moving on

Back in December of 2010, we found out that The Man was accepted into our top choice dental school in Arizona. We were so excited! 

The following months felt like they were dragging on, leaving us in a sort of limbo state...ready to start our new chapter, but having to wait for what felt like forever.

Looking back on it now, I think I mentally and emotionally checked out of my life in the tiny town we were living in. 

I pulled away from friends, stopped hanging out.

I kept to myself and stayed close to home.

Im sure people wondered where I had gone.

Maybe I felt like that part of our lives was ending, and it was easier to to get it over with slowly as opposed to one big tearful goodbye. 

It could also be that we found out we were pregnant with our fourth baby and I just didn't feel like doing much of anything. 

It was probably a mixture of both. 

I regret not spending more time with the good friends I had made in the 3 yeas we were there. I think they deserved more than I gave them at the end and it was unfair. I hope they know how much I love them.

In June of 2011 we packed up our little apartment, sold pretty much everything we owned and moved to our hometown to live with The Man's parents for the summer.

 I thought I would be sad when we finally left that tiny town, but as we were driving out all I felt was excitement. 

We were finally on our way! 

All the hard work over the last few years was actually starting to pay off and the plans we laid out so long ago were taking their next step.

 I was ecstatic.

The summer felt like it flew by so fast. We had visits from cousins, we played outside, went camping (once in the back yard..it was a really cold summer!) and just enjoyed the last time we would be able to visit home for a long time. 

The Man found a job, so we didn't see him much. I think it was good preparation for the life we were about to start in dental school. 

I stressed about finding a place to live and a good school for the kids. The boy would be starting second grade and Little Girl would be starting kindergarten! 

It was hard to find a good house, in a decent neighborhood for a relatively cheap price in the city we wanted to live in. 

It was especially hard when the only place we could really look was on the computer. Living 24 hours away from where we were going to live made it hard to visit and check things out!

There was a short time where I was so upset because I felt like we were just going to have to move all of our stuff down and be homeless! 

Of course, Heavenly Father always has a plan and I felt his hand in a lot of things that happened to us this summer. Just as I was beginning to truly despair, a perfect sweet little house popped up that was RIGHT in the PERFECT spot. It had the right amount of bedrooms, was in a could-e-sac and only two blocks away from the school. Not to mention just a few houses away from our good friends who were living there as well, and it was the cheapest one we had seen.

It was a miracle!

After that, I knew we would be taken care of and we just bided our time until we moved. 

The end of July brought us here to Arizona and to the town we now reside in and the end of August marked the beginning of a four year journey through dental school for The Man and our family.

I am so excited to be here and feel so blessed that we have been given this opportunity. A lot of stuff happened between now and the beginning of this year that I don't want to stick in this post to make it super long, so I will add those in as time goes by.

For now, I am going to move on from this point and try to keep up with everything that is happening. Life here is definitely different from Idaho and Im excited to start writing about it!

Once again...

Im back! hopefully. 

A lot of stuff has been going on in the past few months and I have a lot of blog catching up to do for sure! 

In honor of starting again, I have revamped my blog to be as simple as possible. 

This is a theme I have been trying to incorporate in my own life as well, which is part of the reason I haven't been around much. 

Priorities have shifted, time has slipped through my fingers and life just gets in the way. So, I want to make everything I do as easy as possible. 

Simple and clean. 

Normally while Im writing here, I feel as though I should be blogging to an audience, 

a vast multitude of people out there who care enough to tune into my life, to check out whats happening with me.

This creates a sort of pressure.

 Be funny, smart, witty, crafty, interesting...perfect. 

But honestly, my life isn't all of that. 

It just is.

We live the way we do, I write the way I do and often times I just want to remember what happened that day, something funny one of my kids said or how I feel about the pressures of my current life situation. 

I don't want to feel like I need to put on a face other than my own and pretend to be something Im not.

So,

 all that being said, I am excited to get going again. 

To begin chronicling my life, the way I intended from the beginning.

I hope you won't mind.

I heart faces

I know its been forever since I have updated...we have been up to a lot and a ton of posts are on the way! Until then, enjoy all the Touches of Sun photographs at I heart Faces.

Thoughts on recent events

I figured I should mention a little bit about current events, since this is meant to be a journal of sorts. The last few days have been full of news reports of the death of a wanted terrorist, Osama bin Ladin, who was the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers 10 years ago.  Last week, a group of Navy SEALS following intelligence given on the whereabouts of this man, entered a compound believed to be housing him. They saw him and shot him. After identifying that it was in fact the real Bin Ladin, they buried him in the sea, as per his religious burial rituals.

And the world rejoiced.


Im not sure how I feel about the whole thing. Part of me is glad he is is dead. The man who caused so much death and destruction. Yet, is it right to take joy in the death of anyone...regardless of how terrible a person they might have been?

I realize that this represents closure. After 10 years of waiting, wondering what might happen next, wondering who he was convincing to help perpetuate further violence, he is finally unable to reach us any more. Its a breath of relief, its an about time, its the supposed happy ending to the long nightmare.

I remember the night of that horrible day so long ago when, after we cried until we couldn't cry any more and President Bush came on to tell us that we would not let this defeat us, I was driving home from work and every flag I saw on every car and every home made my heart swell with pride for this great country that God had given to us. I felt horrified by the sheer magnitude of lives lost due to hatred of one man against another. I wondered how much worse it would get. I couldn't imagine the kind of heart you would have to have to plan and execute such an event. I still don't understand it to this day.

So why, when we find the man who did it and we kill him...does it feel so wrong to take to the streets in celebration? Are we not any better in killing another human than he was in all his killing? What would have been the better choice, the humane justice? Is there such a thing for such a man? Are we not told to turn the other cheek...to forgive 7 times 70? Does it apply to a terrorist?

I just don't know.

Ebeanstalk.com

So, here is a typical everyday scenario: You get an invite to your friends little girl's birthday party. You aren't quite sure what to get her, since you don't know anything about toys for 3 year olds, let alone toys for 3 year old girls! You rack your brain trying to come up with something. You browse the internet...but there are so many choices and who knows if they are developmentally appropriate!

We have all had these experiences and sometimes they can be really overwhelming. But there is hope! Have you ever heard of Ebeanstalk.com? Well, if you haven't, you are missing out!

Ebeanstalk.com is a website specifically designed to help take the guesswork out of choosing age appropriate toys. Right from the start, their page is easy to navigate. Every age, starting with baby, is represented in specific links...all the way up to 12! Its is also divided into boys and girls.  So, if you are searching for toys for 3 year old boys...just look for the 3 year old category on the left hand side and click on boys. Its that simple! Up pops page after page of competitively priced toys designed for children of that specific age and gender.

And it gets better! My favorite part? Their grow and learn series. These toys are packaged together and every 3 months you receive a new one. Each toy has been picked as a favorite from over 700 moms and are developmentally appropriate for each stage of development. How cool is that!?

Maybe you are looking for the best, top selling toys for 3 year olds.  They have link right on their homepage for that too, so you can be sure to get exactly what your friends daughter, or your own child, would want. :)

 I love love Ebeanstalk.com and would recommend it to anyone!

So go, check it out... you will be so glad you did!