Sitting Up!

Our Amy is sitting up!  We don't know who is more proud, Amy or us.  She's become a new baby this week: sitting, rolling like crazy, reaching for everything.  We can already see that she is a determined little one that goes after what she wants.  She became such a big girl in the last couple of weeks. 

The In Between

The phrase "in between" is exactly how I would describe my life lately, maybe even for the last year.  For months in Logan, we were waiting for things to resolve, for Heber's job situation to become what we moved for, for some sign to come that would make it feel ok to settle and buy a home in Logan.  This feeling never came.

We decided to start looking for work outside of Cache Valley.  Heber applied for jobs all over the country and we ended up with 5 job offers in Northern Virginia.  Five.  The one he accepted is a job worth moving for, he's so excited.  Now, Virginia is a great place to live, lots of things to see and do, good people but....it's not the easiest place to live. The decision to return was difficult but we felt like it was the right thing.

I imagine that many wonder why we would make a second cross country move in a year and why we would return to the same place.  The answer is complicated.  Would I change the way that I did things?  Absolutely not.  There were some deep lessons I learned through this whole experience, perhaps too deep for the blog, but I would do it all again. 

As for continued "in betweenness," we are currently living in a hotel.  There just wasn't time in between accepting the job, selling our condo (!) and moving to plan a trip out to find housing.  We came out blind with a month in temporary housing and hope that it would all work out.  While this is not the ideal situation with two very young children (I'm trying not to lose my mind), it hasn't been too bad.

We have been in Virginia for a week now.  In that time we've searched for house, found one, put an offer in, counteroffered, accepted and applied for a mortgage.  I almost can't believe it myself, which is why I write it down. As you can imagine, this has led to several sleepless nights because I've been so worried about it all.  Did we make the right choice on the house?  Should we have seen it again before purchasing? How can anybody sleep while going through this process?
 
We went over to the house for an inspection on Saturday.  As I walked into the house, I loved it.  It's not perfect but I could picture a good life there.  For the first time in perhaps a year, I feel calm.  We found a house in less than a week, we sold our condo in Logan in less than a week and I feel like I can see the hand of God in my life. The long winding journey is starting to make sense in my head. 

Yay!

Our soon to be new home!

Our trees!  Always been my dream to have trees of my own!

The real reason Heber liked this house, the garage.

In all of this, Heber started his new job and has been liking his first week, I'm interested to see how he likes it when he gets to the actual work part of this adventure.  I've been visiting my old haunts and connecting with old friends.  The whole things has been rough on the kids but it will all even out when we get settled into the house next month.

The in between is not my favorite and I'm looking forward to being somewhere, to settling down.  It's all coming together!  More pictures to come.

Leaving Logan

Heber and I are moving to Virginia, as we speak.  The movers are at our house right now and once again packing our whole life into a truck (this time is so much nicer because THEY are packing the boxes).   We are flying out this weekend to start our (semi)new life.   We sold our home here and are officially homeless until we can find a place there. Who would have thought we'd be heading back to Northern Virginia?

Am I nervous about this?  Absolutely (I’m a basket case but I’m trying to hold it in).  Yet, do I feel it’s the right thing? Yes.  No doubt.  If there is one thing I have learned from this experience, it’s that Heavenly Father is very aware of me, of what I need and is willing to help, if I ask.  It’s the most incredible feeling in the world to be able to receive an answer to a prayer and I have seen it so many times even just in the past couple of months.  

I know that moving to Virginia is the right choice for our family right now.  I know it.

So, we are saying goodbye to Logan for the second, and most likely, last time.  It’s strange to not have any ties (except for friends we love) to Logan anymore.  It’s like all the loose ends are tied up.  This second Logan chapter has been one of the more challenging experiences in my life but I have learned so much.  I know why we had to make 2 cross country moves in a year.  It seems crazy to the outsider but it has been an experience that has changed me and made me better, oh and tired too.  Still, I wouldn’t change any of it.

Here are some pictures as we said goodbye to Logan.  It is so hard to say goodbye, there are so many people there that we care about.  Good thing we have phones and computers and can keep in touch.  There are so many more pictures I could put up, so many people.

My dear friend Co after a full hour of Irish Dancing

My mom and sis.  So sad to be away from them.  These are my people.

Mom L and Grandma Barbara.

Leo and cousins.

Amy and Uncle Peter

Our family.

The Relief Society Presidency in my last ward.  These women loved me, helped me and gave me so many opportunities to serve.

Heb and his folks who helped so much on moving day.

The Palmer boys.  Wish we could come out and watch more of your soccer games.

My dear friend Emily who was my sanity during all the craziness.

A Grantsville Fourth

We celebrated a Grantsville Fourth of July this year and I loved it.  We have not been able to participate for the past 3 years and it was as good as I remembered.  But, I have to admit that I was thinking of our DC’s fourths too.  There’s just so much history there and really, can you beat visiting the White House on that most patriotic day?  Well, no.  Ok, it was a close tie.  

Loni, my sis, and Heber with the boys.  Look at our crowd for the parade, this wasn't even everybody.

 

 I think the thing that really threw it over the top was being able to be there with my family.  My sisters, my cousins, nieces and nephews, the grandparents, it was just so nice.  It has been over a year since I’ve seen one of my sisters and it filled me up and made me sad that we are moving away from them all.  Leo ran his little legs off outside and had a wonderful time playing. 

 

It was a day filled with all of the traditional things.  The parade, which featured much less heavy machinery and tanks than I remember, a family BBQ with so much good food.  You should know by know that my family knows how to cook and make a beautiful meal.   To me, holidays are good food.

Grandpa Matt and Amy

One notable part of the day was being able to sing a solo at the flag raising ceremony at the Fire Station.  A few weeks ago, I felt like I wanted to sing there and just couldn’t get it out of my mind, so I called up the coordinator and asked if they needed a musical number.  It was wonderful to sing in public, it really is one of my favorite things to do.  Maybe I need to seek out more opportunities like this.

 

We topped it all off with fireworks.  What a wonderful weekend.