January 2019

Finally, we are putting 2018 behind us and starting anew with 2019! Happy New Year!

I spent a lot of time at UVA spending the night with my nephew Lane, who continues his battle with Leukemia. I've come to know my way around that hospital fairly well, even though just a few weeks ago, I was terrified of going there because I didn't know way around at all. 

It's not a pretty sight to watch someone who is normally so full of energy and life, suffer so much. 

Dallin lost another tooth! I always love those toothless grins. 

 I've fun across this quote a couple of times, and want to remember it. Perhaps I've shared this before. But I really like it. 

I also really like this quote that I just read yesterday: 

“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.”

--Rene Daumal

It's wonderful to think of all the summits I've been on. While I don't particularly feel like I'm on a summit right now, I've been there and I must live my life accordingly to the view I saw from there. 

I have lunch with a friend and this was the Nutella calzone dessert I got. Yes, I took a picture of my food. And yes, I'm sharing that picture.  It was delicious. 

We got a fairly decent snow storm this month too. I love the way the snow looks. How it blankets everything with softness. But I am eternally grateful that my kids are all self sufficient enough to get themselves out the door to play in the snow by themselves! 

I don't know how it happened, but after months of negotiations, Dallin finally agreed to swap rooms with Carmen. She'd get the bigger room and he got the smallest "fairy room". It was a big mess and a lot of work, but I think in the end, it's been a great change. 

 Along with the swap, came new paint. We started with Carmen's room and got really brave trying this cool design. It was actually much easier than it may appear. We learned a few lessons along the way, but we love how it turned out!

Is a post even complete until I've shared a picture of Koda Bear?!! 

We made a trip up to Philly to visit the temple and sight see a little. While David and the big girls went in to do baptisms, I stuck around with Charlotte and Dallin. Before the temple, we had a little time, so we visited the Liberty Bell and posed with Rocky Balboa. 

 Once they were inside, the rest of us did some temple touching, and explored the surrounding blocks of the temple. It was a pretty chilly day, so we didn't go far.

Then we had to have some famous Philly cheesesteaks. We went to one of the most popular spots and sat outside in the freezing wind to eat these. No one was super impressed.... I think I prefer fake cheesesteaks, over authentic one. 

Oh gosh, another Koda Bear picture. How did that get there?!!

And Aliza and I spent a lot of time at the cheer gym getting ready for their first competition. We spend 6 hours a week at cheer, including driving time. It's a big sacrifice of time, but I absolutely love how Aliza just lights up when she is there. It's definitely her happy place. 

December 2018

This month sure had some bumpy spots, but overall it was a wonderful time to be focused on our Savior. We started out with this mess as we were walking out the door to church. I had to completely change out of my church clothes, clean this mess up and then put on some new clothes. It was one of those messes that got worse before it got better. 

Our heat went out for about a week, and we really took advantage of our fireplace to keep us warm. Everyone fought for spot closest to the fire. 

We got an early snow storm this year. It's unusual to have one before Christmas. But we weren't complaining.  The kids missed 3 days of school and it did put a slight damper on last minute Christmas shopping. I love the way the yard looks with a fresh coating of snow. Noised are muted and everything seems so still and peaceful. I always love the way the kids voices seem to echo off the trees. 

In an effort to be a super cool mom, I made a snow volcano for the kids. They weren't too impressed.

Dallin is very social and loves to have his friends over. It had been a long while since we could work out a playdate, but it finally happened this day when he invited his friend Case over to play. He was so excited he was up on the kitchen counter watching for them to arrive! 

Just a little glimpse of the family room all decked out for the holidays. 

This picture below was funny to me because I got a text from David asking me if that day was Dallin's class party. Let me back up a minute - because David is free a lot during the while, he's been able to go to lunch with Dallin several times a week and even volunteer in the classroom. He's made a name for himself, and all the kids and staff know him now. 

So, I got this picture from David asking me if that day was the class party.... and I was like, I have no clue! He had gotten this picture from another dad who was at the party, because his son always bragged about how Dallin's dad comes to school and no other dads come. So this dad came and David wasn't there! He was sad he missed out on the holiday party and all I could think was, poor 4th child... I had no clue they were even having a party...!

These next pictures are from a night that David rented out a UVA bus to drive friends around caroling and looking at Christmas lights. He ministers to a really great couple, which the wife had a stroke a few years ago and is now in a wheelchair. We tried to think of ways that we could get her out of the house and all spend time with her having some Christmas fun. This was all David's amazing planning to rent this bus that was wheelchair accessible and load it up with people who all love Sharon. We all had a blast singing, dancing, seeing the lights, drinking hot chocolate and just being together. I think we have created a new tradition!! 

Carmen made the Crozet Volleyball Club (CVC) and we helped out at a bake sale to raise money for travel cost. We are looking forward to cheering her on this season. 

D-man's first loose tooth, which he finally lost a few weeks later when we were staying at the Homestead Resort. We assured him that the tooth fairy can find him anywhere. 

I really liked this quote I came across and need this reminder often. I don't need to be perfect, no one really likes to be around "perfect" people anyways. 

 The week before Christmas kind of turned into a sacred and challenging time for us and my extended family. My nephew Lane who had been sick for a week with high fevers and super lethargic was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. This was on Dec. 19th. We had already planned to go to The Homestead Resort for the weekend, and considered not going when this happened. This same week that he was diagnosed, my dad had just finished his last radiology treatment for prostate cancer, and my mom was struggling to recover from a knee replacement. 

So seeing all this going on, we felt al little guilty leaving to go to some swanky resort to play, while everyone at home was suffering. But realizing that everyone was a little predisposed at taking care of things, we kidnapped my niece Peyton and headed to the resort. 

  

It was nice, but our hearts were back at home with everyone else. So we stayed one night and then headed back to Charlottesville. We made a trip to Walmart to get supplies to deck out Lanes hospital room in Christmas decorations. Since he would be spending the holidays there, we wanted to make sure it was awesome. 

I ended up spending the night so Sarah could go home and sleep in her own bed and be with Peyton. That same night Lane decided to worsen and had to get moved to the ICU. Unfortunately I was tasked with taking down all the lovely decorations and moving him to a new room. The decorations were never really put back up. His new ICU room was much smaller and there really wasn't room for much "extra". 

This was my view waking up on Christmas Eve. This kid was miserable and not doing too well. All the time that I spent with him, he was barely aware that I was even there. It's humbling to see such a vibrant kid be so weak he can't even stay awake. I am so grateful for those days and nights I got to spend with him. I never wanted my sister to feel like it was an inconvenience to me, because I really did feel some special sacred moments late in the night and early morning hours as I sat in that room and did nothing but serve him. After 3 weeks he finally is home now, but he's still got a long battle ahead of him. 

We got invited to the Schill's for a Christmas experience. He made us dress up in ancient clothes and romp through the mountain side in the dark "in search of the Christ child". We stopped along the way and met different people who helped us along our journey. It was pretty incredible to be a part of. 

Carmen and Aliza even got whisked away to play the part of the shepherds. 

This picture of the beautiful sunset was taken on another night of caroling with our friends, the Sorensens. 

Christmas Day came and went and this is the only picture I took! It was great.

I got a Roomba!

A few days after Christmas we headed to North Carolina to cheer on UVA in the Belk Bowl. We went down early to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge and brought Poppy with us. We played in the arcade, ate yummy food and treats, played Clue and Magi Quest, splashed in the water and Poppy, Carmen and Aliza nearly died on the water slide! It was a good time had by all. 

 We ate delicious pizza and ice cream by the warm fire. I sure love these kids!

 On our way to our next hotel, closer to the stadium, we (The Men) got distracted by the Hendrick car museum and we just had to stop. It was pretty neat to see all the fancy race cars. 

We got a good night sleep and then headed off to the football game. We played some fun games at the Fan Fest before the stadium opened. We ran into a few friends and cheered as the band arrived. 

Then we were finally in our seats. The day was rather warm and we ended up sitting on the side in the sun... that was the only bad part, the sun in our eyes the entire time. But at least we were warm. Everyone on the other side were in the shade and freezing cold. 

Go WaHoos! 

They ended up beating Clemson 28-0 in an epic blowout!! Bronco Mendenhall and most of the coaching staff are in our ward at church. We've come to know these families personally and have really loved cheering not only the team on, but the coaches that support them. We felt so happy for these families that had a huge victory.  

 We spent New Years Eve at Carmen's friends house. Her family invited us all over and it turned out to be so much fun. We watched the fireworks from London and then Rio and played an epic game of "running charades". We headed home for the the actual ball drop. But we had  great time getting to know knew people outside our sphere of friends. 

And I'm just going to leave this right here at the end of the blog....nothing needs to be said more about this. #2019goals 

THE END