sunDay nAp!
this is a photo of Jeff today sitting in the hall before church was over (notice his fun pink tie) We have afternoon church and it is so hard because it is right during the girls naps and who am I kidding mine too. I just thought this was the sweetest photo and was glad i had my camera.

Today we had a linger longer because it was the fifth sunday. does anyone else do these? i have only done these in the South. We all brought soup. it turned out to be really great. we of course brought the medical board tortilla soup.
The seniors got their quilts which was so nice. Our Bishop is awesome for doing this for them and taking the time to highlight each one.
I am really going to miss my buddies!

priMary birThday!
today we celebrated one of the kids in my primary class birthday. And I made cupcakes with these new awesome shaped cupcake tins. I used the colors of my neon food coloring that i wrote about earlier and wanted to show you the colors. Have I said how much i love teaching primary and how much i am going to miss my kids!

satUrDay reCap.

5:30 wake up. my mouth feel like it is on fire and swollen
6:00 Caroline joins me downstairs while I am quilting a seniors quilt
9:00 All Saturday house chores are done! Yea
9:15 out for a fun 6 mile bike ride with the family. Photos.
11:00 make grocery list for the week
1:30 home from costco and walmart run (can't believe i surrvied the grocery carts gone wild at Walmart. Why is there not a class in school how to drive one of those things. those people drive me crazy)
2:00 squeeze in a little nap to make up for horrible night sleep
3:00 girls eat sand in the sandbox
4:00 work on bulletin board for chruch building
5:00 do a little monogramming
6:00 ling lings for dinner.
6:30 annie kate to swimming party (indoors)
7:00 make bulletin board at the church
wait in car while Jeff drops off chips and salsa to hometeaching families
8:30 pick up annie kate from swimming party and show up 2 1/2 hours late to the american idol birthday party.
9:40 blog about day and crawl into bed (wearing my freshly bleached white pj's) and read my new book, which i am too embarassed to admit what it is. but of course i will confess when i am done, should be in a few days.

Great weather. fun family time. jeff home all day. lots of jumping on the trampoline. mouth feels better. clean house. this is the life.

I finished it!
Last night I finished reading my 2nd book this year. (that is huge for me!) I read the Widow of the South.
It was a great book. I was getting a little worried in the middle of the book that I wouldn't finish it and was losing interest, but once I started realizing that what I was reading happened within 5 miles of my house it gave it new meaning.
It is about a southern woman, Carrie McGavock, whom opened her home as a hospital during the civil war after the battle of Franklin. The bloodiest battle of the civil war. 9,200 people were killed in 5 hours. Years after the war she realized the bodies of the war had been buried in ditches stacked on top of each other. She helped redig 1.600 of the bodies and rebury them on her plantation. She kept a book where she was able to identify 1.400 of them.
I have always loved American History and am ashamed of myself for not digging into it sooner living around so much of cival war history. I now have a list of a few places I must go to before we move.
So today, swollen jaw and all, we went to the Carnton Plantation to take a tour of the home and graveyard. As we were driving up to the house my heart was pounding, I as so excited. The above photo is the back porch of the home. After the battle of franklin 5 of the confederate generals were brought here, dead, to lay on the back porch out of respect. Inside the home we saw the blood stained wood floors where so many of them died the days after the battle.

The highlight of the book for me was when Carrie's slave, Mariah, was talking to some of the soldiers who where the last to leave the plantation before taken to the Union prisions. These were the sickest of the men who had become disfigured and lost limbs. They were talking of how they had no idea how they were going to begin their new life as injured as they were. Mariah tells them you have to be happy wherever you are and whatever you were doing. The perspective of a slave who, now that the war was over, was becoming free was teaching the soldiers how to make the most of living a life of bondage. Very touching.

It was a day I will never forget walking where the soldiers of the army had walked. Walking through the largest private graveyard of confederate soldiers, trying to teach my girls of what happened there. It is so hard to comprehend.

I look forward to our move and to take advantage of teaching myself and my girls the history of our great country.
Enjoy the photos of our visit. to learn more about the Carnton Plantation.
I have already started my new book.... yipee.

we will miss...
I have been think of all the things we are going to miss about Tennessee when we move. And here is an example of one of them. this is a daily occurance after annie kate gets off of the bus. The girls from the next door, down the street and behind us all come over to jump on the trampoline. Two days ago it was so hot I sprayed them with water. Annie Kate has such great friends and so close. We are really going to miss this!

i have lost my wisdom!
this morning i woke up and could not take the pain anymore. Jeff made me call the dentist and 3o minutes after calling them I was sitting in the chair with the bright lights and goodbye wisdom teeth. not what i was expecting to do today. But I am glad I didn't have to think about it.
A huge thanks to my friend for watching my kids (Yea JPB)
This dentist is seriously the greatest guy ever! I got my new crown and the top two wisdom teeth pulled. I can not beleive how gross this photo is, what a huge cavity!
I was sad I didn't get to take them home to show Annie Kate and to put them under my pillow tonight. But of course I had my camera and asked him if I could take a picture for my blog. He must have thought I was crazy. But is this not just a great ad for brushing your teeth.
So I am now in more pain than I imagined. Jeff came home to help with the kids and I am laying down for a nap. But of course I had to post it first. I may be a little loopy so I will have to edit this after I wake up.
I am putting a photo of my teeth under my pillow and I told Jeff I hope the tooth fairy brings me somthing good tonight.

Yummy drink!
I forgot how much i love this drink until i made it the other day. It is Crystal light ruby red grapefruit. It is yummy! You would even like it even if you don't like grapefruit juice. It is even more yummy with a glass full of the pebble ice (sonic ice) Great summer drink.

Tagged by Jill
5 Things in my fridge:skim milk. whole milk. near empty bottle of soy sauce. drinkable yougurt. sundried tomatoes
5 Things in my closet:holiday stuff. photos. two pieces of furniture that i won't get rid of. work out clothes. wedding dress
5 Things in my purse:wallet. wipes. diapers. receipts. crumbs
5 Things in my car:car seats (3) empty can of diet coke. primay bag. cell phone (it always stays in my car) karate belt
5 Things on my Tivo: no Tivo.

Free ice cream!
Today is free ice cream at Ben & Jerry's go in and get a free scoop!

mUsHies!
this is a photo of annie kate's sticker books. The kids at her school and in the neighborhood collect these mushy/ liquid stickers. they are not allowed to trade at school anymore but they still love getting together to trade anywhere they can.
i love that she does this, it keeps her young. Caroline has her own book too and will sit with the big kids and act like she is trading with them.

how do you feel about collecting?

foOd cOloRing!
I just came across these food colorings at the store last week. I did not know they now make them in Pink, Purple, lime green and pale blue. Oh this changes everything for me. No more trying to make the perfect pink and then getting it too red. I am so excited!

no t.v.
today marks our 2 weeks of no tv. I can't believe we have not turned it back on after our Easter week. It amazes me. We asked Annie Kate tonight if she has missed it and she said she didn't realize she hasn't watched it.
Our lives have really changed in two weeks. Yesterday after church the babies were in bed and the three of us sat in the living room and each read our book. (i am sure this is what most of you do on sunday but for us this was a huge change) every night jeff and I are dying to get the kids in bed so we can get reading.
We listen to a lot more music, sing more as a family, play more outside, make more crafts (oh yikes) watch the stars on the trampoline.
It has been a great change for us. Caroline has watched some disney movies she has never seen like Dumbo and Aristocats. but we don't watch anything in the morning like we used to.
i realize how much i used the tv as a baby sitter.
The kids play with their toys more.
Huge change for our family!

Garage Sales!
there are very few things I love more in this world than a good garage sale or even a bad one for that matter. I love garage sales! With Jeff being home today I was able to go without the kids. luxury for me!
What I got this weekend.
The above camel game. it is so cool! not a piece missing it is from 1964 $1.00
An origianl Sorry game $1.00
A wooden Jenny Lind high chair. Mint condition $15.00
Fake sleeping cat for the kids. $2.00
purse for caroline and annie kate $1.00
Awesome orange hat and scarf from the gap $.50
Incredible table that opens up it is realy old $30 (more than i wanted to spend but it is so awesome and old but great condition)
a lime green sofa for our basement. it is so fun! i can't believe jeff went for it. $30
bag full of old jewlery for the girls ... free.
More than more normal $10. limit for one day but some fun stuff. I have not taken photos of everyting yet but here are some of the fun items.

Trying to find time to read!
This reading thing is really getting to me. How does everyone find time to read? I am just so excited to read my book but can't ever find the time to read it. At night I am so tired I get a chapter in and then fall asleep.
This morning Jeff was home, his first Saturday in almost 2 months! I pretended I was still asleep so he would get up at 6:30 with the girls and then when he went downstairs i grabbed my book and read for an hour! (jill you are right that early morning reading in the cozy is awesome) then after an hour i felt so guilty I got up and went downstairs.
then when it was time to blow dry my hair it took me 25 minutes because i was sitting there reading. I figured as long as the blower was going Jeff would think I was still blow drying my hair.
...not that he is against me reading and i have to hide it, i just feel so bad because i know how crazy the three girls are by yourself.
Anyway, I just thought it was funny for the girl 3 months ago who hated to read, i am now becoming obsessive. Jeff and I were going to rent a movie tonight, but decided to spend the time reading our books. funny huh!
The above photo is a picture of Jeff's mom when she was about 1 years old. I am not sure who is in the photo with her, i hope she will comment so i can remember. But i have been using this photo for my bookmark for my last book and this one. I am not sure why but it was in my drawer. It makes a great bookmark. Caroline saw it the other day and said, "Sally Jane?" it does look much like her.
*** what do you use for your bookmarks when reading*****

Celebrate o' day of Birth!
I love birthdays. I love mine and I love everyone elses. Annie Kate went to the ultimate birthday party tonight. The first photo is of the take home gift for each child. It was a mermaid/under the sea party. The each made a pair of flip flops, shell necklace. They had shell pasta for dinner. The mermaid cake was incredible that had cupcakes for hair. They each got star fish sugar cookie mix with cookie cutter. The cute metal tin with sweedish fish, bubbles, gold fish, and the cutest ever laminated memory game with different sea life pictures. JPB you are amazing! (she also did an amazing space party for her son that morning!)
The second photo is a bag we gave the birthday girl. You can't really read it but it says Mermaid Bailey. I was so excited because I was able to use the same font on the embroidery as she used on the invite. (2peas mr. giggles)
I am glad to know there is someone else out there who goes crazy on birthday parties. Except i don't think i will ever do two in one day.

new bAby!
My neighbors dauther had a baby this week. They name her Taylor (duh!) I took this blanket (or as we call them in our house Soupie) over. Caroline was going crazy because she thought i was giving away sally jane's Soupie. Can I tell you how much i love this minkie fabric! Blanket from Target font and design from Bunnycup.

Senior Quilt update!
I just had to post a photo of two of the quilts that we made the other night for the seniors in our ward. I forget how much i love to sit around with other women and make things. I always feel a sense of heritage pride when i sit around a quilt frame. My grandmother had a quilting bee with her buddies and made some incredible quilts.
I feel lucky to have been asked to help out with this project. Only 6 more quilts to go!

so nIce!.. and oH so pInk!
My girlfriend brought this over to me yesterday as a pick me up, goodbye gift. She said, "how could i not buy pink stuff for you!" It is from the $1 spot at Target. It is so Cute! and i was flattered when she said it was so me. The super mom card is adorable! We stood outside for over an hour until it started to rain having a healthy, great woman talk. It amazes me sometimes how healthy it is for me to talk about my struggles with someone and realize it is ok and everyone has them. She made me feel empowered! Thanks KSG!

"Oh, how we need each other. Those of us who are old, need those of you who are young. And hopefully you of who are young need some of us who are old. It is a socialogical fact that women need women.
We need deep and satisfying and loyal friendships with one another."
Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Monogram!
I am helping our Relief Society at my church make some quilts for all the seniors graduating in our youth group. I have been monogramming them. I had to take a picutre of this one because i love the sheets they picked. the shabby chic line at target. And her initials are so great. I love doing W's and E's.
I do need some great ideas of what to give a graduating Senior. If you remember something great that you got or have a great idea I would love it. We have 12 graduating in our ward this year.

my fiRst jOb.
I had been saving this photo to put on Easter weekend and forgot. This is a picture of me in 1984 in Las Cruces, NM with my first job as the mall Easter bunny. This was the day the Easter bunny came to the mall in a big flat bed truck that drove through the parking lot and then I got out and went and sat in the big wicker chair talking to the kids. There was a glass ceiling above where the bunny sat so the sun hit me the whole time. It was so hot. Minimum wage was $3.35 an hour! This picture looks so vintage!
What was your first job?

steRile fiEld!
Warning do not read if you do not want to hear me complain.
I am assuming that at least 75% of my husband's awake time is spent in a sterile field. Everything is in its place, clean, never out of order.
You can only imagine what is coming
Jeff is very good about the house, he loves it clean but understands my busy life, but the one thing that drives him crazy is little girls dirty fingers and faces. This in some ways have been a blessing but on days like today i am pulling my hair out.
It is absolutely beautiful outside. We spent the morning on our walk and came home to play and work in the yard. I mowed the lawn, dug up old dead bushes and flowers and did some watering all the while eating popscicles. Caroline was freaking out every moment when she had grass, dirt or popscicle on her feet or fingers or mouth. She wouldn't put her sandals on because there was a speck of dirt on them. She was using the new awesome sidewalk paint but had to wash her hands every 3 minutes.
I wish I could transport Jeff home right now and let him see how hard it is to play with your kids when they only want to be in a sterile field. Maybe i should send her to work with him tomorrow... oh i think i like that!!!

evErytHing piNk!
the other day I was cleaning up the back yard and this is what was back there. a pink shovel, my pink sloggers gardening shoes, a pink soccer ball and a big pink bouncy ball. Our Azalyas or in full pink bloom too. I had to take a picture because I was laughing at how really everything in our house is pink, thus the name of my blog.

the QuEen hAs a nEw cRown!
Today I went to the dentist and I now have a new lap top computer, new serger and a nice GPS system sitting in my mouth! (all items we were hoping to buy with the money we made off of the house... oh well!)
Two months before we get free dental I get hit with tons of detal work. To top it off I am a dental phobic. This was the first time seeing this new dentist and he was awesome!!! He looked just like the boyfriend on My Big Fat Greek Wedding and he was just as charming, which helped calm my nerves.
So now I have to have my wisdom teeth pulled in a few weeks. Not looking forward to that.
The major tooth pain is in my wisdom teeth which won't come out for two weeks, so still drinking everything out of a straw.
I got my old crown taken off and a new one made, yet I still am not the queen of anything but my sewing room. Such is life.

Sold!
Today we sold our home. We really consider this our first home. (the condo on the tracks is a blur in our memory) It now seems so real that we are moving. We have loved this home and our neighbors. It is a bit dreamy.
We had a incredibly, wonderful experience with our realtor. We did NOTHING! We felt no stress or anxiety once we put it on the market. She truly did her job. She knows our neighborhood so well and we are conviced it is why we sold our home fast and made our profit.
If any of you locals want her info here it is.
So, we will rent the home back from the owners until the middle of June when we move to Washington D.C.

Memories of Glatonbury Drive

Neighbors * Red Brick * Big back yard * the garden * The Hochs * Our two bunny rabbits (RIP) * Mr. Rick * Our window boxes * the Trampoline * The Giles * All the kids * The school bus * Wednesday Sucker Days * The bonus sewing room * Yellow Kitchen * The Haynes * Belgium Waffles * Painting the dining room red * Sigura * Easter Egg hunts * Trick or Treating * the pool * the ice cream truck * Home Depot next door * Bringing the girls home from the hospital * Jeff's first christmas home * mowing the lawn * stealing tulip bulbs * the pink phone * garage sales * my shabby chic kitchen * making all the window treatments * walks in the neighborhood * Publix * the tunnels * Huntersbend Elementary

We will miss this place so much!

Easter 2006
I really don't know where to begin when writing about this week. It was one of the best weeks for our family and one of the hardest.
I knew that I wanted to celebrate Easter where we focused on Christ, but just didn't how to do it and get the kids excited about it. The book I posted about earlier last week was a lifesaver and the beginnings to some great traditions.
I put some of our photos on a smugmug gallery, but photos won't do justice to what we learned this week. Everyday we had something that we did or made to teach us about what Christ did every day the last week of his life.
some of the highlights were, talking about the parables and making lamps like the 10 virgins, doing a play of palm sunday, the talk about the last supper, Jeff washed the girls feet, talking about the betrayl (annie kate had so many questions) watching Easter Dream and Faith in Christ but my favorite was on Friday night, which was the day he was crucified we didn't use any lights in the house once it got dark. We used flashlights. we ate dinner in the dark, showered when it was almost dark, read in the dark. It had quite an impact talking about how it was dark for 3 hrs in Jerusalem and 3 days in the Americas. The whole world knew he died! Jeff only slept at home two nights last week (thus the hard part of the week) so he was not home on friday night. I was tempted to go do some stuff when the girls went to bed, but I decided to do the same. I went to bed and just read with my flashlight. It was a powerful night for me.
We had Stake Conference and Elder John Madsen (mindy isn't that your neighbor?) a former teacher of mine from BYU and is now in the first quorum of the seventy come speak. We got there early because I wanted Annie Kate to meet him. The temple president saw that Annie Kate was waiting for him to come in the chapel and he help her right to him and said "this little girl has been waiting to meet you" She had a glimmer in her eyes when he shook her hand. He said to her, "I work with President Hinckley. He could not be here today but if he was, and if he was shaking her hand he would say to you, Annie Kate I love you!" I of course and standing there crying. When you live away from the hub bub of Utah, when General Authority comes to visit it is amazing!
Jeff stayed in the meeting to hear them speak (I had gone to the adult session the night before and he was at work) and i played with the girls outside the temple in the water fountain for over an hour. ( i was a bit cranky, but seeing the girls in their matching yellow easter dresses playing in the fountain at the temple was a little dreamy)
We had a great Easter dinner and made funeral potatoes for the first time ever in my life. We went for a walk down by the river by our house and the girls stayed in their dresses. Photos.
It was a great day and I look forward to next years Easter Week.

I did it!
One of the benefits of blogging for me has been reconnecting with my college friends, who are all big readers. I have been jealous of their book review posts and methods for reading and marking books. It has lit a little fire under me to make the time to read. I don't enjoy reading at all, but have been determined to change that about me.
When I realized that Russell M. Nelson (who is one of the 12 Apostles in our chruch) was a heart surgeon and had 10 kids, and that he had a biography out, I said, "I have got to read this book" I got it a few weeks ago and have not been able to put it down. I finished it last night. I was just so proud of myself for starting something and finishing it.
This man is amazing. I was most impressed with his self discipline, and beleive that is what has made him as successful as he is.
One of my favorite quotes of the book was.

" The decision to go into medicine was forged by two realizations: One was that was where my talents lay. I had a great desire to do research, to go into the unknown. The other was that I liked people. I wanted to served them. I reasoned that the finest career that would be available to a human being would be that of mother. Inasmuch as that was out of the question for me, I reasoned that the second occupations would be medicine . There I could help people every day and teach them."

It was a wonderful book and an excellent read! So I went ahead an bought my new book and will start it tonight. Scroll down the side bar to see my new read.

Cutler Bunny Traditions!
I am finally getting around to posting our Bunny traditions. (Our new Christ centered traditions have been amazing but i will wait to recap the whole week on Sunday.)
I have said before that my mom did Holidays up to the top! And Easter was no exception.
* There were 6 kids so we each had a color of eggs that were our to hunt. So for my girls I tie a colored ribbon on their basket so they know which colors they get to hunt for (since there our only two hunters this year)
*Then we always had one egg that was the biggest and it had something special inside, $1.00 bill or a full size candy bar. This egg was really hard to find. It seems like i remember one year there was a piece of string that winded through the whole house that connected to my egg that was in my closet. This year i found a gigantic Gold egg at Walmart that I am going to start some fun tradition with.
* My friend Laura G. has older kids and she does an Easter Egg hunt in the dark with flashlights. (how cute is that?, Laura i would love for you to comment and give the details)
* We make these jello jelly beans every year. I have two mold trays and they take a few days to make them because I usually make 4 different colors. They are so fun to eat. I found the molds at Walmart but you can order them online.
* The night before our hunt we put a stack of carrots on the front door step to let the Easter Bunny know to stop at our house. It is hard to find the cool carrots with the green leaves at the top, but those are my favorite to use. And magically in the morning the carrots all have bites out of them. this is a fun gift to give to your neighbors, stack of carrots with ribbon to leave out for the bunny.
* The easter bunny always leaves footprints outside on the side walk. I make a stencil on a 8x11 picece of cardstock with a large paw print and then lay it on the sidewalk and sprinkle flour over it, over and over in a walking pattern. We even do it for our neighbors which has been a fun tradition.
* The girls get new dresses. This year they all have yellow ones. Annie Kate's i got off of ebay (deal of the century) and the younger girls i got online brand new smocked for $6.00 a piece when House of Hatten went out of business!
* We have a neighborhood easter egg hunt. We have such great neighbors.
* This year for breakfast we are having a yummy Creme Brulee French Toast. It is a receipe from one of my favorite cookbooks.
* We of course dye eggs. We did this yesterday with Annie Kate being home. I forget how much kids love doing this.
* This year I am going to make or buy ( we will see how the weekend goes) little flower corsages for the girls to wear to church. I always see those big lillies and I thought it would be a new fun tradition to have the girls have little flower corsages. We have Stake Conference this Sunday.
* My mom every year made this fun Easter Bunny cake. I always loved it when she made that cake. We are trying a new one this year trying to make an easter basket out of a bundt cake. I will take photos and see how it goes.
I will take lots of photos and be posting them to our Easter 2006 website.

If you have some fun traditions that I can add to mine please share!!
check our my friends peep tree.

wAsps and dIet cOke!
It is 8:00 am and I already have a slew of things to write about today. The two oldest girls were up all night. Annie Kate is sick and will be home from school today. Sally Jane is already down for her morning nap, the no T.V. thing may not last all day, poor Jeff slept at Centenial Hospital and only got three hours of sleep last night and he is back to Vanderbilt to be filmed for some news story(i hope he shaved) and to top it off Caroline got stung by the above wasp, all before 7:00 am! Needless to say I opened a diet coke at 6:45 (which felt like noon to me) and had to drink it with a straw because i think i have a cavity and so the tooth hurts when it gets cold.
It is going to be a long day!

My crazy Caroline!
All it takes with Caroline is 2 minutes and she has found a new treasure. today is was the toilet paper. This is what happens when you don't watch t.v. This week we decided not to have the T.V. on. For a couple of reasons. 1. to focus on Easter week. 2. to evlauate how much t.v. we are watching. (i always say i want to throw them out the window) but i realize the person who watches the most t.v. is caroline. Jeff is only home two nights this week, so it is not affecting him, Annie Kates doesn't watch a lot of t.v, especially with the weather being so good, but Caroline is the one who it is probably affecting. But i must say she has not asked to watch a "show" yet. Annie Kate made signs for the T.V.'s that say "NO T.V." so i think caroline thinks they are broken. I have done more with Caroline this week than I have in two months. We have read every book in the house, painted, played on PBS kids.org, jumped on the tramp, played outside, I have spent less time on the computer, made tons of crafts and it is only wednesday. I so far have learned a lot from this lesson. When Caroline got up at 5:30 this morning with me, i thought what are we going to do. We colored until everyone else got up at 7:00 and it was a great morning.

How do you limit T.V. in your family?

.. and i must say another plug for blogging, it saved Caroline's life. instead of being mad at her for going through two rolls of toilet paper i grabbed my camera for photo op! to see more of caroline's adventures click here.

Easter!
Well, ya'll know what is happening around our house. We are getting ready for the weekend holiday. Or actually we are already celebrating.
I bought this book, pictured above, A Christ Centered Easter. In hopes to change the way we celebrate Easter and remember what it is all about along with our fun springtime activities. (i can't give those up!)
This book is wonderful. It gives you a day by day starting on palm sunday of what Christ did His last week of life. Then everyday there are activities that we do to remember them. Here are a few.
We made palm branches and acted out the palm sunday play
we made a LOA (love one another) board where we all write things we love about each other during the week
we each picked a quality of Jesus that we will work on this week. (mine is patient)
we decided to give up T.V for the whole week. we are on day three so far so good.
tonight we are making oil lamps out of sculpty clay and talking about the 10 virgins

I know it is a little late notice about telling everyone about this book. but a must for next year. even if you adopted one new tradition. I have photos and will make a section in our smugmug.
i will post our easter bunny traditions by thursday to give you some time to try some if you want some new ideas.
care to share some of your easter traditions?

Tests.
Last week was a big test week for our family.
Jeff returned home from Chicago, exhausted, tired, brain fried, happy it was over, excited to see the girls, worried (results don't come for 2 months). He feels good about what he did and a weight lifted off his shoulders for sure. I of course have all the confidence in the world he will pass and do great. But i have learned something about Jeff from all this. He has never not done well in his medical training, in fact he has done very well, but he never thought for a minute that because he aced one test he would do the same on the next. He never assumed because he takes tests well that he was just going to do fine. He always studied, even if it was a subject that came easy to him. He studied smart (huge thanks to Jeremy J.) he spent time learning what he needed to study and then did it. He still just amazes me.
Annie Kate had her spelling test on Friday. it was pretty easy but the bonus words were really hard. Two weeks ago she got a perfect score and now that is all she wants to shoot for. (oh please turn out like Jeff and not me!) The students get 4 bonus words that are harder than the regular words. We spent a whole hour the night before the tests going through these. These are what they were.
Through
Threw
Though
Thought.
Are you kidding me?? this is parent torture trying to go over these with your kids. Anyway she got 100% and was thrilled.
So I am happy to report that both Cutler Students did well on their tests!

Way to go!!

oLd mAid
One of my favorite card games as a kid was old maid.
We have a bunch of card games for the kids from a company called Eeboo. their cards have such unique graphics. We love them.
You might be familiar with their Alphabet Cards that Pottery Barn kids have used in some of their magazines.
The above photo is my favorite character from our old maid set. tonight as i was cleaning them up today, I noticed that the old maid card has teeth marks in it. Thus, the card game is now ruined, because you will always know which one is the old maid. What made me laugh was that I can remember as a kid always trying to secretly mark the Old Maid.
So, my advice to anyone who makes Old Maid card games, it should come with a few extra Old Maids.
a few other favorite products from this company. job charts, maps, lacing cards.

What are some games you play with your kids?

Toto where are you?
Today we had some pretty bad tornado's touch down in Nashville. (7 people killed) We had the sirens going off, hail, Annie Kate's school held the kids late until the tornado warning was off and lots of rain and wind. It is very interesting to me to see how me and my neighbors react. My neighbors who are from here and have seen tornado damage, take it very seriously and get in their closet and have their kids wear their bike helmets, where me and my girls are out jumping on the trampoline.
It has made me think today about what other sirens might be going off in my life that I am ignoring. ... interesting.

Ribbon and Pineapples
Two of my favorite things are pineapples and ribbon. When i was looking on my favorite ribbon website today and saw that they had come together with the color pink too, i had to document.
There is a whole new line of ribbon out by Douglas Paquette, Inc and it is wonderful. So take a peek.
My other favorite ribbon website is jkm ribbon.

go jeff go!
Today Jeff is in Chicago taking his medical boards. All of us girls at home are so proud of him and rooting for him.

Annie Kate wore her locket today that has a photo of Jeff when he was about 5 in it. She let him take her 10 leaf clover with him for good luck (which is funny because she was worried she wouldn't do well on her spelling test because she didn't have it with her)
We will be thinking about him all day.
I had the girls and some of his family write letters to him that i put in a bunch of different envelopes and sneaked inside his suitcase. He opened them last night when he got there and was very greatful. He said David's was one of his favorite. So thank you for those of you who did that!
Keep your fingers crossed! And when you blow your nose today think of Jeff today taking a 2 day test on boogers and their production process.

Gift.

This weekend i planted my planter boxes as a gift for the people buying our home. I had to take a photo because if they produce like last year when we move they will look so much different. I am really excited about them and am going to miss not having them when we move.

Here is my favorite planter box receipe.

Purple Trailing Verbena, white bocuba, red new guinea impatience, lime green sweet potato vine and any kind of tall spikey grass. this year i did try something new with this red and green leafy plant that i didn't write down the name.

i will take a photo when we move and repost to see the changes. Sorry to all my Utah friends who might read this, it might make your snowy day more snowy.

wedNesday morNings.
This year Wednesday mornings have been so wonderful. Jeff does not have to leave until 8:00 am. Which means it is the one morning he gets to see the girls before he leaves for work. It has been such a glimmer of light for us. (you don't even want to know what time he has left for work in the past)
This morning was one I had to write about so I would not forget. Jeff decided to go running in the morning instead of after work before going to his second job, so he could get more studying in. So when he came home from running the girls were just getting up and he says, "hey girls you want to jump on the trampoline" They were seriously in shock. Of course they "jumped" at the chance. Then after jumping and screaming (and waking up the neighborhood) he comes in and feeds them all (including Sally Jane) chocolate cake for breakfast with big glasses of milk.
How could I be the party pooper and say anything.
My thoughts are:
* who are you and what did you do with my husband?
* what is this stress doing to him?
* i am going to have to give Sally Jane a bath!

Anyway. the girls had their best morning all year. Jeff relieved some stress and won Dad of the Decade.

serVice proJect!
What a blessing. Last night we got to have half of the youth from our church come do a service scavanger hunt at our house. We had a list of jobs for them to do and they had 15 minutes to do as many as they could. This is what they did for us.

clean our wood floors
clean top of all the door frames
clean window sills
put leather conditioner on our couches
vaccum
clean the windos
fold a pile of socks
organize our video/dvd closet (everything was in the wrong case)

so in 15 minutes i had hours worth of work done. It was so great and i am greatful that they picked our house to come to.
Our house has it's inspection tomorrow so it was a huge help for me to get things ready.

medIcally bOred!
This is a big week for our family, mainly for Jeff. This week he flies to Chicago to take his last test. His oral and written boards to become a board certifited Otolaryngologist. He has been studying for months but the past few weeks has kicked in hight gear. It just amazes me how well he disciplines himself. This will complete his 10th year of training, studying, test taking etc.
So us girls at home are tying to be on our best behavior at home to not stress himout anymore than he is. Which is interesting about Jeff, he never gets stressed out. He is so calm about everything. The only time I have seen him like this was when he took a set of boards to get into residency. During that time he was so scheduled. He even ate the same thing for dinner for two weeks. So tonight i thought I would make his good luck soup. We actually call it "Medical Board Tortilla Soup" it is his favorite dinner. I hope it gives him good luck. Here it the receipe if you want to make it.

1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. Oil
2 lb chicken
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
1 10oz can Ro-tel tomatoes with green chilies
4Cups of chicken stock
2 cup beef stock
1 can tomato soup
1sp ground coumin
1 tsp chili powder

Cook together for one hour on medium heat. Use a fork to shred chicken in the pot. To serve: Line each bowls with cripsy four tortillas (this can be done by putting them in the toaster) Pour in the soup and top with green onion, shredded Jack cheese and sour cream.

good luck Jeff we love you... your girls!

oH tHe joYs!
The joy of having your house on the market is having clean and organized closets. The above photo is my linen closet. We sold our house in 7 days and we close in 2 weeks., but will rent back for two months. I am little nervous about what will happen to my closets once the house is no longer up for sale, will the closets stay the same? I don't know if I buy the whole 21 day habit thing. I hope to keep up on the organized frenzy!

Chaco weather.
Last week i broke out my chaco's, which means spring is here! I bought these shoes last year after Jeff telling me, "if you buy one more cheesy pair of shoes at Target..." He said just buy one pair of shoes that you can wear with everything. I was thinking "that is what men can do, own one pair of shoes, not women" but i was wrong.
I bought the above pair of shoes last summer (it was killing me not to buy the pink ones, but i was trying to be practical) and wore them every day. They are the most comfortable shoes and oh so sturdy.
My brother adam actually wore them the day he got married. silly guy. Every summer he has the funny chaco tan because he wears them so much.
It is just a great feeling to know i don't have a bunch of "cheesy flip flops" as jeff would say lying around the garage. I will resist from purchasing any of those cute strappy pink leather sandals that will be in all the stores this summer. I am sticking to my Chaco's! (now i just have to keep from buying the new pink ones they just came out with.
aghh spring is here!

Smelly Laundry!
warning! if you are an unscented laundry person this post is not for you!
I love smells (good ones, that is) I love to have my laundry smell. I use detergent, liquid softner and fabric sheets in the dryer.
Well, i had been out of landry detergent for a day and just was not getting to costco to buy a new large dispenser. So i sent jeff to get some at the grocery store on his way home on Saturday night. And he brings homes the end all, most wonderful Tide ever made.
It is Tide with Febreeze and it is wonderful! It is yummy smelling and strong.
So today as I am doing laundry i am in great mood, because it smells ohh so good!

takIng noTes!
This weekend was General Conference. It is a bi-anual worldwide conference for my church. I feel I have been absent from the past few years because we do not get the conference on our t.v. and going to the chruch to watch it puts me in the hall with one of the kids and the past few times the internet has been unable to give us a voice strem. So this year Jeff and I made a better plan to at least get something out of Conference. I went yesterday while he stayed home with the kids and he went today. There is just something about seeing the people speaking that make such a difference. But this year Jeff and I both took a lot of notes so that we could adequetely relay the message to the other. (i have been inspired by my friend Jill who takes notes every Sunday at chruch)
What a difference it made to do this. One so we could tell each other what we learned but then to go back and read what you wrote. I posted Jeff's notes above or should I say his chicken scratch. I can't read one word of it, but I didn't want to forget the great day Jeff and I had relaying our notes back and forth to each other. I think we will use them this year as bookmarks in our scriptures.
Wouldn't it be cool if you had notes that your grandfather had taken at General Conference when he was young?

finDing a hOme!
This Summer we are moving to D.C. This has caused a little bit of stress in the sense of finding a home in our price range. We have now been looking for a home to rent, which is difficult because we are just finding out that most homes rent through word of mouth or signs in the yard. For 3 months we have been looking online or in the paper. Being out of state makes it difficult for us to find anything. My husband, the eternal optimist, keeps saying something will work out, something will come up. We have placed ads in three neighborhood papers and have our new chruch members on the hunt as well. This past week i am starting to panic thinking we only have three months to find a place. I don't want to feel desperate and have to settle at the last minute. So as we are going to bed last night right when I am telling Jeff one of us should fly there next weekend, the phone rings, we got a call from someone Jeff will be working with at Walter Reed. Truly an answer to prayers.
He knows someone in area who has a large home that they are willing to rent for us for the entire 4 years. The home owner and his wife still live there but it is on a large lot with a seperate enterance, it's own kitchen, 4 bedroooms for us and great living space. Jeffs friend said they seem to be nice and they are never there, because they travel so much for work. It is actually not in the area we were hoping to live in but this is much closer to Jeff's work and the communte will be better. They emailed us photos of the home last night and so it is a done deal. We are thrilled. I put them on our smugmug page so take a look!

Happy Birthday!
Today is my moms birthday. She was born in Price Utah and lived in the same house her whole life... which I think is so awesome and amazing. (my daughter who is 7, this summer will be moving into her 4th home and 3rd state) She has two older sisters and one younger brother. She makes the best eggrolls, homemade rolls and baklava of anyone i know. She loves to read, likes the color purple, and hopes someday to go to New York City. She had 6 kids... yes 6 kids! And all of seem to be functioning well in society! She always had the best decorated Christmas tree of anyone I know. Every holiday in our house was special and done perfectly down to every detail. (that is where I get my love for the holidays) Our birthday's were the most special day, i always felt like the world stopped for me on my birthday.
So, Mom i hope today you feel like the world stops today for you! Happy Birthday, cha cha cha!

we love you mimi... Ak, CB & SJ