Valentine Knight

For Valentine's we got to sign on our house and get the paperwork all done. I was stressed from the kids, even though they are good. I just had so much on my mind and to do! As soon I got done downloading to Shaun, I looked around the room we were in at the title company, and saw this huge bouquet of flowers! I just thought they looked pretty, until I saw my name on the card! And a box of chocolate covered strawberries just for me!

Shaun got some serious brownie points for this! Wow, what a great surprise. And everyone in the room just kept commenting and smelling them! Great job honey!

The kids and I also made some sugar cookies which we consumed rapidly. They were delish. This was a wonderful Valentine's though. Shaun is so great at making each one special! I sure think he's so hot and wonderful!

We Got The House

Yes, we finally got the official contract on this house we had made an offer on about a month ago. It is banked owned, so we were lucky we got the bid and heard back in a shorter time.

Victoria Florence

At the Portland Head Light in June 2008.

Our first week exploring our neighborhood in Maine.

Her 5th birthday party with a gorgeous cake and dress with crown!

With Gabe at the temple lights.

Our oldest daughter, Victoria Florence, just turned 5. She is such a sparkly one for us. She loves dancing and singing, playing games and winning against me, eating yummy foods, and helping out with her younger sister. We just love having her as our daughter!

Most of the time now, she is always holding Gabe's hand telling him he is her best friend. She also has such a tender heart and admits when she does something wrong to me, because "Mom, it is hard to be a good kid all the time". I think I am too hard on her. She is such a help to me and I can explain things and where they go to her really easily. She gets that.

Tori, as we call her, has a special place in her heart for the gospel. She tears up watching "The Testaments" because people get healed by Christ. I told her about going to the temple and that they play music inside. Last weekend we got to go, (Shaun and I), and I told her I heard "I love to see the Temple". She was so excited! "Mom, can't I go now?". Then she said, "I am going to go on a mission, just so I can go to the temple. I don't want to get married and leave you guys." She loves things like that.

I love my little Tori. I love that she loves pink, ponies, princesses, and playing. She is just so funny and sassy, it is great fun to have her. I hope I show that to her enough. She deserves the best in this life, as all my kids do. I just am so happy to be her mother.

Our Move

On our way through the Rockies. There is the moving truck.

Shaun and Andy(on left).

Our cabin.

We were so excited to get to Utah after 5 days of 14 hour driving. We had snowstorms on our tail, and we tried to dodge them (it was snowing all day the day we moved and the day we loaded up). We felt like we did a good job starting out, but the largest snowstorms were just ahead and we caught one after a minor mishap early one day. On the freeway we ended up doing about 25 MPH. It was awful! It felt like no progress.

Towards the middle, I was feeling so worn out and tired of driving, so it was great to see Andy and Sara Griner in Kansas to break up the routine. We hadn't seen them in years, so it was more fun than we had time for. We tried to get some sleep, and did with their great accommadations! Thanks Andy and Sara and family.

The last day was quite a day knowing we planned on getting there, but also getting to Shaun's parents (the final resting until we get a house), at 11:30 PM. It was excruciating for me! I was so tired at 7 PM. But once we got out of the Spanish Fork Canyon, I saw light... literally. It was great to see cities again.

The next day we still had to unload and get somewhat settled, but I am so glad for the holidays and more especially for family that makes it so special!

What's Going On-

Wow, this is what I looked like on the last day of driving. Fabulous. I think I'll go throw up.
We got to spend the night with Andy and Sara Griner in Kansas! That was such a highlight. It made the trip more tolerable and broke up the redundency.
Here is a last look at the road in Maine on which we lived. Miss you!

Lobstah and Loading

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So we leave next weekend! We're staying at Shaun's parent's home in Layton, until we can find our own place to leave. We'll act fast as we do have kids that need to be in school too.

Because we are leaving so fast, we are trying to get in everything we can and getting in all the activities we can. I know we'll miss this place, as we already do. It's been so fun and so different than anyplace we've lived before. I love it!

Here we are cooking our own lobstah, as they call it here. Everyone drops their "r"s. Except our friends here Leah and Jim Danala and Nick and Janelle Baser. We've loved getting to know them here! Great friends for life!

Oh, and the lobster, was Awesome!

Juicy Details

Wow, we must have a few prayers our way because things are really starting to roll and we have gotten more info over the last few hours than would be normal for the next few weeks.

A.) We know we are going to be stationed in Salt Lake City. Officially.
B.) We know we have to be there either by Dec. 21st or Jan. 4th.
C.) We get to have what's left of our money we had to move here, to move there. Huge miracle!

I didn't mention this so much last blog, but we are so excited! Our kids cannot wait to see cousins and be around family (neither can we), we are so excited to have a normal shift for dad so he can sleep regular hours and mom can have her schedule back too, and we get weekends off!! Shaun wants to finish school in a degree that will use all of his Border Patrol schooling and prior schooling and boost his possibility to move along better in this career path. This is a huge blessing for us!

So thank you to everyone. We do know you have kept us in your thoughts and prayers. We have a few more hurdles, but we know we can get through them. This is one crazy ride I tell ya!