A lot to catch up on....

Wow, the last two weeks have been quite jam packed with craziness....this may or may not be a long post, we will just have to see. I will start from where we left off on the 20th of August.

August 19th-23rd: Joel's brother Carter and his other brother Cody (and family) came to visit us for the week. We had nine bodies in this little apartment, but it was pretty fun! On Wednesday the 20th, Joel and his family went to Silver Falls. It was really cold and raining, so I stayed home with Calvin and got some well needed rest. Thursday Cody, Jody and their kids went to spend the day/night at the coast so we did some errands and rested a little more. Friday Joel, Carter, Calvin and I went to the coast to spend the day with Cody, Jody and the crew...it was so much fun. We met up with them in Lincoln city and went to the outlet mall, after which we went to Newport and spent the remainder of the time there. The weather was beautiful and the company equally, if not more, amazing.




August 20th: We had our first after placement home-study with our caseworker. It was pretty low key, and straight to the point. Since we are moving, a lot of our concerns centered around Calvin...this meeting gave us a great opportunity to get our questions answered and to know what the procedure will be. Although Joel and I have prayed fervently over this opportunity, I was fighting to stay here until i received a very strong prompting to stop doing what i was doing and change my thoughts....almost immediately following my "change of heart" i felt comfort throughout ever fiber of my body...still today when negative thoughts cloud my mind, i quickly remember the feelings I have and again, I feel instantly relaxed and comforted. I still am worried that moving will ruin the relationship I have with Cassandra, but I know we will still be close...after all, we will be coming back to Oregon to visit at least once a year, and if she ever travels to Salt Lake City or something we will always try to meet up with her.

August 20th: we accepted the job offer that joel received from State Farm in Rock Springs, WY. We tried our best to notify everyone that we thought needed to know right away. I know i have broken a few hearts by this announcement, but the good news is that with technology today, no one will miss a beat, you will just have a lack of face to face contact (which i know is hard to lose because we are just so amazing in person!! haha)


August 23rd: We started our week long trip to Boise, ID and Green River, WY. Calvin did really well on the car ride and slept a good part of the time. We arrived in Boise just in time to stop by Michelle's wedding reception and see some family members that we haven't seen for a while.

August 24th: We took Calvin to Joel's home ward and managed to have have him start screaming during the sacrament...it was pretty funny, but weird at the same time. Who knew I would one day excuse myself from the sacrament to go to the mother's lounge...hahaha. We also spent the evening at one of Joel's cousin's house. It was good to catch up and spent time with them.

August 25th-27th: We decided to drive to Green River to see if we could find a house to purchase so that we could avoid moving twice in only a few months. The thing about Green River and Rock Springs is that it is hecka expensive to live there....the average selling price on a home is $250,000!!!!!! (Yeah, can't afford that) We drove all day Monday and arrived in the evening time and went straight to Joel's brother's house. All along the way we stopped to do some geocaching and take breaks to feed Calvin. It wasn't that bad.

Aug. 26th-27th: We met with our Realtor and looks at five houses. There was one we were eying the entire time on Realtor.com and were super excited to see it in person. It was pretty cheap and could be a great starter home. We put an offer on that house, but it was quickly rejected because we were a day too late...someone else had made an offer already. So we went to plan B....a really cute home that was built in 1930 that had been completely updated (minus one bathroom)...it was just adorable...we put an offer on that one, and well...they couldn't go as low as we were asking, so we had to keep looking....(below are the two houses that we put offers on)


Calvin has started to get colic the last few weeks. Generally between the hours of 8pm-12am he is very unhappy and likes to scream...usually we can calm him down, but on the night of the 27th, it wasn't really happening. At home, I don't mind if he is crying while I am holding him, but since we were in a hotel room, I felt kind of bad for the neighbors. So Joel and I weighed our option and decided that if we weren't going to be getting any sleep anyway, that we mine as well drive back to Boise, knowing that Calvin will sleep in the car. We left Rock Springs around midnight and arrived in Boise around 10am. We stopped a few times to sleep, but overall, it was a great plan....Calvin slept and was happy.

August 28th: Having driven the entire night, we decided to let Gammy (Joel's mom) babysit while we got some well deserved rest. We slept a few hours and so did Calvin. That night we had a fun open house for friends and family to come by and visit Calvin. It was really fun to see everyone who came. Calvin also got some super cute outfits as well!





August 29th: After being gone almost a week, we prepared to return home to Oregon. We got a little late of a start, but managed to have a decent drive home from Boise. We stopped a few times to eat, feed Calvin, and stretch our legs. By the end of this day though, Calvin was ready to be home and out of his car seat! I don't blame him!! :)