Christmas Eve

Christmas is always such a fun and exciting time. Especially with kids. This year was a little different. The closer we got to Christmas, the closer we got to moving, which was an overwhelming thought. Once Christmas Eve came, we decided to put out of our minds all the cleaning and last minute packing that still needed to be done, and just focus on having a good Christmas, and last few days with our families. Christmas Eve morning, we went with my family to see the mo vie, Frozen. It was sooo cute! We loved it, and it was fun to spend some time with my family. After that I had to run a few last minute Christmas errands, and then around 3pm we headed over to Jeremy and Tisha's house for our annual Christmas Even party. It was fun to have it in their new home. We played games, ate yummy food, had our ornament exchange, opened pj's and hung out. We stayed until around 10pm, prolonging it as long as possible because we knew when we left we would have to say goodbye to Jeremy, Tisha, Nikelle and Tallyn. It was a hard tearful goodbye. We are really going to miss them.  Here are some pictures that I took throughout the night. Levi's face in a lot of the pictures totally cracks me up, and is a peek inside to his goofball personality =)

Opening ornaments from Nana

 I love how Nana is always right down there with the kids

Grandma Simmons wrote everyone individual letters. They were all so touching and heartfelt, definitely a treasure!

It took Tisha and I forever to melt all the chocolate for the chocolate fountain. And then it lasted for about 20 minutes, and we were done! lol

 Scarlett was so cute opening presents this year.

 Scarlett's Christmas Eve pajamas came with matching ones for her doll, which I thought she would love. She was actually kind of creeped out by it, and insisted we take them off the doll, shortly after this picture.

 I love Christmas Eve jammie pictures in front of the Christmas tree.

 Our little family drew names and each bought a gift for the person that we drew. When we got home we opened those. Everyone always gets so excited about picking out their present for the person they drew for.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures=( 

My mom also had given Brandon and I a present with instructions to open it on Christmas eve. We were so excited and touched to find blankets that she made us to keep us warm in Idaho =)

Scarlett fell asleep on the way home from Jeremy and Tisha's so here are the other three with their cookies for Santa. 

It was a great Christmas Eve spent with family. It was bittersweet knowing we would be leaving in a few days, but we tried not to focus on that and just enjoy each other =)

It's a Great Day for a Birthday!!

Today is my sweet, loving, kind hearted, funny, wonderful sister, Cindy's birthday! It has become somewhat of a tradition for me to write her a birthday post on her birthday, since she faithfully writes one for each of our family members on theirs. Cindy is such a great sister, and friend. As I have grown older, my siblings have become my best friends. No one understands you better then family, and Cindy is no exception. She just happens to know exactly what I am thinking (on most occasions, except for when I am being really good at hiding it, lol!)  We have always joked that she is kind of psychic. Call it psychic, or call it sisterly instict, but since we have made this big move, I have gotten several random texts from her checking in on me. They always come  at just right moment , just when I needed them, and have given me such encouragement during a difficult move. I am excited to be living closer to her and her cute family.  Cindy, I hope you know how loved you are, and what a wonderful example you are to me and everyone around you. I look up to you so much for the hard decisions you have made in your life and the faith you have shown through such heartbreaking trials that you have faced. I love you and hope this year is everything you dream it to be.  Happy Birthday!!!

Our New Home

As soon as we decided to move to Rexburg, I immediately got online, to find out everything I could about Rexburg. The schools, the homes, the shopping, everything. I searched Craigs List every day for homes. Since it was still several months before we were to move, it was hard to really find many options of places that would still be available when we moved. As time moved on, I found several houses that looked great, but didn't feel right. In October, an ad was posted for a home that fit our budget and the requirements we were looking for. I normally didn't look at ads that didn't have any pictures, but did this time I decided to. I requested some pictures from the person who posted the ad, and she emailed me some later that day. It wasn't the most gorgeous house, but something about it just felt right. I have a freind who lives in Rexburg, so I Facebook messaged her to see if she would go and look at the house just to make sure that it wasn't a scam or anything. She happily agreed and went and took several pictures. She didn't love the house, which normally would have made me not want it, but it still just felt like the right home for us. So we went ahead and signed a lease and put a deposit down. It was such a relief to have that figured out. Then I was able to figure out what schools the kids would go to, and focus on the other things that needed to be done. Fast forward, to December 28th. We planned on arriving on the 27th, but due to some troubles with the Uhaul, we didn't make as good of time as we had hoped and had to stay in a hotel on Friday night. We left our hotel around 7am to make it to the house by 9, when some people from our new ward were going to meet us there to help us unload. Katie and I ended up having to go back to the hotel for something, which I will go into more detail about in a different post; so we were about an hour behind Brandon and Kevin in the Uhaul. On our way back from the hotel, we had to stop for gas, and while we were there Brandon called me. He said when they pulled up, the driveway was covered in snow a few feet deep, and that they had no idea how they were going to be able to back the Uhaul into the driveway for unloading. Somehow our shovel disappeared when people were helping us to load the truck up back in Colorado, so they didn't even have a snow shovel to clear a path. He said that as they were contemplating what to so, a man from across the street came out with his snow blower and asked if they needed any help. Then shortly later, the neighbor behind us came out with a snow shovel. Before they knew it, the driveway was cleared. Then, several people from the ward, came and helped unload. He also said the daughter of the man that lived behind us had a 12 year old daughter.  As he was telling me these things, the tears started flowing. We were once again being taken care of. Finding out that there was a 12 year old girl from our ward, next door so quickly was a huge tender mercy in my eyes. I was so worried about all of my kids, but especially Alexis, being older and having to start Jr. High in the middle of the school year. I know this was Heavenly Father's way of letting me know, once again, that everything was going to be OK.

As Katie and I pulled in the driveway the truck was nearly unloaded. I said a quick hello, and thank you to everyone that was helping and headed inside with Katie to check out our place. As I walked throughout the house, I tried to keep a smile on my face, but Katie knew better. She saw the horror through the smile, and stopped and gave me a huge hug. What a blessing to have her there.  The house felt like an icebox, which probably made things feel worse then they were, but some of the initial things that I noticed that caused some alarm, were, a  smelly mold filled fridge, filthy carpets and floors, dirty walls, and  dirty toilets and bathtubs. There were muddy footprints everywhere from everyone's feet from carrying everything in, and I just felt completely overwhelmed. We had just traveled for 24 hours, and there was so much work to be done. I couldn't believe this was our home. Keep in mind that I was tired, and the emotions from the move were in full swing.  Well as soon as everyone left, Katie went to work scrubbing my kitchen cupboards. She was such an angel to have there, being so positive and motivating, and helping to get out new house feeling like a home. Kevin was a huge help to us too. I don't know what we would have done if they hadn't been there.  I think there definitely would have been a lot more tears from me, although there were already a ton as it was.

Over the next three days we worked day and night getting things cleaned and unpacked. The kitchen walls were the worst. They were covered in old food, and who knows what. Katie talked us into painting, and I am so glad she did! It looks so great now. By the time they left on Monday afternoon, our home was feeling so much better, and I was actually starting to like it. Now here we are two weeks later, and I like it even more. It really is the perfect house for us. All it needed was a little love. Without further adieu, Here are some pictures...

Here is a zoomed out picture of us in front so you can see the outside. It is a ranch with a finished basement.

Here is our front room from one angle.

And here it is from another angle. It is pretty big and feels really open. Notice that small window on the wall? Open it up and you get a gorgeous view of.... the garage.  That was quite odd to me, until we realized that the garage had been an ad-on, and that window had been their prior to the ad-on.  We just keep the blinds closed =)

Here is the dining room that is adjacent to the kitchen.

Here is the other side of the dining room, leading into the kitchen. I;m not thrilled about the carpet in the dining room, but what can ya do?

Here is our kitchen. The landlords put in beautiful tile counters, which we love. Once we got the kitchen scrubbed and all cleaned up, it came together really well, and I really like it.

Here is the laundry room that leads into the bathroom upstairs. It is right next to our bedroom, and I am loving having the laundry room so close. I am actually staying caught up with laundry! The bathroom is pretty small, but pretty nice (once we cleaned it)

Here is a bookcase that we have at the end of the hallway. Katie put our books away and put up some decorations, and we love it!

Here is the front door area that leads into the front room. We have a rug now in front of the door, which is a must with carpet there!

Here is the basement. Before we left, our neighbor gave us a couch she was  getting rid of, and it works perfectly down there. It is nice having this space down there for the kids to hang out in. 

Another angle

Here is Alexis's room. She actually loves the pink carpet! She had a lot of fun decorating it. Her room is in the basement right next to the basement family room.

Here is the bathroom in the basement. It is much bigger then the upstairs one!

Here is Tori and Levi's room. They are such good buddies and were excited to share a room. This room is really big. They also had a ton of fun making it their own. They love the bright red carpet, lol.  Their room is also in the basement down the hall from Alexis's.

There is a third room in the basement that we are using for an office. The white table on the far right was left in the garage, and I fell in love with it. It was filthy, but I knew it had potential. Brandon vetoed using it. So Katie and I  snuck it in when he wasn't looking, hoping he wouldn't notice. He noticed right away, and was a little annoyed, but agreed to let it stay  =)

Attached to the office is a huge storage room with a lot of shelves. We are loving having so much space to store things.

Here is one of my favorite things of all... a large garage that we are actually able to park our van in!!!  Brandon and Kevin worked hard to organize the garage to make room for parking. It was a must in cold and snowy Rexburg!

Here is Scarlett giving you all a tour of her bedroom. It is upstairs right across the hall from us. The hardwood floors in her room and ours were in pretty bad condition, but we managed to get them looking OK.

Here's another angle. I was excited to finally  use the wall decals that came with her bedding set.

Here is Brandon and I's room. It is really tiny and barely fits our bed and dresser. But that's all we need, so it works! We probably could have  had the large downstairs bedroom, but I don't think I could have handled the red carpet, and I wanted to be on the main floor, near Scarlett.

Here is our teeny tiny closet. In our last house we both had a closet, twice this size, so I had no idea how we were going to fit all of our things. Miraculously it has all fit! It is nice having the built in dresser too.

 I forgot to get some pictures of our back yard. It is not too big, which is exactly how we like it. That means less yard work!  There is enough room to set up the trampoline (when all the snow melts), and there is also room to play.  There are four fruit trees in the backyard, and we are really excited for those to ripen in the spring and summer.


So that is our house!  Although my first thoughts of it were not too good, it is really growing on me. I know it is where we are supposed to be living. We love our neighbors, the schools and our ward is great too. Things are starting to come together. If  don't think about how far away Colorado is, I do pretty OK =)


Here are some pictures of us getting things in working order and painting the kitchen. I know I  look ginormous in the painting ones. I blame it on Brandon's huge shirt I was wearing

The kitchen sink has been leaking a ton. Thank goodness for a handy husband, since the landlords have yet to send someone out to fix it.

Brandon, being creative trying to fix something on the washer =)

Here we are right before the Beyerleins left. They were heaven-sent. We have been so blessed by their friendship and will miss them so much

And here is Brandon on his first day of school at BYUI, the whole reason we came. He is loving it so far. Let's hope it stays that way!

He was thrilled I was taking the picture, as you can tell =)

  

Hello from Rexburg! Brrrrrrrrr!!

I want to be better about posting now that we are in Idaho to keep everyone updated on the happenings in our life here. I haven't posted much about our decision to move or the details of it, mostly because I was pretty much in denial; all the way up until I was driving away, following the moving truck, and sobbing, after just having said goodbye to my parents and Michael. I dreaded the goodbyes, and they were all every bit as hard as I imagined. One thing that I have learned through this whole process, is that if you put your trust and faith in Heavenly Father, he will provide a way. This past July, after a very hard and unexpected change in Brandon's employment. We were feeling lost, and discouraged.We didn't know what to do and were frustrated at the disappointments that kept coming our way when it came to Brandon's jobs. One Sunday, we went to talk with out wonderful Bichop about the things that were happening. We talked to him of our sadness and the discouragement about our current situation and how it seemed to be a cycle that was happening over and over again. Over the course of our meeting with him, he was so loving and kind. But he bluntly told us, that Brandon needed to get his education or our life would continue on this same path. I can't say that was exactly what we wanted to hear. We didn't see any possible way that Brandon could work full time and have the time to do well in school. It would take forever, because he would probably only be able to take one class at a time. The bishop listened to our concerns, and then said, "Why not go to BYUI? Move to Rexburg, and attend BYUI?  The cost of living is way less then here, the tuition is way less, and the atmosphere you would be getting the education in would be priceless." We were at a loss for words, and didn't really see at first how that could be a possibility. But by the end of the meeting, Brandon and I both knew this was what we needed to pursue. The feelings that we both had, came as a shock, but were very strong, that this was the direction we needed to go right now. We prayed about it, talked a lot about it, and went to the Temple. The answer was clear. This is what we were supposed to do. From the moment that we made the decision to do this, everything fell into place. That's not to say it was easy, because these past five months have been some of the most stressful and trying times. As Brandon applied to BYUI , was accepted, and as we prepared to move our family 12 hours away from everything we had grown to know and love we were faced with many challenges that we have had to go through. Along with the challenged came an abundance of blessings and tender mercies. Brandon's dad gave him a job working for his window company. We were so grateful for that. He worked long hard hours, but we felt so blessed to have that income while we prepared to move. He also took a class at ACC in order to fulfill a requirement for BYUI. I was taking three classes online, working part time at Gymboree, part time for my dad, and watching my friend's kids two days a week. We miraculously were able to make enough money to pay our rent up until December's rent, which was pre-paid when we signed the lease on our home. We were tired, we were discouraged. But every time we would start to feel down, something would happen that would lift us up, and help us to know that we were doing the right thing. The only thing that got me through those tiring months was knowing that it was almost over; and that it would not be like that for much longer. I really feel like it was so hard at the very end, because Heavenly Father was helping us to see, that this was why were were doing this, so that we didn't have to scramble to make ends meet; that there was a way to make things easier, and that was for Brandon to get his degree. To top it off, moving during the holidays was so hard as well. I felt so badly that we didn't have a tree up, or decorations around the house. I felt that my kids were getting gypped. I felt so guilty for taking them away from their friends, our family, our support system! But they have been wonderful. There have been many tears, but overall, they have been so strong and such troopers through this all. It was really hard to pack up our house, but we had so much help from family and dear friends.  I can not believe we got it done, but we did. Angels were sent to help us and provide a way. We were overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity that was shown to our family. The experiences we had helped us to know once again, that we were doing the right thing.  Through the past few months I have had a line to a song stuck in my head, playing over and over again as if it is stuck on repeat. It is a song sung by The Fray. The line is "Sometimes the hardest things and the right things are the same."  That is so true!  This has been so hard. So, so hard. Brandon and I have never lived away from our parents. We have such good friends in Colorado. Our kids were attending a wonderful school, and had wonderful friends. So, even thoough we know this is the right thing for our family at this time, it has also been one of the hardest things. I hope and pray, that after all is said and done, we will be able to say that it has all been worth it.

Here we are in front of our new home in Rexburg. Katie and Kevin Beyerlein took this as they were driving away, on their way back home to Colorado after helping us to move and get settled. (Notice my tear stained face after another hard goodbye?)
 More pictures and details of the move to come!