A new year

I decided to start the new year off with a laser.  After talking about it for almost 10 years, I finally had LASIK done.  It has been 3 weeks now and I am seeing great -- especially on nights my children actually let me sleep.  Dan was a star and took off work to take me down there and pamper me and take care of the children.  I gave them all a good scare because after the surgery was done I passed out due to the valium.  Made me a little too relaxed but nothing two doses of smelling salts and me puking on our front porch couldn't fix.  Ah hem.  I'm never letting anyone give me valium again, that's for sure.  It was worse than the LASIK.  Dan took a video of the surgery on my left eye but I still haven't had the guts to watch the entire thing, though.  It is super nice to not have to mess with contacts and glasses but I am still in need of eye drops multiple times a day and am more sensitive to light with artificial light being the worst.  I would like things to be a little crisper too, so I am interested to see what my vision tests at next week when they check me again.  (The above picture is from when my neighbor babysat at the last minute so I could go to my pre-op appointment even though my mom was sick.  Thanks again, Ekta!)  The next week it was Dan's and my turn to get sick.  We both had strep throat and were grateful my mother felt well enough to babysit for a day while we went to the doctor & rested.

Some things are different in 2015 and some things remain the same.  K, D, and M are still loving school and N is really beginning to enjoy picking Michelle up since she can usually sneak a peak at the animals.  In primary, the older 3 children all got new teachers and I became the Sunbeams teacher.  I love being in the same room with them for singing time and sharing time.  D & M stopped their swimming lessons and D opted to try karate again but after a week of that decided soccer was better.  So we will be looking into more soccer for him and a dance class for M.  K & N are still loving their swimming lessons.  N has become quite calm in the water and even a bit lazy.  We'll have to find a happy medium with her this semester.  lol.

I have loved watching these 3 play Disney Infinity since Christmas time.  D jumps up and down and moves all around so it's quite the work out for him.  M has fun being Elsa or Anna and N prefers Donald Duck and Stitch.  The great part is when N wants to play we can just hand her an unused remote.  Otherwise, she is more than happy to play trains with mom while her older siblings play.  The cost of playing Wii?  2 smiley faces.  What you have to do to earn a smiley face?  Read mom a book or help clean up your room or....

We had our carpets professionally cleaned by a man our neighbor recommended and he did a fantastic job.  The carpets look as good as they did an entire year ago.  And moving all that furniture led to me finally hang up the toys we bought the kids at Disney World last January.  It is fun to see them get played with all the time again and not have a huge bare wall in the play room anymore.

This month we said good-bye to great friends, the W. family.  After living here for 6 years they are off to Idaho.  With their leaving, we loose great people to hang out with, the LHC book club died (pictured above), and we lost our first renters of our old house.  We did get to throw them a huge good-bye party at our new house and there have never been so many people in my home!  We are also putting some work into the old house before our new renters move in in February.  Walls painted, carpets cleaned, and wood floors refinished.  Blinds replaced, fixtures fixed, deep cleaning.  In the spring I will have to go attack the landscaping.  It was so strange to be in that home empty again.  I got nauseous in my old master bedroom.  Where I used to be able to look out on huge old trees across the street, they have all been cut down and a storage unit facility has been put in.  Not a pretty picture anymore.  I was also wondering how on earth we fit our king size bed, 2 dressers, 2 nightstands, a crib and a glider in that small space.  I guess I'm already accustomed to my new digs!

We celebrated K turning 7.5 and Dan turning... older.  Cake for K and ice cream for Dad.  He also got some new Marvel Disney Infinity items for his bday and the kids actually let him have a turn playing.  That was a real sacrifice for them.  lol.

While I was calling up contractors for the old house, I decided to just go ahead and call up some for the new house too.  Hence, finishing off the basement began this month!  We have missed our old basement and are super excited for the new one.  Below K is pretending to pee in the nonexistent bathroom and the kids are loving the exterior of the play house under the stairs.  They already have all planned out what they are going to bring down there when it is finished.  K is really hoping it will be done for her birthday and D wishes he was Wyldstyle from the Lego Movie so he could finish it off in one day.

We were also blessed with a couple warm days to give us a break from winter.  The first day we spent all afternoon at our favorite park with a friend from M's preschool and a friend from our old ward.  The second day we opened up all the windows in the house and enjoyed working and playing in the fresh air.  I love the way CO gives you surprises like this in winter to keep you going until spring.  I'm pretty sure we would go crazy otherwise.  It's great to love where you live.