A new post

Now that finals are over, and my brain has relaxed a little, it is time to post. A lot has been happening in our little corner of the world in the past month. The biggest thing is that Erin's brother Nathan returned home from the Korea Seoul West mission on the 3rd. We spent a lot of time cleaning and fixing the house up for him. He looked just as I remembered feeling when I got off the plane from Japan. Tired, but happy.

I feel really bad for Nathan. It is hard switching from a very organized lifestyle to chaos. On a mission you do missionary work. Your choices are: meet people on street, knock on doors, hand out fliers, talk to members, do some service, make some calls, visit less active members, or do nothing at all. There are other things to do, but this is the most common list. The nice thing about this is the MTC and the mission provide you with this list of things to do. You do parts of this list or the whole list everyday. If you ask a missionary what he will be doing next week, or even a month from now, then the answer will probably be something on that list.

The stupid thing is when you come home, there is no one to provide you with a list of things to do. You are now on your own. You know the basic goals, get a job, get a wife, get to school, and those such things. The issue is that no one tells you how to do it. You don't know where to get a job or where to go to school. Girls are a matter that are completely confusing!

So in short......poor Nathan. Now, moving on.

My finals went decently I suppose. I didn't get excellent grades on them, but I did my best. To bad there isn't a box on your report card that says "Did his best!" with a big check mark in it. Although with the direction that public schools are taking, it might not be long before all of our grades are replaced with these check boxes.

Emma's speech is really clearing up. She has been going to preschool since she turned three. The teachers are focusing on it specifically. It is nice to have the extra help and we can see the improvement. She gave me a lecture on how falling off the couch will break your head. I'm not sure where she heard that, but I'm on the look out. She also has figured out how to play the wii. Poor soul. She spends time on the Mii channel clicking on people. She has the glazed gamer look down. We are going to get her a bag of Doritos to complete the picture.

Erin has decided that her life isn't hectic enough. She is heading back to school to become a tharapist. I say, good for her! She starts this summer at UVU. She has spent a lot of time going over math concepts so she can take the placement test and do well. Nathan has been going through the practices with her. I hold the honor of having the most math training in the house, so I get to tutor them. I think it's fun! Erin is really excited about having another purpose in life.

Spring semester starts..well...today for us at BYU. I had a total of 4 days off from school. I don't think that I am ready to go back yet. I am only taking Linear Algebra. They say that our Junior year is the hardest at BYU. so..yeah, I'm scared. We will see what happens.

That is all you get for now. Maybe you might get a picture later if we take one. We have a Zoo visit on Thursday, so I might get some there. BYE

A quick thought

Here is something that I have been thinking about today. I said this to a friend and I am wondering how true it is. It seems true to me. Feedback is welcome.

"Real manhood is measured by the happiness of those he's responsible for. If a man doesn't have any responsibility, then he doesn't know what it is to be a real man."

Seems logical to me. How would you measure the success of a man?

Sorry, it's early my mind is wandering.

New Quote

This was found and shared with me today. I love it!

I urge you to not take counsel of your fears. I hope you will not say, “I’m not smart enough to study chemical engineering; hence, I’ll study something less strenuous.” “I can’t apply myself sufficiently well to study this difficult subject or in this comprehensive field; hence, I’ll choose the easier way.” I plead with you to choose the hard way and tax your talents. Our Heavenly Father will make you equal to your tasks. If one should stumble, if one should take a course and get less than the “A” grade desired, I hope such a one will not let it become a discouraging thing to him. I hope that he will rise and try again.

 

Thomas S. Monson 1979

The monthly post

That title sounds more like a newspaper then it does a blog post. Anyway, due to the state of the economy we have had to cut back on our blog posts......I have yet to find any correlation between the two, but I'll leave that to you. It's amazing what you can blame on the economy these days. I didn't shower because of the economy, I didn't study because of the economy, I dropped my cell phone into a can of paint because of the economy. It's great! Well......on to the update.

We shall start with Erin since I always try to put her first. Except when it comes to picking teams for badminton. But that is another story. Erin is looking to start a dress alteration business. She would like to attend classes, but doesn't know who teaches. She was given a sleeveless prom dress last Saturday that she put sleeves on. She made it look really elegant. Her friend was happy with the outcome. Erin has also lost 3 dress sizes on her diet. She is stuck eating about the same food day in and day out. She is so bored, but her success is pushing her on.

Emma now uses the potty consistently. We have a problem with the "number 2" portion of that. Every time she needs to poo she puts on a diaper and does it that way. Weird. She has taken to remembering the things that Erin laughs at and she says them over and over. We talked about having a pet skunk named Coco. For some weird reason Erin really thought the phrase "Come here Coco" was really funny. Well, Emma says it all the time! It is really cute. She has taken her mom's habit of "reading" to herself before bed. She has her little light that she keeps on while she looks at her picture books. Part of me wants to be the "GET TO BED" kind of dad, but the other part says that her relationship with books is a good thing. She also loves to color more. She is trying to be more precise with her crayons. It isn't a jumbled mess anymore.

Matthew just gets cuter everyday. He is starting to say Go, Dad, and Mom. He is now cleared for stair climbing as well. He hasn't gotten used to the size of his head though. It's not big, but he hits it on everything. He doesn't remember that the top of his head isn't at eye level. He is getting bruised, but something inside me says that this is a good thing.

That leaves me. Well......I have to say.......and it gives me no pleasure.....but we bought the Twilight movie and I actually didn't mind it. I was really looking forward to making fun of it for the next 3 months, but I can't. As far as films go, it was decent. Please don't judge me to harshly. Erin said that the Edward in the movie seems more like a caveman rather then an intelligent being. I think that his longest line was 10 words? I have lost 20 lbs total since Christmas on the no sugar diet. That is my big news. It wasn't fun, but I like the results. I saw picture of me that made me look like some wife beater wearing thug. I didn't like it. Now I look better.

Erin's brother Nathan is returning home April 3rd. Most of our time has been spent getting ready for him. His room has been painted, his carpet is new, his colleges are applied for, and we already have some food in the freezer for him. We are all excited to see him soon. Leaving your mission is not an easy task, and we hope to help him out as much as we can.

Well, that is my post. I hope that you have a good evening. Always remember to.....um.......eat pork? My sense of humor has been killed by engineering. I apologize.

Matthew's First Birthday

Wow I can't believe he's a year old! I know everyone says that, but it's always true. The past year has just gone by so fast.






We had a great time yesterday, watching Matthew open presents, and visiting with family, but I think the best part was watching him eat his cake. He was so cute about it!

Once he was done, we knew it!

Get me out of here!

And this is what Matthew looked like after his first sugar rush!

All Clean!!!

He is such a sweet boy, and always happy. We have loved every moment of this last year, even if we were sleep-deprived for most of it. He has been a true gift to our little family. We love you Matthew!

My little "Flour"

So this morning I was baking Matthew's birthday cake for his party tomorrow. I greased the pan, floured it, poured in the batter and put it in the oven. After setting the timer, I went to check my email.

At odd intervals, I kept hearing shrieking giggling, always a bad sign. Not wanting to be distracted from what I was doing (I always regret giving in to that feeling later...) I went into the kitchen and this is what I saw:

I kind of sat there in shock for a second, watching Emma fling a handful at a time down on to the floor. Then before anything else could happen, I grabbed the camera and said smile! It was another moment before I realized she was wearing her new shirt from her Grandma Woods. It says, "GROUNDED FOREVER". So of course I had to have a close up of that too!

Two dustpan-fuls of flour later, Emma had her time-out while I tried to get little flour footprints out of the carpet. I must be a strange mother for looking forward to these moments. Instead of feeling angry, I feel like this is what makes my life fun and interesting. Of course no one knows that but me, and now you. Shh! Don't tell Emma!!

New Pics!

Hello everyone. Since Emma is turning three and Matthew is turning one, we decided to have their pictures done. We have usually used JC Penny for these services, but had a difficult time with them the last two times. We got referred to Sears and went there. Not only were the pictures higher in quality, we got the time we needed to get the right ones. Sears also gave us the license to the pictures which is awesome! All in all, a good time was had. Here are the pictures for you to judge for yourself. Let us know what you think!