Life has Thrown Us Yet Another Curve Ball!!!

As many of you know, we had moved half of our house to Boise in storage and Mark had begun working there and living with my Mom about a month ago and we had plans to probably move up there over Easter. WRONG...Unbelievably, Mark was laid off of his position on Monday this week and he has moved back home. It was an extreme shock to us all, but they decided they needed to do budget cuts and since he was the last one hired, he was the first to go. We had terminated our insurance benefits in anticipation of his new benefits kicking in and I had given my resignation at work, etc so LIFE HAS BEEN NUTS this week. I have to say though that God is watching out for us as both of our insurance companies reinstated our insurance benefits due to the circumstances (thank goodness as Mark was not eligible for COBRA since he had not been there long enough) and I was able to rescind my resignation without problems at my work. We have sold our home to an amazing family that lives in our neighborhood already and are so thankful for that and that they will love our home as much as we have. With the new change in plans, they have decided to let us rent from them for a few more months to let the girls finish school and then we will move June 1st. We would still love to go to Boise, but the state of Idaho does not have an insurance plan like Utah does so due to my circumstances, we will need to stay in Utah for now. Mark has his business in Logan still and we are planning to go and live in Logan in June after the girls are out of school and rent and expand his business there. SO, we feel it is a win, win for everyone. We will still be close to all our great friends and family here in Salt Lake and we will be 2 hours closer to all my family in Boise as well. Continue to pray for us with all of this, but we are taking it a day at a time and getting through it.

Another Update on the Move...

Well the past few weeks feel like a blur and it has been so crazy. Mark has been working like a crazy man trying to get as much packed as possible so that if we do sell our house quickly that we won't have much left other than just what we needed in the house and to make it easier on me. So essentially on his own for the most part, he packed a TON of stuff and completely filled a 24 foot truck and packed it one night by himself and then left the next morning at 4:15AM on the wee hours of the 11th to head to Boise with a load and put it in storage. My brother-in-laws were going to come and help him unload that night, but you know Mark, he got there about Noon and worked like a crazy man and had it all unloaded by 3PM. Needless to say, he was extremely exhausted and pushed himself to the max. He is still recuping, but at least we have a load up and in storage now. Our house looks pretty bare, but it will be SO nice once we actually move. He flew home on the 12th and we have been enjoying spending the last few days together before he has to head back to start his job. He leaves on Tuesday the 17th and will start on the 18th. He is going to live with my Mom and then will be commuting back to Logan a couple times a month on the weekends and then home when he can. He is really excited but nervous - it will be a huge transition for him as he has not had to work a 9-5 job in 10 years since Samantha was born so...you can only imagine. We are so thrilled though with the amazing benefits and it has been a blessing. We are still working on selling our house and the girls and I will stick around until we either sell the house or the girls get out of school, whichever comes first. It will be hard, but we'll manage and it will be so worth it in the end. We can hardly wait to be closer to family and see them whenever we want and the girls can hardly wait. So, pray for us that our house will sell and we will be able to move to Boise sooner than later and be all together again!!!

Life is Changing!!!

I am trying to update the blog and let everyone know what has been going on. A couple of weeks ago, I went back to work part-time to make a little extra money. I forgot just how exhausting it can be along with everything else. I will now be working 24hrs per work, but the past 2 weeks, I have been doing orientation and have been full-time and let me tell you - it sucked!!! Anyway, I know, stop whining, but it was hard after being at home for 3 years and now I have to do everything else along with the work again. Anyway, I'm getting used to it.

OUR GREAT NEWS is that Mark got a job in Boise!!! We found out on Friday and we are so excited. We have been praying about it and hoping that something would work out and what a blessing! The benefits are great - FREE medical, dental and vision for Mark and a very minimal cost for the rest of us - we could not have asked for anything better. I know this is probably coming as a shock to some of you as the past few months we have made the decision to move to Boise to be closer to family and Mark has been interviewing. We are trying to sell our house right now and Mark will start his job on February 17th and will live with my Mom until we all get moved up. The girls and I will probably not move up there for at least a month or so as we have to try and get some other things in place first. We are still in shock...pray for us as we are going to have a lot going on in the next few months. YEAH - what an answer to prayer for us.

Cookie Lee Girl's Weekend!!

Last weekend, I went to CA for a Leadership Conference and the Product Launch of our new Spring/Summer line and it was so amazing!!! It was 70 degrees while we were there and needless to say, we all had so much fun - I was quite sleep deprived by the end of the weekend. I posted some pictures from when we were there. Every time a new catalog comes out, I always say Cookie can't make it any better, but really this time, the new line is just phenominal. Check it out and let me know what you think: www.cookielee.biz/lisaperkins

Snow, Snow and More Snow!

It seemed that there for awhile, we had SO MUCH SNOW that it just would not stop! It snowed a lot while the girls were off for Christmas break and they as well as the dogs really seemed to enjoy it. We did a lot of sledding and finally it has let up a little, but we still have a lot of snow on the ground.

Grammie Comes to Town!!!

It was so fun for the holidays as my Mom/Grammie came for Christmas and New Year's and we had so much fun!!! She was here for almost 2 weeks and the girls loved having her here. We enjoyed lots of 'Hallmark' movies and after Christmas shopping and just getting in some good relaxation and family time. We really missed my Dad and it just was not quite the same, but we made it through. The holidays were definitely a difficult time and I thought of my Dad so much - it really makes you appreciate each and every day you have with those you love. The girls were in 7th Heaven as Santa brought them a Wii with Rockbank and Santa brought me Wii Fit so we all enjoyed that! We got lots of snow while Mom was here as well and with snow drifts at times, we even had up to 3-4 feet - it was ridiculous. WE LOVE YOU MOM!!!

Gingerbread House

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post all of this, but I wanted to update you. For the first time, we decided to do a Gingerbread House this year and the girls were very excited about it and I think it turned out great!!! It was VERY FUN...