We moved to Evanston a little over a year ago to live in my parent's house while they are on their mission. Louis had gotten a job working for the city of West Jordan as an accountant in October of 2017 and we were having a very hard time finding a house in that area. Everything we saw that was in our price range was too small for our family, and the few houses that would work for us went under contract before we could even get in to see them. Louis was living at his brother's house in West Jordan during the week so he didn't have to commute 2 hours home to Logan every day! It was really hard emotionally on me. My Dad kept saying to me, "You can move into our house. We'd love to have someone living in our house." Finally in December I took that offer seriously. I went to Louis and told him I thought we should pray about whether or not we should move to Evanston. Logically, the decision to move to Evanston didn't really make sense, but we both felt good about moving there so we went ahead with it. Louis continued staying at his brother's house for a few more months until it got too much for me and we decided it would be best for him to come home each night instead. It was an hour and a half commute for him each way, and it increased our gas bill A LOT, but it was the best decision for our family.
Our original plan was to stay in Evanston until the summer, when the girls would be out of school and I could make looking for a house in West Jordan my full time job. Summer came around and Louis and I started thinking we should stay in Evanston until the following summer when my parents would get home from their mission. We prayed about it and felt good about doing that. So again, even though it didn't really make any logical sense, we did just that!
At the beginning of the school year Louis and I both started thinking we should stay permanently in Evanston. He didn't have a job here, but we started looking to buy a house in the area anyway. I felt completely at peace with that decision. I knew that Heavenly Father wanted us here. We found plenty of houses in our budget, but none of them were quite right. We looked at dozens of houses and at the end of December after having an offer rejected on a house we both liked (it didn't have everything we wanted, but it would have worked really well for our family) I was starting to feel fed up. I feel like I have a lot of faith in the Lord and His plan for me and my family, and great faith in his timing, but I was so out of patience! Not even a week after having that moment of weakness Louis was offered a wonderful job here in Evanston that would be better hours, better pay, and a much shorter commute! A week after he accepted this new job we found our house. It is perfect for our family. It has every single thing on our list. Even things that are not on our list, like a hot tub and sauna! It could quite possibly be our forever home and we feel so blessed.
At the beginning of the month Louis started his new job here in Evanston. He is working for a small auditing firm as an auditor. This new job will require a little bit of travel, but not much. He will be traveling about 4 weeks in the spring and 3 weeks in the fall. He already has one travel week under his belt! Louis has the potential to really grow here and we are excited to see what this job will bring to us.
This morning we closed on our first home. Everything from putting in our offer to closing went perfectly. I was amazed how wonderfully it went! I had always heard that things never go as planned with buying a house and you never actually close on the original closing date. In our case, we actually could have closed a week early if Louis hadn't been away for work! We are so excited to get things ready in the home so we can move in! I will post more about it as we do those few things we want to in the house and get settled into it.
Over the last month and a half I have been overwhelmed with the love and blessings from our Heavenly Father. I know that Heavenly Father is continually blessing me, but the blessings that have been coming to us right now have been so huge and life changing that I am truly humbled by His love. Louis and I followed the promptings we were given with faith and we are being blessed for it. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father. I am grateful for my knowledge of His Church and His teachings. I am so grateful for my testimony and that I have learned throughout my life to trust in Him. I know that when you do, beautiful things happen. Each and every day they do. From the smallest things to the most life changing things.
2.11.2019
2.10.2019
Valentine's Day
Louis and I will be in Italy visiting my parents over Valentine's Day! So we decided to do a little celebration before we leave and celebrated last night. I got Louis this cute little Lego set of a couple having a picnic, and I used that as my inspiration for the night! We can't exactly go have a picnic outside with the three feet of snow that is on the ground (I'm not exaggerating with that number) so I did an indoor picnic for us instead! I laid out a red checkered tablecloth and put some battery powered candles around it. I prepared some lasagna, broccoli, and French bread. I put out the Lego set for us to do together and called it good! We enjoyed our dinner while listening to music, after we were done we heart attacked our kid's doors! We ended the night by putting together the Lego set.
It was a simple, but really sweet night together. There is very little that I love more than just being with Louis. It doesn't matter what we're doing. I am grateful for the love that we have shared these last 10 years, and I am so grateful for the eternity we have left together.
Today we did our annual candlelit pizza dinner! I think it is one of my favorite traditions as a family. We had a few extra people join us this year, Louis' parents and his younger sister Kami. We had pepperoni pizza, BBQ chicken pizza, and bread sticks. Louis even made everything so I could finish a project I was working on. We enjoyed our dinner and we also went around the table saying what we all love about each person. Most of the kids whined the whole time because going around the table was taking too long, but it was still a nice time as a family.
Today we did our annual candlelit pizza dinner! I think it is one of my favorite traditions as a family. We had a few extra people join us this year, Louis' parents and his younger sister Kami. We had pepperoni pizza, BBQ chicken pizza, and bread sticks. Louis even made everything so I could finish a project I was working on. We enjoyed our dinner and we also went around the table saying what we all love about each person. Most of the kids whined the whole time because going around the table was taking too long, but it was still a nice time as a family.
2.06.2019
Brandley Family Reunion
Over this last weekend we enjoyed a family reunion in Bear Lake with Louis' family. Louis' brother Josh rented a huge cabin that included indoor slides going from level to level, an indoor playground trampoline and basketball court, a ping pong table, pool table, theater room, and plenty of bedrooms and beds for everyone. We hardly saw our kids all weekend as they were off playing wonderfully with all of their cousins! The adults enjoyed talking and playing games together. It was a fun get away and a rare thing being able to be with all of Louis' family at the same time.
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