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!!!!