The Great Foster Migration

 So as many of you know by now we are moving!  It came out of the blue and it's been a bit of a whirlwind!  Tony had been struggling with his employer here in Moses Lake.  The last 18 months have been pretty difficult.  He had started to look for other job opportunities.  Then our summer was super crazy so we decided that we would give his employer one more chance to do what they've been promising him.  We said we'd wait until April 2018 and make a decision then about what to do.  Once we decided to stay I said to Tony, "Now you just wait.  Now that we've decided to stay in Moses Lake something will happen."  My famous last words!  In October Tony was contacted by a previous employer in Rexburg, Idaho.  The next day he was contacted by a previous manager in Nampa, Idaho.  Both were unsolicited and both offered him a position in their companies with similar salary and benefits.  We were surprised to say the least.  I had always heard of this sort of stuff happening to people, but never to us!  It was pretty obvious to us that the Lord was providing a way for us to move back to Idaho.  After a couple weeks of prayers, pondering, and a lot of discussion Tony accepted a mechanical engineering position with a company in Nampa, Idaho called House of Design.  The next week we showed the house to a coworker of Tony's.  The next day we had an offer and a few days later we had the house under contract.  As long as everything goes well we'll close on or before January 5th.  Over Thanksgiving weekend we drove down to Nampa to spend the holiday weekend with our family.  Tony stayed there to start his new job.  The kids and I came back to Moses Lake to get the house packed and let the kids finish up the couple weeks of school before Christmas Break.  We are still trying to find the right home for us in Nampa, but thankfully we have a lot of family down there willing to help us out until we're able to get into our own home again.  I have to admit that my emotions have been all over the place during the last few weeks.  I'm happy, sad, stressed, overwhelmed, frustrated, excited, etc..  I see that the Lord's hand is truly in this whole process and I have to remind myself to put my trust in him and everything will work out and be ok.  So here is to the end of another chapter in our lives and the beginning of another one. 

I was feeling a little sad that we won't be able to decorate for Christmas this year and our holiday celebrations will be a little different.  So I got a little tree with some lights and ornaments so we could still have a little bit of Christmas while we prepare to move. 

Teenager!

Well Carson is now 13!  We have a teenager and it certainly comes with some difficulties.  But all in all Carson is a pretty great kid!  I'm so thankful for his affection forgiving nature.  He wanted a transformer cake this year.  And I have to admit that I find myself wanting to put less and less effort into each birthday cake I do.  So I did it free hand this year and was surprised at how well it turned out.

 Carson is very musical.  He plays the drums, trumpet, piano, and now is learning the Ukulele.  He sings too!  He'll be doing a solo in the upcoming children's choir Christmas Concert (say that 5 times fast).  Happy Birthday Bud!  We Love you! 

Halloween

Halloween this year was busy like always.  We had our ward Trunk or Treat the Saturday before.  Sunday night we carved our pumpkins.  Carson and Alaina are old enough to do their own which is nice.  Tony "helped" carve Charlie and Lincolns.  While I spent the entire time carving my warty Frankenstein pumpkin.  I will never carve a warty pumpkin again!  Monday we celebrated Carson's birthday and Tony took the kids trick or treating.  Tony said that Lincoln was adorable!  He's at the age now that he knows you get candy by saying "Trick or Treat" at each door.  He even said "Thank you" each time.  We are just now finishing up the candy from Halloween!

 Carson dressed up in his dad's leathers to be a biker.  Alaina was a cat (which she's been planning for months).  Charlie was Darth Vader, and Lincoln dressed up as a Ninja Turtle.  During the Trunk or Treat he absolutely refused to put on a costume.  So I put a sign on his back that read, "I refused to dress up!"  Everything thought it was cute and he got just as much candy as the rest of the kids.

Soccer Picture

Alaina chose to do soccer again this fall which make for a busy couple of months.  But she loves it and we love her, so we support her in it.  I did the team pictures again this season.  I was able to get off the hook from doing a cake for her team party this year.  Which is fine with me!

Summer 2017

Oh what a whirlwind of a summer we had!  It was wonderful and I was glad to spend the time with my family!  So that we don't end up having super long post I'll give you the reader's digest version with some pictures.

Tony, Carson, and I participated in our first Trek.  It was the hardest thing I've ever done and we learned a lot.  We really loved our "Foster" kids and created lifetime memories.

 We took the kids to Silverwood Theme Park again to use the tickets they earn through reading.  It was awesome this year because Lincoln is 2 and free so we only had to pay for Tony and I.  The weather was great.  The lines were short and I even helped with the magic show.  It was pretty cool!

 I did a wedding cake for my neighbor's daughter.  It had been a while since I'd done an all real cake, but I was really happy with the way it turned out.

 The kids and I watched the Eclipse.  We were not in the path of totality but it was still pretty cool.

 Charlie celebrated his sixth birthday!

Charlie's cake with strawberries and Lego toys he picked out.

 We visited the cabin as part of a family reunion for Tony's family.  It had been over 6 years since we had been there and so Charlie and Lincoln had never been.  It was so nice and I hope it won't take that long for us to go up again.

 For Labor Day Tony and I took the kids up to Leavenworth for the day.  It was super smoky from all the wildfires but it was still pretty cool.  We spent the morning going through the shops and the afternoon swimming in the river.

When we moved from Rexburg 3 years ago we left our barbecue with the intention on buying a new one.  Well we never did and I have missed it.  A ward member gave us their "broken" barbecue.  After some major cleaning up it was as good as new and enjoyed some of Tony's super delicious ribs.    

Alaina turned 10! 

And Carson kissed the sidewalk!

In the midst of all this there was also scout camp for Tony and Carson.  A trip to Utah for the funeral of a close family friend.  A couple trips to Boise for a baby blessing and a family reunion.  We did some camping in there too, but not as much as we would have liked.  The kids and I visited the pool at least once a month and Alaina overcame her fear of the water slide and loved it.  As it always does summer seems to go by way too fast and I'm already missing the warm sunshine.  But I do have something to get me through the upcoming cold months as Tony and I are planning a trip to Hawaii for our 15th Wedding Anniversary!  To say I'm excited is an understatement. 

Cutting out the Crap: Update

So it's been 5 months since I made the decision to scale back on my social media use.  What I've noticed is that I get a whole lot more done than I used to.  You know those projects that have been sitting there staring you in the face for who knows how long that never get done because you just don't have the "time".  Well more of those are getting done.  I feel less frazzled all the time and like I actually have a purpose and direction each of my days.  I do have to admit that it's been hard for me to break the habit of each time I sit down to rest to open Facebook.  I didn't realize what an addiction, and yes I meant to say addiction, social media can be.  I won't tell you how many times I've deleted and then reinstalled the Facebook app on my IPad.  The thing is that I don't really miss it.  It really is just a waste of time to see articles I don't care about and people I don't even know!  But what I do miss is that I really don't take pictures or videos of my family anymore.  How sad is it that because I'm not bragging about my kids all the time on Facebook I don't brag about them at all.  So I'm revising my social media use.  I'm still not going to have the Facebook app on my IPad because it's just too much of a temptation to waste my precious time.  But I am going to start taking pictures and videos of my family again, and I will post a few of them.

As far as my healthier eating and being more active, my approach has seemed to work pretty well.  I've lost almost 20 lbs and feel great!  I'm down a size in my cloths and have so much more energy and confidence.  Although I haven't managed to loose any more weight in about a month, I haven't gained any back either.  I blame that on the fact that we've made 3 road trips in the last 2 months, and it's the end of the school year which is always crazy busy!  I'm hoping the I'll be able to get into a routine again soon.

So just for your enjoyment here is a picture of Charlie from our latest road trip, which I'll talk about in a later post.  I think it adequately shows how we all felt by the end of it. 😃

       

Soccer Mom

Alaina just finished her 5th season of soccer.  She even got two goals this season, which is hard when some of the girls you're playing against are a full head and shoulders taller than you.  Last Saturday was the end of season Jamboree and party.  Alaina loves to play and I am always glad when the season is over...just in time for t-ball to start for Charlie.    

I did the team pictures this season and they turned out pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

The cake I did for the end of season party.