Christmas Time The End

We love hugs from Grandmas and Grandpas at Christmas time!!

 This is a nativity set that my mom received one piece each day until Christmas day.  I thought it was so cute.

 Russell and I were in charge of the Taylor Family Christmas party.  We had a candle lit ham dinner.  It was fun.  Then we played a few games and the cousins exchanged gifts.  The adults had used the money we would have to donate to people in need this Christmas.  We went shopping for those gifts together, earlier in the month.

 Drawing a Christmas scene on their heads was a laughing game. Then we played Christmas Feud.

We had a memorable and fun Christmas Season.

Christmas Part 2

Grandma Anderson made the girls these cute pajamas. 

Since we didn't have our own Christmas stuff available, I decided to make new stockings. 

 I think that they turned out pretty cute.

 Here is a picture of the kids and the Christmas tree, and there are even some wrapped presents :)

 Christmas Eve we went to Grandma & Grandpa Anderson's and gave them their presents.

 And had a grandparent & grandkid picture taken.

 Then we headed back to Grandma & Grandpa Taylor's to give them their presents and to have a picture taken.  Then we opened our traditional pajama package and talked about the true meaning of Christmas. 

 Then we stayed up for a while and played some games.

 Then it was bed time.  The longest night of the year for the kids.  They were so excited for Santa to come.

Christmas Time

 Setting up Christmas was a little bit different this year.  Since all of our stuff was packed tight in a storage unit and we were living with Robert & Toni--things were just a little different.  Toni got all of her Christmas stuff down and we decorated her house with her things.  The kids had fun helping put up the nativities and decorating the tree.  Toni normally puts the tree in the piano room, but I wanted to enjoy it in the room that we spent the most time so we put it up in the living room.  It turned out nice.

 Part of December celebrations are the school programs.  Hillview 1st grade put on a little Christmas program with some singing.  Hattie was so excited!!

 Another December tradition is the Ward Christmas party and visiting Santa.  Here are the kids sitting on Santa's lap.  {Brinton thinks he is too old for such things :)}

Logan Turns 4

Logan was looking forward to his birthday.  Sad that he couldn't celebrate with his new friends in Colorado but happy he could celebrate with his family in Idaho. 

Since the kids were the Super Mario gang for Halloween it gave us a great idea for his cake.

                                     Happy Birthday to my sweet, loving, fun, 4 year old Logan

Halloween

Before we left Colorado we had already made a plan for Halloween and ordered the costumes. 

We were going to be the Super Mario gang. 

                                                             
                                                    Carving pumpkins is always fun :)

                                                  Logan loved his mustache

                             Breanna-Wario, Brock-Luigi, Andrew-Toad, Brinton-Mario,
                                             Hattie- Princess Peach, & Logan- Waluigi

 They had a lot of fun trick or treating.  This year Amy and I took them around the neighborhood while Nathan and Russell stayed home to hand out candy.  Here they are counting their loot.



Crazy Times in Colorado

This will be a long one--I want to write down all of my memories--so this one is for me--

So, after our parents came for visits we were planning ahead a little.  Originally we had planned a trip up to Idaho when the kids had a couple days out of school (October 13 & 14th).  Well, things changed a litte, we found out that it was Stake Conference in Craig that weekend--everyone would go to Craig--stay in a hotel, go to Stake meetings then dinner then a family dance and then the General Session of Stake Conference on Sunday.  I felt like if we were to get settled and feel like we were a part of this ward and stake that we needed to participate in this activity.  So we postponed our plans to go to Idaho until the first weekend in November.  Then our next plans were to host Thanksgiving in Colorado and have Nathan & Amy and their family come and stay with us. 

Who knew that our plans would drastically change...

Russell came home from work on Monday, October 10th a little worried and not sure what to do... we talked about the situation and proceeded forward.  There were a couple things at work that he and the CEO just had not agreed on and were trying to work through them.  He headed to work the next day getting ready for a board meeting coming up.  Still there was some uneasiness as he went to work.  We called the bishop and had a heart to heart with him and he gave Russell a blessing to help calm some nerves.  Well, Wednesday he went to work and got everything ready for board meeting --  Wednesday night Russell came home from board meeting still uncertain of what was going to happen.  Well, Thursday morning Russell went to work and about an hour and a half later he came home with all of his possessions and a heavy heart--he had resigned from his job.  

The kids were home from school and so we had a family meeting to talk about what we should do.  The only reason we had come to Colorado was for the job.  After a few hours of talking and praying we decided that it would be best if we got things in order in Colorado and move back to Idaho.  

This was no easy decision.  We had already made so many good friends, we loved the area, our ward, our schools.  But it just felt like the right decision to make.  

We decided since we had our hotel booked we would still go to Stake Conference.  So, Thursday and Friday we just made contacts with people (already searching for Russell a new job) --trying to figure out our lease--trying to figure out where we would go {our Journee Circle house sold 1 month before}  So many things to figure out.  

Breanna had a singing performance at the Rifle Park before we headed to Craig.

 Stake Conference was a wonderful experience.  We had fun swimming with some friends at the hotel.  The family dance was awesome.  I had such a feeling of peace and happiness watching my family mingle and dance with their new friends.  We had some great talks with our friends and the kids had a great time with their friends.


The next week was totally crazy.  All the boxes that I had just unpacked now needed to be boxed back up.  What were we going to need temporarily.  Calling schools, figuring out a moving crew. It was so crazy!!  Emotions were high and we were just trying to be strong for our kids. 
we knew that the Lord had sent us to Colorado for some reason and that was where we were supposed to be--but we also knew that Russell would not have been happy in a job that was not working out--we knew we needed to trust in the Lord and he would show us where we should go.
So the plans that were made were that Thursday, October 20th Nathan, Alli, Kirk and Jaden would drive to Rifle sleep over and we would leave as soon as we were ready on Friday.  We would put most of our stuff in storage, move into Robert & Toni's basement, put the kids back at Hillview and Sandcreek, then we would have Russell continue to look for a job. 

There were a few tiny miracles that happened that week that we prepared to leave Colorado.  We needed two 26 foot Uhaul trucks.  The night before we called there were none.  The next morning one had showed up over night.  So we booked one 26 footer and a smaller one.  Well the next day the Uhaul place called and they had another truck show up.  What a miracle--we needed both trucks and there they were.  One night Russell was at the church for bishopric meeting.  As he got into his car to come home there was an envelope on his car.  It was from an undisclosed family or families---it was a note and some money (that would cover our moving costs).  What a tender mercy.  It definately made us feel loved and appreciated.  The last many miracles had to do with our lease on our house.  The family we leased it from let us out of our lease-just having us leave our deposit and last months rent.  Then about a week later someone wanted to rent the house and they sent us back our last months rent.  It was a huge blessing to not have to worry about paying for a house in Colorado when we would be living in Idaho again. 

That last weekn in Colorado was full of a lot of goodbyes.  The kids had made some wonderful friends. 

As excited as we were to go back to Idaho we were really going to miss our new friends and our new life.  We met some amazing people, had some great experiences, and saw some great country.

Thursday Bishop Kennedy helped Russell pack alot of our belongings into the Uhauls.  Many other people came over to help as well.  Nathan and Kirk showed up late Thursday night.

Friday morning we finished packing up the last few things, moved everything out and cleaned the carpets.  The girls went to school for the morning.  Then by about 1030 we were ready to go.  We turned our house keys in, picked up the girls and were off.  A caravan  Russell, Breanna & Hattie in one Uhaul with a trailer behind with Russell's car on--Kirk, Jaden & Brock in another--Nathan, Alli & Brinton in his truck--Me, Andrew & Logan in the suburban pulling the motorbikes.  What a slow day of travel that was.  It took us until midnight to reach Idaho Falls.  Russell had been feeling a little dizzy, like his equillibrium was off.  We are blessed to have made it that many miles with everyone ok.  The only minor mishap was that our credit card saw all of the charges for gas and uhauls and stopped payment--good thing we had another card.

Saturday morning we met some good friends at our storage unit and unloaded into the storage unit.  It took a few days but we settled into Robert and Toni's 2 bedroom, 1 office, 1 bathroom basement. 

I am grateful for the promptings of the Spirit, that we were able to make decisions, help our children understand what was going on, and that we were able to be comforted in this. :)