Mothers Day

Saturday the girls and I bought some flowers to plant in the front of our house. I know we wont be here for very long but I love the way it looks and might entice people to rent our house. We had fun. Clara really thought that the dirt should go on top of the flowers.

On Sunday Lexa really wanted to make me breakfast in bed but dad is not here to help her. I tried to teach her the night before how to work the microwave so she could make me some frozen croissant sandwiches. In the morning she said she was afraid they would catch on fire so she just waited for me. That was even better because I got to sleep a bit. Lexa got to go shopping with Mimi (my mom) earlier in the week and get me some little things. She got me some candles and some jewelry. She is so sweet. I am old fashioned and like to have a corsage on Mothers Day to wear to church.
Nolan ordered one for me and had me pick in up on Saturday. He also ordered an edible arrangement, which I have always wanted to try, and it was delivered on Saturday as well. After church on Sunday my parents, brother and grandmother came to our house. My dad brought a lovely arrangement of deli meats and cheeses. We had sandwiches and chips, one of my favorite lunches! We went for a walk afterward then it was time for the kids bed.
After I put the kids to bed I was excited to munch on the edible arrangement. We put it out for dinner but the only ones who ate any were Clara and my mom. My mom had a very upset stomach on the way home. Clara was up half the night crying. I ate two chocolate covered strawberries and an apple slice. About 30 min after that I it made my stomach so upset that it came back up. Since then I have been fine. No one else got sick. It is a bummer because I was so excited about this present. Nolan was not happy and called the store this morning. They wanted the fruit back to see what happened and they said they would provide something else in return. They didnt show up today, so we will see what happens.
All in all, it was a good day!

Lexa's Sweet Mind

This last week Lexa and I both had the stomach flu. Lexa had it on Monday and I had it on Tuesday. Clara started it the week before so I am not worried about her. On Monday night Lexa was lying in my bed while I was downstairs watching tv. She came down to tell me that she was feeling bad and felt someone rubbing her back but looked and no one was there. She said, "It was an angel". Of course my mind goes straight to ghosts, but hers went to angels watching out for her. She truly believes the angels are with her. So great!!!

Nolans Visit and the Weddings

Nolan got a chance to come and visit last weekend. After picking him up from the airport we went to the zoo. The girls loved having daddy and the animals. That evening we went to play at the Pippins house! We love playing with them, it will be one of the things we will miss the most when we move. Saturday we did some chores, slept in a little bit, ran some errands and Nolan took me out to eat at Rodizio. I love that place. Sunday we went to church, had lunch with my family and then we drove him to the airport. It was a whirlwind trip.







Then we had two absolutely wonderful days. The first was Briana's wedding. Nolan drove from Washington and I drove with my girls and mom from Colorado to Utah. Nolan's parents rented a house in Murray. It was pretty interesting but nice to have us all together. Laura and Matt were already there, so was Briana, then Sherisa brought Rischel from the airport. We woke up Thursday morning to Lexa telling us Clara had throw up in her bed. Clara has never thrown up or been really sick before. Lexa was right and Clara threw up all morning. Lexa and Clara were flower girls with purple dresses, flower crowns and holding balls of flowers. It was sad to have Clara throw up all day but it actually made her quiet and cuddly instead of screaming and fussing. In the meantime, while we were all getting ready on Thursday morning for Briana's wedding, with 2 bridesmaids, we blew the breaker with all our curling irons and blow dryers. It turns out that the breaker box was in a locked closet and the guy with the key lived at least an hour away. Well, we all made it work.
We made it to the Draper temple and there was snow everywhere!! It was a great wedding, short and it was very sunny. Cold, but sunny. After the pics, we went to the luncheon at the Market Street Grill. It was very fancy and very nice. People made speeches and it was awesome.
Later that night, we went to Applebee's with Matt, Laura and Bryan and Ily Murdock. Matt wanted to watch the NFL Draft. We wanted to hang out and have fun. They came back and hung out with us at the rented house until their babysitting time was up!
Friday after lunch, my mom, Nolan and I headed down to St George, Utah. This was a very very special occasion. My moms parents live down there and are in their 80's. They have been members of the church all their lives, but my grandpa has never been interested in going to the temple. Well, he finally had some really good friends that convinced him that it was the right thing to do. So he was ordained an elder about a month or so ago and we had the honor of going thru the temple with them for the first time and seeing them get sealed and my mom get sealed to them. It was so cool to see how happy Briana was and how happy they were, but it was amazing to be with my grandparents. I have been thinking that our family is like a chain. My great-grandparents were all sealed in the temple, and my parents were sealed, as I was also. We had a missing link in the chain that kept us from being connected to the rest of our family. Now that chain is whole. We will be able to be a family for all eternity and it was amazing.
After their sealing on Saturday morning, they had a luncheon at their local club house. We had a great time and had to head back to Salt Lake, where Marilyn had been watching the kids.
While we were gone she took the girls to temple square and they heard an organist practicing in the old tabernacle. They went to the Gateway and got a horse and carriage ride. They loved it. Lexa asked the driver a million questions. And then, early Saturday Clara threw up again and had some other issues. Then Aunt Rischel also got sick, as well as Aunt Sherisa. I am so sorry to them!!!! I hope they are feeling better. Clara loved Aunt Rischel but more often then not called her Anna (Briana). She'll get it someday.
Sunday we all headed home. Nolan gave a family friend a ride from Provo back to Kennewick. My mom, the girls and I headed back for Colorado. We all were tired and had little patience, but we made it home in one piece and still alive (barely). It was an exciting drive from a little west of Laramie thru Cheyenne with blowing snow, blizzards, and dense fog.
After it all, I love my family and I love temples. I am glad Heavenly Father didnt send us here blind with no help. We have direction and guidance. It is sometimes hard to endure to the end, but it is definitely worth every struggle.

I Am a Survivor!

It has been two weeks today from when Nolan left to start his new job in Washington. And it is not as hard as I thought it would be. We had a great Easter. My dad hid eggs at their house and we had dinner there.

Nolan likes his new job. He was starting to get bored but they finally have a project for him to start on and show them what he is made of. He is also having fun hanging out with his mom and dad. His dad is taking him golfing and his mom had him join her city choir to sing show tunes!

I, on the other hand, am having the time of my life! Just kidding. :) The kids and I are surviving. We call and say goodnight to daddy on Skype almost every night. I pack a few boxes every day and try to keep the house somewhat presentable just in case anyone wants to come and look at it. It went on the market last week. We have one person that wants to come and look at it and had a call on it last weekend. Hopefully we will have more interest this weekend, but there are a flood of homes that went on the market recently to take advantage of the new home owners tax credit that ends April 30th. So there are a lot of houses for sale, but hopefully a lot of people are more motivated to get out there and look.

Nolan gets to come home next weekend and then we will see him at his sister's wedding on the 22nd in Utah. My grandparents are also getting sealed in the St George temple on the 24th and we are very excited about that!!

Big Changes!!

I know I havent blogged for a very long time, but I am going to have to get much better for my friends that will soon be far away.
Lets start at the beginning. Early in January, Nolan was laid off from HP. At first Nolan was nervous but I was excited knowing how much he hated working there. He had thought of looking for a different job for a while, but now he had to. So, he started networking, going to resume meetings, calling people, looking on Monster.com. He went to a conference called DVCon and had a great time, made more contacts. In the end he had 5 interviews and 3 job offers. We fasted and prayed, went to the temple and tried to decide what was the best option for our family. The three offers were from Western Digital, National Analytics, and Columbia Energy. National Analytics had a crazy 16 page non-compete clause that we were told by a lawyer not to sign. It would have been a really fun and interesting job in Greeley, Co. Western Digital was a good offer but would be the same work he was doing at HP and big company atmosphere and Nolan wasnt sure he wanted to go back to that. We both had a really good feeling about the job with Columbia Energy in Kennewick, Wa. This is where Nolan grew up and his parents still live there. In the end, we went with Columbia Energy. Nolan will be leaving on Friday to head up there. He will be working for a small company, but with benefits still. We werent sure if we would find a company that offered benefits. I always took that for granted before. He will be doing vitrification of nuclear waste. The girls and I will wait until the end of the school year and Lexa's dance recital to head up to Washington. Sounds like houses in our price range are selling within weeks so we arent too worried about that. Plus we will be living with Nolans parents so we wont have to worry about paying 2 mortgages.
We are sad to leave my family here. But we are also excited about a new adventure. I am excited about living in a place with less snow. I love Nolans parents and think living by them will be a lot of fun! Nolan is excited to experience a small company and getting to go to the family cabin whenever he wants to! I am not looking forward to packing up the house, but the good news is I have a few months so it takes the pressure off. I'm always excited to think of a new house.
We will miss our friends but are excited to see what is out there waiting for us!

New Years Eve

We had a great New Years Eve. We miss when we cant be in Washington and eat Marilyns (Nolan's mom) great cooking! She makes a whole table full of finger/snack food. This year we tried to throw a big party too, but sadly no one wanted to come. We finally found one family in our ward that would come over! They have 3 girls, one of which we call Clara's twin because they look so much alike. One day the older girls even tried to take Clara out of nursery at church instead of their sister, Ella! The mom had to work until about 11. Her parents were in town and came over too, along with my mom being here.
Here is what we had to eat:
Wings from Pizza Hut - mild buffalo, garlic parmesan, spicy asian and honey bbq
Avocado Eggrolls with dip (copy cat from the Cheesecake Factory)
Cream cheese crab wantons
Devils on horseback (dates stuffed with asiago cheese and wrapped in bacon)
spinach dip
bean dip
spicy jalepano ranch dip (tried to copy Chuy's)
tortilla chips
punch (sprite and raspberry juice)
pop
lil' smokies
chicken nuggies

After eating we got the games out. We played a game called Things. It was a lot like apples to apples, but everyone wrote down an answer and then went around the table and everyone got to guess who wrote down what. Then we played a round of Imaginiff. And then we got out Catch Phrase. This happens to be Nolans all time favorite game. We have the electronic version. We stopped around midnight to cheer and drink some Martinelli's, then went right back to playing. We played till well after 2 am and were quite slap happy by then. It was an awesome and fun night.

We Had a Great Christmas!

As I am wandering our house tonight and doing laundry, I feel as if we had a perfect Christmas this year. We werent overwhelmed. Things were just right. I feel very blessed to live in my house, in this country, with my family. Ahhh.