Whoa, life. Slow down a bit!

How to blog two months worth of events?

Well, lets jump in.

We had spring break. The first half was a blast. Lots of Legos and playtime. Ended with Simeon breaking his foot, us spending a lot of money to get it looked at by different doctors. Battling the stomach flu. Cancelling our Denver trip. Good news...his foot is already better. Turns out kid bones heal amazingly fast!

Spring break was followed by about 4 weeks of sickness. Including a sinus infection from H-E-Double hockey sticks. It was bad. Good news. I'm better. Bad news. Matt now has it. :(

Oh yeah...we decided to sell the Mom-Van. It was giving us trouble and we thought we better get out while we could still sell it for a decent amount of money. Plus I think we've come to the realization that no more babies are joining our family anytime soon and both kids are in boosters. So why have a mini-van. Our house wasn't selling...so we decided to just go for it. Through it up on Craigslist and it sold in less than 24 hours for asking price. Then a huge snowstorm hit that closed the roads for almost a week. Ha! We finally made it to Colorado to buy a new car. Got a screamin' deal. Love my new ride. Three days later...our house sells.

What an adventure! So in 23 days we will be moving out of our first home that we owned. The home we brought Simmy home to. The home that has stayed constant over so many changing seasons the last five years. Our next destination is unknown! I'm trying my best to stay cool, know that we will be fine, and not completely freak out. Haha! I think I'm doing a good job not worrying...maybe I should worry!??

Matt graduates on Saturday. I'm so proud of him and so thankful he had the chance to do this pretty much for free through his work. :) He has balanced grad school, two jobs, and being here for us better than I ever could have. We are blessed beyond measure with him.

The boys are doing great. As always. They bring joy and fresh perspective to every day.

They've also had their fair share of time-out lately! They feel the changes in the air, I'm sure! They're ready for summer and bike riding and not looking at houses!! Ha!

Business is picking up for Sandra and I now that the weather is warming up. Which we LOVE!

Life is crazy! But luckily we are in the Hands of Jesus who will never leave or forsake us, who has plans already made for us. Not saying that in a trite  or cheesy way...but in a "I must cling to this so I don't freak out" kind of way! Seriously, ya'll!

Also...these pictures of my kids are so old! Must take more photos of my own kids instead of just other peoples! Ha!

Peace out!

Milestones : Eli lost his first tooth

Exciting times this weekend. My first baby lost his first tooth. So I write to remember this little boys excitement over the whole ordeal. And I know 19 more of them will fall out...but this was the first and he was over the moon with the whole ordeal. And I was left feeling nostalgic and proud of the kind and innocent and excited boy that Eli is. He came running in at 6 am with his tooth in his hand. As he carried it around all day in the little tooth pillow I made him. And he was thrilled with the one dollar that was under his pillow...found in the middle of the night. The following night brought a thank you card under his pillow and excitement that the thank you card was gone in the morning.

Every stage with these boys is so fun! Seems like yesterday this boy was getting his first tooth...and now five years later its just as exciting to see him growing and changing. :)

So glad its March

I'm not much of a fan of January and February.

I do love Valentine's Day...but other than that they are not my favorite months.

They give me cabin fever and make me cranky, in general.

So...even though the scenery out the window will likely still look like this for a few months.

I am hopeful of Spring now.

Spring break is in a few weeks. And although the temps will still be low, we will do springy things. We will go buy seeds and plan our garden. We will do springtime crafts. We will swim (inside). We will travel. My boys will be with me. Matt is taking some time off. It will be fun.

I love March. I leads to April. Which leads to May...which is when things really warm up.

Its time to start purging the house. And the heart!

New life comes in Spring. Outside and in.

I'm excited!

Math Night Excitement

So this morning I read Eli this flyer that came home from school about a  "Family-Fun Math Night" that is taking place at school tomorrow. There will be math challenges with prizes, minute-to-win-it games, a floor sized map of the USA, and milk & cookies.

My goodness, Eli was beside himself with excitement over this. He had the hugest smile and said he couldn't wait. He was practically jumping. I asked him if he knew what minute-to-win-it games were ...and he said "No, But I'm sure they're going to be awesome...because its family math night. Please can we go even though we don't know what it is. Because I do know what the map is and it is AWESOME!"

His excitement was contagious! I hope the math night lives up to his expectations! Haha!

The whole scene was quite amusing.

And I can't get his excitement out of my head.

It just blows me away how big and smart and kind my first baby is getting. He is just thriving in school and I love it. I mean...he's excited about Math-Night. He has blossomed with making friends. He has a little friend he wants to marry because she is nice and always smiles at him. He writes stories. He loves to show me his work he brings home everyday. He is reading so well and LOVES to read everything he sees. He loves to go to school. He hugs and kisses me goodbye (I treasure this) and runs to his line every morning. He waves and smiles and says hello to all his friends. He races out at the end of the day and is so excited to talk to us and be with us. He's doing great. And he can't wait to take me to Math-Night.

I must say I'm quite excited now too.

History isn't built in a day ...or a year.

We've lived in our small town for almost eleven years now.

That's crazy to me.

This summer we'll have been married for 12 years. And eleven of them have been here.

When we moved here it was going to be for two years tops ...just so I could finish school.

But here we are. Two college graduations later. Two kids later. Five homes later. 13 different jobs between the two of us. We're still here.

And I don't LOVE this town.

But I do LOVE the people in it. And that is why we've stayed. We got connected with a community of people and that has kept us here.

 Matt graduates in May. Matt desires to get plugged into ministry and teaching full time. We are outgrowing our home. Eli is in school this year. I am praying diligently about the options of growing our family. We are coming up on the season where we had planned to put our house back on the market.  And  as I feel life changing. I start to wonder if this is where I want to stay planted for the long haul.

I dream of some place warmer. Some place with more to do. Some place that is greener than here (literally, greener). That has more indoor winter activities for kids. That has better and more affordable housing options. That has more opportunities for me to work part-time as a speech-language pathologist. That has a Target. And a real camera store. And a 24 hour gym. A town that has grandparents close by.  And we can take our kids to see things without it being a weekend trip.

But on the other hand.

I can't imagine not being here.

Where I deeply know and love so many people. Where our very best friends are next door. And I can't go anywhere without seeing people we know.

We have so many friends here that have deep roots. And though seasons of life change and we may not see them all and share life on a daily basis with them. They are true friends. People we've known since we were all college kids, with no kids ourselves. People that we know their history and they know ours. People that are safe and faithful. That have seen the good and the bad and love us anyways.  People who we would do anything for and know that they would be there in return for us should us or our kids need something. A people and a town that we have shared life with. Grown and changed with. A town and culture that is a part of us.

We are the locals in this very transient town. We love on the people as they come through with the university...but we are deeply rooted with the real town. The people that have built their lives here.

And that can't be rebuilt overnight. Or bought at Target.

And that is what is scary about the thought of moving. I don't want to flippantly give up the beautiful life we have here in hopes that the grass is greener on the other side ...because I realize all that would be lost. But I also don't want to hold on tight to my security here if God has something different in store for us.

We have no plans to move. But the thought seems to often be in the back of my mind. And its just as much of a scary nightmare as it is a dream.
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For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end. --Psalms 48:14

I Heart Faces : Love

Haven't done one of these challenges for a while...but the theme is love and I wanted to share this picture I got last month of these newlyweds on their special day. So much love!!  I had a hard time choosing a picture because really I see love in all my pictures over the last few weeks and months.

But they are so cute! :)

You can check out more LOVE pictures at http://iheartfaces.com. There are some amazing shots! 

Almost February!!

 Its been a fun few months since the last time I blogged. Time to play catch-up. We celebrated Thanksgiving with family in Cheyenne. Went to my Grandpa Cuthbert's house and to the Coulters. (I think that's what we did). I do remember we got this gem on that day! Boy cousins!!

And this one.

Then all the Christmas festivities began.

Christmas was awesome with the boys this year. We celebrated from Thanksgiving weekend all the way until Christmas Day. We did all the traditional festivities. We did all our personal family traditions that we have adopted over the last five years. It was a perfect Christmas season. Lots of family. Lots of good memories with the boys.

Cut down a tree and decorated it.

Christmas cutout cookies. They are holding the ones I decorated. Not sure why. The ones they decorated were much more "creative" ...I loved them! :)

It was a snowy Christmas Eve. We went snowshoeing in the mountains. It was perfect!

Family time at my Mom's house. 

More cousin time at the Coulter's house

As I took this picture I realized how in love I am with my husband and how much I just have to take it all in. I am blessed! And the chance to parent these boys with Matt is such a gift.

We welcomed 2013 in at home at 7pm with the boys. We did a scavenger hunt game that I named "Secret Mission Brothers" ...they asked what it was called and that's what came out of my mouth. They still ask to play it. Haha.

The new year brought back routine. January is a tough month. Its cold and dreary outside. The holiday excitement is over ...yet spring seems so far away. I do like the feeling of a fresh start. Buying a new calendar. Setting goals. But overall...January is kind of cold and depressing.

But January is almost over. February is a short month which leads right to March...which is practically spring. (I'm choosing to block out the fact that sometimes some of the worst storms come in March...or April) ...Spring Break comes in March., so there is hope to be had!

My guys are good.

Matt is crazy busy, as usual. Working hard at both his jobs and right in the thick of his last semester of his Master's work. He should be completely done by mid-April and walk at graduation in May! I'm so proud of him. And will be so happy for him when he is done with school.

The boys are doing awesome! Of course! They keep our life full of joy. They are amazing boys. They keep us on their toes and we are constantly on our toes trying to do our best to raise them. Teaching them the important things like respect, kindness, compassion, sacrifice....these are the things that keep me up at night. I'm constantly reminding myself that they don't have to totally get it all today! That they are three and five...and that this is why they have parents. So we can teach them and be here for them as they learn and grow. And they keep making me smile and laugh and be happy.

I'm good. Just busy taking care of the boys and the house. I've been enjoying the ordinary. Which I love.  Been struggling with some bursitis which has sidelined me from the running group I joined. But hopefully only for three weeks. Been getting up at 5:30 am all month four days a week...and it turns out I actually kind of like getting up that early. Well...I don't when my alarm goes off. But once I'm up and get a good workout in before my kids are even awake I feel so good the rest of the day.

Oh yeah...we welcomed this guy into our family this month! On January 12th, to be exact. I need to rememeber that so we can celebrate! ;) The boys named him Shadow. We've all started to call him Shadowfax. I wanted to name him Bronco ...but we told the boys they could pick. Sim liked Fred Flintstone and Washington. But Eli was persuasive and Shadow ending up winning. His full name is Shadow Flapjack Coulter. :) He is a perfectly sweet Lab mix that we adopted from a local rescue. The boys and I (and Grandma Cathy) picked him out while Matt was in Denver at the Broncos game. (we got his permission of course). The boys love him. We all love him. He is a nice dog and is really patient and gentle with the kids. Its been fun and actually much easier of a transition than I thought it would be. And I've totally become that weird person that lets their dog drive around in the car with them all the time. Never thought I would do that...but I totally do. Ha!

Okay...this is just a big fat catch up blog.

Now I'm back. What a relief! Will try to get some of the half written posts I've had saved forever finished and up.

I doubt anyone else is out there since I'm a big blogging-dropout. But that's okay.

Happy Wednesday-night. Goodnight!