Happy 2018 & The Big News

I am always amazed at how quickly the year seems to pass. Semi-annual blog posts are just my speed these days!

I hope you all had a great holiday season. We enjoyed a quiet Christmas and new years at home. 

We got hit by this crazy winter weather this week. I actually love it when it snows. I'm sure I wouldn't  find it so charming if we had snow for much of the winter but one or two storms is just about perfect for me. Everything has been shut down since Thursday and only the brave have ventured out. Of course, Emil had to go surfing on Saturday when the temp was 13 degrees. Sometimes he's still such a mystery to me.

So this is what we've been up to the past 5 months or so.

Noah had a great Marching Band season. He enjoys playing percussion. The timpani is his instrument of choice. He hopes to be able to continue to play when he goes to college. He is very talented and we love hearing him play. He's busily applying to colleges and enjoying his last 6 months as a Senior in High School. Time goes by so fast!

Zachery Johnson, Larry Proctor, Noah Moster

He had his Eagle Scout Court of Honor the day after Thanksgiving. We are so proud of him!

 He and his best friend, Zachery did both their project and Court of Honor together. We had the Johnson's spend Thanksgiving with us since the Court of Honor was the day after Thanksgiving. It was so nice to see them. We have missed them since they moved to Maryland!

Cousins! Cara Rose & Noah

Me and my two Eagles!

Noah & Grandmom Moster

I have to thank Emil's sister Theresa for taking all the pictures. She was a lifesaver!

Emil missed all the fun because he was sick. He got back from an epic surf trip to Nicaragua and caught the flu on the plane ride home. He came down with the flu before Thanksgiving and then ended up with pneumonia after Thanksgiving. It was a holiday spent in seclusion for him since we had houseguests. It was really pretty bad and has convinced us both to "maybe" get the flu shot next year. 

This is just one of the great pics of his trip. Check out his FB page for plenty more. It was a

once in a lifetime trip, and I'm glad he got to do it with all of his surfing buddies, but I was certainly happy for him to come home after 10 days. 

Kirstin is still loving life in Hawaii and producing some beautiful art. This was a series that she did and I loved them so much I bought them. 

Kyle got a new job and they are getting free rent and living right on the beach so what's not to love? 

They will be in Hawaii for at least 2 more years. We will be going out for her graduation in April and are really excited to see her and Kyle. It's been almost 2 years! Entirely too long for a Mom to be missing her kids!

Emil Michael is doing well at the Cotton Gin and is working on a book. We get together at least once a month and have him come over for a meal and to spend the night and catch up on life. It's nice to have him so close. We took our annual Temple trip in December and enjoyed the temple lights as a family, minus our Raney contigency.

Blaze, the dog, is still trying to be my yoga partner by sitting on my mat and looking cute. Dogs on mats are strictly prohibited in this household but she consistently "forgets" this rule and if I turn my head or leave my mat for any reason, I find her sitting on it as if to say, "I've been waiting for you. Are you ready to continue our yoga practice?" She's such a stinker, but we all adore her. 

I finished up my semester in mid-December with A's in both classes. I'm definitely a much better student now then I was out of High School. I'm enjoying learning online and work at the Y has been fulfilling. We are in a slow time with the climbing tower since it is closed but when the weather improves, I'll be busy with that again. 

This year will bring some big changes for us. We are planning on putting our house up for sale in March and moving to Utah in September. I want to be closer to family and my Mom in particular. We have been working toward this for the past 5 years, and now, the time has finally come. Noah will be in college in the fall and we wanted to downsize our living space anyway. It will be hard to leave our home, family, friends and the east coast, but we're looking forward to new adventures out west and I'm really excited to live close to my family again and to explore some of the west coast. We do plan on coming back to the East coast in the future to retire, we just aren't sure exactly when that will be. It may be a few years or longer. We will see! So that is the big news! 

Semi-Annual Post Part 2

So after the thrill of NYC it was back to home and Noah's Eagle Scout Project. Noah and his best friend, Zack Johnson did a combined 5K/Fun Run to raise awareness and canned goods for our county's 2 food pantries.

The boys spent 2 months going out after school every day and raising the funds to sponsor the race. OBXRunning ran the logistics of the races. They also provided trophies, water bottles, fruit and gift bags with the funds they raised. The entry fee for the race was 10 cans of food. 

We ended up having about 30 runners and 15 volunteers and they collected 1000 lbs of food for the food pantries. I'm so proud of all the hard work they put into this project. We are having their Court of Honor for their Eagle Scout after Thanksgiving.

After school let out I went to my family reunion in Ut. I didn't take too many pictures and now I can't find any on my laptop! Yikes. James, will you be sending out copies of all the pictures you collected? 

I went out a week early to spend time with my Mom and help prep for the reunion. It was a beautiful location, not far from Zion's. I think the part I liked the most was just hanging out and talking with everyone each night. We did lots of puzzles (thanks John!) and that was another highlight. I love getting together with my siblings. I am so lucky to be related to some of my favorite people in the world. 

I also got to visit my friend Ezzy who moved from NC a couple of years ago.  It was so sweet to spend the afternoon with her. It wasn't enough time at all but we made the most of it. She's an amazing quilter and you can see her handy work in the background of this picture.

After the trip to Utah I did another year of Girls Camp for our church in July. I was a level leader this year. Then August was upon us and Emil and I decided we needed to paint our house. We had gotten a quote and it was more than we were willing to spend but at the same time it needed to be done. It's 16 years old and the stucco was starting to show signs of wear. Emil started the trim while I was at my reunion. This is the side our bedroom is on and it's the worst side because it doesn't get any sun. You can see the window on the left is the one he had painted and the one on the right wasn't done. 

Here's one in the front. The difference in the trim was incredible!

After we had finished all the trim we conquered the base coat. We didn't know the exact color so I guessed. I guessed a little off but we decided to roll with it. Literally, we rolled the entire house.

We were hoping that one coat would be enough coverage but you could see from this picture it wasn't so it was 2 coats for the entire house. It was a LOT of work!

This was the side after the second coat. Beautiful! It gave us the will power to keep going. 

Getting there

2 sides done.

Personally I'm more partial to the darker base but after we started there was no way I was going back over it again if I didn't have to. I also took the pictures at two different times of the day. Our good friend and neighbor Jeff Cahill came over and helped us a few days. That is commitment to friendship! 

It looks so good. The paint will seal and protect it for another 16 years we hope. There are still some things we need to work on but that was the biggest one by far. It took us about a month to do it all. 

Noah has started Marching Band and the football/band competition season is upon us. This is his senior year. It's hard to believe that he's almost done with high school. He's such a great kid. We really enjoy him.

Kirstin has one more year in Hawaii and will graduate next June. She and Kyle are still loving it there and doing well. I miss her and will be glad when they are back stateside. We are planning on going there for her graduation. 

Emil M. moved down to the beach in June and has be living there all summer. He has been doing well and we are lucky to get to have him over for dinner every couple of weeks. 

Emil has been loving the storm swell from all the near misses we are having with the hurricane season. Thankfully he hasn't had any more fin accidents this year. Work is good and I'm keeping him busy with home repairs. 

Life is good and we are grateful and happy with all we have been given. 

The End!

Semi-Annual Post?!

So it's been another long hiatus. Life is just too busy to write about I guess. We are doing well but much has changed in the past 6 months. It's a long post so get comfy and grab a snack. You'll want to settle in!

 I decided it was time to get back into the work force and started working at the YMCA in March. I thought I could do school and work and bake but it quickly became too much so I quit the cafe. I was sad to close that chapter of my life but I was glad I had the experience and opportunity to do it. Starting your own business is quite the undertaking. At the Y I worked on the fitness floor for about a month before I found out they were opening a new climbing tower I was interesting on working on that since I have some experience climbing. Turns out I had more experience than anyone else there because now I'm the Coordinator for it! We just had our launch and opened it to the public on Saturday. 

This is what it looks like. It's 50 feet tall and the climbing is different than the climbing I'm use to with Emil but it's been exciting and I think it'll be fun. I also decided to enroll in BYU-I online and this fall I began taking classes to get a degree in Public Health. 

Times Square

Emil and I celebrated our 25th anniversary this year and decided to do it with a trip to NYC and Philadelphia. We went in May even though our anniversary is in July. 

Empire State Building

Empire State Building

One World Trade Center 

We ended up getting the New York Pass. You pay for the pass then you have like 100 attractions you can go to and just use the pass instead of paying at each place. I really liked this approach. I knew exactly how much it was costing and they gave you a guide book with short descriptions of each place along with a map and an app so you could just use your phone if you didn't want to hassle with paper.  We each chose our top 5 places we wanted to visit and then mapped where we wanted to go.

Double Decker Bus Tour

 We went to some places we probably wouldn't have bothered with otherwise and had some fun goofing off. 

Madam Trousseau's 

Madam Trousseau's 

We did a Central Park bike tour. That was fun. The weather was pretty cool for that time of year so we were in jackets the entire time. I'm glad I brought a scarf as I'm always cold anyway and it was a life saver for me. 

Central Park

The harbor cruise was an unexpected treat. We got to see each of the 5 boroughs of New York from the water and of course lovely Lady Liberty. She was in the top 3 for me. 

Harbor Cruise

Harbor Cruise

Lady Liberty

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine was one of my favorite places I enjoyed in New York. I loved all the architecture of the city in general but this Cathedral just amazed me and it wasn't even something we were planning on seeing. Emil had seen it in our guide book and suggested we go so we went after Central Park.  

Cathedral of St. John the Divine

This is a video of the clouds rolling by looking up. It almost made me feel like she was moving. 

 We also did a tour of Ellis Island which was so cool and were able to do a tour of the base of the Statue of Liberty. It was incredible to hear the story of how she was made and funded. I love learning about our history

We only spent 2 1/2 days in New York but we packed a lot into our time there. After NY we drove to Philadelphia and were able to go to the temple there. Just like all of our temples it didn't disappoint. It was so beautiful!

 

We were able to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. I sent my Mom a letter from Benjamin Franklin's post office. We also saw where his privy was, because that's important to mark?!

 

Philadelphia held another unexpected surprise. The week we were there they had a Chinese Lantern Festival going on in Franklin Park. The entire park was filled with colorful Chinese Lanterns. I would have loved to be there at night but it was also a beer garden so I think day time viewing was probably the best option. 

 At the end of the week we drove back home to quiet Currituck. I felt like the country mouse that had gone to visit the city. I love seeing everything we did and it was a truly amazing week but I was so happy to be home in the quiet and nature of our sweet home. City living isn't for me but if sure was fun visiting! This post is so long I'm going to break it up into two. Stay tuned....