update

As promised, here is an update on our little family.  An awful lot has happened in the last year and a half since I really posted.  To begin, we moved from Montrose, CO to Fruita, CO in September 2011.  We have known for some time that we wanted to leave Montrose, but didn't expect that it would be until I finished school.  Along that note, I am officially a nursing student.  After completing my application, I was accepted in to the BSN program at Colorado Mesa University back in November 2010 (which is part of why my blog took a backseat).  I began the program in January 2011 and just completed my 2nd semester as an SN.  Next week I will start Level III, which I am so excited about because this is the semester of babies and kids, which is what I got in to nursing for.  I have three semesters left, and then I will become an RN.  So, the plan was that once I graduated, we would be able to move out of Montrose, preferably back to Utah.  I KNOW.  I'm the last person I thought would ever want to go back once we got out, but I really do.  The plan was to stay in Montrose, even though my schooling was a 1 hour commute, each way, every day, because either way one of us would be driving since Jon's job was in Montrose.  However, in early September Jon found himself on the wrong end of some work politics and we found ourselves unemployed.  Our reason for staying in Montrose no longer existed, and for a variety of reasons we decided to make a fresh break and move so that I could be closer to my school.  Plus, while jobs are difficult to find right now, they are nearly impossible to find in Montrose.  We decided to focus our efforts on finding a job in the Grand Junction or Utah metro areas.  We're still waiting and hoping for the right opportunity to come along, but for now he is holding down the fort while I go off to school.  We're fortunate to have a great support system that has made this whole experience far more bearable than it is for many others going through the same thing, and for that we feel blessed.  The kids are doing well and absolutely love their new school here in Fruita.  Derrick will turn 11 next month and is in 5th grade.  He participates in the GT program at his school and just started basketball practice last week.  Abbie is 9 and is in 4th grade.  She got a "real" jewelry making kit for Christmas this year and has gone a bit crazy!  If she asks to visit the bead aisle at Hobby Lobby one more time I may just lose it!  Grace will turn 5 years old next month and will start Kindergarten in the fall.  She is incredibly tall for her age and people are so surprised to find out that she is not even in school yet.  She loves to play pretend and, much to our dismay, is currently going through a phase where she refuses to put on shoes.  It's an ordeal every day.  Reid turned 3 in October and it's like a switch got flipped.  He talks non-stop and is all boy.  He is the perfect mix of sweet and naughty.  Maybe that is what we should have told his new Sunbeam teacher when she called a couple of weeks ago to ask what his strengths and weaknesses were....um, he's three.  So, there you go.  I hope to be better about frequent postings to the blog.  I did really have an excuse with school, last semester was a killer!  This semester is supposed to be much better.  At the very least, I have a new years resolution to get my family memories in order and participate in Project Life this year.  I think I'm going to do a P12 version (monthly) and since I do digital, I plan to post the layouts here.  Here's to 2012.