October thus far....

Oh boy it's been a busy couple of months!! We found out we were moving back home the beginning of September and it's been a whirlwind ever since!! We had a lot of help from our family and friends during the whole move process which we appreciated soooo much!! I've been up here for the past two weeks now and still have sooo much to unpack, ugh!! I can't imagine moving every year! People who do that are crazy!! I hope to not do this again for awhile!! So anyway, like I was saying we moved up two weeks ago now (well I did, Michael's still working down south til he can get a for sure job offer up here, we're hoping that is coming this week and he'll be up here for good before Sam's bday :) )..within the first couple of days we had three different neighbors come up and introduce themselves and got invited to a block party right off the bat that we went to and met another dozen neighbors :) Work and family has kept me busy and has helped keep my mind off the fact we just left a lot of really great friends and not to mention my husband keeps coming and going! Samantha has loved being so close to all of our family and has a hard time understanding why she can't just live with Joey and Makayla! I love my new house (Sam does too...every time we tell her we're going home she always clarifies that we're going to "Sam's house with steps" and if you tell her we're not she throws quite the fit!)...I just can't wait to have it all decorated as "my" house!!

Elijah is growing like a weed!! He's a tank! He loves his food and just this week has started eating all sorts of table food! He got his first two teeth these past few weeks, one on the day we moved and the second was exactly a week after :) He's not the easiest lil teether, but it could be worse. He's so close to crawling! He's becoming pro at scooting backwards on all fours and occasionally switches it up and will look like he's going to crawl but really just lunges forward, face plants and does it all over again to get going forward :) And tonight he said his first word "da da", needless to say his dad was pretty excited. In all honesty I'm not surprised, Eli idolizes his dad!

Today we were able to go up to Green Bluff. We went through the pumpkin patch, rode the train around the fields, played on some straw bales, and ate some caramel corn. The kids had a great time, it was really nice spending time with the family!

WE'RE MOVING HOME!!!

This past Thursday, I got a call from a hospital I had applied to about two months ago offering me a position. So I accepted, as it would bring us closer to family! I went into the bedroom and woke Michael up to tell him I accepted the position and noticed his phone was flashing that he had missed a call...it was the department that he had tested for and just loved only two days before saying that he was their TOP candidate and he would be proceeding with the rest of the testing process this next week!! So he doesn't officially have the job yet, but the timing is 100% God!! It's always frustrating when He doesn't want to take help with His plan, but when His plan is laid out in front of you it's AMAZING how it all works together!! So, it's set, we'll be moving back home sometime the beginning of next month! It's crazy surreal!!! I have sooo many mixed feelings about this!! Michael and I are both employed at places we love and have both made sooo many close friends down here that it's going to be terribly hard to leave!! On the other hand it will be much better for our kids to grow up by family (and a lot cheaper in traveling expenses!!)...I've always thought this day was coming, just doesn't feel quite real yet! So here's to the start of a months worth of packing and the faith that God will help our house down here to sell and provide a place up north for us to live!!!!

Sometimes life gets a little bit crazy...

So it's been awhile since I've posted...life's been a bit crazy this summer though!! First off, the one thing that occupies the majority of the craziness in our lives is that we are trying avidly to move back home!! We've made probably five trips in the last three months back and forth...most trips are a day of driving there, a day there to interview and a day to drive home! Sheer madness!! We should know in the next few weeks or so if our madness paid off :) So...in preparation for moving we've also been working a lot on packing away our house (or at least the things we don't use on a daily basis) and trying to finish the twenty small projects around the house so we can put it on the market :)
Well, the kids are growing like weeds!! Eli's approaching 20lbs and isn't even 6months old yet!! He's crazy big!! Needless to say, he LOVES his food! He's eating all sorts of fruits and veggies and rice cereal and loves pretty much everything :) He's becoming a pro at rolling over and already has figured out how to move his legs and scoot on his back! When he's on his tummy he looks like he's trying to swim...maybe he'll crawl before a year like his sissy ;0)
Sam is talking a lot more, proficiently uses a spoon (finally!), can drink out of a normal cup without spilling (yay) and will soon be smarter than her parents on our phones!!! That girl can navigate through my phone, find the game she wants or use netflix or get the the camera or pictures...she's pro at taking pictures and video of the floor and her feet :0) Her hair is long enough now for a regular pony and french braids :) She loves shoes and is particular about which pairs she'll wear (not a battle worth fighting). She loves pretty much any and all toys that are less than two inches tall (I'm sure that'll be fun when eli starts crawling!!). She's widened her horizons when it comes to tv/dvds, Dora and Veggie Tales are still highly ranked, but she now loves Team Umizoomi, Bubble Guppies (Eli loves this one too!), and Kai Lan!!
These two are so much fun and keep every day interesting!! Here's a few pics from the past two months....

Last few weeks of maternity leave...

So we've crammed a lot of fun times into the last few weeks of my maternity leave (yes I went back to work yesterday :(...but I have to admit, I LOVE my job and the friends I work with so it's ok, besides the time away from the kids only makes time spent together that much more special right :) )...so here's a recap on the last month or so...

We made a trip to Spokane in early June to visit family and prepare for Elijah's dedication. I drove up with the two kids by myself (not doing that again, what's usually a nine hour drive turned into a twelve hour one thanks to my lil man who didn't want to stop crying for the majority of the last four hours there, but I love him anyways ;) ) then Michael flew in after he got off work just a few days before the dedication.

Before Michael got up there the my mom, Makayla, Joey, Sam, Eli and myself enjoyed a super fun day at Riverfront Park where we rode the carousel, fed the ducks, played on the big red wagon, rode a few carnival rides and played in the water fountain. Sam had a blast and talked about going to ride the horsies and play in the "wa wa" for days after! We spent the rest of our time just hanging out with family and friends, It was great!

After the dedication on Saturday we packed up and headed to Seattle the following morning for a mini vacation. While we were there we got to have dinner and visit with one of my good friends that I haven't seen in years, visit the Woodland Zoo, see two lighthouses (Brown's Point and West Point), and go to a Mariner's baseball game! We all had a blast and Eli was on his best behavior during the many hours spent traveling in the car...it was great!!