Moving

Well, it looks like things have finally come together.  I got the keys to our rental yesterday.  Michael has next weekend off so we are planning on moving then.  This week will be a busy one for me.  Michael works until Thursday night.  Maddi has piano Monday night, Olivia has dance Tuesday and Dillon has piano that day too.  Makenna has piano Wednesday and both older girls have dance Thursday.  The landlord has also hired me to clean some of her apartments.  I am supposed to start on one tomorrow.  I also have to pack up our belongings and get everything ready to go this weekend.  I'll have to get all the utilities, phone and internet switched, get a moving truck to load with and once again do a forwarding address to all the necessary people and places.  I have been sick last week with a cold and now the kids are starting to get sick too.  Hopefully our health will hold out for another week.  Then we can all settle into our new surroundings and be sick together!  I am excited to finally be able to get somewhere and unpack.  We have had boxes piled around starting back at Thanksgiving!  I hope that soon I will be able to look around my house and have some other kind of decorations than brown cardboard boxes!

GATE

Well, I got word today that Makenna made it into the GATE program.  She will start next week.  Maddi has one more test to take but the teacher is sure she will make it as well.  The girls are both excited for it.  If Maddi does make it (which I hope for her ego's sake she does) she will get to go on a 4 day retreat to Jackson Hole to the Teton Science School (or something like that).  There will be a lot of hands on learning and it is a great opportunity for her.  Makenna will get to go next year.  We missed the fundraiser for it but hopefully the school will help us out on it so we don't have to come up with all the money for it.  Anyways, that's the excitement in our house right now!

Still Hanging in There

It's been a week or so since I posted.  We are still here.  We are still in boxes.  I am a mess, but hopefully things will change soon.  We have found a place to rent.  It's nice.  It will fit all of us.  It has somewhat of a yard.  It's expensive.  And, it's on the other side of town.  We tried our best to find something on this side of town but had no luck.  So we are going three miles away to the other side of town.  New church.  Possibly new school, but we hope not.  And not in walking distance to anywhere but church and new school.  It will do though.  It's only for a year or so then we will be able to buy something in an area that we want to be in.  Other than the boxes making my life a complete mess we are doing good.  The kids are doing great!  They really seem to like school.  Maddi and Makenna both excel in school and are being tested for the GATE program (gifted and talented).  Hopefully they will be accepted so they can be a little more challenged in their school work - especially Makenna.  We have piano lessons, dance lessons, grocery shopping, visits to museums and grandparents, playtime and a McDonald's with an indoor playland in Green River and Rock Springs.  Life continues to move on.  We adjust and adapt as necessary.  I will settle down in a few weeks when we can get moved and finally unpack our belongings! Michael is liking his job.  He just got done with a long weekend and now he is back to work for nine days.  We will miss having him around but we know at the end we get him for 5 days straight!  (Poor Michael :) !)  I have pictures and other things I want to blog about but I have to find my cord so I can download to the computer.  Hopefully that will happen soon.  Until then, this is where we are at in life....

A Few Blocks Away

We have lived away from family for 6 of our 10 years of marriage.  Now we are blessed to be back in close distance to them.  Right now it seems strange because it has been so long since we could just swing by on our way home.  I feel like we are on vacation and I keep waiting for the day to come when we have to pack our bags up and head home.  Then I remember that we don't have to do that anymore and for those that are still a few hours away, we don't  have to do it with such a long time in between.  I love it!  My kids love it!  I even think Michael loves it, although love might be a strong word for him!  This morning I went to my parents' house to use their bowflex after I had dropped the older kids off at school.  To my surprise my mom was home.  She had taken a sick day from school.  She was in the middle of trying to make room for a new and bigger kitchen table.  It involved moving an upright freezer to a new room, moving shelves, taking a door off it's hinges and taking the old table downstairs.  I got to help with all of that and show off my handyman skills by not only knowing how to take the door off the hinges, but being able to do it too!  The whole time I got to visit with her and talk about life and anything else that popped into my head.  I did get my workout in and after being there for three hours we went back home.  I loved it!  It has been so long since I have been able to do that.  I didn't realize how much I missed it until I have been able to do it again. My parents love it too.  It has been so long since they have been around their grandkids on a regular basis that they are just soaking it up too.  We are over there almost everyday at their request.  With Michael working late now, it is nice to have them here and for them to want us in their home so much.  I never knew I would love being just blocks away. It has been so long and I have learned to just do things on my own with the kids even if it was hard.  It's nice to have a little extra backup and a few extra hands to help or hug kids when needed!

The Move

Well, we made it to Green River.  We left Tuesday morning (the 28th) and headed west.  About two hours into the trip my brother called me and told us we needed to drive straight through instead of breaking it up into two days.  There was a storm headed to Green River and if we didn't keep going we would end up in the middle of it.  Not exactly what I wanted to hear but we did it.  We got in about 3am.  I was tired.  We had been driving for 18 hours.  We got a few hours sleep and then headed over to our house to start unloading the truck.  .  We did some that morning and then waited until the evening to finish when we had more help.  My brother, Sam, was there with his family.  The kids had fun playing with their cousins.  Aunt Janiel helped watch the kids and Sam helped unload the truck.  We got it all done before the snow got too bad.  The kids spent the entire weekend playing with their cousins.  They had lunch one day and McDonalds (with an indoor playland), went sledding one day, played basketball at the gym one day, and had a few sleepovers and grandma and grandpa's.  Sunday we went to church.  Monday was the first day of school.  The Backpack Fairy, once again, stopped by our house and left the kids something to make their first day a little more special.  Michael had left for work early that morning so I took the kids to school and registered them and then got to meet all their teachers.  Dillon's teacher is a Vikings fan so he was happy right away.  Zane's teacher seemed very nice and had a spot for him picked out.  Makenna's teacher greeted her with a big hug and that made Kenna's day and Maddi got the only male teacher in the school so she was happy too.  They all seem to be liking school and adjusting okay.  Having Grandma and Grandpa around certainly help.  My mom has started teaching piano lessons to the ones who want to take.  Maddi goes Monday night, Dillon goes Tuesday night and Makenna goes Wednesday night.  Dad has taken the girls to some girls basketball games and they have fun with that.  We have gone swimming at the rec center which is only a few blocks from our house.  Makenna has already gone over to play at a friend's house and Zane was invited to his first birthday party.  The house we moved into we were intending to buy.  However, the bank that owns it decided not to cooperate so it went into foreclosure this week.  We are now looking for a different place to live.  it has been a little stressful just because we are having to still live out of boxes since we will be moving again shortly.  It's hard to feel settled when you can't unpack!  Rentals are hard to find around here, especially for a family our size.  We did find one that we will be able to move into in a few weeks.  It is more than we wanted to pay, but it keeps us in Green River so the kids don't have to switch schools again and it has a yard for the kids to play in.  We will be on the other side of town from where we are now, so there will be no walking to school, parks, stores or grandparents but we are only a few miles away  and when we are able to buy a home we can come back over to this side of town.  So, that is the update on the move and where we are in our lives right now.  Michael's training should finish up this week and he will be able to start his real work and schedule next week.  He is excited for that.  All is well and while we miss our friends in South Dakota and Minnesota, we are very glad to be here near family.

Christmas

Our Christmas was very different this year.  We were surrounded by boxes and bags with a little Christmas tree in the middle of it all and presents underneath.  Christmas morning we opened presents, ate breakfast and then I started packing agin.  The tree was down and decorations packed before 11am.  The kids played with their toys while Michael and I worked on getting things done.  We took occasional breaks to watch the kids, but most of it we were busy.  That night instead of a nice Christmas dinner at home we had dinner at the Denny's that's connected to the Flying J.  It was okay.  The kids enjoyed it.  I got to eat a salad (which was delicious).  I had been craving real food since we haven't had any for a few days!  It is certainly one we will remember.  We did the usual talking to the family on the phone and that was nice.  The kids were pleased with the loot they got and are wound up and bouncing off the bare walls!  We have been very blessed this year and are very grateful for all that we have been given and are excited for the opportunities and adventures that await us in Wyoming.  We hope you all had a merry Christmas!

Our December

December has been a busy month for us.  Besides the craziness from packing we have had all the other December activities to keep us busy.  There were the two winter concerts at school that the kids put on, a Gingerbread house here at the ranch with a visit from Santa, dinner with friends several times, Relief Society Christmas dinner, Ward Christmas potluck, school parties, basketball games, blizzards, gingerbread house making at school, playdates with friends, trips to Hendricks and plenty of other things to keep us running around!  Here are a few pictures from some of our December fun!

Sunday naptime

Visit with Santa

Maddi playing basketball

Me and Dillon with his gingerbread house

Ice skating with friends in Hendricks

Orville, one of our dearest friends, and the kids

What Can I Say to Get You Here?

When this job search journey began months ago we wanted so badly to find something in Dillon, MT.  We applied for every job that came open there.  The job he wanted the most was with a cattle company called Sitz angus.  We waited and no word came.  Our search took us other places and we ended up with a job in Green River.  Michael reports to work on the 30th of this month.  There really is no turning back.  Yesterday Michael got a phone call and was offered a job in Dillon with Sitz Angus.  I could see the reaction on his face when he heard what was being said.  I could feel the pain in his heart as he listened.  Of all things!  This was the place he wanted to go from the very beginning and now here at the end they were asking what could they do to get him here.  Unfortunately, at this time, nothing.  We both know that we are supposed to be going to Green River right now.  We both know this is the job that he needs to have.  Maybe some day in the future our life's path will take us to Dillon but not now.  It really wasn't a hard decision for him to make.  He knew before he ever got off the phone that it wasn't something he was going to do but the thought of it still threw us for a little loop.  Today we are back on track and packing for Green River.  I have two rooms completely emptied out and will do a third room today.  The garage is filling with boxes and furniture.  the house is slowly being emptied.  Things are coming together and we are reassured that we are doing the right thing for our family.

A Little Girl's Faith

This week we had a very sweet experience in our home.  It is no secret that we are moving in just over a week.  We will go from country living to living in town.  There will be a lot of expenses that we just don't have the money for.  As a result we are having to sell our horses.  Sadler, our little pony, was sold yesterday.  We had a few tears from Zeke and Olivia.  Okie, however, is a different story.  Makenna LOVES Okie.  She showed her in 4-H a few years ago.  Santa brought her a halter and lead rope for Christmas that year that was just Okie's size. When we first started talking about selling Okie, Makenna cried.  It wasn't little tears, it was a big, hard cry.  I felt so bad so we kind of stopped talking about it for a while.  Then it came time to really get going and we HAD to sell her.  We weren't having much luck though.  So last week, on Wednesday night, before family prayers we talked once again about selling Okie.  We were going to add it to our prayers and we asked the children to do the same.  I believe the power of a child's prayer is great and I knew that we would need that extra help!  It was a hard thing to talk about, but we did.  Makenna cried.  I knew she would.  She cried through the family prayer as we made that plea to Heavenly Father.  She was still crying afterwards.  We talked to her about sacrifice and how sometimes Heavenly Father requires us to sacrifice things, hard things.  Then we told her that if we were faithful and tried to obey, He would bless us with even greater blessings than what we were giving up.  She understood, wiped her tears and went down to say her prayers and go to bed.  That sweet little 9 year old girl, got on her knees and prayed, just like we had asked. She prayed for Okie to find a good home, she trusted us and Heavenly Father, she showed faith.  Faith that I don't know if I would have had at 9 years old.  Well, I want to testify that Heavenly Father hears our pleas, no matter how loud or soft they are.  He hears them,  He knows each of us personally.  He loves each of us tremendously.  He heard Makenna.  Not only her spoken prayer, but he heard the beating of her heart and felt the sadness and strength of her soul.  A few days later (yesterday) Michael's dad bought Okie.  It gives us what we need right now and it gives us the opportunity to buy her back when we get there and get things squared around.  It was so wonderful to see that smile come across Makenna's face when she heard the news.  We once again talked about the love that Heavenly Father has for HER, individually.  We taught her that sometimes Heavenly Father gives us these tests to see if we are willing to be obedient to Him.  She was and her blessing was the opportunity to keep her beloved horse.  I hope that as I go through my tests in life that I will have the faith, trust and strength that Makenna had when she prayed for Okie.

News From Green River

We heard from our real estate agent today.  We will be able to move right into the house we are trying to buy.  That will be so much easier!  No basement living!  We are very grateful our parents were willing to let us take over their home and lives but we are glad we will not have to do that.  The only hitch is that the house will be going into foreclosure sometime in January.  If we don't get everything closed in time then we will not be able to get the house.  Since it is a short sale it could take longer than a normal sale.  If it goes into foreclosure we will have 120 days to find another house.  Still I would rather spend that 120 days in a house and not a basement!  We should know soon if everything will go through in time - soon meaning a few weeks.  So for now we are planning on moving right in.  10 days before we start loading the truck.  Time is going quickly!!