Nampa, ID 2012

Well, we did it! We moved out of Utah. It was something we had to do as a family. It was something we had to do to deepen our relationship with God. And we are doing it! I graduated of course. I got a job as a PSR (Psychosocial Rehabilitation Specialist)a couple weeks later. It took us a month to get on our feet. We are so grateful for the help of Michelle and Nathan Kingsford, our cousins. They let us live with them for a month until we found our apartment. Now we're in and living. Art's gone through a couple of jobs to try and find one that fits. He's working at a bakery right now. They like his work, but the hours are frustrating. Art has started school and Pheonix University. He's working on a 5 year Bachelors in Business with an emphasis on Accounting. That will keep us here for a few years at least. He's excited. They do one class at a time and he goes into the classroom once a week. They have "learning teams" of students that work together on assignments and help keep one another on track. It seems to be a good environment for him. The kids are growing up and strong! Sara is learning to be more and more persuasive with her words. She also believes she is the boss of Mitchell and has no problem telling him what to do! She's been a great help looking out for him though. Mitchell, the little Havoc, is causing all sorts of messes! He is a boy!!! He grabs anything he can get his hands on: Pitchers of juice, knives from the dish washer, and a whole bucket of flour, etc. He also has quite the vocabulary. He is very talkative for 18 months. He says words from Ma! Da! and please, all the way to Tickle! Tickle! He is a handful. With all the entertainment they provide us with, it is hard to imagine, but very true: I am pregnant again. I do know how it happened, but I wish it had happened a year from now. We have been struggling financially and I've had to cut back my hours with the exhaustion and nausea. I'm 18 weeks along, almost half way! We'll find out in 9 days what the gender is. Everyday I get asked if I know what the gender is. I promise, I will let everyone know when I know! It's either a girl or a boy! We do enjoy living in Nampa. We haven't spent as much time with family as we would like, but everyone is very busy. We live in a little apartment complex and have really nice neighbors. Sara loves playing with the other girls and Mitchell loves chasing Sara. We have a fabulous Bishop who is understanding and caring. I have a calling as a primary teacher and Sara loves seeing me in there. Mitchell can start nursery finally! Art might get a calling if we can get him to church! (it's hard to work when you get home at 5:30 am after a 14 hr shift.) I love my boss and all the wonderful people I work with at Allied Mental Health Services. I am blessed by what they add to my life. God has sent us hear to learn so much and we are trying! I pray we are able to live up to his expectations and pass on his truth as we are examples! I am so grateful for his love and guidance these past months. He knows what is best for me and my family. I just have to take my hands off the wheel and let him steer. He's the one with all the right lessons after all! I will put pictures up as soon as I can. Love you all and hope your lives are as blessed as mine!

And my last semester begins!

This is my last semester of my Bachelor in Communication Studies degree. I will be graduating May 4 or 5. Not sure how that works yet. HOORAY! I am very excited. I am very scared...I do not know what I am going to do! Actually, I'm thinking I'll write up a proposal for the school district to create a consulting job to implement peer mediation programs in all of the schools! This will be a handful. I just have to get all the gumption...I'm very intimidated about the idea of going higher educated administrators and telling them why they should create a job just for me, a little bachelor student. Pray for me, please!

Sara is continuing to add to her vocabulary. While she still adds "uh huh" and "mmmhhhmmmm" when she doesn't know the word, she is starting to catch on more and more. She loves to play with Mitchell. They play peekaboo and dance...and tonight she wrestled with him on the floor...scared me, but they were both laughing so I let them.

Mitchell has pulled himself up on to his feet a couple times. He then cries because he can't sit back down. Crazy little boy. He is crawling on his knees now! Growing too fast, little man. He insists on sitting in the hallway and talking to Sara when she's playing in the bath.

Art has had his hours cut. We're hoping it picks up next month. We are hoping to get him into school again. If we can get him through Bridger, then we will both be more marketable in jobs and hopefully we can move that much sooner! He is off probation and we are looking into lowering his felony to a misdemeanor. It seems simple enough, just a few signatures and then presenting it to the judge. Just gotta take the time!

Well, we are overall doing ok. It's still tight on money, but we are happy. I love my little family. They are the best thing since whatever was best before sliced bread! :) God is good to us.

Lots of Plans

Well, summer is coming to an end, doesn't mean we're not going to sneak in a few more fun days, but it is getting close.

I have to focuz on my internship and get a strong hold on that mediation program for Bridger Elementary. It's going to be hard with 3 classes, but Art is going to be there with me the whole ride. I have 2 business classes and 1 Speech Communication class. Hopefully the elementary school can find a little extra money to give me a bit, because this is going to be tough. I am not sure I know how to teach little kids. I know all the concepts, but how to teach a 1st grader? I am not sure...

Sara and Mitchell are growing so fast. Sara is always trying to take care of herself. She pushes a chair around in the kitchen to get what she wants and knows how to get in the dishwasher when she can't find a cup or plate...so helpful, she is! She can put movies on for herself, as well. Oh, I heard a bump in the bedroom, better go see what she's getting in! I better start planning her 3rd birthday soon!

Mitchell is talking and smiling a lot more. He is so chatty! He has such a different personality than Sara, though. He doesn't sleep too much, but does well at night, gives me 6 hrs at a time at least. Soon he'll be rolling around, I can't believe he is almost 3 months!!

Art is working like crazy, I think we not go out and play a lot, but we'll be happy on what income we have. a few more hours at the coppermill and less at the pizza hut should help. I really admire him, he is so strong and hard working. He will be off probation at the end of the month and we will celebrate! Then we will get to work on preparing for the temple! :)
Hope all is well on your end. Love you to the moon and back!

Crazy Changes

I'm not sure who all has heard, but my Aunt Kelly went missing on May 24th. Her body was found on May 28th. Her ex-husband of about 13 years is being charged with her murder. My cousins, Jes and Tanner, had her cremated and we celebrated her life June 11th with a memorial that was attended by over a hundred of Kelly's friends and our family. This definitely caused my world to quake. I love her and miss her very much! Her smile and crazy life will go on in stories to my children.



With my aunt missing, we decided to induce labor. Mitchell was born May 26th at 10:26. He weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was 20 in long. It was only a 5 hour
labor which was crazy for an induction, but I was grateful, because the epidural wasn't working. Mitchell Joseph will be blessed on the 3rd of July. Let me know if you want to come!

So, somehow I fit that all in two paragraphs, not bad, lol.

Art is working at the Coppermill as a prep cook/line cook. He enjoys it there. He's also a driver at Pizza Hut. So he is very busy. On top of all his work, he has school! He's amazing, what can I say? I am trying my hardest to keep him sane and healthy.

Sara is learning more and more words. She keeps getting in to things and causing mischief, but I'm sure that's just her age. We've had a hard time keeping her happy
this last month. What with all the changes going on. The 8 hr drive to Montana was hard on her and she did not want to sit still for anything after that.

Mitchell has had a rough couple weeks. He was on a bilibed for his jaundice. That lasted a week. Then he got an eye infection that doesn't seem to want to clear up. All in all, he is however a healthy baby boy. He sleeps an average of eight hours a night with only one feeding in the middle and is not an overly fussy baby.

For Father's Day, Art received a Nightwish CD, a book with our hand outlines in the front cover, Daddy Lotto tickets, and we all went to Sacrament on time!

Happy Father's Day to all those other dads out there!

Easter and Anniversary

Everything has been crazy, as life usually is.
Art took a short leave from school. He got a second job to catch up on bills. He's now working Pizza Hut at night as a driver, and Coppermill all week as a cook. He enjoys both. The Coppermill has surprised him in how relaxed it is. He was not looking forward to another Aggy's experience. Thankfully, there is less swearing and more team work at the Coppermill. We're still weighing options on which job he wants to keep when he starts school again after the baby is born.

I started working at Opinionology (Western Watts)a couple of weeks ago to help with the bills. It is not really ideal. I am tired and sore. With school and work, I've been more drained. I really just want to stay home and be with my family. (Art says that is all he wants to do as well.) It will be nice when we have our own business that the kids can come and help us with. Then we can earn money and be with each other! School is out next week and I may be done working by then as well. We'll see how things go. This pregnancy has been really hard.

Art and I are receiving subpoenas, apparently. There was a reckless driver we called in a couple of weeks ago and he is trying to fight it. I think he's ridiculous for trying. There was another witness that called him in as well. Three against one is not a good ratio to fight. The day it goes to court is May 24th. I am due June 2nd and the doctor was talking about perhaps starting my labor a week early (May 26). Only time will tell when this baby is coming.

Sara is talking all the time. Her new thing is to call everyone "hun." We often get tapped on the shoulder with a, "hey, hun!" Then, dragged to see what she's interested in. She now asks to watch shows by the character in them. Her favorites are Diego and Pingu. It use to be Animals and Penguin! She's a handful. Every time we turn around there is another mess.

We went to baby animal days at the historical farm for Easter. She wasn't afraid of any of the animals. The ducklings were her favorite. She held them very gently and only made one of them squeak. She liked the rabbits and the turtles as well. For some reason the baby chicks were not as fun as the chickens or ducklings. She got to pet the calves and ride the pony. The train was a must for her. She kept yelling out, "choo choo!" By the time we were done, I was sun burnt and she was passed out on the ride home. Art said it was very enjoyable up until she was ready for a nap.

We're celebrating our 3 year anniversary tonight. I can't believe it's been that long and yet, of course, it feels like there was nothing before that day. I'm so grateful for such a loving husband and companion through these crazy times. He is amazing and continues to amaze me. Even when I don't feel I can talk to him, we get through it and he isn't even upset! I've definitely learned a lot through these years. I am looking forward to many, many more!

I will post pictures of baby animal days, but at this time I am not able to. Hopefully tonight though. We got some great pictures!

Congrats to us!

Sara is going to be a great big sister! She is always wanting to play and hold the little little babies. She's so gentle, most of the time. :P She does great with Gisborne. He's our new kitty. Art's birthday present.


I can't believe our baby is 2! And Art is 25! It makes me feel old. I know, I know, there are older people out there saying how young I am, but I'm hitting some major life points! Our second baby is due on the 15th of May. Not a Fall birthday!!! Yay!


Sara has been very very talkative. She is getting a few words more and more. Of course she thinks everything that comes out of her mouth means something. I just gotta figure out what it means!! She's great at cleaning up and taking care of herself. We just have to help her with the more difficult stuff. She's not ready for a toilet yet. I wish she would and I hope it happens in the next 7 months!

Art is going quick through BATC's Accounting Program. He should be done by the time the baby is born. Which I will be quite thankful for! Next week he will start the tax classes. Sounds like he's going to be the only one in the Liberty Tax class, but after he gets through it, we're hoping they will take him on for the tax season and beyond.

I have 3 semesters of school left. I'm hoping I can take classes during the summer, but it depends on what they offer. I want to take the baby to school with me, but Art doesn't like that idea. I figure the babe is going to sleeping the whole time. And this way I can feed him when I need to and not worry about pumping or anything.

Hope all is well out there. Have a nice day!

School

School has started. It's making us all kinda grumpy. That is because we're breaking our late schedule though. We're all up by 8 and back in bed by 10. Whether we're asleep or not is a different issue. It will get there though.

I'm excited for all of my classes. I have Infant through childhood Psych, Intercultural Communications, Communication Criticism, and Marriage and Family Relationships. I love each class, but I know there is going to be a lot of work soon. So I might just start writing the papers now rather than wait til they're explained...lol.

Art is cruising through his classes. He got an excellent on his last project and now his teachers are expecting more and more out of him. I'm sure he won't disappoint them. He is getting stressed with the typing class, but it will only take time and patience. Next week he starts a new class. I think it's about every other week he does...crazy to keep up with!

Sara is being watched by our good friend Jana during my classes. From what I've heard it's gone well. If only we could work out the napping schedule, it would be fabulous! :)

We got Sara's 2 yr pictures done last weekend, so next Wed I can start putting together birthday invites! :) I'm excited. I'm sure she has no idea, of course.

Well, I better get back to her...she just poured out her water and now is tearing everything off the shelves. She is not in a good mood today!