I've been reading back to my posts when I first started blogging.  My how things have changed!  We were happy in Rawlins for many reasons, but the Lord new better and away we've gone back to Washington.  I fought it with everything I had, but in the end I had no choice except to go along with the move. 

I was talking to my mom this morning about how good this move has been for all of us.  Neither of the kids had many friends in WY, but here when I drop them off at school they are surrounded by their friends.  As a parent, that is a WONDERFUL sight to behold!  Both of them are doing so well in school and have adjusted to the school better than either of us could have hoped.

Stuart loves his job, not that that is a new concept to him but it's always nice.  And I have made quite a few friends here as well.  We all feel so loved and to be honest it feels like we've come home.  I haven't even been
"homesick" for my family which is terribly odd for me. 

I really hope we are supposed to stay here, I am almost afraid to plan too far ahead because I'm scared we'll have to move again.  I hope and pray that we don't have to....except to move out of this apartment!

Come!

On Monday I took  Maija, Phillip and a friend's little girl who is about Phillip's age to the play ground of dreams.  (We call it the castle park, but it's real name is the Play Ground of Dreams).  Maija and Phillip are used to playing on whatever they want and when we got there off they went to play.  "D" however is an only child and doesn't play with other children very often and she was a little lost as to what she should be doing with the other kids.  Maija stopped and noticed that D wasn't playing and so she walked over to her, grabbed her hand and said "Come!"  I may just be emotional right now, but having just made a big transition in our lives and being in the process of making new friends myself it really struck me.  My eyes may have been "sweating". 

Then I found this quote by James E. Faust
“The commandment given by the Savior was to love others and yourself. Am I secure enough in my love of myself to laugh at myself, to admit mistakes, to graciously accept a compliment? Am I secure in my love of others to smile and say hello to a perfect stranger?”


If I could only be more like a child!  My goal during the next few months is to make new friends, and literally say "Come!"  Some very lovely sisters have done that for me here, and with my new calling as the Relief Society Meeting Coordinator I have the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Pictures!

I finally changed our blog header, a friend of mine is trying to hone her skills to start a photography business, and so practiced on our kids at the park the other day.   I LOVE them, and I didn't have to fight with them to take them.  THANKS MONICA!

I finally found the cord to my camera and then for some reason I couldn't get the pictures to download onto the computer.  After quite a few frustrating days I figured out there was something wrong with one of the pictures on the camera and deleted...and now I can post pictures again...YAY!

We really did have a pretty good summer.  KatieJo and Samuel each stayed 2 weeks at my parents house in CO.  Samuel participated in a British Soccer Camp, and swim lessons; and KatieJo spent her time doing swim lessons and shopping with Grandma and Auntie Cori.  KatieJo also got to spend some time in Idaho with the Mobley side.

Samuel at soccer camp

I LOVE this picture!

Grandma and Grandpa and our 4 munchkins

Auntie Cori and the kids swimming.

Samuel turned 7 three days after we moved in.

First day of school!

He lost his first tooth!

Playing twister.  Well, KatieJo and Samuel playing, Maija just "playing around".

Goal

Our economy stinks.  Now, that's not my intended topic.  However, it really encourages me in my newest goal.  I read a book called The Penny Pinchers Club.  Truthfully it wasn't very good reading, however it gave me some great ideas about how to save money. 

I wouldn't necessarily say I am always cheap (I really prefer the word frugal), but I think I need to be.  I buy 99% of our clothes at garage sales or thrift stores.  I clothe our family of 6 for approximately $200-$300 a year.  Some times it's a little more, sometimes less.  I also make just about all our food from scratch, which saves us money. I don't even buy bread.  After reading the Penny Pinchers Club I realized that now that I live close enough to real stores I could really start using coupons, and could possibly save 50-90% of our grocery bill.  Now how great would it be to have that extra money in our bank account than in the stores' account!

So, I am embarking on my newest goal of saving as much money as possible.  Tonight I got 6 packages of hot dogs for 25 cents each.  It doesn't sound like much, but I saved us $6 tonight.  So my plan is to transfer that $6 to our savings account. 

Some people would never use coupons, or shop the sales.  But, I'm not afraid of coupons; I LOVE them! 

First Day of School

The first day of school for KatieJo and Edward (a.k.a. Samuel who has chosen to go by one of his middle names) was Tuesday the 31st.  I have pictures, honest I do.  However, I can't for the life of me find the cord that attaches to my camera so I can put them on the computer.  So, you'll just have to trust that I have awesome pictures of all of the kids on the first day.

On Thursday August 26th both KatieJo and Edward (still a little weird to be typing that but I'm trying!) had to go in to do some placement testing.  It's standard procedure to see where kids are when they come in from new schools.  However, Edward...because of his age and the fact that he skipped 1st grade last year had to take an extra test to make sure that 3rd grade was an appropriate placement for him.  He placed appropriately for 3rd grade and so I have two 3rd graders.  It's a little bittersweet after the fight we've been through to watch him walk to his 3rd grade classroom with kids who are taller than him.  After talking to his teacher she says he's doing great, which is WONDERFUL to hear!

I find it a little funny that both KatieJo and Edward have been playing together at recess.  At Church they ignore each other during Primary, however at school they're stuck to each other like glue!  It's nice to know that they are there for each other, and that deep down they really do like one another. And if you are wondering they are in different classes at school.

Phillip misses both of them, and the first 2 days I couldn't get him to do anything because all he wanted to do was go pick them up at school.  Maija on the other hand is really good at telling them "BYE!!!!" at the top of her lungs.  She also says "SEE!"  which means see ya! to them as they head out of the van.

I did get Phillip to do some table time this morning after I let him play at the park for 1 1/2 hours.  He can now proudly tell you that A says a, ah & aw.  I really need to get the book out of storage to teach him to read.  He's excited to read and I'm hoping if he has something to do he'll calm down a little.

KatieJo started tap dance class this week.  We're thrilled because the dance studio we chose has sent students off to Juliard and some famous ballet companies.  Not that I expect that of KatieJo, but we are excited that she'll get actual dance instruction rather than what she was getting.

Both KatieJo and Edward are going to be starting the violin or viola this year.  The first 3rd grade orchestra rehearsal is on September 13th.  They are SO EXCITED!!!!  KatieJo wants to play the violin and Edward wants to play the viola. 

Besides that things are pretty normal around here.  Stuart is helping with football in the hopes that he'll get hired on as a coach...which looks like will probably happen.  He hasn't been getting home until almost 7 every night. 

We are alive

I'm pretty sure we've disappeared off the face of the planet....well at least for a little while. We've been busy packing, getting rid of things, packing, moving, then unpacking and some more unpacking...moving things to storage since we don't have room in our apartment and then of course more unpacking. I feel out of touch with the world, we've managed to keep talking to family. However, talking to anyone else has fallen by the wayside.

We left Rawlins on Saturday July 31st. After a BUNCH of problems (as soon as I get pictures from my mom I'll post about our move up to WA), we arrived in Richland and moved into our apartment on Monday August 2nd. It's been strange moving into an apartment. We've never lived in one and on top of that we haven't rented in over 8 years. Did I mention we lost over 1,000 sq feet moving here? That's been interesting to say the least. Thankfully Stuart insisted upon the larger storage unit because we've needed almost all of the space! We are hoping to find a bigger place or possibly find something to buy by the end of February. The apartment is a stepping stone, and I will admit it's not as bad as I thought it would be.

It's a little intimidating to move to "civilization"! I was very overwhelmed by the "bigness" of the Tri-Cities. After living in Rawlins...population 9,000 and Republic....population 2,000 the Tri-Cities is HUGE!

Funny enough last Sunday at Church (our first Sunday here) I ran into the mom of a girl I went to school with. What a small world!

I think we're going to like it here, on Thursday night at Enrichment a sister walked up to me and said..."We're going to love you, and if you move out of our ward we'll be incredibly sad!"

Hopefully the kids feel the same way!

Super Man!

Beware, I'm bragging here. Not sure why I haven't done it yet, guess I've been too busy doing other things (like packing the house, finding a place to live etc.).

The man you see in the picture below has OFFICIALLY been granted his Masters of Education degree from Oregon State University. That's means he is ONE FANTASTIC man! (Not that you aren't if you don't have one, but my man is Fantastic!!!!)

This picture is from his graduation with his bachelors degree. However, since he didn't travel to Oregon to walk in graduation this is the only picture we have of him in a cap and gown.

Because he now has a degree from Oregon, he is officially a Beaver and no longer a Kohawk. What makes it funny is that we are moving 5 1/2 hours from Corvallis, OR where the school is.

CONGRATULATIONS STUART!!!