Back and Forth

We've been back and forth on this the whole month. As of right now we are packing and moving to Fort Worth. We decided he can always go back and get a PhD, but if he works for a while we'll be better off financially. We feel we had 2 good choices and either one would work out for us, but for now we'll go make money instead of getting school debt.


I have lots of pictures of our trip to Utah, but they will have to wait since we plan on moving Tuesday (although who knows, that could change again.)

???

PhD or no PhD that is the question.
  Just so you won't be confused if we go another route here's the deal. He is in the program and he has the assistantship, but now the question is does he really want to do it. We are told it is an extremely difficult program. I know Jake could do it but he isn't sure if he will like it. He likes financial planning and would enjoy teaching it but the main thing a professor does is research, research, research. He doesn't know if he'll like research.
   We are back and forth on this, hopefully we'll reach a decision soon! (since we would have to find a place to live and move if we chose to go to Fort Worth.)

Changes

When we got a new stake president last year he told us about a vision he had. In the vision there were 3 vines that started growing from his backyard and kept going...those vines represented 3 groups of people. The first one was the people who would join the church here in Lubbock. The second group was the people who had fallen away and would come back to the church. The third was the group of people who would move to Lubbock to help build the church. The 3 vines will help create a second stake in Lubbock. I believe we are in the third group and the vine has a hold of us....


    Jake graduates in 16 days. He has a job lined up at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas. We have been searching for apartments and packing a few things....


  Jake talked with the professors over the financial planning PhD program yesterday. By some miracle they told him not only would he get in the program, he would also get an assistantship. That means they will pretty much pay for him to go to school (although it's not much) and he'll teach a few classes. Financial planning is something Jake has always been interested in. I think Texas Tech is the only school in the country that has a PhD in financial planning. I am excited for Jake to have the chance to do something he really likes. I am excited that we don't have to move again right now, that we don't have to leave our friends, that Kaylee can finish preschool here.

     I am not excited for 4 more years of school, being poor college students, or all the fun things that come with it like medicaid. We both feel good about this though. I'd rather him get it done now, while we are here and while the kids are still young. It is a sudden change...my emotions are mixed.

Oh, Christmas Tree

This is how Kaylee and Brooke decorated the Christmas tree...

Thanksgiving

 We planned on going to our friend's house for Thanksgiving with 3 other families but poor Brooke got sick. We didn't want to share her fever with everyone else. Poor girl just wanted me to hold her (which was hard to do since I was trying to make an entire Thanksgiving meal.) You know she doesn't feel good when she is holding still....

 We bought a frozen turkey the day before Thanksgiving (we were hoping for a miraculous recovery from Brooke which didn't happen) so it was still a little frozen when we put it in the oven. It took longer to cook than we though (due to being frozen) but it turned out great. Jake and I had never cooked a turkey before.

We made everything ourselves and it turned out really good... I found a great roll recipe here . We also had a selection of 3 pies.  It was a good day even though things didn't turn out the way we planned.  I am so grateful for my family, friends, the gospel, our free country, our home (or apartment), food, that Jake has a job lined up.... I could go on and on... I am so blessed!

Back in Texas

Well we've been back in Texas for a week now. I just haven't updated for a while. So without delay here are a few more pictures of our trip to Utah and and update....

 We have a membership to a museum in Lubbock and it works for museum in other cities as well. We took advantage and went to  Discovery Gateway in Salt Lake. The girls loved it. They got to play in a little house..

 ride a horse..

 and play in the water. I loved it because we got to go to Costa Vida and get a sweet pork salad after, yum.

Kaylee and Brooke were very happy that it was snowing one morning. They insisted to go out and play. They didn't last long once the realized how cold it was outside. We were used to 60-70 degrees not 30's.
We had a good time visiting Utah. Near the end I was ready to have the girls back in their own beds (they sleep SO much better at home.) My mom drove the long 17 hours back with me. THANK YOU!!! I couldn't have done it alone.


        Now we are back to our old routine. Kaylee is happy to be back in preschool and playing with her friends. She better get all the playing in that she can now because we are moving so soon!! I can't believe that we'll be in Fort Worth in a month and a half!! Jake graduates in 1 month!! I am so excited to have him done with school and making money again. I am looking for a new place to live. I hate apartment shopping!! I can't wait to buy a house....

Halloween

            I am trying to get caught up before Jake leaves with the computer. There are a lot new posts below.

Aren't we a great couple?

 My parent's ward had a trunk or treat for Halloween. It was actually raining so they moved it in the church gym. It wasn't quite the same going from chair to chair in a circle but it was dry and a lot warmer.

 Brooke was a witch but she wouldn't keep her hat on.

 Kaylee was a fairy. My dad is...? I'm not really sure what he is.

Here is the group shot.  Happy Halloween!

5 years and 2 kids later...

                                                                   (more posts below)

 My wedding dress still fits. I didn't know if it still would after 2 kids, I thought my rib cage would have expanded too much (the dress was almost too tight 5 years ago).

It was Halloween so I don't think I looked too funny dressed up. I made Jake put on his suit and play along. Kaylee kept calling me "mommy princess".  The veil is actually my new sister-in-laws that I borrowed for the pictures (thanks Amber, even though you didn't know I was wearing it since you are on your honeymoon.)

Chuck E Cheese's

(Another post below)

 We had a great time at Chuck E Cheese's on Saturday. I hadn't been there in years.

 We liked the rides...

The games were fun too. 

Wedding

My little brother got married on Friday!! Kevin and Amber are both in the percussion ensemble at BYU-I. They had a little drum set on the top of their cake.

 The happy new couple! They were married in the Logan Temple. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was fun. It is great to see all my friends and family.

We didn't get a picture at the reception with my camera. I love the dresses my mom got for the girls. The lovely photographer (my cousin) took a family picture of us. I'll post it when we get the pictures

Family Pictures

My friend Susan took some family pictures of us this past weekend. Other places you get pictures taken in wheat fields. In west Texas you get your picture taken in cotton fields. The Lubbock area is the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world. 

We thought the cotton would be a good memory of Lubbock. There are cotton fields everywhere.

Susan did a great job despite the fact that my girls were totally uncooperative.

Kaylee HATES getting her pictures taken. We had to catch her by surprise. You can check out more of Susan's work at..  http://susanmoorephotography.wordpress.com/

Pumpkins

 We painted our pumpkins for Family Home Evening

 Kaylee loves to paint!

 We also carved one. Kaylee and Jake took care of the guts. I hate that part. The girls decided on a Hello Kitty pumpkin. I drew one on the pumpkin but it was a little hard to cut out. We don't have the fancy pumpkin carving tools.

Here it is... Hello Kitty.... I guess we could just always pass it off as a Halloween cat.

Palo Duro Canyon

 Friday we headed out to Palo Duro Canyon (sorry for the bad picture.The camera was on the dashboard of our van so it is through the windshield)

 This is the second biggest canyon in the U.S. (right after the Grand Canyon). It was pretty but probably not as impressive to us, since we have been to southern Utah many times, as it would be to someone from west Texas area (it is very FLAT here so a big hole in the ground is really cool.)

 We had a picnic at the playground, and of course the girls had to swing. Brooke could stay in a swing all day long and be completely happy.

 This was the highlight of the day... we found a creek off the side of the road and played in the water.

 The Texas Longhorn cow. There used to be ranches in the canyon.

It was a good day trip. It was nice to get out of Lubbock and spend the day as a family.

2 & 4 year old Stats

We took Kaylee and Brooke for their 2 and 4 year check-ups  on Monday.

Brooke is... 21.8 lbs
                31 1/4 inches


Kaylee is.... 26 lbs
                    37 1/2  inches

It's rough getting both their check-ups done at once. Kaylee HATES going to the doctor and was very uncooperative. Brooke followed her example. They both got shots (Brooke got 3 and Kaylee got 5). There was a lot of screaming in our exam room and of course Jake made me be the one that held them down for the shots and he comforted them after :)   Despite the fact that we tried to keep them both moving and playing Kaylee's legs got really sore, so sore she couldn't walk by the end of the day. It was really sad. It brought back memories from when my legs got sore and stiff when I got my 5 year old shots..... They are both mostly recovered from the traumatic doctor experience. I'm so glad we only have to go once a year at this point!

Happy 4th Birthday Kaylee

We had a birthday party for Kaylee Saturday morning before Conference (it starts at 11:00 here so the party wasn't too early)

 The party was an "ice-cream" theme and we played great games like pin the cherry on the ice-cream cone, and an ice-cream scooping relay (using pom poms for the ice-cream). I think the kids had more fun just playing in Kaylee's room though. I made cup cakes in ice-cream cones to eat instead of a slice of cake.

 I did make Kaylee a cake for just our family. She requested a Hello Kitty cake so here was my 2nd attempt at decorating a cake...

 It's not perfect, but it turned out pretty good. I'm a little birthday caked out right now. We've had cake almost everyday for a week.

 Kaylee got a lot of princess presents. Brooke really likes them too. We are all girl in this household.

Here is one of their favorite new toys. I have a hard time getting them out of the bath tub now.

It was a good day! We had a short party (only 1 hour) and then the girls had new toys to keep them entertained during Conference.  Kaylee is a smart, fun-loving girl.  She LOVES preschool and playing with all her friends. Kaylee is a great big sister, and is always looking out for Brooke. They play really well together (most of the time.)  I can't belive Kaylee is 4!

2 Years Old

Brooke's birthday was yesterday. I can't believe my baby is 2! She talks so well she sounds like she could be 3 or 4. It is nice to have her be able to communicate so well. People are always surprised with how much she talks.

 This was my first attempt at decorating a cake (usually we don't do much frosting since Jake doesn't like it). The cake turned out pretty good. Brooke was talking about birthday cake all day long. I think she was more excited about that than her presents!

We kept her party pretty simple and just invited one family over. Brooke had plenty of help opening her presents from her big sister.

Brooke is such a sweetheart. She gives a lot of hugs. She is a smart girl. She knows her colors, shapes, and she can sing lots of primary songs. She LOVES Cinderella and wants to watch it  every time Kaylee is at preschool. Her favorite thing to do is see "momma cat" (there is a stray cat who had kittens that lives on our neighbors porch) which we have to do several times a day.

Apple Country Orchard

We went to the Apple Orchard in Idalou, Tx this weekend.  

It was a little chilly that morning (only 65) so the girls wanted jackets (they must be Texas girls now).

We were  told  to "pick with one hand and eat with the other." Kaylee and Brooke ate apple after apple, after apple. Brooke paid for it later (or I guess really Jake did cause he had to change the diaper...ha ha)

It was a good little field trip and it was nice to see something besides cotton grown in west Texas.

I made some apple crisp from the apples we picked to take to a barbecue later that day. It was great, but we still have a lot of apples left. If you have any good apple recipes be sure to send them my way...