The Long Trip

Thank you for being so patient and waiting so long for this post!! It's been rather busy here, with moving and travelling and settling in here in Calgary. But here's some pictures of our trip!

This is the last picture taken of our "normal" apartment, when December's room was still put together. I really should have taken a picture of the gigantic stacks of boxes that we had before moving day. On moving day itself, we had eleven seminary guys come out and help us move all of our belongings from our apartment to the storage facility. They did it in record time! We were really blessed to have so many of our friends come and help us out. After Della helped me clean up the apartment, we packed up our van and left for Calgary around 6:00pm.


We stopped that night (Thursday) around 11:30pm, just after going through Las Vegas. We slept in our van, which actually worked out really well! I'll show you pictures of that below. The next morning we started out again around 7:30am. This picture was taken in Arizona.

Brad and I enjoyed seeing all of the different kinds of scenery pass by...God has truly made some fascinating landscapes, and each state that we passed through was so different and beautiful! This picture was also taken in Arizona.

December did well on the long trip. She's generally a good traveller, although we did manage our share of meltdowns and temper tantrums -- which is to be expected of a 2-year-old strapped in a car seat for hours on end! She played with her kitties and her bears (one of her favorite things -- it's what she and Brad are playing with in the very first picture), she watched movies, we sang songs together, etc.

Brad the tireless driver!

...and December passed the time by napping, too.

This picture was taken in Idaho. That was probably my favorite state to drive through, because it was stunningly beautiful!

We stopped at a rest area in Idaho and had dinner. After dinner, we wandered around on paths through lava formations. It was a fun break from all of the driving, and December thought it was great fun to run around in the grass and on the paths!

We let December drive part of the way, too. She really does quite well for a toddler! ...not really -- she's just pretending to be like Daddy.

Here was our bed for both of the nights! We folded down the back seats, flipped forward the middle seats, and laid down our foam mattress. I could sleep stretched flat out, but Brad was a bit too tall for that.

December LOVED sleeping with us! She slept great, which was nice. On the second night, we stopped at a rest area in Montana around 10:30pm and got back on the road again around 6:00am.

This is what we did with all of our suitcases while the back of the van was made into a bed -- stuffed them into the front seats.

This picture was taken in Montana, around 6:30am, right after we had gotten back on the road. We arrived in Calgary at 2:00pm that day, all safe and sound!

Here are December and her cousin Caden playing together. We are staying at Brad's parents' house, and so are Jeff, Erin, and Caden while they wait for their new place to finish being built. It's been fun! The kids love playing together.

Giving each other hugs. You can see how wet the bottom of their pants are -- it has rained nearly every day since we've arrived, and December & Caden love puddles!

Do you like December's pants?!? She fell down in one of the puddles and was thoroughly soaked.

One big change for December is that she is now sleeping in a big-girl bed! We tried putting her in a pack-and-play when we arrived, but she immediately climbed right out of it. So we put a mattress on the floor instead and made a BIG deal about what a big girl she was and what a nice bed it was. The transition went better than I ever expected, and she's sleeping in it like a champ! Well, most of the time anyway. At this nap time, she decided to sleep on the floor instead.

Exams

December helping Brad study.

December showing Brad the burn on her arm. She didn't actually get a burn, but she has liked to pretend to ever since I burned my own arm on the oven last Saturday. After it happend, I showed her my seared forearm to remind her to stay away from the hot oven, and since then she supposedly has a burn, too.

December has really become a Daddy's girl lately! I think it's because Brad's been super busy with end-of-semester papers and exams, so he's spending alot of his time at the school's library. December has been missing him -- today when we walked to the grocery store, she was asking about him constantly, wanting to go home so we could see him again.

Brad has two of his four exams completed, which is wonderful! Next week he will have his last two exams on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then he will have finished his first year of seminary! He also had his ear-specialist appointment earlier this week. Remember when we were all so sick a few weeks ago? Brad had alot of pain in his ear, and we believed his eardrum had ruptured. Well, he had an ear infection, and with it, he lost almost all of the hearing in his right ear!

His hearing did slowly come back, and he was thankful for that. The specialist said that Brad probably had blisters on his eardrum that were popping, which caused the drainage out of his ear -- so his eardrum didn't rupture at all! His hearing was tested, and he's hearing normally again. He is completely better.

I thought I had been getting better, too, but the last two days have been pretty awful! The nausea is back full-force, and I couldn't even manage to keep my lunch down yesterday. But, the sickness just needs to be muscled through, because we are moving in five days, and the kitchen/bathroom/living room won't pack itself! :) I've gotten help from my friends Naomi and Della, and that has really been wonderful!

Seminary Softball & Pig Roast

On Saturday, Brad's seminary held a softball game (1st-year & 2nd-year students against the graduating class & professors), with a pig roast afterward, and it was a ton of fun! One of the seminary students brought his new puppy, Amos, to the game, and December was enthralled! Here she's showing Amos her kitty.

Playing with Noah while their Daddies played softball.

I'm so proud of Brad! He got right into the game and played great! Here he is in the outfield.

Preparing to bat...he even made a few runs for his team!

Batting! The game was really alot of fun to watch, especially watching Brad's professors bat and run. They did well, and the professors/graduating class won!

The softball game was held at one of the area's Christian schools, and then everyone headed to the seminary for the pig roast. December and Noah (being held by his Dad) were pretty excited about the pig!

Brad had been studying at the seminary earlier in the day and had helped marinate the pig.

One of the seminary students cutting up the meat...

Here we are, having our pork dinner on the grass. Della is on the left, Naomi in the middle, and then Brad on the right, with the babies in the middle of the blanket. I thought the roast turned out very good!

A closer look at the babies eating their dinner: Samuel on the left, Noah in the middle, and then December.

After the dinner, we hung out and chatted with the other seminarians and their families, while all of the kids played in the grass. Then Christopher & Della (Samuel's parents) played Brad & I in doubles ping-pong. I can honestly say I was by far the worst ping-pong player, and so caused Brad and I to lose every game, but then Brad played against Della (a VERY good ping-pong player).

Brad, about to make a shot

December, lounging on the couch and attempting to stay cool.

It has been REALLY hot here lately! The temperature has been around 100 degrees F (38 degrees Celsius), and it's tough to stay cool! Our apartment gets pretty hot, too. Yesterday we left for church in the morning and went to a church family's house for lunch. By the time we got home, it was about 4:00pm, and we walked into our EXTREMELY hot apartment...the inside temperature was 89 degrees F (32 degrees Celsius), and we were roasting! We turned on the air conditioning, and it worked overtime to get our apartment cooler. By the time we left for church in the evening, it had managed to cool our place down to 83 degrees (28 degrees C), which is liveable.

Also, I am very excited that my first trimester is officially over! I think I am beginning to feel better, too, which is wonderful! My next doctor's appointment will be on the day before we leave for Calgary, just over a week and a half away. I need to do LOTS of packing before then!

Packing Up

December, having the time of her life. You know her intense love of boxes, and as I made each box, she thoroughly inspected it and played with each one!

We are going to be moving at the end of May, so I am beginning the packing process. We will be putting our belongings in storage over the summer (while Brad has an internship in Calgary, Alberta), and when we come back we will be moving elsewhere.

Peeking over a box

December just learned how to count from 1 - 11 (though she doesn't always put the number 3 in)! Two weeks ago, she could count to 2, last week she could count to 3, and this week she can count to 11. Crazy!