Month 1, Christmas and Baby Bro Gets Hitched!

We closed 2016 with our first, full month as McCammonites. It has been an adjustment, to say the least. I am very certain that I am not a super small town, grocery store 30-minutes away, lover of winter gal. Luke asks weekly, if not daily, if we can move back to Bountiful (poor kiddo misses his BFF something fierce). Dallin is becoming quite the driving champion and Caleb is just hunky dory (aside from his Grudge-like moaning throughout the night that his doctors think is either a form of sleep talking or lazy crying...leave it to my kid to sound like the creepiest sound on earth rather than cry). We put our first offer in on a town home in Syracuse last week, but they went with someone else. We were second choice, though, so that counts for something, right?

Keep us in your house finding thoughts and prayers! We need all the good juju sent out into the universe we can get in this crazy competitive market!

Our first adventure as Idahoans was to find a Christmas tree. Back in September, Dallin and the boys came up and helped grandma and grandpa mark the perfect tree. Do you think we could find the ribbon when Luke and I went up with them in freezing weather? If you giggled with a shake of your head, you would be right. We tromped around for an hour before grandma finally said, "This one will be great!" along with a resounding, "It's perfect!" from Luke. He also called the past three perfect. I think he was cold.

Searching

I can't go on! I think I'll just lay right here and make a snow angel

Trying so hard to climb up a hill to help grandpa saw down a tree

The winner all dressed up for the holidays!

 Grandpa and Luke are kindred spirits. Luke is always up for an outside adventure and a car show, which are two of grandpa's favorite past times. Now, we just need grandpa to teach Luke how to take those quick little naps anywhere and everywhere.

Patiently waiting for grandpa to take him on a ride to Geraldine's to visit all her cats

"Watching" car shows

We then got domestic and made gingerbread houses from scratch, for the first time ever. Luckily, grandma had more experience in this department and came to the rescue with the gorilla glue of frosting recipes after watching us fail miserably at trying to get walls to stay up. I'm now determined to get better at this gingerbread building. It has become a new Christmas tradition, whether Luke likes it or not.

So proud of his first gingerbread man

He was so good at rolling out the dough and not getting mad when it stuck to his pin

He ate more than he applied to the house

The finished product!

We then made sugar cookies to take to the widows in the neighborhood. Luke is a fan of sprinkles and "Monster eyes." I bet you can't tell which ones he decorated.

We got to meet Santa at the ward Christmas party. I felt bad for every Santa Luke talked to this year because he would ask for a "Frank the Swather," which majority of Santas had no idea who that was. Luckily, the real Santa knew exactly what he wanted.

Luke inherited grandma Green's ability to bypass lines and be the first without people realizing quick enough to get upset. When they announced Santa was here and had all the kiddos line up to the right, Luke snuck onto the stage from the left and was right up front, ready for Santa to grab when he was ready. No one even realized what happened. Little stink, but in reality, I was grateful for his stealthiness because he was beyond ready for bed and had already been such a grump. Caleb was beyond tired, as well, and is already a little weary of strangers, so I didn't push my luck. He was perfectly content in grandpa's arms.

We carried on the tradition of luminaria's on Christmas Eve, even though it was right in the middle of snowstorm. We had a quite a time trying to keep the dollar store tealights to stay lit while the wind was blowing. A few bags caught on fire, we learned to not go cheap on the tealights and discovered that luminarias actually hold up pretty well in snow, minus the wind.

 

The best picture we could get

Over a year ago, I had the grand idea to make pillows from my papa's old shirts for his kids and grandkids as a little memory hug from him, forgetting how much I loathe sewing. I made my grandma's last year, then nothing until I found the courage to try it again while living with my sewing master of a mother-in-law. She skillfully guided me along in creating a pattern (which I found the easiest part of the whole process), cutting and sewing some quilt pillows out of the shirts. I must admit, I'm quite proud of the end products. My dad and aunt were the only lucky recipients this year, but others will be coming! Might be 5 years down the road before all get one, but they are coming.

Pieces cut

 

First one, finished!

Christmas eve, we braved a blizzard to go see the lights in Idaho Falls. It was a quaint little drive through light show in the city park, which the boys loved, so that made risking our lives worth it, right?

Christmas Eve Jammies

Christmas morning was filled with excitement and joy. Luke got his Frank. Caleb fed off Luke's excitement and would squeal and shout hooray over every gift we handed him and they were both spoiled beyond belief. We then spent the day going to church, relaxing and playing with all our new goodies.

Our new favorite game: The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel. So FUN!

Here are your candy canes, Caleb! Don't worry, I'll eat them for you.

Caleb got a farm set from Santa since he loves farm animals

Such a ham

Happy grandparents

Every time the camera was on him, he made this silly smile. Also, Magformers = awesome

He LOVES this lion! We've named him Leo.

What's Christmas without candy for breakfast?

The infamous, only item on his wishlist, Frank the Swather

Christmas morning aftermath craziness

Christmas selfies at chruch

Yeah for Christmas!

 Funny story. Dallin went to visit some extended family before Christmas, who love to give gifts. Funny part is, most of their gifts are from a stash of items that we're pretty sure have been saved up for years that reek of moth balls. Usually they are little books or cross stich things and the like. This year, however, Dallin walks in with a portable toilet filled with toilet paper, books, salami that expired in 2015, jellies, hand warmers, soap and a scarf. Can't make this stuff up, people. Sure do love the givers, though. Their hearts are in the right place.

Two days after Christmas, I journeyed down to Salt lake to catch a midnight flight to North Carolina to celebrate Brad and Emma getting married. I got to get a haircut (a bad one, but whatev), see LaLaLand with Kayla and spend the night on a plane followed by a morning in the Charlotte airport, waiting for my older sister's flight to get in so we could check-in to our hotel. It was exhausting, but that evening I got to eat some Southern Mac and Cheese, which made all of it worth it.

The next day, my dad, aunt, sister and I shopped at the outlets a little, had a great breakfast and then drove down to Blythewood, South Carolina to meet Emma's family and get settled in down there. Funny story on the first meeting. My dad totally backed into their mailbox and Emma's little brother tattled on him like nobody's business. It was awesome. Luckily, he wasn't the first to hit the mailbox and the only damage were a few scrapes on the side of the car, which he stealthily camouflaged with white out. We spent the evening visiting, eating real Southern BBQ and playing games.

This is Scout. She was my little cuddle bug while staying with the Lenkers

The next day was wedding day! Brad and Emma got sealed in the Columbia Temple then had a gorgeous reception at the Lace House in Columbia. It was full of Southern charm, food and fun.

Lexi tapping into her Gone with the Wind spirit

Daddi-o!

All the siblings

My brother is a married man!

 Next funny story: Nikki, Lexi and I set out to decorate the bride and groom's car before they left. My dad had told us it was the Lexus parked in the corner. So, we snuck out after the cake cutting to the very poorly stocked CVS where we impressively improvised with panty hose, balloon animal balloons, wrapping paper and chalkboard markers as supplies to get the deed done. We quickly got started upon our return to the Lace House only to be half way done and have my dad tell us it is the wrong car. We were decorating her Green Beret granddaddy's car. Keep in mind, my dad watched us for a good 10 minutes before speaking up. Thus, we quickly undid our handy work on granddaddy's Lexus and transferred it to the correct Lexus JUST in time for her brother to come out to take it around front for the exit. Mission Accomplished.

Their farewell was magical with sparklers and kissing and love in the air. It was a great weekend. Even if I was running on 2 hours of sleep the majority of the time. That's what motherhood trained me for, right?

I flew out a day later than everyone else, so I spent New Year's Eve in Columbia, visiting Soda City (where I ran into the newlyweds), souvenir shopped, attempted to go to bed early and woke up at 3am on New Year's day to catch my flight. I had a 12 hour layover in Denver, which meant I got to spend the day with Terri, grandma Bev, grandma Dunning and Katy. We ate Sam's for breakfast, which got Terri an honorary seat at the regular's bar and me a mouthwatering Chile re-llanos breakfast burrito, I got to catch up with both grandmas and help put away Christmas decorations and then topped it off by visiting with Katy and playing with her sweet babe. It was perfect.

Returning home to my boys, all three, was such a sweet reunion. 

Returning home to this, not so much...

Happy 2017, everyone! We love you all and hope this year brings adventure, love and laughter. We're just hoping for a home and some warmth in the near future...