Lately...

...I feel like I'm living in Utah:

(picture taken in my neighborhood in Las Vegas)

I love all of the snow on the mountains.

And this isn't even half of what's been on those mountains over the past couple of weeks. It makes it feel like we actually have seasons here.

Guess who found the camera?

She did get some lovely self-portraits with it. She also got lots of pictures of the rocks and dead grass in the backyard, but those pictures have been deleted. The self-portraits we will keep.

Loving My Job

Especially since Kevin has been working in Sacramento during the week for the past four months. I can reveal this on my public blog now that he is back. All of you blog stalkers out there can come on over because my husband is home, and he's home with a job so secure that he's not going anywhere any time soon.

He was asked to work in Sacramento about a month after I started working. At that time, I really started to wonder if my answered prayer to go back to work was a miscommunication. I was already feeling a little overwhelmed with three little kids and keeping up with my job responsibilities, and this request for Kevin to work in California seemed like something that might throw me over the edge.

But I have to say that my job is what has kept me going for the past four months. It was a tender mercy given to me to help me cope with Kevin being gone. I was forced to get up and get ready 4 out of 5 mornings during the week. If I wasn't working, I probably would have spent each day of the week in my pajamas, which would have lead to me not getting anything done. I seem to be more motivated during the days that I'm dressed and ready to go. And my job also gave me enough of a break from my kids during the week that I didn't want to throw them out the window by the time Kevin flew back in to Las Vegas every Friday.

And as if helping me get through this tough time wasn't enough, this job is also a lot of fun. I love the students I get to work with. They brighten my day every morning. And it's nice to feel like I can still do something besides change diapers. Being a stay-at-home mom is wonderful, and I love that I get to stay home with my kids, but I started to feel like I was losing myself. I love to hear when other moms find a new hobby or outlet because I think it's so important that we set aside a little bit of time for ourselves.

I'm not sure if my friend Emily still reads my blog, but I really have to publicly thank her for cleaning up the upper-level math mess at American Heritage before I got there. I don't think I would have enjoyed this job as much if she hadn't straightened things out the previous year. And I've told her that I would love for her to come back and work with me some day. She has a baby coming soon, but maybe in a few years...

I've been asked to come back and teach next year, and I'm so excited to do so. This really is one of my favorite blessings.

You're It

Tag

1. What is your occupation right now? Full-time Mom and part-time math teacher

2. What color are your socks right now? I'm not wearing socks, but if I were they would probably be white.

3. What are you listening to right now? our noisy dishwasher

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Goldfish

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yes I can. Both of my cars in high school were stick shift.

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Kevin

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Not really. Yeah right. Love you , Jul!

8. How old are you today? 28

9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? football

10. What is your favorite drink? Coke (At least you are addicted to diet, Julie.)

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes

12. Favorite food? sushi

13. What is the last movie you watched? School of Rock

14. Favorite day of the year? my birthday

15. How do you vent anger? yell and/or curse

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? I don't remember a toy, but I did carry around a special blanket until I was 9 years old.

17. What is your favorite season? definitely spring

18. Cherries or Blueberries? Blueberries

19. Living arrangements? I live with my husband Kevin and my three kids.

20. When was the last time you cried? Two weeks ago when Kevin told me he was finished working in Sacramento. I'm not a single mom during the week anymore!

21. What is on the floor of your closet? shoes, a vacuum, and wrapping paper

22. What did you do last night? drove home from New Harmony

23. What are you most afraid of? Someone breaking into my house when I'm home alone with the kids.

24. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? At McDonald's - cheese. Anywhere else - plain.

25. Favorite Dog Breed? My brother has three chihuahuas, and I love his dogs.

26.Favorite day of the week? Friday

27. How many states have you lived in? 2

28. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds!

29. What is your favorite flower? roses

30.Camping in a tent or trailer? trailer

31. Ford, Chevy or Dodge? Ford

Ten Months Old

And walking:

This kid wants to follow his sister and brother so badly that he is walking at the time that they both started crawling.

We took him to see Santa for the first time this year:

As you can see, he enjoyed sitting with Santa about as much as William enjoyed sitting with Santa last year:

We torture these poor kids.

Sorry, Jess

We don't have the same car anymore. We sold the white Camry and got a new car that seats eight. I was sick of seeing Rebecca and William constantly fighting in the back, and we found this car for a great deal. Those two still try to hit eachother while we're driving in the car, but now that we have room to separate them, they are too far away to land their swings.

Finding this car came at a great time, too. Back in November on our way home from Disneyland, some crazy old lady who has no business being on the road anymore side-swiped us.

The week after we got our new car, our insurance company called to inform us that on the police report this crazy lady stated that we drove into her. Don't you just love people who are honest? Or maybe she's so senile that she really believed as she was swerving into our lane that we were actually swerving into her. What I don't understand is how we could get that funny-looking tire swirl on the side of our car if her tires were driving straight ahead and we pulled into her. And of course no one stopped to be a witness, so the the policeman couldn't cite anyone because of conflicting accounts. So in the end we probably would have had to pay to get the damage fixed.

But instead of putting $500 into fixing a car that we did not damage, we got to keep our money and get a new car that we were desperately beginning to need. We were to the point that when Kevin wanted to travel with his snowboard and the kids were in the car, he had to hold it in his lap in the front seat.

I do miss the ghetto tint on that Camry, but the extra room in this car makes up for that.