Charlie's car

Charlie's car has been making some funny noises for a couple months now. We've been thinking it's the clutch and really haven't wanted to fix it, so we've been ignoring it. Yesterday we took it in to find out what is really wrong. We figured that we should probably fix it especially if Charlie is going to be driving back and forth to Michigan for job interviews. So we get to the transmission place and Charlie goes into to talk to the guy. They come out for a test drive. The guy gets in the driver's seat and Charlie in the passenger's. They drive for maybe 10 feet, not even out of the parking lot and the guy stops the car. He says to Charlie that he isn't going to drive it any farther because he's afraid the car will blow up. He told Charlie that if it blew up while he was driving it he'd have to fix it. He told Charlie not to drive it any farther than he needed to and not to put it into 5th gear. Needless to say, that isn't really what we were hoping to hear. So we brought it home and parked it. Now we are looking for a new car for Charlie. We knew it was inevitable, we just were hoping to put it off a little while longer.

What makes the story more interesting is that we were planning a temple trip for Saturday night. I had already gone to get the babysitter and Charlie and I were just about to leave when he felt prompted to check his recommend. He did and saw that it had expired at the end of March. We were pretty bummed, but felt very relieved that we hadn't driven all the way to Chicago to find out our recommends were expired. We thought that was the blessing. Now that we know Charlie's car might blow up at any time, we know that was the bigger blessing. We are very thankful that we didn't try to drive to Chicago and have the car blow up on us on the way. Plus, the stake presidency was at our building on Sunday for the Kenosha ward conference so we were able to have our recommends renewed rather quickly after noticing they were expired. The Lord sure looks out for us even when you don't know it.

So we think we might trade in the windstar for a nice car for Charlie. We are hoping to get one that has great gas mileage. We'd actually like to get a Toyota Yaris, but unfortunately they are so new still that they aren't really in our price range. Charlie has been walking to school since the weather has been nice to help save gas. So we aren't really in a super hurry to find a car just yet. Although, it would be nice to have one just in case he has an interview scheduled that I can't make it to. So we'll see what happens.

Too cute

I took these pictures today. This outfit is one we received from Eric's aunt, but it has been too big (and is still a little long in the pants) until now. It is all a set, from the hat to the socks and it even came with shorts that match the hat. The pictures were just too cute not to share.

Train from Chicago

I had a thought this morning that I will throw out for Hillary. If Charlie does come and you want to come earlier, I checked the Amtrak schedule, and he could catch it in Chicago at 6pm Friday night and get to Ann Arbor at 11:30pm, for $38.00 (if I read it right). We would pay for his ticket, and we are planning to pay for your gas. It's an option, keep it in mind.

How tired are you?

So I read this article on Yahoo about how napping in the work place is becoming more acceptable. They had a link in the article that has a sleep questionnaire. These questions will help you assess your sleepiness. This was my result:

I was a 15, so on the border of this and severe sleepiness.

A score between 11 and 15 indicates moderate sleepiness. People scoring in this range should be concerned that their sleepiness may be interfering with their daily activities, concentration, relationships, and so on. (FYI: People receiving treatment for obstructive sleep apnea score usually about 11.7.) A nap will be an essential tool for the creation and maintenance of a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

I thought it was interesting and so passed it along. Check it out if you like.
http://www.takeanap.info

3 Months Old!

I am just too cute and now I am 3 months old-today! It's been a good life so far. I eat, sleep, cry and poop. I also laugh and smile at most everyone that will pay attention to me. I love my parents and they take good care of me. So, use my 3 month day as an excuse to celebrate. HURRAY!

A Great Weekend

This past weekend was awesome! It started Thursday with Mary's endowment session. Eric and I were picked to be the witness couple-something I was secretly hoping for-and it was a great session. Then on Friday she had a dinner at the Lion House, which was delicious. Paul was married Friday in Logan-we weren't invited, but it did happen. Saturday was the sealing and I took some pictures to share. Saturday was also the reception for Paul's wedding. I took a few pictures of them, but the one I'm posting is the best. It was an amazing weekend and so many things we got to take part in. And two new marriages beginning. Enjoy the pictures!

A Musical Proposal

I had an idea this morning that I am presenting to all of you. I thought since everyone would be here June 8th, our family could do a musical number in our ward. I have a John Rutter song called Look at the World in SATB, that Kari and Jana have sung before. It's fairly simple to sing, (once you've learned the first verse, the other verses are all the same, just in different keys). With Jana, Kari, Hillary, Heather, Jim, Charlie, Dad and Kurt we have enough for 2 on a part. I think it would be fun to do as a family. Of course, I'd have to send the music to those of you who don't live here, and you'd have to learn it mostly on your own. I e mailed the ward music chairman to see if that Sunday was available, and instead of just answering my question, she moved whoever was scheduled to do it that day, and put us in on that day, so we're on the schedule. If some of you don't want to do it however, I'm sure we can work something out. Let me know how you feel about it, either on the blog or in an e mail. Thanks.

Picture

So Jana, what year was the picture taken?

Mom, I thought this article was applicable

Load Up the Pantry
by Brett ArendsWednesday, April 23, 2008provided by Wall Street Journal Online

I don't want to alarm anybody, but maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.

No, this is not a drill.
You've seen the TV footage of food riots in parts of the developing world. Yes, they're a long way away from the U.S. But most foodstuffs operate in a global market. When the cost of wheat soars in Asia, it will do the same here.

Reality: Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster.

"Load up the pantry," says Manu Daftary, one of Wall Street's top investors and the manager of the Quaker Strategic Growth mutual fund. "I think prices are going higher. People are too complacent. They think it isn't going to happen here. But I don't know how the food companies can absorb higher costs." (Full disclosure: I am an investor in Quaker Strategic)

Stocking up on food may not replace your long-term investments, but it may make a sensible home for some of your shorter-term cash. Do the math. If you keep your standby cash in a money-market fund you'll be lucky to get a 2.5% interest rate. Even the best one-year certificate of deposit you can find is only going to pay you about 4.1%, according to Bankrate.com. And those yields are before tax.

Meanwhile the most recent government data shows food inflation for the average American household is now running at 4.5% a year.

And some prices are rising even more quickly. The latest data show cereal prices rising by more than 8% a year. Both flour and rice are up more than 13%. Milk, cheese, bananas and even peanut butter: They're all up by more than 10%. Eggs have rocketed up 30% in a year. Ground beef prices are up 4.8% and chicken by 5.4%.

These are trends that have been in place for some time.

And if you are hoping they will pass, here's the bad news: They may actually accelerate.
The reason? The prices of many underlying raw materials have risen much more quickly still. Wheat prices, for example, have roughly tripled in the past three years.

Sooner or later, the food companies are going to have to pass those costs on. Kraft saw its raw material costs soar by about $1.25 billion last year, squeezing profit margins. The company recently warned that higher prices are here to stay. Last month the chief executive of General Mills, Kendall Powell, made a similar point.

The main reason for rising prices, of course, is the surge in demand from China and India. Hundreds of millions of people are joining the middle class each year, and that means they want to eat more and better food.

A secondary reason has been the growing demand for ethanol as a fuel additive. That's soaking up some of the corn supply.

You can't easily stock up on perishables like eggs or milk. But other products will keep. Among them: Dried pasta, rice, cereals, and cans of everything from tuna fish to fruit and vegetables. The kicker: You should also save money by buying them in bulk.

If this seems a stretch, ponder this: The emerging bull market in agricultural products is following in the footsteps of oil. A few years ago, many Americans hoped $2 gas was a temporary spike. Now it's the rosy memory of a bygone age.

The good news is that it's easier to store Cap'n Crunch or cans of Starkist in your home than it is to store lots of gasoline. Safer, too.

Tax Rebate

A couple of weeks ago the Bishop of the Westland Ward asked Dad to teach a lesson on finance to their Priesthood and Relief Society. I went along for fun. During the lesson he said something that I thought made a lot of sense, so I'm passing it along to you.
He was talking about the tax rebate that we all will be getting soon. He explained that the purpose for the rebate was to stimulate the economy by people going out and buying things. Dad said that rather than buying that flat screen television that we all want, we should put the money into our food storage instead. That way you are still buying something, but something that is necessary.
I thought that this a great idea. A lot of people say they don't have the money to get their food storage, but now they don't have that excuse. I hope you'll give it some thought before you buy the tv.

The bullies are back

Lexi had another run in with a couple of the bullies who have bugged her in the past. She has been telling me that they have continued to bug her since that last big run in but not as bad. Yesterday, however, one of them asked her what she would do if she hit Lexi and then another one actually hit Lexi in the back of the head while Lexi was turned around. Now the girl claims it was an accident, but Lexi doesn't believe her. So I called the principal today and left a message with the one girl's mom. I don't have the other girl's phone number and the principal can't give it to me. I haven't heard back yet from the mom.

Lexi said she talked to the school social worker today and that the other two girls did too. The principal told me that if the girls touched Lexi again that she would suspend them. I might have to get the police involved, but the principal said they usually won't do anything unless things happen off school grounds. I'm pretty frustrated with the whole thing. I wish they would just leave her alone. They don't have to like her, but just ignore her. If they continue I might just pull her out of school and home school her for the rest of the year. Unfortunately they have escalated to threatening her personal safety and I won't keep her in a place where she can't be safe.

Law & Order

This is mostly for Mom and Kari, I don't know if the rest of you keep up with Law & Order. In case you didn't know, tonight is Jesse Martin's last episode on Law & Order. What will they do without Detective Green? Anyway, I plan on recording it and thought you might like to see it, too. I'm sad, boohoo.

Missouri Update

Over the weekend we wrote an email to the lady in admissions and asked her what position Eric is on the alternate list for the human anatomy track. She wrote us back on Monday telling us that Eric was second on the list. We were pretty excited about that until Eric remembered that for the track he applied for they don't accept many people so we wrote her back that night asking of all the people accepted into the master's program how many were accepted into the human anatomy track. We didn't hear back until this morning-so you might actually be reading this before I talk to Eric. She said that accepted 2 people into that track. This news is not what we wanted to hear. That would mean either both people accepted would have to decline or one of the people accepted and the first alternate would have to decline. We still need to discuss it, but it looks like we are going to stay in Utah for at least another year. We'll let you know what we decide and how things play out. Thanks for all the prayers and the love you have sent our way these last few months.

Rockin Robin

Ok, here's my first attempt at loading a video. Kurt had Harvey all riled up to Rockin Robin. This is the tail end of the song.

Harvey-Time

Here are some cute pics of my cute kid.


His favorite new toy is the diaper box. Or as he call's it "La, la, la."

He's also enjoying his very stylish high chair. It was his first time in it.

He started sitting up on his own this week. We were able to capture the second attempt. He did well as long as he was playing with something but if we distracted him he would fall over.

And here he is from today just being a cutey-patootey.

Summer fun

Okay, here's the deal. Jim's graduation is on June 7 and from all indications, we won't be able to schedule the Court of Honor at the same time. It will probably be at the end of June. We asked Jim his opinion and he felt if was more important to him for as many of you as possible to be at his graduation than the Court of Honor. We understand that Hillary, Charlie and family won't be able to be here then but everyone else could be (at least we think so unless you tell us something to the contrary). He will be happy to have anyone who may be in the area come to the Court of Honor.
It will be fine for Jana and Kari and Eric to come the week before graduation and stay through the week; Jana will need to fly back on June 8 to be back to go to Girls' Camp (hopefully we can get her back early enough to pack, etc.). If that won't work for you, Jana, you could plan to come to the Court of Honor instead. Sorry this seems to be so complicated; we just couldn't arrange for them both the same weekend.
Please let us know what you think. We need to buy tickets as soon as we can because ticket prices are supposed to start going up drastically in the next little while.

See you soon, at fun ... (well, you know the rest

Family Council-Blog Style

I just want to point out that I am writing the 430th post on our family blog. YIPEE!
Anyway...do you all remember when we were living at home and to plan a vacation Mom and Dad would call a family council? Well, I would like to call a family council and discuss the plans for June. Could someone please let us know what is going on in June with Jimmy's graduation/court of honor? We aren't sure whether we are going to fly in or drive since we don't know whether we are moving to Missouri or not. We were under the impression that they were going to be at the same time and we could see them both, but when I talked to Jana the other day she said that she thought they would be at two seperate times in June. Would someone please enlighten me and tell me what they know of the plans? (Probably Mom and Dad would know the most) THANKS!

Some cute pictures

Here are some pictures I took of some of my kids with Harvey. I think they turned out really cute.

Jelly Bellies

We went on a little family excursion today to the local Jelly Belly factory. It's about 20 minutes south of us and they do free tours of the factory. All you really see is there warehouse and they drive you around in this little train and have you watch different videos that explain the process of making jelly beans and other candies. It was interesting to me, but not as much for the kids. They liked riding on the train though. We each got a hat to wear too, which our kids liked. At the end of the tour they hand out thank you bags with jelly bellies in them and then you exit our through their gift store (nice planning huh?). It's amazing the stuff they have in there. Overall it was a fun FREE family thing that the kids enjoyed for the most part. Here are some pictures of us.

This is us waiting in line.

This is us with our hats on the train.

This is the kids in front of the train engine. Sorry it's kind of dark.

100 miles by July 1st

My friend challenged me to run 100 miles by July 1st. She is doing it and is currently 7 months pregnant, so I had BETTER be able to do it too. If I don't and she does that would just be plain old embarrassing. I am running a 5K on July 3rd (Addie's birthday) for the St. Jude Hospital, so this goal gives me motivation to run daily before the big 5K. I have 75 days left until July 1st and still have 93 miles to go, but I know I can do it! I can now jog 2.4 miles without stopping and if go that far 5 days a week it will take me less than 8 weeks to run the rest of the 100 miles. I have about 10 weeks until July 1st, plenty of time! I thought I'd let you all know, that way you can check up on me!

Oh yeah, how are the Hicks' doing with the TV fast?

We're true Memphians!

Jason, Addie and I have now been officially inducted as Memphians. Here's why:

Yes, Little Green was broken into the night before last. As you can see, they broke through the driver's side window with this heavy metal thing that looked like it was from an old building. They took the stereo and left the mess for me to clean up.

I filed a police report and then had the car towed to the shop. A lot of the blame is ours, she hasn't been working (again!) since the beginning of March and just sat in the parking lot while we procrastinated deciding if we should sell her, junk her, or fix and keep her. I'm sure they were checking her out and decided a useless old car with a decent stereo was an easy target (we had installed Jason's old one right before we moved out here). Oh well, it made us get up and do something with her. We're either going to fix and sell her or junk her, it all depends on how much her repairs would be this time. We're paying too much in insurance and we don't use her enough (Jason's in a carpool and only drives once per week) to make it worth our money. Anyhow, pretty cool, eh? I've never had anything burglarized before! Yay for Memphis!

The Return Email

So, today Eric got an email back from the lady in admissions and here it is in full:

Thank you for the email. I know that this is disappointing, but hopefully I can shed a bit of light on the current situation. We do have alternate spots, and often we have alternates that will be a part of the program. Last year we had four alternates join the program because others had made other plans or had other opportunities that came along. We have notified all accepted students as of yesterday and they will have three weeks (May 6) to return their admissions agreement and deposit for the program. We may have seats open at this time or also as the start date of the program grows nearer. Orientation for the Masters program begins July 7. I understand what you mean about needing to have a time frame to work within. I will make sure that if you are given a place in the class that I call you as soon as I find out. I will keep my fingers crossed for you Eric. Let me know if there is anything that you need and hopefully we will be in touch again soon.

So, now we wait...again. Hopefully we won't wait much past the 6th. Keep your fingers crossed.

We Know...Kind Of

After waiting anxiously to hear from the school in Missouri, Eric got an email tonight from the dean of the graduate program. We were so excited to open this email and held hands as he clicked on it. I popped up and saw that Eric was chosen to be on the alternate list. What?! Yes? No? Come on! Just tell us what we need to be planning for. Eric wrote an email to a lady that is on the admissions board-she is the one that he talked to about the program before he applied. He asked her about his place on the alternate list (like first choice or seconce choice, etc) and also how long the people have to accept or reject their offer. Hopefully we hear from her tomorrow. Also, hopefully someone turns it down and Eric is pulled in to take their spot.
So, we still don't know if we are moving to Missouri or staying in Utah. I just wish we knew either way-I hate this limbo stage. We do ask that you please keep praying for us-most especially for Eric. We will keep you updated. :)

Just Wondering

Jana, when are we going to get a new picture on the blog? That one of Hillary is cute, but getting old. Also can you put a link to the Hutchinson blog that Sarah started on this one? I can't seem to get to it on my own.

Another weekend in Michigan

Well we went back to Michigan for a weekend to take care of the van we wrecked. Because this weekend was stake conference for us, we took advantage of not having any Sunday responsiblities and went. Charlie took Friday off from work and we took the kids out of school and left Thursday after school. We bought another aerostar off of Ebay and needed some parts from our wrecked van for the new one. Charlie worked most of Friday to switch the parts. He did a really good job for one who doesn't know much about cars. The biggest job was swapping the mufflers and he did great. Then we took the wrecked van to Charlie's parents' house. They said we could keep it there for a little while. We are hoping to hang on to it in case we need other parts from it. Charlie actually drove the wrecked van to their house, on the expressway and all. We were impressed with how well it drove. In fact, Charlie's dad might use it to drive back and forth to work instead of using his truck which guzzles gas. When we got back to Mom and Dad's house we noticed the stering wheel was whining real bad. Charlie popped the hood and found the engine sprayed by something that we assumed was power steering fluid. So we called Walkers where Dad takes his cars and explained that we needed the car by Sunday to go home with. They fit us in on Saturday morning and found it to be a hose from the power steering pump had come off. They replaced it and it was good. Then we were driving the van to Flint that afternoon and the van started to wobble. So we took it to Muffler Man in Flint and they balanced the tires and it was good again. Man, I didn't plan on having to take our van in to be fixed so many times while on vacation. It was a pain. It's a decent van overall and the inside is so much roomier than the van we bought from Mom and Dad. It was nice to not have to cram everything for a trip inside.

We enjoyed being back to see family though, and we accomplished what we needed to. We are still considering moving back to Michigan. I'd like for Charlie to have a job though, so we'll see what happens. We are praying for guidance.

Another Car

We are the owners of another car this week. Hillary bought our van when they were here at Easter, (so they'd have some way to go home). That left us looking for another car. While we were in Utah we rented an Escape hybrid. We really liked it, so that's what we looked for after we got home (excluding the hybrid, which is expensive). Then on Wednesday the Lord dropped it in our laps, so we bought it. Now I can run around in my little SUV! The only thing I don't like about it is that it's silver. I have a hard time finding it in parking lots, since every other car is silver. In fact, I went up to one in Meyer's parking lot the other day and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't open, then I realized it wasn't my car. I just want to say that the grass is starting to turn green. Spring is coming!

Balls Mahoney's Birthday

You learn something new every day, (some things that you don't care if you know). Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KURT! That cute little blond boy who stole my heart 28 years ago has grown up (and up and up, tall is good). I hope that everyone treats you nice all day. See you tonight.

Heather's Birthday

I forgot yesterday to put Happy Birthday to Heather! I'm sorry, but I'll try to make up for it now. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATHER. I hope you had a great one and that you're cold is getting better. There is light at the end of the tunnel, it's just a long tunnel.

Something Funny

I was just looking at the blog and something funny happened I thought I'd share with you. Charlie is sitting next to me and he let a really bad smelling fart go, really, really smelly. Jaxson is sitting on his lap and when he smelled the fart he tried to pull his shirt up over his nose but couldn't get it up there and said, "Please help me," to Charlie to get help getting his shirt over his nose to find relief from the stench! We all laughed and I thought maybe you would to.

optometrist's dauthter

We have these toy glasses and yesterday Jason was telling me about the proper ways to fix the frames. Then he decided to alter them to fit Addie and had her wearing them for several hours. She kept laughing at herself in the mirror, and he had her wear them in the bath. I thought I would share the pictures with you of a true Optometrist's Daughter!
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I've seen it all!

No joke, I opened up Yahoo! yesterday to check my email. The home page normally has short tid bits of news stories. Every once in a while one or two will catch my eye and I'll read the whole story. Yesterday the story that caught my eye was about a pregnant MAN! No joke! I read the rest of the story, it wasn't long though, about a transvesdike (spelling?) man who is 6 months pregnant. He claims his wife had a hysterectomy (spelling?) and can't have kids or he wouldn't have gone through with this. He is legally a man but has a uterus. How weird is that? If you want to check it out, the story I read was at People.com.

Job

Just wanted to post to let the far off ones know that my job is going well. We're super busy and I've jumped right in with both feet. I'm getting to work around 7 so I'm home by 5:30ish so I have some quality time with the Harv-man before bed. I'm actually home right now because I think I caught the bug that was going around at the Hutchinson house last weekend. I had a start of a cold when we went over but it got a lot worse today, including a hacking cough that hurts in my chest. I'm going to the doctor's tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be feeling better and can get back to work.

Our family challenge

So during fast and testimony meeting on Sunday a woman from the ward got up and bore her testimony about how her family had unplugged their TV for 4 weeks. They got the idea from an article in the ensign a couple of months ago. She talked about how different her kids acted toward one another and how much better they got along. She figured it was because they actually had to do things together to entertain themselves. She loved the ways she found to fill her time up, mostly being with her kids more and doing things with them. So Merrit turned to me and said maybe we should try that. So Charlie and I talked about it and introduced the idea at FHE lastnight. We decided to start today and go to the end of the month. Alexis complained the loudest and said there is nothing to do around her if we turn the TV off. So Charlie has turned our challenge into a scientific experiment: to prove or disprove Lexi's statement. We'll let you know how it goes. I think it may just be the hardest on me. I like to turn the TV on at night to decompress after the day. I guess maybe I just might start to read more (which is not me).