The new journey

We're adjusting to life in Idaho.  The kids did awesome in their new school, and will be going to a different school after the Christmas break.  I was worried about them making friends, but that wasn't an issue at all.' They've been so happy and doing well at school. (Although piano practicing/lessons have not been happening.)

John is enjoying the challenge of his new job, and we're getting along well with the Mosers, John's aunt and uncle who opened their home to us while we sell our Alaska house. John's waking up every day at 5:30 so he can work out at the gym (that's at work) before he starts working. 

Addison has struggled the most with the move.  She likes routine and structure and everything here is different for her.  Tantrums have been almost daily, some at home and some while we're out.  They're starting to slow down so I'm hoping once we get settled into our own place, with her toys (that are almost all packed away), she'll feel more confident and happy.  I hope...

Brooklyn has learned to crawl and is picking up words and signs.  She continues to be cheerful and content with whatever, which has been such a blessing!

I'm really enjoying getting to know the Mosers, I like the area, the people seem nice and friendly and all. Being close to a temple and family has been awesome! It's been a ridiculous amount of work to get moved, so much paper work for everything, so I've stayed busy.  Honestly though, I'm really missing my friends.  With us being in this temporary state I haven't made a lot of effort to get involved in the kids' school or in our ward, so again, once we're in our house I know that will change.

We are under contract to sell our Alaska house and buy a house here, and we will likely close on the same day.  Crazy huh?

Oh, and John and I have been happily married for TEN YEARS! Go us!  We drove to the temple today and John got a re-do on his proposal (we've always joked how lame the original one was!) and took a few pictures (not included here).

Here are some pictures.

This was from our first day here, Addie loved the leaves!

 We sold John's car in Alaska and he upgraded to this

 Horsin' around with cousin Hurley

 Brooklyn turned 1

 Addie loves to be an older cousin.  This is Annabelle

 Thanksgiving Day we spent at my sister's house with all my family.  The kids loved the neighbor's friendly horses

 Cousins pretending to be homeless

 Thanksgiving!

 John works in this castle/office building

Uncle Reed and Brooklyn are best friends.  

We're moving!

John got a job at Melaleuca as a forecaster at their corporate office.  We first applied to the position 7 months ago and it has take so long, partly because we're from "all the way in Alaska" and they had to get extra approval to fly him down (cost way more than other applicants) and approval for everything else and whatnot.
So we'll be moving to Idaho Falls, ID and we're super excited!  Being closer to family, being able to attend the temple on a regular basis, road trippin', etc.  It'll be so so sad to say goodbye to our friends here.  The kids are so sad!  We've lived here for over 7 years.
All summer we were savoring the local stuff and checking things off our bucket list, like ziplining (crazy fun, kinda scary!), float plane tour to Misty Fjords, days at the beach, hikes, climbing Deer Mountain (grueling!!), taking the kids fishing (Kaytlin, our pickiest eater loves salmon. But only silver salmon), berry picking, etc.  The kids have started a tradition of counting all the waterfalls on the way to town on rainy days (over 50).  I'm hoping to see the humpback whales bubble feed again, but we'll see if there's time.
I'm supposed to be packing. Packing sucks.
We're putting everything in a 20 foot container on Monday, which will be shipped to Seattle and then loaded onto a moving truck and driven to Idaho Falls.  We get to leave the next Monday and ferry to Prince Rupert and then drive the 1700 miles or so on down. We're supposed to have a house hunting trip too, but we're waiting to hear if they booked our tickets.
I'm really hoping our stuff fits in the container.
So many many things to do........ Why do we have so much stuff???  I've packed 11 boxes of kitchen stuff. 11! And there's still the pots and pans and everyday dishes!!
I should probably change the name of the blog. Any suggestions?
I'm really tired of packing.............
We promised the kids we'd get them a pet when we get into a house.  I might regret that.
Must...go...pack..........

Fishy fishy

John caught his biggest halibut yet - an 80 pounder!  He called us on their way in to dock and we came down to check it out.  They also caught some salmon on the way back.  The last few times he's gone the weather has been beautiful and whales, sea lions, among other sea life has been out as well.

 I think it's funny that we never take pictures of the ugly side of the halibut.  

 Kaytlin and Addie with the fishy crew - John, his parents, and his brother.  (Often times they use salmon as bait!  Crazy huh?)

 We've enjoyed our beautiful lawn on sunny days.  It makes me happy watching the girls play on it!

Holy wetness!!

Yesterday was pretty rainy.  We were counting waterfalls on the way to town (there are always more when it rains hard) and Lexi counted over 60!  I just found out that it rained 5.45 inches yesterday!!  Crazy right?  To put that in perspective, Boise, Idaho gets 13 inches of rain in a year.
Last Saturday we checked our water tank and noticed it only had a few feet of water left in it and decided to order a truckload of water so we didn't run out.  It's been raining ever since.  Funny huh?  The good news is they charged $50 less than I thought they would.  :)

ASL "Let it Go" at the talent show

My girls and their friend performed at their school talent show yesterday.  They worked so hard and did an awesome job.  Here's a link to their performance:

http://youtu.be/6aotJVaMYaE

And now it's summertime!  Wahoo!

Baptism!!

Lexi was baptized (as well as her friend here) this week.  My camera's batteries were completely dead, so when I get my phone's pictures on here I'll get one of her and her dad.  My parents came up for it and a bunch of John's family was here too.  Wish we lived closer to more family so others could be there too, but even without them we felt their love and support and it was a truly special experience!  We're so proud of our Lexi!

Misty Fjords

Tourist for a day was yesterday (yay for not being on a Sunday for once!)  Locals get great discounts on tours and this is the first year we've been able to take part in it.  John and I decided on a float plane tour to Misty Fjords, one of Ketchikan's most popular tourist attractions.  When John was in the Bishopric he'd occasionally take a float plane to visit members of our ward on another (more remote) island, but this was my first time in one.  The landings and take offs were the smoothest I've ever experienced in flying.  The plane itself was pretty small.  There were 6 of us total (including the pilot), which filled the plane.  On the flight back home I was in the copilot seat and the pilot reached over for my phone to take my picture, which I thought was kinda funny.
Looking at the pictures reminded me a little of the grand canyon; you just can't capture the grandeur of the scenery.  John's been working like a demon lately, so I felt fortunate we were able to do this together.

Fund Raiser Pictures

Young Women did a photoshoot fund raiser for their upcoming Girls Camp/Temple trip to Anchorage this summer.  Here's some of our pictures:

Job hunt!!!

That's right - it's time for a change.  We've decided we are moving "down south."  The original plan was that the business would transition so we could run it remotely, with frequent business trips during the busy season.  Then John's Dad got called as Stake President and that got delayed (understandably) for 9ish years.
John has really loved working for the family business but we decided we're ready for something else.  John's parents are amazing and 100% supportive, which is a huge blessing.  While we're searching for future employment John is welcome to work, whether it takes a month, or year.  He's "proved his worth" and is welcome to come back to the family business in the future if that's something we decide as well.  We couldn't ask for a better situation!  I love my in-laws!

So.... if you know of a good job opportunity, let us know!  We're flexible about when we take the job so we're going to search until we find a really great opportunity.  John's qualified in a variety of different areas, because you have to do just about everything in a small business.  He's spent the last several years managing 4-5 retail stores; 3 here, 1 in Skagway, and 1 in Puerto Rico.  He's done everything from hiring and training (including managers), to merchandising, marketing, IT, HR, remodeling, and more.

It's an exciting time!  We're looking forward to seeing where the future takes us!

Lucky us

We're so fortunate to have a photographer in the family!  My sister took these after Christmas.  Her website is

aprylmayphotography.com

She lives in Idaho but sometimes travels to Utah.

Life is pretty much back to normal, with a little crazy all mixed in.  I remember reading a friend's blog and her saying how insane 4 kids is.  I totally get it now.  Wow.
But we love it, in a sleep-deprived kind of way...
John got released from the Bishopric (yay!! Is it bad to feel so happy about that?) and then got called as the Young Men's President.  He pretty much thinks he has his dream calling right now.  He's been working with these young men for about 6 years now and is so excited to prepare the priests for their missions.
I'm currently serving as the Relief Society secretary and today was called as the Ward chorister.  Apparently that also includes leading the choir too (oh boy!).  I'm pretty excited about it for now.  If you know of good places to find music, let me know!  Enjoy the pics!

 We had 5-10 minutes of free time for our family pictures.  These were taken outside of a hotel in California, right before our long day of driving back to Utah.  Amazing what a little editing can do!

Valentines

From Kaytlin:
"Mom and Dad I love you I want a cat! someday
Love Kaytlin"

From Lexi (they've been working on poetry I guess):
"I love you even when I poo.  It is true.  I am sometimes mean too you"

Feelin' the love!
Don't expect much in the way of blogging.  Life with 4 young kids is exhausting!  I took some time and played with the kids in the snow this afternoon.  Felt like supermom for a good 15 minutes.  :)