A New Year and A Lot of Changes

I haven't blogged for almost two months now cause we have had so much going on that I just can't keep up. No pictures for now because my camera went out around Thanksgiving and Darin got me a new camera for Christmas, but I haven't taken the time to figure it out. I will post some pictures when I get a chance to breathe. Part of my reason for blogging this morning is to take a moment to sit down and breathe. A little update on what has been going on since the last post.

Thanksgiving - Heather & Shane came to Texas for Thanksgiving. We had a great time with them for a week and had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Helen's & Uncle Richard's house.

My students had a recital on December 11th, which I thought was very successful. All of the students that performed were beginners and I was very proud. Abigail sang and played the piano. Her nerves got the best of her during one of her songs, but I was really proud that she even had the nerves to do it. She was one of the youngest performers.

December 17th was Darin's last day of work at the Walmart Distribution Center. He is definately glad that that chapter in his life is closed. We are glad that he was willing to work that job even though he hated every moment of it. I am glad that he realizes the importance of providing for his family even when you have to do something that you don't love.

On Christmas Eve we went to Darin's sister's house for a gathering of his Texas siblings and their families. We had a nice dinner and gift exchange with Tracie, Sheralyn, & Eric.

We spent Christmas with the Stockers and it was a typical busy Christmas day with Grand Nan and PaPa. All of the extended family came over for our Christmas day party. It was a smaller crowd than usual, but things like that happen when cousins get married and start having families of their own.

NOW FOR THE BIG NEWS!
We have moved again! Darin got a job offer in Pocatello, which he was happy to take considering he was pretty miserable at his Walmart job in Texas. So, we quickly packed up our stuff and headed back to Idaho to the freezing cold. We will miss our Texas family, but we feel like this is a good opportunity for us where Darin and I can accomplish the goals that we have for our family. Who would have thought? I have decided that I have completly stopped guessing where my life will take me, cause I am sure to be wrong. I was really sad to leave my 26 students, but I pointed them in the direction of some excellent music teachers and I hope they continue their music learning with their new teachers.

Since we have been in Idaho.

We found a house to live in, and we all love it. We are not moving back to the farm and that is okay with us. In my opinion, farms are nice places to visit when you want to get away from civilization. We have been to our new ward, we don't love it yet, but I am sure it will grow on us. In my past experience, it takes about a year to get used to a new ward, and callings seem to help with the process and give you a since of belonging. Darin has started his new job and likes it alot. He works in Pocatello for two days a week and travels to Preston and Rockland for the rest of the week. On the days he travels, he gets to use the company car and when he goes to Preston he even gets to have the company credit card to take people to lunch and discuss business. Abigail started back to school, she has a "boy teacher" and really likes him. She was very apprehensive at first and didn't know if it would be okay to have a "boy teacher," but she even says that she likes him better than her teacher in Texas, so that is good. We have found that she is ahead in reading, on track for spelling, and behind in math. We have been doing lots of math equations using cheerios lately. All of the girls started dance and they have a blast. They take dance at on of the best dance studios in the region and their teachers are great and LDS too. All of the girls seem really happy and are enjoying the space of our new home. We haven't played outside much cause it has been too cold for mommy, but the backyard looks pretty fun. Abigail has infomed me that "if we move one more time she is going to scream." My sentiments exactly. We are hoping to make this a long term thing for us, but only time will tell. I hate packing, moving, and unpacking, so I hope we stay here for a really long time, but as I said before, I am done guessing where my life will take me. Once we get settled, I hope to get a few music students and organize a curriculum to start an in-home pre-school in the fall. We have high hopes that 2011 will be a great year for us, I think we deserve a good year, cause the last two have been really tough.