Thanksgiving on the Gulf Coast

Last year we moved in to our new house the day before Thanksgiving. We ordered Thanksgiving dinner (which was actually incredible) from Bentonville Butcher. It was a little crazy. When Spencer's sister Kristina (and her family) came to visit us after Christmas they told us about their super fun Thanksgiving in Florida. She invited us to join them and we tentatively decided we would go - anything that is within a day's drive of us is a pretty good deal.

We booked our condo in September, so it really did take us a long while to commit, but I am so so glad we did. We got down there the Saturday night before Thanksgiving, and had the place for a week.

Our condo was 2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms, our balcony overlooked the ocean and white sand, and it was an amazing time. The first two days were pretty cold, which was ok since one was a Saturday, and Monday (also kinda cold) we wanted to go to the Blue Angels museum in Pensacola anyway. After that, we spent the next 4 days at the beach and in the pool (but mostly at the beach). Being right there made it easy to run up to get stuff, or to make lunch, or whatever else. It was amazing! So fun!! We are sold on this trip and want to make it a tradition.
(We also "celebrated" our 13th anniversary there - gotta love holiday anniversaries that are almost always taken over and NOT celebrated, but whatever...) :)

The sunsets were magnificent every night!

Spencer prepared his first turkey! And he went all out, and it was amazing.

Tyson, Spencer, and Emma & Tyler

Hawksbill Crag

Since shortly after moving here we have been wanting to do this hike. Because it isn't very close to us (two hours away, in quite a remote area) it took us a while to find the time. I did want to do it at dusk, but we ended up getting there a bit before then. It was still pretty.

Hawksbill Crag is the most photographed spot in Arkansas. My goal is to someday be there at sunrise...I think that would be the prettiest.

The kids were great hikers (it was just 1.5 miles each way) but Sadie was an annoying and annoyed passenger. She was so tired and grumpy and just doesn't enjoy being dragged around. I want to tell her to just go with it but then she screams at me. It must be hard being Sadie.

Regardless, it was a great day. I just wish we had gone a week or two sooner when the colors would have been a bit more brilliant.

Sadie turns 3

Sadie has been begging for her birthday for so many months and so many days and so many minutes... so we were thrilled when it was finally here.

It was a Sunday, and we had a regional broadcast, which was great for a lot of reasons but sad because she couldn't have a big deal made of her day at church.

Anyway, Sadie didn't care much, but was excited to be woken up with "Happy Birthday." She opened her presents and we had breakfast. We watched "Inside out" and some friends came over to sing and have cake and ice cream.

We sure love this spunky Sadie-girl!

Macie's 7th

Last year we had to miss Macie's birthday because we were in Arkansas house-hunting. This year we had to miss it because we couldn't figure a way to get back to CA. I was dreading it, but it ended up being a great day: it was stake conference so I didn't have to deal with primary from 1-4, and we were all together since Spencer didn't have high council responsibilities.

We knew we couldn't buy her balloons on a Sunday, but we also knew that helium latex balloons only stay up for about 12 hours. So we did those on Saturday. Sadie still doesn't really understand what we are doing, but she loves balloons and was more than happy to send some up.

On Sunday morning the texts started pouring in - some friends who aren't even on Facebook and have never lived by me sent me sweet messages telling me they were thinking of us. We had stake conference, which was a huge blessing. We came home and we took some pictures with the tree we planted for Macie last week. Oh I love it - it is still tiny but the leaves are red and I can't wait to see how this looks on her birthday in the future. Sadie took a nap (!!) and some friends stopped by with cookies, and with flowers and other gifts. It was a great day, and a great way to remember Macie.

I pulled out the scrapbook for that year and Sadie has been glued to it. She always stops on the pages with Macie and asks me where she is and where her (baby blessing) dress is. I don't know if she is getting it yet but at least she is starting to.

Seven! She would be 7 and I can't believe what we are missing out on by not having her here. Tanner is so drawn to 6-7 year old girls and I can see why...I'm sure they would be best friends.

(Dear CA friends who continue to bless us)

the end of volleyball

Our season is over (phew!) Oh it was fun and exciting, and nail biting a few times but it took up 4 days a week and I spent countless hours practicing with Emma. I'm glad for a 2 month break from sports before it all gets crazy again (with THREE kids in basketball).

The Wildcats finished off the season not so great. They peaked mid-season and won a few games, but lost the last several. Saturday was the playoffs. We were seeded to play at noon, 5:00, and 7:30. I knew we were playing at noon, but we were playing a team who had beat us handily twice, and figured we would be out. If we somehow made it to the 5:00 game, that would be our demise. Surely.

Well, our girls played AMAZING. The first match (remember, this team had easily beat us twice) was 25-15. We beat them in the second match as well. I got to that game and lots of Emma's teammates had purple hair. She told me she thought I would be mad so she didn't do it. I love that girl. But I told her to do it.

When I showed up at 5, her hair was purple. :) They played so awesome again and WON! Suddenly I was not going to stake conference that night, because her last game was at 7:30. Somehow they had made the finals! They were against the #1 team and normally I would have said they stood no chance, but stranger things have (had) happened.

We killed them in the first match. They barely beat us in the second. The last was a nail biter. Our girls got nervous and made too many mistakes and it ended 16-11. Most of our girls cried, but we were all so happy they had made it as far as they did.

What a fun season. I love watching volleyball. We have talked about Emma trying out for club, but aren't sure we can commit to something like that. We will keep talking about it for next year.
(Don't ask why the walls look SO BAD in this gym. Gross.)

 (purple hair^^^)