Resurrection Rolls!

One year I decided to try making "resurrection rolls" with my girls.  It turns out that I started a new tradition.  My girls loved it and ask about it every year.  They associate Easter with resurrection rolls more than anything else.  Don't get me wrong, they love to hunt for some Easter eggs and get spoiled by the Easter bunny but its something they look forward to.  This year they started asking as we talked about Christmas so they've been waiting a while.  Each year we are able to go more in depth into the story of the resurrection and I think that the girls are really grasping the whole idea this year.  Their faces when I explained the crown of thorns being pressed onto Jesus' head was something that let me know they truly understood what I was talking about.  Here the girls are putting Jesus in the oils and spices and wrapping him in cloth. I was so excited because Shelby didn't even hesitate getting her fingers messy!  She even licked some of the sugar off when she was done. 

 The girls chose to have their happy nappers guard the tomb this year

 

 The finished product.....which happens to be super yummy!

I love that this is something that has become a tradition and I love that we are able to talk more about the last days of Christs life each year.  We were able to read a lot out of the scriptures this year too which was amazing.  One of these years David and I want to have an activity for the week leading up to the resurrection.  For now, "Jesus Rolls" will have to do. 

New Home!

A little bit ago we filled out applications for a house that we wanted and were able to drive past it and take a look.  Its the one place in Logan that I really wanted to live.  Its a housing community called The Springs. David and I lived in The Springs for about 8 months before moving to Ogden.  It was great.  They are 3 bedroom/2 bath homes that are one level, have a 2 car garage and a teeny tiny yard.  I'm talking super small yard....but its a space to call our own and its completely fenced.  The area has a lot of younger families, but it isn't full of newlyweds with brand new babies.  This is what I was not happy about living in student housing for.  I loved the time we had in student housing and everyone was nice BUT if I had to watch people kiss all through sacrament meeting I was going to scream!  I haven't ever been an over the top "mushy" girl.  I understand most people who are in love are, but not me.  Another problem was that there would be only a couple kids that would be my girls ages.  This just didn't seem like the best fit for our family at the stage of life we are in.  Because of this I started looking at our options and realized we could try for The Springs.  It was going to cost about $200 more each month plus all of our utilities wouldn't be included. I knew it was a long shot but wanted to try and see what happened.  If we had the opportunity I knew we could weigh the pros and cons and pray about it.  I also told David "If you get an assistantship or scholarship we WILL move into The Springs."  Well, we were put on a wait list and weren't sure what was going to happen.  I would move from student housing if it was before August, but I refuse to move my girls in the middle of the school year if I can avoid it.  We got a call letting us know that a house was going to open up in April and that if we passed on this one we might not get in.  Wow, we had to make a decision and fast.  We feel really good about the decision we made which was to apply.  We had to pass a background/credit check.  We got a call letting us know there was a problem with it.  It turns out that we owed the IRS some money from a 2009 tax return, well we luckily paid it off about two weeks before this with this years tax return.  We had gotten a letter from the IRS stating that we were paid in full only 2 days before this call and so we were able to email a copy to the landlord.  We are now clear and have mailed off our deposit!  I am so happy and even better, the girls are super excited.  We saw the school they will be attending and they are excited to go which is a huge blessing.  The thing I have worried about most is not where to live, its not how we will pay for things, its not my education or Davids....its those girls.  I never want to impact them in a negative way and I'm glad that this is something they are happy about.  We asked the landlord if she could move the move-in date back at all and she said she could probably push it to May 1st.  We have to pay for the home we are at until June so that means we will pay double rent for May and June.  Thank heavens for getting our tax return when we did.  Everything is seriously working out so perfectly and I feel so blessed.  We will not have  a big 'move everything' day, but will move slowly throughout the two months.  I'm so excited to see what Logan will bring for us.  I know that it is the right decision for us.  How can you deny everything falling into place so perfectly?  I'm just in awe. 

SPRING!

We had our annual "Spring Party" tonight.  It was a day late because David had a track meet in Stansbury (Tooele) yesterday and he really wanted to be there.  He is seriously the best daddy! I decided a while back that I wanted to invite a friend or two to celebrate with us.  The girls are getting older and although David and I are pretty amazing, they enjoy kids their age more.  The girls have been asking when the spring party would be since Valentines Day.  When I told them that I had invited Emi and Sarah they were thrilled! Emi is in Shelbys church class and Sarah is in Kadence's.  All the girls except for Shelby are 6, but they all play really well together.  I always try to give my girls all the essential "spring items" like chalk, bubbles, etc.  I figured I would do the same for the other girls.  They got a bag with chalk, a jump rope, a kite, bubbles, spring colored putty, a pinwheel, and some spring candy. They also got spring plates that they ate their dinner on.

 

 We ate chicken salad sandwiches, but the fruit was Shelbys favorite part! She hates when I tell her that the fruit is just too expensive in the winter.  When I told her that fruit was going to start costing less money she was so happy!

 David is very involved and thought of the dessert on his own.  He thought that dirt cups would be perfect since you plant flowers in the Spring.  I added some foam flowers to make them look like little potted flowers.

 We started off by painting the girls fingernails with some UV nail polish.  It goes on clear and then when you go in the sun it turns maroon. I added sparkles on top because.....well, everything is better with sparkles.  Here are the girls standing with their nails in the sun watching them change.

 After dinner we made bracelets with UV beads.  The beads also changed colors in the sun.  Here is an example of the beads with and without sun.

 Emi and Kadence stringing their beads

 Shelby and Sarah adding their beads

 The girls all had a fun time and were all so well behaved.  I know that I won't ever have a hard time with these girls because every one of them listens so well and follows directions.  I was also so excited because Emi was her normal talkative, cute self.  She normally will talk to me, but not too much.  She is more comfortable at her own home as well.  Not today! She talked and talked and it wasn't just to the girls, it was to me too!  She told me all about Kindergarten and the leprechaun that came to her house, etc.  All four of these girls are simply adorable!  At the end of the party there was about 20 minutes of time that they just played.  At one point all 4 of them ended up in the phone booth.  You can't see them all too well, but they are all in there!



Confessional

I CONFESS....I am an over eater.  I have been trying to lose a few pounds and tone my body and I am realizing that my biggest problem is the fact that I can't go 15 minutes without eating something.  While blogging today I have had 2 packages of smarties and a few handfuls of skittles.  I just always feel the need to eat and I don't eat healthy things, of course it is always crap.  I've been getting better at night and have stopped eating for 3 hours straight before bedtime, but I still have a long way to go.  My goal is to get to where I only eat when I am hungry and only snack once or twice a day....we'll see.

I CONFESS....It drives me crazy when people tell me "you don't need to lose weight" or "you don't need to watch what you eat."  Yes, I do need to lose weight.  I have gained 20 pounds in less than 2 years and the number just keeps climbing.  I am not going to starve myself....mostly because I love to eat.  I am not going to purge.....because I am terrified of throwing up.  I will do it in a healthy way.  I don't think you should ever discourage anyone from trying to become a little more healthy.  I need to exercise to stay healthy, I don't see where the problem is.  I should be setting a good example for my girls on how to take care of your body and I don't see anything wrong with it so please stop discouraging me from becoming healthier.  I need encouragement just as much as anyone else on a weight loss journey.

I CONFESS....I am really excited to move.   I will miss a few neighbors and some close friends but I am only going to be 40 minutes away.  I know that I can visit and I'm thrilled to have lunch/dinner dates frequently.  (Again, I LOVE to eat)  I just think it will be great to be more on our own.  We live within 25 minutes of over 10 different family members.  I have loved being close and having such a great support but I also think we will learn a lot from being further away.  It will be a great experience for our family.  I'm also excited that we will be closer to the end of our college journeys.  I should get my Bachelors in 3 years and David should have his Doctorate in 3-4 years.  It is so exciting to me that in 4 years we might both be done with school.  Our girls will be 9-11 years old when we graduate and I'm glad that they will be old enough to remember seeing us accomplish our goals.  I ultimately went to school to set a good example for them.  I hate school.  I literally hate every part of school....unless it is a class for my major.  I have always told David that I will never attend college.  He was fine with it and understood and was beyond shocked when I decided to go to school.  I want my girls to know how important education is and I want them to be proud of their mommy.

I CONFESS...I am really excited for this summer.  We will have a lot of time together as a family which I love.  We are going to spend a lot of time camping, hiking, fishing and picnicking.  I want to cram as much family time in as we can before we get insanely busy again.  David will be very occupied with his school work so we won't get a lot of time with him for the next 3-4 years except during the summer.  Sure, we'll see him but not as much as we're used to.  I'm excited to try and cram all of the summers from now until the end of his doctorate FULL of family fun.

Things That Must GO...

1- People on their electronic devices at church.  (Other than for scripture reference)  I understand that electronics have become a very important part of many peoples lives.  I too am guilty of feeling "naked" when I leave my phone home on accident.  I have become dependent on the internet access and instant answers, phone numbers and directions.  The one place I never feel naked without my phone is church.  It is THREE hours.  Very rarely is there something that can't wait THREE stinkin hours. David brings his which is fine with me but he doesn't text or surf the internet, look at facebook or play games.  I used to get annoyed but having my sister call to tell us that my nephew was on the way to the hospital years ago during church made me realize there is a need at times to have a phone on you.  I don't know how many times we see adults tell their kids they can't play games during sacrament and then a few minutes later they themselves are playing.  It drives me CRAZY! I exclude the teenagers from this category.  I wouldn't love for my kids to bring their phones to church at that age, but at the same time I know that I will just be grateful they went.  Even while texting or looking at facebook I know that some of the messages might still seep in.  For me you are just lucky to get teenagers to church so I am extremely tolerant of how they behave while there.  (At least while they aren't my own kids)  I shouldn't judge, but this is one of my things that must go.

2-The phrase "Did you see that on Pinterest" must go! Yes I have looked on pinterest from time to time but not everything crafty or clever that I do comes from pinterest.  Every once and a while I come up with something clever on my own.  I'm sure it is in the pinterest world somewhere, but occasionally its an original idea.  (As far as I know at the time)  A better way to phrase it would be "Where did you come up with that idea?"  I am not too crafty, but I do have some VERY crafty friends/family and I'm sure it insults their creativity when you assume everything they do is off of pinterest.

3-Parents who use the phrase "I just check out." I have heard this phrase VERY often from people lately.  It drives me nuts.  Once you get pregnant, you become a parent.  Last I checked you can't just take a vacation from that.  You will ALWAYS be a parent.  I understand needing time away....trust me, I get to where I tell David "If I don't get out of the house and away from the kids I'm going to lose my mind." (Luckily its few and far between now that they are older and I'm in school) I know of people who just go through the routine of the day "checked out" and to me it is just very sad.  I know that their children notice that their parent isn't giving them the time or attention.  I know that the parent is missing out on some cute, touching and funny moments.  Nothing delights me more than when Shelby stops me from cleaning to tell me a nursery rhyme.  Or when I hear Kadence singing in the bathroom.  These little ones are precious and they are only this age for a short time.  We need to enjoy it, not just go through the motions of being a mom or dad.  (Ask me again when they are teenagers and I might sing a different song)


I know these seem VERY judgemental, but they are just my personal opinion.  I'm not under the impression that I am perfect.  In fact I could write an entire list of things I do that must go. 

Pi Day & St Patricks Day

PI DAY:

 

In our house I like any reason to have a celebration.  I just enjoy having a fun memorable evening with my family and how excited my girls get for our "parties."  Thursday was Pi Day.  Its 3-14 which is the first, most common, digits of pi.  David being the nerdy one gets excited for this day every year.  He even had a past student (Who graduated) tag him on facebook saying "I can still remember 21 digits of Pi thanks to David Joy!"  He held a contest every year offering pi to the student in every class who could memorize the most digits.  We ate The Pie Pizzeria for dinner. (Mostly because they were offering a buy one get one free which made their yummy pizza affordable)

 I spent ALL day long in the kitchen making some fabulous homemade pies....NOT.  But I did have to stand in line at Wal-mart which might be just as bad.

 A few weeks ago we ordered David a Pi shirt so that he could wear it to school

 Shelby and her pie

 Kadence and her pie

 We had a great evening and were excited that Jeff was able to come to our party. 

 

 

ST PATRICKS DAY:

 

Our girls get so excited about St Patricks Day.  They know nothing about the origins which is a failure on our part as parents but they base it all on Leprechauns.  They hope one day they can catch one of the sneaky buggers.  Shelby even said that she wants daddy to take her to Ireland one day and she wants it to be raining when they fly so they can see the rainbow, and the pot of gold from the sky.  They sure do make me laugh!  We have nice leprechauns come to our house and they only go through our kitchen.  This year it used crape paper to decorate, left the girls some green treats and chocolate gold, and turned our milk green.

 Kadence and Shelby were both VERY excited because I've explained the leprechaun doesn't come to every house every year.  They were happy that it was "a different, nice leprechaun." They have enjoyed a day full of green treats and have loved wearing their shirts all day.  Here's a picture of them being "monsters."  Basically they wear one of Shelbys Stompeez on one foot and an old slipper on the other and that turns them into monsters. 

 I made them give me a nice picture after. 

Utah State Here We Come!

Applying to Utah State was a bit of  headache to say the least.  After David did all he could do it took until the VERY last possible day of the deadline to get his letters of recommendation submitted.  He tried reminding and reminding people to turn them in but two of them took their sweet time.  After that we just had to wait.  I ran to the mailbox daily hoping that we would get an answer. On Tuesday February 19th I got a text from David while I was sitting in my night class.  It told me that Utah State emailed him stating they couldn't accept him to the program at this time but would like to give him the opportunity to interview with the department to see if he would "fit" with their program and faculty.  That was devastating! We have always known that it was a possibility that he wouldn't get accepted but it was hard to hear.  David wanted to keep it quiet until we had a for sure answer.  We set up the interview for February 26th.  It seemed like forever to wait and we were hoping to get answers that day. Kadence went to school like usual and the rest of us headed up to Logan.  It was nice to be able to bring Shelby up because she has been nervous.  She was excited to see Logan had a Walmart and a McDonalds and she got excited that we might live there.  Shelby and I walked around the TSC looking at each place mommy and daddy worked while David interviewed.  She kept telling me that she hoped they would "say yes we want you at our school." We grabbed some treats from the Quickstop and I took a picture of Shelby that cracked me up.  She was in a Milky Way daze.

 David called to tell me that he was done and that he felt it went pretty well.  He said they really grilled him and that he wasn't sure a few of his answers were great but that overall he felt it went well.  We still didn't have an answer but they said that he "would hear back by the end of the week, if not by the end of the day."  We were DYING to hear back, but 5 o'clock came and went and we still didn't have any answers.  The next day as I was headed to class in the morning David called with some great news, he had been accepted.  His acceptance is conditional though.  He has to take a Diversity in Education course and pass with a B or higher.  This is because that is what his dissertation will be on.  This has to be completed before the fall and before he is officially accepted into the program.  They also mentioned that the Department Head wanted to speak with him about an Assistantship.  We were elated.  That is something we have been praying he gets.  He gets paid a fraction of what a professor does to teach undergrad courses.  But it means money coming in AND experience which helps a ton. We had purchased Utah State shirts from Build a Bear a while back and so that is how we told the girls the great news.

They now call them their "moving bears" and are excited to go on our new "adventure." David spoke with the Dept Head yesterday who told him that he would be teaching the Science Methods class as well as a Student Teaching Seminar.  He is in the process of working out a date to go meet with her and chat about all of the details.  Everything is falling into place perfectly and working out so well.  We are very excited about the opportunities we've been given.  It's going to be tricky to have him teaching, coaching track (Oh ya, he was given the head coach of track!) and take summer class which starts May 2nd.  Everything will only overlap for a short time but it will be a trick.  I will also be taking a summer class so May will be VERY busy.....especially since we will be packing and getting ready to move all at the same time.  It will be stressful but a great kind of stressful.  The odd thing is, he still hasn't heard back from U of U yet.  You snooze you lose!

Happy Birthday Dr Seuss!

Our girls get excited every year as Dr Seuss' birthday approaches.  This year I set it all up "birthday style" so the girls could wake up and get excited.  Shelby had told me that "we always get donuts when its somebodys birthday" so we went to Krispy Kreme and used our 12 Valentines to get a free dozen.

 Cat in the Hats Hats, Red fish and blue fish, Grickle Grass, Oh the Places You'll Go candies and Green Eggs

 The girls enjoyed reading Dr Seuss books

 We ate Green Eggs and Ham and the girls drank special drinks

 Shelby, my picky eater, didn't mind the green at all

 Kadence, who'll eat anything wasn't so sure

Shelby thought that chocolate milk could make great Gluppity-Glupp (The Lorax)

 Then we played our new Dr Seuss game

 You draw 3 cards that tell you what to do, where to do it and how to carry the fish.

 Shelby crabwalked to the sink with the fish on her belly

 Kadence skipped to 3 windows with the fish under her right arm

 I had to walk like a penguin to the door and back with the fish on my head

 David had to dance to a book with the fish in his hand

 Jeff had to crawl around a chair with the fish under his left arm

The girls had a great time and have enjoyed reading lots of books and watching Dr Seuss shows all day long.  We all had a lot of fun with the game, but I don't think anyone laughed as hard as Kadence did.  I think the girls favorite part of all was to finally get their new stuffed animals.  Kadence got Horton and Shelby got the Cat in the Hat.  I love looking forward to this day every year.  Its a fun day that we get to spend as a family being silly and having fun.