Christmas in PA

After surviving the wild drive north through feets of snow,and crazy drivers... we finally got settled at my parents house in PA. We arrived safely some where around 5:30 AM-- a 3 and 1/2 hour drive turned into a rip-roaring, make-your-own-lanes-on-the-interstate, enjoy the scenery at 20 mph 10 hour drive! It was an experience! Terrifying... actually, but all i can say is SO glad we have the Pilot!

So were able to take a nap, shower and then our Christmas vacation seamed to settle, allowing us to relax and enjoy the company of my family!

Minus the 10 hour drive... it was fun to DRIVE to my parents house this year!! Here are a few pics from our stay with them...


Brinners and Mama

About a month ago, my dad shot a few dear while hunting with his Amish friend Joe. He took the deer to the butcher and had it made into Lebanon Bologna... My sister and I went with him to go pick it up... we came home and my dad stacked it up and called me out to the garage... and this is what i saw! I could not stop laughing... my dad is so proud of his kill! Way to go Dad!Justin

Auntie Shelly preparing the candy for the kids. It was time to decorate 'gingerbread houses'

Enoch and Caitlin

Will

Grammy and Caitlin decorating their house. Caitlin was pretending to be a butterfly in this picture. Gone are the days where she'll just smile at the camera.

While the women helped the kids with the gingerbread houses, the men went and experienced a 3-D version of Avitar... here they are in their glasses! The LOVED it by the way! Micah, Caitlin and Enoch take a ride on PapaWe used the kids decorated houses as our Christmas Eve center pieces... along with my fabulous homemade table runner... and There's my goofie Bro posing...

Whoa, that's a lot of stockings!

Christmas Eve PJs:

Isaac, Micah, Will, Brinley, Caitlin, Enoch and Ada

Shelly and Brandon, Amanda and Justin, Emily and Josh, Amy and Kevin

Will taking his turn at the "Nut Hut"

Enoch and Ada got Wii for Christmas... Caitlin was cracking us up with her Wii Skills!! You GO GIRL!

Brinley waving from the office...

"Food, please!"

Will and Uncle Sua enjoying Thomas the Train on YouTube

...and watch out, if Papa John ever gets a hold of your camera- you'll end up with a picture like this. goof ball.

Christmas Morning:

Isaac checking out Brinleys' princess cell phone she got in her stocking...

Daddy and Brinley

Here is Caitlin helping Pepper open her Christmas gift

Pepper LOVED it!

Brinley Loves her 'baby doll' from Cousin Micah

Baking RAzz-Cherry Pie for Christmas Dinner

Caitlin took our picture sitting by the fire

We had a great time-- and were amazed at how quickly the time went. Our Drive home was a lot faster than our ride up... here's a picture of the D.C. Temple as we were driving down... I've made the trip plenty of times as a youth... but forgot just how BEAUTIFUL and unexpectedly the temple 'pops' up!! it's pretty amazing! love it.

Many thanks to my family for making Christmas so wonderful, Mom and Dad for everything. Emily and Josh for making the trip from York, Brandon and Shelly for making us laugh and Amy and Kevin, for giving up their own comfort so we could have a comfortable place to sleep... and ALSO many thanks to our friend MR. GPS... couldn't have gotten their without you... well. we could have... but it beats the fold out maps!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!

Unexpected Delivery from Heaven...

If it comes in a package Next Day Air... with dry ice... and it has to rise for 9 hours before baking... and comes out looking like this...

Mmm... you know it's gonna be delicious!! and they were!!!

Thanks JoLynn for being our Angel!!

Sledding!

What a great day for sledding down Grammy and Papa's back hill!! Here are some video clips...


Caitlin is little miss independent...

And a ride on Daddy's back...

Will riding with Mama...

What a drive...

Originally, our plan was to get up early Saturday morning before sunrise to start our 3 1/2 hour drive to Amanda's folks' place in PA. When Justin got home from work Friday, the big storm that had been talked about was already beginning to hit. We decided against waiting until morning, and got ourselves ready to head out.

By the time we left, 3-4" had already fallen in Richmond. It took us 90 minutes to get 20 miles north to Ashland. We figured it would ease up, but boy were we wrong. We felt like we were going fast when we hit 30 mph. Traffic was intense all the way to D.C. That was our half-way point, and we didn't hit the District until 5 hours into the trip. INSANE.

We hit the PA state line by about 3:30, celebrated by getting hot chocolate at a 24 hour McDonalds, and finally arrived at Grammy and Papa's at 5:10 a.m.

The snow has not stopped yet. And after reading this front page article from Yahoo's main webpage, we are simply grateful to have made it.

Calling all Addresses....

If you haven't aleady sent it to me... i need your address! Please email me at akcracroft@gmail.com... or leave a comment and i'll make sure 'not' to post it!! Thanks. :)

Wake me up... am I DREAMING??

Nope, Panda head... you DO actually live in VA now!

Wow, it's been a CRAZY couple weeks... packing up our Salt Lake house... blowing up and tying on all the balloons... and flying all the way across the country... (haha, J/K at least that was Caitlin's Idea on how we should have moved. In case i lost you back there... it was a reference to the movie, UP... still lost?... maybe you should go lay down for a while.) Pictured above: our new car (the silver one... not the moving van) We love our PILOT!!!

Anyway... back on track. The moving company came and packed up all our stuff... and some stuff we didn't want them to pack... (for example... A door handle???) phrases like"Re-united AT LAST!!!"... and "I feel SO much more COMPLETE now" come to mind when i look at this picture... One question, dear moving company...Uh, why?

"Moving" on...We said good-bye to our Daddy for about two weeks while he flew 'home' to start work... and the Kids and I stayed with Nans and Pops for a two week PARTY... and the sad count down for when we'd leave...

We had a really great time visiting with them... (Thanks again for letting us stay and play awhile!) while we were there...Brinley started sitting up all by herself!

Caitlin and Will had their last day of Preschool...

Caitlin with Miss Allison:

Will and Miss Sue

Heaven in a BOX... we made one more final stop at our favorite bakery to get the best donuts in Utah... We drove down and shared them with my Aunt and cousins that live in Utah County... Such a fun evening!! Thanks guy for making time to party with me!! Love you!

Caitlin and Will LOVE Nans and Pops' white board. Caitlin drew our family!

Daddy, Mommy, Brinley, Will, Caitlin, and Pepper under Brinley...

After last dance class (pictures and videos coming soon in another post) and on our way to Cafe Rio for lunch... Caitlin took this cute picture of Aunt Lindsey... So pretty!

Brinners asleep...

Mama T and I sharred a fun evening at McCall's music video screening... :)

B waiting for lunch...

and I captured this cute picture one night... "Joggy" and "Windzey"... spending some quality time 'YouTubing' Thomas the Train... CUTE Aunt and Uncle! (notice Pepper next to Jon! ha.)
Thanksgiving day: Justin flew in to Salt Lake at 12:30 pm and Lindsey and I made goodies for the evenings festivities... I'm regretting not taking pictures of our master pieces... because they were beautiful as well as Delicious... we made a chocolate cake... (whoa baby) and the most delicious apple pie. :) love the holidays... Who's counting calories? It was fun... and a very memorable Thanksgiving at Nana and Papa's with Aunts and Uncles and Cousins... We love our family... :)

So...Thanksgiving night magically turned into Christmas Eve... and we opened our "Cracroft matching PJ's"... we were excited that we wore them the next day for when we traveled 'home to VA'... CUTE!! Thanks NANS and POPS!!!

Brinley's first time Flying!

Walking through the Dallas Airport, 3 hour layover... Justin's carry-on was Pepper... the brown and blue bag that's over his shoulder.... she was so good!
Finally...

J & A in front of our new little pad... we are still up to our eyeballs in boxes... so pictures coming SOONreason for moving to VA:

Here are a few pictures i've taken since we've been here....

B playing...

B and C

My Sister Emily came to visit me for my birthday... and i got to meet my newest nephew, Isaac, he's SO sweet! (Caitlin took this picture of us!)

I turned 28!! Whoop-Eee. Emily watched the kids for us so we could go to dinner and see New Moon, they also 'surprised' me with a cake... it was a GREAT day!

Caitlin, dancing... Will on the right- sitting in Brinley's saucer wearing a 'Marty' hat (from back to the future 3)... and baby Isaac on the left.

Cousins:

Brinley- 7 months and Isaac- 10 Months . this is SO cute... it reminds me of Caitlin and Micah at the same age...

... more to come!

we're back!

Arrived safely in VA!

LOVE IT!

FINALLY have Internet... blog posts galore coming soon...

ahhhh. it's really happening.

I'm SO tired but I'm waiting for laundry to dry... so I thought I'd pass time with updates of what's been going on the past few weeks.

First.

we got a second car!!! Justin and I battled through KSL and Craig's List(Oh and people from IDAHO!) to find 'the perfect second car for our family'... and we'd find one that we'd really, really love and Honestly... the second we'd contact or pull into the lot to check it out... it would drive off the lot with a new owner. Finally, we did find the PERFECT CRACROFT PARTY WAGON!!!

Behold...

2005 Honda Pilot, Silver

Serious score. love it. Thanks Murdock's for great suggestion.... I'll post pics later

Second.

we are officially packed and moved out of our SLC home. Wow. it's amazing what two packers and two movers can do with in a 24 hour period... Ku-Dos! (BIG Thanks to Nans and Pops for letting us stay with them!!)

Third.

After much debate... Justin and I decided to add a little 'Lipstick' to our basement to help get things rolling in our efforts to sell. FRESH paint, carpet and peel and stick tiles!! (actually they are not as cheep as they sound... they look SO good). Oh, but it's been a wild few days. we are SO tired... each night we'd get more and more done, but sending us further into the Wheeeeee hours of the night (or rather morning).

Wednesday night we started painting, ending somewhere around 3:30 am. Thursday night we only made it till two, falling asleep with paint brushes in our hands AND last night we stayed up till 6 AM! Yeah, we are CRAZY- less than two hours of sleep... but things have started to come together... we were lucky to have our buddies Bryan and Amie come lend a helping hand... not to mention home made dinner from Jolynn and Rodger. NOTHING like a home cooked meal, i mean WOW, we have felt such a great sense of love from our dear neighbors... it makes it hard to leave.

Carpet comes Monday, post pictures after (we did it again... why do we wait till we are moving to make these fun updates to our home??)

Fourth.

I got a hair cut today (Finally! it's only been Forever)... if i happen to think of it... I'll take a pic and post...

Ahh. I'm sure there's much more I'm forgetting... but i think the movers happened to pack my brain along with a door knob, and a board thing that goes in the laundry room AND it's somewhere in the middle of Kansas right now, so I'm signing out...

Next time you hear from us, we'll most likely be Virginians!

We've got BIG news to share...

Chances are... that if we are "friends" on facebook you already know our 'big news'... but I realize that if you're not on facebook every day there are things you can miss... So, out with the BIG NEWS...
(no- we are not pregnant again.)
Folks, we are packing up and heading east... That's right, we are moving to Virginia!!

What's taking us to VA you ask??

Justin got a job with Sun Trust Bank. A recruiter found his profile on LinkedIn, (yeah, crazy right?) She saw that he went to college in VA and had the exact experience they were looking for in a person to help start a new program at their bank... an SBA 7(a) lending program. (umm, yeah it means nothing to me either, other than the fact that they are fully relocating our weee little family because 7(a) SBA loans are in that HIGH of demand out there!!

Anyway, Suuuuper long story made short... after 3 months of phone interviews and waiting, (yeah, serious emotional rollercoster!)...they flew Justin out to interview and offered him the job the very next day!

Everything has happened so fast since then... a serious whirlwind, but this move feels SO right, like there are reasons for this move far beyond our comprehend right now...and we are excited for the change, and challenges and opportunities it will bring.

Our ship-out date is November 27th! Yeah, less than a month. Justin actually leaves on Nov. 15th to start work... he'll fly back for Thanksgiving to be with his family one last time and then we all head out the next day...

ohhhhh. I'm not even going to think about who or what I'll miss here in Utah... because the list is way too long... but Thank Heaven's for blogs and facebook and phones and air planes that will allow us all to stay connected!!! What a blessing.

SO, the BIG challenge for us right now is selling our home sweet home that we've put our blood sweat and (yes) tears into... it makes us sad to have to leave it esp. after a brand new roof... but we are hoping there will be someone who will take care of it just as we have... SOOOO if you know anyone who's looking for a CHARMING home in the SUGARHOUSE area, (salt lake city, UT) send them our way... :) I may be a tad bias... but it IS the BEST house in the neighborhood... Also includes the BEST neighbors in the whole state of UTAH!!

Click HERE to take a virtual tour of our home. Tell you friends and family and anyone you know who's looking to buy!!!

Halloween

Today was such a perfect day... besides the fact that were were totally busy doing house projects and other things...Today's weather reminded me why i love fall so much! Ah! It was just gorgeous, perfect day to do a little yard work- picking up leaves, pruning rose bushes... Caitlin and Will played in the yard too, it was fun to see them drag their pillows and blankets outside to make forts and houses... i bet it felt good for them to be out side. the past 2 weeks have been rough on them...being so sick and all.

Dinner time rolled around, and we decided on a fave, BREAKFAST for dinner! ("and in the morning... I'm making WAFFLES!" -- Donkey, Shreck 2)

This just might become our Halloween Tradition... I've got a friend who makes a delicious Rig-a-boney (Click for Recipe) for her daughter before Trick-or-Treating... a nice warm meal before heading out into the cold... What a fun idea.

So, I thought this was pretty hilarious... my cooking- at it's finest. Don' worry kids... Next year it will only get better!
Enough chit-chat, on to the pictures...

Sweet Dorothy...

with Toto...

"I wont let the mean old nasty witch get you... We've got to run away!"

Buzz Light year!! speaking of traditions... i believe the last two years Will has cried when I've tried to take his Halloween picture... i must be getting good... cause look at this action shot!

Hot Dog Brinners...

All Three of my Trick-or-Treaters.

Daddy took Dorothy, Toto and Buzz out while the Hot Dog and I stayed home and handed out mini bags of pop corn to the kids... While we waited for the crowds to arrive i thought it would be fun to dig out Caitlin's old Halloween costume, a gift from Auntie Linds!! Wow, 4 years ago i was taking Caitlin's picture in this same outfit.

ALOHA!

Mmmm. Candy.