July in a Nutshell

So where did the past month go?  I feel like it went by WAY faster than I had imagined.  We've been busy.  Birthday season is starting in the family.  Chase and Poppie both had birthdays this month and from here on our we seem to have one in the family every few weeks through December.  We celebrated this months birthdays with family, favorite dinners and cakes (there were also some balloons to entertain the children).

We also spent a day at the beach.  It was Jonas' first time experience with salt water and waves.  He LOVED the sand, but wasn't too sure about those waves crashing toward him.  He was cautious as we went out into the deeper water even though he was in our arms.  It was a little refreshing for me because this kid is my water baby.  He has no fear of the water usually and never wants to get out of it.  When I take him to the pool he is trying to swim the entire time I am holding him.  He held onto me pretty tightly at the beach though.

All the kid's favorite part was burying Adam in the sand.

And getting in the sand themselves!

I just love this last picture of my little boy.  His face says, "This is awesome!"

Why We're Happy

Thank you to all our family and friends who have been so encouraging and supportive in response to my last post.  Now, I made a promise to share with you all the reasons we're happy to be here in Texas.
1.  We get to live close to (with) family.  Adam and I have never had the opportunity to live near family since we've been married.  While we never imagined we'd actually be moving in with his parents, we feel so blessed that they have welcomed us into their home during this transitional time for us.  They have been so very helpful (his dad flew up to help us make the move to Texas) and have rearranged their home to give us our own personal space. It has made us feel comfortable and wanted.  It's a blessing to have a strengthened support group right now.  I am also enjoying seeing C and J have the opprotunity to really get to spend time with and know their Mimi and Poppie. And can I just say that it is pretty fun having two extra people around in the evenings when Adam and I are in the mood to play games.  Bring on the games that can be played with more than just 2 players!
2.  Cassie.  You know they always say it's great to marry your best friend, but when I married my best friend I got a second best friend along with it.  I didn't realize I was getting a package deal!  How many of you can say you're best friends with your sister-in-law?  I feel pretty blessed and pretty excited that she lives down the street.  Now we don't have to talk about all the things we would do together if we lived closer.
3. Cousins.  It's nice to have instant playmates for C and J.
3.  It's hot and humid!  I know...not a favorite thing for many people.  In face, I'm pretty sure this is NOT  a reason Adam is happy to be here by the gulf.  I, however, LOVE the heat and the humidity is welcome right along with it.
4.  Target, Walmart and Joanne's are all 5 minutes away.  I am not a big shopper, however, it was a lot annoying having to drive 20 to 30 minutes to get to any of these stores in Ohio.
5.  Real Mexican and Tex-Mex food.
Here are some pictures from the 4th of July...

Hard Things

It's taken me a while to write this post.  I have a difficult time getting too personal on the blog.  I also feel if I don't write this post many people will be confused with all the posts following this one.  You see, we've moved.  It was an unexpected move so it's hard to write about it.  We weren't planning on having to say goodbye to our dear friends so soon or so quickly.
For those of you who don't know the story...here are a few details.  In June the time came when we needed to make a decision about residency and what was best for our family.  In the end (or should I say the middle because I feel like we're still in the middle of all of this), the results have led to us not finishing residency in Ohio and moving to Texas with our family for a while.  I know it doesn't make sense to leave behind a critical job for the growth of your career without another one lined up to move in with your in-laws, but we felt like it's what our family needed to do right now.  The hubby is looking for work, and we don't really know where things are going to go from here, but I do feel a lot of peace about it.  It still feels right even though it doesn't make much sense, but there you go.  Through lots of prayer I know that God is aware of our family and things will work out for the best.
Despite all the peace, it was still really difficult to say goodbye to our friends in Ohio.  I cannot even list on here everyone I love there.  I was in awe of all the help we received as our life quickly turned upside down on us.  The ladies in my ward threw together a goodbye lunch for me and the kids.  We had so many friends come help us load up our truck and clean the apartment.  Meals were brought, multiple friends offered to and helped watch my children for me so I could get things done.  During the past five years, our ward had become our family, and it was so hard to say goodbye.  I will always be grateful for all the help and support I've received during my time there in Ohio.  I love the friends I've made there and will miss them terribly.  Here are a few pictures from our last days there.  I wish I could have gotten pictures of all the people I love there, but I didn't even think about it so all these pictures come from my friends who emailed their pictures to me.

The Jensens - I loved this family the minute they moved into our ward.  We have kids the same age and so many of the same interests.  Carrie taught me so much and is always full of great advice. Jonas still asks to go to Bubba's house everytime we get in the car. It breaks my heart that I have to tell him no.

This girl and her hubby moved in next door to us just to be our neighbors and then a month later we had to go and ditch them (I think we win the "worst neighbors ever" award for that one).  I will say that month was awesome!  We had Sunday dinners and game nights and did all sorts of fun things.  They're second parents to our children and a true blessing to our family during the past year.  Before Jonas was old enough to go to nursery, they would take him for me during the second hour of church.  It may not seem like much, but during those months that Adam was on call and never around it was often the only break I got.  Right before the move we did our nails together.  We're rockin' our matching blue toes.

The Wagners - Our dear Rexburg friends who followed us out to Ohio a year after we got there.  Okay, maybe they moved to Ohio because they had family there and got a job there, but we like to think it was because of us.  In high school I had a teacher tell me, "Most of your high school friends you'll never talk to again, but your college friends become lifelong friends."  I think that describes our friendship pretty well.  We jokingly tell them that in a year they'll be moving to where ever we're living.  They've been great and we'd love to be close to them again.

This picture breaks my heart a little bit.  See C's face...that's exactly how I've felt about saying goodbye to everyone.  The second thing about this picture that breaks my heart is the fact that she's saying goodbye to Sally.  These two have been the best of friends and were going to go to preschool together this year.  Sally has the right idea though as she keeps remind us that "We're still friends" even though we moved away.

Jack gives Charlotte the giggles like no one else.  It's really cute when they're playing at our house.  It's really cute too when it's during sacrament meeting, but not so reverent.  : ) She's really going to miss his sense of humor!

So this post is getting pretty long, and I'm really sad that I didn't get a chance to write about everyone that touched my life.  And I'm really really missing everyone as I write this.  If I didn't write about you it's because you didn't send me a picture, not because I don't love you.  If you send me one I'll write a post just about how awesome you are. 

Coming soon...all the reasons why we're happy we  moved to Texas!

New Bike

C's friend outgrew her bike, and we were the lucky recipients of her old one!  We've been wanting to get C a bike for a while now, but they're just so expensive... (well, really her birthday is in August, and I always imagine her riding a bike for two months before winter sets in and then growing out of it by next summer.  I feel like it'd be wasted money to buy her a new one..at least until she's bigger).
With that being said, she LOVES her new bike.  We picked it up from our friend on Sunday, and she couldn't wait until Monday to ride it so we let her take it for a little spin.

She thought it was so cool until she had to go uphill.  Then she didn't look so happy anymore when she actually had to put some work into it.

And then she was really upset when I wouldn't help her every time.

We took a break after that, and three days later she's going uphill like a pro!
Little brother is very happy to inherit C's bike.  I think we may need to spray paint it though! :)

Father's Day

Have I mentioned how great of a dad this guy is?  C and J both adore him.  It really is a celebration every time he comes home from work!  No matter what we're doing, as soon as that front door opens all activities stop, and the kids come yelling things like, "Hooray!  Daddy's home!  Hi Dad!  Yay!"  They give him hugs and kisses and beg him to come play with them.  Man, I don't even know what it must be like to get that kind of celebrity treatment.  He really is our family's superstar!
I had C make him a little "All About Dad" sheet for him.  Here were some of my favorite answers:

At his job, my dad cuts off people's feet.

My dad weighs 18 pounds.

My dad likes to wear khaki clothes (I didn't even know she knew about the work khaki).

My very favorite answer though was this one:

My dad is special to me be he's a kid of Heavenly Father.

I think that answer alone pretty much drives the point home.  He is special because he's a child of God.  He is special too because he has taught that to his daughter.

I hope he knows and can always remember how very special he is to us!



A Post for Aunt Lippy

Someone (I won't mention names) has been wanting an update on the kiddos.  I haven't really posted anything lately because we haven't done anything super exciting.  We've been perfectly boring in fact.

We have gone to the zoo a couple times this summer.  We went with a group of friends one day and had a blast.

Charlotte and Jonas have both gone through some growth spurts.  We weighed them the other day and they both weigh about 31 lbs. Jonas is one solid boy!
Our little man seems to be constantly injured.  He tried jumping down the stairs the other day and landed on his face.  He got a big ol' scrape on his nose, but I didn't get a picture of it.  Then two days ago he was jumping into a basket and misjudged.  He scraped his eye up, and it was swollen for a while.  He is fast!  I can't keep him out of trouble! :)
Currently he is in love with trains and cars.  Lightening McQueen and Thomas arepretty much his constant companions.

C loves playing with Barbies.  They're taking a little dip in the "pool."

I know this isn't the most exciting post.  I'll try to do better about keeping the far away loved ones up to date with pics of the kids!  Love you all!

Not Your Normal Naptime

I keep my kids on a pretty steady schedule.  They wake up around seven (okay, they wake up at 6 or 6:30, but I don't let them out of their beds till 7), go down for a nap between 12:30 and 1, and go to bed between 8 and 8:30pm.  Even when they were babies, nap times were pretty consistent. 
After lunch today the kids were playing for a few minutes while I was taking care of some things.  I went back to the kids bedroom to find J so we could read some book before naps.  Melt my heart when I saw this:

Little boy had fallen asleep before nap time on the floor with his Thomas train close at hand.  Since I keep them on a consistent schedule I don't really find my kids asleep on the floor.  I've always secretly wanted to find my kid asleep mid-playing...I've felt like it's some kind of motherhood milestone.  Not really sure why.
I usually wipe down his face after I change his diaper.  We didn't even get to that point.  I'm loving his little peanut butter cheeks!

Mother's Day 2012

There is a mother and daughter in our ward that remind me of my mom and me.  They are best friends and always do fun things together.  The daughter spoke in church on Sunday and mentioned how when she went out to Utah to go to school she still talked to her mom on the phone everyday.  Adam leaned over to me and whispered, "Now that sounds familiar."  I smiled at him and then I had to hold back the tears.  Yes, I do talk to my mom on the phone everyday, but even so I still miss her terribly.  This Mother's Day was especially hard due to some unexpected events that have occurred in our family recently.  They have made me realize how truly irreplaceable my mom is and how important mothers are.  Here are a few reasons why I love my mom:
1.  She has always listened to me no matter how much I have to say or how late it is.
2.  She is so optimistic.  She is great about finding the good in every situation and making sure everyone else knows about that good as well.
3.  She is very selfless.  She serves others in a way that I pray I can one day.  Her eyes just see what people need and she quietly gets to work helping them.
4.  She tapes her face up in silly different ways to make the kids laugh.
5.  She always stands up for what is right and isn't going to apologize for it.
6.  She loves to discuss books with me.
7.  She is a peacemaker.  Whenever she was feeling upset or like she was going to lose her temper, she would quietly slip into another room until she felt she could talk about it without offending the Spirit. 
8.  She is patient.
9.  I cannot count how many times I saw her studying the scriptures or praying.
10.  She made us breakfast every morning and felt guilty when she gave us cereal once a month.  She even made breakfast before early morning seminary...getting up around 4:30 or 5am to make it.
11.  She likes to play games.
12.  She sings all sorts of silly songs.
13.  She makes the best biscuits and gravy.
14.  She still talks to me on the phone everyday and is always interested in what I'm doing.

Those are just a few of the many things that make her the best mom. Despite missing my mom, I did have a wonderful Mother's Day.  I was spoiled and didn't have to cook or clean a thing.  I got to spend time with my lovely children that are my sunshine.  And amazingly enough, they both cooperated for pictures!

I love my Charlotte.  She is oh so obedient and happy to please us.  She makes my job pretty easy.  I love how girly she is, and she definitely wants to be the "second mother" to Jonas.  I really hope that as a teenager we can be best friends because I know we would have so much fun together.  She has a lot to say and has taught me that it is important to listen.  I want to listen to what she has to say now, so that she'll know I will listen to her when she's older...when her problems are bigger than a brother who wrecked the tower she built.

My Jonas makes my heart smile.  He is so busy and curious.  I love watching him as he debates between what is more important: obeying mom or figuring out how how things work.  He has taught me a lot about being a mom...that I don't have all the answers, and that what is best for C isn't necessarily best for J.  It's helped me better understand how Heavenly Father can love all his children and how he has a different plan for each of us.  I love how quickly Jonas will apologize and forgive.  He has a big heart. 

Love these kids!  Love my life!  Love my mom! 

Happy Mother's Day (I know, I'm a few days late!)