Getting Through Month Two

Jeff's training was 3 months long. The first month I was a rockstar. Incredible. The kids were great. I was a champ. All was well. Then Jeff came home and everything changed. Once we shipped him off again, we were all so discouraged. The kids were mad because they only got to see Jeff for .25 seconds. I was mad because ditto and also because his training wasn't even halfway over so it felt like we still had a long ways to go. And finally, seeing him reminded me of how much easier it is to have help, so it made it all the harder to do everything on my own again after that. Plus we had the stress of needing to find a house, and preparing to move, and everything hit me in month two. 

Which is when good friends stepped in and got me through. Starting with a concert Kenz went to with me. We ate pizza and cookies and enjoyed a warm summer evening out at Antelope Island which was just the thing I needed to recover from my stress. 

Just as I was wishing there was somebody to take care of me as I tried to take care of all four of my boys, Teresa stepped in to invite me over for dinner, and she was always there to help out during school functions and weekday juggling. She saved me!

The boys participated in a jog-a-thon at school.

 They did it all for the snow cones.

 Teresa joined me on a Saturday hike. We caught the leaves at the perfect time of year. The setting and the kids were all cooperative for this weekend excursion.

Of all the things I did by myself, when I look back at pictures of General Conference weekend,that's the thing that seems the most laborious though I don't remember it actually being burdensome at all. I made the traditional ebelskivers. I kept 4 kids entertained for all sessions, and I even provided a few activities to keep them busy. Go me!

Carson made this cute bead creation of the prophet while listening to conference. 

My favorite conference tradition is to do "conference magic." I sit down with the boys and have them come up with 2-3 questions they want answered during conference. We write them down and then listen for our answers. So far we have found an answer for all the questions we've ever asked. That's the magic!

The boys wanted to walk to church one Sunday. On the way home, there is always a stream of cars which gets annoying when it comes time to cross the street to get to our house. We started up the road and there was a break in the cars so I told the boys to hurry and run across while we had the chance. Eli, taking a very stubborn stance, announced, "MOM! I will NOT cross the street here! That's called JAYWALKING! That's BREAKING THE LAW!"

I rolled my eyes at his self-righteousness and tried to convince him he had to take his moment while he had it to get across the street. Eli walked backwards towards the corner so that he could cross the street in the appropriate spot. I stopped to wait for him to catch up to us and as he approached, he proudly held up the necklace he made at church, which clearly stated what he had learned about that day-"We believe in obeying the law."

Pictures are deceiving as it appears we already have a baby daddy back in the picture. But don't be deceived. Month two was a drag!

Like maniacs, we met up in Las Vegas, where we would be moving, to, oh you know, buy a house in a day. It seemed like our only option! I didn't want to rent because I hate moving and Eli has basically gone to a new school every year of his life, so I just felt like we needed to somewhat settle somewhere. I was sure we would find some clarity once we were in Vegas and the perfect house would present itself so that we could confidently put an offer in, leaving us househunting for the entire duration of Jeff's quick visit home.

 The boys quickly learned about the perk of living in Las Vegas-swimming in October!

After a one-day marathon of house hunting, we found it. I wouldn't call it love at first sight, but after seeing all our other options and then coming back to this one, we finally knew we had a keeper. We felt good about the house, put an offer in, and by nothing short of a miracle, everything went perfectly smoothly so we were all ready to move in right as Jeff finished training. Prayers are answered!

One month of training left to go and then we'd call this place home!