March 27, 2011

March 27, 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday I managed to get out and get the shopping done. That night for FHE we went and helped to clean the chapel. We were the first family there and started off cleaning. Thankfully several other families showed up and we were done in just over an hour.

Tuesday I had a repairman come to fix our range again. Once again he couldn’t get it working but he figured out that he has been ordering the wrong part. So hopefully we will have it fixed this week. B-man was excited to have someone to chat with. He was asking him if he goes to church, and if he has a bible, etc. It always is a little embarrassing to me, but we are trying to be as bold as B-man. That night I made sloppy Joes and took some to our neighbor who has been sick.

Wednesday morning we had people come in and fix some windows in our house. They worked fast and were very cute with J who kept following them around and watching what they were doing. That night I went to basketball practice and then after coming home to help with bedtime I went to book club. We discussed “Pope Joan” which was a very engaging interesting read.

Thursday was a slower day. The big event was the BYU v. Florida basketball game. M went to a friend’s house to watch it with some friends and I watched it at home. It was an exciting game, but we were sad at the outcome.

Friday early afternoon I took the boys to a friend’s house for lunch. It was a great way to pass the time in the morning, and the kids all got along well. Then that night for our family party we had hamburgers for dinner, and then watched some nature shows. Once again we picked something that was a little too intense for B-man, so we fast forwarded a lot.

(M wrote the rest of this letter.)

Saturday we all got up early to watch R play in the women’s basketball tournament. We were hopeful that they could win this first game to get to the finals….but they were beat by a better team. The difference between women losing a game and men losing is that the women will still be having fun even though they are losing. Some of the women were still smiling!! I had to keep relatively quiet, so I didn’t bad mouth the refs – they were hacking R all over the place, with no calls.

On the way home we passed by a couple of garage sales – both weak and overpriced. We got back home to find a blinds-repairman next door waiting to work on a neighbor’s house. Since they weren’t responding, we asked him if he would look at our blinds. He fixed our blinds in about 20 minutes…and it would have taken both R and me at least an hour to do it together. We paid a fair price, with both of us happy.

While B-man was playing with a friend, we went to do some returns and purchases at the mall. The mall isn’t much fun for me, so I can’t imagine having to do the same thing with a six year old. The only time that a mall is even worth entering is when you’re in the desert (say Kuwait or UAE) and it’s the only place where you can be assured of air conditioning.

I went to a friends’ house for a game night – his birthday party, so a bunch of guys went over to play some board games. It was fun to get together with the group of guys, mostly from our old ward.

Sunday was a good day. I had a meeting in the morning. Then came home to help with the last minute push to get out the door and be on time to church. Sacrament meeting is always interesting with J; hopefully soon we will see improvements in his behavior. After church R made a fantastic dinner, and then we had some friends over for dessert. It was a great way to spend the evening.

We love you all!

The C Crew

March 29, 2011

March 20, 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

We started to memorize the 5^th Article of Faith for Family Home Evening. B-man is doing a great job learning them, and we are re-learning them along with him. We, finally, celebrated R’s birthday with cake, though I should maybe have planned it a little better since R had made a peanut-butter , chocolate pie for an FHE treat.

B-man went to a friend’s birthday party on Wednesday evening. Just after getting the boys in bed, I had a presidency meeting (haven’t had one in too long) that was very effective. We now have a full quorum presidency, a complete set of instructors and a good plan for what is coming up. We need to encourage better home teaching, but that will come along just fine.

(B-man finally lost his first tooth... good thing since his next two are already in place.)

Thursday evening R went to a Relief Society meeting that was a tri-ward event. She reported that the classes were very good.

I had Friday off, so after B-man got off to school, R was able to go back to bed for a little while. While she worked out, J and I had a fun time at home (with RM napping most of the time). I spent the morning figuring out some of our summer plans and paying some bills. We spent most of the afternoon in the neighborhood; throwing Frisbees, playing tag, and playing at the park. We took a short break to go check out a house that just went on the market. It looked like a great house, on a really, really tiny lot.

Our HOA had a bingo/pizza party that evening, so we took the boys to play some games. The boys had a great time. J loved drinking endless Capri Suns, while B-man was intent on winning a bingo game. He didn’t end up winning any games, but R and I made up for that. We came home with a few boxes of Girl Scout cookies and a toy airplane that B-man thought was cool.

Saturday was a busy day. The boys slept in (maybe until 7:30) and then we got rolling. R made pancakes and then we left the house in a mess to go to a basketball game. On the way we stopped at a garage sale (first one of the season) and didn’t find much worth purchasing. It’s hard to buy some stuff, when we don’t have a house to put it in.

R played a great game, against a ward with a lot of our friends in it. Our women played very well, and dominated throughout most the game (think BYU v Gonzaga). R might have had her best, or second best, scoring game. It’s a balancing act, or watching the kids run around and cheering on our team.

B-man and I helped a family move into the ward early in the afternoon, and then we went over to our friend’s house to watch NCAA basketball tournament. It was fun to get together, and the weather was good enough that the kids could run outside. We had a late night, just starting the BYU v. Gonzaga before having to take off to get the boys in bed.

B-man spent this afternoon building and playing with Lego’s. J had a great nap and we had a great dinner together. With the three boys, dinner is getting to be a very noisy event. We constantly are trying to keep J from yelling for more food, RM crying to be held and B-man actually wanting to talk with us. We have some room to improve!

We love you all!

The C Crew

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had no visits from leprechauns... but we did have a visit from the Tooth Beast.

And he even left something green for B-man.

March 13, 2011

March 13, 2011

Dear Family & Friends:

I have been all week at a training class. It seems like whenever I am away R is going to the doctors with the boys. It turns out that both RM and J have/had pinkeye and J had a sinus infection. It’s nice to be back.

R was able to have dinner (a few times?) with a good friend while I was out of town. It’s nice to have easy friends (with husbands on the road) to make it possible to spend time together. We’ve got a great group of friends that make life a lot easier for us out here.

R was able to squeeze in visiting teaching before/after doctors appointments for the boys also on Friday.

Saturday was a busy day. R had a basketball game and had fun, even though they didn’t have enough players so they had to forfeit. After dropping the boys off at a friend’s house on the way home, we went to look at a couple of homes that just came on the market. It’s always an interesting balance of location, house size, and lot size – in the end I’m sure that we’ll find something that we’ll be very happy with.

B-man and I went to a ward baptism in the middle of the day, while R stayed home with napping boys. We’re enjoying the frequent baptisms that we go to, knowing that it will be very soon (still 1.5 years) when B-man will be getting baptized.

The weather was nice enough in the afternoon that the boys spent the afternoon outside. B-man loves having his bike out of the storage unit and J loves to run into the street and go places that he’s not supposed to. Thankfully we live on a street with minor traffic, so it usually isn’t too bad.

I went to Ward Council this morning, while the rest of us tried to sleep as long as possible. R had to wake up the boys at 7:45, giving us just enough time to get everyone ready for 9:00am church. After a quick lunch of leftovers, I went out to visit a few families in the ward. We can’t wait for all of the boys to get better so that we aren’t dealing with sick, cranky, crazy boys.

R made a wonderful Sunday meal. And then we put the boys to bed.

We love you all!

The C Crew

Singing in the Rain

This is J’s version…

March 6, 2011

March 6, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

We started our week off with a bang by closing on the sale of our home. After getting B-man off to school we did some quick finishing touches on the house and then left and had breakfast together while they did their final walk-through. We then dropped off J with a friend and headed over to sign the papers. Everything went very smoothly and I was happy to see that it was a young couple that was buying our house. I really just want the people to take good care of the house. I shouldn’t care, but I kind of do. After the closing we talked with our realtor for a few minutes and then headed home. M then went to work. The rest of the day was fairly normal. That night at FHE we continued our lessons on the Articles of Faith and discussed/memorized the Third.

Tuesday was a slow day. I can’t remember much of what was happening. I went to the grocery store etc. Wednesday was also slow. In the evening I ended up going to another auction. I bid on a few items, but ended up leaving early. It was a mad house. They had two auctioneers going at the same time on different items, it was standing room only, and I had poor RM. He was a champ, but if it was sensory overload for me, I knew it would be for him too. So we left, and I decided I don’t really like auctions. I prefer a garage sale where I can name my price and I don’t have to compete with other people. (Plus sit around and wait for the good stuff to be auctioned off after all the junk.)

Thursday morning a fellow came to give us a quote on repairing some windows. (Long story, but it was supposed to be done by now.) It was obvious to me within minutes that he had no idea what he was doing. I wasn’t surprised when he never called back with his quote. Later that afternoon after M was home, he had a sales guy over to give him a quote on new windows. I hate that type of thing, and M loves it. So when he came I left and went to get some blood tests done. When I got home he was still there, so I just listened in and started working on dinner. The price was too high, but we did get him to come down quite a bit! Never take the first offer.

B-man’s latest creations…

Friday was our family party day. We had a repairman come in the morning. He fixed our stove (it sounds like everything is broken, but it isn’t) and then when I tried it two seconds after he went out the door it wasn’t working again. (One of the burners doesn’t light without a match.) I ran after him, but he was already gone, so now we get to have them come back again. What a pain. Hanging out with repairmen is not my favorite thing. That night we had pizza for our family dinner, and then we watched a movie together. I can’t remember what it was.

I love that B-man can sit and read. He is really getting into books.

Saturday was supposed to be a nice relaxing day, and it was, but ultimately we added a lot of things in at the last minute. We all went to Home Depot for their kid’s classes. M and B-man worked together while I looked at a few things with the smaller boys. After the class we came home and finished our Saturday chores. While doing my usual searches for houses I discovered a new house on the market that was interesting. We piled back in the car and did a drive by to check out the yard. We decided the yard wasn’t a deal killer so we headed back home, and then called our realtor to see if we could get in. I headed off to the gym to go swimming. When I got there I realized there was a class about to start in the pool. I should have just gone home, but I decided to stay and do the class. Sadly the class started very late, and I had only been exercising for less than ten minutes when I heard my phone ringing and M was telling me to come home so we could go look at the house. It wasn’t worth all the effort of getting into a swimsuit and getting wet. Anyway I ran home, changed quickly and then we all headed off to see the house. In our rush I forgot to find places for the kids so they were all with us. Not the best way to look at a house, but we managed okay. We walked through the house, and were able to get a good feel for the house. We really liked it, but there are a few potential problems we need to consider. We then had a few hours of relaxing and fun. (Or obsessing about homes.) Around four we got a call from a friend that was in DC. After a little debate about whether M should go alone, or if we should all go we decided to all go together so that we could discuss things in the car. The drive in was very lovely, and we found perfect parking and met up with our friend quite easily. It was very smooth. We then headed over to the DC hot spot of “Ben’s Chili Bowl.” It was crowded and loud, but we made it work. We eventually had to leave because the kids were getting stir crazy. We got home and everyone went straight to bed. We were sad to not have more time with our friend.

Sunday was a good day. J stayed in nursery, and RM was a happy clam for me. After church we had a very quiet afternoon. We had a super early dinner so that M could get on the road on time. He had to go to some training. We managed to fill the evening with nature videos on YouTube and playing in the basement.

We love you all!

The C Crew