Settling In, Family Visit, Church Talks, House Hunting

Time to update! Since I last posted a month ago, we've had some fun things going on.

We made a trip to Boise, ID (well, actually Caldwell) to visit John's 2 siblings, Karalee and Vaughn, and their families and to go to the temple. Turns out the Boise temple is closed for renovations, but we were able to drive to Twin Falls with Vaughn and Tavia and their friend to attend. It was a great day, though it was a long one with all the driving! We stayed with Mike and Karalee and fun with nieces and nephews. It ended up being sort of a short trip though, since we were asked to speak in a small branch about 45 minutes from Winnemucca.

We'd spoken in church a few weeks before in our new ward and they sent us to Orovada to give our talks there. It was a small group in a double-wide, but they were very friendly and it was a fun experience. They even had a delicious Italian-themed potluck after the 2 1/2-hr block in our honor! (Yum!)

The next weekend (President's Day weekend), my parents and little brothers Daniel and Matthew came to visit us in Winnemucca! I had been looking forward to it all week. :) It was quite the drive for them from Mesquite (8+ hours!). It turned out to be cold and blustery (unlike the rest of our time here!), but we did our best to show them the "sites" of Winnemucca!

We went to the small museum in town, ate at The Pig BBQ, played games, talked, ate good food, went to Unionville and saw where Mark Twain supposedly stayed and had a picnic, took a tour of the Safe Haven Rescue Zoo that has Siberian tigers and other exotic animals, went to the stinky hot springs, showed them a couple of houses we've had our eye on, and just had a great time.

Says: MARK TWAIN LIVED HERE 1860 OR 1861

Other weekends, we have looked at houses and gotten errands done and continued to settle in. It's been difficult adjusting to the new life in some ways. John as a full-time employee and me as a full-time stay-at-home wife and mom. We've been going through some tough adjustments and have really needed to be patient with each other. We'd appreciate any prayers you happen to want to send our way. :)

We're slowly making friends in the ward and around town and we both got callings in the ward. John is secretary in the Elders' quorum and I'm the CTR 4 & 5 primary teacher. I try to be involved by attending R.S. meetings, baby reading time at the library, and I will soon have all of the paperwork in for being a substitute teacher in the elementary schools.

We're excited to find a home to move into and make our own. Finally a place to call our own and to paint and plant a garden! If only we could find a place... The market here is limited and since the economy here in Winnemucca (based on gold) is thriving, the house prices reflect that. It's a little discouraging to have so few options of what we want in our price range. Just today we had our first offer on a house beaten out by one submitted just before it. We're hoping to find something that we could move into by the first of June, since the couple we're renting this house from returns from their mission mid-June.

Thomas is in a tough phase--he can be so silly, animated, and cute, but he can also be so difficult. He is nigh impossible to contain at church (thankfully, we can now start taking him to nursery since we both got callings and he's only a few weeks away from being 18 months). He has seemed to go backwards in some ways, yelling and screaming when he wants something instead of using the signs and words that he knows. I've tried everything I can to reinforce good behaviors and either ignore or punish bad ones, but to no avail. I hope this is just a phase and that it will end soon. On the other hand, he is trying to say more and more words and copies what we do. He likes to dance and even tries to since along when we sing (like during the hymns at church!).

Lately he likes to put on daddy's boots

Just relaxin'!

Cheesy grin

Well, there's your update. Hopefully we'll have good news about a happy Thomas and a new house soon!

Love you, Kaylie

So, my sweet little niece returned to Heavenly Father on Monday night. We were able to go to the hospital and say our goodbyes. She opened her eyes just a little and looked at us. She looked so beautiful despite all the tubes and machines. What an emotional and touching time, she has so many people that love her despite her short little life. She will be greatly missed.

Her funeral was yesterday in Rigby, Idaho. John and I drove up that morning. It was a beautiful day and a sweet service. My brother-in-law gave a touching talk and Mom's poem was so perfect. I did my best on playing a nice version of "Be Still My Soul," one of my favorites. Candace did all the flowers, so they turned out beautiful, so fitting for little Kaylie. Despite the sadness, there was so much hope! So many family members were there to support them, ones we haven't seen for ages. It's amazing to see hearts soften at a time of trial.

*If you could continue to keep Christine and Robert in your prayers, they will continue to need them. I can't even imagine what they must be going through.*

It's been hard this week trying to focus and stay motivated, somehow the passing of this little angel just drained the life out of me. But tests, assignments, classes, papers, and work won't wait. I got the news from my job about a week ago that I'm being laid off when the school year ends in about a week. The center will have fewer kids and will no longer need me, so I'm in the job market again. I have been looking every day in the paper and every place I know of and haven't had much luck yet. However, we think John may have secured a temporary job at a greenhouse which will be perfect because of his crazy summer schedule with the national guard 4-week training right in the middle of the summer.

I've managed to keep up with projects, tests, papers, and assignments these last couple of weeks and it's a testament to me that the Lord does care and He does help us. It feels good to be done, I only have one final that's actually during finals week and it should be a breeze. I'll have to let you know on the final count of papers, tests, projects, etc. I bet it will be interesting to tally them up. John is thoroughly sick of most of his classes and studying. Wish him luck with all of his tough finals this week!

I also went to the doctor because my foot had been bothering me since our hike to the Spanish Fork hot pots last Saturday. (It was a lot of fun, we ended up taking the wrong trail first and hiked about 6-8 miles! We saw a huge herd of elk and deer. Then we took the REAL trail in the pitch dark with cell phones for flashlights. It was worth it!) I got a boot for my foot, the doctor thinks I might have a stress fracture. The boot helps it feel SO much better, I can walk on it. He also prescribed some medicine for the constant headaches. Hopefully we'll find out what's wrong and fix it.

If you could also keep my mom in your prayers, that would be wonderful. She had surgery a couple of days ago for carpal tunnel on one hand, but now her OTHER hand is bothering her, as well as her other knee (the one she hasn't had surgery on). This is all in addition to her regular aches and pains from fibromyalgia! What an AMAZING Momma I have, she just keeps on going, thinking of others. Love you, Mom.

Last of all, I just want to write a quick tribute to my family; after all, I've got the best one there is! They are so amazing, as I've seen the strength in times of trial and pain as well as the incredibly unselfish support that they give to each other. Amidst all this, they keep up with me and ask how I'm doing. I couldn't have asked for a better family or for better examples. Thank you.

(PS-Sorry, pictures won't work. :( Check out my family members' blogs...)