Orders are in and the Verdict is.....

That's right.  FORT CARSON COLORADO.  What makes me realize that there is a reason for us going to Colorado is that Fort Carson is the most requested duty station which means it is the hardest to get.  I have a really good feeling about living there and am very excited for our new and upcoming adventures.  Chris and I are going for a week in May to house hunt.  That's right HOUSE HUNTING!   We have never done that before.  We knew we wanted to live in Wymount when we came to Utah and just picked it online.  When we got here we moved in and that was it.  It only took us an hour or two for the whole process so this is definitely a new adventure for us.  Noah will be staying with our best friends here in Utah since he will still be in school. It is such a blessing to have to great friends who you trust 100% with your child.  Thanks to the Banks' family Chris and I will be able to get a lot done and enjoy some alone time together!  


We are so excited for this new duty station.  Colorado is a beautiful state and we will be living in the same city where Chris served his mission years ago.  Who gets to say they have done that?  Not many people!  We are already making a list of places to visit and things to do while we are there.  I am super excited to be an Army wife and look forward to the many great adventures our family has ahead of us.  


My dad is going to come out this summer and meet me and Noah in Colorado to set settled into our new house.  Chris will be in training all summer so I will be doing a lot of this alone.  Welcome to Army life, right?! Im so glad that my dad said he would come out and bring my dog so we can get her back and help get us settled in.  What a blessing it is to have a father who cares that much!  


By the time Chris comes out, we will be living in a new state, new house, have our dog back, house will be all set up, and Noah will have started school.  Must be nice.  His work is probably a lot harder than mine is so I won't complain too much.  Plus I am the decorator so this will be nice.  I get to do it all by myself.  He may even come home to some new furniture.  LOL


Anyway, there is our update.  WE ARE MOVING TO COLORADO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got our orders.....sort of but not really!

This is actually kind of funny.  At least I think so, Chris.....well not so much!  We finally got word last Thursday that Chris' BOLC date has officially changed from Sept 30th to June 3rd.  We are soooooooooooooo happy about that.  If Chris went in September then he would have had to get a job for 4 months, we would have no insurance, and we couldn't come home this summer at all.  A girl that he was at LDAC with last summer had a June 3rd BOLC date and was going Adjutant General and wanted to change.  Chris jumped on that opportunity knowing that it would be great for our family situation.  So, it finally went through.  What an absolute blessing.  I know that Heavenly Father was looking out for our family on this one.  Isn't it great to know that we have someone on our side looking out for us?  I am so grateful for that.  So now Chris will be in Columbia South Carolina June 3rd thru August 21st.  We will go from our current insurance to our other insurance only having one month with no insurance rather than 5 months and we get paid immediately after school.  We really couldn't be more blessed.  Good news is that Noah and I get to come home for a month this summer and will go to the beach and get to visit Chris in South Carolina for a few days.  I am sooooooo excited for that.  Noah and I will spend two of the summer months here in Utah with our friends here since this is our last summer here.  We really are going to miss Utah.  We have had so many great experiences here and feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to come to BYU.


Funny news......Since Chris' BOLC changed that means that the orders that we coming to us are now going to change.  The Colonel told us that the orders we get to disregard them because we will be reissued a new set of orders.  Well, the day after his BOLC changed we got our order (the ones that will need to be changed).  Chris called and sounded a little down.  He then told me that on January 30th we would have been reporting to Fort Carson Colorado.  That was our 2nd choice.  Chris served his mission there so he was really hoping that it would work out.  Now we are back to the waiting game.  We still have a chance of Colorado but really with the Army it could be anywhere.  Hopefully within the next week or so we will be able to find out where we really are going.  I am getting super excited but also a little sad.  I love where we live now and we have amazing friends here.  Our neighbors are the best and we are part of an absolutely great ward.  Good news, we will make new friends, and we have made friends here that we will be friends with forever, and our Church is worldwide so we will pick right back up wherever we go.  So stay tuned to find out where the Army is sending us!

Finishing up class...

I started back to school, now working toward my bachelor's degree, in February.  I am now taking one class every five weeks where as with my associate's program I was doing two classes every nine weeks.  I thought that since I am only doing one class it would not be as time consuming.  WOW I WAS SOOOOOO WRONG!!!  The shorter the class the more material covered in that short time.  Although it has been a lot of information to take in, I am loving it.  It may be partly because I am done with all my generals and am now taking classes that will relate to my career choice.  I love the class I am taking.  It is so much fun talking about and writing papers on how I will conduct my classroom one day.  It has actually been fun.  I can't believe I just said that, but it has been fun.  I have learned a ton and have found new ways that would be so helpful once I am a teacher.  I also now have a team that I have to work with each week and the team I work with in this class is awesome.  I hope that I can say that about all of them but we will see.  I can't believe that I am actually working on my bachelor's degree.  I never thought I would have the chance to do this and I am sooooooooo happy I did.  Just having my associate's degree makes me feel so accomplished.  I am grateful that I have such a supporting husband who sees the importance of an education and I am grateful that I can be a good example to Noah and my future children by earning my degree.  YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Papa....

There are people who come into our lives and make a huge impression.  One that will last forever in our hearts and minds.  When I started dating Chris and knew that it was getting serious, Chris took me to formally introduce me to his family.  (I say formally because Chris had been best friends with my brothers for years so I knew who his parents were but just not on the same level as a future family member should).  Chris' Papa was amazing.  He was so welcoming to me and Noah and really made us feel like part of the family.  He always welcomed us with hugs and kisses.  He always called me "honey" and greeted me with a smile.  Papa was a great man.  He touched many lives forever.  As my sister in law Stephanie said "he never knew a stranger".  And he didn't.  He was friends with everyone he passed.  He was so full of life and loved deeply.  He was a man of service.  He served everyone he could and not because he felt like he had to but because he wanted to.  His family was very important to him.  He always made time for us and did little acts of kindness for us all. 


Papa passed away last night.  This world is losing an amazing man, but heaven is gaining an amazing spirit.  Papa will be reunited with his wife who passed 5 years ago.  What a joyous reunion that will be for both of them.  Our Savior will definitely be please with the work that Papa did here on Earth.  Although we are sad to lose such a great man, we are also glad that he is no longer suffering and is at peace now.


I am so grateful for the plan of salvation, to know that death is part of our Heavenly Fathers plan and that we will all be reunited as families after this life.  I am so grateful to know that there is life after death and that this is just a small small part of the plan.


Seeing how Papa led his life is a great motivator on how I want to live my life.  I want to love all those around me.  I want to lose myself in service to others.  I want to love deeply and often.  I am so grateful to have known him and to be part of his family.  What an amazing man, what an amazing life!

Super Woman.....NOT

I feel like with Chris' graduation right around the corner (1 month to be exact) I am feeling a bit overwhelmed and inadequate.  I started back to school on Valentine's day to finish up my last two years of school.  Noah is in 5th grade so he has a bit more homework than in years past plus he is involved in almost every sport and activity known to man.  (yes yes It is my fault but he loves it).  Chris is battalion commander for the ROTC program which is very demanding so I feel like so much depends on me.  I struggle each day to keep my house neat and orderly, get Noah to and from school, to Chris to class, work, and Army stuff, and then I still have my homework, my calling for church, and maintaining my daycare (which I have loved doing while here at BYU but am looking forward to no more daycare).  This should be easy to keep up with right?!?!??!?!?!?!  Well its NOT.  I want to make sure that my families needs are meet but keep my sanity at the same time.  Is that even possible? I try to stay organized as much as possible but feel like I fall short a lot.  I must say, right now it is nice.   My house is clean, my homework is done, we are having left overs for dinner, Noah has gone to piano practice and done most of his homework and is now out with his friends.  I have 10 minutes until I need to go pick up Chris.  Once I do that I am coming home and sitting on my couch and doing absolutely nothing this evening.  I DESERVE IT!  Ok enough of my complaining.  Just wanted to get that off my chest.  


BLESSED...............


Ok now for the uplifting part.  I am so blessed.  After 5 years of school, Chris will be graduating in a month and commissioning as an Officer in the United States Army!  IM SO EXCITED!!!!!  This means we will be grown ups.  We will have a real job!  FINALLY!!!!!  It makes me realize that the last 5 years of sacrifice have totally been worth it.  Noah's sports and activities are not going to slow down but the good part is.  I love watching him participate in great activities and have so much fun.  Isn't that the best part of being a parent?  I am blessed to be able to take all of my classes online and be able to keep the house clean, cook my family dinner, help Noah with his homework, and be a taxi for two of my favorite guys!  Needless to say, why do I complain?  I AM SOOOOOOOO BLESSED!

Cookbooks are in!

I came up with a brilliant idea (ok I stole the idea from a friend who did this as a fundraiser for Multiple Sclerosis a few years back)  to raise money for our adoption.  So I made up a cookbook and am selling them.  They turned out great.  We are hoping to sell 500 copies.  That will give us all the money we need for adoption.
We have had a great response so far.  The cookbooks finally came in yesterday and the selling now begins.  We had about 30 preorders that had prepaid and needed to be shipped.  I got those out in the mail yesterday and had the BEST conversation about adoption with the mail guy.  He was asking if I was from Arkansas because a ton of books were going there.  I explained to him that my sister in law and brother in law live there.  Then I went on to explain that in each package I was sending out a cookbook that I put together to raise money so that we could adopt a baby.  He then told me that he has three kids and his 2nd oldest and his wife adopted their 3 children.  They are using the same agency that we are and so we got to chit chat about adoption for a few minutes.  Let me just tell you that I LOVE talking about adoption.  It was never a topic that I avoided in the past but with it being so dear to our hearts I absolutely take every chance possible to let people know we are hoping to adopt and let them know how much we love adoption.  Im sure we will love it even more once we are placed with a baby.  So here is a picture of the cover of this amazing recipe book....

So after I sent off a ton of books at the post office, I went home to wait for Noah to get home from school.  At 4pm he had piano lessons.  It was such a nice day so I had my front door open and all my windows.  I was in my room folding up the tons of clothes that Chris left for me to fold (thanks honey) when I heard Noah's best friend Mason saying "knock knock".  I told him to come on in cause Noah was going to be home any minute plus Mason is like part of the family so he is welcome anytime.  He came in and was talking to me waiting for Noah to get home.  He then asked what all the boxes on my kitchen table were for.  I told him that I was selling cookbooks to raise money so we could get a baby.  He then gets a HUGE smile on his face and said "Noah and I can sell them around Wymount (our apartment complex)."  I told him that he could see if Noah wanted to and then needed to ask permission from his mom to do that.  His mom Sarah is my best friend too so of course she didn't mind.  I told the boys, "if you sell 10 books then I will take you to the BYU creamery this weekend for ice cream.  (it is the BEST ice cream and I didn't think they would sell 10  hahahaha)  So off they went.  At some point they added their friend Connor to the selling mix.  The boys came back about an hour later and had sold 15 books.  HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!  They needed more to sell.  I said "hey if you want go for it, yall are doing great."  They took off with more books.  They sold another 17 books in an hour.  Those boys are amazing.  It was so nice to see the excitement on their faces knowing that they were helping be part of the adoption process.  This is a story that we will definitely share with our birthmother and Noah's little brother or sister one day!

Why so busy.....

I feel like some days there are just so many things that I need to get done.  The never ending laundry pile,

the never ending dishes to wash,

and then of course the house cleaning.

(and boy do I wish I had three or more people to help with this)

And it doesn't stop there.  Today is one of those days.  I have a ton of homework I need to work on.  My bachelors program is going great and it a lot better than taking my generals but it is still so time consuming.  I am not sure how people work, go to school, and maintain a family.  This is hard work.  I try to get most of my school work done during the day so that it does not affect my family in any way.  Most of the time this works but there are some times where I just have to do it when they are here.  I must say Chris and Noah are so supportive of me going back to school so that makes it a lot easier.  I can't complain too much about all the cleaning too because they do help.  Noah likes to help clean up around the house because that means that he gets a treat of some sort for helping.  We do this instead of an allowance because it works better for us.  Noah seems to work harder when he knows he is getting a particular toy or game rather than if we are giving him money.  Chris helps out when he can but I can't ask too much of him since he is going to school full time, working part time and is the battalion commander for the ROTC program (which requires A LOT of time).  I also have two blankets that I want to tie today as well.  Chris is working til 8pm so that will give me plenty of time to finish up a lot of what I have planned today and I am doing a simple easy dinner too.  Well, need to go change the laundry over and get ready for Noah to get home from school.  Thanks for taking a few to listen to me vent.  I feel better and now can get to work on my list.