Packing, Packing, Packing...

I need a little break from packing. Do you know anyone who has packed up their entire house in three days by themselves? Well now you do, because I did! I feel pretty good about it too! ha ha Well, I couldn't have done it without Amy and a couple friends inviting kids over, feeding us, and lending support! Hopefully there will be lots of strong men who show up tomorrow and help to load the Uhaul and then unload it at the storage unit. Amy has completely cleaned out one bathroom and two bedrooms including the closets for us. I mean, spotless cleaned out. What kind of sister does that for you??? My goodness, we are feeling very grateful to the Balkmans today! If they weren't here we probably would have had to drive to Utah for the rest of the year while David found a student room somewhere. Luckily Amy has two master suites in her house, how convenient! So in Adeline and Zoe's room we will have our bed, end tables and dresser with TV, then David's desk and my desk. Since we're both in school we can't live without our desks and computers! Then for the kids.... all four will be in one bedroom. We will have bunkbeds on one wall and then one of the girls beds on the other side. The bed has a trundle that pulls out with a mattress and we probably will just barely get it pulled out enough for Rylie's skinny body to fit on! ha ha I got a special smallish bin for each kid and they were able to put whatever they could fit in it to play with till we find a place. David's birthday is Sunday and Alexis' birthday is next Friday! We are going to have a roller skating party for Alexis and I'm taking her friends to the rink with cake on a friday night! What could possibly be more fun and exciting?? Amy has offered to make a birthday dinner for David on Sunday while we finish cleaning out the house. I tell you, it's really something to move in under a week, but yet the money we will earn from all this hard work will be enough to help us get through. So it's definately work the backache I have right now!! I've been having a hot bath every night, and I told David he wasn't allowed to take down my bath TV till the last day! ha ha I guess that's tomorrow. Maybe Amy will let me use her giant tubby sometime. hee hee We're already planning lots of girls night out's and pedicures... grabbing a setup at Ted's to come and watch American Idol all together. I'm actually quite excited! Some of the most fun times in my life were the six months or so that Mom and Dad stayed in our basement, we had such a blast! Then the few weeks we stayed at Lizzy and Jed's while we waited for our Utah house to get finished was so much fun too! We played trivial pursuit, ate treats, listened to the kids in the basement on Jed's secret video baby monitor, and made italian sodas. So now we'll have a fun time with Amy and Thad. I'm feeling really good, so thanks to everyone for any thoughts and prayers, we're definately getting them! OK, I'm rambling now!! Oh... and our neighbors had us over for the most delicious dinner every!! Tuna steaks and these amazing rice cakes and delicious healthy salad. It was soooo good! Aren't we blessed!? We are so sad to leave our neighbors though, I think they are the greatest people and even though we can still hang out, I'm going to miss being next door! It went on the list of Cons when we were deciding to sell. Anyway... now I'm really rambling!! Thanks to everyone for helping us out! Someday you can call David with all your doctor questions! ha

We're Moving!!!

This is so crazy, but Amy's friends were moving here to purchase a dental practice and she mentioned that we might be interested in selling our house to them. She's always trying to get us to move in their ward, hardy har har. Just kiddin' So it's been going back and forth for a couple weeks, but it's done now. I can't believe it. It must seem like we are crazy, but flipping houses has always been something we're good at. It's a lot of work to pack up, and sad for the kids to have to move...yet again.... (they'll stay in their same school for now) but we're students again and need the money. And we got a GREAT deal, or we wouldn't be doing this. So the catch is..... we have to be out by Monday. And we just started packing!

We're moving in with Amy since it's such short notice while we look for a place. We'll put our stuff in storage. We found a great deal on an auction house nearby but we will have to wait to see if they accept our offer. Pray for us please everyone! This decision has been so hard and stressful. I worry about David because he is getting ready to take the test that will determine the rest of his career, plus midterms are in two weeks. But we have to have a way to get through financially. We'll make more this way than if I got a full time job and put Weston in daycare...plus I'm in school too.

So please pray for us! I am hoping to feel good about this. I feel like we have to do it and we need to do it, but not super excited to move from our comfortable house.
Oh man, I am freaking out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sundance, MUSH!!

It is so fun that there is snow everywhere! Just like Utah, but without the mountains to ski on. Even though half the family is really sick, we can't resist the snow. Today David made up a type of harness for Sundance using webbing and clips, then hopped on his skis and went for a ride around the neighborhood. He's now planning on ordering a real harness for SunnyD so we can utilize his energy and speed whenever it snows! And when we're back in utah. ha ha I wonder what the neighbors thought?? :)

Rascal says, "Aren't you gonna hook me up too??"

Everyone is tired of Mom being sick. It's been well over a week now and all I want to do is stay in my bed, cough, nap, take hot baths and be miserable. They want hot dinners again! And a clean house! And a mother who gets out of bed before 11:00! Well, maybe I'll go and put something in the crockpot for tonight. It'll be such a nice surprise.

Snow and Ice

It's the second big storm of the season. Luckily we missed the big Christmas Eve storm, but now we are in the middle of it. Snow and Ice, and the govenor has declared a State of Emergency. We haven't lost our power yet, hopefully we won't. So we still have heat and computer! I went to the grocery store twice this week and stocked up so we won't go hungry. We're all sick and we have tons of medicine, thankfully. And nice Amy and Thad let us come and load up on a bunch of firewood. If we lose power we can camp out in the front room and just keep the fireplace going. I think there is something to having a wood burning fireplace when you live out here in Oklahoma. I think this summer David and I will try to build up more of a firewood storage and make a woodpile like Amy and Thad have. We need to replenish theirs a bit too! From all the times we've borrowed from it.

Here are our iced over windows. All night we lay in bed listening to the ice drops falling and the wind blowing them at the windows. It makes an interesting sound.

Mom, can we have some friends over for dinner? ha ha

David has diligently been working on Alexis' dollhouse kit that she got from Santa. It's coming together pretty nicely.

Another borrowed idea from Sugardoodle.net. This year's primary theme is "I know my Savior Lives" So we are going to follow the Path Through Palestine this year. I had to order a special little footprints punch, but it's really cute. I did the bulitin board on it's own board. Our building has been shut down due to the storm damage, so we have to have a transportable bulitin! :) We just finally got back into our own building, but I wonder if we'll even have church this Sunday with the storm?

John Milton

My BYU class has been very interesting. Lately I'm reading John Milton. Paradise Lost is super ... intriguing and I recommend it to anyone wanting to read something interesting. It's Milton's take on the Fall of Adam and Eve and the Fall of Lucifer down to hell with his angels. A particularly interesting passage:

This is Satan speaking shortly after falling down from heaven to hell and finding himself with his other anti-Christ followers. Notice his use of blank verse (no rhyme) and iambic pentameter (each line consists of 10 syllables, five non-stressed and five stressed).

'"Is this the region, this the soil, the climb,"

Said then the lost archangel, "this the seat

That we must change for Heaven? this mournful gloom

for that celestial light? Be is so, since he

Who now is sovereign can dispose and bid

What shall be right: farthest from him is best,

Whom reason hath equaled, force hath made supreme

Above his equals. Farewell, happy fields,

Where joy forever dwells! Hail, horrors! hail,

Infernal world! and thou, profoundest Hell,

Receive thy new possessor, one who brings

A mind not to be changaed by place or time.

The mind is its own place, and in itself

Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.

But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,

Th' associates and copartners of our loss,

Lie thus astonished on th'oblivous pool,

And call them not to share with us their part

In this unhappy mansion, or once more

With rallied arms to try what may be yet

Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell?"

Isn't that just kind of freaky? Imagine him standing there after his fall and it only takes him two seconds to decide that he could exchange the mournful gloom for that celestial light and be happy about it. To me the strongest part of his speech is when he says, "Farewell, happy fields, where joy forever dwells! Hail, horrors! hail, Infernal world! and thou, profoundest Hell, Receive thy new possessor..." I know this isn't true, it's just coming from Milton's mind, but it really makes you think about the type of person Lucifer was and the type of spirit Satan is. Really scary. All right, now I have to go write a paper on it! Even more scary! ha ha

Potty Training Party!!

It's finally happened, my baby is out of diapers! Weston turned 3 in November and we still hadn't started the potty training. Then I decided we better wait until after all the Christmas travels. (Nothing worse than stoppnig every 75 minutes at a rest stop on an 18 hour drive.) So after I unpacked from our trip we picked out some special undies at the store and got to work. I was surprised that Weston got the pee thing down in about a day. Pooping is still kind of a work in progress. I love waiting till my kids are older. It's such a breeze to potty train.

Weston enjoyed some karaoke on potty training day. What a great way to celebrate! :)

Another cute thing about Weston is his love of music and instruments. He sees Mom and Alexis playing violin, Stering playing guitar, and Rylie playing piano and always wants to do it too. Lately we've been letting him have turns on Lexi's old quarter size. But he tells me that he will play the Cello when he is bigger. (My dream come true! I've been trying to get someone interested in Cello forever!)

Christmas and New Year's Eve

I cannot believe that I didn't take a SINGLE picture on Christmas! I think I let the camera battery go dead, and then was just too lazy to go find the cord to charge it.

(*WAIT!! EDIT EDIT!! Nancy just sent some pictures she took Christmas morning so I am adding them below! )

But we did have a really fun christmas. Christmas Eve was spent at Karl and Shauna's house. When we got there we met two international visitors to BYU that Professor Warnick had invited over. One from China and one from India if I remember correctly. They were very nice and interested in the christmas traditions, even bringing gifts for all of Karls' kids. We had the traditional clam chowder for dinner, and the kids dressed up in great nativity outfits. They acted out the christmas story and we all sang songs. Then everyone opened one gift. There wasn't a gift for me at their house and Shauna was so nice and went and got me a very nice gift from her stock (doesn't every mother have a good stock pile of gifts?) and wrapped it up and gave it to me! :) After all the fun, we went down to the big screen to watch the Grinch, which ended up being the 2-hour Jim Carrey one instead of the cartoon 20 minute one. So our evening got very late, but it was really fun. Back at Grandma Nancy's house the kids were put to bed with the instructions to NOT LEAVE their room until after 7:00. We even put a clock in their room on the ping pong table so they could see what time it was. Every Christmas morning since Sterling was age 4, we have been awakened at 3:30 am, and then 4:00 am, and then 4:45 am etc etc.. so we finally laid down the law! The Mom and Dad were up till after 1:00. David slept on the couch from the time we got back from karl's until I woke him up to go up to bed. The Mom wasn't very happy about that. Anyway....

Christmas morning started with four children jumping on our bed at 7:14am. A GREAT time compared to other years. We rubbed the sleep from our eyes and all walked down stairs together to find..... that Santa had come!

Weston found a large Duplo lego set and a beautiful brown teddy bear (the only thing he asked for from anyone for Christmas this year).

Rylie found a really nice keyboard with a stand. It is so cool, it plays all kinds of rythms and instruments and has almost a full keyboard and all the bells and whistles. Perfect for our little music lover. I must note here the sad expression on our poor little Rylie's face. Apparently her most current letter to Santa asking for a dollhouse was not received in time for Christmas. But I will say that after everyone got so excited over her keyboard and it became the hit toy of the day, she decided that she really like it!

Alexis found a much anticipated dollhouse. Well, a kit to build the dollhouse. And a few pieces of small doll house furniture.

And Sterling awoke to an N scale trainset, something he has had his eye on for years. He was ecstatic!

Had to add this picture of David putting stuff together. Can I just say that he is the sexiest morning man I have ever seen!? He ALWAYS looks good first thing in morning. Can't say the same thing for myself! :)

After all the many presents we had breakfast together and then spent some time up at my Mom and Dad's. I was working hard to finish a Christmas quilt and needed it to be quilted on Mom's nice machine, then I started on the binding. By the time we came back to Nancy's for Christmas dinner I was able to finish my Christmas quilt by Christmas night! Mom and Dad were also invited over for the dinner and Russ arrived from Virginia. So it was a great family evening.

At temple square seeing all the Christmas lights.

The next week David and I moved up to my parents so we could have our time in Woodland Hills. We had so much fun sledding and playing in the snow, it dumped quite a bit! David and Sterling had lots of fun going skiing with Karl and Ben.

Cute cousins Sterling and Ben with matching ski goggles.

New Year's eve was so much fun. My Aunt Marilyn came to stay and we even were able to find babysitters! When does that ever happen on New Year's? Mom, Dad, Marily, David and I all got very gussied up and went to a fancy restaurant in Provo called Spark. The food was absolutely delicious and the service was outstanding. My highest recommendations to their lovely establishment. Then we braved the cold to continue on to the movie theater where we saw Sherlock Holmes. While the acting and dialogue was really great, there was a lot of very satanic and dark stuff to the plot and the movie made me very uncomfortable. Oh well. We drove up home about 2 mintues before midnight and were able to run out front with the kids and two babysitters to bang pots and pans. A great night!


I snapped a pic of us at the movie! (Before it started) Never done that before!

We packed all day the next day and then started our long car trip back to Oklahoma. Sad to leave Utah again, but always nice to be in your own house and space. Here I can leave dirty dishes in the family room, or drop a tissue on the floor and leave it, or snuggle my dog! ha ha Poor Sundance, he was fine at Amy's and Thad's but we MISSED him so much and I think he missed us too. He followed me around at a 6 inch distance for the next 3 days. He did get into a bit of trouble at Amy's house, but hopefully they still love him! :)

I can't close this blog without saying that Marley will be missed greatly by all. He passed away over the holiday. Sundance loved his doggy cousin as did all of Marley's people cousins. We miss you Marley!

All the dogs miss him :(

What a year, I can't believe that 2009 is over. Well, I guess I can believe it since it really dragged by! ha ha 2010 will bring the following:

*David will complete half of medical school and take his boards which will determine EVERYTHING!

*Sterling will turn 11, be Middle School age! (except I think they might have Jr. high here), and maybe start doing some babysitting at home. Can you imagine not having to pay for a babysitter ever again????

*Weston will start preschool (we hope) and we won't ever buy diapers again! (again we hope!)

*Alexis will turn 9 and become even more of a star on the violin.

*Rylie will turn 7 and get to finally play soccer again. She will also take her first year of piano. She can't wait.

*As for this old Mom? Besides turning 35? Hmmm........ we'll just have to wait and see.