandpa treated us all to a night of fun and ice cream and it was great! I think he is feeling a little sentimental as he starts his chemo on Thursday. It was at bowling as I laughed at the kids dancing around as their ball took 3 minutes to get down the lane, that I had the thought "we are not exempt".
 For the past few months the concept labeled 'trials' has been on the forefront of my mind. Sometimes we go on living our life in such a way that we only hear of bad things on the news, or happening to other people. Then when it happens to us we are naive enough to say 'why me?!' Or if you're like me I thought, 'really? is this really happening?'
      The more I thought about how fast things can happen and how quickly life can change there was a real fear that entered into my heart. I felt completely out of control of my future and realized that the only one who has true control is the Savior. No matter how young a child is, how good a father is, or how much life a teenager has left, we are not exempt from the trials and learning experiences that we have to face. Initially, this idea is a little frustrating but the more we pray and the more I ask for understanding the more complete the plan is to me. I think in my house I need to have a big sign that says, "TRIALS: That's why you are here!"

     What would be the point of this life if we didn't grow and to change physically, mentally and emotionally. How grateful I am for the opportunities to grow, learn, and depend on a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of us and who wants to help us.

Christmas Card 2012

This is our Christmas card from 2012. If you didn't get one i'll have to apologize. We have had a lot going on in December. Ellie's birthday, closed on a house, my parents moving, Mitch's dad had back surgery, and we moved to Farmington! So here it is enjoy!

Time sure does fly when you are having fun! The Dorius adventures continued in 2012 as life’s challenges have turned into its blessings. How grateful we are to be able to enjoy life with wonderful friends and family. Here is our year in a flash.

 In February Stacie quit her job with the school district to begin a new (and much harder) job as a stay at home Mom.  In March we welcomed a new member into our family, Maxwell Mitchell. He is a sweet, cuddly boy who has only given us happiness and smiles. We are so thankful to have him in our family.

 5 days after coming home from the hospital, Ellie grabbed onto the garage door as it was going up and rode it to the top. The ride down was not as fun as she ended up breaking her little leg. She was non weight bearing for a month which made our house into a child’s wonderland full of wiggle cars, and skateboards as she scooted around. Ellie brings adventure and laughter into our life everyday.  She is full of great one liners such as, “ Mom, you awe weally fwustwating me wite now!”

In May we enjoyed a family vacation to Disneyland. We have never fully experienced Disneyland and we would not have guessed how priceless the smiles were. The experience was made even better as Ellie was working in physical therapy, to re-learn how to walk, which gave us a free pass to the front of each line. We decided we can’t go back unless one of us breaks our leg again.

This summer we enjoyed our Utah Park’s Pass as we spent nearly every weekend at the lake. Stacie also convinced Mitch to run in the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay. Although we had a great time Mitch vowed to never do it again. J

 Mitch continues to work at Fusion IO in SLC and has been enjoying his job there. His favorite part of the day continues to be walking in the door at night and having an excited Ellie run up and bear hug him. We are grateful for his hard work for our family.

As we reflect on the past year we are grateful for the many blessings that our Heavenly Father and Jesus have given to us. We have had the opportunity this year to remember how precious life is, and how each relationship we have should be cherished as a gift. We hope that this Holiday season we can all reflect on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and the many blessings He has given us. Merry Christmas & Happy new year.

Love,

        The Dorius

Happy Birthday Ellie!

 Can you believe Ellie turned three! Where has time gone! Ellie is a hoot and a half and fills our life with happiness and laughter. For her third birthday we had a party with some of her closest cousins and friends. We had a mascaraed ball AKA organized chaos. All the kids had a pretty good time I think!

 Each kid was either knighted  with a sword or a magic wand by the one and only King Mitchell. Here is cousin Jakey being knighted.

And the princess Kendal walking like a fancy princess with her lovely wand.

Present time! Cousin Averee was a great helper at the party. Hurrah for older cousins! Ten three year olds can be a lot to handle!

Because it was a mascaraed we all made masks using feathers and rubies. Don't they all look so cute!

Mitch had the idea to make a red carpet for the kiddo's. He pretends he's not crafty, he has hidden talents! :) Happy Birthday Ellie Bug! We sure love you!

Merry Christmas!

 What would Christmas be without a few tree pics! I liked these ones because they seemed to catch the personality of each of our little elves!

This practice is very common. Ellie mauling/loving Max a little too much.

 Happy boy!

 Silly El, refusing to smile.

 I told Ellie there was a princess in the lens of the camera. I love it.

A little tickle of her toes while snapping a picture, that's the power of a mom, multi-tasking! Merry Christmas everyone!