The Holiday Season

Our first order of business in December was finding the perfect Christmas tree. We got two of the last tree permits for the mountains by Heber, and drove out with the grandparents for the full experience. Of course, with three little kids, we didn't look too far from our campfire, but we still managed to find some pretty nice trees. Somehow, in our 8 years of marriage, I had never been along on the great Christmas tree hunt. Work, school, babies (and maybe a fear of hiking the entire mountain range to satisfy Nana's zeal for the perfect tree...). The kids were in heaven with hot chocolate cooked over the fire, and Far Far spinning doughnuts in the Suburban, and helping with the saw.

 

One tradition I have been part of is attending the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert, ever since Erik and I first started dating. Every time we go we remember starting to fall in love listening to Sissel sing. Tickets are wicked hard to come by, but this year my diligence in signing up all my siblings paid off - Erik and three of my family members won the lottery! It was so nice to share tickets with the people who have helped us go in the past. ALTHOUGH. They've got to cut the dancing. It's ridiculous. And seriously, they need to pick songs based on the artist's strengths, not just from the list of Christmas songs they haven't covered yet. Laura Osnes has a beautiful voice but they didn't highlight it very well.

What with the concert and several outings with family and friends, we spent a lot of time at Temple Square over the holidays. It almost reminded us of Disney World - that many people and the magic dissipates. I found myself in a distinctly Scrooge-like mood this Christmas and excessive crowds did not help.

A real highlight of December was the day Morgan decided to run away. We clash on a fairly regular basis, and this day Morgan decided to take drastic action. She threatened and blustered, I watched her pack her two backpacks, but I was still surprised when she actually walked out the door and set off briskly. Once I realized she was nearly out of sight, I got nervous and bundled Sam in the car. Kate was napping and was left behind as Sam and I slowly drove after the runaway. She trudged up the mountain for quite a while, and I realized that she was never going to give up with me behind her - she's equally as stubborn and prideful as I am. So after a half hour or so I pulled over and told her to save the running away for better weather. She agreed to finish her rebellion in the back yard, and she did, with snacks pilfered from my pantry. 

Showing off their Christmas loot. Santa always stuffs underwear in their stockings...

Morgan was thrilled to go the Nutcracker in SLC with Nana the day after Christmas, wearing the dress her other grandma made for her. I love that Morgan is getting old enough to appreciate more mature entertainment.

Hooray! December is over.

NOVEMBER

The dynamic doctoring duo.

As an only boy with a domineering and older sister, Sam gets roped into lots of activities that Kate isn't old enough for. It reminds me of how I created boy barbies out of girls by chopping their hair and dressing them in ugly clothes because my parents wouldn't let me have a Ken. Since Morgan doesn't have a girl close in age, she creates one.

They are particularly fond of makeovers.

Fall on its last legs. 

Our gorgeous view.

Kate and her side-show attraction hair. It's well past her shoulders now when straight.

Getting much more confident on her feet.

To celebrate 40 years of marriage, Erik's parents took the whole crew on a trip to Florida. And as is our experience with TSA, they chose to examine the person who would be most inconvenienced. Poor Larry got to hold himself up while they did a very thorough pat down - and because Larry technically could do it on his own they wouldn't let anyone help him stand. He was good natured as always but we were pretty irritated.

All the cousins in their matching Christmas outfits. We must have taken a million pictures and this is the best I got. It's so sweet that they are such good friends when they only see each other once or twice a year.

On one of our first days there we all went to Disneyland and lived to regret it. Turns out it's not such a happy place when the park is so crowded you can't even turn around and the line for the BATHROOM is 20 minutes. Don't get me started on lines for actual rides. Morgan and I endured 2 hours in line just to meet Anna and Elsa. 

The next day we stayed at home to recuperate and the kids had a far better time playing in the pool all day.

Happy birthday to me.

We decided to risk SeaWorld even after our bad theme park experience, and it was lovely. Minimal lines and better for our wide variety in ages. Here we are passing time in our longest line by playing Go Fish. I was so prepared.

Before we left, we hit Cape Canaveral and the beach. We had to drag the kids out of the surf. Lesson learned - skip expensive entertainments and just let the kids play together.

We returned from sunny Florida to snow everywhere. The kids were so thrilled - one week swimming, next week shoveling. And we've been shoveling ever since.

October

Probably the biggest event of October was Erik's board exam. He wasn't really done with residency until he'd passed the boards, so he spent all of his spare time studying in our green basement. Sam was a big help. I'll be honest, it was really hard to say, "Oh sure, hon, we've only been doing this for 7 years, and residency was supposed to be the end. By all means, take another 3 months to disappear into medicine." But since the 7 years of grit don't mean much without passing the test at the end, I mustered all the flagging support I had left and Erik rallied and the test was defeated. No more tests for another 5 years!

Katie has been struggling with all the upheaval, and has been slow to gain weight and walk. This month she finally started walking with chairs and strollers and exhibited less clingy anxiety.

During General Conference weekend, Nana and Far-Far offered to take Sam for a sleepover. I was all over that... It's nearly impossible to get anything out of conference with little kids, so one less sounded great. Sam had a great time and ran off plenty of exercise during Nana's traditional conference walk.

Morgan drew this at our house of President Monson, I think she nailed it.

The kids have been overjoyed with the fall leaves (I'm sure that will fade once they are press-ganged into leaf details). Seasons and change are so exciting to them right now, and to us as well. We loved Arizona's constant blue skies and near constant warmth, but when there's no variety it all starts to blur together.

This Halloween I was mainly concerned about freezing to death after the balmy Octobers we've had in Arizona. Style definitely took a back seat to warmth this year. I feel a little guilty that my kids didn't look cooler, or that I didn't even browse Pinterest for ideas, but it wasn't really worth it - they were only out there for 45 minutes. Sam developed a desperate need for a bathroom that almost culminated in public exposure until we introduced ourselves to some neighbors by asking to use their facilities. That's one way to develop friendships...

Once Kate got a sucker in her hand, it was all over. She was so frustrated that we kept going to new doors and getting new candy when all she wanted was to open the darn sucker.

October also means Morgan's birthday, and another year where I somehow managed to avoid throwing a party for her peers. She got everything she wanted and needed until Christmas came around and suddenly her list filled up again.

Once Erik was done with his test, we took a long awaited trip to Cache Valley to visit family and old haunts. We still love it there.

And we got ice cream, of course. Our kids think college means ice cream, big grassy spaces to play, and kissing on A's. Whatever it takes to encourage higher education.

As the weather started to get more blustery, Erik looked toward North Ogden at work and saw this biblical downpour. He actually called to make sure we hadn't washed away.

We have been so lucky to have visits from almost my entire family since we've moved here. Becky and Travis visited for a few days and got mobbed by the kids, and my mom came for a few weeks too. It turns out we're also a perfect way station for my brother's family on their way to Canada. Who knew North Ogden would be such a travel destination?

Beautiful fall colors and a beautiful new haircut. The bangs are grown out!! No more crying and reproachful eyes because I'm just.not.soft.enough when I brush her hair.She wakes up every morning and does her own hair and I praise the inventor of the bob. And my aunt the hairdresser.

Fall was gorgeous. I can't wait for it to come around again.

Back to School

This about sums up Morgan's approach to kindergarten - bring it on. She was so ready. She loves her teacher, she has her little friends, and she's already had her hair cut by her seat mate. That was a fun day. I love it that she has a social outlet and that we get a few hours of peace each day, but I'm still ticked that she can't take the bus. Every morning I have to wake Kate up (and myself) and drive her to school because our door faces south instead of west. We are the very edge of the bus boundary, even though there's no way she could walk to school. And the best part is that our driveway is the bus stop. Every morning I glare at the children whose parents are still home in their pajamas with sleeping babies, and threaten to pile snow up in front of their bus stop. Can you tell I'm not a morning person?

Morgan also started playing soccer in a local league this fall, and it went about as I expected. She faithfully asked me if she could quit after every practice and every game. I think the only highlights for her were the clothing and accessories and the snacks. There was too much running, apparently... She did score one goal (although I'm pretty sure she was as surprised as we were) and showed great sportsmanship as she cheered louder for her school friend's team than her own. We finish the season in the spring, and we are hoping for a change of heart.

Kate being highly supportive at a game.We had to distract her with crackers or she would charge onto the field after the ball. She showed more interest than Morgan some days.

 

Peach season brought canning - we are getting better at it. Thankfully peaches aren't too bad. I tried applesauce later in the year, and after having to peel the apples mostly by hand due to mechanical failure, I discovered that a huge stock pot yields only 4 jars of applesauce. That was the end. There are some things that just aren't worth it.

After only two months away, we flew back to Arizona for my sister's wedding. Only Kate got to come with since she still flies free. We met Rick and Diane for dinner and then entered the maelstrom of wedding preparations. 

My lovely sister on her toasty wedding day. Kate was never very interested in the bride but she sure liked the flowers.

I cut some bangs, which made Morgan furious with me. Apparently she has been growing her bangs out so she can look like me - whoops.

Our house is looking better! Erik has been hard at work on the yard, and we've been gradually accumulating an assortment of manly tools. Now we are discovering things inside that need work, which is far scarier. So far we've had a gas leak, broken furnace, faulty wiring, broken fan, and other discoveries like a complete lack of insulation in the basement. Next summer: the roof. Yay.