New House

The day before Thanksgiving we received temporary occupancy on our new house which meant we could move in with the knowledge that there were still quite a few things that needed to be finished. We were so anxious to move out of the Provo construction zone into that one. We cleaned the whole house ourselves so we could move in the day after thanksgiving. So much construction dust on every surface! Our amazing new neighbors the Hemmenways showed up late the night before Thanksgiving when they saw our lights on and came to help clean. Mona Hemmenway seriously helped me wipe down every surface in this house of dust. Her husband helped Derek with washers and dryers. They had a lot of trouble and spent hours trying to put our stackable together only to discover they missed a super simple step that could have allowed them to finish in minutes. I love this pic I sent to D the week we moved in just testing out the new tub. 

 Jamis Leeper came to visit and thought it so comical that our branch new kitchen and its ginormous fridge was juxtaposed next to the whole where come April we will have a range top but for now have a hot plate and electric griddle. 

 Mom and George came up with Kota who they watched for us in St. George while we were in between houses. George shock collar trained Kota and I swear she is a brand new dog. She is so well behaved now, always comes when we call her, hasn’t destroyed anything, seems to be happy to mostly lie around all day. Mom was such a huge help getting all my kitchen unpacked. George helped the kids get their rooms set up and made us the most delicious Greek lamb chop dinner one night.  

Camden insisted on having his own room. Not sure Carter is liking this arrangement. He has yet to sleep alone in his room. He has either slept on the downstairs couch or in Camden’s room with him in bed or on the floor on a camp mat. One morning I found both of them asleep together on the camp mat. 

 Mom and George woke up one morning to all the kids playing monopoly on their floor. George helped Derek cement our new mailbox into the ground so we can receive mail at the house. Tyler Thorsted cut some vinyl so we are officially in this house! 

 We are loving the new home and have hosted several parties the Thorsted Waffle Party, Liv’s Christmas Party, and after everyone got unpacked I let the boys throw a box fort building party with all the kids in the new neighborhood.

Tempanyaki

For the 3rd year in a row we have continued what has become a tradition of Tempanyaki dinner the night before Thanksgiving. Steve now usually join us. This year Liv caught the shrimp in her mouth first try, Carter caught it in his mouth as well. Derek never was able to catch a shrimp. Derek and I love how eclectic our kids palettes are. Carter ordered salmon, Camden ordered shrimp, and Liv ordered scallops. 

 It becoming a really fun tradition that everyone looks forward to.

BYU Football Games

We had a great time at all the BYU football games as a family this year. 

 Often times we had Grandpa, Uncle Jon, and Chase and Tanner there sitting with us which was extra fun.

 The kids enjoyed hitting up Cougar Canyon before the games. One day we went with the Watkins kiddos. The kids scored cotton candy, face tattoos, cougar paws, and some fun photo scenes.

 It was always fun to run into Cosmo. 

 They have a Simba camera they do at each game when you are supposed to lift your infant up like the baby lion king, Tanner lifted Camden up one game. 

 I always get a kick out of how my two boys match their older cousins and sometimes look so alike. 

 There were a few games that were pretty chilly so we really had to bundle up. 

 After one game, Chase took Carter around the stadium to collect gently eaten cougar tails and then the kids feasted on them back at the house.

Boys' Birthday

The boys had decided that this year they really wanted to do a birthday party at the Water Gardens like Liv did last year. They chose to watch the new Black Panther movie. It was a fun time, but the movie was super long. Kind of long for a lot of 4th graders attention span. We requested no presents as there were loads of kids invited and we were in between houses and trying to keep the stuff to move to a limit. But some of their favorite birthday presents were nerf guns and a double shot basketball hoop game. Babi came up a few weeks later and took them on their birthday lunch dates. Cam chose N-N-Out and Carter chose R&R BBQ.

Provo House

After we sold our house we had about 5-6 weeks before our new build house would be ready for us to move in. Steph and Jon had just bought a 70 year old house with Tanner and Karlee near BYU campus. Their intent was to completely remodel it by January for Chase and friends to move in while going to BYU. Derek arranged for us to move in during that 6 weeks stent. It was quite the adventure with one teeny working bathroom for all 5 of us to share and constant demolition dust. The shower was so small that Derek literally could not bend over in it to reach something on the floor. If he dropped the soap, he would have to squat straight down to pick it up. Every shower seemed to be filled with curse words. I sometimes wouldn’t have an opportunity to use the potty until I got to work in the morning because someone persistently seemed to be on the one potty all morning long. However, we had a great time living so close to the stadium and walking to cougar canyon and football games and throwing tailgate parties. The kids also loved having Chase and Tanner and Uncle Jon and Steph stopping by every day to work on whatever project for the day. There was one night after a BYU football game that Derek and I stayed up till 2 am handing Tanner floor boards to lay down.  Carter always wanted to help. 

 Liv loved that we were walking distance to a fun thrift store called Preloved and enjoyed walking there to shop for deals.

 I enjoyed making snacks and dinner for all the workers (the Davidsons). 

 Liv made bean dip one night that everyone enjoyed. 

 Deer were always persistently running through the yard which was fun. 

 One weekend, Derek and I decided to fully zoobify the kids. We took them to eat at the cougar eat, shopped at the BYU bookstore, checked out the BYU library and showed them all our favorite old study spots. Then, we went bowling at BYU lanes and topped off the night with ice cream at the creamery on 9th. 

 Chase would frequently wonder in late at night and spend the night with us. The kids loved watching shows with him or finding him camped out on their floor in the mornings when they woke up. 

 Lots of great times and good memories in the Provo demolition house.

The Boys Play Flag Football

Carter loved to play football and that’s what he does every day at recess. He was super stoked for another flag football team this year. Camden is more into soccer, but decided with quite a bit of prodding to just try flag football this year. Unfortunately, just before the season was about to start, Carter broke his femur which hindered him from being able to play on the rec team we signed him up for and Camden then played both soccer and flag football without Carter. I found another league in Provo that started later, so I signed Carter up for that league and then Cam decided if he was gonna be there watching Carter he ought to just play in that league too. Derek got roped into helping coach both teams. 

 I think both boys enjoyed playing they won the championship game in the second league and were awarded trophies. 

 I know Carter can’t wait to sign up again next year. We will see what Camden decides.

Primary Children's Birthday Party

Derek, as a member of the hospital’s charitable giving board, was given two free tickets to the Primary Children’s Birthday celebration. It was going to be at the Eccles theater in SLC. I knew that this probably was going to be a great performance of some sort, but he had no desire to go. When they finally announced that the guest artists were going to be Rachel Platten and Idina Menzel, I knew I had to take Liv. It was a formal event, so we got all gussied up and headed to Salt Lake. 

 It was actually kind of fun to learn the history of and commemorate Primary Children’s Hospital. They announced their new hospital campus and we got to hear Rachel Platten and Idina Menzel perform. We had a fabulous night until we returned to our car and found that we had a flat tire. We pumped it up a little at the gas station and drove slowly the whole way home. And shortly after ended up replacing all the tires on the car because when we went to fix the flat we discovered the tires were all fairly bald.