Lot of new posts.

I did a marathon posting session. So if you want to you can read/see them. You don't have to read them. I kinda use the blog like a journal for myself, because I don't do very well with writing in a journal. So if you want you can just skim thru the wordiness. Thats probably what I do with yours. Anyway, have fun.

Crazy pictures

Here are a couple of random pictures from recently.

This one is Natalie sleeping on the floor. In her pillow case. I don't know.

This is Claire. She wanted some Marshemellow Mateys and I wouldn't get them for her. At first she was reaching her arm into the container to pick out the marshmellows. That wasn't yielding results quickly enough so she just dumped them onto the table to get what she wanted.

The Blizzard

Last Monday we had a blizzard. At 8:00 when Caleb and Chad left for school there was maybe an inch of snow on the ground, and it wasn't really doing much. By noon it was snowing heavily, and blowing crazily, and visibility was down to about 10 ft. They did something they've never done before (at least thats what I've heard) and they closed school early. They said elementary schools would officially close at 1:30, but parents could pick students up at their convenience. So I decided to just pick up Caleb right then. And then I was going to pick up Chad from work. (His Toyota Corolla does great for gas mileage and summer driving, but not as well when there is nearly a foot of snow. And by this time there was a foot). They'd cancelled their patients for the afternoon. I took the girls to a friend's house while I ran into town, knowing that if I got in a wreck it'd be a whole lot easier by myself, or with only Caleb, than it would be if I had to deal with them, too. So I left my friend's house at 12:10. Normally it takes 17 to 20 minutes to get from the neighborhood to the school. I got there at 1:00. It had taken me 50 minutes to get there. By the time Caleb and I got out to the car it was 1:15. I got to Chad's office at 2:00. In that 45 minutes, I spun a 180 on CY (a really busy street here in town) in my Suburban when it was in 4-wheel-drive. That was scarey. Then I got stuck and had to dig myself out. Thankfully we keep a small snow shovel in the back. We got home at 2:40. What should have taken me an hour--at the most--actually took me 2 1/2 hours. And this was in March... Not the middle of December! It was crazy. But the kids had a great time playing in the snow. Here are some pictures.

New glasses and new purse

I have realized the last several months that I can't read street signs from far away. I used to be able to. So after several weeks of deliberation, I decided to go to the eye doctor. And I learned that I needed glasses. So I got glasses. They've taken some getting used to, but I sure like having them. Here's a picture of what I look like with them.

Yesterday I was wasting time at the mall, and I found myself a new purse. Now I have been looking for a new purse for a while, but haven't been able to find one thats the right size and cute and has 3 pockets... I know I'm picky. But yesterday I found one and I love it. Here it is.

You may not like it. Thats fine with me. But I love it, and thats what matters.

March (okay, half of February too) update

I am a terrible blogger. I know. I don't need you to tell me. I do check other people's blogs, although I rarely comment on them, but I never take the time to compose things for ours. So I will write a few posts and add a few pictures. We went to Pocatello for spring break. It was GREAT!! We hung out with Granny and Gramps, went swimming, played with cousins, went to the temple, and of course played Mexican Train dominoes. It was so fun and a great vacation. I think sometimes when we take "vacations" we are so busy getting to certain places at certain times that we never really take time to relax. But we did this time. Of course, I forgot to take pictures because I always forget to take pictures. But I promise we had fun.

Chad got a new church calling. He has been the executive secretary for a little less than 2 years, and now he's the ward mission leader. He's really excited about it, because missionary work has kinda been stale in our ward, so he's going to do some stuff to hopefully get people more excited about it. He's going to do a GREAT job.

While we were in Pocatello, Claire decided that she wanted to start walking. So she's walking everywhere now. She can't run, but she sure walks fast. She has also decided to take over Natalie's toddler-sized bed. That would be fine, except that means Natalie has to sleep on the floor because we don't have a big bed for her yet. And she actually prefers the floor. I think she's been feeling crowded in the little bed.... Maybe one of these days we'll break down and get something comfortable for her to sleep in.

Natalie is starting to read. Even when I'm reading to her, she wants me to point to the words. My kids have inherited my love of books. She's so smart. I think she gets a little bored staying home with me during the day. She could start Kindergarten this fall, but because of her birthday she has to wait another year. But I'm going to put her in a preschool that I think she'll enjoy.

Caleb is doing great in school. He has a goal to read the whole Book of Mormon before the end of the summer. He's already somewhere in Mosiah. I think he's more dililgent than I am. I don't know how much he's actually get out of it, but I think establishing the pattern of reading regularly is as important as learning from it. Plus he's feeling the spirit of it. One day I asked him what he was reading about. "I'm not really sure. Its kind of hard to understand," he told me. So I asked him where he was reading. Jacob 5. The Parable of the Olive Tree. "Well, Buddy, that is really hard to understand for me too. Its okay." He's great.

Magical Cream

The following conversation took place a couple weeks ago when I picked Caleb up from school. He had eaten the school lunch that day.

Caleb: Today I had a chicken sandwich for lunch. Aspen (a classmate) told me to try that white stuff on it... What's that white stuff thats kinda like mayonaise? Magical Cream?

Mom: Um, Miracle Whip?

Caleb: Yes! Thats it. I tried it on my sandwich and it was SO good.

So I guess we have a Miracle Whip fan... although I do like his name for it.

Free Audiobooks

To find free audiobooks I just googled "free audiobooks." The site I've used is librivox.org. They have a 10 second thing at the beginning of each chapter, but its only 10 seconds, and you get the book for free. So go find some free listening!