Mmmm, Spring!

I love spring in Florida. Have I said that lately?

I LOVE spring in Florida (and winter, too but I know I've mentioned that).

Anyways, this winter was particularly chilly in a delicious sort of way. I can still wear a sweater in the middle of March! It is amazing.

Today was GORGEOUS! We've been in the process of moving all week so today I took the children to the zoo in Jacksonville. We had a blast! Sawyer was such a good boy. He held my hand and walked around the exhibits and Jane was so polite and kind. When I asked the kids to get back on the buggy and move on to the next exhibit they did just that. Sawyer was practicing his jumping skills and had a ton of fun making new friends.

Sawyer, the poor boy, needs a little brother or boy cousin so badly. He just about jumps with joy anytime he sees little boys playing. You can totally tell that he spends all his time with girls.

Jane, as always, is just a joy. She is learning how to write her letters and numbers. She loves to connect the dots! Sawyer really thinks he is talking and bossing us around. He just walks around shrieking and commanding. The funny thing is that you can actually figure out what he is telling you. He knows exactly what I am saying and we can have whole conversations with him pointing in response or shaking his head yes or no. There are NO questions about what that boy wants!

In conclusion, I just have to say: I love my life! My kids are fantastic. My husband is amazing! Jake works so hard for our family and I am so grateful for his effort and the thoughtful things he does for me. The Lord has been incredibly generous with our blessings lately.

I really feel like I've had a total attitude shift in the last year and a half. I used to feel like things were so hard for me all of the time. Now, everyday feels like it's running smoothly and when I look back on things a couple of weeks later I can see the things that I really struggled with and appreciate how difficult a certain trial was. As an example: all year last year I kept seeing status posts on Facebook about how hard 2009 was and I kept thinking to myself that 2009 was going great. In retrospect though, 2009 was a really difficult year for us as a family. We were getting used to a new city without family close by, Jake's new job with crazy shifting schedules and a new baby. I didn't sleep more than 4 hours in a row once (!) in 2009. I was exhausted all year and lonely a good portion of it. But I got through and I grew closer to my family and Heavenly Father and Jake and I know that we work really well together under pressure.

Anyways, enough rambling. I make no promises about when this thing will be updated again. Hopefully soon but we'll see.