Micke Grove

This week we got to meet up with our awesome friends, the Jacksons, at Micke Grove park in Lodi. :)

Rexburg is a really cool place where you make friends, and then college spits them out and they all move away. We met Jason and Lara our first semester at BYUI in the fall of 2014. They have been married just a few months longer than us, and the guys instantly bonded over their love of film and storytelling. By the next summer, Jason transferred to a school in PA (boo!) and so they took 3-week old Brighton and moved across the country. :( It has been a year and a half since we last saw them, and now they have little Sawyer too! Thank goodness for the California sunshine bringing us back together. ;)

The kids hit it off instantly and really enjoyed playing together. Brighton is very skilled at giving hugs. :D

We had a beautiful day at the park!

that moment when you realize the bumpy slide was not a good idea...

Kate LOVES catching bugs and inspecting them closely. She just watches them walk around and asks questions about how they move. She is very gentle and always puts them back in a safe place. It is one of my favorite things to watch her watching them.

One of my favorite pictures from the day was of Lara and Sawyer laughing together:

As soon as I took it I remembered I had one almost exactly like it of Lara and Edwin from years ago :) I'm so glad I found it!

It's awesome to see Lara now with her own babies. She is such a great mom :)

Even though we only got to hang out for a couple hours, it was awesome to reconnect with our families! I doubt Jason and Lara will ever be able to convince us to move down to St. George, but maybe our Northern California beauty will bring them back up here and closer to us again someday. At least we'll always have Micke Grove. ;)

Oh yeah, we moved

It's official: we're renting a house in Northern California!

At the end of BYU-Idaho's fall semester we decided the best place for our family is back home with family and friends that we grew up with (along with some better sunshine-y weather and access to better medical care.) So we hurried up and moved!

The kids (and Jon... and my mom... and Jon's mom...) all got MISERABLE colds the week that we moved :( It kept us indoors for a little bit, but thankfully everyone is on the mend and we've been able to get a lot of boxes unpacked. :) The drive itself was as good as it could have been, with only some spots of snow.

We felt very blessed to make it safely, and miss out on the crazy blizzard that hit Rexburg on graduation day!

For the time being we are living with Jon's parents and my mom. :) We had a beautiful Christmas all together and were able to visit Jon's brother Mike, his wife Amanda, and their daughter AnnMarie, as well as my dad, and sister, Michelle.

new illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to read together as a family!

By far the most beautiful gift I received this year was a hand painted watercolor portrait of me with the kids. Jon ordered it from one of my favorite artists. I absolutely LOVE it!

Kate and Edwin were totally spoiled (of course) and received new big kid beds! They are loving their twin sized mattresses and we love the bunk bed giving everyone lots of space in their new room. :D

Margo pup is still alive and well, but is staying with my dad and sister at their house in Loomis until we find a permanent dog-friendly place to live. She seems to be enjoying the yard to play in and having some kid-free space for a while ;)

Horse the goldfish is alive and well in Rexburg. We felt like the traveling would probably kill him (too much change in elevation and temperature) so our friend Paige adopted him:

Along with the new fun space in our house, I redecorated mine and Jon's bedroom! It definitely needed it.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

(fantastic sign above the bed credit goes to my friend Sloane at Indigo Rose Restoration!)

Clutter free art display space = #AllTheHeartEyes

This was SO needed! Now I feel like we have a grown-up retreat space all to ourselves :D

Meanwhile, we've been able to catch up with lots of great friends:

We've been out to sushi, had breakfast burritos, gone caroling to surprise people, tried Korean food, went to breakfast with friends, had play-dates, exchanged Christmas presents, and went go-carting! The end of 2016 has definitely gone off with a BANG.

There's lots of new stuff happening soon, and lots more from this past year to catch you up on. But for now I'm realizing that I haven't done a good job of documenting our recent friend time, HAHA

Goal for 2017: TAKE MORE PICTURES ;)

We hope we get to visit all of you that we haven't seen yet really soon!!

Here's to new fun and new #AlstonAdventures

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017!!

What we did in October

School is making time speed up. Is everyone else feeling that?? Yesterday was Sunday and now it's Friday. I'm not sure how that happened.

So here is a re-cap of October's adventures!

Margo helped me with homework...

Kate helped with Halloween costume prep:

 Jon taught some stuff...

Fancy office:

Professor Jon fan art made by a student: 

The kids got new jammies from Nonna and Papa:

Kate insisted on having them unzipped

I sewed some stuff:

PineappleSnow.etsy.com

We went to the pumpkin patch:

(YEAR OF OUTDOORS!)

The kids didn't really understand how this was supposed to work...

Kate and I got our nails done!

Jamberry glow-in-the-dark ^^ and Jamberry shellac with clear leaf overlay: 

Oh, and WE WENT TO CALIFORNIA!!

I was able to surprise one of my bestest friends, and the kids got to surprise Jon's mom when they showed up at Nonna and Papa's house Saturday morning for some grandparent/cousin playtime. :)

Jon wasn't able to get the time off work, but the kids and I took the whirlwind trip to be there for Dani and Jake's wedding. :D It was absolutely gorgeous, and I was so honored that they asked me to take pictures for them!

I forgot hot much I miss California. I didn't even bring a coat and was able to wear shorts the whole time. It was such a nice summer vacation coming back to 30-40 degree weather in Rexburg!

Kate and Edwin were great in the car. My dad and his pal Jerry Medlar even came halfway out to meet us in Nevada so that we could all share the driving. Also, HUGE shout out to my sister for helping me at the wedding with the kids! They still were crazy-go-nuts and threw rocks and spoons in the pool, but at least Michelle was able to keep them somewhat entertained ;)

Sparkling cider, the bride's favorite :)

Yep...

Overall we couldn't have asked for a better road trip experience. :)

Couldn't find my water bottle in the car, so I drank out of Edwin's. No shame.

Learning how to drive with "Brother-Sister" (the kid's nickname for Jerry)

Edwin takes the wheel!

Kate totally wore Grandpa out!

devious.

Post wedding selfies

on the road again...

Things back home have been business as usual:

The kick-off to the holiday season is upon us, and we are excited for Halloween! We just finished mid-term week at school and now it's all downhill from here. ;D Stay-tuned for more great fall festivities coming up!