Fabulous Four Months and Christmas

Has it really been four months since I posted? I just finished reading my friend's Alyssa's most recent post, she felt bad for not posting for five days. I thought I should really post something on my blog since its been much longer than five days, I had no idea it had been four months!

We had a busy four months.  It was full of school, homework, piano, dance, basketball, scouts and work for Lou.  Its hard to believe I am finished with my first full semester back at school. I absolutely loved it even though it made me so much busier than I prefer to be. I feel like I did well.  I got all A's. Only one of my grades has posted and it was an A+. I didn't even know that was possible haha. My other classes I am either averaging 99% or over 100% so yay. I am confident Heavenly Father is lending a helping hand. I know he wants me to become a teacher.

I finished my last final on Tuesday. I have absolutely loved the last five days.  I am excited about the next two weeks that the kids will be home from school.  I don't start school again until January 14th. I wish Lou had weeks off like we do. We have hardly seen Lou since before Thanksgiving. I honestly think we have seen him (aside from Sundays and sleeping) maybe 20 hours total since Thanksgiving. His work has been crazy, its been hard on all of us.

Some highlights of the last four months:

Lou and I went on a field trip with Josh back in October

We went as a family to see Meet the Mormons. It was incredible. I can't wait till its released on DVD.

My friend Rachelle and her son Daniel came to visit us in October. It was so fun! It definitely wasn't long enough. I love Rachelle and the kids just love Daniel. We are so happy they made it up here. 

We went to the BYU football fireside when BYU football played Boise State. The fireside is very popular in Boise. They decided to broadcast it in stake centers throughout Idaho and parts of Oregon because they can't possibly hold all the people who want to attend in a single stake center. It was great!  I love to see that side of my favorite football team.

Lou and I went to the BYU/Boise St game. Nana came to watch the kids.  Nana bought me that fun BYU scarf and Y stickers to wear to the game. I have been wearing it a lot since then too :)  Kira looks tots adorbs in it with my BYU hat.

 While Nana was here we went to a pumpkin patch. It was a little farm in Kuna, Idaho. It was a perfect fall activity. I don't even know how to describe how it was just perfect. It was free (lots of pumpkin patches aren't). We got to enjoy a hayride out to the pumpkin patch. After picking pumpkins we got to pick apples. We had so much fun.

Kira had a piano recital when Nana was here. She played Hedwigs Theme from Harry Potter and a song called Spooktacular that Kira wrote. It is a great song. Its impressive that Kira can compose songs! 

Kira had a sonatina festival in October and a hymn festival in November. For her sonatina festival she received a Superior ranking and was ranked as an honorable mention for her level. There were probably at least 75 kids that competed at her level. So to be a top 5 is pretty amazing.  With her hymn festival there were no rankings (like 1st place or honorable mentions) but she did receive another Superior ranking! Kira is very talented at the piano.

Kira and Josh both did basketball this year. Kira through the school and Josh through the YMCA. They had a lot fun. It kept us super busy with all the practices and games, but it was so worth it. They enjoyed it so much. Josh's basketball finished yesterday.

We spent Thanksgiving in Boise. It was our second Thanksgiving with just our family of four. We had a lovely time. I think our meal turned out even better than last year. Leann and Jeff sent us these lovely flowers letting us know they were missing us. 

Thanksgiving brought our second annual Christmas box. It was just as fun this year even though it wasn't a surprise like last Thanksgiving.  They received fun shirts, ornaments, movies and candy. 

Josh's awesome Yoda Christmas shirt. 

Kira's dance studio put on different numbers from the Nutcracker. Kira did so well! It was fun and got us into the Christmas spirit. 

Josh and I waiting for her recital to begin. Josh asked if I knew what a photobomb was. He said mom quick take a selfie and let me show you. He is such a funny boy.

We have gone to Boise Towne Square mall a few times this Christmas season. Kira fell in love with these wind things. She especially loved that they had a BYU one.  Boise Town Square mall is really nice. It has fun stores and is always clean. 

Sometimes we wake up the kids in the "middle of the night" just for fun, for a few minutes. They are always so funny and go right back to sleep. Usually annoyed that we woke them up. We woke up the kids one at a time to show them the new Star Wars preview.  Josh had a hard time waking up for it. The next day he asked if we brought him down to watch Star Wars or if it was a dream haha. We showed him and Kira the preview again. They loved it. 

I have been trying to do fun Christmas stuff all month. I haven't wanted the excuse of school to get in the way. This last Saturday (13th) while Lou worked all day, the kids and I made my mom's sugar cookies. We delivered some to a few of our neighbors. We watched Disney's Christmas sing-a-long when baking the cookies. It was a blast.  Every night we have been reading scriptures about Christ from this advent calendar. We also watch Christmas videos/clips from these Christmas topic links at lds.org and the Mormon Channel. (Click them for great Christmas videos) It has added a lot to our Christmas season. It has helped us get excited for Christmas but also keep in the true spirit of Christmas. 

Now we have just a few days before Christmas. We are so excited to spend it with each other. I love my sweet family.

Spontaneous Weekend

Last weekend we did something totally somewhat spontaneous, which is not me. I discovered however that being spontaneous made me really happy. On Monday I called my friend Alyssa to see if by chance if we went to Utah if my kids could spend the night on Friday. Alyssa said they could and that her kids would be very excited. I told her we weren't 100% certain because of Lou's craziness at work but I wanted to make sure it was a possibility. I wanted to go to the Jerry Sloan retirement ceremony at the Jazz game on Friday. That night I talked to Lou and said we should probably decide because every time I looked at tickets they were going up in price. Lou said he couldn't commit 100% because a lot was going on at work but to get the tickets to be safe. I thought the worst that happens is none of us go, the second worse that happens is that I go with the kids and take a friend with me to the game and the best outcome, we all go to Utah together.

The next day I bought the tickets for me and Lou. They were the cheapest I could find so not fantabulous seats but I was just so happy to be going to the game. Lou worked very hard all week to be able to take this little trip on Friday. Lou was on the phone as far as his phone had service while we were driving, or had me sending texts to work people, which was a sacrifice on my part because of my motion sickness, but anything to help Lou since was doing all this for me.

We left Boise a little before 11 and arrived at Alyssa's about 4. The kids were so excited to see their friends and I was just as excited to see my friend.  Lou and I didn't stay long at Alyssa's, because Lou had to get to the hotel to do some work before dinner and the game. Oh yeah did I mention that we stayed in a hotel. I found an absolutely amazing deal for Little America online so we did it.

Driving into downtown Salt Lake with Lou was a blast, we listened when we could to the Jerry Sloan press conference that featured Jerry, John and Karl.  (we could listen when Lou wasn't on the phone, have you noticed Lou is always on the phone?).  We checked into the hotel. The room was very pretty, it had english carpet, real glasses instead of plastic cups. a vanity with a chair, where I totally did my hair and makeup sitting down! I couldn't believe how nice it was for how little we paid. Thank goodness for internet deals. Lou did work and I had fun texting my Jazz BFF, Moni. We texted about the press conference, the excitement of the game and ceremony and texted that we wished she could be in Utah for it.

I loved all the details in the hotel, like this soap dish, and that our soap was from London! 

Before the game we met some of my SLC Dunk friends for dinner. We took the TRAX to the Gateway where we ate at La Jolla Groves. La Jolla Groves is my absolute most favorite restaurant in Provo,  when I saw that they had opened one at the Gateway I knew we had to eat there.  Dinner was so great, the food was delicious, the water was amazing and we couldn't have asked for better company.

Our view of the ceremony

We walked over to the ESA and got there in time to say hi to another Jazz friend. We made it to our seats just in time for National Anthem and the player intros. The arena was decked out all honoring Jerry, showing pics and stats on the new screens. The game was pretty fun to watch (for this year's Jazz team). The halftime ceremony was amazing, they did such a good job honoring Jerry. The Jazz unfortunately lost the game but being there with Louis and watching Jerry's ceremony was worth it. After the game we met up with some different Jazz friends and talked for awhile, they are super nice couple.  We finally took the TRAX back to the Little America. On the way back to the hotel, Lou said I could get used to commuting like this, I thought the same thing. It was so fun to just be in the city for the night and be like a city person.

When we got to the hotel we decided to walk around the lobby a little bit (our hotel room wasn't in the tower but in one of the smaller buildings). the lobby was so beautiful. They had a nice fire going so Lou and I sat in front of the fire and talked.

The welcoming fire in the lobby

The next morning Lou woke up and did work once again, and I slept.  We made it to Alyssa's to pick up the kids around 11:30. We stayed for a few hours. It was great to talk with Alyssa and Jared. They are such good friends, some of our oldest friends.

On our way home we went to Lou's grandparents house. We called them earlier and said we were in Utah and wanted to stop by. We went to a grocery store to pick up a box of chocolates and a flower for Grandma, since she had had surgery earlier in the month. The grocery store is named Dick's. It reminds me of Day's in Provo. Its much larger but has the same feel and everyone is so friendly. Everyone smiled at us, I love that small town feel in not a very small town. When we got to Lou's grandparent's house they had pizza for us, chips, and other yummy foods. They are the best hosts. We always love spending time with Lou's Grandma and Grandpa Allen. They are so kind and loving.

Billboard we saw leaving Bountiful

We finally had to drive back to Boise. It was very hard to leave Utah with all the love we felt from friends and family. On the way home we listened to Primary songs which invited great conversations.

It was such a perfect weekend. I love our family. I love that our kids are old enough to to do fun things like take somewhat spontaneous trip to Salt Lake.

Gratitude Corner:

Maybe I'll have friends soon :)

Yesterday I received an email from a member of the stake Relief Society presidency. She came to visit with a member of the ward relief society a few weeks ago. She was super kind in the email and we are planning a dinner or a movie night.

A few weeks ago BYU played Gonzaga. A family in our ward invited us to watch the game. The same day they invited us we found out we were visiting teaching companions.  The game was a ton of fun even though BYU lost.

Odds and Ends

Its been nearly two months since I've written. I think there a lot of reasons for missing on writing.

• Not really happy living here- so its hard to write.
• Busy- well kind of not always 
• Feeling like there isn't anything to write about. 

I have tried to be happy, I really have. I am happy just not about living in Boise. It doesn't feel like home. I don't see us being here long term so its hard to be fully invested ™.  I miss my friends a lot. I wasn't one to see friends or talk to friends everyday but I miss knowing that I can go to lunch or dinner with Robin or Rachelle. I miss going to Alyssa's house for playdates and marathon talking sessions.  I miss my hot chick nights with Bridget and Robin.  I miss walking to Days and ALWAYS seeing someone from my ward. I miss my Edgemont ward and neighborhood so much. I loved going to church and having so many friends.  

Okay that is enough of what I miss. Lets get onto what's been going on.

• Last week we attended our THIRD ward in the FOUR months that we have been here.  When we first came to Boise we were faced with the decision of attending the ward that our apartment belongs to or just go to the ward where we are building our house.  I opted for the apartment ward, Lou wanted the house ward. I was wrong. We went to the apartment ward for a few Sundays, we knew it wasn't where we we were suppose to be.We started to attend our ward within our house boundaries. We both felt at home.  Last week we found out that our Stake was changing ward boundaries and we would be attending a new ward once again. We went this past Sunday to our new ward. It seems nice enough, its quite large,(apparently it was very small before the changes) it was really loud during Sacrament meeting but maybe that was just the excitement of changes.  Lou and I were lucky enough to talk in our ward the last week we attended. It was funny it was like a welcome talk and a farewell talk (even though we didn't find out until that night that we would be part of the ward that was changing) .  Its so funny when we were looking at houses one of the reasons I wanted Southeast Boise and not a growing place like Meridian is because I didn't want changes in our ward!! Silly me.

• The kids have had this entire week off. I LOVE it. In Utah they always just had the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Friday after Thanksgiving off. Its been so fun to get ready for Thanksgiving and have the kids around.  

• Speaking of Thanksgiving. We will be spending Thanksgiving in Boise this year. It will be the first year I'll make the meal. I am so so excited. We'll miss Lou's family but it will be so fun to be just us too.  I have been planning for a few weeks the menu and the day. I have some fun ideas, that I'm really excited about it. We'll have turkey (I found a copycat recipe for the Honeybaked Ham turkey recipe... that we love) , ham, homemade Lionhouse rolls, mashed potatoes,  green bean casserole, stuffing (lou and josh like it, me and kira don't), stuffed mushrooms, a cranberry- apple pie relish, salad and of course pie.  I bought my family's traditional snacking food to eat throughout the day too.

Beautiful flowers Leann and Jeff sent me for Thanksgiving, saying they are going to miss us but wishing us luck :)

• We are starting a new tradition on Thanksgiving.  After dinner and pie we'll open our Christmas season box.  I thought it would be fun to put a box together to welcome us to the Christmas season.  I bought a few Christmas movies, books and candies to put in the box.  I am sooo excited about his box, like beyond excited. I think the kids will love it.  It will be fun to think of new things to do every year with it. I almost bought Christmas shirts for the kids to put in but the movies and books were adding up :)

• So I was going to take a mediation class this fall. I was pretty excited about it. But as I looked more and more into the training. Every training class is held on Sundays. You have to take quite a few courses before you are certified. I didn't feel right about that at all. So I won't be doing the mediation training anymore.

• Our house is delayed again but that's okay. We need things to be done right, there were a few major things that the inspector and Lou didn't like when we had the inspection. So hopefully CBH will agree to fix those things, the way we want them fixed.

That's our update for now.  Hopefully I'll write more than every two months!!

Busy December Saturday

We had a fun Saturday.  We  were invited to a Christmas party from our good friends the Uffenorde's.  We are so lucky to have them as our friends.

Poor Joshy had a headache at the party so he spent a lot of it cuddling up to me on the couch. (I didn't mind that at all)

After the party we went to the new outlet mall at Traverse Mountain.  It was snowing crazy hard in Herriman but by the time we reached IKEA there was no snow at all. I was happy I wasn't looking forward to driving in a huge storm around point of the mountain, so thank goodness I didn't have to!

We had fun at the mall. Leann invited Mandy and Jake, and Cassidy and Mark. I didn't know they were coming so that was fun.  Kira was excited to see Claire.  The kids got to see Santa. They happened to be standing there right when Santa returned so there was no waiting!

Josh got sicker throughout the day. By the time we ate dinner at JCWs he felt so bad he fell right to sleep.

So happy we were so busy today. Saturdays are the hardest with Lou gone (Saturdays and Sundays). next weekend Lou will be home and the weekend after that!  Last night I missed Lou so much that I cried. After watching the Jazz game. I went upstairs looked at the tree, listened to Pink Floyd and just sat there thinking about my Lou.  I love that guy so much. I am so blessed to be able to feel that kind of love in my life. 

Togetherness

We get to see Lou in a few days. That's all I can really think about! This is the longest we have been apart our entire marriage.  Its hard knowing he'll be home for such a short period of time before he goes back to Boise.  We will sure make the most of and enjoy the days we do get with him.

Saturday will be me and Lou's 11th anniversary. 11 years is a long time but it is really hard to remember what life was like before I married Lou.  In 11 years Josh will be 18.  That is weird to think about, that in the same amount of time that we've been married, all my kids will be adults.

Today I went visiting teaching. I sure love my companion and the sisters we visit teach. It has been such a blessing in my life.  I love that the sisters we visit like to be visited and make it so easy for us to visit.  I like that my companion is the same way.  I have visited the same sisters for the two years we've been in the ward.  We are all in different stages of life, my companion about the same age as me has three young kids at home none in school yet.  One of the sisters we visit teach has three kids ages 12-18.  The other sister we visit has two kids, both returned missionaries attending BYU.  I enjoy talking with these sisters, I like that I am able to learn from their life experiences. Having friends that are not your age and not in the same circumstances as you is a great experience.

I have felt so much love from my friends this week. Robin came over Saturday night, we watched Felicity.  Rachelle has called and texted. Alyssa invited us to spend Saturday afternoon at her house and we ended up having dinner together.  I have such good friends. I don't know if I have ever had as good of friends as I do right now on a whole.  (there it is getting so comfortable with how life is that Heavenly Father makes you pack up and start over again)



I also have been talking to my mom much more frequently on the phone, same with my sister Sharon. Talking with family although they live across the country is so nice. Although it would be much nicer to see them every week, talking will have to do.

Service and Friendship

Isn't it funny how you want to do something nice for someone because they always do something nice for you and you actually get your chance to serve this person and the very next day they out serve you once more.

So my wonderful friend Alyssa is ALWAYS doing stuff for us, always. Alyssa has watched my kids countless times, she has made us countless dinners, she cleaned my bathrooms when I had Josh, she made Kira's blessing dress among many other acts of service over the years.

This week Alyssa called asking if I could watch her kids on Wednesday. Wednesday was a super busy day for Kira but there was no way I could say no. So we got it worked out so I could watch her three oldest kids. We had a grand time, Josh and Isaac immediately turned on the Wii and played Legos Harry Potter. Kyah entertained Ahsha (Kira was at a French class). After the kids played we walked and got Snow Cones at Surf-n-Slurp. We had fun walking in the light rain. We didn't expect the huge line so we were in a rush to get Kira after we got our treats.

Kira and Kyah went to our neighbor's house for a gymnastics class.  They came home very excited taking about cartwheels and handstands.  Ahsha was my little buddy most of the day, cuddled with me while watching My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake, held my hand whenever we walked somewhere and accompanied me to pick up Lou.  We had a great time :)

So I was so happy to watch Alyssa's kids. Then the very next day Alyssa outshined me again. Lou called me from work saying he didn't feel well and he thought he should go to the doctor. I was worried Lou never wants to go the doctor, never complains about anything. I told him to come home first so I could go with him.  We left the kids thinking we wouldn't' be that long. As we were at the doctor and finding out that we would be awhile.  I called Alyssa asking her if she could pick up my kids and watch them, without hesitation despite a very busy time for them, she picked them up. The kids ended up spending the night, Lou and I didn't get home till pretty late.

Alyssa and her family are moving to Herriman. I am so sad, I think I am kind of in denial. I told Sharon and she kind of laughed and said Herriman wasn't that far. I agree its not that far but its way too far for Alyssa and family to live from us!

Friends and Painting

Its funny just last night I thought, I need to be a better friend. I need to have that daily interaction with friends. We have been anything but social since moving (gasp nearly two years ago) especially with remodeling our house. We never have people over because of everything that comes with a remodel, I work nights and the weekends (friday and saturday) when we'd have friends over.  In our old ward we were really social had lots of family friends. I don't know why we aren't here. I still have my friends, who I see and love but I don't even see them as much as I would like
Anyways after having a little pitty party in my head yesterday today I got reminded that friends are great. I got texts from Rachelle and Alyssa called saying hey can I drop something by

When Alyssa dropped by she said she had cut the Lowes coupons and thought of us since that is where all our money goes. She however felt silly just dropping by coupons so she made us bread, she also had lots of lettuce from her garden so she shared that with us too.

Thank goodness for great friends like Alyssa who reminds me I do have friends. 

The kids are so cute today painting outside

Kira helping Josh finish his canvas

josh working on his canvas

Kira earlier was playing on a broom stick you know like Harry Potter

excuse the last picture I didn't want to go outside and have her see me so you get it through our screen. Excuse the dirt on the window seal, I just removed a potted plant and hadn't cleaned under it yet.  excuse the ugly paint lou hasn't gotten to the kitchen yet.

lou is home

yes a pic from Halloween, I finally took them off our camera. Do you like me and Lou's couple costume? I am a witch and lou is a muggle from HP 1 when Seamus says "me dad's a muggle ; mam's a witch" 

• we picked up lou from the airport this morning, yay for lou being home.
• last night was the only night I had to work when lou was out of town but I got there and they said I didn't need to work because our section was super small for everything that was going on and they weren't going to have a Scoreboard page.  It was nice though I stayed for an hour and the kids were in bed when I got home. Our neighbor's the Grows watched the kids for me, they first went to the Grow's house and played Wii then Tabby their daughter brought them back to our house and put them to bed. Its so nice to have nice neighbors who are more than willing to help out!
• Friday night I hung out with Robin. We watched Downton Abbey and ate yummy lime flavored popcorn. Don't judge it was really really good, it was just a hint of lime. We also had mint m&m's and cadbury mini-eggs. I had totally forgotten that Cadbury puts out their mini-eggs at christmas time now, it was such a happy surprise when I saw  them at the store. 
• Today i have been super tired, no idea why I got over 8 hrs of sleep last night. I nearly fell over playing the piano for the Children's choir after church today I was so tired. 
• tonight we are having dinner at the Jensen's house. We went a few weeks ago. They have a big dinner every Sunday with lots of people over. I visit teach Kelly and Lou and Corey get a long really well.  There was a bunch of college-aged kids a few weeks ago at the dinner, our kids felt like they fit right in with them, happily sitting at the "kids table" with the college kids. 
• last Sunday I went with Alyssa and her friend Kate to the Messiah Sing-A-long at Abrevenal Hall. I meant to do an entire blog post about it but alas the week escaped me. We had such a good time. Alyssa's husband Jared, recently started working for the Church so we were able to park underneath the Conference Center, it was great to not have to worry about a parking spot. When we were walking there we saw Doug and Elizabeth Finlinson (Sharon's brother-in-law and his wife). The music was so beautiful. The soloists did a great job as did the choir. I love singing it even when I don't really know it all. Alyssa and I went a few years ago to the one in Provo so it was lots of fun to do it again but this time in Salt Lake. The spirit was very strong. It was a great introduction to the Christmas season.

I'm grateful for...

Yesterday Lou and I got to spend sometime together, part of that time we went to Target. I loved walking around Target with Lou. My favorite part picking up my first bag of Mint M&M's.  Those hard candied chocolates are delicious. I'm grateful for delicious Christmas candy, already in the stores!

Today I am grateful for my friend Alyssa. I got to see Alyssa at Girl Scouts today. We have known each other for over ten years. Our children love each other and refer to each other has half-brother and sisters. Our husbands also get along well. The last year I have been Alyssa's assistant troop leader in Girl Scouts. I love being able to see Alyssa every week like we used to when our kids would have weekly playdates before they were in school. Alyssa once told me that when we were in our first married ward together she felt prompted that she should be friends with me. I am so grateful Alyssa listened to that prompting. Alyssa has done so much for me over the years and she's always there for me. Thanks Alyssa!

Friends

Last week was Spring Break for the kids.  I think it was a good warm up for me for the soon to be summer vacation for the kids. We had such a fun time staying home and also going out and playing with friends.   I also got to go to the last Jazz game of the season (boo hoo)

We played with our friends the Uffenordes a lot.  We went to the Kangaroo Zoo on Thursday.  When I told the kids the morning of that we were going Kira kindly implored.. whats a KANGAROO zoo?  My sweetie honestly thought we were going to look at kangaroos.  When I reminded her what it was she said oh its called the Kangaroo Zoo because we jump and bounce around like kangaroos!

Kira, Josh, Kyah Ahsha, Isaac

Joshy one of the many many times he asked me to "watch Mom!"

Kira, Kyah and Josh all coming down together

as you can tell Kira had a fun fun time!

The girls of the Uffenorde and Allen clans also got to play on Friday. We had a girl scout activity at the library, then of course that wasn't enough time for the girls to be together so we went to the park followed by a fun trip to Baskin Robbins (treated by Alyssa... Thanks!)  That would have to do but it still wasn't enough time for the friends since birth Kira and Kyah (they often tell other friends, "hey did you know I've known Kira since I was born!")

I got to see some friends besides Alyssa.  Jessie is in town and we all went to dinner on Thursday ( I picked her up so we could have that extra talking time)  We spent a good 3 hours at Chilis. Tons of talking, good laughs, good times but not good service (our waitress was kind of annoying).  It  is always so fun to be with Jessie.  We also had a picnic at my house on Saturday. the sun was shining the kids were good, what more could you ask for!  We missed Rachelle on both days. Rachelle is ALWAYS busy with school or work.

Robin, Jessie, me, Bridget

Wednesday was the last game of the season. As a Jazzbot some of us were given tickets and a pass to eat in the VIP room. It was such an incredible night besides the fact of the disappointment of the season ending early. The dinner was great, the company was also great.  No spouses were invited. It was kind of nice because we got to talk to each other.  Its kind of amazing that some of these people I hadn't "met" before but because of our contact on the website and twitter it was like chatting with old friends.  The Jazz played a great game and won!

Here is a video not related to that night but I found it today. Don't know how I never saw it before or how I didn't remember it but hello the best NBA commercial for a girl who loves Friends and who loves John Stockton