And The Verdict Is...

I waited as long as I possibly could... :)

Danny received an email last night from ASU. It was a surprise to both of us since their website still said that his application was still in review. And the first word in the email was congratulations.

Yes, we are in! We are super excited. We stopped celebrating long enough last night to call parents to tell them. It is now official... We will be moving to Phoenix this summer and Danny will be attending ASU's Master's of Arts, Media, and Engineering program in the fall.

I am so proud of Danny. He has worked so hard throughout our marriage to support our family and to be the best he can be at everything. And he continues to work as hard as he can, in everything he does, to continue moving us up in life. I love that man so much and again, I'm SO proud of him.

Give Some Luv...

So Danny is participating in a contest in his GIS world. It is for a mapping application mashup. For those of you who do not know what that means (I would be one of you if I was not married to him) it is taking some general data and putting that info on a map to create a new application. Anywho... Danny has spent a lot of time on his application and he had to create a youtube video to introduce the app. The youtube video is shown on the right, so give him some love and rate him 5 stars. :) (not bad for being his first youtube video.)

Application posted on Danny's website

Stressful and Busy Life

Sometimes life gets frustratingly stressful to the point that you can feel every muscle in your body tense up and give you more aches and pains than you care to admit. I'm not saying that it has been so traumatic that I just want to sit down and cry (although tears are sometimes near the surface) :). It's just that I can definitely feel the muscles in my body protesting against the tension I have been feeling.

You all know that we have applied to graduate school and we are STILL anxiously waiting for the results for that little adventure. A couple of weeks ago Danny applied for a telecommuting job that would certainly be PERFECT for the "going to school full-time with an entire family to provide for" syndrome. It has been an extremely stressful couple of weeks since we can't remember a time when we applied for a job that we wanted as badly as this one.

It was an extremely arduous application and testing process. With resume round, 2 phone interviews including the "technical" interview, taking several complex technical tests on the computer, flying out to Alabama for personal interviews (4 to be exact), and security background checks... Let's just say that every step of the process consisted of us waiting somewhat impatiently. I am usually one who can just let go of the stress of the moment 'cause I know it won't help. I just couldn't find a way to do that this time.

Now let me just step back a moment and say that when Danny and I first decided to go back to school, I was willing (if it was the right thing to do) to go back to work to support our family as Danny worked on his education. It was a difficult decision, but I was willing to do it. However, as I earnestly prayed about becoming a working mother again, I was told in no uncertain terms by the spirit that I should continue as a stay-at-home mom. It was a very powerful answer to my prayers. Back to the job... Because I had had this experience, money has been a big concern of mine for when/if we go to school. (p.s. I still feel strongly that we will be accepted).

After Danny returned from Alabama, it was time for us to wait once again. After two days of waiting, we were offered the position. We are very excited about the prospects of what this job can bring and we feel so blessed.

Once again, Heavenly Father has shown me (personally and in a very real way) that He will bless us if we just leave it up to Him. I'm trying more than ever to just put our lives in His hands.

Team Player

Kaden has started basketball again. He had 2 practices and now he has a game each week. It is really fun to watch these kids play. Some of them are the "star players" and others run around chasing butterflies, as Danny would say. Kaden is somewhere in the middle - as a mother I like to think he's more on the side of star than butterfly chaser.

Danny got the chance to "coach" one of the practices as the real coach was out of town that week. I have pictures of that week but am unable to post them because we are going to be doing a system upgrade to our computer. I don't want to put any more pics on my computer that would just have to be backed up and then moved back over to our computer when the update is done. So I will post them later. But it was a lot of fun to watch Danny with the butterfly chasers - I could tell when he was getting a little frustrated. He tried to teach them some real defense and there were many who just kept saying, "when do we get to shoot?"

Danny has also been working with Kaden at home. Our seven year-old now understands the term "box out" and he has really been working on shooting one-handed. Last night at his game, Kaden was the one player that was always under the basket whether it was waiting for one of his teammates to pass him the ball so he could shoot, or waiting for the rebound. That doesn't necessarily mean he always got the ball, but he was really trying hard to be a team player.

He has said that basketball is a hard sport cause you have to keep your eye on the ball, know when you're on defense or offense, know where the guy is on the other team that you need to guard, and still try to steal the ball or make a basket. He is a very technically minded boy and therefore has to spell out exactly what he needs to do in order to play correctly. And he tries very hard to not be a ball hog. Sometimes that means he passes the ball as soon as he gets it. :)

He's doing really well and I'm excited for him to have the chance to learn more of this sport that his dad loves so much. Way to go Kaden!

(Oh, and they lost their first game but won the game last night. But, really, who's counting. :)

New Shoes For Haitians

Check out this post. I saw the first picture and was so saddened. This is a great little "fundraiser".

http://www.recessionistaparty.com/2010/02/free-shoes-for-everyonein-haiti.html

New Years Eve

We enjoyed New Years Eve and New Years Day with Danny's brothers and their families. We started out early the morning of the Eve and we played games all day at Justin and Megan's house. The kids LOVED playing with their cousins and the grown-ups LOVED playing ping pong. We spent the night there (after staying up 'til nearly 4 in the morning) and then went to Heber on New Years Day.

We went sledding on New Years day which was way fun. We went to Kim's (sister-in-law) parents unfinished cabin where they had a nice little hill for sledding. Her dad also had a fun little tracker on snowmobile tracks and we were pulled around behind that as well. Kaden loved the sledding and really loved playing with his cousin, Kinley. Preston really love playing on the "playground" with his cousin, Tanner and wouldn't stop eating the snow. It really was a blast until I ran into a port-a-potty. :)

Funny story, really. The hill was actually a road. On one side of the road was the edge of the hill which dropped with a steep decline - we stayed away from that. And on the right side at the bottom of the hill-road was a port-a-potty. Danny had built up a bank as to prevent anyone from hitting the thing. No one had hit it all day long and we were having a lot of fun.

The last run of the day, I took Preston up the road to go down one final time. On our way up, I said to Preston, "Should we go up higher so the ride lasts longer?" And, of course, he said, "Yes!" So we went up higher than we had all day long. Therefore, we went faster than we had all day long. Therefore, we jumped the bank that Danny had built and hit the port-a-potty going backwards (the tube always turned me around so I was going down backwards) going what seemed a million miles per hour.

I hurt my neck and back and had a pretty bad headache. Danny and his little bro, Matt, gave me a blessing a little later. Long story short, I've been recovering from what I think was a cracked floating rib for the past few weeks. But it seems much better now. :) And again, funny story now that I look back at it.

Here's some pics:

New Years Eve

New Years Day

Christmas 2009

Our Christmas was really great! We made cookies on Christmas Eve and the boys really enjoyed that. I told Kaden that he was allowed to wake up early on Christmas morning 'cause I was sick of being the first one out of bed. :) So when they got ready for bed, Kaden told me he was for sure going to wake up really early. We also put Ellie's baby monitor in their bedroom so they could let us know when they woke up. We wanted them to wait to come downstairs until we were able to be ready to take pictures of them.

They went to bed at around 8:00 and by 9:30 we heard Kaden in the monitor whispering, "Dad, is it midnight yet? Can we come down yet? Has Santa come yet?" Of course he was sent back to bed. :)

Kaden forgot all about the monitor and came downstairs at about 6:00 Christmas morning. We were lucky that we woke up and I was able to stop him and send him back upstairs so that we could wake up Preston and Ellie. We got the kids and they all came downstairs together. Ellie wasn't quite sure why we had woken her up so early. Preston was excited about everything he saw and would have started opening every present he saw (whether it had his name or not) if we hadn't stopped him. And Kaden was really excited about his spongebob spinning toothbrush. :0) They finally spotted the robots from Santa and were super excited to play with them as well as the Nerf guns that were from me and Danny.

We enjoyed opening presents, played with toys, made a nice dinner, and ate Christmas dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Hyde and Uncle Wes. Weston stayed the night and we played games, games, and more games. Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas.

Oh, and one funny story is that after we got Ellie dressed that day, she wanted to put her new shoes on. She walked around in her new shoes for about an hour and loved the sound they made on the kitchen tile. She also kept walking to the garage door while waving her hand. She was so excited that she could walk with these shoes on and she just wanted to go bye-bye.

Christmas Eve Cookies

Christmas Day

Ellie Walking

Yes, it has been forever since I posted. And yes, I have a ton of pictures to include in my updates. We'll start with Ellie. She is getting so big and so fun! I love this little sweetheart to pieces. She has the cutest little faces and she is totally a mommy's girl. She does love her daddy though. And she loves it when daddy comes home. Just last night when he came home, she ran around chasing him and laughing for about 5 minutes. She's so much fun.

I never posted pictures of her walking so here are some. Hope you enjoy...

Walking

One day Ellie grabbed my phone and walked around with it in her hand. She walked around and talked" on the phone for about a half hour. She wouldn't give me my phone back and she didn't want to stop. It was so cute!

Talking on the phone

One Step At A Time

Up until yesterday, Ellie took a very passive approach in learning the all important walking skill. She would walk 2 or 3 steps when it wasn't inconvenient. And if it was inconvenient (or it would take more than 2 or 3 steps to get where she needed to go), she would just as well crawl.

But yesterday? ... Yesterday she decided to try an active approach. I could hear it in her brain, "I AM going to walk today. No more of this lowly crawling business... today is the day!" :) She tried walking everywhere she went. If she fell, she would stand back up and keep going. At first there was a lot of falling. She would take 2 or 3 steps and then fall, BUT she would pick herself back up and try again. Finally, by about 5:00 in the afternoon, she walked TWENTY-THREE steps continuously from one end of our bedroom, out the door, and into the living room! She still had some falls after that, but they were farther between!

I have yet to take pictures of her walking... that is on my to-do list today. But she did it! I'm so excited for her to enjoy the beauty of this world while standing up and walking around. It's a lot different from that vantage point. :)

School

For those of you who may not know yet, Danny has decided to pursue his masters degree. We have researched schools throughout the U.S. There are a few different interests that Danny has found intriguing. Most of the schools required taking the GRE test in order to apply, and because Danny hasn't been in school for over six years, the GRE sounds overwhelming to him. But through our research we found ASU (Arizona State University) to have some very exciting programs, no requirements with the GRE, a lower tuition than most schools, it's one of the top design schools in the nation, and my sister lives in Phoenix (which is a plus)!

We fasted, prayed, and pleaded with the Lord for guidance in this decision. We have three kids to think about and just heading off to school isn't a decision that can be taken lightly. Basically, after all of the time spent on our knees, we have decided that this is definitely a road we feel we should take. It will take some sacrifice and frustration at times, but we are excited for this new route.

Danny has spent the last few weeks trying hard to get his application in to the ASU Arts, Media, and Engineering program. It is officially in and we are now taking part in the waiting game. We really feel like ASU is our #1 (and in some ways our only) choice for school. If we don't get accepted, we're not sure what step to take next. So we are putting our lives in the Lords hands and praying that everything will work out for the best. We know He knows what's best for our family.

We should find out if we are accepted by February. Keep us in mind in your prayers as we really would like this acceptance.

Surprise Visitor

Last night we were just getting ready to eat dinner when the doorbell rang. When I went to open the door, I heard some bells. I immediately thought we were going to have some carolers so I called to Danny to join me. When I opened the door, I was taken by surprise. There stood a jolly old Saint Nicholas with sleigh bells and all!

We invited the old guy in and he came in and talked to our boys. They were so excited! Kaden immediately went to stand by him. Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and Kaden replied, "I don't really care what I get. I won't complain." I think Santa was a little surprised by the comment and couldn't think of what to say except, "Well, that's what Santa likes to hear!"

Preston was a little more hesitant. He was scared of Santa last year and then he figured out that he got presents from him on Christmas. So this whole year Preston has said many times that, "I can't wait to see Santa again." Of course, I knew that when the day finally came for him to see the big guy, he would be nervous. And he was. He wouldn't stand by Santa, but he was sure to let him know that he wanted a Transformer for Christmas. (We are done shopping and he is not getting a Transformer - Ellie might have to get him that as her present for him.) :)

Santa gave each of our boys (Ellie was already in bed) a candy-cane and he gave Danny and I each a carmel! Yummy - Homemade! Kaden was so excited to go tell his teacher today about our surprise visitor. (And we're still not sure exactly who it was in that big red coat... ???)

Pictures

SnowBound

The boys have been begging me to be able to go play in the snow. They were going to when the snow first fell, but we couldn't find their snow pants. I finally found all of their snow gear and they were extremely ready to go play in the fluffy white stuff.

They got all bundled, and I had to take some pictures. Then when they finally got outside, Kaden was so excited that he just dived into the snow face first. He had snow all over his face (I think he learned not to do that.) :)

Kaden tried to start a snowman. Preston watched. Kaden held up the start of his snowman for me. And the snowman didn't get any farther than that cause they saw a mound of snow to go play in.

They definitely had a lot of fun together playing in the snow!

Pictures

Pictures of Ellie

I haven't taken pictures of Ellie for a while. I guess I'm falling into the scene where the third child doesn't get as many pictures taken as the first or even the second. I never thought I'd become THAT person. :) But I had the camera out yesterday and had to take some of this little princess who has graced us with her presence in our family. :)

She has gotten so big and has so many expressions. She is so funny and I love spending my days with her.

Pictures

Happy Holidays!

It's been a very crazy couple of weeks in our house. After the last post, Preston and I did indeed get sick. It has been the worst cold! It started with a fever, went to an upset stomach, continued with a terrible sinus cold, and concluded by settling into my chest and throat and therefore giving me a cough for the last week. It's never fun to be sick, but to endure two full weeks of it is torture. But, alas, I am on the mend. (Preston didn't get it nearly as severely as I did.)

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We were able to spend it with my WHOLE family. It was 30 people under one roof and it was a blast. We tried to pack everything we could into the weekend. We had crafts, paintball, a guitar hero competition, a poker tournament, and, of course, black friday shopping - although, I must say the black friday experience this year was definitely less enjoyable than usual. People seemed overly annoying - maybe it was my lack of sleep plus my cold symptoms that made me a little more irritable. :)

Now I am getting ready for Christmas and feeling very blessed. Between a wonderful Thanksgiving and some recent discussions in our home with our children, I feel a strong sense of gratitude for my life. And what a great opportunity Christmastime gives us to feel that joy and gratitude.

Happy belated Thanksgiving and a very merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you feel the spirit of Christmas this year as much as I have felt it in the last week. Love to all!

Seriously???

I am so done with illness in our family! Kaden had the swine flu about 4 weeks ago. Danny had the swine flu about 3 weeks ago. We had about 4 days of health and then Danny got really sick again with a really terrible cold. Last night Ellie acted like she wasn't feeling well and woke up a couple of times. Now this morning Kaden woke up with a 100 degree fever and a sore throat. Apparently, Preston and I have gotten by so far; but I'm not feeling optimistic for us and the next few days. All I can say is I better not get sick for Thanksgiving! I have to be healthy for Black Friday shopping. :)

I just want health to restore itself in our house!

Cutest Comment Award!

Danny and I don't quite know what to get Kaden for Christmas this year. So this evening I asked him.

Mom: "So, Kaden, what do you want for Christmas this year?"

Kaden: "I don't know. I don't really care what I get. I won't complain. Oh, and mom, I already wrote my letter to Santa at school. So I don't need to write another one."

Mom (Still dubious as to what to get him): "What did you write in your letter?"

Kaden: "It was a long letter. I wrote lots of stuff like 'is it cold in the North Pole' and 'how are the elves'. Stuff like that."

Mom (Let's try this one more time): "But what did you tell him you wanted for Christmas?"

Kaden: "Just what I told you. I told him that I don't care what he brings me. I won't complain. I just want a couple of presents, that's all."

What kind of a 7 year-old says that? What a sweetheart!!!

Recessionista

I love this blog! I found it from a friend of mine and they just keep giving things away. Check it out... http://www.recessionistaparty.com/

Things To Remember - Kaden

Kaden has grown up a lot. I can't believe he is going to be baptized in a few short months.

He likes to ask questions, especially when we are reading the scriptures. And we are now in Isaiah, so there are a lot of questions to be asked!

He also tries so hard to please us. He works really hard to make sure we are proud of him, even though it's hard to not be proud of such a good little boy. That's not to say he doesn't get in trouble sometimes though. :)

His favorite phrase is, "huh, mom..." or "huh, dad..." He says it over and over until we acknowledge that he is correct.

He talks a lot during movies. Whether it's questions about what's going on or making sure that he is correct about what's going on, you can count on him to ask the questions in the middle of a really important part of a movie.

Kaden is a little shy and very sensitive. He gets his feelings hurt rather easily, which is sometimes frustrating, but also heartbreaking. Most of the time he is very mellow, unless he is playing xbox. :) He is very caring and is always making sure that others are doing ok. He prays for things like his aunt Jill's feet - that they will be healthy - as well as little things like that Preston and Ellie will be good for me while he is at school. :) He is constantly seeking for approval and that is sometimes frustrating, but also very heartwarming. I love him so much and am so proud to be his mom. He teaches me more things than I can count and wish he knew how much I appreciate him.

Things To Remember - Preston

Preston has a certain look that he gives me to get what he wants. He looks at me and says, "Please, mom?" with an adorable look in his eyes. Whenever he does this, it melts my heart and I usually say yes. In fact, the other day he wanted to take a cup of water up to his room while he was watching a movie. I told him that he would spill it. He looked at me with that unbelievably sincere look and said, "Please, mom... I promise I won't spill it. I'll be super careful." Of course, I let him - and in fifteen minutes he came down crying and heartbroken, exclaiming, "I spilled it, mom!" :)

He also has a GREAT imagination. He loves to play imaginary games and he has to ask my permission every time. "Mom, can I play my new batman game - outside of the xbox?" He has to specify that he is not asking to play the xbox but is asking to pretend that he is batman. :)

He likes to just have my attention. He will stand there for five minutes saying, "Mom, mom, mom, mom..." if that's what it takes for me to say "what". And most of the time his reply is just, "I love you."

He adores his big brother but will stand up for himself when needed. He throws a lot of fits, but is getting so much better at refraining from his fit-throwing. For the past few months he has really figured out the word please, and he uses it to his advantage. The majority of the time he will accept my answer of no as long as an explanation of why is accompanied with the word. He is very sweet to Ellie, and also very overpowering to her at the same time. He will give her a kiss, but nock her down while doing so. He's loving, and sweet, and he tells me I'm so pretty.

I love the little guy so much!

Things To Remember - Ellie

One thing I never want to forget about Ellie is her "going to sleep" routine. Every time I lay her down to sleep, I have to give her the binkie and a corner of her blanket. She then proceeds to tickle her face (nose and eyes) with the corner of the blanket. It is so cute! And the other day, I went in to get her after a nap. She had the corner again, and when I held out my arms to pick her up she bent down for one last tickle on her nose. She does that every once in a while and I love it.

Another thing I don't want to ever forget is the way Ellie says "MOM!" Sometimes she yells it, sometimes she just says it quietly, and sometimes it's even annoying cause she says it over and over and over and over. But I still love it. It's not mommy, or mama, or ma... it's "mom" pronounced very accurately. :)

She has also begun to copy other words. This morning, for instance, she waved and said "bye" to Kaden when he was leaving for school.

Oh, and the way she nods or shakes her head whenever she is asked a question. This morning I asked her, "You want to get up and have some breakfast?" She replied with an emphatic nod of her head. I don't think she quite realizes the difference between a nod and shake, but I do think she understands that it is an answer. It's adorable!

She has almost figured out how to come back down the stairs by herself and is so proud when she does accomplish it. She started trying over the weekend to stand up by herself in the middle of the room. She will take 1 step but then get scared and fall down. She is so close to walking, which I am nervous about cause she already gets into everything. She is more grabby than either of our boys and will get into anything - especially the things we tell her not to. She hits the tv just to see a reaction from us and she will even turn the tv off, just to make us pick her up. She is such a joy in our lives and I love her so much!