Well... it's been a while...

Sooo... It's been a while since I last posted on our family blog (almost a year).  Things got a little bit crazy.  So to recap quickly...  We bought our new home in Waterdown, Ontario (Canada) in May 2015, had the basement finished, then moved in the end of June.  PJ graduated from high school that same week, which was exciting!  He was busy getting everything finalized & ready to fly to Utah to start college at Utah State University, as well as finishing up all his paperwork for his mission.  Neil & I celebrated our 20-year anniversary (we can't believe we've been married 20 years!  Time flies when you are having fun!  :)  Tessa went to Young Women's camp with our ward & stake & had a great time, and we went swimming several times a week & tried to pack in as much fun family time as possible before PJ was going to leave for college (and be SO very far away)!  Well, in the midst of all of the craziness of moving, transferring kids school records, trying to get settled & unpacked, along with all the usual work responsibilities, church callings, paper routes, music lessons, etc., Neil was contacted about a new job opportunity back in Utah!  We had always hoped we would be able to make it back to Utah some day, but figured it was unlikely to find something in Neil's career field, and at his level.  Well, they called & interviewed him over the phone a couple of times.  We were hopeful, but not expecting it to actually work out.  In August we flew back to Utah to get PJ all ready for college.  We loaded up everything he would need until Christmas, when we would see him next. He was SO excited to start the next stage of his life!  While in Utah we went to a niece's wedding, had a nice family vacation at Bear Lake, went looking at homes in Utah County (where we would live if Neil DID get the job), AND then the company that Neil had been interviewing with called & wanted to talk to him again.  Neil told them we just happened to be in Utah, so they wanted to meet with him in person for another interview, which went really well.  Then it was time to head back home to Canada...  We got PJ checked into his dorm, took him shopping for any last minute items, and loaded him up with groceries, etc., and said goodbye.  That was HARD!!!  Knowing we would be SO far away & wouldn't see him for 4 months, when we planned on flying him back home for Christmas, and then he would leave on his mission. In addition to all of that going on, PJ had all of his mission papers ready, so on September 1st, he submitted his papers, saying that he would be available to leave on January 1st 2016.  He was SO excited & the waiting was torture!  Just a couple of weeks later, he got his mission call!  He texted us, and we Skyped with him that night, while he opened his call.  He was called to serve in the Chile, Antofagasta mission, and would report to the Mexico City MTC on Feb. 10th (which later got pushed back a week, to Feb. 17th).

ANYWAY... just a couple days after getting back from our trip out to Utah, Neil was offered the position as Vice President of Food Safety & Quality Assurance for Kneaders Bakery & Cafe, based out of Orem, Utah!  We thought about it & prayed about it, and felt that it was a good offer & and that it was the right decision for our family, so we accepted!  School started (and Jonah & Clay had just started at new schools, since we just moved to a new home), which was a bummer knowing they were starting at new schools, just to turn around & move a couple months later & start all over again!  THEN came MORE packing, cleaning, lots of phone calls, listing our house, showing our house, opening bank accounts in Utah, various offers & counter-offers to sell our home in Canada, LOTS of paperwork to cross the border, arranging a moving company, looking at schools & various areas where we would be interested in buying a home in Utah County, etc.  It was EXHAUSTING and very stressful!!!  Especially because Neil gave his notice to Sobeys & started his job just a couple of weeks later, flying out to Utah the last week of September.  He stayed with his brother, Spencer, in Salt Lake City, and just commuted to his job in Orem each day, and also met with a realtor to look at homes on the weekends & evenings.  He went house hunting to the homes that we had found online that were in our price range & areas that we liked, etc.  Once he went to see them in person, he would call & update me if it was a definite no or a maybe.  Then once we narrowed it down to a few homes, he went back with the realtor & we Skyped while I got a long-distance tour that way.  Neil even went out into the yard & drove around the neighborhood while Skyping so I could see as much as possible!  Crazy!  Thank goodness for modern technology!  It would have been really hard for me to fly out to look at homes because we didn't really have anyone in Canada that could stay with our kids, and they were busy with school, music lessons, etc., etc.

Well, we got an offer on our home 6 weeks later, set the closing date for November 6th, and made an offer on our home in Utah, with the closing date set for November 10th.  We finished packing up all the rest of our things, loaded up the moving PODS, Neil flew back a couple of times during those 6 weeks, and we all drove back to Utah.  It was a long drive, but worked out just fine, without any issues.  We arrived back in Logan on Sunday, picked up PJ from his dorm (we were all SO excited to see him!), stopped to see some extended family, and then Monday morning we drove to Provo, Utah, signed all the closing documents, picked up some groceries, and headed to our new home (I didn't even see it in person until after we closed on it!)  It is a beautiful home in a wonderful area.  We have great neighbors, we LOVE the schools, and are SO incredibly happy to be back "home."  We feel so very blessed & grateful that things have worked out the way they have.

That first week back was pretty stressful & unbelievably crazy!  I spent 3 days getting the kids all registered for school, getting a couple updated immunizations that Canada did not require, but that they do require here, getting additional school supplies, paying for fees, filling out mountains & mountains of paperwork, and more!  The first couple of days of school for the kids were a little stressful, but after that, they absolutely LOVED it!  They made lots of friends quickly and love their classes & teachers!  It has been a great move for them too!

Our PODS were delivered about a week after we got here, so then we started back with the unpacking & trying to get settled.  Oh my!  I was SO sick of packing & unpacking!!!  Hopefully we will be here for a very long time!

Then...  once we got the essentials all done & the kids into the school routine, we got them signed up for music lessons again (Tessa--Clarinet, Jonah--drums, & Clay--piano), and I took Tessa to the DMV to get her driver's permit, and PJ also had to get his Utah driver's license before he left for his mission.

AND...then we had Thanksgiving... and Christmas (which were both so nice).  It felt like a bit of a whirl-wind after just going through a huge move, but it was great to be back & be able to spend the holidays with family again, after 11 years away, and it was great to have our whole family together again!  During the Christmas break we went swimming in the outdoor hot springs pool, when it was snowing & had a BLAST!  We went out to eat, watched movies, went swimming, and had such a wonderful holiday break!  Also during that time, we went shopping for the rest of PJ's mission clothes & supplies, & we went through the temple with him the first day after he finished his semester at USU.  He also had to get a couple of additional immunizations for his mission.

Once the kids headed back to school after the holidays, Neil went back to work, PJ continued preparing for his mission, went to the temple every week, and helped me a lot around the house.  Until he was FINALLY able to head out to serve!  He gave his farewell talk in church on January 31st, then he was set apart on Feb.16th, and left on the 17th.  We went out for one last family dinner the night before & then took him to the airport early Wednesday morning, gave him some last hugs goodbye & off he went...  THAT was hard!!!  There is nowhere that we would rather that he be, but it was still hard... knowing that we won't be able to see him in person or give him a hug or pick up the phone & text or call him for 2 whole years!  But he's been gone a couple of weeks now & is absolutely LOVING it!  He is doing wonderful & was made the District Leader the 2nd day there, and has a great group of missionaries that he is serving with & has had some really great personal experiences already.  We are so proud of him!!!

AND... Tessa also had to perform a clarinet piece in front of 3 judges a week ago & got an excellent mark & is now going on to regionals!  Her clarinet teacher accompanied her on the piano & it sounded beautiful!  :)  We also just got her registered for 11th grade!!!  Holy Cow!  Where has the time gone?!!

Jonah is loving school & just started an after school website design/coding class once a week, and is having a great time & loves it here!  He loves drums, school, friends, & family.  We also just got him registered for 8th grade as well!

And Clay is keeping busy with school & scouts, piano, and a science club after school once a week as well.  He is a great kid & we can't believe he will be turning 11 years old in just a couple of months!!!

Life is good.  We are happy & feel SO very blessed!!!  
(I will try to keep up a little bit better now on updating our family blog more regularly!)  :)