Leaving Las Vegas

That's right. In July we'll be leaving this....
And going to this.....
The news has already been out for a few weeks, but I haven't officially put it in my blog yet. So here it is, and of couse, since I'm me - the story along with it. Some of the details are a little personal, hopefully I haven't shared anything that is too personal - I don't think so, but then again, my life is an open book, I don't filter enough sometimes:).

In late October/early November I was talking with a friend whose husband was going to be graduating with his Masters degree soon. (Yes, Korina, this is all your fault) Her husband is a teacher and earned his degree online. Jerry has wanted to go back to school, and get his masters for quite some time, but we could never figure how to do it with his busy work schedule. I wondered if maybe doing an online degree would work for Jerry. That way he could work it around his schedule a little better, and it would be cheaper too. All the sudden I got really excited about the idea and couldn't wait to share with Jerry.

I didn't want to wait till he got home, so I called him at work and told him about our conversation, and wondered if he'd like to do that. Truly, he was kind of doing other things at work while I was talking to him, and I thought it might be in one ear, and out the other. But I felt good after talking to him. So, as a side note - one thing I've learned about Jerry in our 8 years of marriage is that sometimes he needs time to kind of process things, then decide it on his own. He didn't bring it up that night, so I decided not to push the issue, but let him think on it for a bit, then bring it up again in a few days, to see if he thought any more about it.

I was shocked the next morning when I got a call from a university asking for Jerry. They said that he'd requested some information online yesterday, and wanted to talk with him. WHAT?! So, long story short, he thought it over and decided that he felt it would be best for him to go back to school and get his MBA, rather than doing it online. And he really didn't want to go to UNLV, that's where he got his undergrad. So, yep - changes all around. That means quitting his job and moving somewhere else. Believe me - I shed lots of tears almost every night thinking about leaving my friends down here, my children leaving their friends, being so far away from Jerry's family, and my kids being away from their grandparents. Many tearful prayers were said. I needed to know that we were making the right decision, because when I'm feeling lonely and life is hard, I need to know that even if it's hard - it's the right thing. I always felt comfort, and peace after I prayed.

So we started the whole application process. First he needed to take the GMAT - YUCK! Since it's been 6 years since he's been in school he decided to do a study course online to help prepare him for the test. He studied, and studied, and studied and finally took the test. He'll be fine if he never has to think about that test ever again:) Then he started applying to different schools.

During this time we got pregnant, which we were ecstatic about, but it also was weird to think we're having a baby, just don't know where yet! Applying and waiting and trying to plan our future was a frustrating process. It seemed like nothing was working out like we wanted. He wanted to go to Purdue, but I was kinda unsure about it. It is SO far away. One thing did make me happy, and that was that my brother, John is going to Purdue right now, and I'd be able to be close to him and his family. But other than that I was really hesitant about it. Purdue seemed to kind of fall through, and then the plan changed to Utah. We planned to go to U of U and do the professional program, so work during the day, school at night on Tuesday and Thurs. It felt right, and it made sense. So our focus shifted toward finding a job in Utah, because once he had a job for 4 months he'd be able to get in-state tuition. I was so happy because I'd get to be in Utah close to my family headquarters, and close enough to Vegas that we could visit often. It wouldn't be quite so hard to leave. For about 5-6 weeks we looked diligently for jobs in Utah and were so frustrated. He got a couple call backs, but nothing really materialized. Even though he has 6 years of management experience in the uniform industry, he wasn't qualified for some jobs because they wanted 5 years of experience in their specific industry, like the healthcare, or power industry. It was so frustrating, and it was very hard on Jerry as well.
We prayed and prayed through this whole process, that we'd get a good job so that he could go to school and we could get started on this next step in our lives. Nothing happened.

We kept praying and praying, but one night the focus of our prayer turned to, helping us to go where we were supposed to go. The place that would be best for our family, where Jerry would be able to thrive the most. And, if we're thinking in one direction, and it's not right - make it obvious cause we aren't seeing it. The VERY next day Jerry got an email from Purdue saying that they'd like to do a skype interview with him sometime that week. WHAT??!! We hadn't heard anything from them in over a month. We thought that door had been closed, and I was a little bit relieved when the door closed before. Now what do we think about this? I was in shock, then started crying. (I'm pregnant - that's my excuse for constant crying) We had been so focused on Utah, and pictured it happening, but now the Indiana door had been opened again. And I couldn't help but remember the previous night's prayer. This seemed "obvious" to me. And I knew, once they interviewed Jerry they'd be nothing but impressed, because - well, he's amazing, and he has great experience to bring with him. (But I am a little biased I guess:)) Once again, that night after Jerry went to bed, I stayed awake to think and cry - some more, and pray again. I prayed that if it was right for us to go, that I'd be ok with it, and not just ok, but even a little excited to go there. The next morning when I woke, I was fine. I wasn't stressed or very emotional - probably because I'd used my quota of tears. I even started thinking of the positives - and got a little excited about the prospect of a new adventure for our family, being close to my brother John and his family, living somewhere completely different than I've ever lived, and it's only 2 years, that's gonna fly.

He had his interview a few days later, and then we waited. We didn't want to get too ahead of ourselves, but it was hard not to picture us moving there. We didn't plan on hearing anything for 2 weeks, that way we wouldn't get frustrated if it was taking too long. Three days later he got an email of acceptance. We are very excited. I know I've already gone into tons of detail, so I'll spare you the details of everything else that's happened since then, but it just seems like ever since that first email, everything has fallen into place. We know it's where we are supposed to go. It doesn't mean that life will be just hunky dory, and I'm not expecting that I won't still get lonely and homesick. I know it will be hard having 4 kids including a newborn baby, while my husband is going to be at school or studying constantly. But it does help to KNOW that we are in the right place for our family. We're excited. And I'm feeling more and more ready to go. I'm ready to go, but not ready to leave. I just want to take everyone with me.

I hope I haven't shared too many personal things. This has really been a testimony building experience for us, and in a way I wanted to share the up and down experiences of this all. Even though at times, we felt like we were swimming aimlessly around, we know that through this whole process the Lord has always been aware of us, guiding us, and letting us figure things out and learn as well.

April Recap

We had a busy month of April. Here is a quick little recap of some events - and I'll add more tomorrow (hopefully, I'll get to it.)

The big haircut!
My princess Rebecca loves her long hair. But I hate the bat
tle to comb it every morning. She has always cried at my threat to cut it, until she saw one of her best friends got a haircut. Her friend had grown her hair out to donate to "Locks of Love" Rebecca thought that was the coolest thing ever and decided she wanted to cut her hair. I wasn't ready to cut the whole 10-12 inches that they require because it was a huge step cutting it as it was. We chopped off about 6 inches. It still has length, and I love it. She is so excited about it. She thinks it was donated. Shh, don't tell, it was donated to the garbage.









Sydney wanted to be cool like her older sister, so she got a trim as well.
Bike Rodeo
Hayden had the bike rodeo at school, and we went to cheer him on.





Easter/Utah trip
My parents returned from their mission to the London, England LDS Temple the Wednesday before Easter. That was our spring break, so we figured that weekend would be a great time to go up and welcome them home. And believe it or not, I didn't get one picture of them. How horrible.
While we were there we went to temple square with the kids. It's always great to go to Temple Square.
We went to an Easter party that Joseph's neighborhood has every year. The kids had a lot of fun hunting for eggs and playing all the games. Later that day we went and visited with my parents some more, but I forgot to take the camera again:(
That night we dyed Easter eggs. HOLY COW! What a big job that is with 6 kids. Hands reaching for dye from every direction. It was a lot of fun....for them.:) I'm very glad we did it.
Here they all are right before bed. Notice the 3 oldest kids all wearing Ethan's pajamas. Yes, even Rebecca. It was the "cool" thing to do.
The kids had fun hunting for eggs Easter morning. It was a great Easter.
We went out to my parents' ward for church, then came back to Joseph and Angela's for a delicious Easter dinner. We were able to talk with the kids about why we celebrate Easter. I was happy to see that they really understood, at their own level the atonement and resurrection. I don't quite have words that can adequately express my gratitude to our Savior for the gift he's given us through the atonement. To know that we can live again and return to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is amazing, and wonderful. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ.

A Random Day in April
I felt like a good mom one day because I made play dough. the kids loved it. It kept them entertained for literally 2 hours. That shows you how often they get to play with play dough. I'm really not a big fan of play dough in my house because it usually ends up in the carpet. Not this time though. Towards the end they thought it was very cool to position their toys in it, in cool positions. Notice Hayden's Luke Skywalker doing a back bend over the clone. Pretty cool huh.



So, there you have it. April in a nutshell. Tomorrow (If I get to it) I'll catch you up on our BIG news.

Our Baby!!

We had our ultrasound a couple weeks ago and found out we're having a baby..... BOY!!!
We would have been happy either way, but we were hoping for a boy. Good to even things out right:) Hayden has "known" it was a boy since we told him we were going to have a baby. Rebecca wanted a boy until about 2 weeks before we found out because she wanted another sister to play dress up with. And because she decided she really liked the name "Izzy" from her favorite show, "Jake and the Neverland Pirates." She tried to throw a fit when we told her it was a boy, but she got over it pretty quickly, especially because it isn't going to change the gender of our baby if she's happy or sad.
Hayden really wants to name him Luke, which is actually one of the names on our list. But I will have to put my foot down with the middle name being Skywalker. He's already started calling him Luke, like in prayers he'll pray for "Luke." I don't know if Jerry and I will have much choice in this matter:)

Calgon Take Me Away!!!

I'm hiding from my kids...

They are all upstairs yelling and screaming at each other, and probably hitting too.

I should probably go intervene, but I am done!!!

They're learning problem solving skills right??
Let me tell you a little about my day.

We got home from our trip to Utah last night. Late enough that we just unloaded everything into the living room, got the kids ready for bed, and figured we'd deal with the mess in the morning, after a good, long night's sleep to get over the lack of sleep and overload of sugar from our Easter vacation.

Sydney was up at 5:00!! Luckily she fell back asleep till 6:20 when Hayden woke up and was bored and wanted someone to play with so he decided hitting her with a play sword would be a great way to wake her up.

He was kicked out of the room and he went downstairs to write a note to his teacher that said, "Yesterday I had a blast, but today I am sad." Sealed it in an envelope and everything.

Ah, 10 minutes to cuddle with my baby while she watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. But she wasn't in the mood to cuddle. She was in the mood to talk, and talk, and talk. When she tells you something she'll say it over and over and over again until you give her an answer, and it has to be more than a sleepy, "yes, uh huh."

Before long Rebecca was awake and ready to party by jumping in bed where I was still trying to get some sleep and decided to fight Sydney for her spot. So this resulted in two little girls jumping over my body, fighting for each others' spot, as I was still telling myself I could get a few more minutes of sleep.

Next, Hayden decided he needed a shower before school, and even though he always knows where to place the handle for the correct temperature, for some reason today he needed me to help him.

At this point I knew it was pointless, I better greet the morning as it was running me over.

Got up, came downstairs to the GIANT mess that awaited us. It looked like our vacation threw up all over our living room. But, no time to deal with that now, gotta get Hayden off to school after breakfast.

Got breakfast ready and the kids ready to walk out the door while hearing Sydney repeat the phrase, "I know that" after every direction I gave.
"Sydney, you need to eat your breakfast"
"I know that" - as she's walking away from her breakfast up the stairs.
"Syd, that is Rebecca's leapster, you need to give it to her."
"I know that" - as she walks away from me, playing the Leapster.
over and over again.
A very cute phrase that your child says can easily be ruined when you're tired, and it is said 100 times in a day.

Finally, got Hayden off to school, and back home to get Rebecca ready for preschool. She decided she wanted to take a flower pot that was given to me and fill it with dirt and flowers and give it to her teacher. I guess, it's not mine anymore. 3 minutes before we had to walk out the door Sydney decided the dirt would look better all over the one spot of our living room carpet that you could see, so she dumped it out. As quickly as we could we scooped it back in the pot and left, just to have it spill all over the seat of my van again as I turned a corner. Add vacuum the van to the to do list today.

After dropping her off I went shopping and the sweet cashier at Walmart asked me if my baby was due soon! Niiice, yeah, I'm 20 weeks today. Glad that I look like I could be due any day.

Planned to clean while Rebecca was at school, but had to sit RIGHT NEXT to my whiny, angry daughter to watch the Wiggles instead. (But truly, I didn't really WANT to clean anyway)

Throughout the day, Sydney who has been potty trained for a good month now decided to run to the toilet, stand right next to it, and pee all over the floor. Not once, not twice today, but three times before I gave up and she is wearing a diaper for the rest of the day.

Finally got the house cleaned up... well, most of the mess from downstairs was moved to an organized mess upstairs, but out of sight from any visitors.

I put Sydney down a little early for her nap knowing how tired she was, and she should have a long nap for both of our sanity. Lucky me, she woke up less than 2 hours later just in time for my tutoring student to show up. The kids are "supposed" to be having quiet time upstairs during my tutoring hour, but Sydney is still a little young, so she is the only one allowed downstairs. Exactly why I schedule tutoring during nap times.

Anyway, halfway through tutoring Sydney came downstairs with my make up all over her face, she even had foundation rubbed on her face and into her hair, blush, eye shadow, the whole shabang. Lovely! But, of course I have to keep my cool because I have a student right there. Luckily Rebecca (the make up artist) took her punishment well.

Just been a lovely day right?? I love my kids, but yes, this is an early bedtime night..for all. Is 6:00 too early??! :)

Hayden's Progress Report

So, this will totally be a brag-fest on my boy, but... deal with it:)

Hayden is absolutely loving Kindergarten, and I am so glad he has such a love of learning. About a month ago his teacher pulled me aside as I was picking him up from school. She told me that he is doing a great job in Kindergarten, and the reading list he's on is the list they hope for kids to pass off by the end of 2nd grade! She wondered if I would be ok with him going into First grade for reading time, about an hour, each day. WOW! I'm so proud of him! And he was so excited to be able to go into first grade, especially since most of his friends from church are in first grade.

He brought home his report card a couple weeks ago, and just so I have it documented, and can come back and read it when I can't find it in my piles of paper in the future, here are the comments from his teacher, Mrs. Ficklin, who is amazing!

"Hayden's 1st and 2nd trimesters of kindergarten have been exemplary. He is proficient at all the skills that have been taught so far in Reading, Writing, and Math. Even though he entered kindergarten already knowing most of the letters and sounds, he shows an eagerness to acquire and apply new skills. Hayden is a quiet leader in our classroom. He is always very willing to participate in class discussions and activities. He is helpful and respectful to me and to his classmates. Hayden is on the EIGHTH sight word list - awesome! I encourage you to continue to read with him every day so his reading fluency, comprehension, and love of reading will continue to develop. Going to the first grade for reading will further enhance his reading skills as well. I have truly enjoyed having Hayden in our class - keep up the good work!"

I am very proud of my boy!

He received the academic achievement award and the citizenship award at the awards ceremony.

His class was participating in the flag ceremony last Friday so we stood in the freezing cold wind and watched them perform!

Hayden is a sweet, obedient boy. When the school year started I wasn't so worried about his academic performance because I already knew he loved to learn. I think the thing I was the most concerned about is that in groups of people he gets very quiet and is a bit of a follower, not that that is bad to follow once in a while. Actually I'm like that in new situations too. I just didn't want him to get lost in his large kindergarten class because he isn't a behavior problem, and he always does what is asked. I'm so happy to hear that he is a "quiet leader" in the classroom, and I've observed this too when I go in to help.

One last brag - I was so proud of him today as we were walking to the car when I picked him up from school. He was talking with a friend of his, and his friend was laughing about how he called a girl a mean name in Spanish, but the girl didn't know it was a mean word. (Hayden is one of the few kids in his class that doesn't speak Spanish, and he laughs at how all he knows is "uno") I didn't say anything, but quietly listened to see what Hayden would say to this boy, and without missing a beat, he stood up for the little girl and told his friend in a nice way that what he said wasn't nice, and she would feel bad if she knew what he said. Then he suggested he apologize to her tomorrow. WOW! I was beaming with pride for my good little boy!
As I checked on him before I went to bed the other night I stopped to watch him sleep for a few minutes. I stroked his head and couldn't help but get overwhelmed with emotion. How has this boy that was my tiny 5 pound 9 ounce baby boy grown to be such a smart, grown up, kindergarten boy with a personality all his own and growing more and more independent each day. Time has flown quickly. We have tried to teach him right and wrong. We've tried to be good examples and good parents. But I'm not silly enough to think that it's all because of me that he is the way he is. This precious boy, (along with my other children as well) brought something special with him when he came to us. He is a child of God, not just mine. And I'm so happy to see the choices he's made so far, and hope he continues to stand up for what is right, and in his own loving way, help others to see the right too.

a little warning

Someone had a bad day....

Suction Cup Shoes

As we were driving in the car the other day, Rebecca asked a VERY important question...

R: Mom, when are we going to buy me some suction cup shoes?!

Me: Suction cup shoes??

R: Yeah, so that I can walk up the walls.

Me: Um, they don't really sell suction cup shoes, they just have them on cartoons.

R: But I REALLY want them!

Me: (crushing her dreams) Sweetie, even if they did sell them, they wouldn't really work and let you walk on the walls.

R: Please?? I really want my suction cup shoes.

Me: Well, if we ever see suction cup shoes in the store we will buy them.

R: YAY!! Can they be pink?

Me: I guess, if we ever see pink suction cup shoes in the store we'll buy them for you.

R: I'm so excited to be able to walk on the walls and ceiling.

I love the imagination of that girl.