We have other cousins?!?

Kayda and Dillon know about their other cousins.  They know that they exist, they occasionally skype with them, and they have a few memories of them.  However, since they live across the country we don't get to see them.  It has been years since we've seen them actually.  Well, lucky for us Aunt Kirsten, Mason, Owen and Raelle came to visit Grandma and Papa G!  Since we don't live far from them that means we got to see them!  We spent a few different occasions with them.  They came to visit us a couple of times, the first was to see the new place, the second was because Kayda was in school and we couldn't go that way.  We also went to Grandma and Papa G's to see them and were treated with Chuck E Cheese!  Unfortunately Mason and Owen, often time Dillon as well, move too quickly for me to get many pictures!

 Yes I actually love these horse rides... You just can't tell by my face.

 Kayda and Dillon used teamwork to help Carson play on the toys!  What great big siblings!

 Papa G with all SIX of his grandkids!

 Carson loved dancing with Grandma G!  I'm not entirely sure why he didn't smile basically

 Dancing on the big screen!

This was one of the days they came to visit.  We all went over to our neighborhood park.  Carson wasn't interested in playing on the toys though.  He wanted to push the stroller, by it's actual handle which he can't reach on his own!

Home Sweet Home

We painted a few rooms before we moved in to help it feel more like home, I'm just sharing pictures of the rooms that are already painted and I'll add more as different spaces get done.  I'm so excited to keep poking my way through and gradually make this a bright, beautiful, colorful home!

 Family Room

Kitchen

 Den/Playroom

 Kayda's Room (she got to choose her color)

Dillon's Room (he also got to choose his color)

So far we are LOVING our new home!  Kayda has been to school three times.  She is a little hesitant and misses her old school but she is a trooper and is still putting herself out there to make new friends.  We've been to our new ward once, I hung out in nursery the whole time with Carson since it was his first time ever. There were several ladies in there, all of which were really nice.  We definitely moved into a family area.  I guess a good portion of the people in our ward come from our neighborhood and probably about 30 kids get on Kayda's bus at her bus stop (just K-2!!!).  We've taken a little break from moving, though Papa seems determined to keep it moving (thanks Dad and Mom).  We're just waiting to bug the uncles to see if they can help us move the swing set.  Other than that pretty much everything is here.  We like to walk to the neighborhood park, sometimes ride our bikes and today we had the whole family ride bikes down the trail to Kayda's school so she could show us how she can go across the rings on the play ground.  Kayda did great on the ride, what a champ!  The ride was 3 miles round trip, Dillon hung out in the bike trailer with Carson which worked out quite nice for keeping Carson happy!  It's wonderful that it's a nice FLAT ride so we CAN ride our bikes to the store (which would also be 3 miles round trip) or to school, or to the library.  I love it.  We are excited to find the river access which the maps show coming from our neighborhood (unfortunately they aren't close enough to show exactly WHERE).  I'm hoping there will be some access in our town where we can wade in a slow part of the river.  It would be a great way to spend a summer afternoon.  Daddy is riding the train in to work more often than not and seems to enjoy the chance to wind down on the way home, he's working on shifting his hours forward an hour so he actually gets home earlier than he used to.  Life is good.  We're happy and this house has turned out to be everything we needed it to be.  

We are Blessed

Warning this isn't my average post.  I felt the need to write it like this so that's what I'm doing.

This year has been a really rough year.  Daddy and I have been scrambling to try to keep our family together, sometimes the jury is still out... but we are both doing the best we can in some terrible circumstances.  We have been very blessed to be in my parents' home while we work it out, it turned out that this is exactly where we needed to be.  There have been a lot of trials this year, deeply personal, highly emotional, seemingly impossible trials.  Some that wouldn't have been so difficult if not for the fact that they occurred at the same time.  But we are blessed.

We are blessed to have our sweet Kayda.  She has such a strong spirit that she was able to pull us all, willingly or not, back to church.  We are blessed to have two sweet boys who love with all of themselves and spread joy wherever they are.  We are blessed to have so many supportive people in our lives in and out of our blood relatives.  There have been too many blessings to count, many too personal to share online, those I will have to write up and put somewhere special for my children to read in the future.  We are blessed that Daddy has a job where so many people care about him and his family.  We are blessed to have had the opportunity to come back to church in my parents' ward, full of people I grew up knowing, and new young families, all ready and willing to reach out to the people around them.  We are blessed to be getting this new home, in a new city, with new schools, new people, new streets and a new ward.

Now we have the keys to this house.  One obstacle after another was placed before us but each was overcome.  We were led to believe that we could be in the house two weeks early.  Then we had to go to the underwriter six times, each time they seemed to ask for something that was harder to do.  Then the mortgage insurance company changed their rate so we had to switch mortgage insurance companies.  Then the closing cost credit wasn't being properly applied.  Even today, the day of funding and closing the lender decided to object to refunding us for the appraisal fees, even after approving them last week.  But now, finally, over a week after we were supposed to have our new home... it is ours.  This process started December 11th, it finished February 5th...  it was longer than it should have been and it was incredibly painful to endure.

This house represents a lot for our family.  Mostly it represents a fresh start, hope for a better future and the chance to make of our lives what we will.

We want this house to be a lot of things.  We want it to be a safe, secure, peaceful, happy and spiritual place for our children to grow up.  We want it to be somewhere that old hurts can be overcome and new, wonderful memories can be made.

We have an opportunity to change our lives from the very bottom up.  We have been tested and tried and we have been blessed.  We have been so blessed.  Our lives have been finely tuned by God.  He has been directing events in our lives for years so that we would come to this point, so that we would have this opportunity.  We are blessed.

Families can be Together Forever

Today our family was sealed together for eternity.... It's taken us over 9 years to get here but we made it.  Our children looked so darling in their white, they (especially Kayda) were enthralled with the temple and SO excited to be inside.  Carson (just like for his blessing last Sunday) was perfect, he sat totally still, no whining or fussing, he was as peaceful and calm and filled with the spirit as possible.  Kayda's words were that she "felt different but knows she's the same".  

 Here's our crew.  We invited the grandparents.  We didn't want it to be big and complicated.  A couple important people were out of town (Papa H and Baba) but we were unwilling to put it off.   Thanks Jessica B and Lisa C for escorting the kids and making sure they were dressed as cute as possible.  Of course, it's not difficult to make our kids look goregous!

When we first started talking to our kids about being sealed Dillon thought it meant we would die.  We had a long drawn out discussion about how it just means that someday, when we do die, we can be together still.  But we don't die when we're sealed we'll all hopefully live long, healthy, happy lives.  Kayda is our spirit guide, she feels it so strongly and is a lighthouse for us.  You could see her reverence for the temple, goodness, you could see ALL of their reverence for the temple, even our sweet little 18 month old Carson.  They are all perfect, just exactly the little people we want and need in our family.

Since I don't have a post about it I figure I may as well mention that ALL of the children were given their naming blessings last Sunday.  Kayda and Dillon were both very eager for them and Carson was/is an angel.

Dillon's Birthday Party

 Dillon and Kayden

 Dillon and Vismaad

 The Ticket Buster.  Daddy managed to catch the "1000 ticket" ticket.  So Dillon hit the jackpot!

Daddy Got There Too!

Last Friday Daddy was able to go through the temple for his endowments.  He says he had "fun," he thought it was really interesting.  I thought that was an interesting word to use to describe it... but it was a good experience for him.  

Dillon's 5th Birthday!

Tuesday was Dillon's fifth birthday!  It actually shocks me more that Dillon is five than it did that Kayda is six....  strange but it is what it is.  He had a great birthday.  He got to go to McDonalds for lunch with Mommy and Grandma and Papa G. 

 He got to open a present once Kayda was home (the two of them spent the afternoon playing it)

Then we had beans and weenies and cornbread (his choice) with Grandma G, Papa G, Grandma H, and Papa H.

One of my favorite things about Dillon is that he is so enthusiastic.  He loves everything and he is going to SHOW you that it is AWESOME!  We love this little guy!