I didn't put this together--thank heavens...but my talented brother-in-law, Sam, did at the request of my parents. Isn't it cool? If only I could be so creative. I thought I'd post it because I thought it looked so cool. This my whole family--brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and parents. In case any of you have a hard time figuring what it spells out, it says: MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
December 2009
Dear Friends and Family,
I figured I’d better post our Christmas letter as promised in some of the cards you may have received. I wasn’t planning on doing a Christmas letter this year, but I really like reading the year’s happenings of other families, so I decided to make our news to others optional. I guess if you are reading this—you decided you wanted to hear about us :)
It’s been another busy year, I guess I can expect that for another 17 years at least. I know I put in last year’s letter that we were probably staying in Oklahoma for another year. Well, we didn’t. Shortly after sending out that letter, Trevor decided to go look at some practices and he found one he loved in Montana. We were very lucky to be able to sell our house in such a crazy real estate economy, and it seemed like everything fell into place. So right after he took terminal leave from the army, we moved to Montana to start our life in this beautiful town. Once we got here, they put us right to work in the ward and made us feel right at home. We love it.
Trevor: Is the best boss ever…in my opinion. He’s had a lot of fun learning the ins and outs of a business, all the while doing what he loves (dentistry). I guess they heard what a good YM president he was in our past ward, because they put him right in as YM president here. Either that or he needed more practice? He still loves to spend days off and evenings playing with his kids and they can’t get enough of it. We love this man.
Kim: Is staying at home with all these little monsters…and loving every minute of it. Eventually when the kids get a little older I’d like to work a day or two a week…I miss working! I didn’t think this would happen, and it probably wouldn’t have happened if Trevor didn’t come home every day talking about the dentistry and all the things I miss in the dental office. Other than that I stay busy in the Primary. Who knew I could love other people’s children so much!? It’s so much fun.
Tyler: Is a big 6 year old first grader. He LOVES school and I never hear: “Do I have to go to school today?” It’s funny how proud I feel when he reads to me each night. My little boy is growing up! He hasn’t lost any teeth, yet. But he does have a few permanent teeth coming in. A couple behind the baby teeth and he won’t touch those loose teeth. I keep threatening him that we’ll just have dad pull them out…we might have to resort to that here pretty soon. He looks like a shark with those rows of teeth. He’s such a good brother to his little brother and sisters. And such a big helper to me!
Hailey: Just turned five and is in preschool this year. She tells me everyday what she’s doing at her school and who is boyfriend/girlfriend with who. In preschool! I know, a little young for that. It scares me, of course. She’s such a sweet little girl and such a big helper with Jason. She and Ashley are little buddies. Their newest game is “Sisters.” They hold hands and run around the house saying: “Let’s be sisters!” I know, it’s only cute to a mother. But it makes me feel good they like each other.
Ashley: Is such a character. I always tell Trevor how her looks don’t match her personality because she has this curly, bouncy hair and such a girly little face. But this girl is tough! She does like her girl things like Pollies and Barbies, but she’s a little more Tom-Boy than you would picture when you see her. She likes to get dirty and wrestle with Tyler. She’s a little too rough with Jason sometimes when trying to wrestle with him, and I have to remind her he’s just little still. She also has found a love for school because it makes her feel big like Tyler and Hailey. She goes to the “mom’s preschool” where we switch each week and she LOVES it.
Jason: Has grown leaps and bounds from last year…but I guess they do that first year. He turns one on December 22nd. I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since I had him!! I have enjoyed him so much. I have enjoyed every baby, but I think I was a little more uptight and worried about the older kids when they were babies. He crawls as of about a month ago, hopefully he’ll be that slow in walking. He says “Mom” and shakes his head “No” and jabbers a whole lot…well, more yells a whole lot. He’s just found how to hit and thinks it’s pretty funny. I have a hard time telling him “no” because when I say it seriously, he starts bawling like I hurt his feelings or something. The youngest is always the most spoiled, I guess. I’ll have to work on that.
Thanks for enduring the news of 2009 for our family. We sure love and miss all of you and hope to see you soon! Merry Christmas and have a wonderful 2010!
Love,
The Strupps
I know it's a little cliche to post how thankful I am for stuff during Thanksgiving week--I am thankful the rest of the year. But it's just been one of those weeks where I keep thinking about how really blessed I am.
On facebook there are a lot of people who have posted something they are thankful for each day. While I have not participated in this, I have been thinking about it all month.
So, here goes. I'll try and keep my list short...but I am thankful for a lot of things.
1. My husband. I'm not trying to be mushy or anything. But the man is amazing. Pretty much everything I am thankful for has to do with him in one way or another. He's such a hard worker. He's really motivated and works toward his goals. He's an amazing father and an amazing husband. Plus, he's super hot. I almost hope he doesn't check our blog because he'll be embarrassed I went on and on about him. So I'll move on...
2. The gospel. Ok, in hindsight I should've listed this first. But in all honesty, I thought of my husband first, so that's the way I'm leaving it. Really? Where would my life be if I didn't have the church in it? I can tell you I wouldn't be as happy as I am now. I KNOW it's true. One of the best things about the church is the focus on the family. I'm so grateful that I get to be with my family forever. Oh there are so many other things the gospel has done for so many lives...ask me if you'd like to hear more :)
3. My kids. I love my kids. Of course there are those frustrating mom moments. Everyone has them. But I love those kids more than life. Everytime I look at them I can't believe I have the opportunity to raise them. Sometimes I feel so inadequate--but they are such good kids, I can't wait to see where life takes them. I hope I can teach them what they need to know.
(They were making an "L"--long story)
4. A good job. Not me, my husband. I hope in an economy like this where so many people are struggling, this doesn't sound like I'm rubbing it in. But we(he) have a job that pays the bills, and for that I feel so lucky.
5. Good friends. I really lucked out in this area. Growing up until now I have had some of the best influences in my life by way of friends. I can look back and really see some pivotal moments in my life and see how so many times my friends have played a HUGE role. I hope my kids can feel the same way as they grow up. So far so good...but the oldest is only 6 1/2.
6. Where we live. I love it here. I know some of you that have the wonderful opportunity of living here don't love it as much as I do :) But that's the great thing about coming to a new place--I get to experience it for the first time without hearing everyone's opinions of it all my life. IT IS BEAUTIFUL!! You can look around and really know the earth didn't happen by accident. That's right, I don't even mind the wind in the winter. And so far, it's really reared it's ugly head a few times. You guys weren't kidding!
Alright, I'll leave my list to 6. Just know that I could go on and on. I'm not usually a "show your feelings in blogging" kind of girl. I'm more of a shallow blogger where I talk about what we've been doing as a family (lately those posts have come less and less frequent, but I digress) So just so you know, this is a special occasion. Don't expect it too much more.
Ok, ok. I will finally update my blog. But don't expect anything good because I'm talking to my mom on the phone right now :) I'm such a multi-tasker. Here is a picture of the kids on Halloween night. We had some friends visit us for the weekend. Their kids and our kids get along so well. It was a lot of fun! Friday night we had a ward party and we got all the kids dressed and ready. They had some carnival games and then trick or treating door to door inside the church. Good times.
Saturday night we got all dressed up again and went trick or treating. The kids got some great candy that I will be helping myself to. They even got a few (each) full size candy bars--I remember that was like the holy grail when we were kids.
So, in the picture the kids are (top to bottom, left to right) Ashley, Tyler, Dylan, Hailey, Taya and Jason.
I'll try to post more often, sorry about that :)
Sometimes I forget that I don't necessarily need pictures to post something...but it's so much funner to look at pictures!
Anyway, we've been really busy lately and it's not even anything in particular that we've been busy with (maybe callings?)...so I haven't posted in a long time. But I've been contemplating a lot lately about if we should buy a house or build one.
We moved into a house that we rent, and have a one year lease. We wanted to look around the town and see what areas we wanted to live. I don't really want to move anymore, so whatever we do--I want to stay there. At least for a while. So I kind of waffle back and forth about if we want an "intermediate" house to live in for a few years until we have saved up the money to build the kind of house that I want. For the record, Trevor thinks I want too much house, but I'm the one who has to live in it all day... Plus I don't want to rent longer than a year, seems like such a waste of money once you've owned your own house.
On the other hand, I don't want to build and then be strapped because we outbuilt our budget (and I know these things ALWAYS cost more than you intended). But if we buy a more affordable house and then down the road decide to build, I'm afraid we won't be able to sell our intermediate house--not a lot of houses moving in our town right now (maybe things will change, but I'm not really sure considering the size of the town).
What do you think?
This might be a better story if I was a good writer. I am not writing this because I want you all to think I'm tough or amazing, because you all have experienced every bit of the following story. I write this so that one day I'll look back and laugh. And also I need to vent a little bit.
So, I needed to go grocery shopping today. I was planning on leaving right after Jason's morning nap (so he would be happy for the majority of the trip). I know, some of you might wonder why I would take all four kids to the grocery store instead of wait until my husband got home to go alone...well, because the kids are USUALLY pretty good, and because I don't want to waste the time I have with my husband in the evening to go grocery shopping. So there you have it.
Jason finally woke up at 11, then I needed to feed him some rice cereal and we were off. I also just need to preface this by saying Ashley was feeling fine this morning...
As we get in the car, the kids want to know if they can have a tattoo at the quarter machines at the grocery store. I tell them if they behave themselves, they can get one at the end of shopping. We're driving, Ashley tells me she doesn't feel good and lays down. We go to the store anyway.
We get to the store--they have ONE, count it, one grocery cart in the entire store with the car on the front--it fits two children in the car, then Jason sits in the front of the cart by the handle, and Tyler will walk or switch off riding in the car. Hailey still is walking a little slow and limping since the cast came off (hence the need for her to ride), and gets upset as I'm trying to cross the road to the entrance--I'm going too fast. I calmly tell her she needs to ask me nicely to slow down and not to cry about it. Anywho---my cart is gone. I usually get this cart because we're not in Utah, and people just don't need it as much here so it's always available. But wouldn't you know it, it's not there. Blast.
I get a normal cart and put Jason in the front, Ashley inside the basket part because she's not looking too hot, a little green actually, I tell Hailey she can ride on the front. Tyler can walk. Hailey's mad because she wants to ride inside the basket, and so starts the waterworks. I tell her no tattoo. She cries harder and begs for a tattoo. "Give me one more chance." Ok, one more chance, but she'd better show me she can behave and talk like a big girl if she has a concern. "Ashley, are you OK? Do you feel like you need to throw up?" She says no. She doesn't feel like she has a temperature. So off we go.
I have quite a lot of groceries to get, and I don't know what I'm going to do with Ashley in the basket once it gets too full. It didn't take long before she got upset with the stuff piling up beside her. I ask her if she wants to walk, she says yes. All through the grocery store Jason's getting more and more upset at being stuck in the cart. Despite the toys I'm giving him. What, you don't want to still suck on the pen after 45 minutes? How about this box of fruit snacks? It's fun to chew on. So I get Jason out to hold him, and Ashley's resting her head on the cart. Poor girl. "Ash, do you want to ride up here?" (By the handle) She does, I put her in while holding Jason in the other arm--he's happy to be held. Now I need to pull the cart, it's too heavy to push and steer with one arm. Hailey has asked about 29 times if it's time to get a tattoo and if she's behaving OK. Yes Hailey, when we leave you can get a tattoo.
We finally make our way through the entire store, up one aisle and down the next. When it's time to checkout, I decide it would be easier to just hold Jason while I pile my overflowing cart full of groceries onto the belt. A nice clerk helped me from the next checkout line. I've now asked Ashley about 10 times if she's ok and if she needs to throw up, because she's laying on the handle of the cart. She assures me she doesn't. I tell her we'll lay down when we get home and we'll hurry.
Almost there. Trying to fish out coupons and debit card out of my purse while holding Jason. I swipe the debit card and out of the corner of my eye I see Ashley losing her breakfast all over herself and the floor of the grocery store. I try to catch some of it. I don't know why--reflex? Because one hand obviously couldn't hold it all, and I caught her mid-stream anyway. Now what? I'm holding Jason in one hand and Ashley's breakfast in the other. The clerk hands me some paper towels to clean it up. So I get to work one handed. Meanwhile Tyler and Hailey are telling me if they smell it they will also throw up. I tell them to go over and look at the pictures on the redbox. Hailey wants to know if she still gets a tattoo. I promised her she could, apparently. I ask Tyler is he'll come over and take Jason--that's a funny joke. Jason weighs about as much as Tyler (I'm exagerating, but he can't hold him while standing up) and Tyler says he can't because he'll throw up. I guess this is when the clerk decides I need some help, despite her aversion to my daughters puke on the floor, and takes Jason from me...so I can continue to clean up. Then she hands me some cleaner. Thanks. She also mentions Jason is really heavy, but she'll hold him anyway despite her back problems. I'll probably get sued.
Paper towels and glass cleaner just don't do a good enough job. But I get it mostly wiped up and stored away in a plastic bag to throw away on the way out. Ashley's feeling much better and wants a piece of gum at the quarter machines. Ugh. I don't want to touch anything with my hands till I have sanitized (in the diaper bag in the car) but I dig out some quarters that I put in my back pocket--knowing I had to have them handy at the end of the grocery trip. Hailey gets her tattoo, Tyler (and yes, Ashley) get a piece of gum. I take off Ashley's clothes in the car to put in a plastic bag (DANGIT, I just put in the LAST batch of clothes before we left) and sanitize everything. Get the kids all belted in and the groceries in the back...all the while the popsicles are melting. Jason's crying now because he's tired again.
We get home and I carry Ashley in--wearing only panties, no shoes (Ashley, not me). Start the bath water. Hailey wants me to put her tattoo on. I get all the groceries in and turn off the bath water, get Ashley in, put away the popsicles and refrigerated stuff. Get Jason in bed. Put Hailey's tattoo on. Put away the rest of the groceries and switch the laundry. Then blog :) Now Jason's awake and I have to fold laundry. So, there you have it. What a day. Thanks for letting me vent, I feel much better.
PS Ashley's feeling much better, ate quite a bit just now, but Hailey just fell asleep on the couch. Great.
I tried to fit this into the next post, but my pictures are too big. Keep reading, there are more posts below :)
This year my whole family was able to get together for the 4th of July. Yep, all 10 kids and MOST of the grandkids, except for three (we missed you Lieren, Blake and Nadia!!)
So here is a picture of my family--compliments of Melissa :) Thanks for taking on that crazy request!
We all went to Stadium of Fire this year. My mom reserved 54 tickets! We had some other friends and family along. It was a lot of fun--I can't believe all the screaming girls for the Jonas Brothers. They were ok, although I don't think I've heard any of their songs. But the fireworks were amazing, as always. And it was fun to let the kids see a show like that.
Although Hailey got a little tuckered out...if you look closely, you can see all the ash all over her.
Jason didn't quite make it either...
I'm a little hot and cold lately when it comes to blogging...here are some catchup pictures:
Ashley had her 3rd birthday in June. It was a fun day for her but I'm only going to post one picture of it :) She's such a fun little girl. Ashley's pretty tough and loves to wrestle with Tyler. Her favorite food is Fruity Pebbles, her favorite color is blue and her favorite thing to do is "go to the park". Her least favorite thing to do is clean up toys. We sure are glad Ashley is a part of our family!
She has taken quite a liking to roly polies and collects them everywhere we go. It's pretty funny to watch her because she'll get about 20 in her hand at once and then wants a container to put them in...and don't try to sneak the container out of the house, she won't have it...
This is only the beginning of her collection. I should have taken a picture of the complete collection...but it's really an ongoing thing, always adding to it every day.
Tyler went on a father/son campout with Trevor when we first moved here. He loved every second of it. Trevor has also taken him golfing a couple of times and now Tyler only wants to go places with "just the boys"...
It's fun for me to see the relationship that Tyler and Jason have. Jason ADORES Tyler, and vice-versa. Jason loves his sister's too, of course, but when you really want to get him laughing you just put Tyler in front of him. I just thought this was a cute picture to illustrate the brothers relationship.
Ugh. I promise I'm not a bad mother. Hailey was jumping on a trampoline...I don't even really know how it happened--she fell, but not off the trampoline, and no one jumped on her, so who knows. But it's broken now, and she has to wear this for 4 weeks. At least it wasn't the two months Tyler had to wear his. 4 weeks doesn't sound so bad except that she's already complaining that it itches. It might be a long 4 weeks.
So, here's a picture. I know--it's the coolest dinosaur cast ever. Plus, they said she could swim in it if she wants because it has a gortex lining. Cool, huh? Except they said it might start to stink so they wouldn't be doing any swimming until she's ready to get it off :) She also got some stickers at the doctors office...as you can see.
Also, as promised I will post more about our move, town, etc. in a bit. We have more adventures than broken legs.
It's been awhile since I've posted. I think eventually I'll be motivated enough to post pictures, but not tonight.
We've finally made it to Montana!! It is BEAUTIFUL here. I really love it and am excited to get to know people in the community and at church. It's been kind of a whirlwind of activity these past couple weeks. We officially closed on our house May 22. Then we had until June 1st before we could get into our rental house in Montana, so we drove to my mom's and hung around a couple days.
We were able to see Aunt Briana and Uncle Scott who entertained the kids at the waterpark...aunts and uncles are the best. We also got to see Aunt Britta on her way through. The kids were so excited and loved every minute of all the family attention.
Then we drove the rest of the way here and moved all of our stuff in. Yuck. We have been unpacking boxes for the last few days--good times. Trevor's been running all over the place trying to get all the business stuff done...
Anyway, the craziness isn't over yet. Once Trevor starts work and we're in a little more of a routine, I promise to post pictures and more stories about our adventures. Until then...
We told the people who are buying our house that we were going to do landscaping before we put it up for sale...so now they still want us to do that...
Anyway, Trevor's been working on the landscaping and Hailey has been such a big "helper". She's been following Trevor everywhere with his projects. Imagine my surprise when I found my daughter out in the front yard looking like this: 
Always wants to be just like Dad.
This last Friday we went up to Oklahoma City to visit one of Trevor's friends. We did all sorts of stuff. We went to the Science Museum (which was SO cool--Trevor and I were having so much fun, we hardly took any pictures of the kids :) ), we went to Toby Keith's Bar and Grill (delicious) and of course, Bass Pro Shops. All in all it was a pretty full day. I wish I had more pictures to show our fun!
Today was Trevor's last day as a military dentist. His "official" date of seperation is June 10th, but he has some leave (vacation) days saved up so he starts "terminal leave" on Monday :)
Anyway, in celebration of this event I wanted to post these pictures of some of the people Trevor worked with at DC2 (Dental Clinic 2). He had some good times with these guys and he'll miss them!
PS The guy that's holding Jason is Colonel Prince. He is one of Jason's FAVORITE people (and vice-versa). Colonel Prince always gets Jason laughing pretty hard. I guess Jason will need to find a new best buddy.
Every year in Apache they hold a Rattlesnake Festival. It's really like a carnival with a whole bunch of vendors selling stuff (sunglasses, t-shirts, and of course: rattlesnake paraphernalia). It's a lot of fun. We figured we had better frequent the Rattlesnake Festival one last time before leaving Oklahoma.
We paid the $1 to see the snake pit this time :) This was a room where they had an enclosure with a BUNCH of snakes in it. They have a couple guys in there talking about rattlesnakes and holding them up for everyone to see. It was crazy, the snakes were striking at them and everything. There are a LOT more snakes in this pit, we just wanted to get Ashley in the picture. 
The kids loved the rides. I tried to convince them they needed to go on the bigger rides with me and Trevor, but they didn't want to. Boo.
There are always a couple people working the festival that carry around rattlesnakes to show people--the rattlesnake's mouth is sewn shut at each corner. Anyway, they had a spot where you could get your picture taken with the snake. Hailey (surprisingly) and Ashley jumped at the chance, but Tyler wouldn't do it.
Erick came with us. Here's Erick eating some rattlesnake. Not all that good. We had some a couple of years ago when we went with some friends and it was mostly breading and bones. Not too much meat.
Good times. We'll miss the annual Rattlesnake Festival!
Jason LOVES the bath. I mean, he REALLY gets excited when I put him in the bath and I think it's so cute. I took a picture while he was somewhat still, but this is a rare moment in the bath. He's usually kicking and yelling to show us his excitement. It's pretty funny.
I blocked out the family jewels because I don't want to embarrass the poor kid (anymore than I already have) in the future--if he's to look through this blog.
Also, I wonder when kids start to recognize certain words? Anyone know the answer to this? When I ask him if he wants a bath, he gets this big grin on his face. I don't know if it's because he knows the word "bath" now, or if it's because I'm smiling at him when I ask.
Easter Sunday was pretty eventful. I woke up early to speak in the serviceman's branch. It was really neat. Our Relief Society presidency all spoke on the Savior and His life, crucifixion, resurrection, and applying the atonement in our lives. There was such a wonderful spirit there and it was really neat to be able to experience part of Easter with the soldiers that were there in training. Plus, it was a little weird to sit through a sacrament meeting with no kids...makes for an even sweeter experience to concentrate fully on the (other) speakers and to reflect on Christ during the sacrament.
After I came home, Trevor had the kids mostly ready for our church. So I did their hair and he took the kids to pick up one of our friends for church (more of that story to come...) I played Easter bunny, threw the turkey breast (yep, the wild one) into the crockpot, and then met everyone at church.
Here's a picture of Hailey and Ashley in their Easter dresses that Grandma Strupp bought for them while she was visiting:
After church the kids had their egg hunt. Here are a couple pictures of the kids looking for Easter eggs. I don't know how other people feel about Easter egg hunts, but I always had them as a child and I think I turned out OK...
Then we ate the turkey. It was OK, I still like store-bought farm turkeys, but whatever.
We had our friend, Erick, over for dinner. We've been doing a few things with him the past four or five weeks because he's been in training at Fort Sill. It's been so much fun hanging out with him and the kids ADORE him. I wished I would have taken pictures of him playing with the kids--they LOVE him and won't leave him alone! He seems to have fun though, or maybe he's just being nice. I'm pretty sure it's because he misses his own kids so much, I told him he could come borrow ours anytime. (Thanks Erick--and thanks Tera for letting us have so much fun with Erick! Looks like you better come visit soon, he won't be here much longer...)
I hope you all had a wonderful and fun Easter, too!
So, my home page is set to the CNN website--because that's where Trevor set it. So I always read over the headlines and actually it's a good way to keep me informed since I'm not an avid news watcher. Point is, I saw a story about the comedian Brian Regan. I noticed his name because my friend Maggie mentioned him in a blog post once and how much she liked him. So I watched one of his videos and thought he was pretty funny...although I'm not a huge fan. Anyway, I read the story and I just found this pretty profound, he said:
"They say a formula for comedy is comedy equals tragedy plus time. A difficult or uncomfortable situation takes place, and then you laugh about it later down the road. Sometimes I wonder if I could be so mentally healthy to subtract the time part. Like what if there is a flat tire, and it's raining outside? Instead of laughing a month later, why not laugh while you are changing tires in the rain?"
Trevor loves a good Turkey hunt. Here's his latest kill:
The last wild turkey we ate was kind of gross. Anyone know a good way to cook wild turkey? I think it will be our Easter dinner...
P.S. I posted a lot today, so keep reading previous posts :)
Here are some pictures from Tyler's birthday party:
As I mentioned in the previous post, we took full advantage of Grandma and her horse while she was here :) During his party, Grandma took all the kids on a horse ride. They loved it! I took pictures of each kid on the horse, but there are too many pictures--so I'll just post Tyler's horse picture.
We did the horse rides at the park, and wow--the kids really came out of the woodwork. We must have had 30 extra kids begging for a ride! We gave as many rides as possible, before we had to go do the pinata and Grandma had to take the horse back to the stable. Thanks Grandma for taking all those kids for a ride!!
Grandma Strupp came to visit last week and we had so much fun! She brought her horse (and dalmatians) with her because she was on her way home from a dog show which included a "road trial" (she shows dalmatians--a road trial is where the dalmatians follow alongside the horse and take commands? As far as I understand it...) So we took full advantage of the horse while Grandma was here. These are some pictures we took of Hailey and Ashley riding the horse with Grandma.
HAILEY
ASHLEY
You should know this is what I'll do if I babysit your children. But they just looked so cute!
Grandma came to visit. We had SOO much fun with Grandma. Plenty more pictures of that to come...
Jason totally has eyes for Hannah.
Jason's had this hat since he was born (thanks Lisa Gladwell!) We've had some more cold days and I figured I better break out the hat. I knew Grandma would especially appreciate it because she has dalmatians that she shows in dog shows.
I have wanted to blog about this for awhile, because so many changes have been happening over the past couple months. I didn't want to post prematurely if anything fell through--but it looks like things are falling into place. :)
So, first and foremost: We're moving to Montana! I'm really excited about this. It really looks BEAUTIFUL. I haven't been there yet, but I'm sure me and Trevor will take a trip to househunt (or maybe rent-hunt?)soon. I'm a little leary to say the exact city, seeing as how our blog is public and all...I guess I'm a little paranoid that way. It looks gorgeous and has all the things we really wanted in a city (exept the wonderful friends we've met here). If you're really curious, you can email and ask me what city :) Here's a picture I found on a website:
Pretty, huh? Trevor found a practice that he really likes. He put in an offer and it is now under contract. WOOHOO! I'm excited to be starting this new chapter of our lives.
Second: We sold our house. This is a little bittersweet. I have grown quite attached and didn't think it would be hard to leave something like a house behind. I'm not too sentimental when it comes to things like this, but I really love our house! It worked out well though. We hadn't even really put it up for sale--here's the story:
I had talked to a realtor last October about when she thought I should put the house on the market (with the economy and the market, etc) because I didn't know how long it would take to sell. Plus, we had a couple projects left like the exterior painting (pictures in previous posts) and the landscaping (not done yet) so I kind of wanted a timeline to know how much time we had to get it ready.
After talking to the realtor we didn't think much about selling the house because for a few months we toyed with the idea of staying here another year. Well, Trevor decided to look at some practices, and when he got back we thought we'd better get the house ready to sell because he found a practice he really liked. A couple days later, the realtor I had talked to in October called and asked if we were planning on putting our house up because she had a couple that really wanted to see it--they had been looking for awhile and hadn't been able to find what they wanted. I guess with the things they told her that they wanted in a house, she thought of our house and decided to call us :)
I told the realtor the couple could come see it if they wanted but that we didn't know exactly when we were going to list it. They came to see the house, and loved it and wanted to put in an offer. YAY!! So we listed the house (I guess we needed to list so an offer could be put in). And the house was under contract a couple days later.
Whenever any grandparent comes, the kids get SOO excited! And who wouldn't when they all have special treats to spoil the grandchildren (as pictured--you can see the toys and treats in this picture a little) and of course the non-stop playing and attention! My (Kim's) dad came to see us for a few days, and we had a lot of fun playing with the kids, visiting, and going to some fun places...of course, I didn't bring my camera along to any of these fun places...but here is a picture of Grandpa and Jason. As you can see, Jason was excited too :)
We sure had a fun time with grandpa, next we get to look forward to grandma coming! (Trevor's mom) More spoiling and fun!
Trevor decided last night that we should get a Lobster and cook it. It was pretty fun and educational :) It's an old wives tale--they don't scream when you put them in boiling water. It was really good to eat, but a lot of work to take him all apart and a big MESS. His juices kept splashing everywhere. I think next time we'll stick with Red Lobster.
This last week was spring break for Tyler. It was really a lot of fun to be able to do some fun activities with all the kids. We took a trip to the zoo with some friends--it was quite a big group and we ended up splitting into smaller groups, but it was so much fun to take the kids to see the animals.
Don't get me wrong, the animals were a big hit--but I think playing on this rock was the highlight of the trip! They talked about it the whole rest of the day...
Here are a few of the kids that went to the zoo that day...
All of the kids were sooo good. I was pleasantly surprised that they hardly complained or fought the whole day :) Except for the occasional tiff over who got to sit in the stroller next...
This ostrich kept trying to peck at everyone. We kept telling the kids to stay back from the fence so the ostrich didn't bite them. Then some man came up and was being such a good example by teasing the ostrich and putting his fingers through the fence and jerking them back when the ostrich went to peck. 
End of the day and they're all still smiling.
