It's been awhile...

Wow! A whole month and more have passed since my last post. It has been a crazy month, full of visitors and fun!
First, our good friends Tim and Naomi and their 4 kids Mika, Emily, Gabe and Tessa came for a whole week and we had a wonderful time. They live in Africa, so our visits with them are few and far between. The kids had so much fun playing in the snow (something their kids rarely see!) building forts and having snowball fights. The time was both relaxing and fun, my favorite combination.

Joe and Mom celebrated their birthday (same day). Naomi did most of the work for their birthday meal, and it was YUMMY!

Tim and Naomi's youngest, Tessa, 4, with our Hannah.

One magnificent snow fort! (a total of 3 were built throughout the week- the snow kept melting!)


Joe's parents came in the beginning of March, and we had a great time. Grampa sufficiently spoiled the kids with regular trips to DQ, plus an extra-fun adventure to Toys R Us with the money he so generously supplied (with the lesson that some is set away for college and some is tithed, that only a Grampa can deliver)





Grammy sufficiently spoiled me, too, with several Starbucks trips. :) We all played games and watched AI and just spent lots of quality time together. Joe and Dad built shelves in our storage room- yeah!! As always, it was wonderful and way too short. We are so looking forward to visiting AZ in June to pick up where we left off.




We were surprised and thrilled when Chris and Ginger called in late February to let us know they were considering a trip up here for their spring break. It had been 8 long months without them, and we were all feeling desperate to see them! The look on the girls' faces when we told them they were coming was priceless. The reunion when they got here on the 13th was even more priceless- we were all screaming and hugging and we felt like Christmas had come again! The week was wonderful, with fun activities like sledding intermingled with lots of easy-going board games and movie times. We did a bit of sightseeing, but I think we really just wanted to see each other! Of course, the time went way too quickly and now we're left to pine for our time together in AZ in June. Here are some pics of our sledding trip. We went to a friend's house up in Wolf Creek (about 25 minutes northeast).

Hannah was the only one who had a less than exciting time. Her sledding adventure ended as quickly as it began. Hannah's version went like this: "I was on the sled and it went fast and I fell off. Then I got up and Brad ran over me. And now I'm all done."


Above: Lindsay BEFORE she hit a tree and sliced her cheek. That's Audrey there on the left.

Ginger and Lily


Kaylee and Elizabeth with one of our host friends' children...her name escapes me.

Lily, Alex and Daniel

Kaylee and Lily, BFF's since birth

Afternoon fun- Lily, Kaylee, Elizabeth and Hannah

Chris and Ginger- our wonderful friends

Also BFF's Alex, Lindsay and Audrey

Hannah and Chris

It was sooooooooooo hard to say good-bye!

After the Trudgens left, we slogged back into our old routine of school and work. Homework resumed, I had stacks of papers to grade, and none of us could wait for spring break to come. Well, now it's here (this is my 3rd attempt at this post, so today is actually April 7) and we are all looking forward to a week of relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Let's hope we're not sick of each other by Wednesday.

In this last month, we have also made a huge, very prayed-over decision concerning school for next year. We've had a lot of confirmation from friends and family that this is the best thing for us, but it was still a tough decision to make. We are going to go back to homeschooling the younger girls and leave the older ones in their private school. Financially, it's the best choice, but more importantly, time-wise it is best for all of us. I am one of those people that does one thing really well and everything else halfway. Well, I've been pouring myself into teaching and parenting has gone by the wayside. We've seen concrete evidence that the kids aren't getting the attention they need from me as mom, and that kills me. So, it's back to the stay-at-home mom job for me, and I have no regrets. I learned so much this year, and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. But I have missed so much in the kids' lives and I look forward to being able to be room mom and field trip chaperone and all of that again. It's how I'm wired. :)
So now we are excited to turn our den (it's the room Joe used as his office when he worked from home, but now it just has a big desk and some bookcases...no computer or anything) into a homeschooling room. I didn't have one before, and I think this will be great. No more using the kitchen table for everything, I'll actually have a desk for me, and a table for the girls, plus places for all of our supplies in that room. It has a huge window, bright and cheerful, and we're going to paint it this summer. (the room, not the window) Right now it's a yucky (my opinion) khaki green.
Hmmm, what else is going on? Well, it's finally looking like spring around here. We've had a boatload of snow this winter. Twice my car got stuck in our driveway, and twice I fishtailed into a snowbank, causing damage in the form of paint removal to my front bumper. The van doors froze shut three times, and we went through 3 containers of "Red Hot Ice Melt" on our front and back porches. Yes, this AZ family is READY for spring!

Happy Valentine's Day

What a great day! We dropped the kids off at my mom's and went out to dinner and to Barnes and Noble (predictable, since this is our all-time favorite place for a date). We drank lattes and read, uninterrupted, for nearly two hours. I know, we are complete nerds, but you have no idea how wonderful that sort of thing is to us! :) Joe's first week of work went splendidly, and this was the icing on the cake. I read a book in its entirety on that date, and laughed out loud on several occasions. This is what I read:



It's the true story of a woman who, ironically, lives here in Utah, so all of her references were amazingly relevant to me, despite the 30-year gap in our ages. She has a younger sister who is mentally retarded and all of the trials and humorous things they go through trying to give this lady a quality and dignified life. I wasn't really ever moved to the point of tears, but I laughed a lot, and it was definitely touching. It was about 175 pages, and I read it in an hour and a half, so it's an easy read.

I'm also reading



and it is also funny. At this time in my life, I guess I am really only drawn to the funny books.

I'll post soon about Brad's, Hannah's, Kaylee's and my birthdays. Joe's is next Monday, and then we have a break till October. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Prepare to be amazed....

Well, the unimaginable, illogical, only-because-of-the-grace-of-God thing happened. (This is true only because the market is so bad, not because Joe isn't 100% qualified for this job!...)

First, last Monday he met with the president and local director and they loved him. They talked immediately of hiring him to start a commercial land development team (a goal they had had for over a year...and were just now starting to entertain again). However, they needed the approval of other board members, so on Thursday he went to lunch with 4 more board members, plus the two that he met with on Monday. They grilled him for 3 hours and he came home exhausted. He of course scrutinized everything he had said and began second guessing himself. I had complete confidence that he had conducted himself well and had presented himself accurately. He's a very even-keeled and level-headed guy, so his answers are always very calm and deliberate. Besides all that, like 50 people were praying for him! :)

So later that afternoon, the director called back and told him they had a written offer for him. He talked to Joe about the offer over the phone, so we knew we would accept it. The money is just a bit more than he is making now, which is exactly what we had expected. We went down and picked up the offer (and Joe signed it) and Joe picked out his office. My head was floating above my shoulders the whole time. It felt so surreal, but once again I learned that God is faithful.

So now he finishes his time with his old job this week and he is taking Monday and Tuesday of next week to relax. I am also taking those days off, so we are looking forward to some quiet days. He'll start his new job on Wednesday.

We are so excited for this new adventure, but we find ourselves mourning some of the changes. We have both loved having him work from home because we've been able to eat lunch together everyday. However, the hours at his new job are 7:30-5:30 M-Th and 7:30-11:30 on Friday so we know for sure that Fridays we'll be able to eat together. Plus, his office is only 12 minutes away so we can always meet halfway. Anyway, those details are so minor compared to the absolutely wonderful gift of this job.

We stand all amazed! Thank you SO MUCH for your prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!

You want fries with that?

I have a hard time being vulnerable on this blog, most of the time I just reveal humorous anecdotes from our funny children or relate events like a family newscaster. However, I decided that when I look back on this in 10 years or so I don't only want to remember the goofy things that happen around here, I want to look back and see how God moved in our lives...in good and bad times.

Don't worry, I'm not going to turn my little blog into a melancholy journal of droll ramblings. I like to laugh too much.

It turns out that Joe is needing to find a new job. Without too much detail, I'll just say that the working remotely thing is not working out anymore so he will be moving on. Moving on to WHAT? you might ask. Yeah, well, we ask that too. The last time Joe was let go was 6 years ago, and we had sold our home in Mesa the day before. We were in the process of buying our home in Chandler. I'm pretty sure we gave our mortgage broker indigestion that day! Well, that was a Tuesday and on Thursday he received a call out of the blue (hadn't yet had an opportunity to even spruce up his resume) with a job offer. This friend didn't even know Joe was going to be needing a job imminently! It was amazing... one of those "you know it was a God thing" things. Well, we are in need of a similar miracle. My salary allows our kids to attend private school, but not eat. :)

Joe went out yesterday to "beat the streets" looking for a senior level design/management position with a civil engineering company. Gee, that's not too specific, is it? :) Well, we don't want to get too excited, but today he got a call from the company he liked the best and they want to have him meet the president of the company on Monday! (he'll be driving in from Boise to meet Joe!) The job is in Kaysville, which would be about a 15 minute drive from our house. Please pray- how amazing would that be for him to get a great job in this market? (about as amazing as our house selling in the tanked AZ housing market...which it did!) We do know that if God wants this to happen, it will!

Thanks in advance for your prayers!!

Sunrise, Sunset? I'm not even ready for Sunrise!

Hannah: (in a somewhat exasperated voice) "Mommy, when am I ever going to have a boyfriend?"

(let me remind you, she turns 5 this month, not 25)

Mommy: "Why do you need a boyfriend?"

Hannah: "I just want one."

Mommy: (trying not to pass out) "What would you do if you had a boyfriend?"

Hannah: "Play. Go to the park. Have ice cream together. Dippin' Dots."

Mommy: "Well, how about if we do that with the friends you have now?"

Hannah: "OK. I probably won't even have a boyfriend when I'm five."

I seriously can't stop laughing...

I just sat and read this blog for the last nearly two hours (despite the fact that I had a hundred other things that needed to be done.) I don't think I have laughed that hard for that long...you have to check it out. Now, granted, I am a grammar geek who loves to mock grocery store signs advertising "onion's" and "pepper's" and can't get enough of the book "Eats Shoots and Leaves." Perhaps it is because my grandmother was an English teacher. Enjoy!

www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com

Good-bye, 2008, Old Friend! Welcome 2009...

The 2008 roller coaster has come to a complete stop, and it's time to get off.

We had a year filled with change, and hopefully, growth. (in character, not girth...)

In January 08 we begin our journey to UT. We pack up a UHaul with various furniture, Christmas items, and a whole lot of whatnot (and half the Oldhams' whatnot) and Joe and CR drive it all up here to UT and unload it into Darren and Jill's garage. (very gracious of them to host our junk for nearly 6 months, don't you think?)

In Feb 08 we list our house and the showings begin. Ugh. I seriously NEVER want to do that again.

In March, April and May the showings continue. Meanwhile, the Oldhams sell their house and buy one up here.

In May we get an offer on our house. After some negotiations (but no love songs) we get a contract we can live with and we're all set. Packing commences.



June 5, 2008 we move into our new house. The rest of the summer is spent going back and forth from AZ to UT tying up loose ends and saying good-bye. We buy a lot of Kleenex.

July 08 we enjoy the cool climate, and adjust to our new life. No job opportunities on the rise for me, but we remain sure that God will provide something.

End of July 08, I apply at Starbucks in a last-ditch effort to make ends meet with upcoming tuition payments. Two days later I'm offered a teaching position at LCA. We rejoice in God's provision and wonder why in the heck we didn't trust Him more.

Aug 08 I begin teaching high school geometry and biology at LCA. Brad, Lindsay, Nathan, Kaylee and Hannah begin life at their new school. Homesickness is apparent, but all kids adjust over time and begin to thrive.

Sep-Dec 08 Family is in survival mode. First year teaching is difficult, but rewarding. Joe working remotely has snags and thorns, but God is faithful to bless his pursuits. We overdraw the checking account twice, and rearrange billpaying. Life stabilizes. Smiles are beginning to thwart furrowed brows with all of us.

Dec 31, 2008 Family says good-bye to 08 with Mom and the Oldhams at the O's with a yummy Mexican meal and a Wii bowling tournament. Hannah sweeps, beating all adults, friends and siblings to take home the victory. Perhaps we adults could learn from the "ballerina bowlers" just how it's done. Watch the second slideshow to see what I mean.

Jan 09 Resolutions are made, much-needed rest is taken, and preparations for the new year are made. Special time is spent with family, friends and neighbors, closets are cleaned out, and family gears up for new adventures.

Winter 08 I

New Album 1/2/09 11:04 AM

We are so thankful for each of you and the way you have loved and encouraged us along this crazy road. Happy New Year!