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!

This year has been FLYING by! I can't believe we are already in August. So I am just going to do a quick recap of the year...and only the things that are on my memory card.

The end of last year, these crazy kids got married.

...and now they are expecting a baby boy in December!

This was Chris while I was assisting my friend the photographer.
These are the cute mini cupcakes I made for the reception.
Aren't we CUTE?!?

Then in January, this cute little guy was born.

Jen was seriously this happy almost the whole time!

I'm so glad all this swelling went down...he is much cuter now.

I got to be there for the whole thing! It was so neat to be there and I'm so glad that Jen and I are close enough that I was invited!

These are a few days after he was born. This is Chris's first time meeting and holding him.

And then things got a little weird between him and TJ...

I'm not at all sure what this event was, but here we are at my parents house for dinner.

In May, Chris turned the big 3-0! We went to Chompies to celebrate. Have you ever been there? You should go and get Jewish sliders...A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!

After the end of my semester, Chris came home with these roses...how sweet is he?!?! He wrote me a card saying how proud of me he was and all sorts of good mushy stuff. I was so surprised! Love that guy! Aren't they so pretty?

Speaking of school, it is going great! My first semester was definitely tough, but I loved it. I have made some great new friends and love the class I am in. This semester focused on the elderly so we had our clinicals in a nursing home...bleh! I am so glad that part of it is over! I am starting back up in just a few weeks. I had such great intentions of reviewing a little bit every week during the summer and at this point, I haven't done a darn thing. Life just gets in the way...oh, and so does my laziness! Nonetheless, I am still so excited to start back up soon. Its time to get myself on a schedule again.

We also went to Utah (posts to follow) for my newest niece's baby blessing! Yep, I have a new niece and nephew and have one more niece and 2 more nephews due by the end of the year. If you did the math, that's 5 in just one year! Wow, our family is sure growing fast!

I also was able to go to girls camp a few weeks ago and had a blast! I of course forgot my camera so have no pictures other than the ones on other peoples cameras. We are still serving in the Gila Bend branch so went with them and the other branches, and Ajo ward as one tribe. We seriously had the best group of girls....and no drama! I definitely act more like a young woman than a leader...especially at girls camp.

Chris and I are still doing great...happy and healthy and blessed more than we deserve! We are so not where I thought we would be after 6 years of marriage but honestly couldn't be happier about it! I feel like the Lords plan is going to turn out so much better than the one I had for myself...I know that's always the way it is!

I will try to be better about posting on here every so often! I recently found all of my old journals. I know you wouldn't believe it, but there was a time that I wrote EVERY DAY! Shocking, I know! My goal is always to post every week, but that never happens. Maybe now that I'm caught up.....

Utah

Just like last year, we went to Utah for the 4th of July. This year was extra special because we were also there for the blessing of our newest niece! All of us stayed at Stew and Robyn's house...7 adults and 6 kids under 10! We had so much fun spending time with our family and I'm so glad we were able to go! One thing I learned this trip is that I need to remember to ask people to take my camera so I can have pictures of myself. I have tons of everyone else and only about 6 of me. You would think I would like that!

Anyway, I am mostly going to let the pictures speak for themselves....there are a ton! I just hate only picking a few. And, because this is my journal, I get to do what I want!

My sweet sister, Robyn did this for us!

In this picture, Addy is sitting on my lap crying because she got caught sneaking a few of my M&Ms. She was definitely more upset than I was!

One day, we walked over to a park for playing and picnicking. It was so nice to be able to play outside in the middle of the summer.

Don't you just want to squeeze that cute face!

Don't you just love Ashley's gorgeous hair in this one?

Gotta make sure you get every drop of brownie batter!

We did some family pictures while we were there. These are just a few that I snapped while we were waiting around.

I think Mason is done!

And of couse, we had to go to fireworks. We spend most of the afternoon waiting so we could save our awesome spot.

This has nothing to do with Utah....The day that I got home, I had to take our dogs to the vet. I thought they looked so cute with their little pink bandaids!