COUNTDOWN TO THE BIG DAY

We move 3 weeks from yesterday. We load the truck 3 weeks from Friday. I should hear about a house tomorrow. The truck is reserved, lots of furniture sold, lots of stuff packed. Lots of stuff donated. Lots more to do. That's good, busy keeps me from being sad. It's bitter sweet, an adventure waiting (with cooler weather, lots of green and 4 seasons), roots being pulled up( wonderful friends that volunteer to meet any and every need and just generally give me and my family joy). Gotta go, duty calls.

MY FIRST SHARING TIME

Well I spent weeks thinking about it, almost a month obsessing actually, over a week preparing it and today it finally is over with, my first sharing time in the presidency is under my belt. It went much better than I feared and I certainly had plenty of material, which of course I was worried about. The kids were reverent and participated and I'm glad it's over. Hopefully I didn't say anything wrong or dumb. It's even worse when the last presidency is subbing for your teachers and I wonder if they are critiquing me. Of course they would never say anything, at least I don't think they would... Anyway, I think it went well and I'm relieved. There is a high standard set many years ago and I hope I was close to it!

WATCH OUT IDAHO HERE WE COME

All of my adult life, as long as I can remember in fact I've hated living in this valley. It's ugly(in my humble opinion), hot, the people are rude, the traffic is terrible etc etc etc. Then we moved to Buckeye. Over the last year, mostly, I've come to appreciate the beauty of this area. The mountains, well what we call mountains here, the wildflowers(actually I've always loved those), the sunsets( I've always loved those too). Our ward is AWESOME, the boys are in a GREAT school, we have INCREDIBLE friends and the list could keep going. So when the opportunity came to move out of here we went for it, almost out of habit, we've always planned to live somewhere green and small eventually. Then we started to think about it and realized we'd be happy to stay also, not sure when that happened but like I said...So now that we love it here, we are moving to Idaho in 3 weeks. Ryan was offered a job and we've prayed ALOT and decided to accept it. Actually he was offered 2 jobs. I wanted the one is Springerville and thought that was where we should be, Ryan wasn't so sure. He really thought ID made more sense for alot of reasons, primarily stability and financial ones. It took some doing and ALOT more prayer and now I can support him, not to say that I'm happy to be leaving everything I've known and my mom so far behind, but...I've been preparing for it, packing, selling furniture that won't fit in a moving truck, house hunting, etc but until today it didn't seem real. I don't know why but all of a sudden today it hit me... all of the wonderful people I probably won't ever see again. That's really the only thing I'm upset about. My heart is hurting and I'm trying really hard to keep from crying and be cheerful about it for my family's sake, if the kids see me upset they will be scared and upset even more. Now they are in bed and R is at work and tears are streaming. I REALLY LOVE IT HERE. I'm no fan of the heat but who is honestly especially the last couple of days 115 degrees, come on! Maybe the Lord is doing that to make it easier for me move, I doubt it but it's a nice thought. This is really going to be hard but it'll work out right?!

HE DID IT!!

No more padding in his shorts, this little man is potty trained!!!! He actually has been for a couple of months I think but our trip sealed the deal. I was a bit worried that he would have accidents while we were driving but he was super about holding it until we could find one of the many gas stations we stopped at along the way. Towards the end of the trip he became a pro and we had to stop less and less. He has now mastered peeing standing up, although he still favors standing on the toilet to do it, oh well, not really a big deal. He discovered the joy of peeing at the same time as his brothers and of course, peeing along the side of a deserted road, of which we traveled many last week. He is now a full fledged toddler, no longer a baby and I am DONE changing diapers. LOVE it. We've moved from the stinky pants to the "moooommmmm, come wipe my butt!" bellow from the bathroom but I'll take it happily. YEAH Levi!

OUR IDAHO TRIP

Ryan had a job interview in Twin Falls, Idaho last week so we all went to look at the area and houses. We also got to spend some time in Blackfoot with Charlene and the family. We LOVED hanging out with them, just like we always do. It would be nice to live closer to them but even if we take the job offer in Twin Falls, it's still 2 hours away, still much closer than now though. Anyhow on Friday night we got to set off fireworks. A first for any of our boys. They loved it of course. I must admit, the ER nurse in me was a nervous wreck but I relented and Ryan and the boys were super careful with a healthy dose of respect for the fireworks. They loved shooting them off with their cousins especially! It's always more fun with family. On Saturday morning we took off for home with a layover in Panguitch, Utah. Amazingly we made pretty great time, the boys were pretty used to driving by that time and we didn't have to stop every 5 miles for someone to potty. We drove into town and registered them in the FFA youth rodeo. Caleb did mutton bustin and was ready as you can tell, he did really well! AJ was supposed to do the rabbit chase and mutton bustin and was super excited to do both, until it was time and then he refused to do either. Oh well. Jake was signed up to ride a calf but ended up riding a steer. I was really nervous and it's a good thing that Ryan went with him behind the chutes and not me, I may have chickened out and not let him ride. He did and even though none of the kids who rode had qualifying rides, Jake did really well. When he fell off he got up and dusted himself off and walked out of the arena like a champ. Such little men they are. Levi did do the rabbit chase but it was more of a rabbit pick up, they didn't run at all so the bigger kids that were faster and got there first, just picked them up. Kinda lame but he had fun just the same.

After the Rodeo... more fireworks. We went to get ice cream and back to the hotel room and sat outside and helped the boys do still more fireworks.

All in all, it was alot of driving with alot of fun. I was a bit worried that the boys would only remember it as too much driving and being in the truck but when we got home they all said they had a great time. Lots of good memories I hope. Thanks to the AWESOME Jensens for loaning us their DVD players, they helped the driving go smoother. Twin Falls did offer Ryan the position and now, we have alot of prayer and research to do before we decide if he'll accept it or not. So, who knows, maybe we'll make the trip again in a few weeks, or at least half of it.

LAST DAY AWARDS AND SURPRISES

I know, I'm late again but again, I couldn't figure out the camera until today so I'm catching up. Caleb and Jake had their awards ceremony on the last day of school last month and for the first time ever, Caleb got more awards than Jake. I know I took a pic of Jake and his awards too but I can't find it and figure it likely got deleted accidently. Anyway they both worked really hard this year and did really well. We are super proud of them for their respective accomplishments. They had been wanting golf clubs for some time so that they could go with Ryan so we found some and got a GREAT deal so they got their first ever end of the year gifts. They love them and for weeks after, spent every morning in the back yard hitting wiffle balls and working on their swing. Somehow they can tell the difference between the two identical sets, leave it to them, I can't. AJ of course is begging for his own and we are using it as leverage, we'll talk about it when he stops hitting his brother, we don't have any intentions of giving him a weapon to use. Sometimes it works, sometimes he forgets but he sure is cute when he remembers.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AJ

I know this is very late but I couldn't figure out how to upload them from our camera. I somehow managed today but I'm still not exactly sure how I did it. Anyhow, AJ had a pirate themed party, thanks Susan for the great idea, supplies and support. The invites were cute but the cake was awesome if I do say so myself. Someday I'll get good enough at cake decorating that the platter it sits on won't have frosting all over it. The kids had a great time on their treasure hunt to the buried treasure filled with loot. Sorry moms and dads for the earrings they all came home with but they were pirates right? I must admit my fave part of the party was when AJ gave Sammy a hug and kiss after thanking her for the gift. He made out like a pirate and had a great time. Next time I've decided the older boys will go somewhere else for little brother's birthday parties.