Merry Christmas!

We went to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square this year just in case we move out of state when school is over. It was great! The last time we went to the lights was when Holly was 3 and Sam was just a few months old too young to remember.

So funny

I know I just posted but I had to write this down. In church today Sammy and the other nursery kids that will be coming into primary this January joined us in Sharing Time. The Relief Society invited the primary to come and sing the Wise Man and the Foolish Man (their lesson was on Christ being a sure foundation). This was Sam's first primary experience and he was very enthusiastic. He sang as loud as he could and did all of the actions. On the very last verse they sang "The foolish man built his house upon the sand, the rains came down and the floods came up. The house on the sand washed away" As soon as Sam finished singing "the house on the sand washed away" he shot his hand into the air and made a loud explosion sound. It was the most fitting ending to that song.

Answers to prayers

For the past 6 months or so Rob and I have had what seems like trial after trial of our faith. Our summer seemed to be the real beginning of it all (see "Growing Pains"). Rob did not get an offer from his internship despite all of our praying and all of his hard work. With the economy going so poorly our anxiety has risen with each attempt at finding a job. All of fall Rob has been working to find a job. And then we started looking at Walmart.

Rob really liked what he saw in the company. So he started to pursue a job. Walmart recruits at BYU and so Rob had the opportunity to meet with representatives. Every year Walmart holds a competition at BYU. Teams of students get together and they all work to solve a particular problem that Walmart is having. Rob wanted to compete but didn't have time to work with a group. He knew there wasn't a chance for him to win without the help of a group but he wanted to compete and he worked really hard (and prayed really hard). Rob was at the meeting when they announced his number as the winner of the competition. When he went to the front of the room the Walmart rep. asked where his team was. Answer to prayer number 1.

Rob went through two sets of interviews and was asked to fly back to Walmart for a round of 3 interviews. Answer to prayer number 2. Rob went to Walmart and interviewed. He came home feeling pretty good about how it all went. The next day we spent as a family. Rob said he would hear about a job the next week. So we continued to pray. We unexpectedly got a call from a representative later that day and he told Rob that he was not being considered for a job. Answer to prayer number 3?

We were crushed. After two months of praying and working towards this goal it was all over and once again Rob had to endure a rejection. It seemed that all of our trials were weighing down on us. We started praying that we could cope with the disappointment. It took a ton of praying and we were still hurting. I would pray to feel better, I would feel better and then start thinking about it and the hurt would come back. Finally That night I was able to feel the comfort of the spirit. Rob was still struggling.

The next day I went Visiting Teaching. When I got home Rob asked me to sit down with him. He had been listening to a talk by President Eyring. In the talk President Eyring mentioned being in school and praying to do well on exams. He said that sometimes the answer was "no". Sometimes we are not meant to get an A on a test. Then President Eyring said exactly what Heavenly Father knew Rob needed to hear. He said that the same thing goes for job interviews. We may pray really hard and work really hard and still not get the job we are seeking. He said that maybe Heavenly Father needs us to be somewhere else. Answer to prayers 4 through 1000.

Our goals have been to pray to find where Heavenly Father needs us. We are still in the midst of uncertainty. There are no new recruiters at BYU until January and even then the real push ended this November. But we are being reminded daily that Heavenly Father does have a plan for us even if we don't know what it is.

After all of the pain I can say that I am glad we are going through this. Even if our Heavenly Father intends for us to struggle out the rest of our lives I will be grateful for all that I have learned so far. Rob and I both have felt a need to live more righteously. Not necessarily so that we will gain financial blessings. We have just discovered how much sweeter life is when we are doing our all to live the gospel. Even when life is difficult when we are reading scriptures, praying, attending the temple, teaching the gospel in our home and trying to work as a family life is good.

An unholy sound

Yesterday Sam and I were playing one of his favorite games. We pretend to be asleep and then he "cock-a-doodle-doos" and we wake up. As we started to play Sam looked at me very seriously and said "Don't snore". "O.k." I said no fake snoring sounds. I thought it was a little weird but no problem. Later that day I lay down for a quick nap (being 8 months pregnant I can't function without one). Sam was watching a show and I was with him on the couch. I was hardly even asleep when Sam's face appeared in mine. "Mom, stop snoring". Apparently I was freaking him out. I told Rob when he got home from work and he just laughed. He has been too polite to mention how out of control my snoring is lately. When I am pregnant I turn into a cave troll. A cute Cave Troll Rob assures me but a Cave Troll non-the-less.

Sam's birthday

Sam's birthday was in August but I just realized that I didn't post it. Since this is for my records i thought I would post it here now. Sam got toys and we played together. It wasn't very extravagant. Rob had just gotten home from Minnesota and we were going through some uncertain times. The nice thing about his birthday is that it kept going. We had a party with us and Grandpa. Then another party with Nana and Aunt Nina. He got lots of cars.

Sam makes a great 3 year old.

What a great kid!

I went to Holly's parent teacher conference last week. She is doing great. I wasn't surprised. She has always been very talented when it comes to school. She is in the top reading group in her class and is doing fantastic in math and spelling. The teacher even asked me what I was doing. Nothing. Holly is just Good at school.

As happy as I was to hear that she is doing well in school the teachers next comment is far more important to me. She said that Holly is really helpful. She said that most kids that are doing well in a subject look down on kids who are not doing as well. Holly does not. When Mrs. Gibby asks for someone to work with the kids that are struggling in a subject some of the kids get upset and grumble but not Holly. Holly is always excited to help.

She is great!

Happy Halloween

We had a fabulous Halloween. Holly and Sam are set for life on candy. Holly was a witch and Sam was a pirate. Sam took a ton of convincing. He loves to dress up in Holly's princess clothes but a pirate he wasn't so sure about. Actually he wanted to be Frank from Cars but I couldn't figure out how to make that work. Finally the night of the ward Halloween Carnival I told him that his friends Nathan and Josh would be wearing costumes and he decided that he would wear his. You've got to love peer pressure.

At the carnival his costume began to change. He met another little boy dressed like Buzz lightyear (Sam's currant love). From them on he was no longer just a pirate he was Buzz the pirate (and he told everyone he came in contact with). If you asked him previous to the carnival what a pirate says he would say ARRRR! After and during the carnival it was "To Bifinity and Beyond" (one hand raised in the air). Sam stalked the little boy dressed as Buzz for the rest of the evening. Buzz the pirate carried over to trick or treating last night. Instead of saying "Trick or Treat" at every door Sam would introduce himself. The cute college girls would open the door and Sam would say "I am Buzz the pirate" He would then thank them for the candy by mumbling something about Buzz the pirate being thankful.

Rob and I were thoroughly entertained by two cute kids carrying on a fun tradition. Now what do I do with all of this candy?

Review "Growing Pains"

I posted a couple of weeks ago about some difficulties we were experiencing as a family. We are doing much better now but I had to post these pictures that my sister took of the front room I came home to. Decidedly not the front room I left.

You can't help but laugh right? Well at least I couldn't.

So Proud

Yesterday Rob and I had his cousin Rachel over for dinner. My kids loved her and spent most of the evening off the wall excited to have her there.

Sam has been a challenge in nursery for about 6 months now. In Minnesota he ran away from nursery a few times and the teachers constantly worked to get him to sit down for lesson time. The nursery workers here in Provo have been working with him too and he has finally learned to sit in his chair.

Yesterday my children where showing off for Rachel and I thought I would use the opportunity to reinforce Sammy's good behavior in nursery.

Me: Sammy you are doing so great in nursery! You sit on your chair for the lesson now.

Sammy: Yeah, but I don't listen.

Oh well. He is sitting. That's good.

My cute kids!

I was feeling a little discouraged yesterday so I read a journal I used to keep. Almost every page was filled with how much I loved my kids and my husband. I was grateful for the reminder of what I know is most important.

Just a week or two ago as I was putting Holly and Sam to bed Sam wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled me down to him. He said "Mom your my best friend".

Holly has said to me several times lately that she doesn't want to ever leave me.

I love it! I am trying really hard to be a good Mom so that I can deserve such love.

It's a . . . .

We had our 21 week ultrasound today and found that we are having another boy. I am excited and would have been excited either way. The only difference is that we have plenty of girl names picked out. For some reason Rob and I are in sink when it comes to girl names but boy names we have totally different taste in. Rob says all of my boy names are hick names and I say all of his boy names are weird (Buster and Barnaby). This little baby if left to Sam will be named Baby Lightning McQueen and if left to Holly Orrie Orange.

I think we might have found the name we want but it is not set in stone yet. We both like the name Max. Just Max. Not Maxwell or Maximilian or Maxfield. Maxwell Wells just sounds silly. I am not sure how to even spell the second one and Maxfield is too stuffy. Max Robison Wells seems to be the name that fits right now. Who knows in four months though.

I am excited to have another boy. Sam has been so much fun. I can't wait to see #3.

Growing pains

You might think that from my title I will be discussing my ever increasing belly. Granted this belly is increasing at rates never before measured. I think it has a lot to do with my previous obsession with ice cream and the extreme accessibility of the BYU creamery. This baby was preceded by a layer of Graham Canyon ice cream. No, the growing pains I am discussing are the mental and spiritual pains that Rob and I have experienced this last summer.

Our internship was an opportunity for growth. One that we weren't expecting and one that challenged us to the extreme. We were in beautiful St. Louis Park, Minnesota (see previous posts). There is a lot to love about Minnesota and we found it. We also found a lot more faith in and necessary reliance on our Heavenly Father and the Savior.

Our first difficulty occured after Rob had been working for a couple of weeks and was told by his manager that he needed to be more "proactive" (this was incredibly discouraging because Rob is a hard worker). Even though his manager was later told off by the internship mentor for coming down on Rob for no good reason this really affected Rob. For the rest of the internship he killed himself working almost everyday until 9:00 at night (including a lot of Saturdays).

The next event was the start of worse things to come. Our clutch died and needed to be replaced. Rob and I breathed a sigh of relief that we actually had an income so we could pay for it.

Rob continued to work hard but in the last month things began to unravel. I came home to Provo August 8th and opened my front door to find everything except the furniture from my back two bedrooms on the floor of my living room. There was a note that simply said they replaced the carpet and didn't know where to put everything. I found out in the next few hours that our apartment had flooded while we were away. This was funny actually. Can you imagine coming home after a day of traveling and finding your house in the "just moved in" look. The only thing to do is laugh.

Despite working hard and giving a great presentation only 4 of the 8 interns were given an offer. Rob was told that he was very smart and did a great job but they were looking for people with more background in business. On that note he left Minnesota for a four day drive home. During this time I was sick with a cold at home trying to put our house together, get Holly ready for school and missing Rob. Our student loan money was stalling (again). Through all of this we just kept telling each other to have faith that everything was going to work out.

On the last night of Rob's trip he called from just outside Billings, Montana. Our car stalled at the top of a mountain. We felt blessed that the car didn't stall on the extremely narrow switchbacks that went up the mountain. The tow truck was expensive. The mechanic said that it was the timing belt and we were really lucky that Rob was driving slow when it gave out. Despite not finding any damage to the engine after the timing belt was replaced the car would not start. An entire day of trying and we had two possible scenarios. 1). There was a hole in something $1500; 2). The engine was done (more money than the car was worth). We prayed for the first but got the latter. I started to despair. Rob and I had no way of replacing the car. Rob called his dad to come pick him up and we were planning on scrapping the car. Our life looked really bleak. Bus rides to the store and doctors appointments were in our future plus we had repair debts for the car.

In the middle of my despair and my trying to have faith that my Heavenly Father loved us I was reminded of Joseph Smith in Liberty jail: "the son of man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than He?" I was ashamed. I hadn't even come close to the trials Joseph Smith or the early saints had experienced and here I was giving up hope. I called Rob and he told me that a family in the MBA program who had a son with cancer just lost him that morning. My trials were nothing. I am still praying to make up for my lack of faith and feeling sorry for myself.

Heavenly Father did bless us. Despite our credit and no income we were able to trade our old car for a new (smaller) car. Rob got home. We have enough for our needs and our student loan money is on track again. The future is still uncertain about a lot of things but I do feel more confident than before that our Heavenly Father knows our needs better than we do. Rob and I were stretched and even though I faltered I learned.

This summer makes me feel as if I have been gone forever. I have grown so much. I hope I am a little bit better.

I am a lucky girl!

I knew that Rob was an awesome catch when I said yes but he continually shows me just how incredible he is.

Friday night I went to bed around 11:00. Rob said he would come in later he had some work to do (nothing to suspect there. With this internship I am lucky if he comes to bed before midnight).

Later on Rob came to bed and set something heavy on my stomach. It was Breaking Dawn. I was just going to borrow a copy when we got back to Provo. Rob went out and braved a Barnes and Noble full of screaming 13 year old girls to buy me a copy of the book when it came out. Rob endured a Twilight party for me.

Holy Cow I am lucky!

Knock knock

Last night my kids got to bed a little late. Sam fell asleep on the way home from the zoo so when bedtime rolled around he wasn't sleepy yet. For our internship Holly and Sam have shared a double bed which for the most part has worked out great. Last night though they were wired and I was getting worn out going in there room to settle the chaos. After a while the chaos turned to quiet giggling. I went in their room one more time to check on them and encourage sleeping. Holly said "Mom I am trying to sleep but Sam keeps telling me knock knock jokes." My comedian practicing his new material on his sister before Rob and I get to hear it.

My kids love knock knock jokes. There favorite so far is "knock knock. Who's there? Kung Fu Panda. Kung Fu Panda who? Kiyah (karate chop)." Holly just informed me this is her favorite. "Knock knock. Who's there? Gerber life. Gerber life who? Whahhhhh (baby crying)" clever huh?

Nauvoo

We got back from Nauvoo last night after a gruelling 10 hour drive home. I say gruelling but the only thing bad about it was me being pregnant. We drove home through Wisconsin and saw some incredibly beautiful country. Before anyone scolds Rob he couldn't have gone home the shorter way if he wanted to. I wouldn't have let him. Even though I was uncomfortable the drive was so beautiful it made up for it. I think I like southeastern Minnesota and southwestern Wisconsin the most out of all the country I have seen so far. Iowa was not pretty.

Nauvoo was the best birthday present. Everyone says there is a good feeling there and they are right. There was a subtle peacefulness that settled on me there. I felt so content. I loved watching Holly and Sam pretend to be pioneers. I loved talking to the cute sister missionary in the school house. She invited us to see the show Sunset on the Mississippi and we loved it.

The temple is beautiful. I went to Nauvoo when I was 14 and then again when I was 19. I sat on the temple plot at night and watched fireflies. It is even better to see the temple sitting there.

Carthage was a great experience. I have been before but it was satisfying to see Rob experience it. Sam was a two year old in all of his glory there. I took a risk and let him go on the tour. He of course threw a fit just when everyone else was contemplating in the last room. I was so embarrassed but then the thought occured to me that if Joseph Smith were in that room he would not be offended by Sam. If President Monson where in that room he would not be offended by Sam; and if the Savior where in that room he would not be offended by Sam. I hope we didn't create feelings of anger for the others in the room but I felt like Heavenly Father was glad we were there.

The whole trip has become my favorite experience of the summer. There were moments of extreme grumpiness from children who had too little sleep but the feelings there and the feelings I took away with me more than made up for any difficulties. If you ever get a chance to visit Nauvoo do it. It will leave you happier than you were before.

Sam's new trick

Sam came running in to my room the other day extremely excited. He had a new trick that I needed to see. I followed him into the front room where this trick was all over the floor.



How could I get upset? He was so proud. I couldn't think of anything to say except good job. So as you can guess this trick has continued and will continue until Sam comes up with something better.

The mystery meat

Holly, Sam and I only have 3 weeks left here in Minnesota. This has been an incredible experience. It has been both fun and challenging. A vacation and hard work. I am looking forward to going home but I am glad we came.

While we have been here Rob and I have tried to see as much as we can. This weekend was our trip to Southern Minnesota. Austin to be exact and the Spam Museum which was worth the hour and a half it took to drive there.

This is the Spam Museum.




The movie we watched right before the museum.



We didn't make it all the way through the movie. There is only so much about spam that is interesting (granted there is a lot interesting about Spam but this movie way over did it).

Then we walked through a history of Hormel and the creation of Spam. After that was the Spam puppet show.





Then more museum until the end where as a team Rob, Holly, and Sam packed 6 cans of spam in 2.5 minutes.





Holly was so inspired that on the drive home she changed the words to "Rainbow Connection" to incorporate Spam. "Why are there so many songs about Spam and what's on the other side." "Someday we'll find it. The Spam connection. The lovers the dreamers and Spam."

If you ever come to Minnesota seriously you need to see the Spam museum.

Good Friends

The past week we had our friends Cameron and Birgitte Ruesch stay with us. It was such a nice change that I am going through withdrawals. I got used to talking to adults all day and the kids got used to constantly playing with friends. It was definitly one of the highlights of the summer.

Our first excursion was to St. Paul. We stopped at a fantastic burger joint and then went to the St. Paul capitol.


This is Sammy and Rachel. Rachel is three months older than Sam.




This is Birgitte playing with all of the kids


Cameron

That night we battled the mosquitos and lit fireworks outside our apartment for the kids to watch.

The next day we piled in our cars and drove to Darwin Minnesota to see the world's largest ball of twine spun by one man.


Holly, Addie and Rachel (we couldn't get Sammy to hold still long enough for a picture)

Facinating isn't it. Rob has been dying to see this one for a while. After the twine we drove to a state park and played in one of the lakes.

















This was my favorite day but there was more fun to come.

Rob had to leave for Chicago Monday afternoon. We all dropped him off at the airport and then went to the Mall of America. Addie went to Build a Bear workshop and Holly spent her birthday money at Friends 2B Made. Then we went to the amusment park in the mall.





The next day we spent part of at a local park and splash pad.





Most of our time was spent just hanging out and playing at home but we had such a good time.

Cameron and Birgitte left yesterday morning and we are all bored. We miss having our friends to talk to and play with.