Sick of Waiting!

I'm not ashamed to admit that we're sick of waiting. Sick of waiting for companies to call back. Sick of waiting to find out where our new home will be. I'm also a little sick of waiting for my wildest dreams to come true... but that's besides the point. 

Rhyla is as brown as a pinto bean now that we've spent almost every day in the pool this week. Sunscreen obviously helps protect from burning and cancer, but it doesn't stop my one year old from practically changing ethnicity before your eyes.

Craig finished painting Nana and Papa's house this week. As you can see, Vash did a lot to help. He's actually pretty thorough and loved saying that he was "Heppin Daddy Pay-tang!" 

Vash's pirate costume came in the mail this week. The day we got it, he was so excited that he took it to bed with him and insisted on sleeping next to it! Rhyla has been learning to brush her teeth. Beside playing with the tooth brush, more than using it, she actually doesn't do a bad job. She just holds the tooth brush up to her teeth and shakes her head back and forth very quickly.

My little girl is becoming a little bit of a fashionista. She loves costume jewelry and pretty shoes. She also gets very upset if you have to change her out of a shirt she asked to wear, because it got dirty. Her favorites are Ariel, Minnie, and Perry the platypus. We had to buy her a new mermaid shirt because she out grew her old one and sobbed about it for what seemed like hours. 

This is Vash's baby car. He got it for 25 cents at the toys R us. 

Can you believe how big he's getting? I've had to permanently ground him from sweets, because he's so tall now that he can walk up and grab a cupcake/cookie/candy, from right off the back part of the counter, without using a stool! (And he's done just that. Multiple times this week.) 

Rhyla was happy to help paint for a while too. Craig let the kids each pick out something to paint so they could feel included when he refinished the table this weekend. Vash picked a paper pirate chest, and Rhyla got card board doll house. It's not very big but it will hold some small princess dolls. 

These are some of the shoes I was talking about earlier. She cried any time we tried to take them off. Literally, she went down for her nap with them on. And when I came in to get her afterwards? She was holding one in each hand and asking me to help her put them back on.

This is Vash's "So Strong" pose. 

Other news this week. I started a new class this semester. Don't laugh, but I'm taking Fashion Design. All the math classes were full by the time I registered and it promises to teach me how to sketch, pattern, and construct outfits. Plus, if we have to move in the middle of a semester, it's not going to really matter.

Also, my grandparents fulfilled a long awaited wish to return to a home in Payson. After years of this blasted heat, I don't think any one could blame you for wanting to leave. Best wishes! And we hope you find much joy and peace in your well deserved retirement. 

Can August be the last hot month this year? Please?

Can it really have only been a week since I wrote last? So much seems to have happened that again, it feels or like two or three weeks since my last blog. My days drag by. It's too hot to play outside and you can only swim for so many hours, so the kids and I get a little stir crazy being indoors all day.

This is Allen. He was the chef for us at Beni Hana, where we went to celebrate Nana and Papa's anniversary this last week. He's amazing. And can I just say that Beni Hana is my new favorite restaurant? Not that it matters, considering how little we eat out. But it's important to have opinions, isn't it?

The kids absolutely loved it there. Vash ate several bowls of the onion soup. Both he and Rhyla devoured tons of fried rice, steak, chicken, and salad. And Rhyla loves cucumber rolls as it turns out! Allen did all kinds of tricks while he cooked. Flipping the bowls of rice on the end of his spatula. Flipping and catching shrimp tails in hat. He tossed a couple at Rhyla, so she laughed and clapped for him. He joked that she loved everything because she clapped so often. He even stacked the onion rings up into a mountain and made it "explode" with steam, like a volcano. It was delicious and fun. Can't wait to go back sometime.

As I mentioned before, we do a lot of swimming. The yellow thing Rhyla is wearing helps her to swim all by herself. She was getting too brave and jumping in without someone to catch her, so we had to splurge on this vest. We call it the bug. Rhyla will swim around and sing "Once upon a dream" or "Twinkle, Twinkle, little start" if Vash will let her have one of the star fish toys. 

The other day, Vash heard Rhyla singing "Once upon a dream",  so he grabbed his squirt gun and started attacking, while yelling "DREAMS COME TRUE!!!" Like it was a battle cry or something. Did I mention he is fully potty trained now? Thrilled. Absolutely thrilled about that. Can't shower enough praise on him for how excited we are. After a year of effort? It was time. YEY Vash!

The kids enjoy playing at the Hobby Lobby now. Sounds funny but Vash loved to look at all the decorative cars and planes, while Rhyla likes to play in the costumes or look at anything shiny. We pick out crafts and take them back to Me-ma and Pe-pa's house to do after lunch. This is her trying on a foam Safari hat. Fitting with the giraffe shirt and all. Rhyla, who seems to learn a new word everyday, now walks around growling "Monkies!" for no apparent reason.

I call this picture "Siblings by chance, Friends by choice." They really have a good time playing together. If Rhyla cries, Vash comes up and rubs her back, then tells her "It's ok, I got you Ya-Ya." And Rhyla is anxious to play with and do everything Vash does. They color together, dance together, and try to sing together. (P.S. my kids' rendition of "Grim grinning ghosts" is hilarious.)

Here are the flowers that Vash picked out for me. Craig had taken him to the store to get drinks when Vash started hollering for flowers. Craig wasn't sure what he meant until he saw the display cabinet with flower arrangements. Vash picked this one and told Craig, "Daddy, we get Mommy flowers and her dreams come true! Her dreams come true at the castle!"

So sweet! He later added that I'd be in love at the castle too, so we think he thinks that if Craig brings me flowers, that we'll go to Disneyland. I wish! Halloween time with the giant Mickey Mouse pumpkin heads is my favorite.

Forgot a picture last week, but here are my new hairs. Love the bangs. I can blow dry them, pull the rest of my hair into a sloppy bun, and it looks like I spent a lot more time getting ready than I actually did. Also forgot to mention that I spoke in church last week. Three times in one year. I'm pretty surprised. But it must have gone well. Lots of people told me how great it was and two women came and said they felt it was written just for them. One of them even burst into tears and said she felt like she could let her angry feelings towards her father go, after hearing part my talk. It was about being charitable towards those who have wronged us, those who have offended us, and those who we don't like or get along with. They just gave me the topic of charity when they asked me to speak, so I focused it in that direction, because it's something I have a hard time with. I'm grateful for the Spirit, that helped me to prepare a talk about something that was helpful to more than just me. I hope that I can be like that woman who cried to me and learn to let go of some of the feelings I harbor towards unkind individuals in my life. Here's an excerpt from by talk. It's a quote from Elder Utchdorf: "Brothers and sisters, there is enough heartache and sorrow in this life without our adding to it through our own stubbornness, bitterness, and resentment. We are not perfect. The people around us are not perfect. People do things that annoy, disappoint, and anger. In this mortal life it will always be that way. Nevertheless, we must let go of our grievances. Part of the purpose of mortality is to learn how to let go of such things. That is the Lord’s way. Remember, heaven is filled with those who have this in common: They are forgiven. And they forgive."

Not so great news...

Well, one of the ChemE companies wrote us a "Thanks, but No Thanks" email today. And wouldn't you figure it was the job we really wanted? Oh, well. It is what it is and Craig still has the other company to interview with next week. Plus, the one job offer he has so far, is infinitely better than no job offers. 

On to better things; We went to the Sea Life aquarium at the Mills this week for a mini vacation day. We also ate at the Rain Forest Cafe, which the kids loved because of the cheesy animatronic monkeys that were near our table, and got some fun things at the Disney Store. Funny story? Outside of the restaurant was a claw machine. Vash wanted to try it and we thought, "Hey for fifty cents, why not?" So he puts in the money and I offer to help him. "No mommy! I do it." He strikes a serious pose, moves the claw, drops it, and wins a Scooby Doo stuffed animal on his first try! I wish I had caught that on camera. My three year old beat the claw machine!

Also, while eating at the Cafe, the rain storm went off several times. (You know, the thunder and lightening and craziness by the animals?) Rhyla doesn't seem to be afraid of anything ( a little girl who will leap off of anything into anywhere), but Vash kept saying, "I scared mommy. Rub my back!"

Rhyla was ready to jump right in with the fish.

Vash was only ready to jump if Pe-Pa came too.

This is our "Scar-Wee" pose.

This is my children creating a road block on the slide. It didn't matter how many times I showed Rhyla how to get to the slide the right way, she was insistent on barreling through all the children coming down.

Vash wants to be a Pirate for Halloween. We ordered him a Jake and the Neverland Pirates costume. Rhyla apparently wants to be one too. (I bought her a Snow White outfit though. Look at her! Could you blame me? ) She's still parroting everything we say and she doesn't miss beat. Some one said "Shoot" in the mall and she yelled "Shoot" back. My mom said she was color blind at the hobby lobby the other day and Rhyla asks "Color Blind?" clear as a bell. When Craig and Vash are playing the "Squeeze" game, she'll walk up and say "8,9,3, Squeeeeeee!" (That's right, not 8,9,10 or 1,2,3, or Squeeze, but 8,9,3, Squee!)She's also gotten to be a really good dancer. She twirls around the living room for long stretches of time. She walks around on her toes and boogies whenever she hears singing or music.

Took the kids swimming a lot this week. Pe-Pa was shoving a ball into Vash's swim shirt over and over again. Vash didn't like it and finally says, "No more ball in the shirt Pe-Pa, or I'll spank-a-bum!"

Rhyla loves this towel dress and cries if you try to take the hood off her head. Lately, Rhyla has become a screamer. The other night, Vash had fallen asleep and Rhyla screamed because she didn't want to fall asleep. We went in to check on her and Vash had been startled awake. I asked if he was ok and he says "Rhyla screaming scared a Vash!" Then dosed off again.

He's started playing this game where, instead of asking for something, he says "Dot dot dot, milk! Dot dot dot, milk!" or "Dot dot dot, puzzle!" etc. and I'm supposed to get the milk, puzzle, or other requested items. I think it's cute but I've had to make him still ask in a complete sentence so that he doesn't get in the habit of talking to other people like that.

Finally, for the week, went to Craig's cousin's wedding reception on Friday night. It was beautiful and the kids had a lot of fun running around. Well, Vash had fun running after the pretty girls running around. It's always such a nice feeling at a wedding or wedding reception. There's so much joy, and hope, and optimism. It's like everyone there gets to share a bit of the bright future and dreams of the happy new couple. Too bad we aren't invited to more weddings! Anyhow, Congrats Taylor and Seth!

Good.. No, GREAT NEWS!

Hey! Hey! Guess what, Guess what! Craig received his first job offer! It's for a local company and, although it's not in the field we wanted, it's something we could be happy doing. But the better news is that the day he got the offer, he was approached by two other chemical engineering companies for interviews. So, with any luck we'll have a few offers to choose from soon. On a side note, Rhyla had to have her allergy test this week. I sobbed inside because they had to poke my baby 40 times in the back. They think she's got a peanut allergy, so we'll be doing the peanut challenge in a few weeks. Let you know what they say.

Lots of cute stories to tell about the kids this week:

Rhyla hums along with Craig when he sings her to sleep. She also leans on his shoulder and  bounces when he sings a favorite of hers. Once, when Craig said "I love", Rhyla shouted "mermaid!" When you ask Rhyla who she is, she answers "the baby," in a singsong voice.  As we've been watching the Olympics, Rhyla has found the divers hilarious. She bursts out like it's the strangest thing she's ever seen. Watching the gymnasts, both Vash and Rhyla want to learn to tumble. Craig and I agree that they'll have to try it. The other night we went to my dad's for his birthday. We cooked dinner, we had fun, we ate special cookies. We stayed up late. On the way home, I told the kids we had to get ready for bed. Vash says he's not tired. I told him the moon was out, that meant it was time for bed. He says "No Mommy. It's not a moon, it's a star!" Speaking of sleeping, Vash was taking a nap while papa was watching the kids. Papa was talking kind of loud, so Vash comes out and, holding his hands up by his head like Craig does, says "Papa! Vash is sleeping... Quiet!" And goes back to lay down. When you ask Vash what song he wants you to sing, he points to his chin and says "Oh, good idea! Mommy sing..." then makes his request. He was scared the other day and when I asked why, he told me it was because Zurg (Buzz Lightyear's nemesis) was coming for him.  

Went to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner the other night.  Vash loved the Rocket ride.

Rhyla liked playing games with Craig. Together they earned 25 tickets, so they both got a set of stickers.

Vash showered with Papa on Sunday and was so impressed with how nice he smelled after putting on Papa's cologne and how sharp his hair looked when Papa styled it.

Rhyla's hair is long enough to put in a pretty ponytail now. She really enjoys walking baby Snow White around in her stroller. (Sort of see it in the corner there.)

This week marked mine and Craig's 4th year Wedding anniversary. We took the kids out to eat at Black Angus, and we went to the Art Museum for Youth to play for a bit. 

I drew these with just my thumbs!

They had a giant Lite Brite to play with. Craig wants to replicate it when we have a home so the kids can enjoy it whenever they want.

Craig is teaching Vash how to do a crayon rubbing. 

My Lite Brite creation. The Sleeping Beauty Castle! Complete with shooting star.

Play room for kids 4 and under. 

I'm so grateful to have been able to spend another wonderful year with the greatest man on Earth! Truly, my anniversary is my favorite day of the year. I love remembering the day Craig and I knelt in the temple and promised to be together forever.

Craig, with every passing day I love you more than I thought was possible. With every trial we face, I grow more proud of your faith and courage. Every kiss still gives me goosebumps, and every smile melts my heart. I will love you forever! I will be yours for Eternity. And that will almost be long enough. Happy Anniversary, Snap Pea!