All Moved In...

You know, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case, I think they are right.

With Nick's medical boards only a few weeks away, he swore off all responsibility to do any unpacking.  Consequently, the apartment was a total disaster when we arrived!  I thought I was going to kill Nick, but after convincing him take a couple evenings off to get the kitchen functional, and to shuffle some boxes around so that we could get the kid's mattresses horizontal instead of vertical, my temper cooled down and I set my shoulder to the wheel of the lonely task ahead.  It will likely take me weeks to get settled since none of our furniture is even assembled yet, but oh well.  I'm getting pretty used to this moving and living out of boxes business.  Plus, they'll be starting our new home in a few months, and this knowledge is my last thread of consolation.  When I'm not unpacking, I work on floor plans and it never ceases to cheer me up. Until it's built, however, we're stuck in this little apartment.  We're saving so much money it's hard to complain though.  And I think I can survive the apartment if we can only survive the downstairs neighbors.  I'm already having deja vu from our six weeks spent in a second story apartment in Florida.   Six weeks, six months, what's the difference really?  Oh heaven help us! 

Our Lucky Day

After a wonderful night on the town with the whole Hoskins family, we drove back to the Hoskins' home in Bountiful and the kids said good-bye to their Dad and their Grandpa Hoskins.  Bright and early on the morning of the 6th, they caught a flight out of Salt Lake City and landed back in our old hometown in Minnesota.  Once there, they loaded our storage unit into a U-Haul truck, turned the key to the storage unit back over to the desk clerk, and made the seven hour drive up to our new home in Bismarck, North Dakota.  A few days later, on the 11th of July, Grandma Hoskins, the kids, and I set out on our own drive to North Dakota.  It was hard to believe that our six months of house-hopping and vacationing was finally coming to a close, but it was even more difficult to believe that we were actually going to be settling down somewhere for the unforeseeable future.  I still can't believe that somewhere is Bismarck, North Dakota, but hey, I suppose it will be an exercise in blooming where we are planted.

 

Anyway, there will be more about Bismarck to come, I am sure.  Before we got there; however, our two day drive took us through my old college stomping ground in Rexburg, Idaho, and then to our third National Park this month--Yellowstone National Park.  We were only just driving through the park, but low and behold, as we cut up towards Mammoth Hot Springs, we came upon row after row of cars and eager park guests.  We pulled over as well, and right there by the side of the road was a huge old grizzly bear!  They never seem to be around when you're visiting the park, especially when you need them for your last spot on Yellowstone Bingo, but when you're in a hurry driving through, there they sit, digging and savaging about.  The kids went wild, so we made a brief stopover to watch before the rangers realized what was going on and shooed us all away.  It was actually pretty exciting, and Grandma said it just must have been our lucky day!  Either that, or maybe God just wanted us to be in a good mood before we headed out across the barren wasteland of eastern Montana and Western North Dakota.  It's no wonder they call it the Badlands.  Oh, our lucky day indeed.

Hoskins Family Togetherness

After enjoying a few days at the cabin, it was time to head back to Bountiful for one more evening of family togetherness before Grandpa and Nick took to the skies.  It's been years since we have been in Utah at the same time as Uncle Lance, so we figured we had better take advantage of the moment and get a few family photos.  Here is the whole crew up at the new Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City.

A few of just the kids.

 

Our lovely little family.

 

Brenda's Family.

 

 

And our three little divas who wanted to be photographed all night.

 

 

After pictures we all went to dinner at a family favorite--The Cheesecake Factory.

The wait was excruciating, but Grandpa Hoskins managed to keep the kids entertained.

 

They stole each others noses and gave finger kisses over and over again.

 

Mason and Isabella were especially cute together.  She calls him "the baby" and he simply drinks it up!  It was a great night, and I hope the kids will remember getting better acquainted with their Uncle Lance, who is usually away on military duty.

Small Town 4th of July

 Christmas and Easter have always had a special place in my heart; however, ever since we started homeschooling and I dove into studying American History headlong, Thanksgiving and the 4th of July have also taken on special significance for me.  Our Thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation will be to be pretty tough to match, but there are lots of places that are fun to celebrate the 4th of July.  For instance, we've already been to the Capital Fourth Program in Washington D.C., and the fireworks show over the St. Louis arch ranked second in the nation all three years we watched it.  Someday we would like to go to Philadelphia and see the show over Independence Hall.  We'd also like to attend the show over one of America's favorite monuments of freedom--the Statue of Liberty. This year; however, we went for something a little more sentimental, and celebrated the 4th in true Hoskins' style--at the cabin and down in Huntsville, Utah.

 

Our adventures at the cabin began with Spencer's birthday party on the 1st. Then on the 2nd and 3rd we squeezed in some four-wheeling and boating,

 

 

 

hiking,

 

and cooking out.
 

Then, on the evening of the 3rd, all of the Hoskins cousins had a cabin-style slumber party.  The next morning they woke early and were delighted to be treated to some 4th of July pancakes (pancakes with blueberries, strawberries, and cream) made by none other than Grandpa Hoskins.

 

After breakfast we drove into Huntsville for the famous Huntsville parade, which the kids simply loved.  (It really was famous this year.  The Obama Farewell Express float made it onto Fox News that night!)

Then we attended the Huntsville Day Fair, went back to the cabin for lunch, and then reconvened in the evening back in the Huntsville Square for a family dance party and social.  The kids went crazy up on the stage!  We were almost deaf after dancing for hours next to the speakers, but hey, what's being able to hear compared with all of the fun! 

The dance party was followed by a small town fireworks display, and then we drove back up the canyon and tucked four sleeping kids into their beds up in the cabin loft.

 It was a long day, but as Daddy and Grandpa are flying out to Minnesota in just over 36 hours, we had to live it up while we still had the chance. 

Our Handsome Little Man

Well, with every birthday there comes the yearly birthday shots from some ghetto photography studio.   JCPenny's managed to do the trick for us this time around.  Lucky Spencer's such a handsome little man.  Really, no matter who takes his picture, they always seem to turn out okay! Those dimples just swallow you up! 

 

 

 I can't believe you're six now Spencer!  Keep smiling little man!

A Birthday Girl and a Birthday Boy

Our time at the National Parks was great, but it was cut short by our need to get to central Utah to the small mountain town of Heber.  Gathered in Heber were most of my extended McArthur relatives, including my parents who had bypassed us while we played in the parks.  Everyone was getting together for my Grandma McArthur's 80th birthday party, and we were so happy to be in the near vicinity so that we could participate in the celebration.  Most of the family had been golfing and shopping and spotlighting deer before we arrived, but luckily we made it for the little garden party and the official birthday dinner at one of Heber's local steakhouses.  It was wonderful to celebrate Grandma's 80 years of life and accomplishments!

 

Despite the joy of celebrating, it's still a bit hard to realize that your Grandparents are growing older. I am ever grateful; however, that they are doing as well as they are. I'm grateful that most of my kids have had the chance to meet some of their great, great grandparents before they died. I wish that they also could have known some of Nick's grandparents, or my Grandpa McArthur.  Nick's last grandmother died a few months before we started dating, and his other grandparents passed away at varying intervals many years earlier. I lost my Dad's father when I was a teenager.  It's sad to think of the memories that could have been, but I am grateful for those we have.  I love my grandparents--my Grandma McArthur and both of my mother's parents-- and I work hard not to take them for granted.  These individuals comprise not only my living grandparents, but also my children's great-grandparents.  They are a tremendous link to the past, and I can only hope they all hang on for at least a few more years. 

 

And speaking of living for a few more years, the morning after we celebrated my Grandma McArthur's birthday happened to be July 1st--my own little Spencer's sixth birthday.  At first I was a bit stressed that we would be traveling on his birthday yet again this year; but, when I realized that we only had a few hours of driving to do, and that he would be getting a birthday party in between each of our stops, I surmised that he might be all right after all.  And all right he was.

 

We started the day with a little breakfast party in Heber with Spencer's McArthur Grandparents and Great-Grandmother.  We had a fancy breakfast on the patio, complete with candles in his pancakes,(sorry--breakfast in bed will have to be a few days late)  

 

and then Spencer got to open his first birthday present.

 

And what else would a group of McArthur's give a McArthur grandson?  Well a Red Ryder BB-gun of his very own of course.  That boy has the most McArthur blood in him of them all--and he sure makes his Grandpa McArthur proud!

 

As our time in Heber drew to a close, we said good-bye to Great-Grandma and Grandpa McArthur, and Grandma McArthur and our family drove a few hours to Grandma and Grandpa Carter's home in Tremonton, Utah.  While there we visited with them, as well as with my Aunt JoAnne and her family.  We also had another little birthday party there, but this time over lunch.  Grandma Carter fixed a delicious home-cooked meal, and then, as a surprise for Spencer, JoAnne and her kids decked out a cake for the occasion.  The chocolate cake was made into a mini construction site--quite clever actually--and Spencer was delighted at having a few more toys and a lot more attention.

The day couldn't end there though.  We had one more bout of driving, and one more birthday party still to go, this time on the Hoskins' side of the family.  So, after saying good-bye to our Carter Grandparents, as well as Grandma McArthur and her sister, we drove ourselves to Grandma and Grandpa Hoskins' cabin in Ogden Canyon. (Wow, how rare is it for one of my kids to get to spend his birthday with every living grandparents he's got!)  By the time we arrived, everything there was decked out in Transformer décor and we were just in time for our third party of the day, this one over dinner.  Before eating; however, Aunt Brenda entertained the kids for over an hour with all sorts of Transformer games.

Then we ate, had yet another birthday cake,

 

 

and then opened more presents.

 

Spencer got all sorts of Transformer gear from his cousins, a Harry Potter Lego book, and some new weaponry for his arsenal from his parents.  He also scored a sparking scooter from his Hoskins grandparents. 

 

All in all, it was a super day, full of family, cake, presents, parties, and fun!  Happy Birthday little man!  One more year down!  A lifetime to go!

National Parks

With residency behind us, we had just enough time for a short family vacation before Nick started his new job in Bismarck, North Dakota.  We kicked off the vacation with a brief stopover back at my parents house in Show Low, and then we headed north for a few days in some of America's most beautiful National Parks.  We started at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon,

 

 

which gratefully had more guardrails than the place we took Madison as a baby on the North Rim. The kids were pretty amazed by the views,

 

and we managed to snap this really great family picture from what appears to be the very top of the world.

 

Then the kids hiked and climbed around,

 

and drank a little fresh spring water to rehydrate.

 

Afterwards Spencer picked this lovely pizza place to eat at based solely  on the horse statue in the front parking lot.  Lucky for him, it turned out to be pretty good.

 

The next day we headed even further north and entered one of our favorite stomping grounds in southern Utah--Zion National Park.  The drive in was awesome, as always,

 

and then we thrilled the kids by taking a little hike to the weeping rock.

 

There was no time to make it to the Emerald Pools on this trip, but the next time we come back we'll have to be sure to work it into our schedule.