Changes

Well, I've posted it on Facebook, so it must be official. We are moving! For almost 2 years now, we've thought that we would be moving soon. When we had Noah, we thought we would end up moving around that time, but that didn't work out. Last spring, when Chad graduated, we thought for sure something would pop up, but although Chad has applied to SO many jobs, we haven't found anything yet. It's a hard time to be looking for work and we are just grateful that he has a good job now. My business has really picked up with the opening of my 2nd Etsy shop and we decided we had the ability and it was time to start looking into moving somewhere else nearby, at least temporarily. Last Saturday we put our Condo up for rent and by the next day, we had it rented. So, we were in a bit of a rush to find something for ourselves and we came upon this cute house out in Hyrum. We decided to go for it, sent out our deposit check only to have our renters back out on us that night. We weren't sure if we should back out of our rental as well. So, we spent a lot of time praying, thinking and discussing it and decided that we should move ahead with moving to Hyrum. We've had a lot of interest in the condo, so we feel fairly confident that we should be able to get it rented out soon. I have several people coming today to look at it. As for now, we are scheduled to move on Monday! It's so soon, it's crazy! But, we are super excited. The house has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a front room and a family room. These aren't great pictures.



It will be so nice to get Noah out of our closet! I'm having a hard time imagining what it's going to be like to have so much space. Over double what we've been living in. Anyway, we are very excited about this move and what it may bring. Chad will continue looking for a new job, so who knows, we may be moving again soon, but for now, we feel that this is what we should be doing.
On another note, I am continuing the 8 Week Challenge to a Better You. I'm over halfway done and I've still got a perfect score, although I'm not sure how this move will mess things up. It's been quite a challenge. I miss sugar! I tell ya, on my day off, I go crazy! Anyway, the point is, at the beginning of the year, I made a goal to lose 20 pounds and I've finally done it! I'm back to what I weighed before I got pregnant with Myra. It's been really fun to have made a goal and to have been able to accomplish it! I need to go shopping though, because some of my clothing has started feeling awfully baggy!

Happy Halloween!

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All I want for Christmas...

For weeks now, Myra has had 2 loose teeth. She's wiggled and wiggled them and finally, last night when we were at our friends house, she runs up to use really excited and show's us her tooth that had just fallen out! She was so excited! We went to the store after and the entire time, she just kept giving everyone we passed these really big cheesy smiles in the hopes that they would notice and say something about her missing tooth. She even had a couple of people say things, it was that obvious!Then today, she runs up to me, kind of fussing and points to her other loose tooth. It's basically sideways in her mouth and all bloody. I asked her if she could just pull it out and she reaches in her mouth and plucks it right out! Two teeth gone within 24 hours, wow! The Tooth Fairy brought her a $1 coin last night, which she was super excited about. It's hard to believe that she's old enough now to start loosing teeth. But I have to admit, she looks awfully cute with her missing teeth!

Dinosaur Museum

On Monday, Myra didn't have school so we headed down to West Point in the morning to pick up my stuff that I had at a craft boutique over the weekend, then we went down and met up with my sister and my mom. We went out for lunch and had a fun time there. Then, Bre and I headed down to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. We were originally going to go to the zoo, but the weather was so bad, we decided an indoor activity would be more appropriate. Bre had been there before, but this was the first time for the kids and I. It was great! I definitely recommend it for anyone! There was so much to see. A lot of fossils, information about ancient life, skeletons of tons of dinosaurs and other animals. I was surprised how large the museum was and how much there was for the kids to do. They got to "make" a dinosaur, do rubbings of fossils, play with toy dinos and dress up as dinos. (The costumes were pretty lame, but the kids didn't seem to notice.) They had an area where the kids could "dig" for dino bones. Overall, we all had a great time and were sad when it was over. It was great to spend some time with my sister and adorable niece, McKenzie (Lexi calls her PaKenzie, too cute! The girls just adore her.) It was so fun to get the kids together. Noah and Kenzie had a great time playing with the dino toys. I was actually surprised at how much Noah enjoyed the museum. He was constantly looking around at everything and would get excited about a lot of things that he saw. He's at such a great age, where he's constantly discovering and learning new things. Anyway, it was a fun outing!

MegaMile Fun Run

Last week Myra participated in her schools Fundraiser - The MegaMile Fun Run. She was so excited about it all day, constantly asking when it was time to go and telling me that she was going to beat everyone. When we got there, she was running with the Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades. They ran around the school grounds 3 times, which I guess they say was a mile, although we were a little skeptical. Anyway, she was amazing! She ran, hard, the entire time. I ran about a half a lap with her, same with Chad. I was so surprised at how well she did. She was one of the first to finish and she did it the whole time without stopping to walk. After, she was so exhausted though. She just laid down on the ground, her face was bright red and she sure was breathing hard. She quickly recovered with the mention of a treat and a drink. She was also excited to see her "boyfriend" Cody. And she even got to see the school mascot there. Lexi ran a lap around the school with Chad after, so she didn't feel left out. And she was terrified of the Eagle. It was a fun fundraiser, much better than hitting people up to buy things, they probably don't need! I was so proud of Myra for finishing and trying her hardest!

8 Weeks to a Better You

I recently signed up to do this 8 Weeks to a Better You Challenge. Some women in Arizona started the program and only expected 20 people to sign up, but they ended up with around 110. I'm not even sure about the final number. Everyone "bought" into it by paying $15 dollars. At the end, the winner gets 75% of the pot and the other 25% will be given to the winner of a random drawing. They also are planning weekly prizes. Basically, there are 10 things we have to do (or not do) each day and we get a point for each of these things. You can look at the website to read more about it, but they include:
*Exercising 45 minutes each day
*Getting 7 hours of sleep each day
*No Sugar
*No Junk Food
*Drink 8 glasses of water
*Eat 2 servings of fruit and 2 servings of veggies
*No eating after 8pm
*Write in your journal
*Scripture reading
*Act of Kindness or Service

We just started yesterday and so far I haven't messed up, but some of the things will definitely be a challenge. No Sugar? Anyone that knows me knows that I have a MAJOR sugar addiction. No Chocolate? Ugh! Actually, the hardest thing for me yesterday was no eating after 8pm. Chad and I stayed up until after midnight and I was starving! Luckily, there is 1 free day each week. I'm already thinking about what I'll eat on that day! Anyway, I think this will be a good challenge for me. I'm hoping to do things perfectly to the end. I'm sure there will be several "winners", but it will be great if I'm able to stick with it.

Noah's Walking!

I have to admit that a couple of months ago, I wasn't sure this day would ever come! Noah just started crawling at 11 months and now he is cruising all over the place and on Wednesday, he took his first unaided steps. Chad and I were quite surprised. We just stood him up and off he went. He seems to enjoy walking, but I think it's mostly just a game still. He's not quite ready to use it as his main source of transportation. We are all enjoying it though. Myra and Lexi love to have me set Noah up to walk to them and then he pushes them over and yesterday, Myra and Lexi were playing that they were Noah and they were pretending to walk to each other. Too cute!

Golden Spike National Historic Site

Last Saturday we went to the Golden Spike Historic Site in Promontory. If you don't know what that is, it's where the last spike was driven on the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. I've been there as a kid, but it's been a LONG time! So, we decided to go and check it out. I'm pretty certain not much has changed since I was there last. It's seriously just a building and 2 train replicas out in the middle of nowhere! We ate lunch there and checked out the visitor center. They had a couple of interesting displays to look at, then we headed outside for the driving of the spike reenactment. It was kind of fun to see all the people dressed up for the reenactment. Although it was kind of long and the kids lost interest. There favorite part was looking at the trains after, although they were sad they didn't get to go inside them.
After visiting the Historic site, we headed out to do a couple of geocaches in the area. I think it has to be one of the most desolate areas in Utah. Not much to look at. Anyway, we had a fun time!

Lexi Starts Preschool!

I can't believe that just 2 years ago, I was starting preschool with Myra and now it's Lexi's turn. This time around, Janelle and I decided to do a real low-key preschool with just Lexi and Maddie. Lexi was SO excited to start. We had it at our house and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun. I think it'll be a little while before they really get the hang of sitting still and focusing on things they are suppose to be learning. But, that's ok. They're only 3. We want to make it really fun for them. Lexi and Maddie have started to get a long really well lately and Lexi's always asking now when she has preschool again. I'm glad she's excited about it!

Preschool Year 1 Stats

Age: 3 years 6 months

Height: 3ft. 1in.

Weight: 26.5 lbs.

Hair color: Blonde/Brown

Favorites

Animal: Baby Elephants

Food: Spaghetti and Macaroni & Cheese

Game: Hungry, Hungry Hippo's

Toy: Pink Moose

Thing to do: Play

Book: Finklehopper Frog

Color: Pink

Movie: The Princess and the Pauper

Primary Song: Sunbeams

My best friend is: Maddie, Emmi, Leah & Myra

Other friends I like to play with: All of my friends

Things I like to do with my friends: Play

If I had a pet it would be a: Baby elephant

named: Sleeping Beauty

What people like about me: They like playing with me

Things I can do really well: Turn the lights on (Her answer. I don't think I agree. Every time she has to go to the bathroom, she yells at me to come and turn the light on for her!)


On a side note, a couple of days ago, when the girls got up in the morning, Myra came downstairs, but Lexi didn't. After a little while Chad went up to get her and this is what he found:



Seriously, all over! I guess she had done it the night before, but we didn't notice it when we tucked her in because it was dark. Anyway, she was pretty embarrassed about it and spent a good part of the morning covering her face and crying over it. The rest of us got a good laugh! Silly girl!

This is a little late, but I wanted to write about some business news. On August 27th, I reached 2000 sales on Etsy! Although I had hoped, I never dreamed that my business would end up being so successful! This past year has brought quite a few changes though. I'm still making blankets and such, but due to CPSIA regulations, I've really cut back and plan on mostly discontinuing baby things. I've found a lot of success with tutorials for baby items and have plans to make a few more. I've also found that selling supplies on etsy is very lucrative. It's interesting looking back and seeing how my shop has evolved. And I am grateful for the extra money it brings in. It's especially great that I can stay home with my kids and still do a little work.
In other exciting news, I've opened up another Etsy shop. I've wanted something new to make and came across pendant jewelry. Jewelry is very saturated on Etsy, but I still feel confident that I can be successful with this new shop as well. So, check out Ziggles! It was quite the process learning how to make these, but I'm so very excited with the end product! I have a couple of craft boutique's coming up and hope that they will do well there as well. At any rate, it's been fun to learn a new skill.