March 2019

 Its tornado season! We've really enjoyed the peace and mind and safety of our storm shelter. And its extra fun to share it with friends. Trevor and Rebecca have really become like extended members of our family. Gwen loves having her as her Activity Days leader and Charlie loves having Trevor work with him in cubscouts! They are the best.  Also we love to listen to Matt Laubhan. He is a meteorologist that has won Emmy awards or something.  At first I thought he was a little ridiculous but over the years in Mississippi I've come to trust him! It's like I don't feel settled with any tornado warnings until I've heard him tell me about the situation. hahaha. I even follow him and his cute family on Instagram, the only non-friend/family person I follow. 

We decided to take advantage of our proximity to world-class beaches (proximity... only 5 hours.... compared to a land locked state like, Utah).  We drove down early one morning, spent all day there and then drove back in the evening. I love watching my kids explore beaches and the ocean. They're all appropriately awed by it and don't try and go too far out. 

Gwen was awarded with a special school award only given to a few kids in the school.  They were treated to chick-fil-a lunch for her and her parents and teacher! It was special. 

The kids love playing out in the yard. They recently discovered how fun it was to put some of the boards we found in the grass when we first bought this house across all the swings to make a giant swing.  Also the warmer weather means the grass is starting to grow again and needs to be mowed. Max loves to sit on Chris' lap and help him mow. 

During Spring break the boys in our branch went on a backpacking trip. With Alec's first year in YMs, this is our first experience with YM campouts. The YW in our ward felt a little left out so we planned a fun day hike. It's funny how little hills are considered good hikes... but in this flat landscape you take what you can get! The woods are always beautiful and I love spending time with my YW and fellow leaders. 

MS State had a special tour of the football facilities available for all faculty who signed up. Chris of course signed us us and we were able to watch the team practice too. We love that MS State does these kind of things.  Also MS State hosted a fun-run for local schools. Charlie and Gwen signed up and did a great job!

In anticipation of possibly selling our house and moving to Utah we're trying to finish up house projects and organize things really well.  We finished the wall tile in our bathroom and installed the toilet.  Its so nice to be able to not have to walk across the house to use the toilet! 

February 2019

Freddy fell asleep in this funny position.  

We got in to see my doctor to confirm or deny the pregnancy test and they did an ultrasound right then... theres a baby! Its for real! So So So crazy to wrap our minds around. This little one and Max will be so close in age. A due date of August 22 was discovered via the baby's measurements since I wasn't sure when my last period was. 

We celebrated Valentines day as a family and as we await the news from BYU's hiring committee we're started to plan ahead in terms of, "If this is our last ______ in MS, I want to make sure we ______." Not that we 100% expect a job offer or anything... we don't expect it. But it just feels like it could really happen. After all, they are the ones who reached out to Chris and contacted him, asking him to apply. 

We really soaked up our experiences with our branch family and the community. I really enjoy being the YW president to these wonderful girls.  We've let them really take charge in planning activities and we've done some really fun ones including this swirly-dipped nail polish ceramic mugs. 

The kids love to play with Max and he's game for pretty much anything. 

I took the kids by myself to the local rodeo when it came through town. It was a little loud and late for Max but the rest of the kids loved it. They had these really awesome dogs that could wrangle the sheep so well. 

We're trying to enjoy the rain and flooding. So much. Rain. We stress out about it flooding the garage and storm shelter. 

Max loves to eat dirt. He will even find Alec's soccer cleats in the show bins and get them out to eat the dirt off the bottom of the cleats! Its nuts! I talked to his doctor about this obsession and they checked his blood levels for deficiencies but he was fine.... he just likes dirt and sand. Its maddening. But the worst was when he saw an ant hill of newly unearthed, mounded dirt and grabbed a handful and put it in his mouth. I came running super fast, and he had ants crawling all over his lips and tongue. Using my finger I swiped them out of his mouth as fast as I could and was surprised to see all the ants in his saliva as already dead. He had bites around his lips but other than that didn't seem to worse for the wear.  He even tried to eat a fistful of sand just a few hours later. ....oh this kid! He likes to wear Chris' shoes and wants to be right by me all the time. Even when I shower, he often cries for me just outside the door. 

Playschool continues to go well. I love planning activities for these kids. Freddy super loves it too. 

Our progress this month on our Master bath is getting the shower base finished! We created it ourselves from scratch. I LOVE this natural small cobblestone floor.  Now we tile the walls!