Ten Years

It's crazy to think that I've been married for an entire decade. Wasn't it just the early 2000's just the other day? Even though I was pretty young when I made that pivotal decision, I can honestly say ten years later that it was the best one I've ever made. For us, the decision to get married so quickly was based on faith. We were head over heels in love with each other, but there was also a much deeper yearning- to follow the Spirit that we'd both felt, telling us both that this was right. Now, ten years later, we know each other - and ourselves - a lot better, we've seen each other at our best and at our worst, and we've never been happier. I didn't think that was even possible.
I have also learned in these ten years of marriage that for better or worse, I'm a fierce mother bear. I have a really hard time being away from my kids, ever. I've almost always arranged for babysitting after the kids are in bed (and those times are more rare than I'd like to admit!), and when I do leave them, it's hard to really relax. That's partly why we thought it was important for this anniversary for us to get away- just the two of us, for as long as I could feasibly manage. In our case, that ended up being four nights, five days. Paul made all of the arrangements on the vacation end, and I made all of the preparations on this end- basically drumming up any possible could-go-wrong scenario and ensuring there was a back up plan. Paul's sister agreed to watch our kids for us, which was hugely helpful in getting me to let go.
We decided on Costa Rica, based on some friends' recommendations, and we were so glad we did! It was nearly the same time zone (so reduced travel and jet-lag), it felt pretty safe and friendly, and it was WARM. I mistakenly assumed my passport was still valid until a couple of days before Christmas when I double checked. Turns out that honeymoon trip we took to Mexico was TEN years ago, same as the expiration date on a passport...duh! So I had to scramble to get a new one. On Christmas Eve, I expedited all of my paper work out to a company that gets paid the big bucks to turn them around in a matter of days. Since it was during the holidays, we were really under a serious time crunch to get those back. But it all worked out!

So, on to the good stuff. Pictures!

We left early early Monday morning, and had a long layover in Miami. We killed time calling family, eating sushi, and finding our favorite perfume (I have never done that before, and now I think I could possibly have my own scent! I felt so grown up. Ha!).

We got to the resort that night, and wandered down to the ocean after a nice dinner.

When we got to our room, we were greeted by this little crab. Kind of funny....ish. He found his way home outside again pretty quickly with a little assistance from us. Another funny quirk about our room was the noisy gurgling toilet. Apparently, all the big resorts down there have their own water processing plants, and since our room was on the bottom floor, we probably saw a lot of the pressure relieving or something. We should have switched rooms, but we just let it go and enjoyed some good belly laughs over it.

The first full day in Costa Rica was Tuesday. We had fun relaxing by the pool, reading, sipping tropical drinks and occasionally posing for the photographers who actually did get some nice shots of us. Unfortunately that swimsuit made me look naked in half of them...awkward!

I got a massage and a manicure too that day, and we spent some time exploring down by the beach. 

The next day was Wednesday, and we took a full day driving out to a big river to go white water rafting. I think we were going down the 12-foot drop here. It was so much fun! 

On our way back, we stopped by a waterfall and just enjoyed the beauty there. I had already dried off, so I didn't get in. 

Paul on the other hand, just couldn't say no. 

Our travel guy, Christian, was really awesome. He was the one who greeted us at the airport, and made all the arrangements for our day trips. I was so impressed by how many people spoke English there, and how friendly everyone was. I wish America was a little more that way.

 We started off on Thursday on the zip lines.

 They were a lot of fun!

Turns out those huge gloves and helmets were pretty useful. I realized this when my helmet started skidding against the wire on my way down.

 Then we repelled down to a little platform so we could "rock climb." It was kind of a joke though, with all the hand holds, and the guy at the top practically pulling me up the whole way.

 I think they let Paul actually climb some of it though.

The horse riding segment was interesting. I don't have any confidence in that area, and my horse knew it. Paul didn't either (can you tell from the picture?! haha), and he got quite a wild ride! His horse was insane! 

Then we had another trip down a different river, this time on tubes. It was mostly drifting and bumping over some good size rapids, but there were some points where we had to go down using ropes and hand holds. 

 I love rivers so much! They were probably the most fun for us, so I'm glad we got to do it twice.

 We ended the day at the "spa" there, where we painted each other in the "special" exfoliating volcanic mud and took a dip in the hot springs. I could not stop laughing while I was getting painted, so I got some in my mouth. Thanks a lot, Paul. ;)

We spent our last evening back at the resort after finding a few good souvenirs for the kids. That last pina colada was perfection (and so were the faces Paul was making at me). I've got to start learning how to make those (pina coladas, I mean). No excuse.

We watched our last sunset over the beach, then made our way up to the lounge chairs by the pool where we'd watch the stars come out every night. It was crazy how black the sky was, and how many stars you could see! It was also strange not being able to see the big dipper, which has always been my one standby constellation I can find.
The next morning (Friday) we took our time swimming in the ocean and the pool before saying our goodbyes. The trip home was a lot more lengthy and stressful, but no flights were missed, so we were fine. We saw the kids the next morning (on Saturday), and it was a happy reunion! Lydia wasn't even mad at me! Abby did such a good job with all of our kids and hers ALL BY HERSELF all week! She was the real star of the show.
I am so, so grateful we could do this. In some ways, it was a real sacrifice to make it happen, but it felt good to celebrate our marriage in a meaningful way. And hopefully it won't take us another ten years to do it again!

Christmastime and Such

Well, I guess it's come to this. The monthly blog post. On the upside, it's easy for me to recall the past month because I've already documented a lot of it through Instagram, but I still feel impulsively drawn to the blog to fill in and expound. Guilt, perhaps. It's hard to believe I've been doing this blog for eight and a half years now!

Nora's little Joyschool group worked on a nativity play together. I think the idea was for them to perform for an old people home, but they eventually got a kindly older neighbor to watch them in the end. They are really cute together. Nora's the only one moving on to kindergarten next year from this group of girls, so I'm beginning to reconsider what my involvement in Joyschool teaching should look like. Come January, I'll probably tailor my part of the teaching a little more towards kindergarten readiness, instead of the traditional Joyschool lessons. There are generally good ideas in the lessons, but it's not really my style of teaching and just feels forced. 

I tried my hand at chalkboard lettering for fun. I've found with all this new (glorious) space to fill, our Christmas decorations were feeling a little sparse. I used a chalkboard that was given to us a few months ago, and turned it into one of my favorite Messianic verses. In my head, I always burst into the Handel's sing along version of this. :)

The girls and I haven't been going to the Magic House as much as we used to. Probably because it's twenty minutes away now instead of five. Our pass was about to expire, so I took them one last time. Lydia loved going back and forth over this balance beam. She's an adventurous little girl. Another funny (unrelated thing) that Lydia does these days is push her little stools around and climb up to get whatever it is she wants. She has been known to find the cereal she needs, bring it to the table, find her own bowl, get a spoon out of the drawer (using her stool) and then climb into her chair (again using her stool) to eat. Then she'll ask whoever's nearby for "Milk." Funny girl.

Back to the Magic House. Because it was December when we went, Santa showed up for story time. Nora and Lydia were both really resistant to going anywhere near him, but I finally got Nora to at least stand next to him for a picture. I think she told him that she wanted a Tinkerbelle tent. This (fairly typical) encounter with the strange, mystical man reaffirmed in my mind that I don't care to push Santa too much on my children. I'm glad to extend their belief in the magic of it all for as long as possible, but it's kind of a weird custom to try and coerce my kids to sit on a stranger's lap. The more I think about it, Santa is a creepy idea. Anyways...moving on.

Paul and Peter got to go to a Rams football game (LDS night, where they sat next to the Witchers)- the first pro football game either of them have ever been to. I think Benjamin was a little bummed at not being able to come, but we reminded him of the hockey and baseball games he's been to without his little brother. It's special to have Daddy all to yourself sometimes.

They ended up staying out REALLY late. It was funny to see little Peter, bouncing into the house around 11:15, totally wired. I expected him to sleep in the next day, and was prepared to bring him into school late, but he was up the next morning as if nothing had happened. I kept waiting for the crash after that, but he never did. I'm glad they went. I think they really did have fun together, despite the terrible game they watched.

We didn't do too much sweet treat baking this year. The kids really wanted to make gingerbread men though, so we at least did that- but with dinosaur cutters instead of men, since that's all I could find. We made them over three weeks ago, but they're still hanging out in our cookie jar, along with some brownies and toffee and other cookies that people have given us. We really don't eat that much sugar around here, which is so different from how I grew up. Gestational diabetes diet training for the win!

Another tradition that needed to be carried on this year was driving out to see the Christmas lights. There are two light shows that we alternate between each year. One is at Tilles Park- that one is all Santa and polar bears and candy canes and everything else that is secular and loosely related to Christmas. The other one is a little farther, but is at a Catholic compound, and is entirely focused on Christ's birth. It has signs with scriptures telling the account along the way, and has a really nice feel to it. We went there this time.

It was a really cold night, but we decided to get out and see the animals that were there. Nora loved this donkey.

So we let her take a ride on it. I think she enjoyed being "Mary" for a moment.

The boys smartly chose to ride the camel, because it's a CAMEL! It was pretty awesome.

They also had a children's room inside with activity tables and a really upbeat music video about "Emanuel" playing on repeat the entire time. And it was stuck in my head forever afterwards... I asked the kids if they'd like to go to primary where they sang songs like that and they quickly answered no- too crazy! I really like our church, but I'm grateful to others for putting on such beautiful, meaningful displays for the rest of us to enjoy!

Our ward had a nice Christmas program this year. All the primary kids were dressed up, and basically sat up on the stage while we sang along with a beautiful (unrehearsed) symphony of musical instruments. It was nice having the kids up there with a purpose, and being able to enjoy the wonderful music.

Afterwards, there was a nice dinner, and we enjoyed spending some time with a friend from Paul's work and his family who joined us for that.

The kids each had a sibling to get a present for this year. We don't keep it secret, but try to rotate it so they're not getting the same person every year. This time Benjamin had Lydia, Peter had Benjamin, Nora had Peter, and Lydia had Nora. The boys were old enough this time where we asked them to use their own money or be involved in making their presents. It was sweet to see them really think about what their person might like. Peter made a "creeper" patch (from Minecraft, Benjamin's favorite video game) to sew onto a snow hat he bought with his own money. He was really proud of how it turned out, and rightfully so. He did a great job!

Benjamin made a doll bed out of a Cuties orange box along with a mattress to fit inside. He also made a little pillow and blanket, and bought a small Elmo that fit perfectly. I gave him a few lessons on the sewing machine, but he really took charge of that present, and I was really proud of what he came up with. 

My sewing project of the season was Lydia's snowman stocking (only a year late!). During the last session of stitching around the edges, all I could think to myself was "how did I make FIVE of these in one season a few years ago?!?" I am so glad I made these, because I love them, but they are time consuming!

On Christmas Eve, we had our traditional family nativity play. Nora was excited to be Mary, Lydia played the angel (funny how she already showed signs of jealousy over not being Mary! We had to spruce up her costume with fairy wings and a halo crown), Paul was Joseph, Peter was our Wiseman, Benjamin was our shepherd, and I was the narrator. Peter got very into his role, and wanted to find gifts that actually looked like gold, frankincense and myrrh.

I also managed to surprise the kids with Christmas jammies. I had to give up on the idea of matching jammies, because it is close to impossible to find anything that matches from 18 months up through 8 years, but I think they were all happy in the end. The boys wanted footie jammies, which is what they got.

And the girls got matching Frozen jammies.

I think the girls were the only ones who cared about matching anyways.

Our Christmas Eve meal was delicious- basically ham and veggies. And a bottle of Sparkling grape juice, because we're fancy like that. We listened to Christmas music and read some Christmas stories, then everyone excitedly went to bed. This is the first year we have a decidedly non-Santa believer, but he was remarkably good at keeping the magic alive for his younger siblings this year. Peter has also been puzzling over some big questions about the guy, but remains on the fence. I think for now, he is happy to believe.

The next morning at exactly 6:30, the anxious quiet voices got a little louder, and the kids scurried into Lydia's room to wake her up. Then the four of them piled into our room to get the go-ahead. We all went down together, and had a magical morning emptying stockings and taking turns opening each gift. Lydia could not have been more delighted with the sippy cups that she found in her stocking. I love how easy to please toddlers are in the gift department.

Benjamin was delighted to get his video game and hockey/soccer nets that he wanted. He only asked for those two things this year, because "that way you'll at least get one." He's figured out how to get exactly what he wants. :)

Benjamin wanted Lydia to open his present first thing. It was really sweet.

And Benjamin loved the hat that Peter gave him.

Nora's "Tinkerbelle tent" from Santa ended up being a fun striped teepee with Tinkerbelle hanging out inside, which was so thoughtful of Santa because that way this thing can hang out in the family room all the time, and not constantly offend Mommy's retinas. ;) Actually, it turned out that Nora miraculously amended her wish list on her own, and wrote Santa a second letter in glorious four year old scrawl that said "Teepee. Not tent. (heart) Nora."

Christmas morning is always a magical time. I love watching the kids play together, delighted with their new things.

Peter had asked for a Playmobil castle for his birthday, but it didn't make it in time, so Santa brought it instead. That was his favorite present!

Another thing that we did this year was select and deliver presents to a family that actually lives near Ferguson (and you'd have to be living in a hole to not have heard of that place this season). They were really nice, and it was a blessing for us to get to know them a little bit and to share in the Christmas spirit together.
I am so grateful for everything that we have, but I am also grateful to know that these are all just things. If it was all taken away tomorrow, I honestly don't think I'd be crushed by it. I'm grateful for family- the people who I treasure most, who love me at my best and at my worst. I'm grateful for the gospel, and for the temple covenants that I've made that extend the promises I've made in this life into the life to come. And most importantly, I'm grateful for my Savior, who came to this life as vulnerable as any tiny infant, who lived His life perfectly, and who died for me. I am grateful to know that He lives, and that because He lives, I will also live again. I love the perfect, sweet message that His life brings. This is truly what it's all about. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Thanksgiving

How is it already half-way through December?! We've had Christmas stuff up for a few weeks now, but it still feels like we just put down Thanksgiving. We had such a great time this year hosting a nice big Thanksgiving. Including the six in our family, there were twenty people staying in our house for a few days. I absolutely love that we have the space to be able to do that now. Thanksgiving is one holiday where I feel like the more, the merrier! I mean, you go to all that effort anyways, why not share it with tons of people you love?

Wednesday night, cousins started trickling in. Nora and Gloria could not have been any more excited to see each other again!

Paul was the master of the turkeys this year, and had fits of nervousness all morning that he was waiting too long to put them in. He did one in the oven, and one on the smoker- both "spatchcocked," which made them decidedly less Norman Rockwell-ish, but they cooked a lot faster, which was the goal. They were delicious!

 Everyone brought various dishes, making my job of hosting a breeze! I made rolls, creamed corn and a salad, and that was it. We had SO MUCH FOOD, all of it exquisite!

Paul's Aunt Gloria brought cute little turkey candles and napkin rings that they use in their family every year. They paired perfectly with what I had planned for the tables.

 These three were instant buddies, and disappeared together for hours at a time. At this table was Gloria, Nora, Ari and Lincoln.

 The boys bonded over Minecraft mostly. And I tried really hard to be ok with that. :) At this table, there was Cannon, Lydia, Peter, Benjamin and Henry.

 And at the main table, we had Adrea, Josh, Seth, Maddy, Paul, Tony, Gloria, Abby, Patrick and me. I think baby Elliot must have been just out of the shot.

As kids thinned out during the evenings, we played some really funny games together. We have a drawing game that tends to be a favorite among this group!

 Lincoln and Lydia got some fresh air the next day. We took a walk while the others went to go see Big Hero 6 and Interstellar. Then later we all swapped and a bunch of us went to see Mockingjay part 1.

 It was a low key evening of pizza and more games.

I got a picture of the six who are related in the group. Adrea and Maddy are sisters, and are Paul's cousins. Gloria is his aunt, and Cannon is her son- Paul's cousin. Then Abby is of course Paul's sister. Our house was about 4-6 hours for everyone, right in the middle.

 Saturday was gorgeous, so we got out and headed to the zoo.

 Then it was time for goodbyes. These two were comforted only by the fact that they'll see each other again in just over a month! Fun times ahead...