The Blogger Returns!

I loved Stanford - it was such a special time of life!

The crowd roared with laughter when Nick walked up to get his diploma!!!

a special trip to Monterey and Carmel... we slept in the aquarium next to the shark tank!

setting up in the backyard for a carnival birthday party to celebrate Thomas and James' 6th

graduation

After a two year break from blogging, I am back with the realization that I should not have stopped! This is such a fun record of my family and even if we aren't doing anything amazing, I should still be keeping a little record. When I started this blog, I titled it "Buehner Family Adventures" because we were always doing fun things and traveling a lot. After we had baby #3, our trips were not to New York or Italy, but to the park if we are lucky! And now that we have 4 boys, life is really crazy! Crazy, but so fun. I love being a boy mom and am so grateful for my family.

ChRiStMaS VaCaTiOn

Yes, my husband got a pedicure, and yes, he loved it!

Let me begin by telling you about our amazing flight to Salt Lake. All three boys were total gems and everything went perfectly... our best flight yet! Since our arrival in Utah five days ago, we have done a few things. Let me tell you all about it.

We celebrated our 6th Wedding Anniversary on the 18th! I am so lucky to be married to Nick. Nick's parents watched all three boys (with the help of a few aunts and uncles) and we went out on a real date! We had a lovely dinner at Spencer's, went ice skating at the Gallivan Center, and saw the second half of Ballet West's Nutcracker. It was so romantic and fun.

We expected Katelan to come home from her mission that night, but we were so disappointed to find out that she missed her connecting flight in Germany and wouldn't be able to come home until the 20th. We took the boys to Temple Square to see the lights and the Christus. Being here this time of here always reminds me of our wedding. I love it. I can't forget to mention our trip to Eastwood with Calli, Thomas and James to sled down the big hill. Calli and I sent Thomas down by himself and his sled went to the side and he hit two giant jumps on the way down. There was a little wound on his lip but nothing serious. When we got back to home, he told Grandpa Bean that he sledded down the hill by himself and almost went to the moon!

On Sunday, Gary and Sue had my parents and Ryan and Liz over for a lamb dinner and then later that night Katelan finally came home! It was so fun to go to the airport and welcome her home. She looks fabulous and still has her same fun sense of humor. We came home and she had little gifts from Lithuania for all of us. She gave me a pair of amber earrings that I will treasure.

This morning, Thomas nailed me in the eyeball at close range with a hard ball. I thought I was blind for a few seconds. Many tears were shed because I am not as tough as Thomas and James but now I am fine. I know someday I will look back and laugh and miss these crazy days with my boys. Sue was so nice to watch Thomas and Philip while Nick, James and I went Christmas shopping.

Then Sue took all of the girls, sans Cassidy, to a special Anthropologie sweater sale. It's always shopping madness when you are shopping with the Buehner girls, and so much fun! Calli goes nuts and tries on practically everything in the store (all of it looks amazing on her of course.) She will even try on the craziest things, like little elf boots and they still look great on her because she is so beautiful. Sue gives everyone fashion advice and the yes/ no on everything. I laugh and laugh and never buy anything without Calli's approval.

Later on in the day, Katelan wanted to be alone because she was having a hard time adjusting to being home. Nick went into her room and talked to her and when he came out, his mom asked him what he did to adjust to being home from the mission. He answered that it helped to go to the temple, read scriptures and stay on a schedule. He also added that things really got better when he started dating me. I thought that was so sweet.

Tonight my mom and I threw a baby shower for Liz. Everyone invited came and it was fun. I love Liz and know she will be the best mom.

Nick's AMAZING Christmas present!

This morning, in an effort to alleviate some chaos, I thought it would be best to get the boys strapped into their car seats and go for a little outing. Nick was finishing up getting ready to head to school to take his last final before Christmas (hooray!) and I told the boys we were going to go get Daddy a Christmas present.
James exclaimed, "I think we should get Daddy a black Ferrari!"
Then he ran upstairs and when he returned outside after a quick chat with Nick , he said "Daddy loves black! We can go get him a black Ferrari!!!"

Will you Please put on some Pants!?!

Shortly after lunch today, Thomas went upstairs to use the potty and returned with no pants and no undies. Things got a little hectic for a minute and somehow all the toy bins in the closet were dumped in a huge pile on the living room floor. Then there was a knock on the door, and before I could even move, I heard Thomas opening the door. I ran to find my sweet visiting teacher and her three-year-old little girl with the most flabbergasted expressions on their faces. I just said "This is not a good time" and they gladly left. I think my visiting teacher will probably be scared to ever come back!

Tiffany and Julia

After finally seeing the movie Julie and Julia a couple nights ago, I was totally craving a french cooking day so today I made Boeuf Borgeunoun. Thomas and James put on their little red aprons with me and it was an all day family affair (sans Nick because he is still in the midst of finals.) We didn't use Julia Child's recipe. We stuck with our tried and true friend Ina Garten, who has yet to give us a bad recipe. When adding the brandy, the recipe said to burn it off by lighting a match. I didn't realize that this meant that my whole le creuset pot would be filled with raging flames and James and I were screaming. Then I put the top of the dutch oven on and when I lifted it off... no more fire, thank heavens. Thomas ran in the kitchen and was so disappointed that he missed the fire. The boys kept asking me to do it again.
Nick came home to an exceptional disaster of a house tonight but oh what an exceptional bowl (or four) of soup he savored... it was totally worth it!

What a Day!

Today was almost like a dream. I woke up this morning and Nick said, "Let's bust out of here." So we all got in the car and drove to Half Moon Bay. The drive was lovely. The kids were happy and we arrived at the Ritz Carlton to discover that not only were the gingerbread houses on display, but this evening was the tree lighting party! So, we had to spend the whole day there because we couldn't miss a party. The boys wanted french fries and ice cream for lunch and today we let them have it. I had the great idea to get crowns from Burger King for their wise men costumes we need for tomorrow. I got a good laugh when the crowns they gave me were covered with pictures of Edward, Jacob and Bella from New Moon! But I was bold and asked if they had any regular crowns in the back or something and thankfully they did.
Then we went to the beach and it was gorgeous. We even saw a decaying sea lion amidst the rocks! It was crazy because we almost stepped right on him; he blended right in and kind of looked like a log. The bone sticking up out of his head gave him away though.
The Ritz tree lighting party was amazing. Carolers, fires, cookies, hot chocolate, a luxurious castle-like hotel overlooking the ocean... what more could I have asked for today???

We are Stuffed!

We were sad to have Thanksgiving away from family this year but had a wonderful time with our friends, the Richters. The conversation was fun and the food was fabulous! It was so darling to see Philip and Anabelle eating their turkey and sharing cheerios with each other. Happy Thanksgiving!