LindhsLovin'Life: November 2015

November did not have lots of highlights. Anna had two extra football games to attend and perform at, one on the 13th and then again on the 20th because the Chargers went to the playoffs. It was neat that they did so well this season but kind of a bummer because by this point in the fall, marching students are getting a little burned out on their music and on their performances. But she enjoyed the games and playing.

One out-of-the-ordinary event in November was that Jason made a business trip to Italy and France. He left the afternoon of 8th and returned home the evening of the 20th. Neither of us has ever left the continent so this was a grand, new adventure for him and totally new territory for me as it's been a while since he has taken a business trip this long. It was new for me because I've never held a full-time job when he has made trips of this length so it took some real coordination with the kids and some outside help to make it work.

I must say that while it was crazy at some times, we weathered the whole experience fairly well. Nathan took off from work the days that I had to work so that helped a lot. Unfortunately, with high school starting at 7:20, my two oldest have to leave before any of the younger ones head out for school so asking Nathan or Anna to stay home from seminary wasn't a viable option.

Instead, we hired our neighbor, Leah, who is Rachel's age and Gabe's older sister, to come watch the kids from 6:15 to 8. Nathan, Anna and I left at 5:25 and 5:40 and Leah would come over at 6:15 to make sure the other four were up and moving. Darik got a ride with a neighbor at 7:05 and then Caleb and Sarah got on the bus at 7:25 and then Leah would drive Jaron to school at 8:15.

Fortunately, I only work three days a week and the weekend Jason was gone I already had off so while I was gone for six school days, I wasn't missing any of the weekend with the kids. Nathan really did a good job of getting people where they needed to go, getting dinner made and generally keeping the home front running in his parents' absence. Kudos to a 17 year old boy who can do that. I got home late on several of those shifts so he kept things under control until 9pm, putting kids to bed after holding nightly family scripture reading and prayer.

We made it all work but we missed Jae a lot and it was really difficult to have a 7 hour time difference. We texted when we could but by the time we got up at 5 am, Jason was already at lunch. And by the time he was ready for bed, we were only at 3 in the afternoon. It was so great to have him back home the night of the 20th. I picked him up after I got off work and we were home by 9.

Jason, on the other hand, was being run ragged with tons of business meetings. He had grand plans to spend the evening of the 13th, the whole day of the 14th and 15th sightseeing in Paris in between two weeks of crazy business but that ended up not happening. While he was downtown Paris on the evening of the 13th, terrorists stuck at the heart of the city, sending Paris into complete lockdown. While Jason was perfectly safe, there was a lot of confusion and panic in the city itself.

So many of the sights he had hoped to see were shut down so his pictures are limited to the outside of structures. We hope you enjoy the pictures he took of the beautiful countryside in Italy (he spent 2.5 days there, in Milano, Selugia, and Mirandola) and of the famous sights in Paris.

Europe 2015

Thanksgiving week was spent with a few activities.
I worked Sunday, Friday and Saturday so I could spend Mon-Thur with the family. Monday we went bowling as a family because Jason was able to get the afternoon off. (He had meetings with people in Europe each morning after returning to the states.)
These pictures aren't the greatest, the lighting was really lousy for taking pictures in.

Tuesday Jason worked the whole day and so the kids and I took a trip over to Sugarland. We stopped at Costco and then took my grandmother and uncle to lunch at Luby's. The kids did a great job of behaving themselves at the restaurant while dining with Gramma CoyNell.

Wednesday we met Jason after he finished meetings and headed downtown to visit the zoo. We haven't been there in a while as our membership expired in May of 2015. A new exhibit - Gorillas - had opened and it is so nice! The weather was beautiful and we had a great time hanging out as a family.

And a gratuitous shot for all my "cougar" family, regardless the colors you associate with the mascot. ;)

Thursday the whole family went to play in the "Turkey bowl". A bunch of people from church that want to, get together Thanksgiving morning to play some touch football. I watched and took some pictures (a small handful before my camera's battery died) and hung out with Jaron who also watched.