The New Job

I've been meaning to blog about this for several weeks....I got a job as a: Pre-K teacher!

I love the school I teach at!  I'm only teaching part-time in the afternoons, so I still get to spend most of my time at home with my favorite little boy, Kyler, and then he gets to come to the school with me. While I teach Pre-K (class of 5 year olds), Kyler gets to go to a preschool class with other kids his age. He loves it!  I'm so happy that Kyler is getting a good educational start here- what an amazing opportunity!

It's tradition in my family to take pictures on the first day of school by the front door, so here is Kyler, on his first day of preschool!

 He loves his new backpack and likes to wear it everywhere.

I feel like we just started a new phase in life....and...I'm confident it will be a good one!

Don't forget to open the door

 I have published 301 posts on this blog. I also have 23 posts that are unpublished. Several of those unpulished posts I completed and plan on publishing later. However, the majority of them are posts that I started and never finished. For example, the post below... I don't remember why I was writing it. I assume I had just read a talk or something and wrote down some of my favorite points, but I don't know. I apologize for not knowing. I wrote this several months ago. I just found it today, and thought I would publish it...it seemed like a perfect post for a Sunday :)
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-Make our home a place where our children can feel comfortable, safe, and feel the spirit.
-Teach our children to recognize when they feel the spirit.
-Learning the gospel doesn't happen over night. It occurs over a lifetime. Here a little, and there a little.
-Teach our children to understand. Invite spirit, set example, invite them to live what they learn
-We can't clean our own sins, the Savior is needed.
-When we yield to the Lord's will, we will feel his spirit.
-Don't envy others because of their good fortune.
-Don't dwell on old mistakes or grievances. 
-Forgive.
-There is no problem that you can't overcome.
-Through the Savior's atonement, we have the strength to make changes in our lives

Jesus Christ

 I have always loved this picture of Christ. If you notice, there is no door handle. The handle is on our side of the door. Christ is always there. He is waiting for us, but we must take that first step, and open the door to let him in. I know this to be true. Sometimes, when I am going through something difficult, I feel like I'm in the basement of this house, blaring music, so focused on my problem...I can't hear the soft knock of the Savior, longing to help me. However, if I remember to take that first step, and open that door through prayer, suddenly my problem seems easier to handle, and I feel the love that my Savior has for me.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

 Matthew 7:7-8 

McFat

On Friday, I asked Jared if he wouldn't mind cooking dinner. 

What did he cook? McDonalds. LOL

Did we have dessert too? You bet.

We ate on the back deck. That annoying sound would be Kyler's kids meal toy. Thanks McDonalds.

After eating such an unhealthy meal yesterday, we decided to get EXTRA healthy food at the grocery  store today.

When we got home from the grocery store, Jared volunteered to put all of the food away. However, my eyes were too quick, and I saw this on the counter before Jared had enough time to hide them in the pantry. Busted. Haha he cracks me up.

So much for eating healthy this week...unless I can convince some friends to bring their kids over and eat these for us! We don't all have our husband's metabolism here!

A big boy bed? A big boy bed!

Our little boy is 2 years and 8 months old! He is getting awfully close to 3-wow! Not only is Kyler growing older, but he is getting bigger too. Currently, he is 27lbs (28th percentile). He reached another big milestone this month. Kyler transitioned from a toddler bed to a big boy bed! I wanted to wait to take pictures of his big boy room until he had his new big boy bed, and new bedding...but that is at the bottom of our looooong list of needs and wants. So, I just decided to go ahead and take pictures of him and his current big boy bed today, to document it- even though we're just temporarily borrowing one of my mom's beds (since they obviously aren't using it in Chile haha).

These are the 5 things he has to sleep with every night.

I was browsing through old pictures of Kyler this week and found this picture of when he was 12 months old wearing the same PJ's that he wore today!

The PJ's were a little big on him back then. I also realized that his room was blue back then (just like now), and he has the same letters hanging on his wall (we've moved several times since then).

He's been sleeping great in his big boy bed! I have proof. I took the picture below during nap time a few days ago...doesn't that slumbering boy look huge?!

A few facts about Kyler lately:

-His favorite food is pizza.

-He is scared of thunder.

-He loves to say the phrases "Oh no, it's stuck!" - "Hold on tight!"- "Yo ho let's go!" - "Aww Man!" 

-Terrorizing our dog, Bauer, is one of his favorite games to play.

-He loves "helping" me with laundry, dishes, dusting, and his favorite...vacuuming the wood floors.

-He has been potty trained for several months, and never has accidents. The other day Kyler watched me make him a PB&J sandwich. We have the easy squeezable jelly, and when I squirted the jelly onto the slice of bread it made a farting sound, and Kyler LAUGHED and pointed his little finger and said "Toots go on potty, jelly!"

 -Balloons are still his most favorite thing in the world.

-Lastly, Kyler LOVES to be tickled. Especially by Jared.

Terrified and hiding behind balloons during a thunderstorm...and tickles from daddy!

We sure do love this little boy!

One of our family favorite dinners

This is one of our family favorite dinners. My mom used to make it for me growing up, and now I make it for my own family. It's called Monster Sandwich. It is nothing fancy, but when I'm in a pinch and need to cook fast, this is what I usually fall back on. I was making it for dinner the other night and thought I should post it on the blog, because it is one of those meals that I think other families would probably enjoy just as much as mine does.  Oh and did I mention that it is cheap, quick, and easy to make?! It might not be the prettiest meal ever (actually I just realized my pics make it look gross), but it is delicious.

Monster Sandwich:

Ingredients:

1 loaf french bread

1 lb lean ground beef (or if I'm feeling healthy I'll use ground turkey)

1 can of Cambell's Fiesta Nacho Cheese condensed soup (or if you have kids under the age of 2 I would recommend using Cambell's Cheddar Cheese condensed soup, b/c it is milder) both are great but I personally like the fiesta kind better.

2-3 cups of shredded Mozzarella cheese

-Preheat oven to 350.

-In a large skillet over medium heat brown the ground beef; drain fat. Season with salt, pepper, and a dash of garlic salt.

-Slice the bread hot dog style, but try to not cut completely through it though. Using your hands scoop out the insides of the bread, break into small pieces and set aside. (hint: I usually slice the bread on a sheet of tinfoil that is on a baking sheet)

-Sprinkle half of the mozzarella cheese onto both sides of the bread.

-Add the Fiesta Nacho Cheese condensed soup into the frying pan with the ground beef

-Fill the empty soup can 1/4 of the way up with water and add that to the pan as well.

-Also add the broken up chunks of bread, and the last half of mozzarella cheese into the pan

-Mix everything together on medium heat until the cheese is melted.

-Pour meat mixture into both sides of the bread.

-Carefully fold the two halves of  bread together.

-Completely wrap the sandwich with tinfoil.

-Bake in oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes

-Bread should be slightly toasted on the outside and soft in the middle-all of the cheese should be melted.

TaDa! Finished!

I usually slice the bread like a normal sandwich for Jared and I, but our 2 year old likes to eat his chopped up. (Yum his looks like monkey brains) He kept asking for more.

Please excuse my cheesy captions- I couldn't help myself. 

It is MMM MMM good! Try it!

Some dance, some prance...

"Charleston, Charleston, made in Carolina... some dance, some prance"....anyone know that song? and the dance?

 Jared had last Friday off work, so we took the opportunity to drive to Charleston for the weekend. I've been to Charleston four times now, and I always find new things to do and see!  It's only 3 hours away, but with a toddler in the car, 3 hours can easily seem like 13 hours...but that's nothing a little ice-cream can't fix. I love the way everything looks in Charleston. Including Ben and Jerry's little patio-it's tucked away in the middle of town but still filled with greenery. I love it, and the ice-cream isn't bad either I guess.

Kyler saying "More ice-cream?!" In between every bite before he even swallows. It's that good.

I would LOVE to live in Charleston some day. While we were there, Jared and I picked out our future house. I was torn between the one pictured below (faces the ocean) and another house that had a giant private secret garden in the back complete with a tree-house and lovely swings. Hmm... this is a tough life decision people.

Okay, realistically we would probably only be able to afford one of these townhouses in Charleston, but I'd be okay with that!

Yeah, I'm a tourist. Who cares?

 I love Charleston for a lot of reasons. Lucky you I'm not going to sit here and list them all, but I will say that I love the architecture, and the way [most] people treat you. After all, Charleston is known as "Americas most friendly city."

One of our favorite things this trip was Mt Pleasant Pier. After you drive over the bridge [pictured below on the left] there is an awesome playground underneath, and if you keep walking, you end up on a looooong pier! It was raining lightly when we got there, but since the playground was directly below the bridge...we stayed nice and dry. Perfect!

If you ask Kyler what his favorite part of the trip was... he would say the balloon monkey that a sweet lady made for him while at dinner one night, but coming close in second would be this smoothie in a light up cup! I ordered it because I thought the menu said it was only $1...but apparently (we found out later when we got the bill) it was only an EXTRA dollar for the light projecting logo in addition to the $11 dollar light up cup. Seriously? I paid $12 for a cup that isn't even dishwasher safe!?! :/

On Saturday, we spent a few hours on Folly beach. On our way back to the hotel I noticed a lighthouse way far off in the distance, and Jared immediately turned the car around, so that we could go see it. I'm glad he did, because what an adventure it turned out to be! ;)

Charleston is also known for its' many beautiful churches (like the one pictured above). We didn't get to go inside any of them this trip, but we did stop by one of our own LDS chapels on the way home to attend a service...perfect ending to a perfect trip!

Ouch, that stings!

I don't know if it is the cucumbers, the tomatoes, or the flowers, but something in our yard is attracting bees and wasps. Yesterday, Kyler wanted to wait outside for Jared to come home...so outside we went!

Side note: A couple of weeks ago, you know before the 18 days of straight rain we've had, Jared and I showed Kyler how to catch fireflies! When you are 2 years old (or from Utah) there is nothing cooler. Do you see where this is going....?

Kyler saw a wasp (and in his 2 year old mind I'm almost completely positive it looked like a firefly) and before I could stop it from happening he reached out his hand to grab it...and...let's just say he received something far less joyous than the delight you receive from catching firefly. 

He let out a high pitched shrill that sent goosebumps down my spine...and I knew it had happened. My poor little boy had been stung by his first wasp! Now, I've only been stung once, when I was 5, but from what I remember, getting stung HURTS. Kyler of course milked it for what it was worth and deservingly got pampered. 

This was about 15 minutes later. He was still refusing to let me put him down, yet he was feeling good enough to at least be amused that I was taking a picture of him to document his first sting. You can see where he got stung on his left pinky...it was pretty swollen.

After an hour, he was back to his silly self, but still babied his hand, and wouldn't let anyone touch it or even look at it.

I guess now we'll be playing outside at the park...until those wasps and bees leave our yard!

Which Color are you?!

I was reading one of my friend's blogs a few weeks ago, and she  had posted a link to a personality test. I took it, and..... I'm a BLUE (but coming very very close in second was WHITE).  I had Jared take it too. I guessed which color he would be (after I had taken mine and read what each color meant...and he guessed which color I was after he had taken his test)...and guess what?! We were both wrong about each other...! Also, kind of funny, we both ended up being BLUE~ I guess that's why we get along so well :D

Here is the link...don't read what each color means until after you take the test. It's Free: Personality Color Test.

.............What color are you?!?!..........

This was the first 4th that...

...we took Kyler to a movie theater and also got to enjoy fireworks in pouring down rain... AND in completely dry weather.

Kyler did great for his first time seeing a movie in a theater! Well, he did good for the first hour anyways. We took him to Monster's University. I don't think he really understood much of what was going on and got bored halfway through...but he did sit through the whole movie anyways! I think we'll wait until he is 3 or 4 before taking him to another one.

Later that day we drove down to SC for fireworks. It was dry for 2 hours and then 5 minutes before they were going to start the show it started pouring!! We stayed for a few minutes anyways because we drove an hour to get there. We got drenched...and Kyler was scared of the fireworks, because we were so close to them and they were loud.
Then, we drove home where it was completely dry and hadn't rained at all. So we sat on our driveway and enjoyed some fireworks that a distant neighbor had.

All in all it was a great holiday. Love our USA! Enter really grainy phone pics:

Getting Settled

We are completely moved in!  It has been a very busy week, but it feels good to be done. We are loving the house and neighborhood. Jared's commute to work is slightly longer, but it's worth it to live here.

 A few thoughts I have about moving: 

1) We have too much stuff- Seriously, how did we accumulate so much in one year? When we moved into our first rental house, all of our things fit in ONE little 12 x 12 storage pod. This year? It took us two trips with a 17 foot Uhaul truck. Now the truck wasn't completely packed to the brim, but still- TOO. MUCH. STUFF. While I was unpacking I threw away a lot of junk. It felt good.

2) Labeling boxes is a waste of time- I spent many hours packing and labeling each box with what was inside and which room the box would need to go into. I thought I would be saving us time, but in the end everything just ended up being dumped into one room and we had to sort through it anyways to unpack...plus Kyler took half of the labels off anyways so there really was no point in putting them on there in the first place.

3. I hate moving-It's a lot of work.

4. Oh....we are going to move again in 2 years?- Let's just sell everything. haha :)

We took our table apart to fit it through the door and into the truck more easily, and I was very happy to see that it made it here with no scratches!

A few weeks ago we discovered that Ashley's Furniture was going to discontinue the couch set that we already had one piece of, so we went ahead and bought the matching love seat and rocking recliner... We actually have places to sit in our living room now! It's wonderful.

This is the view from upstairs

New playroom:

More later!

ps... Seem's like these two love-bird parents of mine are doing well in the MTC!

link: Mormon Missionaries