New year, new you

I've always liked making goofy videos--like ever since high school--and when I got an iPhone that hobby expanded, but this year I've taken my iMovie and Splice use to another level. It's fun for me, and I think most of my family isn't too annoyed when I rope them into my projects...

Happy new year � from Eliza Marie on Vimeo.

It became a tradition at some point for our family to sing "Happy New Year" together at the top of our lungs at midnight on NYE. So I made this video since we didn't do it together this year. I love my family and their goofiness and patience. I miss them, and I'm grateful to see them whenever I can, even on video!

It’s February!

Two months is a really long time to go without posting on my blog. Basically in the time since I posted last, I:

1-prepared for our trip (road trip to UT/CA)

2-went on our trip

3-recovered from our trip.

That’s it. That’s all I’ve done.

It sure did make December and January fly by.

Another year, another party

That about sums it up. Happy new year!

Happy new year, happy new year

I’ve been getting excited for New Year’s at my parents’ house in California. I know there’s still another tiny little holiday to get through before we get there ;) but maybe I’m just in denial about how I have bought exactly zero Christmas presents for anyone yet.

(NYE 2012)

There's glitter on the floor after the party
Girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby
Candle wax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor
You and me forevermore.

Don’t read the last page
But I stay when it's hard or it's wrong or we're making mistakes
I want your midnights
But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day.

Golden anniversary

Surprise! I posted again, not even 12 hrs later!

We had a great time at Pigeon Point, and I took very few pictures.

Watched the sunrise one morning with my favorite 10-year-old. (Who is now my favorite 11-year-old.)

We stayed in the outbuildings of the lighthouse which have been converted into little cabins. The 35-ish of us fit mostly into two of the cabins which were connected by this sort of all-purpose room. The kids watched Tangled one night. (One of my top five favorite Disney movies I might add)

Polly was tired.

We also took family pictures, and went in to Santa Cruz for the day and watched the butterflies and the surfers, both of which were amazing but i watched them only with my eyes and not my camera.

And we just generally spent time together and enjoyed it. It was just right. I love, Love, Love my family. Happy 50th anniversary to Harry and Barb.

You don’t have to push a handcart

Jest some late-night bloggin’... like I do.

I wish you could hear that in the country twang that I am singing it in.

Anywho so the night before we left for pigeon point, I couldn’t sleep. So I decided to read all about the Donner party. Hahahaha... I got teased so much for my interest in the Donner party, but darn it, they were interesting! I highly recommend the Wikipedia entry on the Donner party. It’s long, it’s detailed, it’s fascinating. And it’s free. At least, it’s free if you’re a JERK and don’t donate to Wikipedia. See I’m getting punchy and this is why I shouldn’t blog late at night. Or maybe it’s why I should?

So: to recap: wiki entry on the Donner party. Read it. You won’t be sorry! Unless you’re squeamish or prone to anxiety. But then again I am both of those things and I was riveted.

I eventually fell asleep and then we got up in the morning and drove across the Sierra Nevadas and very much enjoyed the comfort of our Toyota Sienna and our plentiful snacks. And I told the kids the abbreviated story of that doomed coalition. And we stopped at the memorial that’s near one of the cabins that some of them stayed in.

More tomorrow. Or next week or next month! Keep checking back every day, you never know! (Jk, don’t)

But. someday soon I will continue with the story of the Pigeon Point lighthouse, the week in Monrovia, and the culminating TWO DAYS AT DISNEYLAND!!!! 

Well, I suppose that wasn’t culminating, I guess I should call it that word that means the second to last thing, but my vocabulary is limited past midnight. Because the last thing was the drive east, which was much better for everyone than the drive west.

And now I’m getting ahead of myself.

...

*PENULTIMATE! (I remembered just in the nick of time)

In our lovely Deseret

And, here I am again as promised to deliver the recap of Christmas in Utah!

Only problem of course is that Christmas was like 3 months ago and I don’t remember many details other than we loved it. BUT Instagram can help me with the timeline.

The most important thing is that we stayed at Phil and Lynnette’s house and it was seriously a balm to all of us to spend so much time with them after missing them for 3 whole months. We got so spoiled when they lived nearby for the better part of a year. We are so lucky and blessed to have such wonderful and doting parents and grandparents.

On our first full day there (we arrived Dec 17), I texted back and forth with my SIL Annie, trying to figure out a time we could get the kids together. In the end we made vague plans and I ran some errands with the kids, like getting the girls’ bangs trimmed (they needed that so badly) and washing the car (it needed that so much worse). As we waited in line for a drive-through car wash, Lars told me “the lady behind us keeps waving at me!” I said “Oh that’s nice, how friendly.” Eventually as we turned a corner I saw the friendly lady waving at me too and she yelled “ELIZA!” It was Annie! So random and funny; we all got a huge kick out of it. After our cars were both cleaned, I sent Ida home with her to play with cousins.

The next day, the kids and Matt and I drove down to Provo to check out BYU. We love it there. The campus is always changing, but the vibe is still the same. We got ice cream (OF COURSE) and went to the bookstore (DUH) and the library (NATURALLY). We saw my old boss, Russ, who totally did not remember my name but he did recognize my face! Good old Russ.

We also met up with Taylor, who is one of Matt’s oldest friends--they went to elementary and middle school together, then both moved from their hometown for high school, then lived together at BYU--and who is also one of my favorite people. Just a nice and smart and funny and overall good guy. And a professor at BYU now.

We went to the little museum at the athletic building, which of course the kids loved especially Theo. We visited the Museum of Art and ran into friends we had known in Virginia.

And finally, we had a super disappointing dinner at Guru’s. Haha… Seriously in a city like Provo where there is SO MUCH good food to eat, we opted for nostalgia and lost big.

So anyway… the next day we did… Something… And in the evening we went to City Creek to meet Santa, who was underwhelming (in Ida’s words “sitting on a strange man’s lap” is a super weird tradition; I have to agree) but very fun to be with cousins and very funny to be out on South Temple attempting to brave the wind and snow in order to see the lights on Temple Square, feeling very much like the pioneers for a hot second and then feeling like the millennial wimps we are when we turned back to the warmth of the mall.

More cousin time: we had a fun Christmas Eve Eve Eve party (or maybe it was Christmas Eve Eve, I don’t remember), and then another party on Christmas Eve, and a low-key and happy Christmas Day. We visited Matt’s brothers at their homes multiple times. At some point we went to see The Last Jedi, which was great. We visited our dear friends the Fillmores one day which was lovely. Matt and I hung out with some of his old high school friends one night, also great. I love visiting Utah. I LOVE so many people there--both family and friends--and I can never see even a fraction of them because there are too many. And how great is that, that there are so many people to love that I can never visit them all??

On our anniversary, December 27, we hit the road again, this time bound for Pigeon Point, California.

Until next time...

Christmas time is here

Here came Christmas barreling in when I wasn’t quite ready for it yet! 

I took the kids to the Messiah singalong tonight, despite being extremely tired and preferring to stay home in sweats. And it was totally worth it, just as I suspected it would be! Yay. Theo and Ida followed along with the music book in earnest, and Lars... well Lars was maybe still too young, haha! But he did great and was a good sport!

I love Handel’s Messiah so much, especially its messages, directly from the Bible, about the Savior’s birth and life and death and atoning sacrifice.

The singers were so so good, too. And the lights were colorful, and the supermoon was super, and the people were smiley and happy. I left feeling filled. Maybe even runneth-ing over a little. :)

Merry Christmas and happy holidays

"It's a wonderful feeling... Feel the love in the room from the floor to the ceiling... It's that time of year... Christmas time is here"

Well, it was here, anyway.

All in all we had a fun holiday season.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Summer, turns me upside down

Not a lot of summer blogging going on! I've been busy enjoying and/or ordering around and/or hiding from my children. Before I forget and never do it, here's a quick recap of our super fun family reunion/celebration of Phil & Lynnette's 50th wedding anniversary in the Outer Banks back in June.

I did not take very many pictures, and none of them include any extended family. My bad. However I feel good about the fact that I was fully present and completely soaking it in the whole time. That, and worrying that one of my kids would fall off a balcony. 

Our house was overlooking the beach (we were behind a sand dune, but you could see the water from the second and third floors) and it had 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, so everyone had plenty of space. This is not the level of luxury we normally enjoy or probably ever will again, so I told my kids to soak it in while it lasted.

Polly was so worn out from fun days in the sun that she actually fell asleep in the ergo a few times, which she never ever does at home.

I forgot to help with/oversee Theo's sunscreen.

We went on lots of bike rides. Uncle Chad chose bikes with big fat tires that could ride on the sand. Riding on the beach is super fun. And, riding with a baby in an ergo is actually not hard and it felt super safe on the sand (I didn't do it on the road).

Sunrise

Spent a lot of time doing this (me sitting under an umbrella while my kids played)

Took a ride with Theo one day (note giant tires)

Polly LOVED the beach SO MUCH and I loved watching her.

We went to this outdoor play that was really hot and stifling until I went up to the back row of the amphitheater and could feel a breeze and see the water. Then it was quite lovely.

My kids loved watching TV in bed.

Polly has no fear of water whatsoever. I consider this to be both good and bad.

Bike ride with Ida to get ice cream

Ocean view

Theo spent a lot of time watching sports in the theater room.

I think Theo especially will remember this trip forever. Having his choice of going to the beach, swimming in the pool, watching baseball on a ginormous TV, riding in an elevator (bc the house was over the top and had an elevator), and eating unlimited snacks ALL DAY was a pretty epic experience for him and I'm so glad we could give him that for a week!

Thank you so much to my wonderful in-laws for your wonderful marriage and wonderful sons. I'm glad I snagged one of them.

And, just a PS, Matt was in Utah this past weekend for our nephew's mission farewell and he sent me this pic which is hanging on P&L's wall. Family picture day was a windy day, can you tell??