January:
Not much happened in January, but we enjoyed a relatively mild winter for Chicago. We refinished our kitchen table and were excited that it turned out as well as it did. Brent started working as much as he could on the job search as we were informed a position might not be available at the end of the fellowship. He started interviewing at several different hospitals, but thankfully all were initial phone interviews, so he was able to stay at home.
February:
Ben turned 3! He was so excited for his birthday and got spoiled! His birthday was on a Sunday, so the Saturday before we took him to Chuck-E-Cheese. He and Leila loved it and didn't want to leave. He still talks about it to this day.
April:
After lots of prayer and fasting, we felt very strongly about moving to western Missouri. In early April, Brent accepted a job with Heartland Health in St. Joseph, MO. We decided to make a quick trip to Utah to surprise everyone for Easter. Several family members, including our dads and Diana had not yet met Spencer, so it was a delight to surprise them all! It was tons of fun! (I forgot to take pictures... oops!)
The Kansas City Temple open house was in the middle of April and we thought it would be nice to go with our friends the Webbs and made a great weekend out of it.
Brent moved to St. Joseph without the family to begin working and to look for housing. It wasn't fun to be far away for nearly a month, but luckily Brent found a home fairly quickly. We purchased our first home and closed on the first of June. We were blessed to have lots of help from our Woodstock ward and the move, though stressful, went as well as could be expected.
June:
We moved into our home on the first week of June and had Brent's family come visit as well. It was tons of fun and they were a huge help getting some things unpacked and organized. We were able to visit some beautiful church historic sites and had a wonderful time just hanging out and visiting. Ben and Leila were especially sad to see them go.
July:
While changing out some lights in our new house, Brent discovered some wiring issues that required ripping out much of the basement wiring. We consulted with our expert electrician, Brant, and he and Jana decided to come visit! They drove out mid-July and we had a fun time going to Legoland, church sites, and the Kansas City Chiefs practice. Benjamin was in heaven having his cousins to play with. He referred to his cousins Kyler and Ryzer as "his boys." We were extremely grateful for the help and had a great time! We also burned up in July with the hottest and driest month on record here in western Missouri. Brent received a calling as an assistant ward clerk and I was called to teach Sunday school.
August:
The heat and drought continued through most of August with almost no rain! We had more of my family come visit. Crista and Wayne came with their children and my mom decided to come too. We took them to many of the same sites and decided to visit a town called Jamesport, which is very near Adam-Ondi-Ahman. It was an Amish and Mennonite community and we loved it! We can't wait to go back! We also went to Science City in Kansas City. Leila started Kindergarten just before our guests headed back to Utah. It was fun for "nana" to be here for her first day and Leila has loved Kindergarten since day one!
September:
It took a couple weeks for Ben to adjust to Leila's absence, but he has become Spencer's pal. Spencer turned 1 and is probably our most prolific crawler. He is a speedster and has ripped holes in both his clothes and shoes as a result. Brent spent a lot of time trying to rehab the yard after a brutal summer. Even September continued to have relentless heat and little to no rain. Brent received another calling to be in the elder's quorum presidency and hasn't been officially released yet as a ward clerk, but we anticipate he will be sometime in December. We also enjoyed a trip to St. Louis to attend "Time Out for Women."
October:
Leila's school had a small carnival at the beginning of October and the kids just loved it! They keep asking when another carnival will be. We took another trip to St. Louis for Katie's baptism. We also got to visit with Brent's parents who flew in for the weekend. We had a lot of fun with all of them and the baptism was beautiful. For Halloween Leila decided to be a baby, Ben was a cowboy, and Spencer was Buzz Lightyear. It was a very quiet night. We took the kids trick-or-treating in the neighborhood behind us where lots of elderly people live. They we so excited to have kids knock on their door. We only saw 2 other trick-or-treaters and we only had 2 come to our door.
November:
The weather has still been very mild, so we have done a lot in our yard to get ready for winter. The kids enjoyed raking leaves (really loving to jump in them). Brent built a garden box so we will be ready to plant in the spring. We also found out earlier this fall that we are expecting our 4th child in April...another boy! We couldn't be more excited! We enjoyed a very nice and relaxing Thanksgiving with another family in our ward.
