Christmas Vacation

 


Christmas vacation is over, the kids are back to school (which is always sad for me) and we are back to the realities of life.
The good news is our closing date got moved back so we did not move while the kids and I were still in Utah. At this point we are set to close Jan 13th, one week from today. I have started gathering a few things and putting  them in boxes but I am really dragging my feet. I can't believe we are moving again. Since it is only up the street and we have sometime (until June to be exact) before we have to be out of the duplex we are thinking we will just move everything slowly. Ya know just pile things in the car and then unload and do again (and again, and again). I know it is the painful way but I think we are going to give it a try. I am still hoping to be able to paint all the main area's before we move in. We are hoping to find replacement renters and have everything moved by February 1st.

We had a great time in Utah visiting family and friends. We flew out the evening of Dec 20th. We were having a very warm day here in the high 70's  and my kids were in shorts and insisted they wear them to Utah. We came in with a storm and they were so excited to play in the snow. In fact they jumped out of the car and right into it.

One of the things we had promised when we were moving is that we would bring Teegan back to be baptised at Christmas. So Wed Dec 22nd we had a very nice meeting where Teegan was baptised and confirmed by his dad. Whitney, Landon and Grandma Susan spoke and then the Bishop asked me to share my testimony. There was a nice spirit there.

Afterward we all went up to Melissa and Deno's for dinner

Thursday night Whitney and my nephew Quinn had some friends over for a party

 

I didn't want to embarrass Whit so I didn't take very many pictures but I think they had a great time.
Christmas Eve  we spent doing some last minute shopping and then had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Maxfield's.

Christmas morning

The kids got some coal in their socks again this year. Santa seems to leave just a little every year just to remind them to obey.




















Christmas Day with the Maxfield clan

 Grandma and Grandpa go overboard on gifts as usual. They sure know how to spoil all the grand kids :).

The aftermath.














Next up Dinner and presents at the Brown family party.

 Marissa's gift was so big it took 3 kids to hold it up. There is one happy girl.

 Cute idea for boys who asked for money toward an ipod.

It had been a great day but a LONG day and a very long week. We were pooped!
The next day Mike and Whitney were on there way home. Whitney had to be back from high school soccer practice.




The boys and I spent the next few days visiting and playing with cousins. Another big storm hit the day before we left and they go to go sledding.

The boys and I ended up spending a few unexpected hours in Denver on New Years Eve and were anxious to get home.



















Thanks everyone for making it a great Holiday Season.

Christmas Band Concert

Updating my blog has been on my "to do" list for the last couple of weeks. I was determined today was the day so here is the last few weeks update.

The House
After going back and forth a few times then walking away for a week or so we went back into negotiations with the bank and the night before Thanksgiving we ended up getting the house. Yeah! we are all very excited. Having a home is definitely something I took for granted. One of those "you don't realize what you have until it is gone" type of things.  For some reason living in the duplex temporally has been really hard on all of us. A few weeks ago Teegan and I were out and I turned to him and said "lets go home".  "Home?" he said "you mean the duplex?"  "Yes, that's  home" I said. He said "that is not our home that is the landlords".   I know all of us will appreciate having a home a little bit more now.
Job
I started a new very part time job at a new clothing and home decor shop that just opened up. I actually spent a week or so helping them get thing set up and ready to open. I will only be working a few times a month as they need me.
Thanksgiving
This was our first year away from home for Thanksgiving. We had a lot of invitations from friends but in all honesty we were so excited to just have Thanksgiving together as a family. It was something we had been planning for a long time. In fact  Mike and I talked month ago when we first found out that we were moving that we had actually never made a turkey and Thanksgiving dinner before and we were excited to give it a try. Mike was in charge of the Turkey and he did a great job.

Whitney helped out in the kitchen to learn how to do it all. There was a little bit of messing around

Nice hat head Mike

and the boys had to get in on the fun too.

With all the messing around the next thing I knew the turkey was ready and the rest of the meal was not. Oops. I had started some of it the night before and we all pulled together and got it done. Everything turned out great.

Just ask Teegan :). I even got out my fine china that had never been used since we got it for our wedding 16 years ago. I love that kind of stuff (not).
After Thanksgiving we had Thankschristmas. When we were buying the house the first round we had decided we would not be going to Utah this year for Christmas. But when the deal didn't work out we went ahead and bought our tickets. So when we went back into negotiations we had already got the tickets but had not told the kids. We are all leaving on the Dec 20th. Whitney has to be back for soccer the 27th so she and Mike will fly home the 26th and the boys and I are staying until the 31st.  The bank was pushing to close in this calendar year so we are set to close on Dec 27th, yep I will be in Utah, and we told the landlord we will be out by Jan 1st , yep I will  still be in Utah until the afternoon of the 31st. Yep we are crazy! With things being so crazy we were slipping up and decided we needed to tell the kids. So that is where thankschristmas came in. We gave the kids their tickets.

 Check out Mike in the background LOL

They were so excited. Whitney was crying she was so excited.
Then we gave them annual passes to Six Flags and told them we were going to San Antonio for the weekend.

After dinner got cleaned up and the kids came off the ceiling we did our traditional gingerbread decorating.

Then watched a movie.

Weekend
Friday I worked half a day and then we headed off to San Antonio. It is really only 1 1/2 away but we decided to make it a fun weekend and stay the night down there. After driving down, getting checked into the hotel, we headed to Six flags for some fun.

Of course it just happened to be the coldest day since we moved to Texas but the kids didn't seem to mind.

Teegan made some friends.

Saturday we went downtown and walked around the river walk. It was such a neat place.

And the Alamo

Then spent the rest of the day at Six flags again

We had a great weekend!

But when we got home on Saturday night we found where that funny smell had been coming from.

Over the last few months the  master bath had been leaking and had been seeping through the wall into the master bedroom. There was a box on the floor (right where the hole is) and then our long dresser was next to it so we did not see that the baseboards were all swollen and the wall was growing mold. I won't tell you what the bottom of the box looked like. Joy! right when we were going to tell the landlord we were moving out. We decided it would need to be 2 different conversations and this one needed to be first.  The landlord decided to rip the whole tub out so needless to say it has been a week of workers coming in and out all day. And we eventually were able to have the "we are moving out conversation". So we are now onto inspections, appraisals, and loan crap stuff,  buying a house is a lot of work (that is a little reminder to myself for the next time I decided to move ;) ).
Church is keeping us busy. I am serving as the 2nd councilor in the Relief society, Mike is the 2nd councilor in the YM, and Whitney is the Mia Maid president and just got to speak in church. So between meetings, activities and teaching lessons we have a lot on our plate.
Yes, I would have to say things around here have been a little stressful but we are looking forward to going to Utah for Christmas. I have to keep reminding myself that it is even Christmas.

My first big spider (tarantula)

I don't think we could call him a spider. He, my friends was a small animal who was crossing the road while I was taking the carpool kids home. I wish I had a better camera and a better close up of him. I was so stunned I just sat and watched him. I DIDN'T EVEN RUN HIM OVER! nope I just watched him cross and go into the trees. He was so perfect it was like he was not even real. I didn't know we had roaming tarantulas

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

Halloween

I am not sure what happened but I don't have one single picture from Halloween. To be honest I have to remind myself that Halloween actually came and went. I think it will take us a few years to get adjusted to the climate. The falls leaves and the crisp air that used to be the indicator that Halloween was around the corner were missing. We went from looking for Halloween costumes that were warm and fuzzy to keep the kids warm to finding something with less layers. Teegan wore the batman costume to our ward truck or treat and just about passed out.  It was a warm evening in the 90's :). Since Halloween fell on Sunday this year we didn't do any neighborhood trick or treating. As I mentioned we went to the ward truck or treat during the week and got plenty of candy and on Saturday we went to a Halloween party.  The kids were really good sports about it and didn't complain once (OK maybe Teegan did once).  It actually ended up opening some good experiences for the kids. The next day in Landon's class he was asked to read his journal entry in front of the class. He mentioned that he had not gone trick or treating. When he was walking back to his seat his teacher started to ask him why but then stopped and said "I guess I should not ask you that". Landon said "it's OK you can ask". She said "do you not trick or treat because of your religion"? He said "no, we can trick or treat, it was just Sunday".
Whitney was asked to give a talk at Evening in Excellence (a night for the girls and their parents) on integrity. She was able to use her experience in her talk. Here is what she said:

          This Halloween I decided to not go trick or treating because it fell on a Sunday . Living in Utah they go trick or treating Saturday night when this happens. That Monday I went to school and was asked by my friend in class if I had gone trick or treating. When I said no, she had a look on her face like are you serious? Then the words that came out of her mouth were “Oh is it because your mormon?” I told her yes and she understood. The next day in soccer I was getting ready when I  got a zip lock sandwich bag of candy thrown at me. I looked up and it had came from my friend that I told I had not gone trick or treating. She said "I got plenty and I want to share".  Standing up for who I am and what I believe has a whole new meaning for me. Moving here from Utah has been a really eye opening experience.  Not just the questions people have asked me but also choosing the right when you are asked to do something that you know is wrong. I feel like I have  integrity now but know that it will keep growing stronger as I choose the right.

So since I have no pictures from this Halloween I decided to share some from Halloweens past. 

We laughed till we cried

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