I'm a Slacker

I knew I needed to blog and it's been on my mind lately, but then I looked back and there haven't been any pictures of the kids on here since April 6th! Oops! So there are a bunch of posts here covering everything from Easter to last night's backyard campout. We've had a very fun summer already and are planning lots more fun in the coming months. But before we get to the pictures, here's a little update on what we've been up to the last two months.

Reed- Reed is our crazy, happy boy. He has two speeds- running and asleep. Reed is starting to talk a lot better lately. We were worried, because at 18 months, he still wasn't saying a word. Now he talks all the time, albeit usually just one word at a time, and I can usually understand what he wants by his one- word requests. He's such a smart little boy and I can tell he's learning new things every single day. We're also fully into the whiny, tantrum stage with him too though, so it's a good thing he's so stinkin' cute. He loves to give kisses- big, wet ones, and "squeezy hugs". He has joined in the nightly family scripture reading - repeating one word at a time, which is so cute. He loves playing rough, screaming for fun, playing in water, and eating dirt and rocks. He’s SUCH a boy and I love it. Even though he is rough with her, he adores his big sister. If he doesn't see her in the morning, he asks me where she is by putting his little palms up and saying "Chal?" (How he says her name). And if he gets a treat, he always wants an extra one to give to "Chal". He loves giving her extra long hugs and kisses, which she unfortunately doesn't appreciate like we do. He's a very loving little boy.


Rachel- Rachel continues to be our sweet, sensitive, soft little girl. Except don't call her a 'little' girl, or she'll get mad and tell you she's a big girl. She has a wonderfully active imagination and can be content playing by herself, talking to herself, for long periods of time. She loves the computer and can use a mouse so well. She loves playing with friends, and anytime she sees a girl about her age at the park or wherever, she'll go up to her and say "My name is Rachel!" and play with them. She loves having books read to her and playing with stickers. Her favorite foods are fruits, but she's getting better at trying new things. She's really good now at saying her own prayers, and she also likes to tell "secrets", where she'll whisper in my ear, usually something about Heavenly Father or Jesus. She likes making silly faces and pretending to be animals ("Rachel Kitty" is a frequent visitor at our house). She's very excited about turning 4 soon and often reminds me that she's going to have a birthday soon. 


Mary- The biggest thing going on with me lately is a surgery I had a couple weeks ago. I have always suspected that I had endometriosis, which is where the lining of the uterus grows in places it shouldn't inside the body. It's something that causes a lot of pain certain times of the month and can contribute to infertility. But the only way to know if you have it is exploratory surgery. So I finally decided to just get the surgery to find out once and for all. It was laproscopic, so I have 3 small incisions, and went home the same day. Turns out I do have pretty bad endometriosis (stage 3 on a scale of 0-4), and the doctor was able to clean out about 80% of it. Hopefully this is also a factor that has contributed to our infertility and perhaps make it easier for us to conceive, but only time will tell and I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high in that department. I'm pretty well recovered now, and glad I was able to have it done.

Mike- Mike has the biggest news. He got a new job! He hadn't really been looking, but he didn't exactly love his job that he was at, so he was just kind of keeping his eyes open. A friend who had also been laid off at Novell last year works at this company, and told him about the job opening, which was for an HR Manager. Human Resources is something that Mike has always been interested in, but in which he has no formal training or experience. He didn't think he'd be able to break into the field unless he started out at the bottom or went back to school. But he interviewed for the position, and they liked him so much that they want him to grow with the company and offered him the position. We thought and prayed about it, and it felt right. The company is located about 40 miles north of where we are now though, so we are planning to sell our house and move up closer, since Mike absolutely hates commuting. We'll be listing our house in about a month and hopefully moving in about 3 months or so, depending on how the selling goes. We'll be sad to leave our great neighborhood, but we're excited for new adventures and opportunities. Mike is very excited about the new job (he starts next Monday), and Rachel is already talking about getting a "new house". 


Overall, we feel very blessed and grateful for our Heavenly Father and our Savior. Life is good. There are hard days now and again, but we are so grateful for family and our amazing life. So read on for what we've been up to the last two months!