Vacation 2013: Day 8 - Christmas Day

We celebrated Christmas early in Texas so we wouldn't have to bring lots of presents to Utah and back.  But we did save a few presents so the kids could have something to open on "real Christmas."  Brandon's parents also had presents for the kids.  I hadn't planned to do stockings again, but when Brandon's mom asked me if she should get something for the kids stockings I realized that stockings would look really cute hanging over the fireplace at their cottage.  

We all slept in the living room of the cottage again so Santa had to be extra magic to leave out the presents while we were sleeping.

The kids didn't notice the presents at first, but then they did.  They were so excited and wanted to start opening presents right away.  Steve and Jacque got up and we started opening presents.

Jacque gave the girls princess crowns, jewelry, shoes, and wands.  They LOVED them.

Veronica got a little soft doll.

After we were done with presents Steve and Jacque made us all breakfast.  Their kitchen is incredibly small so we just had ego waffles.  They were really good.  Brandon bought "The Santa Clause" for us, so we watched that while we ate.

We gave the kids playdough and a little playdough tool set.  Brandon and the girls played with that for a long time.

When the movie was over we packed everything up and then drove an hour to my parents house.  They were waiting to open presents until we arrived.  They gave lots of art supplies to the kids. 

Derrick hadn't really cared about any of his toys.  But then he opened up the present from my mom and dad.  He was so so so so so excited about the ball that they gave him. (This picture doesn't show how happy he really was.)  He started throwing it right away.  Everyone had been giving him toys based on what Brandon likes.  He got little toy tools and a toy airplane.  But when he got the ball it was like he was saying, "Finally, this is what I really wanted!"  I think that this little boy is going to turn us into an organised sports type of family.

My brother Billy had come up from Provo to spend the next few days with us.  All my kids fell in love with him.  They had lots of fun playing around with him (and his i-phone).

The girls tested out their new watercolor paints.

And then we set up the computer equipment so we could Skype with my sister Hillary.

The big computer wasn't working, but luckily we still had my dad's i-pad.  Even though the screen was small it was still great to see and hear Hillary.  She is currently serving a mission in Louisville (pronouced low-vol) Kentucky.  She's been on her mission since April and will come home around Halloween.  She told us lots of great stories.  She was surprised at how big all my kids are.

Hillary could only talk for 40 minutes.  The time flew by and soon it was time to say goodbye.  My parents wont get to Skype with her again until Mother's Day.

Billy got out his French Horn and played it for us.

The girls got the little French Horn ornament off of the tree and took turns playing that.  Billy is a member of the Orchestra at Temple Square.  The first time we watched him play during one of the Music and the Spoken Word broadcasts the girls turned to me and asked, "where's his little French horn?"  I couldn't believe they remembered that little ornament from last year.

I took a nap.  I woke up to Derrick laughing his head off while playing with Billy.

While I was asleep the girls bundled up and played in the snow in the backyard.  My mom said they were so light they didn't even break through the snow crust.

In the evening we went out to my Aunt Julie's house so my cousins Heidi and Melissa could see Veronica and the other kids.  My Aunt Vera was there too.  Derrick kept pointing to their Christmas Tree and asking, "dah dah dah" which roughly translates to "what is that?"  And my dad would answer, "Christmas Tree."  They probably did that at least 100 times.  Then Derrick found a toy truck and played with that for about an hour before going back to asking about the Christmas Tree.

Charlotte was playing in the basement with someone.  I thought it was my cousin Heidi, but then I realized that Heidi was talking to Billy.  Charlotte was playing with my aunt Vera.  Charlotte later told me, "I like that girl."

Lydia fell asleep on the way to Julie and Mark's house.  She didn't wake up until about 5 minutes before we left. Billy decorated her with stuffed animals.

Brandon and I had lots of fun talking to my family.  They had lots of treats and that they shared with us.  I probably ate at least 10 truffles.  When all the treats were gone it got late we said goodbye and drove back to my parents house.  It had been a great Christmas day.

Vacation 2013: Day 7 - Christmas Eve

I'm still kind of in shock over the fact that Brandon and I are now a family of six.  The kids all came so fast that my brain hasn't had time to adjust how many people I'm in charge of.  But every so often I do things that remind me just how many people depend on me.  Packing clothes for various adventures our trip was one of those things.  

Our 3 days in northern Utah were a trip-within-a-trip.  I was overwhelmed with trying to gather enough clothes for all six of us to wear for church, after church, Monday, Tuesday, the Christmas Eve Party on Tuesday night, and Wednesday.  To say nothing of regular pajamas and cute pajamas for Christmas eve.  I finally gave up and just packed enough clothes to last until Tuesday morning.  

On Tuesday morning we woke up at Melanie's house and had breakfast with her family.  Then said goodbye to them until that evening and rove an hour to my parents house to get ready for the party that would be at Brandon's other sister's house.

My parents were at work and they were sad that they would miss even a little bit of time with their grandkids.  But they really didn't miss much other than the usual bath time drama.  Brandon and I got everyone ready for the party and repacked the duffel bag to last us one more night.  Then we drove 45 minutes to the party.  

I took this picture at the party of all our cute little kids.  I still can't believe I have 4 kids.  

All year long we expected that the annual Christmas Eve party would be held at Brandon's parent's new home in Eden.  But the house wasn't quite done yet.  So the party was held at Shannon's house in Tooele, Utah for the third year in a row.

It was kind of sad that we couldn't be in the big house yet, but the party was still really fun.  We had all the usual Norwegian food and goodies.

Here's Brandon enjoying Rice Crem with strawberry sauce.

The girls had lots of fun playing with their cousins' toys.  (Note to self, buy pretend food and pots and pans for the kids.)

Brandon and I were happy to be there together.  I couldn't believe that it had been only a year ago that he made it home from Texas just in time for Christmas.

We played the usual chime game.  Derrick thought it was so much fun to hit his chime.  

Soon Charlotte and Lydia joined in and we had a lot of racket going on.

Veronica got passed around from person to person.  She had a great time and was awake during the whole 3 hours of the party.

At the end of the party we did our tradition of holding hands and dancing around the Christmas Tree.

Derrick was so excited.  He'd spin in circles and then fall on the ground.

Lydia was upset most of the time we danced.  I don't know why.  Charlotte seemed to like it, but I think she was crying by the end.  I think they were pretty tired.

Derrick got a little tired too and spent the rest of the time riding on Brandon's shoulder like this.

Here is a little movie of first the chimes and then dancing around the tree.  As you can see the family is getting too big for Shannon's family room.  It will be nice to have lots of room at the new house next year. 

The party started winding down so I changed the kids into their Christmas Pajamas.

Derrick didn't really have Christmasy pajamas, but all the girls did.  Veronica's even said, "My first Christmas."

 We'd planned on sleeping over at Steve and Jacque's house back when we thought the big house would be done.  At the time I imagined how wonderful it would be to just say goodbye to all the guests and then put our kids to bed.  But unfortunately that isn't what happened.

Instead we had to put our kids in the car and drive for over an hour to get to Steve and Jacque's house.  I was tired and pretty grumpy during the drive.  It was one of those times where I said a lot of things I felt, but nothing I actually meant.  I told Brandon I was sick of living out of our car and that next year everyone should come visit us in Texas.

Well as soon as we got to Steve and Jacque's I forgot all about my problems - because Lydia started throwing up. (I think she ate a few too many cookies at the party).  I went into "Good Mommy-mode" and took care of her while Brandon brought all the sleeping kids inside.  I didn't have any other pajamas for her to sleep in so Jacque let Lydia wear one of her t-shirts.

Lydia eventually fell asleep and Brandon and I finished wrapping a few presents and set everything up under the tree.  Then we went right to bed.

Vacation 2013: Day 5 and 6 - Visiting and more visiting

Sunday morning we woke up early and gave the kids baths and got them ready for church.  

I'm pretty certain this is Lydia

The simple thing to do would have been to go to church at my parents ward in Kearns.  However, they don't go to that ward right now.  They are service missionaries for a Spanish Branch in Magna.

Which makes this Charlotte

Which is okay because there really wasn't any reason for us to go to the Kearns ward.  So instead we put all the kids in the car and drove up to Bountiful.

Veronica modeling my trademark dress over a sleeper look.

We wanted to visit all of our friends in our old branch up there.

And Derrick looking all dapper.  (This is the only picture of me which is a shame because I looked GOOD!)

For those of you who might be a little confused, a Ward is a large congregation in the LDS Church.  A Branch is a small congregation.  Usually a ward has about 500ish members while a branch has around 100 or so depending on local circumstances.  In Utah most congregations are divided into wards.  There are a few branches that are set up to meet needs such as branches for Spanish speaking members.

And then there is the branch in Bountiful.  Back in 2010 when Brandon and I decided to move to Bountiful we were shocked to find out that our apartment complex was its own branch.  At first I thought it had to be a mistake.  Why would there be a branch in the middle of Utah that was for English speakers?  But after we attended our first Sunday of church we found out that it really was a branch.

It had been created in 2007 to help the leaders of the Stake (a group of wards) give extra help to the residents of our apartment complex with their economic and spiritual needs.  Older couples from the Stake were called to serve as service missionaries in the branch.  They served in the branch presidency and helped out with many of the other organisations.  During the 2 and a half years that we lived in the branch Brandon and I saw so many miracles.  We also had a handful of them happen to us.  We were given lots of great opportunities to serve as well.  I taught Relief Society and Sunday School and also served in the Relief Society presidency for a while.  Brandon was the Ward Mission Leader and then the Elders Quorum President.

We were so excited to go back and visit all of our friends. Thanks to facebook (and this blog) we've stayed in contact with a lot of them, but there is nothing like seeing people face to face.  It was wonderful to see so many old friends.  I normally am not much of a hugger, but a always seem to turn into one when I am in the branch.  I think I hugged more people in the first 10 minutes I was at the church than I have all year long.

There is such a wonderful spirit in the branch.  I love my current ward in Texas, but I felt like I was coming home to sit in Sacrament meeting in the branch.  Unfortunately, the kids didn't feel the same way.  I think the 26 hour drive to Utah hadn't worked out of their systems yet, because we couldn't get them to sit still.  I ended up handing off Veronica to a missionary couple.  Derrick and Brandon wend out to the hall and started walking around.  Charlotte and Lydia staged a huge fight over some toy and I took them out to the foyer.  Brandon and I met up and remarked that it was just like old times :)        

Things were better once the kids could go to nursery.  I thought it was fitting that the girls would go to their last week of nursery in the same place that they went to their first week.

In class I kept thinking about all the wonderful things that we'd experienced and learned during our time in the branch.  Those 2 1/2 years were hard for us financially, but our faith grew so much. We weren't the only ones who grew by being members of the branch.  Eleven members of the branch have been through the temple since Brandon went to basic training.  That's incredible considering there were only about 15 active members when we moved in.

Anyway, you're probably sick of hearing about the branch so I'll just sum up the rest: special special special.

After church we drove the 2 seconds over to our old apartment and visited our neighbor Melody who wasn't feeling well.  She took one look at Veronica and said, "wow, she looks just like the rest of them, you need to break the mold sometime."

It was interesting to be back at the apartments.  Charlotte, Lydia, and Derrick were all born while we lived there.  They kids had changed so much, but the buildings hadn't changed at all.  In fact I even went down to our old apartment and found the outdoor weather sensor temperature thingy that we accidentally left behind when we moved. It was still hanging by the back door.  I'm glad I found it, I've missed knowing what the outdoor temperature is.

After we visited Melody we went next door and visited George.  George was a Secret Santa for our family the year the girls were born.  He dropped a gift off every day for the 12 days of Christmas.  Every day I looked forward to finding a gift on our doorstep.  It wasn't until a year later that he told Brandon it was him who gave us the gifts.  George welcomed us in and we chatted for a minute.  We couldn't stay long because Derrick needed a nap.

We left and drove up to Ogden to spend the rest of the day with Brandon's parents.  They were still in church so we brought the kids into the cottage and took a little break.  I laid down because I was exhausted from visiting with so many people.  I love talking and being around people, but I am naturally an introvert.  Being around people drains my energy (but it's totally worth it).

Steve and Jacque came home and we had dinner.  Then we drove up to see the new house in Eden.  The house was supposed to be done by now, and we had been planning on staying most our visit there.  But due to various reasons the house wasn't done yet.  It was so close - the walls were painted, the cabinets were in, the carpet was laid - but it wasn't all the way done.  So all we could do was walk around.    

Still it was pretty impressive.  We'd last seen the house exactly a year before.  Back then it was just two by fours.

Now it was all done! (almost)

I couldn't believe how big it was.

The kids had fun running around the unfinished basement.

And then it was time to leave.  Lydia started bawling when she realized we couldn't stay at the big house.  She cried as we pulled out of the driveway.  Jacque said, "Lydia, you are vocalizing how I feel every time I leave this place.  I wish I lived here too."

We went back to the cottage and got ready for bed.  We all slept in the main room.  Derrick and Veronica each had a pack and play, Charlotte and Lydia shared the couch (though Lydia insisted in falling asleep on the coffee table) and Brandon and I shared our air mattress.  It was crowded, but we felt that spending time with Brandon's parents was more important than being comfortable. 

The next day Brandon's parents had to go to work.  We cleaned up our sleeping stuff and then put everyone in the car and drove up to Logan.

Brandon and I met in Logan and we lived there for the first three years that we were married.  Most of our close friends from that time have moved away.  But our friend Laurie is still there.  We went up to Logan so we could visit her.  She watches her granddaughter during the day.  Mikayla told her Grandma that she was going to give hugs to everyone.  Laurie told her that Charlotte and Lydia would give hugs, but Derrick probably wouldn't.  Well it turns out that Derrick was the one who wanted to give hugs.  He and Mikayla hugged at least 15 times.

Laurie gave our kids a tent as a Christmas present and everyone had fun playing with it.

She also gave Veronica a pink camo outfit.  I loved the camo ruffles on the bum.

After Laurie's we drove around the USU campus so the kids could get a little nap in the car.  Then we went through the drive though at A&W for lunch.  After that we stopped off at TJ Maxx so Brandon could see his friend Jana.  She's Laurie's daughter and would have been at her house, but she had to work.  Finally we went to main street so we could go look at the gingerbread houses.

We always went to look at the gingerbread houses when we lived in Logan.  I remember then being really cool.  But this year they seemed a little underwhelming.

It didn't help that the weather was really cold.  All week long the snow had been driving me crazy.  I couldn't believe how annoying it was to have to worry about putting socks, boots, coats, gloves, and hats on all my kids.  We'd put everything on our kids to keep them warm on the way to the car.  Then they would take everything off and we'd have to put it all back on them when we got out of the car.  And then they'd have to take it all off as soon as we walked into someones house.  All that work made me glad I'm raising my kids in a warm climate.  We can move somewhere with snow when they are all old enough to put their own shoes and coats on.

We had an okay time walking up and down mainsteet, but it wasn't really that special.

I'd imagined the girls running up to each gingerbread house and staring at them in wonder.  Instead they usually just walked right by them and they gave each house a passing glance when I pointed it out.

We were all happy to get back to the car.  As we drove away from Logan we remarked on how we still didn't really like that town.  In Ogden we'd talked about how we'd always wanted to move to Ogden one day.  In Bountiful we'd talked about how we still kind of wished we lived there.  But in Logan we didn't feel anything.  I think that might have been our last visit to Logan - unless we go to Bear Lake.  I LOVE Bear Lake.

We drove out of Logan on the back route and went to Brandon's sister Melanie's house in Tremonton.  Our kids were very happy to be out of the cold and see their cousins Wally, Weston, Wyatt, and Oakley.  The kids all watched movies while we talked with Melanie and Justin.  

Melanie made tacos for dinner.  One of the great things about visiting so many people is that we really didn't have to cook much.

Melanie and Justin are renting their current home while they wait for the short sale to go through on their dream home.  The house was tiny, but again we felt it was more important to spend time with family than to be comfortable.  So Brandon and I slept on our air mattress in the living room again. Veronica slept on some blankets on the floor.  Derrick had a pack and play.  And Charlotte and Lydia had their first sleepover in Oakley's room.     

I ended up conking out on the couch and Brandon stayed up for a while talking with Justin and Melanie.  He was so happy to spend time with family.

Vacation 2013: Day 3 and 4 - Resting, Trains, and Lights

I sort of hoped that I'd be able to keep up on my blog during our trip to Utah.  But obviously that didn't work out.  There were just too many fun things going on to take the time to write about them at the time.  So now I'm going to try to recap the 18 days (yes, 18 days!) of our vacation as quickly as possible.  It's a good thing I like writing because this is also the month I plan on starting to write for my travel blog.  Lets get started!

Day 3 was scheduled as a down day so we could recover from our drive.  I spent the morning working on my blog post about our awesome drive to Utah.  

Vacation 2013: Day 1 and 2 - Drive Drive Drive

Back when we moved to Texas we had several guidelines for how to make the drive less traumatic for the kids. We'd once been on a 15 hour road trip to Arizona with some of Brandon's family.  Our niece who was 6 months old at the time screamed for hours once the sun went down.  It was pretty awful and we wanted to avoid that with our own kids.  So when we drove to Texas we decided we'd only drive during the day and we wouldn't drive more than 10 hours every day. 

We followed those guidelines pretty well until the Jeep broke down on the New Mexico/Texas border.  When Lindsey came to rescue us she drove almost 10 hours straight with her two little kids in the car.  Then we drove all through the night to make it to Fort Hood in time for Brandon to sign into his unit.  And then the next week we had to go back for the jeep.  On that trip we drove the 7 hours to the border, fixed the jeep, and then turned around and drove the 7 hours back.

From those experiences we learned that our kids are fine riding in the car through the night.  In fact it was a little bit easier because they just slept.  We also learned that long hours in the car aren't any worse than shorter trips.