Sweet Rebekah turns 4!

I feel like only yesterday I was bringing Rebekah home from the hospital. All snuggly and sweet. A tiny little thing with big blue eyes. After a pregnancy that was more difficult than I had felt I deserved I was bringing home a blessing.

What a wonderful baby she was. Never sleeping through the night. Nursing like it was going out of style. Teething forever! An exploding diaper downtown when I had no change of clothes for her. Despite all that, she's always been the most loving sweet girl! Her smile will light up a room. I'm truly worried about boys when she gets old enough to date and be interested in them.

Rebekah is a little book worm. She got some Fancy Nancy books for Christmas last year and reads them daily. Or rather, makes me read them to her daily. We decided on a Fancy Nancy birthday party for her fourth birthday. She doesn't say "Fancy Nancy" she calls them "hancy fancy" We invited a few friends and cousins to her party. I wanted her to have a fun memory of her Utah friends before we move. We had the girls wear dress up oufits and then we decorated special Fancy Nancy Spa eye masks filled with rice and lavendar. I decided that instead of making and decorating a cake I'd just make cupcakes and frosting and let the girls decorate them. They loved it and it gave me an extra half hour of not having to plan something else! I thought I was genius!

I learned that while I like the planning of parties, I HATE hosting them! What was I thinking?!? 8 little girls under 8 all hopped up on the beautiful pinkalicious frosting and too many sprinkles! Screaming, yelling having a blast. While I went "WHOA! yeah I don't like this many people in my house!"

Moving on...

After much deliberation we have decided that it is time to leave the Salt Lake Valley. Greener pastures? Perhaps. At the very least, distance from the extra stresses we currently face on a daily basis.

Spending a month away for Nathan's military school and then a short vacation seeing family solidified it for me. We need to get away physically. Yes, I'm well aware that phones still exist in Louisiana, where we're planning on making our new home. I'm aware that people can still visit. And that's fine, come on over. Call first, please.

Nathan is excited to start Grad school and begin a new career of *gasp* teaching Math! It's strange to think that when we first got married, Nathan wanted to be a teacher in the Southern United States. We, or so I thought, moved past that and Nathan found other employment that he loved. He still loves New York Life and would love to continue but he feels he needs more structure. I think we need a more consistent paycheck. So back to teaching it is!

I've never felt that I was a spoiled brat before now. But then, I've never really been able to go house hunting either. There are a lot of things that I just will NOT settle for. Wood paneling, ridiculous layouts, poor kitchen counter space and fleas. Yes, FLEAS. as in those nasty little bugs you treat your dogs against. We walked into one place our realtor was showing us and it quickly became apparent that this was not the place for us, the floor plan was bad, it smelled old, needed too much repair, and my ankles started itching before we could leave. I looked down and my ankles and shoes were covered with little black bugs. I was so freaked out I wouldn't even look at the rest of the place. Now, before you go saying I need a new guy to show me places. He hadn't been to the property in over a month and there had been no problem before then. So he was fully embarrassed. I can joke about it now but at the time, it was not funny! Looks like before we move, I'll be making sure that the dogs have flea protection.

We did find some land that we really liked and have decided to put a modular home on it until we can afford to build a better home. I was pretty against this at first. Again, I'm a snob, I know what I want and I don't want to settle for anything less. But we found a home I can live with and maybe even love at some point. It really is a beautiful little place. I'm quite excited really.

Can we go yet?