It's Time

Well, it's time to get back to the blogging world, as requested by my MIL. Thank you, Grace. And after hearing that my sister lost ALL  of her pictures of her kids from birth to present, when her external hard drive crashed, I decided that it wouldn't be a terrible thing to start the family blog back up.

So, let's catch up. We moved from Boston last year and we are currently in Utah but not sure how long we will be here. We are at the fork in the career road once again. But, even through all these different roads we have been blessed and have had good experiences. I believe there is a reason for everything. We keep learning through it all and I am grateful for that.

Aug. 2013:

• Maia started kindergarten! She loved her teacher, Mrs. Miner, and all her friends in her class. She loves school.
• Joe also starts working at Modaliti design firm in SLC.

Sept. 2013:

• I turned 34. Oh dear.

Oct. 2013:

• Ran into health insurance coverage problems that stressed us out to the max! However, we were blessed to get coverage just 5 days before our baby girl was born.

Nov. 2013:

• We had another sweet girl join our family. Saige is a pure delight and we are so glad that she is part of our family.

Dec. 2013:

• We spent Christmas in California this year. We hadn't been to California for over two years so it was good to spend it with the family for Christmas.

Jan. 2014:

• On our way back to Utah, we stopped in Las Vegas to see Joe's sister and spend New Year's there.
• While we were in Vegas, Joe got word that Modaliti's designers decided to quit and thus started the phasing out of Joe's job and role at Modaliti.
• Joe then got called to become the Elders Quorum President in our ward.
• Heidi turned 3 in January as well. She is Miss Personality and is in her own world at times playing dress-up and princess. She loves to dance and sing and is very graceful in her movements.
• Maia and Heidi are enrolled in ballet at Charisma Dance Studio.

Feb. 2014:

• We headed back to California to attend a black tie event at Cal Poly Pamona where my dad was inducted into the Engineering Hall of Fame.
• We also surprised the girls with a day at Disneyland where we spent precious time waiting for (and hunting down) princesses.

Mar. 2014:

• We were surprised and panicked when we heard that my dad suffered a heart attack and we drove down to California for a 3rd time in 4 months. He got a stent put in and we took a week to monitor him and make sure he took it easy which is not easy for my dad at all. He cannot stay still. We are blessed that he is still with us.
• We noticed that Heidi had been struggling with some stuttering issues since January and decided to put her in therapy.

April 2014:

• After finishing a lot of contract work at Modaliti, Joe decided to start his own business. We felt good about that decision and he has been working hard on it since.

May 2014:

• Saige was finally blessed at home at six months old. She cried pretty much the whole time.
• Maia finished kindergarten!
• Maia turned 6 years old and hds her first big birthday party at Springcreek Park, Rio style.
• Maia and Heidi had their first ballet recital and they did an excellent job. They looked so cute in their costumes even though Joe and I hate that they had to wear makeup.
• We also went to our first real rodeo in Spanish Fork with some friends. It was a fun night and a great kickoff to summer.

June 2014:

• Joe was contracted out to Kaleidoscope Design in Seattle to work on a project at Microsoft for a month. While Joe was gone, I decided to take a vacation with the girls to Wyoming to visit my dad, then to Arizona to spend time with my mom and sisters at mom's timeshare in Phoenix, and then to California for Maia's first year at Cousins Camp. Joe flied out to Phoenix for Father's Day, the only day and a half that I got to see him the whole month!

• Joe's sister Marla had her second baby. This time it's a girl, Hannah. We got to see her on our way back to Utah. She's a pretty little thing.

July 2014:

• Morin Family Reunion- Wes, Conrad, Voof and Grace all came out to American Fork (Carrie's house) to play. We went to the Provo Rec Center, the aquarium, the canyon, and spent the 4th of July camped out in front of Helaman Halls, BYU, and watched the fireworks launched from the stadium.
• Maia and Heidi started swim lessons the following week. It ran for two weeks. Maia did a basketball camp for 3 days at Springville High School that second week of swimming lessons.
• Joe celebrated his 35th birthday on the 14th of July. He ages extremely well. 
• We got another surprise visit from Voof and Grace on their way back from camping in Idaho and we spent the day at the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point.

• The Springville Splash Pad became a weekly visit for us in July.
• On Pioneer Day we ran the Temple to Temple 5k as a family. The event was a fun one.
• Maia lost her tooth Pioneer Day morning at around 3 am, hoping that the tooth fairy would still come that same night/morning.
• Dad came to visit for lunch after he dropped off my brother at the SLC airport. Brian broke his ankle pretty severely the week before while fishing with some co-workers in Wyoming. We were lucky that he was with good co-workers and just minutes from my dad's house. 9 pins and 1 plate later, he is on the mend. He flew back to CA  today in bandages.

This year has been a crazy one but it has been packed with so much fun! We are grateful for our families and our health through this year.

Caught up? I hope so. I'll try to keep this updated a bit more.