Changes

Change is the only thing that is constant in our lives. That sentence sounds like its own little contradiction. I don't deal well with change. I despise it and I hate it. I don't like change from the smallest little taste of change, like if they are all out of my laundry detergent at the store and I have to buy another scent, down to losing a loved one and dealing with that change. Change, blah!

I hate when people say, "but change is good for us". Ok, says who? Shut up, you eternal optimist. I know that we are told to be optimistic but sometimes I just can't stand those people who always have a smile on their face and talk about how perfect their lives, marriage and children are. Gag me. Everyone has struggles, everyone. But heaven forbid that any of us not act like we have perfect lives or admit that our house isn't clean all the time.

A couple of months ago I felt like a change was going to come. I can't even really explain what that means, just that I felt like something was going to change for our family. I instantly thought it was going to be something to teach me patience (clearly that is something I need to work on). I knew they were redoing our ward's bishopric and I thought... "What if they put Josh in the bishopric? I can hardly handle how long he's gone right now between his commute and his long work days, he's gone for 12-14 hours a day. I already feel like a single parent and I'm not doing so hot with the current situation. We got a new bishopric, no Josh. Whewww.

Josh was in the Elder's Quorum Presidency before they redid the bishopric then the President was made the bishop so they had to redo the EQ presidency. Once again, oh please, no more meetings than he already has to go to. He gets called back into the presidency with a new president. Ok, I can handle this.

Then 2 weeks later they announce in sacrament meeting that our ward and 8 other ward boundaries are being realigned. What? And the meeting was that night the stake center. I was so nervous, we live right on a ward boundary line. In fact, every place we've lived since we've been married, we have lived on a ward boundary line. In our first one, our road cut off the line, our second one, the people across the street were in a different ward and now 2 houses down from me isn't in my ward. I knew we were goners. Not that the thought of that broke my heart. We don't exactly like this ward we've lived in for 3 years. They aren't really nice and unless you grew up in West Point or you married someone from West Point, you're not really welcome. Plus the old people are MEAN about kids.

I wasn't really worried about being moved to a new ward but I really wanted my friend Melissa to stay with me. Her house is along the boundaries too and I was worried that they would split it right down the road that separates us. Luckily, the line ran through her backyard and she came with us to the new ward. Even though I didn't like our ward, I was nervous to change and be the new people coming into the existing 13th ward.

Wow, this is starting to be really, really long. In short, Josh and I teach primary together for the Valiant 8 class. There are twelve of them. It gets really crazy. I have made some friends in the new ward, I instantly felt welcome, the old people are nice and sweet about children and most of the ward is younger families so they don't care if your child screams all the way out of sacrament meeting. Everyone seems so nice. Halle has had to relearn that she likes nursery and Josh and I are learning the ins and outs of 8 and 9 year olds.

All in all, it was the best change for me. There were 3 reasons for us to sell our house and move. First, to move down closer to Amy in American Fork. Second, Josh's new (a year ago) job is in Cottonwood Heights, long commute. And third, to get out of our ward that we didn't like and that we've never felt welcome in.

Let's take a look at that. Number one is no longer needed, Amy is moving back to Cache Valley and now number three is no longer needed because we didn't have to move and still got put in a new ward, which we love. Now if only we could get number two done. 2 out of 3 done. Let's get cracking.

I guess change can be good.

Easter

The girls in their Easter dresses, compliments of their Aunt Amy. She is so sweet. She buys all of the nieces a dress for Easter. Each of the dresses perfectly matched my girls. They looked so cute! Thanks Amy.

Josh's mom does an Easter egg hunt every year. It is HUGE. There is tons of candy, eggs and prizes. The kids LOVE it, that is an understatement.

She had it separated into 3 different age groups. The younger kids were in the front.

I took lots of pictures of Halle, as you can see. Her basket/bucket broke and we had to move to a plastic sack.

She even decided to share with cousin, Isa. Shock! Needed this picture to document her being a sharing, sweet little girl.

Chloee was in the middle age group, so she was in the backyard. She had so much fun. The kids got so much candy and there were eggs with numbers in them and then they got a prize.

This is a picture of Tyler scaling the fence in the back backyard in his age group. In the 2 older age groups, Josh's mom had 2 GOLDEN EGGS. They have money in them. One I think had a $5 bill and the older one a $20. Tyler spotted the golden age in his age group and was determined to get it. I had to get a picture of it. I laughed so hard.

The Easter bunny always visits us on Saturday. I successfully didn't take one picture. Pat myself on the back. I don't know what was going on. The girls got matching pjs. Chloee got a new soccer ball and Halle got a drawing board among other things. They went to the Easter egg hunt for our city but we got there 2 seconds too late and there wasn't anything left. The girls did get to see the Easter bunny there though. They thought that was pretty neat.

Josh Turned The Big 30!

JOSH IS THIRTY, FLIRTY AND THRIVING!!!

This is Josh's sweet cake I made. I decided to do a "construction site" seeing as how he designs bulldozers for John Deere. I thought this little thing up in my head and it actually turned out better than I thought it would.

I was going to put toothpicks all around it with orange caution tape sectioning off the work zone but it was not going well that day. Halle did NOT take a nap.

The pond was complete with the fish jumping in and out of the water.

That is an actual John Deere loader pushing the dirt into that huge pile, down the hill.

The tootsie rolls were originally supposed to be a log cabin but did not turn out so it's just a pile of logs. I know you're probably looking at his going, this is so dumb... but Josh LOVED it!!!

We did "Thirty For Thirty". It took me 2 hours and 6 rolls of wrapping paper to get these all done. They were number coordinated. Yeah, I'm a freak like that.

It took him an hour to open all of the presents but not without help from the girls.

I had to get a picture of myself with the cake. I did spend a while on it, not that you'd know that by looking at it.

We went out and ate at The Brick Oven. We had never been there before but Josh wanted to try it. Not impressed, to say the least. I don't think we'll ever be going back there again. On a totally separate note, Halle kicked Josh in the balls on the way out of the restaurant as he was carrying her. It dropped him to his knees and he had a stomachache for a while afterward. Happy Birthday Dad!

Those scary eyes he's making were at Chloee.

Josh says it was one blow, I get to differ. I heard him suck in and blow again.

My friend, Melissa, stopped by to give Josh a present and I had her take this picture. Kind of a weird angle but hey, it works.

Yeah, that was for later. Oh that picture is hilarious.

Josh is an amazing man. He is patient, kind and loving. He has to be patient, he's married to me. He is my best friend. He can make me smile when I want to tear someone's head off (that does piss me off in the moment). He loves me despite my MANY faults. He is always supportive of me. Josh is a dreamer, but he's making his dreams a reality. He is one of the most thoughtful people I know. He is incredibly smart. He is the best father and husband. He has stood by my side through the thick, thin and ugly times.

Josh is a man of great character. Josh comes from a... let's call it "special" family. It's amazing that he has turned out to be the amazing person he is. There are a lot of things that happened in his life that he could use as excuses but instead, he learned what he never wanted for his life or his family. Sometimes it still makes me cringe to hear stories of when he was a kid and adolescent.

We were supposed to go sky diving but due to some conflicting things we decided against it. Oh well, there's always my 30th birthday. The sky diving thing was my idea anyway.
I'll probably have to push Josh out of the plane.

P.S. Josh, don't you ever forget what I did for you this birthday. You know what I'm talking about. :)
I need this in here for document's sake.

The Other Camera

I know the title makes it sound like "the other woman". It's almost like I'm cheating on my camera. I got this little guys because I can always have it with me, it fits in my purse and I won't be missing out on fun things we do just because I didn't lug my big, fat camera into the restaurant with me.

The pictures may not be as good as with my other camera but I'm capturing a lot more with this little guy because he's ALWAYS with me. Don't feel bad old camera, at least I took this picture of the new one, using you.

Spring Break

Spring Break... yeah right, more like snowy, ugly, don't go anywhere Break! We spent 3 days at up at my mom's and did some fun things at home too.

For family night, we went out to The Training Table.

Of course the girls loved it.

We loved it also, but for very different reasons. We didn't have to cook.

The girls LOVED the phone. They thought it was so cool that we ordered on the phone and it rang when our food was ready. Oh the simple pleasures.

While we were up at my mom's we watched some cute movies, Despicable Me and Megamind. My mom hadn't seen either and since they are some favorites at our home, we thought we'd catch her up to speed.

They did yoga together.

Yep, I just sat on the sidelines and laughed.

"So Grandma, how well can you do this with me sitting on your tummy?" Hmmm...

Halle loves when I do "Agnes hair". It's the little orphan girl from Despicable Me.

Chloee laid on my brother's lap for like 2 hours downstairs while he was watching sports. He was teaching her how to spell my name, soccer and I love you. She completely remembered them and still does. They were so cute together. Jordan slept at my mom's that night and I had told her that sometimes he goes home in the middle of the night because he can't sleep (he works graveyard).

She woke me up at about 3 AM and said, "Mom, look... Uncle Jordan is still here" She had a big smile on her face. I half expected her to say "It's a Christmas miracle!" Needless to say, the rest of the time, she didn't want to be separated from him.

The usual position and spot you'll find my dad at about 10 pm.... asleep, "watching" sports.

Halle with her Agnes hair.

Amy's spring break was the next week. We went up for a couple days between Chloee's school days. Amy had her pre-construction meeting so I went up for that.

An all time favorite at the Williams household is competition on this pull up bar. Yeah, I don't even try. It's pathetic and hilarious all at the same time.

Kennet is all pro. That kid climbs the door frame up to the bar and then swings and dismounts like a gymnast. Enroll this monkey, would you Amy?

My girls need help getting up to the bar. Halle actually held herself there for a second. Give me a heart attack. Once again, the simple joys and pleasures for the kids.

We were supposed to go to Baby Animal Days but it was snowing!!! I had already bought non-refundable tickets as well, of course. I gave them to Mary. I don't even know if she was able to go. I don't even know if they had it. The weather was bad all week.

I was going to go home Thursday but got snowed in up there in Antarctica. I had to cancel some appointments that I had for Friday cause they weren't letting anyone through the canyon.

My mom is so good to me and my girls. We laughed and she helped me through a hard time I was going through. Thanks Mom!

Smart Cookie

These divine creations come from Smart Cookie. A store down by Amy. They are divine. The best sugar cookie and frosting I have ever had. Unfortunately, no Smart Cookie close to me and they cost a lot of money, but OH SO GOOD!!!! Amy was a dear and brought me some one day on her way up to my mom's. Ok, just for that, I think I need to change her to the beneficiary for my life insurance policy. Sorry Josh! :)

Just another picture of the girls being so sweet to each other. I need to document these moments considering they are so few and far between.

Caught You Doing Something Good

One day I went to get Chloee from school. As soon as I walked in the door, I went over to her and asked her to put her jacket on. She flipped into a huge fit of rage, started screaming and then proceeded to kick me in the shins. I tried to calm her down but then she started throwing punches at me. I hauled her into the bathroom at the school and held her till she could calm down.

We have been having, let's call them "ISSUES" with Chloee lately. Lots of hitting, stealing, lying and screaming... not nice things, might I add. It has been interesting, to say the least.

After that, I talked to her teacher to ask if she is doing the same thing in school. She told me that if she had never seen that fit she threw, she never would have believed me that she acted like that because she NEVER does that at school. She told me that she is one of the best kids in the class.

After her teacher and I talked for a while and I broke down, Mrs. Vicki gave me some good ideas. She told me that when one of her sons was younger, all they did was clash with each other. We talked about the difference between positive and negative reinforcement and how negative gets them a quicker response and that I have to find the positive. That's when she told me something she did with her son.

She made a "Caught You Doing Something Good" chart. She said she really had to come up with something some days. She said, she'd tell herself that there just wasn't anything good about him (you know those days). It finally came down to giving a sticker for simply not slamming the door when he came home that day. She said it really makes you dig for the positive and reinforce it.

This is Chloee's door.

On it is her little chart. I don't tell her when I'm putting one on, she usually notices it sometime after and she'll come running to me, asking what it was for. What good thing had she done? It has changed everything around. I cannot believe how amazing this chart has worked. At first it was for things like not yelling that she hated me when she was in time out.

The stickers now are for things like doing the dishes, sharing with Halle, saying please and thank you. This chart has really helped to tone down all of the problems we have been having.

When the chart is all full, she gets a surprise. This time it was Tangled.

I am so grateful for fabulous people who have been in the trenches years ago and now share their wisdom with a mother of young children.

Las Vegas Con Expo

Back in March, Josh went to Las Vegas for the day. It was for work. The "con" expo was going on there, in good, old sin city. He flew out at 6 am, left the house at 3 cause he had to go to the office first and he didn't get home until after midnight. What a long day.

He was there for lots of reasons. He designed construction equipment for John Deere and they needed to be there. He brought me home this lovely John Deere beanie. I love it!

Yeah, this is a little close. Blame Josh, he took it.

8 Years Ago Today...

Josh asked me to marry him. It was April 9, 2003. We had a 4 month engagement and were married after a year of dating. We decided to go out and celebrate. We went out to eat at Prairie Schooner in Ogden.

When those onion rings came out, they looked like rattlesnakes.

I am so pathetic, I undid my pants before my meal even came. I was so bloated and needed some more room to eat, so I undid the button on my pants, not enough, had to undo the zipper all the way. Don't worry, my shirt was covering it up. Josh was laughing at me. Nothing less to be expected.

I had never been to Prairie Schooner before. Evidently you have your own little lamp that is adjustable for dim or bright light, because....

You're eating in a covered wagon. It was really a fun atmosphere. It was dark outside the "wagon" and there were stars on the ceiling and stuffed animals all over in the middle.

You can kind of tell what it looked like just outside our wagon.

I am laughing hysterically in this picture for 2 reasons. First, I never could get my pants done up to leave. I tried the best I could to just get the zipper up without having to lay down on the ground, suck in and zip them up. Yep, I walked out of there with my pants undone but my jacket was buttoned up. Second, as Josh was taking this picture he farted so loud, I honestly thought he had sharted. I asked him if he needed to go check his underwear.

Happy 8th engagement day... Any excuse to go out and spend time together is fine by me. Even if we do have to unzip our pants and fart as soon as we leave the restaurant. We are high class, I know.