Happy Holidays!

This is our first holiday without family nearby. There's a part of me that is sad, but a part of me is excited to start our own family traditions. So today we had an Italian inspired feast, including six courses. Yes, you heard right, 6 courses!

We didn't go monster elaborate, it being Sunday and all, but we made an exciting discovery (for us anyway). We've quested for years to find "panna", italian table cream that is thickened and makes a fabulous sauce for pasta. Now we've never found anyone that sells it. But yesterday while at Walmart Kendall found something in the Mexican food aisle...a product that seemed suspiciously like panna. We bought a can (a steal at $1.45 instead of the $9.99 if we'd bought actual panna on Amazon) and used it today to throw on tortelloni. A great substitute. I'm thrilled, because it means easy cream sauces, or pink sauces, or other nummy stuff.

So while we miss family, it was fun to start something new for just us. :)

Where to Vacation

So even though Kendall just started a new job, he'll have almost 3 weeks of vacation this year. We have only a couple of months of summer break (the kids start again in the beginning of August), so we have to squeeze it in somehwere between girl's camp and scout camp. We're contemplating all kinds of things, but since we are in essence at least a day away from anywhere, more like 2 days, it's kind of a challenge.

So...any recommendations would be nice. :)

Anniversaries

Anniversaries. We celebrate or commemorate all sorts of occasions with days of remembrance. Our birthday is the first one that's truly important to us. As we get older we find other reasons to stop and recall what made a certain day noteworthy.

Not all anniversaries are happy. But today is one for me. (It is still today, even though it's after midnight as I write this.) Today is our 16th wedding anniversary.

Now this can seem like an eternity to some, and a mere sprinkle of the sands of time to others. But as I sat here pondering this occasion, it occurred to me that when I was sixteen, I was a boy crazy teenager, eager for my first date. I had a very shallow notion of what type of person I would like to marry, other than he fit my standard of "good-looking". I had no idea what it really meant to be married, to bear each other's burdens sometimes, other times yoked together, straining in unison against the weight of life.

I've discovered something...unlovely about myself. I seem to have a knack for getting an idea in my head and continuing with it like the rest of the world no longer exists. Time and time again I have seen the Lord's hand in my life, literally picking me up and moving me out of my place, just to set me on the right path. I'm not sure why I deserve such conscientiousness, but I am eternally grateful for the hands that placed my feet on the road that led me where I am today. I would have been lost, and the Lord knew that, and straightened my road so I wouldn't get confused by the twists and turns.

Love you, K.

And So They Grow...

Andrew lost his 1st tooth today. (I would take a picture but our camera card is having issues.) It was a little scary, with all that pain and all, but he let mom get a good grip on it finally and POP! out it came.

With all my other children I saw this milestone as one for celebration. This is the first time it hit me that my little boy is not so little anymore, and I wished that I might have had a day or two longer.

To top it off, Sarah announced to me this afternoon, "Mom! One more year and all your kids will be in school! What are you going to do with all that time?"

Of course I have a list a mile long for when that day comes, but for right now, that's still a couple of years away. But that will be a sad day. I thought I would never get beyond the baby phase. It was inconceivable. But today it's a little bit closer, all with losing a baby tooth.

Safe Arrival, et al

As I write this I am typing from our new office/music room, looking out the front window at our new neighborhood. I want to post pics, but I haven't really taken any yet because we're still covered in boxes. But I did manage to wrestle the computer cabinet into place and set up the computer by myself, as well as place a few pictures. There were a couple of nails still hanging on the wall in here that I thought would be the perfect height for our REALLY BIG landscape painting we have, but now that I'm looking at it, combined with the previous owner's magazine that got mailed to us titled "Hunting", I'm thinking there might have been a hunting trophy there. Hmmmmm....I guess a picture that has a few deer in the foreground would be a good replacement.

I've discovered that life, with a few shifts, is pretty much the same. Kendall wakes up at 4:30 now to make the drive to Morenci for an hour every morning. I am up by 5 so I can help him get out the door and get Sarah up at 5:30. Her bus comes at 6:40, about the time I wake up Peter and Meri (if she hasn't woken up already) to get them started. Their bus arrives at 7:25, and then there is quiet for maybe 30 minutes before the little boys get up. The rest of my day is a delicate balance between housework, feeding, scolding, and more housework, whereupon I collapse at the awfully early hour of 10:30 pm. Early for me, anyway. Really, really, early.

We are enjoying the great Arizona winter/spring. We haven't quite shaken off the Utah temperature, and I expect every moment it to plunge back into the 30s. Nice. I like it a lot. :)

The little boys are enjoying the sandbox that is our backyard. It's not landscaped yet, so that is somehow fun to them, and I have started having to wipe this superfine sand off of cabinets where their dirty pants have brushed. This is very familiar, and brings back lots of memories of Kearny and the constant sweeping of sand out of the house.

So far everyone is surviving the move. Sarah is a little slower to assimilate, but that's to be expected. I hope by the end of the school year she'll have made friends with a few people, hopefully the girls in our new ward.

We've already been welcomed by our new Bishop, and our "church service pedigree". I confessed, reluctantly, about my most recent calling of ward choir director, only to find out later in RS that the current one is moving to Pima, two towns away at the end of the month. Sigh. I was so hoping for something else for a while. Makes me wish I'd shipped all the music that belonged to the Angel Crossing Ward with us, lol, so I'd have access to all the music I used/accumulated over the past couple of years. But who knows...maybe they already had someone in mind. I can only hope.

As soon as the house is decent I promise to take pictures and give you a virtual tour.

Finally Finally!!!

It finally really official. Kendall has accepted the job offer in Arizona. After the initial offer we countered with some concerns, and then had to wait while apparently the entire mine was off for the month of December before anybody got back to us.

But it's done, and Kendall's first day is Feb 7. Now panic sets in as I try to declutter and convince my children that no, they don't need twenty of the same thing.

We'll miss the spring up here, but we should be there in time for poppy season, my favorite!!!

Finally!!!!

Yesterday Kendall finally got the job offer! Yay!!!!!!!!!! We don't know all the specifics yet (his liason at Freeport-McMoRan was out of the office today), but we should know more on Monday. The job is as a Metallurgist in the Morenci, AZ mine. Our plan is to live in Safford, about a 50 minute drive away. We're sad to have to move, we've loved our ward and the friendships we've made here, but it feels like it's time to move on.

We'll post more info as it becomes available. Thank you for all your prayers and happy thoughts on our behalf!


View Larger Map

Amazingly Beautiful

(Just a quick note: we don't know anything yet, but it looks like Kendall has moved to the final stages of the process for the Arizona job, and is currently undergoing a background check. No offers have been received, but we're hopeful that maybe in another week we'll have more info.)

I am a compulsive reader of a few weekly articles. One which I love to read is Orson Scott Card's weekly columns that appear every Thursday. One is on Mormontimes.com, and the other is Rhinotimes.com. Mormon Times is an online magazine that has different articles everyday relating to everything Mormon, both religiously and culturally.  The Rhino Times is a paper local to Mr. Card in North Carolina, and he reviews random things every week.

Today he shared a link to just the most amazing thing. He said it brought tears to his eyes, and it did to me, as well.  Just glorious, and I had to share. Enjoy! (Sorry this is so big...I didn't want to cut anything off.)

Possibilities and Prayers

So this past week has finally brought a viable possiblity for a new job for Kendall. After two phone interviews, Kendall will be flying down to AZ next week to do a plant walk-through at a copper mine in Morenci, AZ. It's a small town about 50 minutes away from Safford, another small town in eastern AZ. Safford/Thatcher is the area where Pres. Kimball grew up, and they actually have a temple there. It was originally established by pioneers sent by Brigham Young in 1874.
Anyway, it's a very strong possiblity, and we'd like your prayers in our behalf.

Love you guys!

Conference Weekend

We spent Conference Weekend at at the East Canyon condo. Brings back so many fun memories. We did this, my parents, sibs and I for many years, bringing the tradtional meal of rice and bacon. We missed everybody, but I hope that everyone enjoyed their own version of conference.

Loved the talks, the Spirit, and the emphasis (at least it seemed to me) on keeping the Spirit with us, so we can really define what we need to have in our lives and what we should discard.

Love to you all!