New Year . . . .

New Year, new resolutions, new car, new job . . . for someone who doesn't like change, this has been a crazy start to a new year.  But before I get into all that, I have to post these pictures of the girls playing Animal Twister with their cousins.  Jenny and Richelle were visiting Grandpa with their families while we were in UT, and one night, all 4 girls played together.  It was the night I was out with friends, so I missed it, but I was so grateful for the great memories that my girls were able to make with their cousins.

A few weeks before Christmas, my employer from my hotel days in Portland, called to offer me a stay-at-home job, with hours I could set myself.  I wasn't really planning on going back to work yet, but I had been thinking a lot about how I could find a job that would let me work around kid's school schedules, and when this job was offered to me, I figured it was an answer to a prayer I hadn't prayed yet, and was too good to pass up.  So, with the promise of a 2nd income, Ken happily spent my paycheck before I got it and we bought a 2015 GMC Acadia.  I test drove one before Christmas in Olympia, but we actually ended up buying one on our trip to UT.  Drove to UT in my Honda, drove home in this . . .

I wasn't sure how I was going to like driving a much larger vehicle, but so far, it's been good.  It did take a bit of getting used to, but now I love it and am glad we have it.  And the car payments are my incentive for getting out of bed every morning at 5am!  BTW - this is not an actual picture of our car (although it looks just like it); I was too lazy to go out to the garage to take a picture, download it, and then upload it to our blog ;) 

Because I can work from home whenever I want, I figured that some of my best, uninterrupted hours would be before anyone woke up.  So I work from about 5am - 7am, and then I try to fit in 1-2 more hours somewhere else in my day.  Working has been an adjustment, especially when my position is a new one, and my new boss is trying to figure out how to keep me busy.  But so far, it's going good.

I had another birthday.  It was a quiet affair.  Every year I think about having a small party, but that just hasn't happened in the last few years.   Ken cooked me gluten-free waffles for breakfast, the girls helped me clean, and I got a brand new pencil sharpener (at my request) - one that actually works!  You'll know I'm an office supply nerd when I tell you how much fun I had sharpening a large handful of pencils to test it out :)  That afternoon Ken took the girls to the Children's Museum while I enjoyed a few hours of scrapbooking in a quiet house, followed by dinner out with the family.  

And to wrap up this not-so-exciting, rambling blog post - New Year's resolutions.  Last year I resolved to read the Book of Mormon - and I did it!  It was so great, I'm going to do it again (although I'm not off to a very good start so far).  I resolve to spend less time on Facebook (so far so good) and to talk less & listen more. 

Here's to a great 2016!

Christmas and UT Vacation

I felt so unprepared for Christmas this year, but it turned out good and I think the girls were happy with what they got.  One of the best gifts we gave the girls was a mini-trampoline.  Ken and I are so tired of them jumping on the furniture, that we got them something legit to jump on.  Now if only we could harness that energy to power something in the house.

We were all excited to have Grandpa Ernie stop by for a short visit.

And then we hit the road for a trip to UT - to play in the snow, visit cousins/aunts/uncles/ Grandpa, and experience UT in the winter.  Neither of the girls have ever been there in the winter, and I thought it was about time to experience that fun.  So, our first activity was sledding with my friend, Carol.  I loved watching my girls sledding - screaming all the way down the hill, and at the bottom saying, "that was awesome, let's do it again!".

And of course, I couldn't let the girls have all the fun.

 What do you do when you're tired of hiking up the sledding hill?  You swing, of course!

A big thank you to my friend Carol for providing winter gear for Ken and I so that we could stay warm in the very cold weather.  I think the average high while we were in UT was 10F.  Burr!

My girls love Carol too - and it didn't hurt that she provided hot chocolate and brought them gifts ;)

The next adventure was checking out the lights at Temple Square.  We met Carol and her son (and a few of his friends) for dinner at the Lion House Pantry - yummy!  And then off to brave the very cold air while we enjoyed the lights at Temple Square.  I haven't been to see the lights for years, and enjoyed it as much as the girls did.

My girls said that all the lights were their favorite, but I think Amelia's real favorite was the snow.  I couldn't keep her out of it.

Since we were in Salt Lake, we stayed overnight at my brother Paul's house.  The girls LOVED playing with and being entertained by Paul, especially when he showed them some magic tricks.  If they ask you if you have "magic armpits", just smile and nod.  A super big THANK YOU to my brother and sister-in-law for watching our girls the next morning so that Ken and I could finish the paperwork for our new car!  Who knew we'd drive to UT in my Honda and drive home in a brand-new GMC Acadia?  Crazy!  Thank goodness I had all of the girl's winter gear with us, because they spent quite a lot of time playing in the snow with Uncle Paul - snow angels, building a snow castle, eating snow (but not the "yellow snow"), and putting snow in their hair.

That evening I went to dinner with Carol and another friend, Natalie, whom I haven't seen for 15 years - before either of us were married.  It was a great evening with friends.  Great friends are those that you can talk to as if it had just been yesterday that you were together.

And on Thursday, Ken & I went to the Logan temple, with Carol, and a niece and nephew who had recently returned from their missions.  My niece, Richelle, babysat the girls and everyone had a great time.

None of us stayed up to ring in the New Year, but it came anyway.  We had a great time in UT, but ran out of time and weren't able to do everything we had planned.  Guess we'll just have to come back next year!