From MD to OK (sorry-post without pictures)

So...after spending a great deal of time in MD (thanks again Joyce and Washburn families!!!), it was down to OK we went. All I can say is that after a 57 hour drive, 16 did not seem so bad at all.

The main purpose of that trip was to help get Da's (my mother's father) house ready to go on the market. We engaged in some great manual labor which included pulling fluff and staples out of hardwood floors and pulling up severely stationary tackstrips. Mom spent a great deal of time hunched over in a chair yanking things out of the floor while Dad and I invested many hours on our trusty hands and knees...neither of which were so trusty the next day.

But, despite soreness, it was a fantastic couple days. We spent time with Aunt Cyndy, Uncle Dennis, and even Kara (for a few hours anyway). After two days, we headed out to the cemetery to see some ancestors' headstones. And then it was on our way again.

Whilst in MD--Beware: LONG POST (re-posted)

So, after two-and-a-half days in the car, it was with great relief that we arrived at the Washburn home in Abingdon. We were greeted energetically by six of the cutest kids known to humanity and had a blast playing with them.

While this is not how they looked as they came outside that morning, it's the best shot to show off their total adorable-ness. We loved every minute of it.

Also, we got to see our incredibly handsome and athletic Joyces while we were in MD. Unfortunately, it seemed that the boys were a little camera shy. Every time I asked to get pictures of them, they scampered off to locations unknown until the threat of the "Auntiecam" disappeared. However, I was able to get a darn cute shot of the oldest Joyce "boy" and the youngest.

There's nothing quite as sweet as a father/son bonding photo.

One of the great things about Annapolis and Abingdon is the proximity to our nation's capitol.

We took full advantage of that one day as we headed out to go visit the National Museum of the American Indian. There were soooo many neat things in that place that I completely wound up depleting my battery camera. I can't pick just a few shots, and so, cue the slideshow.

Then came one of the craziest/fun parts of all. Snowstorms descended...en masse. It literally hit in the time it
took for my sister and I to make a run to BJ's (a Costco type place). When we left the house, it had barely
started snowing. When we left the store forty minutes later, we were trapped. Enough snow had fallen, so
quickly that all the roads back to Catherine's house were closed. I-N-S-A-N-I-T-Y!!! With only one way to
leave the store, we were inextricably trapped. The good news: it was cold enough outside to keep the cold
things, well frozen actually, AND there was a movie theater within walking distance.

Catherine and I sat in the parking lot for nearly an hour without moving more than 1/10 of a mile. At that point,
we went back into the store. They'd set up Hot Cocoa and a movie for all their trapped patrons to enjoy while
waiting for the storm to clear enough to go back home. It was in that store, over our respective slices of pizza,
that we decided what to do for the next two hours. Decision made, we hoofed it on down to the movie theater
that was a couple blocks away--in about 18 inches of snow. It didn't matter that Catherine nor I had on snow-
appropriate shoes or that we were not dressed for an arctic expedition, we tromped through the snow
anyways. With Catherine's love of Han Solo and my intense crush on Monte Kessler from With Honors, the
choice was obvious. And we weren't disappointed by this movie.

By the time it was over, the roads had been plowed enough for us to get back to Catherine's waiting husband
and children. So, while completely spur of the moment and totally unplanned, Catherine and I were able to
have some bonding time...and it was fabulous.

In fact, it wound up snowing so much that night that church was cancelled. Alas, that gave us an opportunity
to enjoy a fabulous session of home church. Then the children enjoyed a great time playing in the snow. Sadly,
due to my inappropriate trekking attire from the day before, I was pretty much on self-imposed indoor house
arrest. I know my body...and it does not get along with snow. So, I stayed indoors, and sadly was forced to
forsake a prime picture-taking opportunity...sadness.

But I did nab this a few days later

...before Snowstorm #2 hit us.    

I pretty much adored Briella's training session with

big sis Kamberlynne regarding the fabulous art that is

making snow angels. It was so stinkin' cute. And Ellie

seemed to like it too!

And the end result was something like this.

See all those snow angels in the background? Sooooo much fun.

And, way harder than driving 3,000 miles in the snow, harder than being confined to a car for two and a half days, way harder than the sleep deprivation, and temporary malnourishment was this.

There is still not a day that goes by where we don't think of our little angel up in Heaven. How we love our Angel Mariah and look forward to holding her one day, along with Baby Isaac and the little Joyce boy we never got to know. The Lord does indeed work in mysterious ways.

And so, amidst tremendous grief, there were moments like these that helped us through.

And so, that was our Maryland trip. Laughter, tears, fun, love, Olympics, athletic events, and oh so much SNOW! My only regret is that I couldn't snap more pictures of the Joyces. And so, I'll refer you to their blog spot, which you can access off the list on the right side of my blog. It was so much fun watching the boys dominate in Soccer, Wrestling, and Basketball. It was great showing Star Trek to a couple teenagers who just thought it was completely ridiculous. It was fun playing ball with the not even 2-year old and getting squeezes from the almost eight-year old. Basically, I learned that I'm the luckiest Auntie on the face of the planet and there is never enough time to get your fill of family...especially when you don't see them for five years at a time.

So, here's to pictures and memories...and not waiting so long in between visits. Thank you dear Joyces and Washburns for sharing your families and homes with us for sooooo long. It was a wonderful trip!

Part I of the Cross-Country Tour

So, I'm going all the way back to January. I know, I've been somewhat derelict in posting on time, but hey, life has been somewhat chaotic over the past six months...but only in the best of ways.

Starting the morning of January 18, the parents and I headed out to go visit family in MD. The original plan involved visiting our two families there for about a month, then coming back home for a month, then heading down to UT for festivities there. Instead, we went to MD for six weeks, down to OK City for two days, onto TX for about a week, and then back up to UT. Just an FYI, in the process of the FIRST part of our travels, we passed:

   The Seattle Space Needle


 Coeur D'Alene, ID

 Little Bighorn, in MT

 Mount Rushmore, SD

 MN...SNOWY Minnesota

 Cedar Rapids, IA

 Chicago, IL

 The HIGHLY secured Notre Dame University in South Bend, IN

 (Holy) Toledo, OH

 Pittsburgh, PA

and finally, we landed in good ol'



So...that was quite an adventure. I wish we could have stopped at all the cool touristy places, but alas, it was not to be on this trip. As it turned out, we wound up seeing the signs (sometimes we actually saw the places off the highway) at night, and we did not want to stop. That will be different the next time we're crazy enough to make the 3,000 mile/57 hour drive from WA to MD.

Stay tuned for the next blog to come..."Whilst in MD" (most likely will be added tomorrow)

Heads Up

Alright...so, it's been forever since I've blogged, and soon I'm going to change that. Catch up posts from the past four months to come over the next four days! What could possibly have happened in the past four months that it will take four days to post? Well, a synopsis would go something like this.

1.) Driving from WA to MD
2.) Driving from MD to OK.
3.) Driving from OK to TX.
4.) Driving from TX to UT.
5.) Driving from UT back home to WA to arrive home 2 months to the day after leaving.
6.) School in the midst of travelling.
7.) Beginning and finishing my last course and completing my Associate's Degree in Business Administration.
8.) Remembering what some things called "spare time" and "sleep" mean.

So, that almost starts to sum it up. There will be pictures for the posts to come over the next few days. Meanwhile, well, today really, I've enjoyed watching a British series entitled "To Serve Them All My Days" and loving it. I'm remembering what it is to read for strictly pleasure (thanks to The Time Traveler's Wife), and I am resuming writing my book free of guilt.

So, yeah. Sorry for the long-term absence, but I am alive and well (and so excited to be finished with school for a few months that being hyper keeps me up until 2 A.M.)! I am excited to spend a day catching up on everyone else's blogs, and then catching up on posting on mine! So, I'm begging for your patience (which ironically I get to teach a lesson on in about 11 hours) and hoping you love me anyway.

Good to be back in the blog-o-sphere.

I love where I live.

Can I just say that again??? I mean, I REALLY love where I live. At the end of an absolutely horriffic day...perhaps the second worse in my entire memory...I drove down to this.

The ocean has always been one of my many passions, and the fact that this bay, a mile from our little apartment, leads out to the mighty Pacific is a huge comfort to me. Especially when it looks like this...

..

How can I not be glad that I live on this beautiful earth, and be in awe of the world Heavenly Father created for me?

Yeah...I'm amazed...again.

Backtracking

So, I said I would get pictures from our UT trip up, and slowly but surely, I'm getting around to it. It's been an interesting couple of weeks, but pretty decent for the most part. And because there are so many, here's yet another slideshow. So, enjoy some super cute shots. It was a great day and we had a blast sharing it with our UT Cothrans. We love you guys!

P.S. One of the hazards of being the photographer...no pictures of my loot. Thanks Cothrans for spoiling me too. We had a blast!

Amazing "Grace"

Each baby that is born into my family holds a very special place in my Auntie's heart. Being the old maid in the family, I often reflect on whether or not I will get to experience motherhood in this life. And I don't know one way or the other. But one thing I do know...I can share a "mother heart" with every single niece and nephew, even those I've never gotten to hold.

Today, at 4:35 P.M., our newest gift entered this world, breathing, beautiful, and so very treasured. For this special little one will forever remind us of a precious little angel named Mariah Grace. Their shared middle name is no coincidence...and I am thankful to both my dear sisters for their amazing love. Baby Halle and our little Mariah angel are dear friends...none of us have ever doubted that. We so look forward to holding onto this priceless gift, and remembering another that we never got to hold.

But on this day of joy, I want to welcome this individual spirit into our family. Halle, we've been waiting for you...and we're oh so glad you're here with us. We love you sooooooo much (and your brothers and sister, and all your many cousins) and CANNOT wait to shower that love on you.

More than ever, I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for establishing the ability to make my family eternal. I do not take a single life in our family for granted...and cannot express the feelings in my heart. I sit here tonight, marvelling at the miracle of life...at the Plan of Salvation...at what our hearts contain. And I marvel at a Heavenly Family who has the ability to love us so much that they let those gifts be bestowed upon us. What a miracle!

So once more...welcome precious little one. Your Auntie adores you so.

Halle Grace Cothran

January 3, 2010

7lbs 4 oz.

21" long

I couldn't resist that picture of our Sleeping Beauty.