Temple Trip to Boston

Yesterday we took a temple trip up to Boston. This is the second time we have done this. We get a 2 bedroom suit and stay the night. Reece and I take turns going to the temple. It was so great this time! The spirit was so strong. There were only 2 men and 4 women so it felt like I was the only one there at times. At one point I was the only one in the celestrial room. It was so peaceful! I love going to the temple!

The kids love our temple trips because they get to stay overnight in a hotel. Since we don't have TV they think it is a real treat to get to watch as much as they want. And of course sometimes they get to go swimming.

This time we decided to go to the Childrens Museum downtown. It was a lot of fun. Thats what most of my pictures are of. Enjoy!

This guy likes his burgers well done!

Boston Tea Party Monument (At center of bridge)

I am so tired and cranky!

Nathan needs a drink of milk.

Intercontinental Hotel Boston

Thats Becca for ya!

I love Nathan!

Waiting to see Three Little Pigs

This was pretty cool!

Exhausted!

Thanksgiving

Well we had a great first Thanksgiving in CT! We were invitied to join 3 other families! 8 adults and 13 kids! They had a blast and it was great to try a lot of different traditions. We missed family but it is nice to know that as part of the church it is always easy to find friends!

Stair Pics

I finally got some time to get some pics posted!



Yuck!

I know, Amazing!

Yeah No more squeaky stairs!





That's Right!



Look at that Rotting Wood!



Caution: Man hard at work!



Looking Good! Only five left! Will they be done by 2010? We will see!

Swine Flu!!

Well our stair project got put on hold. Nathan came down with the Swine flu/pneumonia on Nov. 2nd and was in the hospital for a few days. It seems we have not found time to get back to it since. He was pretty sick and it as no fun seeing him the hospital like that. They had to transport him in an ambulance up to the childrens hospital in Providence RI. I followed behind in the van. He was so brave. Nothing seemed to phase him much. Maybe he was just to out of it to respond. One thing is for sure I never want to see a child of mine taken on a stretcher hooked up to everything, in an ambuklance again! At least it was not from an accident!

When he had to get his IV they put it in the crook of his elbow and I was explaining that it was in a different place than mine when I had Danielle. I said it isn't on the back of your hand it is on your arm and he was a little upset from having to get poked he said" Oh Just great!" He gave the nurses a good laugh! They thought he was amazing!

Well we suvived. Reece and I took turns sitting with Nate at the hospital and being home with the girls. Freida flew in to help us out and got there the day He was released from the hospital. It was a good thing. Because Nathan was still pretty sick and Dani had gotten shots and had a fever and wouldn't let me down. Two days latter I came down sick and couldn't take care of anyone. The week before all of this Reece had missed 4 days of work due to Bronchitis and Becca was on an inhaler for her chest! It was a lotof fun! Thanks to Freida we all made it through!

I am now wearing an event monitor for my heart because I am having palpitations, probably due to the emence amount of stress I have been under this year. They are trying to figure out what exactly it is. Other than that we are alive!

Stairs continued...

Well we are still working on the stairs. We had a small set back. The wood we originally bought ended up being pretty cheap so we sent it back and it took me about a week to find some good stuff for the right price. But it is actually going pretty well. I spent the last week sanding and painting and yesterday Reece installed the first two stairs. Yes it took all of saturday to get just 2 in. Between naps and having to run kids places it takes a while. We just plan on only getting a few in at a time. They are looking really good. I would have posted pictures but my cam battery died. Anyway it seems good so far! And Reece and I are working very well together. We actually make a pretty good team!

So far we love CT. The leaves are amazing right now! It is very beautiful. I am amazed at the beauty of Heavenly Father's creations! Having lived in so many different places, I am always amazed at the beauty each place can have!

First Day of Kindergarten

Well Nathan has started Kindergarten! I am amazed! When he was born we still had 5 years of school left and I remeber saying when we graduate Nathan will be starting Kindergarten. ANd here we are! Time flies!

Well he absolutely loves school! He wished he could go everyday of the week except Sunday. He does really well and we have already had a lot of opportunities about teaching him to Choose the Right. It is amazing the growing he experiences everyday. I love see him understanding the concepts we have always taught him now that he gets to see them applied in his own life, away from Mom and Dad. I find myself thinking "This is what mom and dad have been teaching you for the last 5 years to help you learn to face the world"

The other day he came home and told us he got picked on on the bus. A fourth grader told him to get out of his seat or he was going to punch him! Poor kido! He handled it well and did not let it get him down. He also got in trouble on the bus for wrestling. He came home terrified that night thinking he was going to have to go to the Principles office. He spent the evening crying, and we spent the evening trying to calm his fears. He take things very literal. It was kind of cute. I am amazed that he has been afraid to tell us these things. We are working very hard at letting him know that even if it is something bad or something that might not please us he can still talk to us about it and we will work through it. He seems to be doing a lot better!

Oh yeah, Becca was heart broken when Nathan left for school. She cried the first week everytime he would get on the bus! It was so sweet! She would say "I don't like Nathan, but I want him to come home!" follow by loud sobs! She is adjusting to him being gone now. Well they all have to grow up someday!

I'm so handsome!
Dad made me my own person name tag!

Mister Cool



Off to the Bus!
This is serious business!

It is so hard to let them go!

Stairs

Ok so its been a while! Well Reece and I have decided to replace the stairs in our house. Crazy? Most likely. Our house is quite old. I think 1927. The stairs are extremely noisy. They wake the kids up often enough that we have become so desperate as to replace them ourselves. Its bad when you just get the kidos to sleep and you stand at the top of the stairs thinking to yourself "Is there anyway down besides the stairs? Maybe I can tie some sheets together and go out the window!" Our landlord thinks we are crazy but gave us the go ahead anyway. He said "Knock yourself out!"

I think the hardest part will be Reece and I working on it together and not ending up separated! Its not that bad we are both just pretty head strong people. Anyway I thought it would be fun to document this fun adventure we are about to start! Stay posted for some Pictures!

Caught up!

Well, I caught us up to present (for the most part). If you want to start from the beginning you have to start at the bottom. Does that make sense? You know what I mean. We are loving CT so far although the humidty has been killer lately. Luckily for us we usually have a nice ocean breeze blowing. The picture at the top of my page is one I took from the little beach we walk to. Hope you enjoy and I will continue to add on as life goes on! Shana

Trip to the Big Beach

We finally made it over to the "Big" beach as the kids call it. There is a small one within walking distance but it doesn't have big waves. Nathan thought it was awesome. Some kid let him borrow his boggie board and he learned to ride the waves. he had a lot of fun. But I will say I have never seen a beach so packed in all my life! I could not believe how many people were there. Literally there was about 1-2 feet between towels. But it was still fun!

That is a lot of people! And none of them have a clue they are posted on my blog!


Daddy's having a grand time! Nothing like having 3 kids in the water all by yourself!


Beach Babe!


Becca trying to catch the water.


Too much sun!


Snack Time!


Beautiful!


Where's my body? Where'd itgo? Where'd it go?

Our new place!

So I have some video of the outside of our place. The inside is a little to messy for that. We have had to do a lot of things to the place and be inventive about space. It is the most space we have had but the closets are challenging. I guess back then they didn't have as much as we do now. They weren't trying to fill there closets with things that they think they need. Anyway Freida was here for a month to help us get settled. She did wonders for the place. I am so glad she was here! Anyway hope you enjoy the videos!












Before: This was the livingroom. Got to love the wood panaling!



After: Ah! That is much better!


Frieda hard at work! Thank you so much! I never could have done it myself!

May 22nd-Connecticut

Well after everything we made it to Connecticut! We flew in to Providence on the 22nd of May. It was beautiful flying over the ocean! I kept thinking, "were not on vacation we actually live here!" It is very beautiful! I expected it to be flat but it is full of rolling hills, of course tons and tons of trees, and beautiful rocks. It reminds me of England itself, there are tons of stone fences built everywhere.

I thought when we got here the stress would go away. Well I was wrong! Like I said before we didn't have anywhere to stay. We were staying in a 2 bedroom suit and there were six of us. Reece and I were very unsure of what we could afford, not knowing about living cost and taxes or how much he would bring home after all was said and done. So we decided to play it safe and look for something to rent about 500 dollars a month less expensive then what we started looking for. That put us on the level of....lets say not very good. We spent a week running all over the eastern side of the state looking for something that would work for us. We were becoming increasingly discouraged. Finally I came across something on Craig's list that seemed like it might be ok. At this point we were getting desparate. You see at this time renting is very limited. Everyone who is losing homes, saling or coming in for the navy are renting so everthing was being taken quickly! Well we went to see this place and when I first saw it I knew it would work for us. It was advertised as 3 bedrooms but actually has four. It is very old but we have a view of the ocean that most pay millions to get! It has an awesome back yard and we are in a great school district. We also live at the end of a dead end street with only a house on one side of us. And we ended up paying less rent then any of the already low rental prices! I feel very blessed! Glamorous? No. But the location is to die for! I think Heavenly Father was saving this little place just for us so we could have something to enjoy after all the hardship we have been through.



Dani taking a bath in the sink at the hotel. She loves to hang her tongue out. I think she is just always waiting for something to land on it!



One of the views from our bedroom window.

May 18th-22nd The Move

You know how you look back over certain times in your life and you think, "How did I make it through that?" Well this was definately one of those times! But we did and I am glad it is over. I think between the time Dani was born and we flew to CT (about 4 weeks) we were at the doctor/dentist about fifteen time between all of us. Nathan needing it the most. He had to have some major dental work done and it had to be done in Indy(about and hour drive). We had to take him every Monday until we moved. Thank goodness Reece was able to take him. I had just had a baby and was trying to get us ready to move. He also had to get new ear tubes 5 days after Dani was born on top of being sick and at instacare twice. That doesn't include Dani's trips to the doctor because of her Cataracts. And mine from having a baby. It was crazy!

Well thank goodness I had my wonderful sisters-in-law and mother-in-law there to help me! Poor Kiersten was stuck with the kids a lot! Thank you so much!! And Megan spent a lot of time holding Dani and being my hands when I didn't have enough. Of course Freida, as usual, is amazing! I could not have done it without her! To say the least that week was pretty stressful but all went smooth considering all we were doing. The movers came packed up all our stuff, moved both of our cars so we could fly! I went to a doctors appt. and when I got home most everything was in boxes! I am so glad I didn't have to do it! Well we made it to Friday, the day we had to fly out. We said good bye to Reece's family (except for Freida,she came with us) and got on the plane. We had no idea what to expect. We had no where to live when we got here and had to stay in a hotel until we found somewhere!



Swimming with the Bjarnson's at our hotle ther night before we flew out.
Lot's of fun! We miss you guys!



Nathan and Andrew. Best of Friends!



Creatures from the Blue Lagoon!! Scary!!

May 17th Baby Blesssing

So after the big celebration, on Sunday we had Danielle's baby blessing. It was so sweet! My wonderful and talented sister made her blessing dress for me. It meant so much to me. I know it was no where near an easy task for her since she has three kidos herself. I know I keep saying this but I don't think I can ever repay her!

Dani was perfect! Actually I was in the bathroom, having just fed her, finishing up getting her dressed when they called us up for the blessing. Reece has to go to the front and tell them we didn't have a baby yet. Luckily there was another couple who were also blessing their little girl. They ended up going first. Then when we finally showed up they made a crack about her having to make an entrance. I had no idea we were late! Then of course afterward we had a nice meal of left overs of all the food great grandma Garrett brought from Kentucky. She makes wonderful food. It might clogg your arteries after only a few meals but man is it good!!!