Where Does All the White Go When the Snow Melts?

From NovDecFavorites

One of the tippy top things on the girls list of why they were excited to move to Utah. And boy did they get a lot of it in November!

From NovDecFavorites

From NovDecFavorites

From NovDecFavorites

From NovDecFavorites

From NovDecFavorites

I cannot get Natalie to stop eating snow - she is CONSTANTLY looking for a good patch and eating snow! (Even now, in February.) It is her new favorite food. The other day she found a stick and molded some snow around it to look like a marshmallow and she pretended to roast and eat it! What a hilarious kid.

From NovDecFavorites

See - there she is again!

From NovDecFavorites

From NovDecFavorites

Cute enough for a Christmas card. (o:

From NovDecFavorites

From NovDecFavorites

From NovDecFavorites

All covered with snow.

Thanksgiving at Home!

From NovDecFavorites

Now I know what you are thinking, "How cute - she is praying on Thanksgiving". Yes, she is, but it's not a prayer for what you might think. She is really saying, "Please pick me, please pick me. . ." I don't know how it happened, it probably has something to do with the fact that Kelly was in charge of the games - but the kids ended up playing Murder in the Dark after our Thanksgiving feast. Not your typical Thanksgiving tradition. But the kids LOVED it! Most of them peeked when the murderer was being chosen, but that just added to the entertainment for the adults as we watched.

From NovDecFavorites

I don't know what this game is called. Pile on uncle Kelly, perhaps. It was a huge hit too.

From NovDecFavorites

Awww - Gracie is so cute, I could eat her up.

From NovDecFavorites

I brought a little turkey hat craft for the kids. It made for some very cute pics.

From NovDecFavorites

Cute Corbin. (o:

From NovDecFavorites

The cousins! What a rare treat that I hope we don't take for granted! Our kids are starting to develop friendships and memories with their cousins. This is the first Thanksgiving we've spent with family in years. It's such a hard time to travel, but not when the drive is 15 minutes!

From NovDecFavorites

Cameron is such a sweetie. Ever the loyal BYU fan, he wrote BYU on every single one of his feathers. Poor Cam got sick just minutes after I took this picture. We must've played one round of "murderer" too many. (o;

From NovDecFavorites

Snuggle time with aunt Em. We love our families.

We also got to enjoy a fun visit with my family, but apparently I didn't take any pictures. I think we mostly sat around and munched on leftovers and talked about the day.

It was a good, good day.

November . . .

From NovDecFavorites

As the boxes got unpacked and we began learning where to find things, we started settling into our new life and felt very grateful for everything that brought us to this point. It really is miraculous. I think it was so appropriate that all the feelings, changes and events of the last few months come to an end during a season of gratitude.

From NovDecFavorites

Now does this look like "home" to you or what? Nat got all "cozy" one Sunday morning as we watched a little MoTab.

From NovDecFavorites

Our yard has 16 rose bushes. Our last house had about 12, which I thought was too many. We will probably be replacing some of them, but until I decided which ones, I had to do some major pruning for winter. I got extra motivated just before a big snowstorm hit - I was out pruning in 25 mph winds all bundled up. I was happy to get it done - I think it took a good 3-4 hours that day. Phew!

From NovDecFavorites

Angela and our white backyard!

From NovDecFavorites

I couldn't resist getting a shot of my Eskimos before heading to school one morning! I don't remember why Sarah is wearing pajamas. Must have been a party. This was before our real Lands End snow boots arrived, so my poor girls had a couple days of tromping in the snow in their galoshes! Poor things!

From NovDecFavorites

Angela wore this pilgrim hat she made at school for several days, including Thanksgiving. Here she is eating a "crabby patty" treat. I don't think the pilgrims ever tried one of these.

From NovDecFavorites

Hank got to dive right in to his church calling in Young Men by heading up the youth talent night. We came to watch and support. It was fun to get a glimpse at our new ward's youth. They are great kids and I was amazed at the talent! The boy above did the cutest song from a Broadway show about an older man looking through his yearbook and singing about how he never got picked first for any teams, but he got picked by his wife to be with her and that's all that mattered. Such a cute song and he really did a good job.

From NovDecFavorites

This is a familiar sight. I have similar pictures of the girls doing this at one of my YW activities in Hillsboro. (o: Some things never change.

From NovDecFavorites

Lots of musical talents were shared - what a fun group of kids!! We have tons of youth in our ward which will be so fun for the girls as they grow up here.

From NovDecFavorites

A new job to get used to!

Let it Snow!!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

See all that snow on the handrail? We woke up to that after one night! It was quite a sight! We were so excited! I wonder how long snow will be a novelty to us Oregonians? This was our first now storm after moving into the house and it made us feel extra cozy. Just look at that big back yard, just waiting for three little girls to tromp through the fresh snow!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

I just love how beautiful everything looks covered in white.

Settling In

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

It was soooo nice to have all our stuff back. We hadn't seen our things for about a month, I couldn't wait to get it all unpacked and get settled. We still lived out of our suitcases for a few more days, but gradually we got more and more organized. The girls were so excited to have their own rooms.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

I got a kick out of the packing job the movers did. I would pull out a big huge bundle like this . . .

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

and find teeny tiny things inside, like this. I found individually wrapped dress up shoes in tones of paper, seashells, plastic toys. They really made sure to do a good job. We must have had a ton of paper by the time we were finished unpacking, though.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

A very carefully wrapped seashell. (o:

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

The boxes made great forts and the kids had fun with them in the yard one day while I got some cleaning done. We still have some box "houses" in our basement. One fun memory for the girls, that I don't have a picture of because I was gone - was the day they were playing in the front yard with tons of boxes like these. Daddy was working on organizing and cleaning out the garage while they played in and on several boxes. Soon, neighborhood kids started to flock over and join in the fun. Hal* said he counted 13 little girls running around on and in those boxes in the front yard. It was a fun first memory for the girls in their new neighborhood!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Another funny thing that happened - could have turned out not so funny if the weather hadn't been so good the week we moved in. On our day of the move in - one of the guys had the brilliant idea to open one of the basement room windows to pass boxes through. We opened a window and took out a screen. I never really remembered seeing them use that window, now that I look back on it. We got busy doing other things and directing furniture placement, we forgot about it. Two days later, we were walking around the side of the house and found several boxes stacked by a window on the opposite side of the house behind our garage! Someone must have gotten mixed up as to which side of the house to take the boxes to and since the boxes could not be seen from the front or the backyard, they were forgotten. I'm so glad the weather held up or we would have lost a lot of books! Another down side to opening that window was that we were so busy that day we forgot it was open. We didn't notice until we came home late that night from getting dinner and realized the downstairs was freezing. Yikes! So much for that brilliant idea.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

We love the sidewalk that wraps around to our big back patio - perfect for riding bikes!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

One of the first matters of business after our move was finding violin and piano teachers for the girls and myself. We found a great violin teacher for Natalie at the high school right down the street, just a mile away. She is the orchestra teacher at Riverton. After Nat's first lesson, we came out and heard the marching band playing so we went to go watch them. They were preparing for state competition, I believe. It was fun to get to know the high school the girls will go to someday. It seems like a really nice school!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

This was a big project we had to get to before winter set in. You can't really tell from this picture just how many tomato bushes are in here. I think I pulled out about 10 huge bushes (toward the middle and back). We also pulled out several weeds, old potato plants, corn stalks and picked some delicious carrots. We are excited to plant in this great big garden next summer!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Now that looks like a "home sweet home" sort of picture!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

A house really feels like a home when friends and family come to visit! This is Angela's new friend, Abbi who lives two houses down!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Hosting our first football party with mom and dad! Hal* made his famous ribs. It was a stressful and exciting game vs. San Diego State. A nail biter for sure, but the Utes ended on an exciting note - 38 to 34, we were whooping and hollering and jumping up and down!! That was one of the craziest games I've ever seen with guys tipping the ball to the other team, blocking kicks, interceptions - all the stuff that makes college football so fun!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

A fun night with grandma and grandpa ended with a fun surprise - when we opened the door to say goodbye - 5 fresh inches of snow that fell during the game! Our first snow since moving into the house.

The Girls' Rooms

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Because we were going from the girls sharing in the old house to getting their own rooms in the new house, we needed to get a new dresser and a couple new pieces of furniture for their rooms. The first priority was a dresser so we could get Angela's clothes out of her boxes. After two weeks of living out of boxes, her dresser arrived! Before this new furniture arrived, my motivation to work on the girls rooms was minimal. I worked on other areas of the house. The day the furniture arrived, I worked hard to get all their rooms unpacked and arrranged. It felt so good to finally have them moved in and they were so excited to see the big "ta da" when they got home from school.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Nat loved seeing her bed pushed up against the wall. I had fun moving things around until I liked it.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Christine's Concert

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

My little sis has some amazing pipes. She discovered this talent during high school after taking private voice lessons and getting involved in her high school choir. Now that she's in college, she sings in the institute choir and works at Heritage Park during Christmas in a carolers group. I have missed more performances than I'd like to think about - and now that we are back, I am thrilled to get to attend some of her concerts and performances. One of her first ones after we moved, was a Thanksgiving concert at the U of U institute. I brought Natalie with me and we were not disappointed. It was beautiful! Natalie thought it was a little long. After just one song, she was ready to go up and give aunt Chrissy a hug. We loved it and it was so fun to get a little tour of the building with Christine. In my years at the U of U, I spent countless hours at the institute. It was my hang out spot with all my college and sorority friends. I LOVED the "tute" as we called it. I was a little sad because the building I knew had been torn down and replaced with this new building. It was fun to see what is now Chrissy's stomping grounds. The picture above is "her" calendar that she was keeping up last semester.

T-shirts

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

While shopping at Walmart for some new home necessities, I spotted this shirt in the men's department. I was in a silly mood and it made me laugh. I liked this "cool Yoda" shirt and pointed it out to the girls. Angela laughed, Natalie laughed, Sarah rolled her eyes. I told her I liked it enough that I might buy it. I like things that make me laugh. She didn't think there was anything funny about it. "But that's a boy shirt!" she pointed out. Plus, she thought it was dorky. Ok, I'm not arguing that. Then I had a thought and told her that maybe it could be the shirt I wear when I come volunteer in her classroom. Her face turned white - she was stunned and horrified. "No mom! That would be so embarrassing!" Oh dear, this only seemed to encourage my teasing. I don't know what it is, I couldn't help myself. I found myself buying the shirt within minutes of that comment. Sarah was seriously MAD at me for buying such an ugly boy shirt. Any time I bring it up (still) she gets freaked out. I haven't worn it to school yet, but when I wear it, she really pays attention to where we are going that day. Poor Sarah - we all get a big kick out of her hatred of my Yoda shirt.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

And speaking of shirts, this is a very cute, one of a kind shirt Natalie owns that can't be found at any Walmart. For one of her school assignments, she was supposed to design a T-shirt that advertised a mystery book she read. She read a Magic Treehouse book called, "Day of the Dragon King". On her shirt, she wanted to draw a dragon with fabric puff paints. I found a picture on google of a cute dragon and gave her the paints. I swear I did not draw a single line on this shirt. I could not believe how good it turned out! What an artist! This is now one of her favorite T-shirts to wear. I wish I had one my size. Guess I'll just have to wear my Yoda instead. (o:

Thankful

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Just a week after moving into our house, I got a scary phone call that my dad was in the hospital. He had an acute case of diverticulitis that had gotten to a dangerous stage and was hospitalized for several days until the doctors felt he was stable and beyond risk for infection. That first day, before we knew how bad things were going to be, I was so grateful that Bob* could take most of the day off and I was able to spend the afternoon with dad and mom. It was so much better than getting updates over the phone -which would have been the case if we were still in Oregon. And that is precisely why we came back. To be closer for the good and the bad times. I felt relief seeing that my dad still had his sense of humor and was able to joke around (although I could tell he was in a lot of pain). I also enjoyed going to lunch with my mom and visiting over Subways.

Unfortunately, the hospitalization forced my dad to miss the much anticipated home "blackout" game with TCU. I decided to come watch some of the game with him at the hospital to cheer him up. He had his Shakey "mask" above and all kinds of U of U paraphernalia in his room. Unfortunately, it was the worst game of the season for the Utes up until that point. Well, there was only so much cheering up I could do after that game. But at least he had someone to mope with.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Later in the week, we all came for a visit. The girls were very worried about grandpa too and were so happy to get to see that he was okay. We were all feeling very thankful that dad was okay and that we were close enough to visit him as much as we wanted. Love you dad.

The amazing thing was that the next week, dad was able to go on his much anticipated trip to the U of U vs. Notre Dame game in Indiana that he and my mom had planned months before. When he first realized how serious his condition was, I think he was more worried about missing that game than anything else. (o: Happily, he got to go . . . Sadly, it ended up being a terrible game.

But that's not what matters most. I still feel very thankful.