Christmas Eve

Mark had to work in Twin Falls on Christmas Eve (insert sadness here) but Jacob, Sarah, and I had a good night.  We made sugar cookies for Santa, had our Christmas Eve feast, and the kids got to open their first Christmas present.  We got a new Christmas book, "The Twelve Days of Christmas", and we each got some new Christmas pajamas (or p-jams as Jacob likes to call them!).  This year has been the best yet because I feel like Jacob is really understanding what is going on.  He is so excited and has been counting down the days!

We read our new Christmas story and then read the story of Jesus' birth.  My very favorite moment of the whole night though was after we finished our family prayer Jacob stood up and gave me a hug and whispered in my ear, "Happy Birthday, Jesus."  I love that little boy.  

Mark was able to get home late Christmas Eve.  We snuggled and had "Christmas milk" and enjoyed our evening together again.  

Ornaments

To celebrate the first day of winter, I thought it would be fun to make some new ornaments.  The kids made their handprints in some baking soda clay.  They turned out so cute!  I love that you can see the details of their little lines in their palms and fingers.  

I love these little munchkins.  

The Good Dinosaur

When we were expecting Jacob, Mark and I talked a lot about different things we wanted to do as a family and with our kids as they grew up.  One thing that we talked about is that we wanted to take each child on a "date" once a month to have a check-in with them.  These dates could be as simple as going to the park and talking but the point is that we just want to make sure that at least once a month we have time where we are completely focused on that child and what is going on in their lives.  We believe that this will only become more and more important the older they get.  But one of the mottos Mark and I try and live by with parenting is "start as you mean to go."  So we decided that once they turned three we would start this.  I don't know why we decided three but it sounded like a good time to us.  

So with all of that, we had been meaning to take Jacob on a date for months now!  But it just hasn't happened and I was determined that it happened this month.  And we thought it would be great if Mark took him on his first date.  So he decided to go and take him to see "The Good Dinosaur" in theaters and then got ice cream cones.  This was Jacob's first time going to the theater and he loved it - from what I heard!  He was so excited when he came home and told me what happened with the dinosaur.  

I am so grateful for this special time we will get with Jacob every month and eventually with Sarah.  I hope that it will be something that the kids appreciate and lean on in the future as well.  

I love these boys. 

Snowman

About two weeks ago we got our first real snowfall since we have been here!  We were all ecstatic about it!  We knew we had to go out and enjoy it!

Jacob was so excited to finally be able to build a snowman.  That has truly been one of the things we have been looking forward to the most in having our own home - having our own yard too!  This was Sarah's first time playing in the snow and once she got the hang of walking around in her boots she had an okay-ish time.  I have a feeling it will grow on her though!

Every day the kids check on their snowman and make sure he is okay.  Jacob is a little concerned that he is too cold.  I love experiencing the joys of winter with these kidlets.  

Managed Chaos

The week after we moved was pretty crazy.  It was an interesting combination of working hard to get things settled-ish (or at least feel like we weren't camping) and trying to enjoy the season and do fun things as a little family.  

One of the projects of the first week was baby proofing.  Sarah does not do stairs yet.  She disagrees about that, however.  She is really good about going up them - down not so much!  We didn't have a gate yet so I had Jacob's mattress leaned up against the top of the stairs (tell me if that doesn't scream classy when people came over!).  Also, it was pretty much impossible to put anything in the cupboards in the kitchen or bathroom because Sarah would immediately take them out.  This is somewhat endearing but when you are living in chaos and trying to organize things it is not the easiest thing.

Also, we had bought a washer and dryer Thanksgiving week but they were out of stock so we were anxiously awaiting their arrival.  It took a lot longer than expected - over two weeks! - and so I was washing clothes in the tub and hanging them everywhere around the house to get them dry.

Yep, Jacob is wearing one of Mark's shirts...this is what we had come to by the time it actually got here!

So when Mark got home from his work week in Twin Falls he had quite the list of honey-dos.  Put up a baby gate, baby proof the cupboards and buy and put up blinds in the dining and family room areas (so we could take down the sheets - they were lacking in a "homey" feel).  He got them all done that gem of a man!  He even had a little helper!

Moving Day

Moving day was stressful.  Isn't is always though?  Our first day in our new home was definitely not what I imagined it would be.  

We drove up the night before we were supposed to sign for our new home and stayed with my cousin, Ashley, and her family that live here.  The hitch in our plan was that Mark was supposed to work in Twin Falls that day.  Luckily he got it worked out so that he didn't have to go in until the afternoon but it definitely put us on a MAJOR time crunch.  

Luckily we were able to set up an appointment with the title company at 8:30 and were the first ones in there.  All of that moved perfectly and we were walking out by 9:00.  We were feeling so good about everything and excited with how quickly things were moving.  

I hurried to the grocery store to get some food for a couple of days since Mark was going to have to take the car with him to Twin Falls.  Mark went in the U-Haul to the house.  I called him once I was done and on the way and he said he had bad news.  I got there and he and the owners of the home were there.  

Apparently someone in the neighborhood was walking by in the morning and heard water and ended up calling the owner's realtor and that brought us all there.  We ended up going inside and talking while more and more people began to show up.  It turns out that they didn't properly winterize the home and shut off a valve and so one of the pipes burst outside and water was leaking into the house.  A restoration company came, their insurance agent, both of our realtors - it was quite a party.  

At first the owners were trying to blame it on us, or our realtor, or the inspection company for turning the valve on.  We were so lucky because our realtor had a picture of the valve proving that it wasn't our responsibility.  They told us we could either "walk" (and leave the house altogether) or work out an agreement with the previous owners.  We talked with the restoration company a lot and our realtor is also a contractor and was able to give us a lot of good information.  We decided that as long as everything was restored back to how it was we were fine with everything.  It was a little uncomfortable but in the end it all worked out.  

Again, we were very much on a time crunch and all of this took a lot of time we didn't have.  We told everyone of our situation and they allowed us to start moving in our things.  By the time we were allowed to start unloading the truck we only had an hour before Mark had to leave.  Thankfully, Daniel and Weed were able to come and help us.  We unloaded and Mark headed to Twin Falls.  

Before I knew it, I was left alone in our first home piled up with boxes.  Well, alone, with the exception of the restoration guys in the basement.  It definitely wasn't a "carry me over the threshold" kind of day.  My Mom and Megan brought up the kids that evening but they only stayed long enough to help put up some sheets in the windows (there were no blinds) and then had to leave.  

It was wonderful to be alone in our new home with my kids.  The only thing that would have made it better was if Mark could be there with us.  The next couple of days were a mixture of wonderful and stressful.  It was so great to be in a home - our home!  But it was difficult doing it all alone too.  

We definitely feel like little church mice being in this large house after living in apartments.  We don't have much furniture, things to put on the walls and that kind of thing.  But we are excited to slowly accumulate and beautify our home in the years to come.  

The house is beautiful and has so much potential!  Our neighbors and ward family have been incredibly kind and welcoming.  I've never been around more genuinely kind people.  We feel so blessed to have chosen this home and grateful for the opportunity we have to raise our children in this neighborhood and environment.  

Thanksgiving

Wow...I am so behind!

I love Thanksgiving.  I love the opportunity to reflect on the year, all that my Father in Heaven has blessed me with.  It is a beautiful holiday and I genuinely look forward to it every year.  

This year was busy.  Mark was gone the month of November working up in Rexburg, Idaho.  We spent the couple days prior to Thanksgiving in North Ogden getting our things ready to move.  Darlene made a delicious Thanksgiving meal and we enjoyed being able to spend some time with Gus, Darlene, and Brian.  

This is definitely not a year I would choose to repeat again.  It has been the most difficult year of my life.  I have learned a lot though.  I feel stronger and feel like I have grown a lot too.  That was one of the things I thought about the most this Thanksgiving.  I feel like I have gotten a greater understanding - far from complete - but have learned that trials are why we are here.  I have been told that many times in my life but this year I developed more of a testimony of that.  We are here to learn, prepare and grow and that has been a major theme of this year for me.  And I am grateful for that.  

I am forever grateful that I get to walk through eternity with Mark - that we have gone through all of this together and have grown and learned together.  He is my support and strength.  And Jacob and Sarah bring me so much happiness.  I love my family.