Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year with our good friends from Little Rock and Rogers. The DeGroot's came up for the day and we had so much fun! The kids were so excited to play together and Jessica and I were able to make some cake pops. We also had our friends, the Crowell's over to eat. My kids were in heaven because the house was full of kids! This was my first year to make a turkey and luckily it turned out great. I feel so grateful to have such good friends!

Special Visit

We had so much fun with my parents this weekend. It was a really quick trip for my parents, but we had a great time. We went out to eat and my Mom and I were able to get some shopping in. Jackson gave his first talk in Primary, so we were glad my parents were here to see it. Here are a few pictures we took right before Church.

Happy Halloween!

We had such a fun Halloween weekend. On Friday we went to the Goblin Parade, on Saturday my parents came up to visit and we went to the Ward Trunk or Treat, and on Sunday the kids were so exhausted from such a fun weekend that they both went to bed at 6:15 instead of trick-or-treating (partly because it was on a Sunday). Then Chris and I took turns passing out candy to the kids in our neighborhood and watched a movie. It was the perfect weekend!

The kids were so excited for their pumpkin cake!
Family picture at the Ward Trunk-or-Treat

Jackson and Momma at the Trunk-or-Treat

Buzz and Snow White

I had this great idea that Emma and I would be Snow White together. She was so excited when I walked out in my costume, but didn't want to take any pictures with me.

We finally got one!

Emma was not very happy with her Daddy!

Goblin Parade

Here are a few pictures we took at the Goblin Parade. We went with some of our friends from church and it was so much fun! We drove to downtown Rogers where there is a huge square of bussinesses that pass out candy to the kids.

I think the highlight was the free icecream!

The Chick-Fil-A Cow
Buzz & Snow White

She was a little bit nervous.

Most of the kids from our group.

Both kids wouldn't look at the camera at the same time.

School Days

I am really late on this post, but better late than never!

Jackson was so excited for his first day of school. I think he was mostly excited to wear a new outfit, but either way he did great! I was so proud of him!

Emma is doing a little "playschool" once a week for 2 1/2 hours. I thought she would be sad when I left, but she wouldn't even wave goodbye to me. I guess she was ready.

Here is a picture from the night before school. We took it right after the kids got their Father's Blessing. It was really sweet, both kids sat completely still the whole time.

This is just a random picture I took of the kids right before school one morning. Jackson was pretty excited because he got new jeans.

Trip to Grandma's House

Last week we were able to take a quick trip down to Little Rock. While we were there we were able to do some shopping, go out to eat, and play with the grandparents! We also got to spend some time with my good friend Jessica and her two little boys. Here are some pictures from our trip.

General Conference

This year we decided to invite some friends over to watch General Conference with us. We had everyone come over a little bit early so we could all have a little brunch together. We had a great time visiting with friends, but I do miss watching Conference at the Church. Atleast we had great friends to keep us company!

Here are the kids so reverently watching General Conference...

Just kidding! We had the kids watch a movie in Jackson's room.

Here is the table set for our Halloween brunch!

Pumpkin Patch

This year was our first year to go to an actual pumpkin patch. We had so much fun! We went with our friends the Hobsons and the Crowells. The kids had a great time at the petting zoo, but really had the most fun on a big pile of dirt. We rode on a really bumpy cow train, went thru a cute corn maze, and picked our pumpkins. We are so ready for Halloween!!!

Welcome to Rogers!

We are now in our new home in Rogers, Arkansas! We have been here for about 6 weeks.

Today I came home from Church early with Emma. She has had a fever and some sort of virus for a few days now. So, we decided not to expose her to all the nursery kids.I had a lot of time to reflect on this big change for our family sinse Emma has been sleeping most of the afternoon and the boys are still at Church. We have had so many wonderful experiences here in Rogers. The weekend we moved in my entire family came to help. Chris, me and my brothers and sister-in-law stayed up until about 2am the night before we left to pack up the moving van. It was really sad for me to say goodbye to the home where I brought my two babies home from the hospital in. After we moved everything in we all went to Red Robin for lunch and then said our goodbyes. It was a sad day!

Later that night Chris was trying to plug the washing machine in and the power to the entire house went out. Fortunately, we were able to call Chris' friend from college (at 10:00pm) and he came and helped us fix the problem. The next day at Church the very first family we met invited us over for dinner that night. We have had so many invitations to playgroups and dinners. We have really felt welcome here.

There are a lot of things that I love here. I love our house- it is beautiful! We have just a little bit more space and a great backyard for the kids to play in. I love the floorplan and the tall ceilings. I also love the weather! It is a little bit cooler than Little Rock and not as humid. Chris really likes his job which is such a blessing! One funny thing that I didn't realize until we moved here is Walmart is pretty much the only place to do grocery shopping. And we are definately the minority because we don't work for Walmart or a vendor of Walmart. I guess it's a good thing that I like Walmart!

Even though we love it here, I still miss Little Rock. After a few weeks we went back for a visit. It was great to see everyone but saying goodbye was really, really hard. Luckily my parents could sense my sadness and offered to give me a fathers blessing. During the blessing I felt the Spirit so strong. I am so grateful for Priesthood blessings.

Memphis Temple

Today was a great day! We had the opportunity to go to the Memphis, Tennessee Temple tonight. It was extra special to have Mike, Jen, and Steve there.

I love the Memphis Temple! It was the Temple I grew up with. I have so many wonderful memories there from the day Chris and I were sealed- I can't believe it has been 6 years! I felt sad to not know when I would be back sinse our closest Temple will now be in Oklahoma City. Anyway, it was a great experience!

After going to the Temple we all went to Chili's. And yes, here is a picture of us at our table! :-)

Thanks Mom and Dad for watching the kids!

Fourth of July

We had a great Fourth of July this year. We had a yummy barbeque at my parents house, and then walked down to the golf course to watch the fireworks. I thought that this would be the first year that my kids would see fireworks and not be scared- but I was wrong!

The kids had a great time running around the golf course- especially in the dark. As soon as the fireworks started Emma started screaming. I had to walk with her for about 5 minutes just to calm her down. She was so desperate for the loud noises to stop that she pleaded "I just want to take a nap" to get out of the scary situation. When she was finally calm she kept repeating "I like that, I like that". The funniest part was that she wouldn't open her eyes. She probably sat with her eyes closed for a good 20 minutes!

New Job!

It's official: Chris has a new job!!!

Last week Chris got a call from a guy he use to work with that was looking for someone to fill a position in Northwest Arkansas. We didn't think too much about it because Chris had just lost his job, and we did not want to relocate. We love living by family! But, the more we learned about the job the more excited we became. The company is called ClearPointe Technology.

We took a trip up on Sunday and LOVE the area. The weather is cooler there and just feels fresh! The area has been overbuilt which means that home prices are really low, and from what I hear the schools are great!

So, the only (and BIG downside) is not living so close to family! This was a really hard decision for us. We have been so blessed to be able to live close to family these past 6 years. Luckily the drive is about 3 hours so we will still make trips down here a lot. :-)

We feel so grateful for this opportunity. With the way the job market is now we thought we'd be out of a job for months. I have such respect now for people that go through the stress of losing a job. It is hard!

Thank you to all of our friends and family that have given us so much support. We are so grateful that we have been surrounded by such wonderful people.

Oh, and I am so proud of my husband! Chris has been working around the clock to get a new job. He's such a stud! :-)

Lost Job

* We pulled out this inflatable pool on Saturday. I asked Chris to set it up for the kids. I had no idea that all 3 of them would love it!

This has been a crazy week for our family. It started out normal... work for Chris, playdates for the kids, etc. Thursday morning I was cleaning the house while Jackson was at preschool. Chris came home at 10:30 (which never happens) to tell me that he had just lost his job... I was speechless. Apparently his company was bought out and his whole devision was shut down. We were schocked!

This has definately been a hard week for us, but thru this experience we have realized how blessed we are to have such amazing friends and family. After hearing the news on Thursday my Mom immediately came over and took me and Chris to lunch. All weekend we had friends calling to offer help. It has been so encouraging to know that so many people want to help our family, and that they are praying for us. We are so grateful!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello everyone!

I have finally decided to start a blog.

Today was a wonderful day!!! I was able to sleep in until 7:45 this morning while my sweet boys got up early to make me a candy poster for Mother's Day. Jackson was so proud of his work, but kept asking when is "boys" day?!?

Another highlight of the day was that Chris didn't have all of his early morning meetings, which meant we were able to get ready for Church as a family! That is a rare occurance for us!

After Church we went to my parents house for a huge barbeque and my Mom opened her Mother's Day presents. When we got home I opened my Mother's Day present and now the kids are at the park with Chris. All in all, it has been a great day!

*Here are some of my favorite "Mommy Moments"

• Emma saying "I hold you" when she wants to be held


• Emma was helping in the yard yesterday and kept saying "careful honey" to herself


• Jackson calling me "beautiful Momma" which started as a joke, only he still does it
  
• I know it's been a good day when Jackson mentions me in his prayers several times


• Jackson asking what the plan is for the following day

I have two amazing kids and I am so grateful (and proud) to be their Mom!

Happy Mother's Day!
Kristin