#reasonswemovedtoasmalltown #smalltownlove

Hashtags are used these days to group things on social media, to describe things in a quick way, to label events, people, ideas, etc. They began on Twitter and are like titles or topic indicators to help a person find things quickly. So here's my hashtag collection for now:
#reasonswemovedtoasmalltown
#smalltownlove
#countrylifeisthebest

 Walking and riding our bikes down the street. This is actually one of the busier streets...

 The little red school house.

 We have a little orchard in our backyard with four trees. There's plenty of fruit and plenty of good chores for kids to do.

 Living the good life--canning and drying our own fruit.

 We have family close by that we can spend time with, working and playing.

 Mark is actually going to the same preschool that I went to. Next year, he will have one of my preschool teachers/YW leaders. There's a heritage here.

 The boys will have the opportunity to be big fish in a small pond. They will get to be as active and involved as they want to be.

We have moved!

Well, something kind of big that has happened lately that I've failed to mention...we have moved! Oh, didn't I mention that before?! Here's the crazy story of how it all happened:

Nic and I have always daydreamed of moving out into the country. We were happy in our home in SoJo, liked our ward, and had good neighbors. But we also lived in a neighborhood right off of a major road in the heart of suburbia. We enjoyed all the conveniences of city life--stores and restaurants within a mile of home, great city, low crime--but we longed for some room to stretch out and for some fresh air. We both grew up in country backgrounds and wanted that same lifestyle for our kids.

Every once-in-awhile we would look at houses and daydream some more. Last summer we looked very seriously at a house in Hooper. It was sitting on little over an acre, had a huge shop for Nic, was on a quiet, dead-end street, and was very, very country. It was everything we wanted. I was already decorating the walls in our new home and had all of our bags packed...in my mind. But then Nic came to me one day and told me that he felt like it wasn't the right time to move. He had been praying about it, and he felt like the Lord was saying "not yet". I had kind of been feeling that too and there were things that just weren't working out, but I was really excited about this house and was trying to ignore such thoughts. When we decided not to buy that house, I was heartbroken. I cried for days. Like a child being told no, I felt a little bitter and angry to not get what I wanted. Over and over, the words of a Langston Hughes' poem ran through my mind:
What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load. Or does it explode?
But we moved on with life. Lucy was born and life with four kids kept us busy. We still daydreamed but nothing seriously. We were starting to feel a little crowded in our house with four kids, but with Nic in the bishopric and financially, we just didn't feel like it was the right time to move. We had decided to put moving in our five year plan.

I grew up in Gville and have always loved everything about it, but Nic had always said that he could never move to Gville. It was too far out in the middle of nowhere. It was too small town. There was this house just down the street from my parents that we would sometimes joke that if that house ever went for sale, we would move to Gville. It had this big wrap-around porch that we both loved and was in a good location at the end of the street with nothing behind it but fields.
Well, the day after Nic had sat down with me and gone through our finances with me and said, "this is the most we could afford to pay for a house", I received a text from my brother that the house was for sale and it was the exact amount that Nic had just told me. I felt like it was practically angels singing that we were meant to move to that house.

We went and looked at the house, and it was wonderful. I loved it. It didn't have a shop, but we could build one. But then we discovered that it didn't have much land. It was sitting on about .50 acre, but the backyard was smaller than the backyard we currently had. All of the land around the house was owned by the neighbor. I talked to the neighbors, but they weren't interested in selling any of the land. The house was landlocked. This and other things kept chipping away at my belief that this was the house. Things just weren't working out, and it just didn't feel right. But the house opened the door in Nic's mind to moving to Gville.

I was determined and annoyingly persistent to keep us on the road to moving to Gville. I pulled up house after house in our price range for Nic and I to go look at. We drove by houses whenever we came to visit my parents. But finally, Nic sat me down and told me that it just wasn't go to happen right then and then I needed to accept that. Our house wasn't anywhere near being ready to be packed up, our finances were quite there, and there was just a lot to do before we could even consider the idea of moving. Again, I was being told "not yet". Again, I was heart broken. I spent a day crying about it, but then I began formulating a plan of what I needed to do to help us toward our goal of living in the country. Nic, all this time the logical thinker, was also trying to save money and come up with ways to make this work. A little side note about my awesome husband, he is very practical and logical, but he is also very loving and big-hearted. He will do all that he can for my happiness and the welfare of our family. All of this was very hard on him because he knew how much I wanted this dream, and he had a clearer view than me of the obstacles in the way.

Shortly after that, a house in SoJo sitting on an acre went up for sale and a great price. Nic was out of town, but we decided we would go look at it when he got back. Well, the house was sold the day it went on the market. I was bummed out again. I had driven by the house and it was in a cowboy-ish neighborhood but still in the heart of SoJo and close to all the conveniences we enjoyed. It seemed like the perfect house for us, once again, but, once again, it didn't work out.

Anyway, about two weeks later, Nic sent me an email with a link to a house in Gville. It wasn't really anything that we were looking for--no shop, not on a big chunk of property, not out in the boonies--but it was at a crazy low price where we could afford to buy the house and rent our SoJo house. Here's the email he sent me:

We pick this up, and live for a while then work on some acreage later...

Its more in the range of easy payments...

realistically we could pay for this house with what we could make on the current house.

LOVE YOU,
Nic

It was this crazy idea, and I didn't really think much about it. I looked at the link and the pictures of the house, but I was trying really hard to not even think about houses. I was feeling jaded and didn't feel like getting my hopes up only to be dashed again.
They were having an open house that weekend for the house, so we decided to just go look at it. We actually ended up going a couple of days before the open house with our realtor and then we returned during the open house. We kept looking at it and thinking about it, and it was just feeling right. Finally, Nic came to me and said that he was really feeling like the Lord wanted us to move into this house. Again, it wasn't anything that we were looking for, but it felt right. We put in an offer the next day.
Then we found out that there were several offers on the table. We didn't know if we were the highest bid, so we increased our offer just a little. We also found out that the person selling the house was my mom's best friend growing up. Our realtor suggested we write her a letter telling her why we wanted to move to her house. I wrote the letter immediately. Here's some of what it said:
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We have four children, five years old to eight months old, and your house would be perfect for our little family. There is plenty of room, and the kids loved the backyard. We like the location--close to schools and the park, quiet street, and peaceful neighborhood. It is the kind of home where I would love to raise my children.

We have been looking to move to Gville for a while. My parents are Dee and Arlene, and I grew up in Gville. I couldn’t have asked for a better childhood. My husband also grew up in a rural community, and our dream is to raise our children in a small town with those same hometown values that we treasure and were instilled in us as children. Hometown pride, a sense of community, caring neighbors…these are all things that we’re looking for.

I also grew up with my grandparents close by and would love to give my kids that same opportunity. How wonderful is it to be able to just jump on your bike and ride over to grandma’s house! I know that my mom and dad wouldn’t mind having us closer either!

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you a little about us and hope that you will consider these things when deciding on whom to sell your house to. Thank you!

Our realtor gave them the letter and then we waited...and waited...and waited. It seemed like forever, but I think it was just a few days. I was so nervous that our little dream was going to escape us again. And then finally we were notified that they had accepted our offer. They had received several offers and one of the offers was actually higher than ours, but they had felt like we were the right family and so they accepted our offer. I'll skip all of the back and forth and crazy details that goes with buying a house, and skip right to the part where I say, we had bought a house in Gville! A dream come true for me!

Then came all the craziness of trying to pack up our house and getting ready to move, all while having four little ones underfoot. There were so many good people in our ward and, of course, our awesome family, who helped so much by babysitting while I tried to get everything in boxes. (The boys, espescially Cole, had a habit of taking things back out of boxes whenever I wasn't looking!)

Next thing I knew, we had a couple of big trailers, and all of our earthly possessions were being loaded into those trailers. I surprised even myself with how emotional moving is. I cried a lot and had to tell people often that I really was happy despite all of the tears. But this was the house where my little family had begun. We had lived there for eleven years (Nic for about thirteen years). This was the house that I had brought all four of my babies home to. This was the house where Nic and I had learned and loved as newlyweds, where we had grown together in our marriage and in our family. There were so many memories crammed into every nook and cranny of that house. I remembered my Grandma Ida coming over and making my bed with me and reminding me of how important it was to make your bed every day. I remembered cuddling up with our dog, Gimli, and doing homework. I remembered not sleeping that first night with our newborn son, Sam, laying in the cradle next to our bed. I remembered all of the remodeling projects, all of the blood, sweat, and tears. How the basement flooded our first year. How Nic slept on a mattress on the floor downstairs as we remodeled our room and the prepared a nursery for our soon-to-arrive baby. I remembered how neighbors and friends came and cleaned our house and mowed our lawn when Mark was in Primary's. I remembered first steps and first tumbles. There was much laughter, much tears, and much joy in that little red house. It was hard to say good-bye, but that little house will always have a bit of my heart.

In the moving process, you really discover who your friends are. On our actual moving day, we really didn't have as much help as we had hoped for, but the family and friends that showed up proved their stuff. Our parents worked their tails off. I don't think any of them could move for a week when everything was done! My mom and Carol Lee single-handedly packed up my kitchen and were constantly on the go doing this job and that job. My sister took the kids for me for a few days, so that we could actually get things done. My brother and my dad came to the new house and helped me paint a couple of rooms, and then showed up the next morning to move. Nic's boss, Corey, and our friend, Rob, let us use their trailer and were loading and unloading all day on one of the hottest days of the month of June. My Uncle Allen showed up and helped unload even though he had his own retirement party later that day. Uncle Mark cussed me out for owning so many books but helped move them nonetheless. Neighbors and friends, Aaron, Shad, Tim, Tyler, and Derrick all helped moved heavy boxes and furniture. It was exhausting and hot and crazy, but we got it done.

Just when you're congratulating yourself on getting everything moved, that's when you realize the work is just beginning. Then came the unpacking. That's where we still are in the process. It's been a bit stressful. We've been working really hard to get our other house ready to rent while trying to get this house settled. It has only been a couple of months, but it feels like home. Well, for me anyway. Coming back to Gville has just been coming home for me. For Nic, it has been a lot of big changes. His work commute has gone from five minutes to 45 minutes. He had to leave friends and a home and neighborhood that he was very comfortable in. And we are now living closer to my family instead of his family. But Gville is growing on him. The kids are just thriving. I think growing up in a small, rural town will be so good for them, which is the biggest reason we moved out here.

The ward has been very nice and welcoming. Everyone seems very down to earth and to be just trying to do their best to live a good life. We've been trying to get to know our neighbors and they have all been really nice so far. Right next door to us, there is a family with eight kids. The four youngest are boys and they are about the same ages as our boys. One of the boys is in Sam's kindergarten class. The boys are loving having friends so close. 

Things we've loved so far:

• The stars--it's so quiet and peaceful out here. When you go out at night, you can see so many stars in the sky, and it's so beautiful.
• Every morning we walk Sam to his elementary school. Sam's actually a little disappointed about this. He wanted to ride the bus to school, but all of the schools (elementary, jr. high, and high school) are within walking distance from our house.
• Lots of kids in our neighborhood and ward for our kids to make friends with but not too many. We didn't want to live somewhere where there's a 30:1 kid to adult ratio and packs of kids roam the streets and your home all day.
• Small town community. Our first small town event was the Fourth of July and it was wonderful. We went to the flag ceremony and parade in the morning, barbecued and lounged all afternoon, and watched the fireworks from our driveway that night. Being in a small town is a little like taking a step back in time and just living and appreciating life like how they used to in the good ol' days.
• Family near by. It has been so nice to be able to just drop the kids off at my parent's house while I run some errands or to have grandpa stop by on one of his walks. That's how I grew up, and I'm finding that it's a pretty sweet deal when you're a parent!

I know that the Lord has moved us here to this home for a reason. When I look at how things just came together and worked out, it's obvious that the Lord had a hand in it. I don't know why He wants us here. I don't know if it is to bless someone else or to be blessed or, probably, both. But I do know that we have moved here for a reason and that we are really blessed.

Our old house:

(One of these days, I think I will just sit down with pictures of each room and just jot down memories of that particular room). And by the way, these pictures are all from during the moving process or after we moved.

 

Little Lulu, I love You-lu just the same!

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated Lucy's first birthday. It is so crazy to me that my baby girl just turned one. I joke that I have really good babies, but when they turn one, that's when they turn on me! Well, Lu has definitely gone from my little cuddle bug to my wiggle worm. She is starting to try to find her independence, but at the same time becoming more demanding of attention. Lu used to be really good about just playing on her own for a little while, but now I think she has realized that being the fourth of four kids, she's going to make some noise to get attention. She loves to play with mommy and daddy and her brothers. And the brothers love to smother her with attention. She's also begun to get into the brother's stuff. She loves to play with their cars and toys. Sometimes she's more inclined to play with cars than her dolls. She will crawl around with cars in each hand, driving them all around.

Lu has started to make attempts at walking. She is the youngest of her siblings to want to come into the walking world. I think she sees her brothers running around and is just itching to run around with them. She's starting to get more balance and can almost stand up by herself. She likes to scoot around holding onto furniture, but if she needs to get somewhere in a hurry, then it's crawling. At first, I wondered if she was ever going to crawl. But then finally she started to do the stink bug crawl with her bum up in the air, and, eventually, just the regular crawl. Now she crawls everywhere and gets into everything. She has found that the stink bug crawl is still good to go back to when she's trying to get around in a dress. She is an adventurer and does whatever she sets her mind to do.


Lucy's name means 'light'. Lucy is definitely a light in our family. She has a beautiful smile that she uses often. She's easy going and so good-natured. She's a sweetheart who loves to be around people and to make others smile. She also has her very own strong personality. She is going to be a leader some day and do great things. She has a little bit of mischievous streak but she's just so darn cute that it's hard to get mad at her.



It's fun to see how everyone interacts with Lucy. Sam is all big brother with her. He is very protective of her and takes good care of her. He's always reminding his brothers that "Lucy is fragile! Be careful with her!" He sits next to her in the van and is often talking and playing with her.
 
 Lucy is Mark's little buddy. He loves to play with her, and she likes to play with him. I think they will grow up to be such good friends. Mark is always encouraging Lucy in whatever she's doing. It's fun to watch him try to coach her with crawling or walking.


 Cole is Lucy's co-conspirator. I have a hunch that those two are going to work together often to get into some big trouble. I can just imagine some day finding a jeep parked in the middle of my garden, and Cole and Lucy with a great story to tell of how it got there!

(I love this picture of Lucy and Cole. Cole was sad about something and crying, and Lucy just reached up and took his hand. It was ADORABLE!)

Lucy is a momma's girl, but she has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. It's neat to see how much Nic loves his little girl. He calls her "Skida" because he likes to sing Skidamarink to her. He also calls her "the gamechanger" because it's a whole other enchilada with Lucy than with the boys. Nic jokes that he's the beanie-daddy right now--everyone wants a beanie baby but then don't know what to do with it once they've got it--but I know that Lucy will always have a strong relationship with her dad. I can actually picture her in grease covered overalls putting a Jeep together with her dad. I have a feeling she might be a bit of a tom-boy.

For Lucy's birthday, we had the Lulupalooza Luau. It was a little hectic this year, so I didn't have time to go as crazy as I usually do, but it was still a big affair. We had lots of good food--Aloha burgers and Kalua Pork with yummy tropical salads and fruit. And I had some crafts that people could do--make your own grass skirt and make a tissue paper flower. I also had some luau games, but we never got to the hula dancing and limbo contests. Next time!


Lucy was spoiled rotten. She got some cute clothes, dolls, puppies that talk, and musical toys. Uncle Clay also didn't fail in his tradition. For each of the boys, he got them a BB gun for their first birthday. Well, not to be left out, Lucy got a bright PINK BB gun. I'm sure she will put it to good use!

Lucy's cake was supposed to look like a cute little sun with cupcakes for the rays. Not so much. I will do better next year! Looking back at the pictures, I'm thinking the bright yellow frosting wasn't the best idea. It just looks gross. =) But Lucy really enjoyed her cake. She was dainty with the first couple of bites but then, upon discovering it was sugar goodness, she dug right in. I seriously think she ate three-quarters of the cake! (By the way, Lucy loves food! She is a really good eater and especially loves food of the sweet variety!) The funny thing is, now whenever Lucy hears the birthday song, she automatically expects someone to hand her a cake!

I think she enjoyed her birthday. I know that we've enjoyed having her in our family so far. She is our little sweetheart, and I love her so much!

The Sentimental Birthday Post

 In my last post, I told all about our birthday festivities for Mark. Today let me talk a little bit about Mark, my big boy four year-old.
It's hard to believe that Mark is four already. It has been an adventurous four years so far! From his IVH on his brain when he was two weeks old to just trying to survive a fearless, adventurous, all-boy little boy, Mark brings excitement and adventure every day.


I've decided to try to do birthday interviews each year with each of the kids, and so here's Mark's birthday interview:
1. Who is your favorite person in the whole world?
     My cousins, Daisy and Kharee.
2. What is your favorite color?
     Green (which is funny because just a few months ago, he wouldn't have anything to do with anything that was green!)
3.  What's your favorite show?
     The froggie show 
4.  What sport do you like best or what do you like to do for fun?
     water balloons (He didn't say this, but he really liked playing soccer too).
5.  What song do you love?
     Follow the Prophet
6.  What's your favorite cereal?
     The Red Cereal with marshmallows (Lucky Charms) and oatmeal
7.  Who is your best friend?
     Kharee & Daisy
8.  What do you want to be when you grow up?
     Like my cousins. Fly airplanes.
9.  What is your favorite book?
     The monkey book (Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb)
10.  What are you really good at?
     I'm big and strong.
11. Where do you wish you could go on vacation?
     Water pool and Grandma's house
12. What is your best memory?
     Playing with the cousins.
13. What would you buy if you had $1000?
     Cake
14. What vegetables do you like/not like?
     I like carrots but don't like green vegetables.
15. If you could have a wish, what would it be?
     A dragon
16. What do you like to do best with your friends?
     Playing Cell Damage (a video game).
17. What do you hope you'll get to do before your next birthday?
     Color.

And now, here's what I have to say about my Mark.
Mark is a character. He loves to laugh and to make others laugh. He likes to be goofy. He likes to put on silly glasses and hats and dance around.

Mark plays hard. He does everything full throttle. He likes to do anything active. We got the boys balance bikes for Easter, and Mark was the first one to figure out the bike and how to get it to go really fast. He likes to go really fast toward a wall and then turn right before the wall, playing chicken with the wall, I guess. Sometimes the wall wins, but Mark is pretty good at it. Mark loves to run and jump and just play, play, play. He loves anything that involves a ball. He played his first soccer season this past spring and loved it (though I think he was more in it for the girls than the game). Funny story--Mark fell in love with a little girl on his soccer team named Paisley. Now Paisley was much taller. I think Mark came up to her waist. But it was love at first sight. At the first game, Mark did his first romantic gesture. With three/four year old soccer, it's just bunch ball (you just have a bunch of little kids in a bunch kicking in every direction with no clue where the soccer ball even is). Well, Mark broke into one of these wild packs, stole the ball, went in the opposite direction of the goal, and put the ball right at Paisley's feet. I don't know about Paisley, but it won my heart!




Mark wears his emotions of his sleeve. When he's happy, he's the happiest kid alive. When he's sad, he's the saddest kid you've ever met. Mark has been blessed with amazing lungs. That kid can wail when he wants to. Maybe he will be a rock star someday? Mark is a tender heart. He likes to be all strong and tough, but he's also very caring and sweet (reminds me of his daddy). Like Grandma J once said, "Mark is tough as nails, but don't hurt his feelings." That sums him up well.

Mark is stubborn (gets that from me) and hard-headed (gets that from dad). He is a determined soul. He doesn't like change. From stories that I hear about Nic's childhood, I think Mark is very much like his dad was growing up. There's a story of when Nic was either in kindergarten or first grade, and the teacher was doing some lesson that involved Care Bears. Nic didn't like Care Bears. They were for girls. So Nic stomped out the classroom and then proceeded to walk all the way home. I could picture Mark doing that in a heartbeat. 

Mark is more of a daddy's boy. He loves me fiercely, but it's daddy that he emulates and strives to be like. He wants to be big and strong like daddy. He wants to do anything that dad is doing. He is so much like Nic, it's scary!

I love Mark so much and can't imagine life without him. It's so fun to watch him grow and learn. In two weeks he starts preschool. Crazy! He will always be my little miracle, my indomitable spirit, and my freckled-face, blue-eye little boy.