Update

Leon finished out his soccer season and had a party at Round Table pizza.  I thought he could play for the middle school next year and so this would be out last with the rec but I was wrong.  I guess the middle school doesn't do boys soccer.

Calista lost her first tooth!!! She lost it eating a caramel apple just like Penelope did!  She was so excited and she has another wiggly tooth.  She has been singing "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" pretty often.

Beatrix and I are spending a lot of time just the two of us when I'm off work and everyone else is at school.  She usually starts in good spirits and end the day pretty upset and crying.  She gets bored and that turns into being grumpy.

I'm wearing a Seahawks shirt because we had wear a sports jersey day at work.  I regretted it though because everyone who came in wanted to talk about foodball with me and I pretty much know nothing about it.

We all went to Bob's Christmas work party.  There were a ton of people there and we somehow won the raffle and got a free Xbox.  The only gaming system we have is a 2007 Wii so the kids are thrilled.  I'm honestly not really happy about it.  I don't want to buy games or additional controllers.  Now I have to deal with the kids asking to play it all the time.  I joked about giving it away but I think the kids would have reported me to child services.

His work party was at a ranch, so we got to go on a hay ride and see animals.  The weather wasn't great, but we talked with new friends and had a good time.

On a different note, Tucker finished his drivers ed class and can get his license in February next year.  He also got his wisdom teeth pulled.  He was pretty entertaining afterwards and I took a video of him.  I'm going to let him watch it and see what he thinks before I post it.  

Thanksgiving 2023

We had a few days off work for Thanksgiving and drove over to Pocatello to visit family.  I've missed these family holidays while in Japan so I was eager to go.

Two of my brothers and one of my sisters were there and their families so there were lots of cousins to spend time with.  Somehow all the adults were squished onto one small table and the kids had all the room in the world.  

I love my kids getting to spend time with their cousins.

I didn't really take picture so most of these are stolen from Mary-Anne (thank you).  I really need to get back into taking pictures and videos.

We did a lot that weekend.  Joshua planned a exercise challenge where we did everything from jump roping, lifting heavy weights and a 4 mile run to the temple and back.  I will say that was one of my hardest four miles runs ever.  It was snowy and freezing and the roads were covered in slush so my feet were soaked.  There were huge wet snowflakes coming down on my face the whole time and on top of that they live up a mile long hill. It was rough.  Many of the kids beat me including, Tucker, Leon, and Penelope.

We did a little black Friday shopping, nothing serious just wanted to be part of the fun.  We had a pizza and movie night where we watched Home Alone.  The kids even put on a play planned by Hannah.  It was so cute.

They had some snow and got about a foot while we were there.  So the kids were especially loving that.  They built a snowman and had a snowball fight.

We mostly just hung out and spent time together.  It was great.  By the end of it a few of us had soar throats, including me. 

On the way home Bob and I decided to leave after dinner and drive the 12 hours through the night.  I really liked it.  There was absolutely no traffic.  Like pretty much no cars on the road after midnight.  The kids slept most of the time so...yeah, that speaks for itself.  We didn't' have to stop for food or bathroom breaks.  We got home about 5am and were able to go straight to bed for a few hours.  The only hiccup was that the freeway was shut down and we had to wait at a subway for about an hour and a half.  That was annoying but it really could have happened at any time of the day.

I am grateful for family!

Fair Fun

I missed going to the fair while in Japan, so this year I made sure to go to both our county fair and the much larger Puyallup fair.

Our local fair happened before school started and Tucker was lucky enough to get a job at the fisher scone booth.  We actually just drove by the fair about a week before it started and saw a hiring sign.  So I pulled in and Tucker filled out the paperwork and was hired on the spot. He was able to earn a good amount of money in just a couple short days.  He said they had a constant line and he learned a little bit about what it is like to work in the food industry.

I liked that he brought some home to us everyday.  We also bought the mix so he could show us his skills.

More recently I pulled the kids out of school for a day and we went to the Puyallup fair with Talitha.  Bob had to work and Tucker decided to go with friends instead of us, but we had a good time.

I like to see the animals and just walk around and look at the booths.

It was a fun day.

2023 Summer

This summer has been like a dream.  It started with moving to America and doing a jet legged birthday party for Tucker at my parents house.  

We spent most of the summer living with them and hanging out while Bob commuted to work and we looked for a rental house/cars/everything.

We went on lots of walks and played a lot of pickle-ball.  It was great having my parent there to entertain the kids.  Their house and yard are so much bigger than we are used to in Japan.  

Bob was able to buy a truck, trailer, and tractor to get things going on the land.  Unfortunately we haven't been able to work on the land at all.  We have been going through the permit process since March trying to get everything in order.  We thought he would work on it all summer, now I'm just hoping he can get started in the Fall.

Tucker went to FSY and young men camp with church.  He had a great experience at both and it was strange for me to drop him off at a college campus.  I'm not ready for that yet.

We had a watermelon eating contest.

Hiked on Mt. Rainier.

Took Penelope to FSY.  I was so proud of her for going.  She went to this church camp without knowing a soul.  It was very brave of her.  She had a great time.  She also went to young women camp with Scarlett.

The neighborhood school gave out free lunches most days.  I loved it.  We walked to the school and played on the toys and the kids ate.  It got us outside and was one meal that we didn't have to make and clean up ourselves.  The food wasn't great and the kids hated going.  I love my parent neighborhood and think it is so nice that they are within walking distance of the elementary and middle schools.

The kids had a bear picnic with cousins.

We had a zoo day with friends.

Most of my family came in town for a Swift reunion.  I didn't get many pictures but we had a ton of fun.

After that we flew to Michigan for a Woestman reunion.

We saw the Barbie movie (loved it).

We hiked Ape Caves.

Went fishing.

We made several backyard fires where we had hot dogs and s'mores.

Took a trip to Northwest Trek.  Thank you to the library for the summer reading program and the free passes the kids got for completing it.

Tucker reluctantly got his learners permit and is starting to drive.

Talitha caught us all up on much needed haircuts.

More fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

All the kids went to the dentist and the doctor for check ups.  All good there.

Tucker is even going to get braces soon.

We went on a 17th anniversary date to the temple, Cheesecake Factory, and iFly.

I celebrated my 36th birthday.

And lastly we moved into a rental house.

I really loved this summer.  Spending time with family was everything we were missing in Japan.  Not to mention that the weather in Washington during the summer is pretty much perfect.

Tomorrow I'l start my job at Navy Federal here in Washington, and in a couple more weeks the kids will be back to school.  We are still living out of our suitcases and don't expect to get most of our things until mid September.  Tomorrow we are getting our storage things back, so everything we left in Washington that we havn't seen for the past 6 years will show up at our house.  I'm a little scared to see what we left.