Feelin' Fine with Nine

It's our new time for church this year...the lovely 9am. We prepared the night before with showers and  church clothes. Mary got bumped up to senior primary, which she loved, and I got to sub for Cameron's class, since his new teacher just got called today. Estelle made a hilarious debut in primary. It was too adorable to recount.

I loved coming home at noon. There was so much of the day left. Even though we had some time before dinner it was pretty easy to fast, perhaps because we had a great purpose...Matthew and his surgery this week.

My mom made a delicious dinner for the entire family. We got to celebrate Eliza's birthday, which was on Friday and the cousins had so much fun being reunited after two weeks of separation.

I think this will be a pretty awesome year. I can just feel it.

It's Good to be Back

We arrived early enough to unload and freshen up before Noah's basketball game. I realized as I watched him play that he really wasn't well enough to be there. He didn't have a fever, but he was kind of observing the game, instead of participating in it. Then we did a little unpacking before I headed to the grocery store to stock up our empty pantry. After I made dinner we pulled out the new apple peeler we got from Grammie and Grandpa and enjoyed some sliced, peeled apples. Boy, do I love this contraption!

Murphy's Homecoming

We spent the morning packing and nursing Noah and Nicole's fevers with a nice medicine regiment, since they woke up sick too. We left just after lunch to stop by the airport and say hello to Murphy who returned home today from his mission. I just love that boy so much! It's pretty obvious the kids weren't feeling well, so we tried to be quick and spread the germs as little as possible. We said our good-byes to all the Nadaulds. It was definitely sad leaving them.

Then we started out on our journey home arriving in Susanville at about 10pm, Oregon time. We were going to stay at a hotel in Reno, but while trying to find a good spot just passed the city we ended up without any real options for lodging. So we continued driving a little over an hour to Susanville, rented a not-so-nice hotel, and left around 5am because it was hard to sleep there. There's something to say for spending a little bit more and getting something just a little bit nicer.

The kids were real troopers, despite all the aches and coughs.

Home never looked so good.

That's a sentiment I'm sure Murphy felt today too.

New Year's Sickies

Aaron's been battling some chills, aches, and a fever for a few days now. Today Mary and Cameron succumbed to the illness and we had to cancel our New Year's Day plans to visit the Natural Museum of Curiosity and the Arhets family. Bummer. And I'm sure it will make it's way around to the rest of us. Until then, plenty of rest is in order.

That's a Wrap

In order to escape some of this freeze we drove to Provo Rec Center to swim indoors. It almost felt like summer. The kids had a great time, and we were lucky enough to meet up with Justin's family who had planned to go there as well. It felt good for them to reunite with their Idiart cousins, who in many ways feel like siblings. 

The water play area was pretty crowded and Aaron and I were keeping a close eye on the kids. My favorite part was watching Noah keep track of Luci and his siblings in the lazy river. He is a very tender caretaker to them. And I love that he thinks to do it on his own. 

Following our time there we stopped off at Grandma Ashton's candy shop and back to Grammie's and Papa Steve's for some more time together and dinner out. Margaret made a delicious treat as we ate as we celebrated the New York time countdown. Nicole couldn't last until 10pm; she was too tuckered out. 

As I think about this wonderful year, I just keep wondering where the time went. I still feel like I never got used to writing 2014 on my checks. Somehow time started moving in warp speed, and I am barely keeping up with it all. I have lots of resolutions that I never accomplished last year. So, I'll probably keep working towards those goals. Again.

The best part of the year for me was found in the daily joys of motherhood. There is no greater blessing. 

Good-bye 2014! You've been a good one.

Homemade Ice Skating

The rink was finally ready this afternoon and the kids bundled up to play in the frosty windy air. Aaron and Steve have been working all week to master the rink, packing down the ice and hosing water onto the area every few hours for thick layers of ice. We sorted through all the old skates and found matches for most of the kids. Steve built some little hockey sticks. Without the railings on the side Nicole had a hard time getting up to skate so she swam on the ice for a long time.

After we thawed out with Grammie's chicken noodle soup we played a bit inside until going to the movies. AnnDee and I took the kids to see Night of the Museum 3 at Heber's small town theater. They loved it (and so did I).

Rise and Shout!

We drove to Provo this afternoon to hit Deseret Book, the BYU bookstore and a BYU game with the family. BYU won! I just keep praying that all of our children will get in. I love our alma mater.