Update...

I knew it was coming. Kayson has finally started to crawl. He hasn't gone full-blown-get-into-everything-and-drive-mom-nuts crawling yet, but he's taken the first few steps, and I know it won't be much longer before he will constantly be under my feet.

Where did the time go???


p.s. We found a place to live! But because this blog isn't private, I don't want to post where. You can call me or my Mom for the details.

Just When...

...I've finally gotten settled into our beautiful home, we start the process of...


Moving.

Since last year's economy dip, our little family has struggled with lost job, financial stresses that come with that, and just trying to BE a family. Although Ryan's last job at Schlumberger was a blessing after 4 months of no work, it wasn't working out for us (Ryan's sleeping at home 3 nights in 5 weeks just wasn't appealing). We want and need Dad home.

So Ryan found work in SLC as a salesman for Larry H. Miller Used Car Supermarket. It's something completely different than what he's used to, but this job gives our family: Dad home every night, Sunday's off (which is a needed blessing), as well as the possiblity of getting out of some financial stress that his last paychecks couldn't cover. He's already doing very well for a "new guy", and I can see Heavenly Father blessing him, and in turn us, for following the prompting to take this job.

I'm very sad to be leaving the basin. Although I love SLC, to me it's a place to visit and leave. In SLC you find rush hour, and crazy drivers (not that the basin doesn't have any, you just see double out there), you find more noise and less country fields. Aside from the stuff I don't like, SLC offers my siblings and their families (I feel like I've lost touch with them), shopping, and fun places to visit like the ZOO or Lagoon in the summer.

The one thing SLC doesn't have, that I will miss utterly the most, are my children's grandparents. Jace is constantly talking about Mama's car, Mama's house, Mama's blankets, calling Mama at work, and just plain Mama (Mama is both grandmas)! He talks about Papa Jay and Grandpa and how much he loves their trucks and helping with the jerky. I feel like I am ripping my children from some very important people in their lives that they have grown up with and care for very much. I worry like my Mom that the boys will forget them, or be shy when we come to visit. I don't want that! I still want to see Jace run into their arms and forget that I'm even around. To pick to ride in Mama's car or stay with Mama instead of picking me. To see Jace and Kayson learning things from my and Ryan's parents, is a treasure that our family has enjoyed by living close to them.

I don't know what the Lord has in store for our family, and I pray that one day we will come back and live here in the basin. But for now, we need to live in SLC. We just need to. I'm scared, but excited. Sad, but happy. I know this is the right thing to be doing for our family.

We don't have a place to live right now, although we have applied and are waiting for answers on a few rentals we liked. Ryan is staying with my brother Galen until we find a place. Thank you Galen from the bottom of our hearts! So I will update when we do have a place. If you get a chance, please say a little prayer for our family. This is going to be a hard move.

SO, I guess I'll see some of you around soon! p.s. here are some misc pictures. Enjoy!

Jace and Kayson opening Santa's gifts:


Jace cleaning up his orange crayon on the wall


My favorite pj's for the boys! They say "Big Brother" and "Little Brother"!


Jace's favorite place to be (stinker)


Kayson balancing on one knee (silly kid)

Not much longer

Jace 7 months:


Kayson 7 months:


Jace started crawling at 8 months. That gives me aprox. 4 weeks before Kayson starts. Yikes.

Christmas 2010

Here are some pictures from this years Christmas!!!




Frosting cookies (although I think Jace ate more frosting than cookie)




Jace helping Grandpa "roll the rolls". Everytime he finished a roll he put it on the baking sheet and yelled, "I did it!"


(Alesa loved everyone, but Uncle Scott was her FAVORITE!!!)





Our Christmas Eve Program 2010! (you won't see ALL the characters because we had a BIG family in a small room. I couldn't get everyone.) Sheep and Cows:










Shepards:


Angels:




Mary and Joseph (Makayla was right in front of me so I only got Bradley. Sorry!):


Grandma reading a Christmas story:



The End




Or maybe just more posting another day :)

SNOW DAY!!!

WOW. That's all I have to say. The moisture that has come down in our town the last 48 hours, is the same amount that came down all of LAST YEAR (in my mind anyway)!

Rain, rain, slush, rain, snow, SnOw, SNOW!!! That's all it's been the last 2 days. I knew it would be a lot but this:



is a LOT!

Ryan has been as happy as a kid at Christmas-time! Why? He FINALLY gets to use his snow blower!!! He got it as a Christmas present LAST year, but there wasn't any snow to plow. Needless to say our neighbors are very happy to let him snow plow their drive ways and side walks to his hearts content.


Jace is loving it as well. Although he is 2 1/2, this is the first year he can really play in it. He got SO excited when I asked him if he wanted to go outside to play. He layed in it, he sat in it, he walked in it, he climbed a small hill and said weeeeeee when he slid down the 1 foot length it was.




We (meaning mostly Mom) built a snowman! Jace's first one! I would have built more, but the snow wasn't packing very well, and it took me FOREVER to pack one. That's ok. He turned out great! Jace isn't smiling in this picture because he took his gloves off. Enough said. *smile* (don't you love how his expression matches his hat)


Afterwards we came inside and drank some hot chocolate to warm up! Ahhhh....



MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Growing and Growing

OK so I found my camera bag (which had the camera cord to the computer in it) and have new pictures to share!!!





I LOVE these pictures, but hate them at the same time. They just prove to me that my boys are growing up. Jace looks so big in these and Kayson is moving along beside him.

*sigh*

I promise to enjoy this moment while I am in it (even if re-arranging the Christmas tree for the 3rd time makes me mad).

It must be...

that time of season. I generally get really pensive around Thanksgiving and Christmas. And this year it's been a more deep and profound kind of thinking. Yesterday Ryan had a scope done on his upper body. Nothing to report. He's fine. Just too much acid in his stomach. On our way home from the hospital we stopped by RedBox and got a couple of movies to watch while he recovered.

I must have needed to watch this particular movie without any distractions because Ryan fell asleep once we got home, Jace took a 2 1/2 hour nap on the living room floor (which was a shock because he doesn't take naps anymore let alone on the FLOOR) and Kayson took a long nap as well. I had 2 hours to devote my listening ear to the following movie:


I don't know what happened inside of me. Something clicked and I feel.... so....

balanced.

happy.

calm.

If you've been to my blog before you'll have noticed my quotes on the top right hand side. Well, I changed them. To me they seem to stick out with lessons I've learned this year. Lessons I don't want to forget. Because for the first time in my life, I feel like I could live as the person I am today... for the rest of it.

One quote from the movie I loved was:

"God lives in me as me".

I understood what Liz (the main character) was talking about when she said that, so then something else hit me. Why am I so stressed??? Why do I feel like I'm enduring life??? I'm always worried that I'm not smart enough. Not skinny enough. Not happy enough. Not organized enough. Not spiritual enough. And you know what I found???

I'M NOT!!!!

and I'm done stressing over it: a perfectly clean house, up and ready to go before the kids wake up, what to eat or not eat, what to enjoy or not enjoy. I'm not saying if you came over to my house it would look like a tornado hit it, or that I'll be stuffing my face with ice cream 24/7, but you will see toys on the floor and a batch of laundry waiting to be taken upstairs (I will never have stairs in my house again EVER), maybe even some dishes in the sink from breakfast. I will have the boys dressed, the kitchen will be tidy, and my bed will be made...(maybe).

I don't know where that pressure came from. Maybe because I see it everywhere I go and wonder why I'm not like that. But I feel like if God is going to live in me as me, then I want Him to feel the same way I do.

balanced.

happy.

calm.

I've got a long road ahead still and I do want to be better at organizing and getting ready before 10:00 am. But I feel like I can take my time and enjoy the learning process. Everyone is a teacher, everyone is a clue on how to do that.

My journey has begun.