End of the Year Post

Christmas was wonderful.  We gave our kids puzzle pieces that they were able to put together - they were ecstatic when they saw the last piece put in as "Florida" - it was a fun reaction.

 Travis hanging out at Jared and Lynn's house one day after we had dinner with them.

 Hunter wrestling at a Folk Style Tournament.

 Gwennie on Christmas day - super sassy.

Christmas 2014

This year for Christmas Travis and I decided to make our summer vacation part of our kids’ Christmas present.  I made a puzzle that said what we were planning and where we were planning to go.  The kids each got to unwrap a few pieces each, with the exception of the piece that I had (the last one) that indicated the location of our trip : FLORIDA.   They had the entire thing together minus the last piece and they were begging for it.  Travis played it up very well.  He told them if they were good ALL DAY he would let them have the last piece….they were upset and cried out in outrage….his reply:  “I don’t see any of you rubbing my shoulders, or my feet….”  Within moments they were rubbing him down showing him how much they wanted the last piece of the puzzle. 

He told them they could have it and while he placed it in the puzzle I took a picture of their priceless reaction.  They are so excited!  And so are Travis and I .  We can hardly wait until the end of July when we can go and do such a fun trip together.  All in part because we have the frequent flyer miles to get us there and back, rent our car, and get our sea world tickets….and we are staying with Travis’ brother Philip and his wife Carol.   We will be out the cost of food, Disney, Gatorland, and whatever other fun things we do, besides the beach, swimming at Philip’s, Universal Studios, etc.  

Paps

I have way more pictures of these dogs...but had to get one of them together with Travis.  They lay together often and are pretty cute....if they would just quit barking, they would be perfect.  And quit smelling...

Hunter's Wrestling 7th Grade

Hunter had a great 7th grade wrestling season this year.  He ended up taking 3rd at districts and yesterday wrestled amazingly well at "state" (pictures below).  He has started to really love the sport and WANTS to be better at it!

Family Night Roller Skating

Dallin reached a goal of his and as a reward we made it to the Roller Drome for family night.  It was amazingly fun.  Travis' ankle still really bothers him so he didn't skate, but I did some tricks when I would skate passed him. :)  The kids had fun doing limbo and being 6 out of the 11 people that were in the rink for that session!  It was so fun!

Winter Dance Recital

Gwennie performed beautifully in her winter dance recital.  She is doing jazz and ballet this year and I really love her doing both.  She is so dang good at them….and so much fun to watch. I especially loved her jazz routine during this recital.   Travis was a districts with Hunter for wrestling so he couldn’t go.  I ended up taking McKenna and we went and got ice cream after the show.

Random Picutres

One of my kids (Dallin) drew in the dust on my car.

An Adventure on Our Terms

The people who bought our old house next door have lived there for almost 4 years.  The love the house but hate the location.  They would like to be closer to the city.  When we found out they were moving, I told Travis ( he seemed un-phased).  I suggested that maybe we could buy it back and sell the one we are in to get the equity out of it.  He hadn’t thought of that idea and was super excited about it.  We had the attorneys and the loan people look into it and see if it were even a possibility to do that.  And it was!  We got everything in place, qualified and signed at the beginning of December.  They are renting it back from us while they build their house, which works out well for us because we don’t want to list ours until spring time when the market is better.  This way we get the equity out of the house we are in (which we were trying to do anyway by buying it ourselves – it was just too much $) and we can stay in  our neighborhood/ward/schools and we already know we love the house we are in.  It’s smaller, but we are okay with that.  It’s plenty big for us to manage and raise our kids in.  We have decided to change some of the cosmetic things about it and have those done before we move in, and it will feel like ours again. J 

Funny thing is, our kids have no idea.  We are going to list our house in a few months and they will just be surprised that we are moving.   Then we are hoping to be able to having them stay somewhere for the weekend while we move everything over and they come home to a new house….but I don’t know how feasible that is.  Either way, it is a fun idea.

BYU vs. BSU

Tyler got this tattoo and wanted to show my dad on the day that BSU played BYU.

The Bear Has a New Home

I love the sentiment that comes with the spring bear that Travis killed many years ago, but the thing is huge and I just don't have room for it anymore.  So, Travis gave it to our neighbor, Carson, and Hunter helped him wheel it down to his house....it was a bitter sweet day.

Down Time /Multi-Tasking

We had some time to hang out on my bed the other night.  Tyler was doing homework , Dallin was playing my phone and Gwendalin was recovering from a fever....Moments I would never change.

Roses...

Every once in a while I will come across these little "roses" or gifts that my kids leave me....they used to really irritate me, but now that I am working and I get so little time at home with them, when I find them I smile and snap a picture.  This one I found when I was starting a load of laundry this week.  I asked Dallin if he drew on the washer and he said no...and I said I thought it was him because it was his name.  He looked at me sheepishly....:)

Sunrise

Snapped these on my way to work...the sunrise was just beautiful.

Halloween

Halloween was fun this year.  The kids loved a costume I borrowed from a guy at work - a gorilla.  Dallin and Hunter both had it on at separate times....aside from the thing being so hot, it was really pretty scary.  For actual Halloween, Hunter was a wrestler with a fro wig (our neighbor called him Richard Simmons Jr.), Gwennie was a BYU Cheerleader (which she deicded 3 days before and I had to expedite the shipping from Provo), Tyler was an army guy, and Dallin was a vampire, but really just a kid in shorts with a cape on.  They all got a lot of loot and loved every  minute.  I wore a halloween t-shirt and put a spider tattoo on my cheek.  hurrah.

Precious Moments

Gwennie came in and talked to me while I was laying on the floor in my closet....she said, "mom,do you still have your wedding dress?"  I said "yes,  do you want to see it...." and then we started trying it one together and I realized how much she looks like me.  It really was a blessing that she came in while I was moping in the closet because she pulled me out of the "pity party" that I had started throwing for myself. We had a lot of fun.