He's 4!!!!!!

I am officially the mother of a four year old. This year's birthday has been different for a few reasons....
as part of our daily learning time at home we have calendar time. It's one of those giant desk top dry erase calendars so in addition to numbering the days I'll draw pictures on certain days to help us remember what's going on and what's coming up in the month. And of course with this month's the 22nd day had a picture of a cupcake to indicate that it was Ethan's birthday. I think he pretty well grasped the concept of his birthday last year, but nothing like this year. He's been talking about it all month and somewhat counting down the days. He knew today was all about him, it was HIS birthday, and he was now 4 years old. As a result of this he was in a bit of a rare mood all day, not in a bad way, just a little bit more wirey than usual.
Something else that made his birthday different this year was the absence of Trent. Monday afternoon we dropped Trent off at the airport, his company was sending him to LA for a week long training. So Trent came home after a half day at work to spend some time with us before he had to go. We had an early/mini birthday celebration with Ethan where Trent would be gone today and we thought it would be fun to take him out to lunch. When we asked him what he wanted for lunch he said, "chicken nuggets and fries!" so off to McDonald's we went. Ethan and Kiari had a great time playing on the indoor playground and Ethan was thrilled with his happy meal toy.
Back at home and shortly before we had to leave for the airport Ethan had a birthday present come in the mail. Trent had ordered him an ant farm. When Trent first started talking about it I was pretty skeptical.... I mean.... they're ants. But its actually been pretty cool to watch them go to work. After Trent got the little "farm" all set and put the ants inside Ethan started saying, "I have a real pet!" needless to say you can just imagine how he'll feel when we bring home a puppy one day.
Because Trent was going to be gone for a week I asked my Mom if she'd like to come spend a few days with me and the kids while he was gone and she flew in this afternoon. Ethan has been saying that he "invited Nana to come for his birthday party." pretty cute. on the way home from the airport Mom and I were ready for dinner so I gps'd directions to a restaurant that I had heard about on Food Network called Cherry Cricket... and let me tell you I think it was one of the best burgers I've had. And I'm pretty sure Ethan's hot dog was longer than his forearm. Lucky for us, just around the corner from the Cherry Cricket was a little Italian shop with some deliciously yummy gelato. After that we were pretty well stuffed so we made our way home.
I had made Ethan's cake the night before and decided that instead of going to town on it like I did last year, I would make up some frosting, let Ethan pick out some colors, and then have Ethan and Kiari decorate the cake. I got some cute videos of the two of them working on it but I've never been able to get my videos to post... and the still pictures are on my mom's camera so I'm sure I'll get them up sooner or later. When they were done with the cake we sang and had him blow out the candles, then Ethan was finally able to open the presents that Nana had brought (he was seriously one patient kid, from the time we picked up my Mom to the time he actually got to open the gifts he had waited a long time and never once whined or complained about having to wait).
So today has been a little crazy and definitely a different kind of birthday, but we were able to end it by Skyping with Trent and I think all in all Ethan had a pretty great day.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN, WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Temple Time

On the days that Ethan has preschool we'll take Trent to work so that we can have the car for the day. Last week when we went to pick him up from work instead of heading straight home we made our way over to the Denver Temple. It's a beautiful little temple in a really pretty little neighborhood, and it was so nice to just be able to walk around outside of it with the kids. The weather was perfect and we all had a really enjoyable experience. A couple days later Trent and I had the opportunity to attend an evening session while some WONDERFUL ward members tended the kids for us. Things are going really well as we continue to get settled into our new life here in Denver.

Weekends in Denver

The past couple of weekends have been soooo great. I love the part of this whole transition stage that allows for a different kind of family time, family time that's completely un-interrupted by homework/studying/tests/projects etc. When Trent's with us he's completely ours and I love it.

About 15 minutes away is the most beautiful little outdoor mall, it reminds me of a combination of Thanksgiving Point and The Gateway Mall (both of which are in Utah). Not that I have a mass amount of extra funds to splurge on shopping but I just love going there. Plus they've got some great water features for the kids to play in. So Labor Day weekend we took the kids over there so they could play in the water.












Then this last Saturday, on September 11th, we were able to meet up with Mom and Dad VanderSloot at the BYU/Airforce game in Colorado Springs. The kids were so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. And even though the game sucked it was soooooo great to be able to spend part of the day with them. Love you guys!!!!

SO MUCH......

........ has happened over the last month and a half!!!

My wonderfully talented, hard working, handsome hubby graduated from BYU-Idaho!!!

A few days later we started packing up EVERYTHING to move down to Idaho Falls for a couple weeks so as to be able to spend some quality time with Trent's parents.
(she totally fell asleep while I was cleaning the apt.)
And it was a good thing we hadn't started unpacking anything!!!
One week after graduation (Friday, July 30th) Trent accepted a job offer with a company just outside of Denver, CO. The original start date was August 15th... then Trent mentioned he could be there sooner if they'd like to which they said, "great! how bout the 9th?"
So Tuesday morning we rented a u-haul and loaded it up! That night we had dinner with Trent's Mom and second Dad Wayne after which we hit the road!
We drove a little over 3 hours then stopped just after midnight at a little... and I mean little... motel to get some sleep. Bright and early the next morning we were off!
We got into Denver about 8 and we were beat. Trent had made reservations for us to stay at an extended stay hotel because we still needed to find a place to live.





Our kiddy-winks Thursday morning in bed at the hotel. And no I didn't pose them, that's how I found them. :o)
I had been apartment hunting online for days! I had a pretty good sized list of places to look at but some of the issues we ran into were: no short-term lease, over budget, no 3 bedroom availability, too far away from Trent's work.... sigh.
It started to feel like a very looooooong day.
Trent had contacted the services missionaries who put us in contact with a leasing agent that was helping their son rent out his empty condo. We looked at the condo and I didn't like it at all. The leasing agent, Melissa, told us that she had a town-home that had JUST become available but that she couldn't show it to us until the next day. After one of her co-workers told her that we were hoping to be moved into something by the next day Melissa called and told us that we could come and pick up the keys and go over on our own to look at it. She was so confident that we were going to love it that she gave us and application to take with.
We saw it. We liked it. We spent a few hours thinking and praying about it and that night faxed the application to Melissa. We signed the lease on Friday and the unloading of the u-haul began!!!!
We liked it a lot when we first saw it but the more time we spent in it we kept telling each other how much we love this town home. It's so totally perfect for us right now and we couldn't be happier. We felt/feel so spoiledly blessed with the way that things had been falling into place for our little family.


And here it is!!! It's a 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath town home with a garage, and and a small fenced in patio. It's in a whole neighborhood of similar town homes and tucked back in a little cul de sac. The kids love it, we love it, and we're really enjoying our new ward, they have made us feel so welcome.




So we get all moved int and a week after we rolled into Denver the kids and I hop on a plane to SLC to attend Melaleuca's annual convention. This year they were celebrating 25 years! Wa-hoo!!! This was my third convention and just as I have in the past I loved absolutely everything about it. For the first day my sister-in-law and I went in on a baby-sitter together, the next day my dear friend Sarah spent part of the day with my kids, and then my Mom and my brother came into town to help with the kids and of course hang out! Thanks to Mom and Jason this was the first year that I was able to attend the closing banquet and it was a neat experience.

The kids and I got home Sunday night and then the next Wednesday got on another plane to go to Idaho! I was able to spend a couple days with my parents before getting on a plane with my in-laws to head up to Oregon for the family's annual crabbing trip!
Our weekend looks like this:
Leave Friday afternoon. Friday night we get together and eat Thai food until we're sick. Head to Tillamook, get a good night's rest. Get up super early Saturday morning, have breakfast, head to the marina. Then we hit the water and we're out crabbing, this year we were out from about 8:30 to 1:00. Back at the marina we cook up the crab then clean it and take it over a little diner near the marina. On the way back to the hotel we stop by the Tillamook Cheese Factory for cheese and ice cream. Then back to the hotel to shower and crash for a couple hours before dinner. Then we head back to the diner and eat our catch of the day! Then we head home Sunday morning. Love it. It's so much fun to have the kind of time with the family and I'm so grateful for the opportunity that we have to do it every year.
THANK YOU THANK YOU MOM AND DAD VANDERSLOOT!!!

Trent, Jessie, Cassie, and I with our biggest catch of the day.
Here's the family's joint catch of the day! Yes... that's a lot of crab. And yes... it was very yummy.

We we got back to Idaho Trent and I were able to spend a few hours with my parents and brother before catching our flight back to CO. Thanks so much Mom and Dad for watching the kids so that we could go crabbing!!!!!!


The Saturday after we got back from Oregon Trent's company had a family night at the CO Rockies game and it was so much fun. It was neat to be able to meet and spend a little bit of time chatting with and getting to know the partner's that Trent has been working pretty closely with. They seem like really great people and it was so great of them to treat their employees and their families to such a great night out together.

I think that pretty well sums it up. Trent's really enjoying his job. He flew out to Dallas Wednesday night with some of the partners to meet some potential clients then was home Thursday night. And they're flying him out to LA later this month for some training meetings. So it seems like things are going quite well for him thus far. And so far we love it here in Denver. Its been hot but I can't complain. :o)
Life is beautiful and we continue to feel overwhelmingly blessed.
And yes.... I am hugely pregnant but not due until November 18th. I'm not quite sure what this little dude is going to do for room for another 11 weeks though.... he's strong... and sometimes when he kicks it hurts. We're excited for him to join us.