Interview Trail-Trip #1

If you don't already know, John-David is in his 4th year of medical school. This is the year that they choose, apply, interview and hopefully match in their chosen medical field. John-David has chosen Orthopedic Surgery so the past few months we have been applying to various programs around the country and then have been waiting patiently for interviews. We have been lining up interviews and now has become the time to hit the interview trail. I say "we" because yes we have made it a family affair. This past week we loaded up the family van and headed north to Flint, MI. Now going into the interview we had heard a few things about Flint that made us a little cautious. Let's just say after spending about 18 hours there, we just didn't get the feel that Flint is where we belonged. However, while we were there, we put our children's museum pass to work and went and visited the Flint Children's museum. It was pretty good and helped us pass the time while dad interviewed. Here are a few of the highlights.







We went from Flint, MI to Cleveland, OH. This was just a break in our trip on our way to Erie, Pa. We didn't want to keep our kids in the car too long. We stopped to visit my mom's long time friend Mrs. Offintz. She was so excited to have visitors. She loves when the kids stop by to see. She always has special treats for them so they really like stopping by.

After our little visit, we continued on our way to Erie, PA. It's located right next to Lake Erie and looked like a pretty fun town and it had pretty every store I could think of which is important. Unfortunately there was a major snow storm so I didn't take many pictures because there was a whole lot we could see. We did capture this gem though. Jackson and Jocelyn are both noisy and wild sleepers. Probably not the best combination to be sharing a bed but that's the way is was. Anyhow, Jocelyn is suppose to be where her bunny is in this picture but you can see she is not but laying on Jackson. When I went to move her, I discovered her arms were wrapped around Jackson's leg and started moving him as well. We got a pretty good laugh out of it.


All in all it was a pretty good trip and the kids did fairly well. It was our trial run for our big trip to Iowa next week. Stayed tuned as our adventures on the Interview Trail continue.

The Lady in Sweats

I had a very sad realization last night: I have become that mom in the sweats. Growing up, as I was out in public,I saw mothers who had on sweats and a t-shirt, sometimes even pajama bottoms, usually adorned with some sort of food remnant, snot or spit up. Their hair was pulled back in a ponytail and more often than not, it was a little on the greasy side. They looked bedraggled and haggled as the sported their raccoon eyes from the lack of sleep motherhood brought on. In my little mind I thought, "Never would I be this woman. Never would I go out in public or receive guests in such a state. Never would I have mysterious things smeared on my clothes." Oh how we eat our words. So we have been preparing our kitchen and family room for painting this past week. Not a small task especially when children are present. I was helping John-David sand and wash walls yesterday so I was sporting pajama pants, a BYU t-shirt that is too big so it really looked classy and a sweatshirt that is 15 plus years old. My hair was slicked back in a pony tail and needed to be washed but I didn't want to because of the work I was doing. Despite the fact that our house is in disarray, John-David a few weeks ago prior had made arrangements to have dessert and a meeting at our house with some people. I was fully aware of this, yet when 7:00 P.M. rolled around, who was still in their fashionable attire? Me. Quite frankly I was way too tired to fix myself up and I wasn't really hanging out with these people any how. Sure I had to be seen a few times to chase a child who had escaped from upstairs or to get something else but it wasn't my deal. Well, the night went on, the gathering was over and I was in the bathroom getting ready for bed. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and had noticed that I had some how gotten paint on my sweatshirt. I thought that was odd because I hadn't really been around the paint and it didn't quite match the color of our paint. However it did match the lovely dirty diaper I had changed right before I put Kelsey in the tub just about 10 minutes prior to our guests coming over. And here is the proof I have become that mom in the sweats.


So moral of the story: Be careful what you say because it may come back to haunt you!
P.S. That was no small streak. We are talking about 6 inches plus the two smaller streaks. Just precious!!!

Give Thanks

Hope all had a lovely Thanksgiving. I have a few things that I have been wanting to blog and they are things to be thankful for; but 1st our Thanksgiving dinner. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner this year with our friends and John-David's brother, Richard. Richard was driving through on his way to a new job in Philadelphia and timed it to join us for the big feast. We crammed 11 adults, 6 toddlers and 5 babies into our little house. It was a cozy event but no one seemed to mind. The food was good, the company was fun and all turned out well. It is sad to think that we won't be with all our friends next Thanksgiving as we are likely going separate ways next year. What a fun day. Here are a few of the highlights.

Our Thanksgiving Tables

Some of our guests visiting before dinner

More guests

The kids table. They were pretty funny. We went around the room prior to dinner
to say what we were thankful for. The kid table had responses like scissors, trees,
tutus and sisters.
We have a few other things to be thankful for out this time.

This cute little boy has finally stopped sucking his thumb! Jackson started sucking his thumb when he was about 20 months old, which is pretty random. He was an avid sucker and it was really starting to affect his teeth. His teeth were turning!!!! The dentist told him he needed to stop, to which he responded he would- but he didn't. Well a few moths ago he started scrubbing his thumb all the time because the smell was bothering him (proof that he really is my son). He would sometimes even wake up in the middle of the night to wash his stinky thumb. Well, the smell put him over the edge and he hasn't sucked his thumb since. It pays to have the nose of a blood hound. So yeah for Jackson who is really a big boy and we give thanks to him for keeping our potential orthodontic bill to a minimum.


Kelsey finally has some teeth. We are very thankful for this because now I can finally give her some more types of food. I felt bad giving her things like meat when she was toothless for fear that she would choke. Now she has a snaggle tooth and a half with a few just under the skin. Yeah for Kelsey. As a side note, and I don't think it's something that you necessarily give thanks for, right now until December 24th our kid's ages are 3,2,and 1. It's kind of funny. Someone asked me my kids ages the other day and you should've seen the wide-eyed look I got. It makes Kelsey look like she is just a year apart, too...but we assure you she is not.

Last but not least we went to to our final OSU vs Michigan game. I am thankful because it's our last year as students but sad because it's all coming to an end. We have had so much fun here in Columbus. We were grateful to go to this one last game together and with our friends. It was an added bonus that they won too!!! Go Buckeyes!!! OH-IO!

Look who is 1

One year ago today we had this little angel. Weighing in at a mere 5 lb 1 oz and only 17 1/2 inches long, she sure has grown this year.

We decided to have a Farm theme for her birthday due to our farm themed halloween costumes. They were going to dress up but we didn't get to that. Dad and Jocelyn were in charge of decorating and what a lovely job they did.

What farm party is complete if there isn't a barn? Jackson and I were in charge of making our barn. It was a great backdrop and throw the animal through the window game as well.

Our cake was a pig rolling in the saw dust. Her snout made a perfect piece for Kelsey to have her very own cake.

That cake was finger licking good!

She wasn't too interested in opening presents, She didn't even care about the paper. She just wanted to go play with other things. She sure is a cute girl and so glad that she was finally better from all her illnesses to enjoy this day. We love our Kelseykoos. Happy Birthday!!!

Tagged

I got tagged by Marianne so I better keep it up...


5 Things I was doing 10 years ago:

* I was a sophomore at Ricks College... It was still called Rick's back then
* I was preparing to go to Ecuador for a study abroad.
* Getting glasses for the first time in my life.
* Getting in trouble with the wildest roommates ever...... Dairy Princess?
* Taking the coolest Wildlife Biology class on snowshoes.

5 Things I have to do today:
* Take Jackson to preschool
* Go Visiting Teaching
* Call about 5 different people for various reasons
* Make Kelsey's birthday cake
* Return videos to the library

5 Snacks I love:
* Popcorn
* Chocolate
* Bananas
* Carrots and celery that don't taste bitter
* Chips and salsa

5 Things I would do if I were a Millionaire:
* Pay off all our Student debt and there is a lot
* Pay off our house
* invest some money
* Give some to a charity
* Give some to family in need

5 Places I have lived:
* Salt Lake City,UT
* Rexburg, ID
* Cedar City, UT
* Murray, UT
* Columbus, OH

5 Jobs I have had
* Meier's Catering
* Convergy's
* Dairy Queen (for about 4 hours)
* Brockbank Junior High
* Children's World Day care

5 People I tag
* Bridget McBride
* Stephanie Postma
* Melissa Johnson
* Christina Nielson
* Adrienne Bybee

A moment to reflect

I have come to the frightening conclusion...
That I am the decisive element.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration,
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides
whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated,
and a person is humanized or de-humanized.
If we treat people as they are, we make them worse.
If we treat people as they ought to be,
we help them become
what they are capable of becoming.
J.W.Goethe

A few weeks ago I found this poem on a friend's blog. I really liked it so I printed it off and left it by my computer to read periodically. This past Saturday was the adult session of our Stake conference. The Stake Primary President spoke and her topic was about loving children. She talked about what the climate in our homes were. Are they places that our children want to be? Her talk made me think of this poem, which as a mother, I have a lot of power in what the climate of our home is. It made me think a lot of what happens in our home and whether or not it's a happy place or a war zone.We have a two year old that is demonstrating her two year old personality to it's fullest capacity and I think I let that dictate our family climate by how I react. This was an "ahha" moment for me. I removed the poem from my computer room to my office, the kitchen, and posted it on the fridge so I can't miss it.I think I need a daily reminder. I just wanted to share this poem with others because I am sure that someone out there can relate and it's always good to take a moment to reflect.

Fall Family Photos

Halloween 2008

Here are some pictures of our Halloween activities for the past week. We carved pumpkins with Opa. We was in town to go to the OSU vs Penn State game. On Sunday we all drove down to North Carolina to visit John-David's brother Doug and his family. We carved more pumpkins, went to their Trick or Trunk and went trick or treating with them. We also go to visit with our friends Andy and Rachel while we were there. We had a lot of fun and everyone loved our farm. Who wouldn't love an adorable cow, duck and chick? 

I need to figure out how this whole slideshow thing works and then I will actually have the slide show where it belongs. 

Leaves

We don't have really have any leaves in our backyard and our kids wanted to play in some. I took them to a local park that had piles of leaves. The kids had so much fun playing in them and they looked so cute, I just wanted to share a few of them. 

Kelsey preferred sitting on the pavement and observing. 

She cried when I places her directly in the leaves. 

Jocey jumping out of the leaves. 

That's a whole lot of leaves.

I am glad I didn't have to rake all those leaves up. 

Can you imagine bagging those? 

Our friend Spencer got into the leave throwing action.

I Love Fall

This past Saturday we spent a day doing fun fall activities and I loved it. I love everything fall: the way it smells, feels,looks, it's just a fun time of year!!! We started out our day in the freezing cold getting our pictures taken. I have always wanted fall family photos. The weather had been unseasonably warm two days before our photos were to be taken, the temperature took a huge drop. The kids did really well despite they couldn't move their limbs. Actually I think the cold was really to our advantage because them they couldn't run away. I don't have the pictures back yet but I will post them as soon as I do. 

After we got our photos taken, we went to an

activity for students and their families from the medical school on a farm. You got to ride a wagon to a corn maze that led into a pumpkin patch and then you could go back to the main entrance and look at some animals, but some food or go down a big slide. You can tell be Jocelyn's face that it still hadn't warmed up yet but the kids loved the hay ride. Jackson just loves anything that makes him think he's living on the end. No car seat, no seat belt, this kid was living the high life. 

The corn maze was nothing special in fact it was over before I could get the camera out. Jackson led the way and a good leader he made because he found the exit with only one wrong turn. The exit led us to the pumpkin patch where you take home a pumpkin for everyone. We got three to add to our two at home to make our grand total to five. One for everyone in the family. After we selected our pumpkins we got back on the wagon and made our way back to the front. We looked around a little bit, let the kids go down the big slide a few times then decided we had froze       enough and headed home. Later that afternoon, during the OSU game halftime of course, we went to Hayden Run Falls to see some fall foliage. It was a very pretty autumn walk. Dad went down to the river to give us a lesson on skipping rocks. The kids just wanted to chuck them. We had a fun day. oh how I love fall in Ohio!!!

Mom and Kelsey on the wagon. 

Doesn't Kelsey look like she is enjoying it? 

I hope that a bird didn't fly by as 

Jocelyn was going down. 

That would have been bad. 

Jackson having a ball

Ohio fall photo

Throwing leaves at each other

Happy little family

Slate Run Farm

Last week we went to Slate Run Farm. It's a living historical farm from the 1800's. They have crops, farm animals and people dressed in period costume. It is similar to Wheeler Historical Farm in Utah. We had a lot of fun and the kids loved the animals. 

Jackson loved trying to walk on stilts. 

They had two really big oxen that normally pull 

the plow but they were taking a little rest.

Jackson looking at the really big horses. 

Jocelyn and Kelsey looking at the sheep. Kelsey 

though it was neat until the sheep stuck it's head 

through the fence to say hi to her.