Happiness

Lately I’ve been trying to remind myself to be like a broken vessel. Humble, imperfect, accepting of who I am. In California I had people who knew me and loved me and accepted me for who I am. Here I kinda have to introduce myself all over again. It’s hard work. It’s tough to put yourself out there. But it’s doable. I’ve done it before. I can do it again. With God’s help. God has helped me make so many new transitions. Move after move. He can help me make this transition too. And make it better than I ever thought possible.

This upcoming move will be our 11th move for us since we’ve been married almost 17 years ago (on Aug 4th). We’ve lived in three homes in Provo, Utah, once living with his Parents (just me and 3 kiddos) and one home in Salt Lake City, Utah. We bought a home in Gaithersburg, MD right before the market crash and we gave it to the bank to move to two homes in Gilbert, AZ. Two homes in Lehi Utah and one home in Paso Robles, CA moving on to one home in Gilbert, AZ it all comes full circle. We’re pretty good at moving, let’s say that. But we learn something new each and every time.

We said our goodbyes last night at farewell party with people from our Church Ward. Even though we still have two weeks to go it was better to play it safe. We loved seeing everyone- including some of our favorite faces and saying goodbye, mourning the fact that we had only been here a year. I feel a little overwhelmed with all that I need to do, but I know that it will work out. Reserving the truck, getting 7th grade shots for Asher before we go, picking up more boxes. Josh and I spoke at Church yesterday on Faith. He did such a good job. Faith starts with our thoughts- as a seed- and then grows and grows. I gave just a short talk as usual with mostly stories of our trials and how our faith grew during them. Wish us luck! We have found a home to rent in Gilbert that we love. It has a green kitchen, a piano room, is directly across from a cute park (Declan will love that) and a pool built into the deck. Now we just need to get there!

I am thankful for all of the friends we have made and the good times that we have had while we have lived here in Paso Robles, CA. While we have been here: Josh learned how to teach 7th grade Math Elizabeth learned how to navigate a new, rough, but talented High School and in High School band. Ethan and Jonah learned through all their honors classes with their cousin Dallin. They tried out and made district honor band and had a blast! Asher excelled in soccer and in class and track and field and district band as well. Ethan and Jonah also excelled in cross country and band. Declan became best friends with Kate and close friends with Avery and Chloe and Nolan. We got two Betta fishes- Turquoise and Sparkle. Turquoise died. Megan played the piano for the kids for two different wards. Our wards were divided a month ago and we learned how to navigate that. Josh was in charge of the Sunday School teachers and was in the Young Men's Presidency ...

As most of you know, I've had a chronic headache since Declan was 6 weeks old. After Dr. visits, an MRI, a diagnosis of NDPH and trying many different solutions, we made it a matter of prayer and have decided to move to Utah to be closer to family at the end of November.  We're all excited, nervous, sad,  happy, etc. We really felt that Arizona was to be our home for quite a while so finding out that it isn't has been somewhat of a surprise.  It may have been for a reason that our home in Maryland didn't sell with our very first offer. If we owned a home here, it would be definitely more difficult for us to move, at least for me. A home is my nest and I tend to make lots of plans and dreams and invest time and energy into it. And so..we are leaving. Arizona, you have been wonderful to us. We have enjoyed the warmth, up until the middle of October (and then not so much). We've enjoyed having a pool in our backyard. The people here are very friendly and ...

Our new rental home. It's similar to my home growing up! The front room. These are all the pictures I took! :( Have I mentioned that on here yet? If some of my posts have been disorganized, or if I've repeated pictures, I'm sorry. My mind is in a lot of different places right now. Yep, we're moving. This Saturday! To a home less than a mile away from here, right next to the kid's school, complete with a pool and a big yard! We are super excited about it. Here's how it came about (if you don't know already). Once the heat hit in May, I decided that we were paying too much to not have a pool at our house. If you can swim 9 months out of the year, why not have a pool? Plus, the community pools are all tied to schools and are only open in June and July of the summer. So that means no swimming in August which is the hottest part of the year or September or October (which is possible here!). I started looking around and didn't really find anything better than ...

The next time I blog, I will be blogging from the warm, sunny climate of Gilbert, Arizona! Originally I was just thrilled to be going on this GRAND adventure- moving our smallish family across the country. I love planning things. I love imagining things. I love hoping and wishing and dreaming. And then the work sets in. The boxes are gathered and bought, the rooms and items sorted and organized, the children let to their own imaginations to create toys out of plain old packing materials. And I get lost. Lost in the execution of it all. Finally, this morning, while I finished packing up my bathroom so I wouldn't trip over anything when I got out of the shower, I made a DECISION. I was going to be GRATEFUL . Grateful that we have the money to make this move. Grateful that we have a new and lovely place to move to that we are renting and not having to buy- just yet! Grateful that Josh gets this whole week off to help me watch the kids, run errands and pick up big heavy boxes I can...

picture via Pioneer Woman We are MOVING! to Mesa, Arizona! On Saturday, August 6th. Yep- that's right! In less than three weeks! It's been in the works for quite a while now but we were waiting until it was pretty much a done deal to make it official. Josh and I made a trip out to Phoenix this past week (without kids!) to find a home to rent. We found 2 homes that we like and put an application in for both of them. We found out yesterday that we got our favorite one! Woohoo! We love the area! The people are friendly, the weather is not as hot as I would have thought compared to living near D.C. Oh, and the housing is very, very cheap. So, for the next little while, our home will be filled with the sights and sounds of packing boxes, tape and children running a-muck after watching way too much tv, as I begin to pack up our now seemingly way too big home and attempt to transport all of it's belongings (or most of them at least) across the country. Friends in our ward have ...