He Passed!

Yesterday was a good day. After 4 weeks and 4 days of waiting, Wally finally got his CPA results and..... he passed! All those long hours spent studying, large amounts of caffeine consumed, and slightly stressed-out (I hesitate to say grumpy) moments were worth it. Okay, the last two apply to me. We celebrated by taking the kids to Ritzy's for dinner. It's a fun little restaurant with great salads, sandwiches, and ice cream and best of all, the kids eat FREE! We spent some much needed family time together, totally relaxed, just laughing and enjoying being together. And then back home to study for the next test. I know I'm supposed to have joy in the journey, but when this whole CPA journey is over, I will rejoice!

Aloha!

There are lots of benefits to living in an HOA. The grounds are always well-kept, we have community facilities such as swimming pools, and every few months we have neighborhood events. On June 7, our HOA hosted the first annual Tahitian Luau. We stopped by and had an awesome time! They brought in giant inflatable water slides, a big sand pile, Polynesian dancers, and dinner! Jackson thought he was in heaven playing on the mountain of sand and probably would have stayed there forever, had we not dragged him home. Chloe also loved the sand. She found a shovel and parked herself at the bottom of the pile. She graciously picked out all of the garbage and handed it to me after tasting it first, of course. Kelsie is getting to that too-cool-to-hang-out-with-mom-and-dad stage of her life and spent the evening with her friends. Since when did the teenage years begin at 8? The night ended with a performance by a group of Polynesian dancers. I enjoyed it right up until they started to look for volunteers to join them. All of Kelsie's friends went up and did the Hula and I was encouraging her to join them. "Come on, it will be fun!" I told her. And then when they wanted adult volunteers, I was out of there. I averted my eyes, shrunk down, and did my best to be invisible. "Aren't you going up there?" she asked me. And then I was faced with a dilemma. Do I set my pride aside and show my daughter that it's okay to go outside of your comfort zone, or do I flee? Yep, I fled. No sense in making a fool of myself in front of all my neighbors! All in all, we had a great time and will definitely go back next year.

No More Papers, No More Books....

Summertime. It's the time of year that kids live for and parents endure. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE having Kelsie and Jackson at home, it's just that too much togetherness lends itself to disagreements. So while Kelsie and Jackson were celebrating, I was gearing up. I must admit that Kels and Jack had a great kick-off to summer with lots of fun end-of-year activities. Pre-school ended the last week of May with the main event being a graduation ceremony. The wind was a force to be reckoned with that evening and the kids had to hold their graduation caps to keep them from blowing away. The kids sang some songs, we snapped some photos, had some cake and celebrated the end of a very fun year.

Kelsie's last week of school seemed to drag on forever. Last year, the kids were out before Memorial Day. This year we finished on June 5. Unfortunately for Kelsie, I was finished before she was, which became apparent one morning as she packed up her backpack and saw the unfinished homework from the day before. Oops! We just forgot that she still had to actually work in school. Her end of year party was outside and HOT, but the kids had lots of fun.

Memorial Day Weekend

We began celebrating Memorial Day weekend on Thursday, May 22 at about 4:30 p.m. That's when Wally finished the second of four parts of the CPA exam. He studied non-stop for 13 weeks leading up to that test and we were all happy to finally have a relaxed Dad. I am happy to say that I made it through this last test with only one or two utter and complete breakdowns. I've decided that the emotional breakdowns are a good sign. It means we still need him around!


We spent the entire weekend just playing. On Friday morning, we got up and went out to IHOP for breakfast. After that we did some shopping and then went to the pool. The kids had so much fun! Kelsie is really coming along and can swim with no floaties. She has overcome her fear of jumping off the side and even comes up with tricky moves. Jackson LOVES the water. He can swim, but I prefer him to wear the little arm floaties when we're in the big pool. I wasn't sure how Chloe would react to the pool, since our pool water isn't heated. (In the heat of the summer, the water temperature is really warm, but at the beginning of the season, it takes your breath away when you jump in!) Chloe loved the water! In fact, she loved the water so much she was making me nervous. We couldn't find our little baby innertube, so Wally and I just took turns holding her. She was kicking her legs and trying to push us away. She really just wanted to swim by herself! After a couple of hours, we had to pull the kids out of the pool, because Wally and I were starting to burn (my skin hasn't seen the sun in years!) We grabbed some dinner and a couple of movies from RedBox (our new favorite!) and had the best day!


On Saturday, I started off the day by doing my long run. Long for me is probably just a warm up for most folks, but I'm slowly working my way up to a 10K. I am now up to about 5 miles on Saturdays and 3-3.5 mile runs during the week. I have found that I really enjoy running and actually look forward to it! We'll see how much running I do when the morning lows are in the 90's, but for now, it's my escape! We spent Saturday catching up on housework, yardwork, grocery shopping, etc. We bought some new pool toys for the kids and a floatie for Chloe and then headed to the pool to try it all out. Another awesome day!


Sunday was business as usual, and by the time Monday rolled around we had a mountain of laundry, sunburned shoulders, and a lot to catch up on. The kids spent the day playing with friends, while I caught up on Relief Society stuff and planned our last week of preschool. (YEAH!) Wally and I were both missing our families and all of those traditions that are part of our lives, but we wouldn't trade this chapter in our lives for anything!

One is Fun!

It's hard to believe, but our little Chloe turned one on April 19. According to our plans, she is our last, so it is hard to watch her grow from an infant to a toddler! I still can't bring myself to put away her newborn clothes, so they remain hanging in our closet. And while I do miss those newborn days, I must admit that I don't mind sleeping through the night.

We took Chloe to Build A Bear for her first birthday. She only says a few words, and one of them is "puppy," so she was absolutely delighted to go to Build A Bear! She fell in love with every animal we showed her and we had a hard time letting her choose just one. Kelsie and Jackson got to help Chloe stuff and "bathe" her puppy and even chose out a cute little wig for Chloe's bald head! We had such a great time! After Build A Bear we had to go to Jackson's soccer game, where Chloe was ready to go out on the field and play. We ended our fun day going to Chili's for dinner, where the birthday girl took a nap on the bench. When we got home, we sang "Happy Birthday" and had cake and ice cream with our neighbors. Chloe's first birthday was almost perfect. Right up until the time that she came down with the stomach flu!

We are so happy that Chloe is part of our family! She is so much fun and keeps our lives exciting! Wally and I have voted Chloe "The Most Likely Wallace Child to End Up in the ER." She is very adventurous and independent and really keeps me on my toes. My friend Michelle describes her as "a woman on a mission." Once she decides where she is going and what she wants, she is virtually unstoppable. It is not uncommon to hear me say things such as "How on earth did you get up there?" or "Don't eat the garbage!" or "Spit that out!" or "Has anybody seen Chloe?" She is also sweet and loving and lots of fun!

Home Is Where Your Mom Is

Chloe and I flew to SLC for a much anticipated trip home. The plane ride with an independent 1 year old was quite an adventure in itself. Wally made sure I brought some cash in case I needed to buy my neighbor a drink! Fortunately, on both plane rides the people we were sitting by were very kind and understanding. We spent four wonderful days bonding with baby Owen, laughing with my sisters (and Mom!), eating lots of yummy food, and enjoying family. Highlights of the trip include:

• snuggling with baby Owen
• celebrating Dad's 62nd birthday (according to Mom, he's only 48!)
• watching Chloe's first steps
• spending time with family
• being entertained by Cam
• Cafe Rio, Costa Vida, and sushi from Suehiro YUM!
• celebrating Chloe's 1st birthday
• dinner with Brent, Vickie, Brad, Jenn, Cade, and Ellie
• visiting Upon the Shelf (so many fabulous things, so little luggage space!)
• watching "Dan in Real Life" with Nellie
• shopping at the Gateway

It was so good to be home again and I was grateful for the time that Chloe got to spend with family. As our "firstborn in the wilderness" she doesn't have the same relationship with her grandmas and papas as Kelsie and Jack do. She really warmed up to everybody (especially the puppy!) and will hopefully remember everyone for when we go back in July. The time went by way too quickly, but for the first time, I didn't cry when it was time to go. It could be that Texas is growing on me. But I think I just really missed Wally, Kelsie, and Jack.

Happy Easter!

Easter seemed to come way too quickly this year. As always, we were a little sad that we were not hunting for eggs with the Miyasaki's or playing with the Wallace's in St. George. Wally missed the golfing, the kids missed their cousins, and because we didn't go out of town I had to speak in Sacrament meeting. But once that was done, we had a great Easter!

Kelsie and Jackson woke up early and started looking for their Easter baskets. Last year, the Easter Bunny did a really good job of hiding them. This year's Easter Bunny was a little more lax! Kelsie and Jack both got new umbrellas, which they really needed because of all the rain we've been getting. Chloe got some new sippy cups, but was way more interested in the Easter grass at the bottom of her basket.