Wednesday, January 11, 2012

We're Alive!

Well, MUCH has happened since I last posted...forever ago. I'll start back in June. :) (Don't feel like you have to read ALL of this, just want it for my bad memory). And brace yourself for a serious series of posts below this one...dating back to Halloween. :)

In June, we moved from good 'ol Logan to Bluffdale, UT. It was a sad move because I have lots of great friends in Logan, and so does Macie, but we moved closer to Dustin's work so we wouldn't spend so much on gas for his commute. He had been working there for almost a year. It was a great summer! We met LOTS of new people and made LOTS of new friends. We LOVED it. Yes, Dustin had a few issues with living in the big city, especial Jordan Landing on a Saturday, but we learned fast and had a great time.

Along comes the end of August, and school starts again. Dustin's LAST SEMESTER!!! Anyway, he calls me Labor Day weekend as I'm headed to Idaho Falls to tell me he got laid off. Yes. Right as school starts, he's now commuting to Logan for no reason. Anyway, he basically applied for probably 70 jobs, and hadn't heard anything. We knew it could take awhile, so we were just trying to wait it out, but with no income, it's tough. The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we decided to just move in with my sister until Dustin could find a job.

That Wednesday, as I'm packing, Dustin calls me. He got a job!!! He had applied for a job in Star Valley, WY. He applied on a Friday and was called for a phone interview Monday. His interview was Tuesday, and he felt like it went well. A few hours after his interview, they called him to see if he could come in for a sit down interview. We drove there the next week and after the interview patiently waited...and waited...actually we didn't have to wait that long. Only about a week and a half. Anyway, Dustin accepted the job of course, but we still were packed up and decided to move in with his mom in Bancroft to save a little and be closer to WY to look for a place to live.

We moved the day after Thanksgiving, another hard move. We were SO sad to leave all of our great new friends in Bluffdale. We really loved them, and I think I had the most fun. I'd go to play group, book group...these people are always doing fun things. It was such a blast. We'll miss you guys!

Things in Bancroft were good. We were so blessed that Dustin's brothers were willing to give up their room to our little family, his sister was willing to play with Macie, and his parents were willing to put up with us and our crazy kids. For over a month! About six weeks actually. It really didn't feel like it was that long. We had a great time, and we will miss being able to be so close to family in that area.

Now to today. We moved to our new place in Star Valley last Saturday. We LOVE it. We love the house we are renting, and we love this area. Let me take a minute to tell you a little about my first anniversary. :) We went to Jackson Hole, WY. As we were driving through Star Valley, Dustin told me how much he would love to live here. In fact, it was one of his dream places to live. I do remember thinking, "I would NOT love to live here. It's in the middle of NOWHERE!!!" But, now that we are here, have a job, and are just so blessed, I have no complaints. Except that my phone doesn't get very good service, and I REALLY don't want to switch providers...anyway...things are good. Dustin works four tens, so he's off an extra day of the week. That is AWESOME because we are so excited to do all the outdoor family stuff we love to do.
We dodged a bullet by getting this job. A few days after Dustin accepted it, he got a call for an interview in Alaska. Now, who's to say he would have gotten the job, but I would hire him, so why wouldn't someone else? He also got a call one day from a number in New York. Yes, it could have been exciting to move somewhere far and fancy, but we love that we are close to family and can start to settle down.

Another HUGE event...Dustin graduated! He got his masters in Environmental Engineering. He did SO good this last sememster, and he was SO busy. Looking back, it really was a blessing he wasn't working because he was so busy and would have been completely overwhelmed had he been working. It wasn't fun, but it's easy to see our blessings, and the Lord's hand in our lives. (I need to take another moment here...don't mind me...I'm SO SO proud of him! He really works SO hard to provide for our family, and I'm so thankful for his drive and dedication to complete something so unfun, long, and exhausting. Thanks so much Dustin! LOVE YOU!!!)
And last but definately not least...drumroll!....we are expecting baby number three! We are SUPER excited. We are about sixteen weeks along and feeling great. We are SO excited to be having another baby. Macie can't wait. She's sure we are having a girl, and that we WERE going to name her Macie, but now we are going to name her Kaitlyn. We will see. Noah doesn't really get it yet, but he sure loves babies. I think they both are going to love this new chapter in our lives. We are due July 2nd, but I'm hoping a little earlier since we have a family reunion in Bear Lake over the 4th, and I REALLY don't like missing out on parties. :)
Lots of changes in our lives, but we really are so so blessed, and we know it.
Here are a few pictures from today. Our new home, which we hope to be living in for a long time.
My view out my kitchen window.There's actually snow here. I got Macie and Noah bundled up because it is a BEAUTIFUL day today, and we went out to "sled" down our driveway on Dustin's snowboard. Can you not tell that my kids love the snow?What cute kids.This is our view off one side of our deck. Dustin is so excited. He says "It's like a winter wonderland!" Yes, Dustin is in heaven, but so am I. We really are just so blessed beyond what we could have imagined.

Christmas Morning

I really don't have many pictures of Christmas morning because I got everthing on the video camera, but here are a few. Dustin came to wake us up Christmas morning at five. Macie decided she was ok to get up that early, but not Noah. We had Christmas with Macie and Dustin's family at five, and then with Noah at eight thirty. More his speed. :)
Noah loves Macie's baby.These guys sure got spoiled for Christmas. They must have been good kids. We sure love them.

Christmas Eve

This year on Christmas Eve, we spend it with my family. We never have since we have been married, and I've wanted to, but since we were much closer this year, we decided to make the drive. It was SO SO worth it, and SO much fun! Here's Macie and her cousin Carly. Don't mind the foggy pictures, the camera was out in the car. We got to see Cody's kids Friday because they spent Christmas Eve and Christmas with Beth's family.
Carly, Macie, and Lily.Starting the festivities Christmas Eve, Camille and Tony made gingerbread cookies. They do this every year. The kids all got to help. How cute.Cameron, Noah, Brennon, Mason, Macie, and Kaden.Then that night, off to Cindy's. Celeste and her family joined us for the celebration. Patrick cooked us up some great prime rib, and we had a delicious dinner. Afterwards, another tradition...decorating the cookies.I love this picture. Noah was picking off his sprinkles one by one to eat them.Then to the final tradition. The nativity. I haven't done this for years, and I really have missed it. Macie was the star, and Noah was a wise man.Cindy's, Camille's, Celeste's, and my kids.And lastly, opening jammies on Christmas Eve. Luckily K-Mart was open til six. We made it jus tin time to get these. Nobody told me this was part of the plan. Can I say it was TOTALLY worth it. Macie and Noah both LOVE their jammies. Macie was posing left and right. Doesn't Noah look like a little old man?This was the best picture I got of everyone in their new jammies. Sorry Scott, Macie's hand in your face...I'm so glad we were able to make it to spend time with my family this year. It was so fun, and some great memories were made. Love you all!

Pinewood Derby Cars

This post won't be too long. We went to the Wadsworth Christmas Party this year, and had a blast like every other year. I didn't get any pictures at the party, but before, we made these pinewood derby cars. Dustin only cut his hand once, but Macie and Noah sure loved painting their cars. They freaked out when I made them be done.

Macie's Dance Recital

This year in Bluffdale, we put Macie in dancing. She absolutely LOVED it! Here she is at her dance recital. This is her little class of five girls. Macie, Olivia, and Ellery are all in the same ward, so Macie loved having class with some friends.

Macie and one of her best friends, Kaitlyn. My pictures didn't turn out great because the flash was off...way to go, me!Macie and another best friend, Olivia.

Dustin got Macie these flowers to give to her when she was done. She thought that was awesome.

How sweet. And we were so proud of her. She did such a great job, and really just loved it.


Fam Party & Temple Square

We had a family Christmas Party with the Walters side. It was lots of fun, but seems like not as many people came this year. We still had lots of fun. And Santa even came!
The child gift exchange. Noah LOVED his sword and gun. Thanks DeDe!Macie's hair in curlers because she had her dance recital that night.We also went to Temple Square with Celeste and her family. We love doing this, and my kids are obsessed with Christmas lights.Macie asked if we could go see the big Jesus. She remembers from when we went last time (her third birthday). She must have her dad's memory.

Oh Christmas Tree

Grandma Wadsworth was nice enough to let Macie and Noah help decorate the Christmas tree. Like everything else, they had a blast.In Bancroft, they do a community night and light up Tuescher Square. I should have gotten a picture of it. It's a little field that has little Christmas decorations all over. It's quite the event, but the best part is that they leave it up year round. They just turn on the lights at Christmas time. Only in a small town...Santa even came. Macie told him she wanted a pony.Wish daddy could have been there, but he was in Logan, working hard during his last couple weeks of school!

Halloween

This year was my first time ever to a pumpkin patch! It was kind of cool. We got there and it was pretty chilly, so we didn't stay long.
Macie did most of the pumpkin picking.We also went on a little tractor ride that the kids thought was pretty cool.Noah wasn't sure about cleaning out the pumpkin. Each time he had to touch the seeds, he made a pretty funny face. But we sure had a great time.On Halloween, our friends invited us out to Herriman to go trick-or-treating. It was SOO much fun! Macie and Noah BOTH loved it. To this day, Macie still pretends to go trick-or-treating, and she even said, "Trick-Or-Treat" in her sleep the other night. They did pretty good for only going for a little while. It started getting pretty cold. Thanks to Abbey, Tracie, and their whole family!I only got one picture of these guys on Halloween. I didn't take my camera out, but wish I would have. Noah was a giraffe, and Macie was Rapunzel. This was after we were done, so don't mind Noah's tired face.