easter

 Here are the pictures from Easter.

First, on Friday, we did our own egg hunt inside our house because it was raining.

 Next, on Saturday, the spouse's organization (SAA) sponsored one.

 These are our Easter outfits.

And last we tried to get a family shot, but the camera was falling and then the battery died...maybe next year.

I hope you all had an enjoyable Easter weekend too!

Good Friday Trip

Dad and I went on the Good Friday Trip on Thursday and Good Friday. There is a road that used to be called the Chicago Road that was built to be the main road from Detroit to Chicago (it is now Michigan Ave or US-12). It goes through lots of small towns, so that is where I decided to go this year. There is a web site called Michigan Historical Markers, so I looked up the markers that are along that road and we stopped at a lot of them. We went to McCourtie Park in Somerset Township where a man who made a lot of money in the cement business, paid some artisans from Mexico to make 17 bridges which cross a stream. Each bridge is made of sculpted concrete, painstakingly carved to look like logs, planks and ropes. This is one of the bridges. The last picture is Dad standing by one of the 2 trees made this way, that are really chimneys for a building built into the hill.
This is one of the several historic houses that we stopped to look at. We saw a lot of very neat old houses.

The picture of the frog and the snow leopard were taken at the Binder Zoo in Battle Creek. It was so cold and rainy that day, that they only charged us half price for admission because most of the animals weren't out. We also went to the cemetery in Battle Creek and saw Sojourner Truth's grave, the mausoleum where the Posts are and the plot where the Kelloggs are.

remember me?

I'm the BUNNY CAKE!

In case you don't look at our blog, too, I made this for Jason's birthday, and I ate WAAAAAAY too much of it. Mmmmmm...

Are any of you ordering the Nauvoo Reunion book that Terry emailed about?

School is over!

Woot! Woot! I just took my last final exam and now I'm free from school work until the fall. I've been looking forward to this for several weeks now. Yeah!

I'm also up to running 5 miles now. I'll be moving on to 6 miles on Monday. Wish me luck.

The Great Camping Adventure

We had family dinner on Saturday and Shirley, Hillary, and I discussed the plans for June's camping trip. Thought I'd lay them out.

Where: Jellystone Park, Indian Rivers, MI. We have four rustic camp sites and one rustic cabin site. The cabin site has electric hook-up. I think the sites are adjacent to one another.

When: We check in the afternoon of 6/15 and check out 6/18. Hillary's family may or may not be arriving Wednesday night, depending on the kids school schedule. Kurt and I are planning on renting our site for Saturday night as well so Harvey's cousin from Petoskey can come out for a night.

What to bring: Everyone is in charge of their own personal essentials (clothes, toiletries, etc..).

Bedding: Kurt and I have enough sleeping bags for our family and it sounded like Hillary had enough for hers. I can bring 6 additional sleeping bags from my parent's house. Will that cover everybody? It will likely be chilly at night so warm sleeping bags are a necessity.

Tents: Kurt and I will either rent a pop-up camper or borrow my parents' (they're looking into buying one this spring). Depending on how the camper is laid out, we'll probably have room for another couple adults or kids. We have a tent that can sleep 2 adults comfortably that we'd be happy to bring. Hillary had enough tents to cover her family and perhaps a few extra. Shirley and Bill have a couple tents, too. Let's coordinate to figure out how many we need to bring.

Food: I volunteered to purchase all the food. My plan is to head up to Petoskey on Tuesday so we can leave the dog at my folks' house and do the shopping Wednesday morning. We'll split the total 5 ways. Kurt and I will bring our travel grill. We decided to keep meals pretty simple.

-Breakfasts (Th, Fr, Sat) - cold cereal & milk, bagels & cream cheese/jam, fruit, milk and juice

- Lunches (Th, Fr, Sat) - Cold cut sandwiches, PB&J, veggies and dip, chips, crackers and cheese

- Dinners - Wednesday - Sloppy Joes and potato salad/cole slaw
- Thursday - Hobo dinners (ground beef, potatoes, carrots, onions)
- Friday - Hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans

- Snacks - Granola Bars, chips & dip, chips & salsa, s'mores, campfire pies, roasted bananas w/ marshmallows

- Drinks - Hillary will be bringing one of those large drink dispensers (gatorade-style) and we'll have ice water or lemonade available. BYOP (bring your own pop).

There is a decent grocery store in Indian River so if we want to pick something else up we can. Please let me know if there is anything we should add to the food list.

Activities:

Cross in The Woods - So, there are some more adult oriented things to see and some more kid oriented things to do in the area. There is a huge cross in the woods which is very cleverly called The Cross in the Woods. It is part of the diocese I grew up in and hosts a beautiful mass on Sunday mornings. Anyway, there is a nice trail with the stations of the cross (don't know if that is part of the LDS canon) and then a really huge cross with an outdoor seating area. As Bill and Shirley have found out, if you go to Indian River you really have to go see it. That being said, it is a holy church site and we'll have to keep the kids on good behavior.

Fishing - Hillary mentioned that Merrit would like to go fishing. I believe there is a trout hatchery in Indian River. If not, there is one north of Petoskey. There are also a ton of inland lakes in the area or we could go fishing in Indian river.

Petoskey - My hometown. Its actually harder for me to think of things to do in Petoskey because it just seems like home. There is a beautiful waterfront park with a waterfall and wonderful walking/biking trails. There are beaches for throwing rocks and looking for Petoskey Stones (the Michigan state stone and a fossilized coral from the devonian age). Since it will be mid June, I wouldn't plan on swimming in the bay. In fact, it never gets warm enough for me to want to swim in the bay. There are a bunch of nice shops downtown with ice cream and fudge and such. Bill and Shirley mentioned wanting to go to American Spoon Foods, a local jams/jellies/gelato company. Their stuff is amazing. My mom is asking around to see if they do tours of the factory. There are lots of great parks with play sets. There's minature golf, go-carts, etc... Oh, and I could take you through Bay View, this cool old Methodist bible camp which is full of Victorian "cottages". Most of them are three stories tall and amazingly well kept. If we want to go to Petoskey my folks would be happy to have us for lunch at their house.

Mackinaw City - MC isn't too far away and has a fort from the fur-trading days that has re-enactments and stuff during the summer. They've created a nice little commerce/downtown area for shopping. Mackinaw City always seems kind of boring to me since Mackinaw Island is just a boat ride away. Since it will be peak season, prices will be high.

Jellystone Campground - the campground itself could likely provide entertainment for most of the kids for the time we are there. I know Harvey for one would stay in the pool until he collapsed from exhaustion. There are activities going on all the time like bingo, scavenger hunts, movies with Yogi, crafts, etc.. There's a volleyball court, nature trails, etc... I personally would like to spend a day just at the campsite and bumming around camp. Since Kurt and I are going to stay an extra day, I'd be happy to play tour-guide on Thursday and Friday.

That was a lot of info. Phew. What does everyone think about these details? Love it? Hate it? Have something else you really want to do?

Just a reminder to Jana and Kari down in your more temperate climates, early June Up North can be brisk to down right chilly in the evenings. Make sure to pack everybody extra layers.

mom...

I've been thinking about this a lot the past couple of days, and I thought maybe others would like to know too...where are you going in May?

Updates

Now I know that I've only ever posted on here once, but something kind of major happened a few days ago that I figured the whole family should know about.

I got a call from a co-worker of mine that wasn't any different than a call I would get from a co-worker on any given day. Telling me about work, asking me questions. Then at the end of the conversation my co-worker threw in the little tid-bit that Herff Jones' photography division had been bought by LifeTouch.

The main reason this came as a shock to me is the fact that LifeTouch's quality is just plain worse than ours because they strive for efficiency whereas we strive for expressions and details (with a dabble of efficiency). This news also just came out of the blue. I would never have guessed that we were struggling (not that that's actually the reason, just conjecture).

Now I know you're reading this and thinking "What does this mean for you?" And to be frank, I haven't the slightest idea yet. My boss still has yet to give me any more information other than "It happened." There is a rumor that our mileage reimbursement will be almost half of what it is currently, which could honestly cut my total pay by about a quarter. But there is also the fact that LifeTouch has their prying little foot in a massive number of schools that have been in direct competition with us for the past few years (including almost the entire South Lyon school district).

So in the end this might be a good thing. Everyone in my district will get job offers, so I won't lose my job. Learning LifeTouch's system isn't going to be fun next year though...

J-O-B

Well, we got an offer from the office in Fredericksburg! It's not quite what we had expected, but we're excited and Jason totally wants to go. My feelings are a bit more mixed.

PROS:

• great pay


• great office/practice


• great staff


• awesome location


• partner potential in 2-3 years


• good doctors to work with


• possibility of renting a house from one of the doctors for pretty cheap

CONS:

• starts at part-time with potential to be full-time in a few months


• far from family


• very few benefits

So now we are sorting through everything. Jason wants the job. He is feeling very confident and peaceful about the decision. I am praying hard that I'll feel that way before too long. I'm not against going there, I just wish I had some huge feeling that Virginia is where we will thrive. I don't know. So, until then, I am relying on my husband. The long-term potential at this office is great, it's the time before we move to full-time which is a bit scary. They would like our answer in the next two weeks, so we're having a few resources check out the contract, and pending a few minor negotiations (such as moving expenses), we will be Virginians!

13.1 miles!

Glad it's over, that's all I have to say. I'm disappointed because I ended up walking nearly 4 miles of the race. My left knee gave me pretty bad trouble. This next time around I am going to take it a little easier after the long runs, make sure I'm putting ice on my knees, and just be more careful. I'm excited to do another one (I actually really loved training!) and will again try and not walk any of it. Hillary, I'm excited!

Happy Birthday Kurt

Yes, he's 31! Boy, are you old. I hope you had a great day.

Meet Dublin

I've been looking for a dog for the last month or so. I went back and forth about breeds and whether I wanted a puppy or not. Well, Friday I found a great fit! Everyone, I'm pleased to introduce our new dog, Dublin!

He's a 6 year old shih tzu/ shelty mix and seems to be perfectly well behaved.  He does need a trip to the groomers.  He's settling in and getting used to life around here.  He's housetrained (a "must" for Kurt), knows basic commands, and walks great on a leash.  He slept all night on the floor in our bedroom without a peep.  He does have this funny husky bark though so far he's only barked when the neighbor came to the door last night.  We got him from a rescue.  His previous owner had passed away. I'm super excited.  Harvey is super excited if a little disappointed that Dublin isn't as jumpy and interactive as my folk's dog.  Kurt is indifferent leaning towards pleasantly surprised (I think, he can correct me if I'm wrong).  All in all, I see a lot of good years to come with Dublin.

I know I haven't posted in a long time.  I wanted to let you all know how much better I am doing.  I finally got a clean bill of health from my OB after the surgery and the complications.  I am up and about and enjoying the spring weather.  While I still have periods where I'm down, for the most part I'm getting back into living.  I know we were in your thoughts and prayers and we appreciate it.  Thanks for all of the support.

big weekend!

We have a big weekend coming up!

• Saturday morning I am running the half marathon! Eeeek! Wish me luck. I'm pretty nervous. My knees have been bothering me, but I WILL FINISH if I have to crawl across the finish line. I've loved doing the training, and look forward to doing another one with Hillary this summer.


• Road trip to Virginia! Right after my race I will shower at the provided showers, and then we'll all pile in our car and head up to Virginia. We'll be going 9 hours the first day and spending the night in souther VA with Jason's cousin Katie. Some of you might remember her, she worked in the payroll office with me for two years. We're leaving Addie and Macie with her for two days, while we go up to Fredericksburg with Carson. Semi-alone time with my husband, this will be priceless!


• JOB INTERVIEW! The doctors seem excited to have us come. They are paying for our hotel, and are planning on taking us around to show us the town. I'm looking forward to it. While Jason spends Monday at the office, Carson and I will visit the local parks and check out different areas we could live. It's looking very promising, we're praying so hard that we'll get this job and like the offer they give us.


• And tonight Jason actually has another telephone interview with a different practice in VA. So, more leads! Just in case, of course.

As much as I wish we just KNEW now what we'll be doing in less than 2 months, it's great that we have so much to look forward to this weekend! Yay!

Les Mis

Mom and I had the opportunity to attend a production of "Les Miserables" at the Fisher Theater last night (Thursday) with some couples in the ward. It was a pretty decent production (Marius and Cosette were quite good and Val Jean was pretty good) and the scenery was very impressive. They had background scenes using pictures painted by Victor Hugo, the author of the book. They also created 3D picture scenes that moved, such as when Val Jean is carrying Marius in the sewer and when Javert committed suicide.

A special moment occurred during intermission when I was in the restroom. There seemed to be a lot of school age youth attending tonight; maybe it was school night or something. There were a couple of the boys talking in the restroom and one of the said to the other, "Dude, they are singing all the words. I can't understand a thing they are saying." Everyone in our group I repeated that to got a good laugh out of it.

All in all, a nice night out.

nothing new

I feel bad because I never contribute to this blog, but there really is nothing new going on in our lives.

 Lucy is big-18 pounds by our scale's calculations.  She has started talking the 2 weeks or so which makes it more fun to hold her.  She is figuring out her hands and toys and loves sitting in the bumbo we borrowed from my friend.  She'll be 4 months on Friday-crazy-and is sleeping all night long (knock on wood).

(this picture of Noah is at least a year old)

Noah is also huge.  We have started a quasi preschool with another little girl in our ward and Noah loves learning about the ocean and the sky and he is relearning the alphabet and numbers since the little girls doesn't know them.  He is a perfect big brother and loves getting outside whenever he can-whether it's cold or not.

Eric is in his 3rd quarter of 7 and this is going to be the hardest one of them all.  It's only 10 weeks long but it is packed full of classes and labs and tests.  He is really good about coming home and spending time with us, but you can tell that he is stressed out and will be so happy when June comes.  They have already given him the book on all the rotation sites that are available to us and we are already talking about where we want to go and what would be best...and yes, the Michigan sites are at the top of that list-but we won't know until October.

I was loosing weight and have now stagnated-oh well...we are eating healthier, but I treat myself too often I suppose ;)  I am almost done with my job in the spouse's organization-yay-and will be officially done at the beginning of May.  Eric made me promise not to run or volunteer for anything for next year so I will have less to do and be able to spend more time at home in the evenings...and I can honestly say I'm not too sad about it.  I can't wait until it's warmer so that the days don't seem so long.

Possible job excitement!

Good news on the job hunt! Jason had a Skype interview with a practice in Fredericksburg, VA on Thursday. He said it went well (although somewhat awkward being on Skype) but we weren't getting our hopes up. We sent thank you letters the next morning and anxiously waited. Well, we didn't have to wait long! Yesterday one of the doctors left him a message saying they'd like to meet him in person in the next 2-3 weeks and to call her back. Yay! Last night they spoke and she said they are going to be doing a "working interview." This means he'll be shadowing the doctors for part of the day, and then doing some basic clinical stuff on some of the patients, as well as meeting the staff, checking out the office, etc. She said it is mostly to make sure he wants to work there. It seems like, as long as their personalities click, they want him! Double yay! And, to top it off, they are paying for our hotel for two nights when we go up. TRIPLE YAY! This practice is awesome. As Jason put it, the reason he applied to do a residency was so that he could hopefully get into this type of practice...and now it's looking pretty good that he will WITHOUT doing one! And yes, I'm getting my hopes up! Currently the practice has three doctors, one wanting to cut back his hours now and retire in the next 2-3 years. At that time, they'll be looking to add another partner (aka Jason) as long as they all get along and he brings enough to the table. This is the absolutely perfect scenario. They're excited about having an associate with a family, because there is so much opportunity to network and bring in more clients if you have a family--people you meet at school, in extracurricular activities, etc. Two of the doctors are in their 60s and the young doctor is single, so they said Jason could fill a niche they haven't had. The practice is huge--5000 square feet! They have 23 employees (we've never even heard of an optometry office with that many employees before) with each doctor having his own tech/scribe. It's a medical model practice, with all the newest office equipment and bells and whistles. Exactly the kind of office Jason has been dreaming of! We feel so blessed, it's incredible. So, keep praying for us! We need this last hurdle to go perfectly, and then hopefully we'll be there! My race is April 9th and his interview is April 11th (Kurt's birthday!) so we may drive up right after the race. We'll see. I'm so excited!

Patriarical blessing

Lexi received her patriarical blessing on Sunday. It was such a sweet, wondering experience. I always knew I was blessed to have her be my daughter, but that experience just further confirmed the fact that she is someone special. I am so thankful to have been able to share it with her. It was neat to be experiencing it as a parent. So different than my own experience, but just as good, if not better.

I did 3 miles today!

So my post next to Jana's is not that impressive, but it's a start. :) And I'm proud of it, especially since it was so hard and my legs are like limp spaghetti noodles now. Yeah for running!

the big 10!

This morning I ran TEN MILES. I am now a double-digiter! And, even better, I feel pretty good!

well? well?

So, Hillary, how did the run go today? I can't wait to hear! I hope you're not too sore tomorrow!

Snow again!

Can you believe that two days ago was the first day of spring and here we are getting another snow storm?!?!?! Ahhhh! I can't wait for it to warm up permanently.

On a lighter note, we just finished parent/teacher conferences tonight and all the kids are doing very well. No complaints from any teachers. We are very proud parents. Sometimes I wonder if it's really worth our time even going to conferences. We sit with the teachers for like 5 minutes, just long enough for them to tell us how wonderful our kids are and then leave. Sometimes I wonder if the teachers think, "Why did you even bother to come?" But I do like hearing how good they are doing from some of the people who spend the most time with them.

Running

So I've been riding the exercise bike since January to help me get ready for this race that Jana and I are doing. I've known all along that I'd have to start running at some point because riding a bike and running are very different. I have not been looking forward to running, because I, well, hate it. But I went and bought all the things I will need to run and hopefully not be too sore, so now I have to start running. My plan is to start Wednesday. :)

niners!

I ran nine miles on Saturday! Woo woo! My legs were so tired the rest of the day, but today I feel fine. The other two girls I run with are considering doing a full marathon in December, but I've decided I have no desire. As much as I've enjoyed training for this race, every night before our long runs I get soooo nervous and the anxiousness is not worth it to me. I do want to keep up running afterwards, maybe three or four times a week. I really enjoy the time alone, or with friends, and feel so good afterwards. Anyhow, I'm babbling... Yay! I ran nine miles!

Jim Is Legal

Happy Birthday Jim. Enjoy the day, but remember to Return With Honor. I love you.

some of Addie's recent pictures

The first picture is her and Macie. If you look carefully, you'll see she's spelled Macie's name all over the page. My favorite part are the antanae looking things on the top of Macie's head, they are her pony tails.

The second picture is, hopefully fairly obviously, a PIG--spelled backwards. She even tried to draw the hooves correctly.

Jason is very proud because she's always quite concerned with getting the eyes correct on her people. Haha. She is becoming quite the little artist.

it's great to be EIGHT

This morning I ran EIGHT MILES. It was hard...so hard...but I finished! The last mile was the l-o-n-g-e-s-t mile I have ever run, but I didn't give up. I think I'm more proud that I ran the entire last mile than I am that I ran eight miles. It was so hard. Hopefully next Saturday will be better. BUT YEAH! This is the farthest I have ever run and I wanted to boast a little! Yay me!

Ingenuity

The other night, Harvey was eating carrots with his dinner. We usually give him some ranch to dip carrots in, because he'll eat more carrots that way, but I had forgotten to give him some. So after a couple minutes he said, "Dad, I can have some ranch?"

For a long time, whenever he asked for something without using "please", we'd correct him and make him ask again. That didn't seem to improve the situation very much. So we started telling him, "No, you can't have that because you didn't say please. You can ask again in a few minutes and say please." He always remembered to say "please" the second time, and it did seem to help in reminding him to use it the first time he asked.

Now we've decided to try flat out denial, no second chance. So when he asked, "Dad, I can have some ranch?", I told him no, because he hadn't said "please". He didn't say anything else, so I thought that was that. Apparently, though, he thought I meant to ask again later (probably because we've just started the no-second-chance thing), because in a few minutes he very politely asked, "Dad, please I can have some ranch?"

This time, I explained to him that he wouldn't be getting ranch, because he hadn't said "please" the first time he asked. He was quite upset by that, and had a small fit, but he calmed down pretty fast. He went back to eating.

A few minutes later, "Dad, I can have some ketchup, please?"

The big 34!

Yeah for Mom and Dad. Happy Anniversary you guys. Thanks for staying married for so long. :)

flat stanley

We got an awesome letter in the mail yesterday from Chelsea.  She sent us a little man (Flat Stanley) she had colored in school and asked us to keep him for a week and take pictures with him and have him participate in our lives.  Today we had some sun and a little warmth so the kids and I went to the lake to throw rocks and play with some friends.  I picked up Stanley and took him with me.  Here's a few pictures from the day.

We are enjoying him so far, Chelsea, we'll make sure you get some pictures at the end of the his week with us.  Thanks for sending him!

Starting already

I was getting Harvey dressed this morning, and pulled out a white polo shirt with little whales embroidered all over it. Very cute.

Me: How about this shirt?
Harvey: No, Dad. That's not cool.

Laughing, I pull out a t-shirt with the word HAWK written all over it. It's a hand-me-down from Oliver, so I'm guessing HAWK is a skateboard or snowboard brand.

Me: Okay, how about this one. It says the word "hawk" all over it.
Harvey: Yeah, that one's cool. Wait til Simon sees it!

My 3-year-old is already telling me what's cool and what's not. I guess I was naive to think I had a few more years before that started.

Sad news

Yesterday morning, before church, we found that one of our rabbits, May, was injured, pretty badly. We brought her and her sister in the house and put them under the heat lamp, hoping that May would improve, but she died this morning, early. The kids are pretty sad, but are handling it much better than I thought they would. To be honest, I expected a total melt down like they did when Princess Fluffy's kittens were killed. They haven't acted that way at all though, which is a good thing for me. It breaks my heart to have my kids so sad. We've decided to keep her body and bury her when we can dig a hole. I know it sounds gross, but I think it will help the kids have better closure. I'll do anything to help them get through this better. This is the part I hate about having pets!

Camping

Dad made the reservations at the campground, so we are all set. He, Jim and I will be in a kamping kabin, and the rest of you are at tent sites. All of the tent sites are together. Everyone, except Hillary, should be there Wednesday (June 15th) through Saturday (June 18th). Hillary will get there on Thursday (June 16th) and leave on Saturday like the rest of us. I'm so excited about this, I think it will be fun.

Snowmagaden II

These are pictures from our first snowfall, termed Snowmagaden by some.




You can't even see the goats' water tank. It was completely buried.


Notice the pool ladder that we use to get over the fence. It actually has three rungs, but the bottom one is very much covered.

We had a fun snow storm roll in yesterday afternoon. It snowed through the night and left us about 10 inches. Charlie and I even say a flash of snow lighting. Pretty fun. The kids were already out of school for mid-winter break, but there could be a chance of no school tomorrow, depending on how well the roads get cleaned up. I thought I'd post some pictures of our snow from yesterday. It was quite the load we got from the last snow storm, but it's a good amount. I posted pictures from the last snowfall so you can compare.

First church dance

What a fun time for cousins to share. Lexi and her cousins, Sierra and Tasha, were able to go to their first church dance together on Saturday night. They all had a blast and were all smiles when they arrived home. I'm so glad they were able to go together.

Merrit's ordination

Merrit was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood on Saturday evening. We are so blessed to have him in our family. Unfortunately, he didn't feel well that day. We are so glad to so many of our family were able to be there with us.

growing, growing, growing!

Carson turned 3 months old yesterday! I feel like the last 3 months have gone by so quickly. He rolled from his stomach to his back on Wednesday for the first time, and is working on becoming a pro. This is earlier than both of the girls, they each rolled at four months. I guess it might be true what they say, that boys just want to MOVE! As of this morning, he weighed 11lbs 2oz. Haha, small little Hair children.

And here is a cute picture of Macie saying "Cheese!" I think she looks so big in this picture, she is really growing up and can say all kids of things now.

Oh yeah, and I ran 6 miles this morning! I was pretty worried going into the run, but I finished! Yay me!

Winter Pictures

When you think you're sick of winter, just think of these birds and realize how easy and warm you have it! We were nice and warm in our house and took these pictures out of the window. I thought it might brighten your day.

Weekend getaway

Although this is Mom's site, this is Dad writing. I took half a day vacation on Friday and Mom and I went up to Midland to attend a concert performance by The 5 Browns. Here's their website for those who may not have heard about them: http://www.the5browns.com/. They are five young members of the Church who attended Juilliard music school together; the first family admitted simultaneously and graduated together. They have been performing since and have been featured on a number of TV shows including "60 Minutes." The concert was amazing! They performed a few numbers as a group; all five playing together. Two of the girls performed a couple of numbers together; each of the boys and one of the girls performed solo numbers. The five of them came out and signed autographs in the lobby for everyone who wanted to stay (I of course, who has a problem with idol worship, waited and had them sign my program; as well as the oldest boy signing my ticket -- he performed the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 as a solo and was magnificent). All in all we had a very nice evening (which also included dinner, of course).

The next day we spent the morning driving around Midland and Bay City taking in all the sights. I am adding the picture of the Midland County Court House, a building way out of the ordinary; much different than any court house you have ever seen. The houses in downtown Bay City were also amazing; many old turn of the century mansions. We then ended up in Frankenmuth and enjoyed lunch at Zehnders and, unfortunately, bought some sweets at their bakery. (Now Mom is making me take the blueberry crumb cake to work so we won't have to eat it. I'm happy to oblige her because I don't need all those calories either. ) We had a wonderful time together just relaxing and being together.

As is our wont when they come up, we drove through the Midland Cemetery and found a real cool grave marker in the shape of a tree I will add. We also saw a neat pine tree separated into three large branches; I don't think I ever seen such pronounced branches in a pine tree before. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

ME: an accounting

So, as far as my goals for this year, I'm doing decent on some, not so great on others. On Saturday I ran 5 miles! I'm on par with my training to finish the half-marathon on April 9th. The hardest part of this is just getting out of bed in the morning. I think it's that way with any exercise routine.

I'm not losing weight the way I wanted to. I still have 19 pounds to go to get to my pre-prengnacy weight, and I only had gained 30 altogether! Grrr. The five pounds I gained at Mom and Dad's over Christmas was a big set-back. All that dip and cookies, mmmm.... I've given up chocolate for the YEAR and that has been helpful, and surprisingly easy so far. I'm considering giving up all sweets and treats until Jason's graduation date--MAY 20TH FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT TO COME!!! (A subtle hint that we'd love to have you here.) I'm still trying to decide if quitting sweets cold turkey is the way to go. You'd think that nursing and running would have more of an impact...AND we're eating healthier! I know I just have to start counting calories, but I really really really don't want to.

As for my last goal, my scripture reading has been pretty dismal. Jason and I keep discussing new strategies to help me improve, we'll see how this next week fares.

Oh yeah, and Jason was THRILLED at the outcome of the Superbowl! Here is a cute pic of what we did during the game. If you can't tell, Macie is wearing a Steelers dress sent to us from her uncle just to bug Jason, and Addie is wearing a Green Bay shirt. Addie is saying "Go Green Bay!"

Merrit is 12!

These are the yummy "monster cookies" I made for Merrit's class today to celebrate his birthday. I wasn't planning on doing treats this year, but on the way out the door this morning for the bus Chelsea said to me, "So Mom, are you going to bring Merrit's treat up later?" I knew then that I'd be in trouble if I didn't. So I scrambled to fit it in. It was interesting to fit it in because I hadn't planned to in the first place, but it all worked out in the end.

I can't believe I have an almost-deacon in my house now (as soon as he's ordained next weekend). He's such a good kid. I'm so blessed to be his mom. Love you Merrit!

Jellystone Campground

I checked out the website of the Jellystone Campground at Indian River (the one that Heather talked about). It looks like it has lots of fun stuff for the kids to do, such as a pool, miniature golf, hiking trail, outdoor movies at night etc. They have tent sites, a few camping cabins, even pop ups that you can rent to stay it. Why don't all of you look at the site and comment on it here. Heather says that there are other places to camp also if we choose not to go to Jellystone. I think we should make a decision soon however, so that we can get reservations made.

Is Everyone Alright?

Since all of us were hit by this massive storm last night, I just want to check and make sure that we are all safe. It's hard to stop being a mother and worrying about all of you.

Summer Plans, part 2

So I don't know how many of you have been following the comments on the earlier Summer Plans post, so here is an update.

Hillary's kids don't get out of school until June 15th. The Petersons will be leaving for Vegas on, or about, Wed the 22nd. Would everyone be ok having the campout from June 16th (thurs) to maybe the 18th (Saturday)?

As for the race we're hoping to run, it isn't until the 25th. I just checked and there aren't any races any closer to that weekend within driving distance. I'm sure the kids and I could stay an extra week to make it for that race even if Jason can't, but if not, we'll figure something out. In my opinion, having as much family at the campout is the priority. Would that work?

An Oil Change Disaster

Dad took my car into the dealer for an oil change on Saturday morning. It is nine years old and has 140,000 miles on it, so when they said that we should probably change the fluids too, he agreed. The young man doing it didn't close a shut off valve all the way and it blew fluid into the engine. Dad spent about 5 hours there while they tried to fix it, but in the end they said they needed to keep it until Monday when their engine specialist was there to look at it, so they brought him home. They were very sorry about it, but they would make it right. Monday afternoon they called to say it was ready and he went and picked it up. He knew before he got it home that something wasn't right, so he started back to the dealership. Before he got there it started to hiss so he pulled over and called them. They sent a tow truck and this time they gave him a loaner car to drive home. They discovered that the fluid had gotten into the catalytic converters and blown them out! It will cost them $3,000 to repair it! They had to order the parts and when they came, they were the wrong ones. The short story is that we took the car in for an oil change and it's been there a week now. They assure us that it will be fixed correctly and will be fine. Dad isn't so sure that we'll be able to trust it after all this, so he looked at buying a used Mariner, but just didn't feel that that was the right thing to do, so we'll just drive this one until it dyes, I guess. Dad asked about the young man who messed up and if they might fire him, they said no, but he would have to pay for it (whatever that means). It's kind of like going in to have your right arm operated on and they operate on the left by mistake.

Funny names

Yesterday, Charlie told me about a conversation he had with one of his co-workers. She was telling him about some of the funny names that she has had in her classrooms in the past. The two he told me about were the following:

Abcde - pronounced A(short)*be*si*dee

A-na : pronounced A(short)*dash*nay

Can you believe what people name their kids?!?!?

Summer Plans

Mom and I were talking the other day about the possible Hutchinson Campout and half-marathon adventure. She recommended doing it in June because of the weather, and it would probably be easier for us becasue Jason won't have his license until (most likely) July so we most likely won't have a job in June! Easy to take time off! I know Hillary was hoping for August because of Chelsea's baptism, but it will be hotter, and we'll have a new job by then and it will be hard to ask time off the second month after we start somewhere. Also, Heather will have a brand new baby and may not want to bring him/her camping. Sorry Chelsea and Hillary, but I vote for June.

Anyhow...there is a race in Charlevoix, MI on June 25th. That would be after school is out, so it might be perfect timing for the Hicks fam. Charlevoix is about 45 mintues from Petoskey, way up up north, near Heather's stomping ground. Another great thing about running this particular race is that it also offers a 10K and 5K. So...Kari? Kurt? Eric? Jim? Mom? Dad? If you're not up to doing the 13 miles, you could participate in a shorter race. You still have plenty of time to prepare! For info about the race, click here.

I know Kari said it might be tough to make it in June because of Eric. Sorry! Would you come alone with the kids? We probably just ought to pick a date and plan it, and then all try our hardest to make it. What say ye? Would that weekend work for y'all? Any other suggestions that may be better?

Oh, and I just realized, that is the same weekend as a special someone's birthday... :)

Family Home Evening Missionaries