The Shakespear Bed & Breakfast

Well, we're off to Minnesota! And we're taking the best route--through Ann Arbor for a night, and Cedar Rapids for two weeks to celebrate the holidays.

The Shakespears were so generous in putting us up for our night in Michigan. Our boys had a blast running around for hours on end while we talked and talked. I think we all practically fell asleep in the living room, because we could have just kept talking all night. Megan and Jeremy are the best. We heart the Shalespears!

How cute is that, coincidentally matching jammies? Awesome.

By the way, Megan is 35 wks along with twins, and is hands down the cutest pregnant woman ever, ever, EVER! I'm so excited to see pics of the little ones when they arrive! And then all meet up again in Nauvoo sometime soon!

Brian, Meet Your New Boss...

And, allow me to introduce you to your new coworkers...

That's right, Brian has accepted a job as an Associate Marketing Manager at General Mills!!!!!

We are in complete and total shock. It really has just barely begun to sink in. A complete answer to prayers (thank you SO much to everyone who prayed for us, or even just sent your empathy for our situation!)

It's an absolute dream job, in every way. He'll start in mid-Jan, so right after the holidays we'll be heading to Minneapolis . (Mills has its headquarters in Golden Valley, just west of downtown).

Brian is on cloud nine, and I'm thrilled out of my mind too! I am so, so, so glad that Brian didn't give up on his dream. Felix still thinks we're heading to Pittsburgh, but he's starting to say "Minnin-napowis!" when we ask him where we'll be moving to. He calls Minnesota, "Minne-snow-ta", which is probably more accurate.

Oh, and speaking of the cold... ummm, all I can say is that I haven't let myself think about the weather yet. Ignorance is bliss, right? But really, who moves to a tundra state in the middle of January

Anyhow, let's hear it for BRIAN, General Mills' newest AMAZING MARKETER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bath Time!

Hamster Attack

Rule #413: If a toy has wheels, it shouldn't be run on the Mommy head.

Flagrent violation of this rule may lead to imposed hair accessories that strongly resemble said toy, severe fits of laughter on the part of otherwise kind onlookers, and premature balding.

Play at your own risk.

Happy Halloween!

BOO!

From about age 14 until I had kids, I didn't really care much for Halloween. It's kind of a weird holiday, with excessive amounts of candy and a strange focus on death and black magic. Plus, it's always so cold on the actual night for Trick-or-Treating that your carefully planned costume is pretty much ruined by the long johns, coat, hat, and gloves you needed to survive the harrowing journey around the neighborhood.

But this year my attitude changed, mostly because it was fun to watch Felix get the hang of Trick-or-Treat! Our Ward held a Halloween Carnival and Trunk-or-Treat, which were great. Plus, on the actual night of candy collecting, the temperatures were in the upper 50s. Wowza!

And you know, there's something days-gone-by fun about walking up to strangers' homes and asking for candy. It seems like a relic of a safer time. It's rare to even chat with neighbors anymore, so it's kind of a unique experience to walk around with the whole neighborhood on a common quest for sugary goodies. (To which, I must confess, Brian and I applied a 98% tax when we got home. Ouch!)

Felix the Monkey with Grandma!

And Ezra the Dragon!

Oh my goodness. Someone's maxing out the cuteness factor.

SCORE! They're both looking at ME and looking PLEASANT!

This is proof for my dear friend Laurel that I don't completely deprive my son of all that is chocolatey and delicious in life.

The next morning he promptly returned to his regular daily diet of grape-nuts, tofu, pasta, cheese, homemade graham crackers aka hardtack, and more fruit and vegetables than normal human beings care to eat in a week.

Pumpkin Patch

Today's trip to the Pumpkin Patch was brought to you by my lovely mother.

With a generous contribution of 2 uber-cute pumpkin hats from our friend Vicki

First stop, the barn.

Then, snack time. Fresh apples and apple cider!

Ezra will have the milk. Organic please.

Then onto the HAYRIDE! Felix was in paradise. I think he hopes we'll trade in our Celica for a tractor and trailer. (Hmmm... we could fit a lot more kids in that way...)

Ezra samples the local fare.

Felix decides that not a bad idea.

My babes!

EzBabe!!!

Then Felix and I went in search of the perfect pumpkins. Found them! Med for Felix, smallish for Ezra.

Over to the lake for some pictures to capture brotherly love

Agrotourism at its best!

Thanks, Mom!

Goodbye Baby Hair

I don't know what I was thinking.

I took a clipper to his beautiful, soft baby hair, and chopped it off.

My brother thinks I was posessed by a insatiable desire to fill the page for "first haircut" in Ezra's baby book--all of a sudden looking up from my work in shock, with scisors in one hand and a lock of hair in the other. WHAT HAVE I DONE!!!

I'm inconsolably miserable, and I'm never cutting his hair again. For at least the next month. (Cuz I guess a little-man business cut is cute too.)

Banessa!

We like Zack's girlfriend Vanessa. She's ridiculously smart (fluent in Mandarin, a seasoned world traveler, and an expert on Uighurs and Jihadists of Xinjiang Provence [I have no idea what I just typed]). Plus, she's witty, fun to talk to, adorable, and fabulous with kids and small hyper dogs. What more could any guy ask for, right Zack?

We all hope she sticks around for a looong time!

Take a Hike

We love the outdoors. And the outdoors in Ohio are just breathtaking in the fall. It's like all of the trees are on fire! And there's no better way to enjoy the fresh air and color than by taking a hike in one of the area's metroparks.

Family time heals the soul. :)

Sitting... and Standing!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Laura was lame and worked on her thesis while Felix, Brian, and Grandma went to an Akron Aeros Game!

Felix is now obsessed with baseball, and tells me he's going to be a baseball player when he grows up. Grandma's house is across the street from a baseball diamond in Hardesty Park, so we go over and throw the ball around and run the bases every once in a while.

It's so quintessential American, and it's fun to watch Felix develop and understanding and love for it!

Ride the Red Train!

We took a family trip to Pittsburgh yesterday, so that Brian could network with a fellow Ross grad at Heinz. Pittsburgh is such a neat city. From the dramatic geographically and the distinct neighborhoods to the historic-yet-hip feel, it made a fun day trip. While we were there, we stopped at Point State Park right in downtown Pittsburgh to look around and snap a few photos.

Then Brian had his meeting while Laura drove around the city attempting to calm an antsy two-year-old who wanted OUT of the car while trying to find a spot to nurse Ezra without getting a traffic ticket-turn-misdemeanor. Poor Felix, we never got to stretch our legs during Dad's meeting, since parking's a beast downtown.

Afterward, we went to the Duquesne Incline to "ride the RED TRAIN!!!!!!!!". It's a steep little train car that goes up and down this supa-steep incline from along the Monongahela River to Mount Washington south of downtown Pittsburgh. It's adorable, and thrilling for little boys. But they didn't take debit card, so I rode the down with the little ones while Brian drove around trying to figure out how get cash without the atm fee. Anyhow, it was very fun!

Now that we've been to Pittsburgh, Felix can't stop talking about the place. When he sees airplanes, he says they're heading there. Trucks too--all of them. And just about every day during lunch he lets me know that it's, "Lunch time, Potty time, Nap time! And... after we Go.. To.. Pittsburgh!!!" I'm not sure what the obsession is all about, but it's funny. Perhaps it's a premonition?

Outdoors

Felix got a stern talkin' to for pushing him over. But, I have to admit, he's so cute when he cries.

ASL

Felix still uses his signs sometimes, especially when he really wants something. ("Pwease?" [rubs belly]. That's funny because 'please' is really just rubbing a small circle on your chest, but since Felix is usually trying to beg for something edible, it's that much more appropriate that he's rubbing his belly, haha!)


He also asks Ezra, "Do you want milk?" [pumps fist] when he's crying sometimes. What a good teacher.


Today he came up to the attic (bedroom/office) to show me that he loves me:

Soo cute! I'd signed that to him a few times, but I didn't think he'd be returning the gesture for a while, because it takes a bit of dexterity. I love that sign, because my grandpa and mom used it all the time when I was growing up as they said Bye. It's handy when someone's pulling out of the driveway, or if you're standing at the door. It can be used alone or in conjunction with yelling "I LOVE YOU!" Both are effective. How great is ASL? It allows you to express love with your hands and mouth at the same time. Double whammy.

And maybe it will even come in handy when my little boys are walking into the elementary school, and I'm not allowed to say those words aloud in public anymore. But let's not think about that sad thought. In fact, I think I'm going to kick up the hugs and kisses at home and in public in anticipation of that inevitible day. Gotta get 'em in while I can!

Going to the OHIO

We're off! Tomorrow morning we'll pack up our lives and go to Akron for an extended visit with my family. Don't get this confused with moving in with my family. That would require moving boxes (we're just using suitcases), changing our address (we'll be pretending we still live in MI), and humbling ourselves and facing reality (nope).

So here's to my mom for putting up with us for the next few weeks! (Or months? We'll see how long this job search takes.)

A note on the job search: Brian's dream is to work as an Assistant Brand Manager at a major Consumer Packaged Goods company (like Kellogg's, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, etc...). That means he'd like to market everyday products to you all.

His background is a little non-traditional (undergrad in Music, experience in music retail, dual degree in Music and Business, and an internship in Marketing at Steinway & Sons), and CPG Brand Management is notoriously hard to break into. Combine those factors with a frigid economy, and you see why we're in month eleven of our job hunt!

We've considered conceding Brian's dreams to the reality of bills and rent. Maybe we could find a lower-level job at a CPG company (like an Analyst position), or a Marketing job at a smaller-name or non-CPG company? We've finally started to apply for some jobs like that, but we haven't been having much more luck than with the "dream" jobs and companies. It's hard to get your application noticed, among the hundreds, without a current empoyee's name in your cover letter, so Brian has been networking like crazy at like every company ever. This helps him get a decent number of phone interviews, which almost always leads to a fly-back interview, which almost always leads to rejection...

Days have turned into months, and now semesters, and we're seeing just how bare-bones our budget can get so that we don't have to start spending our savings. So now summer's drawing to a close, and we've decided to move Brian's job-searching headquarters to my Mom's house.

(To be honest, it's hard to think that I worked my perfectionistic tail off during high school with my immaculate gpa, perfect attendance at early-morning seminary, intense sports involvement to make it to BYU on scholarship and put myself through undergrad and grad school, marry Mr. Right in the temple, have two perfect babies, and help my husband through the rigors of two master's degrees... all to return home jobless, with a husband and two kids in tow? )

But that's the shortsighted, self-centered way of looking at our situation. In the grand scheme of things, this is a little hiatus in our otherwise pleasant life. A time to refocus on our beliefs, our values, our motives for choices and goals. A time to realize we can't--and never did--do it alone. A time to develop humility and faith. And a time to pray and fast for answers and direction--and the blessing of a "dream" job, in the Lord's time.

You see, the answer we feel we've received is to continue to press forward in our quest for a job that will allow Brian to most fully use his talents, skills, and knowledge, in a field and function that Brian can fell passionate about and rewarded by! So, we've decided this means making some sacrifices, and heading into the unknown for a little while longer, with faith that we will land this evasive job eventually.

This is a trial for us. But since when should we shun opportunities for character development? This life is a time for us to prepare to meet God, and I've got a ways to go... Honestly, my character and faith grow most when I need to stretch and work hard, and sincerely pray for help and guidance because I desparately need it. So, this trial is requiring patience, tears, faith, and earnest prayer. Answers and comfort have come in very subtle but powerful ways, and I have a deep sense of peace about the future that I lose only when I start to feel depressed or angry. We've grown closer as a family through this process, too, and hopefully a little more humble as we've realized how much we truly need the Lord's help!

There are blessings though... the thick silver lining to all of this is all of the time our family is going to be able to spend time with my dear Mom, brothers, and Dad!

Uncle Dan!

We love Uncle Dan. He's the coolest Uncle, who will be adoring and indulging our children for the next 25 years.

He loves us too. So much so that he flew in from New York City one one of his very rare breaks from med school to spend time with us.

It was such a treat to spend a few days with him. The boys can't get enough of him. Brian had a wonderful time talking and playing video games with him. He even answers all of my odd questions about medicine... like, why so many people die of cancer now. (His view: we'd all die of cancer eventually, more or less, if we didn't get other diseases, but in the past they were busy dying of cholera, childbirth, farm accidents, tuberculosis... so they didn't live long enough to develop cancer in the numbers we do today.)

SO, here's some snapshots of our time together!



Please, Dan, will you get a job wherever we end up living? Please, please?