Been missing these cute faces lately....

I always wanted to be a nurse....

So I got a new job working at an Immediate care clinic! I will be working part time: one 12 hr shift a week and every other weekend. Perfect! I was supposed to start on Thursday, but turns out the nanny I hired decided to disappear off the face of the earth and never showed up. So, needless to say I had to call in my very first day telling them "I cant make it". I was mortified. Fortunately, they understood and it wasnt a big deal. Lucky me. So anyway, yesterday was my first official day and I was very excited to get back into the field. I hadnt worked for 5 months, so I was a little nervous I would be rusty! The day went really well, and it turns out the xray techs there are basically "just one of the nurses". I did everything the nurses did like go out and get the patient, bring them into a room, take their vitals and medical history etc. I take strep tests, help with urine samples, irrigate ears, heck maybe actually do an xray in the midst of all of that! It's been a great learning experience for me, but I am always up for a challenge! I enjoy all of the patient interaction on the nursing side, but still get to enjoy doing my job as an xray tech! It's the best of both worlds! As far as the nanny goes, I honestly haven't heard from her... I've called, left messages and emails. I dont know where she is, I hope she is not just being a total flake and avoiding me. Seriously, who would do that? So, I decided to start looking for someone else and I have a nice girl coming over on Tuesday to interview so hopefully she is a good fit! I have really enjoyed the time I spent being a stay at home mom, but I am excited that I have something to do just for "me". I get to meet new people, have some adult interaction and get a little break from the demands of my kiddos! Luckily, I am still going to be home with them most of the time, and they get some wonderful daddy bonding time during the weekends that I work!

House talk

Lately I have been thinking a lot about our future, mainly houses! When we moved here to Indiana we decided to rent a house since we knew nothing about the area or the market out here. We found a house online that fit our criteria but we never even got to se it before we moved here. We like our house, it's big and the kids have tons of room to run around! There are a few things that I really don't like, the main one is location. Because it's on a golf course, the majority of people in this neighborhood are retired. My poor kids haven't met any friends :( Also, Andy has found himself driving into he city most days which takes about 1 HR or more with traffic. Basically, if we could pick our house up and move it closer to downtown in a more family friendly area that would be perfect!! Obviously, that is not possible so now we have to consider moving... Again.... The thing that frustrates me most is that real estate here is so cheap, and we could serioulsy buy our dream home for 150,000-175,000, which would be cheaper than rent! The problem is we don't really know where Andy's job will take us in the comin years. I don't know if we are ready to buy something here, and then get a job opportunity somewhere else down the road. When you work in the sports industry, moving is inevitable really. The job he has now could likely be the first of many as he works his way up in the industry. So, you can see why I am battling the idea of buying a house vs renting. I will tell you one thing. I hate white walls and not being able to decorate MY house the way I want. It's hard being away from everyone here, and coming home to a boring house that I can't make my own... It's killing me! The plan as it's stands now is start looking for a new rental house around July (we won't move in until September when our lease is up). We want to know where we will be living by the time school starts in August! I can't believe Dallin will be in Kindergarten! But, I will continue tossing around the idea of buying a house...

The best tree EVER

I had to post a picture of my Mom's Christmas tree this year! THis picture seriously doesn't give it justice. Every year I look forward to seeing how my mom decorates, and this year she chose the theme "winter wonderland". She is so talented, and we all keep telling her she needs to make a business out of it! Cant wait for next year!

Home for the Holidays!

We were so excited to make it back to Utah for Christmas! We flew out in the evening and didn'e make it to Utah until 2:00 in the morning (4am Indiana time). We were all walking zombies and my kids only slept for like an hour during the whole time traveling. AHHH. But, we bounced right back and were ready for some Cafe Rio the next day! LOL! We stayed in Utah for 15 days, and had a lot of fun visiting with family and friends. We spent some time with our friends, watching football, girls night out, guys movie night, snowboarding with the boys, and much more! Our Christmas Eve was spent at my parent's house for our annual Christensen family party! I look forward to this every year, it's the only time I see my mom's extended family! Since we were staying with Andy's family, Santa came there and brought the kids lots of presents! We only opened Santa gifts before heading out to an amazing breakfast at the Little America down town with Andy's family! YUMMY! After breakfast we made it over to my mom's where we opened gifts and spent the afternoon visiting! We headed back to Andy's parent's house where we finished opening our family gifts and had dinner! We were busy until 8:00, which although tiring, was so nice! It was better than having Christmas over at 9:00 AM. My kiddos were so spoiled, and so were Andy and I! Dallin was all thing super hero... and I mean EVERYTHING. Costumes, action figures, shaving set, books etc. etc. etc. Claire was showered with girlie things like an Ariel Doll and Princess TuTu! It's nice to finally have some girl stuff in the house, although I will say she sure does love all of Dallin's toys. It might take a while for her to learn how to be girlie! Andy and I got lots of clothes, gift cards, money, and a Wii! Dallin is totally excited about this one! I also got a beatuful necklace from vintage pearl with my kids names engraved on the pendant. So cute! Well after all of the Christmas hype died down, we enjoyed more time with family and friends. I wasn't able to get everyting done that I wanted to, even in the 15 days we were there :( Sorry to anyone who I wasnt able to see. We are hoping to make it back in late March to see my neice June after she is born! I had to fly home alone with the kids, which I was totally dreaing. Fortunately, the kids did great, both flights were faster than expected and it worked out fine! Here are a plethera of pics from the trip. Sorry for not commenting on each one, but you all get the idea!

SNOW!!!

My kids love the snow, everything about it. Whether it be sledding, making snow angels or just shoveling the driveway, they are not hesitant to get out and have fun! We have gotten lots of snow here in Indiana so far, more than usual (so we hear) so we have taken advantage as best we can. We made it out sledding before all the good snow melted and the kids had a blast, even Claire. SHe is fearless, just like her brother! Here are a few fun pics of some of our witner activities!

Back to work

Since moving to Indiana the finances just have not been in order (story of everyone's lives, right). After much contemplation, we decided that it would be best for our family if I went back to work part time. I was okay with the idea. It's no surprise to anyone that I love my job, but part of me felt a bit hesitant because one of the big reasons for moving out here was so I could be a stay at home mom. I thought about it a lot, and this is what I concluded: I could stay home every day and be bored and poor, not being able to afford to do anything fun with my kids like soccer, or museums, or the zoo, or even McDonalds for cryin out loud... Or, I could work part time and give my kids the opportunity to do more. I guess you figured what I picked. I applied for a few jobs, with no response. I was getting a little frustrated because I feel like I have great work experience and was surprised to not hear back from them. Then right before we left to Utah for the holidays, a job was posted for part time every other weekend and two 6 hour shifts during the week. Alright, this sounds like it could be good... so I applied. I got a call the next morning and interviewed the next day. That interview went great, and she immediately scheduled me for a second and final interview. I found out there were over 40 applicants for the position! Crazy! So we headed out to Utah and I got a call New Years Eve from Human Resources offering me the position! HOOORAAYYY! I was so excited, and the best part, the pay is great, almost $3.00/hr more than I made in Utah! I will be working at an Urgent Care facility, which will be different from the Hospital setting I am used to, but the xray techs there do a lot more than just xrays. I am excited to broaden my skills in the medical field. As far as childcare, we have it pretty much figured out... Andy will be home for the every other weekend shift (8-5) and then he will be able to work half day at home once a week when I work the 2-8 shift, and we just hired a nanny to come to the house on the other day when I work 8-2! It's nice to know that my kids will still be with me and Andy most of the time, and not needing to be placed in day care! The whole goal of me working is this: SAVE MONEY. We decided that if I went back to work it would be temporary, and that's the plan. We are hoping to use the money to pay off a little debt, save, and then once that's done I can hopefully just go PRN and work occasionally after that! I will admit, I am excited to get back to work, it will be a nice break and a good place to socialize and hopefully make some new friends too!!

Turkey Day!

This year we decided to shake things up a bit. It didnt make much sense for me to spend all of the time and money to cook for just our little family so we decided to head over to the Cracker Barrel. Best. Decision. Ever. No hassle, no mess, just a great night cozied up in from of a warm fire eating delicious food! We missed not being with our family back home, but we now are that much closer to Christmas where we get to spend 15 wonderful days in Utah!!!!

Our cute family, courtesy of delayed timer on the camera. Gotta love it.


There was a bit of a wait, so we hung out in the car watching a movie


The boys coloring at our table waiting for the food


Claire in the giant rocker outside of the restaurant

Dallin's Surgery

As most of you know, Dallin has blessed us with 4 years of sleepless nights. He would wake up 2-3 times EVERY NIGHT. Well after talking with an ENT about his history and based on all the symptoms he presented with the doctor decided we would go ahead and remove his tonsills and adenoids to help with any obstruction that could be causing him to wake up at night. I talked to Dallin about the surgery a few days before, and he actually was really excited! He couldn't wait to go meet the "sleep doctor" and get to wear a mask and hospital clothes! The best part about his surgery, was we got go receive a special visit from Grammie! We didn't even tell Dallin she was coming, we just pulled up at the airport the night before and opened the door. Grammie popped her head into the car, and oh my, Dallin jumped out of his seat so fast and wrapped his arms and legs around her so tight. It was seriously the cutest thing ever, I teared up for sure! It was great having her there to offer a little extra TLC, plus Andy and I were able to both go with Dallin to the surgery center, whild Grammie stayed home with Claire. That was very nice! The surgery went perfectly, and by the sounds of it we picked the best doctor. Dallin did fantastic and came out of the anestesia great! The nurses couldn't believe how well he was doing. He was a bit swoolen, but after a bit he was up in bed eating Jello! We were discharged a few hours later, and he did great the first two days! Day three was the hardest, he didnt eat much, and was in a lot of pain. From then on he just got better and better! I was soo proud of him for handling it so well. He was such a trooper, and was back to 100% after about a week!


In the waiting room


All dressed in his hospital garb, ready to go


Sooo sleepy, just out of surgery


Heading home, still a bit drowsy wouldn't ya say?


Day 2: Making cupcakes with Grammie!


As far as his sleep patterns, let's just say it's improving. It is still not what we want it to be, but it's getting there. Last week he slept 3 of 7 nights all the way through the night. That is a HUGE step for us. The other nights, he has been waking up around 11 or so and then sleeping until morning. That is also an improvement. He used to wake up at least twice. So, I am happy with the results so far, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it only gets better from here!!

Halloween Fun

We, like every other family on this planet, carved pumkins to kick off the Halloween festivities!

Andy and Dallin


Dall dug right in... for about 20 seconds. Mom to the rescue to help dig out the rest of the "guts"


My two cuties, and our finished products. Not too fancy, but that's okay, I am no artist!


Halloween was a lot of fun this year! I wasnt sure if Claire was going to understand it, but Dallin was definitely ready to hit the streets! We live on a golf course community with lot's of retired people so we thought that everyone would for sure be home. Actually, we were totally wrong. Basically every other house was dark, and nobody answered. We had to do twice the work!! Andy and I even dressed up a bit, which Dallin thought was pretty cool!

Surprise, surprise. Dallin wanted to be Spiderman.


Trick or treating was right up her alley this year. She loved being able to pick her own candy and put it in her pumpkin! And, she even kept her hat on the whole time, SHOCKER!


Spiderman and his little radioactive spider. Pretty creative, right? (actually it was really the only costume I could find on Craigslist about 2 days before Halloween, but we can pretend it was totally thought out)


HEAVEN!!


CANDY! Recently introduced to it, and totally in love!