Thank You Wisconsin

So, in case you didn't know, we moved! We moved from Wisconsin to Utah in late June. While we are excited for our new adventure here in Utah, working for BYU, we are also sad to leave Wisconsin.

To those of you we became friends with in Wisconsin, thank you! Thank you for helping us feel welcomed in the ward and in the area when we first moved in. We were invited to dinner our first Sunday and it made us feel so loved!

Thank you to those who treated us like family and supported us through all that we did.

Thank you to those I worked with. I'm profoundly grateful for your friendship and professionalism and for the lessons you taught me along the way.

To the Arnold family, thank you for giving of your love, time, and friendship. It truly means the world to us to have friends such as yourselves.

Thank you to those who invited us to parties, get-togethers, and other activities. We are thankful for your thoughtfulness.

Thanks to the guys I played basketball with! It was always a good time!

And last, but not least, thank you Wisconsin for your frigid winters and mild summers. Oh, and thanks for deep fried cheese curds. They're absolutely amazing!

Overall, despite the winters and the snow that we weren't truly fans of, we are incredibly thankful for the experience of living in Wisconsin. We learned many things that have strengthened our family collectively and individually. As we begin this next phase in our lives, we hope to perpetuate the lessons we learned in Wisconsin!

First Birthday!

I apologize for being a week late on this post, especially to those loyal followers, you know who you are! Anyway, let's talk about October!

1. The first weekend of the month was our favorite weekend that happens twice a year, in October and April: General Conference. We're also so grateful to hear from a living prophet and apostles. We're fortunate to hear their guidance and reap the blessings of obedience as we choose to follow their counsel. There were other big changes like church only being two hours each Sunday starting in January. We are eagerly anticipating the changes and are looking forward to deepening our own conversion as we study and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ more in our home. What an incredible time to be alive!

2. In conjunction with General Conference we had cinnamon rolls, which are pretty much a requirement in our house! Jackson loved playing with the flour that was left over from rolling out the rolls and that kept him entertained for hours, literally! We also got family pictures taken by a girl in our ward. She did an excellent job and we were happy things turned out well!

3. We were able to do some Fall activities like get out to an apple orchard and corn maze. Jackson loved the corn maze for the kids and was basically running the whole way through. It's fun to do so many activities with kids and see their joy in seeing or experiencing something the first time!

4. Also this month we celebrated Landon's first birthday! He was a champ and really entertained us with his cake smash on his birthday. We got him a few presents and just had a fun day together. It's hard to believe it's been a year since he was born and we certainly can't imagine life without him. It's amazing how unique and special each child is and how much love you can have for them.

5. Along the lines of birthdays, Sara also celebrated her first birthday this month! Oh I mean, her 31st birthday or something like that! We spent last weekend in Minneapolis with her family for a family wedding so most of the "presents" for her birthday was just staying in a hotel with her family. She was able to spend some good time with them which she always appreciates and enjoys. On her actual birthday which was on Monday, we celebrated by having ice cream cake which is her absolute favorite.

6. This week was also Halloween so of course the boys were excited about that, or at least Jackson was. They were dressed up like the Incredibles as was Sara and I even had an Incredibles shirt to wear. They enjoyed trick or treating at the stores in downtown Chippewa Falls, which was nice because it was still light outside and not cold yet. We only had a few trick or treaters come by our place, but that's alright!

7. This weekend has been pretty busy, mostly getting things around the house cleaned up and getting our yard ready for the winter. I raked and mowed and then it got windy and blew the rest of the leaves onto the grass and then it snowed on top of that. So, at least I got some of them out of the way before it got wet, right!

We're excited for the upcoming holidays and are so grateful for our friends, family, and all we associate with. Life can be unpredictable sometimes so it's always nice to have friends and family to count on!

Playing with flour!

Watching Conference at his little table eating a snack. Doesn't get much better than that!

Hanging out at the orchard!

Birthday Boy!

Yes, that's a box of tissues and yes he loved taking all the tissues out!

Early morning hotel pictures don't look great, but he had a blast riding up and down the "alligator" otherwise known as an elevator.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

I guess you could say that September has been a busy month with a few unexpected wrinkles as far as work is concerned. Anyway, it's been a really fun month and we can't believe it's already over, although the change in weather certainly is a reminder that the seasons are changing. Anyway, here's a report on our month.

1. The month started with the school year starting up again which equals me back at work full-time. I am very prepared for this year, in stark contrast to last year. Sure, I was ready, but I didn't know what to expect. At least this year I had a year under my belt and knew some of what to expect. So far, it's been pretty smooth as far as my classes are concerned. I feel very blessed and much more confident than last year at this time.

2. The "wrinkles" I mentioned before included my boss resigning unexpectedly, our science teacher getting fired (after only two weeks on the job), and plumbing problems at the school that forced us to teach some classes in the student dorm as the bathrooms in the school were shut down. This led to problems keeping tabs on where students were during the day. One student left campus and we couldn't find him so I found myself going on a "hike" in the woods behind the school with another teacher to try and locate him. And the crazy thing about all these things was that they all pretty much happened in the same week. Needless to say that this last week of work was much better and much less eventful! I'm hoping it stays this way for the rest of the school year.

3. In other news, Sara's sister Abby came and stayed with us for two weeks. She and Sara had fun spending some time together as well as watching the kids. It was great to have Abby here because the boys adore her and loved having her around. I think they even drove her just a little crazy on some days because they didn't give her any space. Anyway, it was nice to have a built-in babysitter for a little while too so we could go on a few dates.

4. On the day that Abby flew in and on the day that Abby flew out we were able to do some things in the cities. The day we picked her up we were able to visit Sara's aunt and uncle and have dinner with them before driving back home. Then the day we took Abby to the airport to fly home we were able to go to the Como Zoo to see the animals again. It's a great zoo and has quite a bit especially for being a free zoo. Jackson was certainly in heaven seeing all the animals again! And we're trying to soak up the last little bit of warm weather before it starts getting colder.

5. We've been watching a lot of BYU football and have been mostly happy with the results, especially the big win over Wisconsin a few weeks ago! It's even more satisfying living in Wisconsin and being able to say we beat Wisconsin! It's also been fun to share my love of football with Jackson and watch him get excited about watching football, BYU or not. Sara also had the idea to do some sort of snack or food with each football game that represents the opposing team so we've had fun with that little adventure, especially making Jambalaya last week when BYU played a team from Louisiana.

6. Perhaps one of the biggest milestones of this month was Landon deciding to start walking! He started around the beginning of the month taking a few steps and then falling forward. And now, he's pretty brave and will let go of things and walk pretty much across the room with no help. He's still pretty unstable of course, but he does alright most of the time. We just have to make sure he doesn't hit his large head on everything! He's also developing quite the personality and is babbling quite a bit, saying a little bit of "dada" and "mama". He loves to sputter and smile too. He's just a really happy baby and we love having him around. Jackson has really started to bond with him as well which is fun to see because they are starting to play more and more together. We're excited to see them continue to become close friends!

We feel so blessed to have the blessings we have and to live where we live and know the people we know. God is certainly aware of us and our needs and we are so very grateful for that. We are always so excited to see what the future holds for us and our family!

August 2018

So this month brings summer to a close for me as far as work is concerned. While I've worked all summer it's been shorter days, but tomorrow is the beginning of inservice. All teachers will be back and the school won't be so dark and quiet, so I'm looking forward to that. It's hard to believe that we've already been here for a year in Wisconsin. It's been a busy year, but we've really enjoyed it and we look forward to this next year to see what it brings. But, now for a review of some things we did in August.....

1. We celebrated our 5th anniversary this month. We were able to get a babysitter for a couple of hours so we could go to dinner at Olive Garden and also spend some time at the mall. It was certainly fun to have some time together and enjoy celebrating our marriage. We're so grateful for all the blessings marriage brings to us. Also, we made cheesecake to celebrate. It's from a recipe we received from my grandparents for our wedding. It's the same recipe for the cheesecake they had at their reception in the 50s so it's an old recipe, but it's good! Both of my grandparents have passed away in the last year so it was even more special to think of them on our anniversary.

2. Potty training began. I'll just leave it there. In fact, it hasn't been as bad as I thought potty training a little kid would be. I have to give Jackson credit though because he's been a good learner, even if it means he's interrupted more while he's playing now!

3. Jackson turned 3 today! We celebrated with a lego themed party on Thursday with friends and then we spent a lot of time today just as a family celebrating by opening gifts and eating Jackson's favorite foods! We so grateful for him and all that he teaches us!

Beyond that I guess there weren't too many noteworthy things we did in August unless I'm forgetting something, but here are some pictures of what we did.

Not sure what he was doing here, but it's a great picture.

This little guy is growing so fast!

Painting for family night!

Lego brownies

He's a fan of the lego brownies!

He can pull himself up on everything now so he cruises around the kitchen all the time, getting into everything he can!

At the park he just climbed up into this spider web thing without any help. I was surprised and impressed all at the same time. He's become a little less shy and more confident lately. It's fun to see him growing up and learning so much.

This is what you see when you look down after you've felt someone grab your leg!

Probably the greatest little sly smile ever!

July 2018 in Review

Hey everybody, we're back to give a review of July!

So, I guess I ought to start by saying the biggest news we have is that we bought another car. It's been something we've wanted/needed for a long time and finally we put forth the research and effort to make it happen. We're indebted to several people, most notably my brother Nate, for their advice and help throughout the process. Buying a car was a great learning experience and interestingly enough brought us closer together as a couple as we spent a lot of time discussing pros and cons and other various factors along the way. That being said, I'm sure there are many cheaper ways to build couple unity! And yes, we bought a van. We love it and the boys enjoy it too. We're definitely fans of the extra space and grateful for a two car garage so both cars fit just fine.

To be honest, buying the van was the highlight of this month because well it's a new car! But not only that, but we really felt guided throughout the whole process. I never thought I'd say that I felt like buying a van was a "spiritual" experience. And I still wouldn't say it was spiritual, but I felt like God cared about how we went about the process. Through a lot of prayer and discussion together as a couple, we were able to find a car that met our needs. And the car was almost sold at one point and then it moved between dealerships (there are three interconnected ones) and we just weren't sure if we wanted this particular one. Then one Saturday I drove to one of the dealerships to talk with a salesman I was referred to and when I pulled into the parking lot, there was the van. That's when I kind of felt like it was the one we needed to get. And we found out later from the salesman that the van was mistakenly brought to the lot that week. Someone actually had wanted another one. How cool is that? Anyway, we're very grateful that it all worked out and definitely feel like it's been an answer to prayer.

Let's see, the weather has been pretty hot and humid most of the month, but it changes enough it's not too bad. The high the other day was only 68 so we loved that! We celebrated the Fourth of July by going to a beach at a local lake and playing for a couple of hours. We loved it, especially because it's a clean, sandy beach! No one was really there when we got there so we got a good spot and were finishing up just as it began to rain! Unfortunately our bbq had to wait until the next day because of the rain the rest of the day.

One weekend we went to the Northern Wisconsin State Fair which is right down the street from our house so that was nice to be so close. Jackson loved the animals and got to feed a camel, some rabbits, and some goats. He also got to ride a pony so he was in heaven. He had a hard time leaving! I also forgot to mention that we got a double stroller this month, something that Sara has really been wanting. It's been nice because we were able to take it to the fair and have everything we needed. Sara is also able to take the boys on walks in the morning with it. We've been able to do lots of family walks too at night after I get home from work. Living so close to the zoo has been wonderful because Jackson loves it so much plus it's a good workout if we walk it with the stroller!

Last weekend we went to the Como Zoo in Minnesota which is another free zoo. We've gone before, back in March, but this time it was much warmer and much busier. We enjoyed seeing the exhibits and got to see the orangutan and gorillas move around quite a bit which was fun. We also went to the Mall of America and IKEA while we were in town since they're close. It was a fun day and a nice longer drive to test the van out on.

This weekend we've mostly been home, but Sara and I had a date on Friday night. We were invited to a Murder Mystery Dinner/Party at a my coworker's house. His wife set everything up and had gotten the kit for Christmas. We were all given a character to portray. It was pretty easy actually and pretty fun! Yesterday was mostly spent cleaning the house and relaxing.

Landon turned 9 months old this month and is moving EVERYWHERE. He loves to crawl and will do just about anything to get a toy he wants. He's pulling himself up on everything as well and tumbles a lot because he's still unsteady. He's a great eater and is beginning to babble a lot more. He's a lot of work though! The boys keep us so busy that it's hard to get a chance to find some silence, but if I'm really honest with myself I know I'd rather have the chaos than not have any kids! We're extremely grateful for the boys and for what we are able to learn from them. We love their innocence, kindness, and their smiles!

I guess a lot happened this month, but I'll stop writing so you can enjoy some pictures!

Not a great picture, but it shows at least part of the van!

I bought this old table for Jackson to play on outside. I wrapped the benches and table top with a plastic tablecloth. It was a simple project, but I was pleased with how it ended up looking.

His smile:)

This picture proves he's a real Sell, or at least definitely my son, because I tend to stick my tongue out while I concentrate and it appears he does too!

Fourth of July photo!

Mid-running photo. He loves to run and will run all day if you let him!

Excitement over the new stroller!

At the museum.