a new outlook on life

I've titled this post as "a new out look on life" Jesse and I have had so many changes go on this last month..and it's really made us realize what is important. Jesse lost his job in November. He was called into his boss's office on a Tuesday morning and received the bad news at the time we were both in shock & disbelief...we thought the world had ended. After the shock wore off...Jesse being the positive uplifting individual decided to look at this as a blessing, and after awhile I must agree. I know you have read in previous posts about me complaining about the hard time we had fitting into the community of sioux center. And now Jesse no longer has to deal with their hypocritical ways. We still have one tie to Sioux Center...our house that will just not sell! ..but that is a whole different story which i do not want to get into! Jesse is currently getting unemployment & searching for the right job. We are so blessed to have our family for their great support. I know Jesse will find a great job & God will guide us in the right way...but i have to keep reminding myself to keep the faith!

We've been busy going to Tilden for the Holidays, enjoying the time spent with my parents, brothers, sister in-laws & my adorable nephew and niece. We also have found out that my brother Todd & his wife Amber are expecting in May...I cannot wait to spoil another little Wilcox baby!

Jesse's parents recently purchased a new home, and had quite the time getting into it. They had several complications along the way with the buyer of their home, which delayed the process for almost a month! His parents stayed with us for two weeks, and finally got into their home on December 15th. Moving was not fun in the cold and snow..but they are finally in and hosted a great Christmas celebration! I cannot wait to make lots of new memories in their new home.

I hope all is well with everyone and your Holidays were blessed with great family, friends & food!

waaaayyyy over due!

Hello all! I am finally sitting down to update our blog- it has been way too long since my last post!

A little update: if you do not know by now we have moved to Sioux City. We moved September 11th and still have lots of boxes full and in "packed" away in closets, at some point I will get to them :) We're so happy to be in Sioux City where there is more to do & we can see Jesse's family and our friends more. It is also an hour closer to my home- which is amazing! After living in our fourth house...yes FOURTH house!!! I can finally say that we feel like we are finally home! Our house has everything that we want and need- it's located on the North side of Sioux City on a dead end street- which means NO traffic! We are hidden away from all the noise and action and surrounded by trees- it's almost like country living until you go down the street!

Jesse continues to work in Sioux Center at the bank- he drives 45 minutes there and back every day. I don't know how he does it- but I am so thankful that he drives and that I don't have to! Work is still going good for him and he claims to enjoy the commute.

I finally am employed....yes you read that right! After seven long months of filling out applications-revising my resume and going on interviews I finally found a job that is perfect for me! I work for Iowa State Extension-Woodbury County. I have a duel job where during the School year I teach a program called "Pick a better Snack" to the Urban schools in Sioux City. This program teaches the importance’s of eating fruits and vegetables along with living a healthy active lifestyle. I teach at seven schools and have 50 classrooms that I visit twice a month for 30 minutes each time. My other duties include working with the Woodbury County 4-H Youth. I recruit area kids to become a part of 4-h, help existing members and leaders, and keep all the paper work up to date. I love that I can be a part of 4-h, since I was a member for 10 years and loved every minute of it!

That is all that I can think of for now- I promise to keep this up to date better!

On the move again...

Jesse and I have decided that we're going to make yet another move. This time hopefully will be the last in a LONG time! We have made the decision to move to Sioux City. We've given Sioux Center a shot, and after living here a year, we have yet to feel at home. So we're going to put our current house on the market, for sale by owner, and start looking for a new home in Sioux City. I am full of mixed emotions, although I enjoy living in a small town, we miss having family around. Ultimately I am ready to be settled some where, in case you don't know, Jesse and I have been moving around a lot in the last couple of years :) Jesse will continue to commute to work, and I will be looking for employment in Sioux City. Hopefully the job market will be better and I will land a job in no time! I am excited for our next adventure to see just where it takes us!

Josh & Ashley's Wedding

Jesse's brother Josh, just got married on the 4th of July. We had so much fun on the nice cool summer day.

Johnson fishing trip

Click on the image to view...

The Johnson clan went fishing at Okoboji, we had lots of fun and even caught a couple of fish!

Happy Birthday!

Today is our dog Zoey's birthday! Happy 3rd birthday Zoey!

Girls day!

On Monday I stayed in Sioux City and hung out with Sophia so that Doug & Holly could go out to lunch and have the day free to do whatever! We had so much fun going to the mall, feeding the ducks, playing at the park, and even playing with some bubbles by the pool!

Carter & Sophia at Doug's birthday partyZoey hanging out with Papa Ron

A weekend with our families

Over mothers day weekend Jesse and I traveled to Tilden to see my parents. While we were there we got to see my brother Todd & his wife Amber, and my brother Brian and his family, Mary, Ben & Brooke. The kids were so excited to see our dog Zoey & got to spend the night at the farm! On Saturday morning we went and watched Ben play soccer. Our next stop was Sioux City, we stayed at Jesse's brothers house so that our dog Zoey could play with their dog KC. Carter had a lot of fun playing with the dogs, and the dogs LOVED running around their back yard!

Happy Birthday!

Jesse and I would like to wish Heidi a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
We miss the Webb's so very much!
Hope you have a wonderful day!

Our New Grill!

Jesse "manning" the grill...

The Table and Chair set that I put together in three hours, it was the most confusing directions ever and more bolts I've ever screwed in! But it was totally worth the time, to be able to finally enjoy our backyard...priceless!

Food Show

Sophia all Smiles...

The gang's all here! Jesse, Holly, Rhonda, Denny, Jeremiah, Doug & Sophia

Last weekend Jesse and I joined his family in a weekend trip to Des Monies. They go every year to a food show to see new products for their convince stores. This year there was lots of new products for them to look at and to order. We also got to meet up with Jesse's Aunt and Uncle, Holly and Doug, and their adorable daughter Sophia. She had lots of fun seeing me and Jesse, and running all over the food show trying out all new candy! Over all it was a great weekend full of laughs and full bellies! =)

ahhh baseball season!

Yesterday was opening day at Wrigley! After a rain delay..it was time to play ball! Ted Lilly threw a no hitter for 6 innings..the Cubs beat the Rockies 4-0. It finally feels like spring now that baseball has started, the sun has been shinning here, and our grass is starting to turn green!

Maybe a new future!?

Jesse's brother Josh is getting married on July 4th. And his fiance Ashley asked me if I would do all of her flowers for the wedding. She decided to go with silk flowers which cuts down on the cost and will look great all day in the hot hot sun!
Her order included bridesmaids bouquets, boutonnieres for groomsmen, ushers, and all family. I've gotten a really good start on it and I have completed all the flowers expect for church decorations. I've really enjoyed making them all and I think they are turning out super neat! Who knows maybe a wedding decorator business is in my future!?

Snow, Snow, Go Away!!

Unfortunately over the past weekend we were blessed with a couple of inches of snow...just as our grass was turning green, I was getting used to wearing flip-flops, and had put away all of our winter coats...well out come the coats and the flip-flops are gone :( Today it is still cold and windy, but hopefully by the end of the week it going to warm up and melt away all of our snow. AND please let it be the last bad weather of the year! I am so ready for Spring to be here and for it to stay!

Frustration

We are absolutely frustrated with the latest adventure in life. Which would be our move to Sioux Center. We have been here since the end of August, and became home owners. Our decision to move here was based on the fact that Jesse was offered an amazing job opportunity that we could not pass up. But if we had known what we were getting our selves into, we may of passed up that opportunity. Sioux Center is located in Northwest Iowa, and is a strong dutch community. There is a saying around town that is "if you're not dutch, you're not much." and that is exactly what we're experiencing. I have not been able to find a job, and I'm becoming very frustrated with the "we've found someone with a little more experience" line I keep getting told. My guess is that there was someone else who was interviewed that they knew. Simply because the jobs I'm applying for and interviewing at I am over qualified for. If there is a way to have more experience answering the phone, then I guess I better get to work! Jesse has also been feeling little to no respect at his work. He is a branch manager at a back, but feels more like one of the tellers. He over heard a customer talking about how she didn't like him, and did not want his help today at work. Although she had never met Jesse, she had heard he was from Sioux City and had been the reason for two people loosing there job. But the real reason for their loss of job was not because of Jesse, but that they were not following company policy. She also told him that it was the talk of the town, that someone from Sioux City was coming in and making changes at the bank. For a town to be so immature and stuck on themselves is honestly crazy for us to understand. Hopefully things will get better...if not..I'm not sure what our next step will be...:(

Carter's trip to Sioux Center

Over the weekend we helped Jesse's brother Jeremiah move into their new house. Carter had spring break on Friday so I volunteered to take him for the night. He absolutely adores his Uncle Jesse and loves spending time with him. The boys had lots of fun playing hockey on the play station and running around with Zoey. We also got to go see Jesse at work!

Here's Carter enjoying some Tootsie Rolls and trying to get a
loan fromJesse so he can buy a new bike!

Our Kitchen is FINALLY done!

When Jesse and I moved into our house the only room that was not finished was the kitchen. So after looking at tons of paint samples and asking EVERYONE for their opinion I decided on going with a green. And on a cold winter day my mother-in-law helped me paint our kitchen..it feels so nice to have it complete!

Before..

After!

Happy Valentines Day!

For Valentines day we decided to have a family get together. Jesse's cousin Leah was running track at Dordt College that afternoon so we wanted to have everyone over to enjoy good food and company. Leah did amazing at the track meet and ran a personal best! After the meet Sonja, Kirk, Leah and Nick came over. My parents drove up from Tilden and Jesse's parents came from Sioux City. It was a great time! After everyone left Jesse and I got to baby sit his nephew Carter. This was Carters first over night stay...other than Grandparents so this was a BIG deal! Jesse and Carter had so much fun that night..and the next morning. Here are some pictures from our fun filled evening!

Welcome baby Jayden!

Jesse and I welcomed our newest nephew to the world on January 12th! Jayden John Johnson was 8 pounds and 2 ounces. He's very happy and healthy! Congrats Josh and Ashley!

Jayden

The whole Johnson crew!

Uncle Jesse and Jayden
Baby Jayden having sweet dreams...

Our New Home!

Jesse and I purchased our first home in October! We bought a house in a new development that had everything we were looking for. It's a four bedroom home with two full bathrooms. There are two bedrooms upstairs with a full bath, a formal dinning room with patio doors leading out to our back yard. The basement has the other two bedrooms and bathroom. It's Jesse's "Man Cave" and he loves to watch the games down there.
We're having lots of fun decorating the house...to make it our home!

Our Wedding

Our Rings

The Groom

The Bride

Our amazing wedding party!!

We're MARRIED!

"The Johnsons"

Just taking a walk down town Wayne..

Our first dance " Making Memories of Us"

Dancing with Ben and Brooke