Fourwheelers & Field Trips

The Birds are just the best! Always inviting us to join in all of their fun - since we can't be on the lake, we've spent the 'winter' playing on four-wheelers with them at their property. The kids ride till sundown and beyond, and we enjoy hotdogs over the bonfire!

I was excited to get to join Linq on a field trip, they got to visit two different college campuses in two days - I got to go the first day and LeGrand got to chaperone the second day (the bonus to not having a job ;) it was a nice day and the kids loved eating at the college cafeteria.

 

The Christoffersons!

On our way home from our cruise in January we got word that our very best friends here in SC, the Christoffersons (Ty was also the bishop of our ward) took a new job and would be headed to Kentucky - the Cincinnati area.  I cried.  The Lord brough us here, we were definitely put in the right place and these people had become our family - we had spent lots of time at their home helping with a big remodel job, they had been so supportive coming to many of Laexins bball games, we had spend conference weekend and many holidays together - they were our saving Grace and my heart was breaking all over again knowing they were now the ones leaving.  We just love them!  We had a friend going away party, then we had them for dinner the last night they were in town!

Bishop approached LeGrand when he found out they were moving and said he wanted to gift their extra vehicle a car to Laexin. He refused to let us pay him anything, he has an awesome relationship with Laexin and really wanted to give it to him.  So when they showed up for dinner he tossed Laexin the keys across the room and told him to go look outside - - Laexin was speechless, he first tried to refuse the gift and Ty told him he'd give it to LeGrand if Laexin wouldn't take it.  They have been such a blessing in our lives!

They came back for one last weekend and Koltons final bball tournament, goodbyes are the worst!

 

Mom & Loa trip!

 The first few months of school Loa really struggled ...tears every Sunday evening because she didn't want to go back to school and all kinds of excuses so she wouldn't have to go to school - it broke my heart!  In about November Kathlynn Ball reached out and said they were headed to FL to Universal in January for a trip, they had extra space and invited Loa and I to join.  Loa and Holland didn't know, and I wasn't really sure we would be able to make it happen, it was the weekend after we would just be in FL on our cruise and it would be tricky to go back down plus the cost was a concern as we still didn't have a job. As Loa continued to struggle I just felt more and more that I should make it happen. So when cheap airfare showed up, I committed and bought us tickets - Kathlynn and I didn't tell the girls and we just picked Loa up early from school and LeGrand went and dropped us off at the airport.  Loa first thought maybe Holland was coming to see her because she knew she was headed on a trip - she got a little confused when she saw we were going somewhere but then pretty much figured it out when she saw we were going to FL.  We were at the hotel when the Balls walked in and the girls were SO excited to see each other!  It was such a tender mercy that Loa got to see both of her best friends within a week of each other!

We started off the trip with a visit to the temple where the girls did baptisms, then had a great 3 days spent doing all the fun things at Universal Studios!  So grateful for the time with Loa and the amazing memories!  I'm not sure if it helped or made it harder for her to go back to school but she committed to me to try and have a more positive attitude and keep pushing through the hard.  So glad we got to make these memories together!

Other January Randoms!

The first weekend in January we hosted a meet your teacher pancake breakfast for the primary kids. The bishopric cooked the pancakes and the kids ate their hearts out!  It was a great success!

Laexin has been growing his hair out and it was really looking like a mop so I convinced him to let me perm it!

We also spent lots of time in gyms during the months of January February and March.  Linq played ball, Laexin played ball and we got to go support Kolton Christofferson who was playing ball!

Cruisin' with the Cousins

 In late summer we were talking about the holidays and the kids voted all they wanted to do was go on another cruise with the cousins for their Christmas gift, so we got the thing booked!  We were excited to have Autumn, her kids and Art and Polly join us this time.  The kids were SO excited to have another break from school - they loved the Christmas break and really dreaded going back.  It was a big step backward for Loa, after having the long break and being able to be with her friends and have so much fun it  was like starting over at the beginning of the school year to make her go back after the break.  Having a trip scheduled just two weeks after going back was good and bad, then after the trip they REALLY didn't want to go back!  But we sure enjoyed the vacation with cousins!

This time was a lot less stressful for us as we were able to drive the 7.5hrs to the port...no chance of missing a flight!  There were so many tender mercies during this trip!  I found out about a week before we left that the Petersons were going to be on a cruise at the exact same time and we were stopping in two of the same ports on the same days - I could hardly believe it!  Krista and I arranged to meet up and surprise Blayr and Loa, it was SO amazing!  They also got to spend time hanging out on the beach and it really rejuvenated Loa and made her ready to take on life again!  Then only the day before we left I found out Melanie Hatch was getting on a cruise the same day we were - I was able to meet up and spend an hour catching up with her, it was so good for my soul!

The night before the cruise we also got to meet up with Helinfield, Ed and the kids and have dinner - the plus side to getting to drive!  It was good to spend time with them.

I will document the whole cruise in a separate book :)

 

New Years!

We decided to have just a few of our closest friends over for a little New Years party...of course we had to make a stop at the firework stand!  It's always a fun time with this crew!

Christmas week!

Our Christmas break started with the most amazing surprise...a package full of all the reminders of 'home' including fresh Idaho potatoes.  My friend Cassie Rigby sent this and it arrived just when I needed it. The holidays always stir up sadness when you aren't with the people you love...this act of kindness changed my holiday, I couldn't stop crying when this showed up on the porch.  It meant SO SO much!

 We basically went from activity to activity during Christmas break, the kids had two weeks off and it was filled with all of the Holiday fun!

Linq had requested decorating gingerbread houses so I decided we would do the graham cracker houses (put together with hot glue :), they were a slight pain in the butt, but turned out pretty good. Of course we got our Christmas PJ's too!

I didn't get any pictures but we spend Christmas Eve with the Moss clan and Christoffersons, we had homemade pizza and slush - that is a Moss tradition.  The kids had a great time playing as always!  Christmas Sunday was a great musical program and then we were off to the Mosses for more fun. Just us, the Mosses and Isaac and Lita Robison and the Millers.  The kids put on the Nativity and then played while the adults played a fun Moss tradition of chimes.  It didn't feel so lonely this year since we had things going on, it was nice to be busy!

Christmas morning!  The kids knew it would be small because we had our upcoming cruise with the cousins planned, they had the best time this year buying gifts for each other.

The days between Christmas and New Years were just a big blurr...they included nerf wars at the church meeting up with friends to ride bikes and play soccer at the park, gel blaster wars & pizza + game nights, we are so thankful for our SC family that made it such a fun break AND it was pretty awesome to not have frigid, snowy weather, we really enjoyed the sunshine!

Loa was super excited to get a gift in the mail from her best pal Holland!