Pre-School

Claire has started pre-school. Finally. A friend from the ward, Keli, recommended the school her son attends, so we just went with it. So far so good. She's been three times, and loves it more each day.

We have encouraged her to do at least one kind thing a day while she's at school. Then when I pick her up I ask her about it. She has twice reported helping the teacher and once helping a child pick something up. Today someone helped her glue butterflies to her paper. She appreciated that. In face they must have been a great team because she came home with a butterfly glued to her butt. BUTTerfly. Get it? I thought it was funny. Kyle and Claire just stared at me.

The best part of school is when we get to hear the stories and see the day's creations. Kyle loves to see what she comes home with. He offers ample praise: "Good job, Claire!" "So cute, Claire!" over and over. I can just see his inward battle on controlling his strong desire to want to be with her at school. He cried the first time Keli came to pick her up. He had his shoes on and was ready to go too! Today being day three he's starting to realize that it means one-on-one time for Kyle and Mom, and since I'm his absolute-number-one-favorite-person-of-all-time it bodes well (though not so well when he got up SIX times last night and would only be comforted by his "Mommy! I need MOMMY!").

On another Claire note she sang at Kerry Lynn (MIL)'s Women's Conference. I was a little concerned about the words----which all came out, but in an incorrect order. And she woke up that morning with a sore throat. Gram sewed the perfect dress, and we even curled her hair (with a lot of effort from both mom and Claire). There was a large cheering section which included: Me, Kyle, my mom, my sister Suzy, Taylor's sister Whitney, Taylor's Dad, Taylor's Grandparents, our special friend Sharon Dunn, and Kerry Lynn's Fab Five Friends. Taylor was totally bummed that he couldn't make it because of work. Apparently he hadn't been informed of the upcoming performance even though he had been to rehearsal.

With a little luck and a lot of prayer she was fabulous. She sang the first verse to Be Still My Soul. My mother-heart swelled within my chest like never before. Almost to tears. Almost. She even hummed one verse while Kerry Lynn played the harp. It was lovely. She was perfect.

When she finished Kyle clapped and shouted, "Yeah, Claire!" very loudly. Everyone giggled. He loves his sister so much.

Here is a picture after the dessert bar and after much running around. The kids and Gram:

And isn't Kyle the cutest little boy ever? He knows Be Still My Soul too now:)

Oh, and news of the week is that we are going to have our first nephew in July. Whitney, Taylor's sister, is expecting the little guy. We couldn't be happier for them.

I'm losing it, are you?

So Saturday was Miss America. A bunch of us from the ward gathered together to watch it. I promised to bring my annual Miss America dessert (so good, and certainly so bad for you that we try to do it only once a year). One of the ingredients is vanilla instant pudding. Thursday night i bought all of the ingredients. Saturday morning I got up early to make it before I had to be in Lehi by 10 for my mom's women's conference. I got the the pudding part and realized that I bought cook and serve pudding. With no time to spare I quite right there, put it in the fridge and planned to finish it before the party (fortunately there is no baking involved). So on my way back to Ogden I stopped and got more pudding. Double-checked to make sure it was instant. Got home, went to dump it, and again, Cook and Serve. What the heck? So I apologize for not bringing my much-spoken-of dessert. I did whip up the cook and serve and let it cool for hours and we had it last night. Taylor is happy to have access to as much as he wants.

It continues though. I left my scriptures at church yesterday. Then I was making a meat pie for dinner. I was making the crust and made only one layer instead of two. I'm beginning to worry.

Anyway, wasn't it fun to have someone win Miss A and actually have picked her as the winner? Wow! We were happy. My dad put together a "Party Bag" for everyone complete with programs and Miss Utah buttons and my crown. Everyone wore a button and got a picture wearing the crown. We stayed until 1am chatting, which wasn't so great for 9:00 church. Not to mention that the same group of us were out until 10ish on Thursday and spent the night together Friday (not me, I left at midnight). Our husbands may not be up for "girl's night" again any time soon :) And maybe the lack of sleep and excitement of adult conversation is why my brain isn't working...

Two things: Still didn't love the open-leg stance for swimsuit. SOO SOO SOOOOO glad that I didn't have to be in a reality show or called up for talent with two second before I had to begin.

And one more thing: Did you watch the Miss A preview show with Clinton Kelly? Wasn't he class-less? Boobies bouncing? He said that was his favorite part. Then they aired some negative comments about some of the girls while they were competing. If that were me I would cry when I saw it, and it would ruin the whole Miss A experience for the poor thing. Hated that part!

Wedding Album

So without constant internet access I've found other ways to fill my electronic needs. I figured it was about time to make my wedding scrapbook album. I FINALLY found the scrapbook kit I've been looking for, so things are going nicely. Here's a little (big) peak at what I've been up to. In no particular order:

Is it stealing?

I've found a neighbor with unprotected internet. Is that stealing? I honestly don't know if this is wrong to do, but I'm using their signal. We are still working on getting the internet. We're having a hard time choosing which service we want. We've settled on quest, but we're still looking for some part or other. I'm not sure.

Anywho, things are going well. We're mostly unpacked. Our office area is still in boxes, but I think it will be that way for a while. I'm not ready to post pictures yet though. Maybe I'll do it as soon as I re-upholster the couch. I'm getting the itch to do that soon. I need to find a staple gun first though.

We really like our house. It fits us perfectly. Our life seems to fit it well. The kids love the toy room. I love the room in general. Our house is 1900 square feet but feel like 22 or 23oo. The best news is that our master shower is finally sealed and settled and ready for the first shower, which will be in about 4 minutes. It could have been ready sooner, but we've let it take time for everything to settle and be really, really waterproof. That and we don't have blinds in that bathroom. I finally just put some brown paper in the window. Real classy, I know. I just haven't found the fabric I want. And fabric won't happen until I find THE paint.

Kyle's had a rough week with napping and not napping and climbing out of his crib. After 8 days of fighting him I threw a mattress on the floor. He tried it one night. Then he decided his crib is really fine and hasn't climbed out since. Weird boy.

Claire had her first upset stomach this week. She's asked me to keep the details private, but it was a sad day. She reports however that she is amazed that I continue to love her after how "disgusting" the day was. And that makes me love her more.

I'm good. I have room to sew, and that keeps me sane more than I remembered. I also have scrapbooked a lot since we are without our own internet connection. I've done 40+ pages of our wedding album (7 years and no scrapbook album!). I'll post those with our own connection soon.

Well, the shower is calling me. I have an appointment to get work on my prosthetic tomorrow. Prayers are appreciated.

Still no internet...

Well, we're loving having our own home. We're basically moved in but still in clutter from the random things that don't have a home. I'm currently making roman shades for a couple windows. I finished one yesterday (took 10+ hours to make.) I've never pinned so much in my life. I have so many pokes and scratches that I look like i got in a fight with a cat!

Two significant things to share (as I sit using internet in the library parking lot!). Things are looking good. I've very excited about our ward. It is packed to overflowing every week with so many different people. I went to ward temple night where the relief society president (who is my age---so's the bishop give or take a few years) stopped me in the dressing room to tell me how she's going to remember my name.
Her: "I'm embarrassingly obsessed with pageants, and a few years ago there was this girl on Miss America named Jaclyn, and she looks JUST LIKE YOU."
Me: (silent and staring for a while) "That was me."
Her: No Way!
This was followed by a very long hug from her. Then she introduced me to everyone as Miss Utah. The secret is out folks. Now I have to do my hair and makeup daily just to keep up with the perception of beauty queen.

The best part about it was that I went to lunch the next day with a group of ladies from the ward (including the RS president who seems awfully normal even though she knew my name and Miss America stats) :). We had a collective 15 or so kids who were running around us, but it was wonderful. I've been praying to find close friends wherever we moved, and there seems to be a good chance of some great friendships here. Every time we're at church I feel strongly that this is where we are meant to be.

The other happening happened when we finally unpacked our wedding video and watched it with Claire the other night. When it was over she was absolutely sobbing. She managed to let us know that she was just so happy that mom and dad got married and that she just loved us. It was so cute. She cried for 5-10 minutes alternating between the two of us. Then when she said her prayers that night she tried to say that she was thankful that mom and dad got married and she sobbed again. What a tender heart. What a wonderful, sweet spirit we have.

And that's it for now. I guess Kyle is sick of sitting in the back of the car going no where. Maybe we'll have internet soon? And pictures of the house too!

Oh, and thanks for all of the christmas cards. They were sitting in our mailbox when we finally go the key. What a great surprise!

Moving

We had a great Christmas. We hauled all of our christmas stuff to the new house on Christmas eve. Claire slept. She's the only one. Christmas was amazing.

Now we're packing up and moving today. We'll be without the internet for possibly months. Wish us luck.

Lucky number seven

So today was our seventh anniversary as Taylor noted.

Here is our first picture as a married couple:And here is one of my favorites of the day:
To celebrate today we went to dinner at Chili's with a promise to go to Maddox after the holidays (I've been thinking about their rolls, raspberry butter, and buffalo burgers for weeks now). We meant to see a movie but nothing (at the dollar theater) fit our time frame. So we did what we normally do, peruse Home Depot for things we didn't know we needed until we knew they existed. We also hit the Dollar Tree for stocking stuffers for the kids.

We didn't close on our house today---the computers were down, or so we're told. Our appointment is for 8:30 tomorrow morning. We'll see how we do with the expected weather.

Seven years has been awesome---we've actually had a lot of life struggles, but no relationship struggles. I was certain of my decision when I married Taylor, and I continue to affirm that feeling daily. Taylor began great, and improves as a husband and father with each passing year. He loads and empties the dishwasher, starts and folds laundry, helps put the kids down at night, gets them ready for church every sunday, is excellent at picking up around the house, and can cook anything from a box. He's even learning to be a handy-man with the house and car. I may get him his own tools one day (until then I keep a good eye on mine when he wants them). He's a wonderful life-partner, and even though he got me a repeat (semi-obscene) anniversary card, I am so grateful to have found him.

Still no news

So we were really planning on moving tomorrow. We were really planning on moving on 12/5 too. The panic I feel today at possibly not moving is significantly less than I felt on the 4th.

We obviously have the wrong underwriter. At this point where we keep getting told "any day now" we feel like switching lenders would take just as long. There have been a few snags along the way, but this is getting ridiculous. Taylor took a day off for swine flu and thus they panicked that he didn't work full time. Somewhere a social security number got rearranged and caused havoc. We originally were going to do a UHA loan, then switched to FHA. Then found out that FHA frowns upon a home owner doing work on the house (oops). Taylor graduated and our student loans showed up on our credit, and even though we don't have to make payments on them for two more years, the underwriter panicked again. Have I mentioned that our credit score is classified as excellent? Taylor is employed full time and on salary. I didn't know that anything else really mattered.

So we, like Mary and Joseph of long ago, continue to search out for our own home for Christmas. (Not to discount the ample, warm, and otherwise desirable and free home provided by our generous sister and brother-in-law, we just would like to move into our own currently empty house). Every time I hear "I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams" on the radio I feel as though it's taunting me.

And Kyle gave all of us colds. Nasty ones. My mom got it too (sorry, mom). So that's us. And yet it could be worse. At least we know that at some point we'll move in. At least we're not renting and getting kicked out with each passing deadline. At least, and most importantly, Taylor has a job. It's rare in this economy for interns in his field to be hired, so we are really grateful for that. And we'll be home for Christmas in our dreams.

Grateful

No we haven't moved. I don't want to talk about it...

I've been indexing the 1910 census today. It has a place where the women list how many living and how many dead children they have. On just one page I have the numbers are 7 living and 4 dead, 6 and 4, 12 and 8; and most astounding, one woman had 14 living and 11 dead.

And while I've had two documented miscarriages, I'm assuming that those aren't what is counted in this census. I can't imagine losing a child. A baby or any age child. Let alone multiple children. I'm so grateful for modern medicine and that both of my children were delivered healthy and remain quite healthy. They are truly my greatest blessing.

Last night Taylor spent the night in Logan, so Claire slept in my bed with me. It was a rather cold night, so she just snuggled up to me all night. I loved it. We are so blessed. Even if we haven't moved. Cross your fingers (and pray) for this Saturday.

If I had neighbors...

Since we're moving so close to Christmas, we may be forgoing neighbor gifts this year. However, if I were giving this year, this is what it would be:
For instructions click here. So beautiful and simple. And I bet it's tasty.