Pure Gold

P1060602 from John Kylee on Vimeo.

She was having a full meltdown before I brought out the camera, which kind of made her pause. Poor Miriam was EXTREMELY upset that I wiped her booger with the tissue and just wanted it back on her finger! I hope she doesn't hate me later for posting this video. :)

Grandpa in town!

After my dad retired from being an elementary school teacher several years ago he has spent all of his free time fine tuning his wood turning skills. This is a hobby he picked up when I was a kid and he has always spent a lot of time doing it. Since he retired he has started spending a few months of the year in Scottsdale AZ where he sells his wood pieces at an art show. I have always had a pretty bad attitude about this. I have always loved my dad's art and think he is really talented, but I hated how he would leave and be in Arizona between January and the end of March.

Fast forward to this winter and he comes down to his art show, which happens to be a half hour drive from where we live. I have been so glad that my dad has been down here the last few months. It has made us feel not nearly so isolated to have him here. 

Also, I have really enjoyed being able to see what he has been up to all these years down here. It turns out that this art show is really quite reputable. It costs $10 a person to even get in, and then there are the price tags on the art pieces. Whewweee! If you have 50 grand to spend on a single piece of art and need a place to spend it, I can point you in the right direction. Walking around the show with him was so fun (despite my suppressed panic that my kids might break something)! Most of the artists have pieces that they are working on in their booths and it is fascinating to watch them. Each time we have visited I have felt this overwhelming desire to own real, beautiful, original artwork. Also, I walk away with the desire to create things. People are so creative! The variety of mediums and styles are impressive to say the least. 

More importantly though, it has just been nice to see my dad so much. My kids love their grandpa! Mainly he comes over and reads books to my kids. He brings them treasures that he finds at yard sales (another passion of his). Also, he is constantly sharing wonderful missionary experiences he is having. I think that it is common for people to appreciate their parents more as they get older, but I really do. Practically everyone at the art show that we met made a point to tell me what an amazing, great guy my dad is and how they just think the world of him. 

Not that he doesn't have his faults--we all do. I think that every single person has their own brand of crazy. Despite this I have really enjoyed seeing my dad in this environment. 

One of the first few days he got down here (shortly after Christmas) we walked through this hotel that is right next to where he stays - see the fun photos!

What a fun evening! There was a train ride.

There were fireworks and a humongous Christmas tree that had lights that would change with the music.

Not to mention the lights! These pictures aren't very good, but there were lots of fun characters and lights. It was so fun!

From my journal:

On Friday night John went up to Scottsdale and got a whole bunch of stuff that my mom had sent with my dad. The next day (Saturday) we had a good day of cleaning, organizing, and exercising. We got a budget squared away too. It is making us feel better about the whole money idea. The next day Dad and his friend Mac came to church with us and came to dinner. Then we went up to a hotel near his apartment and saw some Christmas lights. We were able to ride a little train, see a bus, and even see some fireworks at the end of the night. It was fun. I am glad to have my dad close by for a couple months.

This week John has been sick with not a fun cold. We all came back a little sick from Christmas, but he definitely got the worst of it. He took his first ever sick day on Tuesday. But fortunately he has been feeling better today.

We are happy for the new year and the chance to start over on our eating choices (we have been eating too much sugar) and our buying choices (we have been spending too much money). We are also trying to make more of a priority of a daily gospel study.  Love it.

Well January and February went by in a hurry. I spent a lot of time in January wondering which Kindergarten to send Ellie to. (Full day or half day?) There are pros and cons to both, but I think we are leaning toward the full day. I still want to tour both schools before making a final decision.

We also made a new friend at the gym named Lillian Davis. She is almost exactly Eliza's age and they get along really well. Her mom, Anona, and I seem to get along really well too, which is great. They are LDS too and live in a neighboring ward. We did a couple of play dates with them, and they went really smoothly.

Jeff and Debbie had their fourth child, Juliet. We played games over the web cam before they had her. It was fun to hang out with them.

It has been nice to have Dad down here. He comes down for Sunday dinner, and we have gone up to see his show too.

John got a calling in the Young Men. He is the second counselor and is over the deacons. It is an interesting change for him. Still no calling for me.

How did I get so lucky?

I still can't quite believe that this handsome, thoughtful, charitable, smart, funny, dedicated, amazing guy wanted to marry me!

I love you! Thanks for the best seven years!

From my journal:

The next day we took down decorations and cleaned our apartment. The next day (our anniversary) John had to go to work, but I woke up with him and made a special breakfast. I wasn't feeling 100%, but I still had a nice day. John had the idea of getting a plant together. I had the idea of getting the game Love Letters (which we heard was fun), but we haven't done either idea. We did make a yummy dinner and he surprised me with flowers. I made a chocolate tofu pie, and we watched Breaking Dawn Part 1. Even though Miriam was a stinker about going to bed that night we had an amazing night. The next day John had to get up early to take someone to the airport, which meant that he was super sleepy that day. It meant so much to me that he would give up his sleep to have a nice evening with me even though he was going to be so sleepy the next day.

Deru Family Pictures

We had some beautiful family photos taken on my side of the family last fall. I just love them!

Before everyone got there, Patti took a few of photo of Ellie with a couple of her cousins. So sweet!

Family Pictures 2013

If you actually look through this entire post, you really love us. There are a lot of photos of our little family. Since I really love all of them I wanted to have them recorded in our family blog. So here you go.

I love, LOVE this first photo. Seriously, could Miriam's face be any more perfect? :) 

Awww...I love being married to him.

Patti was so nice to take so much time photographing us!

The formal... 

...and the not so formal.

...and Ellie is about to twirl.

This is so their personalities: Miriam is marching off to do something...

Can you tell I like my kids? :)

Of course this had to happen at least once. 

Also my favorite!

This is my favorite!

A little silly...

...and a little sassy. :)

I love these two black and white photos side by side. I love my family!

And, amazingly, they love me too!

Eliza is such a sweetheart. She loves to help and serve people, especially our little family. She always wants to make good choices and do the right thing. We are lucky to have her in our lives. She also amazes me at how fast she is picking up on things these days. Just tonight she said, "It doesn't snow in Arizona. Wait, it snows in Flagstaff." Neither John or I immediately remembered ever mentioning snow in Flagstaff to her before. But she remembered John telling her that once almost a month ago. 

Ellie is also such a girly girl. She loves all things pink and princessy. She recently saw the movies, "Frozen," and "Tangled" for the first time and fell in love with the music from them. Particularly we went a few weeks hearing "For the FIRST time in FOREVER!!!" sung at the tops of her lungs. Followed immediately with "Let it go, let it go." She only knew those couple of lines for a while, and believe me, it was too long. :) However, since then she has learned an impressive amount of the songs from those movies. It has also spurred onto other Disney songs. So instead of sticking to just one or two songs now, thankfully she branches out. Actually, it is pretty funny to hear her medley. A couple of Disney songs will turn into church songs, which turns back to Disney songs, interspersed with a line or two of a country song that I like. This girl is constantly singing! There are still a few mix-ups with lyrics though. One church song has the line, "I know when I am baptized, my sins are washed away." But Ellie has recently sung it, "I know when I am baptized, my souls are washed away." Love it. :) 

I have two sets of three photos here. Just to give you a taste of the silliness that was going on. Check out Ellie's expressions in this first set of us standing next to the white flowers. Yeah, she was sticking her tongue out at her aunt.

This second set sitting on the white bench was right after we promised Miriam a fruit snack if she smiled for the camera. Miriam's expression is priceless. She really wants that fruit snack! These smiles are getting a little on the maniacal side.

 

This one is a little more normal. And perfect. It is printed and framed on our desk.

Oh, I love my little Miriam. She is so funny these days. Just today she told me that I needed to sit in my chair and finish my smoothie. :) She definitely likes to boss people around, but she is such a sweetheart too. If one of us is sad she will go get her blanket and baby doll to give to us to make us feel better. She tells me pretty regularly, "I am potty trained, Mommy." She is still really proud of that even though this has been the case for a couple months now.

She also takes after her sister in the singing department. She is constantly singing in her toddler voice and commanding Eliza what songs to sing. What we learned from Miriam is that it is funnest to sing at the top of your lungs if you are also running around our apartment as fast as you can. Sorry downstairs neighbors! :)

Grabbing Mommy's hair and being upside down is fun.

Just my sack of potatoes.

We love kisses at our house. We play this game called "Too Many Kisses," where one girl or the other will repeatedly kiss me or John while we scream (softly), "Hey, too many kisses!" It is great fun!

A humongous THANK YOU to my talented sister-in-law who took these beautiful photos for us. We love them! So much so that we actually have most of them printed and framed in our house. If you actually finished reading this, you get a prize...of some kind. :)

Christmas Trip to Utah

On Christmas Eve we got up at 3:30 am to make our 6 am flight. It was early. Someone in our ward had offered her husband to drive us to the airport when we went to Utah, but that was before either one of them realized our flight was so early. Fortunately they were super sweet and wanted to do it anyway (well, at least they were positive and willing). :) 

Our kids were rock stars on the plane. They both did really well, which was a big blessing. We flew into the Provo Airport and ran outside in the snow storm to buckle the carseats in my mom's car. Man, it was a shock! My hands were shaking so much from the cold I could hardly help. I had come from weather in the 70s, and my body was reeling from the sudden climate shift.

We were at my parents house on Christmas morning. They (my parents) knew we weren't bringing many presents in our luggage to have the girls open first thing Christmas morning, so they surprised the girls with a bunch of educational toys and games. The kids really loved it.

After that was my family's Christmas breakfast and gift exchange. The little kids got real presents while the siblings exchange white elephant presents. 

We were bestowed a planetary model, in which each of the planets were some choice DI t-shirts. Like John's 'I have gas' gem.

Then it was up to the rehab center to see my grandparents. My grandpa had recently fallen and broken his hip. So he was a patient there. It was so weird and sad not to have my grandparents at everything on Christmas. I was so blessed to grow up right next door to these sweet people.

Miriam received a moose from them, which she loved! Ellie got a golden purse with lip gloss and nail polish (basically a dream come true).

Loving on the moose and rockin' the BYU Santa hat.

We had a wonderful time visiting John's side too. Miriam loved hanging out with Uncle Spencer and the abundant treats at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We had some formal pictures taken of that side of the family. Unfortunately not everyone could be there. However we are glad to have something to be able to print off and hang on the wall to represent that side of our family.

Grandma and Grandpa with some of the grandkids.

The girls.

The men.

 

And our little family.

These pictures were followed by a really fun evening at John's sister's house. We love being with our families!

We also had the opportunity to see some friends while we were in Utah and enjoy some delicious fondue. Our friends both served their missions in France and they really know how to serve some delicious cheeses. :) Miriam was acting silly and insisted on sitting on my lap, which is why I am in the children's picture.

I was really bad at taking photos the rest of our trip, but we really loved seeing everyone! I especially loved the girls' night out. Gotta love chick flicks!

On our flight home we saw Mt. Timpanogos peeking through the clouds. It made us homesick for Utah Valley. However we are happy to be starting the next stage in our life. 

Yeah, we didn't make our kids keep their seat belts on during the flight. It is funny how as a parent sometimes you just decide there is a battle not worth fighting. Like keeping a wiggly two year old oriented correctly and buckled on a flight. Fortunately Ellie was sitting in front of Miriam, so we weren't worried about her kicking a stranger's seat the entire flight. Sorry Ellie. :)

Ellie drew this picture of the nativity on the flight. Notice the sheep and the shepherd. Also the wise man's crown. Love her.

And the fun continued when we got home. Our little family's gift exchange. The kids were so nice and happy about everything. It was perfect. 

Merry Christmas!

From my journal: We woke up nice and early the next day 3:30 to make our 6 am flight. Poor Murray Pratt was volunteered to take us to airport. The kids did so well though. And my mom picked us up in freezing, icy Provo. Miriam had four accidents that day, but I think it was understandable. We got to my parents house and they had set up the bunk beds for the kids. We took naps and helped make Christmas Eve dinner. That dinner was really nice. But it was weird to not have Grandma and Grandpa Lucas there. We helped with the dinner and did the nativity. Ellie got weirdly shy in the middle of it. But it was still cute and fun.

The next morning Miriam got me and Ellie up at 6 am. Fortunately they didn't have the expectation to run downstairs and open presents immediately so John and my parents were able to sleep in a bit. I made muffins and Ellie actually threw up twice. Poor girl, throwing up on Christmas morning. Fortunately it was just a fluke and she wasn't sick for very long and no one else got sick. I think it was because of the piece of Zicam I gave her the night before. 

The girls opened some presents from Grandma and Grandpa after they got up. They gave the girls a lot of educational stuff that they had been given. It was really nice of them, and the kids really liked it. Kind of surprisingly.

Then we got ready and had delicious Christmas breakfast. Love it! We went downstairs and opened presents. My parents gave everyone a trip to Grand Canyon this summer. We did the white elephant exchange, and Aunt Carol always gives really nice gifts. Kayla kind of stole the show by making a teepee for Patti's kids. Sheesh Kayla, way to make the rest of us look lame. Patti did some fun pictures for people, and I gave Kayla's kids legos. :)

We went down to Pearsons' for a while. It was a fun visit. Especially because of how much Miriam liked Uncle Spencer. It was really cute. Matt and Norma and Hema were there too. It was fun to see everybody.

We stopped by my grandpa's rehab room. It was fun to see them. The kids were really nice, and my grandparents gave little presents to the girls. Miriam developed a love of M&Ms. My grandpa is making progress with his recovery but there are a few complications. It was really nice to see them though. The kids sang their Christmas songs.

That night we had Christmas dinner at my parents house. It was weird to have it not at Grandma's house or with my Grandparents. We missed them. We had a nice dinner and the gift exchange was fun. David and Patti did a funny gift for my grandparents. A picture of my grandparents with hair on my grandpa and a glammed up blond Grandma, with a note that said "We thought you might like some hair and a hot blond for Christmas." It was funny. People went to visit my grandparents and then the Armstrongs came back for pie. We stayed up way too late eating that.

The next day we went to the Guinn's house. It was fun to see them. Kind of felt like no time had passed at all. They made yummy fondue for lunch. That night me and the girls in my family did a girl's night by doing dinner at Zupas (loved the roasted red pepper and lobster soup) and then going to see Austenland at the dollar theater. It was so fun! One of my favorite memories of the whole trip.

The next day we visited my Grandpa again, got ice cream with McKenzie and went to Glenn and Andrea's house for the night. We got some yummy cheap food and played their Wii. The next day we went to John's parents' house again and then to temple square to have a family picture done. It was nice. Turned out better than I was hoping. It was our idea to hire Glenn to do this, but when we proposed it the idea it was met with some resistance. But anyway it worked out. That night we had the Pearson family dinner at Millie's house which was so nice and fun. Loved it. We miss those people.

The next day we went to church with my Grandparents and my parents fixed a special meal just for us. Then we headed down to John's parents house for a little while, and to Mady's baptism. Then we headed back to my parents house to hang out with David and Patti until bed time. Then the next day, mom made waffles and took us to the airport. It was a fun trip. Ellie commented to me today that she loved the trip to Utah.

The day that we came home, we went shopping and got food. It was nice. The next day (New Year's Eve) we opened our presents from our little family. This Christmas the girls were so sweet about everything. They really seemed to like everything, which was nice and didn't seem too greedy.  Ellie gave Miriam a cute stuffed pink elephant. Miriam gave Ellie a cute bunny figurine, which she loved. We gave Ellie legos and Miriam a strolller and pillow pet. The girls gave me some earrings and John gave me a cute wallet and an itunes card. John received lots of treats. Kind of boring. Sorry honey! We made a fun breakfast and went to the gym. That night we did game night with the Jacobson's over the video chat and had a really good time playing a new game King of Tokyo. We got it for them for Christmas and they surprised us with it as a welcome home present. Debbie is going to have a baby soon. Their 4th!