New Furniture

I have a list of furniture I want to buy for the new house. Stools for the bar was definitely number one. I was forced to choose what furniture to leave in Kaysville due to my husband's poor packing of our truck so Mindy's old white wicker ones are now at the DI. Our children were very excited to sit on the chairs and eat their ice cream. Next on my list--a big carpet for our family room and Roman shades for above the kitchen window and the windows in the office. I still need to come up with an idea for the back door in the family room so that the people behind us can't see what we are eating for dinner (Carl's Jr. Again?!). Any ideas? On my dreaming big list is a sectional sofa for the basement, a new kitchen table, and guest room furniture. Jeff assures me he will be making money soon. I'm not used to spending money without an income and I hope that I don't ever get accustomed to it...

Gratitude

We made it to Colorado! And I have so many things to be grateful for. We are grateful that we survived the drive along I-80, following behind semis with our hazard lights on and praying non-stop--It took Jeff 15 hours! Andrew is grateful to no longer live in the Beehive state--to get to live in the Centennial State. And he is grateful that Charlie didn't have to get packed in a box on our truck. Anna and Elizabeth are grateful that Jeff figured out our Internet and TV so they can "rest in front of a show" after a week of no TV. Elizabeth is grateful to be 4--making friends is simple. She asked me last night why we don't have any friends yet. Someone from our new ward called today with a 4 year old and Elizabeth jumped for joy--"Mom, that means I have 1 friend now!" And Anna followed with an intense, "Can I go too?" I wanted to ask the same question. We are all grateful to live near Michelle and her kids and when the school assessment lady asked Andrew if he was a good reader, he said, "My cousin Hans says I read like a twelve year old." I am grateful for a husband who works hard and is taking a risk to start a new business. And I am grateful for parents who are supporting us emotionally and financially. I am grateful that I am no longer sick after 2 days of eating bread and bananas--and now my pants and my wedding ring fall off (Is this a blessing?). I am grateful that I survived a complete 360 turn in my van after taking Andrew to his first day of school. Did I mention they don't plow the roads here? And that the elevation is killing my running ego? I have to run a lot slower here. Now I am getting ungrateful. My new house is beautiful, my garage smells like poop (4 more days to get a garbage can), and I can see what the backyard neighbors are eating for dinner. I have a new vacuum, refrigerator, and finished basement. My life is good. I miss you. I am grateful for the things that have stayed the same throughout the move (the pep-talk I've been giving my children every night), most especially the gospel and my family. And I am grateful that you are forgiving of my grammar.

I am working on posting pictures of the house. Keep in touch!

Creche Display

We went to see the creche display in Midway and got to dress up and take a picture. Anna wanted to be a sheep, but we coaxed her with the baby doll. I think my kids are cute. And funny. Elizabeth at family home evening yesterday whispered in my ear, "mommy, daddy is losing his hair." She is concerned about this. A couple of weeks ago while Elizabeth was riding on Jeff's shoulders, she said, "Daddy, do you sometimes miss your hair." He told her that mommy does.

Why do I try this?

I thought it would be fun to make candy cane cookies to take to our neighbors. My mistake, I guess. The kids had fun helping me so it wasn't a complete failure. Elizabeth cracked an egg and quite a bit of egg shell into the dough, which I couldn't get all out. We had to borrow red food coloring because my supply and Walmart's supply was gone. The cookies were trickier to roll out than I anticipated and when I finally did get some cooked I accidentally used the spatuala I was cooking fajitas with and got green pepper and onion on the cookies. We ended up with three plates to take to neighbors, one of which Anna dropped in the middle of the street. Anna ate so much cookie dough during this process, that she wouldn't eat dinner and when we put her to bed she threw up all over herself and the bed. So don't expect any cookies from me. If I can get my act together, maybe I will buy you a candy bar.

Where in the World?!

Just today: What is the capital of Vermont? How long is Tennesee? What is a plateau? What is the largest city in Minnesota? What is the smallest city in America? Why is Hawaii a state if it is just a bunch of islands? What is the capital of South Dakota? What continent has the most ice?

All of the questions make my head spin, mostly because I can't answer very many. I am getting very good at the capitals, though. I can name most of them.

Andrew is very much into the atlas and world maps. He drew a picture of the earth and can name all of the continents and most of the states. He also knows quite a few of the major rivers and mountains and asks me constantly when we can see different places. He really wants to go to Indianapolis and Alaska. Perhaps Brian and Dana can help us with this. He is very excited to move to Colorado and tells me that after a year there we should move to another state. "We should just move to every state, mom." Life is very simple when you are six. While we were in Colorado Springs, Andrew called us every couple of hours to see what city we were in. And, as you can see from the picture, he lost another tooth while we were gone. The tooth fairy is richer at Grandma and Grandpa's house and now Andrew thinks the way to get more money is to lose more teeth. We'll just send the teeth to Grandma's house.