Brandon and Whitney

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Enduring the Winter

You know what, the winter really wasn't too bad. And our bodies temperatures have adjusted nicely and 50+ degrees feels "warm" to us. We have been loving our house and have been trying to get settled.

- LOTS OF SLEDDING - there is a great sledding hill at the park right by our house or if we are feeling adventurous, there is an awesome sledding hill by Chad & Cindy's house in Eagle Mountain.

Post-sledding silliness with cousin Kennedy

- OMAHA COUSINS - the Murray's came into town for a week after Christmas, so we soaked in every minute we could with them. The cousins play so great together! We went to Lowe's Extreme Air Sports and Blaster Tag.

- CAR PROBLEMS - which are now resolved, but the van needed $2000 worth of work over a 2 month period and it left me stranded at a birthday party that Andrew had been invited to. Brandon came and saved the day!

- SKIING - Brandon and Rachel went skiing as part of the Grandma/Grandpa sleepover for the older kids. Rachel did fine, but needs more practice before she is skiing on her own. Then for Valentine's Day, Nancy watched the kids and Brandon and I went skiing together at Sundance. It was my third time skiing and I did ok. I get very nervous when I start going too fast or it gets to steep, but Brandon was patient and we had a fun day together.

- TEXTING WITH BROOKLYN & HOLLY - we have been missing our Arizona friends, but it is fun when you send selfies back and forth or if you are Rachel, then you include about 100 emoji's in your texts to Holly (via their mom's phones).

- CINDY'S PREGNANCY has been horrible - the poor thing. She was really sick for about 12 weeks (approx 6-18 weeks). She was nauseous all the time and had a hard time doing much of anything. At one point, she was throwing up 10-15 times a day. She was in and out of the doctors getting IV's and finally got them everyday from home. On good days, she only had about an hour or two where she felt good enough to get something done. Mom and I went over to clean their house every week and I took the kids for the morning once a week. Luke doesn't always show it, but I think he really likes me now! :)

- DADDY TIME - this new job has meant even more daddy time! He does scriptures with the family every morning and is home pretty early in the evening. We feel so lucky that he is enjoying this job and is less stressed!

- VISITING AZ FRIENDS - the Jorgensen's & Dobson's both live in SLC, so we took our Monday holidays from school to play with them. We went to a jumping place & lunch with Rachel Jorgensen and we had a playdate at Natalie Dobson's house. It was so good to catch up and be with people who remind us of Arizona.

- ADVENTURES - Shalauna potty trained Zac right before I potty trained Kendall and this was her first potty training rodeo. We were chatting on the phone at 10pm while she was driving and she was venting about potty training and all it's craziness. In her fragile state, she had forgotten to get gas and ran out of gas on the freeway. I went to go rescue her as fast as I could, especially because her car had stopped right by the prison and it was creepy! Then, her car had also died, so we had to get it jumped. It really was so fun, we were dying laughing, and we made a great memory!

Then, while I was in the thick of potty training Kendall, my mom offered to take Andrew and Rachel to the procession of Officer Barney, who was shot and killed in Holladay, Utah. He was buried in Orem and the community really showed up for him.

We found the cutest group of old men who hang out at the Lehi Wendy's/gas station every afternoon.

Valentine's impromptu Dance

- KENALL - this girl is getting so big! She started Sunbeams and is fully night/day potty trained. She has found another best friend, Avery, who just lives a couple houses down. This friendship has really helped us not miss Brooklyn so much! And Avery's mom, Kelsey, is pretty awesome too. We are glad to have found some friends on our street. Kendall really is such a joy and entertains herself so well.

- ANDREW - this boy is absolutely obsessed with everything having to do with clothes. He changes multiple times a day, loves to match with Kendall or cousins and he loves pajamas. He also hates wearing pants and long sleeves, so he has worn shorts and long socks most of the winter (but he often rolls his socks, which is one of my biggest pet peeves!). The biggest punishment I can issue is to make him wear pants and long sleeves, so he tries at all costs to avoid that punishment. On one particular day, he found out I was washing his favorite Under Armor outfit, so he decided to wait by the washer for quite awhile. It reminded me of the time that he was waiting for his blankies when he was 3 years old, so I did a side by side.

- ICE CASTLE IN MIDWAY - Valentine's weekend, we went to the Midway Ice Castle to celebrate my mom's birthday. We went at the perfect time of night and it really was so interesting and unique.

- BYU GAMES - Brandon has been enjoying taking the kids to all sorts of BYU games. This particular time, it was Rachel's turn to the go to a basketball game.

- PROVO CITY CENTER TEMPLE - we attended the Open house with the Parker's. The tour ran smoothly and the temple was very beautiful. Grateful that we have the opportunity to take the kids to these types of things. So far, they have been to the Gilbert, Phoenix, Payson & Provo City Center temple open houses.

- ENGAGEMENTS - my cousin Alicia is engaged to Spencer and they asked me to take their engagement pictures. It was freezing cold, but we made it work!

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Our Souls Needed Some Sunshine

Rachel had a day off of school at the first of March, so we took a long weekend and headed to Arizona! (Since that is where everyone in the family wanted to go!) We went down to play with friends, see some baseball games & get our fill of the sunshine!

We got there late Thursday night and stayed with the Perkinson's at their new house / farm (they have lots of land and rabbits, ~~a rooster~~ :), chickens & tortoises). They did such a fantastic job on a complete renovation and their house is just gorgeous and so family friendly!

We met our Lehi Crossing friends at the park first thing Friday morning and by a small miracle, Kendall & Brooklyn got to play together the whole morning. Brooklyn's mom, Andrea was 41 weeks pregnant and was scheduled to be induced on Thursday, and we were trying to make arrangements to play with Brooklyn the day after baby was to be born. But the hospital was all full and they had to send her home, so I got to visit with Andrea and the girls got to play. These two warm my heart - they are just kindred spirits! Andrew got to be reunited with the Hawks' boys and Maddox Tompkinson. He was through the roof excited and his one request was to play at Jessica's house (since Stapley pool was closed and that would have been his first request) so we arranged for play dates at friends houses on Saturday. Rachel had to wait for Holly to get out of school on Friday, but once they reunited, they chatted and played just like they hadn't missed a beat!! While we all played at the park that morning, Brandon went to Osborn Maledon for lunch with his old co-workers.

In the afternoon, Brandon took the big kids to the Cubs spring training game, Kendall played at Karli's house (Karli loves Kendall so much, it is so sweet), and I went and worked with Kent Hann for a bit. That night, we had brick oven pizza at Kasey and Danny's, tried to swim in their cold pool and dirty hot tub. The kids ran circles around her house - especially going down the slide that starts in the boy's room and ends down in the playroom - so fun! Us adults had so much fun staying up late and talking and reminiscing.

On Saturday, Brandon went golfing with his ward friends, and we met the Tompkinson's at the park for donuts and an early morning play date (both our kids are early risers). She even had Caleb & Kyson Gunnell since Andrea got called in to have her baby the night before. Karli told me that she is expecting #6 (later we found out it is boy #6)!! We adore the Tompkinson's and they are one of the best things that came out of our first ward in Mesa!

Brandon and I snuck away for a Cubs game sans kids, and had a relaxing time enjoying the game and the weather! Then we went to yes, ANOTHER park and met a bunch of Lehi Crossing families for dinner and hours of park play for the kids. Brandon dropped me off at Sarah's and I got to meet her new baby girl, Henley! Her and Brett have the cutest newborns ever! She is doing well and I was so glad to visit her for a bit and catch up.

On Sunday, we spent the morning at Kasey's and then went to church at our old ward. We were so tired and worn out by this point since we had been going non-stop, but we pushed through and it was so good to see so many familiar faces. After church, we headed to Flagstaff and stayed the night in a hotel. It was a small blizzard and was a rude awakening to the weather we had just experienced. The ride home on Monday was pretty uneventful and the kids did great. This was our first trip without having to take ANY diapers - woo woo!

I was unsure if going to Arizona would unwind the good progress we had made with the kids about the whole move, but I think we all just felt GRATEFUL. Grateful for the time we spent there and grateful for the friends we made and grateful for the experiences and memories we have in Mesa!

It was wonderful to be back in Arizona and feel the sunshine. I even thought the desert landscape was ... dare I say ... pretty?! I can't believe that I actually missed the cactus-filled landscape that I complained about the entire time I was there. :) But strangely, Arizona didn't feel like home anymore. I say that is strange because when we moved from Chicago to Arizona, I felt like Chicago was home for years afterward. Not sure the difference, other than me being a little bit older and wiser :) and knowing that we are where we are supposed to be now (despite my plan of being in Arizona for many more years).