Settling In and Family Parties

Life was hectic as we settled in so we didn't get out our real camera until Christmas and I didn't even post much on Instagram so here is December in a nutshell from the viewpoint of the cell phone as far as I can remember...

Griz had a lot of fun playing with his Grandma and Grandpa's things until we got them all tucked away nicely into the storage room. That took a few days though because we first reorganized the storage room.  Brent is quite impressive with his organizational and cleaning skills. He's possibly a little too good at throwing things away too, ha ha.  Seeing these pictures reminds me that we need to pull out that massage chair out of storage, that would be nice to have a massage right now.

Grandma Coy was very excited to see the kids.  She misses having us in her basement.  These kids just bring excitement and fun and love to so many people.

I love seeing my nephew O. He is such a loving kid.

Both my nephews! I can't believe how much they grow each time I'm gone from them.

S is pretty dang adorable and getting into a really fun age.

Sanna feeding S.  She loved it.

You can't really tell what this next picture is, but it's a really emotional picture for me.  I went to see how Sanna was doing in nursery and I found her cowering in the corner unwilling to play with any of the kids.  I watched for a few minutes to see if she'd change and start playing but she stayed like that so as I tried not to cry in the hall and watch her I decided to just go get her instead and take her to relief society with me.  When I walked in she came running to me with such a distraught look on her face.  This is so strange for her because she LOVES primary. She had a great group of girls and some awesome nursery leaders that she loved so much.  All this change can be hard on kids and she really doesn't understand all the changes completely.

So here is the view of the living room/kids bedroom/toy room.  It's a little squished but having our furniture really helped it feel like home for the kids.  Sanna had been scared of the basement up until we got it finished.  When she saw our stuff all set up her eyes lit up and she hasn't been scared since.  I was also a bit worried she'd be upset we left her toddler bedframe in Tennessee, but when she saw that her mattress pulls out from underneath Griz's bed she squeled, "Yay! I have a bunk bed!!!"  Kids are awesome.

This next project wasn't so awesome. There was a bathtub downstairs but no shower head. Brent decided to install a shower because it wouldn't be too hard.  It turned out to be way more difficult than anticipated and took about 5 times longer than anticipated.  It is nice to have our own shower though and we're grateful he did it for us.

They can make some cool creations with these owls.

We finally got to go to Ikea for our annual Christmas goodies that we haven't gotten to have for a few years.  We were surprised to find they have added the candy bins like they have in Sweden.  That was fun!

We like to get our Farmer Cheese for our Knackebrod that we eat at Christmas time. We also like to get a few other swedish things like meatballs, lingonberry jam, elderberry juice, and chocolate.  It's a fun splurge every year.

"Take a picture of us mommy!"

We took the kids and Taran to Temple square to see the lights.  I saw a woman being rude to her husband and this strong desire not to be that woman, she reminded me of the way I talk to my family. It totally changed my perspective that night and I changed the way I treated everyone that night and we all had a really good time.  I need to remember that more often.

The kids just really wanted us to keep taking their pictures, ha ha.

Taran loves Brent. :) And we love Taran too.

Things get a little wild with Daddy sometimes...

Brent took the boys shopping to get presents for Savannah and I.  He sent them through the line with their own money and took pictures from the aisle over.  Brave boys!

Sanna loves her new guitar.

We decided to see what it would look like if Brent grew a beard. It took a few weeks to be able to kiss him (he had a bad cold during that time anyway so it worked out).  Not sure I like kissing the beard though, now that it's softer I'm still not digging it

and pictures from other people's phones and camera's

Family Nativity Party... Griz had fun being an Angel.

Sanna had fun jumping off of things...

Taran even joined us!

S played Baby Jesus and tried to eat the gifts the wise men gave him.

Such a happy baby...

And another happy baby.  Though he's a toddler now, he toddles all over the place!

My Mom took the kids to the Natural History Museum in SLC on a free day they had.  They had a blast and it was a great field trip for Homeschool!..

We had a family Christmas party at John and Heidi's house.  It was a ton of fun.  Food was good and we played a really fun game that Heidi prepared for us where you roll the dice and unwrap plastic wrap and discover treats and little gifts in the giant roll.  You get to keep as many as you uncover.  Griz was the funniest on this part, he was vibrating he was so excited and trying to go so fast.  It was adorable.

We had a family Christmas party at John and Heidi's house.  It was a ton of fun.  Food was good and we played a really fun game that Heidi prepared for us where you roll the dice and unwrap plastic wrap and discover treats and little gifts in the giant roll.  You get to keep as many as you uncover.  Griz was the funniest on this part, he was vibrating he was so excited and trying to go so fast.  It was adorable.

The Maynes had us over for FHE  making Gingerbread houses.  It was a lot of fun! I wish I was better at doing this kind of stuff with the kids.  The last time we made them was probably with the Maynes a few years ago, ha ha.  Christa took these pictures:

Sanna loves getting her picture taken.

they all like getting their picture taken I guess.  Silly kids.

We love cousins!

Moving

We drove from our place in Paris to Jackson, TN and stopped at Chick Fil A.  Then we went on until we got to Brinkley, Arkansas. Not a huge distance was covered that day, just about 3 hours total. We were so exhausted though... I should correct that... Brent and I were completely exhausted. Kids didn't seem tired at all...

(crappy cell pictures...)

I'm so glad Sanna loves the thought of sleeping on the floor in between our beds. It has made our recent road trips so much easier.

Griz insisted he would be quite comfortable on the chair.

 ...and then they ended up falling asleep in the weirdest positions. I can't put that picture on the internet cuz Chico would be mad but it's pretty funny. Once Griz was asleep I moved him from the chair onto the bed so he'd actually get some good sleep. The hotel was nice though there at that Super 8 and not expensive which was nice!

The next day we drove and drove and drove and drove (nearly 14 hours) and I called some family and friends and talked their ears off to help me stay awake because my van had the movies going in the back so I had no one to talk to up front and I don't think our walkie talkies were working that day.  Anyway, finally that evening we stopped just past Albuquerque, New Mexico at a town called Bernalilo at another Super 8. It wasn't quite as nice but still fine.  

I got out the nice camera while we were eating the next morning.  This picture below shows how hard it was for Brent to be happy that morning. We were now full on in the desert dry air of the West and his sinuses do NOT like it one bit.  He was miserable.

We decided not to get on the road as early that morning because Brent was watching the forecast and said the best time to drive through Price, UT would be later that evening so we had to plan it just right when to leave New Mexico.

Always good to have the camera on hand in case you come across something cool.... like wild horses!

All I had in my car however was my cell phone and these are a few pics that I took:

We made it through that last leg of our journey, slowly but surely.  I wasn't sure once we got to Moab  if I'd be able to make it the last 3 hours, my lack of sleep was catching up to me. So I went and took a power nap in the car while they looked at Rocks at the Rock Shop and did a bit of Christmas shopping.  Then we fueled up and I got a Mountain Dew and that got me perked back up.  Going through that last dangerous Highway wasn't bad. Brent took it nice and SLOW. Finally when we got to I-15 in the Provo area I said, "See ya honey! I gotta pee!" and I zoomed past him to Brent's mom's place where we will be living in their basement for a few months.  Brent made it safely a few minutes later and we collapsed in bed! That whole last leg took about 10 hours drive time.  So yeah, we went the longer route but it was warmer and safer than the Wyoming route would have been so I think it was worth it.

And that's that... sadly our chapter in Tennessee has come to a close (at least for the kids and I).  Now that it's been a month since we moved it makes me emotional thinking about it.  At the time I was too focused on the work that needed to be done but now I'm really missing life back in Tennessee.  There was something really special and nice about living out on our own.