Announcements

My new blog layout is an announcement! But for those of you who only look on Google Reader, I thought it best to post that we are expecting #4 in August of next year! I was waiting to tell my husband and kids until Christmas but found out that Jared's Christmas present to me was going to be something you cannot do while you are pregnant... so I decided to tell them a week early so that Jared didn't waste his money!! The kids are super excited and are already spoiling me because, well, I have a baby in my tummy.

***Sorry to my siblings... I am sure you are not going to like that you are finding out from my BLOG that I am pregnant. But - you know I love you!

Also, yesterday Shade clothing had a conference call to inform its personal shoppers that they are dissolving the personal shopper program. This means that I will no longer be associated with the company :( . I am very sad about the decision and the effects I will feel in my own life and with my family. Namely, no more free clothes!! (I earned lots of incentives.) I have been with Shade for almost three years, and have built a clientele of over 600 customers. I love Shade’s products and the company and have enjoyed every minute I have been with them. I have felt a real loss and I am going to miss this job. It will be hard for me to replace... oh, but I am not looking to replace it either at this point... so no recommendations for a work-from-home opportunity please! I've already had about 10 from my customers today!

***And does anyone know how to create a little space in between my header and the date of my first post? It is too close but I can't figure out where to change the html. Thanks!

Snow Day in Texas

If you subscribe to my blog on Google Reader & every post from the past showed up today... I'm very sorry! I was having label issues & had to go through and basically redo all of my labels. It was a pain but I wanted to fix it before I had more posts in the future. And labels are now posted on the side bar. I just have a label for everyone in the family & then a video label so you can get to video easier. We are getting a video camera for Christmas so I plan to post more video in the future.

So here are our pics from the rare snow day in Texas yesterday morning.

Help me decide!

I can't decide which picture to use for our Christmas card! Please leave a comment & help me decide!

A. Pretty














B. Personality














C. Proper













Should I do two pictures? One of the above & one with just kids? If so, which one of the kids?

A. Silly













B. Serious

Thanksgiving in Katy

Colby's goal for 2009

Apparently Colby didn't watch TV ALL day yesterday. I didn't realize that was such an accomplishment. But this morning, Colby said, "A year from now, I'll have gone a whole year without watching TV!" Jared & I thought it was so funny!

More soccer pictures!

We got the official soccer pictures back today & I just liked them... so I thought I'd post - in case you haven't seen enough yet;)

Taylor looks adorable, like always!
Colby was so grumpy because we didn't bring his ball for the picture & he had to borrow one. Classic!
Because I was Colby's coach, I got a few extra pictures with just me & him. Here, I'm trying to talk him into just a little smile!
And here is what I got!
Our team picture for the Gladiators

In Memory of a Great Man...

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, the oldest living apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died last night, December 2, 2008, age 91.

Elder Wirthlin had gone to bed at his Salt Lake City home, and died peacefully at about 11:30 pm of causes incident to age. His oldest daughter, Jane Wirthlin Parker, was present. A member of the family had been staying and caring for Elder Wirthlin, whose wife, Elisa Young Rogers Wirthlin, died in 2006.

He had continued to work at his office right up until the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Christmas Sweater

I read this book yesterday & I thought it was one of the very best books I've read in a while. It is a novel written from the perspective of a 12-year old boy that pulls from Glenn Beck's personal struggle with the loss of his mother and later emotions associated with the self-destructive, hurtful, & numbing behavior that we often find comfort in (alcoholism and pushing away others in his case). It is a story about second chances, recognizing the value of relationships and family, and most importantly, it is a magical description about how the atonement of Jesus Christ can work for all of us. It is a quick read and I highly recommend it for anyone looking for something to read over the holidays!

More soccer

Soccer's Over!

I'm actually going to miss it... I really have enjoyed Saturdays at the soccer field, watching Taylor's games & coaching Colby's. I only have pages for Tay's done so far. I'll post for Colby's team later this week.

Orlando Fireworks, KSC, & the Beach

I've been working on scrapbooking our July Disney trip lately. I went with my four brothers, my sister, & our families to Orlando for an awesome sibling reunion. We spent the first three days: watching fireworks, @ Kennedy Space Center, & @ a gorgeous Florida beach. I still need to work on the two days we actually spent at Disney World - but those will come later. For now...

Halloween 2008

Just cute

Why Halle, Why?

Evacuation to Austin

Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't even begin to explain the growth, excitement, and relief that our family is experiencing today.

Jared has been working on the pre-requisites for dental school & studying for the DAT since 2005. He works full-time and of course, has his family on top of this. He has basically studied on his days off and 5 nights a week consistently until 1 or 2 every morning. He applied to dental school last year but did not get in. He has taken the DAT two times and did poorly both times, despite the countless hours of studying. I watched him do well on his practice tests when he took them untimed, but timed - his score would drop 5 points because he just didn't do well with the pressure of a timed test. This year, his application was so strong - but this test score was the one thing (BIG THING) he was lacking. He took it in June and was ready to quit his goal for dental school because he felt he had nothing left to give. But after a few days to clear his thoughts, he decided to try one last time to improve his DAT score for this application cycle (entering class Fall 2009). You have to wait 3 months inbetween test dates - so it was set for September 22nd. Because of the 2 hurricane evacuations, he missed out on 6 of his 8 planned tutoring sessions and then his test date was moved back until the office received power again. Yesterday, so many people fasted for him and I know my kids have prayed for him every day for a long time. Yesterday, Jared put the books away and tried to rest and rely on the Lord instead of relying on his own power. He knew the information, but needed help expressing it on the test without getting overwhelmed by the pressure.

All that to try to explain just how hard he has worked on this test. Going into the test, we both felt at ease, feeling really prepared for a score that was lower than he hoped. We were comfortable with the idea that dentistry may not be the right path for our family & that would be ok. Of course, we hoped that Jared would feel success after all of his work, but knew that if that did not happen - the Lord had a different plan for our family. So he got home at 4:30 and he had brought his academic average score from a 15 to a 19 in just 3 months, scoring a 20 on the perceptual & in the 95th percentile in one of the sections, not far behind that in many of the other sections. It was a real spiritual experience for our family as we felt the hand of the Lord in the final hour of his efforts. I know these scores don't mean anything to you, but to him - it means that he will most likely get into dental school for the Fall 2009 entering class!

We will keep you posted but for now... we get to enjoy having a normal life with Jared home more. Thank you all for everything!! Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ode to Colby

On Friday night, Colby & I were watching a movie together and I just had one of those rewarding parenting moments hanging out & then snuggling & laughing with my favorite little man.

And then it reminded me of the journal he brought home at the end of last year from kindergarten & I thought you might get a kick out of this particular entry. When I was flipping through his journal & got to this page...


You can say that I was pretty grateful Jared's cousin was his teacher! If you can't read it, it says, "I am happy when I get to play with mom" & then it has a picture of us laying in the bed together - oh my lanta! I'm glad to know he enjoys snuggling with me as much as I do but goodness - I'm glad I didn't get CPS called on me!

Colby is into having an email address right now - he mostly plays chess with me, his uncles & grandpa. Today, I got a surprise email from him that was cute:

"hey mom. I am going to win the chess game. but you cold do a nether game. hey can you figurer out these peroblams. 6*46= 45*5= her is a easy one.
1000*10=.by. love
colbycade."

Love him!!

Webcast #1: CUBE CRAZE

I think I mentioned that my kids wanted to start broadcasting a webshow. A full show is a little ambitious, so I told them we could do occasional webcasts & I would post them on my blog. It turns out that Colby has inherited the same disease that my oldest brother Roice suffers from - OCRD, or Obsessive Compulsive Rubix Cube Disorder. See http://www.gravitation3d.com/roice/ to see just a glimpse of the extent my brother suffers! Anyway, Roice gave all of his nieces & nephews a Rubix Cube at our family's Disney trip this summer. Colby hasn't put the cube down since. But the universe is now in order because Colby can solve the cube entirely on his own. He has spent a lot of time with this & wanted to broadcast it for all to see.

Fashion Diva Starts School

Freckles

I'm procrastinating! I get the most done when I have tons of other things I'm SUPPOSED to be doing! But - I've really knocked out a lot of scrapbooking from this summer. I won't post them all here, but this page I particularly liked. Remember Halle's "Perfectly placed freckles"? Everyone in our families have discovered them this summer. My dad cannot remember Halle's name for the life of him... he always calls her Haleigh. But this summer, he's decided just to call her "Freckles" instead. She really is a beautiful little girl.

Modeling Job

Jared's cousin asked if Halle would model some clothes she is selling on Ebay. I thought Halle was so cute - I asked for the pics & made some scrapbook pages with them...

Girls

A couple more pages of the girls from this summer... Tay loves to do make-up and dress up. She has never liked getting dirty. She loves fancy things - accessories are a must when she's putting together an outfit. She wants hats, headbands, bags, high heels, and matching earrings. The kids were wanting to do a webcast talent show. Halle was going to sing, Colby show his rubix cube skills, & Tay wanted to give "makeup and cute outfit tips". I'm not sure what I think about her total girlyness because I was seriously a tomboy as the oldest girl after three boys. Judging by these pics, Halle may be a little more rough & tough like her mom!

Halle's Birthday Pictures

I'm procrastinating the fact that I have to evacuate for Hurricane Gustav. I guess we are going to be leaving later tonight. Yeah... NOT! I don't want to do this again. But, I'm sure New Orleans & my friends in Lake Charles are feeling this much worse than I am.

So anyway, here are some pics from Halle's birthday back in June.