My husband is employed!

Jacob received and accepted a job offer today!!!  The job is in Jefferson City, and we are so excited!!!  He starts Monday, which means we have to find a place to move into, pack up the whole house in the next few days, and move on Saturday.  This week is going to be crazy!

My emotions have been a little intense today... One minute, I'm feeling awesome and wanting to do a happy dance, and the next minute I'm feeling completely depressed and sobbing.  I really am so happy that we got this job--I was really excited when Jacob got this opportunity, and I am definitely happy about it!  I'm excited to move to the Jefferson City area.  But I am so, SO incredibly bummed that we won't be moving closer to my family.  I didn't realize how much I was really hoping for that until the possibility was gone.  The last few years have been really hard, and it's been torture not being able to see my family (one visit in almost 4 years is pretty crappy, seriously).  It's been really nice being close to Jacob's family for holidays and being able to visit randomly for the weekend occasionally, but I want that kind of deal with my family.  One visit every few years, or even one visit every year if we can pull that off, just isn't the same.  It's just not.  And it really sucks.  I knew that when Jacob graduated, there would be a chance to move closer, and I was really hoping for that.  So today has been awesome, and happy, but also a little disappointing and kinda sad for me.

But we are employed!  Yay!  And we are so excited for this next move/adventure!!!

Jacob's 30th Birthday

Jacob turned 30 in the beginning of September, so we had a little party.  Jacob's parents & one of his sisters came, and then some of his friends that live in or around St. Louis.  It was completely insane because of the kids, who were running around and screaming and just being loud & crazy like they always are.  But it was nice to have people over!  We never get to invite people to our house--in the past, we've always just gone to Jacob's parents' house to have birthday parties or get-togethers, so it was nice for once to invite people to OUR place.

I wanted to decorate, so I spent a ridiculous amount of time hanging streamers.  Jacob made fun of me... he seems to think that streamers are only for little children.  But why can't we have streamers at an adult birthday party?!  I say we deserve pretty decorations, too! :)

Kitchen decorations

Awesome dollar store banner! haha

Streamers!

Mostly we just ate food and hung out.  We had pizza and soda and chips and cake.  We also had ice cream, but in all the insanity, I somehow forgot it was in the freezer.  So we had like 4 half gallons of ice cream to eat all by ourselves after everyone left.  (Don't worry, we somehow managed it!)  We had planned to do something other than sit around and talk, but the kids pretty much made it impossible to do anything else.  The kids at least had fun playing Just Dance and Wii Party!

Naomi wanted to help me get the food ready.  She is always my little helper!

Me & Jacob... he really hates taking pictures!

Happy Birthday, babe!!

My husband, the college graduate!

Jacob graduated from the University of Missouri in May!  He got his Bachelor's degree in Nuclear Medicine Technology, and he also took and passed his boards in the beginning of June.  Jacob has worked SO hard to get to this point, and I am so proud of him!   I have been putting off posting about it because I wanted to add pictures, and I wasn't able to take any pictures of my own, so I had to wait until I could get the photos from Jacob's mom.

The kids and I had to drop Jacob off at the arena and then park (at the very back of the farthest parking lot), so I had to walk for about 20 minutes in the heat by myself with the kids to get to the arena.  It was terrible... after 30 seconds I was definitely re-thinking my shoes and wishing I had worn flats.  Luckily, I had thought to bring our monkey-backpack-leash thing for Naomi (yes, I am one of those moms) so at least I didn't have to worry that she would run out in the road by herself and get hit by a car!  Because I had to carry Aleta and our super-full diaper bag, I didn't even have a free hand to hold Naomi's hand.  When Jacob graduates from his graduate program next year, I will find a better way to do the whole graduation ceremony thing... maybe just not bring the kids.  I was super hot and tired and frustrated by the time we finally got in and sat down, so I didn't enjoy the ceremony, but you better believe I yelled as loud as I could for Jacob when they called his name.  And at the risk of sounding ridiculous, I will admit that I teared up a little.  He's been working towards this for basically our entire marriage, and it has been super hard for all of us.  I was so proud and so happy!!  Now we've just got one more year of grad school before he is hopefully done forever.

Naomi loves playing on Nanny's ipad!

Me & my baby... she is so big now!

My beautiful mother-in-law!

Elizabeth, my sister-in-law Sarah's baby, looking up at Granddaddy.  All of the babies just ADORE Granddaddy.

Naomi loves sunglasses!

 My favorite moment of the day was when I was feeding the kids chips to keep them happy and occupied, and Aleta grabbed the bag out of my hand, flinging chips everywhere, and one landed right on the head of an old man sitting in front of us.  Jacob's mom and I were laughing SO hard that my eyes were watering.  It was so funny.  And even though some of the people sitting by the man stood up and walked right by him at various times throughout the ceremony, no one ever noticed the chip!  So it stayed there the entire time.  We even got a photo.

Potato chip on old man's head... I believe it was sour cream & onion.

Jacob was not in a picture-taking mood after the graduation ceremony (ok... he is NEVER in a picture-taking mood!), so he wouldn't smile for a single picture.  The only one of us together where he even looks decent is this one, but I hate it of me. Oh well!

For me, this photo was a little better, but Jacob looked terrible, so I covered him up so he wouldn't get upset with me for posting it!  But now you can pretend that he is smiling... :)

Jacob's parents & us

The 4 of us... apparently I was the only one who knew this photo was being taken

I like this one even though none of us are looking.

I guess I was mistaken!  Jacob did smile in one photo!

Jacob's sister Sarah was visiting from Utah, so she was able to come to Jacob's graduation!

My sister-in-law Sarah... isn't she so pretty?

 

Congratulations, Jacob!!!

Jacob's Birthday Present, Part 2

This first thing wasn't really part of Jacob's present, but I got 29 pieces of wrapped candy, typed out 29 reasons that I love Jacob, and glued them onto the candies.  I put them all in a brown paper lunch bag and stapled a cute heart tag onto the bag (which said, "29 Reasons I Love You for Your 29th Birthday!").  Then I stuck it in his backpack for him to have while he was at his classes on Friday.  Again, it wasn't really part of his present, but it was something to make the day before his birthday a little special. :)

The second part of his present was this:

I got the idea & the printouts from here.

Basically, we will be "traveling" to a new place each month over the next year.  I made us each a passport and plane tickets for each trip.  There are even passport stamps to glue into the passports for each place we go!  I also gave him an itinerary, showing where we are going each month and the date of each date night.  And for the plane tickets, I looked up each airport so I'd have the right airport codes, and I chose airlines that actually fly to each airport.  We will have each date night here at home, after the kids have gone to bed.  And the best part is that we can do it all for free!!  I haven't planned each date out completely yet, but I'm planning on us making/eating food from each country and watching a movie that either takes place in that country or is filmed in that country.  There are also some other random activities planned, depending on where our date is each month.  And I plan on decorating a little bit for many of the places we are going to, as well!  For some of the months, I chose a specific location for a reason.  For example, in October, our date night is in Germany so we can celebrate Oktoberfest!  In June for our anniversary, we are going to India in remembrance of our first date.  On our first date, we went to an Indian restaurant in Provo called The Bombay House.  (After our first date, I ignored Jacob for about 8 months and turned him down every time he asked to hang out... haha... but that's besides the point.  It was still our first date!)  It's going to be fun!!!

Our passports!

Saturday was Jacob's actual birthday. We drove to Odessa on Friday to stay the weekend with his family & celebrate with them. We had Jacob's birthday dinner & cake on Friday night, and on Saturday, Jacob & I went on a date! Jacob had wanted to go to Panda Express, and we had planned on just eating there, but I changed our plans at the last minute and took Jacob on a surprise picnic. I looked up parks in the area and found what I felt was the best park of them all... it had a lake and a gazebo and was just really pretty! I was worried it would be too far from Panda Express and I would have to choose another park, so I was happily surprised to find out it was a 3-minute drive from the restaurant! So we picked up our food and had a picnic in a gazebo. It was perfect. I also brought the books we've been reading so we could lay on a blanket in the grass and read for a while after we ate dinner. There was a wedding going on in the park just a short distance from our reading spot on the grass, so that was kinda cool! On our way home, we stopped at Quik Trip for milkshakes for dessert!

Our picnic in the gazebo!  (Just ignore the random people on the side... they came as we were cleaning up & getting ready to leave.)

pretty bridge

another view of the gazebo

the lake at the park... I took this picture from our reading spot.

Where they were holding the wedding reception.

You can see all of the people standing & watching the wedding ceremony, just on the other side of the playground equipment.  I could see the bride & her father as they walked down the aisle.

Jacob's Birthday Present, Part 1

I mentioned months & months ago that we wanted to set up a desk area for Jacob in our room so he'd have a quiet place to study.  We reorganized and rearranged and moved the black computer table upstairs to use as Jacob's study/homework area, but that's as far as we ever got.  We weren't ever able to find a cheap chair (we didn't really take the time to look too hard), and the table became a dumping ground for anything and everything that we didn't have a place for.

Jacob's birthday is on Saturday, so I decided to fix up his study area as a birthday present!  I spent over 4 hours cleaning and then reorganizing all of the crap... Yes, it was that bad.  So you can get some idea of how awful it was, I took a few pictures!  I forgot to take a picture right before I started cleaning, so I took a few on my phone about an hour into the cleaning process... every pile on the floor and on the bed was crap that had been thrown under or on top of the table! (Please don't judge us!)

The next thing I needed was a good chair.  I called around to a bunch of used furniture stores to see what they had, but they were all asking 30-35 dollars for a cushioned desk chair, which was still way more than we could afford right now.  So I sent a message out to the freecycle world, not really expecting a response, but I got one!!  I am super excited about the chair... it's in perfect condition, it moves up & down for different heights, and it's cushioned & really comfortable.  And did I mention I got it for FREE?!

Finally, I used wordle.net to make a print to hang above the table (I got the idea from this website).  I used Jacob's name and a bunch of words & phrases that describe him--most were serious but a few were silly--and then I had it printed at Walmart into an 11 x 14.  The print took me FOREVER.  The website is awesome in that it does all the hard stuff for you--all you have to do is type in the words you want and then customize the colors & font and all of that stuff.  But it makes the print into a pdf file that you open in Adobe Reader.  To print it at Walmart, I needed a jpg.  I am NOT good with computers and converting files, so it took me a good 3 or 4 hours of messing around to finally get it to do what I want.  But I finally figured it out!  I framed it and hung it up, and I just love how it all turned out!  And the whole thing only cost me 11 bucks (for the print & frame).  I can't wait for Jacob to get home today to see it!!!!

Once I get our bookshelf cleaned off & organized better, I will probably move some of the things on the table to on top of the bookshelf, giving Jacob more table space for books & stuff.  But that will have to wait a few days!

Photos from Jacob's Ceremony

As promised, here are the photos from Jacob's convocation ceremony!

Naomi completely adores Jacob's dad... he is one of her favorite people in the world.

Jacob & his parents

Jacob & his sister Rachel

Naomi eating ice out of a cup... that girl loves ice!

My little girl walking on campus at Mizzou

Our little family

Everybody who could come