Who is this?

For Family Home Evening on Monday, we were discussing our family. I brought out a copy of this:

(I had made it quickly for a Primary lesson (Sunday School for children), so it isn't finished - but will be eventually!)

As I showed the picture to him, he exclaimed, "It's Eric", pointed to himself, then pointed to Daniel and I and said, "It's Papa, and Mama." Daniel then pointed to his mom and asked, 'Who is this?' Eric replied, "Grandma!" (We were a bit surprised since he hasn't seen her since June.) 

Next we pointed to Daniel's dad and asked, 'Who is this?' to which Eric replied, "It's a guy!" He said it with enthusiasm that was just so adorable. I think the problem was that when we were visiting in June, Eric's grandpa was sick so he didn't spend a lot of time with the family (so as not to infect the rest of us!)

A Conference Surprise...

Two weeks after we moved, we decided to let my parents know we still loved them by spending the entire Sunday of General Conference at their house. We came equipped with Eric's Pack and Play so he could have a nap (even set it up in his old room.) He was having a hard time falling asleep, unfortunately. After a while (about 40 minutes), Daniel decided to go check on him. 

*Warning - if you do not have a strong stomach for any kind of messes kids make, you may not want to continue to the pictures...

This is what he found (and I found when he called for my help):

 My son had been finger-painting his pack and play... one smell told all.

Yes, that is his fecal matter all over the pack and play (don't say I didn't warn you!) This is why I missed most of President Eyring's talk in the Sunday Afternoon session.

The past 2 years...

I posted most of this on my cooking blog, so if you read it there, you can pretty much skip this post... I did include some links to posts previous that applied, if you really want to read more of what we wrote at the time!

On September 20 this year my husband and I moved into our new home (that's it up there... oh and if anyone knows what that tall plant is in front, please let me know!) Exactly 2 years to the date of when we arrived at my parents house with a U-haul truck full of stuff and a 6 month old baby. The plan was to be there for 6 months - maximum! Little did we know that that six months would stretch into 2 years. Four times longer than expected. Part of me felt like a failure with each passing day as I waited for the day when either my husband or I would get a job so we could finally move. I mean what couple with a 6 month to 2 year old child lives with their parents for that long (I know it happens! Hey, I'm living proof...) It is not anything I had ever seen in my future. That's not the way my life was suppose to have happened! I started to withdraw. I didn't reach out to others because I didn't want to have to discuss my life. I find it fascinating that at the time in my life when I needed others, I withdrew. I didn't want to be judged. I do know in fact that most people wouldn't judge me like I judged my own situation. But in fact I have been a horrible friend. I really didn't want to keep in touch with most of you because I hated getting asked how my life was going. I am sorry I have been an absent friend. I will try to do better!

There had to be some one to blame that my life wasn't going as planned...

Part of me wanted to blame my husband because obviously he wasn't working hard enough on his thesis or it would have been completed within a couple of months after we moved. This is not true, and he was as frustrated with his thesis as he could be at times. Once he fixed all the issues with programs and data it went pretty well. It just took many, many trials and failures for him to get the data where it needed to be. He would discuss it with me, and I would try to at least pay attention, but it is hard when I only understood a fourth to an eighth of what he was talking about! I am grateful that he did not quit on his dream of finishing his Master's Degree. He is a strong man and I'm glad he's in my life forever.

(My husband gave me this sign when we go married.)

Part of me wanted to blame me. Maybe I didn't have enough faith that we could move. If I just believed that things would get better, then they would. Right?! Maybe I wasn't trying hard enough, should I apply for jobs I know I would be miserable in? The list goes on and on... I've learned beating yourself up doesn't help a thing. Only hurts it and makes you feel worse.

Another part of me knew that my parents needed help (for more details click here, or here or here or here or here or here or even here... I have a different situation than most people. I grew up with 3 younger siblings with severe disabilities. My youngest brother passed away when I was in high school. My other brother and sister need constant care. So yes my parents did need help - especially when my little sister was so close to dying - twice - in a 6 week period. It made it so my mom did not have to leave her out in the hospital alone (a 2-3 hour drive from their house) to be at home taking care of her son while my dad was at work. They also needed help because it wasn't until this summer that my sister finally stopped going to the hospital (ER, being admitted, etc.) almost every week. My mom did not have to call my dad and ask him to come home, or load my sister and my brother into the van all by herself. I am glad I was able to support my parents through the rough last two years they had.

(This is my mom, dad, brother and sister - at my grandmother's funeral - so before the health issues she had in the past 2 years.)

Given a choice, I would have done it a bit differently (such as living close by but actually not in their house), however, I have learned that some choices are not solely up to us. Believe me I tried to get employment (even though I wanted to be a stay at home mom.) The only job I got a call back from I did not take it. Mainly because every time I thought about it I had such a dark feeling about taking the job, in fact I was almost nauseous at one point. It was hard to turn down employment but I've learned to trust those feelings. Most of the time I felt like my husband and I were living in a black hole - except, we could send things out but nothing would come back. So many job applications he sent out and hardly any sent ANY information back.

There were many complications happening all at once during those two years. However, everything fell into place all at once. My sister's health started doing SO much better in May. Daniel turned his thesis in on June 10, had a job interview on the 15th, and the next day was offered the job - 6 days after turning in his thesis. It wasn't his ideal job, but after 2 years we were just happy to have something in his field!  He started work on June 27. His job was in the same area that my parents lived, although he had a 30-45 minute commute every day. We stayed with my parents for a few months and gave us time to save up a bit of money and start looking for a house. Mainly because there are not a lot of apartments in the area - most looked pretty run down, and the rent is more than our mortgage payment! I think that was the biggest motivator.

(Turning in the thesis)

Looking back I realize that I lived my life waiting. Waiting for the thesis to be done, waiting to get full time employment (we had part time employment...), waiting to move out. I wasted 2 years of my life waiting. I am not going to wait anymore. I am going to experience life and enjoy each day. I'm not going to wait until I weigh 20 pounds less to enjoy my life (I am still going to try to lose that 20 lbs!) I am not going to wait until I have all the furniture for my house to enjoy it! My life is great right now, and I am going to enjoy it! Honestly I have everything I desired in my life a year ago... except for a baby, I was baby hungry a year ago ;). We'll see when the Lord wants to bless us with that. Because in the midst of all that was happening in our lives in the past 2 years, I was also diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or PCOS  (for those of you who want to know more about what that is... you can click here).

(Or the fact that there is this hideous pink carpet in my son's room... we'll be fixing that! We just have a few other things that are taking precedence... like making sure we have insulation in our roof - it's actually only above one room that doesn't have any.)

Hopefully I'll be better at updating with all the fun things happening in our lives (as well as the struggles we may be having!)

Unpacking...

 We have internet and phone... finally! They said it might take 7-10 business days, and it took 7. Which meant I was without internet (unless I went to the library) for 8 days. That doesn't seem like a lot, considering. But, HOLY COW! It was so hard to be without access to my online banking while I spent SO MUCH MONEY!  

Enough about money, who really wants to discuss how much money it takes to set up in a new house?! ON to the 'fun' part: what it looked like when all our stuff was brought in...

Look at all those boxes! Unfortunately they aren't all unpacked yet, but those that are get tossed in here:

This one with Eric was taken after 4 days of unpacking...

This one was taken today... Eight days of unpacking later (and a trip to get mandarin oranges and flour from a case lot sale...) Ok and a new vacuum box and a computer desk box later...

For all those of you who want updated contact information, please feel free to email me (or message me on facebook). I will not be posting it here.

And yes, I'll be giving you a tour once everything is a bit more settled and the pile of empty boxes is a bit bigger...

And on another note... I'm not excited to be unpacking anymore! I just want it to be done without me having to do it...

Packing and Moving...

Honestly, this picture was taken June 30, 2009. Two and a half months later we packed up all this stuff and moved from Wisconsin to Utah... now we're packing all our stuff to move into our house. I can't believe I'm actually saying, Our House! It is exciting. We'll be closing on Monday and moving on Tuesday. Luckily we'll have more room to put stuff when we move into the house! In fact I have one room dedicated to keeping all the unpacked stuff until I can organize it... YEY for having space. I'm sure it will get filled, as tends to happen when there is empty space! 

I'm glad about the space though - It will make it easier as Eric is a TON more mobile and would be getting into everything...

This will be the 6th time I've moved in the last 6 years (although one of those moves was a double move - we spent 3 weeks at my parents before going to grad school as our housing contract ended and our grad school housing wasn't available.) I've actually lived at 13 different addresses in the past 10 years... two different times at my parents house (although 5 of those were in the mission field.)

I'm looking forward to NOT moving for a long time! Packing has become less and less exciting... more and more annoying! Not that I'd ever procrastinate packing to write a blog post! I am REALLY excited about having my own house and NOT living in my parent's basement. Off I go to find more boxes to pack stuff in. 


One last note... I am excited to unpack - some of these boxes haven't been opened in 2 years, it will be like Christmas!

Lunchtime

I realized that having a camera is one of those things you don't realize how much you use it until you don't have one for a while... we got a new (inexpensive - or close thereto) point and shoot camera. I really want to get an SLR, but it will have to wait until after we get some things we need for our house, after we close. So it'll be a while. However, I'm loving having a camera... today was a perfect example.

I made a PB&J sandwich for Eric for lunch. I left the room for a minute and when I came back, this is what I found:

 Eric eating his sandwich...

 He has the strangest way of eating these!

Wait for it....

 Don't you just love his messy face?

 He's just so happy with himself (Okay so he was really posing for the camera!)

July AND August

Daniel started his job at the end of June, so we were still getting into a routine at the beginning of July. He had the 4th off and we decided to go birdwatching at the wildlife refuge where we went on our first date... However, the weather had other plans - we'd been getting so much rain and then the snow run-off from the mountains caused flooding...

In fact the normal place where we saw all the birds was blocked off due to the road flooding.

In fact one of the entrances is in the first picture (of the Ibis) - completely under water! We saw a few birds that day... Ibis, Horned Lark, Black-necked Stilt, and yellow headed black bird (are a few we got pictures of.)

 We also got to see this Pronghorn. It posed for a picture before it went running off.

 We wore long sleeves to help keep bugs away... this is a road that actually ends in a lake that is close to the refuge. We went to see more birds there (where we actually saw the Stilt and the yellow headed black bird.)

 July also brought our church congregation's waterslide activity: Eric loved it!

 This is us going down the slide...

at the end, trying to fight our way out of the currents...

and Eric was more interested in looking at the water than the camera.

This picture was actually taken in August... Eric LOVES eating popcorn. He was just super cute with it all over his tummy!

Back to the updates... our camera button broke on our adventure with the birdwatching and I'd been using a bobby pin to actually take pictures, which worked until just a few days ago, but wasn't too conducive for wanting to take them. We are actually going to be buying a small point and shoot tomorrow (Labor Day sales, here we come!) I wrote a post about our camera on my food blog if you want more details... and pictures.

Daniel was hired to replace a woman who is going to become a stay at home mom in October. She quit earlier than she thought she would so Daniel is now the GIS administrator (instead of technician) and is keeping super busy at work. He usually gets a few hours of overtime every week (luckily he's hourly and not salaried!)

Also in July and August we were looking for a place to live... for some reason we just want to be out of my parent's basement! We finally found a house and are just waiting for the loan to go through... hopefully we will be closing the week of the 12-16. So July and August were taken up by a lot of trips to the town we'll be living in (Daniel commutes the 30ish miles every day!) to meet with the bank, look at houses and meet with the Realtor for the offer/counter-counteroffer. We were really grateful that the sellers accepted our counter-counter offer as it was really the higher limit that we wanted to go with ($15,000 less than they listed but only $5,000 less than it appraised for).

We've started doing a food (produce) co-op (Bountiful Baskets) and have enjoyed getting lower cost produce lately. It has also shifted my menu planning to a focus on produce and it has been great for my diet! Speaking of which I've lost 17 lbs this year - my total goal is 15-25 more to lose, but I am loving the amount I've lost so far.

In Eric tales... he is now calling everything with stripes Alligator. I'm not sure if it has to do with a pair of pajamas he has (we call them his alligator pajamas) - the shirt has an alligator and the pants are striped. But all his striped shirts are now alligator shirts!

Eric has also decided he LOVES watching Lightening McQueen... his uncle loves it because he gets to watch Cars a lot more.

About mid-August Eric decided to play in his room after his nap (there are two rooms in my parents house that we let Eric spend his time, the rest just isn't toddler proofed), and so we let him, He was opening and closing his dresser drawers when I heard a crash and he started crying, so I ran down the half flight of stairs to see the dresser pulled over. He had caught his fingers (middle and ring on his right hand) in between two drawers. They had a good bit of skin scrapped off and after bandaging them, he didn't move his hand very much. I took him to urgent care the next day (he did it on Sunday) and they x-rayed it. He had a very tiny fracture in one finger. They also gave us some burn cream to help heal the gouge on his finger. Luckily we only had to bandage it to another finger for a week. 

I think that's pretty much our lives for the past two months! I combined the two because I thought it would be short... but there was more going on than I remembered...