Fun at Grandma & Grandpa Thomases House

When we go to Grandma and Grandpa Thomas' house I have to expect my kids are going to get spoiled. Either when we go to the store or how much time they get or not having to eat all of their food or something. There are not the same rules as there are at our house but Grandma and Grandpa do a good job of helping us parent so it works out really well for all of us.
Not all the time does Chris get to join us when we visit his parents but this time he did. His parents loved having him there but they accept me as a daughter so I never feel weird or uncomfortable being there with or without Chris. I know they like me but maybe it is because I have their grandkids with me:) I wonder if they would let me stay if I didn't have them:) haha
They absolutely love having their grandkids around and have so much fun watching and listening and talking and playing with them. There was lots of college football on during this visit so there was a lot of this going on. I love watching football with Grandpa. I really wished I could have watched the A&M game with him but we were on the road when that game was on.
 

Starting them young to watch sports:)

Grandpa also had a birthday while we were there and we got to celebrate with him.

It snowed while we were there and it was getting us prepared for VA. We bought snow gloves while we were there since we would be needing them for future use as well. The cloth ones just didn't work in the snow for very long.

We went with them and Murphy downtown to look at all the Christmas lights.
It was cold!

 

My honey and I.

 

Uncle Ty & Auntie Katie

There are  many sad things about not living in AZ anymore and this couple is one of them. We really wish that we got to spend more time with them and get to know them so much more. Chris and Ty really get along very well and I think Katie and I would get along really well, also. We had to visit them while we were there.
It was fun seeing them and then Uncle Ty showed him his police car. He has an undercover Dodge Charger. He is on the DUI team and loves what he does. Matthew and Allison loved seeing the whole thing. It was really fun to see them so excited about it and yet it was their uncle's car, not just a random police officer. They loved the lights, but not the siren so much because it was loud. I am sure the neighbors didn't like the siren so much either. It was just really quick though.


The studly, Uncle Ty.

Exploring the inside of the car.

Uncle Ty even pulled out his radar gun. Oh boy was that fun, and there was even a neighbor that pulled out and left. It was super fun to see them using it, and to see it being used in general, just not on me:)

He is going to get it dead on.

Getting the pros help.
This is how you get the cars Matthew:)

 

So much fun. No wonder why the police officers write so many tickets. They like playing with this toy:) haha

 

 

Getting the safely vests out.

 

Aunt Katie was there too:)
Such a cute picture with their aunt and uncle

We can't leave out their dog, Trixi.
Allison loves playing with dogs and cats.

 

Messy House

For the past couple weeks Allison has either been at a friends house or watching something. Not much attention from mom. Everything is getting packed and the house is just a mess. It will be nice to finally settle somewhere again. We sold our couch and big chair so there is not much to sit on so we find where we can.

I want this to be a pretty easy move for those that will be helping us. We have packed as many boxes as we could in the front bedroom on the first floor closest to the door so it is not much packing. After that got full we had to move to the living room but everything is downstairs in boxes ready to go.  I have cleaned everything so all we have to do is load the boxes and then vacuum one more time.

We had already planned a trip from Dec. 26th to Jan. 2nd and didn't want to pay even more money to change our flights so we are completely packed and ready to go. We get home Wednesday, Jan 2nd about 7:30pm and then at 9am the next morning we should be getting our truck and people are suppose to show up to help load the truck at 10am. As soon as we get the truck loaded we will be headed on our way to Virginia. We hope to get to Virginia into our apartment by 4pm on Saturday.

Matthew's School Christmas Party

This is another one of those sad posts for me. Matthew has had a great time at Johnson Elementary school. I LOVED the principal. It seemed liked she really cared not only for the students but also the teachers. I am learning that a principal can make or break a school. Whomever replaces Mrs. Happ is going to have some HUGE shoes to fill. Anyways, the school ran well together. I have enjoyed having Matthew go there but unfortunately it was only for one semester. He had a great teacher, Mrs. Taylor, and we are sad that we had to leave her. Thankfully Matthew at least go to finish out the calendar year at his current school. I went to the last day of his school and they had their Christmas party. There was incredibly WAY too much food for the kids to eat but they enjoyed it, obviously by Matthew's big mouthful in this picture:)


Mrs. Taylor was so nice and got Matthew a going away present. She has been taking pictures all throughout the year and made a collage of him and his classmates and teacher and framed it for him. When she presented it to him, I started getting tears in my eyes. It was so sweet of her and Matthew loves it. So nice. He misses his classmates from Johnson but he adjusts well it seems like.

 

 

This is his best friend in his class, Derrick. Matthew loved hanging out with Derrick and they were in Cub Scouts together also. Matthew will talk about some of the things he and Derrick would do in class at Johnson.

Matthew and Mrs. Taylor.

 

Matthew LOVES being able to take pictures with my camera. He knows it is a big privilege so he soaks it up every few opportunities he gets. 

Saying goodbye to Johnson Jaguars:( 

True Friend

What kind of a person drives 4 hours just to help you pack up your house? A REALLY GOOD FRIEND, that's who. (This makes me sad just writing about this)
I have mentioned this before but I had/have really good friends in TX and some have moved away. This is one of those really good friends. We have been friends for almost 6 years or 7 by now. They moved into our ward when their first born was just months old. Our first babies are only 3 months apart. We have spent many hours together. I have cried on her shoulder and she has lifted me up on so many occasions. We not only did play groups together and served together but we also got to do preschool together. Not only were we friends that went to many of the same events but we were also lucky enough to be visiting teaching companions. We saw each other on an average of 4 times a week, if not more. I LOVE being around her. Our kids love being around each other also. I just love her and her family and can never get enough of them. She always makes me so happy just being around her and talking to her. You know those families that if you could arrange marriages I would definitely arrange Matthew and Anabelle. I am sure it won't happen, especially now, but they are a great family:)
Janine and Cory and their family moved to Austin, and though it isn't really far away it is still too far to see her 4+ times a week. We got to visit them a few times in their house in Austin and they came back to Bryan a few times but we didn't get to see them nearly enough.
It has been a whirlwind with everything happening so quickly. I would have loved to have been able to go down to Austin one more time to visit them but there just wasn't any time. She wanted to see me one more time so instead she had her dad come and watch her kids during the day so she could drive up, help me pack up my kitchen and just enjoy being together again and then after all the work was done she drove the two hours back home. That is a true friend that absolutely loves me. I am so grateful for her friendship.
Thanks so much Janine!
This after our hard day of work and we still have smiles:)


Just some pictures of our duplex.
The bottom floor is about the size of our apartment here.
We go from large to small to large to small and hopefully back to large again sometime soon:)

This room got even fuller as we got closer and closer to moving day. We wanted as much stuff in here since it was the closest room to the front door. We had some boxes in the kitchen and then the rest of everything in the living room. We wanted this to be a quick and easy move for those that came to help us.

We sold some big items but still had a ton to move. We hadn't had anybody help us move in or out of our house. Move in or out of the apartment and move in to the duplex. Since moving out of the duplex had to be done in one day and as quick as possible, we finally decided to swallow or pride and let some friends help us this time. We like to be independent and not be needy but we needed help. However, I could make it as easy as possible so we had everything ready to go and on the first floor like I had mentioned. We asked our close friends to come help us and there were 10 adults helping to load the truck plus some cub scouts also. We loaded the truck in 45 minutes. I hope those that helped thought it was an easy move. I even had donuts and water there for them also.  We appreciated everybody that came to help us load the truck.
When we got to VA, it was Saturday about 4pm. We started unloading the truck and it took Chris and I about 3 hours to unload it ourselves. I have learned after moving all of our stuff from the house to the apartment by myself while Chris was gone for a week that a dolly is the best invention ever and we really needed to invest in one. We did and Chris even mentioned after this move that it was a great investment.
Thank you everybody for helping us!!

Fire Station - Cub Scouts

Sadly, this is the last den meeting Matthew got to go to in his pack. We actually went to this fire station last with my pack and the kids came with me so I wasn't as impressed as I normally am at these places. I was hoping that they would get to tour the brand new one that just opened off of University in College Station.
When we went outside to look at the fire engines and trucks Matthew wasn't feeling well. His stomach hurt but wanted to stay and then it must have just gotten too much for him and we finally had to leave.
His den said bye and I was sad having to leave that pack halfway through but oh well, it is what we had to do.
However, we only had 3 more things to do before Matthew earned his Tiger badge. His den leader said it was ok to go ahead and finish those things so that we could earn that badge. One of the things we had to do was make a scrapbook for him. Unfortunately I had always not done that one because I thought they were going to do it at a den meeting. They probably were but later then we needed. I already had all of my scrapbooking stuff packed so this simple and fun things became more difficult. We waited until we went to AZ to use grandma's stuff to make the pages. He had fun doing it.
Cub Scouts has been such a great program. I am really excited that Matthew got to be in Tiger scouts.

There are 16 boys in his den.
That is more then our whole pack in the church put together.

This is Ka'Melo Brooks. He and Matthew became best friends in preschool and have kept in contact ever since even though they don't go to the same elementary school. However, both Matthew and Ka'Melo's school meet together for their pack so it is fun that they got to see each other every week at least once a week.

They are cute together. Obviously, physically they look so different but they enjoy so many of the same things and really have a fun time together.

Farewell Party

There are so many great families that come and go in the Bryan 1st Ward. It started when one of our close friends moved away and another friend suggested we all get together for a potluck lunch before they start their drive. We have done that a couple times and some of my close friends have moved away and I have put on a few Farewell parties and it seemed like by the time we ever found a job, there wouldn't be any close friends left.
I was wrong and they wanted to do a Farewell party for us also.
The funny thing is, is that I have put on a few get-togethers and have an idea of the little things that you need like paper goods and drinks. I made sure we brought them and it was a good thing we did:)
It was very sweet of all of those that showed up.
 

Brittany Bland

Cat Christiansen and Allison Torres

Rebecca Johanson and Leanna Prosser

Heather Glade

 

Allison and Jennifer Samuelson

Sadie Goddard & Kristin Lowe

Laci McCullough

Chris, Scott Goddard, and Michael Glade (aka Bishop Glade)

 Gretta & Todd Samuelson

Scott, Julianne, and James Hoose
and Rebecca and Michael Johanson in the back

Sibling love:)
Paul and Cat

Alex, Leanna, and Eden Prosser

Julianne, Brittany, and Sadie

Murray and Linda Bennett

Rebecca and Laci

The requirement for leaving was a family picture but not everyone got the memo like
the Glades, Erin Hill, Torreses, but we got most of them.

The Hoose Family
Scott, Julianne, Evan, Emma, and James

Scott, Chris, and Erin Hill having an intellectual conversation, like they always do.

Allison and Paul Torres,
they had already put their kids in car.
Kannon, Alexa, Braden, Logan, and Alivia

Kristin, Mike, Jonah, Carrie, and Mac Lowe
Just a sidenote: When baby Carrie was born, she was the first newborn that I looked at and didn't have the thought of oh many newborns are a lot of work, which they are but when I saw baby Carrie as a newborn, I just saw how sweet and innocent and precious she was and thought, well maybe I could have another one someday.

Brittany, James, Caleb, Loralai, Bella and Parker Bland

Sadie, Scott, Jeff, Nate, and Gracie Goddard.

Allison and her poses:)
Too precious

One of Allison's great friends, Rachelle

Rebecca, Michael, Aaron (not in the picture), Nathan, Rachelle, and David Johanson

Jennifer, Todd, Gwendolyn, Linus, Casper, and Margaret Samuelson