Master Reed

Reed got a phone call this evening informing him that he has been accepted to Argosy University to begin his Master's program in Marriage and Family Therapy! Whoo Hoo!

Argosy is a small private university here in Denver (one of many locations). That offers programs for working adults. The classes are every other weekend, with each class lasting 2-4 weekends. We have been really busy this summer working on Reed's certification for his BCABA (Board Certified Associate Behavior Analyst) and now with the seminary calling, applying for school has been pushed back, Luckily, the process when very quickly, and now he can get started! It will make things much more hectic and busy, but the sooner he starts, the sooner he will be done. Hooray!

A Work In Progress

Here are some pictures from this weekend's efforts. Please ignore the mostly dead grass; that will be revived next spring.

We put rock down in front. It still needs to be smoothed out a little and eventually we will get some big colorful pots to sit here.

Here is the berm we made. A vast improvement on the chunk of dead ground that was here before. This afternoon I planted 40 bulbs (daffodils and tulips) and added the mulch. Theoretically, next March/April there should be a lot of pretty flowers in there.

The hedges in the background were also trimmed (a lot) and shaped by my wonderful mother-in-law.

I have a cute little row of mums right in front of the porch that will eventually form a small hedge.

So excited that we are making progress! Next up -- painting the living room/kitchen. We bought the paint this morning!

Patrick Knows His Letters!

I finally got Patrick to sit still so I could get a video of him reciting his letters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjNmqt8D4Mk

Laboring for Labor Day

I'm not sure what we are supposed to celebrate on Labor Day, other than the unofficial end of summer, but this year we celebrated by laboring in our yard. We love our house, but it came with a lot of potential. In other words, we have a lot of work to do. Our yards, both font and back, were basically blank slates when we moved in. Fast forward nine months, and you have a jungle that has filled in that blank slate. I didn't take any before pictures, but it looked something like this:

With the help of our loving family, we got a really good start on our front yard this weekend. Before we bought the house, the previous owners had to fix the foundation because of water damage, so we had to create drainage around the foundation. We got dirt rototilled and plastic laid down for drainage, and then rocks on top of that. Eventually we will get some large pots to set on top of the rocks so it isn't so bare. On the other side of the house, in front of the porch, we formed a nice berm with some bushes, mums, and bulbs that will come up in the spring.

We trimmed some hedges on the side of the house, and our nice neighbor even helped us pull out two huge stumps. We still have like a dozen more to pull out, but we really feel like we accomplished a lot this weekend.

The other thing we celebrated yesterday was a WIN FOR BOISE STATE! They played Virginia Tech last night, and even though the second half was a nail-biter, BSU was able to pull off the last-minute winning plays. This was their biggest game of the season! I am so excited that they have a real shot at the championship this year. I will be rooting them on all year.

Mockingjay

I received the book Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins for my birthday. This is the third in the Hunger Games trilogy, for those of you not in the know. It was fantastic, and I highly recommend this series. Even though it is labeled as young adult fiction, I really think it is best suited for older teens and adults. The stories are very compelling and hard to put down, and even though Mockingjay was a little dark, I think the author was true to the characters. I can't say much more because I'm sure there are people out there who are reading it or who want to. But definitely a must-read.

New Adventures for the Haight Family

Reed and I both have new adventures starting. First, Reed was called this morning to be an early-morning seminary teacher for our stake. It was a little surprising, but I think Reed is excited because he has always wanted to teach seminary. The timing is a little interesting, but then again, it always is with callings, isn't it? He is teaching his first class in about 9 hours, and doesn't have any information other than the time, what building, and that it is Doctrine and Covenants. This will be a fun few weeks!

My adventure isn't as big, but I am excited about it. I really wanted to find another job that I could work from home, but when I thought about what I loved to do, I really just wanted to tutor, because I loved it so much when I did it at BYU-Idaho. So a couple weeks ago I put some ads on Craigslist just to see if anyone was interested. Luckily, I got a hit in only four days. I had my first tutoring session last Thursday, and I am so excited to be doing it again. I am tutoring a man from India who has lived here about 10 years, and his English is great, but he wants to move up at work to a manager position, so he wants to polish he grammar and writing skills. Which is awesome because grammar is my favorite. So glad I kept those books from college.

So life here is getting busier, but we are super happy about it!

Saying Prayers

A little bit about our Patrick boy. He is talk all the time now, even though a lot is still gibberish. This week we have started helping him say our nightly prayers, and sometimes it makes me tear up it is so darn cute (and sometimes we giggle). He usually just says the last word that I say, but tonight he did a really good job repeating. We are very proud of him.

He also thinks he doesn't need a nap before church, and then is too exhausted to last through nursery, so we end up holding him/pacing until he passes out. Luckily we only have four months left of 1pm church.

He is currently obsessed with owies. If he gets the tiniest scratch, he wants a band-aid and limps for an hour. If he sees anything on you that looks like it may be an owie, he gets very concerned, puts on a sad face, and kisses it better for you. He is a cross between very sweet and kind of dramatic.

Pretty soon I will get a video of him doing kung fu with daddy. Hilarious.

The Big 2-4

Again, I don't have any pictures, so you will have to take my word that I had a great birthday. I am 24 this year. It is pretty nice right now actually, to not feel really old or young. I spend the day with Patrick, and then Grandma came out to babysit so we could go to Rodizio's for dinner. I had a post a few months ago about how we love the food there. It is even better when I get free birthday flan (and a buy one get free coupon)! Yum!

Thank you to everyone who sent cards or wished me happy birthday. I really enjoyed it. My favorite cards, though, were from my brother and sister. They made me the sweetest cards that brought a tear to my eyes because I could feel the love. They are awesome. My parents sent me a BSU snuggie, which is awesome, because Reed and I always make fun of snuggies (who doesn't?) but I think I will actually use it because I always need a blanket when I am on the couch, and it will be perfect for game days.

Speaking of which, our opening game against Virginia Tech is next Monday! I'm very excited and only slightly nervous!

More Family!

August has been quite busy with family and friends visiting. Reed's sister, Stacy, and her kids, Jack, Lily, and Eva, came to Grandma Haight's house for a visit this month. They used to live here, so it was fun for them to see all their old friends. Most of the neighborhood was over at Grandma's house all week! We were able to do some fun things with them while they were here too. Unfortunately, my camera is taking a siesta this month. : (

We all went to the zoo one day, which was fun, but we managed to pick the hottest day of the week, so we spent a lot of time in the shade. Patrick had a fun time dragging his cousins around the zoo, since he thinks he is the King of the Zoo (even though they have been just as many times as he has)! Patrick really loves his cousins. Jack and Lily were very nice to walk around with him. Lily is very sweet with him, and Jack is a good sport to let Patrick drag him around and show him everything.

We spent a warm Saturday at the pool, which was very fun. I thought Patrick would be more interested in the small wading pools, but he wasn't. He got excited when we went to the "Lazy River," where you float around a circle on inter tubes. He thought that was the best, and we spent most of the day there.

We had a lot of fun with the Sorensens and are happy that we were able to see them twice this year. Hopefully we can make visit more frequent in the future.

Another Fun Visit

Last week we had another fun visit with friends. Andrew and AnnMarie came from Rexburg to see us. We feel really blessed this summer that all of our family and friends have come to see us! And we have had such a good time with them too.

I was really lame and didn't take any pictures this time. This was a really low-key visit, and I think we all enjoyed that. While Reed was working during the day, I would take Andrew and AnnMarie to the zoo or the splash park, and then we would come home and all take naps, and then have some more fun in the evening. I think this was the first time in a long time Andrew has taken naps during the week!

On Wednesday we had the missionaries over for dinner because one of the Elders in our ward is from the same area as Andrew, and we really wanted the two of them to meet because they say and do a lot of the same things. And it was entertaining to listen to the two of them talk about North Carolina and all their favorite obscure sport facts. We smoked a huge 12 lb pork shoulder for dinner, and it turned out fabulously. Combined with Reed's BBQ sauce, and it is heavenly. Combine that with my coleslaw and some fresh fruit, and it was a fabulous summer dinner.

We also went to a small county fair on Friday night. We always love going to the fair (who doesn't enjoy fair food?), but our county fair cost $15 just to get in. Each! So we heard that this Larimar County fair up in Loveland was free, so we went and loved it. It wasn't super crowded, and it had just enough stuff so we could experience all the great things we love about a fair: people watching, fair food, free petting zoo, pig races, fair food, 4H animals, and a small fireworks show. Patrick had a good time, and would still be at the petting zoo if I didn't drag him out. Sometimes I wish he had just a sliver of fear so he wouldn't race head first into a crowd of goats. I was afraid he was going to come out with one less finger! But he loved seeing the animals because he just ran from one to another say its name or making its sound. He kept coming back to the piglets and trying to pet them through the little fence.

We pigged out on junk food. We ate the ice cream first, and then fried chips, and kettle corn. The fireworks were short, but it was perfect for his short attention span. I love sitting on the grass at the end of the night and watching fireworks, feeling the summer breeze, and smelling all the fair food. That is the memory I reach for in the dead of winter. I'm glad we got to go to a fair this year.

We are really glad Andrew and AnnMarie came to visit us. We haven't seen this in a year and a half, and it is always great to reconnect with friends. We are all thankful to have our house, and a basement with space to keep house guests. We have used it four times this year!