8 Years

My sister-in-law, Natilyn, posted this video on facebook. I haven't seen it in years. It sure takes me back, which is hard, of course. It also leaves me feeling really grateful that I was married to such a wonderful man. Little Bradley is sitting on my lap watching this movie with me and saying over and over "I like this song!" I wish he could have known Brad, but of course, then he wouldn't exist the way he exists. I'm sure he does know him and has seen him more recently than I have.

It is hard to express how I feel, and I especially want to be careful not to diminish the beautiful life that I have now, because I have been very blessed with a wonderful husband, and two very amazing boys. I guess I am just extra blessed that I have had two such amazing men in my life, and two very good and happy marriages. That is more than most get in life. I was blessed to be married to Brad and to know him. I wouldn't be the person I am now without him in my life and without these experiences. And I am very blessed now to be married to Mike, who is so supportive and faithful, and even was the one to suggest naming our firstborn after Brad. What an amazing man he is.

I often think of what my friend Shannon said to me when talking about looking back on a mission. She said, "I miss being a missionary, but I don't want to go back, because I could never give up the life I have now". That is how I feel. I miss Brad, and love him, but I would never give up the life i have now. Again, mostly I am just grateful for the life God has given me, hard stuff and all. I wouldn't give up those two years with Brad and I wouldn't give up now and the rest of my life with my amazing family.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video. It is a great tribute to each of the men that died 8 years ago today. I know that all of them are still serving God and living on.

Moving to Albuquerque

We finally made it. We are in Albuquerque. It has been really humbling for me. I thought I was good at the moving thing. (At least, I've done it enough, I feel like I SHOULD be). But this move has been hard. It is getting better though and God is trying to teach me, I think. (How well I am learning is a different matter altogether)

We rented a house. It is really open and I love the layout. We also have a nice big yard. The boys love that, as do I. It is also really old, so we've had a few issues. Like bugs. We had an ant attack a couple days after we got here. In Noah's bed. (Luckily Noah was not in his bed at the time). Also, our fridge stopped working. But we got our new one today, and it is beautiful. And all the plugs in our office don't work. So, yeah. just an old house.

But, today has been really good. I think maybe because finally after a week of being here, I took the time to study my scriptures and pray...like, really pray. The kind where I pray before my boys wake up and talk to God uninterrupted. And today has been good. You would think by now I would have learned to do that from day one instead of waiting until I am wallowing in misery at the end of the week. :)

So, here are some pictures of the journey! We sort of took the long way here...we wanted to try a different way, but we got a little lost. Luckily, we had a GPS. But man, talk about the middle of NOWHERE. We didn't see another car for like, a half hour. It was pretty crazy. But our route did take us pretty near 4 corners. So we did stop there. I'm glad that we stopped there on the way down, so that we know better than to make a trip out of it. It's pretty anti-climatic. But I bought a pretty rockin' necklace there!

My mom is in Utah and I am in New Mexico. See, we aren't that far!! Meanwhile, Noah is just wandering around Colorado, no big deal.

The boys handled the trip pretty good though. They did have a hard time sleeping in a hotel. But for some reason, once we put them down for their naps in our new place, we didn't hear a peep! I was amazed. Here are the two of them taking their first naps in our new house.

My mom was so awesome. She drove down with us to help us unpack. She put shelf paper in pretty much every single drawer and cabinet in my kitchen. And I get happy every time I open said cabinets. Mom, you are really the best.

Us standing in front of our new house.

Grandma left on Wednesday. We gave ourselves a sad day. And it was a very sad day. But on Thursday, it was time to pull out of it, so naturally, we had to go get suckers. What else could we do?

This is our shed. As of now, I love sheds. Best idea ever, especially in a land without basements. (as an aside, I found out why they don't typically have basements in Albuquerque. Because when it rains, basements fill with mud. I deduced this from the Bishop thanking everyone who had helped so-and-so dig all the mud out of her basement after the excessive rain they got last weekend.)

This is our patio and yard. By far my favorite part of this house. Minus the fact that the lawn is full of stickers...but that too, will be remedied eventually, I am sure.

Three most handsome boys ever

Our yard

The rest of our yard

The view from our back yard. We almost look like we don't live in a desert. A bit deceiving. :) But we do live on a hill and it does overlook the city with the mountains in the background and it is beautiful.

Anyway, that is about it. Stay tuned. As soon as our house is a tiny bit more put together, I might post pictures. If I'm lucky. :)