Hooray for us!

Boy what a week! We've been so busy, but at least our 'busy' has really benefitted us with a lot of great stuff!

First of all, one of the best things happened this week. On Wednesday, Caelen and I were able to go to Salt Lake with Jaron and Kaden to meet with Garth, Laura, and Craig. We were there for the all important 'taking Craig to the MTC' moment. And it really was a great moment! Caelen hasn't been able to stop talking about it since; about how Craig is a missionary, and how he is going to be a missionary, and how great it is that Bryce is a missionary, and does he get to go be a missionary tomorrow, and...you get the idea. How great it is to be able to see that excitement come alive in my young son! How grateful I am for the privilege of being related to such wonderful examples!

The other big thing this week is that we finally know where we are moving to! Yep, that is right! We are semi-officially moving to Hanbury Manor around June 20th. We're just waiting for the exact move-in date and schedule. Now I just need to get the house packed up, cleaned up, and ready to be cleared out! Hope you are all looking for a great service project to do this June!


One other thing that I just have to add: a HUGE thanks to Sarah and Steve Richins!!! They lent us a bunch of Wii games last week, and they have been so much fun! I know we probably haven't gotten as much done as we probably needed to, but we definitely haven't been as stressed! I'm even starting to get into this crazy game system!

Early Father's Day

Ohhh, my goodness! I think I might have lost my mind a little! We got our stimulus check in from the gov't (finally!) on Thursday, and silly me I decided that since everyone has been telling me how hard it is to find a Wii game system that I would start looking now so that John could have a great father's day gift for a change. And since I frankly don't know what I'm doing, I asked for a little help from Johnny. So what does he do but find it within about 3 hours! I wasn't willing to pay too much up front, so we only got the one extra game to go with the system console (Wii play). So if anyone is willing to lend out a game that you would suggest, let me know as I think John is going a little crazy dealing with the kids! Plus we agreed that we wouldn't buy any games unless we had tried them out first to make sure of the content. But other than that, I have to admit it was fun and funny to watch him sit and basically pet the box as we drove it home from the store! The kids have had a blast with it as well...when their mean mom would let them play it, that is. I'm awful, I know, but I refuse to let the kids play the game unless I'm in the room with them and able to help them figure out the remotes. At least for now. I'm sure they'll get the hang of it soon enough (especially Tia). And then, look out! Something tells me that even Garth might have a hard time keeping up with some of these games and my kids!

Aren't they cute?!?!?!?!

I just have to show off the kids! I had a cake left over from a project (long story), along with some icing, so I decided to let the kids try their hand at decorating. So we separated the cake parts in half, labeled the areas with their initials (with a knife), and gave them some m&ms and smarties and told them to go at it. These are the results (don't blame the kids for the bad pictures, Mom is still figuring out the delightful camera settings!). Don't they look like fun!

Marc's Graduation

I just have to show off Mr. Marc Nowak! We are soo proud of him!

Marc is John's brother (they just have different last names). On April 25, 2008, he graduated Valedictorian from UVSC in Orem, Utah. On one hand, I have to admit I'm a little/lot jealous as he is now graduated. On the other hand, I have to admit I'm so incredibly proud to know him, much less be able to claim him as brother! Hey, so my family is all that much smarter than I am! Here is the clincher for us: not only did he graduate, and graduate as Valedictorian, but he is going on to study in Israel for the next 2 years! Boy, are we ever looking forward to those e-mails and pictures (right Marc?) Ok, ok, time to stop hinting. But we really are very excited for him; can you imagine the adventures? Good luck, Uncle Batman!

"Let's play pirates!"

Hello all! I just have to tell everyone of the cutest thing Caelen pulled the other day. Please bare with me, I am the mother and therefore tell everyone 'the cutest stories' that I'm sure will someday be a massive embarrassment. But at least this way you will all know the stories and hence be able to help me tease him..hehehehe.

Basically, he and Tia have a new game where they pretend to be pirates...good pirates, they say. In the game they take the stuff that the bad pirates steal and return it to people. So the other day when he heard me telling Tia something that disappointed her (and hence started her sulking) he decided to help cheer her up. She and I were in the kitchen talking, and the next thing we know Caelen has jumped out from between the dishwasher and freezer with a 'blade' in hand (ok, it was a rolled up poster about bees the kids got from AWHC, but it works) yelling, "Come on Tia, lets play pirates! I want to go give good people junk!!!" And off he went running across the apartment yelling "I'm going to get you, bad guys! You give that back!"

I have to tell you, I was having such a hard time not laughing. Especially when Tia started smiling and chasing after him, yelling "Arrrggh!" for good measure.

If I'd only been able to somehow capture that on camera...