It has been a while

Well, James sent an email to all of the family with an update about his life and I really enjoyed all of the detail and I appreciated all of the updated information about his life. He inspired me to update the blog. I have been procrastinating starting this blog again because so much has happened since the last post. I will make it short, I graduated, got a job in Bend OR and we lived in Sunriver like we had always dreamed. We loved it there. The girls and Annie made some good friends. It was hard because we had to drive a ways to church and the school didn’t push the girls as hard as we would have liked. Overall it was awesome to live there and we had a great Christmas with Therese, Rich, my parents and James all stuffed in our little house for a couple of days. It was really fun to be back together again for a holiday, having family around makes a big difference. I liked my job but did not like the working conditions, which is all I will say about that. I quit and tried to work for Home Depot, but did not feel like that is where I needed to be. I left Home Depot to do a project manager internship for a month unpaid in Moses Lake Washington and left Annie at home to pack up our things and get them ready to put into storage while we lived with my parents until we figured out where we were going to be. The internship had the potential to turn into a job, but I did not get the job. I applied for a ton of other jobs in Oregon, but found out how hard it was to get a job and had a three month taste of what it is like to be unemployed. I did not like it and it was hard, but my family and Annie’s were very supportive and helpful and it was fun to live close to them, because they both live in Eugene. I had stayed in contact with my employers at the clinic I worked at in Rexburg and they offered the position to be a coder in the billing department as they had when we left and I took the job in Oregon. We decided that I had better take it, even though it meant moving back to Rexburg. They are paying for my training and certification and they have already helped me to gain a lot of knowledge and experience in the billing department that will be useful in the future. The summer has been great. It has been really dry, but the weather has been nice. We were able to move into an awesome remodeled craftsman home in the middle of town which is nice because I can walk  or ride my bike everywhere I need to go. Our house is big enough to spread the girls out a little and for the first time in Hallie’s life she isn’t dragging bedtime out for three hours or more. Mya is also sleeping in her own bed with Shelby down in the basement. We really love Oregon and had a great time in Bend. It is hard to be over here again at times. We feel so isolated and far away from everyone. It has been hard at times, but we are grateful to have a good job with potential for the future. The girls have excelled over here and are very happy. They are excited and enthusiastic about school, they have good friends and like seeing kids they know from school at church. Shelby and Hallie are riding their bikes without training wheels finally and they are having a great time in dance and ballet. There are some beautiful spots around here and we managed to go camping for the first time in 4 years and the girls loved it, even though it got pretty chilly at night. This is a good place to be if you don’t have a lot of money, because there are a lot of inexpensive or free activities to do. We are trying to enjoy the journey rather than counting down the days until our next move. I have a three year commitment here so I am trying to learn as much as I can and work on a master’s degree so when I get done I will be more employable. It is tough as far as jobs go right now, but with some experience there are a lot of openings in the field I am working towards in healthcare management, billing and coding. I am grateful that this clinic has given me a chance when no one else would take a risk on me. I will post some pictures of Oregon and some of Idaho since we have been back. 

We are leaving Idaho!

This is the river in Sunriver

We went into a rally long Lava tube right down the street from our house in Sunriver. 

This was our little Sunriver house. 

Hallie's first of many lost teeth. 

Halloween last year, lucky for us they want to do the same thing this year. 

Santa and the tree lighting ceremony

Christmas last year. James, Rich and Annie were there too, but I am missing our Christmas pictures and Annie does not like me to put her pictures in public places. 

Abby, the girls Christmas puppy last year.

Our mermaids, they like cramming their feet into one side of their tights. 

Hallie and one of her friends

This was at the raptor center in Eugene

I am going to get in trouble for putting the WHOLE family up here. 

Princesses at Hallie's friends house. 

Sunriver Train

Sunriver Tube Ride

 The girls with their aunt and cute little cousin

 Hallie's Birthday with a lovely cake that Annie made 

 Back in Idaho at Mesa Falls

 Our old fourwheeler riding friends from Oregon live about three hours away in Bozeman now and they let us come out and ride with them at the dunes near Rexburg. 

 Camping and hiking at the warm river near Ashton Idaho

In the fall the aspens do look very pretty here. 

 We carved our initials in the tree, but it is hard to see. 

 Shelby and her best buddy Logan who has been crushed ever since his bus buddy moved away. 

This was the girls at build a truck day at Lowe's 

 This is the outside of the house we live in now in Rexburg.

 Mya earned this tutu from Grandma Jodi for learning how to be potty trained. She wont wear a dress unless it twirls when she spins. 

 This is Shelby at her birthday this year.