It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This morning, I got up early and hit the sales and am almost done with my Christmas shopping!!!!

Once I got home, we ate lunch and then spent the afternoon and evening decorating the house for Christmas!

Chris & his "helper" putting the train under the train!


Watching the train go around the track! Myles is in love with this train and keeps pulling it off the track trying to get it to go.

Yes, that is my husband up on the roof! Anyone that knows him, knows he is serious when it comes to Christmas lights!

The front of the house. We have lights on the back side too since it faces the school and butts up to the road. I'll have to try and get a picture of that later. And Chris is not yet done, he still plans on putting more lights up this weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today it rained and was pretty gloomy outside. I hate to admit it, but the weather matched my mood today. I realize it is Thanksgiving and we are supposed to be thankful today and I am....I have much to be thankful for, but today.......

I got a phone call this morning from my Mom. I have a new nephew. A beautiful baby boy named Logan Joseph. I am so excited about this new addition to our family and I wanted nothing more than to get on a plan headed for Indiana today. I want to hug my brother and love on this new baby. I want to smell the sweetness of newborn Logan, to examine his cute little toes and kiss his soft feather head. I want to hold this 6lb little bundle and introduce him to his cousins, my children.

I get Adalyn out of her crib this morning, she is smiling and laughing as I change her and get her dressed for the day. Those moments have become so bittersweet to me for so many reasons. I enjoy each and every one of them, yet a part of me aches because I know that those moments won't be experienced by family that is so far away. Every milestone she reaches is another one that family missed. And it's not just with her that it happens, as I watch each of my children learn new things and master new skills, I cherish the moment for myself and mourn the moment I know family missed.

So, I look at pictures of this precious new baby, my new nephew and we talk about him at the dinning room table and I tell my kids that they have a new cousin and tomorrow when they get up, I will pull up pictures and let them "see" their new baby cousin, Logan. It's not what I want, but it's what we have......I am thankful for Internet and digital cameras that allows me a small peek at this baby boy that I so desperatly want to meet.

Congratulations Lee! I Love You!

Welcome to the world little Logan!

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Today was a pretty laid back, family day!

The little ones took a nap!

My little guy!

My sweet baby girl!


Even Ozzie enjoyed our lazy day!

Broedy & Raelyn played with friends.

Raelyn with one of her best friends, Morgan!

We had the traditional Thanksgiving Meal together as a family.

Getting ready to eat dinner!

While we ate, we made a list of the things we are thankful for:

~pudding (Raelyn)

~our health (Chris)

~our house (Broedy)

~food (Broedy)

~Our four beautiful kids (Chris & I)

~Ozzie (all of us)

~the time we spent with Kalae (all of us)

~our Suburban (Chris)

~our new nephew/cousin Logan (all of us)

~sunshine (kids)

~rain (me)

~school (Broedy)

~computer (all of us)

~our jobs (Chris & I)

~good friends (all of us)

~our church family (all of us)

~the earth (Broedy & Raelyn)

~children's laughter (me)

And despite the fact that I miss family, I am thankful for life here in Arizona. I am thankful that because of our move, I get to watch my husband teach. I get to watch him in his element and every time I walk into his classroom I smile, because we worked so hard for this dream of his to come true and I am thankful that despite many things, he is doing what he loves to do.

I am thankful for my beautiful kids and the fact that we are a strong family unit. That my children have gotten to experience things here that they would not of otherwise gotten to experience.

I am thankful for my husband and my marriage that has gotten stronger because of our move.

I am thankful for our church and the many friends we have here in Arizona.

I am thankful for my friends back in MI and the weekly phone calls I get from them.

I am thankful for my family and the fact that the love and support us even when it does hurt that we are so far away.

I am thankful for warm weather and the fact that we can still wear shorts and t-shirts at the end of November!

I am thankful for God and all the blessings he has given me and my family.

I am thankful for this blog that allows me to share my life with those I miss.

I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Reality

Today our neighbors back in MI sent us pictures of our old house. Reality has finally set in. I knew it was gone, but to actually see pictures of it being destroyed made it that much more real. I will never again be able to walk through my old house, or drive by it and show the kids were I grew up, where I played as a child, where Myles was born and where we raised Broedy & Raelyn for three years of my adult life. It hurts, it puts me in tears, it makes me question our decision, it makes me want to rewind the past 18 months of my life.

In the end, it is final.....there is nothing I can do about it but hang on to the memories. Which I will, I will forever remember the good times in my old house. The birthday parties, easter egg hunts and Christmas mornings. The sleep overs with friends and family get togethers. The long cold, winter nights in front of the fireplace. The smell of my mom's applesauce cooking in the kitchen, the meal times sitting around the kitchen table in the dining room, the laughter of my children running through the house, the hide & seek games with my brothers. The hockey games in the basement, the kick ball games and tag games played in the yard. I will remember all of that and more, it will forever be engraved in my mind.
The house is gone, my memories are not.

My Old House!

What it looks like now. The dirt is where our old house used to stand.

Iron Man

Chris's army buddy and friend, Joe & his wife flew in this past week so that Joe could run in the Ford Arizona Iron Man. The race consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2 mile run. We went down at the end of the day to watch Joe finish the marathon. What a fun thing to watch, something like 1400 people participated in the marathon and it was fun to watch people cross that finish line. Joe finished in just under 13 hours.

Here are a few pictures from the Ironman:

Waiting and watching for Joe

Chris & Myles waiting

Joe almost to the finish line.

Here he comes! You can see the time on top of the ford vehicle. 12 hours, 54 minutes and 01 seconds.

Joe almost to the finish line.

He you can see him with his iron man medal.

Six Months

Adalyn Grace,


Six months. It seems like just yesterday. Today you are rolling all over the house, smiling at your siblings, laughing at your Mom. I look at your chubby thighs, your deep blue eyes, your tiny feet and hands, your little button nose, your rosebud lips and your precious smile and I try to imprint it in my memory. I know all too well that in the blink of an eye another six months will pass and I will have a one year old on my hands.


You have recently discovered your hands. I love to watch you follow them as they wave in front of you. I love watching you get all excited as I hand you a toy, your scream in delight and bring whatever it is I hand to you to your mouth so you can explore this new, exciting thing.


You love your siblings and squeal in delight when one of them takes the time to play with you in a gentle manner. I love watching that bond form and I love watching how much in love your siblings are with you.


I love you so much my sweet little girl!


Love,
Mommy

Tonto National Bridge

Chris's army buddy, Joe is running in the Iron Man this year in Tempe, AZ so him and his wife flew in on Thursday and are staying with us until Tuesday. Today we took a trip to Payson and went to the Tonto National Bridge. We actually ended up hiking down to it and then through it to the other side. The weather was great and we had a great afternoon.

Ready to hike!

Hiking under the bridge.

Joe & Jenni in front of the Tonto National Bridge

Jenni

Adalyn & I resting after our long hike! We both had wet hair from hiking under the bridge.

Chris & Myles (and other hikers) at the base of the bridge

Hiking under the bridge (you can see the opening)

Adalyn & I hiking

My family in a neat tunnel we found when hiking.

Raelyn, Joe, Jenni, Broedy, Myles & Chris in the tunnel.

A pretty rainbow!

The Tonto National Bridge

Hiking down so we can see the bridge.

Across the river

Raelyn, Broedy, Chris & Myles on the hiking trail.

A morning at the Park!

The kids and I spent this morning playing at the park! We brought a picnic lunch and Chris walked over to eat lunch with us during his lunch break! It's been awhile since I've taken the kids to the park and we had a really fun time together!

Our Picnic Lunch! Raelyn and Myles were so excited to have lunch packed in their lunch bags. They both had to carry them over to the park and were very cute!

Raelyn pushing Myles! He LOVES the swing and would spend all day in there if he had someone to push him:-)

Raelyn swinging. She is finally learning how to swing on her own without having to be pushed!

My sweet baby boy! I so love him:-)

Me & My baby girl!

This is what I see when I look down! I LOVE how her little feet hang out of my sling! She slept in the sling for a good part of the time we were at the park.