We are loving our new house! It's 5 bedrooms and MUCH bigger than anything we've had before! Although I have been much too sick to do anything with it!

 Jacob, Emma, and Elise

We got invited to a birthday party for a little girl in our ward. There was an awesome pool and the girls played with the Rollins kids in our ward who live just a hop skip and a jump away from us. They've quickly made friends with them. It is interesting because I KNOW I've seen their dad Tim before and their mom Jen looks familiar, too, but we weren't able to find any connections. They said we look familiar to them, too. 

 

Brooke and Madeline

Here is our church building. I love the desert flowers and trees here! (Too bad it's so darn HOT all the time! You can't really be outside to enjoy it!) Our ward has been such a blessing. We had maybe 10 guys show up to help us move in and we've been visited by the Bishopric, the Elder's Quorum Presidency, The Relief Society Presidency, and the Primary Presidency. AMAZING. We've also had lots of sisters reach out through the facebook page and answer my questions about soccer and pediatricians. It has been a huge tender mercy from the Lord to have such a safe place to land in such a big time of change. 

They have these "misters" wherever you go because it is always like 105 here!

We found our local library and I'm sure we'll spend lots of time there like we always have. The girls LOVE to read!

Sick and Homesick

Although we know the Lord told us moving here to Phoenix is the right thing for us right now, the girls and I have still been really homesick. We miss our friends and family and everything that is familiar to us in Folsom. And I'm not gonna lie, it has been REALLY hard to move to another state while feeling so tired and nauseous. It has been one of the hardest things I've done at least in a long time. I've had lots of nights where I had to go to bed at 7pm because I was just so sick there was nothing I could do to help it but sleep. On Sunday I went to bed at 3:30pm because I was so miserable I didn't know what else to do. It's been really hard to unpack or want to explore our new surroundings, especially with the heat (105+ most days). But I'm trying hard not to complain because I know how many women would love to be pregnant and feel sick but they can't. I just can't wait until I feel better and I can start to get a sense of our purpose here and what the Lord wants us to do.  

We're Pregnant!

Well, Ladies and Gents, we weren't sure if baby #3 was going to become a reality for us or not but the Lord has His plans. We had a few years of turmoil with law school and quitting law school and figuring out a career path, and by the time things had calmed down about 2 years ago, I was feeling good about being done since the girls were already 5 and 7. I was pretty happy with 2 kids and I felt the door was closing. I have been praying about having another one since Brooke was 2, but I never felt a "yes" answer, or maybe the timing was never right. And after post partum depression and colic, I didn't know if I had it in me to have another one.

Then in November of last year, I told the Lord that I would like to be done and finally close that chapter since the girls were getting older and the age gap was so big. 

That night, I had a dream I was holding a baby boy. It was one of those dreams that felt really real. I had several other confirmations over the next couple of months that let me know it was right for us to have another baby. About 6 months later, I was pregnant. The girls will be almost 8 and 10 by the time this baby is born which is not how I thought things would be. I was sure I'd have 3-4 kids, all 2 years apart. But life happens and I am just so thankful!

The due date is Feb 28th, but I'm always late so I'm hoping for March 2nd, which is Carli's birthday! I don't know if it will be a boy, but we shall see!

Sweet Note

The girls tend to fight a lot so it really warms my heart when I see something like this. 

We have a trumpet player!

Emma decided she wants to be in the school band. She was able to choose from three options: clarinet, flute, or trumpet. Of course, Emma had to have the one with the most impact. 

She seems to be a natural so far! She makes much better sound than Alan or I!

Visitors!

We've already had visitors at our new house! Cori Ann and Don came with Owen and Gwen (Tyler was here the week before with Grandma and Grandpa). They're watching a movie together and they had so much fun. (Brooke has a black eye from getting hit in the face at one of those bounce house places.)

First Day of School!

Arizona

We're here!

Here's Alan right before he left for his first day at the office. 

We met Alan after work and celebrated by going to BJ's that night. 

The next week, Rachel and Cam came over and brought us some cheesecake!

I love these beautiful desert flowers!

Pretty sunset taken with my phone.

Brooke's Early Birthday

Brooke was sad that she'd miss having her birthday party with her friends since we moved a month before her birthday, so we had a little party for her. We took her and 3 friends to the movies to see "Monsters University" and then to Pinkberry for frozen yogurt. She has such sweet friends and we will miss them so much!

Beth, Mikaela, Emerson, Brooke

Going Away. . .

 Carli, mom, and dad threw us a going away party the Saturday before we moved to AZ. It was bitter sweet for sure. 

Ice Cream Man!

What would Summer be without ice cream from the Ice Cream Truck!? I had to get a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle one since that's what I always got as a kid. 

BEFORE:

AFTER: