ANOTHER new job!

life throws curveballs doesn't it? we moved to utah with one plan in mind, and now that has totally changed. jaren was offered a local driving job with hostess (making seriously good money!) and he's decided to take it. so we'll both be working parents now. but with this new job has came another blessing, my mother-in-law now gets to leave her job in the service deli at maceys (grocery store). she'll be nathan's new babysitter (and we'll be compensating her of course.) it's a win win for this household. he starts may 21st.

Easter 2012

we've never dyed eggs with nathan before. so this was his first year and he really enjoyed it!!

the easter bunny put a bubble gun in his basket and we couldn't get it to work! he was SO sad! i remember seeing this on pinterest, so i gave it a shot and he loved it! all you do is cut the bottom of a water bottle off, wrap it with a washcloth and use a basic dishsoap mixture.

General Conference April 2012

it snowed ALL day! and nathan LOVES the snow!

potty mouth

as some of you know, jaren has a full set of dentures. the other day he had them in his tray soaking while he showered. mr curious 3 year old nathan got into the bathroom and decided he wanted to clean his dads teeth in the toilet! and after he dropped them in there, he decided they needed to be flushed as well. as you can imagine, jaren was livid! THANKFULLY they didn't break, and they got stuck in the bend of the pipe and didn't go down all the way. but now jaren has a potty mouth ;)

jaren got accepted into school :) woot woot! originally our plan was for him to attend salt lake community college. but come to find out, there mortuary science program isn't accredited yet! and they're having a hard time getting it. i know this because my father-in-law (who's been in the mortuary industry for 30+ years and also interviewed at slcc to be one of the professors for the mortuary science program) has been in contact with the program director there. he's been telling them they're missing classes, and FINALLY they believed him. so instead we're going a different route. he'll be going through arapahoe community college out of littleton colorado. they've been accredited for a quite a few years and also offer online classes for everything that he'll need to take. he'll have to go to colorado twice (2 days in the fall semester and 5 days in the spring semester) to do the lab work, but that won't be a big deal.  my father-in-law also works with 2 people who graduated from there and they liked there program and he thinks they know a know a lot more then the people he works with that are attending slcc ;) lol. this is pretty darn exciting for us.

nathan loves to dress up! the past few days when he wakes up, he immediately wants to put on his incredible costume.

i never been to ikea before. so when i knew we'd live somewhat near one, i wanted to check it out. it's official, i love that place! we picked up these hanging storage baskets for nathan's stuffed animals for $5/piece i think?

but my favorite purchase so far has been this chair! it reminds me of something you'd see at disneyland. i wanted the matching table. but we just don't have room for it yet. my brother-in-law has drawn up some plans on a loft bed he and jaren want to make for nathan. so once that's finished, i'm hoping to make underneath the bed a nice play area for him. we also bought an easel at ikea that i'm hoping to put under there as well. 

jaren's gilbert side of the family are big card players. back in the 60's, his grandparents learned a game (like gin rummy) from some friends of theres and it has been the family favorite. my first thanksgiving as a gilbert i learned the game. and every visit we play it at least once. so since we've moved here, we've played it A LOT! at least twice/week. lol. here's the score sheet...  (yep, i have the highest score, which is a bad thing in this game)

my mother-in-law asked me to come up with a printed version. so i made a notepad of them....

i stacked all the papers, put the cardboard backing on and mod podged one side with a couple smooth layers. when it dries, the papers are glued together and easy to tear off.since the game is called garbage, it was only fitting to have a trash bag backing.

St Patrick's 2012

the weather yesterday crazy! seriously strong gail force winds! we're suppose to get some snow tonight and tomorrow. we had a list of things to do that required us to drive into salt lake city. but in the wind with the expected showers, that just didn't happen. so we stayed at home and just relaxed and instead i ordered what i needed online to save a trip. 

with it being st. patrick's day, we had corned beef and cabbage. (yes i know, it's not irish.) but i'd never had it before, and jaren likes it. so we picked some up and had it for dinner. 

then my mother-in-law made 3 huge and delicious apple pies! i love seeing old cookbooks that have oil splatters and such on their pages!

oh forgot to mention... we went shooting last weekend. i've never shot anything other then a bb gun, so i was terrified to begin with. to answer some questions, no, nathan didn't go with us. the guns are kept in my brother-in-laws gun safe that's about 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide. yes the ammo and the guns are separate. you'd have a heck of a time trying to find the right bullet for the right gun if you ever needed it in a hurry (since there's a lot of guns in there). also it's kept under a combo lock that only josh (my brother-in-law) and jaren know the code for. josh also has his concealed weapons permit. and between him, jaren and my father-in-law, they know a lot about guns and are very strict with safety. back to the fun part... this is me shooting a 9mm...

i also shot a 22 rifle and a 410 rifle. the 12 gauge shotgun and the 45mm handgun were a bit out of my expertise. maybe next time i'll attempt them? (doubtful, lol)

jaren's grandma passed away last week. and it also was my due date. (it's weird to think how life *would* have been) plus going through the issues with nathan's school, it was just a rough week! thankfully we've pulled it together and this week has been more promising. jaren applied for school! :) we should hear back here within the next few days. EEEK!!!

nathan has made friends with the neighbor kids. yesterday they came to the door to see if they could play in the backyard with him. cute!

Nathan was in charge of snacks this week at school. also the theme for the week was dr seuss. so here's what he sent :)

i now work for a company called loomis. it's an armored truck company. i'm in cash management services. basically i verify deposit. i hate it! lol. the pay is horrible and the hours are lousy. but for now, it's getting us by. i've been applying everyday for different things. so hopefully something new will open up for us.

jaren has been the stay at the home dad. he likes it, but is definitely taking some getting use to. i'm sure he's looking forward to starting school in the summer ;)

nathan is going to school and loves it! he loves riding the bus too! he was going 2 days/week. but after our meeting with his teacher, speech therapist and the principal this morning, he's been bumped up to 4 days/week. (they don't work on fridays, must be nice right!) last december and january he had a lot of evaluations (i have 39 pages of notes) at his then school by the school nurse, his teacher, speech therapist and psychologist (twice to make sure her findings were consistent). he had NUMEROUS test ran on him (CARS, childhood autism rating scale, GARS, gilliam autism rating scale, goldman fristoe test of articulation, berry buktenica developmental test of visual motor integration, developmental profile, differential abilitiy scales and vineland adaptive behaviors scales, just to name a few. i also had multiple hour plus long phone calls as well as face to face meetings with them regarding what he's like at home. then when we moved to utah, they tested him as well. initially i suspected just a speech delay, which is apparent, he only talks at a 19 month level. but his testing scores rate him as mildly autistic with adhd. which actually doesn't surprise me because i've known somethings been different with him since he turned 2. but to have an actual diagnoses is comforting. it's nice to know i wasn't just being a paranoid mother ;)

time to go cry now. it's hard to take in.

my last post was nathan's first day of school?!?! geesh! it's not that i've forgotten to blog, i'm just too tired after work to blog!

so here we go...

my mother-in-law is a pretty amazing cook. everything's from scratch and is just so yummy! the other night we had homemade chicken noodle. even the noodles were from scratch!

every weekend we try to go do something. we tried to go to the aquarium but they were just too packed. so we ended up at the zoo. he loves it there!

getting use to sweeping the car off  has been hard. and time consuming. we're late everywhere we go! lol.

valentine pictures...

valentine's was pretty low key for us. it was during the middle of the week, which means i had to work. we didn't have our traditional heart shaped pepperoni pizza because we had pizza the prior weekend. jaren did make me chocolate dipped strawberries though. i LOVE them!

 my mother-in-law made us sugar cookies. 

 oh and i got a new sewing machine! it's singers 160th anniversary machine. although i've already sent it back. it came with a lot of bells and whistles and some new fancy attachments i've never seen. but not the important ones like needle up/down, the fastest speed was pretty slow, and i like to sew fast. so overall, it just wasn't worth it.

 i made one of those posters for jaren where you use candy in replace of a word. it read, "happy valentine's day BIG HUNK. i just wanted to TAKE 5 minutes to tell you that you make me feel like 100 GRAND. i sure SKORED with you. i have MOUNDS of fun being such NERDS with you. you are such a SWEET HEART. i couldn't find a better man if i searched the MILKY WAY. my heart leaps for (ALMOND) JOY when i see you. you are so NUTRAGEOUSLY sexy. i love you to (REESES) PIECES. being with is you like PAYDAY everyday. hope i made you SNICKER. i love you BABY (RUTH).

first day of school in utah

he was excited as we waited for the bus!

his new school kind of "requires" children to be bussed. apparently there's some lesson in separation to learn. but ya, i had a hard time signing on for this! he however LOVES it!

his first day of school tired him out! he came home, went potty, climbed in our bed and was out within 5 minutes.

utah birthday

the day finally came to celebrate nathan's real birthday. we had chinese food for dinner. another one of his favs.

his fortune in his cookie definitely matches his personality!

morning wake up call...

birthday lunch at chili's. salad and quesadilla. another fav.

 then we took nathan to the museum of ancient life down in lehi at thanksgiving point.

that place was so much fun! nathan has a HUGE obsession with dinosaurs!

it did not take long after our museum trip for him to pass out!

downtown salt lake on our drive home

this sign says that tooele is the sister city of kambarka russia. meaning if you dig thru the earth, that's where you'd end up.

since we were still living in boxes, his cake was kind of a thrown together thing (sorry buddy!)

gifts...