September 2018

As I was uploading pictures to create this blog post I started thinking about how different this September was from last year. Last year was the crazy month where we evacuated from hurricane Irma, missed a ton of school and church, and went on a couple of job interviews. Who would have thought that a year later we'd be settled in New Mexico, which was not even on our radar back then?

Andy had the week before Labor Day off, so we decided to take the kids out of school for a couple of days and make a trip to Colorado to visit the Sugiyamas. We left after school on Wednesday, and made the 8 hour drive up to Castle Rock.

While we were in Colorado we did a little bit of hiking walking. What we discovered is that when you go with a bunch of little kids, you move at a snail's pace and it can't really be considered exercise! We went to the Castle Rock stairs, which are a mini version of the Manitou incline (which I still want to do someday!). Colby wanted to walk up all the stairs by himself, but when you're his size those stairs are HUGE. After he got up to number 20, Andy picked him up and carried him because otherwise we would've been there all day!

It's so fun when the cousins get together. Connie's kids are all pretty close in age to our kids (minus Kylee), so they love to play together.

Another day we went to the mountains and walked on a trail that went along a river. The kids had fun collecting sparkly rocks. They all had their pockets filled with them, and then they opened up a store so that they could trade with each other, too.

One night we went out to dinner with our friends who live in Denver. They were running a little bit late, and after a long day of shopping, touring a candy factory, and more shopping, Colby was LOSING it. He laid down on the ground and just screamed.

However, when he got his after-dinner ice cream, he recovered quickly.

While we were in Colorado Andy decided that we should look at cars because our Acadia was starting to struggle and we didn't want to dump any money into it, especially because we had already decided we needed more space as well. Andy thought we should get a Suburban, but I just couldn't agree to drive such a humongous car. Finally we decided that if we got an SUV with three rows (8 seats), it would give us the extra space we need because we could have 3 kids sit in the second row and put the double seat down in the back. So...we started looking, and talked to Andy's friend (who manages service departments for car dealerships) about which one would be best.

Eventually we settled on a Honda Pilot. They were clearing out their 2018 models to make room for their 2019 models, so for the first time in our lives we bought a brand new car. Connie was nice enough to watch our older kids so that we could just take Colby with us. It ended up taking ALL DAY, but we got a new car!

We traded in our Acadia and drove home from our trip in our new car. The only bummer was that we didn't end up leaving until almost 5pm, so we didn't get home until 2am, and the kids had school the next day and Andy had work, so it was a little crazy!

The weekend after Labor Day we had Stake Conference up in Roswell. Since it is 75 miles away and the adult session was on Saturday night, we decided to get a hotel and make a whole weekend out of it. On Saturday morning we went to the free Roswell zoo/park. It was pretty fun. They had several cute little animals.

When we first got there the bears and mountain lions weren't out, but then when we were almost done a guy on a golf cart drove by and told us he was about to go feed the bears if we wanted to come watch. So we walked back over there. He dumped a bunch of fruits and veggies all over the bear cage and then let them out and we got to watch them eat it.

Then he dumped piles of raw hamburger in the mountain lion cage right next door, and we got to watch them come running out to chow down also. It was really cool to watch them eat.

The park also had an old carousel that you could ride for 50 cents each (free for Colby and Ally), and the kids always love carousels.

They also had a train ride for 50 cents that went around a different part of the zoo. Overall we spent about 1.5 hours there, so it's not huge...but who can beat free?!? And the kids had a fun time.

One morning Colby woke up WAY too early. After we walked with the older kids to the bus stop he was playing with his legos on my bedroom floor. Suddenly I realized he was being awfully quiet, and I looked down to find him sound asleep with his tiny baby bum poking way up into the air. It was so cute! So I turned off the lights, shut the blinds, and left him to take a nap for awhile.

Princesses Anna and Belle came to visit our house one day.

Colby LOVES to sit in the hammock.

Recently we've caught him a few times sleeping under his bed. I'm not sure how he gets in there because it's pretty low to the ground and his head is huge...but he does. And then he can't get out, so when he wakes up he cries until someone comes and grabs his feet and drags him out backwards.

The last weekend of September Andy signed up for a bike rice at Bottomless Lakes State Park up near Roswell. It was called the Tour de Ocho Millas - and was exactly what it sounds like - an 8 mile loop that you are supposed to do as many times as you can (up to 8) before noon. We woke all the kids up at the crack of pre-dawn to drive up there.

I wasn't riding this race because I'm horribly out of shape and someone had to watch the kiddos. When we got up there our friends found out that the person they had asked to watch their kiddos while they both rode wasn't coming after all, so they asked me if I could watch their kids too. Even though there were about 100 people riding, we were the only ones there to cheer at first (later on a few more people showed up), so we set up our chairs in a line at the start/finish line.

There was a little 1/2 mile boardwalk nature trail across from where our chairs were, so after a couple of hours when the kids got bored of cheering for the parents we went and walked around it. The kids found this little stream that was about 2 feet deep and really really clear and clean. They dipped their feet in it and said it wasn't as cold as they thought it would be. I'm not sure where such a clean stream would come from in the middle of the dessert, but it was pretty cool.

Andy ended up finishing all 64 miles (though he said he totally died on the last two laps), and he even managed to beat both of the friends that he went with, even though he hasn't raced in years.

The kids had fun making up cheers for all the riders passing by. Below is Skyler and his friend Thomas shouting "You are awesome, so am I, you're as fast as a butterfly!" (I'm not sure how fast butterflies are in real life?!...but they made it up all by themselves and then shouted it at every WOMAN who went by. They had a different cheer for men, because "Duh. Boys are not butterflies.".)

Skyler started playing flag football, and his team is the Atlanta Falcons. His friend is on the Detroit Lions, and they had a game against each other one day. Neither of them are the star of their team by any stretch of the imagination, but they try so hard and have a blast doing it! Also, their jerseys are legit! They're like actual little mini NFL team jerseys. They even have the NFL logo on the back.

This last photo is just a random picture of Colby enjoying a donut, because I think it's cute that he just sets it on the table and then nibbles it.

End of Summer

One day we were out mattress shopping and the kids found this beanbag to lounge on. They think we need a big bean bag for our house now. Maybe someday when we have a basement again!

Kylee and Skyler started school on Aug. 8. I can't believe how old they are getting! Kylee is in 6th grade this year, so she goes to the 6th grade school, and Skyler is in 1st grade. They have so many kids here, they have one Elementary school that is all for Pre-K, one Elementary school that is all for kindergarten, a bunch of schools for 1st-5th grade, one Middle school for all the 6th graders, another Middle school for the 7th-8th graders, and then the High School (which is a Jr. college campus) is for 9th-12th grades. That's a lot of different schools! It seems crazy, but it works. 

Ally started school a week later, and she was so excited, she set out all her clothes the night before. A couple of days before school started we went to her school to get her bus tag and see her classroom, and she discovered that the bathroom had tiny toilets, tiny sinks, and tiny hand drivers. "Just exactly my size, mom!"

She has been so ready to go to preschool. She's been asking and asking when she gets to start. I was a little worried that she might not get to because when I was first looking into it in the spring, they only had private preschools and they do registration really early and fill up super fast, and then put everyone else on waiting lists. Since we weren't even in New Mexico yet, I missed registration. However, around the end of May they announced that they had gotten funding to open up an older Elementary school as a public preschool, and they were going to do first-come, first-served registration. My friend and I went at 6am on the first day of registration (it started at 7am) so that we could be sure to get spots. We later found out that they even offer busing services and free breakfast. Ally is in absolute heaven. She LOVES it.

One day when I was at Walmart I found that they had a bunch of baseball/softball gloves on clearance for $1.50-$4.00, and baseballs and softballs were 25 cents each. I bought enough for our whole family (even found a tiny glove for Colby), and the kids have fun tossing the balls around with Andy in the backyard. 

And since Andy is so fanatical about having a good looking yard, I'm including the photo below to show that he DID manage to make it look amazing. The photo above was when the sod had only been in for about 3 weeks, which is why it is still yellow in some spots. The one below is from about 2 weeks later, and now it looks even better. We're so excited to have a yard with REAL grass again! One night Kylee set up an obstacle course for us all to do. It involved baseballs, jump roping, tennis, frisbees, and a few other things. Needless to say, Andy is the champion. He is FAST!

One day Ally and Colby were "playing" Mario Cart (Colby holds a controller and pretends he's driving), and I found them laying on the floor like this. He's almost as big as she is! I still think he may pass her up in the next year or two. Another day Colby decided that he needed FOUR spoons to eat his breakfast. This kid is so crazy, but who can resist that smile?!

For a few weeks Colby was in a weird nap situation. He didn't want to take one in the morning anymore, but he couldn't quite make it to after lunch...even though I was feeding him lunch at 11-11:30. He kept falling asleep in his high chair mid-lunch. Finally he got it figured out, and now most days he takes a morning nap, and then a few days a week he takes and afternoon nap also.

Andy brought a couple of hammocks home from Paraguay when he was on his mission, and they pretty much sat in boxes for the last 15 years. Now that our back yard is done and we have a big patio, I ordered a hammock stand and we FINALLY got to put up a hammock. I LOVE it! It's so relaxing to just go chill out there and read my book.

Colby is a HUGE daddy's boy. If Andy is not around he is perfectly content to hang out and play with me, but if Andy IS around, I'm chopped liver. He'll choose daddy every time, no question.

Our neighbor used to drive her kids to school and back every day, but she decided that this year since we moved in and my kids are going on the bus, her kids can go on the bus, too. The one on the right is her daughter, and I love that she is so sweet to Ally. She walks with her (and holds her hand) every day.

Skyler and a couple of his friends are playing flag football this Fall. They went to a "boot camp" day to learn about it, and at the end a fire truck came and sprayed them all with water from 1/2 way across the field. It was pretty much the highlight of their month. They thought it was so awesome.

One night we put all the kids to  bed, and then Andy wanted me to make a smoothie. Colby heard the blender and came running back out. How dare we have a smoothie without him?!

One night Skyler was mad at Andy (I'm not even sure why!), and he was crying and crying in his room after he went to bed. Finally Kylee was headed to bed and Skyler slid this under the door and said "Kylee, will you please give this to mom?" I confess, I think it's the cutest thing ever! I went in there and gave him a big hug and told him that he should just go to sleep and he'll probably feel less mad in the morning. He stopped crying and fell asleep. He's definitely a momma's boy!

Trip to Utah

The day all our familly members left to go home, we left to head up to Utah for a visit. It's pretty far - 850 miles or so - so the plan was to stop somewhere along the way. We looked into Mesa Verde, but we decided this trip was too short to spent a whole day there, so we decided we would to Moab the first day (about a 10 hour drive from our house), then get up and hike the Delicate Arch because we thought our kiddos (especially Skyler) would like to see the arch from the license plates in real life. We ended up stopping in Monticello because hotels there are a lot less expensive than Moab. The kids were excited to get to swim. Unfortunately, that night Colby starting puking, and ended up puking 5-6 times, so the next morning we decided we better skip Arches and just be on our way. We made it to Orem to visit grandma Karen (my mom and Bruce weren't home yet, so even though we were staying at their house, we had some time to kill), and after a little bit of time there, Skyler puked. Luckily he got over it quick, and only puked twice. By the next morning he was fine.

We went up to Elk Ridge to visit our old house, and spent some time at the park reminiscing about how much we loved our view. I would still go back to Elk Ridge in a heart beat if we ever had the opportunity. We visited some of our friends out at the park, and it was so fun to catch up with everyone.

On the 24th of July we went to the Spanish Fork Pioneer Day parade. It was great! Our younger kids haven't been to a parade that actually has floats and marching bands and stuff. In Naples our parades were mostly made up of copmanies advertising for their businesses and handing out flyers. My mom went out super early and was lucky enough to find us this great shady spot to sit in, and it was awesome!

After the parade we headed up to Pat and Kacey's house for a Costin family reunion. They had this big blow up slide/pool for the kids, and we ate a BBQ and just hung out and visited all day. Rachel came out from Denver, too, so we had the whole family there. This was the first time Andy had been back to Utah since we left almost three years ago, so he hadn't seen some of his family members in a really long time!

I really wanted to go for a hike while we were in town because we are sorely missing the mountains! We decided that Stewart Falls would be a good one, so one day we went up there. Karen and Rachel joined us. It was a LOT more crowded than I ever remember it being when I was younger, but the kids did a great job hiking it (about 3 miles), and they though the waterfall was pretty.

On our way home we were going to stop at Four Corners, but the morning we were leaving Kylee started puking, and she kept puking all morning (grandma gave her a tupperware bowl with a lid to catch her puke in the car), so we skipped four corners and just drove all the way home in one day. It took about 14 hours total, and wasn't too horrible. When we were at dinner we say this "Route 66" sign and the kids thought it was awesome because they love the movie Cars. Skyler is convinced that Radiator Springs must be somewhere in New Mexico - probably close to where we live.

So all in all, with 3 of 4 kids puking, and not enough time to see everyone we wanted to see, it was a bit of a crazy trip, but now that we live close enough to drive it in one day, we hope to be back more often!

Family Visit

In the second week of July grandma Roxy and grandpa Bruce came down to visit, and Connie brought her kiddos down at the same time. One day we went to Carlsbad Caverns, and it was super cool. Apparently we went there once when I was a kid, but I didn't remember it at all. It was way bigger and deeper than I was expecting!

This is the natural entrance. If you don't want to go down this way, there is an elevator in the Visitor's Center that you can take, but we wanted to see it all, so we went this way. It's crazy that this hole (which looks pretty small) opens up into such a humongous place.

While the family was here we hit up the BBQ lunch at the park a couple of times because it's yummy and easy (and free!).

These cute girls had matching nightgowns, and they were excited about that.

It was really fun to have people come visit, and we'd just like to remind everyone that they are welcome anytime!