Christmas 2012

The week before Christmas we made a quick trip down to Idaho Falls to visit Ben's family.  We hadn't been down there since before we went to Japan, so it was well overdue. 



Kaylin had a great time playing with all her cousins.  It was so fun to have other kids to play with that didn't run away from her! The above picture is her with her cousins and Great Great Grandma.  (Yup, she is lucky enough to have 2 Great Great Grandmas still alive!) 
 

She had her first meeting with Santa there too.  That lasted all of about two seconds.  She would wave at him, but don't make her sit on his lap!

 

 

Of course a trip to IF wouldn't be complete with out some pictures of the temple.  I froze my butt off, but got some really awesome pictures.  The river and falls were frozen, which made it even more pretty.  One of these trips we'll make time to actually go to the temple.  This was just a short trip, and I wish we could have spent a bit more time there, but at least we are closer now and can make trips down there more often.

 

 

This was our first Christmas home in 5 years.  Our last one was the one right before we moved to Japan.  And it was so nice being back!  Being with family for the Holidays just makes it that much more special.  Christmas Eve we spent with my mom's side of the family.  Again, Kaylin loved having all the kids to play with, and loves trying to act just as big as them.  The funniest moment of the evening was during the Nativity play.  Grandma has a rocking chair that Kaylin loves to sit it, and it was being used as the cradle for the baby Jesus.  Well she didn't like that.  So just as the shepherds were coming to see the baby, she ran up, threw the baby doll across the floor and sat in the chair.  We're still working on the sharing thing...

 

 

Christmas morning was great!  Kaylin's big Santa present was a kitchen set (seen above).  She loves it!  We made the mistake of putting it together on Christmas Eve before she went to bed, and I had to carry her to bed screaming.  She really wanted to play with it.  That was the whole reason for our madness in going to Walmart on Thanksgiving.  Seeing how much she loves it made it totally worth it though.  She also got a bunch of plastic play foods to go with it.

 

 

Another one of her favorite gifts is a ride on four wheeler.  It is just a foot powered one, but it does have buttons and lights and sounds.  It's another one that we have a hard time getting her away from at times.

 

 

 Grandpa made her a chair for Christmas.  Just her size!  Christmas morning she kept going back and forth between her kitchen, bike and chair.  Almost like she couldn't decide which one to play with. We also got her her very own baby doll.  Her very first cabbage patch doll!  She didn't care for it much at first, but it now sleeps in her bed with her.  It's so cute when she gives it hugs and kisses. 

Ben and I had a pretty good Christmas too.  Ben's gifts included a new fishing backpack and tackle to fill it (or at least start filling it), a sweatshirt, sweater and new tie.  My gifts included a set of three crockpots, a set of checkerboard cake pans, and some other small craft, baking and photography items.  Plus we both got other little miscellaneous things. 

Christmas night we went out to the Campbell Grandparent's home for dinner and presents.  Nothing big, but a nice little family dinner.

Overall it was a wonderful Christmas.  It even ended with snow!  Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays, but being home with family again is what makes it the best.  And seeing the joy on Kaylin's face Christmas morning, even though she is still little and probably won't remember it, is awesome.  Yay for family time during the Holidays!

Just A Little Behind...

I realize I'm way behind in updating the blog.  I've been meaning to do it.  I just haven't really made time for it.  So here we go.  Here's the news for the end of September - November.

We finally got our orders.  And once we did it was a mad dash to try and get everything done.  The first half of October was working on getting everything taken care of we could move.  It was such a hassle.  We have never had that many issues come up when we have moved.  It took forever to get orders, then the leave paper work got screwed up, and it was just one thing after another.  We ended up leaving Hawaii with out all our needed paperwork.  They eventually mailed it to us, but the whole thing was just a mess.  We were glad to be done with it.  We had a mess with our flights too, but that's another long story. We finally made it home October 25th.  Kaylin was awesome as always and slept through both flights.  She is such a good little traveler. 

 

We made it home just in time for Halloween.  We took a trip out to Linder Farms with Grandpa to get some pumpkins and check out the petting zoo.  Kaylin loved chasing around the goats and chickens, and checking out the pumpkins.  The pickings were slim, but we found some decent sized pumpkins.  Kaylin wasn't so sure about carving them, but she liked them all lit up afterwards.

 

 

We dressed her up as a peacock for Halloween.  And even did a little trick or treating.  We only went to a few houses, as it was kind of awkward for me to take her around alone and she was happy with what she got after seeing the first sucker in her bucket.

Early November we met with the VA doctor here in Boise for the first time.  That meeting didn't go so well.  The doctor basically told us that all of Ben's problems were because of a misdiagnosis.  Needless to say, we left that appointment pretty upset.  So we don't plan on using them for a whole lot. We get his medications filled through the VA, but that's about it.  And we did find out recently that the doctor that we saw the first time is no longer there, so we have a new one we'll be seeing.  Haven't seen him yet, but hopefully he is better than the last one.

Ben also made a quick trip up to Seattle to pick up our car.  The military shipped it from Hawaii to Seattle, but we had to get it from there. Luckily it's not too far and he was able to make the trip in one day.  He flew up that morning and then drove back.  It was a long trip and he was hurting by the time he got back to Boise, but it's nice having our own car again.  We have the mustang here, but I can't drive it, it hurts Ben to drive it, and it's not very easy to get Kaylin in and out of. So it's nice having our big car back.

 

 

We spent Thanksgiving with my Dad's side of the family this year.  Well with most of those in the valley anyway.  Aunt Becky hosted it, and it was mighty good.  And it was super nice being back with family to celebrate again. We were crazy enough to go to Wal-Mart that night for some of their awesome deals.  We were able to get one of Kaylin's presents for a great deal.  It was a mad house, and I don't know what we were thinking, but we survived.  We didn't do any early morning shopping on Black Friday.  We did go out later that day though for a few good deals.

 

 

December 1st the Boise Zoo had free admission and gave all the animals presents.  It was cold and wet, but we had a pretty good time.  It was Kaylin's first trip to the zoo.  She loved the meerkats,  monkeys and big cats.  We'll have to make another trip back next spring when it's warmer and the animals are a bit more active.