{Thanksgiving and House Listed: Nov. 2013}

We went up to Oregon {with Mark's side of the Family} for Thanksgiving this year.  The kids had a blast hanging out with their cousins.

 We had a great time spending time with Family.  Mark's sister with her Baby, me and my Baby and Mark's oldest brother's wife and their daughter.

 We ate delicious food together, and our Baby {she started walking at 10 months!} practiced her walking skills.

 We love snuggling our Babies. 

We had an amazing Thanksgiving with our wonderful Family.

 The kids had a Blast with Grandpa, taking them on Four-Wheeler rides with their cousins.

We made pies together.  I love Pumpkin pies.

We went and finished a few more things, to spruce-up our home, which we listed in November.  Here is what {our listing} says,
"Don't miss this beautiful, custom 3 bedroom, 2 bath home located in an Island City newer, scenic neighborhood.  Built in 2008, this home features an open kitchen with stainless steel appliances and custom cabinetry.  It also has spacious closets and rooms, 9 foot ceilings throughout, a large master bedroom, double car attached garage and mature landscaping."  We are patiently awaiting our home, to sell in Oregon, so that we can build, here in Idaho.

{Visit to Oregon {Family and Friends}: October 2013}

We went up to Oregon, from our new Home in Idaho, to visit Family and Friends and to take care of some much needed work on our Home, before putting it on the market.  Our Baby H with cousin H.  Princess R with cousin C.  The kids eating home grown watermelon from the garden.

We had fun visiting with our family.  Here's Baby H with Little Man C and Grandpa and Princess K with cousin C.

Here are the girls playing with their Cousins and Baby H snuggling with her Mama.

We also visited with our Best friends the Smiths while we were there.  Princess K enjoyed playing with N and Little Man C with T.

Little Man E also enjoyed playing with M and Princess R with L.  We always have a blast with them.

We had an {Early} Birthday Celebration for Mark, while we were there, so he could celebrate with his side of the Family.

We did quite a bit of work on our Home before putting it on the market (the kids had scuffed it up a bit) so we painted all of the walls, replaced a lot of the baseboard molding, and replaced a lot of the carpet, with hardwood flooring.  Here is Grandpa patiently teaching Little Man E how to paint our walls.  He also helped Mark dig up some produce in their garden, for us to take home.

We had a lovely visit up in Oregon, visiting with Family and Friends.

{Our Fall Birthdays: Sept. 2013}

We have five out of our seven birthdays in our family, in the Fall, so it's always a busy Birthday Season for us.  Click to link to {Little Man E's 9th Birthday Celebration} Post.

Click to link to {Princess K's 5th Birthday Celebration} Post.

 Click to link to {Little Man C's 3rd Birthday Celebration} Post.

My Birthday Celebration, was a lot of fun.  Mark made me a wonderful dinner: chicken alfredo, green beans, garlic bread, and sparkling apple cider, (I felt so special, because he came home immediately after working all day long, and still made time to do this for me). 

 My parents arrived for a visit, ON my Birthday, which was extra special, since I don't usually get to celebrate my birthday with my parents here.

 We had only moved from Oregon to Idaho 9 days before my Birthday, so we were still living out of boxes, but my kiddos, husband Mark, and my parents still managed to make it such a wonderful day for me.

Mark made one of my most favorite desserts, Strawberry Shortcake.  I felt so special and loved.

I had a fabulous Birthday celebration.  It was an amazing day!

{Beautiful views, Family Visits, Family Fun: Sept 2013}

We Loved having my parents visit us at our New Home in Idaho.  We had a Blast with them, driving around and seeing all of the sites, and doing fun things with them, while they were here visiting.  Here we are visiting the Beautiful {LDS} Temple.

We Love Being together as a Family.  Love these kiddos and my honey.

Baby H: loves standing up.  Grandma holding Baby H.  A Beautiful view of the Canyon.

Here are Princess K and Little Man C with Daddy, and Princess K and Princess R having fun.  There are some Gorgeous views, and Beautiful things to see here in Idaho.

Here I am with my honey and our youngest baby.  It's so fun to spend time together.  We love going to see all of the Beautiful Creations made by the hand of God.

Here are the girls spending time with Grandma, Daddy and Mama.  We Loved having fun on this Beautiful day in September together.

{Mark's Classroom and the Kids' First day of School}

This is Mark's 2nd Grade classroom.  We are so beyond excited for him to be living his dream of being a teacher.  He is doing an amazing job at his new job and loving every minute of it.

We put Little Man E and Princess R in the same school that Mark teaches at, so they would feel more comfortable starting at a new school.  Here we are visiting the school and Mark's new classroom.

Here are Little Man E and Princess R with their new 3rd and 2nd grade teachers at their new school.  They are both loving it there; and excelling and doing well.

 My parents came up to visit us {in September}, and went to see Mark's classroom with us.  We loved having them here to visit.  {More pictures to come of their visit.}

{Moving Adventures: Sept. 2013}

After graduating from college in Elementary Education, in August Mark interviewed for and was offered 3 different positions.  We prayed together as a family, and couple, about which area was right for us, and which position to take.  We received a strong answer that we needed to move to Idaho, and accept that offer. 

So with bitter sweet feelings, we packed up our beautiful home {we've lived in Oregon for about 9 years and in our home for 4.5 years, after we built it}.  All of our kids were born there in Oregon, with the exception of our oldest (who was born in Washington and moved there when he was 3 months old).  We said goodbye to many amazing friends and family members, whom we will miss dearly.  But we know that the right place for us to be is in Idaho, even if it is a difficult change for all of us to undertake.

 We packed up and deep cleaned our home, very quickly, with lots of help from generous and amazing friends and family members.

 It was a blessing to us to have so many people helping, because it happened so last minute, and Mark had to commute down to Idaho during the week for his new job, as a 2nd grade teacher.

We will miss Oregon, but we are also excited for our new adventures awaiting us in Idaho.

We loaded up our things into a U-haul truck, {with lots of help from family and friends}.

We said goodbye to our home, friends and family; and headed on our way to our new home in Idaho.

We arrived at our apartment {we are going to sell our home in Oregon, before we build down in Idaho}.  We had many generous helpers from our new ward {church}, to help unload.  We were excited to be there, and to embark on the adventure before us.

Insta-Lawn! (well not quite) 2009

Yeah!! We have a yard now!! :)

We have been trying to decide whether to go with seed or sod for planting our lawn.
But we decided that it would be much easier with the kids to do sod.
Since it takes only a few weeks for it to be ready to play on.
Versus a few months. Mark and his brothers and dad installed the lawn.
I think that it looks great and we are so excited to have our landscaping done.
It is fun to actually have a yard to take care of, to weed, water and play with. We are enjoying working outside with our yard. It is going to be fabulous. :)