Long, LONG overdue post

Isn't he the cutest?! 

I was thinking how when someone is silent, it usually is assumed it's because there is no new news. But it's actually quite the opposite. Silence, (or lack of blog posting in my case) is because of crazy busyness!! This got me thinking, this is true of how God works in our lives. There are times we think
He is being silent in our lives, but often that's when He is working the most. It's so easy to think that the Lord is nowhere to be found. Yet, HE is with us always.
Just something that came to mind. :-) So, anyway… We sold our house! (Insert happy/sad face here) Long, LONG, LONG story short we have decided to stay in Salem and not move to Idaho as we previously thought and planned. It kind of has been a long time coming but we finally came to a decision the night before we got an offer on our house. Go figure! I (we) have been feeling like the Lord has been telling us that Salem is where we should stay and raise our family. Jordan's job is here, our friends are here, we have become a family here. I'd never thought I'd say this but Salem is our home now.  I have so many mixed emotions. I had to give up the dream or idea of being close to my family. Growing up I always wanted my children to grow up within close proximity of their grandparents, something I never really had.  My kids have cousins their same age in Idaho. It's BEAUTIFUL there. But, we are also happy to stay in Salem. Really, we have a church we love, friends and a life. We like it here, now. Salem has "grown" on us! So lets keep Salem lame! I embrace it. And guess what? Oregon is BEAUTIFUL too! We are so blessed in so many ways- I dare not complain! We kind of have a good thing going with all our family too! We get to visit both the Winters crew in Washington and Bertsch crew in Idaho quite a bit and they come visit us. We see one another a lot considering the distance between us. And our kids LOVE their grandparents/aunts/uncles/cousins- its always special when we are visiting one another. Why mess up a good thing? :-)
We move on November 12th. We will be downsizing and moving into a new construction home while we look for something on some acreage, that we hope to be our long term home. Our desire is to have some room for our dog and kids to play and grow up! Selling our house has been such a roller coaster, finding a new home has been such a roller coaster. Not sure if I can even process it all right now.
I am sad to leave our home. We built and bought this house about 2 months after getting married. I was 22. I became an adult in this house, a wife, a mother. I brought my babies here. It will be so hard to leave. But I am also excited for this new chapter in our lives. And I can trust that the Lord has good things for us in the future, as this is something we have prayed for, for many, many months… years? God has certainly answered our prayers, even it may not have been the way we thought He would.

Our kids are doing great and of course make me/us smile everyday. Ara is pretty hilarious and Im dumfounded with her independence, determination, strong will and sometimes her, ahem, attitude. She is also sweet, sensitive and is has a wonderful concern for others. Recently, she has perfected her "I don't want to do something so I'm going to pout like you've never seen before" face. Actually it's an entire production, where she sticks her belly out, hunches her shoulders, tips her chin down to her chest and looks down at the ground. It happens every-single- time something is not quite agreeable to her. It's pretty hilarious right now, lets hope it's just a faze! Because when a 20 year old does this, it's not cute. Ahhh to be a two year old. Ahhh to parent a two year old!
Sawyer is following the footsteps of his sister and seems to be every bit the daredevil she was at that age. Wanting to climb, crawl and pull up on anything he can. I love to hear his sweet little voice more and more. He's saying Dada and Ara, I may have even heard him repeat Momma. So cute. He's just the sweetest. I can't wait to see the little person he will become. But for now I am enjoying all the baby-ness I can get out of him while it lasts.
Here are just a few pictures of our recent activities. (I've been TERRIBLE about taking pictures lately)

Oh, ya, I turned 30!!! Ara and Grammie made me a cake!!!

CUTE!

YUM? Just a small taste…

Ta-da! Look at that layer cake, so fancy!

Thanks Ara, you're the best. THIRTY FEELS GREAT!! 

LOVE. 

LOVE. 

This is a beautiful comparison my husband recently made.. :/  Ara suffers from a terrible pouty face and what I like to call a "mean mug". I have been told on several occasions I have this resting mean mug too. Sorry, Ara. Here they are captured on camera. Guilty. 

Cousin Kade and Sawyer

I'm gonna get you!

"The girls" 

Best buds- well it might be a slightly one sided friendship. 

What could I possibly say?

Riding ponies and EZ Orchards for our annual pumpkin trip

Rainbow is starting to look a little sad by the end of the day… :/

Ara in her Oma's dress, so sweet. 

"You got gas money?"

"No, officer I was NOT texting and driving." 

"Addie, you can totally fit inside with me. I once had like 5 people in here." 

As close as we get to a family photo these days!

Don't act so excited, Ara.

My big girl riding the pony! 

Walker!

I always need extra help in the kitchen. 

A rarity where both kids napped in the jogger

Loving the swing 

Last years pumpkin patch trip- hoarding water bottles. 

Where'd these babies go?!?! Ugh. Time is cruel.

Last year there were two babies… now there are FIVE.  My cup runneth over.