November Wrap-Up

Well, now that December is almost over, I think it is at last time to blog about November. :)  The most noteworthy event of the month would have to be my birthday.  I knew that we would have a few people over for some cake and ice cream.  Little did I realize that some of those people would be from Utah!  On the day before my birthday, Dave came home from work with a little something extra--three extra people to be exact.  I was thrilled to see my sister, great friend Lisa and Lisa's daughter Paisley on my doorstep that night!!!

Shanelle, Lisa and I just before our trip to Boston.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't know that I needed them to come, but I did.  Having them here was such a treat and fed my spirit.  

The next day, Dave took the day off of work and we all headed off to explore Boston.  This was a first for Shanelle, Lisa, Paisley, Alice and me.  Look below for some photos of our excursion:

 

We enjoyed walking along the Freedom Trail and seeing so much of our country's history.  I hope to return again soon.  For lunch we took a break at Faneuil Hall and had some delicious food including Boston clam chowder, a lobster roll, bacon wrapped-scallops, and coconut macaroons.  A great way to spend my birthday!

Dave, by the way, gets the Husband of the Year Award since he selflessly made sure that we girls were all well taken care of.  He drove the whole way to Boston while we girls gabbed in the back of the Yukon, pushed the babies around town and also made sure that we didn't get lost.  We couldn't have made it without him!  He even walked all the way back to the car with a sleeping Alice while the rest of us climbed aboard the USS Constitution.  See below for photos of my awesome hubby and "Old Ironsides":

 

During the next few days, the girls and I went shopping for makeup, out to dinner, to Fabulous Friday (a dinner and craft night) at my church and Shanelle and Lisa earned their keep by helping me paint the grout in my kitchen!  It took three hours but we got it done much faster and more enjoyably than I ever would have on my own.  Just look at the results!

Such a fabulous and enjoyable birthday weekend!  Having Shanelle, Lisa, and Paisley here made this perhaps my best birthday yet!  It was hard to see Lisa and Shanelle go, but I wouldn't trade their visit for anything!  I am so grateful that they came and that Dave did his part to make it all happen.  I felt so loved!

Two days after the ladies left, we had the great pleasure of having my cousin Devin and his family come stay with us!  We loved having them here!  I am so glad that he is living on the East Coast, too, so that we could have family over for the holiday.  They made our Thanksgiving this year!

 As is typical for Dave when it comes to holiday meals, he did most of the cooking.  I did the rolls and Devin and Erin helped where they could.  Most of all I was impressed that Devin did almost all of the dishes after the feast!  

Later on that night we had a family photo session since we had some people in the house who were willing to take our photo.  The kids weren't super thrilled about it, but we did have some laughs taking them!

Our silly version.

Better

At least Alice is smiling this time!

The next day was sunny.  We decided to venture out to Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts for our second time.  We bought a pass the last time we were there and figured we would be paying for Devin and his family to come along.  To our delight, he and his family got to join us for free!  Being in the Army has it's privileges.  The Village did not disappoint and we all had a great time!  (It was VERY cold, however!)

Devin and Erin paid for pizza that evening.  We played cards and had a fire in the fireplace after that.  I thoroughly enjoyed the day and Devin and Erin's whole visit.  Devin and Erin are welcome to come again anytime and I hope they will.  They were fabulous house guests!


Unfortunately, they had to leave the next morning.  They left just as the young men and young women from church were arriving to make sugar cookies for the ward Christmas party. . . .

I will leave off here so that I can do another post about Christmas.  I hope to get that one done before the end of January! 

 

Is This Heaven?

I have to keep asking myself if I am in heaven several times a day.  I have only experienced fall in New England twice, but I have to say that this year beats last year and I thought it was gorgeous then.  The colors, the mild weather, the sunlight are all beyond description.  Even the pictures I have tried to take do not do the beauty justice.  I invite you all to come here immediately to delight in the loveliness that surrounds us here.  If you can't come tomorrow, you will have to try to be satisfied with my weak attempts at capturing what I can with my camera.  Here are some photos of the house and yard:
 

I have to pinch myself to realize that I am not dreaming and this is really right outside my front door!

The scenery makes an excellent background for portraits as well.  Here are some pictures I snapped of all of us earlier today:

Even though this was a hard week for Alice and me (she had a high fever and was in pain due to a virus the entire week), I am so grateful for all of my many, many blessings.  The biggest one is that my sweet baby is feeling much better now.  I also am grateful for the opportunity I had to give a talk in a special meeting for adults in my church on Saturday night.  I felt the Spirit strongly as I worked on my talk and I shared certain things with my children and husband as I prepared that I would not have otherwise done.  It stretched me and helped me to grow.  How grateful I am, too, for the input my mother and my mother-in-law gave me when I asked them to help me edit my talk.  They are amazing women and I love learning from them! It was challenging preparing, but I would do it all over again in an instant because I gained so much.  

Now, I am looking forward to a new week.  Hope it's a good one for one and all!

It's About Time

It is officially time to catch up.  A lot of life has been happening here at the Pulley house and I have found fitting in a blog post to be difficult.  I even pondered possibly not doing any more posts once I hit the year mark, but that didn't feel quite right.  I enjoy taking time to reflect on the blessings that have come to my family and making a record of various events and activities that have taken place in our lives every once in awhile.  Thus, I am going to move forward and quickly recap the last few months of our lives. . . .

Starting with August, this month brought about the celebration of another birthday in our family.  Jonathan turned 15!  I can't believe how grown up he is already!  I really enjoy this oldest son of mine.  Here are some pictures of his birthday:

He got french toast for breakfast and a cookies and cream homemade birthday cake.  For this round of birthdays, starting with Jonathan's, the kids have requested that I make a candy birthday card for each of them.  I don't think the picture of the card pictured above is very legible, so I thought I'd reprint the words on Jonathan's card below:  

Dear Jonathan,

We decided to make this "Jumbo" card for you because we think you're a "Watchamacallit", oh yea, a "Whopper" of a son and brother.  We definitely don't think you're a "Dud".  We think you're "M&M" (marvelous and magnificent)!  You're growing up really fast; you're not really a "Kid" anymore.  We're also glad you don't have a "Lemonhead"; otherwise, your "Evil Twin" may come and send us all into "Orbit".  We know this card doesn't make much sense, but we all want to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Totally silly, but, of course he and the other kids loved it.  We also went out to dinner as a family per Jonathan's request.
 
The next significant event to occur here, was the temple groundbreaking ceremony.  The Hartford Connecticut Temple is to be built in Farmington, less than fifteen minutes from our home!  I am beyond thrilled!  The temple means more to me than ever and it was utterly thrilling to participate in the ceremony and then later go as a family to the temple site and take a few pictures.  The kids even got to turn over some soil and ride (and a few drove) a cart around the temple site.  Such a wonderful, wonderful day!

Toward the end of August school started.  The kids are doing great and I couldn't be happier about the education they are receiving here.  

Here is a collage I already posted on Facebook of the kids' first day of school:

 It is always bittersweet to send them back, but it was time and we are all settling into our school rountine nicely.  I was honestly the most worried about how Alice and I would fare with all her friends and my helpers gone all day, but it has turned out to be quite lovely.  She either entertains herself or follows me around and has had regular play dates as well.  The biggest bonus for me is that she will happily watch a "show" as she calls it while I take a shower and/or clean up around the house.  I am trying to be mindful of not taking too much advantage of that fact and have made it a point to play with and read to her everyday as well, but boy, is it wonderful be able to have her sit still and watch something when it's really needed!

The older kids are all in soccer and Jonathan even made the Varsity team at Simsbury High this year.  Even though that means less playing time for him, it is an honor for him to be on the team and he has been putting in his full effort at practices and is as committed as ever to the sport.  I really admire his overall great attitude about it.  Thomas is on a travel soccer team and Haley is on a rec team.  I don't think I have ever spent more time in the car!  I have continued to listen to audio books and have recently finished Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice and Matched.  I actually feel like I am accomplishing something while being chauffeur!

September came quickly and that meant it was soon Haley's birthday!  We had several of her friends over for pizza, a movie and hairstyling.  She didn't want an actual cake for her birthday so we had frozen yogurt instead.  Here are some pictures of her big day.  Eleven already and in sixth grade now!  She is growing up so fast!

The paper Haley is holding in the collage above the card is her flight information.  For her birthday this year she really, really wanted to go to Utah for her Aunt Rochelle's wedding.  She got her wish and we had such a great time!  Here are some pictures of that amazing day:

The tricky part about going was that Dave had to go to a business conference in Minneapolis at the same time.  Dave is good at figuring things out, though, and he managed to book our flights out for the same day so we drove to the airport together.  He hopped on his plane to Minnesota and then Haley, Alice and I waited for our flight to Salt Lake.  Dave was able to fly the next evening from Minneapolis to Utah in time for the wedding Friday morning and then he flew back to Minneapolis again early Saturday.  On Sunday, the girls and I had a layover in Minneapolis and then Dave planned to meet us there and fly with us the rest of the way home.  I actually saw him every day for at least a little while all five days of the trip.  I am always impressed at Dave's logistical skills!  I almost messed everything up when we were flying home, however.  Even though we got there an hour before our departure time, the security line was so long that we missed our flight out of Salt Lake!  That made me nervous.  Fortunately, we were booked on the next flight out and made it just in time for our connecting flight.  Dave was waiting for us when we got off the plane.  It was good to see him and finally make our way back home.  The interesting part (or is it a coincidence?!?) was that Alice was the worst she was out of all four flights once Dave was with us.  I am just glad that we were all together. :)

While we were gone, our children were in wonderful hands.  When we arrived home, the kids left behind were happy, the house was clean and dinner was five minutes away from being ready.  We were really blessed to have some new friends of ours watch our children while Dave and I were gone and I couldn't be more grateful.  We brought them back a Blentec to show our gratitude, but they assured us that they would have done it even without that.  It was truly an answer to prayer to have everything work out as well as it did since this was the first time I had to leave my children with someone other than family.

The last thing I wanted to share was that just before we left for Utah, Dave's parents came to visit us here in Connecticut!  There is nothing we love more than visitors and even though the fall colors here were only just starting to show up, it was still lovely to have them here and they made a point of letting us know that they actually came here to see us and not the landscape. :)  While Doug and Kathy were here, we made a run to Costco, did some shopping around home, the adults had a delightful and delicious dinner at Abigail's here in town and to top it all off, we made a trip to Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts.  Absolutely a pure delight to have them here!  We hope that they will come again very soon.  Enjoy the following collage of our visit to Sturbridge Village.  We ended up getting a membership there, so if you visit, we may end up making a trip there with you, too!  It really was an incredible window into the past:

We are happy and healthy.  I really can't complain.  I was surprised by my sadness when I left Utah because I do feel so settled and content living here, but it is still hard to leave behind the family and friends I love.  A big part of me still lies in Utah and I don't think I'll ever be able to erase that.  However, the beauty and life I have here are magical and I wouldn't trade them for anything!  Coming soon, I will do my best to capture the majestic glory of autumn here.  I am not sure I will be able to do it justice, but I will do my best.  I hope to post again sooner than I did this last time. . . . . . .wish me luck!

A Year Already and a Road Trip

Today marks the one year anniversary of our move to Connecticut.  We closed on our home July 31, 2012 and started moving in the very same day.  That was the official beginning of my biggest adventure to date.  Knowing that today was significant, I have given some time to reflection.  I remember how very much I didn't want to move here.  I remember crying a lot.  I didn't think that I needed Connecticut.  I was happy with who I was and where I was.  

I have changed since then.  I am not the person I was when I first came here.  I still have loads to work on, but I feel safe and comfortable saying that I am a better version of myself than I was a year ago.  My horizons have been expanded.  I have conquered fears.  I have found joy in a new place.  I have met the most wonderful people.  My children, husband and I are so happy.  I can still connect with the loved ones I left behind.  I look forward to when we will be together again, but I wouldn't trade the experiences I have had this year for anything in the world.  I feel so, so very blessed.  I feel privileged to be creating wonderful memories for my entire family in this new-to-us part of the country.

Some of my best memories here were made two weeks ago today when we went on our first real road trip since moving to New England.  It was a combined business trip/family vacation which enabled us to stay in nicer hotels than we might have otherwise stayed in and allowed Dave to take half of the children in the rental car provided by his company while I took the other half in our car.  I was a little nervous at first about driving on my own since it seems that I always fall asleep rather quickly when Dave does the driving.  I had to be a big girl this time and drive all by myself to a place I had never been before.  Dave had an appointment with a broker that he had to get to so he left earlier than I did and said, "I'll see you in Palmyra."  I told him I had no idea how to get there and he told me to Google it and he was off.  Thanks heaven for the internet and my GPS!  I managed to make it there, though I did have a little bit of a stop at a gas station along the way because I discovered enroute that the cell phone charger I usually keep in the car had mysteriously disappeared.  I was using my phone to navigate and it was almost out of power.  Knowing that Dave and I would never be able to find each other if my phone died, I decided to stop and see if I could plug in my regular charger at a gas station.  I had three of my sweet girls including the baby with me.  Not only was I allowed to plug in my phone, but the woman at the gas station gave us all ice waters and donut holes on the house.  It was a "sweet" experience literally!  Another example of how nice people can be out here!  

Before long, my phone was functional again and I actually made it to Palmyra in time to wait for a few hours for the Hill Cumorah Pageant to start.  Dave made it, too, about 30 minutes after I did.  We were hot and sweaty waiting for the 9:15 or so start time.  Alice got a bit cranky at one point and a man who was part of the pageant said to me that he had once taken a child Alice's age to the pageant years ago and he remembered wondering if it would all be worth it.  He looked at me and said simply, "It was."  

I have to agree with him.  Having the kids be a little tired was a very small price to pay for what we experienced.  There was a beautiful Spirit there and the kids and Dave and I were all mesmerized by it.  I will never forget Sarah Jane tugging my arm when the Savior descended in one of the final scenes and whispering earnestly, "Mom, Mom is that really Jesus?"  Later as we were walking back to the cars, she said without any prompting from me, "I really liked that.  I want to go again!"  It was a great start to our vacation.  Here are some photos from that night:

 We loved the Hill Cumorah Pageant and met some old acquaintances who happened to be part of the cast!

That night we stayed in Rochester, NY.  The hotel was new and lovely and included a great breakfast buffet.  Once again, Dave had to leave me to fend for myself the next morning since he had a few other appointments to make.  The kids and I took our time getting ready to leave and I let the kids take a swim before we got in the car.  Usually Dave is super helpful and good at getting our things packed up and making sure that we don't forget anything, but he couldn't do that this time.  I am so grateful for kids that are willing to help out.  All of the kids were great and we managed to check out right on time.  Once again, I relied completely on my GPS to get me to the next stop on our journey--Buffalo, NY.

The kids wanted to go swimming again when we got to this hotel so Dave and I let them.  We were on vacation after all!  Then, we let our fourteen-year-old babysit while Dave and I went out to dinner.  Dinner was fantastic!  We ended up at an Italian Restaurant that had just opened a month earlier.  It was called Osteria.  I totally recommend it.  Then we picked up some treats at a grocery store and took them back to the kids.  We all got a pretty good night's sleep that night and it felt good to take things rather easy.  

The next day we enjoyed another excellent breakfast at the hotel and then got into our two cars and headed up to Canada!  The kids were so excited to actually go "out of the country".  In order to go to Canada, adults need a passport but the kids were fine with just their birth certificates.  The Falls were spectacular.  See the photo below:

Niagara Falls

 We decided to pay the money and took the Maid of the Mist boat tour.  Another memorable experience.  Most of the kids totally enjoyed it, but a certain little miss did not want anything to do with it.  We were given cheap ponchos to wear, but my little sweetheart thought we were all crazy to be putting plastic bags on.  She kept screaming and tugging at her poncho.  She tore it in a few places and would not let up.  Thank goodness the water and motor on the boat were loud enough that I don't think she bothered other people too much.  As soon as we were past the point of getting too wet, I took off Alice's poncho and then she proceeded to pull at mine and everyone else's in the family.  She thought we were all insane to have ever put them on.  They were really needed, however, since getting wet is definitely part of the ride!  Here are some more photos of this part of our trip:

We hung around Niagara Falls, Ontario a while longer.  Though we were completely taken in by the Falls themselves, we didn't care for all of the commercialism that has sprung up in the surrounding area.  So we went back to the hotel a little earlier than originally planned.  We did stop at Chili's on the way, though, and the kids were thrilled!  I even got a compliment on how well behaved the children were.  Alice still needs to take a few more lessons on how to behave in public, however.  

We got another good night's sleep that night and another great breakfast in the morning.  Then we all loaded up and started back towards CT.  We had one more stop in Palmyra on the way.  It rained all the way from Buffalo to Palmyra, but Sarah Jane said a prayer that the rain would stop before we got there and it did!  It was a little muddy, but we were able to enjoy seeing the Sacred Grove and the Smith Farm House.  I could for sure feel the Spirit there.  I was a little taken aback by the boldness of the Sister Missionary who spoke to people in the Farm House.  She was bold and direct in declaring that Joseph Smith did in fact see God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove.  She then asked the group around her what they thought about that.  I can't remember if anyone answered her or not, but I know all over again that what she said is true.  I cannot deny it.  Here are some photos we took at that special place:

Sacred Grove

Smith Farm House

After our stop in Palmyra, we loaded up and started on our way home again.  We only made one more rest stop the remainder of the trip.  The kids did really well and I kept my mind busy by listening to the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  One day soon I will be taking the kids to the Mark Twain house that is not too far from here.  After listening to these books I more excited than ever to go and check that out.  

Well, that's it for now.  We are still enjoying our time here and look forward to another year of adventure and happiness!

Summer at Last!

We had to wait a very, very long time for the weather and the school calendar to bring summer to us.  We had an unusually wet June this year which resulted in some minor flooding in our basement on more than one occasion and some cooler than average temperatures.  All in all, I am glad that the weather wasn't too warm since the kids had to be in school with no air conditioning.  Next year, they will be out of school much earlier, thank goodness!

 

Thomas and Haley during one of the torrential downpours that came through town.

 I am growing more and more settled in our life here all the time.  I am developing some strong connections with the people who live here and now can't imagine ever not knowing them.  I feel at peace with the knowledge that the people I left behind are doing the things that they need to do and my family and I are where we need to be, too.  A sweet person helped me to put things in perspective when she told me that, for right now, my family was more needed here than back in Utah.  It finally clicked in my mind that I don't need to wish things were different because they are exactly what they should be.  I look forward to spending time with my family when it is right, but have felt more of an ability to joy in the blessings living here affords me and the rest of my family this last little while.

The last few months have been busy and productive.  We finally bought a "real" lawnmower, much to Thomas' delight.  Our push mower literally wasn't "cutting it".  Here is a picture of him happily mowing away!

Aren't those rhododendrons beautiful?!  It was so fun to see them flower this year.  We missed seeing them entirely the year before.  I took some photos of the kids in front of the flowers while they were still in bloom:

The end of the year notable events were Thomas graduating from the sixth grade and Sarah Jane becoming a kindergarten graduate.  Time is flying by.  My heart is always, always a little tender at the close of a school year.  

t
Our last day of school was on Monday, June 24th.  We have only had two weeks of summer, but they have been full of adventure!  We went swimming several times the last few weeks thanks to our season pass to the pool in town.  I love seeing friends there every time we go.  I have been actually getting in the pool and swimming with the kids rather than sitting on the edge.  I did that more last year, but now that Alice is a little older, I have enjoyed getting wet and getting some exercise.  In life and swimming it's still best to just "jump in"! 

We have also taken the time to go on a hike.  We went to Enders Forest in Granby, CT to see some beautiful waterfalls last Saturday:

This last week, Jonathan headed off to youth conference for three days. It was held at Camp Joseph in Sharon, Vermont.  For those of you who don't remember your church history, that's the Smith Farm where Joseph Smith, Jr. was born.  He had a lot of fun with the other youth in our stake.

While Jonathan was enjoying Vermont, the rest of us went swimming some more, spent time with friends and got ready for the 4th of July.  On Wednesday night, we met some friends and got to see the fireworks in town.  Then on the 4th of July we went to a pool party for most of the day and then had a few friends over for dessert and sparklers.  I loved celebrating with them!

Finally, we went to the beach yesterday!  I am a bit tired today, but it was worth it.  It's still so amazing to me that I can go to the beach and come back in a single day.  I can't wait to go again soon!

Last of all in this post, I would like to add some pictures of some of the decorating I have been doing around the house.  It's still very much a work in progress, but I am really pleased with how things are starting to come together.  It has taken some faith and effort and help from friends, but I am thrilled with how things are looking:

This has been such a great summer so far!  I am looking forward to the future and continue to take things one day at a time.  I feel so, so blessed and am truly enjoying my days here.  I hope all of you are enjoying life wherever you may be, too!

Enraptured

Every time I take a walk outside, I am enraptured.  Birds are singing, flowers blooming, the temperature is just about perfect.  Even Alice loves to be outside.  Here are some photos of the front yard:

I take walks as often as I can.  Always with Alice and sometimes with a friend or two.  I feel renewed and lucky to be living in such a beautiful place.

Things are busy.  Soccer season is keeping us on our toes.  We have a total of five practices during the week and as many as three games on the weekend.  We would have more, but we have committed as a family to not playing on Sundays.  Thomas was bumped up to the "A" travel team and I was concerned that they may not want him since he would miss half of the games.  After talking with the coach personally, I was assured that they did and Thomas has already scored several goals at the games he has attended.  Haley is loving being on the same team as her best friend and Jonathan is also doing extremely well.  I am very pleased with how well my children continue to do here socially, academically and physically.  They are all excelling. 

We have had a lot of activity going on the last little while, but I have to say that by far the most special experience this last month occurred last Saturday as we finally went to the temple for the first time since moving here nine months ago.  In Utah, we could be at the temple in seven or eight minutes.  Here, it takes about two hours.  There is something about the sacrifice required that made the experience more holy for me than ever before.  I got up at 4:15 and we loaded up the car with children and supplies.  We left home at 5:30 in order to be inside the temple before 8:00 AM.  I was filled with joy as I witnessed my husband baptize both of my sons in the temple.  Thomas was entering the temple for the first time.  Later, I had the opportunity to go through an endowment session while Dave stayed with the children.  I was able to make a new friend during the session and hope that our paths will cross again someday.  It was such a beautiful experience.  One I will never forget.  I cannot wait to return again soon.

The sun was in our eyes.  Such a lovely morning, though!

We have also gone on a hike as a family recently.  Everything is much more green now than it was the day we took our hike, but it was still so wonderful to be outdoors and together as a family.  Here are some photos from that excursion:

Emma was pretending she couldn't go on after about five minutes of walking!

We have enjoyed having guests over, too.  Below are some photos of some fun we had making chocolate-dipped strawberries with one of our new good friends in the ward.  The missionaries showed up while she was here.  I love having them stop by!  

Obviously, the kids really got into it!

We had that same special friend come to our home last night and help watch the children while Dave and I went out to dinner to celebrate Dave's 38th birthday.  I feel closer to him than ever and I was delighted to have some time alone together.  We went to a terrific restaurant here in town called Abigail's.  Dinner was divine.  It is expensive, though, so we won't be going back too often.  When we arrived home, our friend had helped the kids make signs for Dave.  I thought the signs were so cute.  Many, many thanks to that sweet lady for helping Dave feel so important on his big day!

We have another birthday coming up soon. . .Sarah Jane will be six a week from Friday!  I am excited to celebrate another person in my family.  I still really miss my extended family, especially when we have birthdays and holidays to celebrate, but I wouldn't trade what I am experiencing here for anything.  It is such a gift!

Spring Has Sprung!

Spring has finally arrived here in New England!  I was beginning to wonder if it would come since school was cancelled for snow as recently as the first week of March and there was snow in our yard right up until about last week.  The grass is not very green yet and we haven't seen any flowers near our home, but I am certain they are on their way.  At least the birds and other wildlife are showing up more often.  The girls are excited that they have seen a bunny running around more than once and we see deer, turkeys, squirrels, cardinals and blue jays on our property with regularity.  Here are some photos I took of the house and yard two days ago:

Things have been exciting and fun around here!  Of course the biggest accomplishment of the last few months is that we finally finished remodeling our living room, entryway and hallway!  Now it's time for the big reveal:

The paint color is Abalone.  It's not quite gray or tan or beige.  It goes well with everything, though, and I am quite happy with how it turned out!  We did learn a thing or two along the way.  We will have to repaint a portion of the paint since we got the wrong finish and I am finding it difficult to wipe off smudges on the wall.  I was sad about that at first, but I decided that life is a learning process and that I need to be content with progress when it comes to renovating the house and within myself.  The house does look much, much better than before and I am thrilled with the recessed lighting in the living room.  We spend a lot more time in there now in the evenings.  

Of course, we finished our remodeling just in time for all of our out-of-town guests to arrive for Emma's baptism.  We loved, loved have both sets of grandparents as well as my sisters Audrie and Alyse here for that sacred event.  Just before my parents and sisters left, Dave, Alice and I all went with them to New York City since they were going to be flying out of LaGuardia Airport.  We took the time to see the Museum of Natural History, the Manhattan Temple, Central Park, Times Square and ride the Subway.  Dave and I had so much fun that we took our kids back to New York this last Saturday.  It still boggles my mind that we are close enough to go to New York whenever we happen to have a free day.  We are getting better at getting around the City every time we go and we would be happy to take anyone who happens to come out to visit us along.  Here are some collages of the two trips we took:

New York Trip #1

New York Trip #2

Having the house remodeling done has allowed us to invite people over again.  So we had an open house to celebrate another event of great significance, Alice Joy's first birthday!  We had a little open house to celebrate and even though we told everyone not to bring presents many still did.  She felt so loved!  We really do have the best friends and neighbors here.  Her big presents from the family were a refurbished kitchen and a ride-on toy that plays music.  Here are some photos of our sweetheart on her special day:

My visiting teaching companion also had a birthday on March 16th, so we had her and her husband and another family over for dinner on St. Patrick's Day.  We didn't do anything really to recognize St. Patrick's Day, but we had cake and sang Happy Birthday instead.  It feels good to have people come over again!  

We also had several women and children in the ward come over on Good Friday for a potluck lunch and Easter egg hunt.  The kids had a ball and it felt good to have everyone visit.  I think Alice enjoyed her first time egg-hunting!

Easter Sunday itself was overcast and a little cold and gloomy-looking.  I managed to still feel the holiness of the day as I taught an Easter lesson to my primary class.  Sharing my testimony of the Savior always feels so good and I always welcome the chance to think about and honor Him a little more than usual.  The children, naturally, were thrilled to get Easter baskets that morning.  Alice Joy received a blanket and stuffed bunny.  It was a good choice for her since she didn't seem to be feeling too great that day.  Here is a photo of her sleeping right after her bath:

We found out on Tuesday that she had an ear infection.  Poor thing!  We were able to get a few smiles out of her as we took photos to commemorate the day after church.  I am glad that we kept things simple and didn't have anyone over that day since she was feeling under the weather.  Dave made it special by preparing a salad, roast beef, Bearnaise sauce, asparagus and baked potatoes.  It was delicious!

I am so grateful for the joy and peace the gospel brings!  I am so grateful for a Savior who lived and died for me!  I know that he has a plan for each of his children and that his plan for each of us is so exciting that it leaves no room in our hearts for jealousy or envy.  I am loving the interesting turns my life has taken as I have sought to give my life over to Him and am continuing to grow and change while I am here in the East.  Look below for the pictures we took on Sunday:

 

Emma's Baptism

What a crazy, intense time we had leading up to Emma's baptism!  What a special, wonderful day Emma's baptism was!  I have decided that I should expect there to be some opposition in my life when something spiritually important is about to happen.  Our family had our hands full finishing up the remodeling, taking care of the kids and preparing for our out-of-town guests.  To top it all off, we had some unwelcome guests make their presence known in our house the week before my parents were scheduled to arrive.  I saw a bug crawl out of one of the girls' hair when I went do it one morning.  It was the first time we had ever dealt with those nasty little critters, but I still knew what I was looking at.  Thank goodness the kids had the week off!  The week was devoted to nit removal, laundry and house cleaning.  I am happy to say that we have had absolutely no signs of their presence for a few weeks now, but boy was that stressful!  I admit that for a moment I thought that I would rather go back to live in Utah where I had never had to deal with any of that before.  However, I have since repented of that and decided that where there is no stress there is no growth.  I have grown and learned so much in my time here in Connecticut and I would never want to change that.  

We were happy we had time to get rid of the unwanted creatures in time to have our very much welcomed other guests arrive.  We thoroughly, absolutely LOVED having my parents, Dave's parents and my two youngest sisters here.  They all got along so well and we had the best time.  My mother and mother-in-law took care of me and I hardly had to lift a finger it seemed when it came to making sure things were taken care of for the baptism and for any of our meals actually.  I am so very blessed to have all of these wonderful people in my life!

The day of the baptism itself was so peaceful and special.  All of the details came together so wonderfully.  Here are a few photos taken at the church that day:

I will never forget the day and the support we received.  So many ward members went out of there way to be there.  My mother-in-law gave the opening prayer.  My mother gave the talk on baptism.  Jonathan spoke on the Holy Ghost.  Thomas, Haley, Sarah Jane and Alyse (my youngest sister) sang, "When I Am Baptized".  My father-in-law and dad were the witnesses, and Audrie gave the closing prayer.  Of course, Dave performed the baptism itself as well as the comfirmation.  I was so delighted to have several of my new friends come as well.  They have been so supportive of me and my family and helped this to be a day I will never forget.  All of the opposition I felt was worth it to have the day turn out the way it did!

The next day, we took a few more family photos:

  

Overall, my heart is full of so much gratitude!  I thank my Heavenly Father for blessing me with so very much!  This is all I have time for today, but stay tuned for an update on the house and some pictures from the day my family, Dave and I spent in New York.  That post will be followed by some pictures of Alice Joy's birthday.  I can't believe she's already almost one!  Oh, how I love her and how fast the time flies by!

Historic

I would have liked to do a post much earlier, but the last few weeks have been CRAZY!  We had a birthday, home renovations, a baby with an ear infection and Roseola, and a historic storm.  We are also getting ready for company and a baptism.  There is much to do and I got little sleep while the baby was sick resulting my getting a cold sore.  The baby wanted to be held most of the time when she wasn't feeling well, which I was happy to do, but the kids were home for four and a half days due to the weather and the reduced living space of the house and the fact that I couldn't do much while holding my sick little Alice resulted in things feeling a little out of control.  My house was NOT clean.  However, as I was praying one morning about all the things that were troubling me at the moment, I had the impression that sometimes getting better means having things be worse for a while.  Literally, my home is going to be so much nicer in just a few days time.  I have finally picked out a paint color for the living room (actually Dave picked it out) and Alice is all better!  My cold sore is going away, the house is much cleaner than it was at the beginning of the week and I have still been able to exercise all week.  Emma had a wonderful birthday and I LOVED Valentine's Day.  So sweet and special.  All is well again and I am so grateful for my many blessings.  Sometimes life isn't super fun for a while, but joy is usually just around the corner if we can just hang on.  Below are some pictures of the events of the last few weeks.  Enjoy!

Emma's party was awesome!  We had a few neighbors come over for cake and ice cream since my family wasn't here.  Miss my family, but our new friends are so great.  We loved sharing Emma's special day with them!

I would call Nemo the third historic event to occur here in the East since we moved to Connecticut.  The pic with the yardstick in the top right corner was taken at the beginning of the storm.  The bottom right was taken at the end.  There was so much snow!  Dave worked all day on February 9th shoveling snow and had to rely on help from neighbors and their snow blowers just to get the driveway cleared.  Lucky for us, this just happened to be the weekend our family was assigned to clear the snow away at the church building, too.  We ended up only having Sacrament Meeting on the 10th since there were some people who were still snowed in and weren't able to make it to church.  Definitely a memorable weekend!

Here are some more photos of the house.  Emma decided to draw a mural on the wall with the paint samples.  I really am excited about the final color.  (The color we are going with is not on the walls in these photos. Stay tuned to see what the end result of our paint sampling is!)  Here I am holding my sweet Alice.  I did that a lot for a few days in a row there.  I am so relieved that she is happy and smiling again now.  Thankfully, Roseola typically only affects young children between six months and two years of age so no one else in family had to deal with it this time around.  I am sure that they all had it when they were young, too.  So nice to have this sickness behind us.  The last thing worth mentioning is the note we found under the wallpaper in the entryway.  Nice to know that Frank was here more than 50 years ago and that he got a degree!