Crazy, crazy October!

Don't drop dead from shock! Yes, I am updating the blog!  It's been long enough and there are big things happening in our family that I am excited to share.  One of my goals as we set out on our new adventure is to start blogging regularly again.  October has been a ridiculously crazy month and it completely flew by me!  In September Ben applied for a new job in Salt Lake City and had been through two of the three tiers of the interview process and we waited almost three weeks to hear anything and finally resigned ourselves to the fact that he did not get it.  As soon as we accepted that fact, he was offered the job.  Go figure.  I remember it was a Friday and I was so excited!  I'm not going to lie, it had been a pretty rough year for Ben working at the tire shop.  His back and knees were really starting to hurt him chronically and the work environment was certainly less than uplifting and it was never meant to be a career path for him.  I am truly grateful that at a time when things were extremely difficult for us that we were able to get that job and that it enabled us to get back on our feet, but I am so incredibly grateful now to see him free of it.  Anyway, he is now working as a Career Services Advisor for Steven's-Henager College online.  He gets to work with one of his old mission companions, so that makes it fun for him too.  He is working with students on writing resumes, networking, making contacts with businesses, etc. to help them get jobs.  So the day he was offered the job he, somewhat gleefully, put in his notice at the tire shop and we started making plans.  Then came the REAL craziness!  On the 10th we had our ultrasound and got to get a good look at our third son.  While there was certainly part of me that was hoping for a little girl, when I got to see this little guy's face on the 3D ultrasound (first time we had gotten to do that!) I was in love.  And if I'm allowed to brag a little bit, I do think I make some pretty darn cute boys.  And there's something someone told me that that has really stuck with me; that boys really love their mommies.  And it is so true!  Not that little girls don't love their moms, but there's no doubt my boys are mama's boys, even though there are many times I think I am much less than deserving of such love (and even though there are sometimes when I really wish they would go to Dad's side of the bed when they're up in the middle of the night).  So in case anyone was wondering, we are very happy and excited about having another boy.  A few days later we had a big birthday bash to celebrate all the boys' birthdays since we were going to be sending Ben off to SLC to start working and he would unfortunately miss Logan and Garrett's actual birthdays.  We had a blast!  We took the boys to a really fun pumpkin patch that had these big hay-bail towers with big tubes for slides and mattresses the kids could jump onto, and the inside of the pyramid was a maze.  It was a gorgeous day and the boys played to their hearts content .  We did go through the corn maze as well, but the boys got pretty bored with that after a while and wanted to go back to the towers.  My mom and my sister Beth came too and it was such a fun afternoon.  Afterward we went back to my parents house and the boys went on a treasure hunt to find all their presents. They got some great stuff and had such a wonderful day.  The next day we bid farewell to Daddy.  It was certainly hard to see him go, knowing that until we were able to move we would only be seeing him on the weekends and I'm not going to lie, the idea of being a pregnant, working, single parent while trying to get ready to move was daunting to say the least.  So the boys and I were on our own, I was still working as a 7th grade Special Ed aide (which I loved) up until the 26th, and we had decided to give our notice to our landlords so we could save money in November to help us move.  I worked, the boys rotated babysitters (thank you, thank you, thank you to those who took care of them for me), I tried to get as much packing done as I could in my spare time, and tried to get the boys outside as much as possible to enjoy the last of the nice weather.  I finally had my last day of work and even though I was sad to go, it has been a huge relief to be able to focus on my kids and moving.  It is always so nice to have Ben home for the weekend and we try to play as much on Saturdays as we can, while we still tried to get packing done.  On Halloween we signed the lease for our new place!  Hooray!  Finally this last Friday Ben got the day off to come home and help me and we finished all the packing, moving out, and cleaning that day!  And we got it all done in time for me to come down with a wicked cold. Ah well, at least I have the next week for some R&R as the boys and I are staying with my parents until we finally move next Saturday.  So only one more week apart from Ben, and then the adventure begins.  We are so excited not just for this new job opportunity that is opening new doors for Ben, but for new experiences in a new place.  (And I'm pretty excited for having a fireplace!) So......more posts to come!  See.....I told ya this would be the year of the Floyds.  We're making a comeback!

 Ben and Logan on the hay-bail tower

 Disappearing into the corn maze

 Handsome little birthday boy

 Fireboys to the rescue!

 My big 5-year-old

 Ready to go Trick-or-Treating!

 Logan's awesome shark-face!