No Place Like Home: 2013

Monday, December 30, 2013

Toothless

On Christmas Eve, our little niece Anabelle lost her first tooth.

It was a Christmas miracle because the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus were going to be coming on the same night. Tice and I were wondering if they would hook up during the night... uh, did I really just type that? K back to the point.

Anabelle must have been contagious, because 3 days later, Avery let out a loud scream in the kitchen. I ran in there and she told me her tooth was loose. I kind of just thought she was being silly, but I checked and it really was loose.

I'm not going to lie, I was kind of sad. She just barely turned 5 and was going to lose a tooth? Her little baby tooth was going to be gone and an adult tooth would take its place. I'm just not ready for this stuff!

The next day we were at church and Avery came running up to me after it was over and said, "mama, I pulled my tooth out." Her tooth was in a zip lock baggy and just as she said, she had pulled it out during Sunday school. Sigh.

The tooth fairy made it to our house that night, and we had a very happy girl in the morning.

STOP GROWING UP AVERY GRACE!!!

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

A different kind of Christmas

Different it was. It was not very cold and we actually had family come to us! I thought I would miss the snow, just for Christmas time, but to be honest I really didn't. It was chilly enough that we had our fire roaring at nights, so I think that created the Christmas ambiance that I needed. Bring on the 60 degree weather!

We did the 12 days of Christmas for our girls like we do every year.

Here are a couple of things we did.

Trav's work Christmas party (although this wasn't apart of the 12 days, so I don't know why I put it here, Oh well)

It was at the Apache Gold casino and I remembered why its not good for me to go into those things. I think I could be a gambling addict. His company gave us a 15 dollar credit to gamble, so of course we couldn't turn it down. We were on the blackjack table and seriously, I could have stayed all night. The feeling is exhilarating! You win, you lose, you feel cool tapping your hand on the table when you want the dealer to hit you. Yeah, I need to stay away from that place. I did win 30 bucks, which went straight into the hands of Grace, our babysitter. Dirty money Grace.

Speaking of Grace, we watched The Elf with Grace and her brothers.

We put up the Christmas tree

Its always a joy!

We went to the annual Globe light parade. It was awesome!!!

We saw Santa

Brooklyn told Santa that he had a cute mustache. And every time Santa would ask her what she wanted for Christmas, Brooklyn would say, "I want a crocodile, an alligator and a shark."

Closer to Christmas, my parents came and we spent the weekend in Gilbert with them and the Jolley's.

The older kids and the adults went to see the Forgotten Carols. We will be together forever some day. Ha, you have to experience it do get why I said that. Don't get me wrong, the play is awesome! I could just use a little bit of wine with the cheese! Good ole' Michael McClaine.

The kids were obsessed with each other all weekend long

On Christmas Eve we went and ate at this place

And seriously, not a bad tradition! No clean up.

After we stuffed ourselves with motlen lava cake, we headed to the Mesa Temple to see the lights.

Brooklyn fell asleep in the car on the way there, so my mom and dad stayed with her. It was just Crocket and us. She LOVED the lights. She was so dang excited!

After that, we headed back to the Jolley's to open up our jammies.

Then we trekked the 1 in a half hour drive home to Globe.

It was so much fun having Christmas in our house.

And having Sid and Tam around.

That night, the Jolley's came up for Christmas dinner, along with our neighbors, the Bruce's.

I took no pictures. But have you ever had a fried turkey? Brian fried one up, and I don't think I can go back to normal baked turkeys. Crap.

Travis made some prime rib and we had rolls, layered jello, mashed potatoes, salad, yadda yadda yadda. It was a regular feast.

Then the cousins opened up their gifts to each other

And we had a big sleepover... which meant that the kids all went to bed at 8:30 and the parents all fell asleep on the couch watching a movie. We are partiers.

This Christmas was special. We really pushed the Christ part of Christmas with our kids, but if you ask Avery what her favorite part of Christmas was, she will be honest and say getting presents. Dang it. We are working on them. I think the reason for the season really hits you when you are old like me! We are very grateful for Christ during this season!

I don't want my kids to ever stop believing in all the Christmas things. It is so much fun to see how excited they are. On Christmas Eve we saw a Santa out wandering the streets. He came up to us to say hi and Avery instantly questioned the poor guy because she could clearly see that his beard was not real. When he left, she said, "that wasn't the real Santa." What a detective. We are going to have our work cut out for us in the future with her.

Here is our Christmas card we sent out

Hope it was a good one!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Destiny

If you have ever met Avery, then guarantee you have heard her sing. She is not shy about singing. She has a very interesting voice. It is low and musky and every time I hear her vibrato I just smile. We put her in a children't choir here in Globe and she had a little concert for Christmas. They performed at the Chamber of Commerce Christmas party.

Avery is kind of like me, and doesn't remember the lyrics to songs. So sometimes she comes up with her own. She knew the first verse and the chorus, but after that, she got real wiggly.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

They are awesome

When we found at the Brooklyn was going to be a girl, I wasn't sad. I had sisters growing up and I knew that she and Avery would be best friends. It took a couple of years, but they are at awesome ages.

They play all day long.

They fight some too, but mostly they play.

They are starting to get to the point where they don't want me around. I will go into the play room to see what they are doing and one of them will say, "Mom, you should go in the kitchen." Wahhh! I'm already not cool. Sometimes I get bored because they play for hours and don't need me. I should probably get a hobby.

Oh and just in case you don't follow me on Instagram you can usually find my kids in princess dresses or naked.

I love them.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

My sis

The Thanksgiving pies and family time was really good and everything, but lets be honest. The absolute real reason we were in Utah was because my little sis, Sadie, was getting sealed to her husband, Devin, in the Salt Lake temple.

If anyone knows Sadie, you would know that she hasn't had an easy road so far this life. She has struggled and failed but through all of that, she has found herself and we couldn't be more proud of her. She is in an amazing place in her life and its because of her diligence and hard work.

It was such a special day for all of us.

And Jolley's, it was so fun to see you and not have to cry when we said good bye. AZ family for life!

They are one handsome couple

If you like the photography, thank Matt McFarland. He is the best!

He is our good friend who has taken our pics for a long time.

Our little family is probably his worst clients, so Matt McFarland, bless your heart.

Just look what he had to deal with

And we finally got one!

We are so excited for Sadie and Devin. They rock!

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Turkey in Utah

Don't you think its funny how one meal is such a big deal? You take work off, drive hundreds of miles to partake of a meal that usually makes you want to off yourself after eating because you ate so much! I know, I know, its not about the meal, its about the people. I do love this time of year. You are expected to pause and just be with your loved ones... and get fat.

We were lucky enough to be able to get home to Utah this Thanksgiving. Can I just say the drive from Arizona versus the drive from Missouri is joyous. When we arrived in the middle of the night after only 10 1/2 hours versus 16 I was like, "What? wait, we are here already!"

OK lots to cover.

First off, we went to Maddox's birthday party.

I had been harboring a baby in my tummy for about 17 weeks. We wanted to wait till we were in Utah to tell our family.

I was on the fence about stealing Maddie's thunder because it was his party after all, but Travis didn't feel guilty one bit and we spilt the beans.

I wanted to tell everyone in the cute traditional way where your little girls wear T-shirts that say, "big sister." Travis again had other ideas.

He gave Tracie, his sister our ultra sound picture and told her to pretend it was hers. Tracie just had her fourth baby, and has been very clear that she is done birthing children. Anyways, she played an academy award winning role to Kathryn and John (Trav's parents) about how Mike slipped one past and how she is 15 weeks pregnant, etc. Kathryn and John were shocked and just sat there in awe. I kind of think Kathryn was actually a little bit mad at Tracie for not telling her she was pregnant for that long.

I couldn't take it anymore because the charade kept going, and it kept getting more and more awkward because their reaction was not one of excitement for Tracie, but more of worry and shock.

Finally the cat got out of the bag and we told them it was really our ultra sound. You would not believe the night and day reaction they had. They both jumped up and cheered and came and gave us hugs. I think they were extra excited because of the relief they felt. Tracie, you really need to think about some permanent birth control, you are DONE having kids!

Telling my parents was a little anti-climatic. I think everyone just expects that we should be having a baby since Brooklyn is almost three. I did do the cute T-shirts for my girls. They came up one morning in shirts that said, "Big sister." It seriously took my mom and hour to realize what was going on after Avery finally gave her a huge nudge about the shirt.

Oh well, I'm just glad I can talk about being pregnant. It was really hard to not whine to my mom while I was sick!

The rest of the trip went by fast!

We...

Went digging at Thanksgiving point with my mom for Dino fossils and were very successful. "Don't take my land," is a famous quote from Brooklyn when any other paleontologist would come near.