Goodbye multi-unit dwelling...

BJ and I have always shared a wall with at least one neighbor since we've been married and have decided (after sharing not only a wall, but a floor and a ceiling with neighbors) that it's time to find a place with a yard and room to grow--and NO shared walls. We made the decision long ago, but are now in a situation where we have to move quickly. BJ's little brother, Sam, is preparing for his mission and had dwindling options in helping him with that goal. In short, we became the best option, but in order to do that, we had to find a bigger place fast and one that would rent to us month to month because we want to find a permanent residence for ourselves. One we can be in for at least 10 years, if not longer. We are hoping to find this place within the next year. So, we found the hurried rental and are moving in 2 days. We are so looking forward to the move as the kids (and BJ and I) will each have their own room and we'll have an office and Sam will have some space to call his own as well. We're excited, although I'm starting to get a little nervous about the whole situation as it approaches. The reality of having an 18 year old who is still in need of some guidance is a little daunting. However, we have both earnestly prayed about it many many times and know that this is what we need to do. There is not a doubt in our minds. In that light, I'm looking forward to it not only because Sam is hilarious and really great to have around, but especially because I know that the Lord is with us and will guide us as to what we need to do. Sam is a great kid and we both believe his desires are pure. Especially because we laid it out very clearly what is expected of him and what he can expect from us and told him not to agree to it unless he was totally and completely willing to abide by our terms. We are really looking forward to the next few months, and I sincerely hope that he is, too.

more cuteness

This is a pic from when we took the kids to see the baby animals at heritage farm. I just barely got them on my computer from my sis, hence the delay...
anyway, Livi loves to read to me lately (looking a the pictures and repeating about 3 lines she remembers from me reading the book to her...along with several other story lines)and this morning, she was reading me "Green Eggs and Ham". She stopped for a minute and looked up at me and said, "Mommy, Sam I am is really hungry."

Parade of Homes

I went to the Parade of Homes with my mom on Saturday, thanks to my cousin, Rachel, who so graciously offered us a couple of free tickets. We were going to try to go to a couple of houses that she had recommended and on the way we though we'd stop at two others. The kids got hungry and tired so we ended up stopping after those two. We were bummed we didn't get to see the other two, but we were so so glad we at least saw the second house (#4). It was seriously, my dream house. It wasn't the biggest and grandest house ever, but it was so so perfect. I wish I could describe it, but it just won't do it justice. It was perfect. The room that I absolutely couldn't get over was their little boy's room. It was adorable! It was decorated with all contractor equipment and toys. He had a little reading cave and his reading chair was a wheelbarrow stuffed with pillows. His hamper was a silver garbage can complete with banged up lid. It was, seriously, the cutest thing I've ever seen. I wish I was that creative.

Phew!

We have had the busiest week. Today is my first day home to get anything done. I barely had time to do one load of dishes, and my laundry pile has been getting higher and higher! We had family come in to town, I went to stay at my moms for a couple of days, then we had the air show, the next day my BJ's mom invited the kids and me to go to temple square for the day, with her, Heather, and Kaylie, to see the art exhibit at the conference center. It was really really neat. There was a painting there that really struck me called, "modern day mother in Zion". It was a young woman dressed in armor with a dagger at her side and she was holding a light ahead of her as a child clung to her. Speaking of motherhood, Livi has been wetting her pants daily and I have resorted back to potty treats. She decided the conference center floor was a good place to do it, so she did. She decided to do it again in the bathroom of the geneological library as I was preparing the seat(sigh). We worked through it, had a little "talk" and now the treats are working swimmingly. We took the girls over to the temple to watch the brides and touch the temple wall. Livi couldn't get enough of it. She loves loves loves the temple. One of her favorite books is this coffee table book my sister, Becky, gave us about temple square in all it's seasons. She was very sad to leave it. Sunday we had a family dinner at Matt and Heather's. Monday we went to the Oquirh Mt. Temple open house (Which I will be going to at least one more time with my mom and sisters), It's so so beautiful. Tile all the way through the whole thing. Livi kept looking up at everything saying, "Wow! It's so beautiful!" over and over. in the celestial room, I told her what it represents and how we are here to return to Heavenly Father and she looks up and whispers, "Celestial Kindom..." like she was so fascinated. Anyway, Tuesday was a work day. We had no food, so I went shopping after wrestling with the kids all morning. I didn't have the energy to do anything else. At all. Wednesday, I went to my mom's for a M/D cookout in her ward, and today I went to the doc, came home and worked on getting caught up... Phew. I haven't been this busy since... college. I used to pack my schedule with stuff... but now I have children and it's just... not... that... easy. We had a lot of fun, though, and I have so much more to say news wise, but I'll have to make another post for that later. No pics this time, I really need a new camera.

Air Show

We had the opportunity to go the air show dress rehearsal at Hill AFB yesterday. It was really awesome. We waited till about 2:30 to head over there because we didn't want to miss the blue angels (I think that's what they're called, anyway) who were flying at 3. We got there just in time to snag a good spot and watch their amazing stunts. I can't believe how pefect everything was. There were a couple of times where they had the crowd completely enthralled in what the cluster planes were doing and then would surprise us with low fly over and blast us all away. It was sooo cool. It was funny though. Each time it happened, it scared the kids (scared everyone), and it was a chorus of kids screaming and crying, and parents shushing and comforting--especially us. We kept their ears covered the whole time, and realized how unprepared we were as we looked around and saw everyone with ear protection, chairs, drinks (duh! Why didn't we think of drinks, at least!), etc. At least I remembered the sunscreen and hats for the kids. Ethan got pretty tired and we put in in the reclining stroller and when to check out the planes on display... working our way to the helicopters. That's BJ's favorite (those who don't know, he is trying to get financing and decide where to go for helicopter flight school). Ethan was asleep instantly as we started rolling. Then they announced two biplanes called the Red Eagles, climbing into the sky. They were so so cool! BJ thought they were almost better than the Blue Angels. One of them did a flat spin down down down through the air, they did barrel rolls and all sorts of stuff. It was really awesome. Both of our cameras are out of comission, so the only pic we have of the whole thing is a picture my mother in-law took on her cell phone. It was a great day and we plan on making it an annual event for our family.