You gotta see this

Okay, so it made me laugh, go here. I think you'll laugh too.

Pardon the blurry pictures. I think my camera was on a weird setting I didn't know about. Here is the CLASSIC Leah picture, with tounge sticking straight out.

Jeremiah wanted to take some pictures. This is his perspective of life: And of course, when the Mr. Potato head pieces come out there is always loads of funOh yeah, my kids love me :)

Going innactive

Yes, I am officially going innactive... as a blogger. This is what has been going on with us lately:

Greg was obliged to look for a new job.

We quickly became grateful for the prophets council to stay out of debt and to save.

Greg found a new job (wow, that was fast).... in UTAH.

We found a cheap apartment and moved to Salt Lake. (6 hours in the car alone with two children, I quickly became grateful for modern conveniences such as portable DVD players)

We realized that we should have been more grateful for the free rent we had for two years.

We got food poisoning, or the stomach flu, we're not sure which, and were sick in bed for nearly a week. Because of all of the childrens bodily functions happening at the spur of the moment we had to have our carpet re-cleaned professionally two weeks after we moved in.

Greg started studying for his level 2 CFA exam. He eats breakfast lunch and dinner at the office, works out at the gym AT THE OFFICE, and studies AT THE OFFICE. We only see him on Sundays when he sleeps all day (except for three hours of church). At least its easier than it was last year. Only 1 more test after this one!!! Hurray!

We bought our first washer & dryer AND a 2nd car for under $1000. So far, all of them work GREAT!

I have been blissfully and lazily enjoying being JUST a stay at home mom.

I have been overly ANNOYED with neighboors all around us. I did not sufficiently appreciate being so separated from our neighboors in our townhouse. The music, the yelling (and cursing), the banging of doors, the smoking on decks right next to the playground, etc.)

We have all been able to enjoy being close to the Hirschi side of the family.

I started browsing through real estate listings, but have been given strict instructions that I can't start seriously looking until after Greg finishes his exam the first week of June.

I realized that houses are EXPENSIVE here. I wish we bought a house back in.... oh, 1990, when my parents did and only had $80,000 to pay off.

I began wondering why people take pictures of their decorating and their furniture more than their actual house when they are posting photos for listings. I AM NOT BUYING YOUR BED.

I began missing Boise when it started snowing every day and we couldn't leave the apartment.

Then I began wondering where spring went, when we skipped straight to summer; wearing as little clothing as possible to stay cool.

So we are spending what little time we have together as a whole family doing fun things. We're hoping to make new friends in our ward, though it hasn't happened yet. I will post some photos of us goofing around lately. Sorry I haven't taken very many the last two months. I will get better.

Seriously?

Okay, so I'll be the first to admit that my fashion sense is somewhat lacking. I still wear clothes from middle school. But Seriously? Since when did ugly come back in style?

All photos from www.forever21.com

Picture catch up

I noticed that I haven't posted any pictures recently. Here are some pictures of the kids. Jeremiah and I made this road out of old gift boxes, it was quite the project. We also built a house which became Jack & Walters Garage. (From a little people movie we have). All the broken cars and tires went in the garage.The police car was clearly in a deadly high speed chase because the body of the car was disassembled from the works. Jeremiah is such a good helper!

Leah does not really care for solid food. :{

One of Jeremiahs BEST friends is Isabella. Here is the boy version of dress up. Sorry, no princess dresses in our house yet.

Jeremiah stole Leah's head band and decided that flowers AREN'T just for girls! Thanks Janette!

Bachelor

I know, I can't believe I watch it either, but it's true. I am a bachelor fan. But seriously? You had to break up with your finance on National TV. You had 3 months or so to do it and you had to wait until you were being filmed?

For the record, I don't blame him for breaking up with her (even though I think she's great), let's face it, The Bachelor doesn't have the greatest track record with couples staying together, so that didn't surprise me, I'm sure it would have ended eventually anyway, but it usually doesn't end so soon. I have a couple of theories:

Jason is a dope: I hate to say it, but you can see why he's divorced. "the chemistry just changed"... Well DUH! If any of you have the exact same relationship with your spouse as you did when you were first dating (first 6 weeks) let me know! I'd love to be proven wrong. Instead of working through their differences he played the "We're not meant for each other" card.

This is NOT reality TV: You do not learn about a person by playing "General Hospital", or going on helicopter rides and fancy dinners, and private concerts. I would like to see a season based around real life experiences. I think you might see an increase in successful relationships.

Plan B: I feel for him, really. I would never be able to carry on 2 relationships at the same time, taking both relationships to the point where I could marry either man (in my case of course). Then all of a sudden, these men (or women) are just supposed to turn off their feelings for the other person and never think of them again. In Jasons case, his plan A didn't turn out the way he dreamed, so he tried plan B... we'll see how that works out.

Does anyone else think Jason Mesnick is a jerk?

Recycling in Boise

Growing up in Oregon I was used to recycling, but living with the gentiles for the past 7 years I forgot why I did. Until I sat down and simply thought about the amount of garbage that just my little family of 4 contributes to the land fills that could otherwise be recycled with minimal effort. I'm talking about saving the planet without losing my mind. So, this past month I started a recycling box. I was excited that a recylcing drop off was just down the street... until I made my first recycling run and realized that they had 3 huge dumpster sized bins just for glass.... nothing else. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? So, I just found another drop off about 15 minutes away, so here goes nothing! Now I get to find space in my tiny apartment (short of 800sqft) for a larger recycling box that will last me two weeks or so. Man, I wish my City of Trees, actually appreciated them. :)

A little Something

I'm surprised at the response we've gotten from those who weren't checking the blog before because it was private. So, I'm glad you are now!

So, I have some video that I want to put on here, but I don't know how to edit it so that I can post only the last half (I want to save you from the boring first half which is just me trying to get Jeremiah to pay attention to the task at hand.) Anyone know how?

Clearwater

Greg's company, Clearwater Analytics, received national recognition for it's growth in 2008. Hurray for Clearwater.

Potty Training and NO TV

Okay, so since football season is officially over we returned the digital cable box and DVR and I have LOVED the peace and quiet in my house. Somehow Jeremiah senses that Mickey Mouse is no longer available, because he hasn't asked to watch anything today. Hurray for Imaginations!

Unfortunately we very recently began potty training (ugh.) I need all the advice I can get about this one so PLEASE tell me what worked for you!