Funny

Here is a funny photo to bring a smile to your face.

happy birthday

Happy Birthday to our Becca Princess.

Today she turned three years old. Becca wanted a "kitty cat" birthday with lots of pink. The above picture was our breakfast cake, which was cranberry bread (that none of the kids liked) and we had eggs and bread for breakfast. For Charlie's birthday last month we did a scavenger hunt for him to find his gift and Jeremy hid it in the oven. So this morning when Becca came downstairs and saw the table all decorated for her birthday she headed to the oven and looked in it and was disappointed that there was no gift in there. After breakfast she opened gifts.

Becca got an apron and chef hat and pots and pans. The pots and pans are made out of metal and all of the kids had great fun playing with them.

I made these little, individual cakes for Becca's birthday cake. I baked a sheet cake and then used a lid to cut the circles and layered them two high for each cake. For the frosting I tried marshmallow fondant. It was quite easy and fun to use. I was able to roll it out and just lay over each little cake and then the shapes I cut out and added on top. The kids loved having their own little cake, and we even put candles on everyone's cake and let them each blow out their own candle.

Motherhood

Here is a beautiful quote from Sister Hinckley:

"I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk’s lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor’s children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden. I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived." 

This quote warms my hearts and lets me know that I am doing it right. My priorities are in the right place, I am focused on what is most important.

I had a fun afternoon with the girls today. Becca wanted to play a game, so she got one out of the game closet. It was a puzzle game, with a spinner and 26 cards - each one with a letter of the alphabet and a picture of the word. After getting the puzzle part put together Becca and I were trying to play the game, but Lydia wanted to be involved, but her way of being involved was to pull things apart and scatter things. Becca was getting frustrated and so I improvised and gathered all the letter cards and just started handing them to Becca one by one and asking her what the picture was. She liked doing this and I remembered I had a box full of picture flash cards. I got those out and she loved going through all the flashcards. I would show her the word and then she turned the card over to see the picture. Then I pulled out the cards that had just words and I would show her the words and she would repeat it. Then she started picking  out the letter 'o' on each word with that letter. She was having a great time and I think we did that for at least a half and hour. I had a fun time doing it with her. She turns 3 this week and I was amazed at her attention span.

We had a good family home evening tonight. Tom came home from school today and announced that he is staying home from school tomorrow. This is so not like Tom, he loves school and even when he was sick he wanted to go to school. I asked him what the problem was and he said some kids at recess were making fun of him. He was trying so hard not to cry when he was telling me this. Oh how this breaks a mothers heart. I took it in stride and talked with him, and held him.
Charlie has been having trouble with this too, so for family home evening we talked about loving others.  First we all took a turn to share what we are thankful for. We have a little footstool that each of the kids took a turn standing on to tell us their thankful list. Even little Lydia got up on the stool. It is so cute that even at the young age of one year (15 months) she sees what the other kids do and she does not want to get left out. She was mostly proud of herself that she was able to climb on the stool and stand there without falling off (because she did fall off on her first try). When it was Jeremy's turn he explained that he was glad for a loving family and how that influences us to be able to love others. He explained that sometimes other kids don't feel loved and they act that out by being mean to others. We talked about what we can do when others are mean than we did a little role playing. We sang "Jesus Said Love Everyone" multiple times until the boys could sing it by themself. I am really big on primary songs and helping my kids learn them - it might have something to do with me having that calling in four different wards, but mostly it's because I love the primary songs and think if our kids can have those songs in their hearts they will remember the messages when then need a little extra help.
The name calling seems to be the main issue both boys are having - which I think is probably a common issue for kids that age - I mean, even within our own home I hear name calling going on - I think it just hurts more coming from school kids, especially if others kids catch on and further reinforce the hurt. So we suggested to the boys that if someone calls them a name they could respond, "no, my name is...". We also suggested they could just ignore the remark and then Charlie suggested they could invite that kid to play a game with them. I hope something helps and that it doesn't become a problem that really does make my kids want to stay home from school. At bedtime Tom announced that he is staying home from school, so despite our lesson, he still doesn't want to face recess tomorrow. I'm waiting to see how he feels in the morning.

Twilight

I went to the new Twilight movie on Friday with my new group of friends.  We made tshirts for the occasion that say "Twilight Geek" or "Bite Me Edward". I'm not a die hard fan, but it was a fun outing. Florida has been good for me in making friends and getting out and doing things. Nine of the girls in this picture have husbands in graduate programs and they like to get out and do things. It seems like at least every other week something is going on. I'm grateful that they are so inclusive and thoughtful to invite everyone. It's a large group, but the feeling seems to be, the more the merrier. We all have children, most have two, I have the most with four kids, but Kandis is pregnant with her fourth, so soon I won't be the only one with so many.

Sweet Moment

After school we went on a bike ride with the kids. We have a bike trailer for the girls to ride in and the rest of us have bikes. We rode around our subdivision and then to the park that is in the next subdivision. The park there is nicer than our park. It has wood chips instead of sand under the play equipment and there is a nice large grassy area for running and playing soccer. The kids were having a fun time on the playground and kicking the ball with Jeremy, so I took a walk around, trying to shake off the afternoon blahs (of feeling so tired, all I really wanted to do was take a nap). Charlie came over by me and started walking with me. I asked him how life was going and he said "not very well". I asked him what was going on and he said that some of the kids at school are calling him "puffy pants". That some girl had started calling him that and some of the other kids have caught on and do it too.  I asked him if had told those kids that that hurt his feelings and is not nice to say unkind things. He hadn't. I hope he has courage to stand up to those kids, and that those kids are sensitive enough to stop teasing. We never want it to be our kid that is being teased, but I think better to be teased than to be the agressor.
So, the sweet moment came a few minutes after that conversation. On our little walk we came to a bench and sat down. I was asking him about his turning 8 next year and what he thought he needed to do to be ready to be baptized. "I need to read the scriptures". I asked him if he would like to read the whole Book of Mormon, or have me mark verses for him, and read parts of it. He was certain that he wanted to read all of it.  Then we were talking about his feelings about the gospel and he said he loves Heavenly Father and loves church and wants to be an eternal family. As I was listening to him I recognized this was not just a little boy repeating what he has learned at church, he really feels this and knows this. It was a heart warming moment. Charlie really is such a sweet little boy, although I'm excited for him to be growing up and be his own person, I am already starting to miss the little boy, so sweet and innoscent, I hope he never really grows out of that.

Today

Today's Sunday School lesson was about family history. I usually dismiss the topic of family history thinking, "well my parents have that under control, so I don't need to worry about that". Today, however, I was feeling guilty for my dismissive attitude. The teacher mentioned that one important thing about family history is the stories - getting to know and remembering our ancestors. We need to be sharing those stories and preserving them. I think that is something I can be working on. Gathering stories and sharing those stories with my family. My grandparents (who have all passed on) and my father and mother-in-law in particular are good at sharing stories. Unfortunately I have a poor memory and only vaugely remember bits and pieces of stories they have shared. My hope is to gather some pictures and stories and maybe make little books so I can read them to my kids and so they can look at them on their own.

One Nation

I love our great country and I believe that the founding fathers had great faith in God. This Youtube shows a painting representing the faith of our fathers.

Shall I falter or shall I fiish

Have you ever watched the movie "Rudy"? It is one of my all time favorites. It is a story of a young man who had a seemingly impossible dream, who was able to realize that dream despite insurmountable odds and obstacles. A lesson to learn from Rudy's journey is to never give up. Try, try, try again. Two main qualities that he had were: 1- a positive attitude  2- he always gave his all - he didn't do things part way - he lived with all his heart. We learn from him that a winner is someone who gets up no matter how many times they fall.

I've had chronic fatigue for 11 years. I am much better than I used to be, but I still have my up days and my down days. For years I hoped for some explanation and for some hope of being "cured" so that I could be "normal" again (for those of you who have been pregnant, just think of the days when you were so exhausted and that is what I feel like on a regular basis, a better name than chronic fatigue would be chronic exhaustion, it is so much more than just being tired). I stopped looking for answers from doctors and pills and turned to God and myself. I pray for strength and understanding and then I try to apply what I learn. So many times I fail to live up to the knowledge and understanding I've been given, but I keep trying.
I know I need to get regular exercise and focus on eating nutrient dense foods. I do really well for awhile, start feeling a lot better and then I falter in my good routine, have a bad day and fall off the good habits. The one thing I have to say is I keep getting back up and try again - sometimes I'm down for a long time and pout and whine and don't want to do the hard thing, but then God blesses me with the strength I need to try again. Without God's help I don't know if I could ever generate enough strength for the catalyst I need to start the forward motion. Truly, sometimes I look back and remember how helpless and hopeless I felt one day and by the next day my attitude, outlook and ability had changed and I once again had the strength I needed to try again.

Watching the movie Rudy tonight was a good reminder of why I keep trying. Last week I was having a "wo is me" day and I thought "why should I bother to keep trying, I always end up back down here, so why get up again so I can just fall again?" I am so glad that I don't let those bad thoughts keep me down. I am so thankful that God blesses me and that my perseverance wins out in the end.

Happy Halloween

Jeremy is a golfer, Jenni is a fisherman, Lydia is cute, Becca is a princess, Tom is SWAT and Charlie is a firefighter.




Lydia was a Ladybug for our ward party on Wednesday night.


We had a fun Halloween day. Earlier today we took our bikes to a park with a nice bike path and once we were hot and sweaty we went to the splash pad, to cool down. That was definitely one thing that was very different about today - it was so hot and a bit humid. I don't ever remember sweating while trick or treating before. And, the bugs were out - lots of mosquitoes.

The kids got tons of candy. We only went to part of our subdivision and only a few houses on each street had lights on, yet even from those few houses their bags were filled to overflowing. A lot of the houses gave each child a handful of candy. At the end of trick or treating the kids were complaining that their bags were so heavy, despite the weight, Becca wouldn't give her bag to me to carry, she wanted to carry it.

Bedtime

Tonight as I put Becca to bed I took a few minutes to enjoy her sweetness. "Mommy, tell me a story about Tom and a cow". So I told her a story about Tom and his magic cow and that Tom was going to play marbles with his sister Becca. She sat up and said, "okay, I'll go get Tom" and wanted to go live the story instead of just listen to it. I got her to lay back down and then she wanted a story about Peter Pan and then she wanted a story about a pig. Then she wanted me to sing to her. I asked if she would sing to me. "OK" she said and then sang "I love to see the Temple". She sang most of the song and then couldn't remember the end - "mommy, you sing it to me", so I did. Then she wanted me to sing to her the "church" song, so I sang, "I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints". Then she wanted me to sing the "follow" song (Follow the Prophet). By this time I realized she could stay up all night with story after story and song after song, so I asked her if we could sing that tomorrow and get out the musical instruments to do with it. "OK". The way she says "OK" is the cutest thing ever - it's always with excitement and a sing-song tone to it.

Lydia was full of kisses today. She has been sick the last few days and today is doing much better. So as she toddled around this afternoon she kept coming back to the kitchen where I was and made her kissey noise and lifting her face to mine. I would lean down and give a kiss and then she would wander off, a few minutes later she would come back, make the kissey noise, I would kiss and she was off again. Then she gave kisses to each of the kids and then Becca came to get kisses from me - there were kisses all around. It's so good to see her feeling better. Yesterday when she still wasn't quite better at odd moments she would just lie down on the floor, rest for a minute or two and then was up and off again.

"He Lives"

We've moved to Florida

Well, we made the big move to Florida. It was a long five day drive, but we made it and we survived. The kids did surprisingly well on the 2700 mile trip across the country. Jeremy drove the moving van and I drove our minivan. The children tooks turns riding with dad in the moving van. Thank goodness for car tv's and video games, coloring books and snacks. Most days we were in the car 10 plus hours.
Florida is hot and humid. At least St. George was only hot. We took the kids to the beach on the first night we got here. Yesterday and today we have come to the community swimming pool. The kids like the pool better than the beach - they don't like the sand - I don't like it either, it sticks everywhere - the car is full of sand. So, I think we will be coming to the swimming pool much more than we will be going to the beach - which is fine since the pool is closer and has no sand.
I love our townhome we moved into. It is a four bedroom with a two car garage. The two small bedrooms were painted pink and blue - how perfect is that, so the girls got the pink room, which Becca is totally in love with and the boys got the blue room. The master is a golden yellow color - it is a very nice color.
We thought we would be okay to sell off our furniture and get new stuff here, but now that I have been looking around for furniture I wish we had just brought our stuff with us - I remember what a pain it is trying to find furniture that is "me". I get so confused by all the beautiful furniture and overwhelmed by the prices that I just can't make any decisions. I'm going to yard sales tomorrow to see if I have any better luck,

Living Primitively

We sold our house last month and moved in with Jeremy's parents in Pine Valley - 45 minutes north in the mountains. I love it there. It is beautiful and the weather is mild. The kids have lots of room to run and explore. The drawback is living so far from town and having no internet. I am in serious withdrawals. I don't know how to do anything without the internet - it is my connection to the world. I can't even pay my bills without it. I've probably become too dependant on the internet.

A little update on us. This week Jeremy and I are going to Pennsylvania for his interview at Hamot school of nurse anesthesia. I'm excited to go back to Pennsylvania. We are taking the baby with us - on the plane - I'm concerned at how well she is going to travel - she does not travel well in the car, an hour is about her max. She has a set of lungs and can scream a high pitched, bloody-murder scream. We are thinking about having the pilot make an announcement at the beginning of the flight apolgizing in advance. I'm hoping that since we will be holding her she will be happier than when she is strapped in a car seat.

Last weekend my brother Spencer moved to Moscow Idaho to go to Law School and my sister Debbie moved to Columbia Missouri two weeks ago to go to nursing school there. We are all catching the school bug and moving all over.

We are at my brother in laws house, the kids are watching tv while I use his internet to pay bills
and catch up on the internet for a very short time.

Our little adventure

Jeremy had an interview in Florida at a nurse anesthesia school. I went with him and we left all the children in the care of aunt Deb, G&G Taysom and cousin Jacy - they took turns. Florida was beautiful and sunny, a little humid and hot, but the beach really captured my heart. Naples is the city we went to and it is a beautiful city - many rich people live there and the city is well maintained and beautified. We met many wonderful people while we were there. The people's house we stayed at are students there and we had never met them before, but they let us sleep there for two nights and even let us borrow their car. Florida is beautiful and who wouldn't be mesmorized and want to live there - but we weren't convinced that is where we should go to school.

Since our kids were already until the watchful care of many wonderful family members and since Jeremy didn't have to be back to work for five more days we decided to extend our trip and head to Pennsylvania to check out the area and the school where he has an interview next month. Erie Pennsylvania is on lake Erie in the north west corner of Pennsylvania, not the side of Pennsylvania I had always invisioned myself living, but still it was Pennsylvania, of which I have always been enamored with. We are fortunate that Jeremy has so many wonderful friends that offered to have us come stay with them.

We arrived in Pennsylvania Friday night and it was raining - it seemed dreary and cold in comparison to sunny Florida that we had just left that morning. We were so confused at the many emotions and questions and stress we had in trying to compare the two schools and the areas. We felt we needed some distance from it all and a break from thinking about what school to attend. Our friends told us that Washington DC was only 6 hours away and we decided to take advantage of it and go for Saturday and Sunday and not worry about school stuff until Monday when we could go to the school there and meet people.
With the help of our newly purchased GPS we fondly call "Garmina" (it's the garmin nuvi brand, but since it talks with a female voice it needed a female name. I never had any interest in a GPS before, but after this trip I am sold - Gps is the best thing ever invented. We also used an atlas along with the GPS, but without the GPS there would have been much unesscessary confussion in trying to navigate the crazy streets in the big cities.) we safely navigated our way to Washington DC. We walked the loop at "the Mall" which is the area that walks past the Smithsonians, Lincoln monument, the White House, the Capital building, the Vietnam memorial, the WWII memorial and other things. This walk took us four hours to complete. Next time we want to rent bicycles and ride around - maybe do a riding tour with a tour guide who can give us information about the different things there. After staying the night at a Hampton Inn, which I highly recomend - the room rate was reasonable and everything there was so nice, we decided to head to Connecticut - it was only 6 hours out of our way and then we could check out the other school that Jeremy is interested in applying to. We should have gotten to Connecticut early afternoon, but after a late start, a stop in Philadelphia and the bumper to bumper traffic through basically the whole state of New Jersey, we didn't arrive at our destination until 8 pm.
We were just going to drive through Philadelphia, since it was only a little out of our way. Once there it was lunch time and we wanted an authentic Philly Steak sandwich. We asked some locals where to go and they said "Geno's" on 9th and Washington. Jeremy made the mistake of putting the hot sauce on his sandwich. The fact that there was a large "caution, hot" sign posted all over the container disuaded me from trying any, but Jeremy saw others putting it on and wanted to do as the locals and have the real deal. Now that he has experienced the hot sauce he will never use it again - "it burned on the way in and on the way out".
After getting to Connecticut we found the hospital where the students do their clinicals and we were able to talk to a student who is currently in the nurse anesthesia program and ask her all our question. Unfortunately it was already dark so we couldn't really drive around and see much. Despite the late hour we headed half way back to Erie to cut down on the amount of driving we would have to do the next morning on Monday.
We did a lot of driving and saw a lot of trees - the trees grow so dense that most of the time you can't see past the trees that line the freeway and therefore can't see the towns and cities on the other side of the trees. Despite the trees, and because of the trees, we saw much beauty. The lengthly side trip did little to ease our confussion of which school to go to and what area to live in, but I was glad we took the trip - it was a nice diversion, and it was awesome to see some cities and sites I have been longing to visit - even if it was at breakneck tourist speed (I mean doing DC in 4 hours is only a drop in the bucket, and stopping at the Liberty Bell in Philadelpia and not even getting to see Independence hall and driving past New York City and taking a picture of the skyline and thinking that you can spot the Statue of Liberty from the freeway isn't really how I had envisioned my visit back east).
This is a picture of the house that our friends in Erie rent. The vehicle is our wonderful rental, which thankfully came with unlimited miles - we put at least 2000 miles on it in five days.
We picniced at the beach in Erie the night before we flew home. Yes, in case you noticed, that is the same shirt I wore for three days in a row. I only packed clothes for three days, so when we stayed and extra four days I had to make do with what I had.

Despite the 5000 miles we logged between flying and auto travel, despite the late nights and early mornings (the day we flew home, Tuesday, we woke at 2:30am Utah time and didn't get home to Saint George until 8:00 pm) we had a fabulous time. We saw many things, we met many wonderful people and we had a lot of fun. This was our first trip with no kids in four years, so it was a much deserved break.

Now that we are back life is crazy as ever. Next week we close on our house and will be homeless for the first time in 8 years. In the past 8 years we have owned 3 homes, but we have always gone from one house to the next. There is no next house and there will be no next house for many years. It is uncertain how much longer we will be in Saint George so we needed a place to live that does month to month rentals. Today we found a fabulous apartment complex that has that arrangement. It has many wonderful amenities that comes with renting there - 2 swimming pools, one with a splash pad for the kids, a playground area, and an exercise room. I'm going tomorrow to sign a lease. Once we figure out what our next step is that will determine how long we stay there. School doesn't start until January and life is wide open between now and then.

Willey Wonka Musical

A local children's theater put on the production of "Willey Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". I have read this book to the boys and we have watched both movie versions (they think that the new version with Johnny Depp is a girl playing Willie Wonka because of his long hair). This is such a fun story and the music is great. Needless to say the boys loved the play. When I asked them what their favorite part was they said, "all of it". It really was a fun play and the children who performed it did a great job. Actually, for being a local children's production I was really impressed with their acting and singing. Even before it was over the boys were asking if we could go again. I found the music online and ordered it so we can learn the songs and sing them. Tom says he wants to learn the songs and be in the play and do the part of "Charlie".

Tribute to Nurse Anesthetists

Here is a funny little song by the Laryngospasms, a group of nurse anesthetists.
This song is dedicated to my husband - future nurse anesthetist.

Pink socks

A fun primary song that we like to sing is "Saturday" -" Saturday is a special day it it the day we get ready for Sunday". Even Becca will walk around singing "Saturday, special day". The unfortunate thing is I haven't actually implemented the principles of the song very well - particularly the part that says to get our clothes ready.
When we arrived at church today Charlie exclaimed - "where are my shoes?" He hadn't put them on yet, because last minute before we left the house he was trying to find black socks, couldn't find any, so I made him change from his black pants to his tan pants so he could wear white socks (a vanity issue for me, white sock with black pants is not acceptable and not allowed at our house). In the hassle of it all he did get socks on, but did not remember to grab his shoes on the way out the door. Because we were already late I did not go back home to get his shoes, I figured going shoeless to church wasn't the worst thing ever, so in we went. After the opening prayer I glanced down at Charlie's feet and thought his socks looked pink - as if something red had been washed with them. I looked closer and noticed that they indeed were pink - they were a pair of Becca's pink socks. Oh, how I hoped that no one else was going to notice not only Charlie's shoeless feet, but that he was wearing pink socks.
Needless to say, we are going to be more diligent about "Saturday" and making sure we are ready for Sunday.

I feel so blessed

Becca is a joyful child. She if full of life and giggles and smiles. Becca is currently in swimming lessons and she hates the lessons, because she hates her face in the water. But despite her kicking and screaming, she is learning to swim and I'm hoping by the last day of class she won't protest so much any more.
This picture was taken at Disneyland, so of course she was happy, but truly, this is her normal expression - her beautiful smile.

The boys are also in swim lessons and they are enjoying it. We are fortunate to have a kind neighbor with a swimming pool who has a neighborhood swim day once a week. We enjoy taking advantage of that opportunity.

This scrapbook page of Becca is the first one I've done in months. For the first three months of the year I did great in downloading my pictures and getting some of them documented, but the past three months have passed by in a blur. When we went to Disneyland in May I hadn't cleared the memory card on the camera, thinking that there wasn't much on there. Unfortunately it was already more than half full and we weren't able to take lots of pictures of our vacation. Which, really, is probably a blessing, sometimes, with such big memory cards, it's easy to take too many pictures. Some times it is nice to just take a few and not try to document every moment.

My heart is bursting with gratitude. We sold our house today without even having to actively try to sell our house. Jeremy's school doesn't start until January, but we always figured we wanted to get moved by fall. The question was whether we should try to sell the house or just rent it. Jeremy didn't think it would sell, being a buyers market and all, but I didn't want the stress of hanging on to the house for the years that we would be gone. In my heart I always hoped that things would just work for our best good and if it was meant to be it would work out. Well this house must be meant for these wonderful people that are buying our house because basically they showed up on our doorstep wanting to buy our house. They are relatives of our neighbors that live on the street behind us and the husband remembered Jeremy mentioning we were looking to rent our house, but it would be nice to just sell it. Well, last week the neighbor called and said his brother was looking to move to St. George. Anyway, it all came together and today they made an offer and want to move in by the end of July. So for the month of August I think we will find a place here in St George to stay (hopefully Pine Valley, hint, hint, wink, wink, mom and dad Taysom) and then we will know where we are accepted to and we can just move there. I'm excited to embark on our new journey and selling the house just makes it all seem more real - it's really going to happen and it is really meant to be.

Evening in Pine Valley

We went to Pine Valley to visit Grandma and Grandpa Taysom and to go to an Elder's Quorum activity. The Myers have a cabin just behind Jeremy's parents so after visiting with g&g for awhile we went to the dinner at the Myer's cabin. We all had a nice time - there was lots of good food and the kids went on four wheeler rides and had fun playing with the other kids and I had a nice time visiting with friends. Jeremy wasn't there. He is on a motorcycle trip with his brothers and some other friends. Eight of them are on a road trip to northern California. Tomorrow they will be at the Redwoods National Forest. Jeremy is very excited to see the "tall" trees. Tonight he called and said he was looking out over the ocean. I'm glad he is able to have this time to spend with his brothers and to go see the Redwoods. I think he is having a good time and I am glad he is able to go do something he enjoys.

Yea for Me

We finally finished our last application for CRNA school. It only took us three months. I'm surprised at how long we drug our feet. Jeremy took the GRE in March and that was all we needed before we could start applying, but the paper work and writing the personal statement took us forever to do - of course weeks would go by in between doing each part of the applications. We actually finished applying to Hamot (in Pennsylvania) and the school in Florida a couple weeks ago, but the personal statement for Duke University took longer. Probably knowing that they are a more prestigious school and wanting to make sure we had a chance by writing a good enough personal statement. Today when I finished sending it in to Duke I had a wonderful feeling of relief, but also excitement. I think we have a chance of getting accepted to any and all of the schools we applied to. Now it is just the waiting game. Part of the process of getting accepted is to go to the school for an interview if we are a potential candidate. I'm hoping they will let us know sooner than later, but we might not really know anything until August.
I am truly excited for the adventure of moving away for school. Probably I'm crazy for thinking this will be a good thing - all the way across the country away from friends and family, me basically a single mom while my husband is consumed with school, and not least of all, poor, living on loans, but truly, I am excited and I know we are doing the right thing. Many times (even last week, for example) Jeremy will wonder if we are doing the right thing by going to school. On the other hand, I have never wondered, not even one time, I have always felt peace and "known" that this is the right path for us.

This month of June has been absolutely wonderful as far as weather is concerned. It has been mildly in the 80's and 90's. Last Friday we spent a wonderful afternoon at the park. The Nisson park in Washington city (15 minutes away) has wonderfully large cottonwood trees and a large grassy area. It also has a little stream that runs the length of the park and is perfect for the children to splash in.

Tom and Charlie are in summer school this month at Liberty Youth Academy, where Charlie went to school last year. Their teacher, Sister Dale, is wonderful and the boys love her. School is 5 hours Monday through Thursday - just enough to give them something structured to do during the day and enough time for me to enjoy some peace each day. Two boys so close in age can be a challenging thing - they each have such strong personalities, which often leads to competition and fighting.

I am unsure what to do with the boys for school in the fall. I would like to have them continue at Liberty Youth Academy. One thing that adds to the uncertanty is not knowing when we will be moving. Although Jeremy's school doesn't begin until January, we would like to move before then. We have September or October pegged as the estimated time to move.

I have long wanted to homeschool my kids, and I did with Charlie last fall, but the reality of it all was a little overwhelming - especially with a new baby. I'm hoping that as the baby gets a little older and the boys get more warmed to the idea that it can become a possiblity. That is what has been so wonderful about Liberty Youth Academy - it offers exactly what I would like my homeschool to be like - it is focused around God and the gospel, and also offers a good solid foundation in reading and math skills. It also offers one aspect that is more challenging to offer at home school - learning in a group setting. It is true that children can learn well in a group setting, but if done poorly, it can also be detrimental to their learning.
There are some really great homeshcool groups here in Saint George and for the older children (12 and up) there are common wealth groups avaiable for group learning, but for the younger age children they do more of book groups that do activities together.