The top 14 of 2014: Sweet Moments

It's 2015!  I can't tell  you all how happy I am to see 2014 slip into the dustbin of history.  It was a great year but also a tough year.  We faced some real challenges and had some of the greatest joys of our lives.  So, in honor of 2014, I thought I would write down 14 of our highlights from this up and down year.

1.  My birthday.  Casey went above and beyond this year to make my 41st birthday extra special.  He got us a room at the Valley River Inn and he checked in extra early. He had decorated the room in gifts and flowers.  The flowers, gifts and goodies made my day.  I felt so spoiled!  We also went to a movie (Gravity) and then to dinner.  That next morning we both couldn't sleep so we found ourselves in the hotel's hot tub at 5:30 a.m.  We talked for 2 hours before we had to get out.  It was such a great day!

2.  Disney Party: I already blogged about this but we threw our first annual Disney party in February as well.  Everyone that came dressed up as their favorite characters.  We had a bunch of food, games and fun!  Our kids still talk about this party, even now, a year later.  We look forward to doing another one this year.

3.  Disney cruise:  Right after the Disney Party, Casey and I flew to Florida for a 4 day Disney cruise out of Port Canveral.  We needed to get away for a while and thanks to our generous friends who watched our kids for us, we had a wonderful week alone!  Seriously, it was awesome!   We toured the ship, ate, rented bikes, ate, watched shows, ate, and talked on the deck while eating.  Oh, how amazing that trip was!

4.  Last minute Spring Break trip to San Francisco:   We planned this trip with one week's notice.  Originally, Casey was going to accompany his cousin Jared to San Fran to attend the Kraftwerks concert.  At the last minute, he invited the rest of us to go early and he would still attend the concert with Jared.  It was a whirlwind trip that included the Jelly Belly Factory, Ghiradelli Square, the Golden Gate Bridge, The Walt Disney Family Museum, the zoo and dinner at Rainforest Cafe.  We had a great time.

5.  Boat ride on Carquinez Strait:  While in California we chartered a private boat ride through the Carquinez Strait.  (We actually did some trade for it so it was free!)  We spent a whole afternoon lounging on this boat as the captain showed us the northern California sights.  The little girls even got to drive the boat for a while!

6. Charlotte got her Patriarchal Blessing:  Because our Stake Patriarch was serving a mission, Charlotte went to the Patriarch for the Eugene Stake instead.  It was an amazing experience and incredibly powerful.  The Patriarch spent 90 minutes with us before the blessing and Casey and I found that we got more out of what he was saying than even Charlotte did. 

7.  17th Wedding Anniversary.  That's right, I've been  married to his guy for 17 years now!  For the most part, the years have been amazing, though we have had some trials.  Trials and tribulation always make a person (and a marriage) stronger though and now, as we celebrate 17, we have an unbreakable bond and the best marriage we have ever had.  To celebrate, we went to Corvallis to do a Segway tour and then to Salem for a movie, dinner and a night in a hotel.  I sure love this man!

8. Nauvoo Family Reunion:  The three oldest girls and I were so lucky to attend the Westover family's Nauvoo, Illinois reunion.  We spent a glorious week doing a handcart trek, touring the old homes, watching incredible shows and visiting Carthage.  The girls came away with an increased testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel and with a greater appreciation for their pioneer ancestors.

9.  Girl's Camp:  This year I was asked to be the Stake girl's camp photographer.  It was a little different than my usual job of being a unit leader but it was a welcome change.  We loved our "superheroes" themed camp and were so thrilled to have Maggie there for the first time.  After the camp concluded, Casey and I got to produce the annual slide show with the (over 1,000) pictures that I took.  It turned out great!

Here is the link to the slideshow if you are interested in waching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWstOdGoS2w&feature=em-upload_owner

 10. Russia!  My brothers and I surprised my parents who were serving their mission in Moscow Russia.  They had no idea that all four of us were going to be getting off the plane to greet them.  We spent 5 wonderful days touring Moscow, riding the dreaded Metro (that scared me to death), ate at different restaurants, saw places like the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathdral and just enjoyed being together.  I was sad to leave but also happy to come back ot America at the end of the trip.  My parents served honorably in their mission until they were released in December.

11.  Braces:  Jillian got her braces off this year and Maggie got her braces on.  So, the payments to the orthodontist just kept right on going.  Dr. White will be able to buy a yacht by the time we are done paying him for orthodontist work.  (We have 2 more girls to go!)

12:  New School year (A new Freshman and seminary)  This year's start of school brought with it some changes.  The biggest was that Jillian started her Freshman year in high school.  With that change, we also now have two girls in early morning seminary.  Thankfully, they are pretty good at getting up on their own to get to school!

13.  Thanksgiving away from home:  In an effort to do something different this year with our Thanksgiving and change our memories a little bit, we rented a house on the beach and took our family, friends, and food out there.  It was a glorious and much needed change.  We did puzzles and ate lots of food while watching the waves crash into the shore out our back window.  

  

14.  Epic California Christmas trip:  Following the same theme as Thanksgiving, we abandoned all traditions (in fact, pretty much abandoned Christmas all together) and took a trip instead.  We went to Disneyland and then on a 4 day cruise to Mexico.  Our Christmas was spent in a tiny stateroom out in the middle of the ocean.  We didn't get many presents, we didn't have a big tree, we did no cooking or baking, and we didn't even send out cards (sorry friends....next year, I promise).  Instead, we spent the holiday together in the sunshine, making new memories and remembering the Savior.  It was so nice to change things up for this one year.  I guarantee that the girls will remember this Christmas above all the others!

So, that's it!  It's been quite a year of fun, hard work, struggles, travels, heartache and joy.  I focused mostly on the joyful things of this year here on this blog but there were challenges too.  I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that supports us in both our happy times and our sad times.  I am grateful for the Gospel and the happiness that it provides us.  I am thankful for trials and tribulation because they make the sweet moments in life all that more special.  Here's to the sweet moments in life!  May we have many more of them in 2015!

Halloween Fun!

I know it's a month later but I wanted to blog about our family's Halloween adventures.  This year was so great!  We decided to all dress up as Disney characters.  We had quite a time picking out costumes.  (we host a Disney Party later in the year so these costumes will get worn again!)

Anyway, we'll start with Maggie.  She was Cruella Deville.  She got such a kick out of her wig and her red gloves.  She even found a little Beanie Baby Dalmation to carry around.

Allison loves the fact that her name, when combined with "wonderland" sounds just like Alice in Wonderland.  So, I bought her this costume this year.  She looked so cute!  Allison and Lydia were my only two trick or treaters this year and they hit every single house in the neighborhood.

Peasant Belle just fit Jillian perfectly...you know the phrase from the movie..."Dreamy, far off look, her nose stuck in a book?"  Yep, that's our girl!   Belle was the perfect costume for her!

Lydia, along with probably 100 other girls that came to our house this night, was Anna from the movie "Frozen."  Not terribly original, I know, but Lydia was so happy!

Charlotte stole the show at our house however.  She bought this Coronation Dress for Elsa (Frozen) weeks earlier with her own money.  Before the trick or treating began, she went over to my friend Pamela's house to get her hair done and then best pal Jenna came over and did her make-up.

Here is the finished product.  Charlotte literally had little girls coming up to her in wonder, asking if she was the real Elsa.  They even gave her hugs!  Charlotte ate it up!

She looks pretty accurate, don't you think?  I'm pretty sure tonight was the greatest night of  Charlotte's life!

Casey was the only one that wasn't a Disney character.  He was Paul Blart, Mall cop.  He wanted to use his Segway so we came up with this costume.  He and I actually took the kids trick or treating on these babies.  It made the night much easier.

Yep, I was Maleficent.  I hated this costume because it made my head itch but it was fun to ride the segway with the flowing cape.  It looked like I was floating. (Allison's head looks weird in this picture, don't you think?)

While we were with the little girls trick or treating, Jillian and Maggie manned the popcorn station.  They gave out 300 bags of free popcorn to our 600 pieces of candy.  I think a lot of the adults enjoyed the warm popcorn.

While they ate popcorn, we of course had our traditional Nightmare Before Christmas movie window with surround sound playing.  Our house seems to be the gathering place, with lots of people just standing in the street, watching the movie.

Here is a picture of the lines we had for popcorn.  Our neighborhood was packed with people.  Almost every house had some sort of decoration and there were a few as elaborate as ours.  We love our neighbors!

A few days before Halloween, our neighbor Shanna asked us if we wanted this giant pumpkin to carve.  We painstakingly cut through the very thick walls to make a basic face.  Casey then put an LED light inside that flashed to the beat of the music.

This is what happened to Mr. Pumpkin the day after Halloween.  24 bags of pumpkin pulp are in the freezer!  Casey did all the work on this project.

We are now almost done with November and heading into the Christmas season. We are doing something different this year.  Instead of a traditional Christmas at home, we are skipping the presents, the cards, the goodies, even the tree...and we are going to California to enjoy a four night cruise.  We needed something different this year and the cruise was the perfect fit.  So, the money that we would have spent on Christmas, is going towards a fun memory for our family!  (And it has sure made the holiday season easy for me!)