Celebrating a sweet baby on the way

I was able to get together with some high school friends to celebrate a baby shower for our friend Melissa. It is her first baby and we are so excited for her to be a new mommy. She will be so great. There is nothing like the first time that tiny little baby is handed to you. It is one of those miracle, precious moments. Anyway, we are so happy for them. It was fun to get together and laugh and catch up. I have been so blessed in my life with incredble friends that I love so much.

rah, rah, rah, rah...GooOOO COUGARS!!!

We had fun getting together with friends for the BYU/Utah game. Even though BYU lost we had such a fun time hanging out and watching the game. The kids had fun cheering and dressing up in their BYU attire. Courtney & Alivia were great little cheerleaders. They tried to get their little brothers to lift them up in the air like real cheerleaders...but that didn't turn out so well, but it was pretty hilarious to watch. Thank goodness for big strong daddy's that came to their rescue.

great friends

The night before we left we were able to go out to to dinner with our great friends Brandon & Natalie. We met them right after we moved to Idaho and we hit it off and have been dear friends ever since. We will miss you guys! Jared was able to come up that weekend..hallelujah. We figure out that we have seen each other for a total of 72 hours in the last 7 weeks. Needless to say we were all thrilled to have him home for a day. He drove to Utah and then hopped on a plane to Ireland for business. For all of you that have been wondering where we are exactly...we are in Utah now until the end of Dec.....so let's get together :).

Packin up!

Here we are in front of or home one last time. Other pictures are of me stuffing the vacuum pack bags and Jared sucking all of the air out of them. Those things are pretty nifty. I should have taken a picture of Jared and the kids in the truck before they left because they all looked so stinkin cute.

The many things we love about Idaho

So two years ago, almost exactly, we loaded up or then family of four and headed up to Idaho for our real first move away. It was a little traumatic for me to say the least and I was terribly homesick and missed family and friends. I never thought that Idaho would feel like home. Now we find ourselves packing up our now family of five and heading out again on another adventure. I must say that again it is traumatic to leave and say goodbye to so many dear friends and those that have been like family to us when we didn't have our families around. We have truly loved the time that we were able to spend in Idaho. Our blog is mainly a journal for us to read and have for our family, and for our friends and those we care about to read to catch up on what is going on in our lives. So sorry for all of my drawn out sad posts about how much we are going to miss Idaho. It feels like home and we are grateful for all the kind, down to earth people we met and for all the things they taught us. So many people have been there for me especially during times that I really needed them. I get teary just thinking about all the great memories we have. Last weekend Jared came up with a trailer and we along with so many others who came to help (by the way we couldn't have done it without you...really)loaded the trailer. Jared left on Sat. with Alivia and Rex and drove to Utah while I stayed and cleaned. I left early Sunday morning with Lucy and I had a long 6 hour drive while Lucy slept to think and to pretty much get all my good cries out. I have always hated saying goodbye to people I care about and places that I love, but I know it is not forever. Thank goodness for email and blogs and all the fun ways you can keep in touch.
So I have been taking random pictures as I have been driving around the last few weeks. I LOVE that in Idaho you can see tractors just cruising down the road. I think it is so quaint looking and it makes me love the simple life that exists here. I had to take a picture of the goats we pass everyday on the way to Alivia and Rex's schools. We would say hello to them every morning. "Hey goats, hope you are having a good day!" For those that live in the Nampa/ Caldwell area will recognize some of the other pictures...the Sugar Beet Factory...yeah baby! When we first moved to Nampa/Caldwell we lived pretty close to the Sugar Beet Factory. I could not understand how people could handle it. Seriously! I was about 5 month pregnant with Lucy and would literally gag when I would get a whiff of it. Now when we have been away and we drive into Nampa, we smell the sugar beets pumping and we smile and know we are home. The big massive mound picture is are all sugar beets. I love the fields and all the open space and all the cute houses you see with about a billion tractors parked in the fields and in their yards. To sum it up we will miss Idaho tremendously and will always cherish the short two years we had to live in that great state.

Rex's last day of Preschool

It was a sad day when Rex had to say good bye to his friends and teacher. We have loved Initiative Learning Center. The teachers there have been so good to our kids and they have taught them so many great things. We will miss everyone there. Rex's friend Blake told his teacher that he can't come to school anymore because Rex won't be there. I thought that was pretty tender. When I went to pick Rex up all the kids had made their hand print into a turkey and below it they wrote what they were thankful for. There were a lot of I am thankful for my mommy or daddy or friends....Rex is grateful for TURKEY! Pretty cute. His last day they made potato turkeys. It was a potato with toothpicks with construction paper.

chubby flip flop toes

Lucy loves to wear her flip flops....even when she is wearing socks. I looked down at her cute feet with her chubby sock toes in her flip flops on the wrong feet & had to take a picture. She is too cute!

winter swimming

The kids had their Primary Program today and Rex wanted to show off the program. Alivia's class made her a giant farewell card. She loved it and it made her feel really loved.

Last Sunday

It was our last Sunday in our ward today. It has been hitting me more and more lately and it is geting harder and harder for me. I am realizing that we will be leaving this area soon. We have really loved where we are and the great people we have met and become friends with. I have loved so many things about Idaho & I am grateful for the 2 years we were able to spend here. I am sure I will be posting a lot about Idaho in the next week. Today was a great day, other than the fact that we miss Jared, church was great. It have been a while since I sat in class without any kids. With Lucy now in nursery, I find myself not really knowing what to do with my hands. I can actually open my manual and read a long. :) We are grateful for all the wonderful people in our ward and for all the dear friends. You will be missed!

1st Trip to Sydney

Nursery girl!

I just had to post a little something about our little Lucy. She went to nursery for the first time today. She could have gone a few weeks ago but she had a cold and because I was a little worried about her. So I thought for sure she would have a hard time and cry her face off like Alivia & Rex did when they started nursery. Nope...Jared dropped her off, stayed for a send and walked right out. I couldn't believe it. I peeked in a few times and she was the only girl in there. She was pushing a basketball around in a stroller. It was pretty cute. When we picked her up & asked her if she liked nursery and she said over and over again, "yeah, yeah.." So our little baby is all grown up. I tried to take her picture when we got home and she gave me a nice crusty face. That's our Luc!

yay!!

Jared came home this weekend for a few days.....all I can say is yay! We have missed him so much. We haven't seen him for almost a month. The kids spent all day with him on Saturday and loved it. That night some friends watched our kids and we were able to go out to dinner. We went to the Texas Roadhouse. Jared was in heaven because they had a HUGE barrell of peanuts and you could just take a handful, eat them and chuck the shells on the floor. We had fun and were able to catch glimpses of BSU creaming New Mexico. We went back to our friends and had a good time hanging out. It was so nice to have him home even if it was for a short time. We love you Jared/Daddy!

Happy Halloween!

One crying chicken, a mischievous pirate and a pretty princess. We had a great Halloween. We went to Alivia's school for a Halloween parade and party. It was fun to watch her play with her cute little friends. Later that evening I was getting the kids ready for the ward trunk or treat and Lucy did not want her costume on. She was crying huge crocodile tears. It was sad, but she looked so cute. She finally calmed down and we headed off to do some trick or treating with some friends. After all the festivities we headed home and I put the kids to bed and I "organized" their candy and put it away so that they wouldn't be asking for it for breakfast.