First Day of Preschool Year 2

It's that time of year again! And after much debate, Xander is not starting Kindergarten this year. But we got super lucky and found a great preschool program! It's through the school district here and it is actually a program for me called, Parenting the Preschooler. The class is really designed to teach parents how to be better parents. I get to work one day a week and I have to attend a night class once a month. The night meetings are a lecture and then we plan our activities. It has only been a couple of weeks but it is so fun! I really love the program and am glad we found it! I love that the parents run the program but at the same time it isn't at our house! It's at the Elementary school and so the options are endless--there are so many materials at our disposal which makes for some pretty fun activities. The preschool is 4 days a week from 9:15-11:45AM and since I can't take Eliza & Violet I found a friend (who happens to be our neighbor) and we swap our kiddos. So much fun! We walk to school all the time together and Xander just absolutely loves Mary Grace and Eliza loves Mati! Yeah for friends!

Water Park Fun

I love Sundays!!

Because these cuties get all dressed up!

Ward Campout

We worked really hard all week so that we could make it to the ward campout but alas, we didn't make it there Friday night. Luckily it was close to home so we could wake up SUPER early and drive up in time for the rest of everybody to wake up. We had breakfast with our friends and we played at Camp Nauvoo the rest of the morning. We played Cowboy Golf and swam in the creek. It was a lot of fun and we really hope that next summer we'll get to do some actual camping!

Family Stay-cation

I'm getting ahead of the game and here is a sneak peek of our stay-cation in progress:

I Promise...

I'm having a really hard time losing weight this time around (actually, to be honest, I'm gaining) and Ben gained a few extra pounds with me so we are making a pact--

when we lose the first 25--we will buy ourselves the flat screen tv we've been saving for.

when we both reach our goals--we will go to Hawaii.

Here we go!

Prose

So I don't ever get too personal on here but some people might be interested in knowing what in the world is going on here...so the scoop:

After spending the last several months (well, ok, we were looking before we got here so it's been almost a year) looking for a house in this CRAZY housing market, we were seriously getting frustrated. We'd put a couple offers in and nothing was going our way. Then Ben met with his boss...

His boss sat him down and talked to him about his career development path and what he needs to do next (after this position finishes in about 18 mos). Ben is really excited about the next steps to take but that will include another move (I'm not kidding) to OREGON!

So what are we going to do for the next 18 months? We are going to live with Grandma. Grandma is giving up 3 rooms and her kitchen and we are converting 1 of her 3 garages into a living room and we are going to live here. WOW. It's crazy. I don't know what to think other than, FAMILY HISTORY time again! The last time we lived with Grandma, I learned so much about my ancestors and I loved it! This time, I'm going to write it down!

About the high possibility of moving back to Oregon...we are really excited. We loved Oregon and the people we became friends with. They probably don't care too much for us since we left them high and dry but we really appreciated how awesome they were to us and our family. I'm so glad that we decided not to put Xander in kindergarten this year because now he'll be on schedule with the kids his age in Oregon. I definitely look forward to the real farmer's markets and farms that Hillsboro has to offer and of course, reacquainting with the ladies we left.

So that is where we are at right now. I'm still having a hard time swallowing that we will probably move again so soon. BUT I am promising myself that I will just live and enjoy each day and be grateful for the extra time we have with our families so close--I'll make sure they babysit plenty so they are sick of us and hopefully we'll know more in a year as to what is really happening.

Crazy times!!! Watch out world! Oh, and keep your eyes open for houses OR people!