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!

Hanging Out with Lizzy & Levi

Levi and Lizzy were my other little visitors of the week.

There was some toy playing. Some book reading. A snack. Some trampoline bouncing. And lots and lots of stair up & down.

Levi LOVES the stairs!

He's getting pretty fast going up, is quite confident about standing up (makes me nervous) and is also getting the hang of how to turn around and come down on his tummy.

Lizzy wanted to do silly faces.

And take a turn with the camera, to capture my silly face too.

She did a pretty good job as a photographer, don't you think?

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, we had family over to celebrate with Grandpa Waite.

We had a yummy Taco Soup dinner (prepared by Candice...thanks!) and lots of yummy treats.

For the kids under 8 years old we had a........ gift pass?

We all sang Jingle Bells as they passed the gifts in a circle. When the song was done, they opened the gift on their lap.

The rest of us did the traditional white elephant gift exchange game.

Next, we gave Dad (Grandpa Waite) his gift from all of us. He wanted a "shake weight", so that's what we got him. He quoted the commercial, "Only 6 minutes each day, is equal to a 42 minute work out with traditional weights." We all tried the shake weight and played around with it. There's a learning curve to getting it shaking just right.

Levi liked the box it was wrapped in.

He hung out and played in the box for a long time and LOVED it!

You can't tell from these pictures, but he was perfectly content and really did LOVE it.

When it was starting to get late, everyone left to do their own Christmas Eve celebrations.

As a family, we read the Christmas nativity story in Luke, reflected on our services days and opened our homemade family gifts.

As predicted, Abree LOVED her blanket from Treyson. It was so fun to see her excitement and watch Treyson soak up the excitement and gratitude.

For days after Christmas he said things like, "Mom, I think Abree really likes the gift I gave to her." or "Do you think Abree likes her new blanket as much as her old one?" He was so proud. :)

Grandpa read us the book from Taylee.

She had illustrated it with lots of cute detailed pictures too.

Jason liked his Rubik's cube.

He planned on taking it to work to put on his desk.

Taylee liked her scarf.... except for the fact she was poked and found 3 hidden straight pins in the ruffles. Oops!

Treyson thought his walking stick was cool and began asking when we planned on going camping or hiking next.

Taylee kept teasing him that it had her initials on it and that she was going to love using it.

After opening gifts, we set out our stockings for Santa. The kids gathered their bedding and headed to the family room to sleep. It took them a little while to settle down, but they got quiet within an hour or so.