Decorating for Christmas

This year was a night and day difference when it came to decorating.  First of all, I had Ben here to help and second, I learned a few lessons last year and was able to fix some glitches.  I organized our ornaments so that I could just hand each kid their own box, instead of me trying to frantically dish out ornaments.

We also only put out about half our ornaments instead of worrying about getting them all on there.  The tradition continues that Alison puts the angel on top...this might be the last year Ben can lift her up.

Our kids LOVE decorating, so this year I gave them their own space and box to decorate however their little hearts desired.  Ben caught onto my trick pretty quickly (i.e. keep them occupied so I can decorate the rest of the house however MY heart desires) but fears I may have created a monster; the rest of their life their going to be expecting their own box of house decorations.  Oh well, it worked like a charm and they had a blast.

They love decorating so much that they asked if they could decorate their rooms too.  So the next day we took a little family date so they could pick out some of their own decorations.

No date is complete without a snack as Chili Peppers.

I think I used the word "decorations" a thousand times this post, but we are all set to enjoy this Christmas season!

P.S. It was 91° that day...you get pretty good a pretending when you live in the desert.

Thanksgiving week

Elizabeth, Kent, Jordan and Amanda came for Thanksgiving week.  It was a pretty low key week, with lots of eating, a puzzle and some games.

We spent two evenings out at the fire pit.

{Pictures credited to Kent...THANK YOU!}

 Alison hosted a ladies tea party.  She made us tea and pumpkin bread and requested that we come in a dress.  She also decorated the table and set the china.

 

 We went to the park one day, which seems to becoming one of our Thanksgiving traditions.

Alison facetimed with Katherine.  I found this on my phone and it made me laugh.  These two crack me up when they talk to each other; I believe they spent the entire conversation planning out how they were going to buy a massive amount of shopkins.

I also found LOTS of Alison selfies on my phone.  Stop growing up little girl!

 Ben pulled Eli's tooth!

Nana treated Alison to new nail polish and even helped her paint rainbow toes.

Poor Colin got sick, so it was lots of relaxing for him.

Before family pictures, Eli's attitude quickly went south.  He hates pictures and wanted no part in it.  I asked him what would help him get through the experience; offering maybe a Christmas movie in his bed afterwards.  Colin was also not excited about pictures, as he was just coming out of sick mode.  They asked for Santa hats as their reward for smiling in the pictures and I agreed that I would get them, just not that day.  Well, Uncle Jordan and Amanda saved the day and picked some up for me.  These two boys were the happiest on the planet and wore them nonstop for several days.

Holidays are even more sentimental for me this year, as I'm even MORE thankful that Ben is home.  Sickness and attitudes and even the food we ate, didn't matter, because we were together.

Family Pictures

Thank you Kent for another year of amazing family pictures!

 Eli did not want to take pictures, and after much discussion, I told him that we are a team and this is our team picture...if he frowns, it ruins our whole team picture.  We agreed that we would take a smiling picture for me and a frown picture for him.  So, we all got ready to do our Eli face and the picture that resulted will forever crack me up.  He thought it was so funny that we were all frowning, but was trying not to smile.

 Eli will still ask me to pick him up and this is what is the result; his feet barely come off the ground so he'll wrap them around my legs.

Our 2nd Marine Ball

This year was a mix of emotions for me.  

First, I got a new dress and shoes and even got my hair done.  However, I felt "eh" about it...it worked but I wasn't super excited about it.

Second, I was overwhelmingly proud of Ben.  The CO personally moved Ben to the first table, to be seated with himself, the XO and the guest speaker.  This just spoke volumes to me of how much Ben is respected in his job.  My side of it=freaking out inside at being in the spotlight and having NO IDEA what I was doing.  Ben told me just to watch what everyone else did, but I quickly realized that I was at the front of the ceremony and everyone was watching what I was doing.  Face palm.  Why didn't they add this into that chaplain wife school thing I went to?

 The lighting was terrible and pictures were not picturesque: by our table, at the front of the ceremony.

Ben opened the ceremony in prayer.

 

And if that didn't speak loud enough to me, the many marines that came up to him before and after the ceremony did.  Let me tell you, Ben is doing mighty things!  Point in case, this marine (I should know his name!) asked for a picture taken.  I've met his wife once before and we chatted some about homeschooling and life in Yuma, but let me tell you, her husband really looks up to Ben.

 

 Maybe we were the only ones who didn't get professional pictures, but we attempted a selfie in every spot of the venue to try to get good light..it was a fail.

Third, it was a little hard to see a part of Ben's life that I wasn't a part of.  All of the marines there were deployed together and each person Ben introduced me to, had a story of something they did together during life in Bahrain.  On one hand, it was amazing to see him in his element and be thriving in his work and on the other hand, it was like a camp reunion but I hadn't been at camp. 

BUT, it made me all the more thankful for this friend.  I met Alyssa right before the last ball and she helped me survive two balls and a long deployment.

Maybe by next year I'll have this ball thing down a little better.  Until then, I'll just be thankful that there are no deployments this year!

Please enjoy the show

Staring Colin! Colin asked us to come to his show and set the whole thing up himself, even the chairs for us to sit in. I thought he was going to sing a little song and never expected dancing to come out of him. I was laughing so hard that it's a miracle I got even a slightly decent video.  We're pretty sure this is the result of Ben showing the kids a Michael Jackson video.  The kids were also playing "zombies" and that's why he has face paint all over.  So there you have it...zombie Michael Jackson dancing to Jesus music.  Your life will never be the same.

Colin learns to ride a bike!

My dad has now taught all of our kids to ride a bike; Colin being the youngest and fastest to learn.  I'm pretty sure he picked it up in less than 5 minutes.  He was also the quickest to get very confident and was standing up and riding one handed by the end of the session.

The Grand Canyon!

We met my parents in Flagstaff on Wednesday night and started our adventure with dinner at Wildflower Cafe.

Thursday morning, we drove up to the Grand Canyon.  This has been on my dad's "bucket list" for a long time and it was amazing to be there to experience it with him.  I should have switched places with Ben so he could capture his face, but this is my reaction to my dad's reaction:

I don't think I've ever seen him smile so big.

 

You really can't put into words what it's like to see the Grand Canyon.  It's an experience that no picture can capture.

 

  We asked a gentleman to take our picture and he left us a picture of his finger so we never forget his kindness :)  Maybe we should just note that my daughter is almost as tall as me at age 10.

We had lunch at a lodge in Grand Canyon city (if I were writing a travel blog, I would recommend bringing a picnic lunch in instead) and then Ben, dad and I went on a hike down into the canyon.

 We were passed by a line of mules and saw a handful of other people, all who said hello...I love how friendly people are up there!

The hike was incredible.  We thought we would go much further than we did, but time and distance seemed greater in the canyon.  3.5 miles, 1,000 feet in elevation, a narrow and steep path and views that I will never forget.  How we felt when we got back up to the top:

My mom kept the kids entertained at the rim.  They went in a couple of gift shops, got a snack and soaked up some views.

When we met up with them, grandpa was ready for some sherbet.

Friday, we went to our favorite park and walked around downtown Flagstaff.

We stopped in Sedona for lunch and an outlet mall outside of Pheonix before heading home.  It was a very packed few days, but a trip of a lifetime.

Falloween

We had our second annual "Falloween" party.  This year I only have 3 pictures instead of 2 posts, so clearly it was much more laid back.  We had chili, cornbread and apple cider for dinner and played a "who can guess the right number of candy corn" game.  The kids were happy just running around in their costumes and then Ben and Brian took the crew around the block for some candy.

When the kids got back, they got to work trading their candy.

I learned my lesson from last year and bought 3 giant boxes of fruit snacks to hand out.  It still wasn't enough and Alison had a sign all ready to go to put up on the door to let people know we were out of candy.  I have never seen so many trick-or-treaters.

My favorite part of the night:

Katie (a lady from our church) and her almost 2 year old came over for the party.  Liam's take on Halloween had me cracking up.  He could see that I was handing out food to people who rang my doorbell and he could see that all the kids were putting food in piles all over the floor, so he opened our pantry and started putting boxes of cereal in the bowl of hand-out candy and then distributed cashews and crackers to each of the kids.  It was hilarious.