Life is good...

I will blog with pictures later when I get a minute to actually take some but for now I will just report that we are homeowners!!! The process was long and drawn out but we survived...and it is good. I feel like we have a project list that will keep us busy for the 5 years we plan to be here, but at least it is ours and we can do with it as we want. First on my to-do list-

1. Keep unpacking (will this ever end?)
2. Clean, Clean and Clean some more. Although the house wasn't too dirty I still feel like I need to scrub from head to toe.
3. Paint. The plan is to paint Cambri's room a light pink, Sadie's will be turquoise and I am still trying to decided what color the master bedroom will be. Luckily the rest of the house is a neutral color so I can hold off on painting the whole house for awhile.
4. Buy a lawn mower. Our yard is awesome but it will require a lot of upkeep. Too bad my dad who loves that kind of stuff lives super far away.

What I love most about our house-

1. Space! I love the extra storage.
2. The neighborhood. I have gone running a couple times through the neighborhood and I love everything about it. It is quiet, clean and pretty.
3. The bathrooms. They have been updated nicely and the girls now have their own bathtub. The master bath won't have to be taken over by toys anymore!

My biggest design dilema-

We have blue carpet in our family room. How does one decorate around blue carpet?

Moving with kids has been challenging. I want to bust through the unpacking but can't so we just take it in stride one day at a time. It will probably be months before we feel settled. Life is good!

A much needed break...

I knew I needed a vacation, but I didn't realize just how much until I was on the airplane headed for Hawaii. Never have I enjoyed 5 1/2 hours on the plane like I did this time. I think I fell asleep before we even took off. After a nice nap I read People magazine from cover to cover. It was dreamy.

Our condo we stayed in was amazing. This was our view from the back door-

While in Hawaii I found my own personal sanctuary...This was our pool. I could spend hours relaxing and reading a book here.

These chair things were so cool. I would lay on them with my book and just plop my foot into the water when I got hot. Seriously the coolest thing ever.
Hawaiian sunsets just might be one of my favorite things...
And these girls are a few of my favorite people...

This might be one of my other favorite things-

Obviously Hawaii provided lots of favorite things. Pretty sure I could handle working out here every day of my life. It provided the perfect breeze with the perfect view of the ocean.

Poor Nate got attacked by a sea urchin when we were snorkeling. Kind of creepy looking right? It beat him up pretty good.

Nate enjoying some body surfing. This picture doesn't do the waves justice. They were huge. I was too scared to get in the water but Nate felt like a giddy little school boy riding the waves.


I don't have pictures of my favorite adventure. We kayaked across the bay to Captain Cook's monument. The view was amazing. And we saw dolphins!!! Seriously cool. Nate got in the water and swam with them. Once again I was too scared so I just enjoyed the view from our kayak.

Hawaii I miss you.

I am already dreaming up our next vacation.

Introducing Dr. Rencher!...

I feel it necessary to take a moment to brag about my amazing husband. After 4 crazy years of adventures full of many highs and a few lows Nate is officially a doctor! I am so proud of him. He worked hard to get to this point and endured a lot of stress I know I wouldn't have been able to handle. I am one proud wifey. Doesn't he look so important in this pic?!

We have been in Des Moines since Wednesday evening. We have been going non-stop and the week was chaotic to say the least. It has been amazing to see all our friends we haven't seen for awhile. No doubt we have been blessed to have wonderful friends through this journey. I am sad to say good-bye. It makes me feel homesick. I am getting teary-eyed as I type. The last 4 years have been good to us.

Our week in review...

On our way to Des Moines-

The girls did great. Traveling with Nate made flying with children seem like a breeze. I think I need to send Nate on an airplane ride with the kids all by himself so he knows it isn't always this easy:).

Friday night we had a banquet that was lots of fun. Yummy food too. Here are some of my favorite people. Not all our friends are in this picture but these are definitely a few of the girls I am so grateful to have in my life.
(Kelly Pluid, Erin Pitcher, Jenni Racker, Nikki Hook, Me, Annie Pinegar)

And here are the doctor husbands:)-

(Caleb Pinegar, Jacob Pluid, Nick Racker, Matt Pitcher, Nate aka my sexy husband:)

One of my most favorite people in the whole entire world. The rest of the Rencher clan is pretty fond of her too...

The beautiful Nikki Hook. Doesn't she have amazing hair? I seriously adore her. Sadly she is going to be staying in Iowa although I am trying my best to convince her to move to Ohio. I am not sure I have persuaded her yet but I will keep trying.

Now I am full on crying. I love this girl. We had to say goodbye to her already when we moved to Ohio the 1st time and I am not looking forward to saying goodbye again. Lucky for me she is coming to Hawaii with us so I don't have to say goodbye for a bit.

This is how you keep kids entertained and quiet during a 3 hour graduation...

Cam played with my phone the whole time. It is amazing that she already knows how to use it.
FYI- get a babysitter for these kinds of events. Even though the kids were good it made it impossible to just enjoy the day. I will remember that for the next 3 hour graduation I plan to attend:).

And the rest of the crew-

This picture is deceiving with all the empty chairs. There were millions of people there, we just chose to sit where the kids had a little more room to run around. Cam's cool headband is to help keep the earphones in her ears. I wish I could take credit for the idea but it was all Nate on that one.

Dr. Rencher and Dr. Pinegar feeling pretty special. These 2 boys decided they would attempt to run to the school to take pics in their gowns. It resulted in them being the only 2 people to NOT pick up their diplomas because by the time they got back the diploma people were gone. So although they are officially doctors they have nothing to prove it yet. Typical of these 2 monkeys.

The Rencher and Pinegar clan...

We tried to get pictures with more people but it was mass chaos going on. Trying to find someone was like trying to find a needle in the haystack. It was actually kind of sad cause we were hoping to say goodbye to some of our friends that we may never see again. Oh how I hate goodbyes.

One proud wife!...

And our VERY cute family...

Crazy to think we started this journey sans kids.

Unfortunately Nate's parents weren't able to make it to graduation. Their flight was delayed which made it so they would miss their connecting flight and there were no other flights going to Des Moines or anywhere near it that would get them to Des Moines in time for graduation. They were going to hop in the car and start driving but even that wouldn't get them there in time. We missed them and were sad they weren't there but luckily Janelle (Nate's Sis) was there to represent. She drove all the way from Kentucky (10 hours!!!) with an almost 2 year old and a very pregnant belly to be with us. I am so glad she came. She was a life saver. Thanks Nell, Spenc and baby sis! We love you!

Next-

Fly back to Utah, drop the kids off with babysitters, fly to Hawaii for one glorious week, pack up for Ohio and start the next 5 years of our lives!!!!!

A Little Bit of Everything...

This picture says it all...

(taken the night Nate got home)

Daddy is home and this little girl couldn't be happier. She was so excited to pick him up from the airport. Nate didn't get in until 11pm so Cam took a late nap in preparation for a late night. Getting ready to leave for the airport Cambri has never been so cooperative. Once she saw her daddy she just smiled with perma-grin. No words really came out but the smile wouldn't go away. Once the initial shock wore off she gabbered like crazy. She told him everything that has ever happened in her life. For a couple days she wouldn't leave his side. It was the cutest thing ever. We are so glad to have Daddy home!

Cam is obsessed with Tangled. I saw a tutorial on-line to make long hair and knew Cam would love it. She was dancing around singing all the songs from Tangled. I just love this little girl.

And here are pictures from my first attempt to play photographer. I give myself a C- and my girls a C+. I am still learning how to use the camera so I don't really know what I am doing but my girls were so not helpful. My little Sadie bug that smiles at everyone and everything would not crack a smile. And Cam although very cute is not that photogenic. The poor girl makes the funniest faces. If she is smiling it is a cheesy one. She won't look at the camera until I pretty much threaten her. And most of the time her eyes are closed. I even tried to bribe her with ice cream...didn't work. We were both mad at eachother by the time we were done with this photo session and Sadie was just as mad.

I didn't even attempt to edit the pics cause they weren't cute enough. I will have to try again when I am not by myself.

(This was one of the better ones:))

(now you can see why Sadie wasn't a happy camper)

(getting closer)

I tried so many different flowers in her head and I couldn't get one to look cute. Good thing the baby is cute anyway.

Fake smile but at least she is looking at the camera.

Here is my little Diva...

The only picture she let me take willingly...

I told her she could take a silly one. She was all over that. How does a 2 year old have so much sass?

The pics might not be too fancy but they are cute and show their personality.

Our Home Sweet Home...I hope:)

We have yet to get all the paperwork done but we are under contract for this home. It is the one I posted a picture about earlier. Here are a few of the pictures I pulled off the internet. I don't have any pictures myself cause I used my mother-in-laws i-phone when I was in Ohio and all the pics are on that. Anyway here it is... Obviously the kitchen. I love how open it is to the family room. And it has new appliances. I can see my little girls eating breakfast sitting at the bar already. For some reason this house just felt like home to me.

This is right next to the kitchen and the family room is just to the right.

This room doesn't look that fancy now but once I get some pain on the walls and my piano in there it will look fabulous! I am so excited about this room:)

Backyard. It does come with the hottub but I think we will sell it eventually. I would rather spend my money on new clothes or a family trip. I do love that we will have a fenced yard with big trees.



I couldn't get a picture of the whole bedroom but this is taken from the bed looking back to the bathroom. I really like the master bedroom.

If all goes well we will close on June 15th. So soon yet so far away. We have a busy schedule up to that point so I am sure time will fly-

May 15th- Nate gets home

May 17th- leave for a Vegas vacation for 4 days

May 25th- Leave for Des Moines

May 28th- Graduation!!!

May 29th- Fly back to Utah

May 31st- Leave for Hawaii!!!!!!!!!!

June 8th- Fly back to Utah

June 10thish- start driving to Ohio

I will be excited to get our life started but I am going to be so sad to leave my family. I have loved living close to them. I have used and abused my babysitting privileges. We are lucky to have so many people helping us out right now.

P.S. Today Sadie is 7 months old and to celebrate she slept through the night. Meaning- 11 hours without waking up once!!!! It felt amazing to wake up feeling rested. Lets hope for another good night.

A few pictures...

I have tons of pictures now that I have a cord to get them off my camera but I am sooooooo tired and will have to wait until tomorrow to post most of them.

Here are a few for you...My beautiful girls. This was taken Easter Sunday and both of them still have their sleepy eyes. I am in love!

I love that such a simple thing as a chocolate bunny can make someone so happy.

This little rascal has grown up so fast in the last 3 weeks. Since Nate has been gone she has rolled over (I know she should have done this forever ago but neither of my girls rolled early. They both sat up before rolling), pulled herself to standing, started babbling ba ba ba, learned to pick up cheerios and eat them by herself, and started scooting backwards.

More to come.

I am happy to report...

1. I will no longer be posting picture-less posts as of this Wednesday because I ordered a cord for my camera and will be able to transfer my pictures to the computer.

2. My little Sadie Bug is sleeping on average 12 hours at night and only waking up once to eat.

3. I will have my husband back in 2 weeks. I am more than excited. I did the single mommy thing a lot this summer but I only had one rascal to watch. Doing it with 2 has been hard. Especially when it comes to getting us all ready for church on time. Last Sunday I left the baby monitor upstairs so my parents heard all my struggles. My Dad came down and saved me by taking Cambri and playing blocks with her until I was ready. If it wasn't for that I probably would have had a breakdown and crawled back in bed:)

4. We are under contract for a home and SLOWLY making progress on the loan application. Word of advice...Don't try to buy a home when your husband is in South Africa. Especially when you aren't smart enough to get power of attorney to sign for him. Lesson learned.

5. We leave for Hawaii in 29 days!!!! Oh how I am ready for the break.

6. I ate way too many chocolate chip cookies today. I am not happy to report that, but as I type I am feeling sick and thought I should confess my sin. I am proud to say that I didn't cave to the temptation to grab a diet cherry pepsi today.

7. And last, I have been able to talk to Nate more than I thought I would which has calmed my anxiety. Technology is wonderful and I am grateful I haven't had to go the whole month without hearing from him.

Lots of pictures to come soon!!!