We love the Walls!

So there's this family back in Texas. They're pretty cool... Gary & Karen, and their girls (& significant others): Jennifer & Justin and Lauren & Matt. Mark worked with Gary and that's how we got to know them. Being so far away from family, they quickly became family to us. My kids love them so much, we all do! We painted together (our media room and their spare bedroom), vacationed together (Playa del Carmen and fishing at the lake house), made home improvements together (bead board under our kitchen counter and staining their deck), ate at Chili's (a lot!!) and just spent time together. Karen (the quilter extraordinaire) even attempted to teach me how to quilt! They spent birthdays with us and holidays too. And brought the most thoughtful and fun gifts. They are the best! They even had the best crushed ice at their house! My kids were able to enjoy their pets - Scout, Diesel and Max (because we'll for sure never own a cat and probably never own a dog!!) We were supposed to stay with them the last night that we were in Texas. That didn't work out quite the way it was supposed to, so they drove the hour out to our house to spend our last evening. They became very close friends in a very short amount of time. I hope they realize how special they really are to us.

We miss them so much and hope to be able to spend time with them again in the near future! We love you guys!! You need to move to Utah!! You'll LOVE it here!! Okay, maybe that is a little extreme...but at least come visit! We miss you! Jennifer and Lauren, I'm talking to you too!!!

Rainie is my FAVORITE!!!

So there's this family, back in Texas. They're pretty cool. Rainie and her cute family moved into our ward a week or two after we did. They are HUGE BYU fans, so of course we got along great. She brought me treats for my birthday, held awesome scrapbook parties at her house, planned BYU Football parties at my house, saw many fun girl's night out movies with me and has the best laugh! Her and Chris brought yummy Taco Cabana over after Kids Night Out, taught us how to play Settlers!!! Experienced Truluck's Chocolate Sac (a scrumptious chocolate treat) with us. No one can forget our BYU Tulsa trip in a rented white 15 passenger van! (There is an entry somewhere about that!) That was the funnest! They held a going away party for us and taught us how fun Easter Egg Cracking Contests were! Jackson was our champion! Rainie always made me laugh! I do miss her and I'm so glad she is back to blogging! I seriously thought she fell off the blogging face of the earth. She is the reason I am even here! Her cute blog inspired me! So, thank you Rainie for being such a great friend and making our life in Texas that much more enjoyable! You are always my favorite!!!

Thank You, Petrina!!!

So there's this family back in Texas. They're pretty cool. I remember meeting Petrina on our first day in the ward in Texas. (Mark and I went ward shopping before we bought our house out there). She drilled me about where I grew up and told me how I looked so familiar. We didn't know each other, but I'll certainly never forget that conversation. She even e-mailed me a couple of times to see if we'd bought a house yet, and how the move was going. We were both pretty excited that we ended up buying a house in that ward, our kids were going to go to school together. I was lucky enough to be able to serve with Trina in the scouting program in our ward. But, even if we hadn't served together, I know we would have become great friends.

Our kids played together often, (Jackson idolized her boys) and whenever our hubbys were away on trips or working late, we would meet for crazy dinner dates with six rambunctious boys! I have to say, Jason's Deli became a favorite! Planing birthday parties, Amazing Race Parties, BYU games, Superbowl Parties...just having family dinner's together. I truly miss having fun and spending time with her and her family.

She is the type of person you can always count on, a true friend. When I was getting ready for the move, she was really busy and couldn't actually help me pack, but she did more for me than anyone else. She took my kids so that I could get things done, she picked them up from school. She made time in her (VERY) busy life to help me out. I had several friends come and help me pack a little here and a little there, but to Petrina I am most grateful.

Mark had come home that last week to help with last minute things and to drive with us back to Utah. The plan was to finish everything up on Thursday, have the truck completely loaded. Friday we were sending the kids for their last day of school and doing last minute clean up. When the kids got home on Friday we were taking off. It SO didn't work out that way. We got most of the stuff loaded into the truck on Thursday night. We planned on getting a hotel that night since our bedding was in the back of a truck, but Petrina wouldn't hear of it. She insisted that we stay at her house that night, she had plenty of room. We had several from the Elders Quorum come and help. But we have so much stuff that we still had lots of little things to load when we finally sent everyone home. So that meant on Friday instead of cleaning, Mark and I were still loading the truck. To make matters worse, they were supposed to come and pick up the truck at noon but they didn't show up until about 7:30 pm. Ugh!

Long story short, we didn't end up leaving until Saturday around noon. Petrina kept our kids Wednesday night, Thursday night, I picked them up from their last day of school on Friday and took them to Petrina's house again. So to my kids, it was just a great big party! They had a blast those last few days in Texas. They still talk about the big party at Petrina's. She insisted once again that we stay at her house on Friday night...and the by the way, the bed in her spare bedroom is SOOOO comfortable!!! I would stay with her ANYTIME! Then her family sent us off on Saturday with goody bags for each of the kids and treats for Mark and I. She was an angel and truly heaven sent! I know we wouldn't have gotten out of there til Monday if she hadn't helped the way she did. So THANK YOU, my dear friend!

Party at Petrina's!

Saturday Morning - Driving Day.

I cried (like a little girl) as we drove away!

She called yesterday and I got to chat with her for a few minutes. I miss her, but she is going to be here for a month this summer. I can't wait! Part of the reason she called though, was to check if I had arranged to get the boys spring school pictures from the school. Of course with everything else going on, I forgot, so she is ONCE AGAIN taking care of things. She is amazing! I hope every one has a friend like that. It makes life so much easier!!

At The Park

I love our circle! There are so many boys that are Jace's age and they have so much fun together! I car pool with 4 other moms. It works out so great because every day Jace has a play date at one of his friends houses. On our day we went to the park. Here are a few pictures....

Mmmmmmmm.......Chocolate!

Jackson LOVES to help me bake!!! He especially likes the clean up!

Book Review

While Mark was living in Utah and taking trips to Hawaii (I know, poor guy!) I was stuck in Texas packing all of our stuff and getting ready for the move. I had to do SOMETHING to help pass the time once the kids were in bed and everything was boxed up. So I picked up a few books that I'd heard great things about. It was brought to my attention that I never said much about the books I had read.

The first book was the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

This book takes place in Afghanistan at first and then America. It spans nearly 30 years. I’ve never been to the Middle Eastern countries mentioned in this book, but they came alive for me! It was such an easy read and never a dull moment. This was an excellent book about the relationship of a father and son and the relationship between two friends in very different worlds. Regret, redemption, hope. Very profound and difficult in parts, but it was one of the best books I've ever read. It leaves you with the sense that even after every thing the characters in the book have endured, there is still hope in the end.

The next book I read was The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards.

After reading the back of the book, I was really interested:

"This stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down syndrome. For motives he tells himself are good, he makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever. He asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child as her own."

Once I started reading it though, I just couldn't connect with the characters. I kept waiting and Waiting and WAITING for it to get better. It never did. It was a truly heartbreaking story about loss and sorrow and many wasted years. So I guess if you're into that type of thing, go for it!

The last book I read before the move was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down. I was so involved in the lives of Mariam and Laila. This book takes place in Afghanistan as does The Kite Runner. I loved the loose history lessons it provides and the relationships between the characters are amazing! This story is told through the eyes of two different women, their daily lives in Afghanistan and what it takes to survive.

The book cover says:

“It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives—the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness—are inextricable from the history playing out around them...

Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love—a stunning accomplishment”

It makes me grateful to be an American living in this wonderful, free country. It especially makes me grateful for my husband. I appreciate the struggle of Afghan women. This is my all-time favorite book. I cannot wait for another book from this author.

Then of course, there was the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer.

Twilight New Moon and Eclipse.

I am now awaiting the fourth and final book, Breaking Dawn. Great books. Very light reading compared to A Thousand Splendid Suns, but definitely fun and entertaining!

Twilight

So I haven't been very good about blogging lately. I really have no excuse. I think I am enjoying my free time entirely too much! There's lots to do and always somewhere to go. I love not working!

Okay, so here's my real excuse: The Twilight Book Series.
Thank you very much to my niece Kristie, my sisters Kim and Marlene and my mom Karen, my neighbors Michelle and Heidi. It's all your fault. Once I picked up Twilight, that was it for me. Eating was a burden, sleep was the last thing on my mind. The laundry piled up, the kids ate CEREAL for dinner. It was definitely not my proudest moment as a mother and wife, but oh, was it worth it. The books were great! I can't wait for the 4th book to come out this summer and for the movie to come out in December.

For anyone who enjoys a good book, this is a must read. It was different from other books I've read and Stephenie Meyer really grabs your attention and doesn't let it go!

BLAST FROM THE PAST!!

So we are loving our new ward and our new neighbors. We are getting to know all the people on the circle here and they are all great! Our dear friends from across the street have a little boy that got baptized Saturday morning, so of course we went to see him on his special day. As we were leaving the church building after the baptism, someone was holding the door open for me since I had my arms full of kids. I glanced up to thank him and immediate recognition hit both of us! "Kristie?" I wanted to make sure I had the right name so I asked him and he told me it was John. I said his last name and he nodded and hugged me. We walked outside and he said something about knowing me as my maiden name. Mark walked up right at that moment and said, "You must know each other from the mission." John and I smiled and I looked at Mark and then back at John. "Not exactly...we used to date." It was hilarious! We dated for a while when I lived in California. After his mission and before mine. We chatted for a few minutes and I asked where he was living. He said just a few streets away. I told him we had just moved back to Utah from Texas and mentioned the ward we were in now. He just laughed! WE ARE IN THE SAME WARD!!! I love it! I introduced him to my cute hubby and three kids. He introduced me to his cute wife and six kids. We had to leave because we were heading up to Layton just then for a birthday celebration, but I seriously can't wait to talk to him again! He was such a good friend and what a great guy! Too funny! What are the chances of that? Seriously?!!!

Jackson's Birthday!!

Jackson turned 4 in April. Since we didn't have our stuff here yet, and Marlene always gets volunteered to host the parties, we figured one more wouldn't kill her! So we invited the fam over. Since my sister lives so close now, we were both so excited that she and little Gage could come too! Lot's of cousins, aunts, uncles and Grandma and Grandpa. It was fun.

Temporary?

We are all settled. Well, as settled as we are going to be! I left half of our stuff in boxes and shoved everything into the spare bedrooms! I don't want to have to pack it all up again when we buy.

So, here's a little background: Everything with this move worked out way too easily. Once we decided to come back to Utah all the pieces just fell together. A friend of mine that I grew up with was moving with her family to Texas. As it turned out, they wanted to buy our house. PERFECT! So we worked it out for them to rent until they were able to buy it...since the housing market in Arizona is pretty sad right now, we figured it would take a few months for them to sell their house and get everything in order on their end. So that gave Mark and I a chance to get moved out here, get to know the area and then find our house. No rush, no deadlines, just take our time and find exactly what we want.

A friend in our ward in Texas asked where exactly we were moving to and Mark told him where his new job was. This friend just happened to have a house less than 10 minutes away and he was looking for a renter since his renter was moving out in March. See what I mean? WAY TOO EASY!! We were SO supposed to come back home! So we are renting his house til Susie's house sells, and our house sells. We are hoping of course, that it is sooner than later, but we are happy where we are.

I HATE PACKING! So, with all that in mind...knowing it could be just a couple of months (and of course the possibility of it being longer than that) I left a lot of our stuff, decorations, toys, extra things that we just don't need, in storage in the spare bedrooms. So, the pictures of the house are pretty bare and that is the reason.

We LOVE this neighborhood. That last picture was taken from our back porch. We don't have a fence in our yard, so our back yard basically opens up to this huge park. There is a little pavilion, the basketball/tennis court and they are in the process of replacing the playground toy. There are so many kids on our circle. My boys love it here, I am loving my neighbors and meeting lots of new people. I know I am going to get too attached to move! Ugh!