Has anyone seen this girl?

For two entire days this little girl was in our home, very pretty little girl, just not my little girl. I tried to ask her what she did with my baby but she just kept saying, "Mom, I am Kendal". I didn't believe her.

Have you seen this cute little curly headed girl (my baby)?

When I find her I have to think of a kind way to break it to this strange little girl in my house that my curly headed girl is back and now she must go. But I am guessing she wont go quietly. She will make her way back into the house again, I am sure of it.

Every Sunday my little girl asks me if she can have hair like Maggie's for church. Of course I am always trying to give Maggie curls for church. I thought this Sunday since we were actually on time I would oblige her, now I am regretting it. I love curls!

My "piggies" Ate Pie

Thanksgiving 2011

Trying on my new attitude

I had the best be where your piggies are day on Thanksgiving. My piggies were loving all of the family visiting and enjoying our new atmosphere. We are right next to the park and Ashlee's clan came early so we could play, take a walk and we even had a mini picnic.

Sounds easy for my piggies to endure, NO, there were definitely obstacles.

I roasted a turkey that didn't even get carved, I baked a pie that didn't get eaten, the kids and I decorated the table that got undecorated, my kitchen got cramped, dinner was late and I really thought my piggies were going to start dancing around in a manner that looked as if I may be stomping my feet. But, I didn't let them, I kept my cool and enjoyed a very yummy Thanksgiving feast.

The following day we had another Thanksgiving feast as a family and brought out my turkey and pumpkin pie. My kids are my biggest fans, they kept saying, "Man, mom your turkey tastes so good we should have had it yesterday instead." Oh kids, I know grandma is a better cook then me, no need to butter me. Who am I kidding, I enjoyed every minute of it, I sizzled!

Admittedly, I did have a moment of weakness during one conversation but we are all entitled, right?

So despite circumstances my "piggies" made a good day out of what was available to them. NO, It was a great day with; food, family, visiting, playing and the kids had a blast too, because mom let them play....

WII....

WII...

WII...

ALL THE DAY LONG

Fun Food Pictures

Matthew with the never ending Turkey leg.

Spencer bubbling up with Sparkling Cider.
(I am pretty sure he over did it on the
bubbly because he puked)

Maggie and Aunt Kosette with Grandma's yummy rolls.

(She really is this fun!)

Grandpa and Grandma Jones joined us as well. I know MY LB and his grandpa look shiny, it's their Aura's, very righteous angelic men. Kosette snuck into the picture and because of that her Aura is a little darker. But, I guess that's what little sisters do.

P.S. That night and early into the next morning MY LB and I kicked Black Friday's Butt. It was the second year that he has joined me, he hates it. But, after year one and now with the goings on of year two he has declared that I can NEVER go alone again, EVER. He made the rule and now he must endure. I love him, he is such a good guy, he honestly would do anything for me. I try hard not to take advantage of it, really I do. But I think he likes doing anything for me, or he pretends really good like. Either way he is amazing and I am the "luckiest".

These little piggies went to primary

My new calling in church is teaching in senior primary. This is the first time I have ever had a teaching calling in the primary, "ever". I love kids and I love the Gospel so I am loving my new calling (minus the discipline).

However my little piggies keep thinking about how much personal growth we were gaining from teaching Gospel Doctrine in our last ward. I am happy to say that the piggies are making good of their word, they are finding other ways and means to get in their personal study time. They are thinking of enrolling in an independent BYU study course on the Book of Mormon. Making good with what they have been given, good little piggies.

These LIttle "Piggies" Went to Time Out

My sister in-law Ashlee and I went on our annual retreat to Time Out for Women (a gift from the mother in-law). This year the theme was "Choose to Become", so of course they encouraged us to choose something to become. It is so great to know that at 34 years old I can still choose to become something new. You know, something besides "all" of the things I already am. I mean I just became my kids primary educator not to long ago and I am loving that (I think I am exercising brain muscles I didn't know I had). I couldn't imagine ever thinking that I was already everything I could possibly be.

Ashlee and I decided to take this challenge to Become, and in the spirit of accountability we decided to "BLOG" about it.

I contemplated the recent events of my life and decided that I wanted to "become content with where my feet are". I wasn't exactly sure where I was going with this until the other day when I was having a conversation with some friends of mine. We were talking about baking/cooking and how much I dislike it (I should have chosen to become a baker) and the consensus was pretty much the same, we don't like to do it as much as we like to eat it. Except, there was one mom that said she loved it but she couldn't do it right now because her kitchen wasn't designed for it and she didn't have the right pans to do the job correctly. LIGHT BULB!! After she said this I sat quiet (rare moment) and thought about what she had said and realized that I knew exactly what "BE WHERE YOUR FEET ARE" meant. BECOME with what you have been given, BLOOM where you are planted, MAKE great with what you have.

My "become" is this....
Be where my "piggies" are! My little piggies have been longing to go back to there beautifully decorated home with the green grass and comforts of home. Bad little piggies.... My little piggies keep looking back ........ Bad little piggies.... My little piggies keep trying to race ahead..... Bad little piggies.... My little piggies keep saying, "if only". Bad little piggies....

These little piggies "choose to become" good little piggies that enjoy every moment, every place, every memory, every step, every trial and every experience that they are present for.

This little piggy goes to market to much....

This little piggy has always had a home (even if it didn't have a house).....

This little piggy can enjoy making roast beef....

Even if her little piggies eat none....

These little piggies can be be be be be whatever they want to become....

I call this blog "vomit"

You know what happens when you eat and eat and then you spin and spin and spin. Well it's like that with my stock of memories. Lot's to take in all different varieties; scouts, holidays, moving.... etc. So much that it makes my head spin and spin and spin. The outcome.......

I call this.....
BLOG VOMIT

Matthew is cruising in Boy Scouts! At his last Court of Honor with Troop 894 he earned his Second and First Class. He is aiming to be a Star by January.

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For the month of October we lived in a furnished vacation rental while we waited news about a possible job transfer to Indiana and looked for a rental worth renting here in AZ if we stayed. I really wish I would have gotten pictures of our vacation rental. In Spencer's words it was very luxurious and you could live here during any holiday and it would already be decorated. In my words it was a southwest, country, Victorian explosion with a hint of Christmas, Fall and Easter.

Patience is not one of my virtues. After two weeks in the vacation rental we found out that we would be staying in Arizona and our rental search began.

I can't tell you how absolutely humbling, scary, disgusting and disappointing this process was. We encountered many things I hope to never set eyes on again including.... the most disgusting dish washer imaginable, junk yards I mean back yards, crickets coming out of sinks by the dozens, missing cabinets, hoarding neighbors and the piece de resistance a dead kitty. I am not even going to explain the smells we smelled.

I am so thankful for the vacation rental so we could keep searching and find a rental that would suffice. ONLY, four days before move in our rental fell through do to neighbor issues and landlord issues. So on Monday I went out by myself to find something worth renting in ONE DAY so we could move in on Friday. Alas I found something and it was in the same church ward as our vacation rental. We think someone was praying for us to stay in the ward.

I am my own worst enemy and I do believe I deserved this abuse!

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In the meantime our lives moved on......

MY LB and I went to a Hockey game that was AWESOME. We were in the Toyota Club with free food (can't beat that), seats directly behind the opposing teams bench (no blood) and a good taste of the Hockey life.

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We also got a taste of the "rich life"! We received tickets to a benefit ball from MY LB's work. It was very nice, prom night for mom and dad. I bought a new dress and MY LB a new suit and we looked "GOOD". Dinner was great and dancing..... well we left early..... just like prom night, JUST KIDDING!!!

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Outsmarted4to1; home school has been going great despite our moving set backs. I am indeed thankful for libraries and our new Core Knowledge curriculum. My kiddos are absolutely amazing! We have also been working on Scouts as part of our curriculum which took us on a field trip to the Arizona Capitol building where we took a tour, wrote our own bill and took some great camera phone pictures. Too bad later that day I ran my phone over with the car and our pictures entered a black hole. Not one of my better moments.

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Moving was hard work! We are not good at doing things at convenient times for others to be available to help out. So with kids in tow, a very good friend to help and a borrowed trailer we made four very productive trips. Part of the leadership education our family participates in is the value of work and how it is part of being a family member. This week and the next we kicked this value in the butt. The kids were absolutely amazing and blew our minds with their productivity and valiant efforts. Maggie with her wagon full of boxes, Spencer and Matthew with their muscles and Kendal with her whistling tunes made it through two full weeks of moving, unloading and organizing. We were so proud of them!

All of their hard work paid off when they finally go to the box with the WII in it! Happy days at last!

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Of course we didn't skip Halloween. At 2:30 the day of the Trunk or Treat Spencer found the box with the Halloween costumes in it. The kids all cheered and gave him high fives and MY LB and I gave a sigh of relief. We were afraid that since the kids didn't like our idea of being moving boxes for Halloween were going to have to buy new costumes. We are definitely finding that things have a way of working themselves out.

The Trunk or Treat was fun for all of us and it was nice to have dinner that didn't come from a fast food restaurant. We celebrated Halloween a few days later with a pizza party with Steph's Clan and Trick or Treating in our new neighborhood. The chocolate has helped me keep my wits about me, yummy!

Oh yeah that felt good!

We are located!

We finally have a rental here in AZ. It has not been an easy transition and looking for a good rental home was not fun. It has definitely been a humbling experience for us.

We have been active at the YMCA, we are enjoying our new ward, and loving how close we are to the park. We are looking forward to meeting our neighbors, getting new callings and settling into our new home.

Thanks to all that have been wondering and thinking about us, I hope this post will suffice for now. I promise more updates later.

We Moved

This is my post about how my beautiful home now belongs to someone-else.

Once upon a time two uneducated home buyers bought into a really crappy loan. Four years later and three tries for a modification they decided to sell. A great friend told them about a fantastic Realtor that presented them with the idea of a good faith short sale. As soon as they heard the idea they put their home up for sale and three months later they moved.

Epilogue:
Now they are in limbo looking for a nice place to rent in a location close to the YMCA so they can be a more active healthy home school family.

THE END