I'm late in posting this, but we have had a lot on our plates recently, so...too bad! :D
It's been a really long time since I posted. Since then I have *nearly* completed school, moved out of the house that we loved and made plans to move back to Arizona.
More on all that later though. The kids were out for nearly two months this summer. We had such an amazing time, even with almost no money! :D
I had to drive alone since Tye had just started a brand new job and couldn't get any time off.
Yay! Halfway there!!
The kids and I had a lot of fun on the 14 hour drive back though. A huge car accident added 2 hours to the regular drive time. But we finally made it home to Utah.
When we first arrived, it was still pretty cold outside. :D The kids had to wear jackets when they were outside.
Yee Haw!
Too much fun!
They had a lot of fun at the little playground across the street for a day or two and then got bored with it...of course.
We spent a lot of time at the park up the street
Me and my love
Xander's hair...before he cut it.
, some time at Liberty Park and we attempted to go to the river. It was running FAR too fast for us to do anything but stare at it...oh, and throw some rocks and hang out with a little furry friend!
Squirrel!!
Throwing rocks
I was even given some gorgeous roses.
Tye actually picked these for me himself! They're gorgeous!
Then we went to the lake. That was one of the most fun days we had while they were here.
That night we went to see fireworks up at The Canyons.
Tye and I got ridiculously sunburned, but it was worth it. Such a super fun day!
On the 4th of July, we headed over to Justin and Amber's place to set off some fireworks. First time for me and the kids, so we had a BLAST!
Justin and Leah. Heh.
Xander being the fireman.
I feel like the summer was fantastic and I feel like the kids had an amazing time.
Some new situations have arisen, and we will be moving back to Arizona soon. Tye will be leaving in about 3 weeks and I will follow once he has all our thing arranged there. It's going to be really hard being apart for so long, but it will be worth it. I'll be able to see the kids a lot more and we can get our lives in better order.
So we had this incredible, amazing month with the kids. I can't wait until they're here again, which unfortunately, isn't until May.
I flew down to Arizona to pick up the kids. Spent one night catching up with friends and family. Got to see some of my bestie bestest friends while I was there (Steph and Tina) which was so way super cool. I wish I had more time to spend with them.
We had a fun little party while we were there to celebrate Connor and Leah's bdays a little late. :) WAY super fun.
Money, money, money...Mo-ney!
PIZZA AND CAKE!
The kids opened cards, made out like bandits and climbed some trees!
Again, WAY SUPER FUN!
We're in a tree!
PLANE RIDE!
The next day we flew back to Utah! This was the first time on the plane for Leah and Xander and the loved every second of it! :)
It was a fun ride. The next three weeks flew by WAY too fast! It was as if time sped up and didn't care how we wanted it.
We had a little Christmas party, SO many people came out to it! It was so great to see all the kids playing together and all the adults playing, too! :D
Kaiden and his energy!
Party people!
We shopped for our very first Christmas tree as a couple, and as a family! We found one at the first place we went! It looked perfect and small enough. Then we got it home and POOF! IT WAS HUGE!
Decorating and hilarity ensued.
Oh yeah! Hangin lights!
I don't even know how to caption this one.
Look at how they hold up the whole tree! lol
We made SO many cookies! SO many!
COOKIES!
And they were delicious! So...amazingly...delicious. :D
We had delicious family meals at our new dining room table.
Working together!
creme fraiche!!!!
And then...WE WENT SLEDDING! The snow wasn't really cooperating here in town, so we went up to Park City to try to find us a little bit of fun.
We found it...plenty of it. The kids had an amazing time on their first sledding trip! So did mom and Tye!
Before the fun:
All warm and happy and excited!
The struggle up the hill and the eating of snow!
Tye taking his turn!
The tiny one and his tongue out the whole time and giving up on sledding to make a snow angel!
Aren't we beautiful?
And the delicious food at Red Banjo after the fun!
And finally, on the drive home....exhaustion. :)
Finally, after days of shopping and working and wrapping and general sneakiness, it was Christmas!
He's laughing because I have a matching pair. ;)
The kids opened their PJ's...decorated cookies for Santa...
CHEESE!
And it was off to bed until morning!
We had the most amazing Christmas...I think EVERYONE got something they wanted and the day was just plain perfect!
My beautiful statue from Tye
My teddy bear jammies!
Tye's teddy bear jammies
The smile...it's perfect!
And then there was this...
Happy children...makes my heart happy!
Finally! I can take over the world!
Hmm...what could it be!?!
After a week of work, and a snowstorm on the night we were supposed to leave, we were off to a late start the next morning. The car just kept slipping and sliding all over the place.
The snow was blowing straight across the road...
The roads were just really bad
We finally had to pull over and take the car to a shop in a tiny town because even after the roads got better, we couldn't keep from sliding all over them...going 20mph. 4 new tires later, and we were on our way! Again! Our normally 11-12 hour drive turned into 18 hours on the road. We were supposed to be able to see Mom and Dad Sevy, but since we didn't even get to the kids house until 10:30 PM, that just didn't happen. :( We dropped the kids off with as few tears as possible and then continued on to Tucson to ring in the New Year!
Spent the night with Mom and Dad Zaharia, slept in as late as humanly possible and were on our way back to Utah. Stopped off to see a couple of friends on the road...stopped by to visit Mom and Dad Redmond and brother Alex, and made out way back to our wonderful home.
It was a beautiful month.
I am now two weeks into my schooling to become a massage therapist. Most of you know that this is my third and final attempt at school. This is the time. This is the year. Many big plans in store for this and next year.
Our lives are simply amazing. We have the most beautiful love in our home, and surrounding us with friends and family. I am so grateful for everything in my life.
