We have a new life....

It's been nearly 9 months since I've blogged.  I'm sure most, if not all, of my blog readers are aware of the many drastic changes in our lives.  On March 16, 2013 we moved to St.George, Utah.  We were so excited to be moving to a place that we've always dreamed of living.  Life had different plans for us.  On March 21, 2013 Kevin suffered a stroke and the doctors discovered that his Melanoma from 6 years ago had spread to his brain, lungs and liver.  For the past 4 months we've done few things other than doctors, hospitals and treatments.  The prognosis isn't great, but we're exhausting every possible avenue and refusing to give up.  I probably won't be blogging much for the next little while--any updating time I have goes to his Facebook page ("Kevin Norris Cancer Battle").  But today as we sit at a therapy appointment, I thought I'd let the blogging world know that we're still here.  But we have a new life.  This picture of Anistyn from last night gives a small glimpse into our life right now.  Kids sleeping with me instead of my husband, everyone is tired, and my life is in disarray.  But Kevin is still here and I'm grateful for that.  Enjoy every moment--life can change in an instant.  

Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween 2012!  We had a great Halloween.  Halloween day had record high temperatures, so it was WONDERFUL trick-or-treating in 70 degree weather!  Here are our trick-or-treaters:

Anistyn as Punky Brewster

Stockton as a pirate

Our pumpkins

Kids with their boring mommy without costume

Kids with their awesome Daddy, the "greaser"

Anistyn's baptism

Anistyn had the PERFECT baptism day!  After years of anticipation, she says it was everything she had hoped it would be.  We tried to keep it simple and focus on her.  She had so many family and friends attend.  When we set up all of the chairs we never thought they would all be filled, but they were almost all full.  How blessed she is to have so many people who love her.  I have thought about her baptism day, pretty much since she was born.  I can't believe how fast time flies by.  It was such a peaceful, wonderful feeling to see my child baptized and confirmed by her father.  Right after she was baptized and I was waiting for her to come out of the font, she came leaping out, jumping up and down shouting "I got baptized!  I got baptized! I can't believe it!"  It warmed my heart to know that she understood the significance of that day and was SO excited about it.  I'll always remember her special day and know she will too.
A HUGE thanks to Stacie for helping me with the table decor and taking all of the pictures.  It was so nice to be able to mingle with everyone and not worry about the pictures.  This is only a small fraction of them.  Love you Stac!

Anistyn's 8th birthday!

Anistyn has been waiting to turn 8 years old for about the last 5 years.  She was SO excited to be baptized!  She had a great birthday.  She even was able to start school on her birthday!  She thought that was pretty neat.  The night before we had family over to celebrate.  We had a treasure hunt, which was done at warp speed to avoid the inevitable rain.  But treasure found....kids happy!  Anistyn's birthday present from us was a cockatiel, which she named Charlie.  They bonded instantly and are the best of friends.  The bird was a huge hit at the party and got LOTS of attention.  She had a wonderful couple of days celebrating turning 8!

Tender mercies....

Yesterday was a rough day. Not really a bad day with the kids, just a challenging day. Work has been really hard for the last 5 months. My client changed systems and it takes more time each day to get my work done. I struggle with getting much of anything done around the house during the week. Many days I go to bed feeling like I have failed as a wife and mother. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way on occasion. We're also dealing with Kevin's grandpa in his final stages of colon cancer. It's awful to watch someone die a painful death. Not to mention the thought of not having him around is heart-breaking. This morning I found this note that Stockton wrote to Annie. I find them quite often, but it meant more to me this morning. It was Heavenly Father's way of telling me not to worry about all of the little things. My kids are happy. My husband is happy. We are so blessed. All of the other stuff will work out in the end. One day at a time...

Fall is here!!!

I know I've done a post before about how much I love Fall, but seeing the leaves yesterday on a drive to Cascade Springs made me want to do another! The colors of the leaves and their vibrancy took my breath away! Yesterday was the perfect day for a canyon drive. The weather was cool (rainy at times) and because yesterday was the Brigham City temple dedication, we only had 1/2 as long church meetings as we're used to. We figured we'd take advantage of our longer afternoon. We were ooing and ahhing the entire time. Even the kids enjoyed it! Stockton wasn't so keen on the mini hike we took at Cascade Springs-- we need to toughen him up! Especially because we told him next year we're going to hike Timpanogos. That should be an adventure!!!

School picture day!

I loathe any kind of picture day because of the stress it brings. This year seemed to be better for some reason. I'm not sure if they gave their best smiles or not, but they looked cute before they left the house!

BFF

This past weekend I was able to go to Idaho Falls to visit my BFF from high school, Kjerstin (all by myself!) I am ashamed to say that in the 16 years she has lived there, I've never been up to visit. Luckily she's an awesome friend and has forgiven me for that. What a wonderful weekend it was. We did lunch and a little boutique shopping, but mostly we just sat around and talked. It was so refreshing, and the fact that we can talk like no time has passed at all is a testament to our true friendship. High school would've been brutal without her. We went through a lot together. I was thrilled to spend 2 1/2 days with her and her cute family. It made me happy to see that she is happy. She sure deserves it!!!

It was inevitable....

Last night Anistyn and Stockton were "building airplanes" with balsa wood and glue. Stockton was using an exacto knife to cut the wood, but definitely not using proper techniques in order to avoid injury. He sliced his thumb wide open-- fatty tissue hanging out for all to see-- and we were headed to urgent care. For as hard as this kid plays and as many falls and hard hits to the head he's taken, it's a miracle that this was his first trip to urgent care. After all, even his older sister has had 4 visits for stitches (all before age 4). But through the entire process, he didn't shed a tear. He was so brave and friendly to the medical staff. And the best part about the whole experience? His sister hasn't left his side (except to sleep) for the last 15 hours. She has helped him do everything and even made him the sweetest "get well" card. She has been incredibly sweet to him and they are having a great argue-free day together. She has incredible protective instincts for her younger brother and it's heart-warming to watch. I'm going to milk the harmony in our home today for all it's worth!

I love my little family....

Once again, it's been forever since I blogged about anything. Just when I think life will slow down a little, it gets busier. I have considered giving up blogging completely, but instead, I think I'll change my approach. Up until now I've been just an "event blogger". Blogging each and every event in our lives. I just can't keep up. I've discovered the Blogger app on my iPhone, which will help me document things as they happen, or thoughts I want to record. I work from home and when I'm finished for the day, the LAST thing I want to do is sit back down in front of the computer and update my blog. :)
Just to summarize, things with our little family are great! 1 month ago Kevin started his new job at Oracle, which is 3 miles from our house. He LOVES it! After an extremely rough 2 years at his former job, I'm so grateful Heavenly Father has blessed us with this job. He deserves it so much and I couldn't be more thrilled for him!
The kids are growing so fast. I wish I could "pause" them because they are so fun right now at this age. Anistyn will be 8 in 3 weeks and starts 3rd grade on her birthday this year. Stockton is 5 and starts Kindergarten. He is so excited he can barely stand it. He reads almost as well as Anistyn (who is a great reader) and will give his teacher a run for her money, I'm sure. As for me, I'm just trying to keep up with life. Last April I ran my first 1/2 marathon (Salt Lake 1/2) and in June I ran the Wasatch Back Ragnar. Both were so much fun--things I thought I would NEVER do. I enjoyed Ragnar so much, our entire team (minus 2 originals) are running the Vegas Ragnar in November. Gotta get that "Saints and Sinners " medal!
So, there you have it. We're still alive. Just changing my approach at blogging. :)
(the picture accompanying this post is a picture of the sunset last night while we cooked hot dogs, roasted marshmallows, and rolled down the hills at the park. I love my little family!)

St. George Girls Trip 2012

2 weeks ago Annie and I were able to go to St. George with Shannon to visit my mom and Grandma (we missed April!) for our annual girls trip. We had such a great time. We LOVE getting away from home during the winter and St. George is the perfect escape. The weather is just like our Fall, so what's not to love? We did the usual--shopping and relaxing, but this time we also added in a hike to Turtle Arch. It was easy enough for Annie and she loved every minute of it. The weather could not have been nicer. One more thing that was unique about this trip was that Shannon and I ran 8 miles with my mom. We had never accomplished this before, so we were all pretty excited. We all survived without any problems--just a couple of sore knees. Yay us! What a great weekend, but it was nice to get home to our boys!

Christmas 2011

I'm only 2 months late blogging about Christmas...not bad! I must say, I was quite the slacker of a photographer during this Christmas season. I'm not exactly sure why, but what you see is what you get. Our Christmas really lasted about 2 weeks because my mom and her Kevin came in town the week before Christmas and then Ralph was here the week after Christmas. We had lots of family-filled fun! The kids were thrilled with their gifts from everyone. Anistyn's main gift was an art desk (which she uses every day) and Stockton got cars, cars, and more cars. On Christmas Day Kevin and I both came down with the stomach flu, so that partly contributes to the lack of pictures. Other than not feeling great, we had a wonderful time with our families and feel very blessed to be surrounded by so many of them.

Self taught

About 6 months ago, I took Anistyn to the dollar store to pick out a few things. The Tooth Fairy had given her a gift certificate for 5 items at the dollar store. As I walked around with her I was surprised at a few of her choices. One in particular. She had chosen a set of cards that teach you the correct way to write each cursive letter-- like something you would see hung up on a fourth grade teacher's wall. She continues to teach herself and can write her name quite well. This morning when I saw this sign on her door, it just made me smile.....

Pampered.....

I came in the room one night to find this.... Daddy giving both kids a foot rub. I was wishing at that moment that he had three hands because I was super jealous!

Stockton's Christmas preschool program

This year for Stockton's preschool program he was chosen to be Santa Clause.  He had a pretty long part to memorize, but he did AWESOME!  I was one proud Mommy!  Here are some super cute pictures that Stacie took with her awesome camera:

Pre-Christmas activities

As our kids get older, the number of Pre-Christmas activities increases significantly, but kids make Christmas so much more fun!  

This year Anistyn chose to be part of her school's Christmas choir.  I was so proud of her for sticking with it because they had 3-4 practices a week for about 6 weeks.  It was a lot of hard work, but it turned out so cute.  

 Anistyn and one of her BFF's Anna.  

 Anistyn with Grandpa and Grandma Norris and Great-grandma Norris

 Every year on the Sunday before Christmas is Grandma Norris' Annual Christmas Party.  This year Anistyn got to be Mary and she even sang some Christmas songs solo!

 This was our first year decorating gingerbread houses.  Definitely a new tradition!

Stockton was chosen to be Santa Clause for his preschool program.  (I'll do another post about that because Grandma Stacie took so many great pictures!)

And, of course, visiting Temple Square is a must!  It sure was cold, but the lights were as pretty as ever!

Mommy/daughter date!!

About 3 years ago, Kevin's parents gave us a gift card to Hale Center Theatre.  We kept forgetting that we had it.  I came across it a few months ago and decided that I should take my Annie to 

A Christmas Carol.  I had seen it several years before with my Dad and loved it.  I knew she would love it too.  So, we made a girls-only date of it.  We had dinner at Chili's and had a great time at the play.  It was an awesome way to start the Christmas season!

Disneyland, Last Day

This trip we realized that 5 days in Disneyland is too much.  By the morning of day 4, we had seen everything we wanted to.  Our first trip to Disneyland, our kids were 5 and 2, so we returned to our hotel at lunch for naps.  Also, Stockton was too little for a lot of the rides, so there was a lot of parent-swapping on rides.  This time around, we had none of that.  We only had to do parent-swap on one ride.  And with not having to return to the hotel for naps, we saw a lot more in a shorter amount of time.  On day 5 we slept in as long as we wanted and then headed over to California Adventure to ride a few more rides and then headed back to our hotel to relax and pack up for our early morning departure the next day.  We had such a great time.  Our kids did AWESOME with all of the walking they did (no strollers!).  We already want to go back, but alas we must start saving up again.  Why doesn't money grow on trees???  

Disneyland, Day 4

On Day 4 we had tickets to enter Toon Town one hour before the general public which was SO nice because it fills up really quick. We even got to meet Mickey at his house with almost no wait. Score! We saw lots of characters this day, which the kids loved. Later in the day we headed over to California Adventure to ride some rides we hadn't hit or wanted to hit one last time. The weather got a little colder this day, so we did some indoor shopping this day. Stockton was ready to go back to the hotel by noon each day. He LOVED the hotel part of the trip. We heard him say, "Daddy, flip a U-ey and let's go back to the hotel" and a million times. What a punk.  For dinner we were able to go to Goofy's Kitchen in the Disneyland Hotel.  That was one of the highlights of our trip.  It was fun having so many characters come to our table.  They even danced with Minnie Mouse and Pluto.  The food was great and we had such a blast.  I think it's definitely a must-do on all of our future Disneyland trips.

Disneyland, Day 3

Day 3 for us was "Magic Morning" where you get to enter the park 1 hour before it's actual opening time. It's a good time to get in some rides that have longer wait times later in the day. We headed over to Finding Nemo first, a ride we didn't get to last time because of the long line. It did not disappoint! After lunch we headed over to CA Adventure. We did a couple of shows and then were able to see the Monsters Street show. We had a front row seat and they actually pulled Kevin in to participate in the show, much to his dismay. It was so fun and the kids got a kick out of seeing their dad make a fool of himself. We were pretty tired after dinner, so we did our required Tower of Terror runs and then headed out.  The kids kept begging to see the beach, so we decided to drive out to the coast (about a 30 minute drive).  Unfortunately, the traffic was pretty bad, so by the time we got there it was dark, but we did get out and let them walk along the beach.  They thought it was pretty cool to run around in the sand.  Next time we'll for sure have to plan at least one beach-only day.