double whammy...

We really cannot believe our bad luck right now...  John was laid off last week, and my employer ISM informed me today that they are "relocating" my position to the corporate office in Portland and terminating my position in our Phoenix office. They feel that maybe this is an answer to our situation, if John can find something up in Portland as well. We'll see what we can find up there but I'm kinda freaking out that this is happening.

UPDATE...
John was not able to find anything in Portland so I had to let ISM know I would be leaving them. They kept me on for two months so I could remotely train my replacement. I really experienced a roller coaster of emotions throughout this ordeal... one day I was fine thinking that this was meant to be, and the next I was extremely bitter that they would do this to our family. In the end, it was a blessing in disguise!

end of our fresh & easy journey...

John was laid off from Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market today. It was difficult news, but not unexpected. The company has struggled here in the US. Tesco is basically pulling out of the country and will either sell the chain or close up altogether. They have taken care of the employees with severance packages, so luckily we'll have that to lean on for a few months. Let the fun begin!

freezing...

It is so cold that we've had to cover all our plants/trees with blankets to try and save them. The temps get down to about 20 degrees. Hopefully they make it through this alive! 

our cute little olive tree all covered

homemade soup...

Mmmmm... baked potato soup!

I've never made soup from scratch so this was my first attempt. I had a lot of goodies for our New Year's Eve celebration, but this was THE best of all! The girls ended up not even being home to enjoy it with us, and I had doubled the batch, so we had a lot of leftovers!