Merry Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas 2014 to all our friends and family. 2014 has been quite an exciting year for our family. Here's a quick recap by family member.

Jared continues to enjoy working with Symantec. Although, things are changing over there. His division along with a few others will spin off into their own company. At first, we were quite nervous about it. But now, Jared feels confident that this is a good move for his company and is excited to see what growth may come available for him over the next year or so.  Jared also spent some time this year focusing on balance in his life. He played on a soccer league and ran a half-marathon. He also began serving as a temple worker in our local Mormon Temple. It has been a huge blessing for our family and for Jared as an individual. 

Andrea loves being a full-time stay at home mom. After nearly two years of not working outside the home, she finds life has filled up in ways she never thought possible. It can be exhausting, but that doesn't mean she doesn't love it. This year she had her tonsils out and took up running. Andrea ran her first 5K and loved every minute of it. She was hoping to run more races, but discovered she was pregnant. This is the 3rd Christmas Andrea's spent pregnant. She is so happy to be pregnant, even though it really is the pits on so many levels. Our new baby boy will arrive in April!

 The three sweet boys we already have fill up our lives in so many ways. Ethan is in first grade, is a proficient reader, a killer soccer player, and smart as a whip. Not much gets past Ethan. Grayson is in pre-Kindergarten. He loves homework, but often complains about actually going to school. He is learning to write and recognize his letters and numbers and averages 5 points per game on the soccer field. Landon is Andrea's little buddy. He misses his brothers when they're at school, but enjoys hanging out with mom one-on-one. That brings us to our little girl, Miriam. She is growing so quickly. Miriam is a huge help around the house. She loves to help empty the dishwasher and clean up spills. She continues to be the most popular person in the house.

Our little family is very excited about the coming year. We will add one more Krause to our little haus. In fact, we will be moving into a bigger haus this year as well. We are thrilled to be homeowners again.  After living in a house built in 1959 for nearly four years, I am excited to live in something brand new. We are extremely grateful for our many blessings. Sometimes it feels as though we aren't deserving of so many wonderful things. Don't get me wrong, we had our share of trials this last year. But the good far outweighs the bad.

We are very grateful for our Heavenly Father's hand in our lives. We are also grateful for our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ. Our hope is for our friends and family is to discover Him and let His love surround you. He is the greatest gift ever given.

To move or not to move

Jared and I really lucked out on the house we rented 3.5 years ago. It has been a great little home for our family. Unfortunately, the house did not grow when our family did. Our lease is up over the summer and I'm about 95% positive we will not renew the lease. I just don't really want our new baby to sleep in the living room.
In our exploratory search for a bigger place, it became evident pretty quickly that our best option will be to buy a home. We couldn't seem to find anything to rent that would financially make sense when it would cost the same and/or less per month to purchase a home.
We started looking at options. New construction is really tempting. The price is right and we wouldn't have to do any renovations. After living in a home built in 1959, this is a very tempting prospect. Seriously, people, it can be frustrating living in an older home. For example, my kitchen cabinets don't stay shut! You close one on one side of the kitchen and another one pops open on the other side of the kitchen. Plus, renting is hard sometimes. I have never felt like I've been able to make this house my home. It's more like the place where all my stuff is.
I have loved our little nook of Orlando, but I'm ready for a slower pace and a quieter life. Seeing as Jared has a 30-45 minute commute to work every day, we decided to look elsewhere. Guess what? We found the perfect little place. In fact, their town sign says it's "Someplace Special" and I agree. It's quite possible we're going to pick up our little, but big family and move to Mt. Dora over the summer. I'll admit, it's a little terrifying. It means new friends, new church, new school, new doctors, new stores, new everything! It also means being 45 minutes away from Jared's family instead of 5. although, we would be about 30 minutes closer to my family. After our visit yesterday, I think it's totally going to be worth it.
I have faith we'll end up exactly where we need to be. I just hope it's Mt. Dora, because that's where I want to be.

OUC Half Marathon

I ran a 5K in August. It was the Celebration of Running 5K and kicks off the annual race season in our area. In the race packet was a "You've done a 5K, why not do a Half Marathon" flyer. It even had a training schedule. Jared saw it and decided he was going to do it. Over the next 13 weeks, he started training. I have to say that this was a commitment for both of us. It meant he was gone from home more than he already is, which was a sacrifice for me. It meant that he was working his body pretty hard, which was a sacrifice for him.

All his hard work paid off yesterday when he ran the race. We were so proud of him so of course we had to show our support. The race started and finished at beautiful Lake Eola downtown. 13.1 miles is a long way to run and that meant the course went right by our neighborhood. After a hurried breakfast, the children and I went to the end of the street to cheer Jared on at the 4 mile mark.

 The weather was beautiful, but after the first hour of running it was apparent that although it was December, humidity would show up and make the runners miserable. Jared was a little disappointed in his time. I am sure he would have shaved at least 5 minutes off if it had been a cooler, drier day.

 After cheering him at the end of the street, we loaded into the van, navigated crazy traffic, and found the finish line. We had time to walk around Lake Eola and enjoy the Christmas decorations and music. Then we found a spot on the curb to cheer Jared to the finish line. We even had time to take a selfie.

 Almost there! Jared told me later that he was so tired but knew we'd be at the finish line so he kept running. He didn't want the children to see him walking. Grayson was disappointed Jared didn't win the race. He was actually almost an hour behind the top female runner. The winner of the whole she-bang finished at just over an hour! Can you imagine running 13.1 miles in an hour?! That is pretty amazing. For his first race, I thought he did great! He finished in 2 hours and 14 minutes. Go, Jared, go!

Family shot with our half-marathon man. Grayson did say he was impressed with the medal. And so was I. That thing weighed at least 5 pounds. 

Over it

I am over it! It being illness. In the last two weeks, we have had colds, pink eye, vomiting, diarrhea and a lice scare (thankfully we avoided that last one). No one has been spared and it made for an exhausting two weeks for this mom. So, I'm personally requesting that we begin this week healthy and well rested.

Grayson seen here in a rare place for the middle of the day. I found this photo of the camera when I uploaded birthday pics. Landon must have snapped our first casualty without anyone's knowledge.