Just the pics

Here are some new family pictures that we took. I hope you like them! There will be more on Halloween!

Back up to date!!

It looks like it is my turn again to write in here. The pattern usually goes that Erin will write once for every 9 of my posts. So I will try to keep up the pace again.

Let me start back in my story about to the point where we moved. As you know our moving was a great surprise to everyone including me. We didn't even know that we were going to move until 3 days before we did. I didn't even see the place until we moved in. Moving went well actually. We only have a couple more boxes to sort out, then we will be moved in.

Provo has been very good to us so far. Compared to Midway, Provo seems like Bath in England during the Jane Austine era. There always are people around, there is always some social event to attend, we always have visitors. It isn't a complaint by any means though. We have enjoyed the attention. Thank you to all of our friends that have made our transition easier.

In the midst of all the fun, this moment in time carries a lot of pressure on our family. We are trying to figure out our new ward, school is harder then it has ever been, and our kids find it fun to scream all the time. It was during one of the most stressful moments that I did something blindingly stupid. I decided to take my frustration out on our bookcase. It is the first and last time I will ever try that because it left me with a memento for the past 3 weeks. In the process of hitting the shelf, I broke the bone in my hand that is directly below the pinkie finger. I wore a cast for the last 3 weeks, and now I am wearing a brace. Every time I look at my hand I am reminded of the incident and vow to take a more relaxed approach to solving issues. So far it has worked perfectly.

School has been a mix of good an bad. I took 3 tests over the past 2 weeks. The first two tests were great! I have never tested so high at BYU. I actually got an A on one! I was excited until I had to take a test in Fluid Mechanics. I pretty much failed that one. It was really sad. The entire class had a hard time with it so I hope that I did better then some of them. We will see when I get my grade back on Monday.

Erin has been doing awesome at her school. She is doing three online classes and she is ahead in all of them. She is also one of the top in her classes. I'm not really sure how she does it. She is really gifted at remembering things. She was having a hard time being alone with the kids though. In Midway we had others to help watch them. In Provo, she is home alone with them until I get home. We have been having to work creatively in finding ways to keep the kids busy. There are no uncles and aunts close by to keep them occupied. We had a shopping spree at Wal-Mart for the kids. We bought new toys and art supplies. They love them.

Emma is talking more and more. She is becoming clearer in what she is saying. She is more and more independent as well. She is in preschool in Provo and she is doing very well. We are impressed with the school and her progress. The nice thing is that they had a lesson on brushing your teeth. She is obsessed with it and we are happy to let her be that way. She brushes like 3-4 times a day.

Matthew is just a cute little kid. He has been having a hard time because we decided to get him off of the binky. We only give it to him at night when he goes to bed. Soon, he won't even get it then. Instead of him being happy with the plug in his mouth he wonders around screaming or crying. This last week has seen quite a bit of improvement though. He is happier. He is also getting his 2 year molars in, so that might also add to his frustration.

As always thank you for listening to my ramblings. Oh, before I forget, Matthew will be a fireman for Halloween, and Emma will be a Snow White. We look forward to pictures!!