New House!

Well we finally made it! It's been three weeks since we moved into our new house in Rigby and we are loving it. It took longer than we wanted to wait to get out of my parents' house, but as always the Lord knows better than us and makes everything work out. We had everything set to close on August 20th and then 2 business days before our loan officer threw us a curve ball with several things we had to get done. The biggest one was that our debt to income ratio was just a couple of percentages too high so she asked us if we could possibly pay off our car at closing. What?! Even though it threw us for a loop everything ended up working out and we had more money than we expected. We know the Lord was watching over us because when we calculated everything we were going to have like $50 for the rest of the month! Once again, I'm so thankful that we trusted in God's timing and had to wait longer for our house. If we had gotten it earlier we wouldn't have had enough money saved up to pay our car off and make the down payment. (We still had some help from family :)). Also the loan officer felt so bad for putting us in a tight spot that she gave us $400! We were able to get a nice washer and dryer (which is another blessing story I won't go into detail for) and have plenty of money to last till the next paycheck.

We truly have been so blessed and know this is where we are supposed to be right now. Everything has fallen into place from getting furniture for good deals to getting our closing date faster so we could move in before our baby is born. I'm so thankful for our families and all the help they have been. Mostly I'm so thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who has an interest in my life and the lives of every one of his children. I'm thankful the gospel has been restored and I have a knowledge of my purpose on this earth and that I can live forever with my family.

Now, what you all have been waiting for: pictures! Our house is manufactured on a foundation and we have 3.8 acres of land. It is nice just to have the space without close neighbors and we are planning on getting some animals sometime.

 

 There you have it! We are loving the space and having our own stuff back! Anna and Caleb have adjusted well and are enjoying their own rooms. (Me too!) Cooper has had a harder time adjusting since we don't have a garage. He sleeps in the laundry room at night (which I just realized I forgot to take a picture of. Oops!) but we don't let him in during the day. He doesn't like being outside without his bed and whines all day to be let in. He's a wuss, I know. Barrett is planning on making him a dog house soon so hopefully that will help!

A million things went on in July and August that I haven't had time to write about, but hopefully I will do it soon. Highlights: my brother Greg came home from his mission to the Philippines, we had all of my family at my parents' house for about 2 weeks, an extended family reunion at Bear Lake, Anna took swimming lessons, reunion with the Gibsons and then an extended reunion on that side, and then of course buying our house. It was a busy busy summer and we are excited with where we are at now. (If you have read this whole post you either need an award or a life!! ha ha)

Patience

I have not been very good about blogging this past year. I think I need to remedy that. We'll see...
To sum up our lives lately: Barrett finished his internships in May and graduated with a doctorate degree in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University. We went to Arizona for his graduation and had a nice little family vacation. The day after we got home we went to Helena, Montana for a job interview, so we did a lot of driving. Our kids are troopers when we travel!

 We stopped at Lake Powell for a little while on the way home. Wish we could have stayed longer!

Thankfully Barrett was smart and took his national boards in March (most of his class didn't take them until July) so he was able to work a lot earlier than most new graduates. He got a job at Performance Therapy in Idaho Falls and is really enjoying it. He is one of two therapists at the clinic and really likes that he gets more interaction with his patients than most other places he's worked at. It's been a little bit of an adjustment going from school life to working life, but we are so thankful to finally be making money! And I'm so thankful that we don't have to be separated any more and he comes home every night!

Our biggest struggle lately has been that we are still living in my parents' basement. We started looking for houses as soon as Barrett got a job, but it's taken a month just to get financing stuff in order. We finally have and made an offer on a house on Friday. It's not looking like we are going to be able to get it in our price range though, so we will have to start over again. Pooey. Buying a house is way more emotionally draining than I ever thought! I feel like I'm on a roller coaster ride all the time! (That also might have something to do with being 32 weeks pregnant. Maybe.) The fact that we are expecting a baby in 8 weeks or so is making us a little frantic to find a house! Hopefully now that we have financing in order we can get everything done pretty fast. Thinking about having a newborn and still living in my parents' basement does not sound like an inviting prospect to me. Then again, at least I'd always have someone to take care of the other kids for me! :)

It was Barrett's birthday on July 1

Anyway, we've just been trying to be patient and trust in the Lord's timing for us. As much as we wanted to get out of my parents' house as soon as possible I can see already that staying here just a couple of months extra has helped us in many ways. Mostly financially we wouldn't have been able to afford to furnish a house at all or stock up on food! So I know the Lord knows what he's doing and I'm just trying to enjoy life and trust in Him!

Things are going to get crazy around here soon though. My brother Greg is coming home from his mission to the Philippines on Thursday and we will have family here for the next several weeks. I wish I had my own home to escape to when all the people are around though! I might have to lock myself in the basement every now and then! :) No I am really excited to see everyone and have my whole family together in one place, but it really will be a mad house! Wish me luck that we survive the next month and find a house soon!

Oh, big PS: Caleb is potty trained! I was going to put it off until we moved but decided to go ahead anyway. He picked it up so fast and I'm very relieved!! Now only one child in diapers when this baby comes!

Birthdays!

Anna turned 4 on April 19th and Caleb turned 2 on May 6th. They are both growing up so fast! We kept things pretty simple for both of them just spending time with family and having cake and ice cream. I even braved a new horizon and made both their cakes out of fondant-type frosting. I learned a lot and had fun making cute cakes for them. (If anyone wants to know how I made them just email me andreaagibson@gmail.com they were actually pretty easy!)

Anna is my sweet and sensitive girl. She loves to help do anything, loves being outside especially in the dirt, doesn't like getting hit by her brother (who would?), loves books, animals, barbies or any toy she can pretend with, is learning her letters and can write her name, loves drawing pictures of her family members, and asks me every day when her little sister is going to be born. She is so excited! Anna enjoyed her birthday and being the center of attention. She loves her new bike and toys.

Caleb is also a sweety but is definitely two! It amazes me every day how different those two are. Anna still likes me to help her do many things for her but Caleb wants to do everything himself. "My do it" or "I pull myself" are common phrases used. I don't mind letting him try to do things unless we are in a hurry to get somewhere! Caleb is all boy and loves race cars, guns, tractors, trains, etc etc. He also likes to play with dinosaurs and other animals but because he has an older sister often plays with barbies and babies too. He is so adorable and loves to hug my tummy and tell me about the cute baby in there. Caleb also had a fun birthday and loved every minute of it. "For my birtday today" We went bowling the day before, which he loved, and was so excited to get a new bike and Cars toys.

I love my two blue-eyed kids and thank God every day for the chance I get to be their mom. Barrett is all done with his internships now so hopefully I will be blogging more often now that the laptop isn't in Utah most of the time!

Wannabe Winter

Rexburg had the craziest winter this year. We didn't get snow all through December and when it finally came it didn't stay. We had several snow storms but they always melted within a couple of days. I can't complain about the sunshine, but it was hard not being able to go outside and play much. Here are some fun pictures of our attempts to play in the snow this winter!

Barrett got a week off after his last internship so we've had a fun week being together as a family. Now he only has an 8 week internship left and he's all done!! We can't wait to be a real family again!

Words

It's been a while since I actually wrote much in a post and since I don't have any pictures that's all this post is going to be! I've been thinking about words lately and how amazing it is that they have such an impact on us. Anyone that is around my little Caleb lately has been laughing a lot as he is learning new words and doesn't often get them right. For example, he calls his behind his bump, his toy motorcycle is an uncleyycle, and his name is Dabub. It's pretty funny to hear him, but it gets me thinking how important it is to learn to speak and express ourselves through words. It is the only way we can tell other people how we are feeling or what we want from them.

I've been working really hard with Anna lately to use better words to communicate and be polite. She started talking early and very well, but likes to resort back to baby language. And if there is a conflict between Caleb and Anna she resorts to more physical communication or just crying and screaming. I am trying to show her that when she uses words to talk civilly to another person they are much more willing to help her or return her things. She is doing better and my ears are feeling much better!

Also since Barrett is in Utah doing another internship during the week words have become very special to me. Sometimes he sends me emails or leaves me notes and it means the world to me. But also just being able to talk with him at the end of the day and express our feelings in words is amazing to me. It amazes me that just talking with someone can bring you closer.

I feel like I'm not making a lot of sense, but I feel like I've had a breakthrough in my thinking as I focus on how words impact us so strongly for good or bad. I firmly believe the old rhyme "sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me" is the biggest falsehood. We all know how much words can hurt. And lately I've also been thinking that it is the way we say things as well that can hurt. I've been trying to pay attention to my own voice when I speak to my children and sadly I'm often ashamed at what I hear. I am trying to speak to them in a more positive tone that makes them feel at ease instead of in an interrogation. I especially need to be a greater example of it myself if I want Anna to be more civil in the way she talks.

This is sort of a change in subject, but I am increasingly appalled at how written language is being destroyed by technology. People don't know or don't care how to use proper punctuation and capitalization and depend on their spell check for everything. It is really sad to see college graduates who still don't know how to properly write their own language. My biggest pet peeve lately is apostrophes. People put them in on words that are plural instead of possessive and it drives me crazy!! How can we expect future generations to carry on our language if we can't even write it ourselves?

Ok off my soap box...but I am going to focus more on words this week and how important they are. Starting with the scriptures! I don't think there have been any more influential words ever written than in the Book of Mormon. I have been blessed by the words in that great book almost every day since I started reading scriptures in primary. Just like any thing in this life, we need to focus on using words to do good and uplift others and not put them down. That's my goal for this week. Give compliments, speak in a positive tone, and study the words of prophets!