What a Year!

For our family, 2013 started out busy and just kept going.  Here is a little summary of last year:

January:

• On the 2nd, Brad left to work in Japan for two months.  My mom came to watch the kids a few weeks later and I got to visit Japan for a week.  I was still recovering from plantar fasciitis, so our travels were somewhat limited, but it was a great experience nonetheless.
• At the end of the month, Sarah got her braces back on for Phase 2 of her orthodontics. 

 

 

February:

• We kept on trucking with school, birthday parties, orthodontist, dentist, & oral surgeon appointments, field trips and more. 
• I hosted a BBC Pride & Prejudice ladies' night, but we were all too tired to make it through all of the episodes.
• Chloe entered a poster-drawing contest for Dr. Seuss day.  She didn't win, but I thought she did a great job!

March:

• On the 1st, Brad came home from Japan.  Hooray!
• The next week, Sarah had her wisdom teeth removed.  She was a trooper.  We played card games in the middle of the night once during her recovery as a distraction while waiting for her pain meds to kick in.
• We belatedly celebrated Brad's birthday, then celebrated Chloe's 12th birthday and our 15th wedding anniversary.
• Chloe cut her hair short & rocked it.
• We took the kids to Portland, OR for the weekend.  Brad and I went to see a Brian Regan comedy show & had fun seeing the sights with the kiddos.
• At the end of the month, we flew down to CA, met my mom at the airport and then went to Disneyland!

April:

• We started out the month by finishing our time at Disneyland.  We experienced some serious Disney magic.  We had a wonderful time. We also went to Medieval Times while in CA and Emma was crowned the Queen of Love and Beauty by our winning knight.
• We came home and started prepping our home to sell and Brad started looking for a new job.
• We celebrated Sarah's 14th birthday.

This pic was taken right after Emma was crowned & had her picture taken with our knight & the princess.  She was a little overwhelmed.

May:

• Sarah competed in a WA State History Day competition and placed in the finalists.
• We celebrated my birthday a day early since the actual day was one of our regular super busy Tuesdays filled with school, piano, choir, track, basketball & a scout meeting.
• We got super depressed when we realized that we'd have to sell our house at a loss if we used a realtor, so we put off listing it.
• Dave & Kelly and their 3 boys came to visit us. We had a great time seeing Seattle and going to my first Mariners game.
• Kyle had his 8th birthday! (Picture courtesy Marie Photographie)
• We also had a brief visit from Alex & Jenny.  They popped over for dinner & dessert while they were visiting Seattle.

June:

• June kicked off with a piano recital for Kyle, choir performances for Chloe, Preschool graduation for Aaron, the Freshman Dance for Sarah, and the 6th Grade Tea for Chloe.  School was finally over mid-June.  Whew!
• We then got right into summer with playgroup, a trip to WA State History Museum, and throwing a baby shower for Ashley.
• We started to try selling our house For Sale by Owner and had our first showing at the end of the month.
• Brad also flew to Idaho Falls for several job interviews at Bechtel (INL). 

July:

• We got to celebrate the 4th of July with the addition of Grammy and Grandpa Brown.  They flew in to visit us because on the 6th, Kyle was baptized. 
• My mom flew in on the 6th.  She stayed for a longer visit and we did some Seattle touristy things we wanted to check off our bucket list before we moved - like the Duck Tour!
• Brad was ordained to be a High Priest on Sunday, the 7th.  He was grateful to have his dad there to ordain him.
• Kyle went to Cub Day Camp for the first time.  Each morning was a battle to get him to want to go, but he had a mostly good time while there.  It didn't help that he was sick with a cold for 2 of the days. I went for 1 day to help out and had more fun then I thought I would.
• Brad accepted a job at Bechtel (yay!) and so we decided to list our house with a realtor and get ready to move to Idaho. 
• At the end of the month, Sarah and Chloe went to YWs camp.  They had a blast!

I couldn't resist this picture of Emma having a tea party.  Chloe helped set this one up and took the picture.  She's also wearing a monster t-shirt that she painted at a friend's birthday party.  She loves that shirt!

August:

• The girls arrived home from camp and within minutes we had to leave because a prospective buyer wanted a second look at our home. (This turned out to be the buyer.)  After much laundry and some fast packing, the next day we drove to UT.  We left the 4 oldest kids with Brad's parents, who then took them to Bear Lake for the annual family reunion. Brad, Emma & I then drove up to Idaho Falls to look for a new home.
• Sarah got her braces off - just in time to move!
• We accepted an offer on our house.  We hurried and packed up the necessities for the kids & I to move to ID without Brad and a week later we moved. (In the middle of that, Brad took the girls to the EMP for their science fiction exhibit.)
• On our first day in ID, Brent and Ash had their baby boy, Tyler!  It was really hard to be so far away on such an important day.  Several of Brad's brothers drove up from UT to help us unload the U-Haul and get stuff set up (like the TV & phone).  He left with them that night to drive down to UT and then flew back to WA the next day.
• I spent the next couple of weeks unpacking and getting all of the kids registered for school. 

Aaron next to the sunflowers he planted in a cup for a preschool activity, which we then transplanted to our garden.

 Saying good-bye to good friends!

September:

• After a couple of crazy weeks finishing things up at our house in WA, Brad was able to move to ID over Labor Day weekend. 
• The kids started school - Sarah began high school in the 10th grade, Chloe started Junior High in 7th grade, Kyle moved up to the 3rd grade, and Aaron started Kindergarten (afternoon).
• Our new ward became an even newer ward when the boundaries were reestablished and they created 3 wards out of 2. 
• Brad and I were called to serve as Sunday School teachers to the 16-17 year olds.  Sarah was called to be the Mia Maid president and Chloe was called to be a counselor in the Beehives.
• I flew back to WA to visit Ash & Brent and meet baby Tyler.  I was thankful my mom could come and help take care of the kids while I was gone.

October:

• We started out October with a 4 day weekend that was also General Conference weekend.  Brad's parents came up to visit us and see our new home. 
• We were able to spend more time with extended family by going to a birthday party and, sadly, my aunt's funeral.
• Kyle started going to scouts again after a summer break and some start-up time for our new ward.
• The girls did a great job at Young Women in Excellence singing "I Love to See the Temple" in Spanish while Sarah played the ukulele.
• Halloween was a lot of fun and the kids had fun choosing costumes and dressing up.

 

November:

• Life stayed relatively busy in November.  I helped out at the elementary school book fair.  The kids all had their Parent Teacher Conferences (and are all doing excellent).  I continued to help out in Aaron's Kindergarten class each Thursday for about half an hour doing reading assessments.
• The kids had the whole last week of November off from school, so we drove down to UT to have a nice, long visit with family.  We spent the first part of the week staying at my mom's and the last part of the week with Brad's parents. 
• The girls got to go see a high school production of Footloose.  I took the oldest 4 kids to see Thor 2.  We had lots of cousin time and are so grateful to live closer!
• The kids had eye doctor appointments while we were in UT.  The girls got new glasses and Kyle got glasses for the first time.  So far, Aaron doesn't need glasses and I didn't have Emma checked.

December:

• Sarah hurt her knee in November and was still recovering in December.  After 2 doctor visits, an x-ray and an MRI, it was determined to just be sprained and would need time to recover.
• Sarah had her second choir concert and Brad's parents came up for a quick visit to hear it.  They also delivered the kids' new glasses.
• I spent a weekend painting Angry Birds and Pigs on bouncy balls for Aaron's birthday party.  They turned out great.
• We celebrated Aaron's 6th birthday with a friend party, morning presents with Grandma C, and dinner and more presents with cousins. 
• Christmas was wonderful!
• The day after Christmas, we drove to southern WA to visit my Dad and stepmom at their new home.  We celebrated Emma's 3rd birthday while there.
• We drove up to Port Orchard and stayed with Brent and Ashley.  The kids got to meet Tyler!  The kids had fun surprising their friends with their visit. 
• We drove back to ID on New Year's Eve and arrived home on New Year's Day. 

 View of the Columbia River near my dad's home.  WA on the left, OR on the right.

So long 2013!  You were full of tears, laughter, family and friends!

Fangirls

Sarah and Chloe are total fangirls of Doctor Who.  So much so, that Sarah had to correct me on my last post.  I had written Dr. Who and I was informed that I had committed a huge faux pas.  It should be "Doctor" not "Dr.", since that is his name.  He is THE Doctor!  haha!  Well, it's fixed now.  They love to pin jokes, images and products related to Doctor Who.  They watch it together almost every evening after the younger kids go to bed.  Just one of the many ways these two sisters like to bond!

October Fun!

I said I was going to work at getting caught up on my blog, but I decided to do a more current post in the meantime.  (I think I'm a little overwhelmed at the thought of blogging about Disneyland.  It was awesome, but there is so much awesomeness to document!)

 

Anyway, we had some fun this October.  I have loved the big, blue sky and the crisp fall temperatures.  Most days it was in the 50s and pretty chilly or even freezing at night.  But the sun!  Oh, the glorious sun! 

 

I heard about this little pumpkin patch called the Red Barn on Facebook and we decided to check it out.  It was perfect!  Lots of pumpkins to choose from, a few activities to give the kiddos the "pumpkin patch experience" without exhausting me, and only a few minutes from home.  Hooray!

They had a little hay maze that, because it had low walls, was super easy to navigate.  The kids didn't seem to mind this and loved running through it multiple times.  I was a little annoyed that they boys kept leaving Emma in their dust.  We are really working on getting them to be helpful big brothers, but sometimes they forget!  Chloe took Emma through a few times though!

They had stacked a bunch of hay bales around this big tree.  I was a little nervous about letting the kids climb up there, but let them do it anyway.  Sometimes it's hard as a mom not to be a total kill-joy!  Emma climbed up like a champ, but got a little nervous once she was up there (not that I blame her).  Chloe to the rescue again!

Three cute Brownie girls sitting on a cute rocking bench.

There was a little train ride that drove through the patch.  The youngest 3 Brownies were excited to ride it, although I think Emma was a little nervous too.  She had kind of a death grip on Kyle's leg.

Sarah and I taking selfies.  :)  Everyone is always saying how much we look alike and I've never really seen it until this year.  Now I'm starting to be convinced.  I think she's definitely the new and improved version though!

I'm not sure how, but I didn't get any pictures of Brad.  He was there patching it up with us though!  Afterwards we picked up some Panda Express and headed for home.  It was just the right amount of afternoon fun.

A week or so later, I saw another Facebook post about some fun hay bales in the area.  We had to go and check them out for ourselves.  Minions! 

And that brings us to Halloween!  Sarah was Violet from The Incredibles.  She was very excited to get this costume that was her Aunt Shelley's.  I'm certain she froze while trick or treating tonight (she's not home yet to confirm), but she was bound and determined that this was her costume.  She did put some light layers on underneath though.

Kyle was Jedi Master Obi Wan Kanobi.  We recycled parts of his Obi Wan costume from when he was 4, but he needed longer pants and a tunic.  I also made him a robe and Sarah loaned him her boots.  He loved his costume so much he put it on after school and played and hung out in it several days in a row.  I told him it didn't have to go back in the Halloween bucket and could stay in with their regular dress up.  He was thrilled!

A more serious expression...

Chloe recycled the Woody costume and looked pretty cute doing it.  She wore her own boots though rather than the clunky men's ones I found at Goodwill.  She even wrote ANDY on the bottom of one.

Emma was our little U of U cheerleader.  Both Sarah and Chloe wore this when they were 2 and I think it's fun that we hung onto it so that Emma could as well.  She has recently decided that dress-up is the thing to do and so this will also be staying in with her regular toys. 

She would not pose with her pompoms, but we still got a little sass out of her.

Aaron was originally thinking he would wear a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume, but changed his mind today.  In fact, he almost didn't wear a costume to school.  I think he was worried that no one else would be dressed up and he'd feel weird.  I had to convince him that everyone would be dressed up and that if he didn't, he'd be the only one in the parade that wouldn't have on a costume.  He can be so stubborn sometimes and I wasn't going to force him into a costume, but was worried he'd come home sad if he didn't wear one.  I'm glad he changed his mind. 

He picked this Clone Trooper costume that we got from his cousin Braden a year or so ago.  It's still a little big, but he loved it and was happy to pose with the Boba Fett blaster gun that we have.

And I tried to get a good one of the whole Brownie Bunch, but Chloe kept making weird faces!

And then when she didn't make a weird face, the camera ended up blurry.  Oh well!

Last, but not least, is our pumpkins all carved up.  From left to right they are mine, Aaron's and Emma's.  I kept mine simple.  Aaron was originally going to do a Frankenstein face, since his pumpkin was mostly green, but changed his mind and wanted a bat instead.  He was very happy with Brad's assistance.  Emma wanted a grumpy face with a circle nose.  She was very adamant about the circle nose.

The top two are (l-r) Kyle's and Chloe's.  Kyle's is Evil Emperor Zurg and Chloe's says "Don't Blink", a Doctor Who reference.  The bottom two are (l-r) Sarah's and Brad's.  Sarah's is also an homage to Doctor Who with a picture of a Tardis.  It's pretty detailed and she worked really hard on it.  Brad decided to go with a simple happy face this year instead of flames, dragons or a scary face.

 Happy October!