Nat Updates

Here's some updates about whats going on with me...

Its officially cold in Idaho now. (Meaning high temps in the 40s on a good day). Winter sucks, but it is  fun to bust out my warm snuggly clothes. Speaking of that, the other day I wore a beanie that matches one Esmé has... so either I have the same style as a 2 year old, or she's just really cool and on-trend. I did buy that beanie for her... so I'm gonna go with the second option.

I got a major upgrade at work... I have been working in a dingy, cold, windowless office for the past 2 years (notice the plethora of grandkid photos as an attempt to cheer up the space?) Finally, a beautiful corner office opened up for me. We spent a Saturday moving all my fetch from one office to the other and rearranging my stuff. Dad found this old relic of a vacuum and got to work. I thought he looked like a ghostbuster.

This is the new space. I love having the window! I'm still trying to remember where I put stuff during the move.

 Its "beginning to look a lot like Christmas" around my apartment. This is the first year I've had real decorations, and its fun to put them up. The tree came with lights already installed, which was a relief. Freckles likes the decorations too.

This is also the first year I've ever had a real working fireplace. I'm not sure how Freckles feels about that, though. Its nice and warm and smells really good. I love it!

 And, last but certainly not least, is school. I'm a few weeks away from finishing my first semester in the MBA program, and so far, things are looking great! Economics is my hardest class, so I was super excited to see this midterm score!

Happy Halloween 2012

Weekend with Spencer's Family

After getting home from the cruise, Mom and Dad were home for a few days to play catch up. Then, last weekend they went down to Salt Lake to stay with Spencer and Kristin. Her family was having their annual temple trip, so Mom and Dad stayed overnight and helped to tend the kids. It was nice for Spencer and Kristin to both be able to attend the family temple night this year, since in years past they lived too far away for both of them to go. The next morning, Mom and Dad were treated to a Primary performance with all the kids except for J, and this is also Sam's last year in primary.The next day, they went to the American Fork Orchestra concert in which both J and Kristin got to play some fun Halloween songs. They were also there to help them get ready for a new visitor-- Spencer and Kristin will be hosting a Foreign Exchange student from Japan. He's actually here on a high school program (he's only 14 years old) and he will be staying only a week and attending BYU.

Lea, Grandma Tutu and Spendo

Grandpa Tutu and the oldest grandsons--J and Sam

While they were in Salt Lake, they also went to our brand new warehouse to help Janet process our latest 7 pallet shipment (about 16,000 pieces of Banana Brushes).

Mom, Andrea and Janet. Andrea is Janet's assistant at our new warehouse in Midvale. She's been a big help to us all. 

Dad took this picture without them knowing. I think its awesome.

Its been a busy Fall for Mom and Dad, but they have both expressed how much they enjoy being able to travel and spend time with the grandkids. It reminds them of when they were parents, and it helps them escape the stress (and COLD) of Pocatello. I think they enjoy feeling needed, and being able to help out whenever and however they can. 

Coming up next... Thanksgiving-time Panama Canal Cruise with Janet and Dennis, an Anniversary trip in mid-December to Hawaii,  and Christmastime in Arizona/Southern California with Barratt, Ricky and Nancee's families.

(Does anyone else think I picked the wrong time to go back to school? I'm getting moded out of all these trips!) 

Mexican Riveria Cruise

So, after returning from England, Mom and Dad had about 5 days to get readjusted back to our time zone, recover from being gone for two weeks (catching up on work and projects, laundry, construction going on at the house while they were away, etc.), and then they packed up again right away.
They joined Ryan and Heather's family and Heather's side of the family on a week long Mexican Rivera Cruise that Ryan and Heather have been planning for a long time. They ate good food, did a lot of relaxing by the pool and a lot of playing with the grandkids. Although it was fun and they both had a good time, Mom came back with a big cold that Dad has since contracted. They are still glad they went though, because they had so much fun with Marissa, Mallory, Nathan and Austin.

Based on the number of photos of Austin from Dads ipad relative to the other kids, I think its safe to say they spent a lot of time together on the cruise. He's really growing up fast! He's already walking and learned to perfect his balance on the boat. 

Austin and Grandma Tutu at dinner. 

Such a cute smile! 

Marissa and her cousins... I think Abby and Mariah but they have turned into little pre-teens and I can't tell anymore. 

Mallory got to ride in the car with Tutu's all the way from LA to Salt Lake, she had the whole back seat to herself and as you can tell, she loved it! 

Mallory

Marissa

Marissa & Cousin

Dad and Nathan in the splash pool. Looks like a lot of fun! 

Ok so after spending a week in Charlotte, Mom and Dad flew straight over to England. They stayed with Roo, Annie, Esmé and Penny and had a great time. They even got to spend a couple days at a beautiful hotel in Switzerland (see Annie's blog for more details on that trip).
Also, despite my constant (and I'll admit, annoying) reminders for Mom and Dad to take plenty of pictures, the message never really seems to land. Luckily, Dad had some fun playing with his Ipad after learning that it can snap pictures and so I do have some cute ones to post this time around. Enjoy!

I love this picture of Esmé! So cute. 

She's definitely rocking the preppy British style.

Penny is huge! Its sad that I haven't gotten to meet her yet, but Mom says she's a very good baby and deals with Esme pretty well, but every once in awhile she'll let out a teradactyl scream.  (I had no idea how to spell that). She's not mad or anything... just exercising her vocal chords. 

The whole family at the hotel in Switzerland. I love that Penny is almost bigger than her Mom. The mountains aren't bad either! 

Charlotte (Sept 2012)

Sorry its been awhile since I've posted. Mom and Dad have been doing a lot of traveling, and I started school at the end of August so we've been pretty busy around here. For those of you who didn't know, I went back to school at ISU (Idaho State University) to get my MBA. Eventually I'm hoping to be able to help mom with the Baby Banana Brush business enough so that she and Dad can go on a mission and maybe one day they will both be able to "retire".

So, near the end of September, Mom and Dad spent a few days with J.J., Jennifer and Nolan in Charlotte. Here's some cute pictures from their fun trip....

Nolan did a really good job tending Grandma and Grandpa Tutu.

He read them stories

He took them on walks

And he entertained them! 

 They went to a local Children's Museum where Nolan loved exploring and touching stuff.

 He also really liked the fish!

 On their last morning there, Grandma and Grandpa Tutu had an early Christmas celebration. Nolan looks a little less than enthused... he's probably just sad that they are leaving.

He was much happier once he opened his presents! (I picked out the hat... so cute, right??)

He also liked his bug puppets

Mom and Dad had a great time in Charlotte and they were sad to leave, but they want to come back again in May for Nolan's 2nd birthday. 

Ricky & Eden's Visit

Ricky, Eden, Lincoln and Logan came to visit us for the month of July to escape the terrible Phoenix heat. We had a nice long visit with them, the boys got to do a ton of fun things and Ricky and Eden even got to get away to Denver for a week. We had a great time having you all here, and Mom and Dad say that the house is very lonely and quiet without the boys there now. 

I took a bunch of pictures on my cell phone, but I'm sure Eden's blog will have more pictures at a much higher quality, so I would check over there soon for better updates. 

Grandpa Tutu and Logan watching the sunset on the patio. The boys loved to eat outside on the patio and throw treats over the railing to the dogs anxiously waiting below. 

Lincoln chilling out on the patio after a long hard day. Notice the spray bottles? Mom filled these up with water and the boys had a lot of fun squirting each other with them on hot days. 

This is Lincoln chasing after Freckles, who was retreating under my bed. Both Logan and Lincoln had a lot of fun with Freckles, and they were constantly trying to play with him. Freckles was a pretty good sport, but there were a few times we had to lock him up in my room... I'm not sure if it was for his safety or for the boys safety though hahaha. 

Another fun thing that we did was to go to Pocatello's "Pioneer Day" celebration. Its a fair with lots of treats and activities for kids and live music too. They also have this tradition of doing "Mutton Busting" which is where kids under 8 get strapped up with a helmet and other protective gear while they try to hang on to a full size sheep that is bucking like a bronco. Its actually pretty cool, and those sheep are very big up close. Lincoln was brave and he got to do it 3 times! We were all proud of him. 

Sometimes Logan would make these funny faces and hold them for a really realllllly long time. This was a face he made at Texas Roadhouse after jumping up and surprising that girl in the booth behind up. She screamed a little bit, and we all started laughing. Once Logan saw that we were laughing at what he had done, he made this face and just kept making it for like 5 minutes. It was too funny. We even had time to snap this awesome picture.

Lincoln doing play dough karate chops with Matt. 

Logan doing coloring up in the loft. 

Logan "sleeping"..... 

Having a picnic at the Museum of Clean. I love Lincoln's silly face in this one. 

And, last but not least, the Train Game! We used to play this all the time and it was dang fun to bust it out again after so long. Nothing has changed though, Eden still kicked butt. 

Thank you all for a fun visit and we miss you!