Our move to Seattle this far

Wow!  What an adventure this is already and it's just beginning!  We are finally here but we are living with the 12 bags we took with us on the plane plus 2 car seats, and yes I said 12 bags!!!!!  It was nuts, but we did it.  We couldn't have done it without a friend of our that was on our flight, Sharon Whitener.  So we get to the airport and Zach's family came to say bye.  They helped us get all the luggage figured out and checked in.  We then had to carry the rest of the 4 carry-ons and the few hand bags we had.  We get to security super fast which was a blessing but getting through was a trip.  I haven't flown in a while so I forgot that you have to put your liquids in a separate bin.  So here I am scrambling through 4 bags to get all the liquids out and I don't remember where anything is because we just kind of threw stuff in the bags.  Once we have done that our stuff is EVERYWHERE!  I was feeling really bad for the people behind us, but what are you suppose to do when Anna wants to run and I'm carrying Kali and Zach is carrying 3 bags and trying to keep Anna close?  We did it but it was insane.  Good thing I wore shorts that didn't need a belt cause I didn't need that too!  Once I went through the medal detector the guy had to check my hands for metal and I also had to stand there for a few minutes probably because I looked frantic!  What do you expect when I'm carrying one kid and trying to keep track of another one.  We finally get on the plane and Anna only saw the take off, she was out after like 10 minutes and slept through the landing....isn't that nuts!  When we took off she said she was scared but she did really good.  Kali also slept most of the way on either of our laps.  When we got to the airport to find our bags Sharon offered to help take half of our luggage to the place we were staying.  I don't think we could have done it without her because all of our bags wouldn't have fit in our rental car for sure.  We would have had to take at least 2 trips.  I felt super bad though because she took off to our hotel and had to wait for us because they wouldn't just let them drop our stuff off.  We hurried as fast as we could but had to take a bus to the rental car place and then try to carry everything to our car after that.  We just were SO grateful for her and the huge blessing that it was to not have to try to go back and forth to the airport.

Today we have been apartment hunting and we realize that we may have to be in a way smaller place then we would like but I guess that is part of the adventure.  I would love to be in a home but I'm afraid with the time we have that may not be possible.  I just hope and pray that the Lord will guide us to where we need to be.  It's hard to know what to do at this point.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!  I'll be honest for some reason Zach always does crazy fun things for me on Mothers day and Valentines Day seems to just be a blur, I guess in part cause he is usually in the thick of school and it's hard to find time to do anything special together.  But this year he bought me an iphone.  I couldn't believe it.  We have talked about wanting something like this when we move to Seattle because we need to have a way to figure out where we are going.  It will also be nice to be able to find restaurant and any store we are looking for.  I didn't really want to pay extra for the plan but I think we will enjoy having a fun phone, and yes I would say that it is in part Zach's present as well.  I guess I get the iphone because Zach says he would be on it too much if he had it, and it's so true.  I don't get addicted to things that that like he does.

I wanted to share a little story about a Mother I met the other day.  Zach and I bought something on craigs list and we went and picked it up from this guys house.  We had to wait a while to get everything set up correctly but while waiting I talked to this guys girlfriend who had 2 kids and was super sweet.   The crazy thing is she had tattoos all over and she was drinking wine I'm pretty sure when I was there and they both smoke but only outside cause there house really didn't smell like smoke.  But she loves her kids and she told both of them several times when we were there that she did.  They have fun family pictures hanging up in there house and she told me that they try to do the best they can with what they have.  She was so polite to Anna and talked to me like I was her long lost friend.  I believe there are many amazing woman and specially Mothers in this world and I believe that if we will all use our talents and skills to the best of our ability that we can be the people Heavenly Father wants us to be.  As a member of the Lords true church I feel that being a Mom is by far the greatest calling Heavenly Father could give me.  I'm so blessed to be a Mother and I couldn't imagine life without both my beautiful girls!  I'm so grateful for my Mom and for my Grandma's and all the woman in my life who have taught me so much about what it means to be a good Mother.  Happy Mothers Day everyone!

This is our new VAN!  Yes it's a mini van and yes it screams mormon but well it also is the most practical thing we could buy and we are very excited about it.  Growing up I never wanted a mini van but well I guess being a Mom has changed lots of things about my life.  I really think we are going to like this van!

My sister took family pictures for us.  She does such a great job.  

 I'm so cute MOM!

Anna was a little stinker that day but we got one smile from her

 Love this, he sure loves his girls!

So Kali has been showing off her muscles lately.  She isn't quite 7 months yet and it looks like she is trying to stand before she even learns to crawl.  She may show her sister up who started walking at 10 months and only crawled for 2 months.  Anna will appreciated it when she learns to walk though.  She loves playing with Kali even if Kali can't really do anything with her.  They are going to be best friends

Kali doing the Bear crawl. 

 Anna has something Kali wants.  

Reaching for her pacifier while doing the bear crawl. 

Dad!!! why are you taking pictures of me?!?! 

Smile big for the camera!

The Zoo....Again! yay

The Zoo~!  Yay!  We sure love this place.  Seems like I'm there like once a week.  

100 degrees here we come :(  It truly makes me cranky when it's so so hot.  At least we got to go with some friends.  Diana and her kids Grace, and Paige.

I'm going to get ya!  

Love this cute girl~!

 Mommy check out the otter!  They are amazing! This was Paige's favorite for sure!

Every time we go to the Zoo the 2 otters are in there little tunnels and we never get to see them.  Well I guess they like the heat cause it was seriously in the 90's and they were out and loving it.  They were playing all around and enjoying the water.  

Graduation

ZACH GRADUATES ON MAY 3RD! HALLELUJAH! I'm so excited to no longer feel like a single Mom most of the time. That may sound terrible but there were times when I would be lucky if Zach was home before the girls went to bed, or if he was ever home on the weekends. But he is an amazing Husband and Father and helps out SOOO much when he is home. To that I'm very grateful. He has juggled so much the last few years and I have to give him a BIG thank you for sticking with it and doing SO much to provide for our family's needs. It has been such a blessing that through all of this schooling I have been able to stay home and we will be coming out of school DEBT FREE!!!!!!!! That is an amazing accomplishment in this day and age. Now because we know NOTHING about Seattle most likely we will end up renting so our dream of buying a house will once again be pushed back but I know that in the end it will be for the best and SOME day I will be able to settle down and have a home I can consider my own.  With that here are some updates in pictures.  Enjoy!

Aunt Amber was kind enough to play in the sprinklers with me, I think they will soon become our best friend!
Solids!!!??? Is my baby already ready for solids, seriously?

1st time swinging and I loved it!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Thanks Grandma Christensen for the fun shirts! Oh they are so darn cute!

We have better family pic's but I thought this was kind of fun.