HaLLoWeeN 2o11

 

Let's pretend that this post isn't 3 months late, and we will all just enjoy the pictures of my Super Heros from Halloween:

 Ethan/Batman

 Kamden/Spiderman

Owen/Superman

SnOw!

 

It FINALLY snowed last week and we were hoping for a Snow Day for Ethan, but they didn't cancel. Instead I took him to school, despite his protests to stay home, but picked him up an hour early so we could go out and play before it got dark. It was a good thing, since at the time school got out it started to rain and the snow was gone pretty quick. We didn't get a snowman built, so hopefully we see more snow sometime!

Another Month, Another Post

 

 Another month went by and I obviously slacked in the blogging department. I did, however find some more pictures from Thanksgiving, including the one above of Ethan & Grammie making pies. 

Pudge received a dog house from my aunt, who's dog recently passed away. Their dog was HUGE, so Pudge had a palace. 

Kamden thinks it is so big, that Pudge has room for visitors.

This is where we found Kamden on Thanksgiving.

Thankfully we were able to coax him inside with the promise of a Thanksgiving feast.

 This is where we found my brother, Jeff, after the Thanksgiving feast...

 There were also lots of football games to watch, which we enjoyed being able to have family over again to watch with us, now that we no longer live on a mountain...

The boys thought they would show their team spirit by wearing Uncle Brian's sweatshirt...

We decided to spend Christmas break traveling around Eastern Idaho since Jeff had to work in Twin Falls the week before and Idaho Falls the week after. The morning that we were leaving, we had the boys come upstairs for their Christmas present...

Things I love about this picture:

1) Ethan has his shoes on

2) Kamden is in his undies 

3) Kamden's expression

4)Owen looks like he could fall asleep any moment, but he still made the effort to scratch his belly 

 

Grammie & Grandpa Van Leuven also brought Christmas early since we were leaving & also because they were heading to Iowa to spend the holidays with my older brother.

The boys loved their gifts, & you can tell by their expressions. 

I especially loved watching Owen's face as he tried to tear the wrapping paper off his gifts, usually only getting a tiny piece of paper each time. 

 

 Tuesday was Ethan's last day before the break, so we picked him up a bit early since he & Kamden both had dentist appointments. Jeff had left that morning for Twin Falls so after the dentist, the boys & I hit the road & met him there. 

We stayed at a hotel Tuesday-Thursday & the boys did so much swimming that their skin was dried out & itchy from the pool chemicals.  

 On Thursday we went to Declo & watched the last BSU game of the season. Other things we did while there:

Owen loved playing the Fish Game 

& getting bundled up to play outside...

 We even spotted some deer, although there weren't nearly as many as in Orofino...

We drove around & looked at Christmas lights, spent time with family (which is why there are no pictures of Ethan...he was busy playing with Addie), & went to dinner with friends.

Thankfully Jeff did not wear this on our night out: 

His dad's shirt from his mission in the Philippines.

On Christmas Eve we went to Jeff's Grandma's house. Every year she has a party & we have never been, the last time Jeff was there was right after his mission.

After dinner the kids dressed up while we listened to the reading of the nativity story from the Bible. Then we sang Christmas songs before Santa stopped by with a gift for everyone...but we all had to sit on his lap before we got our present... 

Owen was not thrilled about it at all...

Then there was a talent show & we eventually were able to tear the boys away from their new-found friends, who are actually Jeff's cousins. But they couldn't quite grasp the concept since they were close to Ethan & Kamden's age.

I had to wake the boys up on Christmas morning so that there was enough time to open gifts before going to church at 9:30.

Jeff & I were on the Naughty List this year.

On Monday we celebrated Ethan's 7th birthday a day early, with the first store-bought cake in our family. Last year I hauled his Star Wars cake to Declo & there was no way I was doing that again. He wanted a Transformer cake & this is what he got.

He went to the store with me & picked it out himself, then he stuck his Transformers on it & it was done! 

Tuesday morning Jeff left early for Idaho Falls & we met him there for lunch. Since it was Ethan's birthday it was his choice & of course we ended up at McDonalds. 

I offered to take them to a movie but all they wanted to do was get to the hotel & swim, so that's what we did until Jeff got done working. Thursday morning they swam again but I was able to get them out of the water for lunch & then we went to the movies. They were back in the pool that evening after dinner & on Thursday morning I packed up the car & we went home. Our plan had been to stay until Friday, but 9 days was all I could do of living out of a suitcase & being in a hotel with these 3 boys.

It was a fun & hectic break but by the time school started back up I was pretty close to being insane. I came to realize the truth behind the line of the song "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"  when it says "and mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again!"  

It's good to be home! 

A Whirlwind Of A Month...

 I don't even know where to begin with this post, so I'll start with Halloween pictures. I still need to get pictures of the boys in their costumes, but Ethan was Batman, Kamden was Spiderman, and Owen was Superman. He still insists on wearing his cape every now and then and demands that we call him "Super".

My mom came up that weekend to help me pack because there was a high possibility that we would be moving, and I was being optimistic by packing early. When we moved to Orofino we had planned on being there a year, but after 6 months Jeff was contacted about a position in the Boise area which would also cover Eastern Idaho. It all seemed too good to be true since this position was what he'd been wanting to do for more than a year and it would allow us to move back near our family. Despite the doubts, I felt that everything would work out and tried to have faith in that. We moved to Meridian three weeks ago and it still doesn't seem real.

So, my mom spent Halloween weekend with us and Mark & Becky were passing through on their way to Washington and they were able to go Trick-or-Treating with us that evening.  

 There was one house that the boys walked up to and the witch started talking to them. Kamden was pretty scared until we showed him the kid hiding over by the fence speaking into a microphone. Owen, however, wouldn't go near it. 

On November 3rd Jeff turned 30 years old! We celebrated with banana cream pie & chocolate cream pie a few days early since the boys & I went to stay with my parents on the 1st so we could look for houses in the Meridian/Boise area.

I love this amazing man SO much, and am so thankful to have him as my husband. 

While looking for houses I started out with about 17 that I was going to look at, ranging in location from Boise to Meridian, to Nampa. I was feeling overwhelmed not knowing where we wanted to live or where we wanted Ethan to go to school, and trying to keep the nagging reminder that we hadn't received a firm job offer out of my head. One by one, every house fell through for one reason or another until I was left with only 3 to look at. The first house was nice but didn't exactly feel like "home". Not crossing it off my list, the boys and I went to look at the second house and we knew it was the one. I called and cancelled my appointment to see the third house, then proceeded with the process of getting the house we wanted. Jeff hadn't seen the house and he was still waiting on that final job offer, which seemed to be taking much longer than necessary. You might be thinking that we are crazy for having done things a little backwards, but remember how I knew everything was going to work out?

Well, it did.

The job offer came only a few days later and it was such a relief to know that we were pretty much packed and that we had a place to live. We LOVE the neighborhood where we are living, Ethan's school is in the subdivision and just down the street from our house. We are enjoying our new ward and the boys are actually excited about going to church. Ethan had a hard time the first few weeks at school because he was missing his friends back in Orofino, but he is loving it here now after having made several good friends and finding someone to play with at recess. Kamden and Owen have both adjusted really well, although they are all getting used to having their own rooms. I am loving not living on a mountain and cannot even begin to explain how grateful I am that I am not trying to survive the winter on Crow Bench Road. While I did enjoy our time in Orofino and wouldn't change our decision to move there, I am SO HAPPY to be back near our family and friends here. I am thankful that I don't have to drive 20 minutes down a mountain to pick Ethan up from school or that I don't have to worry about wild animals lurking outside our doorstep. I don't miss the 25 minute drive to church every Sunday, though I do miss the sweet Young Women I had the chance to teach each week. I will always be thankful to know that there are good people everywhere, and for the friendships I made. Especially Cindy, who got me through the 5 1/2 months I lived there. 

I feel like I've known her forever.

I'm grateful that we grew closer together as a family during the time we spent on that mountain, and for the memories there. I'm thankful for our family members that visited us in Orofino who gave me something to look forward to and helped the weeks to pass a little faster. I'm thankful for Mr.Bob who, even though sometimes he was a pain in my you-know-what, he provided us with a place to live. And, despite myself, I must admit that part of me does miss his eclectic collection of home decor. I loved seeing my children's excitement every time we saw a deer, an elk, a rabbit, or a turkey. I will always remember how amazing it was to watch a bald eagle soar over the river and the sense of freedom that gave me. I will never forget how moving 5 hours away made me really appreciate the blessing of family. And I will always be grateful to my Father in Heaven for blessing us with the opportunity to live in Orofino, Idaho, and for knowing when we needed to leave.

Amidst all of the moving chaos, Kamden turned 5 on November 10th!

He had requested an Angry Birds cake months before, and this was the second attempt:

 He was happy with it, though I was ready to give up and go buy a cake by the time I finally finished. 

 I cannot believe that my little men are all growing so quickly, and my "Babe" will be starting Kindergarten in the fall. He continues to keep us laughing with the things that he comes up with and we are so thankful to have him in our family!

We moved into the house on the 11th and hosted Thanksgiving two weeks later. It was a lot of work and I never would have gotten it all done without the help of my mother, but I can't complain because I was so glad to be spending the holiday with family rather than on a mountain 5 hours away.

 The only pictures I got of the entire day were of the boys playing football in the backyard with some of their cousins. 

That night I went shopping with all of the crazies...including my sister, Kristen, and her family. We left the house at 11:30 and didn't come home until 3am. Then I couldn't sleep so I watched TV until 4am, then got up at 8 and went shopping with Jeff. Lesson learned: I will NEVER shop on a black Friday unless it's in the late afternoon when all of the crazies are passed out at home. I can't think of anything that would be worth waiting in a 1 1/2 hour line for. 

On Saturday we had our family over for leftovers and to watch the BSU football game on TV. Then, thanks to Jeff's brother Brian, we had tickets to take the boys to the BSU basketball game. The entire game Owen wanted to go see the "horsie" but he was too far away. Then during the end of the game the Bronco was in the stands near us, so we jumped up and hurried over. When Owen was about 3 feet away from the Bronco, he started screaming and putting the death-grip on Jeff. And I couldn't use my flash for the picture, so it's not the greatest, but we had a good time! Thanks, Brian!

 Jeff had to go to training in Denver, CO on Monday and he flew out that evening. My sister-in-law, Charly, came and stayed the night with me since her hubby was out of town, too. Then Jeff's mom came on Tuesday to stay with the boys while I flew to Denver, also. I was a little nervous about flying on my own, but even more nervous about driving in Denver by myself. I picked up the rental car at the airport and it took me more than an hour to get to the hotel. I think I went back to the airport at lest 3 times and was ready to take the car back and fly back home. But I finally found the hotel and it was nice to get away for a few days. On Wednesday I ventured out and found the temple, thanks to the GPS I borrowed from my brother, and had a really great time there. The Boise temple is closed for construction and I can't remember the last time I went, it was before we moved to Orofino. 

We went and saw Breaking Dawn that evening after Jeff got done in training. It wasn't my favorite of the series and I laughed a lot. Though that might have been because of the middle-aged man who came to the movie by himself and, out of the otherwise empty theater, decided to sit two seats away from Jeff. 

That night Jeff was steaming his clothes for the next day and let the shower run for about an hour. Then there was a knock on our door and two men told us that there was a flood directly below our room. It was 11:00 at night, but they moved us to one of the suites on the top floor. I guess next time he will have to use the iron.

It was cold, windy, and snowed all day Thursday so I hung out at the hotel until about 4:30 when I walked across the street to meet Jeff. We walked to a bookstore and had dinner, then went back to the hotel to check in for our flight home the next day.

The boys had a great time with Grandma Stoker and have been asking when she is going to come back. THANK YOU so much for taking care of the boys for us!

And that is what has been going on in our lives over the past several weeks.