Bad Days

Mark shared this quote with me today.  I am grateful for a husband that lifts me.  Who knows what I need to hear - and how I need to hear it.  I love him.  And even though we are apart he finds a way to keep us connected.  There is no one I would rather walk side by side with for forever.

Pause

So our life continues to feel like it is on "pause" but we are so so close to feeling like we are living life again.  Mark has worked two weeks and loves being back at work.  He has been staying with his sister, Teresa, and her family up in Rexburg.  The kiddos and I have mostly been spending our time at my parent's house in Draper.  It's not fun to be separated again but we are definitely starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Again, we would be lost without the support that our families have given us the last several months.  

We should be closing on the house the end of this month.  We are so anxious to be independent and begin a new chapter for our family.  But until then - we try and take time to have some good moments too.  Our little family got to be together today - and I loved it.  

Walking

This little princess is walking!  She is always on the go!  She has been trying to walk for almost two months now and she would take a few steps and then crawl away or would cruise around on the furniture but she is full force on her own now!  She still will crawl but definitely prefers to be walking now and does that the majority of the time now.  It is so exciting and I love to see Sarah becoming such a big girl!  

I foolishly thought that it would be so easy to take a picture of Sarah just standing giving the impression that she was walking.  Oh not so!  This little girl is on the move and so every shot was a blurry "action" shot.  But then I snagged this gem!  

And as Jacob says, 

"I love you, sweetie!"  

Halloween

We had a GREAT Halloween!  Jacob made sugar cookies with Grandma Berning and then we headed down to Draper to spend some time with my family.  

The day before Halloween we went down to Megan's work for her Halloween Party.  Jacob and Sarah wore matching costumes this year which at first I wasn't so sure about but it was adorable!!!  Jacob chose to be a pumpkin and so we decided to have them both dress up as pumpkins.  I was so happy with how their costumes turned out!  

Jacob loved walking around to the different stations to get candy and Sarah just waddled right behind him!

On Halloween day I went over with my Mom and Megan to visit my Grandpa and Grandma Moldenhauer and help my Grandma get ready in her Halloween costume.  She was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and was so darling.  I will have to post pictures later but she was simply adorable.  

Halloween night was the first time Jacob and Sarah went real trick-or-treating.  Actually Jacob was the only one that really went trick-or-treating but Sarah went along in her stroller for the ride.  They were both so precious.  I love those two so much.  And Grammy dressed up as a witch and was a major hit!

Happy Halloween!

Carving Pumpkins

We had a great time carving our pumpkins this year.  Jacob is always a little worried about getting "messy" when scooping out his pumpkin but he loves the carving part.  He had a great time deciding what kind of shapes to put on his pumpkin face.  

Sarah had no problem getting her hands dirty!  She dug right in and definitely enjoys the taste of pumpkin!  Her pumpkin has such a sweet face - just like her own!  

I love the tradition of carving pumpkins and love the family time that it gives us!

Pumpkin Patch

Going to the pumpkin patch is one of the highlights of my year!  I don't know why I love it so much - but I do!  I love everything about fall!

We found a great pumpkin patch down in Farmington and the kidlets had a great time.  They had a small kid cornmaze that Jacob and I went through and some fun scarecrows and tractors around.  Jacob loved going through and picking out his pumpkin.  Jacob LOVES pumpkins!  He would have taken every pumpkin if he could.  And Sarah just loves being outside and was more interested in eating the pumpkins!  We had a blast!

House Hunting

After Mark signed on with Walgreens we wanted to start working as soon as possible and we knew we needed to find a place quickly.  We weighed the options of renting and buying and just felt really good about buying a home.  We feel like it is a step forward that we are ready to take and so excited for at the same time.  

It has been really helpful because my cousin, Ashley, and her family moved to Idaho Falls last year after physical therapy school so they can really relate to our situation and have been so helpful!  Things for the first time just seemed to be falling into place for us.  We felt really good moving forward.  

House hunting was exciting and I really enjoyed it.  Mark and I have very similar opinions and so it was actually really fun rather than stressful.  We both felt really good about the same house and could imagine our family growing and making our home there.  

We put in an offer and should close this next month sometime!  It is crazy to think that we could be homeowners by the end of this year but we couldn't be happier about it.  We can't wait for this next step and for all of the support we have been given by our family.  

Idaho Falls

Oh my goodness, I know I have been such a slacker about the blog.  I always title posts but then they sit their half-way written (or not written at all!) and sitting as a "draft" for way too long.  

I have particularly been unsure about what I want to write about in this particular post.  I have thought over the last couple of months several times about writing a post about how our day to day family life is like but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I use this blog so much as a journal and I am grateful because it makes me feel accountable to document things however I don't want to over-share either. 

This last year I can confidently say has been the hardest year of my life.  There have been some moments where I have for the first time questioned where God was in my life.  I realize that sounds so incredibly ungrateful but there were moments where that was how I felt.  It was the most extreme emotional roller coaster I've ever experienced.  There were moments of anger and discouragement and then I would swing to feeling extremely guilty about feeling anger and discouragement.  It was exhausting and disheartening.  There were days when it felt like a lot of negativity in different forms.  It's hard to watch the person you love so much be discouraged and want to "fix" things and you just can't. 

Given all of that, however, there have been several really sweet and spiritual moments.  Moments that were so hard but I could feel my Heavenly Father molding me.  It is such a personal experience.  I feel like so much of this year has been a refiner's fire for me and for our little family.  And as much as I hope that we never have to go through what we have again - I feel like we are ending this year a lot stronger than we started.  Our relationships are deeper and I feel like we have taken steps forward in becoming the family that our Father in Heaven wants us to be.  

Many times over the last several months I have thought of the statement made by President Boyd K. Packer in the April general conference when he said, "And if you suppose that the full-blown rapture of young romantic love is the sum total of the possibilities which spring from the fountains of life, you have not yet lived to see the devotion and the comfort of longtime married love.  Married couples are tried by temptation, misunderstandings, financial problems, family crises, and illness, and all the while love grows stronger.  Mature love has a bliss not even imagined by newlyweds."

Now, Mark and I are approaching our five year anniversary and I am fully aware that that hardly makes us any experts on marriage or "mature love" but I feel like this year has brought a maturity to our love and relationship.  We have been forced to grow in ways we have never done before.  This has been a growing year in countless ways and I am forever grateful that I got to grow with Mark by my side.  

With all of that said - we have exciting news!  Mark accepted a job working for Walgreens as a floater pharmacist stationed in Idaho Falls, Idaho.  Mark begins TOMORROW!  We are grateful for the opportunity and the experience that Mark will get and feel like Idaho Falls is where our family is supposed to be right now.  

It is an exciting time for our family and we can't wait to be settled somewhere again.  There are a million and one things Mark and I are excited about.  We can't wait to be our own little family once more.  We can't wait to lay down roots somewhere and get involved in a community and ward once more.  We can't wait to feel like our life is off of "pause."  

There is no doubt in our minds that we couldn't have made it through the last several months without the love and support of our families.  They have lifted and guided us and we are eternally grateful.  

So here is to new adventures in Idaho!