Visiting Washington

About a week after the job offer we finally got details about our move and were informed that the company had planned for us to visit the area and 'house hunt'.  LeGrand didn't have any days he could take off but didn't want us to miss this opportunity so he and Laex stayed home (so Laex could finish up his last days at Thatcher Elementary), I called and invited my parents to leave tomorrow, literally, on a trip to visit Washington - they were good sports and agreed to come with the girls and I.

We left Saturday the 13th and stayed until the 17th.  We spent a lot of time in the car driving around and getting to know the area where LeGrand will be working and the town we would most likely live in.  We were able to meet with a RS agent who showed us some homes, but the market really isn't good at the moment as it is winter. We weren't successful in finding a place but we were happy to get to explore AND the company has a home they are planning for us to move into so we aren't under in 'pressure' to hurry up and buy something.

 (The company house where we will be living)

 (Down from the village is the hydro plant and dam)

 (and these are the amazing things in our back yard!)

(The village is just beautiful)

(Woodland Primary School where Laex will go)

The girls were such good sports spending so much time in the car that one day we decided to take them to the children's museum in Portland and let them play - it was a fun time for everyone!

 (Every time we turned around, Loa was gone & we'd find her back at the 'face painting' counter - she loved it!)

We were scheduled to fly out early morning on the 17th but our flight got delayed about 6 hours which caused us to miss our connection then we had to get re-routed and it ended up being a very long day in airports and we didn't arrive in SLC until about 11 pm.  I arrived back in Grace at about 2:30 am, just in time to re-pack/pack everyone to leave at 6 am back to SLC for our flight to Texas. Exhausting!

December 5, 2014

December 5th brought life changing BIG news for our family.  New's that I once wished would come years ago, news that we feel like we've been waiting FOREVER for, but news that came too soon.
LeGrand got a new job offer - we will be moving to Washington, and we had exactly 1 month before his new job started on January 5th.

My initial emotions were so mixed.  Of course I was excited for new opportunities and experiences BUT my heart was FINALLY hooked on Grace.  A little town I was sure I could never love, a place that truly became home with people who were all family, I bawled for days - now that the time was here I wasn't ready to leave all that I had grown to love (even if that love took 2.5 years to develop).

And then so many things happened in the days ahead that I didn't have much time to grieve, better yet, even think.  The girls and I took a last minuet trip to Washington to see our future town and look for a home (the company is providing us a home but we really feel like we'd like to buy one if we can find the right thing).  LeGrand had to work so I asked my parents to accompany us - it was 4 crazy days of lots of exploring but everyone was a good sport. 

Because of flight delays I didn't arrive back in grace unto December 18th at 2:30am, just in time to repack and load everyone back in the car to head back to SL and catch a 10am flight to San Antonio to spend a week with the family for Christmas.  As nuts as it was, I was grateful to have already had this trip planned as it gave me lots of time to relax and 'check out' of all that crazyness. 

After arriving back home the early hours of December 26th we had 3 days before the packers arrived - they packed up the house in one day and loaded it the next day.  LeGrand had to finish work and so we had to stay a couple more days and were so grateful when the kind Norm and Nina Johnson invited us to stay in their basement for a couple of nights as all of our belongings were gone. 

On the morning of January 1st, 2015 we started the new year out right as we got on the road to our new life in Washington - my heart was heavy as we left Grace.  A part of us will always live in that beautiful valley full of the greatest people - I won't miss the below 20 temps- but I'll miss just about everything else.  I can't believe that the place I never wanted to be in became the hardest place to leave.

'Christ'mas

This year I really wanted to focus on Christ for our Christmas - we had a surprise trip planned to visit the cousins in Texas for Christmas and I wanted to kids to think about the real reason we celebrate rather than being so focused on what the would 'get'. 

We had a great FHE at the end of November and LeGrand talked about our plan to focus on Jesus for Christmas and that we weren't going to think or talk about the gifts we want.  The kids wrote this great letter to Santa:

And I've been creating (along with the kids help) Christmas ornaments that remind us of Christ so that we can decorate our tree around Christ this year.

And the only other decorations we put up were our favorite nativities

pigtails

This girl's hair isn't coming in as fast as her sisters did and I'm having a hard time getting her to keep a headband on, but her hair isn't quite long enough to 'pull up'.  This Sunday I decided to try pigtails and although it still isn't long enough, in my opinion, I made it work - lol.

Thanksgiving in Grace

LeGrand had to work the day after Thanksgiving and so we decided to stay home this year.  For the first time ever I made a full Thanksgiving dinner and we stayed in our PJ's all day :)  It was a nice relaxing day with lost of yummy food, Laex kept saying, "this is the best meal ever".  We marinated and deep fried the turkey and it was yummmmmmy!

We have so SO many things to be thankful for.  We are so grateful this year for good health, a happy family, a beautiful community to live in, a good job, the guidance and purpose the gospel brings & all of the freedoms we get to enjoy.  We are also endlessly grateful for amazing friends and families.  We are so blessed.

Another one gone

All he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth :)

A day at School

I'm Laexin's room mom this year and was assigned to do the December Bulletin Board.  LeGrand had a couple of days before Thanksgiving off so he willingly came and helped me do the bulletin board and it turned out great!

Laex, has been begging us to come for school lunch, particularly on 'Pizza' Day - His little school is so great you can pretty much come whenever you want and hang out.  So we decided we would stay for 'School lunch' after we did the bulletin board --he was in heaven.

After lunch LeGrand played lightning with the kids and as always was the life of the party!  We were saying our goodbyes to head for home and Laex was begging us to stay for the party too :)  It was a fun day at the school.

Quiet Mischief

This little lady has become pretty mischievous. She's normally quiet so it's not out of the ordinary for me not to 'hear' her, but lately she's been using that to her advantage :)  She loves to climb all over and I've recently found her standing on the piano keys or using her bum to bounce up on down on the keys to make noise, lol.  She is constantly on top of the dinning table.  I've had to learn to put the chairs 'up' after every meal so that she can't climb on the chairs and get on the table.  The other day I was on the phone with LeGrand and before I knew it she was doing this:

she emptied the whole plant and dirt all over the place.
What a stinker.