We belong

We belong. We belong to a home, we belong to a neighborhood, we belong to a community and we are so H A P P Y! We have missed our "little bubble" of belonging....but we are back (almost):

It feels nice to "belong" again. This weekend we had two lil' moments of feeling like we were normal. The first one was on Sunday when we went to our new ward.

So these last 5 months, we have just assumed that we were in our ward that was in our immediete neighborhood. It makes sense because all the homes are in the same neighborhood boundary. But we found out that was not the case. In Utah, you can be in a different ward, stake, region, all within a street. No lie, the boundaries can be crazy with so many active families. Well that is our case...come to find out our old "farm property" we built on, belongs to the ward across the street..guess who's in that ward: Amber and Tyler and Brooke and John. The Brown sisters are taking over. I kind of feel bad like we are dominating the ward with 3 sisters, but oh well! My kids were soooo happy and ecstatic. They ALL have cousins their age, even Mace.

SO when we went to church on Sunday it felt so good to belong again..With RY and I gone for 5 months and "ward hopping" as we call it, you lose your sense of community and you start to feel alone. I now realize the importance of having a ward family and feeling like all your neighbors got your back if anything is wrong (members or not members!). We were also suprised to have soooo many people come up to us and welcome us and treat us like we were so special. It was a nice change from being up at the mtn. house for 5 months! The families are awesome and we are so excited....(BTW Emily, I can't believe I am in your mom's ward! Who knew growing up I would be with Sherry...love her, she's great.

Feeling #2 came when Ry and I were installing our mail box. WE went to the house to install our mail box and Ry was outside and I went inside with the kids. I looked out the front window and I saw people strolling towards the house. I saw 3 adults and loooots of kids. They were all bundled up on a walk and they were coming towards us. I looked closer and it is my sis's with their kids. They saw our car at the house and decided to walk down and say hi. All the kids came in and played while Ty helped Ry install the mailbox. Us girls just sat and talked on the porch... It was also nice to have previous neighbors stop by and friends drop in to welcome us back....Oooh the good days are back! :) WE BELONG. thank goodness.

By the way, it was my momma's birthday today! We lucked out that my dad had to speak at a funeral at 11:00 so my mom could say hi for exactly one hour before they had to be back for mission interviews. Great, we were so happy to have those 60 minutes to celebrate my mom's birthday. We whipped up some fancy decorations, delicious lunch, and fab presents and had the "honor" of seeing our mom on her actual birthday. WE know and understand how "lucky" we are to have our parents be mission pres. in Provo. But what people don't understand how much we still miss our mom and how she still misses "all the little things" .(birthdays, baptisms, sporting events and yes we should get over it by now, but why should we have to!)Three years is a loooong time to serve and be away from family. I think it is a great sacrifice on every one's part. (granted that their 250 plus missionaries are her "new" children and need them more)....but we are still happy to say, just 5 months left. Yes.

Oh and I can't believe I am showing my disorganized boxes on this blog. You just have to promise you won't judge me. :) These are pics of all 3 rooms in my mom's basement. S C A R Y. This is what we get to do tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and the next...............

Room #1
Room #2

Room #3 And this pic on the left is the closet that ALL 3 BOYS have been sharing...yes ALL 3 sharing. School clothes, church clothes, and all of their sports clothes...we are busting out at the seams!!

and I have to thank Kim for watching Mace at the last minute for our closing (you are a life saver!)...Thx for singing Taylor Swift and Max and Ruby with Mace. He "woves" you!