Audrey's Birthday

Since everyone is going to be in town for Makayla's Baptism on the 31st, we are going to have Audrey's 1st Birthday Party on the 30th. I am not sure what time yet, but I will let everyone know. I just wanted to give everyone the heads up. I hope that you all can make it.

The stove lives...

Charlie got the gas piped to the stove tonight! Hurray! The only problem is that he has to swap out the electic plug in order for the oven part to work now. So we can use the burners, but not the oven yet. It's a great step in the right direction now though, so I'm not going to complain too loudly. He was also able to fix the upstairs shower so we can use it now too. He hasn't finished the tiling yet, but we hung up plastic to cover the walls until that can be accomplished. Yet another step in the right direction. Our life has been little triumphs lately for which we have been ever so grateful for.

I thought I'd change the background, but let me know if you have a hard time reading the posts. I'm not sure I like how dark the monkeys are in the background.

We've moved!

It's official, we've finally moved. I hope this will be our last move ever. I know it probably won't be, but I can be hopeful. I still have lots of unpacking and arranging to do. The house is such a disaster area. I hope by next week that most of our stuff will be unpacked and put away. There isn't much else going on in our lives right now. The move has kind of taken over. It'll be nice to have it finished.

School's Out For Summer

I finished my finals up on Monday and it felt so good to be done with two days to spare! I had 7 finals this semester and thankfully only 2 were actual tests and the others were either papers or presentations. I took 3 finals on Monday so that I could be done and I left the testing center at 9:30 pm with the biggest smile and a carefree feeling because I was finally done. I am basically done with taking tests, because as I understand it there are no finals during student teaching, just something called The Teacher Work Sample which I hear is painful enough. I also got my test results back from when I took the PRAXIS and I passed! I felt so relieved because I was a bit worried about the math portion. I am now all set to graduate, which I applied for last week, once I complete my student teaching in the fall. I will be a certified teacher in less then a year and I can hardly wait!!!

On to other things now. I know that General Conference was a few weeks ago now, but I just want to say how much I enjoyed it. Saturday was a spiritual feast because not only was there Conference to watch, Alysha, who lives in my apartment building, also got baptized. Alysha shared her testimony at the baptism and it was sweet and strong. Her baptism brought back many memories of my own mission. The full-time missionaries came and spoke in church on Sunday and I was again was reminded of my own mission. I could easily relate to some of the things the Elders said because I too served in Utah. I can't believe that I have been home for 3 years now! I am going to stop being a slacker and I will finish my mission scrapbook this summer.

I have been working out a Curves for 3 weeks now. I don't think I have loss weight yet, but I sure do feel good when I go. At the Curves that I go to, the machines keep track of how many reps you do each time and the computer then gives you results to what your weak areas are, the number of calories that were burned, and other things. When I went and worked out yesterday I burned 513 calories in 30 minutes! Not too shabby. I am glad that I am finally doing something that will me be more happy with my body.

Yesterday I went to 2 BBQs. The second one was for the end of the year/people are moving out ward BBQ. There are so many people moving out this semester and it kind of makes me sad. The first BBQ that I went to was with the girls from my cohort. As a cohort we had every class together for the last 2 semesters. Out of the 13 of us, 10 are doing internships in the fall. I have come to really love these girls and I am going to miss them. We have decided that we will have to do many things together this summer before things get too crazy with preparing to teach in the fall. So here is a picture of my favorite girls in Provo, minus 2 who didn't make it to the BBQ.

Yes we are alive too!

Just a short note to let you know that we now have our Internet up and running. The move has been nice because I am now back with my Wonderful companion. In the move I lost just a few things the only thing that bothers me is my journal. I keep praying every day that it will be found. Next week the kids will be able to start school : - ) I think all of us are looking forward to that. I have been working with them each day on things that they need but they need to meet new friends. It was nice to have Les, Kristi and family already visit. I think everyone enjoyed themselves, I'm sure the grandchildren did. We hope to get a swing set soon so it will give the kids something else to do. This is a very quite neighborhood and the kids are up and down the street all of the time with their bikes. Most of the people in this neighborhood are retired so the kid do make it a little nosier. I messed up the satellite so now I can't get it or the DVD player to work. Kids are not to happy because it is raining outside so there is not much to do. Oh well I better see if I can undo what I did.

Almost moving...

I just wanted to let you know that we are a go for moving this Friday. I'm almost finished cleaning the new house. It was so dirty and dusty from all the work we've been doing. We had the carpets professionally cleaned on Friday and they look so much better. They aren't perfect, but they will work for the time being. I've been working on the areas that needed to be mopped. I've finished all but a strip of tile that's in the living room. Then my next task is to clean the toilets and sinks and the bath tub in the master bath. When that is finished we should be ready to go. Charlie is finishing up putting the cabinets in the kitchen. All the ceiling cabinets and about half of the floor ones are in. He only had one more wall to attatch cabinets to. We're pretty excited to begin living there. I finished my business class lastnight. I'm so glad that's out of the way. Next week is that last week for my English class and then I'll be done for the summer. I'm looking forward to the break. I'll try to write some more soon. I've got to go finish cleaning now.

We are still alive

I know I haven't been on the blog for a while. My life has been so busy. There are some days I don't even get on the computer at all. My semester is winding down though so I should have some more time here soon. We are also going to be moving in two weeks, so I should have more time after that as well. The next two weeks are going to be super busy. The house is coming along, but more slowly than we had hoped. We are focusing on the kitchen and getting it put back together right now so we can move in. We have agreed with the bank who owns the house we are in right now that we will be out by April 20th and that we will leave it broom swept clean. They are actually going to pay us to leave it clean too. We were pretty excited about that. Our new house only has to be liveable in order for us to move. With the kitchen finished, it will be liveable and so we will move in. There will be some more work to be finished, but nothing too great. All the work that we got the loan for has to be finished by August per terms of our contract to get the rehab loan money in the first place. That shouldn't be too hard to do, especially with Charlie off for the summer. There are several projects we want to do in addition to the jobs we have loan money for. Because we are doing most of the inside work ourselves, we've been able to stretch that loan money out to cover other jobs. It's been really nice to get more finished. I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow so you can see the progress.

It is spring break this week. Everyone needed it and we are glad to not have the requirement of school. Although we are working hard on the house, so it's not really a vacation, just a break from school. Charlie still hates his job but it doesn't look like there will be many prospects next year to change. Too many school districts are laying off right now to be able to hire new teachers in the fall. Although, Beecher is threatening to lay off their whole teaching staff too, so we'll see if Charlie even has a job there next year without quitting. The kids are still doing well in school. I think they are bored. They are looking forward to moving. Makayla is looking forward to her baptism. I can't believe it's almost here. It looks like she wants to do it on her birthday, which is a Sunday. I haven't set it in stone yet, but we will probably do it then. Our van is on its last leg and so we've been looking for a new one. It looks like we will be moving up to a full size van. The mini vans now-a-days just don't give us enough interior room. We are going to use our tax money, with a little of my student loan money, to get a descent van. I'd like one that's not 10 years old yet or older. My classes are going well. I can't wait to be done for the summer though. I'm planning on going full-time in the fall. So far I've only been going part-time, but with Jaxson in preschool, I should have enough time to go full-time.

That's about it, in a nutshell. I'll try to be better in the future about posting more and with pictures.