My wonderful 4 year old

So my darling Max picked this outfit out this morning. You can't see below the size 18 months jacket a brown and red stiped t-shirt. You can see however his pants that are on sideways. He originally had on his blue button down church shirt over the brown t-shirt, but decided that a jacket would be better. He loves his umbrella. He is always planning ahead for inclement weather. I as a mother just smiled at his pride of picking out this outfit all by himself and deep down was so glad that he is still little and hopefully won't get made fun of. I am thrilled to report that Max was well behaved in Primary this week and after a week without Puddles, was finally reunited. For those of you who don't know, Puddles is a little stuffed animal duck that he has carried with him literally everywhere since he was nine months old. It was the only thing we could take away that would let him know that we were serious about not being the goof off disrespectful kid in Primary. As I look at this picture, I just think he is wonderful and am so honored to be his mom.

PSYCH!!! A frustrated non techie venting

So yesterday was a beautiful spring day and today is so yucky!! WHY I ask you? WHY? I have forgotten to take my vitamins for the last few days and man I realize I really need them! It's just a sign that I don't have enough variety in my diet. Work is going really well. I have a lot of opportunities I'm working on right now that are huge and awesome. I just hope one of them lands. Eldon is always asking me how my terra firma deal is coming when it's really a Data storage opportunity of 350 terra bytes. He was blown away when I explained to him the progression of a megabyte, to gigabyte, to terrabyte, to pedobyte. I am just shocked to even let something like that leave my fingers on the keyboard. Today I have also learned a dump truck load of information on cabling and electrical work. I am upset that I had to learn it. I don't want to know how to run cable and conduit in any building nor do I want to understand the connectors or anything to do with it. When anyone tries to explain it to me, I put my hands over my ears and say "LA LA LA LA I'm not listening to you." There is a limit to where I can progress in the technical realm and still have a social life.

New Blog Layout

I put this background in here to look forward to the Alaskan Cruise I'll be going on in August. I CANT WAIT!!

Parker and Jack

We were so excited to have Parker present for Jack's birthday party. Jack has a little learning to do, but he has been so interested in Parker and actually pretty gentle!

Obviously we need to work on technique here. Parker doesn't look too comfortable there.

Happy Birthday and Wow Dirty Windows

I guess it's not a good idea to take all the precious cake eating pictures with the fingerprinted windows as the backdrop?? Oh well, I do have a cleaning lady but I am two weeks away from her next visit, so I may have to lift a finger and clean them myself. Isn't Jack cute!!!

Jackson's Birthday

On Monday, we celebrated Jackson's 2nd birthday. I had a few minutes to reflect on how much I adore this kid. I love what makes him different from Max. He has the funkiest hair. It's unbelievable actually. He has the largest smile and the most beautiful eyes and eye lashes. He gets so excited about everything and is just starting to say all kinds of things to show his independence. For example: ALL DONE!! When he is done eating, he wants to be done. But secretly he just wants out of the high chair. He is ready to sit at the table, but I'm not ready to remove one of the last things that keeps him locked in. Jackson will always let me give him a hug and kiss. He is so darling. Today the Dr. said he was too skinny??? He is in the 50% and too skinny? Weird. She did admit that she is used to seeing kids way too overweight so he looked too skinny for her. I never thought I would love anyone as much as Max, but I was so wrong. Jackson takes a huge piece of my heart.

Second swimming video

I am not good at the chronological thing. Here is the second swimming video. They had so much fun. This is why I hate working. I don't get to do this with my kids. But I also wouldn't be able to buy the pool if I weren't working. It's such a vicious cycle.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today is a great day! St. Patrick's Day has been an unusually important day in our family. It is my Great Grandmother's birthday, my parent's anniversary, AND most importantly it's Master Jackson Patrick Gale's birthday. Today he turns two! I took this picture this morning with the sun rise. It's amazing that my kids and I were up and out of the house when the sun was still coming up. I can't believe how old my kids look. It's like last night they were babies and this morning they were all grown up. Max especially looks older. WOW!

For one day only! Swimming in the Gale's Backyard

I found these old videos and oh my gosh they are so cute! I love how they look old school. But I believe its because it was so bright and the glare from the water makes it have the lines. We only were able to use our pool that day because the squirrels popped holes in the pool the first night of owning it. It's a good thing that we had fun the first day. Now we are stuck with hard plastic pools.

Dress UP

Since Max has been in SYC this year, he has really found a love for costumes. When we were visiting Eldon's parents at Thanksgiving, we met my brother Bill and his family in Oregon for lunch. There was a Lewis and Clark museum there for that had a great little kids section. Max and Jack dressed up as explorers and I had to put on here a picture of the three boys together overlooking the Columbia River.

BUSY TIMES

My post today is pretty much just a venting session. We are too busy. I like being busy because ultimately I am so much more productive, but there is a fine line where it's just too much. The good thing is that Eldon is in town. That would definitely throw a wrench in things if he were gone. I can tell that it's affecting Max a bit. He doesn't seem as grounded as he could be. For example, next week I have two nights dedicated to church meetings that I HAVE to go to. I think I am going to take Good Friday off just because everybody around here does, and declare it a fun day with the kids. I just need them, and I know they need me. I try to do as much during the work hours as possible so when I go home I'm home with them. I am thrilled that the days are going to be longer again. It was so wonderful to have daylight right until they had to go to bed so we could be at the park until 7:45 at night. I have nothing to complain about, so many others have so much more on their plate, it just gets to me at times. The talk by Elder Oaks about Good, Better, Best is a home run for us right now. I have just learned that sacrifice comes with every state in life. If you are happy, there is still something you have to give up so that you are happy. ANYWAY!!!! Life is really good. I just need to get rid of some things but they are all the fun things!!!

My crushes

So a few friends of mine have been posting their crushes from High School, College, and I guess even currently on their blogs. I think I was probably a little different in that not only did I have Kirk Cameron and Patrick Swayze on my wall, but also Magic Johnson and a poster of a Lamborghinni. I'll just say I'm well rounded. So I thought I would give this a shot.

It is beautiful.

Kirk Cameron - I don't know why but he was on my wall in High School

Patrick Swayze - I loved the movie Dirty Dancing. I guess since it was forbidden, I loved it more. I also loved him in the North and South TV movie, Point Break, Ghost, and so many more. When I saw Dirty Dancing Havana Nights I was sorely disappointed because he looked like a 70 year old trying to be cool. Oh well, what can you do?

I loved the entire cast from this show. Specfically Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, and C. Thomas Howell. I was so pleased this movie was considered a classic so I was able to enjoy the movie and say I was having an educational experience.

I know he is a little scary looking, but I love his voice. There is some kind of connection that just works with me. I love the band U2. I have seen them in concert 3 times and he makes me a bit uncomfortable in some of his stage antics ie crawling around and weird clapping, but if you just shut your eyes and listen, it's magical.