"We DIDN'T Sell our House" sayeth Garrett!

"We sold our house", I've animatedly related to everyone to whom I've spoken this afternoon.

"Can I put it on the blog", I asked Garrett tonight (as he often thinks of very valid reasons why we shouldn't do things that seem find to me).

He says, "Sure - as long as you don't tell them 'we sold our house.' It's just 'under contract'."

So to everyone in the sound of my voice (or the viewing of my blog), "Our house is under contract! Wahooooo!"

Now we just have a million things to take care of in the next month before we move.......

Is it Spring

All the snow you see in this picture is gone and the boys are going out without the full winter gear and I'm wondering....Is it Spring? Our family doctor works with Garrett at the hospital. When Garrett buzzed his head, he complained that Garrett was going to be the cause of the next snow storm. Sure enough, a snow storm hit right after, but it's all melted now and we're hoping that Spring is here to stay. Since it is Wyoming, I'm sure we'll get snowed on a few more times, but I'm hoping that it's the kind of snow that is gone by the next day. We'll see!

Bumper Stickers

My friend, Marla, put these on her blog and I thought they were so funny, so I'll share...

So many cats, so few recipes.
When life hands you gators, make Gatorade.
Want a little taste of religion? Bite the minister.
If you believe in telepathy, think about honking.
Cats: Nature's speed bumps.
What if the hokey pokey is really what it's all about?
A day without sunshine is like night.
God made us sisters; Prozac made us friends.

Please add some more if you know some...

News on the Move

Well, I just thought I'd update you all on our latest news. Today, we sign with a realtor. And we are planning on getting a Uhaul a week from today to take half of our stuff out of here. We'll spend Friday night at Garrett's Dad's home. We will rent a storage unit a few miles from my parent's place. That will get rid of the clutter in the garage and free it up for Garrett's tools, so he can continue working on the basement when he has time, until it's sold.

So now we wait for someone to buy. What an exciting suspensful time! Then, when we sell the house, we'll start looking for a job for Garrett and see where it takes us...

...to be continued (hopefully soon!).

Big Jon

Jonathan is an enthusiastic, energetic, and delightful four-year old.
Here he is with his batman shirt and construction cap, after asking me to take a picture of him. The shirt was given to us as a hand-me-down from a family of 8 boys. I pulled it out of storage around his birthday and then, gave him four new shirts for his birthday. He thinks this batman one is one of the birthday shirts.
This is Jonathan laying in a bed he made for himself on the floor. He has a Cars pillowcase and comforter and you can see to his right, his Spiderman blanket that he affectionately refers to as his "Superman blanket". Spiderman is kind of super....

Little Gabe

Since Gabe just got his buzz cut, I am missing my little "haired" child. Here are three recent pictures of him playing.

He loves playing with whatever Jonathan's playing with - sometimes to the complaint of his brother. These are Jonathan's tools (one technique we tried to help Jonathan progress to #2 in his recent potty training).

This is the innocent face we see all the time - even and especially when he's just been "up to" something.

Finally, this is him all bundled up for the cold and going to drop off his gloves that are getting in the way since he covered them with mud...

I took the kids to Saratoga for a fun day on Monday. We played in the park, fed the ducks, and got pizza. They loved it. While there, I dropped in to see a friend and she got choked up when she saw Gabe sucking two of his fingers (I think he may be getting his molars). She said that she remembers one of her children doing the same. I got to thinking on the way home, "This is not going to last very long." I won't be able to take them all for the day once they start school - at least, not as often. Right now, it's just me and the kids all the time. I have felt this renewed sense of excitement - I am a mommy! and I'm so glad.

What's Your Speed?

72 words

Buzz

Well Garrett got out the clippers today and Gabe felt left out, so we ended up with the buzzes joining Jonathan's buzz.

Blood Brothers

These two boys (when they're not hitting each other or closing the other one in closets) have a lot of fun together. Here you see their lovely kitchen set acting as the boys sofa. Jonathan's on the oven and Gabe's in the fridge.
Gabe loves being wherever Jonathan is and Jonathan likes telling Gabe what to do.
This is first thing in the morning enjoying one of their favorite morning show - Either the Brooke show or the Katie and Rachel Show (sorry Sarah - when Gabe learns to talk, I'm sure you'll be in the headline.
I look forward to the comraderie of the boys as they grow up (and not the wrestling and unbecoming bodily noises that Garrett tells me is likely).

The Baby's Growing!

So for those of you (meaning all of you) that don't get out here to see our little new one grow and change, here are the latest pictures of Jacob.
Yes, it appears that he always is trying out his arms.
What a smiley boy!
Again with the arms.
Again with the smiles!
And Dad getting him ready to be thrown in the air - maybe joining his brother in the bellybutton classification of Outie/Hernia. For any of my family out there - the picture in the background is "My House of Dreams" by Grandma Ruth - Ah how I miss her.

The Local Top 10

As we contemplate moving, I would just like to list my top 10 reasons to stay in this town, which was named after a General who is boasted to have said, "If anything is ever named after me, I hope it will be a spring of water," after taking a drink from a spring at the base of a nearby hill. Instead of the spring of water namesake...:

10 - The famous saying when anyone moves into town (one I have heard from everyone since my first day here) is "Yah, but we're getting a Walmart..." I hear about it, I know where it's supposed to be built, but I have never seen anything built...

9 - When you have company (those two times in three years - one of which was thanks to the roads being closed in every direction), you rack your brain for something fun to do and find your self asking if they'd like to go see the "old state pen", where you can pay $100 to be locked in for the night on Halloween....?

8 - When you tell your friends you're going to move here, they tell you that the town doesn't even have a place to eat???

7 - When the wind stops blowing here (gusts that are faster than the speed limit and have a tendency to close the roads), everyone falls over.

6 - When you suggest to family that they need to come visit you sometime and they with a laugh, "Yah, right." When a family member does finally come, they keep saying over and over, "You really need to move."

5 - When the people at the store ask, "Did you find everything you wanted?", it's the city joke and you're expected to smile and say, "Yes, thank you" as you add another item to your list of Things to Buy When We Get to a Real City.

4 - How many other grocery stores from other towns can claim a two hour drive to the nearest competition.

3 - You have to hope for snow storms to get your company to stay.

2 - What other county do you know of that can honestly declare their county a "national disaster" because of the wind and snow (seriously, they are trying to declare the area a disaster...)?

1 - Where else can you get told at the Subway when you ask for the weekly special, "Uhhh, we don't do that here..."

All joking aside, we have had the best neighbors ever, some of the most wonderful examples of true service, memories we will cherish, and wonderful and often unknown camping areas to the south. While we were here, our family grew from three to five and we have experienced some truly choice blessings and opportunities here.

General Conference

Well, conference is over - It was so neat to raise my hand in support of our new prophet, Thomas S. Monson. The way they did it - by organizations within the church - was really neat. We brought the kids around the computer and stood and raised our hands at the appropriate times. It was such a great experience - I hope the kids felt a little of the significance of the event. The talks were great and I am so anxious to listen to them again and study them. I feel so grateful to Heavenly Father for preparing these men to lead as prophets and apostles. What a great time to be alive!

So where's your brain at???

So according to this email I got, Doctors have concluded that if you find the man in the coffee beans in:
3 seconds - the right half of your brain is better developed than most people's.
3 seconds and 1 minute - the right half of the brain is developed normally.
1 minute and 3 minutes - the right half of your brain is functioning slowly and you need to eat more protein.
3 minutes or more - Look for more of this type of exercise to make that part of the brain stronger.
So, it took me a "little" more than a minute, so I had peanut butter with my apple and showed the picture to Garrett. He found it like right off. I told him that he had a more than normally developed right half of the brain. He said - of course he did, because he's left handed. Silly me!

Our family's tribute to the elections...

In honor of the elections, my sons have impressively shown their campaign spirit. Jonathan truly has an uncanny knack for the profession of "politician", with his mudslinger in hand. Gabe doesn't seem to have those natural abilities, but was a good sport anyway.

Happy Birthday Uncle Josh

Last night, with a frazzle, I remembered, "Oh my gosh,"
Yesterday was the birthday of my children's Uncle Josh!"
And so, belatedly, we'd like to tell you that we care
About our Necha's "True Love" who is missing all his hair.

We hope you know we love you -especially little Jon.
Who still remembers you long after we are often gone.
So happy birthday - we hope you had a great time
And that you're not annoyed with this silly little rhyme!

We love you - Steph!

The young lady on the right is Stephanie - She's my youngest sister and is serving a mission in Australia. Here she is with some of the other missionaries. We love and miss her, and can't wait to hear of her adventures with the great people she's meeting and the kangaroos that we are confident she is daily hopping around with.

Breakfast

Well - this is a typical breakfast - except the menu. I made a breakfast casserole the night before and Garrett (who usually doesn't eat breakfast) ate with us.

This is Gabe - surprisingly sitting on his chair. He prefers to take the entire panoramic view of the kitchen from atop the table. You can't see it very well, but his forehead bears (yet another) scar from his latest jump off the table into Jonathan's willing but UNable arms.
Featured in this picture are 1) the bottom half of a picture that Grandma Vickie painted (which received a plethera of compliments from our guests, 2) the firehydrant that a friend (Jill) gave us when I started the daycare, and 3) Jonathan in his Spiderman PJ's.
As they say in Ecuador: Buen Provecho!

Family Life

Two of my sisters have made movies from their pictures and home videos. It gives an insight into normal life at their home. Well, I haven't done that (yet), so here is a peek at our "normal" family life at home:I had to leave for a while and Jonathan wanted to play a game. While Garrett occasionally plays Candy Land with Jonathan, it isn't something he is "dying" to do. So, I was surprised, when he quickly agreed. When I came home, this is what I found. The boys think they're playing right along with Garrett since they have controls in their hands, but as you can see - the cords are not connected. And everyone was happy...
And two of my weaknesses are pictured here - the phone and multi-tasking!
This is the latest style at our house - boots that are too big for the wearer. As you can see, they get pretty excited about it.