Hotel Avery

Nathan grew up in the hospitality business, his family owning a motel, but I don't think he realized he would be "back in business" for a while! Maybe it is the 27 towels that I have in my closet from an amazing family reunion we had at our house this past summer. Maybe I just have a "social fixation" that is never satisfied, but what ever the reason is, we have been very fortunate in the past couple of months to have some great house guests come to stay with us.

First there was Grandma Old Ears. She was fresh out of rehab for a broken hip, so we loaded her up and brought her to our home.

Oh she and jaleigh had soo much fun! Grandma Old Ears would teach Jaleigh such fun things at meal time, like how they could squirt each other by biting down on a fresh grape.

Grandma was supposed to use her walker, but didn't like to. When I would get after her, she would have Jaleigh jump on the walker seat and take her on a ride all through the house.

When grandma would get tired out, Jaleigh would snuggle right up to her and stay there as long as grandma wanted her to. It was so sweet!

I loved the time we were able to spend with Grandma Old Ears. I loved the way Saroya would always ask grandma if she needed anything in her super loud voice (she never talks quietly to Grandma Old Ears!) and would ask Grandma to brush her hair for her. I loved that when Ethan would get home from school with all 11 years of his coolness, he would find grandma and give her a hug (and duck away when grandma's lips came searching for him!). I love that she and Nathan had a big old rib cookoff and the two of them devoured the whole thing! I love that I got to be with her and help her in her time of need.

After Grandma left Saroya said, "I am really going to miss Grandma Old Ears, no one has ever made my hair softer than she did. And she never HURTS me when she brushes my hair (glaring at me)." All and all I am so thankful we were all able to have that time. We will cherish those memories forever.

Then a couple weeks later, we got to have someone come and stay with us that we had never met or even talked to before. Her name oddly enough... Holly.

The story is amazing, much like the people involved in the story are amazing. It's an adoption story starting with the stunning strength and unconditional love of a teenage girl for her baby and the adoptive parents she chose, to the unbelievable respect, adoration, and unspeakable gratitude the adoptive parents feel toward this special teenage girl. And somehow, somewhere, there I was with my camera. Can you feel the gravity of that?

Neena was one of "my" young women when I was YW President, and we have always had a good relationship. She had talked with me about possibly having Holly (the adoptive mom) come and stay with us while she was here in Michigan. Of course we said yes. I must admit I was a little nervous- I had never met her before- but somehow I knew it would be fine.

From the time we first said "Hello" it was fantastic. She is fantastic! You would have thought we were long lost friends! She amazed me with her creativity and gusto. She made the most adorable fairy dolls, and even gathered all the girls around to show us how to do it one night. I told her one day that she should open an etsy shop. She said, "Ok!" and did it right then! (click here to see it!)

It was really weird to say my name so much (I don't think I have never really talked to another Holly), and it was comical how alike we are in so many ways! I really enjoyed the time we spent together.

The night before the baby was born, Neena, Holly and I had a junk food and movie night here. It was so much fun! The best part was after the movie though, when we all just layed on the bed and talked, and talked, and talked.

Then.....

he came...

And then he came...and they were parents at last, for the first time.

We were so excited that they got to come "home" to our house for a while. You know I can't just have them "at the house" and not do a little photo shoot, right?

Yes... I do have more pictures (snap) and I am so thankful. Thankful to have been a witness to something so beautiful, so amazing and yet all of them so humble to have been a part. Stunning...

So forgive us for our absence and the missed birthdays, anniversaries, etc., I know there are many who can "do it all". Clearly- I am not one of them! :) I will do my best going forward. I can't wait to continue to document our adventures...

She Insisted!!

Just a tiny little post (before I dive into all the KETCHUP that needs to be done...)

When she talked to Nathan on the phone just after the haircut she said, "Oh Daddy! It is absolutely FABULOUS!"

For the rest of the day, every time she walked by a mirror she would stop, dance and admire herself. I guess she's happy with it! More to come.... I promise!!

A Perfect End

I have had so many sweet well wishers, and a few crazy blog posts from Nikki and Sunny, and some really nice gifts during this crazy busy day of mine... Thanks soo much to all of you. I am touched.

Tonight as I was quickly trying to get the girls off to sleep before jumping in to the final day of hell week for Ethan (5 projects and catch up work) Jaleigh said her prayers...

"Heavenly Father, I am thankful it is my mom's birthday today and I am going to sing her a song when I am done with my prayer..." After a big hug from both of my girls, this...

Perfect...

The Trip Part 1

I LOVE a road trip. Heck- I love ANY trip. But this trip was different. I was excited for this long awaited trip for so many reasons. Spending 100% of our time together, getting away from the mundane day to day stuff, getting a break from the 100+ inches of snow we have had this season, seeing the sun AND feeling it, going to Disney World for the first time, and really the list goes on. I had a plan and we were going to see if it worked...

The night before we left, I washed every particle of clothing and bedding, I scrubbed this house from floor to ceiling, and I got everything we needed packed in the van ready to go.

Oh yeah. The van. I officially changed the name of our van while on these journeys to "the mini" kind of like "the winny" because when we are driving down the road- it sure feels like we are in some kind of Winnebago...

So the plan was that we would get up at 4am, just jump in the car and go. Nathan went to bed early and set the alarm, and I finished up around the house.

I woke up to a faint alarm going off and kids jumping around, giggling, and screaming with delight. I looked at the clock to see 4:15am. Then Ethan came in as awake as if it were noon.

"I thought we were leaving at 4:00!" We dragged ourselves out of bed and did the best we could to get ready fast. We were in the mini at 5am.

I told the kids they needed to go back to sleep- so there would be no movie watching until the sun came up. By the time the sun came up- none of them had gone back to sleep, and they were watching movies...

I think we stopped for breakfast that morning somewhere in Indiana, but we ate lunch on the go.
On our way through Tennessee, I noticed kids outside jumping on trampolines with shorts on. I thought- "Wow. They are brave!" and didn't think much more of it. Then we got to a rest area. Saroya got out of the car and a huge smile crept across her face. "I think I want to take my sweatshirt off and just have short sleeves!!" As I watched her spin around with her arms out and face towards the sky, I was so happy. We have missed the sun and the warmth sooo much! We all played catch for a little bit with a ball that Ethan had (surprise, surprise...). None of us really wanted to get back in the car- we would have been happy to stay there in that 65 degree weather longer, but we knew we needed to keep going, and that it was just going to get warmer.

One of my longstanding rules about road tripping is that you HAVE to travel ugly... And we did. :) I love that Ethan kind of has a Kool Aide smile and I don't have a stitch of make-up on... Oh! We saw the most amazing thing driving down the mountain in Chattanooga! I took a picture with my little ol' point and shoot- you can see how well it did... but I couldn't delete it because we had never seen a semi-truck actually NEED to use the "runaway ramp" that they always have going down the mountains. You can kind of see there was still smoke coming up around the semi, and there were others there to assist him. It was really breath-taking to see. That man must have just had the ride of his LIFE!!

We finally stopped in Georgia for dinner (my kids were so funny listening to the people around us using "y'all" and "momma" and "granny"with the southern drawls)and then for the night around 11:30p. We were DEAD tired. The kids held on too, until about 10:30p. It was a LONG day- but we were glad we got so far. I love how zombie-ish the girls look in this picture. I really don't think they opened their eyes on the way in to the room!

We got up, ate (I mean eavesdropped on some more southern folk talk) and were on the road again by 9:30am.

At 2:35 ON THE DOT

Disney World!!!

Ethan kept snapping pictures, Saroya kept saying, "This MUST be a dream" and Jaleigh replied, "I'M NOT DREAMING!!!" Oh it was a great moment.

As we were making our way in, I took a picture of this guy driving a truck with Michigan plates because he looks EXACTLY like someone I know. Nathan thinks I am crazy for taking pictures of random people.

When we were pulling into our resort, the man at the gate said, "Are you checking in?" We said, "Yes" then he smiled and said, "Welcome Home." I was so giddy I was yelling, "HE SAID WELCOME HOME!! HE SAID WELCOME HOME!" Just a little thing, but it meant so much to us who had traveled so far. Ok... maybe just me. But I think it was nice.

We spent the next little while getting acquainted with the surroundings (while I frantically and obnoxiously sanitized everything I could think of. Beth and her family had just spent a week at Disney World where they and lots of others caught a wicked stomach bug). We decided to take the boat down to Downtown Disney and have a look around.

Before going I got some Disney pins from e-bay for the kids. All the employees that have pins on will trade pins with the kids for whatever they want. It was something I thought Ethan would really get in to. All three of the kids we pro- traders after that first night. Saroya would stop an employee in the middle of a parade and ask to trade pins and they would! We spent all of our time that night in the pin trading store.

After we got back from there, we realized it was after 8pm, and we hadn't had dinner or done the grocery shopping we needed to do. The Walmart near Disney World was as busy as it is the day after Thanksgiving- and that is no exaggeration. I had to walk around the parking lot for 15+ minutes looking for a cart. Oh yeah, and we got lost on the way back to the resort... It was a rough night.

But we were finally there- ready to begin our next adventure- and we were ready!

The Kids Have Fallen in LOVE...

...with the new corn filled heating pads Miss J & I made. They love to warm them in the microwave and put them in their beds while they brush their teeth. Then their beds are nice and warm to crawl into. We have all loved "street sledding & snowboarding" with Nathan's quad.

Saroya and Jaleigh are still in love with Gymnastics

And we all think Ethan is a HERO on the ice. People I don't even know are screaming "COME ON ETHAN!!" during games. :)

Miss J fell in love with cosmetology. (EEK!!!)
Ethan just LOVES making Mickey Ear pancakes in anticipation of our upcoming trip.

Now hopefully all this love will start melting some of this snow....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

HA!! I got my computer fixed! The best part about it though, is that I figured it out myself! Yeah, I know. I am a techie genius. Anyway- so back to blogging!

Ok- so since the Tangren's were in town for the holiday and the Garricks were NOT, we decided to take ourselves out to New York to crash their party. :P

It was perfect driving until the last hour. Then it was like we hit a wall of blizzard that stayed with us the rest of the way. I called ahead and told Nikki to get some heating pads ready, because every muscle in my body was tense. Ouch.

We got there on New Years Eve really early, so we tried to sleep in as much as possible- but not the kids. They got busy making plans and catching up. I love that they all love being together.

The kids played downstairs and worked on a "JERKY*" Carnival event for the first day of the year. (*Jillie, Ethan, Reagan, Kobe, and SaroYa)

Oh yeah, and Hyrum fell in love that very first day! (Is he soo cute??)
I skipped breakfast so Greg treated me to the most amazing sandwich ever at Wegmans. Seriously- if you live anywhere near a Wegmans and don't eat or shop there... you should be ashamed. I even brought home some special sandwich sauce this time! A vacation started at Wegmans is always a very good thing.

Jillie had a bad thanksgiving because she had just started orthodontic treatment which made it hard to eat, so Nikki (being the amazing mother that she is..) decided to do "Thanksgiving Dinner II" with all the trimmings. It was nice because we were all there to help get things together, and we were all there to eat it! :) I don't usually make Thanksgiving dinner, so it was interesting to see what Nikki goes through.

YUCK.

We had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, cheesy potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls (Oh my- the ROLLS...),

green beans, salad, stuffing, pie, and I am sure there was more, I just can't remember. It was GOOD!!! Everyone was pretty happy about it.

The kids had been begging to go to the church to clean and play basketball, so we loaded them up and went to the church. Apparently the Stepford Wives go to church there, because there wasn't even a speck of chalk on the boards, no garbage in the trash cans, not even a smudge on the windows (until after we were there... :)! So not much cleaning, a lot of playing.

Derek got crafty showing us his ball balancing act...

After a much needed energy release, we went home for an illegal firework display, and watched the countdown in the same state it was happening in! :)

The next day I got a second chance to take some pictures of all the grand kids and thankfully- we may have a few decent ones.

We went to see movie (3 different groups seeing 3 different movies!), the kids ate the biggest pizza ever and the adults feasted on the best Chicken Scampi (oh I my mouth is watering just thinking about it!), and then it was time for the carnival. What imaginations these kids have!! They had 16 different activities (I think) planned and they were all fun. I didn't have my camera out, but Ethan caught some pictures with his. They quizzed Derek on everything from sound bites from different Wii games to the decor of Reagan's room. He did AMAZINGLY well. Then everyone had to get a costume on. I realized how REALLY uncomfortable I am with masks during this little ditty...

There was a bean toss game, a raffle for a sucker, a coloring contest, a snack bar and so much more. It was really fun for everyone. I love it when those kids put their heads together!

We spent the rest of the trip in Palmyra visiting the historical sites. It gives you a whole different perspective on things to be standing in a tiny log home where Joseph, and was it 11 others?, lived in the middle of the winter. Walking through the Sacred Grove in the deep snow, I loved it.

On our way home to Michigan from the Garricks, we stopped off in Kirtland to go through the temple, and the other historical sites. SUCH a difference not being there in the summer! The missionary couples at the LDS historical sites are always so great, not in a rush in the least even if you are the last ones for the night. They even opened up the visitors center for us so that we could have a potty break before hitting the road again. I will never tire of church historical sites. Even if you are not a member of our church, there is always a good reason to stop. What isn't to love about this???

A big THANK YOU going out to Greg Nikki and the kids for having us ALL! See you guys in February!