Hooray!!!

We finally have some plans. Brian is flying down to Louisiana on May 12, we're picking up a u-haul, loading it, then he's out of here. Kylie and I will fly with the cat on May 15. I can't believe it came up so fast! We are so excited!!! ---- I got this e-mail today that I just couldn't resist adding to my blog--not for children's eyes. It's a pretty good representation of why we are so excited to be moving back to Utah:

"I hope that you do not mind, but I entered your name in a drawing For a 7 day cruise. I assure you that no sales people will call or bother you in anyway. This is completely on the up and UP. I've taken the liberty of putting your name into the drawing for a Seven day Six night Cruise on the fabulous new Gypsy Queen Cruise Line ship the ' Dixie Belle'. All airfares, transfers, food and drinks included with dinner at the captain's table as his personal guest Good luck, I hope you win! The Flagship 'Dixie Belle' is shown below...

Your first night's meal promises to be scrumptious, featuring fillet of Catfish, Hush Puppies and Collards, with all you can eat Boiled Louisiana Rusty Crawfish! Boy, I wish I was goin' with ya'll. If'n ya'll win, make sure to send pictures, especially of the Famous, 'Ole' Mu ddy Midnight Skinny Dip, with your hostesses Eulla Bell and Krissie.

Since ya'll may have the presidential suite, yu'in's will have a balcony view and the finest facilities Nothing is too good for my friends!"

Ugh!

It has already began. I get out of the shower, do my hair and makeup, and I'm all sweaty and slimy again. Today it's 84, but luckily the humidity has dropped down to 60% and it's overcast so it could be a nice day. We tried swimming yesterday, but the water is still cold. All the little kids still swam in it while us adults sat around and complained about the new people moving into our buildings and the suspected meth labs. Brian is working his new job in Utah, and we are getting VERY anxious to get out of here and join him. Especially with this new meth myth that may or may not be occurring in the apartment above mine. My strength, determination, and long-suffering is starting to dwindle. So for those of you who are still being snowed on, enjoy the cool weather for me, and I'll try to enjoy the warm weather for you. Deal? :-)

Crawfish Boil

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Musings

You're right Melissa, I do need to update. It's been a crazy month with pretty much one thing on our mind: to move or not to move? I sent around a mass e-mail asking that you remember us in your prayers while we contemplated some job offers. Well, 3 offers actually. After a surprising amount of fasting and praying, we have decided to accept the job in Bountiful, Utah! Brian is there right now to start his training. I'm staying here until Kylie finishes school, hoping it will give her better closure, as well as give Brian time to complete his training stress-free. Then we are packing up and getting out of Louisiana! We can't afford to live in Bountiful, so we're looking around Layton and Ogden. It still seems like a dream. The irony is that I had just learned how to be truly happy here and to "let go and let God" when the job came completely out of the blue clear sky. We came to the conclusion that the Lord recognized the changes we had made, and provided a few open doors for our choosing. Brian is really excited about this job. He'll be doing a variety of jobs, including firefighting, heli-skiing, BLM work, etc. This is what he got into helicopters to do. We are thrilled to be going back to Utah, which we never thought would happen, given that there's only a handful of helicopter jobs in Utah. So for those lucky ones already in Utah, get ready for some fun times!!! Here we come!!!

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I started an experiment a few years ago after seeing someone else's pictures on the internet (thanks Connie!). I made a batch of rice, divided it in half, and put it in jars. Kylie and I spent a week talking to the jars, which Kylie loved because she got to say "stupid" and it was okay. I taped positive phrases on one jar, and negative phrases on the other jar, and we talked to it accordingly. Then the jars just sat and I would occasionally throw the negative jar dirty looks when I was having a bad day. I put the jars away in my cuboard in Logan and didn't bring it out until it was time to move. I did notice that when I put a bag of rolls in that same cuboard, the rolls that were touching the negative jar went moldy while the other rolls were perfectly fine. The first picture shows the rice a year ago. The second picture is the rice today. The rice has been sitting in a dark corner in my laundry room, trying to stay out of the way. The positive jar has a heart on it, looking all white and fluffy like I just cooked it yesterday. The negative jar has turned watery and brown, looking pathetic. This is an illustration of how positive and negative thoughts/words affect ourselves and others. The energy of that thought/word can stay with us and make emotional as well as physical changes. Long story short, remember the rice when you feel a negative thought/word coming to mind and change it to something positive so everything stays white and fluffy!