I have been doing a few renovations around the house to get it ready to put on the market and Beckham seems to be creating more messes for me to fix. I was cleaning the floor and Beckham, whose new craze is Clorox wipes and wiping down the floor and walls, got a hold of my Lysol with Bleach and sprayed it on the carpet leaving two bleach spots. Luckily I caught him before it was too bad and we do have light carpet. I have been in a frenzy of getting rid of "stuff" and everything I put in the bag to give to Good Will Beckham takes out. This is his way of teasing me, which he loves to do. Last week we decided to put in new closet doors with thicker trim. My brother-in-law DJ did all the handy work but, left me with the painting. So this week we have been busy painting. Beckham loves to help so, I gave him a paint brush and let him pretend to paint the shelves and walls. This literally entertained him for a good hour. Hopefully Beckham and I will survive having my house on the market. The final product!! (minus the handles)
Reality has set in, that we are going to be moving in the next couple of months. For those that may not know, we are moving to Indianapolis. Jason is going to do an endodontic (specialist who specializes in root canals) residency for the next two years at the University of Indiana. I know this is probably a shock to some because we seemed to be settled here in Grand Junction. It all kind of came as a shock to us as well. Jason has always wanted to specialize and when our practice plans didn't happen as planned we looked at other options. Going back to school ( I do not know why) just seemed like the right thing to do. Luckily Jason got in to the University of Indiana. It seems like everything has fallen into place (hopefully it will continue to do so)and this is definitely the direction the Lord wants us to go. So we are headed back to the Midwest, which excites yet scares me. I am excited about living in a bigger city and a new adventure. However, I am fearful of the Midwest weather, student life with no money, and sad to leave family and friends. I have been busy the last couple of weeks meeting with Realtors and getting my house in order that I haven't been able to blog. In the mist of all the chaos we have done some fun things.
Here are some photos of Jason's trip to New Orleans. Despite the heartbreaking loss Jason and Mike had fun. They hung out on Bourbon street, ate at many of New Orleans famous restaurants, saw the city sights, went to the Buckeye pep rally, and of course the game.
Yesterday we went to Rabbit Valley and went four wheeling with friends. We had a bomb fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. It was so fun. Mckinley and Mckay loved four wheeling. Beckham even got in on the action. I got on the sled with him as the four wheeler pulled us and he just chuckled. He loved driving the four wheeler with Jason and walking in the snow.
This January we have been blasted with a lot of snow and cold weather. Beckham just loves to play outside and walk outside in the snow. Jason was shoveling our walks and the kids went out and played at 7:00 PM. It was too cold for me.
Grandpa Mike started a new tradition this year by taking all the grand kids to eat cheeseburgers at Stone Drug. Stone Drug is a personal favorite, since my working days at Nebo Financial (our family finance business located right next to Stone Drug). They sure do make great cheeseburgers and have real fry sauce(which is a Utah speciality). The kids had fun but, I am not to sure about the Stone Drug staff, the Erickson crew can be one wild bunch. While Jason is basking in the warm weather of New Orleans I am enduring the snow in Utah. Yes we have been blasted with a lot of snow and it is supposedly going to snow more tonight and Monday. I am glad for the timing of the snow storm because it caused one of my best friends, Aly, flight to be changed until Tuesday. I am excited to spend more time with her and also relieved that I will not be so bored while in Utah. Today, Aly and I went and watched a cheer competition and I took Mckinley. I thought she would love all the dancing and tumbling, which she did. She has been yelling cheers and doing high V's all night. Wow it seems like years since I was a part of that scene. Mckinley could hardly believe that I was once one of those girls or that I used to coach them. All she sees me do is run, make dinner, and clean the house. It was fun to be reconnected with a few friends I cheered with in college, reminisce of old times, and remember the love I once had for dance. While we were at the cheer competition Beckham stayed home with Grandma Marilynn and shoveled the snow. He had been eyeing the snow all morning and kept pulling at Grandma Marilynn's legs to go outside. I had his coat in the car so, Grandma Marilynn had to improvise with a coat, gloves and a Utah hat (sorry dad and grandpa Phil this is all we could find in a house of Utah fans). Anyway the kids are having a good time here in Utah and I think Jason and Mike are enjoying New Orleans.
We had such a great Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve sledding with friends and eating a Christmas Eve dinner prepared by Jason (Jason has turned into the chef in our household). We woke up Christmas morning opened presents and ate breakfast with my family. Christmas afternoon we drove to Utah to spend Christmas night with the Barney's and spend the rest of our break in Utah. It was fun to visit with family at family parties and Ohio friends at the Ohio Christmas party at Kelly's. It was also fun to see friends from High School at our annual friend Christmas party at Sam's. New years was a little uneventful because Beckham was sick with the croup, double ear infections, and Conjunctivitis (yeah it was fun). Jason did go to the Jazz game with Nick and then we did visit with Kyle and Aly as we brought the new year in the old fashioned way watching Dick Clark and the ball drop on TV. While in Utah we also celebrated Jason's Birthday at Brick Oven. He turned 32 years old. For his Birthday he is going to New Orleans with Mike to watch the Buckeye's play in the National College Football game (Hopefully they will play better than last year). Even though the kids got sick we had a great break. It will be hard to get back in to our old routine.
