What a month!

Well, almost a whole month has gone by since we moved. We're about a week shy. And so much has happened! Justin started dental school officially on Monday, Caleb turned 2 years, Mackenzie turned 3 months...my oven has caught on fire, we've lost power, and I set the smoke alarms off. Can it be any more exciting?!

So, to start us off:

Here is our moving experience. So much stuff! As you can see, the trailer is stuffed, and apparently a few more things were stuffed in there after this picture. Oh, and that's our car. For those of you who haven't seen it. Everyone knows the car not only for it's color but because it stalls frequently at stop lights (we're both learning to drive a stick).


And this is our packed riding conditions: every nook and cranny was filled. Caleb and Mackenzie had things stuffed ALL around them. It was ridiculous! Nothing was spared!! lol It was tight. But we got it all here!

We celebrated Caleb's 2nd birthday while Anderson G-parents were still in town. Iowa City city park has a cool train to ride...and C loved it!

I included the pic above to showcase Caleb's retro outfit: pretty sure his Daddy wore it when he was a kid!

The cake says "1+1". We got creative. :) Happy Birthday little boy!

We took a little family trip to Lake McBride (about 30 mins away) and enjoyed the beach and a nice walk in the shade.

My first outing with the kiddos somewhere where I wished I had had another adult: Kent Park. It was another beach, but we actually went swimming this time. Caleb loved it and Kenzie survived, and all in all it was fun!

And Mackenzie is 3 months old today!! Happy Birthday beautiful baby girl! This is the best I've gotten of her smiles. She hates the flash so it always disappears when I try to take a picture.

Well baby monitor is going crazy and my son is calling my name incessantly and the grocery store must be visited...so this post is over! Hope everyone is doing great. I hope to stay updated just not as frequently. Things are busy, but I feel so happy! Life is good!!

We're in Iowa!

We've arrived. haha, maybe not to the ultimate ending, but at least we've moved on to our next adventure. And what an adventure!! Justin starts school this next week (eeek!). We've been busy unpacking and arranging things and trying our best to get things organized. It's been nice to have Justin's parents hang around so that we can take off and go look for furniture and just leave the kiddos at home. Also, they have a truck which makes getting furniture much easier.

It's amazing how much space we have...and how easily we have filled it with all our stuff that we had in storage and in boxes. We unloaded all our pictures and were amazed to think that we had them all up in our bedroom...it's enough for whole house now! So, yeah, we are living in a 2-bedroom townhouse that has a partially finished basement. It's amazing! We've got our washer/dryer hooked up, we've got 2 couches (one for $8!), a couple of book shelves...and we have so much more to get. All in time, right?

Ah, I'm a bit nervous how I'm going to actually handle being at home along with these two kiddos. Luckily, we live in an amazing complex that has a courtyard between all the units...and the other units are extremely social. So, hopefully I'll be able to go out and mingle and let the kiddos run around so that I can have a bit of a break...and maybe even make some friends. :)

Well, that's about it. We've made it safely! We drove for 3 long days, we've been unpacking for over a week, and we're so tired, but loving having our own space. It's wonderful! More visual updates to come...just wanted to let everyone know we've made it! and we're happy!

Snapshot update!

Wow, life has been crazy around here lately.

Rather than bombard you with a 100 pictures, and like 12 posts, I'm consolidating.

Since Justin got home, we celebrated Independence Day with a fabulous grilling job by Justin, sparklers, and a fireworks display at the mall. (bottom row, 3rd from left).

Justin also brought home his brother Devin, and we spent the week sorting through the attic. Caleb is such a good boy, but lack of attention is hard for any toddler. Until Justin found his old bucket of Hot Wheels. Caleb has been entertained byt hat bucket for almost 3 whole weeks!! (top row, 3rd from left). Yay for cars!

While Devin was here, we blessed Mackenzie. (second row, 2nd pic). It was a beautiful day and made me remember Caleb's blessing. I recently spoke to a friend from Scotland and she asked me if I was going to have Mackenzie sealed to me. It was a chance for me to explain the wonderful blessing of knowing that my children are ALREADY sealed to me. That as long as we stay true to our covenants, they are ours for all eternity. That's so comforting and awesome. What a blessing!

(just click on it to make it bigger)

With Devin here we also went swimming. Then when Devin left, we took a spontaneous trip to Cape Cod. Caleb LOVED the beach and the water, and I love this pic of him (bottom row, 1st pic). It was a bit hot, but Mackenzie handled it okay. (top row, 1st pic). It was just so fun to be with my family at such a beautiful place.

Our other spontaneous trip was to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Caleb absolutely LOVES Lehi. Oh it was so cute. We wanted a picture with a character, and Justin snagged Lehi from a crowd, and when Caleb saw him, he smiled, but then went all shy and wouldn't talk or anything. But he was so willing to sit on his lap and talked about it for a while afterwards. I love it! The pageant was spectacular too! Such a fabulous show!
It also showed us that we need more time to drive, cuz these kiddos like to stop! We stopped at every rest stop on the way home. no joke.

Then Justin and I celebrated our 3rd year anniversary! We went to Franconian State Park and visited the Flume Gorge up there. It was a super hot day, but way cool in the gorge, so it was absolutely perfect! Yay!! I love him so much...posting about it just doesn't do him justice. He's so kind and thoughtful and considerate and always surprises me. He works so hard and carries more than his share when he knows I'm having a rough go of it. He's an amazing Daddy and loves his kiddos. And he always makes me laugh! I can only imagine how much my love for him will grow in the next year. I love you, Justin!

The pictures of Mackenzie are just cute pictures. far right is the oldest, bottom is from when she was like 7 weeks old; top row 2nd pic and 2nd row 1st pic are from yesterday. She's 2 months old! She's smiling but I haven't been able to catch it on the camera. She looks so different every day! I'm so grateful for my life. I feel so blessed!

And...we are leaving in like 2-3 days. I sure hope we can get everything packed and ready to go!

Photo Finish

420 Feet...

120 MPH...

17 Seconds...

Sometimes...

... you just gotta buy the picture...

Date is Set...

Alright, I know I'm behind in posts. Here's what you can look forward to:
Justin's home!! YAY!

4th of July
Mackenzie's blessing
more family hang out

But, the big news is, we have a move-out date.
August 2nd we will be pulling out of the driveway with (hopefully) all our stuff loaded and following in tow by Mom and Dad. We'll be in Iowa City later that week. It's finally here!

It's kind of a bitter-sweet event, actually.
Considering some feelings I've had while living here, I think I need to explain this.

First, the sweet part:

1) we're going to be living in our space
2) We'll be providing for ourselves (in a matter of speaking, since we'll be living off loans)
3) We'll be our own little family
4) Justin will be starting dental school
5) My children won't get confused with authority, and space, and routines.

Now, for the bitter:

1) I have many doubts about my ability to actually run a household on my own: I've never done it! Let alone with TWO kids!
2) It's been great for my kiddos to get to know their grandparents
3) It's been great for the grandparents to get to know their grandchildren
4) Who's gonna be our in-home baby sitters now?
5) Mostly, I'm worried about the things that will take me by surprise. Will I be able to handle it all while I'm adjusting to being a new mom? I'm really nervous for it.
6) Have we really done everything here that we could have?
7) money...I always stress about money

Summary:
I'm excited. We're all excited. Well, except for maybe Mom and Dad. They're excited for us, I'm sure, but they're going to miss their grandchildren something fierce.

Anyway, I know it'll be good for us. It's what we need. It's been quite stressful and strenuous at times for us to live in a space that's not our own. I'm so excited to arrange my kitchen cupboards, to put our pictures on the wall, to leave out what I want to leave out, do the grocery shopping and plan the menus...and I'm nervous for all of it too.

I hope we make new friends. I hope we can handle it. I hope we're able to stay close despite Justin's crazy schedule. I hope things keep working out for us and our fairytale continues...

Anybody else ever moved cross country to start over and have some input?