It's been awhile...

It seems like the longer I go without blogging the harder it is to feel motivated to blog again. So I know that at some point I need to start blogging again or I may never go back!
For those who are close to us you know how crazy our lives have been these last few months...But for those who are not then I will tell you what we have been up to.
We enjoyed a wonderful visit to Texas for the month of June this past summer and we had such a great time visiting all of our family and friends! Someday I will try to post the rest of the pics from that trip. But not today. :)
When we got back to Utah it seemed so bleak - most of our friends were gone on vacation and it felt so lonely after spending a month back home. I admit that most days I didn't feel like leaving the house. July was a very long and slow month. But fortunately I had girls' camp with the Young Women at the beginning of August so that gave me something to focus on and look forward to.
Backing up to before the summer - Dan came to me and said he felt very strongly that he should go back to school. Now I know that seems like a smart idea to most people but I questioned him, Why??? We were doing so well in Utah with his new job and a great neighborhood! Why risk changing anything?? So while he started to look into it, I mostly ignored his desire and continued to enjoy our life as it was.
But after returning to Texas and remembering how much I loved being back home I was open to considering Dan returning to school. Because after looking at our options we knew that we'd want to move back to Texas if he was going to school. We wanted to have the support of our families to help us get through. So we decided, after much fasting and prayer, that once we got back to Utah Dan would start looking for a job that would allow him to go to school in Texas.
I will tell you this: once you open your heart and mind to something, if it is right then opportunities will come. The first contact Dan talked to (a friend from a previous employer) said he had the perfect job for Dan and asked for his resume.
The next thing we knew Dan was interviewing over the phone for this job the week before girls' camp. And he received the job offer while I was gone at girls' camp!! It happened so quickly - much faster than we thought it would (we assumed it would take at least 6 months for Dan to find a job). So Dan turned in his 2 weeks notice and we moved back to Texas just in time for the start of school!
Since everything happened so fast we barely had time to get packed and moved - we got rid of a ton of stuff (why did we move all that junk to Utah??), put the rest of our things in storage, and kept just the essentials out. Right now we are fortunate to be staying with my parents while we figure out where/what we're doing! We are settling into a routine with Natalie in school and the boys at home with me. Dan is working nights at the Seton Hospitals in Austin which allows him time to go to classes during the day and study at night. So far things are going really well and we're so happy to be back home!
Someday I will download pics onto my computer and update our blog with all of our happenings. I've also switched computers so I don't have anything on this one. But now that life is almost normal I will try to get some pics on here soon!
To all of our friends and family in Utah - we miss you and love to hear from you! And to everyone in Texas - we are so happy to be back and if we haven't talked to you yet please contact us because we'd love to hear from you too!! Thanks to everyone who's helped us make this crazy transition in our lives, we appreciate it more than you know.

Texas Trip: Part 1

We had the wonderful opportunity to visit our homeland of Texas for the entire month of June and it was AWESOME!!! In fact we had such a good time there with our family and friends that it was really hard to come back to Utah...hence the lack of blogging on my part lately. I've just been a little too homesick to look through all the pictures and post about our fun trip! But I've decided that I don't want to forget anything from Texas so I better get to blogging!

Since we arrived in Texas just a few days after my birthday we celebrated it with our families when we got there. Dan's family had us over to their place out in the beautiful Texas hill country for dinner and cake...

The cake!
Tyler thoroughly enjoyed the cake :)

Nathan was so excited to finally be big enough to drive the go-kart!

WOOHOO!!

Tyler loved showing off his bike-riding skills on their long driveway

Here it is - a little piece of Texan heaven

What a fun night!

I can't believe I don't have a single picture of Natalie from that night! We were all having such a good time that taking pics wasn't high on my priority list I guess. The kids were so happy to play with their cousins and grandparents, and it was only just the beginning! We still had a whole month ahead of us of Texas adventures!

Look what Tyler can do!

After watching Natalie and Nathan ride their bikes this past month, Tyler decided he could do it too!

ps-Tyler has since learned how to steer and peddle faster. Time for a helmet!

Viva Las Vegas!

A couple weeks ago Dan had to travel for work to Vegas for a conference. He had to stay there all week. When he arrived at the resort they had put him in a room at a different hotel than where the rest of his coworkers were staying. So he switched hotels, but all they had left was a 2-bedroom suite. That's when Dan called me and said, "Would you want to come down to Vegas for the week?" How could I possibly refuse?? Especially when he was staying here...

The Mandalay Bay Resort!

We left the next day and made the 6-hour drive down to Vegas. The kids were so excited - Nathan kept asking, "When will we be in Pan Vegas??" Yeah I don't know where he came up with that but it stuck and that's still what he calls it!

Our room there was amazing - on the 28th floor with walls of windows that you could see for miles from, it had a kitchenette, dining room, living room with tv, a bedroom on either side with its own tv and huge bathroom. The bathroom was probably the best feature - each one had the biggest indoor jacuzzi tub I've ever seen! So of course the kids had to take as many baths as they could while there...

These kids love taking baths!!

What's that? It's a TV in the bathroom! It doesn't get any better than watching cartoons while taking a bath!

Don't forget the bubbles!

Nathan was always the last one to get out of the bath

Tyler lovin' the bath

Pics of our room:

Living room (the sliding doors on the far side lead to our bedroom)

Dining room

The best part of our stay in Vegas was the amazing pools at the resort. We went swimming a lot while we were there - it was so nice to be in warm weather!

Natalie loved getting to swim again

And Nathan immediately took to swimming with floaties (he was hesitant to not have his lifejacket) - our kids are such fish!

View from one of the pools

Tyler loved playing in the shallow waves from the wavepool

And I soaked up as much sun as I could while we were there :)

Strike a pose!

We had to stop and look at the elephant fountains every time we walked to/from the pool

The grounds were beautiful with so many trees and flowers

We went out one night and drove down the strip:

This pic is for you Vivian!

It was fun seeing all the lights

This was the view from the kids' bedroom

Our last morning in Vegas we went to the Shark Reef at the resort-

They gave us little recorders to listen to as we walked along the tour - Nathan quickly handed his to me, but Natalie made sure she listened to every single display

There were lots of different fish and ocean life, and of course there were sharks!

It was so cool - there were several tunnels where you could walk through the huge aquariums and see the fish/sharks all around you

The kids loved the stingray petting pond but only Natalie was brave enough to actually touch one!

Check out the jellyfish! It looks like they're swimming through the air but it was actually a tall circular tank in the middle of the room. So cool!

The resident octopus in the starfish tank. It was so neat to see one up close like this - the week before we had all watched a tv show on "The Amazing Octopus" so the kids were really excited to see this one.

Look who we saw swimming in the tank! If you look closely you can see the special suits the divers were wearing to protect them from the sharks. The only reason they weren't getting eaten? They keep the sharks well-fed!!

It's hard to tell but this tortoise was HUGE! We watched him swim over us several times.

What an amazing time we had in Vegas! It was exactly what we needed - a break from the cold weather, some sunshine, swimming, relaxing, and spending time together as a family. Thanks babe for inviting us to come with you and have so much fun!!! We absolutely loved Vegas :)