Hello COLD!

Well I think that we have finally arrived at Minnesota cold.  The weather thus far has been far from what the people of this great state have warned us over and over again.  It has dipped into the single digits once or twice and been below zero at night too, but we had 50 degree days in December... are you kidding me people that was NOT cold.  Oh, just you wait they all said, it's coming...  Well "it" finally arrived today, or more appropriately last night.  Here is a picture of the weather widget on my phone, there are no words to describe seeing those numbers for the temperature outside.  Especially the "feels like."

This picture was taken at about 7:00 am as we were getting kids ready for school.

The Year in Review 2011 (the second half)

The first half of the year was the easy half, this post has so much emotion attached to it that is is going to be hard to write.  Sorry in advance if you think I say too much.  Well here it goes.

July
We originally thought that we would be moving sometime around the middle of the month, but them ended up pushing back our move date a whole month so we ended up having more time to do some more last visits this month.  Probably the hardest was our last trip to Vernal to see my grandparents.

The kids rode horses and four wheelers and had a great time.  While Mom tried to soak up the feeling of being at Grandmas's houses just a little more, knowing that it would be a long time before I was going to be back.

My brother, Rhett, and his family came from Texas for a visit and the kids had fun hanging out with cousins they don't get to see very much.  

We celebrated Josh's birthday a little early while they were here with a giant blow up water slide thing in my parents backyard.  It was lots of fun and the kids played all day.  My mom hurt her shoulder though and ended up having to have surgery later.  

It was nice to get that extra month to hang out with family and friends that we would soon be leaving.

August

August brought the dreaded and anticipated moving day.  It was hard to leave family, friends and our home of the last seven years, but knowing that we would be with Jake made it all worth it.   It was weird to see my house full of boxes after the packers were finished.  

We also had to find out sweet dog, Ginger, a new home because she couldn't come with us. That was an emotional day, she ended up going home with one of the ladies that came to pack our house.  

here she is with the kids a few days before that.

Although we left a lot we had a GREAT thing waiting for us in Minnesota.  Jake!!  We took 3 days to make the trip since it was just me and the kids.  First stop was Matin's Cove in Wyoming.  Too bad we got to visit on a Sunday, most things were closed, but it was still fun.  

Our next big stop was Mt. Rushmore.  

That was pretty cool.  It was super busy and we were pretty tired but I'm glad we stopped.  

Adjusting to Minnesota was and is challenging.  When asked how we like it the best answer we have come up with is that it is different.  Everything is different: climate, landscape, culture everything.  It's not bad, just different.  It was so good to finally be with Jake that no one minded that we had to sleep on either the ground or an air mattress the first night.  

The movers had the truck unloaded in less than 4 hours and then came the daunting task of unpacking everything and finding new homes for it all.

Sometimes, even 5 months later I feel like some things still need to be rearranged.

September

September brought Ashton's birthday, he turned 6.  His was the first to be celebrated far from the rest of our family.  It was strange, but still good. 

It also brought the first day of school for both Lexie and Ashton.  Which meant big changes for both of them. 

 Lexie is in 6th grade, middle school here.  She had 7 classes each day-way different from being in elementary school.

My "little" kindergartener.  Ashton has all day kindergarten which is not what we are used to.  But it had been really good for him so far.  He looks so scared in this picture, but I think he was more excited than anything.  He had been waiting for this day for a LONG time.

September also found us exploring our new home.  We drove the river a few times which was amazing every time, found parks to play at and got a general feel for our new home.

October

In October we were still exploring our new home.  We had the fun challenge of figuring out how to watch conference when it isn't broadcast on a major TV station.  We don't have cable tv at our house so we decided the best would be to watch it over the internet.  I am so thankful for technology because it let us hear and see our prophet just like we would have back in Utah (and it lets us see and talk to our family too.)  

I also found out I was expecting. 

We celebrated Halloween with all the usual actives.  

gotta love that face...

getting to set off trick or treating.

Things seemed to be going so well, then November came....

November

November was not a kind month to me.  I had just come to terms with being pregnant again when I found out that we had lost the baby and we would not be adding another child to our family.  The shadow came then and stayed with me for most of the rest of the year.  It was hard being far from family through the holidays.  

This was the one and only picture I took in November, of Abbie so excited the first time that it snowed.  She couldn't even wait to get dressed before donning her snow boots and going out in it.  Even if was only a little. 

December

December came with the rush of the holidays.  Usually, this is my favorite time of year, but this year I found myself just going through the motions trying to make it good for the kids but not really enjoying myself.  It didn't help that I smack dab in the middle of getting primary stuff ready for next year (I was called to be the second counselor back in November) and still trying to find my way out of the shadows.  

Here's a few pictures of what we did.

 we decorated...

made cookies, cookies and more cookies.

Santa came, 

and we built more Legos than I care to admit.  

While this year had it's struggles and challenges, we trusted in the Lord and learned a lot along the way.  We've settled into our new home and are ready for more adventures to come our way.  

The Year in Review 2011 (the first half)

it's still January so figure I still have to time to do a year in review for last year.  We had a busy, adventurous and challenging year.  But still it was a good one here is a little glimpse of what we did....

January

We enjoyed playing in the snow in January, the kids all got new snow gear and were excited to try it our.  It was really nice to have a place to sled right next door.  

The other big event that happened to our family in January set the stage for the rest of our adventurous year, Jake got laid off from his job in January 2011 and the search for employment began.  

February

In February we took a great family vacation to Yellowstone.  It was amazing to see the park in the depths of winter.  I had the best time (and that is saying something, because I hate being cold) and I think that Yellowstone in winter is my new favorite time of year to visit.  

As you can see it was COLD, but we all had an amazing time.  We were waiting for old faithful here...

The wind was relentless and this was by far the coldest part of our day.  

This is the snow coach which Jake and I rode on to tour the park.  My parents and kids were on their own coach, it was fun to see them but not have to deal the drama of kids the whole time.  Thanks Mom and Dad for coming along and helping our kids have a great day too.  Oh and be careful, if you went any further off the groomed trail than this lady in the picture you were in snow up to your waist.

Also Ashton finished his preschool's reading program and was rewarded with a certificate and a book. 

Good Job Ashton!

March

In March we had a fun day at the children's museum at the gateway.  This kids played with the balls and visited the farm among other things while we were there.

ride 'em cowboys!

After an unseasonably warm February we had a chilly March and trying to convince spring to come we planted flowers on our front porch.  

We also said good-bye to Jake for a few months while he worked the only job he could find, on the power plant outage circuit.  He left in early March for Bay City, Texas.  

April

April brought slightly warmer, if not wetter, weather and spring sports.  We were super busy with soccer for Lexie and baseball for Ashton.  Both of them had a great season.  

We also celebrated Easter...

And Lexie turned 11.

This was her one and only birthday present this year, but it has been loved and well used.  

May

May started off with Abbie turning 3. 

She opened her presents during a video chat with Jake since he was still working outages, although he was now in Red Wing.  

Her birthday was everything princess this year...

complete with a "Tangled" cake.  

Ashton lost his first tooth...

and we ended the month with a trip to Vernal.

 Fed a few cows

 ate a few rolls.

 rode a few horses, 

 and, fed a few calves...

FUN FUN FUN.  My kids look forward to their trips to Vernal so much.  Wish we had gone more when it was closer.  

May was also the month that we found out that we would be moving 1300 miles away.  Jake was offered a full time job at the PI plant after the outage and we knew that it was the best thing for our family, even if it was going to be hard.  

June

June found us with mixed emotions, we knew that we were going to move soon, when we didn't know for sure, but we were busily getting ready for that.  

We made one final trip to the zoo with Jake while he was home for a short visit. And spent a lot of time making "last visits" to some of our other favorite places....

It was also time for Ashton to graduate from preschool, he had a great year.

This is him with his teacher, Miss Amber.

We also had family day with Jake's National Guard unit...

And Lexie had her first and last piano recital with her piano teacher Taylor.

Wow, that took a lot longer than I was thinking it would.  The second half of the year is coming soon...