We're Moving

Moving to a New Home

May 1, 2012

 After 6 years of being an apartment manager we are moving. I will no longer be working. I will be focusing on using my degree to start my dance studio — first, get back in shape and remember what is to dance. Honestly, I am really looking forward to focusing on my family. The last two year especially have been crazy with work, school and one year teaching early morning Seminary. We are still in the same area. The kids will be going to the same school and we are in the same ward. We feel very blessed to be getting into this 3 bedroom home. The kids are pretty excited to have their own room… at least for now. We’ll see how the first week goes. They haven’t had separate rooms almost 7 years. Here are some photos of the new place.

Front of our house (same colors as our apt)

Laundry Room

Kids LOVING the New Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Ceithlinn's Room

On a Clear Day You Can See Mt. Rainier from the Balcony

Kids Bathroom (we'll change the shower curtain)

Big Closets in Each of the Kid's Rooms

 

Matthew's Room

Master Bedroom

View from the Master's Balcony

Ok,view... but not Rainier

Master Bath w/ double vanity

Master Tub... I can fit in it comfortably... I may start taking baths again

Update for March 26-April 22 (part 1)

We have had A LOT happen these last few weeks. There will be several installments... Please bear with me.

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In starting the outline for this blog I realized this might be named, “Ode to Matthew.” Lots has happened these last few weeks. Most to Matthew it seems. So without further ado here is the family blog starring Matthew with guest appearances from the rest of us.

 

March 26, 2012

Matthew’s 7th Birthday

Ceithlinn decided the evening of the 25th that she wanted to leave Matthew a happy birthday love note on their mirror that said, “Happy Birthday. Matthew” with balloons and a cake drawn. In the morning when Matthew got up he saw the note and asked Ceithlinn, “Why did you did that?” Ceithlinn said, “I wanted to do something special for you.” Matthew said, “Ohhhh! I like the balloons.” That was the beginning of his BEST DAY EVER! He sang all day at school. The office staff told me he walked in singing, “Happy birthday to me!” His teacher, Mrs. Bunker said that he sang a Primary song “The Wise Man and the Foolish Man” to her and that he sang Christmas carols to a Para. He was thrilled when cupcakes were brought into his class, as were the rest of the kids. (I also brought cupcakes for Ceithlinn’s class. Her birthday is in July so she feels left out of the birthday/school thing. They celebrated an un-birthday for her.) After school we picked up Josh early from work. On the drive home while at a red light Matthew started to roll down his window. I asked what he was doing he said he wanted the cars passing to know it was his birthday, too. I said they probably wouldn’t hear because their windows were rolled up and they were passing us pretty quickly. We got home and decorated the M&M cake. I thought it turned out great, especially since I don’t consider myself terribly creative in cooking or baking. Matthew invited his friend, Cody, over to share some cake. Then was present time — the best time of any birthday celebration. Lego stickers and two remote control cars!! He had been asking for remote control cars since a classmate’s birthday party in February. All in a great day. We are so very blessed to have our Matthew. It is hard to believe it has already been 7 years.

April 1, 2012

Matthew Loses 1st Tooth

Let me back up just a little bit. Before Matthew’s birthday I received a call from the school saying that Matthew was complaining about his mouth hurting. I said it was probably his molars he had coming in. Matthew then got on the phone and said he front teeth hurt. I was confused. He had no cavities or loose teeth to my knowledge — I had brushed his teeth thoroughly a couple days before and had checked for loose teeth. I asked if he wanted me to see what I could arrange with the school to ease his pain. He said okay, then promptly turned to the counselor and informed her I was coming in and hung up. I went in and upon investigation discovered a loose tooth. I asked when he got that. He said, “I was biting the hard black chair and then my tooth became loose.” Well, that explained it. Morale of the story… don’t bite hard black chairs. By the time he got home from school a second tooth was loose. I can only guess he’d been chewing on something.

Now forward to April 1. We had let the kids sleep on the blow-up mattress in the living room the night before and were just kicking back on a *General Conference Sunday at our house. Between sessions of conference Matthew started complaining about his teeth again. One was extremely loose and needed to come out. I wiggled and twisted it, but it wouldn’t budge. Josh had a go at it. Then I jokingly said we should get the pliers. Matthew was horrified at the thought. He said, “NO! You can’t get the pliers they are rusty!” I let him know I was kidding and suggested dental floss. The floss worked. There was much excitement about the lost tooth.

*General Conference is a bi-annual meeting of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We hear from our church leaders about the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are 5 sessions that take place over two days (Saturday and Sunday). The morning session begins at 10A (MST) both days. The afternoon session begins at 2P (MST) both days. There is an evening session for the men of the church on Saturday night beginning at 6P (MST). I love conference. It is a time when I really recharge my spiritual batteries and take measure of where I am in living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

April 1, 2012

Lamb of God

Josh and I had the opportunity through the Multi-Stake Cultural Arts Committee to participate in a beautiful oratorio of the final days of the Savior’s life called the Lamb of God. You can go to this link to hear some of the original recording: http://www.spiremusic.org/lamb I was able to be part of the chorus, Josh was asked to portray Judas Iscariot, the apostle that betrayed Christ’s to the Jewish leaders. It was hard watching him in this role because he was very real and “slimy” with it. The director at one point said he creeped her out. During our first performance he turned around from the microphone and still had a little snarl on his face. The woman next to me jumped. He was good at portraying his role. All that said, we know that Josh loves Christ and would never betray him. One day Ceithlinn and I got in the car to take her to SibShops , a support group for kids with siblings that have special needs such as Autism. Josh had been practicing for his part. Ceithlinn was really upset and said she was glad we left when we did because she didn’t like the song Josh was singing. She said it made her want to cry because Josh would NEVER do anything like that. That he loves Jesus.  She then did cry a little. I said isn’t it wonderful to know that Dad love Jesus. We are so blessed. Later we talked about how he was acting. She did okay with it. Honestly, I couldn’t watch him sing it during the performance. It made me cry, because the words he was singing my Josh would never say. Being a part of this oratorio was a wonderful experience and gave us the chance to work with some of our wonderful friends. Take a listen at the link…

April 5, 2012

Matthew Loses 2nd Tooth

 

Matthew got off the bus on the 5th so very excited because he lost his 2nd tooth AT SCHOOL! That means he got a cool tooth holder to put his tooth in for the tooth fairy. He also made a fantastic card for the tooth fairy.  It said, “Dear Tooth Fairy I hope you love my teeth. Can you please don’t take the my tooth holder please tooth fairy! Love Matthew.” Then he drew a picture of the tooth fairy with high heels on and him holding two tooth holders. So very cute. The tooth fairy wrote back and said something  like I love you teeth and think it would be best if you keep the tooth holder for other teeth you will lose. The tooth fairy always writes on the back of the note so it is kept.

(I forgot to add this, and this silly program won't let me unbold the text so it goes here)

April 3, 2012

Final Quarter of College Begins

I began my last quarter at Pierce College. I will graduate in June with my Associate in Business degree and three certificates! I will return in the fall to take one last class. Also, got the news that I made the President’s List last quarter. This means I maintained a 3.9-4.0 GPA for the quarter. That fun news.

Okay, that is it for now.... what else is to come? Irish Dancing, Cowboys, Easter and MORE...