Loving the FALL!

I can hardly believe it is almost November! It's been quite an insane October. Soccer and football all wrapped up a couple of weeks ago. Parker started basketball again. It just never ends! We've had some pretty amazing weather over here which has been SO nice. I wanted to post some pictures of what we've been up to.

I took Parker, Landon and Anna over to the U pick pumpkin patch. It sure is a cute little place. I love that they still have an honor system to pay for your pumpkins.

 Anna was LOVING the chickens!

This past weekend we went with some friends up to the "Family Friendly Haunted Walk" up at the boy scout camp. It was hardly "friendly" for little kids. Poor Cami (our friend's 3 year old) and Anna and even Landon were scared to death.  It was still really fun though. Hopefully the nightmares will end sometime soon. Yikes. Now we know!

We had a fabulous dinner and trick or treat over at our new ward. SUCH a difference from our last ward. We had SO many people come and participate and so many kids and parents dress up. It was SO great to see. People continue to be so incredibly kind and welcoming to us. I keep getting cookies and gifts and welcomes everywhere I turn. THIS is what I was hoping for. We were having so much fun I didn't take many pictures. This was the first year that everyone trumped me on the family costume idea. Which (by the way) is SO SAD because I had a great idea for us this year. Maybe I will be able to talk them into it next year? I doubt it. Oh well! Dallin is some sort of creepy grim reaper, Parker is a vampire and Landon is a ninja. I'll get some pictures on Halloween night of them. Sissy was a candy corn witch for trunk or treat.....she has another costume for Halloween night! (Of course she does!)

Sissy was D.O.N.E. with her costume by the end of the night. Poor girl.

Oh yeah...and I am having a baby still. I went to the Dr. today and am at 3cm and 80% dilated. This boy could come at any time! And I still have 4 weeks to go! Probably better stop doing things like mowing the lawn and moving furniture. Oops. I'm getting really excited to meet our tiny brother. AND I'm getting really excited to NOT be pregnant. EVER AGAIN.

The unfolding of a miracle.

I've become yet another one of those slacker bloggers out there. Still trying to set up a house, get organized and stay on top of the every day. Still growing a BIG baby who is due to show his face in 5 weeks or less. Still trying to wrap my mind about having a newborn again and all of the work and sleep deprivation that I'm in for VERY soon! Trying to enjoy the journey yet finding lots of stress along the way! Just trying to manage it all yet feeling like I'm falling short at it all. All I can do is try.....and trying is what I'm doing even though some days it doesn't really look like it.

Last weekend was so incredibly special. It was one of the most sacred and special experiences of my life. A couple of weeks ago my dad discovered that he had 4 half siblings....2 sisters and 2 brothers.My dad did not grow up knowing who is father was. He was raised by his mother and his grandparents. My Grandma is extremely quiet on the matter and so there have been a lot of questions looming around through the years. My mom was anxious and scared about this news. She was terrified my dad would be rejected by these people if they knew they had a brother out there. My dad felt inclined to move forward though....he found out that his oldest sister lived in Aurora Colorado....in the exact same area where my brother Jason is serving his mission right now. Obviously to us this was not just a coincidence. My dad sent a manila letter to her. (Patty) He told her who he was, included some pictures of our family and left his phone number. A few days later she called my dad. She was emotional, so very happy and she exclaimed, "My brother! My long lost brother! I've been looking for you all these years!:

Plans were made and all of the siblings AND their mother who is STILL alive decided to meet in Orem over the weekend to meet my dad. Patty and her husband came from Colorado, Larry came from Sacramento, Debbie lives in Orem and Kirk lives up in Salt Lake City. Their mother lives down in Redmond UT. I wasn't going to miss this event for the world. This was like a movie or a talk show or something out of this world! My mom stressed about it for days....my dad was so excited and at peace.

The Nelson family was incredible. They were open, loving and so welcoming to us. There were many tears shed throughout the day. There was so much overwhelming love in that room. It was like a glimpse into the afterlife...what it will be like when we all reconnect with our families. There was peace. There was pure joy.

Nat couldn't be there because of the new baby but one of the absolute COOLEST things is.....Elder Rock was able to experience some of this miracle as well. Last week he went over to Patty's house and he had the chance to meet his aunt for the first time as well. It was emotional and special for him. I am so happy that he had the chance to be included in this miraculous series of events.

I'm so happy and excited for my dad. All of his siblings kept saying over and over again how much he resembled their father. They said of all of the siblings he looked the MOST like him. After hours and hours of visiting...no one wanted to leave. It really was a tiny slice of heaven. I'm so grateful I was there to experience this moment in time.

Finally! Our new house.

Holy Hannah! It has been a whirlwind and crazy busy couple of weeks! We finally....FINALLY closed on a house and have spent all of our time moving and trying to come up for air underneath all of these boxes. It is amazing to me that we have acquired this much stuff.....aka CRAP through the years.

Moving day was crazy....we had lots of friends and some of the "Samoan moving company" aka...Nate's extended family come and help us get it done. I've been so anxious to move for so long but I will admit....it's still kind of a hard thing. Watching the neighborhood kids come over and tell us how sad they were that we were leaving kind of broke my heart a little. After a long day of hauling stuff, I took a break on the couch as my back felt like it was just about to break in two. Nate and I had another small load to bring into the garage and I almost started to cry. It was so exhausting. No one should ever move at 8 months pregnant. Just as I was about to break down lo and behold the missionaries showed up and offered to help. A sweet tender mercy for sure.

So let's rewind a bit shall we? After the home we built fell through we started the hunt for an already existing home. We didn't look a TON but had a special feeling about the house that we placed an offer on. The man living here was dealing with some pretty crappy circumstances and we were able to get the house for a really good deal. We're in a neighborhood with a TON of kids, we're on a cul de sac, we're actually the only home for the time being in the cul de sac.We have a beautiful view of the hills and fields behind us. There are a few things that we need to do to make the house a little more suitable for us but we felt really good about the decision to move forward and make this our home sweet home. Also, it is actually BIGGER then the house that we built which is a good thing as well.

Ready for a little tour? I'm only showing the parts of the house that are done. Therefore the entire downstairs won't be featured today. Neither will the new baby's room. I'm still working on that. Only 7 weeks until our little guy arrives so I am working hard on getting his room done. It's SO nice to finally feel like I am spending some time preparing for him to join our family. He has been a bit of an afterthought after the stressful summer we lived through.

SO...here we go!

The front:

The view from the back:
The back is a blank canvas....we're excited to do some things with it next spring. I'm envisioning a big basketball court for the kids......to take up some of the space too! The boys have loved watching the tractors come right behind the house. One night they had their lights on as they were bailing the hay. They were literally RIGHT behind the house. It was really neat.

Here's the family room that you walk into as you enter the house: (Jack is making himself right at home here...he seems to be adjusting well)

And the stairs right as you enter in the front door: (I'm super excited for this when Christmas rolls around!)

Entrance:

My cute entry table:

The eating area:

The kitchen: (We'll be addressing the ridiculously high island issue as soon as we can!) Apparently some GIANTS lived in this house or something! haha I had the kitchen and eating area painted last week...the walls were a nasty gray swirly mess. It looks a thousand times better now.

My favorite place in the house....my bedroom! Or OUR bedroom I guess. :)

Followed closely by our bathroom:

Here is the powder room....haven't really done anything to that yet:

Haven't done anything to the laundry room either:

Up the stairs there are 2 bedrooms....Anna's and baby brothers room. There is also a bathroom up there. Anna's room is a light serene pink. She has a great sized closet in her room too. It's nice to finally be able to see all of her clothes!

Once we get the downstairs put together I'll show you the family room, movie room, boy's  rooms and the bathroom (that we have yet to finish.) Also, the nursery should be done very soon!

I'm excited about this change. We've been very welcomed to the neighborhood which has been phenomenal. Homemade cinnamon rolls, visits from neighbors, and meeting people from the ward. The boys have already found lots of friends too. I'm thinking I will have them switch schools and go to school with all of the neighborhood kids once the new quarter starts.

Things work out. I should know this by now. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father did hear my prayers. He did hear my pleas. I wanted a home for my growing family. I wanted a place where we could put down roots and belong. From offer to closing this process was seamless. I know it was meant to be. I'm humbled and grateful. I learned a lot and have been strengthened through this process. Faith is hard for me. I am not one who goes through trials with a smile. I will take this experience though and move forward and remember those things that I learned.

Happy 11th Dal!

Happy 11 years today my sweet oldest son. As always, I can hardly believe another year has flown by. I can't EVEN believe that next year you'll be 12. You're turning into a young man before my eyes and I am equally thrilled for you as I am scared out of my mind!

We've had a rough summer, you and I. I know that you have sensed a lot of the stresses that have been floating around this household. You would retreat into your world of tv and video games and fight me a bit when it came to leaving the house and doing the things that we usually love to do together. I'm sorry if I've caused you worry, or driven you away a little bit. My goal this year is to strengthen our relationship and re-enforce it as you continue to grow up and venture out into the world more and more. You are an incredible and smart kid. You impress me with your ability to relate to others and lift others up. You are a phenomenal oldest brother and I could not run this household without your constant help and assistance.

I love you so much. You changed my life 11 years ago and you continue to do so each day....for the better. I love you Dally.

Mom

McCall

Nate and I just got back from a lovely long weekend up in McCall. Nate had his defense council conference up there again. It's always so relaxing and wonderful to get away for a few days....especially after the insane summer we've been dealing with. We dropped the boys off at my parents house and enjoyed some time together with Anna. I remember a day back when one kid was stressful.....now its a full on vacation! Haha. We were a bit limited with our activities with Anna but mostly because I'm pretty much huge and get exhausted after just a short while. Seriously.....I am the biggest I have ever been in my life...EVER right now. Two babies back to back....not good on the old body.☺ We took a drive around the lake, I took Anna to the fish hatchery, we met up with our dear friends the Perry's and watched their son play football. We ate great food and soaked in the jacuzzi at night.....well, just my feet anyway. It was perfect. And oh so needed!