Remember us??

WOW! It's been almost a year since I have done anything with this! I admire all you out there that deal with crazy lives and still get around to blogging. I find it very difficult. Family picture in SoCal

Without boring you all too much with the catch up story I will summarize it with, it's been a hard year and a half. It's been a time of growth for me personally and for our family as a whole. We've had ups and downs and everything in between.

I will try to catch up a little on our current status while posting what pictures I have. (Part of the reason for not blogging is that my camera cord has been missing since we moved to Illinois, April '09. Wayne has taken and downloaded many of our family pictures from his camera and therefore they are not on my computer. Then just recently Wayne showed me I was an idiot--my words--because our computer has memory card slots and in one of the big slots is a smaller slot for our memory card. AHH! So now I have a few pictures of recent events.) I'm already thinking this will not be a short update! ;-)

I basically left off blogging after Wayne was told he would be back in a traveling position with ConAgra Foods. January was when he was supposed to start that new job, but it came and went and they still kept him at the plant in Rossville. Then in about March the plant manager in Rossville decided to go out on medical leave to have surgery. They asked Wayne to step in and run things. So Wayne became interm plant manager. In May/June the plant manager returned and Wayne was finally put into his new role. (During this time, he was not traveling yet, but was filling some of his new responsibilities while running the plant at the same time.) Without going into details, we briefly thought we would be heading back to MO in June and put our house on the market. That didn't pan out, but Wayne was now getting frustrated with some things at ConAgra and decided to contact a friend he had worked with who had recently started with a company called Glanbia Foods in Twin Falls, Idaho. We were asked to come out and visit Twin Falls to see if we would have any interest in being out there, so in July we planned a trip on our anniversary weekend and headed out. We instantly fell in love and started to really consider the possibility. Since nothing was currently open, we thought it would be at least a few months before any change would come. We were wrong.
All the grandsons on my side of the fam.

The second week in August we were enjoying vacation in California with my family, when Wayne received an offer to work at Glanbia Foods as the plant manager of their Whey plant starting September 1st! They said they moved some things around and Tada! they were ready for Wayne. So after a lot of thought and prayer we took the job. Things moved really fast at that point. We put the house back on the market, Wayne finished up his last two weeks, and moved out to ID. My family out visiting for Parker's baptism...we went to the Lincoln Museum and took a picture with the Pres. and fam.

We decided to rent a house since the housing market is pretty stagnant right now for selling ours in IL. Thankfully, Wayne was able to find a beautiful house for us within the first couple weeks he was there and on September 24 we left St. Joseph and headed to Twin Falls. (With a quick stop to say goodbye to his family in MO.)

We have now been here for just over a month and we are truly loving it. (Don't we always say that?) Though it's not as condensed of an LDS population as eastern ID, it's way more than any other place we have lived. Most of our street and the neighborhood around us is LDS. The Twin Falls temple is just a few blocks away and we get to see it every day. We've been very welcomed by our neighbors and our ward and we both received callings this Sunday. Wayne is 2nd counselor in the Sunday School presidency and is the teacher improvement teacher. I am the Mia Maid advisor. (After 7 years in Primary, I'm a bit nervous.)

As for our sweet monkey boys....All the boys were Super Mario characters for Halloween this year

Parker is now 8 years old. Morning of Parker's 8th birthday
Parker's cake--rocket ship headed to Mars.
He was baptized in June! He still continues to be rocking the academic world and also did great in baseball this past spring. He's hitting the age that he's really getting tired of moving and is missing his "BFF" Grant. Wayne and I find it quite funny how he's growing into the next stage of life, learning the slang terms and starting to get into music and other interests. He really likes to play chess--this was at a children's museum.
We're finding it to be a little challenging at times, but we try our best to adjust. Parker also started Cub Scouts when we moved here and is finding it very fulfilling. Dressed as a confederate at the Lincoln Museum
He enjoys earning character beads for his necklace and passing off his goals. First set of scriptures

Aiden is now 6. He's still our little space cadet--out in his own world. He continues to be quite the follower and always needs someone to play with or at least be in the same room with.Dressed as Abraham Lincoln @ the Lincoln Museum
He enjoys school and all the socializing and friend making that goes with it.Painting on the paint wall @ children's museum
If you smile at the kid, you're his friend. Aiden and cousin Cameron
He's very sweet that way. Aiden is making great progress in learning to read and loves to try to read every sign we pass when we're out and about. Aiden throwing the ball that will send Wayne into the water

Brenner is now 4. He thinks he rules the roost around here when the boys are gone to school.Holding the Abraham Lincoln mask

The kid was definitely saved for this time of the world. He is so smart with the computer and TV.Dressed as a worker--serious face and all

He figures out how to turn things on, get into programs, and do just about whatever he sets his mind to. He has downloaded some spyware a time or two, but thankfully we make sure we are protected and have gotten rid of it quickly. His 4th birthday cake--always has to have Halloween themed birthday

He's very helpful when he wants to be and actually really enjoys helping me clean and cook. The "Oh, Brenner" moments have calmed down quite a bit, but he still keeps us on our toes.Boys out flying Parker's kite

Hyrum is almost 2 (February).Watching and feeding ducks

He is a sweet, cute, fun little boy. He runs around most of the day content to play with trains, balls, and trucks. I love this picture!

He definitely has learned to have a stubborn streak after watching Brenner all day, though. After being such a huge chunker of a baby, he has really thinned out in recent months. And he has got the skinniest neck! I don't know why, but it's little. Hyrum is quick to smile and loves everyone.Getting a ride from GGma

I worry that if I don't watch him closely enough someone will snatch him and he won't let out a peep. He's known to walk up to anyone at church or in the stores and just give them a big hug.Don't you want a hug from this kid?

He does have a big sweet spot for his Daddy, though. I'm nothing when Wayne is around. Every Sunday afternoon you will find Hyrum sitting on Wayne's lap watching football. It's very sweet.He not only is in a big boy bed, he also no longer has the pacifier--Woohoo!

In April we were surprised to find out we were expecting baby #5! Though neither of us felt "done", we were "planning" to wait a little longer before having another one. But of course after the initial shock, we were thrilled! And what, you may ask, are we having?? A basketball team! We have our fifth little boy coming in just a few weeks, December 27th. Obviously if I had planned it, I would not have made the poor kid have a birthday around Christmas, but..... Now the question is, what do we name him?? We haven't even come up with a single name we can both agree on. We are open to any suggestions.

A walk in the woods--we make cute boys

Wayne is loving his job here--he's the boss, he gets treated to lunch by sales reps, he gets to leave work and play golf with customers, what's not to like? He also likes the people he works with, and though the company is "behind the times" as far as some things go, he likes the opportunity to help them build and grow.

The boys' Halloween pumpkins this year--our first year trying patterns....Aiden is the haunted house, Brenner the monster, and parker the peeking mummy.

As for me, I'm grateful. I'm grateful for my family and my life. I'm grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and my testimony of the truthfulness of the restored gospel found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm grateful for the challenges the last year or so has brought. It wasn't easy or pleasant, but we are a better family and I am a better wife, mother, and person for those struggles. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to serve in church and other ways. I'm grateful for finding friends wherever I've gone. I'm grateful for my children who help to teach me to be humble. I'm grateful to be home with them. I'm grateful to be in Idaho. I'm grateful that this job has potential for stability for us. I'm grateful for the cooler weather. I'm grateful that this pregnancy has been so great and pretty easy. I'm grateful to have little boys who I hope will someday hold the priesthood like their father. I'm grateful for a husband who is a great example of hard work, integrity, righteousness, and love for my boys to follow. I'm grateful I only have 6 weeks of pregnancy left. I'm grateful to anyone who read all the way through this post and is still interested in the happenings of our family.

Our future missionaries

Our love to all!