Our Missionaries are Home!!

Andrew's parents came home from their mission to Bolivia on April 11th

we were pretty excited on the drive up to the airport

their plane was supposed to come in from Dallas-FtWorth  at 11:00 PM

but it got delayed several times

they ended up getting there around 12:30 AM on Friday April 12th

This a group shot of those of us who went to the airport and our signs

Gerald was there...you can see a peek-a-boo of his head behind Makayla

and Kevin and Heidi came after this shot was taken

Conner and Makayla entertained Stella with Ring Around the Rosies

Right when they got off the plane!

Lots of hugs and tears from Grandpa and Grandma

After a fun reunion at the airport and gathering their luggage

We all headed home.

Stella never fell asleep.

Not on the drive up to the airport,

not while we sat in Darren and Jen's car watching a moving waiting for the delayed plane,

not in the airport,

and 

NOT on the drive home!

We rolled in at 2 AM and Stella fell asleep one block before our house.

I tell ya, this girl does not need sleep.

We are incredibly happy to have Grandpa and Grandma home!

We are so grateful for their wonderful example.

We know that we received many blessings because of their service

Their mission was tough and so was being away from their family

but they are pretty awesome to do it all.

It definitely shows what is most important.

They both gave great homecoming talks this past Sunday.

Our testimonies have been strengthened by theirs.

Welcome Home!!

Easter 2013

Stella loved Easter this year!!

We've been practicing finding eggs for about a month

every time we went to my grandparents this past month

Stella would make me hide all her decorative eggs

and then she'd hunt for them

So by the time the real thing rolled around....we were ready.

We had a big Easter Egg Hunt at Mindy's house

Stella found one of the $5 eggs all on her own

I literally didn't see it.

It was way low....so being short paid off for her!

This is my favorite shot of Stella in her Easter dress

She was giving a dirty look to Brooke

(don't mind all the treasures in the background...

my mom went a little crazy with the Easter baskets this year...

Jordan actually ended up asking

"What holiday is it again? Christmas?")

The Easter Bunny came to our house and hid more eggs

Gotta love the bedhead hair

She got many other surprises in her basket

a  princess crown

books

 pjs

a doll

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

sometimes i just wanna do this.

like right now.

ugh!

sometimes life is frustrating

lately every time we make decisions---everything backfires

i've not been sharing the details on the blog

because its annoying how many times we have to remake the same decision

and its unreal how many things we are juggling right now

but here is a tiny taste of the latest fun we are having

we are 99.9% moved out of Andrew's parents place

tomorrow we will be all out and I will finish the cleaning

got the carpets being cleaned next week

and the final touches

to make it all ready for mom and dad

who will be home THURSDAY!

yep, this thursday.

we moved our things into Andrew's bro's place.

we are going to stay there temporarily while we wait to hear about schooling

so most of our stuff is still in storage

and everything else just got boxed and moved there

today i got a call and found out

that our buyer on our condo fell through

10 days before we are supposed to close

somehow even though he was pre-qualified

his loan was denied

great!

our renters are planning to move out next week

we now may be moving our stuff back to our condo

until i square everything away though

i am NOT unpacking a thing

i will work on the in-laws place

and try to get something out of conference this weekend

while Andrew is off at interview #2

here

(can you guess where this is?)

in the middle of all this craziness

i applied for two part time jobs

(why, i don't know----i gotta be SUPER busy i guess)

one was at a familiar place

and another at a property management company.

i got them both

i've actually been working at the property management company

for a couple weeks now

because they wanted me to start the day after my interview.

and today i got the call from ol Nu Skin

and they want me back.

decisions.decsions.decisions.

i'm positive

whatever choices we do make

they will not work out

and we will get to try again.

happy sunday

Andrew's on a plane 

on his way home from Albuquerque, New Mexico

(did anyone guess that by the drive that I map-quested)

Stella and I had a girls weekend

We went to Brooke's dance competition on Friday

then on Saturday we went shopping

and I tried to pack/organize

but Stella was on one.

I threw some old, raw spaghetti noodles in the trash

and Stells took every last one out and hid them all around the house.

We also had a visit from some of Andrew's young men

who come over several times a week

mostly....for food!

Stella wanted to take a picture before church today.

She really likes her new skirt.

She's been twirling all day.

everything is changing

a lot of things are changing around here

first of all

andrew's parents are coming home from their mission

in just a few weeks

so we are moving out of their house

we decided to go back to our condo

while we waited for it to sale

and while we waited to hear about schooling

well, our condo was on the market for less than two weeks

and we had a few offers and now its under contract

so we won't be moving back there

andrew started his new job

he's been going through lots of training

last week was my last of my tutoring job

this is about the time we will start to hear about schooling

so far we've only heard from one place

and andrew's going there for an interview this weekend

it's far, but not terribly far

9 hours and 51 minutes drive

Sunday Dress

Stella looked so cute all dressed up for church last week

I tried to get a picture

but getting this girl to hold still and smile for the camera

is next to impossible

especially when she is playing with a

"princess wand"

she's not lacking personality

that's for sure

another video

This is Stella at 21 months old!

Lyrics (if you're not familiar)

5 little monkeys swinging in the trees

teasing mr. alligator

can't catch me

you can't catch me

along comes mr. alligator

quiet as can be

snap that monkey right out of that tree!!