First Day Trip of 2017

We took the chance today to explore a different part of AZ.  We sure do enjoy our daytrips up to the Payson/Flagstaff area, but being in STV makes those a little more difficult.  So today, we drove the other way until we high ShowLow. We stopped for a family hike aside the lower Salt River and up through the canyon-it was BEAUTIFUL! Certainly a place to explore more in the future! We were able to see snow in ShowLow, which was a treat for the kids and will perhaps be our only snow trip this year-granted, we didn't play in it, but it was nice to see.  We treated the kids to dinner at Dennys before heading home.  It was wonderful to get out of "the city" at the beginning of a new year and just enjoy each other before school starts again! 

December Tidbits

Additional details from this month...

December 8th was James' heart check up day, and I'm proud to say he is doing GREAT!  His numbers were in the mid 20's, which is pretty much where they have been since his last surgery. No issues with his mitral valve or his aortic arch-just watching the pressure through his aortic valve. Thankfully James is always super excited to get an EKG and an echo-he does so good for all of these tests!

December 15th marks five years since James had open heart surgery when he was six days old. Such a heart-wrenching time period for our family, as we didn't know he had three heart defects until he was two days old and rushed off to PCH. We learned so much through that experience, including the amazing resilience James has always possessed. So amazing how this little boy has grown!

December 22nd found Karianna and I doing baptisms for the dead in the Mesa Temple-first time there for Karianna since we went to the Gilbert Temple last month.  I got to be in charge of the towels, and it was just so much fun to watch the girls performing a very special ordinance. 

Loving the picture collage Suzanne got us for Christmas!  I had to find a place for it right away-love that all our special beach memories are captured on it! 

December 25th: You know, Christmas in AZ is not typically white, but we experienced a pretty white hail storm around 1:30 am that didn't melt away by the time the kids woke up. For these AZ natives, it was a pretty cool sight to see "snow" lining the wall in the backyard! What a great start to Christmas morning! Time to get our breakfast spread on the table and dive into a packed day full of family and gratitude for Jesus Christ. 

December 26th: Here are the things Jared and I learned today: 
1. What NOT to do when putting up a trampoline.
2. How to take down a trampoline upon realizing the entrance was in the wrong place. 
3. How to correctly set up a trampoline.
Conclusion? Several mistakes, over 5 hours, and ultimate success later, we are 100% positive we can disassemble and reassemble a trampoline whenever we opt to move again...mostly because that's what we ended up doing yesterday ;) It was all worth it though to see the kids taking turns over and over on the trampoline today! 

And just a few days later....We spent several months trying to determine if we wanted to do a trampoline or a Wii for our family Christmas gift. I am SO utterly glad we went for the trampoline. It has been wonderful the last few days seeing the kids out in the backyard playing rather than fighting over screen time. The games they are coming up with and the amount of time they are spending playing together-kindly-is so amazing. 

December 31st--New Year's Eve: We are never huge party animals on New Year's Eve, but we do like to stay up late with whoever can hack it and just play.  Tonight was great-we had a huge Nerf version of Capture the Flag--so, so fun!  The proudest moment was when Sara snuck upstairs and managed to grab the other team's flag.  Everyone underestimated her--probably not the best choice on their part! We had treats, did sparklers and some low fireworks in the front yard, chatted with our neighbors, jumped on the trampoline, and did a fire.  The entire evening was a blast, and every single person, including Jackson, stayed up until midnight to watch the ball drop.  Excited for another grand year!

:D

December🎄

Family Time

We spent the rest of Christmas Sunday with family-no down time whatsoever!  We headed over to Grandma Erickson's first, and I remembered to take a picture of everyone-isn't this awesome????

 The kids absolutely loved Grandma's gifts for them-so fun to see their great reactions.

 We headed over to the Lautenschlagers thereafter for Christmas dinner and more presents-you could tell the kids were getting tired at that point, but once again, they had great reactions.  I really wish I had remembered to take a family picture here, but alas, I forgot. In any case-we had a wonderful dinner and a lovely evening hanging out with family!

 We always get to the end of Christmas and I don't know where the time went...and I'm sad. I love Christmas time, and the joy I see in the kids' faces.  I am always sad when the day is over and I know the time will come when we need to pack up all the decorations and wait a year for the joy to return. Of course, I don't mean to say we are never joyous in our home ;) But there is something special about Christmas, and I always cherish these memories as a mom.

On a final parting note, we set up James and Jackson's train table, and they have been playing with it nonstop! So fun!

The Presents!

Merry Christmas!

 As a quick summary, we attempted to go take family pictures before church, and unfortunately, they didn't turn out as good as I wanted....the lighting was funny with the time of day (which I knew was going to be an issue) and given how wet everything is from the rain, the spot I had thought would work was just soaked, so we had to pick another spot that was definitely not as good.  Plus, it was cold, and you could tell the kids were not super happy about it.  They were troopers though, and i was not going to let that tarnish the Christmas spirit at all. :)  So we did what we could, and then headed to church.  I was so happy to be going to church on Christmas morning!  The primary kids sang Angels we Have Heard on High, and I loved singing all the other songs we had during sacrament meeting.  I was a little bit sad the talks had nothing to do with Christmas, but no big deal-I enjoyed having the chance to really think about Jesus Christ on Christmas morning, and letting the kids feel that as well.

Once we got home, we had all the kids change and then gather around the tree for presents.  Excitement was in the air....I sure do love these kids!

 We had to get a silly moment in of course!

 And here we go!