The rest of November

I'm slowly but surely making it through my pre-Christmas to do list. One thing I need to do is get this blog caught up. So let's sit back and talk about the rest of November.  Those last few days of the month were pretty busy.  We did Christmas shopping, went to the Ogden Christmas Village, went to a family party, and celebrated Brandon's birthday. 

My last post was all about Thanksgiving.  And it was such a great Thanksgiving.  One of Brandon's sisters slept over at the house and his other sister lives close by so everyone stayed up late talking and laughing together.  It was a fun day.  

The next day we were all dragging a little, but it was fun to continue the unhurried feeling from the day before. No one in the family is into Black Friday Shopping so we mostly just hung around and talked.  We'd asked Melanie to take a family picture for us.  She takes really good photos and I needed a nice family picture for my desk at work. I realized that our last professional looking picture was taken when Veronica was 1.  Well, about 5 seconds into the photo-shoot I remembered why that's the case. No one was really into posing and Veronica didn't want to take her coat off.  But at least we tried. 

And we got a cute one of Brandon and me together.

I also made sure to snap a picture of Snow Basin.  It had been nearly a year since I'd applied for a job with the accounting department at Snow basin.  That job literally changed my life.  I don't know if we ever would have considered living in Yellowstone if I hadn't liked working in the cash office at Snowbasin.  I'll always consider this "my mountain."

That evening, after all the other cousins had gone home, my kids made gingerbread houses with Bestemor and Bestefar. They'd done this last year and really liked it. The kids and I had all gone grocery shopping a few weeks earlier and Derrick had wanted to buy the pre-made gingerbread house kit.  It was only $8 so I said he could get it, and he proudly carried it thoughout the whole store.  He asked every day if it was time to do the gingerbread houses yet.  I told him we'd do them when we were at Bestemor and Bestefar's house.

He was so happy to finally make the houses. He was really good at carefully putting the candy on the house.

Veronica enjoyed it too.

And the twins did too of course.  (Can you tell that Lydia wants her FOUR front teeth for Christmas.)

The kids were getting sleepy so we put them to bed.  Then Brandon and I stayed up watching Jimmy Fallon clips on Youtube.  We haven't had the internet in our home since we moved away from his parents house 6 months ago so it's been 6 months since we've been able to watch silly Youtube clips.  It was really fun to do that again.

Brandon's birthday was the next week and so I thought it would be a good idea to celebrate with a date while we were at his parents house.  I also wanted to get some Christmas shopping done while we had babysitters to watch the kids.  At first I figured we would go do the shopping date at night, but I didn't like the idea of driving from store to store at night and josteling with other shoppers. 

Then I had a brilliant idea.  Why not go on our date in the morning?  We could go out to breakfast and then hit up the stores before anyone else was shopping.  And if we went the day after black Friday we could still hit some good sales. 

So that is what we did.  We woke up at 4:45 and drove down to Ogden.  We had breakfast at IHOP.  We were the only ones there.

The food was so yummy.  We've been married for 10 years, but this was the first time we've gone out to breakfast together.

Then we went to Walmart at around 6:00 AM. Remember this was the day AFTER Black Friday so the store was deserted. We had such a relaxing time walking around and finding the things we planned to buy for the kids.

Our next stop was Target, but they didn't open until 8:00 so we went to Joann's to "window shop."  Those were some famous last words.  There were so many good deals.  If I'd planned ahead I would have bought fabric, but let's be honest, I don't need more fabric in my life right now.  We did buy huge rolls of wrapping paper for only 1.50 and some clear plastic ornaments that I'd use for a project later. 

Then we went to Target.  We were there mostly for Jeans for Brandon.  He needed more movable jeans so he could easily climb in and out of the airplanes he practices fixing. We also bought a few more things for the kids.

When we made it back to Steve and Jacque's house I jumped on my laptop and finalized the order I had waiting in my Amazon cart.  I'd been looking to see if I could find a better deal on anything at the stores we visited, but most of the things online were the best deal.  So I placed that order. 

It was 10:15 on November 25th and we were basically DONE with Christmas Shopping.  It was the BEST feeling. Of course there were a few things here and there that I knew we'd need to get, but the bulk of the shopping was complete.  I want to do that every year.

Oh and I have to do a little shout out about how we had the money for Christmas shopping.  Back when we sold the RV I'd pulled out some cash and set it aside for Christmas.  I was hoping that we wouldn't have to touch it to pay bills, but since I didn't have a job yet I knew that we might have to tap into it. Even after I accepted the job with Bannock County I was worried that we'd have to tap into the Christmas money. 

About a month ago we received a check from some good friends.  I know they wouldn't want me to name them by name here, but we were so grateful for the money they sent.  It allowed us to get through the last few weeks before my first paycheck from Bannock County without taping into that Christmas money savings.  Our Christmas was less stressful thanks to them.

When we came back to the house the kids were ready to eat their gingerbread houses. They had a lot of fun with that.

Charlotte wanted to make sure I took a picture of the wreath she'd made.

Here's Lydia trying to gum her house.  That girl needs to get some teeth soon.

In the early afternoon we had a lunch/dinner and then went down to Ogden.  Our first stop was the Ogden Train Museum.  Derrick had been asking non-stop to go get train pictures.  So we went into the lobby so he could load up on brochures.  Then we walked around the big trains on display outside.

 The kids always love coming here.

 Derrick was very happy to get his train needs satisfied. (At least for the day.)

Then we headed up 25th Street toward the Christmas Village.  Going to the Ogden Christmas Village has been one of our family traditions since Brandon and I were first dating, but we've never been to the first night when they turn on all the lights.  We'd thought about it last year, but it had been too cold.  This year, though, the weather was much better and we figured it would be fun to go.  The lights weren't on yet, but the windows were open so we could see into the cute little buildings on display.

I'm so glad that we still live close enough to Ogden that we can continue this tradition.

Derrick did well walking through the crowds of people, but by the time we made it to our spot on a stair case he was pretty overwhelmed by all the people and noise.  He kept asking to go home and go to bed.

I tried to calm him down by taking him over to a quieter area, but he still didn't like that.  So I sat down on the steps and put him in front of me.  I tied my scarf around his eyes and ears to shut out all the light and sound and that helped him relax.  It worked so well in fact that he fell asleep!

 #autismlife

He slept through the sirens from the police motorcycles that started the parade.  But he woke up when a marching band went down the street  The parade was a light parade and all the floats were lit up.  I tried getting Derrick to look at the floats, but he wasn't interested.  He wanted to keep the scarf on his face.

 The other kids loved the parade though.  We moved to a spot where we could see better and the girls oooh and aaawed over every float.

 Derrick continued to like being inside the scarf. 

 The firework show after the parade was really good.  But by then it was rather cold.  I wished the show was about 5 minutes shorter so we could start heading back to the car.

 Veronica doesn't like fireworks so she cried during most of the show.  Derrick was still catatonic. And Charlotte and Lydia were enraptured.  So at least 50% of our kids liked the show.

 When it was over we walked through the Village.  It was really pretty with all the lights on.  But it was also really crowded so we started heading toward the car.

 As soon as we left the square Derrick told me he wanted to go back to the Party.  I was like, "Derrick you just hid from the party for over an hour.  You had your chance."  Later he told us how much he liked the parade and the fireworks.  I'm glad he liked what he got out of it.

Normally I would have liked to go back home Saturday night so we could have Sunday to rest from the crazy weekend.  But my extended family was having a party on Sunday night so we stayed in Utah one more night. 

On Sunday we went to Sacrament Meeting in Brandon's parents ward.  It was kind of weird to know that it had been our ward for 6 months and yet I hardly knew most of the people there.  Some people did reach out to me while I lived there, but overall I never felt like I was part of that ward.

After Sacrament Meeting was over we went back to the house, changed our clothes, and packed up the Honda.  We had a quick bite to eat and then said goodbye to Steve and Jacque.  Then we drove down to Salt Lake. 

We were a little early for the party so we stopped by the Murray City Cemetary where my Grandpa Loveless is buried. My grandpa died when I was 6 so I only have a few memories of him.  For the past several months I've been reading a biography of my Grandpa to the kids on Sunday Nights. It was written by my dad about 20 years ago. The biography was a good way to help my kids know about their Great Grandpa.  I thought it would be a good idea to visit his grave. 

 And then we went to the party at my Aunt Julie's house.  When my dad wrote the biography he had each of his siblings write down their memories which he included as special chapters in the book.  My kids liked those chapters, but I realized that they didn't really know my Aunts and Uncles as well as I would like them to.  I realized that at a lot of these parties my kids just disappear and play with toys. So I tried to take a minute to take the kids around and introduce them to everyone. (The kids tolerated my attempts.)

For Derrick there was really only one person he wanted to see and that was his new baby cousin Walter. Hillary had Walter at the beginning of November and Derrick had been asking to see him every day. When Hillary and Joe arrived at the party Derrick appeared out of now where and immediately asked to see the baby.

Hillary was so sweet and went over to the couch so Derrick could meet his cousin.

 Here's Derrick holding him for the first time.

 Derrick was fascinated by his little fingers and toes.  He said that Walter was wonderful.

 Lydia wanted a turn with the baby.

 And so did Veronica.  Walter was such a good baby and didn't cry or fuss as we passed him around.

 I really wanted to get a picture of all my kids with my Grandma Mary Ann.  Recently we watched a slideshow of pictures from when I was little.  I was so happy to see pictures of me with my Great-Grandma Edra.  I wanted to make sure that the kids had pictures with their Great Grandma.  Derrick had moved on to something else so Walter was in the picture instead of Derrick.  But I was happy all the girls were there.

 A lot of people were outside playing with two drones. It was fun to watch those.

 Derrick was fascinated by the controls. 

We left the party around 8:30 and started the drive back up to Idaho.  I fell asleep on the way home, but Brandon stayed awake and we got home safely. 

The next day was the Monday After Thanksgiving which is my least favorite day of the whole year.  I hate coming back to reality after a fun Thanksgiving Break.  I knew this year would be extra hard because we ALL had to go back to reality. The kids had school, Brandon had school, and I had work.  So I had a plan to make sure the day would go as well as possible.  Before we went on vacation I made sure the kids had clean clothes to wear on Monday.  Charlotte had her "Star Student Week" where she got to bring 3 special things to school each day.  So we made sure her three things were in her backpack before we left for the long weekend.  And I also planned on picking up Little Caesars Pizza for dinner after work. 

Thanks to those plans we got through the day as well as possible, but it was a LONG day.

Thankfully I had the next day off since I don't work on Tuesdays.  Veronica and I went grocery shopping and restocked food supply.  We also bought  some presents for Brandon. 

I realized we didn't have wrapping paper so when the kids got home from school we made wrapping paper with potato stamps.  The kids had a lot of fun with this.  I like getting one day off of work each week because I can be a really fun crafty mom on that day.

Then we wrapped up Brandon's Birthday presents.  

 We also made Brandon's cake.  He told me he didn't want a cake cake, but that he did want ice-cream.  So I decided that meant we should do an ice cream cake. We made one with a graham cracker crust, two different ice cream layers with pretzels and caramel between them, and a magic shell crust.  Then we wrapped the pan in aluminum foil and labeled it Chicken Casserole.  Brandon never suspected a thing. 

Brandon's birthday was Thursday which was kind of a tricky day. His classes are set up so that he takes one course for 2-4 weeks followed by a final for that class.  Then they start the next course.  His birthday happened to be the day before the final for a 4 week class.  So we just planned to have the cake and presents and then he'd get back to studying/writing a paper/putting together his course note-book. 

Here he is showing off his new jeans.  One day our kids are going to look at this and be like, "Why are Dad's pants so tight?" And we'll be like, "straight leg pants were fashionable in 2017 deal with it kids."

The kids and I realized that magic shell ice cream topping is a bad idea if you want to put candles on an ice cream cake, but somehow we squeezed all 35 candles around the edge of the pan.

 Brandon really liked his cake.

 Check out all those delicious layers.

 Derrick was really excited to give Brandon the presents. He was also proud of the wrapping paper he made.

And yes, Brandon did pass his final the next day.  And he even got 100% on his notebook. 


Whew, that finishes up November.  I'm going to post this and get to work on the December blog.  Hopefully I'll have that up soon.  I really want to be all caught up today.

Thanks for reading.

Thanksgiving 2017

Thanksgiving this year was so great. It was one of the best Thanksgivings we've had in years. A big part of that was due to the fact that this was the first Thanksgiving that Brandon was officially out of the Army.  For the past 5 years our Thanksgiving plans have been at the mercy of the travel office.  We've always wondered if Brandon would get his holiday passes authorized and what time they would allow him to leave.  Even last year our Thanksgiving plans depended on getting orders to move in time to make it to Thanksgiving at Brandon's parents house.  But this year we could just go whereever we wanted. 

Another thing  that made it great was that this was our first BIG family Thanksgiving get together since 2011.  We've been blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving with at least one family member for the past 5 years, but we haven't had a multi-family dinner since before Derrick was born.  This year we would be getting together with Brandon's parents, and his two sister's families.

At first I thought I would have to work the Friday after Thanksgiving, but I found out that my office had been authorized to close that day.  I was able to work longer hours on the three days leading up to Thanksgiving so that I wouldn't have less hours for the week.  I had to go in every day at 7:00 am, but it was worth it so that I could have a 5 day weekend.

I got out of work at 3:00 on Wednesday. I hurried home in the Jeep and met Brandon and the kids at the house. Brandon had already packed the Honda so we were ready to go. My parents had told us that they wanted to spend Thanksgiving on their own this year and just go to a restaurant for dinner. So we offered to let them stay in our house while we were gone. They took us up on that offer.

So we waved goodbye to my parents as we left and drove down to Brandon's parents in Utah. Since there was no sign of snow, we made the decision to get off I-15 before 12th street and go into Ogden Valley via the North Ogden Divide. It's a good thing we did that because a semi trailer full of cows tipped over on I-15 and backed up traffic for miles. We missed all of that and made it to Eden without any problems. The kids had been watching Mary Poppins while we drove and we weren't even done with the movie when we made it to the house. Either Pocatello isn't that far from Eden, or Mary Poppins is a super long movie.

Derrick had a lot of energy so I channeled that into helping unpack the Honda. He liked carrying things back and forth from the car to the house.  One of the things we unpacked was the "Pie Safe" that Brandon built. Brandon had made four pies and he realized that we needed a good way to transport them. So he made this box. I love my talented husband.

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We slept in the same rooms as when we lived in the house. It felt a little strange to be back here. This was my first time back since we moved to Yellowstone 6 months ago. And honestly I was worried that all the depression and anger that I felt last year would come back. However, knowing that this was just a visit and that I had my own house just a few hours away helped keep those feelings away. This felt like just a normal holiday visit with my in-laws.

Last year Derrick had a hard time with Thanksgiving because he didn't really know what was going on.  He wasn't sure what to expect.  So this year I decided to be proactive and make a picture schedule.  Derrick LOVED it.  He walked around the house holding the cards and telling us all the schedule all morning long.  

Brandon and his mom went to work on the turkey.  Lydia was very interested in the turkey.  She loved looking at things like it's backbone. 

 Veronica built this out of blocks.  She was very proud of it, but not happy about having her picture taken.

 Lydia built a "Santa's workshop."  She was a lot happier about having her picture taken.

 We watched the Thanksgiving parade together.  My kids were all intreaged by the commercials.  We don't have TV at home so they've never really seen commercials.  And I don't know why, but I kept tearing up during the real emotional ones.

Melanie's family arrived after the parade and set up the tables. 

I realized that no one was doing name cards so I put myself in charge of that.  Charlotte, Lydia, and Oakley helped decorate the cards.

Here's an overhead view of the table.

Soon Jacque was serving up the special rainbow jello and the kids helped carry it to the table. 

It's not truly thanksgiving unless this jello is served.

The kids were all anxiously waiting for dinner. I love this picture with the cousins together.

Dinner was really good of course, and my kids actually at things besides rolls.  Derrick was cute and wanted his napkin tied around his neck.  His little picture schedule had helped him out a lot.  (Though he kept reminding me that we hadn't gone to the park. I'd just taken him for a quick walk to get his wiggles out.)

After dinner the kids ran outside to play.  We were all really happy with the mild weather. 

The girls had fun swinging.

My favorite contribution to Thanksgiving Dinner is to do the dishes.  So I helped get those washed and put away.  Then we decided it would be fun to play games.  We played Win, Lose, or Draw which is basically Pictionary.  I wrote down a bunch of Thanksgiving and Christmas themed words and then kept score while people from each team played.  We played boys versus girls. 

Here I am keeping score and holding the word clues. 

The boys team did really well and led the whole time.

The final word was"Pie" and that segued perfectly into dessert time. (I totally held the card back so that it would do that.)

Brandon and Justin and a couple of the kids showed off their push up skills after pie.

Shannon and her family planned to sleep over that night so no one was in a hurry to get back home.  Everyone hung around talking for a really long time.  Derrick and Veronica got sleepy around 8:00 so I put them to bed.  But Charlotte and Lydia were still going strong around 10.  They had a big sleepover in the family room with their girl cousins. 

Brandon stayed up talking, but I figured one of us should get some sleep so I called it a night a little after 10:00.  It had been a near perfect Thanksgiving.

The rest of the weekend was pretty good too, but I'll save that for another post.