Welcome to our World

Months ago when I found out this wonderful girl I used to babysit was getting married in the Orlando Temple on Dan's birthday, we bought airplane tickets for the two of us to be there.  I am so grateful we got to go!  It was pure joy to meet her outside the temple, carry the wedding dress in for her, and be in the bridal room with her and her mother-in-law.  It was fun to talk to her m-i-l and grandmother and hear them tell of how Nicole & Joshua met and their courtship that led them to this day.  It was so easy to see these two wise women already loved and adored their new member of the family and were so grateful for her.  It was good to see.  As we were waiting I also got to chat with the groom's best friend and Nicole's aunt who drove 21 hours to get there with her mom and 3 of her children.  She was so happy to make that sacrifice for her niece that had made such an impression on her teenage daughter that she too wants to serve a mission now....

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...

What a treat it was to see every single member of my husband’s family for Christmas!  I am so grateful that all of my spouse’s siblings are people I want to be around and they all married great people too.  I love the fact we got a picture of all 24 grandchildren with their grandparents.  This is a picture from a phone and I can’t wait to see the ones Jordan took with his fancy camera.  And, I must brag, after 10 years of being married I can tell you I finally got someone a good draw name present.  Thanks for crying, Mark.  We love you guys! Before all that excitement, we were able to see Dan’s grandmother and many of his aunts, uncles, cousins, and their children at a church held Christmas party.  It was so strange to see people I haven’t seen for years.  It was hard to talk because although we are all pretty heavy on the social media so I kind of know what is going on in their lives, I don’t have conversations with them!  I deci...

This year brought us travel, settling into our new house more, and some surprises to make sure we didn’t get bored.   Vacations Our biggest trip was to Walt Disney World and was Natalie’s first time doing anything Disney and we all had a wonderful time.  I cannot say enough about staying at a value WDW resort vs. staying in an off sight hotel.  It must have been the easiest trip we’ve ever taken with the children.  We are already looking forward to when we can visit another Disney resort in 2016. Another adventure we had was renting a pop up camping trailer for the first time and camping our way to Utah for a big family reunion.  We had a blast being around extended family and meeting people we’ve never met before.  We even found a cousin of Dan’s who was married in the same place as us the same year and adopted a baby the same year we did and have children similar in age to our.  I think two of our boys even had the same sneakers.  I m...

The ward Christmas party had the same plans as last year, but this year was one to be remembered.  Toward the end of the program, someone tripped on the show shovels by one of the entrance’s double doors.  When the shovels fell they knocked the fire alarm box off the wall, causing the alarm to go off.  Good thing it wasn’t a really fire because no one reacted the way you do in school fire drills.  lol.  Even though Brother R, a local firefighter, was at the party, he couldn’t get the alarm to turn off.  The fire trucks left the city parade to come rescue us.  The kids got to have a good look at the truck’s lights and hear the sirens, and then we left for home.  After all my years of going to church every week and attending decades of ward activities, this was still a new experience for me and might have been my favorite part. Hubby and I got to go on a date to eat sushi and watch Mockingjay Part 1 together.  We couldn’t remember going on...

We doubled our contributions to the school's biggest fundraiser of the year.  D was amazing -- I kept asking him if he wanted to take a break for a drink of water and he just keep on running, even with a bright red face that made his momma feel protective but proud.  When K ran it was much more crowded, which I think influenced her lack of desire to push herself.  She still ran two more laps than her brother, though, which is all that mattered to her.  (Last year she ran 17 laps & this year 15.)  It was great to have my dad and M & N along to watch them run.  After we watched D, we went to the park, where the wind started to blow & the children decided it was best to hide in the tunnel for a while.  When K got home she relaxed by drawing beautiful pictures of things like mermen & mermaids.  The PTO didn't make their goal, but made enough to make a big difference in the classrooms.  Snow!  November brought u...