Goodbye Arizona!

We signed on our house on November 30th. It was a sad day, but a good day. We were relieved to be done. We were blessed that everything happened the way that it did. Dan had applied for a job transfer to Utah. We found out a few weeks into December that he got it. We have had a few company paid moves before and they have all gone very smooth. Usually when we find out we got the job, we find out within the next week when the movers are coming, how long it will take them, and so on. After about a week and a half after hearing we had this job, we still hadn't heard anything. We were told that there was a back log of job transfers, and that it would go through when they got to it. Sooo, we were in limbo for a good part of December. December is stressful enough for us with Christmas, Dan being busy at work, 2 birthdays right around Christmas, you get it. We had my brother on call for house looking. We had told our landlord, who let us stay in our house until we left, that we didn't know when we would be leaving. It was crazy.

Dan was supposed to start his new position on January 17th. 2 weeks before he was to start, we still hadn't heard anything!! UGH!! We were told to hang tight and whenever it was approved it would be. In the meantime, our poor kids were knowing they were going to say goodbye to their friends, but didn't know when that would be. We had doctors appts. that we needed to take care of, but weren't sure when we were leaving. My brother had found a house for us, and we were ready to sign the lease, but still didn't know when we were going to be in Utah. We finally resigned ourselves to the fact that we probably wouldn't be leaving until the end of January and prepared our kids that we had a little bit longer.

On Friday January 7th, Dan called and said that there had been a mix up with his paperwork, and that it had been approved. By the end of the day, the movers were scheduled to be to our house on Monday, and we would be gone by Wednesday. Seriously. It still seems like a whirlwind. We told our ward goodbye. The kids told their friends goodbye. Luckily they were able to go to school for a couple of days that week. I still have a hard time believing that we are gone somedays.

We made it to Utah safely, no weather problems. We got moved into our rental home on Saturday. It was so hard moving into somewhere that we hadn't ever seen! But, we are making it work for us. It isn't ideal, but we are surviving.

We have been here for about a month. Dan is loving his job. I guess that is the most important thing. He has a different schedule than I am used to. It only takes him 10 minutes to get there in comparison to the 45+ minutes in Arizona. He isn't working 12+ hour days. I am glad he is happy. The kids are good. They go to a public school that is just down the street. I am looking forward to warmer weather so we can walk everyday. Aspen is now in PM Kindergarten, which is also an adjustment. We are hoping they get into a charter school for next year. This school isn't horrible, we just feel like they need to be somewhere else.

Aspen is doing dance. She likes it, but gets nervous because she doesn't know how to do everything. Ryder is doing tumbling at the same studio. He loves it! Jackson isn't doing anything extra right now besides scouts. Maybe in the spring. Ainsley is just being her. She is adorable and keeps us busy. We found out that we will have a new baby girl this summer. We are all very excited!

Jackson's Christmas Program

Jackson's program was the same week as Aspen's. Grandma Jane came for a visit and she was able to see it. Unfortunately, Jackson got sick the day before the program. He hardly ever gets sick! He has always been our healthiest kid, and he got a little stomach bug. He stayed home for a few days, but was ok to sing in the program. It was fun to see him on the stage singing Christmas songs.

Aspen's Christmas Program

Aspen's Christmas program was held in early December. We were a little worried that she wasn't going to be able to recite her part. She would do it at home, but she would freeze in music class. We had to bribe her with a treat, but that was all it took. :) We knew she could do it, she just gets nervous at school. The night of the program I was so nervous for her! There were so many people, but she recited it with so much confidence. We were very proud of her. She has grown so much this year!

Getting back to the blogging world........

I haven't blogged in awhile. It is so easy to get Facebook obsessed!!! Lots has happened, but today I will just post a couple of pics of the Jackson & Aspen's first day of school! Jackson is in 3rd grade, and his teacher is Miss Lewis. He really likes it, and he is doing well. He has grown up a lot! Aspen is in Kindergarten!!! She is in morning Kindergarten, and it is going well. She doesn't like to tell us much, but we just let her talk when she wants to! It is fun having them both in school. Ryder & Ainsley walk around asking where they are!

All about Ainsley Jo!

Ainsley was so funny today. She has been wanting to color for awhile now, but just hasn't gotten the hang of it. She usually ends up eating the crayons, actually. But today, she sat in her chair and colored for about an hour! She threw a fit when I tried to put the crayons away. So, I left them out, strapped her in, and she was quite content. We enjoy all of our kids, of course, but they are all in such different stages. She is just too cute! PS She went to nursery yesterday! :)

This free picture collage created with Smilebox

March Fun....

Jackson had Spring Break this week, and Dan took the week off. It was nice to have everyone home. We went swimming, hung out at home, and went to a Mariner's Spring Training game in Peoria. We got there about an hour early, and that is when our kids had the most fun. Once the game started, the heat really turned on, and there were tons of people, they were done. We made it to the 6th inning. It was still fun, though. My arms and shins got fried, too!

We went swimming this week, too. It was great. The water was the perfect temp. We will be spending a lot of time at the pools this summer. It is nice that they are getting a little bit older. Ainsley didn't like the water at first, but she warmed up a bit towards the end.

Back to the Blogger World.......

I have been out of touch with blogger since December. Life is crazy. But the real reason is because I broke down and signed up for Facebook. I was so anti for a long time, and now I am on and it is fun. I like seeing what is going on with my friends and catching up. There you have it. Anyway, the kids are on break right now from soccer. It will start again in April. We didn't sign Ryder up this season. He is 3. He was supposed to be completely potty trained in order to play, and it hasn't happened yet.

Aspen proud as ever with her trophy.

Ryder was very proud of his trophy. So proud, that he couldn't leave it alone, and he dropped it on the tile floor when we got home that day. Yes, it broke in half. I have yet to fix it.

Ryder showing off his cars.

Aspen all dressed up for the "QU" Wedding at school.

This is obviously a random picture of Ainsley, but does it really matter? She is adorable!

Laundry

For any of you who know me, you know that I am ridiculously weird about my laundry. I am weird about what gets washed in hot, what gets washed in cold, what dries, what hang dries, you get the picture, right? Well, as weird as I am, I have had the unfortunate mistake of washing/drying some pretty crazy things. It used to drive me crazy to babysit my husband about leaving items in his work clothes. I have since gotten over it, because I can't tell you how many times I have washed & dried his chapstick. If it hasn't happened to you, be grateful. It ruins clothes. I have dried his pens. Again, be grateful. My dryer has pen markings stained inside of it. From at least 4 years ago. Today though, I think I might have just had the best discovery yet. Ryder is mostly potty trained. He has problems with #2, not to be too graphic, and so I got sick and tired of washing 3 pairs of underwear a day. I went to Fry's, and he has been in the cheapest pull-up I could find. I put the jeans in the wash, and walked away. Later, when I went to separate the jeans into dry/hang, I found this beauty on top of them.......

I am not joking when I say it weighed ten pounds. You are jealous, aren't you?

Family Pics

Our friend Mary took our family pictures in September before she moved away. I think she did a good job. This is just a small sample of them.

Our kids the aliens....

So our funny kids found these little shirts & sweatshirts that are for a teddy bear. They started to put them on their heads. They thought it was hilarious and started to dance around. They are funny kids!

Halloween fun!

Halloween is over! YEAH! Just kidding. It was fun. Aspen had a party for preschool and then they walked to the park and trick-or-treated the moms. Cute. Then we went to a fall carnival at a local elementary. Jackson was dying to do the donut eating contest. I am surprised that Ryder did it. Today was our ward trunk-or-treat. Dan was in charge. It turned out well considering it was all him. He left about a hour and a half before me, so I was solo in getting everyone ready. The pictures aren't the best, but they will do. Ainsley did not want to keep her hat on. It was too bad, cause it was so cute on. Oh well. Ryder refused to get his face painted like Jackson. I didn't even fight him. It would have been a waste of breath. Happy Halloween!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I DID IT!!!

I have talked about cutting my hair for awhile now. I didn't realize how long it really was until I saw this picture, but I was ready for a change. My friend Shannon is awesome! She won't do anything to my hair unless I am positive I want it. So, here is the picture story......

What do you think?

Fall Break Fun!

Make a Smilebox slideshow We surprised the kids by going to California. We left on Friday afternoon, and didn't tell them where we were going. We got into Palm Springs, and Jackson noticed the windmills. He announced proudly, " I know where we are. We are definately in California. Can we go see our cousins since we are already here?" We laughed that he remembered the windmills from our drive to California last March. We told the kids that we were going to see cousins, and they cheered. We drove to Stevenson Ranch....YOWZA! What a drive! We survived, and were happy to see everyone. We spent the weekend having fun by going to soccer games, playing in the pool...BRRR..., and running around the house. Thanks to the Skabelund family for putting up with our crazy little family. We had so much fun seeing everyone. On top of Nat and Troy housing and feeding us for the weekend, they hooked us up with a sweet deal to Disneyland. (Troy works for Disney! :)) We headed there early Monday morning and had a great time. The weather was awesome, and the crowds weren't too bad. It was fun to ride on the rides that I didn't get to ride on last time since I was pregnant with Ainsley. Jackson and I ended the night with a trip on California Screamin. AWESOME! We had so much fun. Jackson is a fun kid. He and I were able to ride alot of rides together while Dan waited with the other three. Thank goodness for the stroller passes! We drove all night and picked Grandma Jane up from the airport that morning. It was so fun to have her here. The time went by way too fast! We didn't get to do as much as we had hoped, but maybe she will come back in a couple of months! Dan and I were able to attend the temple, and it was very nice to go. Thanks to Grandma for everything. It took a bit of time adjusting to her not being here. Ryder fell asleep on the way to the airport to drop her off. He woke up later and looked all over the car and kept asking where Grandma Jane was. He had a hard time understanding that she had to go home to Pa! All in all we had a great fall break!