just keep swimming

I am doing a less than inspiring job of getting things caught up over here. I have a report on the kids' goings on over the last, er, 6 months in the works. Ah well. Life gets that way sometimes!

I have a few decent excuses though. This baby is towards the top of the list. He spent the last month being sick or teething which has made for long days and sleepless nights. In just the last couple of days we have rounded a corner. He has started sleeping through the night again and taking good naps during the day and so I have some time and energy to get other things done. Also, I've heard it said that sleep deprivation can cause a brain to react as though it were intoxicated. I've never been drunk, but I think I have a fair idea of what it would feel like on my brain. One day, I was talking to a friend and had to stop. I just started laughing. I was talking so slowly, and it was taking me so long to recall the words I needed that the stuff coming out of my mouth was utter nonsense and I completely lost my train of thought. Waking up every hour through the night will do that to a person!

In other more exiting news, Cori has taken a new position with Honeywell and we will be moving to Houston, Texas. We have been in Phoenix for nearly four years. We have brought two babies home to this house. Grace and Grant went to the same preschool teacher. We've had fast Sunday dinners every month with the same group of friends. I have finally organized all the closets. It is very sad to be leaving.

Cori's new position is an amazing opportunity for which we are grateful. He is going to get a ton of international leadership experience (and stamps in his passport to match). The traveling will be for a short while, and this experience will open lots of doors for him in the future. He starts next week and will be commuting back and forth between Phoenix and TX and his other global destinations as we work out our relocation. We made a list of things to do around the house and yard a month or so ago and have been chipping away at it. The house is almost ready to list- we will be off to the races soon. We are hoping to stay in PHX through the end of the school year. Not only will the kiddos be happier this way, it will be nice for me to rely on my friends while Cori is away. But we are on our knees praying everyday to know and do the best thing for our family, so we will see how events unfold.

In the meantime, I am dejunking, scrubbing, repainting, scheduling...

Anyone moving to Phoenix?

new year's eve

We hadn't planned much for New Year's eve. Cori found a little box of fireworks and we stocked up on provisions to make sushi. Rather spur of the moment, we saw our good friends who are neighbors from down the street, Scott and Kerry. Kerry has three kids from his previous marriage that attend our ward, and Cori home teaches their family. Anyhoo, they didn't have plans either, so we invited them to join us. We played games, got out all the toys, and kept the cartoons rolling. Eden and Jeffery didn't make it to midnight. But the rest of us (barely) did.

Happy Holiday Part II

We caravanned our group to St. George next. Sandy and Ray are always so kind to allow us all to decend upon their condo. Tiffany and Brett live there now too, so we are able to spread out a little. While in St. George, we played at a few different parks, flew some more air rockets, and enjoyed a few more evenings and meals together. One of our first outings was to Mesquite. Cory gave Brittany a sky diving adventure for Christmas. He thought it would be fun for her to have someone to share the experience with and, as he had been skydiving before, he asked my Cori if he would like to join her. It is something Cori had always been keen on doing and he happily agreed.

At the airport, the kids had fun playing around the hanger. Brittany and Cori took turns. Britt went up first. We watched the plane circle higher and higher. Sheesh. They were way up there.

She jumped like a champ!

We evacuated the hanger to keep the kids out of the way as the guys repacked their chutes. And then it was Cori's turn.

Cori loved it. It looked like a lot of fun. I could almost imagine doing it. Almost. Next time, though, it is Sandy's turn. We found out that this experience is a bucket list item for her. Gotta check that off!

One of our park outings was for a little family bike-ride/fun run. Cori got the kids warmed up while we waited for the group to arrive.

Later that day at another park, Cori and his siblings taught us a basketball game they made up as kids. We modified it a tiny bit and everyone got to play.

Then, all too soon, our week was up and we had to pack up and head home. We agreed that it was one of the best get togethers yet for this crew. Cori and I were so grateful to have been able to see everyone and the kids were in heaven every single day playing with their cousins.

Christmas Cabin

For Christmas, we rented a big cabin in the mountains outside of Cedar City, UT. The place worked out great for our extra large group. Getting to it on our checkin day was a bit hairy. There was a good storm blowing the and roads were super slippy.

As soon as we arrived, the G's begged to get their snow clothes on and get straight to it. The rest of our time there was sunny and snow perfect!

Because of the treacherous weather the day before, we opted not to drive back down to Cedar City for church the next day and instead got permission to have our own family sacrament meeting. 

There was plenty to do in and around the cabin. Inside, the kids (of all ages) played games and puzzles and had art projects to work on. Outside, they found great little hills nearby to sled on.

Every night, we gathered ourselves together for a devotional and family prayer. Then the kiddos were straight to bed. It was magnificent! They wore each other out pretty well everyday and we were able to keep an early bedtime for them almost the whole week.

Grace was on the lookout for animal tracks everywhere she went.

Grandpa Randy joined us for a couple of days.

I never know what expression I'm going to get when I ask Grant to look at the camera. He makes me laugh so hard.

Ray and Sandy joined us the Monday before Christmas. Ray's brother and sister-in-law, Brad and Teresa, joined us for a night as well. They were super patient and positive with our crazy crew. We had a lot of fun with them.

One morning, we got to see Uncle Damien in action as he was making deliveries down the street from where we were staying. He let the kids climb around his truck and see how it is done. 

Though we had fun little sledding hills right by the cabin, there was a GREAT bigger sledding hill a few minutes down the road. We spent a few afternoons climbing the hill and screaming down it. The pictures speak for themselves. I can't explain why sledding is so much fun. But there are always smiles everywhere I turn when we are on a snowy hill.

Go Grandma!

On Christmas Eve, Ethan and Megan planned fun games for the cousins and led a fantastic devotional about the Christmas story. We love reading the scriptures and singing together.

ALL 18 COUSINS!!

After devotional, everyone got to open a special present from Grandma Sandy and Papa Ray. Christmas Eve pjs! They even treated the moms and dads with new duds. That is a lot of pjs to organize!

Ready for Santa!

There are a few entry points to the main room of the cabin and we were concerned about certain little kids rushing out and disturbing Santa's work before moms and dads were awake. So the uncles designed a clever alarm of solo cups. Sure enough, the next morning someone tried unsuccessfully to slip through. Brilliant!

Christmas morning was about what you might expect with 7 families all together. It was a little crazy and a lot of fun. I love watching the kids give gifts to one another. They get so excited.

Gracie gave us a lesson on making rainbow loom bracelets with just our fingers.

We eventually got dressed (most of us anyway) and spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the other gift we got from Grandma and Grandpa. Papa Ray made a rocket launcher that hooks up to an air compressor for each family. It is designed for launching paper rockets. Everyone designed and redesigned their rockets and took turns seeing how high they would fly. Uncle Damien won the prize for being the best rocket engineer. We couldn't believe how high his rockets went soaring.

The next day we packed up and headed to St. George for Part II of our holiday.