Unwrapping Presents, A simple yet good Christmas this year

Halloween

The kids were thing 1, 2, and 3 for Halloween. I just bought nighties for H and H and sewed the cirlce and words on the front. The hair is tempory hair coloring spray and their face whitening is diaper rash ointment.

When Hannah saw herself in the mirror her eyes got all big and watery and her bottom lip came out. Heber on the other hand smiled and said "Ooooh!"

They were pretty happy and content with their first piece of candy and opened it right away and ate it. When they found out that they could get a lot more it blew their minds.

PS Olive's hair reminds me of Elvis.

10 Things That I Like About Virginia

1. It is so stinking green and beautiful. Plus the whole town is cute and I love just admiring the cute shutters and architecture.
2. The air is so crisp and delicious (not that I eat it or anything) and the tap really water tastes like bottled water.
3. There are a lot more younger women in my ward here and most of their families live far away also so it seems easy to make friends.
4. One of my new friends is from Brazil and I am learning a little about their culture and how to cook their yummy food.
5. I feel like there are more things for the kids to do here such as the duck pond, parks, playgroups, libraries, etc.
6. Everything is a lot closer proximity such as stores, Talmage's school, etc. (Well everything but the temple which brings me to my next point.)
7. We got to go to DC and do a little bit of site seeing and see the Washington DC temple, the Washington Monument, the Capital Building and the White House.
8. We went to a VT football game and the energy of the crowd was fun.
9. Most importantly I love that I'm with Talmage and our kids wherever we go. And that extended family is just a phone call or a Skype away.
10. I feel like I am becoming a better person and learning a lot from others.

Chapter 3 Ends

As Rachel and I were driving tonight the feelings of one chapter of our lives closing and another one beginning caused us to think back on our marriage and divide it into actual chapters (just in case anyone ever wants to write a book about us and needs some help organizing it). So far it would go like this:

Chapter 1: Newly Weds in Tempe
Chapter 2: New House, Twins and ASU
Chapter 3: Olive and Austin
Chapter 4: Virginia and Grad School

We are just beginning the fourth chapter and can barely contain ourselves. Today was my last day of work and tomorrow we will begin the two day trek to Arizona. After a couple of weeks there we will go across the country to Virginia for at least (and probably) a year.We have painstakingly managed to sell all of our furniture, store somethings at our peeps in Globe and downsize much of our possessions to be able to make the move in one Kia Sedona.

We will be leaving Kimball behind to finish up our 6 month lease. I am still amazed that he is here in Austin, essentially doing the job I did here, and making just as much if not more (He gets overtime at 1.5 rate while I stay at my normal rate for overtime. I think it's weird. If we both work 40, I make more. If we both work 50, he makes more.). Four months ago neither of us knew Austin and now he occupies the same desk as me. We are both learners of GIS (Geographic Information Science), he from the geography discipline and I from the engineering. It is so wonderful to have family around. I think he feels a little overwhelmed by the expectations they have for him but I am sure that he will get a lot out of these next 5 months here.

Lately, I have become a devoted supporter of Google. It came by no one's persuasion. It simply started as a realization that I can do so much with simply a Google account. For instance, I get online and begin to Google something (typical). I'm already here so I sign in. What do I want to do? Check my email? Read the latest news customized to my interests and past history (who better then Google to draw from a variety of legitimate sources?). Okay, not a whole lot new going on. Federal budget talks continue to get closer to finding bipartisan solutions (I hope) and tablets and smartphones continue to permeate the market.

How about I check out the news going on among family and friends? I could use Google+ (Google's version of Facebook, but with a format that I find more appealing) for some fun, harmless chat. But I've already talked with the same 5 people on there and there isn't much else going on (It has a long way to go to even compete with fb.).

No, I'm feeling like using Google Reader. Here I can quickly see which blogs or news feeds have new items that I haven't read without going to each sight and checking them (You have to try it to appreciate it). Depending on my objective I am a click away from my calendar (which syncs with my phone, but only one way. I need to look into that), YouTube, maps, books, etc. Now if only Google would manage my money.... Is there such a thing as Google Bank? That'd be nice.

Anyway it sounds like a way to waste even more time online than we already do; but, despite my attempts to convince, it has actually made my Internet time more purposeful and effective. I feel like I am in the driver's seat of my computer seat.

And if you stuck around here is a photo of our kids, each with their blanket from Granny Goose (i.e. their Great-Grandma, being their dad's dad's mom).

I haven't blogged in a while so I thought I'd just copy and paste today's journal entry for you.

This weekend we went to Fort Worth for Talmage's Air Force Reserve weekend. Saturday they had a picnic put on for the Reserve's families. The food was amazing, probably the best BBQ hamburgs I've had or at least near the top. The kids played in the bouncy gym thing and I got a chance to rest and relax and nurse Olive. We went and watched the engineer softball squad play another squad. It was a relaxing comfortable day. We went back to the hotel and watched the Office. I took Heber and Hannah with me to the work out room and did some cycling before dinner. After dinner Talmage went and worked on homework. He has been doing his Masters of Business online. He had a month break, which was nice but is now back to the books. Hopefully he doesn't get too burnt out before school starts in the Fall. Hopefully I don't get burnt out from the extra duties I take on when he is busy with his school work.

Sunday I took the children to church. It was an uplifting experience. Much of all the meetings where centered around being prepared, even sacrament. They talked being prepared for calamities that preceded the Second Coming. Most importantly being ready for when a tornado come. A place in Missouri was hit by a tornado and the bishop spoke on going there and the peoples experience with the tornado. Our activity tonight for Family Home Evening will be getting our seventy-two hour kit together. We went to the park area by the lake on base and ate lunch and waited an hour or two for Talmage. Beautiful lake there on base. Heber and Hannah particularly liked the geese, ducks and birds.

Today is Monday and there is nothing too out of the ordinary. Exercise and scripture reading with Talmage. Making his lunch. Feeding kids. Signing and sending our lease for our apartment in Blacksburg, VA, where Virginia Tech is. Cleaning couch cushions and disciplining Heber for coloring on them. An now writing in my journal. Maybe I'll take the kids to the park later today.