A Crazy-Good 2 Months...

Well, here I am having to play catch-up once again. I do have somewhat valid reasons this time. Since my last post on Nov. 16th. We celebrated Michael's 30th Birthday on the 19th!!! I can't believe my husband is 30?! We went to Idaho Falls on the 21-22 for an interview with Judge Shindurling for a clerkship. Celebrated Thanksgiving on the 25th with my brother Gregg's home grown 40lb turkey!! Yes it was literally 40lbs! I'm so sad I didn't take a picture of it. They had to buy a special pan for it and luckily they have a double size oven! He had to cook it for 11 hours. It was honestly the best turkey I've ever had too. The gravy from it was amazing too. Seriously Gregg you should leave dentistry and be a chef! :) He and Kami wife made like 6 DELICIOUS pies too!

Then, our good friends from Orem, the Summers, came over to Boise for a quick visit after they spent Thanksgiving in Idaho Falls. They came on the 26th and left on the 27th. On the 30th Michael got an offer from a personal injury firm in Boise. We weren't crazy about the offer for several reasons, but glad to have one. He needed to let them know by Dec. 3rd if he wanted the job. For the clerkship the Judge said he had interviews through the first week in December and then would make his decision. So, after Mike got the offer in Boise he called the Judge's secretary to let them know he had an offer in Boise, but would rather have the clerkship and that he had to tell them by the 3rd. So, the next day Dec. 1st Michael got a call from the Judge with an offer!!!! And he wanted him to start on December 13th! (This was another huge blessing because when Michael went in for the interview the position was supposed to be available in May, but there was a chance it could open sooner if his current clerk got a job before then.) So, December 3rd-4th we went back to IF to look for a place to live. We were a little discouraged after day one but the first place we saw on Saturday was great!!! A really nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath condo in a great area. It's actually in Ammon, Id. Rent in IF is amazing...we are paying $100 less a month for this nicer, bigger place than our place in Orem. When we came to look at this place it was listed as $695 a month, but they dropped rent to $650. We were super excited about it even before we knew that! Anyway, so we drove back home that night on the 4th. We celebrated my 28th birthday on the 7th and packed up the truck on the 8th and Michael's Mom, Janet, flew up to Boise that day to drive to IF and help us with the kids while we moved in. We drove to IF on the 9th and got moved in.

My sweet cousin Tonya lives in Rigby about 30 minutes from here. Her husband Josh works here in IF though. They came over after he got off work on the 9th to help us unload the truck. She said Josh has crazy amounts of energy and could do the work of 2 men. Half way through Michael said he was at least doing the work of 3! Tonya also brought us yummy enchiladas, homemade salsa, chips, homemade pumpkin bread, mint brownies, potatoes :), and some drinks so we wouldn't have to run right to the store or eat out every meal! So AMAZING! Also about 30 minutes into unloading 3 missionaries saw them unloading and asked if they could help! Mike said "We're already members, will you still help?!" They laughed and said of course. So they helped and we got everything unloaded in 2 hours.

The next 3 days Janet and I went crazy unpacking and everything was done by Saturday night the 11th in time for us to go out and celebrate her 60th birthday which was that day!! Sorry Janet for saying which birthday, but it's a milestone and you don't look it! We went to our new ward on the 12th. Michael started work on the 13th!

I can't even explain how amazing everything was in getting this job. As you can see everything went lightning fast and really smoothly. I can't even tell you all the amazing things that fell into place with this job and move. Michael didn't even apply to this job! A friend from law school had applied for it months ago but was already working in New Mexico when they emailed him to set-up an interview. He told them he already had a job but had a friend in Idaho looking for a job. He wrote a glowing recommendation for Michael and sent them Michael's resume. He forwarded this all to Michael so he would know if they called him for an interview which they did. Then when we went down for the interview and to look for our place we stayed with some of my family's friends who used to live one door down from us when I was growing up. They turned out to know the Judge pretty well from church! Also, the clerk that was working for him said they stopped taking resumes after a while, but they had around 80 when they stopped!

As I am writing this all down I am remembering more and more things that just were miracles! We feel so blessed to have this job and this opportunity. This is definitely where we are supposed to be right now. We were starting to think Michael would just be getting a job that wouldn't necessarily be the greatest, but would be a job. The Lord truly is looking out for us and mindful of each of us and our needs. Michael didn't just get a job, he got a GREAT job. One that he LOVES, is interesting, is teaching him so much, is amazing for his resume, has great benefits, and has FABULOUS hours! He goes in around 8:30-9 and is usually done by 5. He has made good friends with the the other clerks already. The Judge is not only a very well respected judge, but a great person as well. He ran into Michael the other day at Albertson's, both of them on their way home from work. Mike doesn't have a nice work coat so he just opts not to wear one. Which when the high for the day is 4 degrees, not wearing a coat shouldn't really be an option. So, the next day the Judge brought him one from home! It's a really nice wool coat, a little big for Michael :), but still, just the fact that he did that amazes me.

As I said, the Lord really is watching out for us. I am sorry to admit that I was weak and definitely having my doubts and struggling a lot the last few months, wondering if my prayers were being heard. At the first of November I kind of hit the wall. I still knew the church was true and knew that the Lord was listening, but I still was struggling with my testimony a bit. I was saying my daily prayers, reading the scriptures daily, going to the temple regularly, but I was still struggling and I didn't know why. On Fast Sunday morning it dawned on me that if I wanted my testimony to grow, I had to share it with others. So, I bore my testimony that day in sacrament meeting. Sadly, that was the first time in my life getting up in sacrament fast and testimony meeting. I've born my testimony in YW and Relief Society testimony meetings, but never in sacrament. I've just always let my fear of speaking in front of people get the better of me. But like I said, that morning I just had a really strong feeling that if I wanted to stop struggling with my testimony I needed to share it. It was such an amazing experience for me.

The Bishop came up to me after and talked to me for a minute. It is Bishop Frederickson. He said some really inspired things to me. One of the things he said that really touched me was that he said the fact that you are still coming to church, praying, reading scriptures daily, and going to the temple shows that your testimony is stronger than you think. He's such a great Bishop! We really miss the 8th ward. That's the ward I grew up in and there are still so many amazing people there.

The Lord knew this job would come along for us in December and we needed to be patient and wait. As individuals and as a family we learned and grew in so many ways during that time. People always say that it is during trials that you grow the most and it is so true.

Sorry this post is a little long, and a little personal, but since this is kind of our family journal I really wanted a detailed account of all this and to talk about the hard times because most of our blog is just all the fun stuff. Reality is that life isn't always fun outings and vacations though! Thanks to everyone who kept Michael's job hunt in their prayers! Those prayers were answered in a very real way.

Michael's 30th Birthday! His favorite gift was the Nook.

A visit from the Summers! It was so fun to see them and Carter and Savannah had a BLAST! They're gonna get married I'm pretty sure. :) In this picture they were hitting their Dad's in the head with balloons.

They took us to Sharis for Breakfast the next morning! Thank you Summers! This is what the kids did when we asked them to smile for a picture. I really don't know what Carter is doing.

Their goodbye hug...seriously one of the cutest things I've ever seen. We were so sad they couldn't stay and go to the holiday parade with us, but totally understand they needed to get out in front of the storm. Thank you so much for the visit you! You guys are the best.

All bundled up for the holiday parade. Emory is in the green stroller. She could see...and breathe I promise.

This was one of my favorite floats! A cute chubby little Life Flight helicopter.

Another favorite was the Shriners driving these funny little cars around.

The parade was right downtown Boise. The snow made it cold, but it was nice because not near as many people were there as usual. So we could actually just show up 30 minutes after start time and find a nice place to watch!

Emory's favorite was the people who handed out Smarties and candy canes of course!

They closed the street up one block from the parade for little local booths too. I just loved how quaint it all looked in the snow! I love downtown Boise!

We got like 8-10 inches of snow on Nov. 30th. That's the most snow I've seen in Boise since I was little. We hardly get much snow at all. It was a great snow day!

Yeah...Carter used a pooper-scooper for his shovel! It was an old one from our cat Norman that was in the garage still.

Winter Wonderland!!!!

My parent's back yard. I love the pool when it snows. When we were little the pool used to freeze over and we would put on our Sunday shoes (because they were the slickest) and slide around. We even built a snow man on the diving board one year and put swim trunks and a snorkel and goggles on it!

When it's like that outside you find yourself doing funny things inside to keep entertained!

I LOVE this picture. It just makes me laugh.

This was a regular site to be seen in the summer when we were all living at my parents house together. I miss it already guys! Do you?!