We interrupt the belated summer posting to bring you...

Another post about moving!

We are moving in a couple of weeks. Wait, you say, didn't you just move not that long ago?!

Isn't there several posts on this blog about that rather recent move?

Why yes there are -here & here are a couple examples as a matter of fact.

The Situation

Jared once again was gone most of the weekdays from April/May to October this year.

As it isn't very healthy for our family to be apart so much, he began looking around for other jobs locally for the most part.  As we didn't think we would move from our home because we've only lived here 1 1/2 years, we wouldn't be able to sell our house for what we purchased it and maybe not even what we stilled owed, and there was the tax credit we thought we would have to pay back.

The Miracle

Jared interviewed at place where his old boss used to work. The company offered him a fabulous deal including a relocation package that would cover all our losses and still have some money to move on.

When we received the offer I knew that it was the Lord's doing and He wanted us to move to Ohio.

So moving to Ohio we are and really quick too.

The Home for Sale, once again.

I never posted what our home look liked after we moved in.

You can compare what the house use to look like under the previous owners here.

Our cozy "conversation room"

(we purposely placed comfy seats in this room and no TV for the purpose of making conversation or the next best thing reading the center of our home.)

 The Dining Room

 Our crisp, clean and yet still cheery kitchen.

All kitchens should be cheery.

One of my favorite rooms in the house- the sunroom.

These pictures don't do it justice.

My other fave room: Lil A's room upstairs.

Again these pics don't do it justice. 

Downstairs in our finished basement:

1) Family Room

2)Seminary Classroom

3) Craft room

(it used to have it set up better but I packed a lot of that stuff away already)

Jared was like "You're taking a pic of your 'wall-o-craft-tupperware' shelf ?" and I said

"You bet I am!" 

Look at this beautiful organization!

These cute colorful bins hold all my current unfinished crafting projects.

The drawers and shelves below hold all my not-so-current unfinished projects.

Sigh.

Our guest bedroom and study 

The master bedroom 

and finally our back deck.

I'm sad to leave this home. We have loved living here.

Two Weddings and a Conference: Part 1

Well, we didn't have a working camera most of this summer but we did get some pics of some of our happenings.

First my brother Jeremy's wedding to his long-time sweetheart Ashley (she waited for him while he was on his 2 yr mission in Chile and at BYU no less) took place towards the end of June at the Washington D.C. temple. We spent a little over a week in D.C. with family. It was a great trip.

The cute & happy couple

Jared got some great shots of the D.C. temple. It is so beautiful!

I think this is a great pic of my Mom & Dad 

My parents were sealed in the D.C. temple almost 29 years ago. I was just over 1 years old at that point and we have lots of cute pictures of the three of us from that time...

So, here is another pic of the three of us together years later at the D. C. temple.

We're still pretty dang cute.

We did lots of things like the Holocaust museum & monuments, took Aurora to her first movie- Cars 2 she loved it, went swimming a lot, family gatherings & dinners, lots of game playing etc... But I only got pics of the D.C. Zoo which is a great place. The zoo is free, you only pay for parking and you can get that free too if you can find any in surrounding neighborhoods but we were willing to pay the $5 it cost to take a Suburban full of people.

My brother Jeremy with our nephew Tyler...Aurora was in this pic like 2 seconds before it was taken.

Tyler and Aurora were best buds most of the stay.

The gang taking a lunch break.

The gorgeous girl texting next to me is my niece Lauren.

I don't see Tyler or Lauren often enough...it was so good to hang out for a week.

Aurora's favorite part was the monkeys especially the Orangutans that use the "O Line" which are these ropes/cables strung high above the ground from a tall tower to a tall tower all over the zoo.

Then we spent several days and the 4th of July weekend with my family attending the reception in my old hometown of Muncie, IN.

This pic is in here of my new sis-in-law Kayla and my brother Aaron (married in March...I need to upload some pics of that happy event too) because I caught on camera his reaction to her pinching him. :) Have I ever told you that I really like Kayla a lot?! :)
I am so blessed that my brothers all have good taste in women...I love all my sister-in-laws!!!

Loving, Happy Couple

Then in mid-August we headed out to Utah for about a week for Jared's brother's wedding...more on that the next post which will hopefully happen before the New Year.

Can You "Spot" the Birthday Girl?

Aurora's 2nd birthday party was "Spot" themed based off some of A's favorite books by Eric Hill.

 In one of the books, Spot goes to a costume party, so I put a large trunk of costumes out for ALL our party guests, adults included. 

Apparently upside down sunglasses are all the rage among the toddler crowd. 

Gpa Mac

 

Gma Mac

Uncle Aaron & Aunt Kayla

Aunt Jessie also attended the party but she's the one who took all these pics for us! Thanks! And also Momma A was visiting us for the week which was a great treat and blessing.

After trying on lots of costumes we had a parade with party blowers to show off our savvy costumes. This was A's favorite part.

I decorated for the party with "spots" by stringing up some pom-poms (super easy and very cute!) and a colorful spotted tablecloth.

We then read the lift the flap book Spot's Birthday Party with each child getting the

chance to lift 2 flaps.

In this book Spot plays Hide & Seek with his friends at his party...

(the official party guests: Addie, Lydia, Trenton, & Alyssa)

 ...so I hid paper puppets of some of the Spot characters around the house.

The kids had to find them, then color them and tape them to craft sticks.

Puppet coloring.

 Candle time!

Besides serving brownies (Aurora's not big on cake) all the kids were served ice cream in a dog shape cookie cutter and were given mini M&M's to decorate their dogs w/ spots. 

This is Aurora's twin...

whenever Alyssa is out with us, I get asked if they are twins by everyone! :)

Another family friend, Princess Emily.

Thanks everyone for coming! It was soooo much fun!