Camping...in our house

For those of you who don't check the weather box on the right of this blog very often...if you scroll down on it, you'll notice that our sunrise is 5:52am and our sunset is 8:21pm.

Now, the day Steve lost his job, we turned off our thermostat. We chopped and stacked a bunch of wood last fall, and we decided we should be more diligent about using that resource. We had also JUST paid a chimney sweep to come and clean and inspect our chimney, so we could be confident we weren't taking any undue risks of chimney fires, etc.

Now with that background...you may begin to understand the title of this post. When we wake up in the morning our house is in the mid-50's. Steve gets up and starts a fire, and the kids eat breakfast in their sweatshirts and jackets. After we've had warm showers and baths and the fire is going, then we're all comfortable and happy.

Steve likes to sleep with the window open. Well, for about the past week, we've been awakened (quite early, I might add - note the sunrise time above), by chirping birds. They have very specific calls that they repeat, and repeat, and REPEAT! It's amazing. This is the best kind of camping I can think of. Camping with the comforts of a warm shower, clean towels and clothes, comfortable bed, plenty of space and a full-size kitchen! How bad can life be?

Happy Anniversary to us!

12 amazing years. I can't imagine anyone else who could make my life more complete. I love you, Steve.

Recall Notice

I know I've recommended Zenni Optical TONS of times in the past year...and I'm sad to report that they have NOT delivered my glasses that I ordered 3 weeks ago. They have lots of poor feedback online about not delivering, and I'm going to dispute the charge on my credit card if my glasses don't appear in the next day or so. I'm very sad to report this news...I was really looking forward to transition lenses for the first time in my LIFE. Grrrrr. So - buyer beware. Don't shop there.

A Winner!

Here's a photo of Kenneth with his car and his trophy from the pine wood derby.

A Ream

Have you ever kept track of how long it takes you to go through a ream of paper? It took me 1 1/2 days. That's right...500 pages, baby. We're rocking.

Happy Easter

I hope you are all having a good Easter Weekend. We have already had one baseball game (tonight) and we have one more tomorrow, as well as a soccer game, and Easter egg hunt, a baptism and a church party. What a fun day!

Kenneth's baseball team won last Saturday by a clear margin (I think it was 13-1), and they won tonight by 1 run (3-2). It was a close game, and it was fun to see both teams make some fielding plays. Yay! Kenneth had 2 hits last week, 1 today, and one strike out today. He is doing great and enjoying being on an "undefeated" team. :) It's been a while since he's been on a winning team.

Caitlin and Daniel provided the comic relief for the game when at one point someone yelled - "Toddlers in the outfield" and Steve & I were mortified to see the 2 of them walking across the field trying to get to the playground on the other side. Then, later, after retrieving them, I see a parent gasp - looking in my direction - so I look at Caitlin who has her tights and underwear around her knees. Geesh. Who raised those kids, anyway? We've had that problem several times at pre-school, but it was a touch more embarrassing at the baseball field.

Kenneth got to go hang with his buddies again tonight (a Friday night tradition for him), and the rest of us watched Herbie:Fully Loaded (it was on TV). What fun!

Great News...and not so great news

Well, the great news is that the Layton 5 will soon be the Layton 6! That's right...another baby on the way. We've seen the heart beat and I can't wait to see or hear it again. I'm exhausted and feeling marginal, but that's a good thing...right? The baby is due November 14th.

The not so great news is that Steve is no longer employed. That's right. He's a victim of the economy....bummer. We've had a week for it to sink in.

So....if you know anybody who needs a really hard-working, bright, experienced hardware engineer...you know where to find him!!!

The weather was lovely today (HOT if you ask Steve....I say...'where is your perspective, honey...really?'). It's supposed to be good again tomorrow, then cold again Wednesday. We shut off our thermostat a week ago and we've relied on our wood stove this week, but we didn't need a fire today. One day last week it was 51 degrees in our house when we woke up....brrrrr. Thank heavens for all the wood we split and stacked last fall. We've got plenty of fuel, but I think Steve's getting tired of starting fires with relatively wet wood. I know I've gotten frustrated more than once. Luckily, Steve is better at it than I am and we eventually end up warming up the house.

We enjoyed General Conference this weekend, and I'll leave you with the quote that stands out in my mind. It is from our prophet, Thomas S. Monson.

The future is as bright as your faith.

A WINNER!

I know this post is way overdue. Life is busy right now, but Kenneth got 3rd place in our Pinewood Derby last week. I, of course, forgot my camera, but I'm trying to track down a picture. In this picture, Kenneth's car is on the far right. He designed it himself, and that night he came home and designed his next car. He gets to compete in district, and he's very excited about that.

Brrrrr

It is really cold today...and rainy. I don't mind the rain today, though, because it has been lovely this week, and I'm watching my dafodils come up and I can almost hear them guzzling down the rain. I'm sure it's making them very happy. I can't wait to see them bloom. I think I have some tulips trying to come up, too, but I can't remember exactly what I planted where. :) I made a pot with mini-irises and hyasinths (sp?) and the irises are blooming. When I get some more blossoms, I'll have Steve take a few photos. Last year my sister and I drew a diagram of my mom & dad's circle in front of their house and we helped them order a bunch of bulbs so they don't spend so much on annuals each year. I wish I could see their bulbs bloom - I'm so eager to see how it turns out. I love spring!

Daniel had his first indoor soccer game today - they won 12 - 0 and Daniel scored at least 5 of the goals. He loves soccer.

Feeling better

Well, I'm feeling better, but Steve, unfortunately, got my nasty cold. Caitlin did, too. Caitlin actually has 2 raging ear infections and pink eye as well. Poor little girl. She was SO miserable yesterday. It makes me feel bad. She is now on antibiotics and eye drops, so hopefully the worst is behind her. We have 4 extra boys hanging around this weekend, and my kids are LOVING it. Their parents are on a much-needed get away. They have been very helpful around the house (well, not the 1 year old) and they're fun to have around. (Even the 1 year old) :)

Sick and Busy

Well, those two words sum up my week. I feel crappy, and I'm wondering why I ever went to college.

CPA CPA CPA CPA

It's official. I'm now a Certified Public Accountant in 4 states. Whew. I do not intend to rack up any more. It's a relief to know all the paperwork is through, all the tests are taken, and all the applications are approved. Yay!

I'm leaving....on a jet plane

I'm off to Vegas for the weekend to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday! I'm meeting 2 sisters and 2 sisters-in-law. I'm sorry my other sister and Heidi can't come...that's a royal bummer, but we'll do our best to have a good time anyway. We're going to see the Blue Man Group tomorrow night and hopefully we'll get some TLC, too.

The real bummer is that Steve's work said he has from 6pm tonight until 8am Monday morning to do a BIG project. This is obviously not a very good weekend for that. Pray for him....

Catch you on the flip side.

Happy Birthday to my Mom and my Brother-in-law and late Happy Valentine's Day!

My mom is 60 today...60 amazing years jam-packed full of life. She is an amazing woman, and I'm blessed to have her for my mom.

My brother-in-law also is celebrating a birthday today. I don't know exactly how old he is....older than me, younger than Steve, that's all I know. He's a great man who is perfect for my sister. I'm so glad he's a part of our family. He is a great dad and a wonderful provider. He is faithful, and righteous, and sweet and kind. I'm sad he and my sister have always lived far away from us, but I'm grateful to him for allowing my sister to visit me so much when he was away in Iraq. I will always cherish the memories we made during those visits. I hope he has an amazing birthday today and a great year to come.

Now, Saturday was Valentine's Day. My kids thought it was on Thursday since that's when they had their class parties. (The kids were out of school on Friday, and they're also out today and tomorrow for "mid-winter" break.) Well, I seized the day and gave the kids my Valentines to them on Thursday. I got them each a new movie. They were pretty excited. On Friday we went to Fred Meyer and bought lilies, 4 roses, and some babies breath and we made our own arrangement to take to Dad at work. He displayed it on his desk for the rest of the afternoon, then brought them home to enjoy over the weekend. I LOVE the fragrance of oriental lilies, and I've loved walking past them and enjoying them. (See photo below) After we delivered the flowers, we all went to Circuit City (going out of business sale) and we bought a video camera. That was Steve's Valentine gift to me, but we're all enjoying it. Hopefully at some point I'll figure out how to share a few of the clips from the boys' b-ball games on Saturday. The best thing about the camera is that it records right onto a small DVD and once it's finalized, we can put it right into our DVD player and watch it. So - the boys spent Saturday afternoon watching their own basketball games. It was so fun. Saturday evening we got a babysitter and Steve and I went to dinner and to the temple. It was a lovely evening, only slightly tainted by Steve's sore throat. Well, in the middle of the night Steve woke up and his throat was on fire. So we missed church and opted for urgent care instead. He is now on a Z-Pack and feeling much better. Thank heavens for antibiotics! Anyway, the kids are doing their chores now, and I need to work....have a great day!

Update

Steve's getting after me to update our blog....that means I'm really behind.

He's in charge of the pictures, so hopefully someday we'll get around to downloading the photos from DANIEL'S FIRST BASKETBALL GAME!!! It was AWESOME!! He even made a basket. They put the kids in coordinating wrist bands so they knew who to guard, and it was hysterical. I laughed through most of the game. They are just so darned cute! They run around in a swarm around the ball...they hold the ball like a football and run across the court (they don't call traveling at this age), they are funny. It was a great time.

Kenneth's game was fantastic. They're really getting good. They won (for the first time) and it was well-deserved. They played hard...really hard. Kenneth had several steals, several good shots, and some good plays. I was very proud of him. He had an especially good first quarter when several of his other team mates were sluggish.

Other than that, life is just going forward...one day at a time.

Photo Shoot

 

We're not accustomed to seeing the sun around here.

 

 

 

It's lucky for Dad he's got a willing model so he can experiment with his new camera. Prety girl. Pretty dress - thanks, Grandma Ackerman & Sara!

Basketball-Daniel

 

 

 

 

Daniel's team won't have games until February, but here are some pictures from his last practice.

Basketball - Kenneth

 

 

 

 

Kenneth had his first BB game yesterday...Steve is helping with the coaching this season.

Pacific Science Center

 

 

 

 

We went to the Pacific Science Center over the holidays and we especially enjoyed the butterfly exhibit.

Holiday Glasses anyone?

Well, if you haven't checked out zennioptical lately (see link on my sidebar), I hightly recommend perusing through the "New Arrivals" section to view their many holiday/winter frames...what a HOOT!