The big move

Since my last update we have made a big change in our lives...we moved out of Maricopa! We bought our house 6 years ago with plans of staying just a few years till we made some money on it and could move back into the valley. Although we thought it might be a fun change to get away from family and friends and have a fresh start somewhere new, we knew it was going to be temporary and didn't really expect to love it. We honestly had no idea what we were in for.

First and foremost, Chris and I have grown so much closer than I could have imagined over 6 years ago! I think being just far away enough from family has made us have to rely on each other so much. We have truly become best of friends! We have also grown so much in the Gospel. We watched Maricopa grow from 2 wards to 6 plus a Spanish branch and now its own stake! We have had so many opportunities to serve including primary, young men/women, and most recently, serving in the Gila Bend branch. We made some amazing friends who we now consider family and I can't imagine what I would do without them. Even though I know I'm not saying goodbye to them, its so sad for me to know that we aren't going to be just a few minutes away from them anymore. We started our lives together there. Our home there saw so much laughter and smiles and happiness but also saw sadness in trials that I know have brought us closer to each other and the Lord. I have definitely learned to just have faith that everything will be better than ok in the end and to just be happy with what we have right now. We have been blessed far beyond what we deserve. I will forever remember our first home and the place we started our little family!

I have tried my hardest to find a picture of the house and can't seem to find one anywhere! How sad is that!?

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my primary kids from the bend....yes this is the whole primary minus just a few kids who weren't there that day! Aren't they cute? I already miss them.

While going through all of our stuff, I have found some great memories! There were a few things that seemed wrong to get rid of so I decided to just take pictures of them instead. Here is one of those things that made me laugh when I found. This is from when Chris broke his finger about a year and a half ago....and he didn't want to even go to urgent care! Its a good thing I pushed it!

With all of that said about Maricopa, we are very excited for the next chapter in our lives. We are back in the valley and civilization again! We are renting an apartment for the time being and couldn't be happier. Happy to have a place just big enough for the 2 of us and takes about an hour to clean and best of all NO YARD WORK! We had plans of going to our new ward and not talking to anyone so we could just lay low for a while....that's not going to happen. Its a smaller ward and our first Sunday there, we had so many people coming up to us and introducing themselves and telling us how happy they were to have us. We have felt so welcomed there already and are happy to be a part of this new ward now. It is definitely hard getting used to 3 hours again though. Gila bend was only 2 and we usually started around 15 minutes late because there was never anyone there on time!

A few weeks ago, our brother in law TJ turned 30! So his wife, Jen threw him an 80s themed bday party since he was born in the 80s! It was so fun to see everyone all dressed up in how they remember the 80s! Here's just a few pics from my phone from that night.

This was later that night after my make up was already off. I just had to try on the mullet wig!

And so did the puppies!

Its so hard having someone take pictures of you all day...Sometimes you just need a break!

This is a random picture, but I am so excited that the closest QT to me has diesel! Now I can go there more often! It seems so silly to love a gas station, but if you have been there, I know you understand. If you havent, GO!

I am back in school for the semester. I know its going to be a lot of work, but I am so excited for the teachers I have this block. So knowledgeable and great at teaching! Here I am right after my first IV start (yes its a fake arm and blood, but I got it!)

Here are my friends Jana and Daniela. These girls and so many others make having to be at school all day long so enjoyable!

Not really sure how this ended up in here! What is that creeper face I am making?

I had my eyes checked last week and had to take a picture of how scary my eyes looked all dilated. I promise I'm not on drugs!

I am back to doing lots of studying. The other day, Kona kept laying under the desk by my feet all day to keep me company!

How cute is that face?!

And Rogue was also close by to keep my company and make sure she wasn't missing out on any of the fun. I think it looks like she is smiling in this one.

I seriously just wanna snuggle up with her! Such a sweet little girl!

Anyway, that's about it for now! I hope you are all impressed that it has only been about a month since my last update...that's a small miracle for me!