And the fun begins....

If Mike had taken the San Diego job, he would have gotten a company car. Part of the 'deal ' to have him stay here was a nice car allowance. Thanks, Baileys! Today, Mikey picked up his new toy. And yes, it's blue......closet cougar. The kids are teasing him about the color, I just told him it matches his eyes ;) Now, the Caddy is for sale...I told him he's living his second childhood by selling his old man car and getting a fun truck! He does deserve it in my opinion!!!

Just when you think...

What a whirlwind we have been in for the past month! I have to document it because this is my journal....about mid-December, a recruiter called Mike telling him of a CFO job in San Diego/Escondido area for a moving and storage company and asked Mike if he was interested. He thought, 'Sure, couldn't hurt to check it out'. So, first he phone interviewed, they liked him and so they flew him down there on the 7th of January. It was one of those awful inversion days in Salt Lake and in San Diego, beautiful, sunny and 68 degrees at 10am. Seriously...wouldn't be hard to leave Utah in January for that! They liked him enough to offer him a job! Mike liked them enough to accept the job! The kids and I were excited about a new adventure, but sad to leave family and friends. We were also sad that Mike would be living in Escondido for about 4 months without us as we stayed to sell the house and finish the school year.

Once the negotiations were over and he completed the background check, Mike felt like he could tell his bosses at Baileys that he was done. He did that last Friday. The bosses did not like that....at all....they basically told him they didn't want him to leave and they would do whatever they needed to so that he'd stay. Even Kevin flew in from Denver. It took 3 days of negotiations with them and some restructuring to make work life better for Mike.

Yesterday, Mike stayed home for the morning. This 'exercise' of negotiation with both companies was exhausting. So, he rested, we talked, we took the dog for a walk, we went to lunch and then he went back into work to discuss the job one more time. Finally after about 3 hours, he texted me and said that he felt good about staying at Baileys and he called the other company to tell them.

I can't put into words how emotionally exhausting this whole deal was. In our minds, we were already in San Diego/Escondido. We had researched the area, looked at houses on-line, talked with friends/family who live in the area, talked with friends who had lived in the area, talked with the kids about moving, talked with parents, etc. I don't think Mike thought the Baileys guys would put up such a fight to keep him.

We are feeling very blessed to have had two good companies to choose from, especially in this job market. There really wasn't a wrong choice. We are a bit sad at missing a new adventure (even the kids to our surprise), but we are really happy about staying here with family and friends. This time between Mike and I has been awesome. You know those times that just make your marriage stronger as you go through them together. Well worth the craziness of the past month.

Our sweet friends who support us and checked with us often about whether we were staying or going. Some even having their darling 2 year olds tell us "I don't want you to move." (That was a tearjerker, Nat!). Our parents....well, my parents....Mike's have been on a cruise since the beginning of January and don't have a clue what we just went through. They knew he was going to interview and Renae's last comments were, 'Hope you don't get the job!'....there will be a story to tell them when they get back. Anyway, my parents for their concern and support and our family.....to all of you-we appreciate you all so much! We are feeling the love!

Now, bring on spring!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas to me!

For about the last 3 or 4 years, I have been planning to get some curtains up in our family room. That back wall was long and had nothing to break it up. I have been looking at every home magazine and website I could find, trying to decide exactly what I wanted. I even purchased some maroon-colored drapes that I found on clearance last year, but in the end decided that's not what I wanted for the family room.

I did have Mike help me hang those in the piano room since they match a few things in there.

So, anyway, when my Mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told her I just really wanted some drapes! Being the excellent seamstress that my Mom is (a talent that skipped me), she was up for the challenge! We met one Tuesday in December and hit the fabric stores. We finally decided on this beautiful green which just happened to be on a really good sale.

We ended up needing to get a little more and that's why we have the cool cream colored stripe/hem at the bottom. But I like it!

Mom finished them up just last week...just in time for my recipe group to meet at my house.

I smile everytime I walk in the room!

It just looks so good to me and makes the room feel cozy and finished!

Thank you Mom! Loves!

It's New Years Eve so let's burn down the house!

So, here are our ugly sweaters! I found these blue gems at Ross/TJMaxx and then we doctored them up! They were perfect! Off to the Francis' for a fun party with some of our friends and neighbors. This year, our kids came and hung out in the basement with the Francis' and Harwood's kids. Our ugly sweaters did get a good laugh! So, I guess it was worth the 3.5 hour trip to pick up the BYU patches!

Here are all the kids waiting for the fire! We were excited this year to have some of the neighbor kids join us! It was sooo cold!

After the party was over, it was back to our house to burn up the gingerbread house and a graham cracker Christmas train Amanda made at school!

A little lighter fluid to help things get going.....

It was soooo cold! Seriously! We huddled around the burning house and train once Mike got it going just to keep warm! Here is Taylor, Spencery, Brandon, Josh & Amanda!

Look at it go! This was so much better than last year's fire burning! We almost had a bonfire going! Our kids LOVE this new tradition! It's all they could talk about that day!

Grandma and Papa Arvy had given us a firework, so we added that to our pyro display! Then, Mason from across the street, brought out his one last firework and partied with us!

Who is that group that sings...."Fi-re" Anyway, it was a great way to ring in the New Year!

Christmas Day and beyond!

Here's the fam at my parent's house. We were lucky to be there at the same time as Rog and Cozette's family and Darin & Kat's family. The kids and Kate had actually been talking all morning on their new iPod Touch's face time deal. Pretty cool! So, we kind of planned to be there around the same time.

Amanda got a JB poster from Grandma and Papa! More smiles from Amanda!Yea!

Brandon got a Star Wars action figure!

Sydney got squinkies and the gumball machine that goes with them.

The Birthday Girls!

I stole this picture from my Mom's blog. We celebrated our December birthdays on Christmas Eve....cake for dessert after sushi and Chinese food! I thought it was perfect! We were missing 2 December birthday babies...Evan and Carsyn.

After visiting my family, we dropped by to see Jim & Renae. Because Jim had been in the hospital just a few days earlier, we didn't have a planned family gathering. But, we were there the same time as Jim & boys, Matt & Alisa and Scott & Kellie! After we left there, Brandon and I went home and Mike took the girls to see Tron!

We did have an official Arveseth gathering on Wednesday. The girls had slept over at Scott & Kellie's house the night before (Thanks again!), so Brandon and I picked Mike up from work at 3:30. There was a crazy storm coming in and the snow was nuts! But, Mike & I were on a mission to get to the BYU bookstore (I know....just wait), before it closed at 6pm. Since we left so early, we thought we had plenty of time to get there and back to the Arveseth's by party time! Well, the snow got so bad that we could only drive 20 miles an hour all the way to Provo! We got on campus and started asking students where the bookstore was....it's in a building...not a seperate building-like the U Bookstore, so it was a bit hard to find. We got there with 10 minutes to spare! We were looking for ugly sweaters for a New Years Eve party we were going to....but couldn't find BYU sweaters! So, we bought some iron-on patches, got a soda and then hit the roads again! Super icy all the way to the Arvy party, but we could drive 30 miles an hour back! We were late, but still made it in time for the festivities! It was great to be together, although it was a bit anti-climatic. We love seeing everyone on Christmas Day!

Christmas morning! The first half...

We love these kiddos!

I have to do Christmas morning in two posts...just too many pictures. We take turns opening gifts on Christmas morning. Dad is in charge of selecting the presents the kids get to open. He usually saves the biggest or most exciting gifts for last. I will just group each child's presents together instead of lining the pictures up in order.


First, to prolong their agony, we made them pose for pictures
Love Brandon's face in this one...he even has a present in his hand ready to go! Imagine his frustration when we told him to open another one first.


He told us he hates snuggies...even Utah ones! It went on the floor in a heap. Then, he had to wait while the girls opened theirs :)

Then, we made him open new clothes....oh, the pouty face is getting worse!

Oh finally a gift he likes....a DS game...

Ok, now his pile is looking better with a Wii game The toothless smile is back!

Wow! The General Grevious lightsaber toy he wanted!

Now, one more big one!

A Star Wars At-At Walker! Very cool!

Now there was only the assembly left! I tried to do it, since Dad was working on setting up the computer (see that in the next post), but I'm no good at putting together boy stuff!

Christmas morning! The last half....

Continued.....

Sydney's rocking the Utah Snuggie!
Some art and craft stuff...still not the big present she asked for...something that she was willing to give everything else up for....we tried to talk her out of wanting....and iPod Touch. We tried telling her it was too much of a present for a 9 year old. We tried telling her that Santa would only bring her that present and nothing else. She didn't care. It's all she wanted...

And the last present to open!

Ok, this present is wrapped really well!

There's another box to unwrap in here!

Finally, she is thinking she might know what this is! Yes! Everything she hoped for!!!

Yea!!

Amanda's stuff....

The Utah Snuggie! What a fashion statement!

This present didn't quite make it. In fact, even though Santa ordered it in time, it didn't come until the 28th! These shoes were on her list and she was excited!

Oh! A Justin Bieber thing that wasn't on her list! A calendar! Yea!

But, she did get the JB teddy bear...

And finally! The full-length mirror!

I love this girl! And I love this picture because she is smiling!! Yea!

Amanda was the photog for the following shots! Great job, Manda!

I got some perfume! Two bottles actually. I had picked a few and gave Mike a list. He picked the ones he liked! Amanda was helping him out and now she is 'sharing' my perfume. Ha, ha. It is pretty fun to have her like the stuff I have...makes me feel like a semi-cool parent...

Then, the big gift! A Mac computer! We all are really excited about this one! It has kept the kids busy for hours and I love having on the desk in the kitchen! Yea!
I had been plotting on what to give Mike this year for the entire year! I didn't want to disappoint this year....and have to hear about it all year long ;) Actually, I was really, really excited about what he was getting this year. I was pretty sure that he didn't have any clue about what he was getting and that was more exciting. I wrapped his presents as soon as they came into the house so he wouldn't find their hiding places. He even had his own special wrapping paper, so I didn't have to put a gift name tag on the wrapped presents!

So, he opened the calendar of the kiddos that we give him for his office each year. It turned out so cute! Then, he opened his present from Max. We had Max give him the new clothes because Mike doesn't really think that new clothes is a present. This way he could be mad at the dog! He's obviously not a girl because we love clothes as presents! Then, he opened the present I knew would really surprise him! I got him a new Spyder ski coat! His last ski jacket is at least 10 years old, so I figured this was a great investment! He really, really likes it! The bonus? It's red so he can wear it to the Utes games!

Then, the last gift. We got him a Kindle and a case. He really liked this one, too. We are deciding now whether to keep it or return it and buy an iPad instead. But, he still thought it was a great gift!

Success! We made a big old breakfast of omlets (made by Dad) and bacon, the yummy orange juice and then just relaxed. I told Mike my favorite part of Christmas is watching the kids 'play' together with their new toys in the wrapping paper filled family room and how it is so peaceful and fulfilling.

We are very blessed and not because of the gifts, but because we have an amazing little family!