Four Eyed Mom

Another change that has happened somewhat recently is I got glasses! Ever since I have started having kids I have felt my eye sight getting worse and worse so I finally went in and got it checked out, and got some glasses. They help me see things far far away. It's very nice. Luckily, my eyesight isn't bad enough that I have to wear them all the time, so that's nice. I don't have to wear contacts, yet, either. Maybe in a few years, we'll see.

Making the Trek Northward

Another huge life changing event I wanted to update the blog on was our move. Yes, we moved from Springville to Lehi. We actually moved from Springville to Farmington to Lehi, but more on that later. It all started in the spring of 2012. We had originally planned on staying in Springville for 5-10 years, but Justin's job's kept bringing him north. First with AtTask, they moved from Orem to Lehi. Then he got his current job with EMC, which is located even further north in Draper. The commute was terrible, especially because there was a huge construction project happening directly along his commute. He was not a fan. Not just becasue of the hassle of the drive, but because it took him away from the family for an extra 1.5-2.5 hours a day, depending on traffic and weather. He even tried carpooling, which helped. But eventually after praying about it and going to the temple about it we decided to start making plans to move further north. Another motivation for moving further north was being closer to our families. So, since I was pregnant at the time, we decided that we would improve our house the best that we could now, then right after having the baby we would put our house up for sale. Fixing up our house was fun. Here are some of the projects:

New floors.

Front porch and landscaping project.

large amounts of priming, painting, and more tearing out old carpet, and installing new flooring. (this is the old carpet)

Our house went on the market when Conrad was one month old. We had about 3-5 showing a week. Here is the house blog I made: http://housewithcharm.blogspot.com. this whole time, we started looking at houses, which was very exciting. 

I wanted to look in the Salt Lake Valley, but Justin wanted to stay in Utah Valley. After realizing that not only is SL about 10-15% more $, but the yards are typically smaller, especially in the neighborhood I wanted to be in, (Daybreak). We signed the papers to build the home we are now in in September of 2012. We sold our Springville house just in time, closing in November of 2012. 

Goodbye, Art City

We sold our house in Springville in November of 2012. It was good, but kinda sad. We made a lot of great memories in that house, in that neighborhood, in that city, an that ward. Awwwww, I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it. It was a very bright and happy place. Very humble, but the people were friendly, and kind. I miss the Springville library. I miss the SMofA. I miss the friendly first ward, I miss Reams. I miss my loverly friends. I miss our trees and garden and yellow walls. I miss my kids having close friends. I miss catching butterflies on warm summer days. I miss taking walks.
Things are different here. Not neccesarily worse, but different. Things are getting better.

Christmas 2011 Part Two

 Michael was a big helper this year with snow removal.

 The joys of December grocery shopping with toddlers.

 "The" igloo

 Francy and her cousin Ella.

Francy loved her first teaset.

All in all, it was a fun Christmas. We decided to simplify so we spent a lot less than we usually do for Christmas and it was better. We also were involved with a few charity projects. It was so much better. Oh, yeah.

Creative Spiritual Motivation

I recently made a new goal to re-read the Book of Mormon and I found these unique reading charts to help with progress. It's sort of elementary to sit and color after every chapter but having the chart has helped me a ton. I would definitly recommend one of these charts to any age, or you can design your own. I have been using the one with all the bubbles and think I'll try the flower next.

Guilty Pleasure

Have I ever mentioned to you how much I really really really like Star Trek? Well it's true. I, well we, just can't get enough of it. Here is some random trivia: We really did name our son Wesley after Wesley Crusher on Star Trek:The Next Generation and I frequently dream about being a part of it all. I think Star Trek changed the world and continues to change the world. It has sure changed mine.  ;)

Change = Good

This tree is in our front yard. I love to watch it change. We have three trees in our yard total. The last place we lived had zero. seriously. It was sad. I love trees. I love to watch them change as the seasons change. Right now there are tiny leaf buds on most of the branches. Within a few weeks this entire tree will be green and full.
I love change. This past year we have had a plethera of change in our lives.
I think learning to adapt to change is a huge commodity. Here are some changes that we have experiences in the last year:
- welcomed Francesca into the world
- bought our first house
- Justin has switched jobs. twice.
- Justin has graduated from college
- we got a newer car
- moved into a new city
- made new friends
- I lost 15 pounds
- we got a cat
Many other things have changed in our lives the last little while but listing them all would take me all day. I have been just overwhelmed with gratitude lately and I owe it all to my Heavenly Father. I felt like for a while there I was stagnant, just waiting, standing still not doing much with my life. But once we made a few little changes grand things started happening. I think that's what our Heavenly Father wants. He wants us to embrace change by learning and growing and just plain living the best life we can. Sometimes it's easy to stay in our comfort zones, for fear of failure or any other fear, but I think it's better to have lived and loved and tried and made the best of our time on earth than to sit there and watch the world go by.
This may not be making a whole lot of sense but to sum it up I say be the best you can be, you can do it!  :)