This and that!

 Last Sunday the Seahawks played and won and now they are going to the Superbowl. We hung up Spencer's lucky 12 fan's flag that his grandparents gave him for Christmas. This picture was taken right before Kara went to a stake youth committee meeting. After she came home she put on one of Spencer's Seahawk jersey's It was the first time I have sort of watched a Seahawks game in so long I can't remember. I am not really a big football fan, but Spencer is a HUGE Seahawks fan and he loves them enough for the whole family!

Above is a cute picture of Spencer.  He recently changed jobs and he is so much happier at his new job. He works completely different hours and this job is a similar job that he did before that  seems to be better suited for him.  He is also going to college and so he has kept busy.

 

Matt was out of town in Wyoming and while he was gone (and everyone else was at work) Kara and I went to see the musical Hairspray. It was done very well.  I love going to plays with Kara. 

 Kara has been super busy working on homework.  She wasn't able to be in a play because we are going to Turkey during the dress rehearsal week so she has been so busy. She recently took the ACT test and has been getting excellent grades.   She has been working on her science fair project and she picked a super hard and expensive project to do.  She is very disciplined and very ambitious.  I barely understand her project; it is so intense. 

Colton asked to work more hours at work and boy has he.  He decided he would take a break from school and Matt and I let him know that he would need to work full time if he made that choice and wanted to live at home. We are so mean.  So he let his work know that and they gave him more hours and they gave him a raise.  He was very excited, until he had to work a twelve hour day doing drive thru; that is no fun! 

 I have worked a ton of over time.  Way. Too. Much.  Working so much has made my brain crazy and on overload.  Luckily, I get paid overtime so the extra money has been great for saving for Turkey.

I was about to have surgery, but as I was scheduling it they told me I couldn't fly for 6 weeks after I had the surgery, so I am going to have to wait until after my trip to Turkey. It is totally good because I HATE surgery. I hate feeling awful and the thought of working and feeling that awful does not sound that good.

Kara has wrote our ward's stake roadshow play.  It is this Wednesday and I am so excited to see it.

I am grateful that this month hasn't been too cold, I am grateful to work with one of my best friends--Brittany (we worked at the elementary school together for three years) and I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to sit by Melinda for so long at work.  She has become one of closest friends!  I am grateful I get to work with my brothers and see them everyday.  I was so grateful for the fun little surprise package I got in the mail for Sheryl this week.  She is always so thoughtful and she brightened my day! 

I am grateful for my four amazing children. For a very supportive husband who constantly is showing me ways he loves and adores me in action and word.  I am grateful for friends and my extended family. I truly am blessed and my cup truly runs over!

Changes in our home

Right before Christmas Meli moved out of our home and into a new home not that far away.   I was sad about it and was very surprised she moved out. It was all so sudden, but now looking back I can see it was the right thing to do.  I really couldn't write about it for a while because I was so upset.  I didn't know what to say.

I was not able to pick up Meli after school because I was at work and it really bothered me that she had to walk from the trax station to our home. In her new host home she is able to get a ride home from school every day from her new host mom.  I really like her new host parents.  They are very kind and they have a daughter that is the same age as Meli.  We definitely miss her in our family, but I feel like it was better for Meli.  The host mom works 15 hours a week or less and so she able to be there more for Meli.  Kara was never home to even spend time with Meli.  She was so busy after school with improv practice and play practice and all of the other clubs she is in that she was rarely home. This wasn't how I envisioned this at all.   

I chose to be a host mom before I started working full time and I use to have so much more time.  I have an extremely stressful job and it has been getting even crazier with the new changes.  I keep thinking it will lighten up, but it hasn't yet. I signed up to be a host mom before we had some difficult things happen in our family.  I wanted to be a good host mom, but I felt so bad I wasn't doing a good job.  I felt some guilt and generally I don't feel that way.  I felt like I was getting sick and not spending time with my husband and children.  I felt like I was failing miserably.  So the coordinator for Aspect after talking to Meli decided with Meli that it would be good for her to move to a different home.

We have been in contact with Meli and she still comes to our YW's group each Wednesday night. She has a lot of people in our neighborhood that love her.   Now, I actually think living in two homes while being in America might be a good thing for a foreign exchange student.  She gets to see different ways Americans are able to do things and she is able to see our culture in a different way.

Our family does miss Meli and we are grateful for the time she was able to spend with us.  We learned a lot from her and we were able to be exposed to a different perspective.   We love you Meli and want you to be happy.  We are excited that your parents will be visiting you soon.  

Coby's travels in Turkey!

 We sure missed Coby during Christmas time.  Right after Christmas Coby was able to travel to some different parts of Turkey.  He went to the home of one of the students he tutors in Istanbul and did some intensive tutoring with him. Afterwards he traveled to various cities and met up with a friend.

 This monastary was the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Patriachate until it was moved to Damascus in 1932.

 A castle where people sleep.

In Şanlıurfa.  This is one of my favorite pictures of Coby since he has been in Turkey!

 At Ankara Anıtkabir at a Memorial. 

 Coby was very sick during the month of December and January.  It is hard to be so far away and also know that he was living alone.  He received medical care, but the doctor only spoke Turkish and Russian and while Coby knows Turkish (is learning it)  he wasn't familiar with the medical terms in Turkish. The only thing we could do was to pray and put his name on the temple roll and call the branch president and see if someone could give him a blessing.   

After being so sick Coby decided to move in with some roommates and it was a win/win for them because they get to practice English with him.  

Kara and I are leaving to go visit Coby in Turkey in a little more than a month.  We have checked out some tour guide books from the library and are excited to see the sights, celebrate Coby's birthday and make memories!
 

Flowers in the Winter

The last two weeks at work have been crazy!  I am answering the phone over 30+ times a day and each call averages over 10 minutes.  Each call is asking  complicated mind bogging questions.  This is all because the new changes in the Mortgage Industry that went into effect last week. Most of our customers don't understand the 1800 page document and they call us to figure it out. It honestly is very confusing and I struggle with it and I am supposed to be an expert, but there is so much to learn.  Each night I come home from work so weary.   I try each day to have a good attitude and I stay positive which has made all the difference.  I can barely remember anything outside of work relating to anything.   So I am so grateful for the patience of others.  Below is more info regarding the changes in the simplest way possible. Honestly, it is much too boring to read.   http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/corpgov/2010/11/16/mortgage-lending-practice-after-the-dodd-frank-act/

However, I have had many tender mercies in my life.  Yesterday, someone kind and thoughtful left a rose on my door with a sweet note.  It is amazing how a simple gesture can have such a positive impact in someones life.   Then today my husband had some beautiful flowers delivered to my office.   It sent them because it was my half birthday, but mainly he sent them to be sweet.  He has never done anything for my half birthday before and of course I had no idea it was my half birthday until he remembered.  I love the tender mercies!  Life can be beautiful!

Seattle trip

We left for Washington very early on the morning of the 26th.  We wanted to drive to the Seattle area in one day so we had a little more time in Washington.

Often during the Christmas season the pass is completely closed due to so much snow.  We were so grateful that this wasn't the case this year.  We barely saw snow our whole trip and so we were very grateful.  We haven't always been so lucky.  Matt had to drive the whole way.  I was too sick to drive and had taken some heavy duty cough medicine.  We arrived in Seattle late Thursday night. 

The first day there we spent at Matt's parents home. It was fun to visit them and to celebrate  them being married for 50 years.   In the evening  I went to a wedding reception from friends from years ago with Sheryl.  I saw so many of my friends and was able to catch up with some of them.  I loved it.

On Saturday we got up early and drove to see Matt's sister Sharon.  She lives right on the water.  It is beautiful.   After  we met up with everyone there we all drove together to Seattle.  

Sharon was an excellent tour guide.  She knows the ins and outs of Seattle.

First we explored the University of Washington together.  Kara has considered going to this college so we wanted to check it out.  It was a nice day.

We drove all around the Huskies new stadium.  The night before the Huskies had played BYU.  Then we drove down to the Pier.  It is so beautiful and we walked around the water and then we stopped at Ivars for some of their yummy clam chowder.

After a day in Seattle we met Matt's parents at Anthony's restaurant.   We wanted to take them out to dinner for their 50th anniversary.  It had yummy food.

On Sunday we went to church with Matt's parents.   After church we went to see my sister Katie's new home.  It is darling.  It was fun to visit with Tyler and to see cute Abe.   She is such a cute mom and is so good at decorating and doing anything that is domestic.

After that I went and visited my good friend Sara.  She was my Mia Maid adviser in Young Women's and she has been an such a dear friend all of these years.  

 

Later that evening Matt's parents came and picked us up and then we went for dinner at Matt's sister Melissa's home. We were celebrating Michael's 15th birthday.   Herb and Melissa made some yummy food.  It was so fun to visit with all of their family.

On Monday Matt went and spent time with his parents, we went exploring more around the Seattle area.  We ended up having lunch at Southcenter at the Rain Forest Cafe. It is a cute fun restaurant.

We later drove to meet up and visit with Melissa and say good bye.  Then one of my best friends growing up came over to Sheryl's home with her mom.  It was so good to catch up with her and it was nice to have her mom talk about my mom and memories she had of her.  It always makes me happy when someone shares their memories with me.

Later that evening Sheryl made us a dinner and everyone played card games.  My sister Katie and I just visited. I love talking to Katie and Sheryl.

The next morning we went straight to Sharon's home.  She had made us a yummy breakfast and had some gifts for the boys.  Sharon is the female announcer for the last 10 years at all Sea hawk games.  So she had some fun gifts for everyone.  She is such a sweet heart.   We left after that and drove to Boise.   We first stopped and visited Matt's grandpa.  We weren't able to see him during our last trip.  It was great to see him.  He is amazing man and a great example of living life to the fullest.

After we left his home we drove to my brother John's home.  My brother Matthew and family were also there so we enjoyed sharing New Year's Eve together.  It was fun to catch up with everyone.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures.

My niece Mikayl looking beautiful after just getting out of bed.  We got up early and left to come home.  It was a very short quick trip, but we were able to fit a lot in.   I was sad that we weren't able to go through Portland so I could have seen my aunts and my Grandma.   I miss them. :)

We arrived back home and unpacked and prepared to have to go to work the next morning.  I am grateful for all of our family and how kind they were to roll out the red carpet for us.  Thank you very much!  We love you all very much!