Turkey, Temple Square, and lots of pictures of cute babies

Peter and I have spent our Thanksgivings here in Rexburg.  It was a lot of fun celebrating with just Peter, but seeing as this would be the last Thanksgiving I would have close to my family for quite some time, we thought it would great to spend it with my family.  

We've taken this road a lot so I've made it a habit of taking a picture every time we take it.

Once we landed in Utah, we drove to Christie and Tyler's and spent the day hanging out with them.  August and I had fun hanging out while Peter and Christie put up Christmas lights.

August was pooped!

He is such a cute little sleepyhead!

When they left to spend Thanksgiving with the Thompson clan, we headed back north with my family.

But not without making a stop at the Humane Society to check out some sweet pooches! (I'm a sucker for cute little furry animals.  What can I say?)

Kylie and her little girl, Brynn came along for the fun!

Then we had Thanksgiving with the family!  My mom, my sister, and my sister-in-law, Cambri did a great job getting everything together. I didn't get the memo that we were suppose to bring something for dinner so I did feel like a bit of a slacker.  So, rather than stand around and look like a fool, I took a lot of pictures. (Note: I did take quite a few of Lucy.  She's just so stinking cute!)

My fun family! (minus Thomas, Daniel, and Cassie.  They were missed terribly. And my mom isn't in the shot seeing as she was the photographer)

She loves cuddling with JuJu

I have to give my mom credit for these photos.  Apparently Lucy loves walks with JuJu too!

It was a lot of fun to sit and relax on Thanksgiving with the Visser clan for the first time in three years.  I loved playing with Lil' Mike and Lucy and playing games and watching movies with my siblings (or at least the ones that were there.) and of course, it's always great to celebrate this time of year with Peter.

The next day, we caught up with Chad and Kylie again and headed to Temple Square.  I hadn't been to temple square around the holidays for a long time and seeing as I won't see it very much after we moved, we decided to make a strong effort to make it happen one last time.  Of course, we decide to go the first day the lights come one and of course we had to go on Black Friday, the place was packed!  But it was still fun to explore and dive through the crowds with some good friends. (Along with the many photos of August and Lucy, there are also many photos of the Temple and energetic Brynn in her pink, puffy coat)

The only good one I had of Kylie and Chad is the one with Brynn looking the other way.  Figures.

The next day, we packed our bags, yet again, and headed back to Rexburg, yet again.

I'm sure you've all heard this time and time again, but this season really has revealed to me a lot of what I am grateful for.  It might be more apparent to me all that I am grateful for now because I won't be seeing these sites and these people for a long time.  And I didn't list all the things that I was grateful for before Thanksgiving, so I'll list all the things that I am grateful for now.

I am grateful for my family.

I love my family more than anything in the world and for the past three years, my idea of family has grown.  I am grateful for my parents and my siblings but I am also grateful for my in-laws as well.  I am grateful for the new little members that joined our big family and I am grateful for all our furry members that joined our family (I'm referring to the pets)
I love all of you more than anything in the world!
I am especially grateful for my own little family.  Peter is the love of my life and my best bud.  I am grateful that he has been so patient with me and looks out for me.  I am grateful that he was able to work hard so he could find us a job and be able to provide for us and our future little ones. (When that phase of life comes, I'm not sure, but I can't wait to see him as a daddy!)

I am grateful for my friends.

Starting college, I have had a lot of friends.  Some have stayed, and some went.  I am grateful for the friends that we do have and how they have supported us and loved us despite all our quirks.  I have told some of our friends about where we are living, and I was a bit surprised at first when I heard their reactions.  They were really upset! Not that Peter found a job, but that we were moving so far away.  At first I felt bad, but then I felt flattered that they cared about us so much, that they were actually sad to see us go.  I will miss my friends very much but the beauty of the internet is that they follow you wherever you go!

I am grateful for the Gospel.

I know, nowadays, it's not considered 'cool' or original to put your religion on your list of what you're grateful for.  But I don't care.  I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It is hard at times.  I  see how people not of my faith live and I will admit, I wonder what life would be like if I just walked away from this church.  But then I think about where I am at now and how happy I am, and I know that I wouldn't be where I am now if I didn't have the church.

I love this time of year!  I can't wait to celebrate Christmas and New Years and to see our new place in Iowa!

Our long update

I know that for this year, most of my posts begin with "This past week has been pretty hectic" and it is true.  So please believe me when I say, again, that these past few weeks have been frantic.  I know that is no excuse but it is the truth.  

Bottom line-it's been a while. And I'm sorry.

Even though the past couple of weeks have been busy as usual, a lot of big changes happened in our lives.

It started when Peter went on the job board that's in our school's website.  There, he noticed a job opening for a manager trainee position with Nestle/Purina.  He applied for the job, then turned to me and said, "How would you feel about moving to Davenport, Iowa?"  

To be honest, at first we didn't really think much about him applying for the job.  He was stressed with school and, with watching his friends succeed both in school and with jobs outside of school, he was feeling a bit discouraged about what his future was going to look like.  He applied with the full expectation that he was going to get an email a week later from the company saying, "Thanks, but no thanks."

A couple of days later, they called him asking if he was interested in scheduling a time for a phone interview.  We were both pleased but again, we didn't get our hopes up.  The interview went well and a few more days after that, they called him and told him that they wanted to fly him out to Davenport for another interview.

At this point, we were getting pretty excited but, again, we weren't trying to get our hopes up.  I couldn't go with him on this fun little trip, so I decided that while Peter was in Davenport, I would spend time in Utah.  When we got there, we spent some time at Christie's and took them to an authentic Chilean restaurant that we discovered called Pantrucas (I'm guessing on the spelling).  It was fun talking to Tyler and Christie and seeing those sweet munchkins.

We had a last minute shopping emergency.  Peter didn't have a business casual outfit but we found the perfect one to send with him on his interview.

Christie and Peter had a fun time talking about childhood memories.  

After that fun outing, Peter hopped on a plane and went to his first big-boy interview!

While he played in Davenport, I played with Lucy and Lil' Mike!

Yes, I embroidered that onesie she's wearing, and yes, she loves it.

Lil' Mike wanted some attention too.

Lil' Mike loves his new backyard!

These are ones my sister sent me.  Still cute!

Dreaming sweet baby dreams:)

When Peter flew back, we headed back to Rexburg.  He told me that the interview went well but he wasn't going to know for sure if he got the job until they call him back which, they said, would be in a week or two.

Two days later, I'm at work when I get a call from Peter.  He got the job!  We are both so excited/nervous/relieved about it! Davenport is the first place that I felt totally at peace with when Peter first brought it up and I couldn't be more proud of him.
This made Halloween a much more celebratory holiday.

Let me be clear that of all the holidays, Halloween is at the very bottom of the list.  I'll even go so far to say that I hate it.  I hate being scared, I hate the spooky/gory aspect of it, I just hate it.  But, just because I hate it, doesn't mean that I couldn't join everyone else in dressing up and Peter and I had a fun get together with some of the people we love! (This was one of Brynn's first experiences with a ton of sugar in her system.  So it was really entertaining to watch her as well.)

A hunter and his "fox"-y lady.  Get it?

Young Frankenstein-awesome Halloween movie!

Every year, Peter likes to experiment with dry ice.

Watching her climb on her mom's face was definitely a first.

A couple of days later, after officially accepting the job, Purina sent both of us to St. Louis for us to be able to meet the people at Purina headquarters and we had what was called a VIPurina day where we toured the offices and get to see what the company was really about.  The trip was scheduled around the same time that one of our closest friends, Bobby and his wife Lisa were getting sealed in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all eternity.  So, of course we had to go!

Being in the Salt Lake Temple always reminds me of when Peter and I got married over three years ago.  So that place always holds a bit of a sentimental spot in my heart.  But it was fun watching Bobby and Lisa go through the same thing that we did years before.

Right after their ceremony, we rushed to the airport to catch our flight to St. Louis.  We only spent one day there but it was a fun little adventure and we managed to sneak some pictures in that short amount of time.

Our lovely views from our hotel room.

Peter by the arch.

Me by the arch.

Shortly after this picture was taken, a lady kindly told me that I couldn't take any pictures in Purina headquarters.  So this is all I got from our VIPurina day.  The stud with the backpack leaning against his leg is Peter.

We had a lot of fun looking around and it really helped me get an idea of what kind of company Purina is and how they are going to treat Peter as an employee.  I'm really excited for Peter and I can't wait for our next big adventure in Davenport!

When we flew back to Utah, we met up with Bobby and Lisa again, went to see the major motion picture Interstellar,  then went to a shooting range to spray some bullets!

After getting some food, we ended the evening back at the Blind's place cuddling up with Bobby's brother's dog, Trigger, who is the largest dog that I have ever seen.

After that week, it's been nothing but work for me and school for him.  But I look forward to the next couple of weeks where we can sit with family and relax for a bit.  I have put in my notice with McDonald's (hallelujah!) and Peter lightened his load of schoolwork for the semester (dropping an unnecessary class) so now I get to see him more and he doesn't seem so exhausted when I spend time with him either!  We're just grateful that this chapter of our lives is coming to a close and we can start onto the next one soon.