Here We Are!

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 annwhatch Fun!

Girls vs. Boys

Joy School Graduation

The time has come. Cpc is all graduated from Joy School and ready for Kindergarten - if I can let him go!

This is the last JS lesson I taught - Imagination. They were SO creative!

And here's graduation. Such a great group: SB, Cdc (only at our house), LD, Cpc, Cac, AB, LB

 The teachers:

May Fun

 The other day during a thunderstorm the kids and I went outside to play in the rain and wait for Daddy to get home from work. Cpc stuck his hands in some dirt and I told him to go rinse off his hands with the hose. Unfortunately, after doing so, he left the hose on. 6 hours later, after going out for the evening, I decided to go downstairs to switch the laundry, even though I just wanted to go to bed. It's a good thing I did, because I stepped off the bottom stair onto wet carpet. Pmc and I stayed up until 2am I believe, vacuuming up the water and getting that carpet up in the air so it would dry. Lucky for us, it dried beautifully. Poor Cpc, he had finally been so obedient about not playing with the hose, and only using it when he had permission!

 Cpc had a quick little outpatient operation at PCMC and got the pleasure of a Happy Meal mommy date afterward.

 This is Arc after eating her chocolate cake at Grandpa DG's birthday party. This is also BEFORE she realized that her share of the chocolate cake was gone - here's the after:

For Cdc's birthday he received a butterfly kit. We had to wait to put it to use until we could safely let the butterflies go outside. The time finally came! It was such a neat experience to get five little caterpillars and watch them grow and grow and grow, build their cocoons and then emerge. Cdc did a great job taking care of them too.

 Cpc can really get into mischief.

Cdc mostly just needs a nap here and there.

I love you too Pmc!!!!

Moving up in the World

Prior to Pmc's trip to South Africa we decided that post-africa was the time to really start job hunting aggressively. Prior, we were keeping our eyes/ears open and making an effort - but mostly trying to make sure he did well in school and that we could get by. So when he got back, he really started working on that. He spent time with colleagues working on his resume, and submitting applications to jobs he was really interested in. He wanted a good, general position that would give him good experience in HR without narrowing things down for him too much. So when a referral from a friend in his program came along that looked like a good fit, he applied. On a Friday he had his first interview with them, and they asked him to come back on Monday to meet with the HR director. Monday they offered him the job and asked if he could start the next day.

We felt SO good about this position, even though financially it isn't quite what we'd hoped for. If he started that next day it meant he wouldn't be giving SF 2 weeks notice, but it meant our family would get benefits starting May 1st instead of June1st. It also meant that he would get to train with his supervisor for 2 weeks before the supervisor left on vacation for 2 weeks. So we prayed about it and felt that it would be the best decision for our family to go ahead and take the position and start the next day. SF was not too happy - and I don't blame them. Then again, they have known that they aren't paying him enough or giving him benefits, and that he has been looking for other work. Pmc told them they were welcome to give him a counter-offer, but they declined.

So as of April 30th, Pmc has a new job. He has been really enjoying it. It is up in Kimball Junction, so he rides the SLC-PC connect bus. There is a workout room in the office, so he's been going early and getting some exercise. He's also coming home much earlier in the day, and we're getting some quality family time in the evenings. We finally have a basic schedule that starts in the morning instead of what seems like halfway through the day. We finally have health insurance for our family, and an income that actually covers our bills! We still can't pay for school on our own, or even make payments on the student loans - but shucks, we believe all things will come in time.

I really cannot express how much this job change has affected our family for good. Things run a lot smoother around here and there's a lot less stress. I honestly think the biggest change is simply Pmc being in a job he enjoys. We have always known that would be the essential element, and it's nice to have it confirmed. We believe that doing something you enjoy, and that brings personal satisfaction and growth, is a higher priority than simply having a job to cover the bills. So while we have certainly had our share of dissatisfaction in prior circumstances, I am proud of Pmc for his efforts to find the right job.

Here's his new desk - yet to be fully decorated, or so I hear.

Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade

He'll be around all summer!

More Pictures

 Cpc the butterfly!

Sweet Arc at the RSL game.

 Superheroes!

 Fish at Sugar House.

 Playtime.

 Cpc's last day of horseriding. He will miss Miss Luanne and Poco!

Cleaning up the basement, letting go of some toys.

Utah Spring Scrimmage

 We are fans!

Pictures

The following post is just some bits of life in pictures!

 Cpc after his first day of gymnastics. We did a groupon and it was REAL DEAL gymnastics. He loved it!

 Just a random quiche I made. Pmc loves to document it when something turns out looking beautiful!

 Arc handprint on the mirror!

 I LOVE my children's eyes. It seems as though Cdc is the one with the longest lashes.

This is the day after the Boston Marathon Bombing - showing our support. The kids were even in Boston shirts!

 This is what happens when I ask the boys to help Arc stay happy while I finish making dinner!

 Cpc making lemonade. He is working hard this summer!

 On our way home from visiting Logan. I just love those "fisherman" hats.

 I just needed my very own picture of my grandma's Joy School.

 Home Depot trips. The boys fight over holding that little girly!

 Did I mention that we managed to kill a frog? We replaced Shooter with Spotter. Both Spotter and Hunter died shortly thereafter. We gave up on the frogs, and got a couple little ghost shrimp to help keep the tank clean. However, Prey still died a short time later. We thought maybe we'd start with a clean slate and got a new Betta fish - at first Cdc decided to call her Joy (he said "welcome to your new home Joy!"). However, within 24 hours she killed and ate both of the ghost shrimp (who did get named at some point but we could never remember them since Cpc came up with such outlandish names!). We decided the fish didn't deserve the name it had been given, and ended up dubbing it Fishy. Fishy made it a month and then died. We are just not fish people I guess. We're selling the fish tank and trying to find something to replace Cdc's Christmas gift with!

 Arc LOVES climbing under the table. We had to quit keeping the magazine basket under there because she would tear them to pieces!

These boys enjoyed a day of putting with Dad!