Employment!

Ok, so it's not super-exciting, but I'm pretty sure Will has a part-time job at Wal-Mart! It's not much, but it will pay all of our bills (since we're living with my parents) and I think there will be enough left over for the extra non-bills, like registering our car and such for our insurance, and Will's school application fee... and possibly mine. The kind of nice thing is, since it's only part time, we'll still qualify for the help we're getting until I can find a good job or at least get certified as a substitute teacher. Even though in the last few weeks it seems like high schools in central Ohio have gone insane, so I'm questioning if being a teacher is a safe profession! Also, we're getting (thanks to Chaela) a pretty hefty tax return (relatively speaking). So yay! The stress somewhat alleviated. The only thing that they have to take care of before officially hiring him is the drug test and yeah... I'm going to have to say I'm not super worried about it, ha ha.

So that's us. I'd post new pictures of Chaela but I'm on my parents' computer once again. Also my camera is dead. Anyways, I just wanted to share that little bit of excitement. Woo hoo! Financial survival!

And a question for anyone who reads this: I've been told by a few people that I should consider trying to use my seamstress skills to make baby blankets and other things to sell. What do you think? (These pictures are examples of my work.)

New Chaela things, but mostly boring.

Hello... nothing really new is going on here and I don't have any new pictures to post because I'm on my parents' computer. If you want to see the most recent ones, they're all on facebook. We still don't have jobs, even though I apply for at least four or five every day and sometimes more.

Chaela says new words all the time, so the list I posted was outdated the next day. It's ok though, I'm having a lot of fun with her! We spent some quality time this morning because it was my turn to get up. After I fed her some oatmeal (her daily breakfast when it's my turn) we played for a long time. I haven't really done that very much and I'm glad that I did. I've always been pretty bad about giving her my full attention, and she's too old for that now. She's such a sweet, beautiful, fun little girl, and I get to be her mommy! I'm trying to keep her from being a complete and total daddy's girl, which she is right now. Every time Will walks into the room she screams "DADDY!!" and runs (yeah, she runs) over to him. Sometimes she makes it without falling down.

Another cute thing she does now is to bring me her new shoes and say "boo! boo!" then sits on my lap and holds up her feet so I can put them on her. It's not like we're going outside or anything, she just likes to wear them! She calls them boots because her winter boots were the only shoes she was wearing for a while, so she never learned "shoes." Now all shoes are "boo!" It's definitely still the most versatile sound in her vocabulary. It now means book, boots, spoon, boom, Boo! (like a ghost), bowl, fork (all silverware, really), and shoes.

So that's all with us for now. We're lucky we have Chaela, or else our lives would be unspeakably boring. Oh, and here's something I found on Jana's blog that seemed like fun. I've also seen it on facebook.

1. Add a comment on our blog leaving one memory that you and I and/or Will had together. It doesn't matter if you know us a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. If you want to play again, re-post these instructions on your blog and take a stroll down memory lane, too. Enjoy! (If you comment on our blog, we'll make sure to comment on yours.)

Chaela's Words

Ok, I guess to make up for not posting I'll do it two days in a row.

For all of those who are far away, Chaela has started talking a little bit. I'll try and get a video of it for you, but my computer is being stupid about uploading lately. Anyways, here is a list:

Signs:
1. Eat
2. All done (I couldn't find a picture of this one. She holds her hands up vertically and turns her palms away from her, then towards her, then back again.)
3. I want that (Yeah, basically she just reaches for it.)

Spoken "Words" (not in order):
1. "boo" = book
2. "bu" = spoon
3. "Boo!" = Boo! like a ghost or boom! I fell down
4. "Mama"
5. "baby" (she just learned that one today)
6. "Daddy"
7. "Bapa" = Grandpa
8. "Mamaw" (1st syllable "a" in "ash" not "ah" like in "Mama") = Grandma
9. "ba" = ball
10. "Hi"
11. "nana" = banana
12. "baba" and wave = bye bye
13. "nai nai" = night night
14. "mmm" = give me that food now or I will scream

Animal Noises:
1. "Moo" (cow)
2. "bak bak bak" (chicken)
3. "kwa kwa" (duck)
4. "woo woo" (dog)
5. "aaaoooooww" (cat)
6. "baaa" (sheep)
7. *snort through nose* (rhinoceros... it's in the "Moo, Baa, La La La" book)

Yup, so those are the noises. Added to facial expressions and other noises she makes it's pretty easy to communicate with her these days. I feel like when I tell her the word for something she thinks about it and can usually remember it. That could just be me, though.
She also understands A LOT of what we say to her, which would be cooler if she listened to us. Ever.
I love this new stage, but I've realized after spending time with some brand new babies recently that she's really not a baby anymore. I know she's not technically old enough to be a toddler, but she has much more in common right now with a two year old than a newborn. Everything she learns now is kind of bittersweet for her mommy, but I guess that's how it always is. :)

Still Alive!

Hey everyone! So it's been a long time, and there really isn't a good excuse for it. Will and I are still in Ohio, trying to get jobs. So far no luck, and the really lame thing is that when people do contact us, they want us to do sales. First of all, no. Second of all, in this economy?? No. It's frustrating, because I don't feel like I'm overreaching in the jobs I've been applying for, and neither is Will, but NO ONE is even calling me in for an interview. I know, I know, finding a job is tough at the best of times, which these are not, but I can't help it, I'm mad! Oh, well.

So we basically do nothing all day. It's gotten pretty boring lately, so I've been looking into doing a little bit of writing for children's magazines. Not that that would bring in much money, if any, for a good few months, but why not try to build a career I could actually enjoy while I've got the time? So I'm going to go for it. Next time I go to the library my assignment is to look and see if they carry any of the magazines so that I can see what kind of articles they're publishing.

Anyways, that's us right now. If you have Facebook, which most of you do, you've seen the newest Chaela pictures. If not, here are a few for you.

These are of her first time playing in the snow. We had a lot more fun with it than she did. Woo hoo!!

So... I entered this one in the Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby Search. I know it's corny, but why pass up a shot at having her college paid for?

For awhile I was afraid she wouldn't be a very good older sister (when the time comes, which is not yet). At first she wasn't very nice to the 3 month old boy my mom babysits, but now she's great with him! She "reads" him books and runs over and pats him on the back or the head when he cries. She also hugs him, which is cute!

So that's all for now. Hopefully I'll get better at this again. If you're the praying kind, keep us and our employment situation in mind!

Special Delivery

Yes it's time again for another halo video. YAY! Here it is: Special Delivery

Map of our Trip

As promised, here's a map of our trip. It turned out pretty small on here, but I think if you double click on it, it might get bigger. Between those six trips, I spent 102 hours on the road (not counting around town stuff), Will spent 96 hours, and Chaela spent 90. Yeah. One of the reasons it was so long was that we took our time out here from UT, that trip alone was 45 hours. The reason? We left at 9pm at night, drove 8-ish hours, stopped and slept, went and visited Will's friend in WY, drove to NE, stopped and slept, had to stop at Wal-Mart to get formula and a new sippy cup, got to IA, stopped and slept... you get the idea. My suggestion: do NOT leave at night. Just get a good night's rest and leave in the morning. You still get there at the same time, as evidenced by my sisters leaving from ID the morning after we did and catching up to us an hour outside of Columbus. Yeah. So not worth it.

Finally Some Pictures! (Part 1)

Well, here are some pictures of what we've been doing for the past month! The first one is from the drive out to OH, it's the bridge over the IL River. Then there are some from Christmas, which was spent in OH/Chicago, meaning we opened presents Christmas Eve morning, spent Christmas Eve with the Jordan side, then spent Christmas Day with the McFarland side. Lots of fun! Before all that, though, we spent a week or so in Columbus with my family just relaxing.

Chaela with Will's grandma. We enjoyed seeing them before we left UT!

The Bi-annual (whenever we're all home that year) Gingerbread House Contest! Traditional teams Kristin-Jordan and Caitlyn-Lindsay competed this year, along with newcomers William-Jacob. It is clear that Caitlyn-Lindsay won by a landslide, haha.

Will and Jacob's house was actually a Christmas tree, which they frosted by literally pouring frosting over it. Delicious.

Winners!!

Jacob spent much time napping, and Kristin spent much time making strange faces at the camera.

'Twas the night before Christmas (Eve)... I love my parents' house at Christmas.

Be afraid?

Christmas Eve morning my mom made biscuits and gravy. Mmmmmm.

One of Kristin's favorite parts of Christmas is adapting traditional carols. "Oh Kristin-tree, oh Kristin-tree..." is one of her best.

Lindsay is also one for strange faces.

Chaela helping Grandpa Doug open his Shop Vac thing.

Haha. Because Will is so good at guessing, I wrapped the Dark Knight movie I got him in a shoebox, put in this book, a 3 pound weight, and padded it with tissue paper. Woo hoo! I actually surprised him this year! Usually he picks up a box and goes, "it's a blah blah blah," and he's always right!

Anyways, I was going to do all the pictures now, but they're going to have to wait, because I have to watch the Office now. Also coming soon: a map of our travels! Exciting!

2008 Recap

I stole this from Maya who stole it from her friend. It seemed like an interesting thing to do.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Had my first child turn one, graduated college, been technically homeless.

2. Did you keep your 2008 resolutions, and will you make more this year?
I never really make resolutions. It seems to me that you can set goals to change at any time of year, and that's what I do.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Carly, and I know about 10 other women who are due to have babies in the next few months. I am not exaggerating.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
None. I've never been outside the continental U.S.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A decent-paying "real" job that I like. Dream big.

7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Definitely graduation.

8. What was your biggest failure?
Not dropping the baby weight from Chaela and not finishing my book when I had time.

9. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Just colds.

10. What was the best thing you bought?
An umbrella stroller.

11. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Well, a lot of people, I think. Chaela, for being such a good baby during 90+ hours in the car in less than a 3 week period, Will, for being willing to move back East with me for a few years, me for graduating, my entire family, for being so generous to Will, Chaela, and I, etc.

12. Where did most of your money go?
I don't know, but it's gone! Bills, mostly. We don't get to do much these days but pay bills.

13. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter.
Happier, because I never thought I'd actually graduate. The same amount fat,I think, even though here in VA we're doing a Biggest Loser challenge, so hopefully that won't last much longer!!

14. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Gotten better grades.

15. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Sat around doing nothing.

16. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I like what Maya said about falling in love with her husband every day. I feel like that. Most of the time. ;) Ha ha.

17. What was the best new book you read?
I read a lot of books, so it's hard to choose. Probably "The Well of Shades." I stared it in 2008 but didn't finish it until 2009.

18. What was your favorite film of the year?
Probably Iron Man, and I know this is silly, but I really like Eagle Eye for some reason. I appreciated The Dark Knight, but it was really too violent for me.

19. What kept you sane?
Will. No question.

20. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Things you think are impossible really can be achieved if you stick to it. I confess, I honest to goodness never thought I would graduate. I mean, looking back it was inevitable, since I wasn't going to drop out either, but I never really grasped the reality of finishing school, you know?


An update on us:

We're doing well, still in Richmond. I've sent out my resume to quite a few places and Will has applied for several jobs. Right now we're focusing on places that reimburse tuition for him, since that would be an enormous load off our backs. Diane and Nate are beyond generous to put up with us, and I'm hopeful that I'll have a job soon and we can start looking for a place to rent.

Surprise Attack!

Hello! Just so everyone knows, Will, Chaela, and I are no longer in Memphis, TN... we are in Richmond, VA. Surprise!
We went Memphis like we'd planned, but after spending some time there, we didn't feel like it was the right place for us, though it is cool and has delicious BBQ. Throughout our week long stay, however, my friend Diane kept calling me and telling me she'd found this and this and this job opportunity in Virginia, where she lives. So after some thinking and praying, Will and I decided to pack up once again and head over to Richmond. Now we're here and it feels more like home than any other place has so far, which is awesome! We're looking forward to trying to settle here for a few years, at least until Will is done with school. It's great, because we're two hours or less from the following:
1. The Atlantic Ocean (which means THE BEACH!)
2. Good Skiing
3. Washington, D.C.
4. The D.C. Temple
5. Williamsburg, the oldest still inhabited town in the U.S. (less than an hour)
6. The Jamestown settlement
7. Several Civil War battlefields

We're also fairly close to Philadelphia, PA, which I would really like to see, a few good friends of mine, and my family! Yay!
So we're pretty excited about it and we'll keep you updated. I'm really hoping that this is the place. Ha ha.

Sneaking a Moment

Hello! It's about 2 a.m. and Will and I are just finishing up packing to leave (once again). This time we're headed to Memphis, TN to try and find jobs and such things. We're going to stay with Jason and Jana (thank you!) for a week or so to see what there is to be seen and get a feel for the place. If things don't go there, we have a few options that we're thinking about. The most important thing at this point is to generate an income. Anyways, I'd better get back to packing and such so I can sleep. Later!