Five things to recap the last twelve (plus) months of our lives...

1. Marilyn and Joel came home!

After nearly three years in Ghana, Africa Matt's parents, Joel and Marilyn, returned. Since our lives were so connected to theirs while living in their home, this was a big change in our lives. It was the catalyst to thing #2:

2. We moved!

I yearned for a house of our own for so long and in a very quick twist of events, we ended up back in our old ward, within a quarter mile of our first home, in Farmington. I was happy as Farmington is home for me. Our little yellow house:


Enjoying our front porch:


3. I quit!

I gave away the ending before I even let you know the beginning, but in our pursuit to get a home loan, I started working full-time for Farmington City as the Arts and Special Events Coordinator - essentially an expansion of what I had been doing from home part time. However, after working 13 of 20 Saturdays, nights, and some 50 hour weeks, and with Matt seemingly situated at Jacobsen Construction, we decided that the girls needed their mom and Matt needed his wife. So, I quit the job I loved to be mom. Now I am back to being a volunteer. They complain that they can't get rid of me, but I love it too much. I have now taken on the Miss Farmington program as the Executive Director.

Oh yeah, and every Friday I bake with my good friend Sarah:



4. Emma is a Kindergartner!

The easiest way to measure the passing of time is in watching our children grow. Emma started Kindergarten this fall. I spent the last nine months with anxiety over it and now my days are planned around her drop off and pick up from school - so its safe to say this is a big part of our lives. Lucy gets bigger every day too. I often forget that she is only two. She keeps asking me to go to preschool, but not until next year...

5. A few family vacations...

Since our last post we had a beautiful vacation to Oahu and we went to Park City and Bear Lake.
For some reason I can't find any of the pictures though...

Honorable Mention.....Emma's Billboard

Matt's former employer Jacobsen Construction was asked by Worker's Compensation for some families to have their picture taken for an ad campaign and Matt and Emma were chosen. A few weeks after the photo shoot I was driving down I-15 at the point of the mountain and happened to see this:

She's moved around a lot since the first sighting, but if your lucky, you might spot her on your commute! She has also been in Utah Business Magazine and in a Worker's Compensation mailer. No, we didn't get a dime for it, just the fun of having our adorable child's mug randomly showing up in crazy places!

As requested...

I have been asked repeatedly to youtube a video of Lucy performing "A Dream is a Wish" from Cinderella. Well, this isn't youtube, but if you like it maybe we'll get that big time...later...

Sarah

Um...hey!

I know what you are going to say - or what you are thinking - so just lay off for a sec. It has been almost a year and a lot has happened. I don't think I could easily recap if I wanted to. Let's just say I was working full time and work had taken over my life. Now, I am back home again after a grueling 7 months and am once again a stay at home mom. Oh, that's another big thing - we actually have a home, Matt has a new job, everything is different and yet, oddly, the same. Yea!

My last post was about a glorious cruise with our friends Sean and Sarah. Our final days of that cruise were spent in New York City. Here are some fun pics from that adventure:Matt's first time in the city. I tried to get his "first impression expression."

Sarah and I got cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery - the bakery that started the cupcake craze. So good.

Matt and I in Times Square. It was a quick trip through town. We were there less than 48 hours, but we crammed in everything you can in that amount of time - Central Park, Shopping, Pizza galore, Times Square, Empire State Building, Harold Square, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station, Julliard, Street Fairs on the East End, Touring through the Upper West Side...needless to say, our feet were killing us! Funny story of the trip - Sarah and I had to leave our husbands in New York because our genius idea of taking the Subway to the airport backfired when we were enlightened that even Subway trains are effected by rush hour traffic. We arrived at the airport to find that we were too late to check-in to our flight - our only chance was to say farewell to the husbands and book it....Sarah and I cut in line at security and I didn't even put my shoes on to run to the terminal. We ran our guts out (of course our terminal was at the complete opposite end of the airport) and made it as they were closing the door. I sat in my seat on the plane and cried out of anxiety and stress and Sarah and I went home and saw our children and slept in our beds while our hubby's spent the night on the floor of JFK. Ha ha....

Okay....more catching up in the next post...