Minnesota!

For Valentine's Day, Mark surprised me with a trip to visit my sister Andrea and her family in Minnesota. I have had a hard month emotionally, so he felt like this would be the perfect way for me to recharge. And it was.

After spending 24 hours stuck in St. Louis during a snow storm, I was so happy to finally get to Minnesota! Don't get me wrong, I'd had a fun time hanging out in the airport all day Thursday, waiting in horrendous lines, finally getting a taxi to a hotel (and thinking I was going to die as I sat squished in the backseat of that van, watching cars spinning in the snow on the roads all around us), hanging out in the Redbird Bar with my new friends Robyn and Dylan, then sleeping on the couch in Robyn's hotel room... yes, I'd had a great first day of my trip, but I was really relieved when I finally saw Andrea. We picked up Spencer from work and had lunch at a yummy Mexican restaurant. Then we headed home and waited for the kids to get home from school, and the party really began...

Being the awesome aunt that I am, I always seem to bring out the mature, sophisticated side in my nieces and nephews...

I brought a balloon animal kit for the kids, and I was impressed by their creations! 

We played Pound the Table, Ticket to Ride, and Settlers. I loved sitting around their table laughing, eating, and playing games. 

Mark ordered pizza and had it delivered to us Friday night, so that was a fun surprise. Mark was home taking care of the kids and still managed to do nice things for me while I was away! :)

I took a picture with each of the Driskill kids so I could show my kids how tall Tyler, Amanda, Zach, and Devin are all getting. It's hard for me to believe that Tyler and Amanda are both way taller than me and that Zach and I are exactly the same height... at least I've got a couple of inches on Devin still. But I'm sure he'll pass me up soon too!

Of course, our Saturday morning temple trip was a highlight. It was beautiful and happy.

Zach played awesome in his basketball game that afternoon, then Saturday night we went to the Ice Castle by the Mall of America. I loved being outside in the snow and cold (I kept saying it felt so Christmasy!), and the ice castle was really neat.

That Viking had the greatest laugh. Very Viking-esque.

Tyler took this picture of his mom and dad, and I thought it was super cute. :)

It was so good to be in the Driskill's home, go to church with them, play and laugh with them, watch family videos, meet their friends, hear about all the kids' activities, and stay up late talking with Andrea. I needed some good sister time and family time, and I sure got it. I had plenty of time on my flights and layovers to read and watch movies and think and write. It really was nice to get away from all my responsibilities and get to be just me for a little while. But I was so ready and happy to see Mark and my kids when I got home Sunday night. What a great Valentine's gift, Mark. Thank you! And thank you, Andrea, Spencer, Tyler, Amanda, Zach, and Devin for letting me come visit!

Happy 2013 so far...

We started off the new year with a nice week of family time, with no school or work. We spent a couple of days at Great Wolf Lodge again (like last year), and the kids loved it even more this time. 

Our fun "kids camp" room

Lovin' the water

Funny that Grant doesn't look happy here because he spent hours on that water toy. He loved spraying strangers with the powerful squirt gun. :)

Lotsa Water Dump Zone!

Eliza had grown a couple of inches since last year, so she had moved up into the "yellow zone" which meant she could ride on all but one of the grown-up rides as long as she had an adult with her. She was in heaven. Eliza isn't scared of much, so she didn't even hesitate at going down all the tube rides and the mat race rides. Grant missed the "yellow zone" by about half and inch, but he wouldn't have wanted to go on the big rides anyway. There were two kid slides he could go on, and he was completely happy going down those fifty times. Kimball went on every ride as many times as he could and loved them all. All the kids liked the wave pool and the water dump zone and the basketball pool. We just went from one thing to the next for two solid days and had a fabulous time. Mark and I kept teasing about getting sunburned though because it does feel weird to be at a water park all day and not have to worry about the sun at all!

We also spent a day at the Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC and had a fun time learning about trains and cars and airplanes. We saw some super cool old engines and even got to ride on a turntable at the roundhouse, just like on the Thomas movies. 

Look at that steam engine!

And yes, even Liza's new baby Heidi got to come with us

After our week of play, we had to get back to real life. The kids went back to school, Mark went back to work, and Grant and I spent a lot of time at home trying to get our house put back together from the holidays. We've had gorgeous weather this week (even in the 70's) so we're having a hard time believing it's only January. But we are looking forward to a new year and the new experiences that await. 

Merry Christmas!

It's hard to believe Christmas has come and gone again. The kids were out of school the whole week before Christmas, so we had a lot of time to read Christmas books, go shopping, play games, watch fun shows, and drink hot chocolate (even though most days have been in the 60s lately!). We were all ready and excited for the big day.

One really crazy thing happened this past weekend though that will make this Christmas especially memorable for me and Mark. Our friends, the Alders, had invited some families over to make candy houses Saturday night. We were there in the Alder's home with friends having a fun little party when Brian Alder, who is Mark's good friend from both work and church, started having serious chest pain. His wife Lindsay rushed him to the hospital and we were all left there with nothing to do but clean up the house and watch their kids and worry. Mark took me and our kids home after a while and went up to the hospital to see if he could help at all. After some long hours he came home and said that Brian had suffered a major heart attack, had undergone surgery, and was in the ICU but doing okay. Yikes. That was way too close. Brian is our same age! He is tall and thin and healthy and just an awesome guy. He and Lindsay have kids the same ages as our kids. Brian is the chief ophthalmology resident, just like Mark will be next year. It was so scary thinking about how close we were to losing Brian and how fragile life is. We are oh so grateful that the Lord is watching over Brian and his family. We've been able to help the Alders a bit--we even got to decorate Brian's hospital room for his little family to have Christmas there--and that has added a nice spirit to our Christmas.

For our Christmas Eve party, we had the Preeces, the Paxtons, and the Maglebys over. After dinner, I made everyone participate in a talent show, and it was awesome! Here are a few highlights from the show...

Kimball's piano song, "Silent Night":

Grant's demonstration of his amazing ninja skills:

Eliza wanted to sing "Rudolph." She was so funny whenever I asked her if she wanted to practice because she'd say, "No Mom, I can do this."

I can't get the video to upload, but all my kids sang "When Joseph Went to Bethlehem" together. I loved Grant's smile when he said his favorite line, "and carried bread and goat cheese..." :) Good times.

True to tradition, we finished off the talent show with "Gentle Jesus" and then acted out the Nativity. I love how the Spirit always comes in when we do that. Here's our cute bunch of actors:

Once everyone went home, we opened new pajamas and put the kiddos to bed.

Christmas morning came, and it was so fun to watch the kids open their gifts. I can't decide if Christmas is more fun for kids or moms. :)

Eliza really wanted an art set with markers and paints and the works. She was thrilled with her Santa gift and has already spent hours creating artwork. (Yes, she's holding her new toothbrush in the pic, but you can see the art kit behind her)

Grant is all about the Avengers right now, so here he is with his new "Hulk smash!" toy and his little action figures of his favorite super heroes.

Mark got Kimball a pocket knife, and he LOVES it. I am still nervous about it, but what can I do? I guess my little boy isn't so little anymore.

Here's Eliza's new baby doll I got her. I had so much fun making a baby carrier, a quilt, and clothes for the baby. Liza named her baby Heidi and she's taking good care of her.

Playing an awesome new game, the Disney edition of Hedbanz. It's hilarious to play with the kids and help them try to figure out which character they have on their forehead.

New Legos!!!

And here's my super cool present from Mark--a magnet board! We've started collecting magnets from the places we visit the past couple of years, so Mark put this magnet board together so we'd have a good place to display our fun magnets.

I just had to throw this one last picture in of Grant in his new Avengers sleeping bag. He's in heaven with all his new Avenger things.

We spent all day today just reading books and playing with the kids' toys and eating leftover Christmas treats. I wish we were heading off to visit our families in Utah this weekend like we'd hoped (then we'd even get to see some snow!), but we're doing great here in NC and loving this magical time of year. We miss all of you far away and hope you're having wonderful holidays too. Love you!

The Holidays 2012

After the kids Primary program at church...

and our awesome Thanksgiving with the Bramhalls and Burgons...

It was time to get ready for Christmas!

We've decorated our home,

Had a girls' date to see the Nutcracker,

Enjoyed our sock advent calendar,

Visited Santa,

Spent a fun family evening at Pullen Park's Holiday Express,

and read our favorite Christmas books and scripture stories and listened to both fun and reverent Christmas songs that remind us of what this season is all about. We attended a choral concert at Duke chapel earlier this week and got to sing along to some of our favorite Christmas hymns with hundreds of people from our community. I love this time of year! And it's only December 9th. Hooray!  

Nana and Grandpa's Visit

We got to spend five awesome days with Nana and Grandpa. We sent the men off to a Duke basketball game one night, ate lunch with the kids at their school, went on walks in the beautiful fall weather, read (and shopped for!) lots of good books, headed to Asheville for the weekend and explored the Biltmore, ate at fun restaurants, played games with the kids, and stayed up way too late talking almost every night. It was so nice to have my Mom and Dad here. My kids and Mark needed to see them, but I think I needed to see them most of all.

Here are some pictures from the visit:

After the Duke basketball game... Go Duke!

At recess with Kimball after lunch with his class

Hanging out in Liza's classroom for "Fun Friday"

Watching the crazy drum circle in downtown Asheville

Eating at the amazingly yummy Tupelo Honey restaurant in Asheville

Tupelo Honey

Grant and Liza and Captain America (look closely) at the Biltmore 

My cute parents in front of the Biltmore

All of us in front of our new home

Riding in a wagon at the Biltmore farmyard

Loving our rootbeer floats at the Biltmore creamery

Nice look, Kimball :)

I love this picture of Nana helping Liza pet the horse

Reading with Grandpa

Grandpa taught Kimball how to play marbles, and the kids all loved it (I'm not sure why Liza is tackling Grant in this picture, but it's a common occurrence around here)

We're all in mourning now that they've gone home (and since the election too!), but we're so glad we got to see some family before we head into the holidays. Thanks for coming, Nana and Grandpa. We love you!