We are on the move again!

So, we FINALLY closed on our new to us house. We are so excited to own a home again. Pictures will come soon, because it is a little outdated and needs some work (love). After living in that apartment in Utah, we thought this would never come. My kids are excited to have a backyard and I am very happy to have 4 bedrooms and a garage to hold all of our storage. YEAH! But, I was looking back and realized that this is our 9th move (if you count the 1 month we lived with Grandma in UT) in the 7 1/2 years we have been married.

Through all that, we have had our own ups and downs. We have struggled, we have cried, laughed, worried, smile, done it all. Ryan and I feel so blessed to have the extended family that we have and to have our kids that we love so much!!! We have really enjoyed all the friends we have met along the way and the new adventures that have come with it all. Here's to the future, maybe things can slow down a bit now. Maybe!!!

We are here!

Hello everyone! So we have been kind of missing in action lately. Here has been our life in a nutshell. We are settled in and living with Ryan's sister and her husband while we find a place to set roots, they are great to put up with us. Annika started her third elementary school in 2 years. Ryan is loving a job that he is not confined in the office all day, and I am trying to keep everything straight. We had Halloween, a Pirate and Tinkerbell. We have been doing a lot of house looking, it is amazing what people do to their houses sometimes. We took two trips to CA-one for a nephew's baptism and one to celebrate with my bro-in-law that graduated from Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB. I work a couple of nights a week still at Kohl's and Ryan and I just got called as primary teachers in our ward with one of the tough classes. We celebrated Thanksgiving with both sides of the family and for once we did not travel "Home for the Holidays". We had a great Christmas and feel so blessed. We are enjoying being close to family, but still maintaining our family time as much as we can squeeze in. We have, so far, had a relatively healthy winter- a first for us. I think this dry, desert may be good for Ash. Annika has taken the training wheels off and Ashton has graduated from his squeaky Radio Flyer Trike to a big boy bike with training wheels and is working hard on potty training-YEAH!!! That is us, keep in touch. We will post more when things continue to fall in place.

So, I bet you wish you were here . . .

In case you can not tell from the pictures, we have been busy packing up since we are moving to Las Vegas this weekend. Ryan got a new job there, and we look forward to a lot of good opportunities there with work, being close to family, and many other things. My stress level will go down when this all fits in the truck and then the storage unit. We will keep you all posted. We have way too much stuff-or rather my kids do! :)

Labor Day Weekend

We had a chill Labor Day weekend here at home. I had to work Saturday night, so I missed the family festivities in Vegas-bummer! We were able to go to my cousin's baby blessing of his sweet little girl Sophie and go to a family BBQ. We always have a great time and Annika loves playing with "cousins" and Ashton loves playing outside and MaryLou and Steve are always so welcoming to us. We spent Monday at a little beach place by our house-or the closest you get to a beach in Utah! I go there a lot with the kids, but it was Ryan's first time. I swear my kids could play in the sand ALL DAY! Monday night after plans never worked out with friends, Ryan got to try a new steak and sauce recipe from Pioneer Woman, so he was happy about that-it was yummy but sometimes it is just cheaper to go out than cook a nice dinner at home. We had a good time together as a family.

My Little Girl

Annika is such a sweet heart and loving first grade, but let me just tell you that she inherited my WORRY gene and I feel for her. Her are a few things from the first few weeks of school.

1-I got a call yesterday afternoon, that went something like this-

Ka-Hi Mom

Me-Is that you Annika, is everything OK?

Ka-Yeah

Me-Why are you calling me from school?

Ka-I forgot to tell you the car today and I did not want you to forget me?

Me-I will be there, I will not forget you and I love you, now go back to class.

This is after calling a wrong number-she could not remember it right and got someone speaking Spanish, and then getting her dad's voice mail, she called me-the one who picks her up. I only got this call because even though we have done the same routine of me driving her for like the last week and a half, neither one of us confirmed the car thing and she was for sure I would forget her. Not true. I will admit I am not the first mom in the long line of cars, but I am there waiting, and still everyday she asks a teacher if she should go to the office and call her mom-for sure I had forgotten her. She now assures me she will eat a snack while waiting to get her mind off worrying about me getting there.

2-Today she asked me if she could set her backpack down in line before school and go play like some of the other kids, before the bell. I said sure, don't you already do that. No, you did not tell me I could. I guess this is because the first day of school she did not play on the toys and waited with me in line the whole time. That did not mean she could not go play the rest of the days.

3-She does not eat all her lunch. She is worried she will not have time and packs it up early confused by the bells for the different grades, and she gets home starving. One day she seriously took like two bites of sandwich-no cookies, no drink, no fruit.

4-One day a few weeks ago (when she was taking the bus) she came running off having to go potty really bad. I rushed her home, had her go, and asked her the last time she went. She did not go all day. She was afraid she would miss something important.

Now- I love my little girl, I just wish she would be just that sometimes-a little girl. She is so smart and so kind-the other day she stood up for a friend of hers by telling another boy that if he continued to be mean to her, Annika would have me call his mom and "have a little chat". She is growing up so quick, she started dance last week-and this is her first time doing tap, she loves it. It gives me a headache and I can not believe the teacher puts up with it. Annika is doing so well at reading and trying hard to do her chores at home. I do not share these things to embarrass her, just to finally have them down for the future! I love you Annika!

Annika's First Day of First Grade

I have been away from the blogging world for so long, I almost forgot how to post, but Annika started school today, and that is definitely blogworthy. Someday soon I will tell you all that we did in our Summer with not so many pictures-I was not that good with taking the camera around. I will tell you about all the ups and the downs we have had over the past 4 months or so. Someday I will get to that, but for now, my cute kids.

Today was Annika's first day of school-we got up early (7:00) and had breakfast as a family before Ryan went to work. We got to meet her teacher yesterday, and she was very excited for her all day school to start. She was happy to pick her own seat yesterday, and be able to bring a lunch for today-YEAH! I missed her tons- I was so bored with only one kid, that I might actually get back to my gym routine for once.

Ashton had to get in the pics too. While she was gone he said he did not miss her, but when we picked her up, after I gave a her a huge hug and kiss, he leaned over and said, Annika I missed you! She gave him a huge hug! After school, she was glad to see me, and even more happy to go as she went to play at a friends house, man they grow up too quick, she hardly wants me around. Here she is in front of her new school.

PS-Tomorrow MAY be a first too. I am thinking of letting her ride the bus both ways-that is huge on my part. I do not want to let my little girl go. We will see!

Family Picture

Well, we went to Las Vegas this weekend, and finally got a picture together of us in our Sunday clothes, so here is the most up to date.  It was hot down there, but Annika got to stay for the week-YEAH for her.  I am finally up to date on posts, but when it rains it pours, so I posted a ton at once.  Have fun catching up on us!!