change

So, one of my newest quotes I like is "If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies." Change is good and constantly happens. I've found I'm most happy when we "don't sweat the small stuff". Life is so precious and we are so blessed. I am so grateful for my family and for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful to have a living Prophet on the earth, Thomas S. Monson and the other faithful servants and apostles of the Lord. I love that new technology allows for great messages and that they make such great "Mormon Messages" on youtube.

I am so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord in my life and hope we can always take the time to realize what we are blessed with.
I'm just so grateful. :)

I finally found our camera battery charger and was so glad to be able to take pics of my kids. They're the best and I'm so blessed to have them as mine. I love my life. Now, when I find the camera itself (haha) I will post the pics. Nothing fancy, just every day life - I took some of them watching a movie together I think...

fun times...

So we survived a short time with a few little kids over for the latest birthday time. K had a great day and loved having friends play, and designing her own cake, games, and party.

She saw the picture on a Betty Crocker cake mix several months ago of a cake like this and wanted one. Thankfully with a spring birthday there are lots of cute things to choose from to add - like the paper flower picks. Made the cake a breeze to throw together. I had a scouting meeting all morning and got home about 1 1/2 hours before party time. We frosted the cake, blew up balloons, finished the game plans, and were ready with 20 minutes to spare (all because I forgot what time the party start - thankfully it started later than I thought so I bought myself an extra half hour of time).

I taught the kids the "Heavy Heavy Hangover thy poor head..." She liked it.
Of course Grandma A always sends presents for everyone so little boy lined up his new cars.

Website to check out

Graciecare.blogspot.com

Check it out.

Prayer

When you're saying your prayers, please pray for my sister's daughter Gracie. They found a cancerous tumor this weekend. She has already been through a lot of testing and a sugery this weekend, currently undergoing a blood transfusion, and scheduled for chemotherapy to start soon.
Also pray that her parents will continue to have the Lord buoy them up and sustain them at this time.
I am so grateful for the gospel, our Heavenly Father, and his son Jesus Christ, and the blessing of having the spirit to guide us. I am so grateful to be part of such a wonderful family, and have the added blessing of friends. Love you all.

white sauce

So I have finally made a yummy white sauce - that became cheese sauce - last night! I was so proud of myself. It was so yummy. We had baked potatoes, broccoli and cheese sauce. That is seriously one of the best things around. Yum.

5 weeks down and counting!! I have always loved school and learning. I still love learning but I am not really enjoying much about this semester of classes. I now realize how hard it must be for a lot of people to make it through every semester. I have finished 5 weeks now and only have 11 more to go! Wahoo! Then I have my associates. I can hardly wait! I think it's largely because I'm working now too and can easily see how my job could provide long-term opportunities.

I can't find my camera battery charger anywhere so I have no new pictures to post. I wish I had that battery charger though as I'm helping with K's Valentine party today. She is so excited. :) Me too.

full swing

So, I think I am about caught up with things at work, just in time to learn some additional duties. :) I love my new job and am grateful to have it!

The kids are doing really well with going to the neighbor's after school and have been playing well together on the weekends. I think they're glad to have the time to be in their own rooms with nothing that has to be done. Those rooms of theirs are totally trashed about now but there haven't been too many fights so I let it ride. At least my dishes and laundry stay caught up. :)

Eric and I are in full swing now with the school semester. We are already counting down to May...

My parents have just accepted an offer on their house (tonight) and will be moving next month to sunny Arizona where most of us kids were born! I'm excited for their new adventure. They're so cute in planning it. They will only be about 100 miles from Vegas so we'll just have to start hitting both grandparent houses in one trip from now on I guess.

We "just keep swimming, swimming, swimming" and praying, praying, praying. :)

If I had my way...

So I'm learning that I have a love for the simple things in life. I was handed a large order supply book at work this week to see what office supplies I will need and found it interesting that I have some pretty cheap preferences.

I like the cheapest pens in the book (Bic medium point ball point)
I like the cheapest post-it notes - with a little bright color thrown in
I like the cheapest tape dispenser (it's just like my one at home) - along with the cheapest 3-hole punch, cheapest scissors, cheapest paper clips, etc.

Is this because it's pretty well all I know or because others are fooled thinking that the higher the price - the better things must be? Is this a case of the "greener grass" for others or the reflection of my cheap, frugal life? Haha.

They'll probably think I'm some sort of odd duck when they get my list tomorrow - but they'll probably also be grateful that I won't hurt the bottom line too much. :)

growth charts

It is true that kids grow like weeds! I have the proof (well not for the rate of weed growth-just the kids). Thanks to my measuring board (thanks again for the idea Christine!!) we captured the crazy growth rates of my kids this past year- (they are fairly short for their ages too believe it or not. - well maybe not Maiah)

From 12/31/09 to o1/04/10 here are the totals:

Christian grew 3 1/2"
Maiah grew 3 1/2"
Kathryn grew 3"
Erica grew 2"
(Maiah passed her last year and has stayed ahead by a few inches)

The real crazy thing is that 1 1/4" of Christian's inches happened since his birthday Nov. 8th! I had bought him some new pants around then and they are already becoming "floods".

I love having the board to keep track - then we can just take it with us whenever we move (whenever that might be).

So here's a pic (taken by little boy) of me in my new glasses. I still can't decide if I really like them or not. I liked them the best out of what they had but they're way different to me than my last ones... What do you think?

And a pic. of the little boy himself - he's such a doll. And some other pics. he took too. He was quite proud of himself. :)

First Day

Wahoo!
School is back in session for the girls! :) They weren't too excited this time around. They had too much fun playing this past week I think. I am excited though. :)

Today is also the first day of a new job for me! I'm really excited! I got a part-time office assistant position up north at byui. I think it will be perfect and great!! I can hardly wait to go find out more about the rest of my life. haha. We're hoping it will be great and will be long-term so that in the future I can work full time and get education benefits for our kids there or in Provo.

I can hardly wait! I think it will be a position that offers a lot of change and responsibility so it will keep me busy and I like that! Plus - I don't think you could find a better atmosphere for working! :) It will be a welcome change!

I finish my last semester of my Associates degree (as an "Office Professional) in May and Eric will finish his Masters in May...

2010 should be a great year!!

Wish us luck!

Snow day!

So today will probably go down as one of the greatest snow days in history for the kids. They spent HOURS outside with dad making an igloo - which Eric later added stairs and a slide to. They also had a snow ball fight with our neighbor. They all got a few good shots in but when you've had snow ball fights for over 60 years you get some good experience on your side. It was fun to watch them. I just home he doesn't get pneumonia now. :) They were all soaking when they were done.

I also used our movie feature on our camera - I'd never tried it before but since our regular video camera has to stay plugged in I didn't take it out to catch the slide action. I couldn't upload them though. :( It was fun.