Preston is "Optional"

Preston told me today that his name is Puppy. Preston is his optional name.

No Swimsuit

We had diving today. I had the swimsuit all clean and ready and by the door . . . or so I thought. Jorja's swim skirt was missing. We looked everywhere we could think of. I have no idea where it went. I'm certain I made sure it was there when I folded them . . . although last week was pretty crazy, I could be wrong. I have a ton of swimsuits for Jorja, and even two different swim bottoms that match her swim shirt. The problem is, all of them are in storage. So, we finally went to diving - late - and Jorja just had to watch. She was pretty disappointed, and I moved one step farther away from the mom of the year trophy.

Taco Night

There is snow, snow, snow here! We knew there was no way the van would make it up the driveway, so we headed over to the new house after church. Mike went and got the snowplow from Steve. When he came back, Seth Bradley was snowplowing our driveway with his four-wheeler. That was so nice. While he was snowplowing our driveway, Mike pulled up with a giant snowplow. (Although the giant snowplow was for a different driveway, it was pretty funny.) I had no idea Seth was out there. Looks like we are going to have pretty awesome neighbors.

Steve and his family met us at our new house. The kids have been so anxious to show their cousins where they are going to live. They were pretty excited to have them there. After, we all went up to Mike's house . . . Grandma Honey's house . . . Scoop & Cori's house . . . (not quite sure what to call it, but we love it up here!) Anyway, Lisa & her family came up as well. We had tacos and played games. Dominion and Ticket to Ride. I won Ticket to Ride by two points. Yes, I'm awesome.

On a completely unrelated note, one of my implants is bothering me. I hope it is nothing since we now live far away from my plastic surgeon. I know my brothers didn't need to know that, but seriously it is driving me nuts. My brothers can just comfort themselves in knowing that I didn't have a blog when I went through my surgeries. If I did, I'm sure they would have been scared for life with information they would rather never know. That would have been fun.

Gingerbread Lane

Three years ago, when Ange came to Georgia to help take care of me after my surgery, Ange made these awesome gingerbread houses. They were really fun and very delicious. Ange said that if we ever moved to Utah we could make this a tradition. You better believe I was right on top of that one. I reminded Ange of that idea almost as soon as I moved to Utah. We decided that she would make the gingerbread and I would buy the candy. I think I got the better end of that deal.

Bubs and his family came over this morning to make the houses. We were hoping that Mike & Christen could come, but they needed to start their drive back to Arizona. My dad was able to come up too, so that was really fun. The kids did great and it was so cute to see them working with the frosting. Preston was so proud and has told me several times today how much fun it was making gingerbread houses. He even said, "My next gingerbread house is going to be even greater!" I think this is going to be a great tradition.

Maysen, Mike, Preston, Steph, Jorja, Ron, Ella, Ange, Abbs

Bubs, Lincoln, Stockton

Maysen & Preston

Jorja & Lincoln

Porge

Lincoln

Ella

Stockton

Mike

Lincoln & Ange

My Dad

Ange, Abigail, Lincoln, Ella, Bubs

Maysen, Mike, Stockton, Jorja, Preston, Stephanie

Ella, Grandpa, Lincoln (he thought he was so funny to not look)

Maysen & Abbs, Stockton, Jorja, Preston

Bubs got Lincoln to look up by acting CRAZY!

Lincoln thought that was so funny.

Thanks Ange! My kids had a blast!

Run-Run-Run

Today seemed like a never-ending day. Maybe it is the tryptophan still doing its job. I meant to take the kids to Steve & Shannon's while I waited at the new house for my new washer and dryer. Too bad I was running late, so I had to bring the kids with me. They were great and even though my waiting window was 1-5, the delivery men came at 1:30! Sweet! I dropped off the kids at Steve & Shannon's and went to meet Mike at the carpet store. While we were gone, Steve took the kids sledding. Double sweet. Bubs & Ange met us at the carpet store and after they came with me up to Mike's house to put together gingerbread houses! We are going to put them together tomorrow! So excited about that. While I was gingerbreading, Mike was meeting with a plumber. Lots to do. Now we are at Steve & Shannon's playing games and eating left-over Thanksgiving food. Spencer is in town from California and Lisa's family is over too. Once again, we are loving living in Utah!

Stockton Wins

Happy Thanksgiving! As soon as I woke up today, Stockton greeted me singing, "I win! I win!" For his birthday - way back in January....Mike and I gave him three coupons to get out of eating dinner. He wanted to save one for Thanksgiving. I told him there was no way he could save it that long. I guess I was wrong. He used his coupon today and liked it. Doesn't he understand how delicious Thanksgiving dinner is? Apparently not.

My dad came up early today and started cooking. It was great. I didn't have to worry about cooking and he didn't have to worry about cleaning. That's what you call a win-win. I did make cranberry sauce, banana cream pie and chocolate cream pie - but that was all. My dad set off the smoke detector and the fire department came. They even walked up the entire driveway. We probably should have given them some cookies for their trouble.

People started arriving at our house around 4. It was a little tricky getting up the driveway. Some had to be pushed. Mike drove some cars up since he is an expert. Grandma walked up by herself! Not the entire driveway, but still quite a bit. We didn't know she was here until she walked in the door.

Mike & Christen and their girls came all the way from Arizona. When Preston saw Skye, he walked right up to her and gave her a big hug. So cute! I finally gave Ange back Ella's little brush that I have had in my pocket since Shannon's wedding. Jorja reminded me. Preston grabbed it and broke it thirty seconds before I gave it back. Seriously. I have carried that thing around for a month, and now he breaks it? Sorry about that Ange (and Ella).

The whole group

(Love Ella & Skye holding hands!)

Jae, Todd, Grandma, Mark, Gayle

Brittany, Sadie, Trey, Eric & Colton

Cathy, Max & my Dad

Ange, Abigail & Bubs

Lincoln & Ella

Maysen, Preston, Steph, Stockton, Mike, Jorja

Mike & Christen

Skye & Larkin

Larkin & Skye

Skye

Cousins tackling Uncle Matt

While we were eating, we talked to Brett on Skype. It was great! Marie is so dang cute. Rachel wasn't there. She was shopping Black Friday sales. I didn't know they did Black Friday in Japan. Too bad we didn't get to see John & Cassie. I can't wait to meet Mallory. We missed you guys!

Brett on Skype

I am so thankful for my wonderful family. I am thankful Matt didn't die this weekend, and I'm thankful that I now live in Utah. I am thankful for so many things. I sure do have a wonderful life!

Face Plant

Three of our four kids took face plants today. First, Preston slipped on the ice while we were walking up the stairs to diving. He had a hold of my hand, but instead of me keeping him up, he pulled me down. I fell on my rear and he fell on his nose. Second, Maysen did a flip and over-rotated. Her head slapped the water pretty hard. Ouch! Third, Stockton did a flip with a twist off the high dive. He hit his face just because he's crazy. It was red and swollen. Double ouch!

Monster Storm

There was suppose to be a monster storm today. My van doesn't get up the driveway if there is any snow. That might be a problem. Around lunchtime I realized I might be snowed in for awhile. Maysen only has crocs. I decided now might be a good time to invest in some boots for her. She was in the middle of an eluminate science lesson, so I whispered to her that I was going to get her boots. She said, "As long as they aren't brown and pink." I went to Shop-ko because that was the closest store. The only girl boots they had were brown and pink! You gotta be kidding! The one thing she asked not to have. I ended up getting her some black/brown boy boots. She likes them, and as a bonus - Stockton can grow into them.

The storm didn't hit as early as everyone expected. Mike got to come home early because of it though. Mike and I went down to the new house to measure all the rooms. By the time we were ready to leave, the storm had hit. Luckily the jeep has no problem getting up the driveway. Mike says, "My jeep is so happy in Utah." We spent the rest of the day in a nice cozy warm house. Mike won Settlers for the very first time...I played awful. Pretty great day. And I'm SO very thankful that Matt is out of the canyon.

Matt ~ No Mans Canyon

I Am Thankful for Helicopters

Matt (from an earlier hike)

Matt was found today! Hooray! Seriously. I had the worst night last night, but I'm guessing it didn't hold a candle to Matt's. Matt, Jason (childhood friend), Elroy (army buddy) and Chris (Jason's friend) went hiking in No Mans Canyon. Jason and Chris like to do geocaching. They had GPS coordinates they were hiking to. Matt ate the his last granola bar right before getting to the coordinates. The slot ended in a 200 ft. repel. Matt said that part was awesome. He felt like he was floating down. Once down, they couldn't find a way out. "That canyon was relentless with the fake exits." They also didn't get lost in the cool part, but they got lost in the walking back to the car part.

The first night, they found a hole in the ground that had rocks around it. It protected them from the wind, but that's about it. It rained a little on them, but not too much. The second night they had a little better area. They slept in a rock area with a covering overhead. Matt had wet socks and wet shoes, and damp pants. They had to swim through a stream to get out of the slot.

Because Matt ate all his food the first day, the second day all he had was 1/4 of Elroy's soggy burrito and a pineapple candy thing. Matt had water and ran out about 1/2 hour before the helicopter found them. Jason & Elroy ran out of water the day before. They did fill their water bottles with pond water, but only Jason drank that.

This morning, they heard the helicopter before they saw it. Matt said the others were screaming for it while he was trying to explain that there is 0% chance they will hear you. I can totally picture Matt in that scenario. The helicopter was able to land and pick them up. They showed two different rescue people the information they were using, both said that Michael Kelsey gives bad information. Good to know.

Missing Matt

I am worried sick right now. My brother Matt is missing. He went hiking in the slot canyons of Southern Utah. (No Mans - Robbers Roost in Hanksville). Matt's hiking party was scheduled to come back Saturday night, but they did not. Search and Rescue has been looking for them all day, but the search has been called off. They weren't able to get a helicopter into the air because of the winds. They did find Matern's car, but not Matt's. They think everyone piled into Matt's car to go a little farther to start the hike. Hopefully they are out of the canyon and we just don't know it.

It is a winter wonderland here. Preston told me that his favorite food was snow.

4-Wheel Drive

I spent this morning working on the Parry Post. The only problem was the power went out for several hours. (When the Parry Post comes out there is an enormous lack of pictures at the end of the issue due to the power outage....but at least it is almost done!)

This afternoon we went to Brandon & Jacob's birthday party. It was at one of those jumping places. We had a great time. I kept trying to do a flip and land on my feet, but I couldn't quite make it. In my defense, the bouncy house was not that bouncy.

Preston was so excited Mike was wearing a yellow jacket like him that he wanted to have their picture taken together

Jacob & Brandon

Brandon

Mike liked to catapult the children. The children liked to be catapulted, so I guess it was a win-win.

Mike getting ready to catapult Weston

Stockton Catapult

Maysen and I were trying to put our arms through this tiny hole to see if we could touch. Steve came by and said, "You can't fit through that." Challenge accepted! It took awhile and was really hard, but I fit through the hole! Mike, Maysen & Steve were my witnesses. Challenge completed!

After our play time was over, we went into the room to eat cake. There was a lady standing near the door with germ-x. My hand started stinging as soon as I got my squirt. That's when I noticed I had a gash taken out of my knuckle. I'm not sure how that happened, but it was worth it.

Brandon's birthday was on Tuesday and Jacob's birthday was today! We've never been able to be at their birthday party before, so this was quite a treat.

Jacob & Brandon

Maysen & Stockton

Mike dropped all of us at home while he went back to the house to tear up more carpet. I worked on the Parry Post. Hopefully that will be finished tomorrow. After a bit I loaded up the kids and took them to the house. They helped us unload logs. (Mike's dad had his workers cut up some logs for us and Mike wanted them to get put away before the snow came.) The kids also helped get rid of the leaves in the boy's window sill. Because we have no carpet, Mike opened the window and we swept them up. We filled up two bags.

Mike talked Preston into going upstairs a secret way. He took him out of the girls window sill. Mike gasped when he got out there. I asked what was wrong and promptly received a snowball in my face. We had no idea it was snowing. There was a ton of it! I was a little nervous to drive home, but I figured it would only get worse. I took the kids in the van, very slowly home. I almost didn't make it up the hill out of our neighborhood. I had the gas pedal down all the way and we were barely creeping along. I did fine until I turned off of Wasatch. I got stuck. Luckily the car got stuck right next to the Bromley's. I left the kids in the car (they all had crocs on) and went and got Brother Bromley. He got his truck and took us up the hill.

When Mike came home, he called his dad and got a quick lesson on how to use the snow plow. After the kids were in bed, we snowplowed the road. I got to control the remote that lifted up the plow. After the road was semi-plowed, it was still too snowy to get the van up the driveway. Mike didn't want to leave the van where it was because he was worried a car would slip and slide right into the van. He went and parked it on Wasatch. I followed him. After we parked the car, we wondered if we could get the van to our new house. It is a lot easier driving in snow when you are going downhill. I followed Mike in the jeep. I have never been so happy with a 4-wheel drive before. Now our van is parked at our new house. At least we know it's not going to get munched there!

Little Late

My kids keep reminding me that I haven't put a blog post up yet. Thank goodness I can change the date! I was going to put diving pictures up, but there were so many to look at that it was taking me too long. I don't have time for that when I need, need, need to get the Parry Post done!

Today I went over to the new elementary school and talked with the assistant principal. She was very nice and took a lot of time out of her day to talk to me. She took me on a tour of the school. I asked if I could bring Stockton some time to have a tour. (I'm trying to decide if I should put him back after Christmas or next year....I LOVE homeschooling him, but I want to give him the experience of going to school here as well.) Anyway, Mrs. Wallace stayed after school and took both Stockton and Jorja on a tour. Now I have some big decisions to make.

Scruffy's Sick!

This morning, Preston was playing Webkinz when all of a sudden he ran away shrieking in terror. I ran after him and asked what was wrong. He had his hands over his ears and sobbed, "Scruffy is sick!" Poor Scruffy had an icepack on his head. Jorja sent him to the doctor and he is all better now. That is on my list of one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

Here are some pictures of the outside of our house. Mike has been pulling out carpet and taking weird shelves off of walls. We also got the tags on our car so we can go through the gate without stopping at the guard shack thingy. Preston & Jorja came with me. They enjoyed raking leaves, it would be nice if that didn't change.

Front

Back Creepy looking fountain with spotlight Pool Preston & Jorja