Home Sweet Home for New Year's Eve

The week between Christmas and New Year's was probably the longest week of our life. I am not even going to go into detail about all the issues we were facing with the new house we were trying to buy, but we finally did it! We closed (after so many prayers we lost count) on New Year's Eve and got to move into our home with the moving truck coming the next morning to unload. We were so excited to finally be in a home, even if all we had was a few outfits and a couple of sleeping bags!

Christmas Day...In the Hotel

Christmas in a one and a half bedroom hotel room was a bit tricky, especially since Santa Claus would be making a visit. So, Don and I had all the kids sleep in the beds in the bedroom and we slept in the front room in the really comfortable couch bed, just in case Santa made too much noise. Thankfully, he didn't even wake us up!

It was amazing to realize that it doesn't really matter where you are, just as long as you are together with the ones you love, it's perfect.


Grandma and Grandpa gave us the Wii for Christmas and boy was that the perfect gift to receive being stuck in a hotel room for 2 weeks! We loved it!


We spent the entire day playing together as a family with all of our new toys and even got to spend some time swimming in our private pool and hot tub, since the hotel was empty! We also went down for Christmas dinner in the lobby. A cook, and a maid. I could get used to this.....

Christmas Eve...in the Hotel

We liked to pretend that this was our Christmas tree! It was a huge tree in the lobby of the hotel and nobody was ever around, so it was kind of like our very own tree, right?



Thankfully, we knew of ONE family in the entire state of Texas and they just happened to be 10 minutes away from us. They were our friends that were in our ward in Moorpark over eight years ago and when they heard of our woes, invited us for Christmas Eve in their home. (They also brought dinner to us on another night) Can I tell you how wonderful it was to be in a real home, with a real meal for Christmas Eve? We had a delicious ham dinner with all the extras. We sang carols with the piano and the kids dressed in costume as the story was read from Luke 2. It was the first time it actually felt like Christmas that year. I don't think our friends realize how nice it was for us to be there and share that night with them.

The Adventure Begins....

After telling the kids that we would be in a hotel for Christmas and maybe even New Year's, Davis burst into tears. Poor little boy. I wanted to burst into tears, too. But we all decided to make an adventure out of it and make it a memory we would never forget. And that's just what we did. Thank goodness I have the world's most optimistic, positive person for a husband who was so good about making everything fun and spontaneous. He immediately broke out papers and crayons and put us all to work to decorate our room for Christmas. We covered the walls with pictures of stockings, wreaths, Christmas trees, and baby Jesus beneath the star. Ryan's teacher had given her a fiber optic Christmas tree that stood about one foot tall when she heard we would have to be in a hotel for a few days before Christmas. Little did she know that it would serve as our actual Christmas tree to place presents under and light up our room at night. Each night before bed, we would dim the lights, turn on the tiny tree and gather for scripture study. We talked about Mary and Joseph and how they hadn't planned to be in a stable, just as we hadn't planned to be in a hotel for Christmas. They were discussions that my children will never forget.


Here we are in our hotel room where we lived for 12 days. Don was definitely inspired to choose this hotel which had a kitchenette, a complimentary breakfast every morning, and complimentary dinner Monday through Thursday night! That not only saved us a whole lot of $, but saved me all the hassle and headache of trying to shop and plan dinner every night, with only a stove and a microwave.


Don's boss and co-workers took such great care of us when they heard of our predicament. Don's boss told him to let the kids pick a place they never get to go and dinner was on him! The kids picked Cheesecake Factory and were in hog heaven. I don't know about your kids, but my children don't get to eat out at nice restaraunts very often. They were thrilled to get to order a drink instead of water, dinner off the adult menu, AND cheesecake for dessert. It was a great night that the kids will always remember. And it was a great break from the hotel dinners!


I forgot to mention that during this whole adventure, Gillian got sick on our last day on the road and was quite ill for about 4 days. It was not fun for her to be sick and stuck in a hotel bed for that long.

Closing Day...or so we thought

To make a long story short.... we arrived at our new home at the arranged time, 10:00a.m., to do the final walk through and get the keys, etc. The moving company was prepared to be there the following day to move us in. It was all going to be perfect so we could have four days to get settled before Christmas Day. The door was open so we all walked in. The kids went tearing through the house squealing with delight as they found their bedrooms and looked over their new home for the first time. But, nobody came. Don made phone calls and we were told that Sotherby Homes (the builder)was having financial problems and that we would not be able to close today. They told us it could take months and could cost us even more $ down the road. We were sick. The kids had no clue what was going on until they found me crying in a corner of the house I thought was mine. It was devastating, but I still had hope that everything would be fine, that we'd be in before Christmas, that it would all work out. We went to the Title office to see what could be done. My Realtor was crying, I was crying, the Title lady was crying. Nothing looked good. It was awful. We checked back into the hotel hoping Sotherby might be able to do what they needed to do to be able to close on Monday. Don was ready to walk away and look at other homes. I was not. This was the home I already loved and decorated and moved into in my mind! I would not give up. Well, Sunday came and we fasted and prayed about what to do. We were to walk away and find something else. Hard to do, but so much easier once you received an answer to prayer. Don started looking at homes on the internet and he found an amazing home, even better than the one we lost, which I didn't think was possible. It was in a different city, but still good location for Don's work and proximity to the airport. Itwas Sunday, but the ox was definitely in the mire as we were homeless with only 3 days left 'til Christmas Eve. We left the kids at the hotel and went to look at this new home. It was incredible and the yard was the biggest one we'd seen since we started looking at homes! Things were looking up, but now came the realization that we would not be able to be in the home for Christmas. We would be spending Christmas Day in a hotel.

Ethan's 4th Birthday....On the road!

We finally hit the road on December 16th, with 3 days (40 hours) of driving ahead of us. And I must mention that we were driving two cars so we both had to drive the whole way! Our plan was to drive Tues, Wed, and Thurs and arrive in our hotel in Frisco on Thursday night so we would be there to close on our new home on Friday morning at 10:00am. Thursday was Ethan's birthday so we celebrated by stopping at McDonald's for 15 minutes. He got a Happy Meal and the rest of us got a couple hamburgers. He was thrilled. Best Birthday ever! When we got to the hotel, I made him a cake out of Krispy Kreme donuts and he opened a few presents that I had packed. He seriously thought it was a great day.

Don's Birthday

The day before Don's birthday, the movers had already packed up most of the house... so we didn't do a whole lot of birthday celebrating. Poor Don. We were busy! The girls made this cake for Don with Mrs. Miller, their school librarian, whom they grew very close to over the past four years at South Colby. It was so sweet of her to offer to help them bake a cake, especially since my kitchen was packed!

Farewell Port Orchard

Farewell Party

A few great friends of ours put together this farewell party for us. It was a bit surreal for me, though. I don't think I allowed myself to accept the fact that we were really leaving. I think that's the only way I made it through that night without bawling through the whole thing.
December was such an emotional roller coaster ride with so much anticipation and excitement for our new life in Texas, but so much sadness to leave behind so many loved ones. We were only there for 4 years, but have made friends that will last a lifetime. Luckily, we have lots of family there so we will definitely be back to visit. To our friends and family in Washington, thank you for your love and friendship, for your hugs and comfort in times of sorrow, for your prayers and faith in our behalf. We will never forget you.

Don's face says it all...

You couldn't even talk to Don in that last month before we left without him tearing up. It was such an emotional time for all of us! Here he is with his two great counselors who he grew to love and admire.

Thanksgiving Day at Scott and Karen's

It was hard gathering for Thanksgiving this year knowing that it would be our last Holiday family gathering for a long time!

And as always, what's a family gathering without a little birthday clebration? Krisette and I share the same birthday!


We celebrated the December birthdays as well...

Is that not the cutest picture of these cousins? Max and Ginger are great friends. Another sad thing to leave...all the cousins!

BYD

aka Bishop's Youth Discussion...one of the many things we grew to love about Don serving as the Bishop. Once a month the youth in our ward would gather in our home for an hour and Don would speak about whatever he was inspired to talk about. The Orchard Heights youth were an amazing group and Don really struggled with the thought of leaving them all behind.



And let's not forget about the best part...dessert!

It's Official!

Don was officially offered the North Texas Regional Manager position in the middle of November and they wanted him to start October 1st! That meant that we had to put our house on the market as soon as possible and hope that it sold fast because starting in October, Don would have to commute to Texas every week! It was all so exciting, but so sad at the same time. We had been in Port Orchard for four years already and grew to love so many people there. And the thought of leaving so much of our family behind broke our hearts. But, the reason we had looked for a new position was because Don was traveling too much and we wanted to be together more as a family. That was the only thing that made it all okay.

The Great Wolf Lodge

On Thursday after school, we picked up the kids and Don announced, "Kids, there is a major crime happening right now! Something really bad." The kids were a little concerned and begged to know what was going on. Don continued, "There is a kidnapping going on at this very moment!" More concern from the younger kids. Older kids started to get excited. "Mom and I are kidnapping you, we're taking you out of school tomorrow and we're all going to spend a couple days at The Great Wolf Lodge!" (For those who don't know, it's an indoor water park) The kids squealed with delight. We were all packed and ready to go so we were on our way. We had promised the kids that we would do something fun when we finished The Book of Mormon and we only had a few chapters left. So, since we had a few hours to drive, we all took turns reading aloud until we finished! This was our 2nd time to read it as a family and it only took us 4 years this time! We committed to start again and try to be more diligent about not missing any days and read a little more so we could maybe finish in 2 or 3 years this time. What tremendous blessings have come into our home from simply reading The Book of Mormon as a family on a consistent basis. How grateful I am for the scriptures.



The Wave Pool....

The Kiddie slides....

The main play area with a huge bucket that would fill with water and dump every 5 minutes or so.

This is what it looked like after that bucket spilled over...

The bigger slides were amazing. The first night we went down them in the pitch black and it was definitely a thrill ride! We had a great time. It was a perfect getaway from the cold, long winter.

Happy Birthday to me!

For my 33rd (is that right?) my little family spoiled me rotten as always. They showered me with gifts and fattened me up with one of my absolute favorites...berry rhubarb pie from the Victorian Rose Tea Room. The perfect pie crust with the perfect fruit combination with the perfect whip cream on top. Mmmmmm.

Don surprised me with dinner at The Melting Pot, somewhere we had never tried. It was a really fun dining experience getting to cook our own food at the table and dip combinations of food you'd never think to combine. Our suggestion... You have to try it once, but that's all you need. It was fun and different, but the food wasn't incredible and the price was ridiculous. Is that rude to say about my special birthday dinner? Don would agree with me and I still loved every minute of it with my sweet hubby.


For my birthday, Don gave me many gifts, but the sweetest, greatest, most thoughtful gift was that he was flying one of my best friends to be with me on my sister Ginger's birthday. Don knew how much I had worried about how I would make it through her birthday, especially once I found out that Don would have to be out of town that day. When he told me she was coming, I started bawling. I was so excited and so touched that he would do that for me.


Hilary and I met at Girl's Camp when we were only twelve. We hit it off right away and even though we went to different schools and were in different wards, we were close through junior high and high school and have been friends ever since. Hilary is the kind of friend everyone dreams about having. She was always so good, so friendly to everyone, such a great example of a good LDS girl. Not to mention that she was beautiful and fun and EVERYONE knew her whereever we went. Knowing that Hilary would be with me on Ginger's Birthday, my sadness and dread turned to excitement and happiness. With Don gone for a couple days we just played and played. We shopped and went out to eat and Hilary even treated me to a pedicure for my birthday! The best part was just being able to talk to someone about Ginger, to share funny memories about her, to look through photo albums with, and just to have someone to laugh and cry with. Those few days with Hilary were so healing for me and I found myself just smiling and laughing when I thought of Ginger, instead of wanting to cry because I missed her so much. Thanks for everything, Hil! And Don, you win the prize for the best husband ever.


I snuck this picture of Hilary reading to my kids. Can I just say that it was amazing having 2 of me for a couple days? It was so great and the kids love her!

Our Birthday week

Tomorrow is my 33rd birthday. I'm not trying to announce it so everyone can shower me with gifts, just thinking out loud as I anticipate my first birthday without my sister, Ginger. Ginger's birthday is on the 13th so we share the same week (and Brandi's, our younger sister, is on the 12th). Two of my last three birthdays I have spent with Ginger and our husbands in Hawaii and Mexico. This year we were going to go to Cancun or maybe Honduras. (Thankfully, we hadn't booked the trip yet. Another tender mercy.) I remember in Hawaii, Ginger surprised with a beautiful fresh flower lei to wear on my birthday, then we went to get massages together...her treat! I can still remember Ginger's face as she realized that she would be getting a man to give her the massage. Hilarious! She immediately told him that she prefered a woman and although this young man tried to convince her that he was "good", she insisted on a woman and was accomodated. We cracked up about it all day. This year, Ginge is actually treating me to a massage again! She called me on my birthday last year (of course) and knew how sad I was that Don was on a business trip on my birthday and how I was struggling with the dark and dreary winter and told me that she opened an account for me at a really nice salon right here in town and that I could go whenever I wanted and get whatever I wanted! That was so Ginger. So generous and spontaneous and thoughtful. Well, did I ever go get it? No! Life got crazy with the holidays and trips and my husband's travel and it seemed I never had the time to indulge. After she passed away I realized I still had this gift and that I would save it for my birthday this year. Don't know how I am going to make it through without bawling, but it will definitely be a special gift from my sister on my birthday!

Trick or Treat 2008

A chef, a pioneer, a vampire, Little Bo Peep, and a pirate. Interesting group, huh? I thought they went quite well together.


And no, I can not take credit for any of these costumes. I am such a costume mooch! I have the best friends and family that let me "borrow" and destroy costumes every year. My friend made the Little Bo Peep and the Pioneer. One day I am going to sew like that, too. Maybe. And as far as the vampire goes.... Even though I am a huge Twilight fan, I don't like my kids dressing up as yucky, dark, scary things for Halloween, but Davis won this one. He is done with superheroes and good guys. So sad!



Didn't get enough trick-or-treaters knocking on your door tonight? I've got a few more for you....HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween 10/31/08