All moved in!

Well, it has been a while since I last posted, but we have been super busy.

For journaling purposes, two weekends ago Taylor went to Utah and Colorado (hence the previous post). He went to Utah for his family's Christmas party and Isaac and I were supposed to go with him, but the weather was too bad for us. After a day in Utah, Taylor drove to Colorado because he started training for his new job on Monday and Tuesday. He was supposed to fly home Tuesday night but his flight was cancelled and he had to stay the night in Denver. Wednesday morning he flew to Salt Lake and rented a car and drove home...man I was happy to have him home!

While he was gone, Isaac and I stayed busy packing and shovelling the driveway. Sunday night we drove to Blackfoot for dinner with the family, Monday night the YW Presidency took me to dinner, and then on Wednesday our good friends had us over for dinner.

So we ran around like crazy on Wednesday and Thursday tying up loose ends and closing on our new house. Thursday we loaded the truck and my good friend helped me clean!

Miracle of the whole moving process: those who have lived or know about living in Idaho and/or Colorado know that storms can hit hard in both places. We had a very strict plan in place for how things would work and if one thing went wrong, our whole plan was messed up. What I mean is, my parents were supposed to fly in Thursday night (at 10:00 p.m or something) and then my dad and Taylor would drive the moving truck with the Camry towing behind it on Friday while my mom and I flew back. Then Saturday morning we were moving in at 8 a.m.

For the record, there have been few flights that Taylor and I have been on that hasn't been delayed...and with his recent cancelled flight earlier in the week, we were worried about my parents getting there.

ANYWAY....there was a big storm that was supposed to hit Idaho on Thursday night and last through Friday afternoon.

MIRACLE: the storm, if that is even what you want to call, never really hit. My parents got in--around 12:30, but they made it! Taylor and my dad were able to stay ahead of the storm on their drive, and my mom and I got out without a hitch. We all were together Friday night....it was definitely a miracle, a miracle that we have not taken for granted.

Saturday morning we had incredible help unloading the moving truck....not to discount the help we had to load it. (Disclaimer: we loaded the truck in the afternoon, so I know a lot of people couldn't be there to help because they had to work). But what took 4 hours to load took less than 40 minutes to unload!! We had more than a dozen people there to help unload, we are truly grateful!!!

So, we spent all day Saturday unpacking...literally. We started at 8 a.m. and we didn't stop until 2 a.m. We were determined to sleep in our new house that night, and we did! I would say by 2 a.m. we were 85 percent unpacked. Now, a few days later, we are definitely unpacked and feeling great!

We love our new house and can't believe this day has come. We love, love, love our new ward and Taylor got a calling already after being in the ward for an hour. Isaac is still getting used to the new house, but he is doing great.

We have felt sincerely blessed and know that our journey to get to Colorado was made possible by the Lord. And while we feel like we have already had our Christmas, we definitely do rejoice in the Lord and in his matchless love and power.

Merry Christmas to all!

Dear Daddy:

We sure miss you, but we know that you need to be where you are right now. But don't you worry about us, because I am helping mom with all the packing! Here are a few pictures mom took (isn't she great?!) that we wanted to share with you.

First, I discovered that I love bubble wrap.



Then, I helped mom clear out the cupboard under the sink! Look how good I am, dad!

I found a cotton ball!

Mom told me to say hi to you, so here I am waving and saying hi! I love you dad!

I helped by making sure the boxes were sturdy....

They were, so I moved on to my next project...

Making sure mom got everything from the nightstand! (And yes, I ripped the paper off the nightstand, mom figured it was a lost battle...it was just so cool to rip it off and throw it on the floor!)

I miss you a lot though dad! I was playing with your dumbbells in the closet and that really made me think of you!

And look at this, a box made for me! (After mom took the photo I fell backwards and ripped the box, apparently it's too small for me! But don't worry, mom will tape the box so we can still use it! )

But all this packing wore me out!

I quickly got my energy back when mom said we were going outside, check out my sweet snow gear!

Snow, here I come!

This is so much fun dad, wish you were here!

But then I touched the snow and it was not so cool. We miss you dad and can't wait for you to come back home. We are working hard to get the house packed before you get back so we can load up and move to Colorado! However, I hear Colorado gets snow like this too, so as long as I don't touch it, I sure like looking at it! Love you dad, and even though mom misses you a lot, I will keep her company!

Love you!

Isaac

Follow me on this...

Lots of big, fun and important things leads to a lot of stress. A lot of stress leads to a lower immune system. A lower immune system could lead to a lot of things, but for me, it means STREP THROAT. Yuck.

I woke up on Sunday feeling nasty and it hasn't gotten better. Yesterday someone mentioned that perhaps I had strep throat, I doubted it, but last night I looked up the symptoms of strep throat and "checked" them all off because I had them.

So, the feeling of my throat being swollen and the possibility of Isaac catching this illness freaked me out enough that I called the doctor today. (Those who know me know that I HATE doctors and will avoid them at all costs! So it was a big deal that I went!)

Anyway, after a rather quick doctor appointment I was "diagnosed" with strep throat and headed out the door with a prescription. The antibiotic is for 10 days, but I sure hope I feel better before that's up because I can't take it anymore!

I do have to note that when the nurse was checking my vitals Isaac stood there watching me like, "hey, what is she doing to my mom??" It was pretty cute.

And all my worries and fears about the possibility of Isaac catching this illness was apparently not needed, because the doctor said that they don't typically worry about kids 2 years and younger getting strep throat. (So I hope I saved someone from making a trip to the doctor in the near future with my new-found knowledge).

So, while the timing couldn't have been worse--Friday is my last day of work--here's to getting better!

(P.S. Housley Family--I am not contagious 24 hours after starting antibiotics, so I will not pose a threat to anyone this weekend when we are down there!)

Secret is out!!!

Well folks, if you didn't know already, we've got a big secret to share....we are moving!! Yep, that's right, we are moving from our sweet town home in Pocatello, Idaho to a brand new home in Colorado Springs, Colorado!

I don't even know where to start....we have known about this for quite some time now, but we didn't want to announce it like this until a few things were solidified.

First of all, Taylor will graduate with his bachelor's degree in two weeks! YAHOO! So, with graduation upon us, we knew we were going to be moving. We just didn't know where.

We talked about Utah and Colorado-- mainly--since that is where our families are. And one thing led to another and before we knew it, Colorado became the spot.

Back in October, Taylor interviewed with several companies. Some of which offered him a job. But there was this one company that stuck out to Taylor, and he wanted that job. That one company had a very....very....very long hiring process. Taylor interviewed with them on October 6, and three interviews and two months later, he got the official offer yesterday. Hip, hip, hooray!!!

So.....Taylor will finish his job here this Friday, and have a week or so of finals. My last day of work here is next Friday, Dec. 12. We will then have a couple of days to pack our place up and on Dec. 19 we are going to be relocating to Colorado Springs!

And you know what the best part of all this is?! (Besides Taylor being done with his bachelor's degree and getting an awesome job, of course....) I get to STAY HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am literally counting down the days and am so so so so so soooo excited!!! I can't even tell you how ecstatic I am to stay home with Isaac!

And speaking of home, we have been in the process of building a home in Colorado. It will be great for us with plenty of room to grow.

So, that's our big news! Graduate, move, start new job, new home, and me becoming a stay-at-home mom! Yippee!!!

Thanksgiving!!!

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Utah with Taylor's family. It was such a great break for us!!

We drove down on Wednesday evening and stayed in Salt Lake with Suzanne. Thursday morning all the boys went and played football while the girls got dinner ready. We met at Heather and Brett's house in Spanish Fork for the big meal. It was probably the biggest gathering I have ever had in my life! I believe there were 16 adults and 11 kids! It was so delicious and we had so much food!

Heather and Brett transformed their pool table into a big table!

Gotta love my sister-in-law's Kim and Jen!

The hosts...Heather and Brett

After the big feast, we watched the Dallas Cowboy's.

And, like usual, Isaac slept through the big meal, so I saved him a plate for when he woke up.

Apparently the Housley boy's love shirts with strips!

It was a GREAT Thanksgiving! We spent most of the day at Heather and Brett's house. We drove up to SLC to put Isaac to bed, and once he went down, Taylor, Cam, Jordan, Erin and I went to the movies. We saw the new James Bond movie. It was pretty good.

On Friday, Heather, Suzanne and I met for lunch in American Fork. Then Suzanne and I went to the mall together to grab a few things. That night, Theran & Kim and Cam & Jen and Clayton and Jordan & Erin came over for pizza. The boys decided they wanted to rent a movie and at the same time, the girls decided they wanted to go to Target. So, Kim, Jen, Erin and I went to Target and left the boys with the kids. We were there almost two hours and it was so fun to go out as sister-in-laws!! (We missed you Heather!)

Once we got back, we found out the boys waited to watch the movie with us--we watched Iron Man. Not bad either.

Isaac discovered he liked Pumpkin pie.

I just love watching Isaac play with his cousins!!

(Dane, Little Theran and Isaac)

On Saturday, Suzanne, Kim, Jen and I met at Tai Pan (a home decor store) and spent another two hours shopping together!

After Tai Pan, Suzanne, Taylor, Isaac and I met for lunch. Suzanne took Isaac home and Taylor and I went out on some errands.

First, we met up with Theran, Cam, Braden and Jay and went shooting west of the Utah Lake.

Grandpa teaching Braden how to shoot his gun

Cam

My hottie

I even did it! I was terrible, but it was fun! (This impress you, Dad??)

Following shooting, Taylor and I went couch shopping. After that we went back to Suzanne's, had dinner, and played scrabble as we watched a movie. Thank you Suzanne for watching Isaac for so long!!!

Sunday we went to church with Suzanne, had lunch, and then drove home! It was such a great trip, we had so much fun with our family!! We love you!

Back Tracking...

I haven't posted about our weekend before Thanksgiving, and I want to remember it, so bear with me!

First, Taylor and I had planned to go on a date and see The Forgotten Carols. We had talked and planned it for about a week and a half and I even called a girl to come babysit (who would be our first babysitter other than family!) I was really, really, really looking forward to the night out and when Friday actually came I kept saying to Taylor, "Are you excited for our date tonight?!"

Well, around 2:00 on Friday, it occurred to Taylor that he had class that night. DUH! Taylor has had a class on Friday night since the semester started in September, but for some reason, we completely spaced it when we planned our date!!! Sad! So, I cancelled the babysitter and Taylor went to class.

It actually turned out to be just fine because a few hours later I got a call from my friend Cori who lives in Idaho Falls! She, her husband and their son were coming down to Pocatello and wanted to meet for dinner. So, I met her at Craigo's and we had a fun dinner and then a quick trip over to Costco.

Our boys....Quintin and Isaac! Haha, they are holding hands. :)

Q was doing something in this picture that apparently caught Isaac's attention as well!

On Saturday, we went to the park as a family. Isaac learned to go down the slide by himself--well he learned how to push off by himself. He LOVED the slide!! And Cougar loved running around.

After the park we went to Taylor's cousin house to watch the BYU vs. Utah game. Lame-o. Luckily I was able to bow out early and have a girls-night-out. I went to dinner and the Twilight movie with some girls in the ward, and we had a great time!! It was so much fun!

And finally, Isaac loves feeding himself now! Yogurt is definitely the messiest so far!

(Good thing he hasn't let go of his juice, huh?!)