I am alive...barely!

Oh the joys of moving....NOT! For those of you who don't know, we moved about 3 weeks ago, and I doubt my life will ever be the same...in a good way! While this move has been the healthiest change in our lives, it has been the most stressful 3 weeks of my life. I have kind of shut down, and taken to my new home in retreat mode. I won't go into all of the gory details, but lets just say there is a light, even in this unseasonable rain, there is a light.

Mitch called me at work about the time we were getting ready to move and told me that he had called his former boss and asked if they needed any electricians. He knew they would since his brother was moving. I was shocked...I had been begging him to sell the blasted tanning salon and go back to school....I didn't care what he went to school for, I just wanted him to find a career, and not just another j.o.b. I was at work when he revealed this aha moment with me, so I couldn't exactly jump for joy. I have felt a huge sense of relief. It will be hard not having him home in the mornings with us like I have been used to for the last 18 months, but just having him bringing home a PAYCHECK is worth it....so, if you know anyone who wants to buy a tanning salon...send them my way!

We love our new house and our new neighbors, and our new yard, and our new tiny mortgage, and our new sense of freedom from our big, beautiful, custom, expensive house with it's big suffocating mortgage. I kind of laugh when I think of our lives 18 months ago...we had it made. We had everything we could have ever wanted. But, just as The Lord gives, The Lord taketh away...and we have surely been put through the refiners fire in the last year and a half. Are we better for it??? I am not sure yet. But what I do know is that we will be...some day. I think we both still have a lot to learn, and a lot to change, and a lot to overcome. I know that 6 years ago tomorrow August 8th, I married a man who I knew loved me, and who would always be worthy of his Priesthood, and who would help me as my partner overcome any obsticle, and here we are at the tail end of the hardest time in our marriage so far, and we are both still in tact...a bit ruffled, but still in tact, and that same man kept all of his promises, and he still loves me, he is still worthy of his Priesthood, and, we are going to get through this as partners. Life is funny, and life is unpredictable, but so goes it right?!?!

We are so thankful for this second chance and we hope to learn everything that The Lord wants us to so that we NEVER have to go through this again! Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support! I love you all so much! I promise to have some pics up soon of the house! We really do love it. It is amazing how much more at peace we ALL are here!
I just had to put a picture of this cute kid on my post! He is loving his new huge yard with a FENCE! I just let him run around naked he is so happy!

Day at Roaring Springs

We had a really fun day today at Roaring Springs! Better than the first time we tried it! Zander spent a good deal of time hanging out in this tube, I thought he was resting....
Nope, he found an itty bitty little rock that he just had to show me...then throw it at a small little girl,

These chairs weren't even close to ours, but I went around the corner, and Zander was all relaxed.

Taking the leap!

Our friend Aidan and his mean karate face!

Oh, the joys of raising Children!!!

Okay, so here is the story...I get a shipment of Scentsy at the house today, and Zander spends like an hour playing with all of the bars, there were like 24 of them in all. He loves everything Scentsy, the bars, the samples, the catalogs, all of it. So it keeps him entertained. He has carried one of my sample baskets to bed with him for like a week. Well, bed time comes around and this kid will NOT go to sleep...crying...screaming...banging on the wall. I go in there, and sing to him, rock him, refill his beverage...put him back in bed...he keeps crying. Mitch goes in there, by now it is almost 10:30pm...Mitch brings him downstairs, much to my shigrin by the way. Well, the second Zander sees the box of Scentsy bars, he exclaims. "OH WOW!!!" He fills this thermal bag that they are shipped in with as many as he can fit, picks up the bag, and practically runs to bed shouting. "NIGH NIGH" and Mitch puts him down and he is out...out cold. What a silly boy.


Here you can see the mess he made of his room whilst he was protesting going to bed. Crap everywhere!
"NIGH NIGH MOMMY" He was seriously so freaking happy!

Mitch dying laughing while I snap a shot of him carrying 24 bars of Scentsy to bed with him. By the way, Mitch picked out his horribly mismatched jammies. We are in the midst of packing, and this was all he could find...uggh!

Buddies

So I have been watching my friends little boy Aidan for the last week. He is such a little ANGEL...seriously, he is so good. I was beginning to pack yesterday and I cam around the corner to see this precious sight! They really wanted to watch baby Einstein for some reason?? Whatever it may be, they silently sat through 2 videos??

I think it is time for a toddler bed...what do you think??

Where is Zander???Hmmm, here is a hint

Yup, you guessed it...he was sleeping under his crib!Sound asleep, for 3 hours!

I went in to get him up from his nap and took 9 pictures of him and he still didn't wake up. He had major carpet face when he finally woke up. I had to bribe him to get him out from under there.

Day at the Zoo part II

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So my friend Erin and I thought it would be a perfect day to take our two rowdy boys to the zoo....two lessons learned today...one...Thursday is cheaper admission day, so there were a bagillion people there and two...always bring a change of clothes just in case your two year old chokes on his french toast sticks in the car and throws up all over the place! Yup, that's right, all over, once we parked I had to strip him down to his diaper, take his car seat totally apart, wipe down the car and throw it all in a bag....yuck. As some kind of miracle, Erin had a pair of shorts in the car and a hoodie, so we made our way to the zoo and bought Zander a Zoo Boise T-shirt, and he managed to keep the size 3 shorts on. By the way, he still wears 18mo. shorts...yes, it was quite a day! But barf and all, the boys had a blast. And not to be outdone, Brody who is potty training, peed all over his own shirt, it was an adventure! Zander can't help himself he has to climb on top of and inside of everything!



They just weren't as excited about the merry go round once they got on it. But once it started moving, they were jazzed!


Don't they look so happy to be at the zoo. Neither of them would smile for me. I was making a fool of myself trying to make them smile...no go!

Isn't that cute!! Going up the slide stairs together?? Brody was telling Zander how fun it was going to be!
Oh wait, Zander was not convinced! He never did go down the slide...bummer!

New Camera Test run!

So I bought a new camera and just had to get some pics of my favorite little man! Dang this kid is cute!

He was saying CHHHHEEEEEESSSSEEE! Can you tell!

Here is Zander catching up on the latest deals from the paper! He is so smart he reads up side down!