OUR YEAR in the rear view mirror

It has been a challenging and blessed year for the Naylor Family. I can't help thinking about last December and how much has happened since then. Brian had been out of work for about 9 mos., I had just lost my job and we discovered that we were expecting a baby. Somehow through that difficult time Brian and I were both filled with peace. We knew that these were circumstances that would be temporary and that it is through the hardships that we learn and grow the most. I also couldn't stop thinking about how lucky we were. Our little family were all in good health, we still had our home and we were able to provide a Christmas for our little ones. We are still struggling, trying to catch up from the time without a paycheck, but it could be so much worse.
Starting in January Brian had his old job back with Allosource as a tissue banking specialist. Unfortunately this meant that he had to move to Denver as the office in Salt Lake had been closed. The girls and I stayed with Grandma Betty waiting for our house to sell and Brian lived out of a suitcase at my brother Michael's apartment south of Denver. Brian would brave the winter weather and 8 hour drive to visit us about every other weekend. Abby, Ginny and I anxiously awaited his visits. We found it was easier to make the days go by with a rigid schedule. Mornings- Monday: Joyschool, Tuesday: Library story time, Wednesday: our ward playgroup, Thursday: Abby's ballet class, Friday: Joy School. In the afternoons we did a program called "Five in a Row" and Abby did "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". Sometimes we got together with friends who lived in Kaysville, Bountiful, West Jordan, Ogden or we stayed close to home with friends in our neighborhood. On the weekends we planned fun outings with Brian, especially when the weather got warmer. We visited Colorado once in January and for Spring Break. Abby had her ballet performance at the end of May and it was spectacular! We spent a lot of time at Liberty Park playing in the water, riding the rides and visiting Grandma Betty.
It was nearing June and our house had still not sold. In a conversation at church I found a renter for the house and a week later, with a little help from Betty, we had all of our things out and a sister from our ward had moved in! We stuffed all of our things into Betty's garage. It was like a game of Tetris. I put off moving to the little apartment in Colorado until the fourth of July. After a few weeks my brothers kids (Damien, Tailynn, Emma and Carson) joined us after a visit to their mom and I started packing all of their clothes and toys. The plan was to move the two families into a house together. The closing date was pushed back (to my dismay) and my parents and sister Elizabeth with her boys (Chandler, Gabe, Lex, and Ollie) came to help us move and all 16 of us were staying in Michael's 3 bedroom apartment. Abby started kindergarten on August 5, Tailynn was baptized on August 7th and the morning of the 8th I went into labor and baby Tag joined our family (for the story of that wild ride you can look at my post in August). We moved into the house the following weekend.
We have all been settling in for the past four months. Our motto around here is "the more the merrier" and we love to have other families over for game nights or have the kids friends over. There are 10 of us and we have a blast. Apparently it's a never-ending party when you live with your cousins... we do miss Elizabeth's boys but we're not crazy enough to attempt that. There are plenty of opportunities to stay busy around here, that's for sure! Abby is absolutely loving kindergarten, Ginny is still trying to potty train (strike that, I'm still trying to get her to potty-train), Tag is rolling over and Brian and I are enjoying every moment! (some more than others, i.e. poopy diapers, puke, tantrums, etc.)
I am often asked how long we are planning on staying here. To be honest, I really don't know! Brian and I continue to pray for guidance. We are so grateful for the opportunity to live here in Colorado where my brother's family and ours can help each other out. My guess is that we will be here for at least 2 years. Brian joked that Michael could get re-married in 6 months and then we would have to move all over again. Whenever Michael finds a bride we will be overjoyed! And I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to make other arrangements. For now life is pretty good.

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family- We hope that you will have a wonderful new year! (if any of you have a blog please let me know!!! My e-mail is shoelessmama@gmail.com)