Mid-Summer Visit from Some of Our Favorites

A few weeks ago, my sister and her kiddos came to visit!  Then my brother joined the fun.    

As always with their visits, it meant life got a little extra chaotic for a bit, but it was a {mostly} happy chaos, so we loved it!  

Highlights of the visit included: 

* lots of time with J, Manuel, and Isaiah!

* Denali LOVED all the extra attention with them there

* With three of the four C. girls (and Mom) there, it meant we got to do a lot of talking time

*  My Legos got well-loved again 

*  We took a trip to the aquarium

*  Silliness and potty humor was abundant

* I got to expand my repertoire of music to way more "exciting" genres (according to I, M, and J anyway)

*   Lots of combined family dinners and culinary offerings not normally found at our house...

*  Pete came to town and we  had a big family dinner down in Provo to include the college kids

* 7 of the 10 boy cousins were all together...just missing Ben, Jack, and Lincoln

* Had 2 of the 8 girl cousins together...just missing Cam, Ellie, McKenzie, Lauren, Bridgette, and Anna

*  4 of the 8 siblings together!   

*  We don't see Pete often enough, so it was fun to have him there! 

* Pete's son, Davin, is a superstar baseball player who had come to participate in a BYU sports camp.

Lowlights included: 

*  I had a  major meltdown that I can only assume was fueled by hormones,  lack of sleep, and lack of routine.  It was of the epic sort I have only once every few years, so that was stupid.  I got to practice all the skills I had recently learned in my emotional resilience class at church (FSITL).  

* Nate came into town a few hours after Pete and Davin left, so we barely missed having 5/8 of the siblings together

In other news:  

* Some big changes are happening and life has taken a turn for busyness in the extreme and the next few months/years are going to be crazy {and good...we hope!}  I'll probably share more details eventually...

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December 2017 --Baptism, Zombie Problems, and a Chocolate Fast

We started off December with my nephew, Davin's baptism.   He was a cutie pie and it was fun to spend the time with their family.  We also enjoyed running into one of Cami's friends (Elder Duffy), serving a mission in my brother's ward.  

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Don't ask what got into me, but I randomly decided that I was going to make the coolest white elephant gift ever for the high priest group party.   I did some research, made my plans, spent too much money, and put way more effort than I should have to create a Zombie Apocalypse Survival Kit.    

I put in all these fun things (along with a bunch of snacks on the bottom layer)....

I made this Zombie Identification Guide with pictures of men from our ward.    I was totally prepared for it to be the hit gift of the night.  Everyone would laugh and everyone would fight for it. 

That afternoon Glen found out that his job was ending in February.  His super sensitive HR director pulled him out of his work Christmas party to let him know.   

We didn't really feel much like partying at that point, but I had this super cool gift and some fun festive clothes to wear, so we went anyway.  

And it was all a HUGE flop.  The gift was the first one picked of the night and no one paid it one iota of attention.  It never got stolen and the people who got it couldn't have cared less and didn't even laugh at all the funny details I'd added, then they left early.   Combined with finding out about Glen's job, it all felt like a colossal waste of our time and money.  Next year, I'm definitely just going to the thrift store to buy something stupid, because clever/funny seems too elusive for me.

(And apparently I'm still a bit bitter about it six months later)!

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Right at the end of December, I ended my year-long chocolate fast.  It was amazing and I ate waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay  too much of it and made myself sick. 

And here are some more random pictures from December.

Our ugly sweaters....

Our Sunday best....

An epic Scrabble game with my brother Nate.

A new dam shirt my sister got for me...

Cami's best friend Katy got home from her mission....

It's crazy to me how much Ellie looks like her cousin, Bridgette!   

More random pictures....

The Baptism

The main reason for our weekend in Philadelphia (besides seeing the temple open house) was to be a part of my nephew's baptism.    

It was so fun to have so much family in town for the occasion!

Including 10/14 of the Crain cousins.   

I also very much loved the Baby Ben snuggles I got to enjoy. 

Glen couldn't get the time off of work, so he just joined us for the day.   

I loved being able to spend time with my parents.... 

and token British brother, Matt. 

I also enjoyed the opportunity to photobomb my brother, Pete, who was reluctant to have his picture taken.  

Ever since our trip to Europe, in which we each packed all of our belongings into a backpack only, I've been kind of obsessed with packing light.   I loved the freedom of not having a ton of stuff to tote around on our adventures.    I may have taken it a bit too far this time though, as I totally forgot to pack dental floss, mouthwash, toothpaste, hairbrush,  pajamas, and I was short one outfit.  In other words, I slept in my clothes (that I had to double up on wearing anyway), never brushed my hair, and had to brush my teeth with Emma's organic toothpaste.    I did end up going to a store for some dental hygiene stuff, especially since Adam also forgot his toothbrush, which with him having braces was too disgusting an omission  for me to ignore. 

Awesome to Lame

February 20: 

We had another youth family history night at our house on Saturday.    Together the youth found about 100 names to take to the temple and the whole experience lit a fire in Ellie.  Now that she knows how to do it, she's gone and found another 25 or so more names for a total of 31 in two days' time.   

Ellie has a family history buddy (another 10-year-old), who also found several names to take to the temple. 

Emma and Elena together found over 50 names. 

February 21:

On Sunday we had an extra six kids sitting in our row at church and although I didn't get anywhere near as much out of the talks as I normally do, it was absolutely delightful to look down the row and see the row of cuties!   We had the kids' cousins, McKenzie, Bridgette, Lauren, and Davin with us, and two other friends whose baby brother just had surgery.   

February 22:

When all else fails....post pictures of your food.   In this case it's chicken breasts "breaded" with a cashew, coconut, chia seed concoction.   It actually was pretty tasty with some spinach and a little dressing.     

This week is looking to be C-R-A-Z-Y to the extreme with a lot on my plate (and I'm not talking about food anymore), so don't be surprised if my blogposts this week are a little on the lame side....you know to match my lame sense of fashion and my lame personality.      

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A Valentine President's Weekend

February 13: 

 Valentine's Day being on a weekend this year made it perfect for taking a romantic Saturday night to celebrate.   A dinner and movie.   Or a nighttime walk on the town.   Or a show downtown.   

Alas, we did none of those things! 

  First off, Glen was out of town on a business trip, which made anything resembling romantic downright impossible.  However, even if he had been home,  we would have had no time to wist ourselves away on any outings, yet alone a romantic one.  Even the evening got sucked up, because it was our ward's turn to host the Valentine's stake youth dance.   So we ran all day and I ended the night with these lovely ladies as chaperons/food preparers!  All night long we kept about 300-youth fed and happy by cooking up frozen snack foods, decorating cookies, and refilling the water and food trays,  etc.  By the end I was completely exhausted and had a newfound appreciation for waitresses, nurses, and others that spend hours on their feet helping others.   

It was all worth it, though,  for these sweethearts and the rest of the 295 or so teenagers there that night. 

February 14: 

We got to celebrate a modified version of  Valentine's Day (on Valentine's Day) by Glen coming home from a week long trip to India!  He brought us these Viennese chocolates which sent us all into peals of laughter.     

February 15: 

We woke up on President's Day to a few inches of snow and a surprise visit from the cousins!  We were all very much still in our pajamas, but loved the spontaneous chance to talk and play together !  

 

We also had to laugh at their "Wiener chocolate" gift to go with our Viennese chocolate!  

 We had an absolutely lovely (and by lovely, I mean lazy) day "snowed in" together and all in all it was a good Valentine President's weekend!   

Project 365: January 1-7

After some self-reflection and feedback from family members, I've decided that I do not want to not document our lives at all, so I've decided to try doing a photo {or two} a day, instead of my normal blogging.   I'm hopeful that this new simplified approach to blogging will keep me from getting too distracted by it, while still providing an outlet for sharing pictures and updates on our lives.  Thanks for sticking with me and stay tuned for more day-at-a-time adventures to come!     

January 1:   This first day of the year brought  us a gorgeous sunset and fun family version of the cooking show, "Chopped"!  Glen and Cami tied for first in the cooking competition and I had great fun being the one to inflict the "fun" ingredients on everyone! 

January 2:  We enjoyed being a part of my niece Bridgette's baptism day and later we attended a performance of "Matilda the Musical" at the Kennedy Center.



January 3:  Emma chopped 12-inches off her hair, so she could donate it to Locks of Love.   We also dropped Cami off at the airport this morning.   :(

January 4:  Adam got a few cool Lego sets this Christmas and this model of the Salt Lake temple was  one that took him longer than most.  He was very proud of it when it was done!  Now he's off working on the next Lego set.

January 5:  Our  "Mommy and Me" book group is this Friday and Ellie and I are madly making our way through the delightful, "Journey to the River Sea".   We are reading every stray minute we can and enjoying every bit of it!    My book group is Wednesday night and luckily I finished  that one already, so it's not distracting us.

January 6:   For ten minutes this morning, the kids saw Glen for the first time this whole week.    He's been working absolutely insane hours (including two all-nighters where he got home at 5:30am and went back to work by 8:30am).  

January 7: My original plans for mutual tonight fell through, so I quickly had to patch together a last-minute activity for the Laurels.   It ended up being a very enjoyable night with 7 of my 8 Laurels, along with Ellie, who definitely is one of the gang.    I love these girls!