Don't Hassle Me I'm Local

The following pictures are in no particular order. Just snapshots of our new life in Kansas doing things the locals do.

It's so green and hilly here. A far cry from the flat corn fields I was expecting.

Making some friends.

Making ourselves at home

Observing the local wildlife on our front lawn

Hitting the local shopping areas and since I hate shopping playing in the fountains instead.

Our version of Wheeler Farm.

Kansas City is "famous" for their fountains. We liked it.

We really are starting to feel at home here in Overland Park. It's beautiful and we are meeting some really nice people. I actually like it more than I thought I would. Scott loves his job and talks like we are going to live here forever. I am not to that point yet but we'll see.

Spencer's 4th Birthday

My Spencer "buddy" "mister" Miller

When I asked Spencer what he would like for his birthday this year he asked for two things. The $400.00 bounce house he saw in the Toys R Us ad and a pinata. He got the pinata.

We were lucky enough to go up and visit the Nebraska Miller's the weekend before his birthday and celebrate with them. Spencer was in heaven being with his cousins and that alone would have made his birthday a success. Everything else was just icing on the birthday cake.

Raevyn is adorable and makes me want a girl.

Go Owen!

Check out Rylan's face. He did some major damage.

Ethan got to finish it off.

Revenge of the pinata

Enjoying the fruits of their labor

I think the baseball birthday was a hit. We sure love this kid!

A Mother's Milestone

I sent him out alone. I have resigned myself to the fact that there are no kids Spencer's age on our street and after watching him watch out the window as the older boys played I decided I had to let him go. Now I have gone out with Spencer and talked, even played with these boys enough to know that they are really nice kids, but do they really want a "mom" following them around as they play? It seemed the best choice was to give Spence some brief instruction on looking both ways before crossing the road and being nice to the other boys and send him out on his own. He was so happy. I was a little nervous. One of many letting go moments I am sure I will experience as a mom. So, I opened the window and settled in on the couch to watch his every move and strained to hear the conversation. He lasted about a minute before he came running home...in search of sidewalk chalk. I reviewed with him the looking before crossing the road instructions (I noticed he missed that the first time out) and he was off again. This time he barely made it across the street before once again turning and running home. He ran in the door and began to tell me how he remembered to look both ways. With that he was off again this time stopping for a moment to blow the tops off some dandelions. By the time he got back the boys were done with sidewalk chalk and were playing football. Spence again ran home to get his ball. He threw it one time and then just sat and watched the other boys play. Then came the sweet moment that melted my heart. The oldest boy, about 9, came and knelt if front of Spencer and handed him the ball back and motioned for him to come join in. Spencer threw that ball as hard as he possible could...at which point he came running home to tell me about how he "threw the ball so high that it hit the branch." I guess he has kind of gotten used to having me by his side. To listen to all his stories and solve his little problems. I know one day we will lose that connection a little and I will miss that. So until then I will be right there by his side...or at least watching out the living room window.

The Guilt

I know that it's right that we are here in Kansas. Just last Sunday as I sat through an amazing Relief Society lesson I was feeling so grateful for the opportunity I have been given to have this experience. To be outside my comfort zone and feeling lonely and insecure yet knowing that these people that I am just getting to know are so kind and good and I only hope that as I spend more time with them that somehow some of that can rub off on me. They are strong and beautiful and I just feel like I can learn so much from them. That is just one of the reasons I am happy to be here. There are many others and I feel very blessed, but still I have a lot of guilt.

My poor Spencer. I want to give him the kind of wonderful childhood that I had with friends and neighbors to play with. Unfortunately we seem to have landed in an area where 3 year old boys are scarce. There are some in the ward but they live so far away. They have lives and friends and preschool groups already established. I can tell he is bored and just wants friends. Today he way yelling at the older boys across the street who where busy playing Pokemon, " Hey boys, I have sidewalk chalk!" He got so happy when they came over for a minute to talk to us but almost cried when they left a few minutes later to finish their game. It leaves me wondering how I raise a well adjusted kid who is happy when I just don't feel like I can give him what he needs. It Utah I know what I would do. Here I feel helpless. Yet I know this is where we are supposed to be and so I will do my best to help him be happy but mostly right now I just feel guilty that I can't give him what he really wants.

The Process

The process is complete and we are settled into our new life and home in Overland Park.
I hate saying goodbye and feeling like I am losing everything that I know and am comfortable with. I already miss friends and family and it's only been a week. But, instead of focusing on the things that make this move hard I chose to share the things that made it great.

I learned a valuable lesson over the last month. It is simply this. I want to be the type of person that finds any excuse to help others and not one to find excuses as to why I don't need to. There where so many people that offered their help even though they had every reason why they shouldn't need to worry about it.

For example, my sweet sister-in-law Kam. When she heard that we were going to Kansas to find a place to live she offered to take both my boys for all four days. She had every valid reason (3 kids of her own) to not have to offer this but she did anyway and I know it was hard and I will never forget that.

All my amazing Logan neighbors who offered to watch the boys while we boxed. As you can see packing with kids can be difficult.

These kind people showed up at my door to help without me even calling and asking. Helping load the truck, entertain Spencer and dropping off goodies to eat. My sweet friend Anna had Spencer come over and play while we were in the final stages of packing and then sent him home with a bag full of treats, games and coloring books to entertain him on the plane. She is busy and did not have to do all this but she did and it really meant a lot.

After we loaded our whole house into our moving truck and were left with a totally empty house and one more night to live there two of our friends put together airbeds, blankets, and pillows to make the last night comfortable and fun. The evidence...

My Mom the work horse drove all the way up to Logan to scrub and clean with use (in reality she did more than Scott and I combined) just to turn around and head back home a few hours later.

My wonderful in laws who threw a little going away party for us and let us fill their home with lots of loud crazy kids... and adults so that we would have a chance to see our family and friends before we left. Then, if that isn't enough they drove/flew with us all the way to Kansas to help on the flip side.

Last but not least Nate and Mae drove almost 5 hours to help us unload the truck and get our house in order (and eat some BBQ)

There were so many examples of selfless service I can't even list them all. I love these people and resolve to be more like them. To help instead of making excuses. Thank you for leaving an impression on my life and my little family.

Owen's First Birthday Festivities

My little Bubba is already one! On Owen's actual birthday we just had a party with our little family since we celebrated the week before with our whole family in Salt Lake.


Spencer was so "helpful"with the presents. Owen didn't mind.

This time around Owen got the cake thing and really made the most of it. Thanks for the show Bubba.

We decided to make the family party a full on celebration (no second child syndrome here). He had a dinosaur themed party and I am so proud of how his cake turned out.

I expected Owen to attack his cake but he was teething and not feeling very well the night of his party so he was a little reserved but still seemed to enjoy his first experience with cake.

He was definitely spoiled by his wonderful family and is loving all of his new toys, almost as much as I am loving his new clothes Ü. One of his favorites is this awesome handcrafted train from Great Grandpa Jack. It is so cute to watch him pushing it all around the house.

He thinks he so big and loves his new wheels.

This was Owen on our ride home after the party. He lasted about a mile before he was out.

Kansas....really Kansas?

It's official. Our family will be moving to Kansas the first week of March. Am I terrified? Yes I definitely am but I am also very excited for our new adventure. Scott got a job with Garmin International and he couldn't be happier. He came back from his interview with them last Friday and was on cloud nine. He can't wait to work for such an awesome company and what better place to get experience in his field (GIS) than working for Garmin. On Monday they called and offered him the job and the whirlwind has begun.

Garmin's headquarters are in Olathe (ole' th-a) Kansas which is a suburb of Kansas City. On the far east side of Kansas it isn't the barren flat corn fields I had originally pictured. It's actually quite green and even has a few hills Ü. They will be breaking ground this spring on a new temple in Kansas City which is going to be so nice and we will only be a short drive from may church history sights including Independence Missouri, Adam-ondi-Ahman and Liberty Jail. I am hoping those are good selling points to convince our friends and family to come visit us.

Now we just need to find a place to live. Box up our house and move half way across the county. Wish us luck.

Holidays = Family Fun

We spent over a week in Salt Lake enjoying the holidays with our families. We don't really know what our future holds and if we will end up living near family or not and it has me thinking how thankful I am for this past holiday season and the time we spent together. Spencer loved playing with all his cousins and Owen loved watching all the craziness. My camera died so I don't have any pictures of the fun that occurred between Christmas and new years, but so I don't forget here are some of the highlights.

-Party with the Manning's and Becky's yummy enchiladas

-Raelynn teaching me how to pose and look good in pictures

-Shopping without kids and actually coming home with some great stuff

-Lunch with Arica. 2 mom's + 4 kids = craziness. Next time we are leaving the kids home

-Sledding with the Miller cousins (Mae, I need those pictures!)

-Scott forcing his brothers to help him roll a snow ball until it was taller than him. (How's your wrist Brian?)

-Playing Mario on the Wii

-All adult New Years party where we discovered that are actually still fun.

Holiday's 2009 = Success

A Wonderful 'Eve'ning

We had a perfect evening with the Scott family on Christmas Eve. It started with the delivery of an awesome sub for Santa basket that we had all helped put together. My parent's are awesome and that's all there is to it. Next was the preparation and then consumption of a delicious brisket dinner and then the party really got started. Grandma and Grandpa read the Nativity story to the kids and then we did our own.
Spencer started as a shepherd and then finished as a wise man.

Scott was also a shepherd/wise man, I was Mary and Landon was determined to be Joesph and he was so sweet to hold my hand and gently lead me to the manger. Cason was a shepherd/wise man and Grandpa was the star.

Then we opened P.J.'s and presents. I was one of the most laid back and enjoyable Christmas Eve's I can remember. The boys were in heaven. Owen was totally in awe of Parson's ball popper. Good thing Santa brought him one the next morning.
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa.

"Dear Santa, I love you so you give me a toy."

The title of this post is a direct quote from Spencer's letter to Santa. The Santa part of Christmas this year was so much fun. Spencer loved telling everyone that he asked Santa for "a sled and a toy." He was so excited about every step from the letter to the cookies to tracking Santa on the internet wit his cousins before heading off to bed.

Owen wasn't really a fan.