Back to motherhood.

Tax season ended on a great note, I finished everything I was assigned and even finished a day early, so I was home before lunch time!
I really had a good time this year, my boss did a lot to help me prepare for the CPA exam, now I just need to do my part :)
This week also marked the one week anniversary of my husband's return and to celebrate my mom took Alisabeth over night and we went and stayed in a huge resort:

I took these two shots because the building in the distance beyond the parking lot is one of the buildings where rooms are. The main complex had ballrooms and restaurants and things like that, but there were about 8 - 2 story buildings that had the actual hotel rooms in them, and beyond that were the pools. They also had about 16 tennis courts and several buildings which made up the health and fitness area. We got lost several times, but I made sure to carry the map with me at all times, so we always found our way back.
I was so excited about this adventure because Jason had absolutely no idea what was going on. I made the reservations here because they had on-site racquetball courts. So we drove up here at check-in time, went and played for about 45 minutes (until we were both too sore to continue) (and both of my knees were turning purple :) ) and then we went back and got ready for dinner. Jason assumed we were staying at the hotel for eating. I hurried him along to the car and then we drove to the foothills mall. At this point I was stuck, I needed to get the martinellis over to the restaurant without him knowing. So I told him to go check the movie times:
"Go find out when the movie starts."
"Which movie"
I didn't even know what was playing. . . "You'll know it when you see it."
"Okay"
and off he runs. He calls me about 5 minutes later, as I was just walking back from the restaurant and says.
"It was how to train your dragon wasn't it?"
"Uh, yeah."
Then he tells me the times. I met up with him at this point and frown. "Hmm, none of those are quite right, we'll just come back later and decide then."
And I casually lead him around buying a few items from bed bath and beyond. Finally he mentions that he's a bit hungry. I ask him if he has any idea what he wants to eat and then casually lead him down the right direction.


Yep, we went to the melting pot. The punk couldn't eat his share so I was forced to eat twice as much chocolate at the end as I should have, it was a sin!
When we got home from our adventure on Saturday afternoon we immediately collected our little girl and went and spent the rest of the day at the Pima County Fair. It was a lot of fun.
It was sort of a test-run for San Diego. They have an amusement park, but I wasn't sure if it was going to be worth the entrance fee (if Alisabeth would enjoy it). Well, now we know. The only thing we're going to have to worry about will be saying "It's time to go."












She had a blast. We went on several rides, which Jason and I both laughed at because as children our families never spent the money for the tickets. We also saw all of the exhibits that existed. Jason even found an extensive section of old style engines that he drooled over for a while. He took lots of pictures too . . . but I'll spare you.
Actually it was quite interesting. They had an original washing machine, it was absolutely huge, it had to be an industrial model because I can't see how anyone could fit it in their house!
They also had some wood burning engines and a model of car for every year up to the 1950's or so. It was nice, but Alisabeth and I weren't interested enough so we left him behind and went to watch the seals.
The only disappointment was that we couldn't find the petting zoo. They have one every year, but for some reason we couldn't find it. We did find a lot of exhibits on solar water heaters and Jason found a company that will hook up the air conditioner to solar power, so we took a lot of business cards home.
All in all it was a great success.

Ahhhhhh. Relaxation.

Well I gave up on this update after about 3 hours of working on it. For some reason I was having issues with the pictures. They weren't going where they should, so I figured it was time to finish it up now. :)

These first three are from the day Jason got home, on Sunday. . .

Finally, toward evening I just couldn't handle the clutter anymore.

Usually I reserve Sunday for the Lord but this was just too much to be ignored for another day!
It didn't take us long, but we got everything tucked and moved and put to where we could finally relax :)

The second exciting adventure came as I realized the temperatures began to peak in the 80's. I knew I probably needed new short-sleeved clothes for my daughter, so we went out and splurged a little. Then I forced her to take a photo shoot in her new outfits. . . as you can see she hated it.





All in all it was a pretty laid back week, counting down the days. . .
This week marks the end of tax season and the beginning of the hot and heavy hunt for where we're going to be for the rest of our lives :)
Jason has had 3 interviews so far and one offer. It's lower than I expected and lower than I'd like, but that may be our only option. Keep us in your prayers!

Easter Weekend

I had a good week. We're coming to the end of tax season, so that's a mixed blessing. Good because Alisabeth is getting sadder and sadder as I leave in the mornings. The other day this is what I saw. . .

I was getting ready to leave and she knew it. I ended up going out the front door instead of this one while my mom distracted her with cartoons. I hate it. Of course I know it's not long lived. By the time I come home she could care less about me. She's caught up by that point in whatever she's playing.

We also had fun this week putting Alisabeth's hair into a new style. I thought it was cute, so don't dis.

 

I wanted to include these two so you can see what a cheesy little girl I have. This is the result of me saying "Smile for daddy.

 I got the camera back just recently so of course whenever Alisabeth gets her hands on it strange things happen. We had a lot of fun. She loves to just click the button, so it's usually a million pictures of the floor or ceiling. This time we focused the button-clicking.

I also finally remembered to bring the camera with me to The Little Gym. It was great. I got a couple of videos and pictures, enjoy:

Lastly we had fun spending Easter in the world's way :)

It was a great week all around. I have enjoyed the extra time with her. I didn't work this weekend because it is Conference Weekend when I get to hear a prophet's voice. It's been nice and relaxing for both of us. Today we'll be heading to my dad's house for an Easter Lunch. Ahh the joy of family.

Jason's First Post

This week has been filled with joy and frustrations. First the small frustrations, a cmopanion and I have been working on a vehicle all semester long (3months) rebuilding the engine! Well we started it last Monday Yeah it ran! So that was exciting. Unfortunately the clutch did not go on just right so it would not engage. So we had to take the transmission out to fix that. (good learning experience though)

Joy because I have one more week till I leave Rexburg, I am so excited. I graduate yeah!!! And I will be back with my Wife and daughter again. It has been very stressful and not fun at all.One more week to go phew glad this is over!!!!! Another great moment was to have our moving truck come this last Thursday, I had 5 elders from my ward come and help me pack. We were done in 2hrs. Funny Rexburg weather, it was bright and warm when we started, then after the heavy appliances were put on it started to snow with a fury (about 40mph winds). Then when we finished loading, the snow stopped. who would have figured. General Conference Saturday and Sunday ( where the Church meets for 5 two seesions and receive instructions from the Prophet and other General Authorities of the Church, ie... Primary, Young women, Young mens, and Relief Society the Church's women organzation. So far it has been very awe inspiring and I have greater desire to be more like Jesus Christ.

Well my wrists hurt so I'm done typing, till next time, if I ever do this again :-).

The little things

Inspired by my good friend Nikki Weekes I would like to post a few of the little things.

My daughter woke up this morning and stretched one of her big stretches, then she turn to me (she was sleeping in my bed this morning) and with a giant smile said "The Sun is awake!"
Then she followed that outburst with "Hugs? Hugs?" and reached for me.

This is 2 things I am grateful for. The sun shining in my window reminds me that I have a bright future and a day of possibilities and potential.
A little girl with optimism and a cheerful countenance shows me that the future is in wonderful hands. This is a beautiful world we have to live on.

Other little things: My husband last night made a comment while we were typing across 1100 miles. At first, in my defensive and frustrated state of mind (Alisabeth had a hard night) I thought he was chastising me for something I had written. Instead he was consoling and showing that he understood my pain and was right there beside me.

My mom has graciously changed her life around to make our lives easier, taking time out of her work schedule so that we don't have to pay a baby-sitter so much, giving up her Saturdays and Friday nights so that I can work, and always asking to make sure that she isn't stepping on my toes as a mother, while still being willing to step in when it gets to be too much for me.

My mother-in-law who hear a badly worded plea and made time so that I could see how much she loved me. She cleared her whole busy schedule just so we could spend time at her house and enjoy each other.

My boss, who was willing to buy us all steak for lunch, even though we found out that the restaurant wasn't open that early. He is also constantly showering us with praise for our good work and encouraging words to get us to improve. He daily tries to show me the deeper parts of accounting which will help me succeed at a test that I am terrified to face.

My step-mother who, despite the hardships that she is facing in her own life and with her own blood relatives, always treats me like one of the family and has ALWAYS gone out of her way to make sure I was included.

An amazing cousin who constantly shows me she cares about our lives and wants to have a relationship even though we won't have the opportunity to meet face to face for a few years yet.

I am surrounded by astoundingly amazing people who have made my life a joy. There are so many little things that they do and each one makes me feel special and unique. So this post is dedicated to them and to the many others that I didn't mention, but who have been constant and firm in their friendship and love, Autumn, Crystal. . . I mean you too.

Adventure

"Give it back! Give it back?!"

Imagine the above being said in a little sad 2-year old voice from a tired little girl. You would do almost anything to get 'it' back for her wouldn't you?
Ha!
After almost 2 hours at the zoo we were standing by one of the final scenes, two otters playing and swimming. These are her favorite animals, so we stood there for quite a while. She was tired by this point and it was past lunch-time. I asked if she wanted to get down to better see them. She said yes.
I placed her gently on the ground and continued to watch them play. Suddenly I noticed a little brown head beginning to poke through the gap between the leaning post I was on, and the rope barrier that she had been leaning against. She was actually trying to climb in with them .. .

For those who have been to the Tucson Zoo you may know why this was more of a problem than normal. If it were the monkeys I wouldn't have been so quick to respond. In fact earlier she had almost joined the zebras. For those who don't know the Tucson Zoo, let me explain. The otter exhibit is a very large and deep pool of water with a small land area on the far side. If my daughter had succeeded she would have been swimming in water that was deeper than I am tall. Previously she had also been running headlong toward the duckpond. Not very deep, but deep enough, and with her propensity to trip I swear I had a heart attack right there.
Anyway, back to the otters. As I saw her little head poke through my heart immediately jumped into my throat (not that she was in any danger at that point), and I began holding her down while my other hand reached under and around the leaning post to get a better and lasting hold on her. Then I began to kneel to talk to her. Suddenly I saw a small white and pink object leave her hand and a small splash on the other side of the net. I stopped dead in shock. . . was that . . .? Did I just see . . . ?
Children all around us were suddenly squeeling with laughter and delight as both otters came to investigate a new toy which had been introduced to their habitat. They nuzzled the shoe and bumped it around. I stood and watched helplessly for a second, still trying to fathom how she'd done it. . .
"A shoe! A shoe mommy!"

My dear friend Autumn willingly headed toward the front of the park to get the attention of someone who could help.
Meanwhile Alisabeth and I stood and watched them play. They dunked the shoe, rolled it around in the water (it was floating 1/2 submerged by now) and kept on going. New little children were coming now who hadn't been a party to the excitement and the sound of "Mommy, there's a shoe in there" was heard every few seconds.
Parents were looking around in amusement for the child with one shoe and then grinning that "Oh how embarrassing, I'm glad it was you and not me." smile at me.
After about 5 minutes Alisabeth started reaching toward the exhibit and then looking at me, "want shoe mommy."
"I'm sorry honey, you can't have it, you gave it to the otters and they don't know how to give it back."
More children came and the chorus of "there's a shoe!" started again.
Tear welled up in my over-tired and over-hungry child's eyes. "Give it back! Give it back!"
We walked over to the nearest bench and sat down to wait. Finally Autumn came back and we left her to wait a little longer while we went and got some food in my poor child's belly.
Autumn later told me that after they had fished it out and handed it to her a little girl asked why she had thrown it in. The mother, with great understanding responded "Her little girl probably threw it in like you did when you were 2."

Other than that it's been a pretty boring week. My motivation slipped during the middle of it, but I still managed to get everything essential done, so that's okay. I had my first flop as far as dinners go (I only really cook 1 a week). I tried to make ham-bean soup. I used the white beans my mother has had in her food storage since I was a teenager, but I didn't allow them extra time to soak in water, I just followed the directions, so they were nice and crunchy. The flavor of the soup would have been great except for that little problem. Ah well, can't be perfect all the time right :)

As an update to last week Alisabeth went to bed really well for the first half of this week. Just when I thought the new method was working great she reverted and we had two or three of the worst nights yet, but yesterday and Friday night were wonderful so I think maybe she's just a little crazy and I'm not doing anything wrong. . . anyone want to back me up on that :)

Work is going great. I love taxes.
I don't think I ever told the story of my grandmother's birthday card. Excitedly I ripped open the envelope on my birthday, glad that my loving grandmother had remembered me only to find that it contained her social security statement and her retirement statement with a small note "Here's the stuff for my taxes, can you send me a copy of whatever you send to the government."
Gotta love my family.
My boss is not stressed at all this year (and with three weeks to go, that is saying A LOT), so we had a blast on Saturday reviewing a really complex return together. I did all the work on Friday (about 6.5 hrs) and then Saturday morning I came back and we went over it together. I had missed a lot of minor details, but the whole process was hilarious as we watched his taxes first shoot up when I missed some income amount and then plummet back down when we found three extra deductions. All in all the guy ended up owing $0. That's what I like to see.

Jason got a few calls this week in response to a flurry of resumes that he sent out. Several companies in Tucson seemed excited to interview him. Whether it's because of his experience, or because they're desperate for people I don't know, but I was pleased either way because it relieved my stress about him being able to find a job.
In other exciting news on his front! He is taking two classes this semester which required the rebuild of an entire engine system. The engine performance class and the transmission class. In both classes he has got the completed thing back into the vehicle and will be starting it up on Monday to make sure it's working right. With cross-ed fingers he may be done with the one and only project of the semester. Then the last few weeks will be doing minor leak checks, flushes and inspections. That would mean the major stresses are done. Wish him luck.

I really did a lot!

I read through last week's post with fondness. I was in a great mood when I wrote it.
I didn't get to the fans like I promised I would, but I did better than that. My mom decided that she wanted to organize her garage so she went online, found some rolling shelves that she liked and I went to the store and bought her 4 of them (because I work right down the street from Costco.)
The next day was my day off so I put together the first one (I didn't do more than that in case she didn't like them.)
I loaded it up with all of the household goods she had. (1 full shelf plus 3 feet in front of it, all stacked and disorganized) then I went through the other shelves that line the walls of her storage shed. . . I mean garage and pulled out all of the other household items that I'm sure she didn't know she had.
She ended up with a total of 2 4-packs of the large iodized salt containers if that tells you anything about her organization skills.
She also had about 18 different packages of various types of lightbulbs. (All indoor and all the same wattage)
I filled the entire 6' by 5' space, but it was nicely organized. This cleared out an area of about 8' by 4' along the back of the garage. It was an amazing change.
Then Thursday I built the second one. With this accomplishment I cleared out almost everything else that was cluttering the right side of the garage and brought a little bit of order to the left side. I emptied one of the left-side shelves completely, but my mom says she wants it arranged differently, so I'm sure that will change.
Then today she and I built the third shelf and completely emptied the right side of the garage, shelves and boxes included. there was a decent amount being sent to the DI, but, sadly, most of the items stayed :)

It looked a lot better. She shelves are imposing, but the idea was that they are on rollers, so when not in use they can be compacted into a space of about 5' deep and only about 5' wide. It leaves a lot more room than she had before. Plus now we can tackle the left side of the garage and see if we can whip it into shape. The last shelf is still nearly 1/3 empty, so there's plenty of space to organize better.

As for work it was a good week. We have on client that is amusing me greatly, but I finished the business part of their work on Friday, so all I have left is their individual returns so it shouldn't be too bad. Sadly they use QuickBooks for their personal finances as well as their business, but they don't really sort the expenses properly so I basically have to go through every transaction and try to see if it's something deductible or some sort of income item that I need to worry about. . .
Everything is going very well this tax season, we're not really stressed at all yet, and my boss says he's getting about the same amount of revenue as last year, so that's a good sign.
I will probably start working a little more after this next week just because it's 1 month until the deadline and it's crunch time.

Alisabeth is doing well too. We enrolled in a mommy-and-me tumbling class on Thursday mornings and it is so fun to watch her learn and love it. She is so eager to try and to do. She has learned how to balance on one foot, how to do a tummy roll around a bar and how to walk the balance beam. The teacher is great. Apparently he has at least two small ones at home and his focus is getting the parents to understand how to exercise their children's muscles correctly. Each week focuses on a different area of the body and he starts by explaining to the parents why that area is key and the excercises that we're going to do. He doesn't expect or demand the kid's full attention and his directions and "focus" time is really limited so this allows them the freedom to be themselves with the structure of a class. Hopefully this will help her learn the skills of focusing on and listening to an instructor when I'm not around. Usually there's at least one child that is all over the gym during the sitting time, but he doesn't get bothered by it, and he encourages the mothers, who are usually embarrassed and scolding, to just keep involved and show them that the fun is happening with the group.
They have a new schedule each week and I REALLY love the program. It's one of the medium-priced ones that I found when I was researching, but it seems worth it so far.
Alisabeth loves it, she has mentioned it several times before and several times after going. She calls it "thumblin" though we really don't do much of that, it's more like structured play.
The other exciting thing we did this week was a play-day at a friend's house. Crystal has been my best friend since she came home from her mission which was shortly before I left for mine. She's been great to me since I got home and organized a day out at her house (which recently emptied out when her parent's moved out to Utah). We had loaded baked potatoes and hotdogs. The kids played really well for several hours inside and out. All in all it was a very fun day. I hope we do it again sometime.
The only battle we've had is bed-time. If anyone has any ideas let me know. She plays hard all day and does great, she drinks a glass of warm milk, lays down and we sing some songs and after about 3 I say "Okay, all done, sleep well."
Then she goes ballistic. Suddenly she is screaming and crying and fussing, she won't stay in bed and there's no way for me to stop her from opening the door besides standing there and holding it. Getting angry or yelling doesn't work. I even tried (in my desperate attempts after 2 hours of this) laying on top of her enough so that she couldn't move around in hopes that she wouldn't enjoy it and therefore would not want to get out of bed. Yeah, that didn't work. She seemed to be content to lay there as long as I was with her, but as soon as I stood up she went insane again.
So seeing this I understood that she was craving more time with me so I instituted the last half hour before bed as a time for us to just be together and I hoped that maybe this would fix the issue, but after another 4 days of this I haven't had any luck yet.
My current answer? I sit outside her door with my book and read while holding the door-knob until she stops crying and I can be fairly certain she's not going to get out of bed again. This takes about 45 minutes but it's a lot faster than the 2-3 hours that I was dealing with before. I have no idea what the issue is, and I have tried everything from soft words to loud and hard ones. I can bet she'd be happy to go to sleep with me laying there beside her every night, but I don't want to be that mom. I want her to be able to put herself to sleep, and she used to do it really well. It's a stage, it's only a stage.

Jason is doing well too. He signed up for a few more of his ASE tests and is studying hard for them. His classes are going well, and he was recently asked to serve in the temple until he leaves in April so his job is to sit at the front entrance and be a greeter and scan everyone's recommends. He says it's really peaceful and that he gets a lot of time to read the scriptures (he's there for the later shift on a Tuesday night, so I guess there aren't a lot of people going.)
He has also been working on his two cars. One is about the size of his hand and the other is full-size. They're both going well. He's going to put something like $100 more into the full-sized toy to get it in better shape for when he moved back down here to me. Then we should be able to sell it. With the money from that he'll buy a new toy. :)