Those Things Which are Before

I've been completely unmotivated and uninspired in the kitchen lately. 

Usually I adore trying new, healthful recipes.

It could be because we just moved from a city I loved, my Home with a capital H, to a temporary living situation in a very different world. 

It could be because Zak doesn't eat with us as his work keeps him away most of the week even providing a place for him to sleep away from home. 

But mostly I'm heart-broken that the first city we've lived in our nearly 6 years of marriage that felt like HOME, is no longer ours. Instead, I've been feeding my kids nutritionally inferior, processed foods. Something else to beat myself up over.

Regardless, I firmly believe that as temporary as this current living situation is, keeping our family together is what is MOST important.

So I continue, one foot in front of the other. 

Trying not to be as Lot's wife (Genesis 19), who commanded not to look behind her did so anyway. But instead I try to remember that "the past is to be learned from and not lived in."

So here's to "reaching forth unto those things which are before."

Coming Soon!

Stay with me...TONS have been happening with our family in the last 2 weeks and I barely have time to sleep these days. You can look forward to hearing all about Zak's Graduation, our trip to Moscow, ID to check out their town, the U of Idaho campus and look into their Master's in Accounting program, a little foray into Spokane to visit some great friends living out there, our new apartment in town (temporary) and Zak's summer job...I think that's it for now. Details and pictures to follow in the next few days. Keep checking back!!!

Perks

Zak came home from work today with a cool new jacket. Not that the weather out here would dictate the necessity for a jacket....

Who said Accountants don't have a sense of humor?

A Little Clarification Please...

We are in Kansas City, Missouri for a summer sales job. In the fall (we just learned) that we will be in southcentral California for an internship with CBIZ where Zak will be involved in Forensic Accounting. In January, we will return to Idaho for Zak's final semester before graduating with his Bachelor's Degree...next summer, not too sure yet...and Fall 2009 Zak is planing to start Graduate School at Ohio State for one year. It is sure to be a crazy whirlwind that edges me a tad bit outside my comfort zone but we are enjoying the adventure all the same!

In the distance you can see downtown Kansas City..kook at all those treeees!

Yesterday, Belen and I went for a walk around our apartment complex and just by chance met a bunch of other women here with their husbands who are selling also. One woman's little girl squatted down to play with something on the ground inadvertently exposing a bit of her tush. Belen walked right up to her, and pulled the little girls shirt down to cover her tush. I'm so proud! My sweet little modest girl!

Welcome to Kansas City, Missouri!

We began our journey eastward on Wednesday, April 23rd stopping in Clearfield, Utah Wednesday night.  Thursday we drove down to Provo and had a wonderful lunch with Josh.  It was so great to see him and eat some super yummy food I might add!  Leaving Provo, we continued on toward Colorado Springs, CO where we were able to rest up a bit staying two nights with Malo and Yvonne! But lo, the sad truth was that we had not completed our journey so on to the Missouri we went taking only those items of utmost importance that could be wedged into our car or carried on our backs.  Through mountains and tundra, this way and that way, dodging the tumbling tumble weed to the rolling plains of eastern Kansas and finally...Kansas City, Missouri was in our sights.  Our home for the next 4 months. But, what is this? That spring -time has already arrived in the Missouri, our hearts soared, our eyes shone in sheer delight for what did we see? ...yes, trees and flowers in bloom, oh my!

Sunday, our first day at church in this far off land...was great!  We are in a ward that just split from another ward so the new ward is small, and warm and very friendly.  It reminds me very much of the Mt. Norway and Parker's Landing wards in Washougal.  So much so, that attending church here was almost like being home. After church we found out that Liberty, MO is only about 15 minutes from our apartment in Kansas City so we loaded Belen up in the car and embarked on a little family adventure to Liberty Jail, where Joseph Smith was falsely incarcerated for just over four months during the winter of 1838 

(November 20, 1838-April 9, 1839). 

I know this picture is dark and difficult to see but it gives you an idea of what it was like for Joseph Smith 

(seated on the left at a desk with a small candle for light writing a letter), 

Hyrum Smith, Lyman Wight, Alexander McRae, 

Caleb Baldwin, and Sidney Rigdon were also with him in Liberty Jail.

It was really interesting to learn a few additional facts about the Jail, like the walls were four feet thick and even the guard on the main floor of the jail (over head from where the prisoners were kept) was locked into the jail, he did not hold a key just in case the prisoners were able to lift the 45 lb. slab of wood that covered the entrance to the keep.  Also, for several years after the jail was no longer used as a jail it was used as an ice house.  Ice was taken from the Missouri River in the winter and stored in the keep (the cellar where Joseph Smith and four others were held). It was so cold in the cellar that the ice was kept through the majority of the summer before it finally melted. Liberty Jail was very much referred to as "Temple Jail" by Joseph Smith, as we learned on our tour, because of the revelations that Joseph Smith received while there namely Doctrine and Covenants Sections 121-123.

Our Busy Little Bee!

I will post an update about Zak in a day or so but I wanted to put a few things up about Belen first, since it's been awhile.  She is walking like a pro and she can now eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but  she still only has the two teeth so we still have to stick to a lot of the softer food variety.

What a girly girl!

Playing with Daddy!

Playing with Jana!

Wearing Mommy's Coat

 "I'm gonna get you! There's nowhere to hide!"

"I can seeeee youuuu!"

"Pleeeeaaaassseeee!"

In other news, we have made the official decision NOT to move to Alaska in July. It was a tough decision for us because we had the opportunity to be associated with some really great people but as we began to move in that direction (i.e. beginning to pack things up and contacting moving companies and apartments up there) it just didn't feel like the right thing nor the right place for our family.  We have a few other options that have come our way but we will be taking the summer off school (the first since we moved out here two and a half years ago) so that Zak can work and make some moolah.  Yes, after nearly 14 months since our daughter was born, 37 weeks of pregnancy before that, AND 5 months of marriage before that...I have finally decided that I am O.K. with being a wife and mother without being involved in some additional personally defining activity (work/school). Zak would very much like to support me in this endeavor but that requires that he take the summer off to work rather than finishing his last semester of school. We are not completely sure what kind of work he will be involved with...he may do an internship or he may do some summer sales in Missouri and reserve his internship for a company in an area we'd actually like to stick around in. We are itchin' to find our little piece of heaven on earth and I'm convinced that, for us, it is not in Idaho.

 

Sorry the video is sideways, I'd edited it on my computer but, hummm, I don't know what happened.

Going to Alaska!!

Zak has been invited to a second interview for a position in Alaska. This particular company has invited me to come along as well so we are off to enjoy a weekend together exploring Alaska with about 30 other potential associates and their wives. We are really excited to see what Alaska has to offer. It's funny, I never even considered Alaska as a possible place to live ( I think I was deterred by the series Northern Exposure just a bit...frozen tundra...a random moose wandering about...I dunno) but I think it might just be the opportunity and the adventure that we've both been craving.