Finally...

So to update on the last few months of our lives... I will just do it by month so it isn't so jumbled.

FEBRUARY

We did nothing for Valentines. I gave a talk in church while Kevin was at home passing a kidney stone. It was so hard to leave him in so much pain and I was very greatful I had written everything down for my talk. Our Bishop let me talk very first and then I left to come back home to Kev. I really wish we could figure out his stupid kidney stones!!! This last weekend we went down to Phoenix/Mesa area with our good friends Barrett, Andrea, and Anna. We all piled into our Taurus, yes all 6 of us, because their car was broken at the time. It was adventurous! We had intended to go to the temple, but that morning eating breakfast, Kevin remember that our recommends expired in January. So our friends went while we watched their little girl. Anna and Erika are so funny! Erika is obsessed with her and goes to the door saying "outside, Anna" like 10 times a day. I love that they play so well together! We also were wanting to go to the zoo in Phoenix, but the weather decided to change our plans. It was like 55 degrees with a freezing wind and rain! I seriously felt as cold as I had that morning when we left Flagstaff and it was 35 degrees! We thought about going to a children's museum, but the best and cheapest was closed for the day...of course. So we just went shopping at the Anthem Outlets instead. We have awesome husbands who took the girls and wandered around while Andrea and I got some AMAZING deals at Chilrens Place. They were both soaked up to their knees after splashing in every puddle along the sidewalk. Good thing for prepared moms with extra clothes!
This is just a funny picture Kev took the other day while I was at work. Erika is suddenly really liking headbands again, but she has to put them on herself. If I try to fix them, they get ripped off immediately! She has quite the personality!

JANUARY

The pictures kind of explain themselves! Flagstaff got around 54 inches of snow over a one week period. It was crazy. It rained a lot one night in between a few feet of snow before and after and there was a lot of damage to places around town. JoAnn's fabric and Bookman's (a used book store) was the most devistating. They were in the same building and the roof completely collasped. Now there is no where to buy fabric or cheap books! (I don't count Walmart as a fabric store sorry!) In this picture, our car in on the right. The space between the 2 cars shows how deep it got! The city pretty much shut down for a few days. You would think that Flagstaff would be a little more prepared for snow. It's not like they don't get quite a bit every winter. I was lucky and my patients home is only 3 blocks away so I was able to walk to work so I didn't have to miss out on a weeks pay! It was pretty crazy though because the night nurse was snowed in for 3 days so the family I worked for had constant nursing for this huge storm! They were laughing because they noramlly don't get very good nursing coverage, but for the biggest storm of the winter, they were completely covered!

Kevin was laughing at this because it looks lie our car is caved in! Just a week after getting back from WY for Christmas, Kevin's Grandpa Allred passed away. We didn't know how we were going to make it back for the funeral and had finally decided that Kevin would just drive himself because Erika wouldn't have been able to handle two 12 hour trips within 3 days. I was pretty bummed about not going, but knew that at least Kevin needed to be there. Well, Kevin's parents are amazing and offered to let us use some of their airline miles and fly us up. It was the biggest blessing and I am so greatful for them! Neither Erika or I had flown before so it was an adventure! Kevin's sister and brother-in-law were amazing and left their car at the SLC airport for us to drive to Star Valley. It was a very short trip, but we are so greatful we could make it. Grandpa Noel was an amazing man. We had the opportunity to stay with him for a few weeks this summer and help take care of him after one of his strokes. I grew to love him just as my own grandpa in those few short weeks, and he will be missed, but I know he is so much happier where he is!

Watching all the planes outside during our 3 hr layover in Denver! She was so good!!!
December

We did our own Christmas here in Flagstaff and then left for Wyoming the day after Christmas.

This is what Erika saw when we brought her down the stairs. She gasped and then started growling! It was so cute! It took us about 2 hours for her to open her 4 or 5 presents. It was a fun and relaxing morning.

A snapshot of the aftermath :)

She loves this bear!!! Most of the morning was spent in its lap or tackling it with loves. She also came up with this cheeseball grin that morning. TOO CUTE!!

While in Star Valley, my sister Michelle took some family pictures. It was freezing and bright, but some turned out pretty cute! Our favorite is the one at the top of the blog! My little sister Susan also is amazing at cutting hair and chopped mine while we were there.

On the way back to Flagstaff, we stopped in Cedar City, where my sister Kristin and her Hubby just moved to! I was so glad we could stop and see her for a day! Her little girl Lydia is about 3 1/2 months older than Erika.

She thought she was pretty funny!

Sorry for the novel, but I have been a lazy blogger and just looking at everyone else's instead of updating my own. I will be better. I probably missed some things, but it is long enough already!