A Decade

Today is December 29, 2009. It has been exactly 10 years since we arrived and moved in to our little house here in Mesa. This morning brought back so many memories of our last days in Utah: my last day of work at Lakeview hospital, Cameron's baby blessing, the King and Allen family Christmas parties, Jeremy leaving to start work at CIT and find us a house before we moved down, and our awesome 5th Ward members helping us pack up the moving truck.

Here we are, ten years ago today, making our very first trip across the border into Arizona. Spencer kept asking, "Where are the Indians?" because he knew they had to be here somewhere.

After helping me drive the moving truck to our new house and helping us move in, Granny and Grandpa left a couple of days later. This picture chokes me up every time I see it because I felt so utterly alone after they left.

And then it was New Years' Eve 2000. After all the talk of Y2K, we all survived! Hooray! And I survived, too. As I look at my calendar from January 2000, the most heartwarming entries I see are: a playdate with the Starrs (within a week of moving in! Can you believe it?), my early-morning walks with Lori Williams, a visit from Bishop Montgomery, my very first Cub Scout calling, Spencer's grocery cart accident and plastic surgery appointments, our first visit to our adopted Grandma (Sister Breheim) and our first visit to the Phoenix Zoo with friends. This move and our house were such an answer to prayers and we felt it over and over again in our first few months here. As heartbreaking as it was to leave our family and home in Utah, we have repeatedly found friends and ward members who have become our family and home here. Heavenly Father has blessed us beyond our understanding in guiding us to the exact right place at the exact right time in our lives.

Merry Christmas

We all slept in until 8:00 this year! It gave Santa plenty of time to eat his cookies and drink his milk.

We almost caught him, though! We saw where the reindeer had eaten some of our oranges and made a big mess in our front yard. We even saw some of Santa's snowy footprints before they melted!

Jacob was happy to get his Madden football game and a Steelers pennant.

Isaac was so excited to see Santa hadn't forgotten the ABC Truck he wanted.

Jacob just joined a baseball team. Santa knew just what he needed: a new bat and glove.

Even thought Noah couldn't decide what he wanted until the last few days before Christmas, he got what he wanted: A Switchblade remote control helicopter.

And a gift card to Game Stop. Yes!

Spencer couldn't wait to try out his new bow and arrow set.

He's a good aim. Not a single arrow lost over the fence!

After weeks of asking for a "cooker hat" mom finally understood what Isaac wanted. Santa knew all along, of course, and brought him this cute Chef Set. He loves to pretend cook and now he can do the real thing! Merry Christmas to all!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

With Granny and Grandpa going back and forth from our house to Emily's, it was our turn to have them for Christmas Eve. Since they would be at Emily's for Christmas Day, we got to open presents the night before. Aside from the usual new pajamas, Granny and Grandpa gave the boys some fun buildable animal toys that they all loved. Jeremy got a new portable digital TV and I was so excited to get a new robe! We had a nice Christmas program, too, and talked about the symbols of Christmas, read from the scriptures, sang carols and "Happy Birthday to Jesus", and reviewed our "family history" ornaments.

Jingle Bells, Batman Smells

For Christmas, Granny gave Jacob and Isaac tickets to "Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells (and so does May)". Jacob has loved the Junie B. Jones books and to see it in real life on stage was thrilling for him! We love the Childsplay theater company. They are so professional, and so on the kids' level. It was awesome! The boys even got to make Junie B. glasses and talk to Junie B. after the play.

Snow Day

The only way we get snow in Mesa is when they truck it in. So we like to take advantage of the fun play days that happen every once in a while. Granny and Grandpa took us to Golfland Dec. 23rd to play in 15 tons of snow in the parking lot. The boys had a pretty intense snowball fight while Granny and Grandpa watched safely from behind the fence. So much fun!

Ice

On the last day of school before the break, Grandpa Tom took Isaac to play at a nearby park. He saw a class of elementary school kids ice blocking down the hill, so he asked if he could have some of the leftover ice at the end of their party. They agreed, so when Noah and Jacob came home from school, he took them with their friends Brenden and Kaleb Ethington to go ice blocking. They had a riot!

Great Neighbors

We love our neighbors, the Wallaces. They host a holiday open house every Christmas with homemade hot chocolate and goodies. The boys look forward to it every year and love to go.

After leaving the Wallaces we went to visit our favorite Santa. He comes to a house in our neighborhood every year. Mrs. Santa didn't make it this year and we really missed her. When we got there, we saw Noah's friend Ben so they shared a moment on Santa's lap. Noah told Santa what he wanted most for Christmas was "an absence of coal." Santa got a kick out of that.

Isaac showed Santa his muscles while it was his turn on the big man's lap!

The whole time we stood in line, Jacob fretted over what to ask for. He finally made up his mind and asked for a Madden 2010 football Wii game and a NFL football.

Even Spencer was drawn in by Santa but didn't want to ask for anything. Santa asked what he got last year and said candy was something he thought he might bring again.

Washington, D.C.

What a great Christmas present! Spencer and Noah were invited to go with their Grandpa Tom and Granny Paula to Washington, D.C.!

They got to miss the last week of school before the Christmas break and were in Washington from December 14-17th. Here they are in front of the White House! They really wanted to see Obama, but no such luck. He was at home, though, so they are sure they were within 100 feet of him, Spencer says.


Grandpa Tom has "connections" and was able to get them into both the White House and the Capitol Building (they had to have background checks, even!). This is in the Capitol in front of the statue of Brigham Young.

Spencer and Noah both loved the fact that they got to enter the Capitol through the underground tunnel from the congressman's office.

Looking up...

...at the gorgeous rotunda ceiling.

They had fun shopping for awesome souvenirs at Union Station.

They loved the food there, too. Noah especially liked the free samples at the Chinese food restaurant and the yummy cookies.

Grandpa Tom had to work during the day, so Granny got to do all the fun daytime sight-seeing with Spencer and Noah. They were able to visit the Air and Space Museum and loved it!

Noah took lots of pictures of all the air- and spacecraft. This is Granny in front of a giant booster engine.

Noah's favorite picture: the lunar module.

They also spent some time in the Natural History Museum. Spencer took this picture of the Hope Diamond.

Noah got some great pictures of fossil skeletons. This is an ancient sea turtle.

And this is a dinosauar. We wondered if the museum came to life at night?

The last day in Washington, D.C. It was FREEZING cold and the wind was biting but they braved the weather and visited some monuments, starting with the Lincoln Memorial.

The great president Abraham Lincoln.

Walking along the Vietnam Memorial Wall.

As they got out of the taxi to visit the Washington Monument, Spencer realized he didn't have Granny's camera. They looked and looked and think it must have fallen out of his pocket. Such a tragedy! Spencer had taken hundreds of pictures on the memory card and we mourn the loss of that documentation of their trip. We're blessed to be able to piece together most of the trip from Noah's DSi, Granny's phone, and Grandpa's camera.

Looking out from the top of the Washington Monument. Their last view of Washington, D.C., before heading to the airport to come home. We sure missed them at home. It was way too quiet around here, but what a super opportunity they had to spend time with their grandparents in our nation's capitol. Thanks Granny and Grandpa!