December 28, 2010

Christmas 2010


It's crazy to think back on this past year. I am thankful to know that my Heavenly Father loves me and my family. I'm thankful for a husband who loves me and honors his priesthood. I am thankful for each of my kids and the sweet spirit that they bring into our home. I am thankful for my many trials to make me the person I am. I am also thankful to live near my parents. I haven't been on the east coast long, but this is the place that I've always dreamed of.

My dreams begin

Although Grace is 7 months, I'm very excited to get her big girl toys. She didn't get any baby toys for Christmas. Nope! She got a play kitchen with food.

As a tradition, the kids get an ornament every Christmas. My mom also has a tradition of buying the girls & inlaw girls shoe ornaments. I started Grace off with pink ballet shoes. :)

December 8, 2010

The kids keeping growing on me!






Home... at last

We are finally a family (at last)!! We are in Virginia. It's beautiful here. The trees are bare and it's colder than cold. I'm beginning to believe that Virginia is God's country!! The drive went better than expected. My daddy drove most of the way. He was cute since he would get tired at 6:30 (which is 8:30pm his time). Since there was a storm hitting north Utah and Wyoming, we took the 70 to the 64 (rather than the 80 all the way). We drove over the Rockies with the van pulling a trailer (packed to it's limit), we got horrible mileage. There was a storm driving into Colorado & that wasn't even the worst part. There was ice on the roads. We would have died if I was driving. My dad had amazing control of the car. However, we were forced to buy chains for the front tires. We were going 10mph going up the mountains. It was nuts! We drove right by the St. Louis Arch. Again, my dad got tired and by the 3rd day driving, I was done. I took the driver's seat and let my dad sleep. We went through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky... at 2am, my dad took over and I got some sleep. We drove all the way home that night. We finally made it home at 1:30pm. We surprised Nathaniel. I let him think we were still in Missouri. It is nice to be home all together. I'm thinking I never want to move. Isaac has a field trip on Friday to the Smithsonian Museum. We have to plan trips since there is much to see around here.We drove by one of the many battlefields that is marked. I feel blessed to be here and to allow my kids to learn more about history and how we became America.

My parents live in the basement. It's a full apartment with outside access. I love having them close. I don't get to spend a ton of time with them. They get home at 6pm every night. They have 2 dogs and you might wonder if my kids are more excited about having mema & papa closer or their dogs downstairs.

Needless to say, life couldn't be any better.