We're In!

As of last Saturday night, the Starks family is officially home! I can't tell you how great it is to be able to say that after two months of sojourning. More than anything, we have all three just missed the simple pleasure of being together as a family--sleeping all in the same bed, eating our meals together, etc. Dia woke up Sunday morning, lifted her head up to look left then right and exclaimed, "MY HOUSE!"

We are all so glad to be home.

There are still plenty of projects keeping us busy, not the least of which is unpacking. It's a bit slow going but we're making headway and have our kitchen fully functional. Praise the Lord! Such a joy to be in my own kitchen again. And it's fun learning the intricacies of a new place, too.

It could not be more appropriate than to continue counting my blessings from the Lord today on Gratitude Monday.

And, as you can probably imagine, this is just a sampling of the many, many things for which I have to be grateful.

67. The ease and tender rest of Dia's first nap at home (she asks to hold one of her books after we read them and falls asleep with it in her arms).

68. The beauty of everything small

69. Our first (messy) morning at home. Dia shrieked with joy, "MY TOYS!" And immediately set up camp on our bedroom floor.


70. Old things (toys) that feel both brand new and strangely comforting after months of being packed away


71. Precious morning hair and smile

72. The sheer brilliance of being close to every place we love! After seven years of living "out north" we are tickled beyond all comprehension to live in biking distance to our favorite shopping, restaurants and stores. So close that we were able to eat out our first morning at one of our favorite casual dining spots for breakfast. This is so great for us and the blessing of convenience is not wasted on us!
73. A little girl who is all her own and kept her shades on all through said breakfast.

74. Sweet and wonderful new neighbors.
75. Aunt Alli's first night as a server--at a restaurant that, you guessed it, is right down the street so that we were able to be one of her first tables. (Dia clapped her hands and yelled, "Yay, Alli!" after she greeted one of her tables, ha ha!)
76. Family that continues to give and give even after the excitement has waned and all that's left is more work.
77. A husband who provides! Who provides beyond my girlhood dreams. Thank You, Lord!
78. The excitement of all the potential that comes with a semi-fixer-upper.
79. The fun and novelty of taking swim breaks with my girl in our own pool.
80. The gift, pleasure and joy that comes from being a family.

You Must Really Love Jesus

There are some things you just can't know about a person until you marry them. Beyond brands of toothpaste and cooking/cleaning habits, there is a lot that reveals itself bit by bit as you spend your days attached to someone else. There are also traits that continue to grow and develop and hopefully through much prayer they bring the best out of both of you.

Today is a Gratitude Monday (remember how I posted about this like once before? Well, it's still a big part of my life even though I haven't been faithful to blog about it.). All I can think about when I examine my life with a grateful heart these days is my husband. I make no pretense about having a perfect or even easy marriage. I cannot even begin to exaggerate or make something out of nothing. But when you marry a good man, well, you marry well. You marry right. And you set yourself up for a life of joy.

When I met Rory at the ripe ol' age of ten (yes, ten years old...fresh out of fourth grade!), he was many things: funny, fun, friendly, sold-out for Jesus, funny, fun, friendly, really funny, addicted to candy and amazingly caring with his sisters and mom (and soon my sisters and my mom as well). Hard-working wasn't the first phrase that came to mind, though. In fact, my parents did not approve of us getting engaged (we were such rebels!) until Rory could have more time to prove his work ethic and ability to provide for a family (they were smart and probably right, but we all admit that us getting married was one of the greatest things we've ever done).

I've also never really been the damsel in distress kind of girl, either. Back then I couldn't imagine ever needing a man to provide for me.

Fast forward eighteen years, one daughter, one baby on the way and two houses later and my husband is the poster man for studly.

I grew up with a workaholic father and think my heart grew up needing lots more love and attention than I received. Rory definitely filled that void. But as I've been so faithfully loved and cared for, I've found myself needing so much strength and hard work from Rory, too. And I can't tell you how he has delivered. I can't tell you what it does for this wife's heart and soul to so fully rest in the strong hands of the same man who cuddles me.

When we bought our new house (Talk about grateful!!! We are crazy for our new home and could honestly probably retire in it it's so perfect for us.), we also found out we were pregnant. And I'm one of those paranoid mamas who won't go near fresh paint or a construction zone due to the chemicals and toxicity levels. That left two houses to be renovated by one man.

Can I tell you that when renters come to look at our old house every single one has the same things to say, "Wow. This is the nicest house we've seen." That would be the work of studly man right there.

And can I tell you how amazing our new home is looking? It does not even resemble the structure we bought. Again, every single ounce of credit goes to the man who not only wakes up at 5 (or earlier) every morning to run his own business, but also comes home everyday to spend at least an hour or so with his "Blondies" as he likes to call Dia and me and then goes back out to work on our house. He spends his weekends there, his nights, his holidays, you name it. I could never have known when we got engaged at 21 that I would so respect a man with such amazing work ethic.

But he hasn't just worked. He also texts like crazy so I always know what's going on and just what he's thinking about. (I love getting inside his head and feeling close to every little detail!) He has taken a night or two off to take me to the movies or come home early if I'm especially morning sick (aka all-day and night sick). He regularly comes home to poopy diapers that I couldn't stomach to clean (still using cloth!), stops to pray and figure out the next discipline strategy (he listens to an amazing child-rearing CD while he drives around town) and brought me cash every day when I lost my ATM card. He calls us, takes Dia out, and generally stays intimately connected with the two girls who could not live without him. To say he's amazing is not only horribly cliche but ridiculously understated. I can't tell you how many times I've cried just because in the midst of so much stress, so much chaos, he is still so so kind. So good. So fun. So funny. He's still that delightful boy I met almost two decades ago, but now he's all grown up and so...wonderful. Strong. Such a warrior.

In the midst of this he's had some doozies at work. Some situations that could have easily knocked him down. He came home after one especially hard day and said that after a few choice events had taken place, his right-hand man turned to him and said, "Man, you must really love Jesus. I don't think I'd have handled that so well."

You must really love Jesus.

Yes, he does. I know this. I live this. If my husband is any testament to the power of anything, it's Jesus. And I love Jesus and know Him so much better just because of knowing my husband. I believe a lot of men face crowds and auditoriums and preach about godliness. My husband comes home on Wednesday at 10pm after a ten-hour work day and several more hours sanding floors and peeling laminate and hugs me. Talks with me in bed about the stresses of MY day. My simple little existence of trying not to vomit and keeping Dia alive and happy. I want nothing more than to shower him with every ounce of everything I have. He gives me so much that all I have is more to give him. And I know that's exactly what Jesus talks about and is about.

He is my stud and my hero and today I'm grateful that I got to meet him so young and grow up with him so well.

For those that have read this blog for a significant amount of time, you know how we have struggled. How many times I have been broken and hopeless for our marriage. But this, our seventh year, is confirmation and tangible proof that staying and fighting for what's right and holy IS right and holy. And so richly worth it.

Thank You, Jesus for knowing exactly what I needed and putting it in such a great package. I love my husband.

Counting my way to 1,000 gifts....

36. Four letter words: love, work, hard, stud.
37. Texting. Seriously it may be ruining traditional communication, but I love being able to send messages/pictures to my husband.
38. Family
39. Extended family who make room for us in spare bedrooms, spare couches and even the floor.
40. Helping hands of family who come even just for a day (thank you, Luke and Rachel!) or everyday (that's you, Dad!!!) or most days (Sonja, you're diehard!), and those who help in other ways, too like entertaining D.
41. Being silly and finding joy even in chaos (Dia put on Papa's boxers--I wear them to bed so she wanted to give them a try. P.S. you can somewhat pick out our current living condition from the background in the pic...a family of 3 in one bedroom!)



42. My sweet girl who always has the funnest ideas!
43. Still sleeping in our family bed....D likes to either put her arms around me to fall asleep or put a pillow over her head and no one touch her. Either way, we are tickled with her!



44. A husband who delights in food as much as I do and relishes bringing me crazy meals that sound good.
45. My baby bump. It's here earlier than with D... and we already love you, baby!
46. My big girl who points to the belly bump, grins and says, "Baby!"
47. Stroller Strides instructor Kelly who took me from knee-injured and weak to being able to drop and give her twenty in a few weeks time. Not to mention 3 inches off of my waist and legs...ok, this was pre-pregnancy. Ha ha.
48. Sisters who love my babies like I do.
49. Getting jiggy with the music man at the splash pad.



50. Our beautiful new home. I call it "Grandparents Central" because we are literally 5 minutes from my mom and 7 minutes from my in-laws. You best all better be visiting!
51. A husband who's hunkier today than the day we married

Why, Hello There!

I'll be honest with you: I have lots of good excuses for not blogging. Lots! But I'll let the pictures do the talking for today...

As you can see, we are now dressing ourself. We like to layer.

Although it was months ago, we celebrated Passover as a family. It's one of my favorite holidays of the year and this year was very special doing it at our house and personally preparing all the specialties (roasted lamb shank, anyone?). Dia helped with the delicious haroshet.

We may very well be the corniest family on the planet! But we love each other. Lots of family nights out...although, not sure why Dia looks like we've tortured her.....I promise she had fun!

Dia loves Anthropologie! She relaxed while I tried on clothes. She also managed to bite into a $45 bar of soap...but if you happen to come across that bar in the store, I'll deny it!

We have also been ridiculously blessed with amazing neighbors. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be able to just walk across the street and ring the bell for friends to come play. Dia and our neighbor Scarlett became best of friends (even fought like sisters!) and we have loved getting to know their whole family.

We've also been busy with Stroller Strides. It's a fabulous mommy workout where you bring the kids (in the stroller). Dia not only loves the other kids, but she also loves to workout herself. She has been known to randomly drop and do push-ups, squats and lunges. Here I came into her room to find her using the dog leash as a resistance band and doing bicep curls! Talk about "children see, children do." Dia is my number one best workout buddy!

Just too cute not to share. I was in the kitchen when I kept hearing her call my name, but I couldn't find her. Hee hee.

And when Dia hit eighteen months, she and Papa dressed up for a nice dinner out.

He sent me this shot from dinner....they held hands while they ate. :)

And ordered extra olives. D's personal favorite food.

We've also made good use of the top deck at the Deer Valley Airport. It's so fun to watch the planes and even helicopters.

More Papa and Dia dates....

And then one day we were reading this favorite Dr. Suess when Dia stopped me to look closer at this illustration. She tends to find things to focus on in the books and will literally just analyze every little thing on the page. After a few minutes of staring intently at this image, she said, "DD Mama eat." Ha ha!

Proof that while we yes, do eat together, we don't look exactly like those Suess characters.

Dressing up with our amazing play silks. Thank you so much, Heather!

And now for the big news: WE'RE MOVING!

Grammy came to help pack and show Dia how a bookcase is really a fishing boat and painting stir sticks are the perfect fishing rods.

And as for those amazing neighbors, well, they threw us a farewell block party!

Can you believe it? They literally are the world's best neighbors and Rory and I honestly reconsidered moving just because we didn't want to leave our friends!

These are the neighbor kids Dia considers family. We miss you guys!

The party was complete with an old-fashioned popcorn stand

And of course, fireworks a la Rory.

And since we had renovations to do at our old house in order to attract some great renters as well as some major updates to do on our new home, we moved in with Oma and Opa six weeks ago and basically have taken over their formerly lovely (and quiet) home.

Which means we pretty much spend every day either at Oma or Grandma's house. Dia has especially enjoyed her all-access pass to her auntie's jewelry, make-up and hair accessories...

Not to mention quality bonding time...

Delicious home-cooked meals

And spending lunch breaks with Opa.

Oma and Dia are master zoo builders/keepers. (Here it was nap time at the zoo.)

Grandpa knows how to build the best towers!

FYI, Dia loves jalapeno potato chips. These things are SPICY but Dia literally licked the jalapeno powder from the bottom of the bag...ok, so maybe not all of our food has been healthy or home-cooked.

And even though all her toys are in boxes in the garage, she has really shown me the power of her own imagination. All on her own she turned a few boxes and some kitchen appliances into her own kitchen and often makes me tea. :)

We've also logged many hours at the local splash pad

And even the local Summer Movie program. Last week Dia sat through a movie for the first time in the theater! "How To Train Your Pet Dragon" now owns the title of her first in-theater movie! She's crazy for dinosaurs and while she has no idea what a dragon is per se, we told her they were flying dinosaurs and she was hooked!

And to save the very best news for last....I'm also 11 weeks pregnant!

Horrendously sick and exhausted, it's been a rough few months. We could not be more grateful to have both my and Rory's family supporting and literally housing us as we transition into our bigger home with our expanding family. They feed us, entertain us, help us get our car out of the shop (that was a fun time, ha ha), help us re-surface our floors (DAD.....you are amazing), paint, pack, clean and so much more. I have never felt more blessed than to sit down at Father's Day not only with my amazing husband but also for the both of us to be able to look down both sides of a long table and see two families who so truly love us and our daughter.

We are blessed!