The Haps

The haps around here (or "happenings"), are full of drama, as usual.

Mom and Dad came down from Great Falls to visit for Thanksgiving. It was such a great week and a half. They were very patient with us as we tried to secure a home for ourselves. They were also very patient when they were thrust into the home already established with 11 individuals.

We also had my brother Peter and his wife Genica here with us. We even got to see the pictures of Peter Jr (not really going to be his name, but I'll just call him that until we're told what his name will be).

Some of our highlights include:

Beatles Rockband jams. Dad has discovered his love for the Wii. So much so that Mom bought him one for his birthday. He insisted on jamming with Beatles Rockband a few times while they were here. Of course, none of us protested. We had our final session last night and I had fun watching both Mom and Dad rock out on the drumset. They had a bit of a competition to see which of them could get the higher score. It was pretty dang awesome to watch. One night we had a competition between the boys and girls. Dad, Peter, my BIL Jabon, and his brother Brighton all played against Mom, Genica, Tara, and me. Somehow the girls kept winning. Somehow! It was great fun. The boys did get a higher score than us on one song, I don't want to make it seem like we completely blew them out of the water. Not completely.

Thanksgiving. We had everyone here at Tara's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Mom's mom even made it for some visiting time earlier in the day. It was good food (which I didn't overeat, thank you very much) and good family.

Phoenix Zoo. We got to go to the zoo. It was really fun. I have to remind myself that it's not September. It's almost Christmastime. But the perfect weather at the zoo made it hard to remember how far into winter we actually are. The animals were pretty cool to see, although I was somewhat downhearted to find that they closed the alligator exhibit. That was one of my favorite animals. I think because Josh is terrified of gators and crocs. It probably didn't help his fear when he lived in South Africa and had to ride his bike down a path covered by sunbathing crocodiles. Anyway, it was fun.

Black Friday. I've never been shopping on Black Friday before. When I was working, I worked that day because I was at a bank. No days off for Black Friday when you work in the banking industry. After I quit working, we never had enough money for the shopping. Plus, what would I do with my children? Take them with me? I think not. So, Mom, Tara, Genica, and I headed out at 4:30am. I stood in line for a Ninetendo DS (don't tell Emma). But Josh and I had realized that we couldn't just get one. If you have more than one child, you know what I mean. We needed two--one for Emma and one for Ab. I did not need to hear Abby complaining that her Christmas was ruined because she didn't get cool things like Emma. By the time I'd been in line for an hour or two, it was my turn to claim my prize. I went to get one pink and one red DS. I was told I could only get one. I was freaking out! I needed to get two! I took the last pink one and went to get back in line for the second one, when Tara told me that she walked up to the lady and said she needed a red one. The lady didn't argue with her, and Tara became my hero! Now I'm fully stocked with two Nintendo DS's. I could not imagine trying to brave that madness alone. I'm so glad my mom and sisters were with me!

Just seeing Mom and Dad. I've realized that I miss Great Falls. It's only been just over two months since we left, but I do miss my friends, our ward, our house, seeing Mom and Dad whenever I want, seeing Gramma and Grampa whenever I want, seeing frost on the windows, etc. I'm a bit homesick.

Of course, I have no pictures of any of these things. But it was a great visit and I was sad dropping Mom and Dad off at the airport this morning. I'm so glad they got to fly, though. I'd hate to think of them coming and being so busy this whole time and then having to spend two days in the car.

We did secure a rental, but we won't be able to move in until we can get a truck to move out of the storage unit. We'll do that next week. It's slow, but the Lord finds it necessary to continue to try to teach us patience. I'm sure sick of this lesson and hope I can learn it soon so we can move past it.