Christmas in Our New Home

We had a quiet family Christmas this year. We let the kids sleep in until they woke up themselves.... 8:15ish. Then after the kids made sure Santa ate some cookies, we set out the orange juice (we all have to drink some before presents can be opened) and wrote our gifts to Christ. After all of this we started in on the presents... Santa wraps his presents at our house and so we leave his gifts until last. The kids had so much fun opening gifts from mom and dad, each other, grandmas and grandpas, and aunts and uncles. After all of the chaos and paper eating (Eli) it was time to open Santa's gift. When the kids dug into the big box the found their own winter clothes...with a note saying "Thought you might need these. Unwrap the windows!" The kids pulled the wrapping paper covering the windows to find a trampoline in the driveway. All they could do was stare at it though because it was pouring rain....all morning. They finally got to jump around 1 PM. We all went out and got soaking wet, and then had to come back in when it started raining an hour later. The day after Christmas was beautiful weather and they jumped almost all day.

Abby and Aidan checking out the plate of cookies they left Santa... do you see Aidan's face?


We have had a debate in the family about Santa's favorite drink... Milk or Eggnog. So this year we set out two glasses each with a different drink. Abby was excited to find out that Santa likes eggnog better than milk. At least skim milk anyway. The carrots were for the reindeer.


Eli's first look at Christmas... mmmm paper!


Writing out gifts to Christ (things we are going to do/not do this next year so that we can become more Christ-like)


Eli's favorite activity this Christmas. Eating the wrapping paper!


Abby and Aidan unwrapping gifts (notice the wrapping paper over the windows?)


Eli opening one of his gifts... guess what he did with the paper? Yup.. ate it.


Inside Santa's gift.


Abby watching the rain fall/pound/drench/soak.


More rain.


Jumping on the trampoline during the break in the rain.


Aidan finally brave enough to jump on the trampoline.


Aidan got a car box from his Grandma Brown. This is how I found him the morning after Christmas... he really likes his box and all the cars he has to put in it.

On the Move: Day 6-The Final Destination

We are HERE!!! Sumter, South Carolina. Our new home. We are still in a hotel for one more week until we close on our house, but we can actually start in on our new adventure here on the east coast.

Spencer packing the van up one more time before we reach South Carolina.


We drove through the Great Smokey Mountains. It was beautiful even in the winter. We will definitely be returning in the Spring and Fall.


The winding roads on the way back down the mountains. Abby got car sick. mmmmmmm. I am so glad I had that gallon sized zip lock back with in reach. mmmmmmmm.


The sign makes it official, and yes, I am actually in a picture.


These sunbeams were shining through the clouds like this as we drove into town. No joke.


We made it here safe. Thank you for all of your prayers. We will hopefully post more pictures soon.

On the Move: Day 5

On the Move: Day 4

On the Move: Day 3

On the Move: Day 2

On the Move: Day 1

Our move to Sumter, South Carolina started off at 3:45 AM on Friday morning. We drove north to Flagstaff where we connected to I-40. We will be on I-40 for the majority of our trip east.

We stopped in Winslow, Arizona to have breakfast with Spencer's Uncle David and Aunt Betty. It was wonderful to see them again. We then headed on to the Petrified Forest National Park.

When we got to the park Spencer and I were skeptical about the experience being any fun for us or the kids and thought about driving on.... But hey, we have a year park pass so entrance was free. When we got into the north visitor's center a ranger asked Abby and Aidan if they wanted to be Junior Rangers. We thought it would be a fun idea, so off we went to see the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest.

When we saw the fist petrified log, Spencer told Abby to be careful where she touched it. If she touched it in the wrong place she would turn to stone. He told her that he would touch it first to make sure it was safe, but if he turne to stone don't touch him. When he touched the stone he pretended to freeze like stone, and Abby's face was pure shock! Her dad had just turned to stone!

We are glad we stopped. Here are some pictures of our first day.