Back to "Normal"

I saw a meme this week that said something along the lines of January being the Monday of the months.  I would have to agree.  Its after all the holidays, its cold and dreary (although our January has been surprisingly sunny this year!) and there is a long time until another fun break.  Plus the days are so dark.  Elsy has been pointing out every day that "Its getting dark!  The sun is getting seeeepy."

Logan has been practicing his "Dad Powers" as he calls them and has been getting up at 5 am all week to go into work, exercise, and then work so he can come home by 2 pm.  He has been working on getting the startup going that he is doing with his partners. 

Logan's parents were with us until early Tuesday morning.  Monday we had a big surprise planned for them, we had made an appointment to go to the new Family Discovery Center.  We kept it a secret and drove them to the stake center behind the temple.  It was so fun having them try and guess what we were doing.  When we got there, however, the doors were locked.  How confusing!  I set up an appointment... Above is me confused and looking up my appointment I set up... that just happened to be set up in Salt Lake and not Seattle.  Garrrrrrrrrrr.  No surprise Discovery Center for us.  It happened to be closed all day that day and we couldn't set up a later apt.  We were all so bummed and I felt so bad because it was my fault.

For the last night together we decided to go out to dinner at Claim Jumpers.  But they too locked their doors to us.  Apparently they were moving locations or maybe they went out of business, I don't know.  It was a day of closed doors for us!  But we had fun going to Frankie's Pasta and Pizza instead. :)

We were so sad to see David and Natalie go!  Especially since we won't see them probably until the summer time.  We always have so much fun with them when they come.

Once they left, however, we had to get back into the 'normal' and 'routine' of life.  But is there really such thing?

Elsy has taken an interest in reading.  She asks me all the time what things say and she loves 'reading' to us all the time... which is mostly her having books memorized that she knows word for word or she often paraphrases books in the cutest way.  She often reads to Tommy who has also finally started opening books and looking at the pictures instead of just completely destroying them.  Today he was looking at a book while I was changing his diaper and he started to talk jibberish.  I think he was 'reading' haha.

I can't say enough just how much I love my two kiddies.  This week I was rocking Tommy in one of those moments where he was to tired to fight me so he was just snuggling into my neck.  And while I was rocking him I realized that my children are truly a gift given to me of God.  I know I have felt that before but this time it dawned on me in a different way, maybe because it is just after Christmas.  But I thought about how when I give someone a heartfelt gift, I want them to take care of it.  I give it to them because I love them.  I realized on a different level that gift and that love that comes behind the gift from our Heavenly Father.

If you know Elsy at all you will know she loves to pack a pillow, teddy, and her green blanket (which is carefully rolled into a, well, a roll) and pretend to sleep everywhere.  She always blows out the candle before climbing into her little bed.  My parents gave her a sleeping bag for Christmas and that has been helpful because I don't have to look everywhere for her pillow at nap time now.

We spent the week looking at apartments in Issaquah.  I was adamant that we were not going to leave our Redmond 3rd ward but as the reality set in that that wasn't going to be possible I lost sleep and was super glum.  You may think your ward is cool, but seriously ours is the best.  We looked and looked and looked to stay but our ward boundaries are just to small (only one apartment complex in it) and we just couldn't find any houses to rent within our price range. :(

After a lot of thought we began to feel good about moving to Issaquah.  Here are a few of the reasons why:  First of all, Logan's startup is hopefully going to, well, start up this year.  There is an office they have access to down in Issaquah that when the time comes they will be moving into.  It will be really nice to be that close for commuting purposes.  Also, one of Logan's partners, Johnny, lives down there and being closer will make it easier for meetings and such.  Another huge factor is that in Issaquah we can get a lot more bang for our buck.  We can get a lot more square footage for the price down in Issaquah than in Redmond without having to sacrifice standard of living.  Reason three is we are a half hour closer to my parents house, which we go to a lot on the weekends.  That might not sound like a lot, but it can be with kiddos in the car.  We also have a few friends that live in Issaquah from our college days and it will be fun to live closer to them so we can hang out more.  When I think about moving to Issaquah I get excited... for a few seconds... then I remember I am leaving my ward and I feel oober sad and conflicted.  :(

We looked at several apartments but finally found one we absolutely love.  Its two bedrooms but has lots of storage (a must) and is very spacious with high ceilings, lots of square footage, and (my favorite) huge windows in all the rooms.  It is up on a hill and we will be able to see out pretty far.  Something I have really struggled with since moving to the Bellevue area is feeling a little bit claustrophobic.  I grew up in the dessert where you could literally see for miles and miles and coming here, where you can only see across the street before more trees obstruct the view, has been pretty hard for me.  And add the overcast and rainy weather and I am kinda stir crazy (hence we go visit my home quite often mostly so I can breathe) and I think it effects my mental health sometimes.  So when we found this apartment we couldn't have been more thrilled.  The complex also comes with a pool, which I am so excited to live at in the summer, and it even has a kiddie pool. :)  I also love the fitness center because it has a kids corner your kids can play at while you work out.  That is a gold star right there.

The only negative... besides leaving our ward family, which they really have become our family here,  is having to go to a new ward that starts at, gasp, 1 pm!!  Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

We can move in mid February.  We are now caught in that limbo of knowing we are leaving but not actually leaving.  Its hard because part of me never wants to leave but since I know we are leaving I'm just ready to get it over with.  I hate waiting for change.

We went to Costco on Saturday.  Do not go to Costco on Saturday.  See above picture for details...

While my house still has stockings hanging above the fireplace (seriously, I need to de-decorate!) Logan chopped up our tree and put it all in the yard waste bin.  Tommy was so cute and watched longingly from the window.  That kid just wants to participate in everything.  Whenever Logan and I are trying to get anything done we have to pick him up and move him someplace else so we can accomplish anything, but by the time we get back to said task we only have 30 seconds before he has walked as fast as he can back.  It is quite exhausting.

Logan pulled out the pack 'n play tonight and stuck him in it so we could get some stuff done.  Elsy was jealous so Logan put her in it too.  They both played together and we were finally able to enjoy some peace... but not quiet.

Last Sunday I was released from being primary pianist.  It was a little bit of a relief until they called me to be the primary teacher of the four year olds.  Logan joked that that was our answer, for it to be okay for us to leave the ward.  This Sunday was my first time teaching them.  I thought it was going to be difficult but it actually was a whole lot of fun.  I am sad now that we are leaving in a little over a month and I will only get to teach them for a short while.  I better make it count, I guess!

After church we went to Juanita Bay to walk around the boardwalks.  The sky was so clear and it was so beautiful outside.  Elsy wanted to throw rocks in the water, she takes after her father.

There are so many things I am going to miss about being up here in Redmond.  One of them is being close to Juanita Bay for Sunday walks.  I am also going to miss Farrel McWhirter park and that huge pig, Sunny.

Tommy eating his chin strap.

I have a favorite cousin who has been going through cancer treatments this last year  This week I heard about some of the things she was going through that made me sad. I was crying about it and Elsy kept trying to tell me to stop crying when I just wanted to cry.  Why does God allow these things to happen to the children that He loves?  Sometimes, even though I know the basic answers like "Trials are there to prove us and make us better" I struggle with the deeper meaning, the personal meaning.  And I struggle because I know these are not just one answer fixes, these are real people who are hurting and struggling.  I loved what my cousin said though, she said "Everything will work out just the way it's supposed to work out.  I have faith and I always have prayer so how can I doubt that everything will work out just the way He planned it to."  What an amazing example of faith.  I am so glad I know her.