Family Update

Since I've heard from a few of you that you really would like to see an update here, I guess I'll spend the time knowing that someone will actually read this! I'll start before Christmas when we were surprised and saddened to hear of the passing of Mike's dad, Stephen Ross Forsyth. After realizing that what he initially thought was like a stomach flu, he learned he had cancer in late November and was only sick for a few weeks before he died on December 20th at his home with his wife of over 40 years, Mike's mom, Janice. He had spoken with her earlier that day of arranging for all their 6 kids and 16 grandkids to come for a visit soon, knowing his days were short. She didn't really think we'd be coming for his funeral instead. Being Christmas week, it was a challenge to get flights for those of us outside of California but we flew out on Christmas Day (having arranged with Santa to visit our home a day early.) The photo below is Steve & Janice at our last family vacation together in Lake Tahoe, CA last June. We had a nice dinner shortly after arriving in CA. Pete & Lisa came in late Christmas night then the following night we had a bonfire in the "back 5" -- Mike's parents have 10 acres outside of Sacramento where we all stayed. Here's Mike with Maggie. Don't you just love pigtails on little girls??? Mitchell with the cousin closest to him in age, Perry. Maguire was fascinated with the fire -- we had to keep a close eye on him to stay out of the flames! This is my sister Wendy and her kids Danielle & Caleb. Mike's brothers John & Ray. Matthew & Mason loved their time at the farm. This is Mike's youngest brother, Pete, and his wife Lisa. They live in Georgia where we will get to someday....our land is just sitting around waiting for us to build on it! Since our home in Illinois is now valued at $40k less than we paid for it, it looks like we could be here a few more years. Anyone want a 5 bedroom, 3 bath house near Chicago for a great deal??? Mike's sister Mary. This is John's wife, Gaylynn. They live in Oceanside with their kids, Taylor & Addie. John & Mike at the viewing for Steve. Mike's brother James and his mom had been building a barn before Steve got sick and work stopped on the barn until the brothers were all together and worked on it some while we were there. This is Pete, Mitchell, Mike & James. Matthew climbing trees on the farm with his cousin, Meghan. Maguire was eager to help Mike while they were working on the barn. Ray, Janice (mom), James, Mike & Pete. After the funeral in Elk Grove, CA on the 29th of December, we all caravaned to southern Utah where Steve was buried in the small town he grew up in, Teasdale, Utah. It's VERY rural but absolutely beautiful! After the burial, most of the extended family caravaned back to CA (a few with the stomach flu) but our family drove north and spent a few days in Salt Lake City then flew home from there. We're grateful to Mike's aunt and cousin for welcoming our chaotic family into their homes. We were able to visit with Steve Mackie while we were in town. He and Mike were buds when they were young, before Steve and his mom moved away but they have all kept in touch. Mason outside the conference center in SLC, across the street from the temple. Maggie loved the steps.... Mike with Maguire -- we were married in the Salt Lake temple (in the background) almost 14 years ago...how time flies!!! We were so grateful to be able to spend a day with our great friends, the Knudsens, who currently life in Corpus Christi, TX. Our kids hadn't seen each other in 3 years but it seemed like not a day had passed since we were neighbors in Omaha and playing together almost daily. We met when Mason & Whitney were tiny babies and now they are 6! L-R: Whitney, Spencer, Mason, Matthew, Mitchell & Parker. Of course there were no photos taken of the adults but we took lots together when we went on a cruise with them last June...see earlier posts. We returned to a frigid January, quickly reminding us of many of our reasons for wanting out of the midwest! It was less than negative 15 degrees for a few days in a row, so cold that they canceled school two days in a row. The wind chill made is around 30-40 below zero during the day! Of course during that time is was over 70 in Corpus Christi when I caught up with Koryn, pointing out that her temperature was 85 degrees higher than ours! YUCK!!! I so look forward to the day when shoveling icy snow is just a faint memory. Here's what our house looked like for several weeks straight. The computer in our van read like this :Matthew and Mason didn't seem to mind the cold and helped me shovel the driveway a few times. Thanks, boys! We literally didn't leave the house for a week. I left a cup in the van with ice left over from a fountain drink and after 5 days it was still full ice cubes like it was a new drink. They melted inside before I thought of taking a photo but the kids thought it was quite funny. I let Maggie & Maguire play in the tub every morning just for something to do.... Matthew turned 9 on January 6th but we flew home from Utah that day...the day that I spent having the worst stomach flu of my life -- worse than any day pregnant with any of our 5 kids!!! Mike was great with the kids (except for feeding Maggie red licorice for the last hour of the flight) and I am thankful to the amazing flight attendant who helped me so much and also grateful that our flight was not full. Maggie didn't get sick till we got to the baggage claim area (losing all the red licorice all over the floor) and the other boys were sick in the days after we got home. Mike never got sick of course, he rarely does but even after being gone for so long, he called his boss to say that he couldn't come back yet, he had to stay home to take care of his wife and kids. What a sweetie! We finally celebrated Matthew's birthday on the 12th. Our house had been on the market over a year when Kodiak & Elise moved into our ward at church. We've quickly become close and are grateful for their friendship. We've hung out for no reason, traded kids and had a few Friday Night game nights, staying up till ridiculous hours of the early morning just laughing and playing cards -- thanks guys -- you will make it much harder to leave here someday! Elise has become Mitchell's math tutor, employer (for babysitting) and my gym partner. It's always more fun when you go with someone and she's such a trooper to still be going when she's expecting her 2nd baby in September. We keep wondering what's wrong with them that they would actually enjoy hanging out with the chaos that is our house and family right now....we are grateful for your friendship and look forward to many more game nights!This is their daughter, Alexa. She turned 2 in November. She's mature for her age and gets along great with Maggie & Maguire. In January the twins decided they were ready to be potty trained. Alexa spends enough time with us that she went along with it and now they are all completely potty trained. After changing diapers for over 12 1/2 years it is such a relief to see those days GONE FOREVER. (Okay, maybe we'll help with grandkids someday but that is so much different than all day, every day, for 12+ years!!!) Maggie and Maguire fell asleep on their couch recently when Elise watched them during the boys basketball games when Mike was out of town. We both agree that we NEVER want triplets! It can be a handful to have them all together but it's so much fun to have friends over to play. We enjoy our time with Alexa very much--we really truly do! When we got home from California, after not using high chairs for almost 2 weeks, we realized we just didn't need them any more. I never had full-sized high chairs for any of the other kids but they were awesome high chairs and I recommend them to anyone in the market. (They were the Chicco Polly model.) After being a part of our kitchen for almost 3 years, it was bittersweet to see them go but I sold them on craigslist to a new mom of twins. Oh what fun she is in for! So that's a recap of the last few months. We're looking forward to seeing Grandma Forsyth during her visit at the end of the month. She agreed to watch the kids so Mike can take me on another cruise -- this time on the Ruby Princess with a balcony cabin...I can hardly wait! We leave on the twins 3rd birthday but we'll celebrate early!