Christmas 2010

On Christmas Eve we got dressed-up fancy for frozen lasagna at Gigi's house. After we ate all we could we went into town for Mass. Some day we'll make it to midnight Mass, but until the Littles are older we'll have to settle for 8 o'clock Mass (aka imitation Christmas Eve Midnight Mass).

When we got home each Little opened their traditional first gift which consists of a pair of jammies and a new ornament for the tree.

Christmas Morning

Nathan spent the entire day in his room (away from his sisters)

putting together his Lego set from Gigi.

Thanksgiving 2010

Our first holiday in our new home

We were homesick for family and friends, but we made due with our traditional festivities. I cooked (for what seemed to be an eternity), David wore his colorful-striped-holiday sweater, we took a walk and Sophia made the traditional leap into the pool. It was a chilly day; we made it worth Sophie's while by offering her a whopping $2 for her feat.

This year we asked The Littles if they'd rather have a real turkey instead of Tofurky. We told them we could find a farmer that hand raises and humanely kills their turkeys. But they all insisted that eating meat was not an option. It's inspiring when you teach your children and they come to own the principles for themselves. We always joked that when Nathan was old enough to make his own choices he'd be first in line for a meat platter. But, now Nathan understands for himself why our family chooses to not eat meat. Pretty neat.

Halloween 2010

Rachel eats markers (among other things).

She ate a huge green marker just before we left...lovely.

Love this girl!

Sophia insisted on wearing her Scooby costume for the 3rd year in a row.

I informed her that it seriously didn't fit.

Her spirit ROCKS

Halloween arrived soon after we moved in. The house was swallowed-up by our boxes, but I managed to get out some decorations and last year's costumes.

We live amongst the elderly so we had to load up the minivan and head to a "kid" hood (I'm one of those people now). But we had a great time. I couldn't have done it without controlling Rachel with a leash...thank you to whoever invented the toddler leash!

The Move

Our journey from Utah to Central Texas was not for the faint of heart. We traveled with 3 cars, 2 trailers, 4 adults (incl. my disabled mom), 4 kids, and 7 pets! In my care alone I had 2 kids, a bunny, a dog and 2 turtles (the smell was incredible)!

The trip took us 4 days. We travelled up to Colorado, across to Kansas, then down through Oklahoma and Texas.

Drawing by Nate
Somewhere in CO I got a flat tire
Finally Made it!

Settling in

Fred the Utah garden gnome

The littles played on the swingset for days

...and caught geckos and lizzards

our across-the-street Utah neighbor took the drive with us.

Tom was a huge help!

Soon after we arrived we unearthed a large wasp colony.

This was a job for the bee professionals

I still haven't recovered from this trip! But we're settled and life is going well. The kids are happy here and we love being around SO MANY trees!

Slow Day

There's nothing like a migraine to make you stop in your tracks and halt your daily plans. I've been so busy playing catch-up and recovery since our big move to Texas. I have good intentions of blogging our trip here and our progress. But, my love has been working out-of-town since we've been here and one mama can only handle so much.

Today was set to be another full day. But, my body had another plan. So instead I'm working through this migraine...one Fiornal at a time (this shiz doesn't even work anymore for me).

While I wait for a full recovery I checked out my new friend's blog. WHAT the CRAP?! I had no idea I was in the company of blogger royalty. This gal is da jam!

On one hand I now feel like a total loser; wondering what the heck I'm good at and why can't I be as industrious as she. On the other hand I'm inspired by her creativity. But really, I just wanna look over her shoulder and copy what she does.

Don't give up on me. I have HUGE plans for life. And yes, one of those plans is to start another urban farm here...only BIGGER.

Bad Time to Be Illin'

Yesterday I scheduled the moving truck to pick up our stuff on the 15th of this month.

Yup, just over a week from today.

David is still in California working for us.

I've been packing up, one room at a time.

Yesterday I woke up sick and today I'm worse.

I've got a garage FULL of yard sale inventory to be sold on Saturday.

The Littles sence weakness.

They're like vultures.

Please bless I can get this all together.

Packin' Mama

Nate the Great's Birthday

Somewhere in Kansas Nathan turned 7. I promised him that when we got home I'd throw him some sort of a party.

Nathan is such a great soul! He is kind and compassionate. We always joke that we're raising him to be a good husband. He's always surrounded by crying sisters and handles it with care. I'm especially grateful that he loves his mama so much.

Nathan is an exceptional bike rider (he doesn't even look where he's going).

This sweet child captures my heart and reminds me everyday how blessed I am.

Happy Birthday Nate the Great aka Buddy!

Georgetown Texas

I think we're gonna like it here

Now That's a Road Trip!

A few weeks ago we loaded in the VW for a serious road trip. Thus far I was the only one who'd seen the house we were moving to in Texas. Actually, I'm the only one in the fam who's even been to Texas (I flew out to Austin the last week of August to find a house).

Early one morning all six of us, both dogs and ALL our stuff buckled up for a tour of America's beautiful midwest. We didn't have a plan or any hotel reservations. Our first day we drove north up the 15 then to the 70 east through Colorado. We stayed the night in Denver. The next day we headed for Kansas. David was especially eager to see Kansas. He loves the simplicity of a true small-town lifestyle. I like the idea of it. This day was special...it was Nathan's 7th birthday. The big guy was patient, as usual, and we promised him a real birthday party (fancy cake and all) when we got home. But for that day, he settled for a pit stop to see the cow with five legs and dinner at Chili's. I was surprised by Kansas; it is a beautiful state. But, honestly the tornado frequency freaks me out. We stayed the night in Hesston, KS. The next day we drove down through Oklahoma and had lunch at a random truck stop. The troop was so well behaved. Even the dogs did great. We made it all the way to Georgetown.

We stayed in Georgetown for a few days to work out a few items on the house we're buying. We explored our new town and spent a day in Austin (Austin is a 30 min drive from Georgetown).

We took a different route home, going up through Lubbock, TX to New Mexico, then Arizona to Utah.

We were gone for a week and everyone was so glad to streeeetch oouuuut!