Withdrawals

Are you having withdrawals when you log into our blog and don't see anything new?

Probably not, but I am. I need to get back on the horse, I know. We are in Cali, enjoyed a nice long weekend, and still don't have everything set up to upload pictures.

Our Thanksgiving was great, we ate dinner at Ben's parents and then had dessert with my family. Kevin and Sabrina's blog has a few pictures, so click here. All weekend I remembered why I love it here. Even though a lot of things are up in the air in our life, we are happy to be here!

Two quick highlights from the weekend:

- BYU beat UTAH!! A great ending to a rivalry football game. Ben went to both BYU and the University of Utah, but we'll always be cheering for BYU.

- The Mission Inn Festival of Lights. I always figured they just turned the lights on one day. But they have music and fireworks, and it was really cool to go and see them turn on the lights. Something to add to our list to do every year here in Riverside.

Happy Monday!

Moving On

I wanted to post quickly since the next few days will be crazy. Plugging in the camera and cord is just too much work with everything else going on - so no pictures for a little while longer. Don't worry, the kids look the same.

We are sad to leave - I've gotten teary on more than one occasion saying goodbye to friends and family. It will take some time for Anna to understand that although she gets to see her grandparents all of the time now, her aunts and uncles and cousins are still here in Utah. There I go, getting teary again.

Ellie made me a cute sign with this quote.

"Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget."

Bad News

For those of you who care, I received my bar results yesterday after waiting for the past few months. I did not pass. I am debating whether or not to take the bar again in February or wait until July. I guess it means it is time for me to find a real job.

The Farewell Tour

Our Utah Farewell Tour has been keeping us busy lately. Its true - we've been talking about it for months, but we are finally leaving Utah on Tuesday.

Actually, I think we've been talking about it since we got here. Now that I think about it, that must be really annoying to other people. When Ben started law school we always said, "But we plan to move back to California afterwards." I guess at least we had a plan and stuck to it, sort of.

Since we are leaving, of course we have to see our favorite people and eat at our favorite restaurants. We don't want to leave food in the fridge, so we've pretty much stopped shopping which means some eating out. The plan is to go to a fancy place at the Gateway called Fleming's tomorrow night. We'll either be celebrating something with a fantastic meal, or drowning our sorrows with a fantastic meal. More on that to come.

I have nothing to write

In case you couldn't tell by my title, I can't think of much to talk about. Since we are about to leave Utah in a week, I guess I will talk about the house that has kept us here so long. In case you didn't know, in the past year we have purchased and put a not insignificant (sorry, too much law school) amount of money into a home to sell. I balk at anyone who considers it a traditional flip because my reasons for buying it were varied. We just had twins, I have lots of free time, I like working on houses, and I had done everything I wanted to do to our past house. Anyway, the house has been on the market now for close to 5 months without selling. We have had several people interested in the house but no takers.

More than one person has asked me in a hushed tone whether I regret purchasing the house. Others, who thought the purchase was dumb to begin with, have now insinuated that the house has been a failure (why are we threatened by the success of others?). Regardless of what others think, this experiment has been a major success. We have made some incredible improvements on a piece of property that I think is inherently amazing. I have learned a ton about people, real estate, construction, and myself. Further, and more importantly, this project has reinforced my faith in God. Let me explain.

I don't claim to be the most faithful or religious person. But among my core beliefs, I know that God knows me and watches over me and participates in my life. This does not mean that my life has followed the exact path I wanted. Rather, it means that things always work out. When it comes to this house, the fact that we have been in Utah has given me an amazing amount of free time to spend with our children. I can't imagine ever having this much free time to spend with them again, especially at such an amazing time in their lives when they are discovering and synthesizing the world around them. I sometimes complain about the time but I know I will always look back fondly. So for those of you out there contemplating something new or challenging, look inside and find a little faith and things will work out.

p.s. Sorry about the cheesy post

Ahhh, Peace

It's 8 PM and I'm all alone in a quiet house. Ben went to a BYU football game and then I fed the kids, gave them a bath, and put them all to bed by 7:20. 7:20! Now I have three good hours to myself. I usually hate daylight savings time because it messes up our schedule, but right now I love it.

**Update: I just wrote 3 press releases in 2 hours, so now I still have time to watch Grey's Anatomy before I go to bed. Just wanted to toot my own horn today I guess.

Read the label you BUMBO

I recently read that the Bumbo was recalled because young children can fall out of them.

I bought a Bumbo when Isabel and Adam were infants. I thought it was one of the greatest inventions ever - it allows small babies to sit up before they can sit unassisted. The label on the Bumbo package clearly states that you shouldn't set it up on a countertop or table.

So the reason I find this recall interesting, and a little funny, is because I am one of the idiots who ignores warning labels. I found this picture of the kids - Adam is in the infamous Bumbo (on a raised window seat), and Isabel is in a bouncy chair. Funny, the bouncy chairs haven't been recalled, but Isabel once fell out of that. Oh yeah, that's because I set it on a chair like a horrible mother and she toppled over while still in the seat.

Then I found an even better picture. Isabel in the Bumbo on the kitchen counter. Even better, the other two kids are sitting next to her on the counter, unsecured. I assure you it was just to snap a picture and I was ready to catch all of them at once at any moment.

Lessons learned: Still use the Bumbo with the next baby, although not on top of things. Do not, under any circumstances, put a bouncy chair in an unstable, high location. And if you put all of the kids on the counter for a picture, have another adult nearby for safety reasons.

Ellie Blogs!

As I was logging in to add a new link to my "friends and family who blog," I figured I would write a post about it.

My friend, Ellen Tingey, has started a blog. Now I can keep up on the exciting happenings of her life when we move off to California. We are getting together for a farewell on Friday with a few other former roommates, Katherine and Melanie.

So, here are 10 things you might want to know about Ellie in case you decide to lurk on her blog:

1. Sometimes she has big hair

2. She was born in New Mexico (Sorry Elle, the truth had to be told) but grew up in Texas

3. She doesn't have a middle name

4. When we lived together she was the best cook I knew

5. You can call her Ellen, Ellie, or Elle. I use all of them interchangably.

6. She never liked Beverly Hills 90210

7. She loves romantic comedies, and likes the name Isabel because of Fools Rush In

8. Geography and/or pronouncing foreign countries is not her strongest point

9. She was my maid-of-honor

10. She is my BFF

For those of you who cannot believe #6 - I'm with you - how could someone in my generation not like Beverly Hills 90210? The day Ellie moved into my Provo, Utah apartment, I was watching the series finale of 90210. I hadn't kept up on the show like I did in its early years, but of course I had to watch the finale. So we started off on the wrong foot since Ellie moved right into my room and interrupted my show watching. At the same time, she was thinking she could never get along with someone from California who actually watched that show.

Luckily we moved passed it and started a great friendship.

Candy and Costumes

Kids make some things a million times more fun. I haven't enjoyed Halloween as much as we did this year in a long time. It wasn't that we did anything out of the ordinary, but the kids were just so cute, so good, and so excited.

Anna asked every day for weeks if today was the day to wear her costume and go trick-or-treating. When the day finally came, it was pretty hard for her to wait all the way until the evening. So eventually we put the costumes on, took the obligatory pictures, and then headed out. In case it's hard to tell from the pictures, Anna was a chicken, Adam was a cow, and Isabel was a lamb.

First we did a little trick-or-treating on Main Street in Bountiful. Then we went to a local Care Center. I thought there would be a few patients at the care center waiting to give candy, but there were TONS. It was nice, they all seemed excited to see the kids in their costumes. Adam and Isabel quickly figured out how to take the candy and put it in their own bucket. By the time we left we had three pretty full buckets. Last we went to about 10 houses in our neighborhood so a few people could see the kids.

When we said our bedtime prayers I said, "thank you for letting us have a nice time trick-or-treating." Anna repeated, "thank you for letting us get LOTS of candy trick-or-treating." Luckily the kid understands moderation - I think she had two pieces of candy today.