A New Beginning

Life is good.  Not easy, but good and will get better and better with each day as we are trying to create memories for our families.  The past year held many changes and challenges and this new year awaits with who know what yet.  :)

 I have been trying to get out and do more things with the boys, the weather has been so nice.  One of the places we like to go is the Children's Museum.  Jaron loves the mail truck and will sit there for quite a while.  He's usually the only one I feel like I need to follow around, so that makes the trips really nice for me.  :)  I love seeing my boys grow and explore and be more independent.  And it's nice to let go a little myself and let them just be.

 Since moving to St. George, we have been getting lots of cousin time and we love it.  I'm grateful that right now we are in a place where they can be around family a lot.  My boys have even picked up a few dance moves from all their girl cousins.  :)  There are some videos too, but I'm not sure if they will make it on the post.

 Bear and Britters love watching Dora together and those two silly kids have a lot of fun playing.

 We had a pizza night not too long ago and I grabbed a quick shot of all my boys.  I can't believe how big they are getting.  They were only on that bench for about 30 seconds before they were taking turns running around the store.

 Morgan still heads up to Weber once a month to teach there.  In January he had to go up twice just because the way the semester is.  We decided to make one more trip up with him before the baby comes.  It was supposed to be decent weather...until that weekend, then it was a snow storm.  We thought we could beat it since everything looked pretty good until we hit Cedar, then we actually contemplated turning around and having Morgan catch a flight up, but we plodded along and I'm glad we did.  We had quite the adventure.

Morgan has some other pictures on his phone that I'll have to post later, but the weather got so bad that we were basically just following in the tread of a couple big trucks in front of us and not really being able to see anything.  I don't think I have ever experienced such a tangible description of what the mists of darkness must have looked like in Lehi's Dream.  As we were following that narrow path behind the truck, I couldn't help but think of the iron rod and how much we have to rely on that to make it to our destination in safety.

We felt prompted to stop at the first Filmore exit and I'm glad we did.  We were able to get a room for the night.  We also found out that I-15 through Nephi was closed until late that night and they were diverting traffic through Delta and Holden...way out in the boonies.  Either way, the boys loved it.  They were jumping on the beds and just so excited to stay at "the inn."

It was tough getting them to sleep and I don't think Morgan or I slept more than an hour that night.  It made me wonder if that's how family vacations/trips were for our parents growing up.  As kids you don't realize the stressful situations you might be in, you just see it as a fun adventure, but the parents are stressed.  It did turn into an adventure by the end of it though.

We headed out early that morning and the roads were great.  We could hear and see the plows working all night.  We got breakfast at the hotel, it was really good, or we were just really hungry.  :)  The boys ate really well and they even had a model train track running around the ceiling and the hotel manager was so nice to turn it on for them even at 5:30 in the morning.  It totally made their day.

We made it to Morgan's parent's house and he got us all settled then headed up to teach.  I was able to take a shower and a little break and get ready for the day.  I had told the boys that we would go to the Mall and ride the train, so we headed out and I'm glad we did.  We all promised each other that we would be really nice to each other since we were all tired.  It actually worked at least for those few hours, or really it was the Lord's tender mercies on a mother who was well beyond her tired limit.

I did make them go to my stores with me before the train ride and they were great.

 We got to ride the train and play in the play area for a while.

 They also love pretending to drive all the quarter machines, pretend being the key because I'm too cheap to waste my quarters in those things...they have fun anyway.  And we spent "their" money on the train ride.

We headed back to Grandma's and the boys were really good I thought.  Later that afternoon Grandma and Papa watched the kids for us while we found our piano.  Since the move our digital piano finally bit the dust, so we've been on the search, but there isn't a huge selection in St. George in our price range.  So, I met Morgan at work (he had to stop and take care of some stuff for Gamma up north...convenient, eh?) and we found our piano.

Later after the piano was delivered we were able to get our old piano reset, go figure.  I'm still happy that I was able to get a piano out of it.  I really have loved our old piano, but I really really love our new one and as a bonus my nieces will now have something to practice on after they move.  :)

That pretty much sums up January...I think, so until next time...

End of Year Recap

 Jaron, Brittyn, and Tragon have a lot of fun together.  They like to watch shows together at Grandma's house.

 We have been to the Children's Museum here a couple times.  The first time we went with cousins and they had a blast.  It was fun to go around to all the different rooms and play with things.  Jaron's favorite by far was the mail truck.  The next time we went he literally just sat there in it for 20 minutes.  It was awesome!

 Moving means lots of boxes and supplies.  Bear found some Styrofoam and broke it all to bits all in about the 30 seconds it takes to go to the bathroom.  I came back to him getting really excited about all the "snow" he made.  Oh boy.

 Logan had a Polar Express parade at his school and they all made boxcars and put on a parade.  He's such a cute 1st grader.  I can't believe his school year is half over now.

 Morgan has a knack for being able to get all the kids gathered around him. He is such a fun Daddy and Uncle.  Of course, having an iphone and playing clips from "Frozen" helps.

This year has ended with quite the craziness.  Our house was delayed because they couldn't finish the roof because of guess what? Snow!  In St. George! After many discouraging moments we were able to actually move in two days before Christmas.  It was crazy and fun.  It was my hope of hopes that we would be able to be in before Christmas.  Sadly though, with all the craziness that moving is, we didn't get any pictures of Christmas.  :(  But it was really great.  We were unpacked enough that Morgan got the tree up.  He did crash Christmas Eve about 7:00pm  He worked really hard to get us moved in.  I think I was pregnant when we moved into our house in Lehi too, but not as far along.  I was a little more careful this time around.  So, he literally got to do all the heavy lifting.  If it weren't for my family I don't know how we could have pulled off what we did.

So, Christmas Eve, I was up pretty late getting things all set up and it was really fun.  I think the boys had a really great Christmas and they were really excited to finally move.  I know there was a reason and purpose for our coming to St. George.  we feel very blessed to be here and are excited for another chapter in our lives to begin.  Hopefully this new year will bring a more consistent blog (journal), a new adventure with a baby girl, and lots of exciting growing moments.  Until next time...

The rest of the year in a Photo-Bomb

 I'm not even sure the order or timing of half of these pictures, mostly I'm just trying to get them up here so when I make my book at the end of the year I have them in my photo album, even if it ends up being a little scrambled.

 My Bear has gotten so big this year.  He's getting closer to being two and he definitely got the memo for the "terrible twos" behavior.  :)

 He does love his veggies as long as it has some ranch dip to go with it of course.

 We have been so blessed to be living close to family.  The cousins get together frequently and always find fun things to do with each other.  Lincoln and Damon found a giant rolie polie bug.  The pictures don't do it justice.  They were so proud of it and wanted to make sure that I took a picture of it.

 We got lots of time at Grandma's house this summer and fall while we were living just a few houses down.  It was a crazy time, but looking back now (as I'm writing this after we have moved and settled) it was a very memorable time and I'm so grateful that we had that opportunity.

 Oh yeah, don't know if I ever mentioned it here, but we are having another baby May 19th!  YAY

 We have made a few trips to Snow Canyon State Park and the boys love the sand dunes.

 Tragon is such a silly boy.  Tragon and Damon are in gymnastics and really love it.  Logan chose piano so we are keeping him going in that direction right now.  I'll have to record his next recital and post it.  :)

 With the opening of Wood Creations we have all gotten a little more crafty, even the kids.  We did a painting activity.  Jaron didn't realize that you were supposed to paint the wood letter instead of his face.

 Halloween came and went without too much hullabaloo.

 We decided to trick or treat in our new neighborhood before our house was done.  It was awesome.  There are a lot of young families where we moved and I'm excited for the next few years to come as we build some good friendships here in St. George.

 Most of the Fall and Winter we were able to avoid being sick, but I think this was the one time my Bear was super sick with fevers for a couple days and it was actually really nice to just have him sleep and cuddle all day...soooo not like him.

 Logan had a little temper tantrum and put his first hole in the wall.  Unfortunately it was at the rental.  He had to go tell the landlord (sweet lady) what happened and that he would earn money to fix it and put on a door stopper.  She even gave him a bag full of sand dollars for him to sell to earn the money.

 Oh yeah, that baby that I mentioned earlier.  It's a GIRL!!!!!!!

 We are all excited to have her in our home.  It's going to be a long time until May.  :)

 Ty, Rachel, and Ada were able to make several trips up from San Diego to visit.

 I love the fall and winter in St. George, I just never realized how much until this year.  I really have missed it.  Something I never thought I would say.  I really didn't think I would ever end up back in St. George, but now I'm so glad that I have.  It is a perfect place for little boys to play pretty much year round and avoid a lot of cabin fever through the long cold winters up north.  :)

 The boys were watching a tow truck come and get Papa's truck.  Something happened to it and it had to be towed, but it was fixable.

 More leaf parties.  I still need to get all the pictures out to siblings of their kids.  :)

 I have no idea when or where this car ride was, but Damon sleeps like his Mama with his eyes open and like his Dad with his mouth open.  :)

And my Bear with his happy smile.  I'm sure there will be another vague post similar to this until I get caught up, but then I hope to stay caught up without any more excuses like job changes and moves to put a delay on things.   Until next time...