Mc O Donalds

The girls love their Mc O Donalds and make their Nana and Papa take them at least once a week to play there. The girls think it is the greatest place next to Blast off in Idaho falls. At first the girls were scared to go in and play but now that Isa is as big as Layla they go on little adventures together. When I had my gall bladder surgery last year my mom came out to watch the girls for me. After a day or two she realized how little there is to do in Rexburg and thus taught the girls to love McDonalds. I love that they have names now for all food places like it. Their is the old Mc O Donalds which is burger king, the new Mc O Donalds which is Hardees or places like that and of course the original. It gets a little fattening to take them once a week but really who can turn down these cuties?

Walmart

It might sound silly but if you live in Rexburg you know that the most exciting place to go in the winter tends to be Walmart! It was our little get away when we were busy all week and needed to get out and run. We saved up a lot of money through the summers to get little presents at their favorite store when winter seemed to never end. Now when we talk about going to Walmart almost instantly Layla informs me it is too far away. I think she is realizing that unlike Craigo's that is in one place... WALMART FILLS THE WORLD and in our case there are like 6 within 10 miles of us. 

The Pizza Store

AKA Cragio's Pizza. This is the girls favorite restaurant. We went here for every celebration our family had. We went for birthday dinners, potty training celebrations, bike riding successes, great grades, finals over, and most importantly GRADUATION! The girls loved to pick out their own pizza, eat as much as they want, and end with "cookie pizza" that had oreo on top. Here is our last visit to our special family restaurant. 

Oh the things you miss...

The girls are starting to really wonder why we are here and miss little parts of our old home. We took tons of pictures of their favorite places, things, and people so they wouldn't miss home so much! I will make a post of all the things the girls miss and why they mean so much to us!

We are still alive

So I really thought that not going to school and living with built in baby sitters would leave me with plenty of time to blog but it seems the opposite. I am more busy now then before. There is always something to do and somewhere to be. I am almost done cutting and coloring everyone I knows hair and now I will be ready to start back through the cycle again in a few weeks. Not to say I don't love it... it just keeps me busy. If I worked in a salon I would have made some good money!

Anyways Brian is working now at a temporary job for Children's Mercy Hospital until he figures out what it is he will do. Jobs are hard to come by right now so it is take what you can get. He might redo his EMT license next month and them work for an ambulance service out here. But he has to find a night job he can work at since the accelerated class in only offered during the day. The good thing is though if he gets the class taken it is with the same service that is currently hiring. We are just crossing our fingers and praying a ton that things work out for us as the Lord sees fit.

The MCAT scores should be in next weekend or the following week so the wait is almost over! Then we start applying to medical school the beginning of June so it is a busy up in the air month for us!  We do think we found a place to live though. It opens up in August and is a 3 bedroom duplex with a nice yard, garage, and finished basement. It is actually affordable so we hope to get in before the whole ward here knows it is available and snatches it from us. We had planned to move into it before but one of the girls called the owner before we could when she heard our friend tell us about it. Luckily the trip to the temple and hours of service have paid off and she isn't able to take it leaving it open for us again. 

I don't know if any of that made sense but the jest is we found something ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for our little busy family! other that that we are enjoying the beautiful weather and my great tan thanks to a day by the pool that is FINALLY open! I think I will take the girls to swim every day before naps so they pass out and I can relax and catch up with friend via by blog! I miss everyone tons but and finally ready to make this my home again. I will forever love my time in rexburg and miss how righteous a place it is but will find my place out here in the world and hopefully share the gospel with someone why I am here! 

Update!!!

Okay so I am running short on time because these pictures take forever to load so I am going to just type a short update on our life here in Kansas until i can get all the pictures up on a post. Anyways Brian takes the MCAT tomorrow so he is completely consumed with studying today and this whole past week. We went to the temple on Wednesday to get some extra strength for this upcoming weekend and week of job searching.

I miss REXBURG and my temple on the hill. However the 8 hours in the car gave us plenty of time to study and talk. It was nice to have all day to ourselves. We are going to try to go to the temple at least 2 times a month as long as it is possible. it is crazy to think people hardly get there once a month or even once every other month. We have been going no less than once a week for almost a year and that really has been what has given us strength. It might take up a lot of gas and time but it is cheaper than a therapist so it is WORTH ALL THE SACRIFICE!!!

I am enjoying the thunderstorms here and am beginning to feel like it is home here. my parents house is luckily big enough we don't feel completely in the way all the time and it is nice to have a whole floor for the girls to play on without the worry of making a mess. We have set up a toy room in the unfinished basement on large carpeted rugs so they stay clean and warm. They love having Nana and Papa around and sleep better then they have in month here.

I do miss my quiet friendly neighborhood where I had friends just a few steps away. The people next door have kids the girls age but name it isn't the same as I had hoped.

WHY I MISS MY SMALL TOWN MORMON FRIENDS!!!!

I babysat the kids next door the other day and realized that we raise kids different in Rexburg. I loved babysitting the kids in the ward when we lived in Idaho. They all were well behaved and listened to me. They played WITH the girls not just in the same room as them. Of course they were kids so they were not perfect but the girls loved them all the same. The girls talk about several all the time... Adi and Robby of course because they are pretty much family. Then there is their buddy payton and Kyky and Kayla. They loved the "babies" as they call them Emma and Daniel. But the kids here are different. We had Layla and two girls together in the basement and they did not play together AT ALL. the girls would come up and take her toys and then play with them far off. Then when we went outside I had to fence them in to keep them out of the street. It was awful. I thought I might just lock them up or scream whichever came first. And Layla noticed the difference too because she said about every two minutes "can their mom come get them I want to play with nice kids" and I just felt awful. They were not horrible children just spoiled and unplayed with. I am used to all the girls in Rexburg spending the day on their butts playing down on the kids level. They teach them all day every day and are exhausted from playing dolls or trucks all day long.

Here kids are given everything they need to entertain themselves. And the result is they don't play WITH other kids just in the same area. NOT GOOD AND I MEAN NOT GOOD. I think I have had this conversation with my friend Sarah a thousands times but I am here to say that I would trade Kansas kids for rexburg ones now that I see the difference!!! So I might just be spending a lot of time with the girls myself until we kids friends that meet the girls and my standards. It isn't much but kids that play WITH the girls without acting like we are less smart because we didn't graduate from HARVARD and our dad doesn't wear a bow tie. The bow tie post will have to wait until later because that is a whole other story!!!

So I MISS MY LITTLE REXBURG but know we are where the Lord wants us and for that we are grateful! I miss all my friends and hope they know how much I appreciate how they parent... they are such great examples for me!!!!

Our Long Journey

And we are off all packed in and ready for a long ride!!!

The heartfelt goodbye with grandma was more than anyone could stand... we miss you already and the girls have started a have grandma come visit fund to save up to bring her to come see us!

Somewhere on the border of kansas and it feels like we might not ever make it there... thankgoodness the girls are good because i would never be able to stand driving so far alone with cranky kids. But this is how they were the whole trip... Just PERFECT!!!

Incase you can't tell why i got tired driving... I stared at the same blue butt for 24 hours. It became mesmerizing after a while!

Halfway across Kansas and noticing the change in atmophere.... large fluffy clouds, green grass, and you can't see it in this picture but beautiful rolling hills. I LOVE THE MIDWEST!!!!

The girls as we parked the car all finished with our trip!!!
We Have Arrived!!! After two days, 24 hours, a flat tire, and lots of children's movies we arrive in Leawood for a good nights rest in our new home.

It is weird to be back and still feels like we are on vacation but that will change once we get our own place and settle in our own home. But for now we are so grateful to my parents for letting us stay with them until we get more settled. We are however completely enjoying the house shaking thunderstorms and spring as only the midwest can bring!!! This truly is zion... it is GORGEOUS!!!!