Two Pumpkins In The Patch

Playing a little bit of catch up. Last month(Feb) we went to the polar bear plunge at Boomer Lake. It was freezing. This event was to help benefit the special olympics. People signed up to jump in the lake. The kids had a really good time. The SWAT team did it also and before they went in they lit off smoke bombs and hand grenades. Brett thought that was really cool and still talks about it. We also got "Heart Attacked" by the activity girls in our ward. They decorated our door really cute and left some goodies.

These pictures were also taken at Boomer Lake. It was an unusually warm day so we decided to feed the geese. They are such pretty animals. It is fun to watch them fly and land and listen as they gaggle. There are some good things here in Stillwater.

February 2, 2014 Wow! It has been 5 years since I have blogged. A lot has happened to our family in this time frame.

Brett is 9 now and Analise is 6. Time has sure flown by. Maurey was laid off from his job at Colorado Sintered Metals in 2010. I earned my Certified Nurses Aide and was very lucky to have it. I was working at the hospital and was able to pick up extra shifts when this happened to help our family. Maurey and I reversed roles for awhile. He was home with the kids while looking for a job and I went to work full time. We are so grateful to our wonderful Bishop, Bishop Schooff who help use through theses hard times and our families and friends. In June of 2011 Grandpa Jensen passed away. I was very sad to see this happen but an glad he does not have to suffer anymore and I am grateful for the knowledge that we will be together again. In 2012 my good friend Pam George passed away. I have had a really hard time with her passing. She was a really neat lady and a very good friend. She was the lunch lady at the kids school and will be missed by all the children. In the fall of 2013 I started the Pathway program for BYU Idaho so I can earn my bachelors degree. After you complete the Pathway program you can matriculate into BYUI and start working on your degree. In May of 2013 our family was blessed with employment for Maurey. The only drawback was that it was in Billings, Oklahoma. We knew that this was an answer to our prayers and that if the job was offered we would need to move. Maurey went on the interview and got the job at Melling Sintered metals. We had to make some decisions. Maurey was to start at the end of May 2013. So we decided that he would move and I would stay behind and sell the house and he would come home on some weekends to help. His job put him up in an apartment for the first month. So that helped us get all our ducks in a row. The kids and I drove with Maurey to Oklahoma and dropped him off, then flew home. I started working on getting the house ready to sell, Melissa Law helped nanny for me and I worked full time for the U.S.Army. In June of 2013 a bad fire broke out in the Black Forest area. They still don't know how it started. I left work early so I could make sure that I made it home before all the roads were closed. This was a very scary thing. There was thick, black smoke everywhere. I felt so alone, because I had to deal with things by myself while Maurey was starting his new job. The fire ended up about a half of mile from our house. We were evacuated for 5 days. We had lost power for 24 hours. I was so grateful at this time that we have a loving Heavenly father and bishop that was looking out for our family. The bishop made sure when we got the evacuation orders that I was able to get myself and the kids our safely. It was a hard decision on what we really needed to take. I grabbed the important papers and some photos and clothes and left with tears in my eyes. The kids and I went up to Brenda's sister in law Sharons. I am so grateful for her kindness. Brenda came down to also be with us. I am so grateful for both of them. Maurey was scheduled to come home that weekend and his boss let him come home early to be with us and told him not to worry that his job would be there when he came back. We also had someone that wanted to look at our house when the fire started but we said they would have to wait. After a few days Maurey and I got a hotel room closer to our house. Then after 5 days the evacuation was lifted. We were able to go back home. Everything was unharmed. We are so thankful for that. But now the Black Forest in Colorado is truly a Black Forest. So many people lost their homes. Two days after being home we got a call that somebody wanted to look at our house. They ended up buying it. So our house sold 10 days after we put it on the market. We were grateful but sad at the same time. We had to be out by the end of July. Maurey went back to work and he looked for a house for us to buy, and I continued working and started packing the house. We looked and looked for a house but did not find one we liked, so we decided we were going to build and live in a duplex until it was ready. It was very hard for us to leave Colorado. We were able to spend our last couple of days with our good friends the Fraziers. There were a lot of tears shed as we left the neighborhood. But at least we knew we could see each other again. We arrived in Stillwater, Oklahoma on August 1, 2013 to start our new adventure. Stillwater is a college town and home of Oklahoma State University. It is about 48 miles from Maurey's work. We decided on this town because Billings and the surrounding towns did not have very much to offer. I wanted the kids to have more opportunities. As we were getting settled in the duplex and getting ready to go sign papers to build our house another blessing happened to us. I took Brett to cub scouts at church for the first time and met Debbie Stahman. She has a son who is Brett's age. I told her that we were excited to move in her neighborhood and were going to build a house. She said that she felt prompted to ask if we would be interested in looking at their house as they were going to be moving to Utah to be closer to their families. Maurey and I agreed. They had a lovely home. The lot that we were going to buy and build on was located on the outskirts of the neighborhood. So that would mean that we would not have neighbors on all sides. It was really hard for Maurey to give up living on property. I wanted to live in a neighborhood so the kids could have friends. The Stahman's house was located in the back of the neighborhood but had neighbors on all sides. After seeing their house Maurey said that he might be interested if the opportunity arose. The Stahman's were waiting for a final job offer for Ben. I told her we would be interested in their house and would be willing to wait a week or so before going ahead with building. I think prayers were answered on both sides. Ben got the offer he wanted and we agreed to buy their house. In the long run it is cheaper to buy an already built house. We were also able to take care of all the paperwork ourselves with the help of Ben who is a lawyer and not involve any realtors. This is our new house.