I love sunshine

We’ve had some absolutely beautiful days lately. I love the sunshine, and so do my children. Amelia gets really upset if I walk by the window or the back door and we don’t go out! She loves to be outside as much as the rest of us.
So, we’ve been outside a lot this week. When I was young, one of my favorite things to do was feel the warm mud squish between my toes. I decided that Seth should be introduced to that particular feeling. So, we had fun in the mud. All the while, Miss Amelia Mae was happily seated in the swing!

Here is the dress that I made for Amelia.

I can SEW!

Ooh am I excited that I can sew now! Ok, I made one pair of capri’s for Amelia, does that really mean I can sew? Well, I hope that I can continue with this and make my kiddos some darling things! Check out the pictures! Oh, and just so you don’t think I did this all on my own, my friend Nicole came and helped me with it.

Do you ever feel

like you are the WORST Mother in the world? I do. My sweet boy is not so sweet anymore. He used to be sweet and kind and caring. He used to love other kids and would play with whomever was around and had no problems with it at all. He never balked at a child taking something away from him, he was easy going and nice. This is not the case anymore. My child has been taken over by a mean, screaming, toy-stealing, chair-pushing, jumping on little kids, MONSTER. I don’t know what I’ve done so wrong with him. He is so nice to Amelia, for this I am so grateful…but to other kids, not so much.
On Sunday, we went to our new church for the first time. He went into nursery with the other kids (ages 18 mo. to 3 yrs.) and was understandably nervous. So, I stayed with him, no biggie. He stayed on my lap and wouldn’t talk to anyone. His teacher came over to introduce herself and he buried his head in my chest, fine. However, when a child took a toy that was on the floor that he was eyeing, he SCREAMED! Not just any scream, but a high pitched, shrill scream. The other parents that were in there looked at me like I told him to do it. At another point he pushed a chair into a little girl, pounced on another (they were playing a game like tigers, but he did it from behind and no one else was pouncing), and hit one of the adults (she wasn’t very nice, but STILL!).
Then, today we went to playgroup at the church. He was SO mean to the other kids, again! I just don’t know what to do with him. I can’t stay in my house all the time for fear of what he’ll do to the other kids, but I don’t want to take him out and have him potentially hurt other kids.
I know, he’s just gone through a big change. He’s moved from the only home he’s ever known (the home he was literally born in), all his friends are 1 to 1.5 hours away, and things are different now. But, it is breaking my heart watching him being so mean. Any advice???

Weekend Pictures

My weekend in pictures…enjoy!

Anyone here watch The Office? It’s our favorite s…

Anyone here watch The Office? It’s our favorite show. My brother and sister-in-law are our best friends. We’ve spent practically every Saturday with them for the last 3.5 years. They have fed us every one of those Saturdays. They like The Office too. When Stephanie (sil) was pregnant with #8 (yes, I said #8), I gave her the first season of The Office to make her laugh in her final days of pregnancy.
Well, 2 Sunday’s ago, we had a thank you dinner for them. They, and their 8 lovely children, came to our house for dinner. We had rib-eye’s (YUM!), garlic mashed potatoes, bread from Great Harvest, salad, asparagus, Outrageous Brownies (drool), and some Aggie Ice Cream. In all it was a fantastic day.
Oh, but wait, I was talking about The Office wasn’t I? Ok, so for those not familiar with this HILARIOUS show (Thursday nights 7:30, NBC), one of the characters, Jim, likes to play practical jokes on people. One of his trademarks is putting office supplies in jell-o molds. See where I’m going here?

Here are the excited recipients of their green jell-o mold with the second season of The Office in it! They thought that was so funny, and the jell-o wasn’t bad either!! 🙂 Thanks again Chip and Steph! We love you guys!

Seriously

I never want to move again. Ever. Even if this house isn’t my favorite place ever…I’ll stay here. Why? Because I loathe moving. But, we’re done. We are moved in and mostly, well, partially unpacked. We’re unpacked enough to live. So, that’s good.

We have stairs. Amelia doesn’t really know about stairs. She learned on Tuesday, the day after we moved in (or was it Monday, I really don’t remember). She tried to climb up the stairs and took a tumble backwards. She now will not go near the stairs. The only problem is that we have a step that goes down from the living room and then up again into the kitchen. So, if she is in one room and wants to go to the other, she will just sit there and cry, or whine, or crawl as close as she dares…she just will not go down the stair. It’s good, it’s really good 😉

Have I told you all how excited we are to have a yard?? I don’t think that anyone is more excited than my Seth. He is constantly outside and when he’s not, he is asking to be! He loves his backyard, garage, porch…everything that is OUTSIDE! Today he and I went and bought some tomato seeds, pea seeds and spinach seeds. We also got a soil testing kit (so we know what we need to do) and gloves for each of us. We have lots of weeding ahead of us this week if we want to get our spinach and peas in the ground this next weekend. He is really loving his yard. Now if we could find a decent and cheap swingset…he’d be in HEAVEN!
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. It is spring in Utah. This means that it can be beautiful and sunny one day and snowing the next. That is exactly what happened this week. We moved on Monday, it was warm and beautiful! The next day it was cold and rainy. The day after that, we woke up to snow. Seth was SO excited that he just had to go out right away…look at this kid!

Now, as you can see, we didn’t get TONS of snow, but it was enough to make this little boy’s day. To make his own snowman, in his own yard…it brought tears to my eyes. I love that kid.

As for Jeremy and I…well, we are exhausted. We can’t believe that the week is done and that he goes to work on Monday. He is excited and nervous. I just pray that it will be a fabulous job, the one that he’s dreamed of so that I don’t have to move again. 🙂

We’re Set!

We found a great house to rent this weekend! It is 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1900 Sq. feet on 1/3 an acre! I am really excited! It will be 1.5 miles from Jer’s work, so he can ride his bike!!! We move in on March 26…yes, one week from TODAY! EEEK!

Ok, here are pictures!!!

Here is the front of the house (duh!)

This is the detached HUGE garage!

Here is the view of the backyard from the gate by the garage.

See my garden spot?? I can taste the fresh veggies now!

Isn’t this just a great spot? I can’t wait to put a bench here and have my quiet place 🙂

Here is looking at the house from the far end of the backyard.

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Decisions, Decisions…

And, we’ve decided…ready? We’re going to Logan. We feel really good about this decision and while the money is the same with either company, this is where we feel that Jeremy and I both would be happiest. We really are thrilled. We’re going up on Saturday to look for a place to live and to visit Jer’s grandparents. Yeah, did I tell you that his Mom’s folks live there? This will be nice. We can visit them, help them around the house and be close enough to all of my good friends in Salt Lake! We are just thrilled beyond belief. What a huge weight off our shoulders!

When it Rains…

It POURS!! And, this time it’s good pouring! Jeremy got the official offer from Zimmer today. After he got off the phone with me, he called Medicine Lodge and told them the offer from Zimmer. They told him that they could at least match the offer. So, where does this leave us? Well, with Zimmer he would be working on hips. At Medicine Lodge he would be researching and developing new devices and technologies in all medical devices (not just hips). So, both companies are overnight fedexing the offers. So…we STILL don’t know where we’re going! I know what everyone is voting for…my siblings and friends are voting for Logan, my folks and Jer’s folks, and his sister are voting for Indiana. Us? Well, we really aren’t sure yet. We’ll have to look at the offers and do some serious contemplation and praying about this. Like I said, when it rains, it pours!

Oh, she’s SO cute!

Amelia is signing “Dad” all the time now. It is SO cute! She says, “Dah” and signs Dad!!! She just melts my heart.
Seth melts my heart too. But, he really makes me laugh so hard. Today at church, I walked by the nursery and overheard the teachers asking the kids who wanted to say the prayer for the snacks. I hear my little man say, “I will!”. So, of course, I have to listen. here is what I heard: “Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for blessings, name of Jesus Christ, Amen.” He is so cute! He will just break into song and/or dance all the time too, he is so funny!!! I really do love being a Mom.

So, I never thought I’d want to stay in Utah. Really, I didn’t. When we moved here, I said that there is no way I would want to raise my family here. I don’t like being a Mormon in Utah. It is a completely different culture here and it is hard. There are many (note I am not saying all, just many) people who are “Utah Mormons”. They are a different breed. They are the people who ask when they meet someone for the first time, “Oh! Are you LDS? What’s your calling?” (for those who don’t know, ours is a lay ministry, so everyone helps out. What you do to help is called your calling in our church). Anyhoo, it drives me nuts. When we moved here when I was in high school, I hated it. There were people who were mean because I wasn’t from Utah (I know, I know, that happens anywhere you move in high school). But, I also found that so many people took the church for granted here. There are Temples everywhere around here, and people don’t go. The kids had seminary (bible classes for kids age 14-18) DURING SCHOOL! Now, for those who are not from Utah, have to go to early morning seminary. Mine was at 5:30, Jeremy’s was at 6:00…in the morning! So, when kids wouldn’t go, it made me so mad!
Then, there is the weather. I hate the inversion. Every year, we get the nasty weather that lasts for months on end. I hate it.
However, my family and friends are here. Not to mention, Emma. As we get ready to move, I am realizing how much I am going to miss Stephanie, Chip and their kids, my sister Cristin and her family, my brother Rob and his family and so many of my dear friends I’ve made here. Who will I play with when we move? I know, I’ll make new friends, but I won’t have Nicole, Lori, Lindsey…I won’t have my fabulous neighbors that I have now (hi Tiffany!)…it really is sad. I am trying not to think about it too much, but it’s hard. This is going to be a really big transition for all of us. I think it will be hardest on me though. *sigh*