A new place for the Stells!

In case you missed it on Facebook, we have a new place to live! After much prayer and fasting we know that we need to be in our ward right now.  So we are moving to the 2 bedroom duplex.  :)

I love the peace that follows the craziness of deciding what you should do.  That peace that only come through listening to the Lord and what he wants for us.  So i am at peace once again in my life, granted moving in and losing my kitchen i currently love so dearly WILL be and adjustment, but eh such more important things in life :). 

Anyway some pretty awseome things about moving,

• we will save money every month, and who can not LOVE that! 
• we get to stay in our ward who loves us dearly and who we love dearly! 
• Derek gets to stay and continue to help the Young Men
• can anyone one say BUNK BEDS! (or as jackie calls them cunk beds) for the girls!
• Derek promised me some IKEA shopping! (i think i would do almost anything for IKEA shopping!)
• only one neighbor and our own yard to pay in
• oh and we wont be as close to the train! YAY! :) (although i am so used to it by now lol)
• We have somewhere to put our extra totes for free :) (my BIGGEST concern with moving somewhere without extra storage) 
• since the place is cheaper and deposit was next to nothing we can still do Family Pictures this spring! YAY! (ps anyone want to help me coordinate clothes for Derek and I lol)

Oh also if you are not busy on 4/29 or 4/30 we would LOVE for you to help us move/clean :) let me know! 

The hunt

So the hunt for a new place has proved to be interesting, not even a week into it and i am SO done. I have seen so many place i would never ever consider living with my family its not even funny.  wow makes me sad the places they have here in Provo!

But we have seen a few we would live in.  They are all in spring ville (well there IS one in Provo thats in our ward brand new and awesome but its more money then i would ever consider paying for rent).  We are looking at a 2 bedroom duplex in our ward today so we will see how that place turns out.  Its a lot cheaper so it would be nice to save on rent, but we have to make sure that we would have enough space because i do not want to live somewhere smaller only to pay to rent a storage garage. 

To many choices to make and to many emotions for me to get to where we should go, so i am going to guess that means I have not found our place yet and I should keep looking.  I am getting over the angry thing that we have to move and feeling more okay with it, but I know when it comes to the day we leave i will be a emotional wreak because i do love my place and have yet to find one (well besides that expensive Provo one) that is close to what we have now. 

I am also realizing the fact that it would be nice to just downsize if possible and save the money work on getting out of debt.  Sometimes i hate being a grown up and just wish someone could make the choices for us so we do not have to figure it all out...ahhh being a grown up.

Sometimes i just wish life would be easier but that is not how we learn or grow.  Right now i am just grateful for a wonderful loving husband who is being my positive rock right now about everything and that he holds the priesthood.  For wonderful daughters who will love me no matter where we live. I love knowing that if we put our faith in God everything will work out. 

So keep us in your prayers if you would while we are on this adventure :) Jackie keeps telling me she is super excited about moving but her bed time wish nightly is that is that the people wont need our condo and we can stay.  she is a positive cute little girl so I think she will be just fine but we will see.

Gag i am still trying to get rid of the thoughts that i do not want to move that its so unfair that I have to move ect.  But those thoughts are getting less and I am sure will get less and less as time goes on honestly if they had just given me a place to switch to it would not bug me as bad looking for a new place is annoying :)

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No that title is not a mis type that is how i currently feel! We just got told we have to move out of our condo.  I love our condo as in its our home and I really love it.  I have a freaking awesome kitchen, ward, friends, rent price, I love it.  I love that we can run out side to a play ground.  I love that we are on the bottom floor so we can just run outside.  I love everything about it.  *sigh*

I hate that just when things were looking better this happened.  But as I learned in the past the Lord loves to test us, one thing i have learned from the last 1.5 years is how much the Lord loves me and will help me, this is just another bump in the road to get through, hoping its leading to brighter and better ways. 

So now the quest to find a new place quickly is in full swing KSL is going to be my new best friend.  Hoping that there is a getter purpose for us having to move out and leave.  Hoping that Jackie wont freak out about leaving her friends who she loves so much.  Hoping Derek and I can handle leaving our ward we love so dearly. 

So if you know anything let me know 3 bedrooms no more then $800 a month.  and just to let out a little more frustrations

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ahhh much better

18 months!

Abigail,

Wow sweetheart can you believe you have been in our family for 18 whole months?! Mommy can hardly believe it.  It seems like you have been apart of my life forever.  You have grown and changed so much in the last little bit.

You currently hate bath time, you get so mad at me every time I put you in there.  The times you are not angry you usually poop in the tub making Jackie very sad bath time is over.

You now sleep in a big girl bed! Its a fire truck because your mother is just cool like that and does not buy in to gender stereotyping  found it super cheap on Craig's list.  You have been great at sleeping in the bed! You go right to sleep and sleep pretty good!

You love to eat, and you are just like Jackie in the fact you will eat what we give you. Your favorite food though is cream soups such as broccoli cheese and potato cheese soup.  You also love potato's.  I have learned not to give you an Abby size serving of those because you will want more and more and more.

You are talking a lot now.  Its really cute, i think my favorite thing you say is please because it comes out peas, and its so cute to hear you use it to get those things you want. Jackie always makes you say it to get things and I love that you will appease her and listen to her.

Speaking of sister, you love Jackie so much.  You follow her around and play with her all the time.  If  you wake up before her you run to her room and pound of her door saying door door or if its open go in there and say hi hi hi until she wakes up.  I think its pretty dang adorable.  Luckily Jackie loves being woken up by you and will tell me mommy Abby wanted me awake. 

You have developed a scream to let us know when you do not agree with what we are doing or want you to do.  You are getting daddy's stubbornness i think.  I do hope its something you will lose though :)

You are still so sweet, you love to hug and cuddle me as soon as i get home.  You have also become SUPER clingy at times, like when i need to get things done, when its nursery time, when its bathroom time.  I do hope you will learn to go to nursery because I am looking forward to some church time with out a kid! :)

Abby you have become such a joy in our lives since you came to our family.  We love you and are so happy to learn and grow with you.  I love you more then I can even express sweetie.  I cant wait to see what you will become because I know you will do great things!

Love,
Mommy

Jessica's quest

I have a quest one i have been on for the past month but have not really blogged about because i have just not wanted to blog much lately lol. 

But I want to tell you all about what  I have been up to so you guys can check in on me :) I want to get into really good shape.  I want to be able to wear a bikini (not that I would just want to be able to!) I want to have muscles and feel strong,

So i decided to try out p90x my dad had done it earlier and gave it to me to try.  I did it for 2.5 weeks, then we had the vegas sick trip so not much got done there, when we were back i was sick so i took a week off and restarted it 2 weeks ago.  So now i am on week 3 again lol.  Day 1 is chest/back so its lots and lots of push ups/ pull ups.  I have never been good at push ups or pulls ups.  I could not even do one guy push up when i started.  Last night I did 70 guy push ups and 70 girl (lots of different varies in sets) that's 140 PUSH UPS! i was pretty excited, granted this morning i am pretty sore, but i will take it for those kind of results!
Pulls ups are another story, i still cant really do one well yet, i am using bands and doing that instead of them right now and attempting one of each of the kinds you do. 

I also decided i wanted to add some more exercise into my life, trying to figure out how to include this into my crazy life i decide i could ride my bike to work.  Lets keep in mind my work is 6.2 miles away i have had my mountain bike since I was 10 and i have not done more then maybe a mile long fam bike rides for years...yeah maybe should have practiced before i took the adventure but I did it and made it and survived! Took me 45 minutes and my legs hurt but i made it! YAY! I might not ride home and make derek come get me because I do not really have the time it will take if i want to make dinner before Derek to go to work but we will see alll i know is i am happy i made it and did not die (i was worried about that at one point in time.)

SO my goal is to ride Tuesday Thursday right now.  Try it out see where it gets me i hope to make it all days but Monday (monday is dress up day at work)  once i get in bike riding for that long shape, but we will see.

Also as a side note, my body is odd it does not sweat like at all.  Bike ride today, tiny bit of sweat where the back pack i had on was on my shoulders, P90X nope no sweat maybe a glimmer on the forehead....is anyone else weird like this

Mommy moment

Tonight was one of those frustrating moments of motherhood that turned into a wonderful she got it full of pride mommy moments.  I want to record it so I will never forget how tender and sweet it was to me.

The last week or so Jackie has had a lying problem.  She has been telling little white lies about little things here and there. I have had a hard time getting her to confess to the lying and have been at a loss as to what to do.  Tonight she told a a few to many to my liking so we had a stern talk. After a quick prayer in my heart to know how to help her understand,  I explained to her how important is to be honest and how important it is that we follow Christ.  I explained to her that she can ask in her prayers for help to not say lies. She was actually very receptive.  She listened and looked into my eyes (well expect when she tried to lie again...).  After our talk she told me she was so sorry.  I asked her what her punishment should be, she told me that she should have no story and should go to bed.  I told her i thought that was a good idea and asked if she would say a prayer. 

I have never heard a prayer so sweet, sincerer, and innocent as Jackie's prayer tonight.  She said, "Heavenly father thank you for this day, thank you for my mommy daddy and Abigail.  I am so sorry I have been telling lies to my mommy and daddy, please help me to not tell lies to my mommy, daddy, and anyone else. Help me be a good daughter and friend.  Please help me make good choices. amen" The Spirit that filled the room during her little prayer was so strong and I know she felt it as well.  It just assured to me how much Heavenly Father loves his little children and how special they are to him.

I broke down and cried during her prayer and so did she, (yes we are too much alike).  After her prayer she asked me why we can be forgiven.  It gave us a chance to talk about her articles of faith she is learning and talk about the atonement.  She is such a little sweetheart and really seemed to understand everything (as best as a little kid can anyway).  As I was leaving her room, she told me how much she loved me and that she will not tell any lies tomorrow.  I think the thing that amazed me the most was the pure innocence and sincerity she had. 

I feel truly blessed to be Jacquelyn's mother.  She is a special little girl who has things to do here in this world. I only hope and pray that I can teach her and help her through life.  One thing i know for certain without prayer and the help of Heavenly Father and his spirit it would be impossible to help teach and guide our children.  I know we were lucky to take a while to get to a big lesson teaching mess up moment for Jackie and I can only imagine there are hundreds more to come, I just pray that I will be in tune enough to ask the Lord for help as I teach her and Abigail. 

Since I have gone all churchy here on you guys let me just take a moment to share with you all my testimony of this gospel.  I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to know that this Church is true, to know the steps that I need to take to make it back to my Heavenly Father.  I am grateful to know that I have my family forever, that I will never lose them.  I am grateful for the scriptures and the knowledge and peace the bring.  I am grateful for our opportunities to serve in church and know that the only reason we are making it through right now is because of the service.  I am also so grateful for friends and family that I can talk to who understand and who love me for me, and help me along my way. 

Thoughts

So if you are a basketball fan I am sure you have heard this news.  Brandon Davies out for the season, honor code violation.

I have heard a multitude of different things.  The one I keep hearing at work, is why did not wait to turn him self in or why did BYU not wait until after the season to do something.

Lets go with a big fat freaking HELLO rules are rules.  If you have any sort of honor you are going to come forward and right the situation, not wait and wait and wait.  I am impressed that he and the school took action and did it quickly.  (granted inside i am asking the same questions why not wait)  It was the right thing to do.  Honor is honor.  You stand up for it and you protect it.

You all should go here and watch this

I really love what these commentators said about BYU. 


So really yes this will hurt BYU Brandon is awesome and does great things for us both in Defense and in offense.  I think he will be missed most offensively since his D skills can be replaced by others, but his 11 points a game...yeah we need those.

I wont lose faith, we have players who can step it up, I mean look at Charles, he came in and took over for Chris.  We got others on the bench who can step and and make things happen!  It will be an awesome end of the season for our cougars!

updates

I am a slacker and do not blog anymore, I figure its about time I update on everything.  So lets do this!

Abigail

She just got a big girl bed! Its a fire truck bed.  I know i know those are for boys! but hey it was the cheapest one i found that had sides i liked.  Great news is she LOVES the bed.  She sleeps so great in it and does not attempt to escape (okay so she has not yet figured out HOW to escape.....but i am just going to consider that a good thing for now) I have a really cute video on my phone, but apparently i did not know with my new phone you have to tell it you want to send it so it so it can  format it differently...whatever. I will figure it out....maybe :)

 So this is the only one i could get to upload not near as cute and she  has a naked bum :)

Abby is getting so big.  I cant believe everything she is learning doing and saying.  Her vocabulary is exploding lately, I love hearing her cute little voice more and more.  I love her interaction with Jacquelyn.  She always wants to be around her big sister and they play so well together.

She loves to give kisses, hugs, and snuggles, and is such a sweetheart! I love her so much!

She has developed a "lovely" scream when she wants something or gets angry....we are working on it with her new word she knows please.


Jacquelyn

what can i say about my Jackie.   She is one of the sweetest little toddlers i know.  For example, last night during her prayer and her bed time wish she said, "I hope my mom can have a great day at work tomorrow"  Never once does she wish for her self or pray for her self.  She is always thinking about others.  I love it and I love her.

She loves sunbeams, she prides her self in being reverent and good in there (which i wont complain about!) so she does great!  She is also learning her articles of faith right now.  She knows the first 3 and now we are working on the 4th.  I figured if she could memorize her books we read nightly she could use that brain for something good! My dad also told her he would take her to Disney land when she learned them all....joking or not she is counting on it and wants to learn them so she can go to Cinderellas house.


US

The us part, we are doing well.  We are making through day by day.  Everything is just the same ol same.  We love playing with our girls, and visiting our family.  We love (okay maybe just I love this)  that its getting warm again so we can go play out doors.  I have So  missed the long nights out doors and cant wait for them to slowly come back.

I am getting our carpets cleaned by a real person this time.  I have never done this before always rented a vac....but i decided what the heck i should try this out because I want nice clean carpet. 

Derek still loves his cougars and hockey. 

Speaking of my cougars, they freaking rock! #3 in the nation I love them. I cant wait to watch them play New Mexico Wednesday!! I love college sports, its fun to watch and follow the game and get in to the spirit of competition.  Its fun, watch for bracket updates that will come in March....gotta to try and own Derek once again!!!


anyway there you go! Updates on us and what not.  Hope everyone else is well :)