Blessings & Decisions

Right now I am feeling overwhelmed with blessings. Everything in our life has been going so well and life just seems imperfectly wonderful (if that makes sense... like our life is wonderful, but the imperfections and trials add to that, so I am not trying to say we are perfect or our life is perfect, but just that I am grateful).

Anyway, so Jeff has received an amazing job promotion opportunity. He has been offered the offensive coordinator position at Screven County High School in South Georgia.

First off the reasons why this is so wonderful:

1. He is now a quarterback coach, in order to be a head coach here in GA you have to be a coordinator first, so it is the next step up.

2. He will have more control over the decisions made and the outcomes of the game, which will make coaching more fun and meaningful to us all.

3. The reason why we came to the South was mainly because football coaches make more money here and he will make more money with this job and it opens the windows of opportunity for higher paying coaching jobs in the future.

4. It is always all about who you know and the current Defensive Coordinator at ECCHS, is the one who just got the head coaching job at Screven. He is a really good coach and therefore the chances of the program being successful are higher. He also wants to Jeff to run an offense that Jeff likes, so that is another big thing.

5. Jeff would make more than we make now with Jeff coaching two sports and with me coaching volleyball. He is rarely home right now and he is getting worn down. This job would give him more time home. And we would live right by the school if we moved there so we would hopefully save a lot on gas.

Now the reasons why it is hard:

1. First and foremost our beautiful house! I have too much of an emotional relationship with this house. I love every single bit of it! I don't want to leave it and I could totally live here forever! We would have to rent it out and that scares me! First of all, I don't want anyone destroying it, and second of all what if we can't find renters for a couple months? We could lose thousands of dollars in mortgage, and/or if we can't pay it, we could lose our house! Including our down payment and good credit!

2. My volleyball coaching job. I LOVE coaching club. I love every second of it. I would really miss that. I already found out there is no volleyball club remotely close to where we would go.

3. The job is kind of in the middle of nowhere. It is between Statesboro (Georgia Southern University is here, and it is a town smaller than Athens and about 25 minutes away) and Savannah (Savannah is about an hour or more away). It would be like living in Elberton again, but they have a cute little recreation center with gymnastics classes, tball leagues and I think soccer too. As well as adult co-ed volleyball league and a men's basketball league, but of course still no women's sports leagues.

4. We would be renting, which I am sure would not be as nice of a place as we are living in now, but hopefully it would be cheaper.

5. There is no branch, but there is a ward in Statesboro that we would attend. I LOVE our ward here and have made so many friends and there are so many young families here, it will be so sad not to have that. We drove by the church building in Statesboro and it was teeny, so I am assuming the ward isn't very big.

I feel so blessed to be able to choose between two jobs when so many are having a hard time finding a job, it really is a blessing, so I am not complaining. This is just the hardest decision for us. I completely see the benefits for Jeff's career and our future and Jeff's time with us at home, but at the same time, if we decide to go, it will be hard. I will really miss a lot. I love it here. However, we are counseled to bloom where we are planted and I believe when we are together as a family, I really will be happy no matter where we are.

Yesterday we went to Screven to check it out. It was very similar to Elberton. We met with the principal and AD and they were excited about Jeff's spanish certification (Thank you Heavenly Father for sending him on a mission to Mexico and for helping pass the GACE test!). We drove around the city and then headed to Statesboro and looked around there quickly, then we went back to Sylvania (the city the school is in) for dinner.

They had this adorable Mexican restaurant that was really new and so good. We sit down and these other people sat across the aisle from us in another booth. Jeff leaned over and said, "watch everyone's going to be talking about Ron Duncan (the DC at ECCHS that will be the Head Coach at Screven who offered Jeff the position)." We laughed, because he was joking. Sure enough about 30 seconds later, another guy comes in and starts talking to the guy about Ron Duncan. The guy sitting next to us was apparently on the staff already at Screven and had just met with him, so they were talking about him and what their thoughts were about him as a coach, etc. I was so nervous the whole time, and felt so uncomfortable like we should not be hearing this! Luckily, they only had good things to say about him, or I would have been really uncomfortable! They had no idea who we were or that we even knew what they were talking about! That just goes to show, you always have to be careful what you say!

Anyway, please keep us in your prayers that we will be able to make the best decision for our family and our future and that we will follow the Lord's will in this decision. Also, if you have any advice to offer on renting out a home or ways to save on moving expenses, send it our way! We are so excited that this opportunity has come so quickly, everyone around here made it sound like it would take longer.

We have been praying about the decision, right now I just feel like we would be fine either way, it is more about what we/Jeff want in our lives/career. However, we still have more thinking, praying, fasting, researching, etc. to do, so perhaps we have not found our answer yet.

Oh and our blog is private which is why I posted this, so if you happen to know anyone in Elbert County, this is not a subject that needs to be shared:)

P.S. Their mascot is a gamecock... I am not a fan... Screven County Gamecocks...

FHE

Nothing more exciting than watching cookies bake in the oven... seriously. Monday nights are the favorite around here- FAMILY NIGHT!!

Blue Devil Basketball Update

Here are some pictures of Jeff coaching:) This was at a Tournament over Christmas break so that is why there aren't many people there. Their overall record is 6-5 and they are 2-0 in region. In 4 of those games they lost, they barely lost by less than 6 points, and they were all teams that were in bigger divisions than them. They played in two tournaments over Christmas break and they won one of them. I will have to upload a picture of the girls carrying around the "trumpy" (trophy). They carry it around everywhere, it is funny. Jeff is doing a great job and their team is doing very well too. I wish I could go to more of the games, but they start sooo late, it is just too late for the girls. Jeff is working so hard and it isn't easy coaching two intense sports in a row. We are grateful for his dedication and hard work and people are definitely beginning to notice what a great job he does:) Go Blue Devils!!

Our Most Expensive Ornament

Jeff and I were watching tv one night when we noticed an interesting new ornament hanging from the tree:

Silly girls!

Another picnic

This next picture is awesome because Berkeley is using the camera distraction as an opportunity to steal Cheyenne's milk!

This winter has been crazy!! We had another picnic a couple days ago! It was like 62 or something degrees out, and it would have been so warm, but it was a little windy and the wind was cold. Jeff was with us too. We made tuna fish sandwiches and cracked open a can of mandarin oranges... perfect! It is supposed to be 65 again on Friday... can't wait!

Random December- Post Christmas

Jeff and the girls piled on each other for a book before bed:

Berkeley loves to do this! I don't remember Cheyenne doing it, but Berks does it all the time and it is so cute!!

Rub a dub dub cute girls in the tub!

They love to put their warm washcloths on their back like this, I remember doing it when I was little, it keeps you warm!

Cheyenne's favorite Christmas present... this ladybug shines stars on the ceiling and glows in red, green or blue. It is AWESOME! She carries it around all day long and she goes to sleep faster because it is not so bright as a nightlight so she can't stay up "reading" books!

Oh and these are also to document my current favorite hairstyle for Cheyenne, it keeps the hair out of her face and the braid lasts a few days:

Berkeley's hair is also getting long and she got this cute outfit for Christmas. She is so happy and feisty at the same time.

The girls have been loving playing with their new Christmas presents. They are getting so big so fast! The other day Jeff and I finally went to the temple after forever of not going. It was much needed! Unfortunately, we didn't get to go together, because we didn't want to pay for a babysitter, but Jeff dropped me off and I went first while he took the girls to dinner at Chic-Fil-A (which was free thanks to an awesome deal and Jeff's dad buying us the original dinner... long story that I don't feel like typing). A funny story that I already posted on facebook, but will post again here for record's sake, is that Jeff was eating with Berkeley and looked over at Cheyenne in the play place and she was naked (well, all except a little shirt), about to go into the play place. Jeff hurried in there to put her clothes back on and when he asked her what she was doing, she said she needed something to fill up each cubby! So funny!

So, back to me, the second I went in to the temple, I felt the spirit so strong and I just really needed that break from the world! It was just so clean, quiet, calm, peaceful, beautiful and loving. After the session, I hurried out and switched with Jeff so he could make the last session. I was going to take the girls to Target, which I was super excited about, but I drove there and it had closed down:( So sad! So instead we went to McDonald's and ate ice cream and played on the play thing. I was wearing a dress, so I was trying to keep Berkeley away from the play thing, because I didn't want her to get stuck and me have to climb in after her, but finally all the people were gone except us, so I let her go in and she was loving it. Neither Cheyenne or Berkeley wanted to leave and both their cheeks were red from playing hard when it was time to go. We live really close to a McDonald's so I may have to take them there for some exercise once in a while.

It has been a great Christmas break having Jeff home all the time. I love when I get to be with him. I think it is a good sign that I like him so much more when we are together more! I just forget how awesome he is when I never get to see him! There you have it for a random December, after Christmas post:)

New Year's Resolutions

I have a few posts that should be before this one, but here are my New Year's Resolutions for me for 2012:

Financial:

1. Save $: Be smart and only buy things we need... aka... don't buy stuff because it is a great deal if we don't actually need it.
2. Live Simply: Buy only things we need, cut back on things we don't need and don't want for things we don't need. Enjoy life as it is! We pretty much already have everything we need (except for a car with air conditioning for Jeff, which I am placing in the category of need).
3. Keep track of our Annual Budget: So I am hard core at doing monthly budgets, but there was always all this random stuff every month that you don't buy every month (oil changes, shampoo, car registration, gifts, etc.) so I made my first ever annual budget! I have recorded every penny we have ever spent since September 2009, so I spent a few hours and calculated everything we spent that wasn't in our monthly budgets for 2009 and 2010 and most of 2011 and came up with an annual budget. I am really excited about it!
4. Pay tithing first-every month!!! So I used to be really good at this, but the last four months of last year I found myself being a little sneaky. I wrote out the checks and deducted it from our check book, but I kept the checks on our desk to be sure we didn't run out of money... I didn't mean for it to add up to four un cashed checks, but it did! And that is not paying by faith! So, we will pay it first thing and deliver it to the bishop first thing, because then I think of it more as the Lord's money and it doesn't seem so hard to pay as 4 checks totaling up to A LOT more money!

Social:

1. Invite someone over for dinner once a month. Jeff and I are not very social:) And Jeff doesn't mind much because he is with people all day, but I am an extremely social person and I really need that!
2. Stay involved with pre-school, play-dates, gymnastics, library, park day, etc.
3. Be really nice to everyone and make sure people feel included!

Physical:

1. Go to the gym 3-5 days a week. If we are spending too much on gas, then go less, but still do a run and/or lifting workout at home.
2. Designate 2 days of the week for no sweets. I want to do this to make sure I am not addicted! And I get too many cavities.
3. Try to eat at least one serving of fruit and one serving of veggies daily.

Spiritual:

1. Read scriptures or Ensign daily (first thing in the morning, preferably before the girls wake up).
2. Do at least one act of service a week.
3. Go to the temple more regularly... December-May- 3 times, June-July- 2 times, and August- November- 1 time.
4. Pray on my knees whenever possible.
5. Do visiting teaching by the 20th of each month.

Mommy/Wife/Homemaker:

1. Clean up at least one room daily
2. Clean up right after every meal (instead of at the end of the day when all the food is crusted on! This is so hard though, because you know it is going to be messy again in like 10 minutes!)
3. Read to each child individually at least 15 minutes daily.
4. Write out a schedule for the next day every night.
5. Teach Cheyenne a school lesson (letters/numbers/shapes/etc.) twice a week.
6. Make sure the girls get 30 minutes of physical activity daily (walk, gymnastics, basketball, soccer, playing outside, etc.)
7. Limit the girls tv watching to less than 2 hours total daily (don't judge, yes my girls have been watching a lot of tv lately... hey they learn a lot from Dora too!)
8. Plan the dinner schedule the night before (like what time I will actually start dinner and take meat out of freezer if I need to).
9. Go to bed by 11 on weeknights and 12 on weekends (I hate this one, I am such a night owl and I LOVE staying up late, but I feel so much better during the day and get more accomplished when I am not tired).
10. Wake up at 6:45 on weekdays and 8:30 on weekends (so I can read scriptures before the girls wake up and hopefully get more done too).
11. Teach Cheyenne 1 primary song a week.
12. Limit computer time... especially facebook! Only check facebook 3 times a day (morning, nap time, and before bed) Limit each check to 15 minutes.

There you have it! I know its a lot, but I LOVE setting goals! I don't really get mad at myself if I don't reach them, I just change them if I need to or try again when I fail. If I do all this stuff I know I will be happy, fulfilled and feel good about my accomplishments- Here's to 2012, a New Year, a fresh start!