Christmas

We didn’t get any pictures from Christmas.  I was a little frazzled this year. I kept waking up at 4 in the morning after the kids birthday because I was worried about not having gotten any presents for anyone Christmas. So I got up that early and went and ordered them online. I did pretty well but was a little impulsive with Bryce because what I wanted to get him was sold out. I ended up getting an overpriced tractor that was a nightmare. It took 5 adults and 2 hours Christmas Eve to put it together and although he loved it, it just didn’t ride well. The crocodile tears I witnessed with his frustration in trying to pedal it was more then I could handle. So, I took it back and last week ordered the original gift I wanted to get him.

Christmas Eve we spent with the Christensen Family. Jared always has the day off and I always love having him for the day. We spent the day playing with cousins, the kids decorated an unbelievable amount of Grandma’s yummy sugar cookies. We had our usual finger food dinner. Since Grandpa is semi-retired this was the first Christmas Eve that he hasn’t had to work in 30 years. For our program we did the nativity story but with the usual Christensen comedy. Josh played songs on his i-phone while the donkey (Uncle Adam- yes, the only donkey we ever use is the one with the hurt back) carried Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. Both Hope and Sadie wanted to be Mary and neither would resolve herself to being an angel or Sheppard so we had to do the story twice so each girl could star as Mary.  Our costumes consisted of plain colored T-shirts and lots of imagination. Nate gives straight faced side comedy during everything. There is always lots of laughter when we are all together and it is so relaxing and fun. We then were greeted by a visit from Santa who let the kids all sit on his lap and talk to him. Bryce was very apprehensive and sat on Santa’s lap but wouldn’t speak. Of course when he was given a candy cane he did suddenly brightened up ran to me and holding it high in the air said, “I got it! I got a candy cane! I got it!” It was a crack up.

Christmas day we enjoyed with the Formans. It was easy to since we were living there. We did presents and a big yummy breakfast. We tried to talk to Dan on the phone but the connection was horrible (a cell phone in Africa…..I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise) and much to everyone’s disappointment we ended the call after maybe 15 minutes. Lucky for all of us Dan comes home from his mission January 28th and we all knew that we’d be seeing him soon. After another day with no nap and playing we enjoyed stew and pie from our beloved Grandma Cox who is a fantastic cook. (I’d rather eat at her house then any restaurant.) And like always, the day ended all to soon.

We cherish the time with our family, and the time that we were able to spend during December pondering the birth of our Savior. The celebration is such a joyous reminder of the gifts we have because of Jesus Christ. My heart is forever grateful to look into our Children’s eyes and know that because of our Savior that we will can be forgiven of our sins and that we will be resurrected again.  I love how happy Christmas makes people, and to give gifts because it always reminds me of the joy I feel from our Savior’s greatest gift.

Honeymoon phase

It was so fun to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Forman. I really was concerned about us being a bother and certainly we had mess everywhere, and all the time. But, they were nothing but kind and patient with us. Joe would build forts with the kids in the morning so that I could get ready for the day and Linda watched the kids countless times during the move-out and move-in. Jared and I about died when we first got there and Bryce found something to color the Library fireplace with, but it thankfully cleaned off and as far as we know we didn’t leave any permanent damage. Someone told me it went so well because we only stayed long enough to be in the Honeymoon phase. I am happy it worked out so well and that it was a happy time, even if it was a Honeymoon phase. The best part was reading scriptures at night. Bryce would hold his little Book of Mormon and Hope would hold a bible and they loved it so much. I have to confess that we haven’t done scripture study regularly with the kids so it was great to get into a habit of it. We have continued it here at our new house and hope that we can always do it as a family.

Birthday for Hope and Ethan!

On December 15th Hope turned 4 and Ethan turned 1! What a year it has been and both the kids have grown so much! In the morning Grandma Forman took Hope to the movies to see Tangled and they even got popcorn. Hope is like her Daddy in that she is ALWAYS up for a show or movie. Ethan stayed at the house with Mommy and napped. Which I am sure he preferred. Grandma Christensen was so kind to offer her home for the birthday party since we were not in our new home yet.  It was great. We had both sides of the family there (at least those who were healthy and able to make it). We had homemade Chicken Alfredo, green salad, fruit salad, Jell-O salad and French bread. It was a feast. No one complained. Then the kids enjoyed sweet presents from our dear family. Even Bryce was able to enjoy a present as Grandma Cox felt pity on him and brought him a gift so he wouldn’t be left out. Sometimes I overdo things and end up regretting my decisions. That is how I felt about the cake. I wanted the kids to each have a cake since it was Ethan’s first birthday and for some odd reason I decided to make both of them. Hope wanted “Thunder Cake” which is a book about a cake that this girl makes with her Grandma to help her overcome her fear of Thunder. And at the end of the book is the recipe for the cake. Then for Ethan I did apple cake. Hope’s cake was overdone and Ethans was underdone. It was so much work. Next time I will buy a cake. It bothered me so much to serve less then perfect dessert, but neither the birthday kids nor anyone else complained. It was a great day and thanks to those who came it was very special and fun. 

Party for Heidi

What a week we had! We packed up our house, moved in with Grandma and Grandpa Forman on Thursday the 8th. On Friday Jared and I went back down to our little house and moved everything into a pod and then got the house spotless clean while the kids stayed up at the Formans. Saturday was a party for Heidi at their new house in Rohnert Park that I really wanted to be at. Jared was very fatigued but very sweet to agree to the four hour round trip drive with the kids. However, just as we have everything packed Jared realizes that my car won’t start. One of the kids had left the light on in the back and the car had sat for a few days so the battery died. It always happens when you need to be somewhere at a certain time. So, we got someone to come out and replace the battery and then headed to the party. As those close to us know, Daddy is an excellent driver, and makes great time on the road so we were not even late. We enjoyed a fun afternoon of food, cake and a walk to the park. It was all going so well. The kids were monkeys at the park and all smiles. Then we headed home. It was an awful ride home. The kids all fell asleep at six; which was too late for a nap and too early for bed. At seven we attempted to get them some fast food to wake them up a little bit with absolutely no success. And personally, we don’t even like fast food so we just threw it all away. There is nothing so inherently irritating like throwing money away. Once we hit Sacramento I realized that I needed formula so we had to stop again. It was a refresher course to why we don’t travel. When we made it back to Dean and Linda's house the kids were starving, of course, and they wanted to play. But we eventually got them in bed and felt satisfied that we had endured the difficulties to be with family.

Saturday Dec 4th

Today Hannah and Adam were sealed together forever in the Sacramento Temple. Only my family was able to be there and one of Hannah’s dear friends from school. It was a precious day. I remember when ten years ago they were just freshman in High School and they started calling each other on the phone. Through their years of dating, school, her starting to read scriptures with Adam and then last year being baptized it has been a treat to watch them. They are happy because they are together, spiritually, I mean. They believe the same things and have the same goals. She glowed in the temple. I felt the joy that I felt as a missionary when you see someone you love come into the fold. The sealing was beautiful and special. Hannah shed tears, a rare moment for her. Adam beamed. We felt the spirit unrestrained and the sealer was just perfect in the words he shared. We enjoyed taking some pictures together afterwards and lunch with the family. The kids had a great day, too. They were at Grandma and Grandpa Forman’s house doing gingerbread houses with the Forman Grandkids. Hope and Savannah sat and enjoyed placing each piece of candy on. Bryce apparently lasted 2 minutes and just dumped an entire bowl of candy on and said, “I done”.  They had lunch, visited, played and didn’t miss Mommy and Daddy one bit.

Swim Lessons

Just for fun, Hope and Bryce took indoor swim lessons in November. Since Bryce is under 3 years old a parent had to get in the pool with him. Bryce doesn’t really like water over his head and surprisingly the first or second class we all dunked heads. After that he just cried at the thought of going back. I was ok with that since I was the one that had to get in the water with him. We continued lessons with Hope and it was the HIGHLIGHT of her life for the short 4 weeks of class. She had a cute teacher and only 3 little girls in her class. To a little girl who has had 2 years of being the only girl in her church classes this was heaven to her. At the end she got a report card complete with stickers, hearts and stars so it was a really fun experience.

The Scoop

In mid September we became aware that the financing to build a house was not going to work. Surprisingly to us both, we were not devastated. We did still need a place with more space and desperately wanted a back yard. We felt impressed to look for a home in a particular area of Lincoln, the city where we already live. Jared called a realtor and explained what we wanted and the price range. He said that he had a house that he had not even listed yet that he felt fit our criteria exactly. We were going out of town for the weekend so we dropped the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa's house and then came back down the hill to Lincoln to take our first day of house hunting. We saw several houses, including the one the realtor thought met our criteria. In fact, it overwhelmingly met our criteria. The house had not been put on the market at that time but we committed to a full price offer that day. When we got back from our weekend getaway to Tahoe the house was listed and several offers came in. Jared expressed to the Realtor that we really wanted the house (I wanted the yard!) and we were willing to sweeten our offer enough to make it most appealing to the homeowners. Negotiations followed and soon enough we had the most appealing offer and it was sent to the bank. We then waited. We were told to keep looking for houses, but weren’t going to unless this house completely fell through. We just waited. October and November came. At the end of November we began to see progress and that it should work out. The family owning the home needed to relocate and had a move-out scheduled for the end of the year. Out of the blue we became aware of a family that we attend church with who desperately needed a little house to rent. It was perfect, except, they needed a house by December 15th and we wouldn’t be able to move into the new house by then. We took a leap of faith, asked Dean and Linda if they would mind the circus show moving in for a few weeks and rented our little house to this family in need.  We spent three weeks living with the Formans and enjoyed the holidays and attending church together. The kids were in heaven to see Grandma, Grandpa and Joe every day. I am sure the realtor worked very hard on this deal because the last week of December we signed papers at Title and the previous owners signed the day before they left. In fact, we were given keys to the house the day that the family moved out the last of their things. We had thought that we’d close by January 15th, but we were handed keys on December 30th. It was awesome. The following week we cleaned and moved in. It has been wonderful. We enjoy the space of the house. We love the yard! The kids are sleeping well and love their rooms. We feel so blessed. As if we were guided to be in this particular place for an unknown reason. It is such blessing from our Heavenly Father.