A Christmas card for you

I was really bad about sending out Christmas cards this year. I wanted to get professional pictures done but things just kept getting in the way. I was always seeing free cards from websites that I would have done, but didn't have pictures at that time. Once December hit, I decided to just forget about it and just use a family picture we had taken on our Anniversary. So for those of you who didn't get a Christmas card, which is most likely all of you, here you go :)

A quick run down of what happened in our lives this year:

- Continued living in a hotel in Eden Prairie, MN through March

- Flew to Boise in February to see family and for my brother's wedding!

- Moved from MN to Oklahoma in March for Clay's next wind project 

- Went on a much needed family vacation to California and Catalina Island in June

- Found out we were pregnant with baby #2 in July!

- Flew out to Idaho for Quinn's wedding the beginning of November while celebrating our 5th Anniversary!

- Found out we'd be having another BOY!

- Clay left Mortenson Construction and has been settling into his new job with Enel Green Power as Assistant Supervisor allowing us to settle down here in Oklahoma!

- Kort will be turning TWO at the end of this month!

With Clay switching jobs leaving him with no paid time off built up, we sadly couldn't go out to visit my family this year in Boise. However, Clay's family is headed our way for New Year's so we feel very blessed to be able to spend time with family for the holidays. 

Merry Christmas!

A place to call home

Renting a place in Enid is so hard. I think I've mentioned all this in a previous post so I'll just move forward. We finally found a house to move into! We decided it was best to continue renting for a bit while we saved up more for a down payment and make sure things went well with the new job before we wanted to really "settle" here for years to come - although it's definitely cheaper to buy than rent.

We were oh so lucky to find this beauty. It has three bedrooms and 2.5 baths. A backyard for Kort to play in, and a big garage so we can put Clay's tool bench and everything else.

We moved into it the last week of November. We got rid of our rinky dink futon, which sadly broke on us after only having it for 7 months. We had saved up for a new set of couches for a while and had been eying the sactionals from LoveSac. We figured Black Friday deals was the best time to get them, so we got them ordered, and got them a week later!

This is how our living room looked while we set it all up!

That following weekend Clay was flying up to Minneapolis to pack up our storage unit and bring everything back to us! It had been over a year since I had seen anything. We drove to Tulsa the night before and stayed in a hotel. Clay got up early Saturday and flew out. (Kort and I went Christmas shopping the rest of that morning). One of our friends had picked him up from the airport. There were supposed to be two other guys that said they'd come and help. They never showed up :( Our friend had prior obligations set so he had to leave about an hour after unpacking, so they got all the big and heavy stuff packed into the truck first. Can I just say 

THANK YOU, RYAN!!!!!

You have no idea what a blessing it was to have you there. Everything would have fallen through if you weren't able to come. 

Although it did take Clay about three more hours to pack everything by himself, he got it done. It was already 7:00 p.m. and he just thought he might end up staying in a hotel and drive back all Sunday. Well, there was supposed to be a huge snow storm that night, so he made the decision to just head out for the long trek. About a couple hours after he left, Minneapolis had already gotten hit hard with the snow. Through the whole 13 hour drive, Clay probably only got about twenty minutes of weather. So glad he left early! And the next morning, well, Minneapolis had about a foot of snow already. I can't imagine him driving through that for that long of the trip. 

The following Tuesday, we were once again blessed to have guys from the ward show up to help unload the truck. It took them 40 minutes to do it all. THANK YOU!

Now most of these guys were military, which they have the blessing of being moved and don't have to do it themselves. So for them to come and help us move, 

I was indeed grateful.

Now we're all moved in, minus organizing and unpacking the odds and ends boxes. Just in time to get ready for Christmas! I decided to at least do the 12 days of Christmas, so that will probably be my next post on what we did!

Grateful

Thanksgiving seemed to just come and fly by! It was at such a crazy time with our lives so sadly I didn't get any pictures. We were blessed to be able to have dinner with our friends, the Clark's. It was an amazing dinner with yummy turkey, homemade rolls that were to die for, store bought pumpkin pie (I didn't dare attempt to use my homemade pumpkin puree for the first time), mashed potatoes, green beans with bacon, and the list goes on.

That night we decided we really didn't need to get anything from the Black Friday sales so we opted out from the mad rushes. We figured either people would drive 2 hours to the city to shop, or basically Walmart would be absolute chaos being about the only real shop at one stop store. Well, early morning came around (we're talking 4:00 a.m. early) and I had to relieve myself (sorry, tmi) and I could NOT go back to sleep for the life of me. I figured I might as well be productive, so I got up and got ready and headed to Walmart. Got there at 5:00 and it was pretty much desolate. Things were still on the shelf and didn't look like they had been hit. Come to find out though that it was a mad rush at 8:00 p.m. when they opened the night before. I got what I wanted and hit some other stores which was pointless. Anyway, it ended up being a long day without that extra sleep!

It was a fabulous Thanksgiving, especially having Clay home for all of the weekend. There are many things that I am grateful for.

Clay's new job - better hours and stability that allow him to be at home earlier and spend more time with the family.

The Temple - seems like it had been a long time since we had gone but we got a double dose at the beginning of the month with doing an endowment session and going to the sealing. I felt such a relief stepping inside and instant warmth and peace. I know that's where you can feel closest to our Savior, as He has walked those halls, as it is His house.

Family - sometimes you take it for granted living so close to family. Now, being 24 hours away, you definitely cherish the time you do have to visit.

Children - As much as I may get irritated or frustrated with Kort, I can't help but be so thankful for a strong, healthy child. I don't know how Heavenly Father has trusted me and Clay to raise His child(ren), but we are beyond blessed. It makes me wonder what I did with Kort to continue keeping His trust and begin growing and raising this new baby and grow our family.

Testimony - This is one thing that no one can ever take away from me. What I have come to gain a knowledge of about our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the best thing I could have. To know that families can be eternal, to know that we can live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again . . . I am truly blessed.

My eternal companion - I can't imagine life without Clay. He makes me laugh everyday, even if it may be him taking forever to get me out of my stubborn shell that day. I know he loves me - he shows it. He loves Kort and is the best father for him. He is my rock.

I know there are so many more things to be grateful for, but without those things, my life would be incomplete. I am grateful.

Idaho trip

I am just about a couple months behind on blogging! Yikes! I'll see how much I can catch up on while Kort is napping.

Back at the end of October, we flew to Idaho. I've already posted some about that so I'll just focus the rest on the wedding and other random things we did.

Quinn & Kaitlyn
Married in the Rexburg, Idaho LDS Temple
11.02.12
(They stole our anniversary date)

But it was the best way to spend our 5th Anniversary - to share in a sealing of family members, reminding us what we did that same November day. Perfect weather just like ours as well. 

We also went to dinner with these two crazies. What a blessing it was to have them make it for the reception as their flight schedules were all messed up due to hurricane Sandy just that weekend before. I'll also put a plug in for Brandon and Barb and Leland - they had tickets to fly from Vegas and they all ended up getting the flu super bad and couldn't make the flights :( We sure missed them.

On one of the days off, the guys were working on putting in a road/driveway where the new house will be for grandpa and grandmacita :)

Kort and Grandmacita in their matching hats!

This was on our flight home from Denver. We got a row all to ourselves so Kort got his own seat. Once he was buckled in, he was asleep before we even took off.

So in a previous post, we had bought that van. Clay had to get to work by Tuesday, so he drove the car all the way back to Oklahoma in 24 hours - with 3 hours of rest on the way. What a trooper! So in the meantime, Kort got to play and visit with the cows. I absolutely love this video!

Old Navy

I have an account with Crowdtap, which is basically a survey/sample site. The more I started answering questions about Old Navy, they gave me the opportunity of sampling one of their products. They sent me a coupon for myself and a friend to find a sweater that's hot this season for free! I was so excited to get something new to work around my prego belly :)

I got a cardi sweater and ended up buying a belt with it to keep me wrapped up on those cold days, which surprisingly have visited us in Oklahoma!

It was fun to get out shopping with a friend without being distracted while Clay watched Kort at home.

Thanks, Old Navy!