last trip

Oh, boy - I was dreading this trip and, at the same time, I was anxious to go. My parents are in the middle of moving to New York state - could they really move any further away?!! Okay, Orlando, Florida is further by about 300 miles. But I've never wanted to go to Florida. New York is better. :)

I've felt so incredibly blessed to have had these nearly 3 1/2 years to live just a few hours from my parents in one direction and Derek's in the other. I'm grateful that I don't have any regrets - we made the most of it. We did Grandma Camp and reunions and couple trips. They came for birthdays and shopping and holidays together. We've canned chicken together and my mom sewed the curtains in our house. I snuck down to surprise my sister for her birthday a few years ago and went to Wicked with them on another trip. I love my parents so much and will miss having them nearby. But dang it - I don't need another occasion to cry about this... I'm just supposed to be posting pictures of our last trip down to their house before the movers came. My dad has already started his new job and my sister is at college, so we just played with Grandma this time. Here she is with the kids before church for our "porch picture."

My girls wanted to hit Powell's downtown one more time. They always go during Grandma Camp and here they are with their loot. :) C&G and I stayed home to play - it was WAY better for all of us that way!

The sun came out and so we took the opportunity to play at the Pirate Park one more time.

Carver helped make chicken nuggets.

Uncle Tyson had been in town and made a cool city of chalk in the garage. Carver LOVED driving the police car around and filling it up with pretend gas (weed killer). Grace loved that trike and wouldn't wear a coat. It obviously didn't go with the ballerina look. Grandma was the car wash worker.

The best reading chair!

Ellie organized a flight to Mexico.

We had a box of hand-me-downs from my cousins and an impromptu fashion show. I love that these girls love hand-me-downs! :)

Grandma read books and had lots of tea parties! (with REAL food!)

I had Lydia take this one. I wanted proof that I was there, too. :) My mom and I got a babysitter one night, went to dinner and to the mall. Just like so many good times together - it was such a treat to spend time together. My mom is the best!

We'll miss you, Grandma and Grandpa Eucker!
But watch out, New York - we'll figure out a way to come and visit one of these days.
3000 miles of pure family fun in a minivan. :)

Sunday afternoon nap

The best part of 9 am church is the return of the Sunday Afternoon Nap. In fact, it might be the only good thing about 9 am church. At our house, it goes something like this:

We get home from church, change our clothes and eat a snacky sort of lunch. Then it's QUIET time. And the girls are all supposed to play quietly. We don't mess around with the little man - it's pretty much physically impossible for him to play quietly without something terrible happening. So Derek and I bring him onto our bed with us - Derek's in the middle today, so I doze off fairly quickly and wake up to Carver's wiggles, which reminds me that it's Derek who really needs the nap because he is super sleep deprived and I can squeeze in weekday naps. I'm in the middle now and Carver plays with his foot, his dog, his sock. At one point it's next to my face. Finally, I let him play with my hair because I'm desperate. I swear I've just fallen asleep when a little monkey wiggles in the tiny space between Derek and I. (That makes 4 of us now on the queen size bed). She's scratching on her toy or something, which I silence with my arm and a grumpy face. She must have fallen asleep because the next thing I hear is Derek snoring (this doesn't happen very often) and I whack him with my arm, which does the trick and he stops. Except it also woke him up, so I guess I whacked a little too hard. All that leverage reaching over Grace threw me off. It's time for him to go home teaching and that wakes up Carver, who starts asking for things. I try to ignore him for a few minutes, but eventually I'm up and it's Grace that's left alone on our bed. Somehow, more than an hour has passed. So I have to believe that there was some sleeping involved. And even if there wasn't, it is WONDERFUL to try!

Commencement

I know that commencement means the beginning, but the connotation also speaks a little of wrapping things up and that's how New Year's is, right? A little of both looking back and going forward. First, the looking back.


What a great year! We ended with a special visit from my parents, who are leaving the wet northWEST for the snowy northEAST this month. So we celebrated Christmas together and they were nice enough to make the drive up here and be with us for the holiday.

It was so much fun. Alyssa makes a great angel - and I think Grace had the perfect Mary face. We looked at lights, ate yummy food, make crafts and cookies with Grandma and shared our testimonies of the Savior. It was a wonderful Christmas and I'm so grateful we could share it with my parents and sister. We will miss them BIG time!!

For New Year's Eve, we did our traditional awards, which I LOVE. the kids just beam. Only this year, I made wordles for the older girls instead of "medals" so I could include more. I think Ellie missed the fun of wearing it around her neck, so I owe her that version, too.


Then we played 2010 Bingo, with cards made of pictures from the year and then we had one rockin' dance party. You should've seen Grace move those hips!! Someday I'll have to post videos. She cracked me up!

Everyone loved dancing with Dad! He flipped them and rolled them up and did all sorts of tricks. It was so fun to just all be silly together. I need to loosen up like that more often. It's all that martinelli's, I guess. ;)

I'm kinda blank on what to expect in 2011 for myself.

Ellie will be baptized in August.
and start Activity Days at church (she's THRILLED)

Carver will start KINDERGARTEN!
We hope this is the year of the bike for him.

Lydia is having her first double digit birthday - whoa.
She'll also enter her last year of elementary school.
YIKES.

Grace will probably start preschool in the fall.
I hope that she'll be starting to read a little bit.

It's exciting to see these kids growing up.
I hope I can keep up with them!