Moving Day

You know the old saying, "When it rains it pours".

Well it started raining, then pouring on Dean and Candice's family in the month of October. We had been waiting and waiting for Jonathan to make his arrival in September, but he had his own plans. When he arrived on October 3rd, he came in a rush.

Dean had been waiting to hear on a job for weeks. Days after Jonathan was born, he got an email asking him to report to Vernal, Utah early Monday morning. (I think he received the email on a Friday!)

Candice and kids tried to go about their normal routine, but with new baby, their daddy being gone and a potential quick move, it was quite an undertaking. Talking to Candice on the Tuesday, after Dean had been at work for a day, she said it felt like he had been gone a week.  

Candice and kids packed and wrapped things up in Boise, while Dean searched for a home in Vernal. It came down to two; the one "in town" and the one "out of town". Finally, the one "out of town" became their new rental home.

When Dean could get time off, they made plans for a quick weekend move. Original plan was to pick Dean up at the airport Friday afternoon, pack the truck and head out Saturday morning. Dean surprised his family and came home a day early. We helped them pack up all day Friday, so they could leave that evening.

Uncle Grant-Brinton-Ed

Micaela-Levi-Lizzy-Jackson

Lunch break!

This is what Jonathan did most of moving day, with an occasional break to eat. Such a good baby!

This is what Levi like doing. He wanted to help and had BIG ideas and STRONG opinions on how to accomplish the task.

Lizzy flitted about in a fairy-like way, saying things like, "Can you believe this is our house? It doesn't look like our house (empty). Did you know that we are actually moving today?"

This is what Jackson liked doing. He read his book, that I found out later, was supposed to be his entertainment for the long drive to Utah.

Micaela liked helping. With the assistance of Uncle Brinton, she learned how to use a hand truck to move boxes and how to move a mattress with straps. She also liked helping with Jonathan whenever possible.

Grandma McKinley's assignment was to cuddle Jonathan. She did an excellent job of it. :)

All packed up and ready to go...WAY a head of schedule. Time to hit the road.

But first, just a little more play time with friends and cousins.

We know this is a good thing for your family, but you will be missed around here!

Good luck in your new adventure Waite Family!!!

Dinner with Grandma Ison

Grandma Ison's care worker was out-of-town for the week, so we took turns bringing dinner over to her.

Our family signed up for Monday evening. Candice and Dean's family joined us.

When we got there, it took several minutes for her to answer the door. I called on the phone, we banged on the door, we rang the door bell multiple times and Dean tapped on her bedroom window. When she FINALLY answered the door, she was excited and pleased to see the big crowd that awaited her.

We caught her without her wig on. The kids had a few questions, but mostly couldn't believe that she usually wore a wig. :)

She said, "Oooo, it's nice to see all of you. I was just about to go to bed."

It was just a little after 5:00pm.

We put ALL the extension leaves into the dining table and combined our dinner efforts; chili, baked potatoes (w/toppings) and cornbread muffins.
Dean, Levi & Candice
Abree & Lizzy
Jackson & Treyson

Micaela & Taylee

Rylee & Grandma

See any resemblance?

Grandma & Me

As we were eating, Grandma kept asking the kids their names/ages. Eventually we asked if she would like for them to be written down.

"Yes!"

"Grandma, do you want them in table order or family order?"

"Family order."

Candice wrote them down for her. She looked over the list and kind of said the names to herself. "Grandma, you say a name and we'll raise our hand."

So she would say a name and we would raise our hand. She would look surprised and make a cute comment and then move on to the next name. It became a game. She continued to call names over and over and we would raise our hands. She was surprised every time. :)

For some reason, she would skip over Taylee every time..and would call Treyson's name instead. Maybe it was confusing to know how to pronounce it???

Even Levi got the game. When she would call his name he started to say, "MEEEE!"

We finished dinner, loaded the dishwasher and then visited for just a few minutes. Because it was a school night, we needed to be on our way. It was hard to leave. We could tell she would have loved for us to stay longer. She verbalized her gratitude over and over..so glad that we came to visit.

Love you Grandma Ison!

Baby Shower for Candice

If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE to throw parties! I love all the details of planning and making. I also love to decorate the party room so it's visually stimulating and fun to look at.

Thank goodness Candice was having a baby and there was another reason to have a party. :)

I had offered to throw Candice a baby shower for Jackson or Lizzy, but she didn't want to trouble me. This time I wouldn't take NO for an answer. She just got to tell me what day and time would work and give her input on what direction I should go with a theme.

Because she liked the color combination of green and brown for a baby boy, we went for a jungle and monkey theme.

This was my first, and maybe my last, attempt at making a sock monkey.

It wasn't nearly as fun or as easy as I thought it would be. The socks I had chosen were quite long and VERY stretchy. So this made my monkey extra long. My family had concerns as I was constructing it, but in the end I think it turned out OK. :)

I had fun making this banner and I liked how it turned out.
I used brown paper grocery bags, green paper and computer printed letters and monkey. Then stapled the circles to one of my grocery bag "vines".

When my kids saw my making and decorating efforts, they wanted to help. Taylee, Treyson and Abree made these monkeys and bananas for decoration.
The yellow thing that kinda looks like a flower is a banana peel. Taylee's cute idea. Love it!

Grandma Ison's sock monkey came to the party.

The vines were made out of brown paper grocery bags that had been cut, folded and then sewn together attaching green felt leaves randomly.

My kids also helped by getting their Webkins jungle animals and decorating the bookshelf.

Treyson was just sure we needed a HUGE snake at the jungle party. He let me use Bowden the Boa Constrictor to decorate the banister.

Vines were everywhere! It was a JUNGLE in there. :)

I wanted to make a jungle themed diaper cake. In my creating process I came up with this diaper tree instead. This was another of my ideas that my family was skeptical of at first. I LOVE the monkey we found to hang out in the tree. His face is so happy.

The party wouldn't be a party without yummy snacks.... jungle themed of course.

We had a nice turn out of friends and family at the party.

Jacque & Nici

Amber

Amber & Lisa

Mom-LoraDawn, Tera, Miriam

Daisylyn was part of our entertainment. She was a cute little busy monkey.

Tammy

What is a shower or party without games? Don't say "perfect"!

The first game we played was fun. I had Candice's kids (Micaela-8, Jackson-5 & Lizzy-3) draw pictures of Nursery Rhymes. We numbered them and then had everyone guess which nursery rhymes they were. They were SO cute.... even with the additions of snakes and camouflage, that had nothing to do with the rhyme. :)

Wish I had taken some pictures of them. I was too busy holding the pictures and being hostess, I guess.

Next, instead of giving Candice baby advice, we wrote down "Wishes for Baby". I gathered these and put them in a little photo album for Candice to take home.

Next was draw a baby on a plate.... on top of your head.

The winning "baby".

Joan-Candice's mom & Candice

After snacking on jungle food, opening gifts was next.

Candice received lots of C-U-T-E baby boy things.

This diaper cake was from Jacque.

See? I told you she got lots of C-U-T-E stuff.

Can't wait to meet baby boy!