Giving Thanks

I'm getting excited for Thanksgiving this week. My time here in Boise is quickly passing by and I'm looking forward to spending as much time with family as I can before we move. I'm not going to lie. When I found out that Owen was offered a job out of state I was a little angry. OK, I was really angry. I was kind of out of control emotionally. I wasn't looking at the positives; only the negatives. I couldn't understand why Heavenly Father would make me uproot my life and family and move to a place where I have no family or friends. When my November Ensign came with the General Conference addresses I read President Monson's talk on gratitude. It was actually one of the only talks I remembered. (Here's a link to it ) http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1298-27,00.html I loved the part in this talk he talks about the multitude following Jesus in the wilderness and after three days Jesus had compassion on the people because they had not eaten and his disciples asked Jesus how they were going to feed all of the people with what little they had left. Pres. Monson commented that "like many of us, the disciples saw only what was lacking." He continued on with the story saying that only AFTER the savior blessed the food and gave thanks did the miracle of feeding the 4,000 happen. Since studying this talk I am slowly but surely finding the positives in this new chapter of our lives. Owen has actually had several other job interviews, after accepting his current job offer, and we have both decided that this will be the best choice for our family. Owen will be able to be home every night, it is work he will enjoy and we believe that Heavenly Father has blessed us with this job. I've been trying so hard to be more thankful. Here's a list of what I am grateful for:

1. The Gospel of Jesus Christ


2. A loving Heavenly Father who knows me personally and loves me despite all of my weaknesses


3. A wonderful husband who works hard and would do anything for our family


4. The cutest girl in the world; Miss Evie


5. The relationship I have with my parents and all they do for me and my family


6. My two sisters who are pretty much my best friends in all the world


7. The closeness my whole family shares


8. My grandparents; they are truly the best examples in my life of how to serve others selflessly and lovingly no matter who you are or what you have done.


9. My in-laws (especially my Mother in-law and Father in-law; I really got lucky!)


10. My friends that I have had since I was small all the way to the friends I've made since!


11. Nature; it amazes me every where I look. ( one of my favorite primary songs is "Heavenly Father Loves me")

I could go on and on and on. But I won't! What are some of the things you are grateful for?

This was the day I got back after the cruise. Owen sold off one of his guns and got this pistol. He was so excited to go shoot it. It wouldn't cycle right, so he ended up taking it back for something else. He was disappointed.

Miss Evie has the cutest smile and the biggest dimples! I missed them while I was gone!

This was Miss Evie's costume this year! I can't remember where I came up with the idea, but I thought she would be the cutest little mummy, and she was! I bought a white sheet at DI for like 3 bucks, ripped it into small strips and dyed them in tea water. Then I took fabric glue and glued the pieces to a white turtle neck onesie and a pair of white leggings. She hated putting the costume on, but once she found out she got candy after putting it on, she was all for it!

We went trunker treating at my parents ward Halloween party. My sister put on a spook alley and it turned out really well! Her and her husband did such a great job :)

Daddy and Evie checking out the candy!

I had a pretty stressful previous week. Monday, Owen got a job offer! YAY! Except for it's in Washington :( This was when the stress hit. We have to short sell our house and we have to find a place to live. Both of those won't be easy tasks. The rent up there is expensive and kind of hard to come by and I don't want to sound like a spoiled little brat, but I don't want to live in a dumpy place. I love my home and I am going to miss it. Not to mention all of my family is here. The roads will most likely be closed between here and there so we won't be able to visit for Christmas :( On Friday the realtor came by to take pictures and discuss everything with us and I bent down to pick Evie up and I threw out my back. It was the most horrible pain ever. I think I might have rather been in labor (only because I knew I could get an epidural and the pain could be gone). I was out all weekend and still can't stand up straight or walk very well. The minute I realized my back was in trouble I thought; this is exactly how I feel emotionally, mentally, physically - broken :( This job is an awesome opportunity and I think Owen will really enjoy it and that's what matters, right? It is with a huge fortune 100 company called CHS inc. He will be an apprentice for an agronomy sales position and the benefits are outstanding! I have mixed feelings - as you can tell. I'm so excited to be able to finally move on with our lives, but not to move out of state! Remember us in your prayers as we make this life changing move. Wish us luck!

Vay cay!

I got to spend almost a whole week with my two sisters, one of my bro in-law and one of my brothers. It was so much fun! Owen along with the help of his mom and brother and sister in-law watch Miss Evie while I was gone. I needed a vacation so badly! It's hard to believe it's already been a week since we got back! I miss it. Not having any responsibility, just hanging out, dancing every night - it was awesome! Here's a recap of my trip ;)
Bright and early, ready to go!

The Miami Skyline from our hotel room!

On the ship!

Key West!

We rented a golf cart/scooter thing and drove all around the island. We went shopping, ate some Key Lime pie and went to the beach.

The "formal" dinner night. My bro and bro in-law weren't too excited to be in pictures, so here are just the girls!

Sister, brother and brother in-law. The boys always got a little crazy during dinner.

Me and my sister on the other side of the table!

We went snorkeling in Nassau, Bahamas. This was the boat ride to the snorkeling spot.

I was scared to go snorkeling. I have a fear of sharks and pretty much anything in the sea. But it turned out all right! I enjoyed it, it was really fun! Once we got done snorkeling and we got back to the mainland, we got rained out. Like, someone dumped a pitcher of water on us. We went back out after dinner on the boat and took a taxi to The Atlantis Resort. They had a huge aquarium that was really cool :) We were there during the evening and I don't think I would ever go back to Nassau. Had several scary experiences, like scared for my life experiences.

Our last stop was Coco Cay! It is a private island owned by The Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. It was by far our favorite stop. We just played on the beach all day long!

Enjoying the beach. The clouds threatened rain not too long after we got to the the island, but they moved on with only a few sprinkles and left us nothing but beautiful sunshine!

My sister and I decided to try para sailing. It was well worth the money. Here we are taking off!

We were so high up. It felt like we were flying!

The guy driving the boat was teasing us. I told him I was nervous and that I would probably scream before we took off. Then when he was getting ready to bring us down he let our feet touch the water. It was so scary. All I could think of was some huge shark jumping out of the water to eat us......................I kind of have a phobia of the Ocean :/

AWESOME!

The sand was sooooo soft and the water was soooo beautiful! It was like swimming in bath water, it was so warm!

This was the water park at Coco Cay. It was awesome! We played on it the last hour before we had to leave. I never thought I would be so willing to swim in the ocean, but it was really fun! My sister got stung by a jelly fish. She knows me well enough that she didn't tell me until AFTER we were done. Pretty sure I would have been paranoid had she told me during!

This is our last dinner on the ship with our waitress, Jonell. We really liked her:)

This was some old guy that my sister thought was "rad." Apparently the night before he was wearing all baby pink. This night he chose to wear all white and I'm not gonna lie he looked like he should have been in a coffin. He seriously looked like death. Anyway, he started dancing dirty and my sister didn't think he was so great anymore. We decided he was more like a creepy old pervert.

This was Angie watching him take a break. He couldn't dance too long til he had to sit on the stair and take a break.

This was so fitting for our day! While we were at Coco Cay and standing in the water a stingray swam right behind my sister and then while we were para sailing we saw a HUGE stingray!

I was sad to come home. The week after was a hard week for me. It was good I had such a relaxing week, cuz I was being prepared for a most stressful week ahead -another post for another time in the near future. I love my family and was so grateful to be able to spend so much time with them! My sisters are my best friends and I will miss them when we move:(

It was an accident!

Evie is not an overly active child. Not that she's lazy or anything, but she definitely isn't adventerous by any means! And of all of the cousins her age, she is the first one to get a cast! Here's the quick story; I went into Kohl's department store, which I never find anything in there anyways so I should have just stayed away, but I decided to stop by on my way home. You know how they have those STUPID "shopping carts"..........well they are more like rolling things with a bag you throw your stuff in and I'm pretty sure they hope you don't remember what you put in there and hope you will just end up buying it because you can't see what's in there! Anyway, I put Evie down to move SEVERAL normal "carts" out of the way in order to get the kids "cart" that has the seat in the front. So mind you, this is a matter of seconds, I see Evie walk to the front of the store, which is no more than a couple feet away and she is looking out the window. Next thing I know she is crying I go over to see what had happened and she had tried to climb on the platform that had the mannequins on them in the front window. She had her sippy cup in her right hand and tried to catch herself with her left hand resulting in a minor, but very painful, buckle fracture in her left wrist. I knew she was hurt because she wouldn't stop crying. So I took her to the doctor, luckily it was in the afternoon, so no ER. They send me to the hospital for x-rays. Have you ever seen an 18 month old get x-rays? Yeah, that was fun :( So we had to wait a couple days to get the cast on so the swelling could go down. Naturally she picked out a pink cast ;) She really adapted well! Now every where I go people ask what happened......and through the whole process of getting her medically treated I had to explain it to EVERY single person....you could hear it in their voice when they asked "this was an accident?" YES, I do not beat my child! That's what I was thinking in my head, but I calmly explained the chain of events to each person

We went to the corn maize with my sister and her husband and some of their friends. Owen has been out of town helping with harvest over by his parents, so I have been a single mom! It's hard work! I was desparate to get out and do something. Yeah, I didn't think it through very well, an umbrella stroller going through a corn maize. Stupid. I was only there for maybe 20 min. then Ev's and I decided to go home. It was fun to have some fall fun!

We suprised Owen with a bbq for his birthday on Monday the 11th! I told him all along that I would be coming out to see him on Tuesday and we would celebrate with his family then. Boy, he was sure surprised when we showed up! We miss having daddy at home :(

This is in front of Grandma Ogden's house! She always has the funnest halloween decorations. The kids LOVE them! Had to catch this moment! Apparently Evie wasn't as thrilled to take pictures this day seeing as she has the exact same face in both pictures, reminds me of Owen :)

The girls on the way to the park! Evie, Ruby and Felicity.

Owen had a few job interviews in Washington on Wed. and we are waiting to hear back. Probably a week or two. All of the job leads we have are out of town. Makes me sad because I don't want to move away from family and friends. I would miss everyone so much it would hurt. I can't really think about it without crying. I know we need a job and either of the jobs in Washington would be GREAT opportunities. I just have to have faith that the Lord has a plan for me and my family. We are doing what we are supposed to be doing and the Lord will bless us for that and all things will fall into place how they may. Wish us luck! Also, going on my cruise soon :)

Sisters, Sisters, there were never such devoted sisters

My mother wasn't feeling well the day of the General Relief Society broadcast, so my sister's and I went together! The talks given were so uplifting and inspiring, which is something I have needed a lot of lately! I love my sisters and I am so blessed to have them in my life! They are both such great examples of how a strong Latter Day Saint Woman should be! We have a great friendship, which brings me to my next point!

My sister Angie places foreign exchange students and earned enough points to take me and my other sister, Charity PLUS our eldest brother Bryan on a cruise to the Bahamas! Can you say EXCITED??!!!!!!!!!!! It will be a much needed vacation :) Did I mention, I don't have to pay for it? Woo Hoo! I guess it makes up for the fact that if Owen was still employed with Drexel we would have been going to Hawaii for a sales meeting this month :( Wish me safe travel, I'm getting pretty excited! Thanks Angie! I owe you big time :)

Domestic much?

Last Friday night my friend invited me to her ward's "girls night out" which included dinner, massages and a whole bunch of different crafts. I chose to make an apron for Miss Evie. Since I already had a super cute apron for myself, I thought Evie would love one because she LOVES to do what mommy does - I was right! I picked this fabric out at Jo Anne's.
Here is the finished product! Don't be mistaken, I did do most of it on my own. However, I did require constant supervision! Poor girl that was helping me :( She was so patient, super friendly, and a good teacher!

Here she is helping mommy make chocolate zucchini cake (it was delicious, by the way!)

Licking the spatula after we were done!

I got this vacuum for Evie at a thrift store for $2.00! She loves when mommy vacuums and she LOVES her vacuum as well :) How much more domestic can she get? Look below!

Evie is always grabbing the oven mitt and going to the oven to try and open it..........she is so cute! It's amazing how much they mirror those around them! This post makes me look like a pretty good wife/mommy, right?! LOL!

Fourth of July part 2

The day before the 4th of July we went out to Owen's parents house to have a BBQ. Owen's brother and his wife and his sister and her family were visiting from Rexburg, so we made it a family affair! I know I keep saying this, but I really do have the best in-laws! Owen has 9 siblings so there is a lot of personality and love to go around :)The older cousin's wanted to put on their own 4th of July parade since they weren't going to be able to participate in the community one on Sunday. They were all really cute!~

Evie being pulled in the wagon, which she also LOVES! and the other cousins right behind her!

It was a beautiful day! It was a bit breezy, but on the warm side and I thought it was perfect!

Evie and her cousin Preston. He just turned two a few days before this picture! He is such a little doll! We were trying to get Preston to give Evie a kiss..............she is looking at him like "don't you dare!"

Cute little kids!!