She's HOME!!!

Feb. 9, 2012 at noon, we picked up Emily at the airport!  What a happy reunion!  We are so glad she is back with us safe and sound.  It has been a little crazy the past few weeks wondering what was going to happen.  Her host dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer last October and long story short it just became too stressful for them to have Emily's well being on their mind while they were dealing with the stresses of his illness. Thanks to the sweet families who offered their homes to her. We decided it would be better for everyone to have her come back home.  She has been a trooper through all of this and really wished she could have stayed until June like she had planned on, but sometimes life happens and choices aren't in your court. The good-byes were so hard - as you could imagine.  We have great hope that her friends will come visit one day!  They are all welcome any time!!

So her Portuguese is beautiful!  Hope she can keep up on it.  She is doing remarkably well with the transition.  She started back to school four days after she returned.  You go girl!  She jumped right in with both feet 5 or so weeks into this new semester. 

I decided at the last minute to do a make-over with her bedroom.  We had picked out new paint before Brazil was even a thought last spring and hoped to do her room last summer. I had 24 hours to pull the whole thing off and I did it! :) It was so much fun.  I felt like I was on one of those TV shows running around town looking for the right lamp, rugs, etc.  It was a blast and I was thinking about her the entire time. 

Let's see if blogger will cooperate while I try to upload some photos....

Our infamous neighborhood bridge.

 Here is our first glimpse of her coming off the plane!  

We could hardly stand it! 

Do you ever wonder how many random photos you have been 

captured in that belong to other people??? 

 Long, tight hug from dad.

 Miss Molly and her adorable sign and balloons...
she was very excited about this 
and had been talking about for weeks!

 Don't you just lover her Brazilian attire...in SLC in early Feb!? Awesome.

We drove to Lindsey's house to wait for Camber who was taking two tests! (Nailed them BTW) And what a fun reunion that was! 

Thanks Lindsey, for the yummy warm Cinnamon Rolls!

Cold milk and cinnamon rolls were on her long list of 

"what I can't wait to eat when I get home"

***

The Room Make-Over

Luckily I thought to snap a few photo of her room right before 
we started to pull down the old shelves and trim.

 It was too pink for her liking from the get go, but she patiently lived with it for several years. Thanks to Davis, for taking everything down and helping me rearrange all the furniture - 
several times until we got things just right.

Very soft creamy butter color was what she had chosen last spring. That great Porter Paint from our favorite paint store did the trick in just one sweet coat!  

So Before:

And After:

All grown-up and beautiful, just like she is :)

She loves Audrey Hepburn so I decided to give her a retro-glam look. I found that love seat at a garage sale last year here and we thought it would be fun to recover one day.  For now we just settled it into it's new residence and looks perfect! The furniture was a great find at Savvy Brothers Consignment here in town, which I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! (Both the store and these pieces.) I found them last fall and decided they would be great in her room since her sister had to "borrow" her one and only dresser to take to her apartment. I found the curtains and rug at Lowes, and the lamp shade, bulletin board and cute little sign at TJ Maxx. The clock was in our backroom and I found the birdie pillow on clearance at Smith's Marketplace.

 In her room in Matao, she had family photo's strung up on floss hanging with tiny little clothespins -I decided to make copies of her sweet family and friends from Brazil and place them on her dresser.

 The taller dresser has a mirror that lifts up and 

compartments to hold jewelry :)

One last look...

I love it! It turned out so much better than I thought it 

would in such a short amount of time.  It has the feel of a 

little apartment in NYC in the 50's.  

Welcome Home Emily!!!

January

January came and went - almost in a blink. We have had an unusual winter without a lot of snow and warmer than normal weather. I miss my photo of the day challenge.  Hardly a day goes by when I don't find myself thinking what a great shot that would be. This morning the early morning light on the Wellsvilles was beautiful.  I didn't have the time to drive out closer to them for photos but I went up on the hill by the temple to enjoy a few quiet moments.

 The one "storm" this month that delivered snow...and not just rain.

 See you next year, January.

A Visit to Delta

Every once in awhile Mark will cover a shift in the ER at the hospital in Delta.  I decided to come along for the ride this time - I had never been to Delta before and I thought it sounded like an adventure and a quiet weekend to get some handwork done and to study for a final I have next week.

He wasn't kidding when he told me there was not much to do there and it was kind of out in the middle of nowhere.  But I have to say...I sure do LOVE small towns!  LOVE them!!

  The sun certainly knows how to put on a show here...my cell phone barely captured the 

magnificent sunset tonight.  The colors were beautiful and it seemed to last forever!

Last night we enjoyed dinner at a nice little Mexican Restaurant - sorry no photos but the people's interaction

was just as great as our meal was.  Everyone knows everyone here and going out is such a social experience. It's so much fun to people watch!

 Tonight Mark said we had to go to Rancher's Motel/Cafe.  It is pretty much the only sit-down 

restaurant in town and it is where everyone in town suggests you go for dinner.

Look at that tiny little moon in the sky.

As we were walking in this van caught our eye.  Hey, isn't this the guy that was in the news not too long ago? The one who had like 500 reptiles in his house in West Valley?

Mark is very intrigued with this sign and decides he would like one for each of
our cars...maybe it would help keep the RIF-raf away :)

So we are seated, make our selections from the menu and enjoy looking around the cafe. Don't you just love them? Our waitress brought us some warm rolls from the oven - the kind of rolls that are so soft and fluffy but also quite weighty in your hand...oh the love of homemade bread - and two containers full of homemade jam.  "Snap" went the camera.  "Uh  - are you taking photos of your food?" She asks. I humbly answer yes and she throws her laugh out into the room!  "Oh, that's awesome!" she says and starts to tell us about a cruise she just recently took with her mother and how she loves taking pictures of her food, too. Then she goes on to tell us about how she has these little toy animals that look just like her cat and dog.  She takes them everywhere with her and  loves to include them in her photos when she travels. We really got a kick out of her stories.  She got in trouble for posing them in a photo when she was in Greece.  The officials told absolutely  no toys in any photo.  Well I almost got thrown in jail one day myself when I snapped a photo in a fancy deli owned by the mafia in Providence RI - (well not exactly but I did run for my life when I got the look and the guy signaled someone in the back!)

Here comes dinner.  Special of the night - Ribs.  We got the last two portions and boy did they ever pile on the meat.  Best $9.99 dinner we have ever seen....and it included a trip to the salad bar!

Well, before we knew it, this cute lady and our new friend, with her awesome tie-dye shirt, on delivered her two little toy animals to our table....and of course I posed them in a photo.

Meet Blitz and Blue

Yes, she just happened to have them in her purse!  We got chatting with her again and asked her about the van out front with the reptile rescue signs on it.  Sure enough, the owner was there (sitting at the bar when we walked in) and they had just recently moved to Delta.  You can read about it here. She told us several crazy stories that he had shared with her earlier and we looked at each other in disbelief.  These small towns are awesome!

 And if they have homemade pie on the premises...you can bet we usually save a little room for it!

Cococut Cream Pie - a slice divided for two! Thanks cute server lady!  You were a delight!

Are you smiling yet? Don't you just love small towns?

Earlier in the day this little place with the flowers painted on the building caught my eye.

Turns out it is a bakery called, "Eat Dessert First"

We had take out from their earlier in the day - two yummy sandwiches

A Rueben and a French Dip.

I love this window and the paint peeling off the bricks.  If you look closely at the chalkboard inside it says:

"Grandma always said, Eat Dessert First!" and there is a cute photo of the owners Grandma!

So right before dinner we snagged up a box of yummy treats and took them over to the hospital so all those cute nurses could eat dessert first.  (We also brought home a yummy piece of carrot cake for us ;)

Delta is a sweet little place....out in the middle of nowhere.

Welcome Little Owen James

 Heaven sent...to a sweet little family!

Owen James Christensen

Weighing in at 8 lbs

January 12, 2012

He is such a handsome little guy.  We love everything about him.  He is just

perfect.  Molly is such a sweet big sister.  She calls him Wunna...a cute twist on his

his name.  We are so happy everything is going well for baby and mommy.

We got to take Molly home for a couple of nights so dad and mom could

have some quiet time with baby and so she could recover a few more days from her cold.
She was a delight and is so excited to have her little brother here.  What a magical & tiring but oh so sweet time for Lindsey and Jake.

x o x o

 

 "O" for Owen...

Nana got to spend a few days helping with baby Owen and Molly.
What an amazing time and what a cute little family! A baby and a two year
old - can it get better than that?  Molly is just a riot to be with and such a
sweet big sister and holding that tiny little babe.

100% Pure Joy.

 

 Molly and Nana spent one morning at the Aquarium.

She loved those cute little Penguins.

x o x o

Molly Turns 2

 

Molly, 

We had such a great time celebrating with you! You are at such a fun age and such a delight to be with!

We hope this year will be perfect for you.   It is such a blessing to watch you grow up. We love your little crossed fingers - "I'm 2"  :) You are adorable!

Happy Birthday!

Love,

Papa and Nana

A New Year!

We had one more week of fun family time before Brady, Danielle, Liam and Elsie had to go back home.  We made the most of every day. We always try to get some photos with the great grand parents and you would think it would be easier as the kids get bigger...not so much!





Between the camera/photographer not focusing and the wiggling kiddos it makes for a pretty comical time!  But we won't give up on the photo sessions.  They are pretty priceless no matter the outcome.

Visiting our neighbors...

Liam you were too fond of the chickens :) They "freaked you out" but you both loved the goats very
much! You saved apple slices to share with them.  I think they were pleased.

I'll never have too many hugs or snuggle time with these cute kids!

One night we enjoyed a quiet dinner with the adults 

at Element's...but missed Camber who had to work.

 

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes for breakfast with that pure maple syrup..and yes onemorning we 

even had cupcakes for breakfast!  It's something you can get away with at Papa and Nana's!

 

For our New Years Eve Dinner we had Raclette. We LOVE everything about this Swiss meal.

(Ok...the cheese is stinky, VERY stinky but very delicious!  How does that work?

And for dessert....Chocolate Fondue!

 It was a huge hit with the kids! They loved everything about it.

Here's to bright New Year!

Happy 2012!