The Holidays

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving in Idaho Falls with Tamera's family. It was fun to spend time together. The whole group went bowling together. For the kids we got them their own lane with a ramp they could roll the ball down. They all seemed to have a great time.

Anna found the air blowers there and had a lot of fun with them.

While we were there Tamera cut Anna's hair. We wanted her Dad to do it but Anna would scream if he tried so it was left up to Tamera. It turned out pretty cute. We didn't take any pictures right after but you can see the finished cut in later pictures. After the hair was cut Anna kept turning her head back and forth to feel the difference of short hair.

As per usual Tamera made sure to take a group picture of all the new Shurtliff grandbabies for 2011. Left to Right: Cosette - March 28 (Vance), Aaron - March 31 (Tamera), Lucy - May 28 (Kyle), Colt - August 31 (Reese). We thought it was funny that both girls were b

orn on the 28th and the boys on the 31st. Crazy huh? As per usual the Seely baby is smaller than all of them, even if Colt is so much younger.

We spent a week in Portland over Christmas. Besides spending time with Matthew's parents we got to have Christmas dinner with Tamera's cousin who lives in the area and then spent a night up in Seattle with Matthew's brother and family.

We came back from Portland, helped Tamer's brother Vance pack a moving van and clean and then spent the night at home. Santa was coming that night so that presents didn't have to be taken on the airplane. So we celebrated our Christmas on the morning of the

29th. Anna woke up that morning and came in to our room saying she was hungry. When asked if she wanted to eat or go see what Santa brought she opted for eating. That is probably the only time that will happen. After she ate we did the Santa and present thing. It was so fun to see her reaction when she walked in the room and realized what was going on.

That afternoon we headed up to Idaho Falls to party. We spent three days up there and everyone was there but Jarom (mission) but we got to talk to him Sunday morning. Besides doing the usual Christmas present/dinner and New Years Eve food and games we watched the BYU bowl game (exciting) and took the kids to a place called Blast Off in Idaho falls that has ball pits, tubes to run through, and slides. We had to carry Anna out crying. I guess that means she had fun.

Tamera also spent some time with her Dad at Thanksgiving and Christmas hanging pictures and a big clock (Christmas present) on the walls. Now we are back at home and trying to get into routines again. It was fun being gone but nice being back in our own beds.

New Home

Since I haven't added anything in a long time I will divide our update into a couple of postings. The most exciting news is that we are no longer homeless or in an apartment. On October 29 we moved our stuff out of four storage units (they were one small, two mid size, and one large units) into our new house in American Fork. Yes we have too much stuff. My parents came down, a couple of brothers and their families, and a couple of Matthew's siblings came to help. It took most of the day to get the units emptied and the big stuff out of the apartment but it got done. By mid December we had most of our boxes unpacked and things on the walls and the garage emptied. I just finished the last framing of items that I want to hang on the wall and we are doing odds and ends like hanging up coat racks and little things like that. The house is perfect for us and it is so nice to be settled here. Anna loves having a room and all of her toys. It was like Christmas for her when we moved in and unpacked her boxes of toys that had been in storage for a couple of months. Although we aren't as close to stores as we were in Orem we live in a nice quiet neighborhood and the ward is great! Although it was incredibly stressful getting here I think this is where we are meant to be.

Here are the details:

2415 Sq.Ft total (I think)

5 bedrooms

2 finished baths plus one in basement to be finished

large laundry room

2 storage rooms - Yay!

Living Room

Basement Family Room

So now we will see what to do with the yard this summer. I already have some ideas so that will give me something to do. Like that is a problem.