2011

Fair warning, this will be a long post. I seem to be a cluster blgger. I'm not good at posting something everyday or even every week. I seem to do it in clusters. Sometimes several in a day. Annoying I know. I can hardly believe it's December 26th. The year went by fast and slow all at the same time. The year started with Nate's Dad, Glenn's passing, and my Alyssa's birthday. It was the same day. I still can't believe that this Christmas was our first without him. The kids still talk about him and I keep pictures up on the walls with him so that the kids will keep him in their minds and hearts. Some of the them are young enough they may not remember him well so I figure this way even if they don't have a lot of memories of him he will be someone they know because we talk about him and have his pictures up on the wall. We also lost Nate's Grandfather. He was a truly great man and I still tear up a bit when I think about his passing. He was a blessing to so many and me and my family especially!

The coming year will bring many changes for our family. It's an exciting time yet I'm already struggling with it. We will be moving to Virginia in June after school ends and the kids are about the same as I am, nervous but excited. We are hoping to go to our Glenn Goodman family reunion in April and I'm super excited about that. We are also planning on making the trip out to Virginia a fun one and visit family along the way.

During the summer we went to Yosemite with our Glenn Goodman family and it was so much fun! The only issue we had was getting there. We all, except for my wonderful Nate get motion sick. The road to Yosemite was not straight and therefore we had some sickies....I'll leave it at that. It was great spending time with cousins though and we're looking forward to next years adventure.




My wonderful, talented, fabulous husband, Nate is doing well with work, the move is proof of that. He is being promoted which is why we have to move. He is still gone a lot but we look forward to having him with us much more once we are there. The picture above is pretty typical. The thing he is giving the kids a ride on I'm not sure what you actually call it, but it's a four-wheeled bike thing that we used to pedal around on when we were dating, years ago. Now that his Dad has passed we have it at our house and the kids love it. Nate is really good about playing with the kids when he's home. Whether it's riding them around on this thing, or roller blading with them, or working with them he's always doing something with them. He's a really good teacher too so when the kids need help he's the one I recommend the kids go see. I love him so much and I'm very grateful for him. I chose.....wisely.





Fortunately, I can't find any current pictures of myself. This one is more current and has all of us in it. I am still trying to finish losing weight. I have about 15lbs to go and I'm 28 down. I am still doing Shelf Reliance, and taking care of the kids. With all that the kids are doing in school and extra curricular things I don't have much time for anything else. I read a couple of books this year that I liked, Killing Lincoln, and The Help. Loved them both! Killing Lincoln was great because a great deal of the book is about Richmond and the history of that city and the state of Virginia. I have always loved history, and I had forgotten much of it and so it was a good book for me. I joined the gym again, Merry Christmas to Nate....and me. I am also helping a bit with caring for my Grandma who is 91. It's a joy to be able to spend so much time with her and it makes my heart happy that my kids will remember her and have memories with her!

I am teaching Valiant 8 in Sunday school next year and this last year Valiant 9-11 boys. It was interesting and fun. I'll sure miss those guys next year.

This last year also brought the passing of my great aunt Drue and that same week, her brother, my great uncle Paul. It was really, really sad for me and my kids and also a bit weird planning 2 funerals so close together. Aunt Drue spent alot of time with her sister, my grandmother and our family. She was such a neat lady. She and my Grandma made my prom dress when I went to prom with Nate. Anyway, she was 95 when she passed and a truly wonderful woman. We miss her terribly.




Natalie has had a big year. She now has braces AND glasses and is doing well in piano. The first couple years were difficult for her but she seems to be enjoying it and now playing songs that she knows and can sing too. She also decided to join the school band and is learning to play the drums. It's a LOT of fun to see her in concert! My brother Brian and sister Sara were here visiting and were able to see her first performance along with my sister Melissa, Amy, Whitney, and new Brother Michael. Everyone was here for Whitney and Michael's wedding Dec. 2. Natalie is an excellent student and LOVES to read. In her class she is the top student and she also LOVES science. She is always asking me to do science experiments. For Christmas this year we got some kits for science projects we can do at home. Natalie is quite the leader and coordinates dances and cheers at school, recruiting anyone who wants to have a part. She choreographs the whole thing and assigns out the parts to each girl. It's pretty fun to watch and hear about.



Alyssa. She is growing so much! This last year has been an interesting one for her. She is also taking piano lessons and hates them. I tell her that she will like it soon. She isn't convinced. When we ended the school year this year, I was a bit discouraged. Her teacher was not what I expected and Alyssa was struggling a little bit. Over the summer though we took Alyssa to the pediatrician and had some blood work done. With my family history of celiacs and her difficulty focusing, her tiny little frame and lack of growth I thought we should have her checked out. She came back as positive for the problem and also had not gained any weight or height in a very long time. So long that the pediatrician was pretty concerned that I take her off of gluten completely and feed her everything healthy that I could as much as she would eat, focusing on veggies, and lean meats, rice and potatoes. Needless to say she hasn't put on a huge amount of weight but she has grown 2 sizes and her weight is catching up. School is not a struggle anymore and her focus is sharpening. She is extremely imaginative and artistic. She LOVES to sing and play. She also LOVES science and nature. Anything that has to do with outdoors she loves. Birds, trees, rocks, mountains, anything. She is very sentimental and like her mother emotional. She, like me, is a bit shy and feels uncomfortable making new friends, although, she's a very good friend. The picture above is of her and her cousin Brynn. To say that Alyssa loves this girl would be a bit of an understatement. She thinks she is her sister...or should have been. They are 2 peas in a pod, definitely kindred spirits. This picture was taken at Great Grandpa Brown's funeral and the two were inseparable. They had a fantastic time just being together.




Conner turned 5 on Halloween this year. He is such a joy. I knew he was supposed to come to our family before he was even thought of. Now that he's here and growing so fast I understand a little bit more of why. He is such an even tempered, kind, and caring little guy. He is a friend to literally EVERYONE. Not just kids his age but people more than 10 time his age. He will strike up conversations with sweet old ladies in wheelchairs at the grocery stores. Before we leave the little old ladies are nearly in tears and Conner is hugging them telling them to have a good day or they are his friend now. When Conner used to go to the rest home to visit my great uncle Paul, Conner would stop to visit with some of the residents there. Tell the older ladies that they looked beautiful that day or else another one something other sweet thing, and he really means it. He isn't not scared by their skin being wrinkled or their hair being gray or white (most of my kids are). He just treats them like he would anyone of his friends, and it makes their day. At school when we walk home random kids who aren't in his class say hi to him and call him by name. Even those on the other end of the school in 6-8th grade. This kid just loves everyone and they know it. He is still a kid though and has his moments at home. Overall though he is such a well behaved child and we feel extremely blessed to have him in our home. We tried this year to start him in piano and he actually did pretty well but he really didn't want to do it and I want him to want to so we will try again next year or the year after. He is doing super good in school and his teacher Mrs. Ebersole is FANTASTIC. He loves her and is learning so much not just about letters and numbers but about manners and structure. It's been fun to watch him grow.




Ethan. He's 2 this year. He is such a funny, fun little guy to have around. He is just busy, busy. He loves to take things apart, make messes aka helping, and be with his Daddy. Ethan LOVES his Daddy. He is a lot like him too. Though in many ways he reminds me of his Uncles. He climbs everything and runs constantly. I'm told that Both his uncle Matt and his uncle Ben did those things. He's a bit mischevious and is very strong-willed. He makes us laugh quite often though and is such a sweet little one. He looks very much like his older brother and I get comments frequently about that. I've even had people ask if they are twins. He is trying to do everything Conner does right now and it's so cute sometimes. Other times it's not so good.



This photo of Ethan is pretty typical. He is "fixing" our Rockband drums. Yep, he's Mr. Fix-it. Or fikit, as he would say. He loves his blankie that Grandma Goodman actually made for Conner. Ethan just attached himself to it and Conner didn't seem to mind. He loves his find-it, which is his pacifier. He should be off of it by now but we are babying him far too much and he still gets it. Soon enough it will be gone. He still takes naps and enjoys time with mommy in the mornings when all the other kids are at school. He is growing up so quickly and has actually mellowed quite a bit from 6 months ago when he would NEVER stop moving. He is so much fun and Nate and I both are really enjoying him.



This picture was when we were in line at Disneyland for Peter Pan. The only reason he survived was because he could climb on the railings. I'll blog about Disneyland in another post, which will most likely be mostly pictures.

We had lots and lots of great experiences and made lots of great memories. We also had some sad ones. The sad ones made me appreciate the happy ones even more. Time is precious. We never ever know how long we have to be here or what the future holds. So I cherish every minute that I have with family and friends in familiar places. Happy new year to all our friends and family. We love you and hope the new year brings happiness and joy to each of you and yours!!