Grace turns two today. 

How do I sum up my little girl?

She's sweet. She's smart. She's spicy and strong willed at times. She is often shy and cautious. She is loving. She is my everything!

Grace is old enough and strong enough to fight me on changing diapers, putting on clothes, or taking a nap. There is a daily fight about something, and it gets exhausting. She is a bit belligerent and will yell "No!" if you look at her when she doesn't want you to. She is definitely a two-year old. However, Grace is also full of love and curiosity.

She loves her baby sister, Madelyn, and always wants to take care of her. If Maddy is crying, Grace is willing to give up almost anything to help her little sister be happy again. She will find a binky, blanket, or toy to give to Maddy to distract her, and she will tell me, "Maddy cry". Grace gets sad when Maddy has to take a nap. On multiple occasions, Grace has snuck up to Maddy's little room while she has been napping. Unaware, I will hear Grace through the baby monitor, "Maddy...wake up..." It's too cute for me to be mad.

Grace loves learning. Right now she is obsessed with puzzles, especially ones that help her practice her colors. She has always been a book girl and loves to sit in my lap hear me read. Recently, she has started mumbling/reading to herself

​Grace is a follower. She is cautious in her play when she is on her own, but when her cousins come over, she is much more adventurous as she follows their lead. 

Grace is so smart! I love seeing how much she is learning. Grace surprises us every day with new words and knowledge. She can count to 10 in both English and Spanish (almost all by herself). She loves to sing and loves to name the colors. Recently we've discovered that she loves jumping in the pool with her floaties (although her "jumping" is more of a trust fall). 

Two is tough already.  But it is wonderful as well. 

It’s been a rough few days.

I feel like my time is spent just bouncing from one crying child to the other, back and forth in an endless teeter-totter. Grace has been sick for the last 4 days. Her nose is a constant waterfall of snot (not a pretty picture, I know). And then Madelyn is and always has been (bless her heart) a needy baby.

My morning starts off with Maddy. I walk her downstairs and try to chow down some breakfast before Grace wakes up. Grace awakens and the morning is calm for a little bit until the crying starts…and it never seems to stop after that. Since she is sick, it is especially difficult to calm Gracie down. I try to distract her with anything: books, food, a movie, music, hugs, the dogs outside, a blanket fort, ANYTHING.

While I’m in the midst of that, Maddy starts fussing. She’s crying because she’s hungry. She’s crying because she’s too hot. She’s crying because I’m not sitting next to her while she naps. She’s crying because she has rolled over from her back to her stomach, and she doesn’t like to be on her stomach but she hasn’t figured out how to roll back over, so now she is stuck…and angry.

I move away from Grace’s side to help Maddy, and then Grace starts screaming again.

And the cycle continues.

That has been my life the last few day.

I have to acknowledge the help I have received from my family. My mom is always willing to talk to Grace to figure out what she needs. My sister loves holding Madelyn when I am busy with something else. Andrew is an angel at helping me at night once my patience has worn thin and I can’t stand to wipe another boogery nose. I am very grateful for their help.
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But I am just hoping that these sniffles and coughs leave this house soon. And that I don’t catch them! I think we all cant wait to just leave the house and do something fun as a family. 

**Note: Grace is definitely practicing her pouty-grumpy face while she is sick. This is a famous look perfected by me when I was Grace's age. 

Now, after having made the decision, we had to start putting things in motion to sell our beautiful home. We met with multiple realtors and tried to feel out who would be the best fit for us and our situation. We finally decided on Duane, an agent who had recently hired my brother-in-law, Bobby, to do some video marketing for him. Duane had some impressive experience and was the go-getter that we needed. He told us (like all the other agents we had met with) that comps were showing our house would probably sell in the low 350s. But when we told him we were hoping for closer to 360k, he said he liked a challenge and we set the price at $359,900.

We signed with Duane on a Thursday night.
Cleaned like crazy and had the photographer snap pictures of our home on Friday.
Our house went up for sale on Friday night.
Saturday at 6:30 pm we had our first showing.
Saturday around 9 pm, Duane called me.

"I'm calling to put a smile on your face," he said. "You already have an offer on your house!"

What!?!? Crazy!!!

"It's a full-price offer," he explained, "but they don't have a pre-approval letter at this time, so we aren't going to accept the offer just yet. Let's see if anyone else puts in an offer and maybe we can get a bidding war to drive up the price."

I was so giddy with the news. Full price! That was incredible since everyone else had said we wouldn't be able to sell that high. 

But then I got a little greedy... "Well, if there was so much interest from just that first showing, we must be priced right (or too low?) and we will surely have tons of showings and offers. I can only imagine the possibilities!!!!"

Well, imagine I did, but surprisingly we didn't have another request for a showing. No more showings. No more offers. I had to reign back my giddy greediness and accept that we really had received an amazing offer. We were getting exactly what we had asked for and it had happened so quickly. 

We accepted the offer with joy and started packing since we'd only have 30 days before closing. 

Well, of course things can't run perfectly smooth, so a few days later we got a bomb dropped on us. It turns out that getting solar panels on our home a year ago was a bad idea. A very terrible, expensive, bad idea. 

We had been told by multiple solar salesmen that solar would add value to our home (lie #1) and that it would be easy to transfer the payments to a new owner if we were to sell our house (lie #2).   It turns out that solar is a new factor in real estate, and a lot of people don't know how to handle it. It adds zero value to the home, and buyers can refuse to take on the payment which means the seller would have to pay out the rest of the solar loan... in our case, almost $15k! 

This news made me sick. No, really, I was physically ill. I had to cancel a dinner date with friends because I could not muster up the energy nor the enthusiasm to see anyone. It was a miserable night. But then the next day brought a little ray of sunshine. Duane called and informed us that he had talked to the buyer's agent and they were willing to work on a deal. They'd want the refrigerator, washer and dryer, the couches and our bedroom furniture (minus the mattress), but they were willing to pay for half of the solar cost. 

Hallelujah!!!!  This helped ease the sting to our wallets as we drew near the end of our time in Herriman.

The contract specified that we had 30 days until closing, so on December 17 we had family and friends come to the house to load up the moving truck. Then bright and early on December 18 we loaded up the kids and said goodbye to Utah to travel to our new home in California. My mom drove the Mini Cooper and caravaned with me and the babies. Andrew and his brother, Bobby, drove in the moving truck.  After a long day of travel, we arrived to my parent's house (our new home for the next few months until our townhome is finished).

The first week here has been crazy. Between moving, unpacking, Christmas celebrations, and family visits it has been an exhausting week. But we are excited to be surrounded by family and entering a new stage in our lives.

So, you've probably already heard the big news, but let me invite you into the inner workings of this big life change for our family. It is definitely a decision we did not come to lightly.

Andrew has been miserable at work for a long time. He has applied for jobs inside and outside of the company. He has had multiple interviews, and some of those interviews have gone INCREDIBLY well. But then our hearts break every time we get the news that someone else got the position, and once again we wonder why we cant catch a break.

We really do believe that Heavenly Father is aware of us. We know He has a plan for our family, and we know he want us all to be happy.

So with all that knowledge and belief, we still wondered why Andrew was stuck in a job that made him so unhappy? Where were the promised blessings and opportunities for Andrew to improve his situation? We prayed and prayed and prayed for the faith to continue and for the insight to know when the right door was opening for our family.

Well, that door opened one night as we listened to my dad talk about his stress at work and his concern for his sister (my aunt). Andrew sat there and wondered, "What can we do to help him?"

When he asked me that question later, I responded, "I don't think we can do anything to help. It's wonderful that you want to relieve some of the stress, but we don't live close and we don't have the skills to do anything helpful."

Andrew's response was this crazy idea to go into real estate, move to California, and work with my dad.

I cried when he told me his idea. Utah has been my home for over 12 years. What was he thinking?!?!

And then I felt immediate peace about it.

That has been the overwhelming feeling through these past few weeks: peace. And just like that, the decision has been made and we are taking steps to move to California.

You would think that moving your family to a new state, leaving beloved friends and family, and taking such big risks would put a pit in your stomach. But I have never felt that. I've only felt calm peace, and I take that as a big spiritual confirmation that this is the right move for our family at this time.

Of course I am sad. I am so so so sad to leave the wonderful relationships I have here. I will miss hanging out with sister-in-laws who have become some of my dearest friends. I will miss one of my best friends giving birth to her first babies (she's having twins). I will miss the changing seasons and the beautiful Utah sunsets. I've cried so many tears about all the things I will miss. But at the end of the day, I also can’t deny the feeling of peace.

The other day, as I cried in the shower about this big decision, the Spirit spoke to me and prompted my thoughts, "It's your choice. You can choose to move to California, or you can choose to stay in Utah. You can find happiness either way. HOWEVER, if you don't go to California, you will be missing out on some very special miracles that are waiting there for you."

That's how heaven works, through agency. God isn't going to force us to do anything, but there are great blessings for following the promptings of the Spirit and humbly saying, "I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord."

I know there are big blessings waiting for us in California. I know this career move will bring greater happiness and future opportunities for Andrew. I know that there are people who will come into our path who we can bless. I know it. And I am grateful that God has allowed me to see a little glimpse of all the good that will come from this move. 

We have done lots of fun things this month:

• I made a sensory bin for Grace and filled it with rice and some toys. She loves it! And I will gladly take it as a major Mom-win!
• We painted a wall in our living room (in the redecoration efforts, it was looking a little rough). 
• We went to a pumpkin patch as a family. 
• I baked WAY too many cookies this month.  (Delicious, but deadly for any healthy goals)
• We bought a swing for Madelyn since she loves being held ALL THE TIME. Now she snoozes happily in her swing and I can interact with Grace.
• We hung out with family: painting pumpkins and decorating sugar cookies, exploring the Museum of Natural Curiosity, going to baby blessings, playing at the park, and attending Halloween parties.

But October has also brought quite a few tough moments along with the cold:

• Andrew didn't get a job he had interviewed for. What's worse, the person who did get it seems very undeserving and under-qualified compared to Andrew. This was a hard pill for me to swallow since Andrew works so hard and yet cannot seem to catch a break when it comes to bettering his work situation. We just keep telling ourselves to have faith that Heavenly Father will open doors for him at the right time.
• Grace has been getting her molars and it has caused her to be miserable. She had a fever this last weekend and was grumpy for days. I don't blame her, but it is exhausting to deal with as a parent. Luckily, I think we are passed the worst of it, and as I write this at almost 11am she is still asleep. Poor girl. 
• And finally, Andrew's dad passed away this month. It wasn't a surprise as he has been fighting esophageal cancer for the past year. And yet, it was a surprise. Randy was admitted into the hospital on a Thursday. We all went to visit him, sensing that this could be close to the end. He was able to meet Madelyn and spend some quality time with his own children. In the next few days, he actually seemed to be getting better, but on Sunday we got the call that he had suffered a heart attack. When we got to the hospital, he was already gone. His passing has brought on many mixed emotions, but I think the most prominent feeling Andrew has experienced is peace. He feels so much peace about how his father passed away: surrounded by family in those final days, leaving on a spiritual high note in his life, passing away without pain. It's exactly how everyone dreams of leaving this world, and I am grateful that we were able to make a few precious memories with Randy in this past year.