Thursday, November 29, 2007
Stressed out!
Man, this week has been nuts. We've been working like crazy to get our house ready to sell and we've accomplished a TON since we had my mom and Ben's parents come over to help but I am still stressed about when it will sell, of course. I have lots of holiday-related things to do, I'm still babysitting another little girl for 8 more days this month and then I'm done forever (hooray!), and today on my way home from picking up J from pre-school, I was rear-ended! With all of my little darlings in the car, plus J's classmate who lives in our neighborhood. It was stressful and I feel achey but I'm pretty positive that it's because I was scared and tensed up when we got hit, not like I'm actually injured. Ugh. I so don't need this. At least everyone is ok. The kids just kept watching their movie like nothing happened, while we exchanged insurance info. N actually slept through the whole thing! My bumper is cracked and has indentions from his license plate. It doesn't seem like a big deal but it felt like we got hit hard so I figured we better check it out. When will my life be peaceful once again? Yeah, never is probably right.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Moving, Zoo, First Step, Birthday
Well, it happened. B got offered a great position with a new city... wonderful opportunity for his career, better benefits, a little bit more money, and a move to a bigger home is imminent! But it's to... Abilene, Texas! We had been applying all over the DFW Metroplex and then someone from Abilene saw his resume at a Planner's Conference in October. He called him, set up an interview (we said why not?), and two weeks later.... we're moving to Abilene! (2 1/2 hours West of Fort Worth for those of you who don't know)
We are very excited but also nervous since this will be our first experience selling a home (and in a Buyer's Market no less!) and housing in Abilene is quite a bit more expensive than here. Hopefully we can find something to meet the needs of our family and when B is ready for the next step in his career, hopefully we can step back towards the DFW Metroplex and get our dream house really cheap! :) Or we may end up loving Abilene and staying there forever. Who knows?
It should be exciting and I actually like change. I'll just have anxiety about everything for a while! So what's new? J is excited but doesn't understand why we can't bring our friends with us. But she was relieved to hear we ARE taking her bed! Silly kid. :) I just hope we can sell the house quickly and join B since he has to start in about 30 days!
Today I took the girls, plus the little girl I babysit, plus a friend and her daughter, to the Dallas Zoo today. We had a great time and enjoyed the nice weather. The only downside to the trip was the lock on the stroller not working! I tried to lock the stroller, then stepped in front of it to take a picture of the other girls with a turtle statue, and Jill started to yell. I turned around to see my precious N rolling down the hill! The stroller hit the curb and it flipped over but amazingly... she was fine! Very scared and annoyed at me, I'm sure, but she just got a yucky road rash on her precious cheek.
Definitely the dumbest thing I've ever done as a parent. Good to get it out of the way now though, right? And to her credit, she cried for about 1 minute total and then was her regular, happy self! For those of you that know N, I'm sure you can believe that. :) AND... later the same day, she took her first step! So I guess I didn't do too much damage! Or maybe she decided that if she started walking, she wouldn't have to be put in the death trap stroller anymore! :) 
Today is B's 33rd birthday. We had a joint party for him a couple weeks ago with Natalie and last night we had dinner and cake here with some friends (one of which was celebrating a birthday a little belatedly), but today he came home and I went to the gym for Yoga class and he put the kids to bed and then worked all evening. Some birthday! Hopefully this new job will not put as much pressure on him and we can enjoy our evenings together more. Abilene doesn't have ANY night meetings -- only afternoons! Love that!
So that's us. I've caught you all up. We are VERY sad to leave our wonderful friends, ward, doctors, community, but we think this is the direction we are supposed to go now. We may still be around for months but when we do leave, I hope everybody will keep in touch!!!
We are very excited but also nervous since this will be our first experience selling a home (and in a Buyer's Market no less!) and housing in Abilene is quite a bit more expensive than here. Hopefully we can find something to meet the needs of our family and when B is ready for the next step in his career, hopefully we can step back towards the DFW Metroplex and get our dream house really cheap! :) Or we may end up loving Abilene and staying there forever. Who knows?
It should be exciting and I actually like change. I'll just have anxiety about everything for a while! So what's new? J is excited but doesn't understand why we can't bring our friends with us. But she was relieved to hear we ARE taking her bed! Silly kid. :) I just hope we can sell the house quickly and join B since he has to start in about 30 days!
Today I took the girls, plus the little girl I babysit, plus a friend and her daughter, to the Dallas Zoo today. We had a great time and enjoyed the nice weather. The only downside to the trip was the lock on the stroller not working! I tried to lock the stroller, then stepped in front of it to take a picture of the other girls with a turtle statue, and Jill started to yell. I turned around to see my precious N rolling down the hill! The stroller hit the curb and it flipped over but amazingly... she was fine! Very scared and annoyed at me, I'm sure, but she just got a yucky road rash on her precious cheek.
Definitely the dumbest thing I've ever done as a parent. Good to get it out of the way now though, right? And to her credit, she cried for about 1 minute total and then was her regular, happy self! For those of you that know N, I'm sure you can believe that. :) AND... later the same day, she took her first step! So I guess I didn't do too much damage! Or maybe she decided that if she started walking, she wouldn't have to be put in the death trap stroller anymore! :) 
Today is B's 33rd birthday. We had a joint party for him a couple weeks ago with Natalie and last night we had dinner and cake here with some friends (one of which was celebrating a birthday a little belatedly), but today he came home and I went to the gym for Yoga class and he put the kids to bed and then worked all evening. Some birthday! Hopefully this new job will not put as much pressure on him and we can enjoy our evenings together more. Abilene doesn't have ANY night meetings -- only afternoons! Love that!
So that's us. I've caught you all up. We are VERY sad to leave our wonderful friends, ward, doctors, community, but we think this is the direction we are supposed to go now. We may still be around for months but when we do leave, I hope everybody will keep in touch!!!
Friday, November 9, 2007
Six Things
I got tagged to do this from Nicole, so here we go... SIX interesting things about me.
1. I love musicals. Pretty much anything from "back in the day" with Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire or Dick Van Dyke and I love the modern stuff too. I have to say I am a MAJOR "High School Musical" fan but it's ok because I have a 5 year old daughter who loves it and so I can say I'm watching it for her sake. :) I would LOVE to see "Phantom of the Opera" or any other Broadway show (that's clean!) someday. I recently rented "Singing in the Rain" and "The Sound of Music" to enjoy with Jill and she has inherited this wonderful quality of loving musicals!!! It's so fun to share that with her.
2. White hair. I started to get white hairs around my sophomore year of college at the ripe old age of 19. I have quite a few now. :( One day I had my hair pulled back (showing all the white) and someone told me they loved what I'd done with my hair (meaning highlights) and I just smiled. I guess I can save a ton on salon appointments!
3. Favorite curse word. No, of course I don't curse! But when I get frustrated, I am known to occasionally yell out the word, "peacock!" Yes, strange. It makes Ben laugh and whoever is around me laughs and then I usually laugh too. Calms down the situation quickly. I have NO idea where I got that.
4. Double anatomy. I was born with 2 uteruses and 2 cervixes. Very exciting. They both work. I have had 2 daughters out of the right uterus and one out of the left. But my cervixes never dilate so I guess they actually don't work. :) Thank goodness for C-sections!
5. News anchor. I have a degree from BYU in Broadcast Communications and wanted to be Katie Couric. But I got burned out on reporting by the time I graduated and realized that might not be the best career for me if I wanted a family. I loved the classes, the major, the anchoring on Community Cable News, being published in the Daily Universe, etc. but I doubt I'll use my degree in the way it was intended.
6. Good memory. One thing that is interesting but might not be as true anymore... I remember names and faces really well. A lot of my friends at BYU were blown away by how I could remember someone's name, where they lived, who their roommate was, who they were dating, what their major was, etc. after meeting them once. After having 3 kids, my brain is no longer what it used to be, but I can still remember quite a lot after meeting someone, as long as I'm not corraling my kids at the same time that I meet them! I can also remember numbers. I still remember pretty much all of my friends' birthdays (if I ever knew it, it's still in my head!) and my locker combinations from middle school and other random, useless stuff! Someone at church recently asked if I was one of those people who could look at something once and have it memorized. Evidently they think my memory is still sharp!
Ok, that's it. Oh so interesting... I tag Amy, Meredith, Cheryl, Angela, and anyone else reading my blog! :)
1. I love musicals. Pretty much anything from "back in the day" with Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire or Dick Van Dyke and I love the modern stuff too. I have to say I am a MAJOR "High School Musical" fan but it's ok because I have a 5 year old daughter who loves it and so I can say I'm watching it for her sake. :) I would LOVE to see "Phantom of the Opera" or any other Broadway show (that's clean!) someday. I recently rented "Singing in the Rain" and "The Sound of Music" to enjoy with Jill and she has inherited this wonderful quality of loving musicals!!! It's so fun to share that with her.
2. White hair. I started to get white hairs around my sophomore year of college at the ripe old age of 19. I have quite a few now. :( One day I had my hair pulled back (showing all the white) and someone told me they loved what I'd done with my hair (meaning highlights) and I just smiled. I guess I can save a ton on salon appointments!
3. Favorite curse word. No, of course I don't curse! But when I get frustrated, I am known to occasionally yell out the word, "peacock!" Yes, strange. It makes Ben laugh and whoever is around me laughs and then I usually laugh too. Calms down the situation quickly. I have NO idea where I got that.
4. Double anatomy. I was born with 2 uteruses and 2 cervixes. Very exciting. They both work. I have had 2 daughters out of the right uterus and one out of the left. But my cervixes never dilate so I guess they actually don't work. :) Thank goodness for C-sections!
5. News anchor. I have a degree from BYU in Broadcast Communications and wanted to be Katie Couric. But I got burned out on reporting by the time I graduated and realized that might not be the best career for me if I wanted a family. I loved the classes, the major, the anchoring on Community Cable News, being published in the Daily Universe, etc. but I doubt I'll use my degree in the way it was intended.
6. Good memory. One thing that is interesting but might not be as true anymore... I remember names and faces really well. A lot of my friends at BYU were blown away by how I could remember someone's name, where they lived, who their roommate was, who they were dating, what their major was, etc. after meeting them once. After having 3 kids, my brain is no longer what it used to be, but I can still remember quite a lot after meeting someone, as long as I'm not corraling my kids at the same time that I meet them! I can also remember numbers. I still remember pretty much all of my friends' birthdays (if I ever knew it, it's still in my head!) and my locker combinations from middle school and other random, useless stuff! Someone at church recently asked if I was one of those people who could look at something once and have it memorized. Evidently they think my memory is still sharp!
Ok, that's it. Oh so interesting... I tag Amy, Meredith, Cheryl, Angela, and anyone else reading my blog! :)
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Happy Birthday Darling!!!
Our precious N turned ONE this past week (how is it possible that a year has passed since I had her?) and we celebrated twice. It was a rough week for her poor mom, so rather than a big cake, she got... A Reese's Peanut Butter Cup! That's what she gets for being born the day after Halloween! :) She didn't complain at all! Then on Saturday we celebrated again with her Bryner grandparents and I actually made a cake!!! Enjoy the pics! Most are from her birthday celebrations but some are of her in the last month or so just being so darn cute!!!
Carnival, parade, and Halloween -- oh my!
We went to my hometown for their annual celebration -- Arkalalah! It's just a bunch of fun stuff -- parades, games, carnival, yummy food booths... the good ol' Small Town Americana at it's best! The girls got to play with their Crain Cousins and then came home in time to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. It's been a busy month but lots of fun and good photo opportunities!!! :)
So behind...
I'm really behind on updating my blog. We've actually been having a lot of fun. I'll try to update you with my slideshows!!! :) Here is our trip to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch in the middle of October!
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