We're back!

We're happy to be back home! We had a crazy but great time in MT (pictures and details to follow, some day). Those of you who know me well know that I'm not too good at making phone calls, but I do pick up the phone if rings! Please call and fill me in on your lives!!

Funny link

For what it's worth (and that's not much), I found this little article for gee-wiz. It's about how your high school experience may have affected your career. See if it rings true for you here.

According to the surveys they took, having been a cheerleader I should be a very happy in my corporate vice president role. Sounds like it worked for me!
have a great weekend.

A few more pics

We are headed to MT for a week (two for us girls). I just wanted to post a few more pictures before we go. I had to show you Dessa's new favorite pass-time; wearing everybody's shoes on her hands. She does it all the time! Pretty funny. Bob's job is going well, he really enjoys it. Still hoping he gets hired in August, we'll see. He was explaining his job to the kids and told them he works as a secretary. Ella said, "A SUCKERTARY! Will you bring us suckers?" Lily said, "That's a pretty silly job, Dad." We have a nice little blackberry patch in our back yard, which the girls love to harvest. Summer is good!

A time to buy, a time to sell...

...and a time to thank the Lord you can afford the house you're in. We've taken our house off the market, due to a lot of changes in economy and circumstance since we listed. Plus, we're tired living like we don't live here. We think now will be a good time to work on saving and reducing debt rather than increasing debt whilst everything else increases in price. So anyway, another season in life over with. We are excited to live our days and organize our work according to our family needs rather than focusing on selling the house. We're sorry to miss out on that great house we were looking at, but we really weren't getting very far with selling our house any way. Perhaps this is God's way of keeping us from getting in too deep. At least listing the house has helped us get some work done and much needed organization, so we're thankful for that. Now it almost feels like buying the house all over again--I can re-arrange and make things work for us in new ways.
Dessa is getting tooth #3, top front as well as taking her first solo steps. Exciting times!
I found more of Odessa's outside photo shoot Red dress
Also, here's some pictures:

The usual

Dessa had her pictures taken outside last week. I don't know if they are all up yet, but I'll post what I can find.
poppies
Ok, that's all I found. I bet there will be more in the next few days.
Bob has been really enjoying his job, and getting kudos from people of distinction about his professional and cheerful attitude. So we still have hope of him securing the position this fall, please keep praying.
We had a wonderful play outside today, lovely weather with no wind. A nice change. We are hoping to go to the waterslides tomorrow, so we'll see if that takes place. We've decided that buying a digital camcorder is now an emergency, as our girls' cuteness is not being properly recorded. One thing among many we need to get recorded is Odessa's new shoe fetish. She has a favorite pair she very carefully puts her little fists into and clobbers around the house with them on her hands.
Ok, that's all for now.

Happy June!

Bob started his new job today. Ha! Sorry for those who we have not yet informed of this change. He has a temporary "high-speed" secretary job at the Forest Service Supervisors Office. He has it now as a "detail," but if they like him and no one that is vastly more qualified applies in a couple of months, he'll likely fill the position. It's year-round, 8-4:30, and cuts at least 40 minutes off his commute. He has weekends off, and no chance of overtime. Plus it's a pay-grade higher, possibly two. Bob would very much like to keep this position, so those of our friends who pray, please do so! It would mean we could make plans and be likely to keep them, go camping, not have to have a summer of being apart, etc. So that's exciting.
Also, I have more pictures of Odessa from her last photo shoot.
yellow sun dress
pink sun top
warm dress
rose dress
eyelet dress
pink hat

birthday

I had a fantastic birthday yesterday. Bob surprised me for the first time in our marriage! We have a hard time not telling each other everything, so to surprise each other is a big deal. He got up and got ready for work like usual, put on work clothes and packed a lunch and headed out. He came back about two hours later with a hair cut, my errands run and presents wrapped and in hand. He had taken the day off! It was definitely a part atmosphere after that. The girls wondered where the cake was, though. We’ll probably do that today. We still haven’t done a cake for Odessa, so we’ll do a double.

The rest of the day was great, too. Bob took the girls with him to Costco to do my grocery shopping and dropped me off at the mall. Then we took the girls to a friend’s house and went out for Italian. What a great evening! I didn’t have to cook for the girls first before going out. He thinks of everything.

Today it’s back to life as usual, but after a great day like that, it’s not disappointing.

Odessa is holding my hands and taking steps now, those huge, careful steps babies do at first, so cute.

Lily told me a story the other day. She said, “When I had a bad dream, there was fire in Odessa’s tummy and it came out her nose so I told Dad to take her back to the store and get a regular baby. We named her Odessa.” Maybe we should lay off reading “Saint George and the Dragon” for a while.

Well, it’s 8:30 AM and I haven’t changed Odessa’s diaper yet, so I guess I should do that.