Well, we're in Elko now. It has been an interesting transition. And we're still not done! We just moved into the apartment we'll be in for a year and its in a whole new ward than the one we've been attending. We're still trying to find a home for all our possessions. It is quite the process fitting our 4 bedroom house into a three bedroom apartment. we lost a whole lot of storage between the 3 attic spaces, shed, garage, office... you get the picture.

I want to keep this post positive, I am quite happy to have moved. But I feel like all the information I want to jot down is sad. Sorry!

We really miss Alabama. I really love it there. I was very comfortable with the idea of spending our lives there. That was the plan. Mark's crazy work schedule was very demanding, though. As Evelyn got older, and then we had Jason, it became clear that Mark wouldn't be a big part of their lives. The sporadic days off the Mark did have were just used to try and catch up on sleep, or maybe frantically complete some task or other. We have just been telling ourselves that it would get better. Maybe it would have, but the company's situation was getting more and more precarious. The company's future aside, it started to feel like we were picking money over family anyway. Once we made the choice to leave, we knew it was the right one. I, especially, had to cling to that thought. It was more difficult to secure another job than I thought it would be. We immediately put our house up for sell (June 2014) and it still hasn't sold! Mark's old job kept offering more money to stay. And more. It kind of makes me a little sick to my stomach to think about that part. I'm trying to think of it as a very nice compliment instead of a temptation. It was interesting though, because it seemed to me that we had made the correct choice and then someone was trying to see how much it would take to discard that choice. Yikes.

When we flew out to Alabama for the very first time to interview, I instantly felt like it was my home. I've had no such feelings about Elko. It's not Elko's fault. I think that it was a great blessing for me to be so in love with a place during our 3.5 years in Tuscaloosa, and now I get to work at it. I think Elko has a good small town feel. The people seem pretty nice.

I just really miss my friends and ward and beautiful house. And the lovely weather. And so many other little things.

The good news is that Mark has had 14 days off so far in January, and it is the 24th. He had loooong weekends for Thanksgiving and Christmas without taking a single vacation day. He does have very long workdays, and a big commute. But he drives a few miles away to a bus stop and a comfy work bus takes him to and from the mine site. He reads books and naps on the bus. Mark is just finishing up the requisite underground rotation, and then he'll be working in the engineering office. He's excited to remember engineering. He really did like being an underground foreman, though. I hope he likes being in the office.

With all that time off, I feel a little spoiled. I don't have to take two kids to the grocery store by myself, so I haven't. I'm not sure what we've been up to while Mark works. We didn't have all our stuff until this past week. Let me tell you, it was so uninspiring to use the stuff in the furnished apartment we were provided. I am grateful that we had it, but I really missed my own towels and kitchen things and tv and movies and project supplies... it was boring. We did have internet and cable to keep us company, ha ha. Elko is a little behind in the internet department. Our apartment complex has a contract with a company for exclusive providing rights. So we have the option of paying out the nose for a measly 6 mbps. Luckily(?) that company won't answer their phone, and we got special permission to use a different company. But they can't install until the middle of February. Sigh. I'm an internet girl. I do have some internet on my phone, but it's not powerful enough to watch a youtube video. Hopefully, it'll let me upload this blog. No pictures, because no internet. Over the course of two months without our computer to backup pictures, I took 1,300 pictures on my phone and I think 3,000+ on my camera. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I snap pictures in rapid succession in an effort to get a perfect one from my kiddos, but yikes, that's so many pictures!

I'm glad that Evelyn gets to play with her daddy so much now. And Mark actually gets to know Jason. It was an interesting mix of happy and sad to watch Mark discover how Jason plays or likes to be put to sleep. I know it wasn't anywhere near being a single parent with the old job, but it felt pretty lonely a lot.

Another huge plus about this place is how close we are to our extended family! Maybe you'll just be seeing more of us.

Lately

Here are some pictures of Evelyn this past summer. We got a sweet blow up pool (that I accidentally popped when I was getting it out of the shed and it was propped up against a nail) and Evelyn loved it! She was always asking to play in the "swimming cool."

 The following few pictures are from the 4th of July. Mark had the day off (for once) and so they washed the truck. We went to the Tuscaloosa fireworks show and carnival thing. It was super fun. For some reason, I didn't think that Evelyn would be bothered by the loud noise. Probably since we didn't go see fireworks last year. Or maybe because we were REALLY close to where they were setting them off. She was crying and a lady next to us let us borrow a noise-cancelling headset. Super nice. So other than the weirdos smoking on the hillside ruining my pregnant girl day, it was awesome.

 On the riverwalk back to the car, Evelyn got to ride on daddy's shoulders. Moments after this picture was taken, she fell asleep. Unfortunately, it was really dark so I didn't get that picture. But it was precious.

 We are zoo people. We have gone so many times this year. We certainly got our money's worth out of our annual pass. Evelyn's favorite things are the monkey house, the train, and riding the carousel. We recently discovered they have a petting zoo... but its pretty lame. You can't feed the animals, and they are in their large pens, so you mostly can't reach to pet them. Mark's not a huge fan of animal petting, so I think he's fine with that.

 I'm including this picture because she was definitely kissing the glass. She really liked that "kitty cack."

 She really loves to help in the kitchen. Dishes, food...getting dangerously close to the stove-top...

 Scary.

 One Sunday, we decided to all drive together. So after the tithing was counted, we followed our friend homeward and he got a flat tire. Here is Mark having no regard for his white shirt, which I find hilarious and completely a Mark thing to do.

 When it was going to take a while, we decided to join them outside.

 Thanks for the Elsa shirt, Casey!

 We go to the park a lot. There are plenty of lovely parks in Tuscaloosa.

 She gives me this face a lot. I really love this playroom.

 We traded that white truck in for a new car. Ha ha, not that red one. That belonged to our salesman who was acting like him and Mark were long lost brothers. Evelyn is crying in this picture because the very loud engine revving was too intense. As I'm typing this, Evelyn is saying "I want that red car. Mom, I want it. I want daddy and Evelyn. I want this to race. We go park in this car?"

 Here's the one we actually ended up with. Let me tell ya, it is saving boatloads on gas.

 The next pictures are after Jason was born, but I guess that's pretty obvious. I have been sifting through 1000+ pictures and I have no idea how I should organize these catch-up blog posts.

Baby Brother

There's a new little handsome man in our house.