Oh wow!

Hey there! WOW! I hadn't realized how much I've neglected my blogging! I doubt I'll be able to 'catch up' everything, but I'll try to hit some highlights from the first 4 months of 2009 at least!

In January (that IS the beginning of the year after all), Don took a trip to Utah on his own. This trip kind of started last summer when he began e-mailing his daughter from a previous relationship for the first time. Her name is Jodi, and she's 21 years old. Don and Jodi had never met, or been in contact before, so this was a huge thing. Don went out for a few days and spent some time getting to know her, and helping his mom out as well. 

February was Don's 40th birthday, so I put together a small party. We had some friends over, and I made a power point presentation (my very first one ever!) to 'document' his life for the past 40 years. Here are a few of the slides:

 

 

His BIG gift this year was a 1989 Goldwing Motorcycle (ok, so it's not exactly 'from me', but it still counts that I was on board for it!). It came with a matching trailer, and it's SO nice! We both really enjoy it, and the kids get a kick out of occasional rides (it hasn't been 'motorcycle weather' very much so far this year). Here are some pictures:

 

In February, there was a Stake Youth Valentine's dance, and it was a formal dance. This was Tori's very first formal dance (and only her 2nd dance since turning 14!). Here are some pics:

  What a lucky guy, huh? 3 beautiful girls to take to a dance! From left to right: Tori, Ariel, Shawn and Katie.

In March, we celebrated our 17th anniversary (hard to believe it's been that long, doesn't seem so!). Then, we celebrated Jr turning 6! My little baby girl is SIX!! How fast they grow up, it's absolutely amazing. This is Jr on the 100th day of school. The kids were suppose to dress up as though they were 100 years old (I thought she was TOTALLY cute!).

 

April was rather busy with some business trips for Don, and Spring trying to make it's way here (snow in April is NOT my idea of a 'happy Spring' surprise!). 

We are now looking forward to next week because Jodi is coming out here to visit the entire family and meet everyone. We're planning some fun family activities while she's here ('cuz it's kind of awkward sitting around the house and staring at each other all day...gets very boring (anybody know the movie reference there?). 

At the beginning of June (after school is out for the summer), Don and I are going to drive the Banta's truck out to Utah for them as they are moving there at the end of May. It will be sad to see them go, and we wish them the very best of luck! We'll be loading the motorcycle into the truck so that we have transportation back home, and we plan to enjoy our first 'road trip' on the motorcycle! With any luck, we'll see old friends and family in Utah (we'll only be there for about 24-36 hours!), and stop in Colorado to see Leslie and her family. We'll do some site seeing along the way, and camp out to save on hotels (please, everyone, pray for no rain!!). 

I'll really try harder to be better at my blogging, I promise!

Christmas Day

This year we tried something new with the kids for Christmas. We let them stay up until around 10pm with the hopes that they'd sleep in in the morning. It worked...to a point. At least they weren't up at 5am! They were told that 8:00am was an 'ok time' to wake mom and dad. So, Ariel was awaken at 7:15am by 'Christmas Carolers'! LOL I am such a big meany that everyone must have breakfast and be dressed decently before we open presents, so we all wandered into the living room around 8:20 or so. DJ & Jr are the official present pass-outers, and they do their job rather efficiently so as to get on with the present opening. We go from youngest to oldest, seeing as mom and dad are the most patient (perhaps because they pretty much know most of what's been wrapped for them). The 'big' deals this year were:

Jr got 2 games (Don't Break the Ice and a Dora Memory game), a Wii game, and a digital camera (we happen to have over 25 of those disposable cameras waiting to be developed, so this will save us money in the long run, I predict they will pay for themselves within a year).

DJ got a basketball & football (from his sisters), a car racing game for the Wii, and a digital camera.

  

Tori got a large make up kit, a digital camera (better quality than the little ones'), and a new cell phone.


Ariel got a large make up kit, a digital camera and a new cell phone (though her snow globe from DJ was a very impressive and touching gift, there's a story there...I'll work on having her tell it later).

 

Tracy got a Shiatsu massager, Bath & Body works gift set & scented candles with a candle warmer.

 Don got Wii games, ties from the girls (a tradition for them), and 2 tool sets that he asked for.

 The rest of the day was spent playing with the new 'toys' and eating junk food. I decided that trying to keep the Christmas candy around for a long time was just prolonging the sugar highs, so I allowed them to eat it far faster than I usually do (as long as they ate 3 meals per day). We made phone calls to family, took naps, and got ready to have dinner at the Banta's. I made sweet potato casserole (which my family swears is their new 'very favorite' dish!), and we enjoyed a few hours over there with the Bantas (Don's sister and her family) and Don's mom (who was visiting from Utah for Christmas). 

 When we left, we debated whether to head for Aaron & Holly's place that night, or wait for the next morning, and we all decided that heading up immediately was the prefered plan (ok, Don wasn't as excited as he's the one who does the driving, but we took snacks along, so we were happy). We made it to MI before midnight, and enjoyed a very nice visit with the Hoyt clan up there. The kids enjoyed their snow as we didn't really have much to speak of. We left on Saturday trying to beat a rain/wind storm back to Elkhart. It was an interesting trip, and slightly tense at times due to fog, rain, wind and stupid drivers (who on earth travels in bad weather 2 days after Christmas anyway!?)

 We got home safely, showered and into bed at a decent hour so that we'd be up and to church on time (Ariel's the ward chorister, she's very particular about being AT church every week).

Thus another Christmas passes in the Wilson household.

Tori's B-day

 
 

Tori turned 14 last month, something she's been counting down for since this summer I think. We had the Bantas over for cake, ice cream and presents since this isn't one of the 'big deal' birthdays in our family. 

Ages 8, 12 & 16 get bigger celebrations (age 8 they get baptized; age 12, they go into the youth program at church and 16 is just a big deal birthday (mostly 'cuz they're allowed to 'date' at that age). 

Growing up too fast, that's all I have to say!

Wow, the holidays got me a bit behind!

Ok, folks...sorry I've been a month without a post. It's been kind of busy in our world lately, most of which I will explain in separate blogs. There was Tori's 14th birthday (yes, she can attend dances now, and is THRILLED beyond belief), then my mother-in-law's visit, Christmas break for the kids from school, my sister-in-law's birthday, Christmas, a short visit to MI to visit family, a harrowing trip home from said visit, New Year's Eve, Don's trip to Utah, kids went back to school and the snowstorm. I'm not at all sure each of those will get an individual entry, but that's what's been going on since my last entry.

Christmas Formal

Ariel's first school dance was the Christmas Formal held on the 6th. Her friend Katie came over earlier in the day so that they could get ready together. Ariel and Katie took Shawn with them to the dance, and he arrived slightly early as well. They enjoyed some pizza and just 'hung out' for a couple of hours before the dance. I wish I'd taken pictures of the snow that night! It was near blizzard conditions, but we got them there safely, and then home again.

This is the table where hair, nails and make up were done. They didn't actually USE everything you see, but it was available to them. I did Ariel's hair. I just did what I'd watched the hair dresser do for her Halloween costume, and it came out pretty ok...not nearly as good as a professional, but pretty decent.

Make up in the big mirror in the dining room just made sense. The lighting was way better than a bathroom or bedroom.

Ariel's never worn eye liner before, so I helped her with it...she looked so beautiful!

    

Apparently, guys aren't used to the complicated rituals of getting ready for a big dance. Also, Shawn does not have an older sister who wears make up or does her hair up 'fancy'...so, of course, he was curious about what Ariel was doing. And Ariel was just NOT happy that Shawn was watching her do make up. It was a cute scene that Don happened to capture in this picture which he titled:

 'Rejection with a Reflection'

And here's our 'little girl' all dressed up! Yes, that IS our Christmas tree this year (we're going to get an artificial one after Christmas when they aren't so expensive).

    

           Ariel and Shawn          and Ariel with her good friend Katie.

   

OK, so the picture is slightly posed...but how fun is this!? What a lucky guy, huh? A beautiful young lady on each arm!

   

The 3 of them had an absolute blast at the dance! I was so glad for them. There were tons of pictures, but this is a really good sampling to show off.

For those of you who are curious, we managed to find the dress and shrug on major sale, and paid less then $35 for both of them TOTAL! The shoes (which you can't see), were very cute flats that we actually paid full price for ($18). Can't beat that for a formal dance!

Day Four of the Wilson Family Camping Adventure

7:30am: A bit harder to get going, but we were pulling away from camp an hour ahead of schedule! At 8am, we’re headed to McD’s for breakfast (Don’s idea as a treat to the kids for doing so well this weekend). Not even 9:30am, and we’re half way thru’ Maryland already! Tons of fog this morning all of the sudden…got some pics, it’s kind of pretty.

Driving thru’ PA in the fall is so beautiful. Don and I were talking about the variety of colors…shades of greens, reds, oranges and yellows. It looks as though someone melted a box of crayons on the hillside!

4:45pm: Finally got Ariel at Jessica’s church building! It took way too long, but it’s hard to say goodbye to her 'bestest' friend again! We’re barely into Ohio and the sky is ominous looking (took pics). Not sure I’m excited to head home with this in our way! Picked up some leaves at the church…PA has prettier leaves for sure!!

Is that not a BEAUTIFUL picture of the sky? Ariel pointed it out and asked for the camera...I think she did a great job capturing it while we were driving and the clouds were moving!

WHEW! LOL 9:00pm: arrived home in a light rain. Ariel and Tori are both exhausted and don’t want to shower, but they just have to at this point! Jr falls asleep really fast, and DJ wasn’t far behind. We brought in only the kids and left everything else for later. Everyone was in bed (and probably asleep!) by 10:30pm. Apparently, family vacations are exhausting!!