Flip Flops and Hiking

What did we do for President's Day?  I'm so glad you asked!  We've spent a lot of time at home lately, unpacking and all, so we decided to venture out a little bit and explore one of the hiking trails close by.  I loved that we didn't have to get up early to go and that it wasn't an all day thing.  We waited until Isaac woke up from his nap and drove about 10 minutes away from our house and boom, we were there!

The warning sign about the rattlesnakes made some of us (KP) a little nervous, but after reassuring that it was still too cold for snakes we were able to move on.  There were a lot of cacti (plural, right?) and rocks around.  We were even close enough to see the Tram on the mountain moving up and down.

This was Isaac's first time in the backpack and I had forgotten how much hair is fun to play with.  Most of the time we were hiking he was pulling my hair and I was trying to keep it out of his hands!

We had to stop more than a few times to empty rocks out of shoes, check out the terrain, have a sword fight with a granola bar, and enjoy the view.  Caleb got a little worried when Brandon told him that there were wild animals out there that would eat him alive. 

We also found an arroyo that the kids had fun in climbing over the rocks.  Caleb filled his pockets with rocks while Kelsie and Brandon raced up and down and all around.  I am so curious to see what it's going to look like around here when things start to turn green less brown.  We're looking forward to more hikes and possibly even a backpacking trip this summer.  We may have to rethink that one since Isaac likes to pull hair and Kelsie almost had a breakdown when we talked about it, but it might happen!

 

It has been so nice here that we've finally had to break out the flip flops and turn off the heat during the day.  I have been opening windows as well!  I can't remember the last time I did that in February! 

*pictures by Kelsie

Smile

V-Day 2011 from Ronni Paxton on Vimeo.

Cuteness

It's been a while since I've posted some pictures of Isaac.  He's growing up so fast and I wish I had the ability to slow time down (I'm sure every parent feels the same way).  Isaac is now 9 months old and is crawling all over the place!  We think it's funny that he learned how to crawl and still has yet to roll over!  He only wants to eat the food that the rest of us are eating instead of any kind of baby food.  He has learned to clap and even dance, more like bob his head back and forth to music.  We think he has an internal sensor for any lego piece or marble left on the floor and makes a bee line towards it!  He says "mama" and is real close to saying "dada".  Isaac is such a happy little baby and we're so glad he's a part of our family!

Isaac Crawling from Ronni Paxton on Vimeo.

Lego Bowl I

Untitled from Ronni Paxton on Vimeo.

Snow Day(s)!

Whew!  What a week we've had here!  We got hit with some interesting weather.  The kind of weather I would have expected if we were still living in Chicago, but for the desert?  I think the whole state was caught off guard too when an arctic blast came over the area.  As a result, we had our first snow days ever for the Paxtonians.  I never really thought this would happen in the desert, I mean, it's supposed to be warmer here, right?  It also doesn't help that we just moved from Chicago where in the whole 3 years that we lived there, school was not canceled once.  We would walk to school in single digit weather, and even below single digit weather.  I wore that like a badge on my chest for 3 years.  To be honest, we're a little sad about missing the record breaking storm that hit Chicago.

 

We had a storm this week that brought more snow and cold than I ever imagined here and school was canceled for 4 days.  The first day I wasn't prepared for it, I was really hoping it was just going to be a delay.  Wally drove the car to work since biking wasn't an option so I was home all day with all the kids.  Which isn't that abnormal or anything, but usually by the time Saturday comes around, I'm ready for it!  We managed to make it through the day unharmed and without too many incidentals between the kids.  They even went sledding together with a new friend in the neighborhood and had a great time.

When they canceled school again the next day, I was a little more prepared.  We declared it a pajama day and played games, made homemade cookies (which if you know me, that's a huge thing!), made some Valentine's, had a few Lego battles and just had fun together.  By day three and four, it was starting to get old.  We tried to make the most of it though and still had fun together.  Wally even ended up home from work because we were put on a natural gas ration all over the city so thermostats were turned waaaaaaay down and it was cold.  It's a sad, sad thing to not have heat keeping you warm when it's only a few degrees above zero outside.  We did our part at home and turned off our heat during the day (thank goodness for lots of windows and the sun!) and turned it down to 55* through the night.  I'm not going to lie, it was a cold night with temperatures dropping below zero outside.  The hardest part was keeping little Isaac warm throughout the night.  Every time I would check on him, his hands were freezing!  He ended up in bed between us to stay warm.  Because of the extreme cold around here, pipes all over the city were freezing and bursting, including one in Wally's building at work and also at our church.

It turns out that having a snow day (or four) isn't so bad after all.  I just hope it doesn't become a regular thing around here.  Brandon, especially, is getting a little too comfortable with the whole idea of a snow day.  He may be a little disappointed when Monday rolls around and things have (hopefully) gotten back to normal!

God Be With You Till We Meet Again

We just got back from St. George, UT.  My Grandpa Scott quietly passed away last week and returned home to his sweetheart who passed away 5 years ago.  Grandpa was my last living grandparent and we felt so fortunate to be able to go.  We missed all of the other grandparent funerals on both sides of our family, so this was a big deal to us.

My Grandpa was a great man.  He was smart, funny, patient, and wonderful.  He was an electrical engineer and his mind was always working.  Once Wally became a part of the family, there was a special bond between the two of them.  Grandpa finally had someone to talk science to and Wally had someone who understood his jargon.  We joke a lot about how I was replaced by Wally as the official grandchild. 

When we moved to the east, back to the west, and then to the midwest, Grandpa always told us that we needed stay west of Denver.  We made it, just in time.  We didn't get to spend a lot of time with Grandpa before he died.  The last time we saw him was about 4 1/2 years ago, when we moved from Pennsylvania to Washington.  My two youngest children never met him.

It was so great to listen to my aunt and uncle talk about his life and all the funny stories about him.  Senator Orrin Hatch (my great-uncle) was also able to attend and said some very nice things as well.  Grandpa wanted me to play the organ at his funeral, and all the great-grandchildren sang I Am a Child of God.  The services were great.

I am going to miss my Grandpa.  We always loved to visit him when we could.  I know that he is so happy right now, reunited with my Grandma.  I'm so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and know that we will see him again some day.

No good-bye's from us.

Only see you later's.

Meet the New Mexicans!

The view from the front of our house

We made it!  We have spent the last couple of weeks putting our house together, getting kids used to a new school, Wally starting a new job, and figuring out life in the Southwest.  So far, it's been pretty good.  The weather here has been great (considering we left Chicago when it was freezing!).  Brandon couldn't believe that it could be 50* in January!  He keeps telling us that he doesn't have to wear a coat anymore because "we live in the desert now!".  Caleb keeps asking me where all the grass is here.  Isaac decided that he was going to protest the move by deciding not to sleep anymore, especially at night.  Kelsie has become more technically savvy and has used our move as an excuse to be on the computer more to chat with her friends that she misses so much.

They all seem to love the new house, especially the laundry chute!  They were a little disappointed, however, when they learned that it wasn't going to be as easy to rappel as they had hoped.  It's still fun to throw things down though!  And don't even get me started about the garage!  It's something I've been looking forward to for a really long time.  There's something magical about the garage door opener and kids.  I think we've suddenly entered the hi-tec age just with that!  It's nice and sunny here.  All. The. Time.  We're getting used to to it again after living through 3 gray Chicago winters!  We have a lot of windows in our house which means a lot of sun coming through them. Sometimes a little too much sun coming in.

Wally - who has always biked to and from work wherever we have lived - now has a 9 mile one-way commute to work (uphill, both ways!). It's taking him twice as long to get to and from work and factoring in the altitude difference, he's pretty tired by the time he gets home.  I keep thinking about how awesome he's going to look after a couple weeks of biking everyday (now if I could get myself up and moving too!).  ;)

Life is starting to feel normal again with most major things unpacked, the kids back in school, and Wally at work.  We miss our old life and friends back in Chicago, but are excited for our new life here!

The view from the back of our house