Alive and Well

Just a quick update. We are finally here in Utah. We arrived Saturday night after a long week. The movers started last Tuesday (it feels like ages ago now) and we were out by Wednesday. I got the flu while staying with our dear friends-(don't know what I would have done without you Becca).
After two full days of house hunting and weeks of searching through MLS listings before we got here, we have finally put an offer on a house. I am very excited. I hope that things will work out...extra prayers never hurt (hint hint).

Happy Birthday Holly!

Lots of love to my little big sister! Can't wait to see you all very soon. Growing up you were extra special to me. Mom and Dad affectionately referred to us as the "little ones". We were often mistaken for twins (until I got bigger than you). We have shared friends, clothes and lots of special memories. Enjoy your last year in your twenties.
(Sorry blogger wasn't working to upload a photo). Still love ya.

My Little Helper!

Ty LOVES all the packing going on here. Putting things in and out over and over again. Such a help to Mommy! Here, he wouldn't get out of the box I was working on, so I took a picture and moved on to a different box.

Batman, Dinosaurs, Tearful Goodbyes

We met my sister, Heather, and her kids in Indianapolis on Tuesday. It was great day. We went to The Children's Museum there. What an incredible place. The kids had a blast together. Luke absolutely adores his cousins. They in turn are so sweet and loving to him. They are like the big brothers and sister he doesn't have. Oh how we will miss them all! It was too hard to say goodbye. I can't even articulate how much I will miss you Heather. xoxo to the kids. Lots of Love to you. Thanks for a great-but sad, day!

Na, na, na, na, na, na, BATMAN!!!

Poison Ivy, Robin, Batman and the Joker!

Halloween pics. No time to document...packing, packing, packing!

Luke's School Halloween Party

Ty loved going to big brother's class.

Lilly and Becca.

Holy rusted metal, TWO BATMANS!

Doesn't he look so happy? He really loves school, I promise!

It's Official!

Most of you know already, but as of this morning Jake has officially accepted a new position with Hemasource. This new job will take us back to Utah. Jake will be the new Vice President of Customer Relations and his primary responsibility will be to manage their customer service team. I am so proud of him!!! He has worked so hard at school and at work. Because of this Hemasource was so excited at the prospect of him joining their team.
We feel overwhelmingly blessed by our Heavenly Father. This is such a difficult time right now in our nation and we feel completely humbled to be given this great blessing. We have been trying to sell our house since September (knowing that this job was going to be offered) and I was starting to stress as showings completely dropped off about a week ago. I was telling everyone I knew to pray for us that our house would sell. It WORKED! Heavenly Father does answer prayers! Saturday we had our first showing in 11 days and that night they made an offer. We close November 12th. We have a moving company moving us to Utah on the 11th and we are going to fly to Utah on the 15th. (2 1/2 weeks from today). Needless to say, things are a little crazy around here-but happy. Jake reports to work on December 1st. We hope to be able to get a new house in Utah and get settled before Christmas.

To my dear friends in Decatur. I don't know how to put it...I am reminded of the song from Wicked, "For Good". I truly have been changed for the better because of all of you. The twenty months that we have spent in Decatur, Illinois have forever changed us. We are better and stronger for it. We have met wonderful people who we will always remember and who have truly touched our hearts and lives forever. Thank you, thank you. We will miss you.

To my sweet sister, Heather. It is too hard to say goodbye. As I write this I am struggling with my emotions. Our chance to live closer to you and see you as much as we have has been a wonderful blessing. We truly treasure our relationship with you and your family. Thank you for everything. You will never know what you mean to us. We love you all so much.

Thank you to ALL of you who have supported us and prayed for us through this transition. We are so blessed to have you all in our life.

13 Days of Halloween update

Rise and Shout for the BYU pumpkin. Jake had a great idea to do a BYU pumpkin, but I did the carving! (I was pretty proud of myself.)

Luke's pumpkin Daddy helped him carve.

Luke and I made paper spiders. So Spooky! Luke took this picture of me with a spider on my head. AHH!

Mama spider, Daddy spider, Luke spider and Ty spider...Luke pretending to be a spider!

The Great Pumpkin Patch

For any of you Martha Stewart fans, a few years ago she did a show on "The Great Pumpkin Patch". This happens to be a 30 minute drive from us in a small town called Arthur, Illinois. The town has a large Amish community. Real horse and buggies going down the street, authentic clothing, the whole bit. We felt like something out of the movie "Witness". Anyway, it was really neat. We talked about how we even envied the quietness of their life. I think it would definitely have its advantages. But no blogging :)

Some of you know or may remember that Jake and I have a tradition of the 12 days of Christmas during which we plan an activity for each night to celebrate the season. Jake suggested that this year we add the 13 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN! (I know it seems like we are trumping Christmas, a fact which secretly bothers me, but it is in the spirit of organizing seasonal activities for our kids.) So Sunday we kicked off our celebrations with a Halloween movie, "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Then Monday we went to the pumpkin patch, (of which I really do intend to tell about). We had a great time together. We went through the hay mazes and bought yummy food at the Amish Bakery. Ty squealed with delight at the baby black pigs. Luke loved going through the mazes and sweet shop. It was really great! It was great weather and for such a large tourist attraction not busy at all. They have their own museum which tells about the farm. They have a map for people to mark where they are visiting from. There are spots marked from all over the world. What a fun day!

Just got back from the Windy City

Jake and I went to Chicago for the weekend. We had a great time. We stayed at the Hilton on Michigan Avenue. We walked around Millennium Park, went shopping at the huge Macy's that used to be Marshall Fields, saw Ben Folds in concert and went to Wicked. We had a great time walking around Michigan Avenue. It is so fun to be in the hustle and bustle of a big city. So many movies have been filmed there so it feels like you already know the city. There is so much to do and see but we opted to be leisurely and keep our car parked at the hotel. We walked around and visited little art stores, had a Chicago hot dog and Garrett's popcorn (something Chicago is known for). Thanks babe for a great weekend!


The "jelly bean" as Jake likes to call it. This is a interesting tourist attraction and piece of art. It reflects the city it such a neat way. When you are standing by it you can see the skyline of the city.


Inside the "jelly bean".
At F.A.O. Schwartz inside Macy's.
Wicked was fantastic. The Ford Theatre was breathtaking.

Looking down Michigan Avenue.