I Believe

I need to stand (so to speak) and shout my love for the gospel. 

 I need to make it clear that I know it's true.  

I need anyone one who knows me to know what I believe. 

 I need those who do not know me to see what I believe. 

 I need to proclaim the truth of my Savior, Jesus Christ, and His love for me and all men.  

I am so blessed to live in a country and a time in which I am able and allowed to express my opinions and beliefs freely.  

I am blessed that my freedom of speech rights are intact. 

 I am blessed that I am able to speak my mind. 

I. AM. BLESSED.

God is real. 

He sent His son to earth to be our Savior.

He blesses us daily ... watches over us ... Loves US. 

As I approach this wonderful time of year in which we remember and celebrate the birth of our Savior I am constantly touched by the amazing joy Christmas brings.  I love the music that is so fully dedicated to the praise of our Lord.  I love the pictures drawn with beauty and care depicting the birth of this sacred child.  I love the videos provided with hours of work behind them that bring tears to my eyes and touch my soul.  

I love that it is visible to me that SO many love and cherish God and Jesus Christ and this time of year.

There is NOTHING like Christmas.

So I stand today and add my voice to so many around me.  

I know a small Christ child came to earth to be my Savior and Redeemer.  

I know that without Christ our world would be lost.

I know His gospel is on the earth today and that it is TRUE and led by living Prophets who speak with the Lord and do HIS will.  

I know.

I'll not quiet my voice.

I'll not change my tune.

I'll not stand aside when I can proclaim the Joy the Gospel brings. 

I.WILL. NOT. 

Oh We're Building, Building, Building Us a Home

 I always thought that building a home of my own with my choices was a far, FAR off dream.  Especially with our cute little family moving around so much. 

   It appears I was mistaken.  Let me explain. 

In mid October, Brian and I took a house hunting trip to Texas in the hopes to find us a home to move into.  After 3 days of walking through house after house, 40 plus houses, I was becoming very discouraged.  Sure there were plenty of homes that would "work" but none that really hit both Brian and I as the home for us.  Either there was no yard or the layout wasn't great and most of the time there was and insufficient amount of storage space.  

The lack of storage space was a big deal.  Our home in Utah had a pantry that was 10 feet long and 4 feet wide, and it was full to the brim with food storage.  Not having anywhere to put all the food was proving to be quite a problem.  

On Friday afternoon, with frustration running through my head, I had Brian take us to a builder site in the area that we were looking to purchase.  The prices were incredibly high and not really what we were looking for, but the gal there was super friendly and talked with me for quite a while about my dream home and possibilities.  She then told us that they had a few other locations they were building on and that I might want to check out those.  

So on we drove.  The second location was closer to what I wanted, but still not great.  They had the floor plan I wanted and the price was much better, but they didn't have any lots larger than .15 acres and we just weren't thrilled about that.  

At this point Brian was very uninterested in the idea of chasing after a build.  He kept telling me that we'd just have to spend more time looking at houses ounce we moved out here at the beginning of November.  I was not appeased, but it was now too late to do much and we headed back to the hotel.  At that point I called the 3rd location to find out if they had any decent size lots.  Brian of course rolled his eyes at me as I made arrangements to meet with the builder rep in the morning.  Because our flights were leaving in the morning on Saturday, I had to call and push them back.  Brian rolled his eyes but let me hope that my dream might come true.  

Saturday morning we headed to the third location and my final hope before we flew back to Utah.  Brian was less than interested, but was willingly appeasing me.  30 minutes later he was starting to get excited himself.  

We took a look at the different floor plan options and then Brian matched them up with the prices.  He nodded and said that the prices looked good, but those were just the base prices.  He gave me a price limit and some stipulations before we continued on.   In the back of my mind I was thinking that there was no way this was going to work out in my favor, but I pushed that away and prayed my dreams could work out.  

When we saw the size of the lot we were both pleased.  As I recall, Brian exclaimed "Now this is a yard I could be happy with!".  The size of the lot we looked at was just under a third of an acre.  Perfect size.  Then we sat down with the rep and talked about upgrades and prices.  God must have know what I wished for because we were floored with our blessings of hitting the perfect time to sign a contract with these builders.  They were offering half price on the lot and $5000 in incentives to go towards upgrades.  Brian's smile widened.  Then we went through the upgrades that I wanted and they told us what the final price was.  My eyes almost burst from my head!  The price was less than the stipulated amount Brain set on me!  They also added in a few custom changes for us that I was really interested in and it still didn't jump above the price limit.  Both Brian and I were thrilled! 

So below are some pictures to give you an idea of what our home will look like in 7 months when it's finished.  

 

This is what the front will look like for the most part. 

 

 

Our lot is circled in red with the number 10 on it.  See how big it is in comparison to the others!! 

 

The original plans. 

  

  

The plans with my changes.  The changes are in red. 

 

The ground our house will be on. :) 

Moving to Texas

I may put up a strong front, but I truly DISLIKE moving.  Sure... things could be so much worse.  I'm sure there are a million other brights sides I could look at.  

But I'm just NOT. IN. THE. MOOD. TODAY.

The kids and I have been in the hotel for two days now and they are far too rambunctious.  Call it too much candy from Halloween or being cooped up.  Whatever!!  It's me quickly loosing my mind.  

Bright side:

We made the 18 hour drive from Lehi to Fort Worth with little to no problems.  The only real incident was that I couldn't seem to keep my eyes open for more than 15 minutes at a time and so Brian drove the whole trip (guess I was tired), and Trey had a coughing fit that led to him throwing up once.  But we were blessed to have a bucket nearby and he threw up only in the bucket.  Easy clean-up.  

 I've been disappointed with the hotel in comparable to the same chain and hotel as we've stayed in before with our moves.  This particular location doesn't rate very high in my book.  But hey ...  better than a box, right?  

* Sleep is evading me at every turn, even though I know I'm unconscious for hours at a time.  

* A schedule is no where to be seen and thus my mind can't seem to come to order.  

* No schedule = me not regularly taking my pills = depression, unhealthy eating, anxiety, and anger quickly setting in.  

* A load of laundry costs $2 to wash and another $2 to dry. Plus I have to haul it up a flight of stars and about 100 yards down a hall. 

* The toilet seat in our bathroom here at the hotel is completely unattached and the tank runs constantly, and YES... I've called down to the front desk THREE times and still no one has come to take care of the problem.

* I dreadfully miss playing basketball twice a week and going to Zumba.  It's beginning to show in my waist. 

* All I can think is "THIS WILL NEVER END!  WILL I EVER BE SETTLED?!"

But alas, this is just a rant.  I will live.  I'm truly blessed.  Life could be much worse. And maybe one day, if I'm a really good wife, I'll get to stay in one place long enough to feel like it's home.  

Cram Packed

How much can one cram into a cram packed week??  That is the question.  

Starting the 25th we crammed so much into ONE week it's amazing.  Since we are driving out to Texas tomorrow for our move, my family wanted to fit EVERYTHING into this week.  Never mind the fact that my brother was also getting ready to head to the MTC for his Mission.  

On Monday my mom surprised us by flying down from Alaska to help get Robert (Elder King) off to the MTC and get me off to Texas.  It was an awesome surprise and yet made things super busy.  

Monday - Big family dinner and then an evening at Lowes Extreme Sports for Robert's last hurrah. 

Lowes was fun, but I don't know if I'd got back.  See, I think I'm becoming far less cute and able as I get older.  It's a bit sad to watch me attempt fun here.  But you can judge for yourself.

My first back flip attempt.  I call it my falling frog. 

 My second attempt.  Trust me, I tried probably 50 times, with NO luck. :)

 I was really stuck in the pit.  I mean REALLY stuck.  They literally had to drag me out.  I even got a carpet burn. :(  

Tuesday - Big family dinner (homemade Pizza as Robert's Last Dinner request)

Wednesday - Robert off to the MTC.  I was sadly unable to go due to the company packing our house, but I did get big hugs from my younger brother as he left my home.  He'll be an amazing missionary.  I did cry as he left.  I'll miss that crazy boy.  

Thursday - Loading up the truck of all our worldly goods.  I sat in my house while they finished packing and loading my stuff and it was 59 degrees in the house all 12 hours.  SO COLD!!  I was kinda miserable that day.  

Friday night was our last family get together before I moved away.  We had a lot of fun swimming at the hotel and getting as much out of our time together.  

 Little monkey

 My sweet niece.  I so love her.

 My brother loving my baby boy.

 My sister loving my baby boy. 

Let's just admit it, everyone loves my baby boy. 

 

My crazy kids.

 I love playing with my little nephew.  He's such a doll. 

House for Sale

After two years of working on the house, we come to this junction.  Time to sell it and move out of state apparently.  

So here's the beauty of my house.  Finally finished and looking pristine. 

 

  

 

The Office

No, I'm not talking about that horrid TV show.  :)  I'm talking about all the work we put into our own home office (only to finish it the week before it went on the market to be sold). 

We started this big project in February of this year, 2015 and completed it in October. 

Below are the pictures of our different phases.  I have to admit, it turned out pretty awesome in the end.  It's just too bad I couldn't enjoy it for more than a few weeks.  But hey, maybe it helped to improve the appeal of the house for the buyers. 

The start of the large room. 

The first wall in place. 

Mostly framed in. Looking more like a room. 

 Sheet rocking all done and doors are on!

 Texturing

 The final product!

Like a Bird in the Sky

A year and a half ago (yes, we are talking 2013), for my birthday Brian bought tandem paragliding tickets for me.  Though we tried to go up over and over, it never seemed to work out.  Finally, with the pressures of moving out of state upon us, we made it into the sky.  

I enjoyed the flight, but really it wasn't as thrilling as I anticipated.  Brian on the other had quickly got sick to his stomach and came down from flight quite fast.  

Brian wasn't looking to good when he landed.  

Moral of this story:  It was fun, but I wouldn't pay to do it again.  :)

School!

First Day of School for my kiddos! 

From the Mouths of Angels

I was struck with a profound truth this morning as I sat with my son.  We had remained home from church due to his being ill and while home we watched the movie:

Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration 

 

My first thoughts when I turned it on was to keep Ian entertained with church productions till the rest of the family got home.  I didn't realize at the time that I would be drawn into the film right along next to him.  

At the end of the film, while still staring at the screen, Ian simply stated, "Mom, He was a good man."

I don't think my eight year old boy realized just how much the truth of that statement hit me.  A shot of warmth hit my heart sending heat coursing through my limbs.  Warm tears stung my eyes and cheeks as I nodded to myself. 

"Yes, my son, Joseph Smith was a good man."

Pilot for a Birthday

Brian and I have discarded the tradition of giving each other gifts for birthdays, Anniversaries and what not.  We've instead begun to give each other memories, in a sense. 

For Brian's birthday this year he wanted to go pilot a plane for an hour.  He found a wonderful coupon he could use and asked if that could be his gift.  So on April 18th, he took his best friend Dane, and our son, Ian, with him to fly a plane. 

From the laughter and stories, I believe they had a very good time!