October - a Blur and a Blessing

October was a blur because I can't believe it is over.  So much happened.  Stunning.
So the blessings (the obvious ones as well as the not so . . .), in chronological order:

October 8th-
I don't seem to mind camping in my own home.   Takes away a lot of pressure (like cleanliness, decorating, well-cooked meals, etc. , )
The wood floors (okay they are wood laminate, but by choice, for the maintenance.  And they cost the same as the real stuff.  They look so real I am weary of telling everyone that compliments them, that they aren't wood, so they are now theoretically wood.  :) ) are all installed and so BEAUTIFUL! (this comes after a 3 day freakout, by yours truly, that they were too orange.  Since the restock fee would have been about $1200, I kept staring until, wha la, they became the perfect color).  When I go into other homes with my floor plan, I can't believe what a difference the unbroken expanse of wood does to make our house look completely different. 
And now for the fun.
The "STUFF" arrives.  An entire semi-load.  Literally.  And of what?  Don't ask? I already went through all of our possessions twice before we moved here and yet I was squashed by the weight of potentially unpacking all that I chose to bring here.  So I didn't.
For a week.
Much to Dave's dismay.
But I just couldn't deal with what could possibly be inside all of those boxes.
So I just kept painting and living very simply.

And then . . .
Fall break hit.
Time to get to work.  So we started unpacking.  Many have asked to see more pictures of the house.  So here is what it looked like, as of Monday,
October 15 -

Isn't our house lovely?

One funny note, I must add for posterity. The "professional" movers (quotation marks denote that whereas the packing team were work-horses, the unloaders, more like unmotivated teenagers, but they weren't teenagers.) , and  praise heaven above for them, lazy or not, wrapped everything in paper.   When they packed our house.  EVERYTHING.   Every spoon, piece of tupperware, markers, tape dispenser, etc.,  for silly sake.  That was some fun unpacking I'll tell ya.  Movers do not help you unpack.  We had so much packing paper that James made a paper pile/akin to a leaf pile, and did some jumping onto, into it.  It almost had cushion. 

But by Wednesday/Thursday, I worked my usual Johanson Woman magic and had everything in a place (70% being put back in the garage to deal with later).

Intermingled in this heightened chaotic style of living, was the celebration of Seth's birthday.  And this was no ordinary birthday. 
Seth turned 12.
Seth is such a unique and special boy.  He has been looking forward to this birthday for a long time.  I plan to add more about him soon but here are the highlights.

• Seth is very easy to please.  I pulled of my usual late night decorations and shopping and in the morning Seth woke up to balloons, streamers, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, his favorite this year, and a few nice presents.  Really he is so easy to please I had to really think hard to find a few gifts for him.  James helped buy him a new, more "hip" backpack and Peter helped replenish Seth's book supply.  Then with birthday money from his grandparents we went shopping that day at "Outdoor World" akin to Cabella's.  Seth bought himself some new, very fancy arrows, for his compound bow, and Dave and I bought him a real target.  This target does not resemble the Robin Hood fashion so don't try and picture it :).  What Seth really wanted to buy was a Ranger Bow (known in modern times as a recurve bow).  Only fans of The Rangers Apprentice series would understand why a boy needs this kind of tool.  Unfortunately they don't make Ranger Weapons for his age. 
• Seth enjoyed a birthday meal of pot-stickers (yeah Costco!) and Orange Chicken (yeah Panda Express). 
• If I remember correctly, it was so long ago now, we were too full from dinner to enjoy his favorite, mint-chocolate-chip ice cream. 
• Seth enjoyed watching an animated movie that night with his brothers.  This was a big feat since our tv wasn't hooked up. 
• Really is was a mellow but happy day. 

October 18th -
This was the best present of all.  My parents came to visit.  It was beyond wonderful to have them come.  To get to share our new life/home/state/ward with our family meant so much.  Seth was deeply grateful (he is a deep 12 year old) and it made the significance of his 12th birthday even more so.
It was a short trip for my parents but we lived it up the best we could. 
Touring Dave's work, then driving the Apache trail.  This was like driving a hike and the scenery felt like we were in a Western movie.  It was bumpy and fun but the boys even enjoyed it without aide of electronic distraction, and we were gone most of the day.  All one happy family in our Honda Pilot. 

That night was out to dinner with just Seth and Grandpa and Grandma Johanson. 
After much reassuring myself that it was okay to let Seth pick Golden Corral, since it was his birthday, we made the most of it. 
The choice came from the influence of an older brother, and from the 5 minutes of commercial television the boys snuck in somewhere, where they were exposed to the worst kind of coercive advertising.  A chocolate fountain.  The chocolate was sub-par to be sure. Seth's eyes are bigger than his stomach, literally, so as you can imagine from knowing him, his stomach isn't very big.  Seth ate about a total of 1 cup of food and 1 cup of dessert, plus 1 1/2 half Cotton Candies (how to you pluralize that). 
There were a half-dozen things on the buffet that were actually quite good.  Grandma and I even caved in and ate a Cotton Candy.

Having Mom and Dad to visit that weekend was such a blessing.  We showed them Phoenix, and the sports venues, took them to see the temple and to visit my Dad's brother, Uncle Ben.
We watched a couple of movies together.  Grandma got to watch Seth win a soccer game and Grandpa got to watch James' team lose a basketball game.  All in all it was just a treasure to have them experience our lives for a few days.
The highlight was having Grandpa and Grandma there for Seth's priesthood ordination.  He recited the 4th article of faith in sacrament meeting, perfectly.  This boy has been longing for this day for so long.  He truly appreciates its significance and takes his new responsibilities as a deacon, seriously. 
It was a teary parting but a peaceful one. 

And then the rest of October happened.  I can hardly recall.

We did have fun on Halloween.  We hosted a few teenage boys and I made spud-nuts for anyone who would eat them.  Seth did not get to wear a costume to school and I didn't get to go for any kind of party.  It is strange to have your baby get grown-up.  Seth and James (yes, 13 year old James) went tricking treating with friend so we took Levi trick or treating.  Levi is our (dumb) dog.  And no of course, not really.  We just went for a walk around our block, since trick-or-treaters were slow.  It was fun to meet new neighbors.  Almost everyone sits out on their driveways in camping chairs.  Very festive and friendly around here.
I almost forgot to add that for a couple of weeks Peter has been sneaking out and running around the neighborhood in a "scream costume".  It worked.  He scared people.  He sat in our yard wearing on Halloween night.  After confiscating it from him, we figured this was the legal use for it.  But many kids wouldn't come to our door because Peter was in our yard.
One night Peter called me up to give him a good-night kiss.  He doesn't often summon me, but I go in and give him one anyway so I did think anything of it.  When I pulled back the covers for the kiss, I had Scream waiting to greet me.  Oh boy.
This picture below was a classic piano practice.  I'm fairly sure he was pounding out "Funeral March" as the pic was snapped.

What did not happen in October:
Our pool did not get finished.
I did not learn to like my  job any better than before.
Peter did not make huge strides in his grades.
We did not lose a single pound, but I don't think we gained any either. 

What else did happen:
Boys practiced their instruments. Whew
We found a really good mexican restaraunt
Peter's "team" at school assured us he will survive this year
We watched Jurrassic Park with the boys for the first time and finally let them see "Batman Begins"
We missed you all some more and learned to love it here a little more too