We are Moving!

Well this has been a LONG process, but after many months our prayers have been answered and Ryan has just accepted a position with ComEd, the energy company for Northern IL. He will be their new Energy Efficiency Program Manager, in charge if their whole territory of Northern IL. We will be living in Lockport, which is about 30 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. We are VERY excited for the fun new experiences and to be close to Steve and Kori and the kids! However we are also very sad to be leaving our amazing family and friends here in Michigan. I know I have said it before in this blog, but I think I have the most amazing in-laws anyone has ever had, and it is so sad to not be 10 minutes away from them! At least the trip to our house is only 4 hours. We will also miss our wonderful ward which took us in from the beginning and became like family. We are looking forward to getting to know the wonderful people of the Lockport area though! I think one of the most amazing parts of this new blessing is included in the hiring offer was a FULL relocation package! This has been the biggest blessing because it is allowing me to spend precious time with the loved ones we are leaving and not having to stress at all about packing and moving. We have been through some trials leading up to this blessing, but once again the Lord has proved that as we have faith in Him, he will always provide when we need it. I feel so incredibly blessed I get choked up every time I think of all that has happened and how the Lord once again truly had a hand in our lives and lead it to exactly where we were supposed to be. So about one week from today we will be off on our new adventure in life and just excited to see what the future holds!

Here is a picture of the new townhouse we were blessed to find to rent. We are so excited!

Trip to Utah

The month of June for us was crazy but wonderful. We figured it out that we only slept in our own bed 5 nights of the month, but oh we had some fun times, although it is very nice to be back home and settled. The finale of our month was spent in Utah for Grandma Jex's 90th birthday party, then some time with my immediate family. The reunion was incredible as there are 98 people, spouses included, that are direct decendents of hers.(Lorilyn was 48 out of her 49 great grandchildren with another due in August!) What a wonderful legacy this amazing woman has. I am so grateful to be a part of it. This is a long post, but it gives a basic overview of the 10 days Lorilyn and I were there. Ryan was there, but he had to leave Sunday after the reunion to get back to work. Thanks hubby for working so hard for us! Well I have put the pictures in order, with some events missing because we forgot to bring the camera...sorry:( Hope you enjoy following our Utah journey!

Everyone arrived by late Wednesday night, 6/24/09. So on Thursday for lunch my immediate family met Uncle Gil, Aunt Shannon, Aunt Gloria and Cole at Cafe Rio for some yummy lunch and a fun visit!

This is Ryan taking his first bite of his favorite burrito of all time...he was loving life!

Ryan with Kori and her boys...look at all that yummy food! I've only been home 3 days and I miss Cafe Rio already!

Here is Grandma and her youngest grandaughter Lorilyn. Aren't they pretty in red?

Grandma with all her grandaughters. So cute!

Here is Lynette and her youngest Michael, and Gloria with Olivia's baby Cole. What cute boys!

Aunt Shannon with Lorilyn

Family picture with Great Grandma Bird. It was wonderful to see her!

Great Grandma Bird and LJ

Thursday afternoon was filled with lots of fun at 7 Peaks water park with many of the Jex aunts, uncles, and cousins, but unfortunately Ryan and I forgot our camera so we will have to depend on others to share some pictures:) It was a great way to kick off the reunion. Thank you Grandma Bird for watching the little one so Ryan and I could have a fun time!

Friday morning began nice and early with a hike up Mount Timpanogos. I unfortunately was unable to go due to having to watch the little one, but Ryan got to enjoy the beautiful scenery, awesome caves and some fun time with some cousins.

Friday night was spent at a park where most everyone was able to be together. There was food, softball games and pinatas. Lots of fun was had. Unfortunately I don't have those pictures yet because they weren't taken on our camera so just imagine LOTS of people having LOTS of fun!

Saturday morning Ryan and I got up nice and early to be at Temple Square when the geneology library opened. Ryan has wanted to get to work on his geneology since he is the first member on both sides of his family. It was an exciting time figuring out how to find the famliy and then go about getting the information ready for temple work. It is fun to know Ryan will be one of the first to gather all of his family histories together. We definitely caught the geneology bug fast after starting the search!

Ryan on the computer reading about many of the Russian/Polish Stoianowski's.

We thought since we were on temple square we would take a couple fun pictures in front of the beautiful temple. The feeling of peace of the spirit at Temple Square is incredible. We were grateful to have the chance to experience it.

Saturday afternoon was spent at Grandma Jex's cultural hall with EVERYONE together. It was so fun to have everyone there and catch up with cousins I hadn't seen in years and Ryan had never met. Ryan got the 2 thumbs way up from the whole family so that was good:) I am very grateful to my wonderful husband and how much he loves my family. I was asked by a cousin if he was always that nice and wonderful and the truth is YES, that is why I am so lucky! After a pizza and salad lunch we were able to gather together for a program to honor Grandma. Many wonderful stories and thoughts were shared. She is truly one of the most influential and amazing women in my life. Thank you Grandma for being the incredible example of what being a true daughter of God is about!

Just some of the girls hangin out:)

This is a picture of all of Grandma's grandchildren. There will be more pictures to come with her great grandchildren and all 98 together, but I was busy with the little one so we are waiting on the CD that wonderful Corrine will be sending, thanks Corrine!

All her grandaughters.

After the program was over we all began cleaning up and saying our goodbyes until next time. Later Saturday night though just our family took my mom out to dinner for her birthday at The Mayan Adventure. It is a restaurant where they have a cliff diving show and people dressed up doing fire shows and coming around to your table. We all, espeically the kids, had a blast. And the food was tasty too!

Most of the kids with one of the divers.

Grandpa with the fire guy.

On Monday my immediate family got to spend the day at Heritage park which is a pioneer village at This is the Place Monument. Unfortunately like I said Ryan had to leave Sunday so he wasn't with us. We had a wonderful time though, touring the shops, playing with animals and surviving the heat!:) Kori took lots of pictures with her camera, but here are a couple I was able to get.

Lorilyn and the adorable Emma taking a break in the shade.

Our favorite shop it seemed was the hat shop. There was a wonderful lady who would look at you and choose a hat she thought "fit" you. I wasn't able to get picture of everyone, but here are a couple. I personally think hats should be back in style!:)

LJ and her baby bonnette.

Me and my fancy hat:)

Doesn't Steve look so dapper?

Oh what a pretty hat on you Grandma!

The next couple days were more low key as Steve and Kori went to visit Kori's family in Elko, and Lynette and Jason went up to Idaho for a couple days. So really I was able just to hang out with Grandma Jex and my parents. I also went out to dinner and spent some time with Erika which was wonderful as always. Wednesday night Lynette and Jason got back from Idaho and we took them to the South Jordan rec center to the incredible aquadic center. It is such a fun place to spend some time. It has a huge water slide for the big kids, a lazy river that my parents exercise in every day, a lap pool, and an infant area where they have Johnny Jumpers in the water. Needless to say, everyone (including Lorilyn) had a blast!

Here is the view of the big pool with the water slide.

Here is the infant area. Lorily is in the jumper closest to you. She spent an hour in there with no fussing at all.

My little jumper!

The rest of the bunch in the lazy river.

Mommy and her little swimmer:)

Unfortunately our trip eventually had to come to an end. Lorilyn and I left Friday so we could be back to spend the 4th of July with daddy. Right before I left I made sure to get some pictures with LJ's Great Grandma Jex and Grandma and Grandpa Bird.

Lorilyn and her Great Grandma Jex.

4 generations of Jex women.

She LOVES her grandma and grandpa Bird!

Thanks for letting us stay there and for being so wonderful! We love you and miss you already!

Unky Jigs Birthday!

For the weekend of the 19th Scott was able to come home for a highschool reunion, but also for his birthday. We had a wonderful weekend, spending lots of time together hanging out, golfing and just having lots of fun! Here are a few pictures that were taken. Thanks Unky Jigs for being such a great brother and now uncle!

So many giggles!

Rock band...always a fun time:)

It was great to have the whole family together:)

A Fun Day with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma bought Lorilyn an adorable turtle pool so they invited us over to spend some time and try out the new pool. LJ wasn't so sure what she thought of it at first, but she ended up deciding swimming was pretty cool.:)

Anyone who has held my daughter is very quickly taught that she is not completely happy until you are allowing her to jump up and down on your lap. She can jump for hours, it is really your arms that get tired before she ever does:) Here a just a couple shots of her enjoying her time with Grandma.

She says I'm a BIG girl:)

First Full Roll-Over!

Just a fun note that on June 10th Lorilyn rolled over all by herself! She now is rolling all over the place with the greatest of ease, but here are a couple of pictures of the first time:)

Now if she could only pull her knees under her to crawl, but we are in no hurry for that...that just means even more work for mommy:)

Visit to Great Grandma Irene's

In the beginning of June Lorilyn, Laurie and I were able to take day trip to go visit Laurie's grandma Irene. What a wonderful time we had! She is still so full of life and love, even at the age she is. Laurie's mom and dad went with us so we had a wonderful time visiting and ate a delicious lunch that Great Grandma cooked for us!

Lorilyn and her Great Great Grandma Irene

Lorilyn and all 3 grandma's! Aren't they a beautiful set a women?:)

The 5 generations, kind of. It would be correct if it were Ryan sitting there instead of me, but he was working that day so it is me in place of Ryan. Still pretty cool though to have everyone together.