*This was originally written on January 5, 2017
2016 was a big year but mostly because it laid the groundwork for a HUGE 2017.
We went away for Christmas. We left Thursday, Dec. 22 and stopped in Flagstaff to see the North Pole Experience. I give it 2 out of four stars. The décor was awesome and each room was really neat to see but it did not really work for my kids. Kaybree and Eisley, you both take a while to warm up to things and I felt like we were moved from room to room so quickly that you didn't really get a chance to take it in. We were also in a large group so a couple rooms (like the room with hot chocolate and cookies) there was no seat for you and then the elves were in such a rush to do their thing that they skipped you. I paid $40 per person to be there and then had to go grab my own stuff because no one was paying attention to us. Not cool. There was also a lot of talking from the elves. They had a skit to do in each room which I get but they just didn't seem aware of their audience. The skit was not very interactive. You could tell the skit was the same no matter who the audience was. Make sense?
Anyways, I should post that on their website. Long story short--it wasn't great. Santa was really nice and you girls were so excited to see him so that was fun. You loved getting a teddy bear from him. We won't be doing it again.
Once we got back on the road we were tempted to go see the Grand Canyon but we didn't. We found out later the road is actually closed in the winter. Another couple did try to go see it anyways and got trapped in the snow and weren't rescued till a day later. Crazy. We did pull off the side of the road to play in the snow and our car got stuck. A nice man driving a mini van stopped and helped me push it out, back onto the road. When we got to St. George we decided to go where we had a gift card for dinner and ended up at Chili's. Kaybree was laying down in my lap while we waited for a table and a couple noticed and gave us their table when they were called. Two sweet experiences in one day!
We had a great vacation. It was nice to have no schedule and no real plans and do whatever we wanted. The house was really nice and the mattresses were better than ours at home. You girls slept in till 8:30 or 9 every day. We made our own ornaments for our little tree, which was really fun. We also made cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.
The weather didn't cooperate too much. It rained for 3 days and was in the 30's the entire time we were there. I really wanted to spend more time outside but we could never manage for more than 15 minutes.
We did visit the children's museum that I'm obsessed with (and you girls are too) and we visited the St. George Dinosaur Museum.
The day after Christmas we took a long drive around at night and looked at Christmas lights and dreamed about living in some of the huge houses we saw. There are so many pretty ones!
Just before we left Brendon quit his job at Jamba Juice. That's a huge deal. Fourteen years at Jamba will come to an end after tomorrow. On Monday he starts as a sales consultant for Solar City. This is the first major thing changing in 2017.
Then we've got life change #2 happening.
That life change is I just got word today that we are officially licensed foster parents! Hooray! It's been a long process getting licensed. It's a big deal. I'm excited but I have no idea how long it will take before we have someone new living with us. I'm just excited that it's finally happening!
So it's going to be a big, trying, exciting year for the Hurtado family. I can't wait! I know it will be difficult but I know with each challenge there is growth that happens too. We are ready for that growth. We are in a good position to accept that growth. We are a strong family and I hope at the end of 2017 we'll be even stronger.
Few cute things Eisley says:
Prentzels for pretzels and Snamich for sandwich. Makes me laugh every time!
2016 was a big year but mostly because it laid the groundwork for a HUGE 2017.
We went away for Christmas. We left Thursday, Dec. 22 and stopped in Flagstaff to see the North Pole Experience. I give it 2 out of four stars. The décor was awesome and each room was really neat to see but it did not really work for my kids. Kaybree and Eisley, you both take a while to warm up to things and I felt like we were moved from room to room so quickly that you didn't really get a chance to take it in. We were also in a large group so a couple rooms (like the room with hot chocolate and cookies) there was no seat for you and then the elves were in such a rush to do their thing that they skipped you. I paid $40 per person to be there and then had to go grab my own stuff because no one was paying attention to us. Not cool. There was also a lot of talking from the elves. They had a skit to do in each room which I get but they just didn't seem aware of their audience. The skit was not very interactive. You could tell the skit was the same no matter who the audience was. Make sense?
Anyways, I should post that on their website. Long story short--it wasn't great. Santa was really nice and you girls were so excited to see him so that was fun. You loved getting a teddy bear from him. We won't be doing it again.
Once we got back on the road we were tempted to go see the Grand Canyon but we didn't. We found out later the road is actually closed in the winter. Another couple did try to go see it anyways and got trapped in the snow and weren't rescued till a day later. Crazy. We did pull off the side of the road to play in the snow and our car got stuck. A nice man driving a mini van stopped and helped me push it out, back onto the road. When we got to St. George we decided to go where we had a gift card for dinner and ended up at Chili's. Kaybree was laying down in my lap while we waited for a table and a couple noticed and gave us their table when they were called. Two sweet experiences in one day!
We had a great vacation. It was nice to have no schedule and no real plans and do whatever we wanted. The house was really nice and the mattresses were better than ours at home. You girls slept in till 8:30 or 9 every day. We made our own ornaments for our little tree, which was really fun. We also made cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.
The weather didn't cooperate too much. It rained for 3 days and was in the 30's the entire time we were there. I really wanted to spend more time outside but we could never manage for more than 15 minutes.
We did visit the children's museum that I'm obsessed with (and you girls are too) and we visited the St. George Dinosaur Museum.
The day after Christmas we took a long drive around at night and looked at Christmas lights and dreamed about living in some of the huge houses we saw. There are so many pretty ones!
Just before we left Brendon quit his job at Jamba Juice. That's a huge deal. Fourteen years at Jamba will come to an end after tomorrow. On Monday he starts as a sales consultant for Solar City. This is the first major thing changing in 2017.
Then we've got life change #2 happening.
That life change is I just got word today that we are officially licensed foster parents! Hooray! It's been a long process getting licensed. It's a big deal. I'm excited but I have no idea how long it will take before we have someone new living with us. I'm just excited that it's finally happening!
So it's going to be a big, trying, exciting year for the Hurtado family. I can't wait! I know it will be difficult but I know with each challenge there is growth that happens too. We are ready for that growth. We are in a good position to accept that growth. We are a strong family and I hope at the end of 2017 we'll be even stronger.
Few cute things Eisley says:
Prentzels for pretzels and Snamich for sandwich. Makes me laugh every time!
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