Jared and school

Oops, I forgot all about this thing yesterday. Put it on my tab, mom.
Ah, this journey we call life. 3 1/2 years ago we took a hard look at our lives (with a heavy focus on finances) and where we were headed, and we didn't like what we saw. We had a great little townhome, and we loved every square inch of it. The mortgage was pretty cheap, and yet we just couldn't make ends meet. It was a little depressing. If we couldn't even afford that tiny house, then what? Were we going to live in a 2 bedroom apartment for the rest of our lives? Jared looked for another job, but we soon decided that a drastic change would be more appropriate. Thus began our most recent adventure. We decided Jared would go back to school and become a nurse. We sold our house, and moved into a crappy little 2 bedroom apartment. I still hate that place, even a year after moving out. It broke my heart to leave our house, and our friends, and the ward we loved. I cried off and on for 2 weeks. Both of us had to work hard at not getting depressed. But we did have an exciting future! . . . at least we hoped we did. Things didn't go as smoothly as we had planned. The plan was to go to BYU Idaho, but that did not work out since he couldn't get accepted. Finally, much later than we ever hoped, he got accepted to UVU in Orem, and it has been really great.
Jared headed back to school today, for his final semester! "4 more months" is my new mantra. You can do anything for 4 months. It feels like he's been going to school for a decade at least! He's sick to death of studying, and we're at the end of our savings. But we're almost there!
But I admit we are worried about what comes after. Will he be able to find a job? Will we have to move to some random place? Some random place where you have to watch out for scorpions or killer bees? Who knows.
Perhaps it will be another adventure in this journey we call life.

Banana Bread

I have been thinking about banana bread because, long story short, I went grocery shopping and came home with 20 bananas. And I'm happy about that because I like bananas, especially with Rice Krispies, and I LOVE banana bread. Recently someone gave us some that was dry and flavorless, and I didn't know that not everyone has a great banana bread recipe. I'm pretty fond of mine because it tastes so good, it's easy, and it only requires 2 bananas. So I thought I'd share.

Banana Bread
2 C. flour
¾ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 ¼ C. sugar
Add:
1/3 C. shortening (or butter)
1 C. mashed bananas (2 large)
¼ C. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Beat 2 minutes. Add 2 large eggs. Beat 3 minutes. Bake in 2 small greased loaf tins at 350 for 35 minutes. I don't know if it's my oven or my baking tins, but I always have to cook it quite a bit longer. Like 45 or 50 mins. So cook it until a toothpick comes out clean, like a cake.

Jason

Too bad I'm running out of ideas for this blog already. You might starting hating it because it's so BORING.

Today my thoughts are on my middle son, Jason, pictured below.

He's a handsome fellow. He has bright blue eyes and and a winning smile. He has a great personality, and he is well-liked at school. He makes his brothers laugh a lot with his silliness. He is an extremely picky eater, and he is underweight because of it. He eats toast every day for breakfast, except when I make him have a pancake (no syrup, cinnamon and sugar on top), and a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. And he rarely eats supper, unless it's pizza. Or sometimes chicken.

He is in grade 1, and he is having a hard time learning how to read. In a way it annoys me because I have been trying to teach him how to read since he was 4 years old. But mostly it worries me. School is hard for a kid that can't read very well, and kids spend a lot of time at school, which all adds up to a hard life. So far he has had a great attitude, even though he has to go to school an hour earlier than his brothers, and he has to spend about twice as long on his homework as they do. He doesn't complain very much, he just does what he has to do. And his teacher is fantastic! She genuinely cares about him, and likes him, too. And what's not to like? He's a great kid. I sure do love this boy. And I worry about him.

Back on track

I took Allie back to the doctor to have her weighed. It looks like she's back on track! She is just over 11 pounds now, and doing great. I am still nursing her, but I give her 2 or 3 ounces of formula after each feeding. She is much happier, and so am I.

I got these little jeans for Allie and finally they fit. She's worn them for the last 2 days. Aren't they adorable? And the poor girl has to freeze in this outfit because I can't get enough of it.
Just kidding, she doesn't wear it much, only when the house is warm. I really do like it. Thanks Auntie Betty! (That's another post to come, too).
But really this has been an awesome winter, hasn't it? I don't even care that there was no white Christmas. Brown is just fine with me. On New Years day I saw someone wearing flip flops, and it wasn't a crazy-wear-shorts-all-year-long sort of person. It was actually appropriate footwear. Maybe Jared should get a job in Hawaii. No snow there!

Cute or ugly?

I saw this on Etsy and thought it was adorable. Is it? Or is it ugly? Because someday I'm going to make one.

Yoo r so osam!

Jason had a hard time with Allie coming into our family. When I told him I was going to have a baby he said that it "wasn't a very good idea." In the months before her birth he just had a hard time. He was not happy, and he got in trouble a lot. Then after she was born he didn't care to see her, and he refused to hold her. It made me sad and worried. But he slowly warmed up to her. I think it helped a lot when we brought her home and he saw how much his brothers adored her.
One day a few weeks ago I went into her room to get her up in the morning and I found this note that had been stuck under her door.The translation is: Dear Allie, you are so awesome. From Jason.
Oh my heart! Finally!
And now he loves his little sister every bit as much as the rest of us.
Little sisters ROCK.