September 2010 Archives

09/19/2010

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Ok, I don't know how I managed to get so bogged down in the blogging department.  It's been FIVE months since I wrote last.  There's no way you are getting all the details, but I'll try and fill you in on a little of what we've been up to.

APRIL

    The most momentous thing that happened in April was that James lost his job.

MAY

    Still no job and not many prospects.  We hunkered down for what looked like might be a long dry spell in the finance department. 
    Seth finished his first homeschool year and was able to complete 99% of all his work for the year.  (The school only requires 90% so we did really well!) 
    James hosted an Elder's Quorum BBQ and it was extremely cold and not many families showed up, but it was some good food and those who came were good company. 
    My sister, Amy, had her baby.  A little girl named Annika.  She is a really good baby, mostly happy and content.

JUNE

   Still no job and a few prospects, but nothing extremely promising. 
   Since James had so much time off we totally thought we'd go and do a lot of fun, free stuff, but as it turned out we only ended up doing one or two things while he was out of work.  One of those things was to visit the Kenecott Copper Mines.  The kids had a great time checking out the giant excavating equipment and playing in the visitor center. 
    We had two water parties, one with Seth and Jacob's friends and one at Tante Jo's house.  The boys had a marvelous time getting wet, Lia on the other hand didn't like it much! 
    James and my Dad took the boys camping for the Stake's Father and Son's outing.  It poured the entire time!   I hadn't packed very well for rain so they were quite soggy and cold, but they toughed it out by playing games and telling stories in the tent. 

JULY

    Still no job at the beginning of the month, but one prospect looked pretty good and by the end of the month James was finally employed.  He is working for another internet company as a programmer, he seems to like the job okay, but he's back to commuting to Provo everyday. :( 
    James' Aunt Mary passed away after a long and painful battle with Lou Gehrig's Disease.  The funeral turned into a mini family reunion and we camped one night up in Wellsville so that we could join in the fun.
    James' brother John and his wife Courtenay welcomed their baby boy into the world the day before the 4th of July.  Everett Michael was born on the 3rd.  He was a pretty big baby weighing in at a little over 9 pounds.  He is an alert little guy and if he isn't asleep he always has eyes wide open to see what's going on.  He also inherited the same hairline that James, John and Jacob all have.  When I look at Everett he always reminds me of Jakes.
    The Fourth of July was a nice easy holiday this year.   We decided not to go to any parades and just spent the day letting the kids play with their cousins.  They made patriotic hats and had a "Grandpa Parade".  That's where my dad hooks his little trailer up to his riding lawn mower and drives the kids back and forth over the lawn while they throw candy at each other.  It was perfect!
    Since the Father and Son's campout had been pretty miserable as far as campouts go, James, my dad and my brother-in-law, Aaron, decided to take the boys up to Big Cottonwood Canyon for another camping trip.  The boys had sooooo much fun.  They played in the stream, went hiking, rode their scooters, ate good food and got EXTREMELY dirty.  James said he had to bathe them twice when they got home, changing the water between each bath. 
    Not wanting to be left out of having fun, my mom, my aunt and I decided to go on a little impromptu trip to Disneyland.  It was so last minute that we booked the hotel room the day before we left.  Just as I was packing my car to head out to pick up my mom, I got a call saying that my sister Marrisse and her two youngest girls (Sophie and Katrina) had decided to come.  So within the space of about an hour she packed, drove her two oldest girls to stay with their cousins and made it to my house, where we packed all her stuff into my car and headed out.  It was a little bit insane!  We had a great trip though.  The weather was cool and we weren't quite prepared, I didn't have a jacket and Sophie had only shorts to wear.  Luckily, it warmed up a little in the afternoons.  We took everything kind of slow and just enjoyed the parks and all the girly company!
    The next week was the week that James was offered a job.  He got the confirmation of it on Tuesday morning, and then made the mistake of mentioning Disneyland.  So Tuesday afternoon, we had the car and the kids packed up headed out for another quick trip to Disneyland and a few days in Gilroy to visit James' grandparents.   It hadn't even been a week since my trip with my mom, aunt, and sister!  That was a little bit unreal.  We had another fun trip.  You'd think I would have been tired of it by then, but I wasn't.  We stayed two and a half days in the park.  It was blistering hot, a far cry from the jacket wearing weekend before.  The kids soaked themselves in the water in Bug's Life Land and had such a great time.  Seth rode the Grizzly River Run for the first time and wanted to go again and again, unfortunately it had a long line because it was so hot outside.  We also heard a little blurb about Disney's time share vacation club.  The kids got to play in an air conditioned play room for about an hour and had snacks and drinks and at the end they gave us some universal fast passes for listening to them.  It was a nice break from the heat.  In Gilroy we didn't really do anything except for chat with family and enjoy being spoiled by grandma's cooking!  I think James' really needed a few down days to relax before starting up his new job.  It would have been the ultimate ideal except for the 13 hour drive home.  Luckily, we had over 10 hours of DuckTales episodes for the kids to watch while we drove.  I think they all have the theme song memorized.  I know I do!
    Seth celebrated his 7th birthday by having a sleepover with his best friends, Dalin and Gabe.  They played Nintendo DS, built Legos, ate pizza and talked until nearly midnight.  Seth said it was the best party ever!  We had two other parties for Seth, one for my family and one for James'.  Seth was itching to buy a "big" Lego so he asked everyone to give him money.  He ended up with nearly 50.00.  James and I decided to get him an Imaginext toy instead of the Lego he had originally asked for because the Legos tend to break and parts get lost and so on and so forth.  Anyway, Seth loved it so much that he spent all his money on buying the rest of the Imaginext set instead of a Lego.  I guess it was a good decision on our part. :)

AUGUST

    Back to the grindstone. James settled into his new job and we were relieved when his first paycheck hit our account. 
    Seth and I started the new school year on the 18th and got right into it.  Second grade is a lot more reading and writing.  Seth loves the reading and hates the writing.  I hope he gets over the whole handwriting stumbling block soon. Jacob was accepted into an online preschool, but they have been extremely slow in getting the materials to us.  They say they might have them to us by the end of October, but I wish they had been more in line with the regular school year, because Jacob is bored. 
    James' dad came to visit and we had many, many nights of dinners and talking.  Jenni and Justin came out to see dad and to be around for Everett's baby blessing.  Then Mom and Dad and Jeremy and Jared went back to Jordan, Jenni and Justin left for home the next day and Joseph left the same day to go to some Air Force training (whew, that was a lot of "J" names in one sentence!).  We went from a flood of Lances to a drought in the space of just two days.  

SEPTEMBER

    More work and more school.  We are just plugging away at life right now.  The weather has been distinctly fall-like and we've spent a few nice evenings sitting on the front steps watching the kids ride their bikes on the sidewalk in front of the house.  Seth desperately needs a new bike.  His knees pretty much touch the handle bars of his current one.  He, however, is deathly afraid of the idea of riding a big bike without training wheels, so we are going to put off getting him a new one until next spring. 
    We took a quick trip out to Nebraska over Labor day weekend to visit my sister-in-law, Jenni and her family.  Seth spent the first night barfing his guts out and I wasn't feeling so hot myself.  James took the kids to a farmer's market where he found some amazing jalapeno jelly and some good local honey.  The guys all went shooting on Saturday afternoon and the girls just chatted and played with the kids.  Sunday was quiet and nice and topped off with some fabulous smoked pork with all the fixin's.  It was a short trip, but so nice to visit with Jenni.  I really miss that girl!
    Well, that pretty much brings us up to date. The kids are all growing up happy and healthy, and James and I are doing our best to help them.   I'll try and get to some individual updates on kids soon, but don't hold your breath. :) 

Editors Note:  This post has been stewing since September.  It is missing pictures, but I thought I'd just throw it out so we can talk about the holidays... which we are also way behind on.

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