Is it real?

Well, it's been snowing ALL day, my kids were actually not as wound up as i thought they would be, and Kory and I live in our new master bedroom and the kitchen. We're waiting for carpet to be put in everywhere else. Don't get me started on THAT fiasco.

Our new house is GREAT! That's an understatement. We love it...a lot! I think every day since we have officially been sleeping there I have said at least once, "Kory, our master bedroom is so HUGE!" That's because it is. We have so much space in there it's almost ridiculous. Don't forget about the two walk-in closets. :) Though, I have to use the closet in what we're calling "baby's room" because my closet doesn't have carpet (see above paragraph). So, I am totally looking forward to a vacation in Oregon. Moving the week before Christmas break at school, in the middle of the week is not my idea of a good time. Throw pregnancy tiredness on top of that and you have one exhausted woman! Thankfully, I haven't been sick with the pregnancy, at all!

Speaking of pregnancy, I don't believe it's real yet. I've seen the baby on an ultrasound, but that was wayyyyyy back when I was only 6 weeks and the babe looked more like a lima bean than a real human. I have, however, heard the heartbeat 3 times. Yay! It just doesn't seem real and probably won't seem real until we know for sure the gender of this little tot. Kory so badly wants a boy; I'll be excited either way.

Sorry for so much rambling and no pictures. I'll have the "after" pictures of the house whenver the carpet gets done. Until then, Happy Christmas!

Change

Among all the big changes in my life (house, baby) one other change that seems kind of big to me is that I was released from my calling as the Primary chorister. :( So very sad! I had that calling for almost 2 years and enjoyed it...a lot. It was kind of weird to go to Sunday School and Relief Society and be around...*GULP*...adults! Two hours of adults. It's been a while since that has happened. I secretly missed the Primary children and couldn't help but let my mind wander into the Primary room and join the kids.

At the end of church, as the RS women were filing out of the room, Bastien (one of the primary children) came up to me and said: "When are you going to come and sing with us again?" Ohhhhhh, melt! AND, he was wearing an ugly tie (long story). Bastien is one of those kids you wonder about what will happen when they are teenagers and even adults, but dang that child is good during singing time and for that, I love and adore him! He has a couple of behavior disorders that don't really help his reputation among other kids but he has a good heart. I'm really glad to know that I influenced, at the least, him enough to have him miss me. :)

After that "melt" moment, I saw Katie (our Primary secretary) in the hall and she said: "Oooohhhhhhh, we missed you today! Ashley didn't show up so I was up there trying to lead the songs and didn't know what I was doing. We were going to come and get you, but we thought it wouldn't be fair." I assured her that it would have been JUST fine and said that I missed them too. *sigh* I suppose I just need to grow up and get over it! But really, how can I when the people and the kids are just so fantastic? It will be hard to go to a new ward.

That's all.

I suppose I should update with something...

The house is being worked on. Paint first, then flooring, then moving in...finally!! It will probably be beginning of December when we move. I should have taken pictures of the house all taped up and ready to be painted from top floor to the basement.

First grade is crazy, and good. I can't believe that it's nearly Thanksgiving. Time has flown by since school started up again.

We're having baby in June. Thought you might want to know! ;)

Our house

Pictures of our house, which technically isn't ours yet, but we love it and can't wait to transform it!








Our friends came with us to help light the furnace. That's their little girl running around. She's my "niece" and so much fun!

Not just crazy at school

School officially started on Tuesday. Many of the teachers (including myself) have commented about how ill-prepared we felt and still feel. Part of that feeling comes from having so many students (I have 28) and part comes from having fewer paid work days to just come in and work with your grade-level team and alone in your classroom. I think I was more nervous about starting this school year than any of the other years. It's just been insanely crazy. It doesn't help that about a month or so ago, we found out our math program was changing and we were trained in the program the week before school started!! Yeah, not cool. But, on the bright side, all the Title 1 school teachers are receiving new laptops by the end of September. I'm stoked!

The first week of school was not only crazy AT school, but here at home as well. On Aug. 21 (Saturday) the upstairs tenants moved out. They had to be officially gone by Monday at midnight. They were out by Monday afternoon. On Monday afternoon, we had a school open house to meet your teacher. After that ended and I was chatting with the stragglers who were still in my classroom, Kory came waltzing in and said: "We don't have any internet at home. Can I use your computer?" The internet box was COMPLETELY dead, blank, no lights on, dead! Kory has to have the internet in order to do homework for school. Remember, this was Monday. Kory goes straight from work to school on Tuesdays. UGH! So, he did what he needed to on my school computer and we went over to my aunt's house to take my mom out to dinner for her b-day. By the time we got home, it was late--maybe 8:30 or 9:00. Kory went to turn on the water and...nothing. No water, no internet, no electricity upstairs which wouldn't be a problem but the upstairs electricity is connected to our outside lights. Thankfully, Aunt Nancy let us come back over to her place and shower REALLY EARLY the next morning. I called my cousin, who owns the house we live in, Monday evening and told him and he said the upstairs tenant probably didn't know that turning off her water would shut off our water too. Anyway, he called Provo City first thing Tuesday morning and they couldn't come until Wednesday. Waterless, and internet-less for one more day, or so we thought. Oh no, friends. Wednesday came and still no water even after I got home from a LOOOOOOOOOOONG day at school. So, my cousin gets another phone call from me, Provo City gets another phone call from him and apparently Provo City was "too busy" to send someone out to turn on our water! WHAT THE *&!@%*#&*^*%? UGH! They guaranteed that our water would be back by Thursday. They're lucky that it was or they would have met the wrath of me!!! Oh, and Wednesday morning when my cell phone alarm went off, I looked over to check Kory's alarm clock and it was black. Nada. I thought "oh great! now our electricity has been shut off" I thought maybe it was just a fluke, but figured out that it wasn't after the bathroom lights wouldn't turn on. So Wednesday here's what the status quo was: no water, no internet, no electricity upstairs, and no electricity downstairs! YOU'VE-GOT-TO-BE-KIDDING-ME!!!!!!!! I come out of the bathroom and peek out through the blinds to see if anyone else was perhaps without electricity. I saw red flashing lights reflecting off the neighbors window and went outside to investigate. 4 firetrucks, 3 ambulances, and several cop cars were parked out on the main street and in the grocery store parking lot. That explains the loss of power which Kory said was back on at our place around 8:00am. Goll! Kory said he read a story on the internet that a delivery-type truck had taken a turn too fast and flipped and took out 5 power lines. That road was closed all day and well into the night.

Phew! Sorry that was long! I think Heavenly Father figured we'd had enough and sent us a consolation on Wednesday when my uncle stopped by to take us out to look at more houses: we got our house!! The HUD house we wanted fell through on the first offer that was submitted and we had the next best offer. It's basically ours now. We just have to get financing, which will happen tomorrow, and close with HUD. Pictures will come whenever we can get back over to the house and take pix. We are so excited and it's going to be fun to fix it up (cause it needs some lovin') and have our very own place. Plus, it's so close to my school that I can walk! :)

At least some good came out of this crazy week. My first graders are so stinkin' cute I can hardly take it! Just sayin'.....

Fun website

Wow, I'm a posting maniac lately. Check out this website. SUCH CUTE STUFF!!

www.ribboncandyquilts.blogspot.com

3 weeks

In three weeks from today, I will have 20+ new first graders staring at me, secretly wondering when it's time to go home! :)

I went to my classroom today and actually worked on stuff. I've been in and out all summer, but never actually stayed long enough to be productive. Today, I felt like I was productive. I moved my desk, bookshelf, and kidney-shape table back to their original locations (everything was moved for cleaning). That is an accomplishment because my desk is BIG and HEAVY but I just had to push it and it moved just fine. Then, I sat down and planned out my schedule for a "normal" day of school. It's rare that we actually have a "normal" day, free of interruptions, assemblies, meetings, early out days or other unforseen circumstances. That's basically all I did, but it felt really good. Oh, I also sat and thought about rearranging my room. It's not uncommon to find me rearranging student desks in my classroom because I feel like a change. For young kids, consistency is really good so changing their desks probably isn't a good idea for me, but I do it anyway. Plus, it's always fun to see the looks on their faces when their desks are in different spots. They also have this uncanny ability to be able to memorize where everyone else's new seat is as well. Hmmmmm........

I am looking forward to this year. The Kindergarten teachers talked all last year about how great our classes would be this year. Boy, I hope they're right. Two crazy years in a row deserves a break.

Addicted

Maybe one day, when I've come off this high, I won't bore you to death with my constant ramblings about my quilting. It's still a whole new world to me and there's tons yet to be learned but the things I've learned so far are seriously cool! In a way I am kind of glad my Quilting 101 class got canceled. The money I would have spent on that class went toward other 1-day quilting classes and I have loved every minute of them. Here's my latest creation:






It's called a crazy 9-patch. After the star quilt, this was cake. It would be easy for anyone anyway, but I started and finished (cutting, sewing, pressing) in a little less than 3 hours. So fun! Again, I had the ladies at the Cotton Shop oogling over my color choices. They said they should hire me. I would love that, but I doubt I would be helpful at all!! :) The picture with the green square that has the flowers--that was my inspiration fabric and I found other pieces using that one as a guide. I was proud of myself for choosing fabric with no help (I had help with the star quilt).

**Until I figure out why my pictures show up in HTML in my drafts, you just get bundles of pictures with no commentary. Can anyone help with this?**

Yeah, I'm addicted. I knew I was addicted when after finishing each quilt, I wanted to do it again. We'll see if I can control myself.

"My Three Stars"

Every time I work on a sewing project, I realize how badly we need more space. Here's our kitchen, being taken over by my quilt.



I am a firm believer in eating dinner at the dinner table and not sitting in front of the TV to eat. BUT because of our very limited space in our small apartment, the kitchen is the only place where I have enough room to sew. In the past 2 weeks since taking the class for my quilt, we've eaten at the dinner table maybe 5 times...maybe.

I'm so happy to be able to have my dinner table back (at least until it comes time to sew on the binding)!

Here it is--my very first official quilt. None of this rag quilt stuff, though those are fun as well.







I just can't stop looking at this quilt. It is so beautiful and I love it because I made it and because of it's little imperfections and quirks. I went to bed last night and said to Kory: "I am so proud of myself." Kory likes the quilt also. YAY!

Can you tell why the quilt is called "My Three Stars?" I couldn't tell by looking at the sample in the store. When I started working on it, I realized why it has that name.

If you're getting a headache...

it's because of my blog background. With the updates and new design features, the backgrounds I was using from "cutest blog on the block" weren't working anymore. Bear with me as I learn the new stuff for designing my blog. Thanks. :)

You know it was a good party when...

...3 years later, people are still commenting to others how great it was!! Yup! Apparently, we threw the party of the decade back in 2007 when Kory and I had our "reception" here in Orem. It was at a park and incorporated all of Kory's culture. Here's just a little preview, in honor of the ongoing comments 3 years later.Here's where the Polynesian culture came into play. This is one of the table centerpieces.

In all the hustle and bustle, I didn't have time to do my make-up. So I kind of blend in with the background.

More centerpieces

This is the Native American part of our reception--a hoop dancer. He was really awesome!

So pretty!

It's not just one person that's made a comment about our party. Several people in the past three years have reminisced about the party--mostly the food which was completely Polynesian themed: pulled pork, guava cake, all the goodies! Friday was the most recent comment we received. We were at the Temple and saw a wonderful friend, the wife of a member of the bishopric from our single's ward. She was telling her granddaughter how nice our party was. :) I tell ya, Polynesians TRULY know how to party, especially with good food and good fun.

Belated Birthday Post

On the day of my birthday, my parents and Kory and I went to my in-laws to have dinner with them. I hadn't made mention to them that it was my birthday so I wasn't expecting them to remember or even get me anything. While both families were in the living room chatting, Jase and Kali brought me a big bag. It was a birthday present. Here's what was inside:
If you look up at the top right, that's a little bottle of perfume and some chapstick. All of this came from GAP. Kali said Jase picked out the perfume and chapstick and helped in the choosing of the bag. He's such a girl! :)
After I opened this gift Jase remembered a picture he had drawn for me.
Up top is says: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY". I'm sure he had help spelling all the words, but he wrote all the letters by himself. Oh, and the picture next to his name, "that's a heart, " says Jase. :)This is the other side of the paper. That's me and Jase. He told me that he had drawn four presents for me because he's four and the other presents are for him. :) This picture proudly hangs on my refrigerator! It's the only one he's ever drawn for me and he was SO proud to give it to me. Basically, I have the cutest nephew on the planet.

short sale...NOT!

School's out now. Hooray! All of the 1st grade teachers were glad to see this year go. When the principal comments on more than one occasion about how crazy our 1st graders are, you know it's gonna be a legendary group. It was! We had everything ailing our students from Bipolar disease to a father killed in the Haiti earthquake to students pulling major attitude with the principal. Oh yes, we had it all in first grade and now....

SUMMER VACATION!!

The adventures in at the Sekaquaptewa's have begun. House hunting is our biggest adventure at the moment. We've found a house we like (that's an understatement!), but it's a short sale (in other words, the waiting game begins. don't ask why it's called "short sale" cuz I really don't know)! Our offer is in and now we wait...and wait...and wait...yeah, still waiting. *sigh*

Along with house hunting comes grad school for Kory which gives me 4 hours every Tuesday night to pretty much hang out. He still expresses how good it feels to be back in school and that he's excited about it. That makes me happy as well; now I don't have to feel like the nagging wife anymore.

Soon I'll post pictures of the bag, chapstick, and perfume that Jase picked out for my birthday present. Oh, but the picture he drew me is the absolute best. I'll try to post again soon.

Cuteness alert!

So, I decided that I need to blog at least once about the cuteness that is my 1st grade class. I never expect gifts from my students, but when they do bring me something, it's greatly loved and appreciated. Today started out like any ordinary day. Then Penny walked in......

She handed me a gift wrapped in this:
Inside was a little recipe book made by her mom of some of her favorite recipes! All of the pages were 3x5 on absolutely adorable scrapbook paper. I am soooooo excited to use some of the recipes like Chicken Curry, Banana Bread, and Taco Soup. Penny has previously brought me cute gifts. On "Meet Your Teacher" night (which is our equivalent of Back-To-School night), she hadn't even officially met me but brought me a bag full of teacher goodies: markers, post-its, crayons, glue sticks, ANNNNND hand sanitizer; I'm sure there was something for Christmas, I just can't remember what at the moment; St. Patrick's Day included a little flower pot painted black with green paper Easter grass inside, Rolos (to represent the gold) and 5 different colors of pipe cleaners, bent to look like a rainbow, stuck inside. What a doll. I wish I could post a picture of her. All this cuteness fit's her to a T. Yeah, pretty much, I'm the COOLEST TEACHER EVER!! The most humble, too. *wink* I just love this because it gives me fun, simple, and cheap ideas for when my children have totally awesome teachers.

Now, changing students (but not lacking in cuteness): I just had to blog this.

About 2 months ago, we had an art show. Each class had to do a self-portrait, a piece of art from another country, and a free choice piece. Here is my Hyrum's too-cute-for-words self-portrait:


This was by far mine and Silvia's favorite. I have no idea why. That's not really what Hyrum looks like. He's much, much cuter in person. ;) Silvia and I wanted to keep it, but his parents purchased it so I guess a picture will have to do. *sigh* No one can stop this cuteness. NO ONE!

Rock Climbing

Last Friday I went rock climbing for the first time ever in my life. Jamie has gotten really into it and convinced me to come during my spring break. Granted, this is just a building with rock walls so it wasn't real rock climbing, but hey I enjoyed myself. Oh, and a special thanks to Eldon (my cousin) for holding on tight to the rope so I wouldn't go crashing to the ground from who knows how far up! ;)

Here's me on my first attempt:
I had to wait for Jamie to go all the way up the course next to me to she could get bird's eye views. Sorry about the sideways pics. I couldn't rotate the pictures.

I MADE IT!!

So, as you can see, my life continues to be filled with adventure.

Other updates:
1) Kory and I are looking into buying a house (whoa! don't get too excited. We haven't even met with anyone to find out how much we qualify for on a loan)
2) I thought Anthony (from my "out of the mouths of babes" stories) could not get any cuter...then he showed up at school on Monday with glasses. Let me tell you what...when that child wears his glasses ANNND his hood on his jacket, it is way. too. cute. Oh, and he said to Silvia a couple weeks ago: "My mom is going to get pregnant tonight." :-) Love. that. child...most days.
3) 32 more days of school
4) Finished a rag quilt for a friend and am almost finished with my sister-in-law's rag quilt for her birthday this Tuesday. I'll post pictures later for secrecy purposes. ;)
5) Won about $150 with my NCAA college basketball March Madness bracket. I entered 1 bracket at Kory's work (entries are $5) and the winner would take all the money from all the entries. Yeah, his boss says I'm not allowed to enter next year. Go Duke Blue Devils.
6) Kory kinda sorta started grad school. He has this portfolio class right now that determines if you get into the actual program. He's done well so far.

That's our life in a jiffy.

Out of the Mouths of Babes - part 3

I seriously should just create a whole new blog for the "Out of the Mouths of Babes" series.

Geoff didn't do much this week, though he is still cute as ever.

BUUUUUUTTTT, on two different occasions this week I have heard and/or experienced some very laughable moments. Now, without further adieu:

Occasion #1: A little background first--In February, a girl in Kindergarten got moved up to first grade Dual Immersion. Why? Because mom threw a fit until she got her way. Basically, this mom wanted her daughter to skip Kindergarten since the beginning of the year. Elena did average in the Kindy test, but nothing spectacular. Since mom is PTA president and Diane promised her we could test her again in January (DO NOT ask why she promised that, please), she threw her share of royal fits until--long story short--Diane moved Elena into mine and Silvia's class. UGH!

Okay, now that you have your background here's the story: Silvia was at a table in the back of her classroom with a student named Anthony. Anthony is the kind of kid you just want to squeeze cuz he's sooooo cute, but he'll make you crazy with his incessant talking. So, Elena has a tendency to lose her pencil many times per day. Well, this was one of those times and so she went back to the table where Silvia was working with Anthony and told her that she had lost her pencil. Silvia had about had it up to here (raise hand to about eye level) with Elena so she said: "Elena, part of being in first grade and being a first grader means you are responsible for your things. It means you don't lose your pencil. (More firmly) Go back to your desk and look for your pencil. You need to look really good for your pencil." Of course Anthony is listening to this whole conversation and he turns to Elena and butts in with: "OR you could just go back to Kindergarten." WHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT? Oh my gosh!! Anthony just moved up like 10 points on the "super cool kid" scale. I was laughing so hard when Silvia was telling me and she was laughing so hard that she didn't stop Anthony from making further comments. Well, Elena, much like her mother, wouldn't have any of Anthony's "attitude" so she puts her hands on her hips and starts chewing him out with phrases like: "my mom says I'm supposed to be in first grade. She doesn't want me to go back to kindergarten. I'm not going back to kindergarten." Then Anthony says: "Maybe you'll be in first grade again next year then!" OHHHH!!! Loving Anthony right now. I-was-dy-ing when Silvia was done telling me this. Let's just say, in my book, Anthony is now the coolest kid EVER. This is the one time when his talking has totally paid off. Oh man! Every time after that when I saw Anthony, I just giggled. He has no idea how much Silvia and I have both wanted to say that to Elena or her mom. Sweet, sweet children. *sigh*

Occasion #2: Tonight we were watching that new show called "Minute to Win It." Basically the contestant has 1 minute to complete a task and moves up a scale until they reach $1 million. Well, the lady on this show had a pretty hard task to do--blow cards off a pile of cards that were balanced on a class bottle, but only leave the last card. It looked VERY hard. So, I'm downstairs at my in-laws watching and Jase comes down while this lady was on her 2nd attempt of the task. He looks at the TV and says: "That looks like a damn hard game!"
Me: "What did you just say?"
Jase: (matter-of-factly) "That looks like a damn hard game."
Me: "Where did you learn that word?"
Jase: "Other people say it."
Me: "Well, it's not a nice word and we don't say it."
Jase: "Then why do other people say it?"
Me: "Because they don't say nice words sometimes."
Jase: "Mima (Lynne) said it."

After that, I told Lynne the story and she and Jase had a talk about it. She didn't say that word, by the way.

Sometimes I wonder how well a book of my stories would sell....

good-hearted people

When the day comes when I am not teaching anymore, there is one thing I will not miss: mourning a loss...especially when there's a direct connection to me.

I hold back tears right now, thinking of my dear, sweet, CUTE Kayden who is now in second grade. No, he didn't die...but his dad did. Killed in a car accident, a very tragic one, last night. http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=9972168

At first I thought Katie was joking when she told me; then Summer confirmed it. In a way I wish Kayden was at school today so I could just hug him and hold him and tell him, well, tell him he's a great kid. He and his two older sisters have had a tough. They have had to grow up REALLY fast. Biological mom lost all parental rights to her children a while ago. Stepmom adopted the three kids just last year. Both dad and stepmom have good hearts and are trying to raise their children properly. The first time I met them, I was scared. They don't look like the most approachable people plus Elaine had Kayden's sister in her class my first year of teaching and she was slightly weary of the parents as well. But can I just tell you they are the most good-hearted people and try SO hard to be the best parents?

Oh my sweet Kayden. This incident makes me so grateful that Kory comes home safely from work and other places. I don't know what I would do if my husband died. The worst is that these kids are old enough and smart enough to understand what had happened and it's not going to make life any easier for them. I hope they know they are loved.

RIP Mr. Goins

Out of the mouths of Babes-Part 2

Let's see if I can get this posted before "24" comes on in about 5 minutes.

Well everyone, Geoff struck again--3 times to be exact. During "Come Follow Me" we were practicing a part of the second verse and I kept choosing different helpers to "stretch" the word effulgent while we sang. The Jr. Primary pretty much thinks they're rockin' because they can sing that word. And pretty much, I agree with them!! :) Anyway, I chose a helper and all of a sudden, Geoff gets out of his chair and starts trying to actually come up to me and tell me: "And then I'll be your helper next, Sister S." Oh, precious, precious Geoff. I told him he had to sit and help us sing if he wanted to be my helper (plus I was drawing sticks so luck didn't work in his favor). Then a few minutes later, we were still working on the same song and he said (never raising his hand, by the way): "Sister S., make sure you don't mess up." About this time, all the adults in Primary are rollin' on the floor and I can hardly contain myself with laughter. So, a few minutes later, Geoff's sister was my helper and Geoff got all excited. His face lit up and he started waving and saying: "That's my sister. Hi Elle..., Elle, hiii!" Okay, about this point his teacher finally realized he needed to move and sit next to Geoff and let him know that he needed to be reverent.

Oh dear! I just love Primary.

new project

Sometimes I get really ambitious and want to start a new project before I finish other projects. BUT, you have to admit this project is SOOOOOO cute. Check out the website:

http://quietbook.blogspot.com/2008/09/gathering-supplies.html

I think I would change some of the pages, but I think this would be so fun to make!

Out of the mouths of babes - Part 1

This is for Arycca, because she and I had so much fun together in Primary. Everyone is more than welcome to read it, but I think Arycca will enjoy it the most! Have fun!

Every week in Primary, I come in expecting to hear something funny come out of someone's mouth. It just happens. A child's interpretation of the English language and mannerisms of adults is very different than a grown-up's interpretation. Thus we have, "Out of the Mouths of Babes" from a Primary group somewhere in Provo, UT! :) To protect the innocent, I'll only give first names.

A while ago, we were playing a game during singing time where we would sing and the kids had to watch my hand to see when to stop singing throughout various parts of the song. I had a special signal that the kids were watching for. So, we went along and sang and the kids were having a great time. After one of the "stops" cute little Geoff points to his teacher and yells to me "Sister S., SHE messed up!" Basically he thought his teacher wasn't watching for the special signal. Let's just say I about died, as did Geoff's primary teacher, and Arycca was behind the piano simply beside herself.

So, according to Geoff's mother, that child is in love with me. Woot woot! I'm okay with it, he's absolutely adorable! Pretty much every week I have him yelling "Sister S...." followed by some random comment. Today, he was having a hard time staying in his seat. When I reminded him to raise his hand if he wanted to say something to me, he did and then I think he didn't know what to say because he commented: "Sister S., I know how to read my talk." Hee hee! Oh my gosh I love that child more and more every Sunday. Then a few minutes later, I hear him saying "I don't like you!" I assessed the situation subtly and discovered that his teacher was asking him to sit down and he didn't want to so he decided to tell her off. Funny, but sad for the teacher!

Anyway, I hope to be able to keep up with the "Out of the Mouths of Babes" episodes.

Oh yeah, and if Zach's mom doesn't have a baby girl, I think his world will come to an end...seriously. He's an only child-almost 7 years old. Mom's expecting in August and Zach is just obsessed with the idea and about loses control of himself if a family with a baby girl sits next to him at church. SO CUTE!! He told his mom that we would be a good brother only if the baby was a sister. Oh dear! This is the part where everyone prays that Zach will get a baby sister in August.

Anyway, more next Sunday on the happenings in Primary.

Latest endeavors

Just wanted to post pictures of one of my project ideas. My sister-in-law, Kali has loved the rag quilts I have made and shown off to her and Lynne so I decided it was high time to make her one. For the LONGEST time I stressed over what she would like. Finally, Lynne came with me to help choose. I think she'll like it. Keep in mind she is totally and completely 110% girl and savy when it comes to fashion, thus my stress with choosing exactly the right material for her quilt. Also, Jase says her favorite color is pink.

I can't wait to get started! In the picture, the pink is VERY light. In real life, it's much darker.

Also, I am finishing the same Christmas rag quilt you saw earlier for my mom and taking on a project to sew a rag quilt for one of my best friends, Mickelle. Since she reads my blog, I can't post pictures until after it has been presented to her. Sorry Stella! :)

"Inja Turtles"

A while back, my mother-in-law sent me a message asking if Kory and I could take Jase for an afternoon. Since we love the kid and think he's quite cute, we said yes. Let's just say he was spoiled! Here are some pictures:
This day was close to the last day for us to renew our cell phone plans. So, we figured we would go and get it taken care of (that was our original plan before consenting to take the kid). Since we knew it would take a while and Jase would get bored, we resorted to bribery--if he could be patient while we took care of our cell phone stuff, we would let him ride on the little rides in the mall. Overall, he did really well and even gave his expert opinion, telling me I should choose the blue phone. :) So, here we are, rewarding Jase.

Kali took Jase to Lagoon once and he hated the kiddie roller coasters. Yet, here he is on a simulated roller coaster ride and he enjoyed it!

Then he wanted to do the rocket ship. Funny face!

Jase and Kory are super buddies! Jase told Kory once that he wished we lived at his house! When we got back to our apartment, Jase saw that we had the "Inja Turtles" movies. No, that's not a typo, he really said "Inja Turtles." So, we pulled out his portable DVD player and put it on for him. I think it's cute that JAse has his arm around Kory.

Jase kept getting mad because Kory was watching a basketball game on TV and trying to watch "Inja Turtles" at the same time. Jase noticed EVERY time Kory turned away to watch the basketball game on TV, and he didn't like it one bit!!

So after "Inja Turtles" we watched some of Toy Story 2 ("not the one with the scary baby" says Jase), which is currently Jase's obsession, went to dinner at Carl's Jr. then headed off to our dance class. We dropped Jase off at the child care for an hour, danced, then he said he wanted to go home. We had a fun day!

I figured while I sit here watching Kory duke it out with the Wii, I might as well write something...or just post some photos. :) We went to Tucanos on Thursday night for Kory's free birthday meal. We didn't know that there was a part of 100 being seated before us. UGH! The hour and a half wait was still totally worth it. Tucanos is sooooooo yummy.

That's Kory's little postcard he got for his free meal. I"ll be getting one in May-ish! Yum!



The sisters-in-law came as well. Brittany's first time to Tucanos.

She was enjoying herself...and the foodies!

My camera has a feature that will ask you "Did someone blink?" after you have taken a picture. Good thing it doesn't ask "Was someone being a nerd?"

Day of celebration

Wait, you want an update? Oh, right because I'm so NOT busy that I should have had time to post at least once a day over the past month!

Well, I suppose I could update you on a few things...actually not much but Kory starting grad school in March is something, isn't it?

A couple weeks ago we met Steve; he's Kory's academic advisor at the University of Phoenix in Pleasant Grove. He and Kory had so much in common it was scary. But, he got Kory all squared away and a few days ago Kory got an email saying he was eligible to register for his very first grad school class! When we left our meeting with Steve, I felt good and Kory felt good. He said he is excited, which brings peace to my heart. Those who know Kory well, know that he's not a huge fan of school. Ironic! He wants to be a school counselor. Every time I think about it now, I get excited, almost giddy. I think most of that excitement is coming from him being excited.

Some people early on in our relationship and marriage said that Kory shouldn't take a break from school because the longer he was out the harder it would be to get back in. Truly, for some people, that may be the case. For Kory, an almost 3 year break from school is just what he needed. He was burned out from school. I'll admit I was one of those who thought he should just go right back to school, but I have since learned to just be patient. That has been hard to do. There have been many nights when I have lain awake thinking of how best to encourage him toward the path of Grad School without being the nagging wife. I don't think I ever found that answer.

But, March 23 will be a day of celebration. Kory will being attending class once a week for about 2.5 years, including an internship at a school somewhere in Utah! He can still work his regular hours and still spend time with his family. That will be nice. At first I thought moving out of state and going to college in Oregon or Arizona would be a fun adventure. It still might be, but I see how perfect this situation is right now. Kory can still work, as can I. We won't have to job hunt in a new place and we won't have to move or pay the expense of moving.

Blessings are in abundance right now. What more could we ask for?