Winding Down and Gearing Up!

I know I know. Long time, no write. Been a while. A lot has happened. That's what everyone says. And, in this instance, it is of course true as well. The last blog I made was in August. Ugh. Soooooo long ago in my head. So we're going to stream through and hit the high points:

Owen's Birthday:
Owen turned 32 this year. He acts like he keeps turning 50. Crazy man. But we had a fun time. I got him some tools. I felt bad because we were saving every cent we had to get into a home so according to my standards, it was a meager birthday for him.

House Buying:

Owen and I did it! We saved our pennies, called in favors, sold our souls and bartered with pirates! We bought our first home :) It's awesome. I love it.
The search was grueling. The market was horrid. A home would hit the market and ten families had put in offers before we could even inhale to open our mouths and talk about it. It was rough. We put in probably 5 offers on other homes until we found this one. The right now. We prayed about it and both of us decided we should consider moving north to be near the kids. We expanded our search and Owen found our new home. We are located in Centerville City just off the Parish Lane exit. It's perfect for us. We have a commute to work and adjustments to the new town, but the adventure has been worth it. The kids love how close we are. We can see them more often, we can spend a longer time with them when they come over and we are able to establish our own little home and family up here together. We have enjoyed every minute of it thus far.

Only a week or two after moving in, festivities began for the holiday season. I admit, this holiday season has been the hardest for me yet. Alot of expectation goes into the holidays for a wife, a mom and a home owner. I got overwhelmed. But I think we are finally out of the muck now! We pulled through!!

First came Halloween. Witch's Night Out is a must each year. I loved that the weather held out and was warm for us this time. We went twice, once with the Esau's and once with the Andersons. Both were a great time!
Then Little Haunts. This is my favorite tradition for Halloween I think. This Is the Place National Park holds this thing for kids and it's awesome every year! We heard a story from a witch, had homemade doughnuts, trick or treated in the old historic homes, road on the horses, pet animals in the petting zoo, road the train and played in their pirate ship! It is always a blast :)

Halloween night was a little weird for us actually. By the time the kids came to us, they were tired of trick or treating on Main Street in Bountiful with Barb so they mostly wanted to hang out and play video games. We had family over and treats out so that was fun. I did have a Pinterest fail. It was pretty funny. I saw a thing on how to make sugar cookies look like fingers. Here's the pinterest pic:

Here's what actually happened:
                                                       
                                                       Nailed it.

My birthday was a great one this year. Owen was adorable and found me a vinyl record player. I don't have one anymore but I inherited a collection of vinyls from my grandma. I have started collecting some from my era as well to keep the ball rolling! Owen picked out such a perfect one! I love it!!
Turning 28, however...not so awesome. Now I've got some ridiculous issue with my biological clock ringing, embracing my life and where I'm going and figuring out what comes next before I look back and regret doing nothing. Sigh. It's a standard problem everyone faces, and I will figure it all out, it's just a process.



Thanksgiving was a memorable one for me. My grandfather is dying of Cancer. We are at the stage where he has hospice in the home and he sleeps in a hospital bed each night. This is most likely the very last Thanksgiving and Christmas we will be able to share with my grandfather. I remember him every year of my life on the holidays doing our traditions and loving me through everything in my life. He has come to my performances, supported me in all my endeavors, loved me through my divorce and hugged me so close on my wedding day to Owen. I will never forget the beautiful and loving example of my grandfather. He is the best man I know. We decided to bring Thanksgiving and Christmas this year to my grandparents in their home.
I made cream puffs (first ever attempt at pastry cooking and I kicked butt!! If I do say so myself) Made them from scratch. I also made an apple pie, a butternut squash casserole (took 3 hours to make) and garlic Parmesan rolls. I was a bit tired by the end but it was worth it!
Owen also made stuffed mushrooms and I brought sausage balls. Some traditions cannot be ignored!

This Christmas season was great to have with my family in our new home. Admittedly, I hate the whole blended family thing because feelings can get super sensitive this time of year with who gets what tradition with the kids, but I think we pulled through pretty well. We did some of our key point events such as the Festival of Trees, we saw the lights at the zoo and we met with all our families and exchanged gifts.
For the first time, we also had Christmas Morning in our living room in our new home. We may not have had furniture other than the tree and a shelf, but had Christmas!! :)

 

The New Year rang in this year just Owen and I. I haven't really had the desire to "party hard" for a few years now. Weird how life changes on you with age. We just watched shows and a movie. Somewhere around 12:09 I started getting a bunch of texts. I was like...Oh, right...Hey, Happy New Year! lol. So, needless to say, it was a bit anticlimactic, but it was ok with me. This year will be great with or without a party or banging on pots and pans.

Mitchell turned 5!!!!
I have learned through the last few years that birthday parties can go one of two ways. Either I can plan it all, stress about it all, forget something and hate myself or take on too much so I don't even enjoy the party when it comes. This year, I refused to feel this way. Moving and the holidays and Jessica's baptism all burned me out last year. So this year, I just want to move through our events with traditional love and not worry so much about the big BANG to make it the biggest and the best. Eventually, you can't beat everything you do from the year before. So, this year, I booked a Superhero room at Classic Fun Place. Invited everyone and paid ahead of time for a hostess. It was awesome. The hostess got the pizza, drinks, ice cream, announcements, etc. I got to visit with people, watch the kids have a good time and make sure people remembered their coats at the end. *exhale* that was soooo nice! Mitchell had a good time and I wasn't pulling my hair out at the end! Win Win!

We got him some imaginext toys and a sock monkey. Owen's wrapping of the sock monkey cracked me up. Morbid looking.
My parents got Mitchell a car toy that hooks to his wall. He freaked out when we put it up! It's his favorite thing ever!!

Yay we are up to the present!!

January has been a little crazy for us here at the Esau house. Owen is doing school, I have had a bunch of stress at work lately and I have a new calling being a scout leader for the bears. We spoke in Church last week and it was awesome actually. I am looking forward to making some great friends in this ward and with our cute town up here. Setting down roots is not something I know a lot about. So here's to trying!! Wish us luck!