Happy New Year

 Merry Christmas and a happy new year!  To all those waiting (patiently or impatiently) waiting for a new post, I have lots to post about. However, you will have to wait until after the first of the year for a true post.  I will get back on track with posting and you will see lots of posts for the new year!

Our Thanksgivings

This year we ended up having three Thanksgiving dinners.  I was a total slacker on taking pictures throughout the whole holiday weekend.

On Wednesday, Shin and Heather came over and we had pizza and games.  They were spending Thanksgiving day running a 5k and having dinner with their neighbors.  We hadn't seen them for several weeks (our normal Sunday dinner routine had been shaken up a bit) and we had fun catching up.

Thursday, we went to J's parents and had an early dinner with his siblings and parents.  We perused the Black Friday ads, watched the game, and relaxed.  More family came over later and spent some time with us and Kai, who had a special place set up for him in the formal living room so he could be a part of everything.

Kai did really well.  He fell asleep not long after we got there, and slept until we woke him several hours later when the other family members came over.  He was very content--I think he enjoyed being out and somewhere new. 


Friday, I dropped Zuri off with my mom, so Kai and I could brave the crowds for Black Friday.  Emily had something she wanted me to get for her (since she cannot go herself being out of the country), and it took me four different stores before I found the item for her.  Whew!  That is a lot of work with Kai--hauling him and all his stuff in and out of the car.  I went to Costco first, they didn't have the item (but it wasn't a total waste because I found my Christmas present!), so I went to Best Buy next.  They had already brought the price back up (I guess it was just a doorbuster item good for the short time window only), so I went to Shopko, but they were all out.  Finally, I went to Target, and if they didn't have it, I was just going to get it online.  Target did have it--lots of the item!  Hooray!

Since I was there, I decided not to brave another store with Kai, so I picked up some grocery items that I needed for dinner with my mom and aunt that night.  I started out with a basket; pushing Kai's stroller and the basket handle resting in the crook of my arm.  It soon became apparent that I needed too much stuff for the basket, so I got a cart.  I pushed Kai's stroller with one hand and pulled the cart along behind me with the other.  It was awkward, but I did it.  I went grocery shopping by myself with Kai!  I am proud of myself.  It may seem like such a simple thing, but it is one more step toward independence and not being locked away in the house.  Last year it was unthinkable to drag him around as I did Friday because of his condition.  Amazing what a difference a year makes; Kai loved getting out.  He was cooing and blowing raspberries the whole time.

Friday evening we had dinner with my mom, stepdad, sister, aunt, and my cousin.  We celebrated my sister's birthday--she is turning eight, and just enjoyed spending time together.  Even though we all live within the same neighborhood, we really don't see each other very often.


On Saturday, we got a call from J's "Uncle" Lucy, who was in town from Las Vegas, and she wanted to stop by to visit.  It was her first time meeting Kai and she took to him right away.  We spent a couple hours catching up and trading stories, and before we knew it, they had to leave. 


Saturday afternoon we had respite hours, so J and I went out shopping for Christmas gifts.  We really didn't get very much because we are in the final stages of closing on our house and we don't want to upset the status quo, but we did get a start on it.  :-)

Snowy Day

Early in November we got a big snowstorm.  It dumped a decent couple of feet in a relatively short amount of time.  Zuri was so excited to go out and play in the snow, and she kept saying "Mom look!  Snowy day! Snowy day!"  Since I cannot bring Kai outside to play (the cold goes straight to his lungs, so it is dangerous to have him out in colder weather), I told Zuri that she had to wait for J to get home to play in the snow.  She eagerly waited and was rewarded with some fun in the snow!

Since then, the snow has melted and we have had relatively mild weather.  Zuri keeps asking when winter is coming so she can play in the snow again! :-)

Trick-or-Treat 2012

Zuri got a large candy haul this year for Halloween.  She filled her bucket!  We started out in our neighborhood, only intending to be out for about 45 minutes or so, but as we got started, we noticed no kids, and only a few homes had anyone actually there.  So, we decided to canvas our *new* neighborhood.

--That's right, we are "under contract!"  Our soon-to-be new home is in a really great neighborhood.  In fact, the house next door has a little girl close to Zuri's age.  It is located really close to major access roads and is very centrally placed.  It is in an established neighborhood and has been really well taken care of--so much so that it is move-in ready!  It is a little bit older and smaller than the homes that we have been looking at, but it is in an area where the value of homes is pretty high.  We have almost a third of an acre of land (that has been our biggest issue with some of the newer homes--no land!) and apple, plum and cherry trees.  Our backyard borders a neighborhood "park" and the current owners tell us that they see deer and elk all the time near the little creek that runs through the park.  It has a walk-out basement so Jeremy has easy access to all areas of the house.  Everything has fallen into place with this home, and it will be a great little starter place for us!  If all continues to go well, we should be able to move in before Christmas--so exciting!

We ended up trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood for a couple of hours.  Zuri kept saying that she wanted to go to more houses, but I think by the end, even she was tired.  Until we got home, then she wanted to go back out and didn't want to take her costume off.  Kai was a trooper through the whole thing and just enjoyed getting out.  He stared wide-eyed as we went from house to house, just sucking on his fingers.  He didn't get fussy at all, but he fell right asleep when we got into the car.  He stayed asleep even when we brought him into the house!

First Snow

We had our first bit of snow on October 25th.  Since then it has melted and we have returned to almost 70 degree weather.  That is Utah in the fall for you.  Zuri was so excited to see the snow.  She ran outside in her pajamas and socks wanting to make snowmen, and snow angels and throw snowballs.  It was all she talked about all morning before school.

Trunk-or-Treat

 On Saturday, my mom's ward had their annual trunk-or-treat and chili cook-off.  The primary is so small in my ward (we are talking six kids including Zuri in the whole primary) that we don't have a trunk-or-treat, so for the second time we crashed my mom's ward.

Since we have to plan our respite hours before the 15th of the month prior, we don't always know exactly what our plans are going to be (or what pops up).   Therefore, we try to be flexible, but we have to plan things in advance.  Well, we planned to have respite hours Saturday evening for a date night, but it happened to be on the weekend of the deer hunt (which we hadn't planned on).  When I found out about the trunk-or-treat, I figured it would be perfect--except the trunk-or-treat started at four and our respite hours started at five. 

My plan was to take Kai for the first half hour, take him home, then go back.  My mom and sister were still at the trunk-or-treat, so they would be able to watch Zuri and she wouldn't miss anything.  Well, I got to talking and left the trunk-or-treat later than I planned, which put me in a frantic hurry to make it home before the nurse.  I made it home with one minute to spare, and was relieved when I discovered the nurse hadn't arrived yet.

Then I waited...and waited.  The nurse was over fifteen minutes late.  I was calling our nursing agency (to make sure a nurse was coming, or find out what was going on) when she arrived without so much as an apology or explanation.  I quickly gave her the rundown on things with Kai, but it had been quite a while since she had last taken care of him, so she had several questions.  By the time I made it back to the trunk-or-treat, I had missed the winner of the chili cook-off, the parade of costumes, and the magic show, Zuri was almost done with trunk-or-treating. 


After the trunk-or-treat we went to pick up my sister, Breanna, from work, then we went over to my mom's house and we chatted and played scrabble (Shin, Heather, and Dad bought me a really nice Scrabble board last week while Dad was here).  I was safely in the lead until Breanna used all her letters on a triple word score and trounced Mom and I.  We had fun and it reminded me of old times.



* Side Note:  We were originally going to have a pirate theme for the kids, but when we were looking at costumes, Zuri saw the Cinderella costume and just had to have it.  She would not be persuaded toward anything else, and she had to carry the costume around the store herself.  She would not let it out of her grasp.  It was too funny.

October Conference and Dad's Visit

For General Conference this October, we had unusually perfect weather both Saturday and Sunday.  My dad came out Thursday from Tahoe and ended up staying over a week--leaving the following Sunday; he stayed in Orem with Shin and Heather all but the last two nights.  We spent a lot of time with my dad, Shin and Heather throughout the week, which was a lot of fun.  I miss doing things with family.

I didn't take many pictures for this Conference.  Zuri, of course, was running around in between sessions.  She found some friends to play with at one point, and played tag with Heather, Dad and J at another.  She did really well this time; we didn't have to take her out during any of the four sessions. 

Saturday afternoon, as Heather and I were talking on our way home (the guys all stayed for the Priesthood session), Heather made a comment about how she really loves Conference.  From the backseat, Zuri pipes up: "I love Conference too!"  It was so cute.

The youth from the Tahoe ward also made it out, and we met up with them briefly on Saturday, and we all had lunch together on Sunday.  It is cute to watch the young women get excited to see Heather.  J made a joke that I am long forgotten when Heather is around.  I reminded him that when I left Tahoe, the young women were just babies (wow, I feel old) and so they didn't grow up knowing me as they do Heather (who just moved out here last year).

It is hard to believe that it has been over ten years since I moved out here.  Over ten years that my dad and I have been attending General Conference in Salt Lake--and we haven't missed a Conference all that time.  Crazy (in a good way).  :-)

Dad was originally going to leave Tuesday, but Monday evening we got a phone call from Heather saying that Shin was in the emergency room.  He had flipped over his bike and hit his head.  He was all right except for a few scrapes and some bruising, but he couldn't drive for a few days, and he needed to be woken up every few hours during the night the first night.

Dad, who had planned on staying with us that night and leaving in the morning, got the rest of the week off work and went up to Orem to help Shin.  It gave us a few extra days with Dad, and we also got to see Shin and Heather more, so although it was an unfortunate accident, it had its silver lining. 


Thursday, we all went out to dinner together.  It was our second restaurant excursion with Kai, and just like the first (for my birthday a few weeks prior) it went well!  Kai just sat munching on his hands and being cute while we ate.  We had two tables and placed Kai in between the tables, so we were split up a little but it worked really well. 

I love the curious expression on Kai's face in the photo above.

Zuri had her first experience with cotton candy.  She got all excited about it, hugging it, and liked the cotton candy up to the point when it dissolved into the small, chewy candy in her mouth.  She would spit it out then and no matter of coaxing could get her to eat that part.   Funny kid.


We were sad to see Dad leave on Sunday, and he didn't want to go either.  Shin kept trying convincing him to sell his house and move out here.  Who knows, it may happen! ;-)