Change on the Horizon

Well, as you know, Robert is in his final year of his PhD. This means we went through the journey of applying for jobs. There were about 50 different jobs that caught Robert's eye, all in academia. He narrowed them down to only 13 that he would accept a job offer over doing another 2 year post-doc at another college somewhere and then try applying for jobs again anywhere and everywhere.

BYU was one of the first applications he completed. They contacted Robert back almost right away and scheduled an interview in October. When interviewing there Robert was given the impression that they would most likely hire him, but their hiring process takes a lot of time so they encouraged him to continue applying for other jobs in the meantime.

So he did, we made a list of the 13 colleges and put a black check mark once each application was completed. BYU also got a green check mark since he interviewed there and we'd planned to put green check marks on any other interviews. After the last application was finally completed I posted this picture on Instagram December 15th.

The very next day we got an offer!

So then we had a decision to make. Clearly, in our heart of hearts we'd love to be back in Arizona near our family, but BYU was our 2nd choice and as we left Provo to come to Santa Cruz 3 and a half years ago I told Robert that I felt like we would be back. So do we turn down BYU, our only sure thing, in hopes that we'd maybe get an offer from ASU, or accept the offer before we even hear back from our other prospects.

After 2 weeks of praying, several pro/con lists, and a couple of temple trips we decided the next step in our journey is supposed to be BYU.

Time for a change of hats!!!

Robert's working himself to the bone in hopes that he'll finish his dissertation in time to graduate in June (though BYU would hold the job for him if he takes a little longer) then we'll move to Provo!! We are so excited for this next chapter of our lives, but we're dreading closing the Santa Cruz chapter. We've LOVED it here and have so many friends here! We have a few emotional and exciting months ahead of us. I'm hoping to pack it full with lots of beach time since we won't get much of that once we move to Utah :)

Instagram Revisited - December

12/9/2014 - Of course I'm working on projects and watching North and South at 3 o'clock in the morning! Aren't you? #johnthorntonlove #allnighter

  

12/11/2014 - First comes rain, then comes the fro. #wavyhairproblems

12/15/2014 - Muh-unday is a busy day it's the day we recover from Sunday. Sunday = Not a day of rest in this house. #excusethemesswelivehere

12/15/2014 - Final application submitted today! Now let's hopefully get more green check marks (interviews) in the next couple months and then hopefully stars (job offers) within a month or two after that! #jobsearch #6monthsuntilgraduation #wehavearrived

12/16/2014 - Who wouldn't go through the effort of pushing the chair across the room so they could stand on it to reach the tube of hydrocortisone which is obviously the best chew toy ever??? #mylife #ilovemykids

12/17/2014 - This girl slept till almost 1pm today and then has been throwing up ever since. We thought we'd been spared, but flu season has caught us at last. frown emoticon Hoping that everyone who is going to get sick gets sick and better quickly, in time for us to head to AZ on Monday. #sickbabiesaretheworst

12/18/2014 - Lydia's already back to her usual self, and it's mine and James's turn. #itsthattimeofyear

12/18/2014 - Was trying to continue to do things to get ready for the holidays and our trip when Robert hands this to me and says, "I need to play a 'The Concerned Husband Card.' You need to rest and get better!" Can't argue with that! wink emoticon #ilovemyhubby

Christmas AZ Trip 2014

One reason I hate waiting so long before updating is I forget all of the little things that I wanted to write down. So this post is going to be nearly all pictures.

Richardson Cousin Exchange and Christmas PJs

Littlest girlies in their matching PJs

Littlest Boys

The Older Girlies

Nertz Nerd Gift Exchange

We added 2 new Nertzlets this year. This is the newer of the 2. I think I was his favorite :)

I'm so lucky to have so many AMAZING long time friends!

Christmas Eve at Scott and Becky's

Christmas Day

We and Preston and Sharon joined mom and dad for present opening this year.

Then we headed over to Robert's parents' to open presents over there.

Then it was back to my parents' to be there for Logan's mission call. He has since finished his 3 month assignment and is now home serving a service mission at the Family History Center in Arizona.

Hot Cocoa Night at the Garner's

As is our tradition we headed over to Hunter and Natalie's Christmas night to visit and drink hot cocoa with our friends. It wasn't until we were about to leave late that night that I realized we hadn't taken a Christmas Day picture of our family. Lydia was out cold, but we took a picture anyway :)

Sunday After Christmas

We were a bit more successful getting pictures of our family this time around than the week before.

Mesa Temple Lights

When Mary saw this she said, "Mom, my name is the same as Jesus' mommy! That's so special to me!" It made my heart happy :)

My boys :)

Me and my girlies :)

New Year's Eve

Was spent with Robert's parents and Grandma, eating homemade J-Dawgs, playing games, and then lighting sparklers and firecrackers. This was the first year the Lydia and Mary made it all the way to midnight without meltdowns. It was too fun. 

And on the 2nd we drove home with another successful road trip under our belts :)

Random December Moments

Lydia and Mary's Preschool Sharing Days
Once per quarter Lydia and Mary each get a turn to do show and tell at their preschool. The first Tuesday in December was Lydia's turn and the second Tuesday was Mary's. The lady's lap they are sitting is the assistant teacher, Teacher Mesha.

Playing While Christmas Shopping

Christmas shopping can't be too stressful when you've got these cute kids making you smile.

 

Big Storm
A record breaking storm came through Central California giving us some much needed rain and Robert a much needed shower ;) Robert was walking home from school right when it hit and got soaked.

The Mustang Mosaic
Once upon a time, my senior year of high school, I started a glass mosaic for my younger brother. His favorite kind of car is a Mustang. It went from being his 2004 Christmas present to being his graduation present to welcome home from your mission to wedding present to now. I moved it from Arizona to Utah with me after I was married then to California when we moved here. When we got home from Thanksgiving I decided enough was enough! And basically did nothing but this mosaic for a week and a half straight, and finally finished it!!

Glass complete

Grouting

VOILA!!

Robert asked me, "What happens if right after he opens it he drops it and it breaks into a million pieces?" I said, "As long as I get to see his face when he opens it, it will all be worth it." And it totally was!

The Festival of Lights
This was our second year going to these lights. Long story short, we didn't plan as well last year and it wasn't as enjoyable of an evening as it could have been. This year however went much better! And the kids were completely enchanted the whole time.

Visiting Santa at the Mall

Most sane people after being exhausted from shopping with the whole family for 3 hours wouldn't pass the big line for the mall Santa and think, "We HAVE to do that!" But I've never claimed to be sane. Several friends had told me/posted about their kids' traumatizing experiences meeting Santa. Most were hilarious pictures of screaming kids, and I was curious how our three kids would react meeting him together.

Well...

Pretty much my kids rock. :) The picture was so perfect I had to purchase the ridiculously overpriced picture to keep forever :) 

They sent us digital copies of the outtakes too. This one is my favorite of those.

Christmas Sunday

This was the best picture we managed to get of our family at our ward the Sunday before Christmas. Apparently, I'm the only one of the 5 of us that knows how to look at the camera.

Ward Christmas Party

The Primary was asked to put on a musical nativity program for the ward Christmas party. I was so proud of how they all did!

After the program Santa came. I was putting away the costumes from the program, so I asked Robert to take the kids to Santa and take some pictures. When Robert has the camera we end up with gems like these...

Love these crazy Primary kids!!

It was a successful and well attended Christmas party. We LOVE our ward!!

Moving On

This is such an exciting age of our lives. Young parents still figuring out how to be parents to our ever-changing kids and all the rewards that come with that. We're coming to the end of our time in the grad school portion of our lives and soon will be moving on to the next steps of our lives.

The hard part about being at this stage of our lives is that most of our friends are at this stage too, and unfortunately we don't all get to move on to the next step of our school/career/family journey at the same time.

We were so lucky to move into our ward at the time that we did. There were 6 or so other couples that had moved in within about a year before we did. Two of those were within 2 weeks of us moving in. All of us had 1 or 2 kids all around the exact same age. It's been such an amazing support and strength to us here in Santa Cruz.

And slowly over that past 3 and a half years they've slowly moved away one by one. On to the next steps. It's always bittersweet because you're SO excited for them and their next adventure and you stay connected through social media and what not, but it's also always sad to see them go. Always.

And most recent to move on mid-December were the Hewitts.

Disneyland - May 2014

They're our buddies. Grant is Lydia's age. The twins just a few weeks older than James. When we first moved into this ward they lived in our complex, then they moved into a different area in our ward for a couple years, then back to our complex for the last 9 months they lived here just a few doors down from us.

Since the time Lydia could talk she's said she is going to marry Grant someday :) It's been so fun to watch their friendship grow. They've gone from babies and toddlers doing little more than playing next to each other to now they're preschoolers playing and pretending with each other. And living just a few doors down has given the kids the freedom to play together at our house, their house, or outside nearly all day any day they wanted as well as going to the same preschool. Lydia lost one of her best pals when they moved, but she is so excited to send him letters and she knows that we hope to visit them within a year or 2.

The day before they left all the kids spent the day at our place while Kris, Will, and helpers finished packing and cleaning their place. Then that night they stayed the night before heading out bright and early the next morning. This gave Kris and I one last night of chatting til late into the night.

Holy cow I miss this girl so much already! We've experienced so much together. She's helped me through the before and after of my surgery, postpartum depression, and we made the jump to 3 kids together and all the trials and joys that brought both of us. We laughed to the point of tears many times and cried to each other when life wasn't so happy. At times we fought like sisters, but we loved each other like sisters too. Spencer W. Kimball said, "God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs" and Kris and Will met our needs time and time again. 

After saying goodbye I was sitting on the couch crying when Lydia woke up and came into the room. 

Lydia: Mom, why are you crying?

Me: Because I just said goodbye to my friends.

Lydia: It's okay. You still have me, and I'm the funnest person ever.

Can't stay sad for too long with that kind of support ;)

Farewell Hewitts! Good luck with your new adventure!