COLLEGE: SVU dunt dunt

All of you Law & Order fans will get that joke. But in this case, the SVU doesn't stand for Special Victims Unit. It stands for Southern Virginia University. It's been decided...Jake is going all the way to an East Coast school for college. It reminds me of that movie 10 Things I Hate About You when she gets her acceptance letter and the dad whines "but that's an East Coast schooool" and she says "thus the appeal!" I'm actually quite excited for him. It's a small, beautiful school in Buena Vista, Virginia. You can check it out here http://www.svu.edu/ if you're interested. We hadn't even heard of it before, but they called us and said Jake could be eligible for a scholarship. He was kind of dragging his feet about the whole college thing, taking his time applying anywhere. So when he didn't apply, they emailed and said they'd waive the application fee. Then when he still didn't get around to it, they called him up and did the app over the phone. I guess they really wanted him! He was also accepted to U of U and U of Arizona, but I'm glad he's going with SVU. It's a private LDS university with about 800 students. That's going to be a great, personal education! They're giving him a scholarship for about 1/2 tuition and room & board, so it makes it more bearable than any other out of state school. We're still trying to figure out how to pay the rest. Looks like it's really time for him to get a job, so if you know of anything... We're really going to miss him, but are SOOO excited for such an amazing opportunity.

Jake is EIGHTEEN !!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Jake. What a trend setter...he wore rubber bands on his wrist before it was trendy! He also loved Sponge Bob before he was a common household name. He'd watch it at his grandparents (because we didn't have cable) and tell me all about it. I had to make him a toy out of an actual sponge and pipe cleaner!

I cannot believe my baby burrito is 18 years old! (I can't believe I'm old enough to have an 18 year old!) It seems like time has flown by way too fast. I didn't really think I'd be one to get all emotional about my kids turning 18, but I must admit I got a little teary today when I thought about how little time we really have left with him. He is a joy mostly. This is a big milestone and makes me wonder & hope I've taught him well. I hope I can continue to teach him. He's been applying for scholarships and therefore got a letter of recommendation from a teacher at school. It was such a lovely letter...makes me so proud that others can see all the things I love about Jake. He's always been an independent child with a mind of his own. It was so funny when he was little and we would take him to the park to play, he would be engaging all the parents in conversations. And, I'm gonna brag a little bit here, he gave lectures in nursery about "momentum"! He loved Bill Nye the Science Guy. His mind is a sponge. He's the one to call when you need to phone a friend on Millionaire. Well enough of that. As you remember from the last post, the birthday theme was turning out to be FIRE! So, to totally counteract all of that we took Jake to see a show on the Strip. We went to Le Reve at the Winn... it's a really cool Cirque du Solei show with a water theme. We all loved it! I'd never seen a Cirque show before. I know, pathetic for a native Las Vegan! It was everything I though it would be: awesome, beautiful, strange, creepy, amazing! Here are a couple of pictures from before & after the show (oh how I wished we could take pictures of the show itself!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKEMAN!

The theme for this year's birthdays is FIRE!

At least that's what Jake pointed out when he noticed a trend for the weekend of Aidan & Jonah's birthdays! Aidan turned 15 on January 28th this year. Since your friends are way cooler than your family when your fifteen, he spent his birthday evening with them...booohooo! Anyway, on Saturday morning we lit his candles and were singing "Happy Birthday" while he goofed off and made his usual silly faces for the picture I was trying to take. Suddenly he smelled something funny. He burnt his hair! He rushed upstairs to put out the flames (just kidding), but luckily he was due for a haircut anyway, so we had to rush right over and get the "burnt" bits trimmed off! Needless to say, I didn't get my picture, but here's his cake...

Continuing with the theme. I was making Jonah a giant cookie for his 13th birthday on January 30. I'd made one last year too, but didn't remember that it doesn't take the whole batch of dough. So I put the entire batch of chocolate chip cookie dough on my pizza stone (with no rim) and patted it into a lovely circle and placed it in the oven. I checked on it midway through and saw that it was running off the edges and dripping all over the bottom of the oven! "Yuck! What a mess I'm going to have to clean up" I thought, but left it in since it wasn't done. A bit later I checked again and the drips were FLAMING in the oven. Aidan got a little freaked and went looking for the fire extinguisher. But I wanted to try to save it, so I just closed the door and turned off the oven and let the flames burn out. Had to open all the window so the smoke alarm wouldn't go off. I did actually save a nice circle from the middle. Funniest part...Jonah slept through the whole thing! An exciting start to the new year! Happy Birthday to my Aidy Boy & my Donut!

PS Jake is scared!

Hello Blogging World!

I am trying to come out of my blogging coma. There have been stirrings lately. When I left you last, Jeff was still unemployed. I got a job soon after my last post, hence the blogging coma. I felt overwhelmed trying to work part time, run my house AND blog! I finally feel like maybe I've got a handle on it, but if you come to my house, just don't look too closely in the nooks and crannies...those don't get as much attention as they used to! I hope my children don't feel the same. I've worked my way up the stair stepper (that's exercise humor because I am now a circuit coach at Curves!) to the perfect work schedule. I'm working M-Thurs 9am - 1pm. AND Jeff got a job too. He's coming up on his one year anniversary in March. Way too much has happened to try and catch up last year, so since it's only 2 months into the new year, I'll start fresh with this year's stuff. I hope I remember how to do this...

Are we having fun yet???

As you know Jeff has been out of work for 6 months now! I can't believe we have survived this long...we are sooo blessed! I was talking to my sister the other day telling her some of the blessings along the way and she asked if I was writing them in my journal. I must admit, I am a terrible journal writer, actually that's too generous, I am not a journal writer, but she got me thinking. I really should be documenting all these great blessings. Thinking about it is a good first step. Jake's class actually gets credit in seminary for "thinking" about reading the Book of Mormon. But I'm getting side tracked, this was really meant to be a silly post. It's very cute when Anissa says our family prayer at night, she always says "bless Mom and Dad that they will have fun while they're home tomorrow". Well, here is a very silly picture of some of our "fun" while grocery shopping:




Should we be offended? I'm not sure, but the "fun" has been great. It's been wonderful for Jeff and I to spend so much time together and just be us. It's really strengthened our bond. When the time (finally) comes, I'll really miss having him right there all the time...thank goodness for texting! But I must say: ENOUGH WITH THE FUN ALREADY! CAN WE GET BACK TO WORK NOW?!?

That's my boys...

A few weeks ago we had our stake leadership training. Joni gave a little bit of history on why the Primary was organized. A lady in the early church days (I forget her name...I know that's bad...it's kind of a big part, but anyway...) she was horrified at the state and behavior of all the boys in the town. They would go into gardens that were not their own and some were even seen hanging off wagons (gasp!). How were the girls to find good husbands if things continued in this manner? So Primary was born. I think today, I'd be happy if my boys just went outside a little bit more, their own "garden" or otherwise. Jeff found this cartoon today, and I think maybe this is the best I can hope for...

Halloween

We made it home from our camping weekend just in time for trunk or treat. Only Anissa and Jonah (and Jeff) dressed up. They had fun, but Jonah got WAY TOO much candy...18 pounds. I think he'll share (selected items of course!) Luckily, after the weekend he took me up on the offer to hide his candy. I loved their costumes this year...

Family Fun at Warm Springs

We spent the long weekend at Warm Springs with lots of family. We had an exciting first night which included propane tanks on fire! That was really scary. I thought the tanks were going to blow up. Luckily the men got it out with fire extinguishers before we were responsible for burning down the entire property. After saving dinner, we had fun making s'mores around the fire and then enduring a pretty cold night. The next day we swam and explored and the little kids had fun catching tad poles. Anissa was introduced to an old classic by her cousins, the movie "The Bad Seed". I hope it was a lesson on how NOT to behave. Jake challenged anyone who would play chess with him and it turned out to be a great weekend...we even witnessed the ever allusive teenage smile from all the teenagers present!

And the answer is...

You guessed it, Jonah is the messy one. He would like to say in his defense that the red shorts are Aidan's...so there you have it. I love 'em both to death. Isn't fun how each child comes with his own distinct personality.

What great kids I have

For my birthday my kids made me brownies (while I was attending Johnson JHS openhouse). Hot fudge brownie sundaes are my FAVORITE dessert. When we got home, they were ready to light the candles, all 40! They actually put 40 candles on. I didn't even know we had that many in the house. By the time they were finished lighting them, I had to hurry and blow them out before there was a giant pool of wax on the brownies and then we had to turn on the vent fan, so the smoke detector wouldn't sound off. Here are some great pictures...it looks like a 9 x 13 pan of fire!

My lovely roses from Jeff...

Guess Who

Aidan and Jonah share a room. I walked into their room the other morning and just had to laugh. The state of the room was such a commentary on their personalities. Can you guess who belongs to the messy side and who belongs to the clean side? Let's have a little poll...see how well you know these boys. I'll reveal the answer in a few days...

Taking a lesson from Harry Potter...

And his cupboard under the stairs. Only I think ours is probably way more impressive. One good thing about Jeff having a lot of free time on his hands lately is that we are getting a lot of projects done around the house. We decided to make our coat closet function a little differently. We'd punched through a wall at the back of the closet a few years ago so we could get access to the space under the stairs. We just took it a step further and finished it off. We took the coat rack out because it was a pain to get to the storage space. Aidan always said he wanted it to be his bedroom, but he's little too big for that now, so we made it Anissa's office. She loves it! She's been neither seen nor heard for extended periods of time the last few days.

Cort, this one's for you...

Maybe it's not quite as impressive since he is almost 14, but Aidan was cleaning out his back pack from scout camp tonight (finally!) and saw this piece of tile he found on the beach in Catalina. He saved it because it looks like Nevada. Funny coincidence.

Look Ma, I got a pedicure...

My first one ever! I can't believe I've waited this long. It was great. My Mom bought me a gift certificate for my birthday LAST year and I didn't want to waste it when the weather would be turning cold soon and my toes would be covered. Plus I'm not a big fan of feet, so I was nervous, ya know, low foot esteem. I finally got around to it, since my certificate was about to expire with my birthday in the very near future. Well, here it is...I usually do my own, but I must admit they do look pretty good, especially the cute little hand painted flower! Thanks Mom!

First day of school...

Wow, its here already? Summer flew by this year. I guess it's because time flies when you're having fun...we all got to spend so much time together as a family...lots of little trips and Jeff and I have been working like mad on the garage. It's a project he's wanted to do for a long time and we decided now was a great time to finally get it done. (I'll post some pictures on that when it's all done...should be soon.) Anissa was super excited for school, that last week of summer was so long to her. Jonah is starting middle school this year...he doesn't seem too worried. Maybe it helps to have Aidan there still, he'll be in 8th grade. Jake is a junior this year...I know! I can't believe it. They all let me take some first day pics. I even managed to get a smile out of Jake despite the early hour (seminary!)

Happy, Happy Birthday Jeffrey Dear!

Today is Jeff's birthday. He is now part of the "fortysomethings"...you know, 40 plus...(I'm not quite there yet...one more month til I hit 40..he he). Wasn't there a tv show by that name? I never watched it. It was before my time and I wasn't interested in a show about old people. Funny how when you're young, 40 seems so old...now it's looking pretty good! Anyway, I wanted to wish a very happy birthday to my wonderful husband (who so graciously spent the day with 6 seven-year olds. I'll take him out to a nice dinner tonight). I love you very much and look forward to spending the next 4o years together!

Happy Birthday Anissa!

My baby girl is 7 years old! She's getting so big. She's out of the baby stage and is turning into a little lady before my eyes. Getting so much taller, opinionated about clothes, capable of doing so many things on her own, and preparing for 2nd grade. For her birthday party this year, we invited a few of her friends to join us at the free movie (Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium) and then we went to McDonald's for lunch. It was so painless and the kids had a great time! Here are a few pictures from the party at home and with friends...We love you Anissa!

PS Granny & Papa: this outfit is a restyled combo of the two outfits you "bought" for her birthday!

Made us think...

Jeff woke me up on Friday night at about 1 am and said the neighbors house was on fire. I'd heard a lot of sirens in my half sleep, but they didn't sound right outside my house (I think I heard them coming from the station) and in my half asleep state, I was scared. I thought which neighbor? Do we need to get out of our house? When I got downstairs I could see flames glowing inside our neighbor's house directly across from us. It's so much scarier in person. I think we get desensitized by watching it on TV. I just felt sick to my stomach. I thought where are they, I don't see any people...it's some "kids" in their twenties that rent the house and I'm not even sure how many people actually live there (I know, we aren't very good neighbors). I just hoped they were all out and then I thought about all their "stuff". It's so sad. The forces of nature are so powerful. The firemen (all SEVEN trucks worth) had it out really fast after I woke up, but it still took about 2 hours for them to give the all clear. It really made us rethink our escape plan...we could see our previously designated meeting spot was basically buried in firemen and hoses and gear, so we'd better pick a new spot a little farther away. Also, it looked like the fire started in the kitchen and I wondered how does a kitchen fire get that out of hand? Didn't they have a fire extinguisher? Well we do, but we keep it in the cupboard above the microwave/oven combo...a kitchen fire will most likely start at the stove or oven. I don't think we will be able to reach over a burning oven to get the extinguisher, so we need to move that. Any way, they were all safe, but the house is unlivable for a while...it really gave us pause. I took a couple of pictures from inside our house and even that felt wrong, but here they are...

More mini vacations...

Since we have plenty of free time, we thought we'd make the rounds visiting family in California first...


Then we took a little trip up to Utah...




It was nice to visit everyone and do all the "touristy" stuff, but we hope Jeff finds a great job soon and we won't have the luxury of so much free time...keep us in your prayers.

Who is this Kid?

Jeff and Aidan went for a haircut tonight, which doesn't sound unusual to most people, but anyone who knows Aidan, knows "haircut" is not his favorite word! Jeff texted me while they were there and said "Aidan is getting his head shaved, I hope he doesn't hate me..." I was really panicked. I'm picturing totally shaved and I knew Aidan would NOT like that in the morning, so I called him up and said "NO, is it too late? Don't do it! Did you talk him into it or something?" Jeff said it was already too late, so I waited impatiently for them to return. Luckily, "shaved" was an exaggeration...here are the before and after. What do you think?

BEFORE:

AFTER: