At it again!

School started this week for me. I have to say that Sunday night was really hard. After pushing for 5 years to get this degree, it is hard for me to want to push another one. Yes, I know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I know that everyday brings me closer to graduation. It isn't the lack of desire that makes me hesitate. It is the lack of time with my family that I am dreading. The past two weeks have been so nice. I only had to work 4 hours a day and then spent the rest of the time with the family. No stress at all. No homework hanging over my head. Family has become more important to me these last couple weeks. School and work have had a negative impact for our little family. I have distanced myself from my wife and kids because I have always been thinking about what I needed to do and not about them. Erin and I noticed this a little while ago and while we are not heading for divorce or anything, we still decided that we needed some professional help to get the most joy out of our relationship and less of the bad.
Our counselor is great. She knows exactly what is going on and what to do. So first step is to work on our relationship with our father in heaven, Then with Christ. I have heard this before but we just get stuck into such a rut that we forget what is most important. My biggest problem, if you wanted to know, I do to much internal thinking and not enough talking things through and turning to Erin for emotional support. Guys are always supposed to be tough. We can work things out on our own. Well, that isn't always correct. It has actually been very difficult for me to allow Erin to support me emotionally. It's not something I think that I have ever let anyone do. It has been working too!
We hiked Timpanogos on Saturday. We went up the Timpanooke trail and down the Alpine Grove. It is about 13 miles. We tried this hike last year but the weather killed it all. This year we made it all the way to the top. Needless to say that I was not well prepared and killed my legs on the way down. I almost had to be dragged to the car. It was very pretty.
School started for Erin. It is a little different because she has to go to the school to take classes now. No more online work for her. She said that she likes her classes and she is looking for another great year.
Emma will start next week. She will have the same teacher that she did last year. This is great because Emma doesn't have the easiest time with new teachers. I hope that she will grow out of it. She is really funny though. She keeps asking her uncle Steve why he isn't married.
Matthew is almost through the terrible 2's! He is listening more and working more with us instead of just doing things that he knows will bother us.
I like all my classes. They seem to treat you better when your a senior. It's like "Oh your going to make it! Now we will help you through it." My favorite class is nuclear engineering. We had Dr. Jackson from the Nuclear Regulatory committee give a lecture today. He is an amazing man and I love hearing from him. It is funny that his most common phrase was "That is top secrete." I don't think that I have ever heard anyone honestly use that phrase.
Erin and I finished the first two books in the Hunger Games. Erin just got Mocking Jay last night from Amazon. They sure took their time on that one! I love the series though. It is really fun to read.
Work is calling now, so I must see to that. Two more semesters to go! We'll see how it goes.

The Semester is OVER!

YEAH! 2 week break!! I finished my last final yesterday and started into my ever growing "Honey Do" list. It was a good semester.....it will be better once I know if I passed or failed. We will see what happens.

Erin passed again with flying colors. She had two classes this semester, Oceanography and Ethics. She liked the Oceanography, but the ethics was put into the same category as dumpster grime and rotten milk. School has been her life for while now and she only has a couple semesters left before her associates degree. She convinced (aka talked to, aka threatened, aka dragged) me to the gym with her and I got a pass so we could work out together. I have to admit that it is fun. Gold's Gym has a day care for our kids so we can work out together in peace. It's really nice because we get some alone time together while we are on the machines. We are trying to get in shape for the Timpanogos in a couple weeks. I hope to have some pictures to follow.

Matthew has been through a really tough couple of weeks. We have decided that it is time to take the binkie away. The reason we thought this is because we lost the binkie and I refused to buy more. We tried the cold turkey approach and he cried for nights on end. On the 2nd day Erin mom and sister were visiting and didn't know about the no binkie rule. They found it and gave it to him for his nap. We needed another approach. Erin found this "bye bye binkie" thing on the web. It's a program where you deform the binkie over the space of a week to the point where he doesn't want it anymore. We started by poking a ton of holes in it. Matthew didn't mind that so much. After 3 days we nipped a little off of the tip. Matthew put it in his mouth and ripped it out. Needless to say that he was MAD. We put him to bed with it and closed the door. He cried and cried and cried. He opened his door and threw the binkie out and closed his door again. He has spent the last few nights crying for an hour before going to sleep. Last night it was like 30 min. YEAH!

Erin took the kids to the library and got Matthew some potty training movies. Matthew is so excited about it. When he watches the movies he wants to be sitting on his potty with his diaper off. It was really good yesterday because he actually went. It scared him to death! He looked in the potty and there was a little brown log. He was so scared that he pulled it out and handed it to Erin. It took her a couple minutes before she realized what it was and proceeded to sanitize the area and everyone in it. She didn't think it was very funny. I'm still laughing.

Emma is.....well.......bored. Summer for her has been long with not a lot going on. We try to do things together, but even going to the park is getting old. We want to do more with her, but things cost more then starving students can afford. It's good that she has grandma's that are willing to take her. She loves it. We are planning hikes and stuff. It is easier now that we are out of school for a couple weeks. She is making a lot of friends at our new apartment complex. We have a ton of mixed cultures and it is good for her to mingle with them all.

As for me, well, I work. I have been working on the Lego Harry Potter game. That has been fun. Um.....Erin found some good garlic spead at costco that I will use to perfect my rolls....hmm..I don't know what else to say about me. I change my valve cover gasket on my Volkswagen for the first time. That was fun. I guess. I have lost 8 pounds at the gym which puts me at 188. Erin bought me the 2nd and 3rd season of the muppets and I am watching that. Oh...Erin, her brother and I have just finished watching all the Harry Potters. We all agree that the 6th one was the best! Well, I need to go to Midway to fix another three computers. Have a good day!