The Whole Story...

So a few of you wanted to hear the "whole story" of why we are making this move to AZ. Have you ever known with all your heart that you needed to do something but you knew it would be really hard and so you were totally resistant against it? This is how I feel in this situation and this is how it all started.

Matt's current (well past now) employer had been talking about expanding his business to a bigger facility. When Matt did his rotations for PT School he worked in Queen Creek, AZ for a PT who had a therapy pool. Matt saw how beneficial pool therapy was in treatment and thought that maybe they could implement that into this new facility. He decided to call this PT with a pool to get some details on cost and the benefits so he could present it to his boss. He called him up, and he gave him a little information but then said, "Hey, why don't you just come work for me?" He flew Matt down there and gave him more details about the job, which were amazing. From the get-go I had a feeling it was something that we needed to do, but I was SO resistant because it would be hard. Hard because I was so comfortable in my beautiful new house with my amazing neighborhood and my amazing ward and friends.

Matt liked his job, but they hadn't lived up to their end of the bargain and now that Matt saw what he could have, we realized that he had to jump on it. I tried to come up with different options. Maybe he could just get a new job somewhere else in Utah and we could just stay here. It wasn't that easy though because this had fallen into our laps and we believe it wasn't just by chance.

We contemplated, prayed, and stressed long and hard over the decision, but I think we knew from the start that this was something we just had to do. Really in my head it all doesn't make any sense. Why would we sell this house that we barely built? Why would we leave this place where I finally feel like I fit in and have grown to love so many people?

So where do we go from here? We make the big move to Arizona because we know for some reason we are supposed to be there. We remember our friends and try not to cry every time we think about them. We put ourselves out there and make new friends. We make our new house a home. We love our neighborhood and all our new neighbors even if they drive us nuts and we can't stand them. We remember that we are supposed to be there and this was the right decision even though it was the hardest thing to do and remember that we will be stronger for doing it.

It's Official! Back to the AZ heat we go!

So for those who haven't heard our big news, its official! The Shane family is headed back down to the heat of AZ. It is quite the interesting story how all of this came to be and anybody who wants to hear the story can let me know. It has been a super hard transition for me but I'm getting okay with the idea and things are all falling into place nicely.

We will miss all of our great friends and neighbors and I start crying every time I realize this is actually happening and we are leaving all these wonderful people we have come to love! :(

Matt actually left for AZ last Sunday and I will be joining him on May 15-16.

New adventure here we come! :) and :(

More to come...

Cereal Suicide

This might just be one of the most random posts ever, but its something I need to remember. When younger, I used to get soda fountain drinks called "suicides." This consisted of many various types of soda. Sometimes it would be grape, orange, and root beer (why did I ever think that tasted good?) or root beer, Coke, and Dr. Pepper. Carter's new thing lately has been what we like to call "cereal suicide." He wants various types of cereal mixed together. The combination is different every morning but this morning's combination put me over the top. He has been mixing Fruit Loops and Apple Jacks together, which to me makes sense as they are essentially the same thing. Then he added Pops, which seemed a little strange to me. Today he wanted all 4 boxes of cereal in our pantry mixed together: Fruit Loops, Apple Jacks, Pops, and Frosted Flakes. Hmm...interesting but he ate it and didn't complain!

Pee Pee is coming! Pee Pee is coming!

"Pee Pee is coming! Pee pee is coming," Jaxon exclaims as he circles around the kitchen island. That kids seriously kills me!

I'm happy to say that Jaxon is about 99% potty trained! I'm sorry to say that we can't take much credit because Jaxon pretty much just decided he was going to do it.

It all started when Matt and I were with the boys at Costco about 2 weeks ago. I looked at that huge, almost 4o-dollar box of diapers and said to Matt, "I really don't want to buy another box of diapers." That was when we decided to really try and potty train him. We bought him his special "potty treats" and we were on our way. So the next day the potty training began. He did really well the first day and only had 1 or 2 accidents. The second day I thought to myself that this was too easy. If I let him out of my sight he would have an accident. We changed his clothes about 5 times that day and this made for a very frustrated mother. The third day it was like he woke up and was ready to go because he only had one accident. It has been about 5 days now that he has woken up with dry diapers in the morning and has had no accidents! Horray!

I feel like he was a lot easier to train than Carter, and like I said before when Jaxon decides to do something he will do it!

We're Back and We Had a Blast!

I always have "vacation let down" when I get home from a vacation, so I had to wait a few days to post or else it could have been kind of gloomy. I always hate getting back into "real life." Maybe I'll just have to work on making every day a vacation! :)

So we headed out on Wednesday and we were going to stop in St. George for the night as we didn't leave until about 6:30/7:00. By the time we got to St. George, the boys were both asleep so we decided to keep on driving. We made it all the way to Primm, Nevada and got a room for $25. We woke up the next morning, grabbed some quick breakfast, and headed to Anaheim. Matt got a little sidetracked and started heading towards San Diego, so we ended up going about 45 minutes out of our way. We got back on track and arrived at the Disneyland Hotel. We checked in and our room wasn't ready so we browsed the gift shop, checked out the pools, drove the motorized boats, and ran into Goofy. Jaxon was not happy about this and was deathly afraid of him (and all of the characters for that matter). We got some pictures with Goofy and they texted us that our room was ready. (What did we ever do without cell phones?)

We dropped off our luggage in the room, grabbed the strollers and some waterbottles, and started our Disneyland Adventure. I loved seeing the boys eyes light up when they walked into the park. It really is magical there. We got to ride the Monorail over and the boys were ecstatic to ride on the "fast train." We went on the Finding Nemo ride first and only waited in line for about 15 minutes. It was great and was pretty much like that the entire rest of the day. We pretty much walked on Small World (Grandma Jo's favorite ride and I think Jaxon's too). We took Carter on Space Mountain and he wasn't a huge fan. After he said, "I don't like that fast, dark ride." Needless to say we didn't take him on that ride again, but he was a trooper and very trusting of us to go on pretty much any ride we took him on. Jaxon loved riding the train around the park and I think he would have rode that all day if he could.

The next morning we woke up and headed to California Adventure. The lines once again weren't very long and our first ride was The Grizzly Adventure. There was NO line for this ride and after we hopped off the ride soaking wet we realized why! :) California Screaming was one of Matt and my favorites. Carter was just a hair too short to go on it and was bummed. Carter, Jaxon, and Grandma were at the start of it counting down and that was fun to see them before we took off. The Toy Story Ride was a hit where you get shoot "virtual" balls at targets, even though that was the longest wait at a whopping 45 minutes! It seemed like FOREVER as the other lines were so short. We were truly spoiled. Carter really liked Soarin' over California and the Tower of Terror (surprisingly). We got to see and take pictures with Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Pluto, Chip and Dale, and Goofy. We ate yummy sour dough bread bowls. One of the highlights for me was the Pixar Parade. We saw, Lightning, Mater, Monsters, Nemo, After all our fun, we headed back to the hotel to watch the fireworks. What a great idea that was, as it started to rain. The boys were beat and feel asleep quickly that night.

The next morning we had Magic Morning from 7 to 8 a.m. (crazy what we wake up early for). This was a great time to take advantage of NO lines, especially in Fantasy Land where most of the kid rides are. We did teacups, carousel, Dumbo, Toad's Wild Ride (the boys did not like that one), Dumbo again, and the Blasters in Tomorrowland. Carter, Matt, and I went on Indiana Jones, Spalsh Mountain, and Big Thunder Railroad all in a few hours. On Splash Mountain we got done and there were no lines so the attendant asked if we wanted to go again. Carter looks at him and says "NO" really loudly. Guess he didn't like that one too much. We ate at Rainforest Cafe which was a fun experience and then we headed home.

It was a quick trip and went by way too fast, but we had such a blast. I think I'm already planning a trip back for next year!

Funny stuff

So I mentioned that we have been trying to potty train Jaxon and it hasn't been going very well. However, we can occasionally get Jaxon to try, especially if Carter is going. So this morning Carter invited Jaxon to go pee with him and he accepted. After Carter had done his business and Jaxon was still "trying," Carter said, "What the..." Then Jaxon chimes in, "Heck?" It was pretty funny. they went on like that for a while with Jaxon completing his sentences. I'm sure they got that from me and it just reminds me that I need to continue to be careful what I say around them. They don't miss a beat!

Also, Carter has been "sneaking" down to the bottom bunk to sleep with Jaxon. Today he says to his friend Tyler, "I sleep on the top bunk when my mom is here and then when she leaves I sleep on the bottom with my brother." What a little sneak!!

Jaxon's must-haves

Carter has always been very particular about things and so I thought surely Jaxon would have to be better and more easy going. Much to my dismay...Jaxon is very, very particular and maybe even worse. I wonder where he gets it from? :) Lately he has been very insistent on picking out his own clothes. He has 2 Nike sweatsuits and if he is so lucky to pick out his outfit for the day, it is usually between one of those. I think he likes to be comfy, but more than that both outfits have pockets in the front which he loads up with cars, random toys, and the sort. Oh yeah...and don't forget his "phone." It is hilarious to watch him. He walks around the house, pulls out his phone, and "talks" to someone (usually grandma or grandpa) and is on his way again. Another thing he is insistent on is sitting on the bathroom counter when he brushes his teeth. He has to get up all by himself and uses the toilet as a stepstool. If the toilet seat and cover are not down, I have to close it while he plugs his ears. He also likes to have his blanket on his lap when he eats breakfast or watches Mickey Mouse in the morning. He has to pick out his spoon for his cereal. He loves to wear his "Run shoes." He loves his "sippy cups," gummies, cheese, and yogurt. He is also getting really good at riding his Razor scooter, which really impresses me as I can barely keep my balance on those things. One other cute thing he did was when I was making a cake for dinner group the other night, Jaxon looks at it and says excitedly, "Happy Birthday to me!" I tried to explain that it wasn't his birthday, but he wouldn't have it by repeating, "Happy Birthday to me." I love this kid!

Oh yeah, and he loves to wears Daddy's shoes around the house (or boots).