Where in the World?

 

So the blog hasn't been updated in 18 months. 

And the cherub-faced baby is now a strong-willed toddler. 

And the missionaries are trying to re-activate our family, because we've only had 1 month of 2012 where we all attended every Sunday (just kidding - about the missionaries - not our attendance).

Well - here’s where we’ve been:

September (2011) - We spent Labor Day weekend at a Twiss family reunion and then a Walker family baby blessing. We came home to a full schedule: Tyler and a friend opened their second dental office the next day, and I kicked off Project PEAK (the school volunteer project that would suck up hundreds/thousands of hours of her life for the rest of the school year). Tyler also rewarded his staff with a quick trip to Hawaii this month. And so it all began!

November (2011) - We closed on our new home 3 days before Thanksgiving. It was a short sale, where nothing was short about it (we started the process in March!). We began re-painting, re-carpeting, re-finishing every square inch of the very neglected, somewhat frat-boy-trashed style house.

December  - Finished round 1 of paint/carpet, etc. and pseudo-moved in (i.e. brought mattresses, clothes, and kitchen supplies over) Dec 10. Left behind furniture and decorations for staging purposes. Got our "old" house up on the market Dec 15. Spent Christmas in California with my family.

January (2012)-  Spent New Year’s with Tyler’s family near St. George, Utah (and at least one of us was throwing up during our whole visit. I'm sure they were so glad we came!).

February – The 5 of us went to San Diego for Tyler’s work conference. The trip happened to overlap with my birthday so it was all the more reason to go together. We hit up the Reuben H. Fleet, the SDSU Aquarium, the Mormon Battalion Visitors center, La Jolla beaches and sea lions, the San Diego temple, the USS Midway, the beaches on Coronado and our favorite DDD recommendation: El Indio. My mom and dad both were able to drive down to spend some time with us – fun!

March – Liza was baptized! My parents, Tyler's parents and his sister Maren and her family came to visit for Liza’s baptism. The cousins all get along so well and we wish they could hang out more often. Since our furniture was still "staging" our old house, we bought a couch on Craig’s list for the company coming, then sold it when we were done. Then Tyler left for Haiti. My mom and grandmother both came during part of his trip to visit and help boost the spirits of all of us missing Tyler.

April – we officially finished moving! Our house sold and we got our furniture back :) Tyler and I got to celebrate when  my parents came out to watch the kids for the weekend and we went to Miami for a wedding. The wedding was quite the event- super fun and probably never to be outdone. We met up with some friends there and it was like a real couples vacation.

May – we welcomed a visitor from the Missoula Children’s Theater when we housed the actress director. Both Liza and Landon were in King Arthur’s Quest. They fell in love with both the play and their directors, saying when they left, “are they never coming back?” We also were lucky to have Sarah's grandmother visit again! We ended the month with a trip to Winter Park for Memorial Day weekend. We rented a cozy little condo through VRBO. We went on hikes, swam, rode horses, and hung out. The kids were thrilled to find an old school Nintendo in their loft – and Landon still asks monthly when we can go back and play Nintendo.

June – Can you believe we stayed home? We were resting up from the crazy full school year and prepping for our one big trip in July.

July – The 5 of us went to Newport Beach. It’s the trip we take every other year with my family – and it’s always fun to have everyone together. We were able to spend the week with my parents, brothers and their families. Every day includes beach time, pool time, and lots of game-playing time. The cousin bonding time is top notch!

August – I made another quick weekend trip to San Diego – this time with just my mom. We did all the things you don’t enjoy quite as much with kids and husbands around: wandered shops, ate whenever/whatever we wanted, watched goofy movies, wandered more shops, and spent time every day hanging out on the beach.

September – Labor Day weekend was another reason for a getaway. This time we went to Glenwood Springs. It’s been a favorite stopping point as we drive I-70, but to spend more than an hour there was wonderful! The hot springs pool was a blast, the hike to Hanging Lake was beautiful, the Mexican food from the truck in the drugstore parking lot was awesome, the cave tours stunning, and the Alpine Slide a big hit. Later that month I also got to spent the weekend in Denver with some friends and attend Time Out for Women – a spiritual feast!

October – Tyler had a work trip to San Diego, and another to Ohio. He got back the day before our next trip – to Hawaii. Do we even need to say more? We went to Oahu and were happy to visit with friends that used to be in our ward here in Colorado. As parents, we felt obligated to make sure the kids could spend as much time as possible on the best beaches around, so naturally we did what we could to help. They also couldn’t visit Hawaii without trying malasadas or shave ice, right? So they tried these yummy treats a few times to make sure their opinions were valid. We also spent a day at the Polynesian Cultural Center and the kids enjoyed learning how to hula and weave lauhala.

November – Tyler and I celebrated 13 years of marriage with a little weekend trip to Denver. It’s always fun when you can spend hours of uninterrupted time together. For Thanksgiving we drove down to Tyler’s parents’ home - and we were all healthy! We were happy to have some down time and family time. Tyler got a few golfing trips in with his brother, the kids played a lot with cousins and the neighbors, and every night the adults spent hours sitting around catching up – lots of things to catch up on!

 December – a week after Thanksgiving, we got back in the car headed to New Mexico. Tyler’s nephew got married in the Albuquerque temple and it was Twiss family time again. Friends from our Colorado ward have since moved to NM so we got to catch up with them, too. The kids had fun dancing and eating at the wedding, Liza was entranced with the bride, and Tyler proved by about mile 2,000 over 2 weeks that his radar detector works.

We will stay home for our 2^nd Christmas out of 7 in Colorado. We hope Santa knows how to find us!