spoke too soon

That was last year. This is today.

I take it all back. So much for spring starting in March.

One year ago today...

...it looked like this outside.

I'm glad we're at least attempting spring this year.

Turning the Page

As evidenced by the plan we've chosen for these five months, we seem to like to make things as complicated as possible without physically hurting anyone... Following that pattern, we are attempting to buy a house on the East side of Salt Lake valley with a less-than-East side budget. That being the case, we came up with some interesting choices in our hunt for a home.

How could you pass up on such beautiful interior decorating?

Everyone I know wants wood paneling, linoleum flooring, windows that open into the garage, and multicolored countertops.

All in the same room, of course.

Some houses come with pets.


If fish aren't your fancy, how about these?

Those are flies, by the way.

And in case you haven't seen your sister recently, or if she hasn't spoken her affection, you could try this house.


Some houses don't come with toilets, but at least they have toilet paper.


Or, if you want to streamline your morning routine, you could try multitasking.

Why not use the toilet in the shower?

(Ok, pause from the jokes. Are you serious?!?
Why on earth would someone put a toilet in the shower?!)

Afterwards, you can take the kids out for a run in the backyard


while you enjoy the natural plant life.


But, after much searching,

WE FOUND A HOUSE!!!

And I'm not going to post pictures.
Sorry.

The house is still listed on the MLS, and I don't want to give too much information on a public blog that could potentially lead someone unwanted to our home. So, for now, you can just be excited with the pictures in your imagination!

I will give some basic statistics:

4 bedrooms

3 bathrooms

2600 sq. ft.

2 car garage

appliances included, only 2-3 years old

laundry chute

automatic sprinkler system

easy access to major roads direct to freeway

within walking distance of elementary school and church building

enough room for a pool table ;)

drinking fountain in the backyard

Needless to say, we're excited. We officially went under contract this week, and Chris has stayed longer in Salt Lake this weekend in order to have the inspection done tomorrow. That part is less exciting, but we're getting closer to having a house! It's exciting to be starting this next chapter of our lives.

P.S. A couple of the pictures are actually from our house.
Any guesses which?

i thought of another one

Jane showed up with a new scratch on her wrist. When I asked what happened, her response was,

"It's a birthmark."

Some very Jane moments

Earlier in the week, Jane was having a rough night. I gave up trying to get her to bed nicely and had to let her cry herself to sleep. I checked on her before I went to bed later and found her hanging halfway off her bed. It didn't seem like a good idea to move her, so I tried, as gently as I could, to move her back onto the bed without waking her up. It didn't work.

She threw another fit and took a while to calm down. I was sitting in the chair next to her bed for a long time. I kept asking if she wanted to read a story, or sing a song, but she would have none of it. Finally she said, "I can't sleep!" Upon my asking why, she said, "I don't want to sleep!" "What do you want to do?"

"I want to play with my hair. Go away."

I never heard a peep from her for the rest of the night.


Megan was laying on the floor, minding her own business. Jane walked over, sneezed in her face, and walked away.


Jane was typing on an old keyboard Chris gave her. She purposely typed something, then came to me with her hand held out. "That's ten forty-eight," she said. I held my hand out, she pretended to grab something from it, then said, "Thank you. Have a good day."


At day care, Jane got up from a nap with one bare foot and one socked foot. Laura Lee asked her where her other sock was, and Jane pointed to her socked foot and said, "Right there." "No, where's your other sock?" "Right there!" pointing to the socked foot. After searching through the crib, all the toys, generally all over, Laura Lee asked again, "Where is your other sock?" Jane pointed and very adamantly replied, "Right there!"

She had two socks on one foot.
She was telling the truth the entire time.

Happy Birthdays!

Sadly, my birthday started out...shall we say...horribly! I woke up feeling very sick, with a stomachache and fever. I felt like Jane looked when she was sick a couple weeks ago.


It took me a long, long time to get myself ready for school because I felt so sick. By the time I was finally ready and went to wake up Megan, I discovered that she had pooped through her diaper, clothes, and blankets and all over MY sheets since she was on my bed. I had to give her a bath and since she was having a bath, Jane had to have a bath, too. Then I had to get all the sheets off my bed and into the washer.

Needless to say, I was late for school.

And, in case you're wondering, I only have 1.5 sick days left for the rest of the school year. I'm saving those for use only when absolutely necessary. So even though I was way sick, I still went to school. I just avoided direct contact with any students. Luckily, I have a student teacher who did all the teaching.

The day did get progressively better. My principal had announced my birthday to the entire school during his morning announcements, and I had several people wish me happy birthday in the halls. I even had two classes stop in the hall and sing to me, and the entire cafeteria sang to me, too. That was fun.

Chris and I each collected several cards, which looked fun all set up in the living room.


My most favorite gift of the day, however, was this.


I have several variations of this Care Bear, and I was very excited to receive a new addition to my collection.

The evening was highly entertaining as well. I was feeling sorry for myself the night before, so I posted this on my Facebook:

so, Chris is at work in Salt Lake, Jess (who usually hangs out with me in the evenings) is in Virginia for spring break, and tomorrow is my birthday. I'm feeling a little pathetic being all alone! DOES ANYONE WANT TO HANG OUT TOMORROW NIGHT?!?!? I have games, movies, popcorn, ice cream...we'll make a party out of it! :)

In response, my friends Tannie and Aimee and Chris's sister Heather came over for games and food. Thanks, guys. That was way, way better than being alone!

On Thursday, I would only like to point out that I was officially older than Chris when you said our ages. I was 25, he was still only 24.

Friday was Chris's birthday. He, perhaps unfortunately for him, had the girls all day since Laura Lee was closed for a wedding. And while watching the girls, he cleaned the house. He even scrubbed the toilets WAY better than I ever do. Hooray! Love you, Christopher!

Following this year's birthday pattern, the evening was better than the morning. Amy came to babysit the girls while Chris and I took Michael and Amanda on a double date. Our AMAZING birthday dinner was Hamilton's.


The only odd part that none of us were so thrilled about was the vegetables. Maybe I'm out of the food fashion loop, but I was not terribly interested in parsnips, turnips and beets.

Happy Birthday to us!
Quarter of a Century
woo-hoo!

...other goings-on...

Michael and Amanda are staying for the weekend. We thought it would be nicer for them to have a room to themselves, so Jane has graciously donated her bedroom and has temporarily taken up a new residence:


in our bedroom closet. She thinks it's fun. Like camping out, right?

I FINALLY got new glasses.

Before:

and After:

There are certainly different than anything I've had in the past, but I like them. What do you think?

By the way, that picture of Jane being sick was taken at 6:00 in the evening. This was Jane at 8:00 that same evening.



I, too, have felt much, much better since my birthday. Luckily all our illness was short-lived.

P.S. for Brenda

Sister #1

Sister #2

Come to the House of the Lord

lots of pictures--be warned!

Brother #1

Brother #2

and Brother #3

Oh, wait, he has a wife now, too!

Michael & Amanda
Sealed for Time and All Eternity
Salt Lake Temple
March 9, 2010

Of course, not all the pictures can be serious.






And some poses require a little more effort.

But the end result is worth it.

It was super windy.


And in March in Utah, wind equals cold. The temple can provide more than one kind of protection. ;)

Check out those shoes.

Four years ago in Tennessee, Amanda was baptized into the LDS church by this man:

(missed his name. sorry! that seems to be a trend of mine lately...)

On the right is Garrett, his companion at the time they were teaching Amanda. Funny story here: Garrett is in our ward in Logan, and Chris is his home teacher. Garrett and his companion left the area only a week or two before Michael arrived in the same area and taught Amanda the new member discussions.

It's a small world.

The reception was held in Aberdeen on the following Saturday. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend as I spent most of the morning taking the Praxis test (which, by the way, created a rash down the side of my hand and arm from rubbing along some rather UNnatural paper...).

Michael was fully prepared for the event.


Jane was, too.

The whole crew:

I'm not sure what was going on here...


but at least everyone helped clean up afterwards!

Congratulations!