It's Official...

We are heading home! Mark accepted one of his job offers and he actually starts work on Monday. He is on his way out there right now. I finally told my daycare parents this week. I have to give them four weeks notice so they could find other child care, but we didn't know until this past week for sure what we were going to do. We are still not positive, but at least we have a better idea. I have a friend that I grew up with in California who is now living in Arizona who's husband is being transferred out here. They came out this past weekend to go house hunting and they LOVED our house! So, as of now, the plan is for them to just buy our house. So nice for us because we don't have to worry about sticking around out here and trying to sell our house and our family won't be separated any longer than it has to be! So nice for them, because they don't have to stress out about finding a house while living in another state and they can buy our house at a lower cost (no realtor fees)! PLUS, she is wanting to do daycare, and since when we move I am going to be a stay at home mom and no longer do daycare or pre-school, I am just leaving her all of my daycare stuff! Including (hopefully) some of my kids! There are a couple of parents who are really interested in using her (she comes with a GREAT referrence!). We are hoping that it will all work out! It sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?!!

So, our tentative buyers want to be here April 1st and that gives us 7 whole weeks to get packed up and moved. We were actaully thinking about moving during Spring Break, but we'll see. I told my daycare parents that my last day of care would be March 14th (see, I gave them 5 weeks). If for some freak reason this sale falls through, then I will put the house up for sale at that point and we will probably just plan to be out here until the end of the school year. It will be hard on our family to be apart, but it will be good for the boys to finish up the school year with all of their friends. Obviously, we are hoping that everything goes smoothly and we can leave during Spring Break, but there won't be any hard feelings if it doesn't work out that way. The orginal plan was to wait until the middle of March to close my daycare and put the house on the market. So if it turns out that that is what we have to do, then so be it. We are in a great area, great schools, perfect location. Houses in our neighborhood have been selling within two weeks lately, so we are confident that it will sell really fast.

For now though, we are planning on leaving by the 29th of March. The countdown has begun! 49 days left in Texas. I've already started making a list of things we have to do either again or for the first time before we leave because I know that it will be a very long time before we are back here.

Well Caden, Jace, Jackson and I better get to work on that list. We have lot's of things to cross off!

DisneyWorld 2008!

We went to DisneyWorld with Mark's family in January. Even though we got to see everyone at Christmas time, we were all looking forward to seeing everyone again so soon! It was such a fun trip! We went to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studio's, Epcot Center and Downtown Disney. The weather was nice most days, not too cold. And we were lucky that we never got rained on!

Here are just a FEW of the MANY photo's we took!

Kristie and Mark with Mickey at Animal Kingdom

All the kids at The Seas: Nemo and Friends (yes that includes Mark...and that is Jackson passed out in the stroller!) We went to see "Turtle Talk with Crush" and Jace got to talk to Crush. He called Jace the the "Little dude with the orange shell" and picked him out of the crowd. During their conversation, Jace told Crush that he used to have a fish. Crush got really excited and asked where his fish was now. Jace just said, "He's dead." Crush was horrified! His expressions were hilarious and the audience just laughed at his interaction with Jace. It was really cute to watch!

Jackson and Jace got to meet Bruce!

Jace and Caden At Epcot

Jackson at Epcot

More Disney Photos:

Caden at Epcot Center

My Boys in "Germany"

Tasting the "Flavors around the World"

Jack-Jack and Taylor

At the Hoopty-Do Review

Utah Bound?

Well, it looks like we are headed for colder weather! We are still weighing all of our options, but Mark and I keep going back to Xcellerated Solutions. The thought doing things on his own is so rewarding to him and there is so much more work out there for him and Dan now. I know that the kids want to move back and Mark and I are excited at the thought of being near family again.

This has been a good move for us, to be here in Texas and among other things, really learn to rely on one another. We love Texas and all of our friends out here. The ward is great and I love my daycare kids, but Texas is not our home. By no means has the decision been finalized, but we are leaning towards South Weber. I am tempted at times to just pull the plug here, put the house up for sale and head back now but I know that it would be better for the kids to wait until summer when they are out of school. What we are thinking is that Mark will just go back and forth until June. I'll stay here with the kids and then in April or May we'll put the house up for sale. He can work from home and build up clientele in the Dallas area while he is here and he has plenty of projects lined up to work on while he is in Utah.

Obviously, he will still interview with companies in Dallas and it may turn out that we don't move back right away. But I think we are all secretly hoping that nothing out here really materializes because we are all ready to come home.

Our Texas Home....

I know we've lived here for a year and a half, and most of you haven't seen pictures yet. Many of you were asking to see them when we went to Utah, so, here they are!

Happy New Year!

We had a blast in Utah! It was shorter than we would have liked our visit to be, but we had such a great time! The kids LOVED the snow and they loved spending time with Grandparents and cousins. Like Mark and I, the kids were so sad to leave! But we are getting back into the groove of things here in Texas. We are excited for the new year and all the opportunities that it brings. We're still not sure where we will end up - Texas or Utah - but we should know in the next few weeks. It was nice for Mark to be able to put in some face time in Salt Lake, and now that we are back and the holidays are over, he should get some leads in Dallas as well. It is hard to say at this point what we will do with everything up in the air. I think either decision will be good for our family in different ways. Hopefully soon we'll see what the Lord has in store for us!

Here are some pictures of the family from the trip!

Decisons, Decisions...

So, it's Christmas time again, my favorite time of year. I can't believe how quickly time flies! We've been in Texas now for a year and half. And we have truly loved living here. Mark and I have made some wonderful friends, learned life-altering lessons, and grown together as a couple and family. But, I think our journey here is not over.

Since losing his job last week, Mark and I have been faced with some tough decisions, yet again. Do we stick it out here in Texas or do we head home to Utah and family? Of course we would love to go home. We WANT to go home. But as I said, I don't think we are finished here. When we made the decision to move to Texas, it was a no-brainer for both of us. We knew it was the right thing to do. We planned on being here for about five years and then heading back. Now that there is really nothing holding us here, the question presents itself: Do we go home? This time the answer is not so easy for us.

Dallas is a great place for Mark to be right now. There are tons of opportunities for him to further his career. There are not so many opportunities in Salt Lake, but I know there are some. It's not like there is a wrong answer here, and I think that is what is making this so difficult for us.

We've spent much time on our knees and in the temple. Mark thinks we'll be back in Utah by June, I'm thinking it will be longer than that. I hope not by much. The kids all want to go back and Mark and I do feel that longing to be near family. I just hope it is sooner than later.