My (not technically a) baby turns 2!

Well, my little baby isn't so much of a baby anymore!  On August 5th, he turned 2 and hit those terrible two's in good stride!  This post will mainly be a hodge-podge of our life the last few weeks, but first I'll tell you a little bit about my funny, quirky, emotional little dude!

• He doesn't say too many words, but the ones he does know he says with enthusiasm!  The phrases we hear most often are "Oh boy!" (when he sees something he really wants), "There you go", "Thank you", "Go, go, go!", and "Bye Dad" (he always says Dad, even when he's saying goodbye to the park while we're leaving.  It's because he learned to say bye when saying goodnight to David or when David is leaving to go to work).  
• Although he doesn't say many coherent words, this boy loves to jabber. He will look at you right in the eye and tell you the most amazing story!  If you could understand what he was saying.  He LOVES talking on the phone!  I can always tell when he's calling someone on my phone (which he is great at doing) because he'll put the phone up to his ear and start walking all around the house, exactly what David does when he talks on the phone!  It's so cute to watch.  So if you get a random call from me that leaves no voicemail or all you hear on the other end is a little boy breathing, it's probably because he stole my phone!
• Asher loves his books.  A few times a week I'll catch him in his room "reading" books out loud to himself.  It makes his bookworm mother very happy!
• Asher does not love to sit still.  It doesn't matter if it's in church, story time, or anywhere else, he gets very cranky if I try to make him sit.  Which makes church very exhausting.  I don't let him run around in the halls, I bring a million things to keep him occupied, and 5 different types of snacks, but he just isn't happy until we leave to go to nursery.  
• Nursery has been a challenge for us.  He's been in 4 different nurseries this year and we've moved 3 times so when I try to drop him off I think he thinks I'm leaving him there forever and acts so traumatized that I would even consider leaving him there.  But last week we had a breakthrough and he spent the last hour in nursery all by himself!  It's a step in the right direction.  A small step, but a step nonetheless!
• He hates hates hates looking for apartments!  We figured that out in Nevada and it got worse looking for places in Utah.  But we did find a place so no more looking for awhile!  The guy helping us find a place got to see a lot of Asher's tantrums.  But, as I've realized, you can always spot someone who has kids by how they see a tantrum.  He definitely had kids because he just looked at Asher and then looked at us with sympathy in his eyes.  He said he had a son that was the same way.  I feel a connection to people that have kids because they understand the struggle!
• I used to think that Asher could go professional with his tantrums, but he's really perfected it to the point where I think he could win gold at the Olympics!  When he is upset, he does not try to hide it.  This boy can scream and flail and kick like nobody's business!  When I feel that people are judging me, I wish they understood what upheaval this little boy has been through with our moving situation(s) and then they would understand a little more.  To move from your home once is traumatic, but doing it again and again is so much worse!  I'm glad we found a place we can settle down for a few years.
• I feel like the term emotional has a negative connotation, but I can't think of another way to describe Asher.  He really is just so full of emotion!  He's either super happy or in the pit of despair or starving to death or exhausted, there's not a whole lot of middle ground.  And he is always on the move and so active.  I know it will be good for him to have that much energy if he can focus it into a career or church or family, but for right now it's a little tiring for me.  But all he has to do is give me that adorable dimpled grin and then I'm happy again!
• This boy loves animals.  Dogs, cats, birds, you name it.
• His favorite way to exercise is jumping.  He's getting really good at it too!  I told Brian and Brittany that Asher is the reason we wanted a bottom floor place.  They agreed that was pretty smart of us.
• He is very clumsy.  That he got from me.  He is always tripping or running in to things or falling.  But because of that he's actually pretty tough when it comes to that kind of stuff!  While we were at my parents house he got stung many times by wasps.  He cried while it was happening, but once he got in the house, he acted like it never even happened!  He's always falling on his face and just gets up with a grin and keeps on going!  I try not to think about how many broken bones I'm going to have to deal with later...

All in all, Asher is pretty fantastic and I love him so much!  We love you buddy and are so glad you're in our family!

2nd Birthday!

We went to the playground by the library, the best one we found in Mesquite.

Presents!

Millie really wanted to be in the middle of all the action.

I made the mistake of letting him open his Thomas Train first...he had zero interest in his other presents after that!

Cake time!  It made me sad to put 2 candles on instead of 1.

At my parents house in Rexburg.  My mom set up her little pool and the boys had tons of fun in that freezing cold water!

Ledger was trying to "help" aka push Asher out of the floaty.

It was sooooo cold, but Asher loved playing in the pool!

Isaac got so big!  He is such a cutie!

David meeting Hunter for the first time.

These three boys are such hooligans, but such good friends!

Birthday party number 2!  Asher got some more amazing presents!

More cars!  Because when you have little boys, you can never have enough cars.

Ledger really wanted to help Asher enjoy his presents.

Bubbles!  Asher loves these.

 

Trucks!

 

The cake Grandpa bought was a little more impressive than Mom and Dad's cake.

We went back to Nevada to pack for a few days.  We left Millie with Brian and Brittany.  Millie and Chewy are best buds.

In the car.  Again.  My mom joked around that Asher probably thinks the car is his new home.  That made me a little depressed.

Asher kept poking Millie's eyes, Millie kept drooling on Asher.  It was almost like have 2 kids.  I think this was going from Idaho to Utah.

Now we're staying with Brian and Brittany.  And Asher is testing the breakability of everything in their house.  And he also loves to put that bowl on his head.

And that brings us to yesterday!  Judy drove Joy clear across the country to take her to school and, of course, to come see us!  Asher ran right up to Judy and wanted to cuddle with her.  He loves his Grandma!  He didn't remember Joy as much, but by the end of the night he had warmed up to her pretty well.  It's so great having family close by!  Now I just need my Idaho/Wyoming family around!

You Wouldn't Believe It

I can hardly believe what has happened in the last 10 days.  But I'll do my best to relate all the feelings and goings-on with our family.  Last Monday (August 3rd), David got a call from the school district he student taught with in Utah.  They had an opening at a middle school and he was highly recommended to the principal there.  To be honest, I started crying right then because we had only been in Mesquite about 3 weeks and it was a much better job fit for David, I really wished that call would've came a month earlier!  Well, David hadn't signed his contract in Mesquite, and we thought it couldn't hurt to go to Utah to talk to the principal, especially since we were headed that way anyways.  Once we got to the middle school, it was apparent almost immediately that this job was going to be so much better than the one in Mesquite, so after a lot of discussion, David accepted the job!  It's at Joel P. Jensen Middle School in West Jordan.  He'll be teaching band, choir, and orchestra.  We also spent a lot of time looking at apartments and quickly realized that housing in the Salt Lake area is much more expensive than anywhere else we've lived.  And it was brought to our attention that buying a house/condo/residence is actually cheaper than renting.  So we're also looking to buy!  In the mean-time, David's brother has offered to let us stay with them until we finish that whole process, which is very generous.  On Tuesday, August 11, we came back to Mesquite to try and pack up our essentials because we have to be back in Utah on Friday, the 14th, to meet with people and then David starts work on Monday, August 17th!  Oh yeah, and somewhere in there we had 2 birthday parties for Asher (which I will do another post with a lot of cute pictures!). 

So, to say the least, we are both at our wits end trying to get our life together.  I usually hit a "wall" when it comes to packing.  The faster we have to move, the earlier I hit it because all the stress really takes its toll.  Today, I hit it hard.  I couldn't move, I couldn't think, I really just shut down.  David was really great in helping me through it, but all this stress really won't go away until we're at least a little bit settled down.  I'm starting to worry about the toll it's taking on Asher.  I've noticed he's getting a lot more clingy to David and I.  It's almost like if we're not in the room he's worried he's been abandoned.  I hope every day that he won't remember all this.  I know children are very resilient, but I still feel bad.  But I do think the job in Utah will be much more permanent than our lives so far. 

Ever since I was in college I was in the habit of trying to figure out why I was put in whatever situation I was in.  I try to see God's purpose for me and what was accomplished by my being there.  I've been thinking about that a lot lately.  Why did we have to go to Kayenta?  Why couldn't this job offer come a month ago before we moved to Mesquite?  Was it for us, or for someone else's benefit?  Moving to Kayenta, it didn't take long for me to realize why we were there.  The first week at church I had multiple people come up to me saying that they were praying for someone who could play piano and lead music would come to the ward.  The Primary President was also the Sacrament meeting pianist and she led and played the piano in Primary for singing time.  And when we moved in she was about 6 months pregnant and was very worried about what would happen when she had her baby.  I came just in time to help relieve her stress about that and take over until she had her baby and until a missionary could come into the ward who could play piano.  It was very hard for our family, but in the end I was glad I could help serve.  Also, we were able to save a lot of money and get caught up on a lot of bills that had stacked up while David was doing his student teaching.

While in Mesquite, I think I have learned to try and make friends more easily.  We were only in the ward about 3 weeks, but I already made a couple of friends (which, if you knew me, you would realize what a miracle that is because of how reserved and introverted I am).  Also, last week while I was in nursery with Asher (he refuses to go alone-another thing that has me a little concerned), a mother dropped her daughter off because this daughter was another child who had apprehensions about nursery, and out of everyone in the room, I was the only one that could console her and keep her happy while her mom went to Relief Society.  The nursery leader thanked me and all I could think was "I know how it feels to have a kid that has a hard time with this".  Maybe there was something else I was supposed to learn here, but I know that when I get to go to Relief Society and just enjoy sitting there listening to the lesson, it is extremely rejuvenating, and I wanted to let someone else have that opportunity!

In both Mesquite and Kayenta, I have become accustomed to being a minority (in Kayenta it was 95% Native American, and in Mesquite at our apartment complex it is mostly Hispanic).  That's let me see a different perspective and, I think, helped me grow to be a more compassionate person.  I know throughout all our different moves, we have learned to be humble.  And we get to see the good in other people through their kindness towards us.  We wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for the kindness of families, ward members, and blessings from our Heavenly Father.  It's helped me appreciate what I have and makes me want to pass that kindness on to other people.

I don't know what living in Utah will bring, but I've learned that I just have to trust that things will work out.  That as long as we're doing what's right, we'll be ok.  This past year has been so hard.  I've hit many lows and wanted to give up.  But I didn't, and I'm very proud of myself for that!  Hopefully, from here on out, our general direction will be up!  After all, we made it this far, right?