My First "Completed" Quilt

I've wanted to blog about this quilt a month ago, but then it wouldn't have been a surprise to Amanda and Ben. We had them this year for Christmas. I was so excited to give this to them!! I talked about it with so many people, that I almost let it slip so many times when talking to Amanda on the phone.
I hope it brings much warmth to them while enjoying the games. Here's to you, Amanda & Ben..

I am a Utah man, sir, and I live across the green.Our gang, it is the jolliest that you have ever seen.Our coeds are the fairest and each one's a shining star.Our yell, you hear it ringing through the mountains near and far.
CHORUS
Who am I, sir? A Utah man am I A Utah man, sir, and will be till I die; Ki!Yi!We're up to snuff; we never bluff,We're game for any fuss,No other gang of college mendare meet us in the muss.So fill your lungs and sing it out andshout it to the sky,We'll fight for dear old Crimson,for a Utah man am I.
VERSE
And when we prom the avenue, all lined up in a row,And arm in arm and step in time as down the street we go.No matter if a freshman green, or in a senior's gown,The people all admit we are the warmest gang in town.
CHORUS
VERSE
We may not live forever on this jolly good old sphere,But while we do we'll live a life of merriment and cheer,And when our college days are o'er and night is drawing nigh,With parting breath we'll sing that song:"A Utah Man Am I".
CHORUS

Ode to the Ward Budget!

Ryan challenged us to be more conscious with the ward budget, therefore, paper products have been cut from the budget. This is just a glimpse of the dishes from the ward christmas dinner. I love that he was the first one in the kitchen to help with the enormous task of doing dishes. Now, why can't I get that kind of help at home :-)

The Impact Santa Can Have

This was at our ward Christmas party. Have you ever seen the boy stand so patiently? Just proof that it can be done!

The Big Day

We challenged Kayla to memorize the 13 Articles of Faith this year. As a reward, she wanted to get her ears pierced. We decided to do this when we went to visit for Christmas. Thanks to Ben, we have the moment documented.
Kayla was extremely excited and motivated to get her ears pierced, but when it came to that day she was scared. Everyone kept reassuring her that it wasn't that bad. You can tell from the pictures how worried she really was. The moment right before, she got tears in her eyes, so the two girls piercing the ears tried to hurry. The result was a latex glove being pierced along with the earring. We were able to cut off the majority of the glove and then ripped the rest off. No sustainable damage, just a funny fluke.

Reflections of Christ

You need to pause the music at the bottom to listen.

Grades are in...

and I continue with the 4.0.
I worked so hard this semester and it paid off. Now for the break! I need a month off to put this house back together. Ryan and the kids have been so patient with eating frozen dinners and digging clean laundry out of the basket that just never made it to the drawers! So, thank you to all of you who were my cheerleaders! A big thank you to Glenda and John, who so willing give of their time to come watch Trevor for me. You truly are a blessing in my life. It's not easy being a working mom and going back to school, but it can be done!

Happy 4th Birthday, Trevor

It's hard to believe that he's four. I felt so many things for this child the day he was born (including what it's like to give birth to a 9 lb baby).
So, here's a re-cap of his four years of life:

Birth-one year:

• Unfortunately, because Trevor was so big, they had to break his clavicle to get him out. He spent his first 6 weeks with his arm pinned. Not easy nursing a baby with a broken collar bone!


• His #1 goal seemed to become as mobile as possible. He accomplished rolling, sitting, crawling, & walking very early. He walked from house to house by himself on his first Halloween.


• We had a full glass storm door at our house in Cincinnati that he would stand at and smash his face against. I could never keep the drool off.
  

One:

• After many ear infections, the doctor finally decided to put tubes in.


• Climbing was the name of his game. Babyproofing gadgets was our game


• We moved to Vincennes, and one of the first naughty things he did was to dump a Sam's Club size bottle of dish soap all over our hardwood floors. It took me about 4 hours to clean it up.

Two:

• I can only think of one thing to put in this year and that is we had SO MANY MESSES.


• Oh, I guess I can had potty training. He was so much easier and earlier than Kayla. So that may give hope to all of you that just have boys.
  

Three:

• As soon as he turned three we asked Kayla's preschool teacher if she would take him in the 3-4 year old class even though he wasn't suppose to be there until the next year. She graciously did, and he was THRILLED.


• The messes did let up
  
• We had two incidents with the Vincennes Police Department. One is when we went to talk to the officer when Trevor had stolen a pack of gum. Scared the poor kid to death (he has never attempted to steal again). The second incident is when he hid from us (read previous post).

So, now we begin our fourth year. He has been blessed with so much creativity. Ryan and I will sometimes just stand outside his door and listen to his creative play. He will have two or three dialogues going on between his toys. He has been blessed with determination like I've never seen before. He figures out how to fix things, how to get that candy that I think I've hidden so well, and how to get the transformer pjs that I've put up in so many different locations that are two sizes too small. He's just not ready to give them up yet. We love having him in our family. He teaches us so many great virtues!

So, on to the next year's adventures