Flip Flop
So call me John Kerry, but after the last post I had this total change of heart about the house we put a deposit on in Washington. I really liked it, but knew that it was going to be a bit tight for our family. So.... I started looking again and found THE PERFECT house in the very same neighborhood! Of course, I hadn't actually looked inside this particular house, but I had a good feeling about it, and the pictures confirmed it had a lot of the same details and fixtures as the other - just a lot more square footage. James was out to sea, and when I told him I thought we should look into switching houses, he thought I was crazy. Well.... the very next day THIS happened:
So, after a couple of days going over it in my mind and both James and I praying hard about it, we decided to go ahead. We're so happy we did! We lost a little money, but not as much as we had feared, and in the end it was totally worth it. The house is AMAZING. We couldn't be happier. Here are a couple of photos:
The park across the street
The kitchen
The front of the home
The two best things about the home are the cute duck pond in the back and that the home lets in a lot of light. When the sun actually does come out, we don't miss a single ray :)
BABY
Ok, so back to the bigger news of the B- A- B- Y, some of you might know how we've struggled with the decision to try for another and how earlier in the year we suffered two devastating miscarriages. We are happy to say that this baby seems to be growing normally and next week we will know whether we are expecting a boy or a girl!
The morning after Daddy got home from his last underway - the kids wouldn't let him out of their sight - or grasp as you can see! ;)
Halloween 2010
Most of the next month is a complete blur. Luckily I have photos to prove that during the moving process we actually maintained somewhat of a life! Here are some photos of Halloween:
Black & Orange day at the school
O2 Ward "Trunk-or-Treat" activity. OH HOW I MISS THIS GIRL!
Good 'ol O2.... Miss everyone so much!
Nimitz Tour
In Early November, we had the opportunity to take some dear friends down for a tour of the Nimitz. We being complete and utter dummies forgot to tell them all not to wear open-toed shoes and we ended up having to come up with appropriate shoes for half of them last minute. It was super funny. We had 10-year old girls in 4-year old boys shoes and Kami ended up wearing some of James' trail shoes - STYLIN'!! :) That whole mess made the trip that much more memorable.
We ended up having such a great time and afterward we went to Old Town and had some yummy Mexican food. We had a girls table and a boys table, and wouldn't you know they serenaded the BOYS!?!?
We ended up having such a great time and afterward we went to Old Town and had some yummy Mexican food. We had a girls table and a boys table, and wouldn't you know they serenaded the BOYS!?!?
Packin' Up
Thanksgiving day James finally made it up and we had two amazing meals - one at my Dad's (that he and I are quite proud of), and one at James' parents' home. The kids had so much fun with their cousins, though when it came time, it was super hard to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa who left for their 18 month mission to North Carolina the next day.
It was a tough decision, but rather than try to pack up Dillon's artwork, I decided it would fare better in photograph form than in a box. He is so talented, don't you think? Am I just super biased? Regardless, here are my favorites from 2009 & 2010:
The next couple of weeks were C R A Z Y. Between the morning sickness, packing, planning, sinus infection, anxiety x 10, and wrapping everything up with Primary, School and both the old and the new houses, I was a complete emotional wreck. I think I'll just wipe the memory of those two weeks from my mind! On the last day of school, Dillon's class did a little Thanksgiving play. It was adorable and afterward, his teacher called him to the front and had the entire school wish him well. As hard as he tried, he couldn't contain his tears, and frankly neither could I! It was so sweet.
Shippin' Out
Even though the movers were a couple of days late, we ended up leaving on time. My sister drove up to Utah with me (bless her), which turned out to be a good thing because we got stuck in an awful snowstorm on the way up. STUCK on the freeway with three kids and a van full of..... not winter gear, or, might I add, a port-a-potty! We dined on cheese crackers, apples and almonds that evening. YUM! When the boys couldn't hold it any longer, Aunt Haley hiked them out to the snow-heavy bushes and just as they had begun their... uhem... business, the traffic started moving! After being stuck for four hours, there was about 8 inches of snow on the van, but we somehow made it out and eventually arrived at my dad's late that same night. What an adventure!
Thanksgiving in Utah
Thanksgiving week at my Dad's was awesome. The kids LOVED playing in the snow, sledding with unlce Nate and making snowmen with Haley's boyfriend's 3 daughters. They are bar-none the world's BEST babysitters! :)
Thanksgiving day James finally made it up and we had two amazing meals - one at my Dad's (that he and I are quite proud of), and one at James' parents' home. The kids had so much fun with their cousins, though when it came time, it was super hard to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa who left for their 18 month mission to North Carolina the next day.
Home -WET- home
The trip from Utah to Washington was also a bit treacherous. It took us an extra half-day, but we made it safely. The movers were, once again, late but we got the kids started in school right away and when the stuff did arrive, we took a big sigh of relief! Western Washington winter weather is typically cold and rainy, but apparently, its been unseasonably cold and wet this year. We've even had snow a few times! After having lived in Arizona and then Southern California, we've had more weather in these past two months than we have in the last seven and a half years! On the first sunny day after our arrival, we took the kids for a quick tour of the area. We drove along the coast, saw Seattle across Puget Sound, watched some guy "crabbing," and took some photos of the shipyard.
WELCOME USS NIMITZ!
James had to leave later that week to re-join the Nimitz for its 4-day float up the Pacific Coast. The day the Nimitz arrived was a huge deal. The whole community was out to celebrate and we were there super early in the morning to take part in all the festivities. There were tons of news crews there and people giving the military families free stuff. The kids danced to the live D.J. as well as the Navy band. When we finally spotted the "68" slowly making its way along the inlet, the crowd went nuts! We could see all the sailors "manning the rails" and knew one of them was Daddy!! It took about and hour for the shop to rest in the slip, but once it did, this huge sense of relief swept over me and I realized it would be a whole year before I had to say goodbye to James for that long!!
Rather than take part in the rest of the day's events, we just grabbed our sailor and went home to just all be together.
Christmas card 2010:
So the boys really love their school and of course the kindergarten classes did an adorable little program on the day school let out for Christmas break. Charlie was a reindeer and pretended he knew every word to every song that the other kids had been practicing for weeks. ;0)
After school let out that day we took the kids across the ferry to Seattle and spent the rest of the day sight-seeing. This statue was the boys' favorite.
I can count on one hand the number of days Mt. Rainier has been visible since we arrived. I'd count today, but you can only see the very top!
Marge the big white Barge
In this photo you can see across the inlet to the Nimitz, which is now up on blocks. That big white thing on the right is the barge where James now works. In his own words, "Its big, white, empty and it floats." Exciting!
Christmas 2010
Beware - I'm about to post like a million photos of Christmas! It was so super fun having my family (well- the ones that could make it) here! Since the weather didn't cooperate, we spent a lot of time indoors playing music, balderdash, cards, Wii, Kinect, and just being really silly! Dave - if you have that video or photos of us playing Just Dance II, I want to see! Nobody can beat me at that game. NOBODY!
Christmas Eve
Christmas Morning
(Dustin- they spent hours looking through those lego magazines that day! Who needs actual legos??!!) You may not be able to see the package of Hello Kitty nail polish Annie is holding in this next photo, but just looking at it makes my blood boil a little. Annie used it to "color" her new bedspread. Guess Santa assumed a 3-year-old would know nail polish is only for finger nails.
Silly-ness
Quick Trip to Seattle
The day that my brothers left it wasn't raining, so James and I took them across the water to the city for a quick lunch and tour. It was super short, but super fun. Frankly Nate was dying to get home to his girlfriend and about driving everyone NUTS. "Oh I have so much to do! I have to get home tonight!" Whatever Lover Boy! Next year you'd better just bring her with, will ya?
For Dillon's birthday, we decided to take him to the Pacific Science Center to see the Harry Potter exhibit. Well... apparently you have to reserve tickets and once we got there we could see we were totally out of luck, so we hit the children's museum instead! Luckily, we got to see the HP exhibit just a week later when Uncle Shawn and Aunt Kabby came for a visit.
A Visit From their FAVORITE Aunt and Uncle
(who live in Arizona and who names are Shawn & Kathy)
Ferry ride
Space Needle
Looking to the northwest
To the south
To the east
And to the Northeast
The Harry Potter exhibit was SO COOL! No photos allowed inside, but everyone totally loved it from Shawn down to little Annabelle. It was everyone's favorite part of the day for sure.
We always have such a great time when these guys come. Come again soon S&K!
We always have such a great time when these guys come. Come again soon S&K!Gosh - can that really be all? If you read all of that, pat yourself on the back.
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