We closed on our refinance today. It was a no-cost refi so all we had to pay for was the $22 credit check. The difference it will make though is about $320 every month from our mortgage payment. It will be nice to have a little extra because we haven’t been quite making it month to month since we bought the van.
Amy has been saying lately, “I have a question” but really doesn’t and “It is true”. She sure does pick up a lot. Grandma Rice gave her a book about going potty and she already has most of it memorized. Grandma really pushed the potty thing while there and Amy surprised me by asking to go potty when Grandma said she would have to if she wanted to wear the tutu Grandma was making. I have been working with Amy since we got home and she is now much more open to the idea of using the potty. She hasn’t done anything in the potty yet but ONE drop, but she is at least sitting on it. And that is a big difference from before.
Misha is talking so much more. She can say “Costco” and “Walmart” now, though not perfectly. She is a pretty smart cookie too and understands so much of what I say to her. I cut about an inch off her bangs again this morning. Amy has had one haircut to Misha’s four or five. Misha likes to sit on top of the little potty we have. I am hoping that she will be potty trained by next summer. Since she has a big sister to watch and follow, I am sure that she will want to do it much sooner. That would be so nice not to buy diapers anymore.
Sunday 22 September, 2002
We returned yesterday from a week-long trip to visit my parents. We left last Friday the 13th and made the trip in two days. It is about 950 miles one-way so we decided to break up the trip by staying the night in Billings, Montana. We left home about 10:30 am but didn’t arrive in Billings until around 8:30 pm. Not having been there before, we drove around a bit trying to find a place to stay. We ended up at this dumpy little place that we never would have stayed at if we had seen it in the light of day. To its credit, it did have two rooms, a fridge, and a microwave. We put the girls to sleep in one room and they slept the entire night.
They were both awake at their normal time of 6:45 so we made an early start for Alberta. The drive on Saturday only took us about 6 hours. Of course, we have to make our usual stops with the girls to let them release some energy, but we pulled into Stirling around 2:15 that afternoon.
The girls had it great, or maybe I should say that we did. We moved their car seats all the way to the back seat of the van, removed one of the middle seats, folded the other middle seat down, and slipped Chris’ laptop into the back pocket of the folded middle seat. They watched dvd’s all the way there and back. It was wonderful. I had to get out of my seat to get them treats and toys, but having the movies was a godsend. Amy loves to watch “Princess Diaries” and Chris was able to find a used copy online for only $10. It will get a lot of use from our girls.
We didn’t have any trouble getting through the border, though we were mighty glad not to be a trucker. The line for them was at least a mile long.
We pulled into my parent’s driveway right behind a new trailer they just bought. I didn’t know they were planning on getting a new one or selling their old one. It is about three feet longer than the old one with much more cupboard and living space. The bathroom is much nicer as well. It came in handy as we were going camping to Waterton National Park on Monday.
We got the girls settled and the van unloaded. Chris helped Dad make repairs to the trailer and transfer all the stuff over from the old trailer. That took most of the evening. Amy did her fair share of cleaning in the trailer as well and shadowed Grandma where ever she went.
Church was bright and early at 9 am. We are used to church at 2 in the afternoon, so this was a nice treat. Misha missed her nap, of course, and was rather crabby throughout the entirety of church. Chris kept her in the foyer most of the time, but I don’t think he minded too much. Amy was excited to go to her class. I am so glad that she doesn’t get upset over going. Lots of kids are pretty leery about new places.
It was nice to see some familiar faces again, but there are so many people there now that I don’t know. What is amazing to me though is the number of people who are big. Not just fat but really huge. I vowed that I would never be among the fat Stirling people. I would guess that at least a 1/4 of the ward was large.
The girls had great naps in the afternoon on Sunday and we just spent a lazy day around the house. Amy loved sleeping in Grandma's princess bedroom.
Monday, however, dawned bright and early. Especially since I had to get up with Misha four times. She finally stayed awake at 4 am and would have nothing to do with going back to sleep until about 6:30. I think she then slept until 8. Mom had pears to can and dad had a funeral to go to. Plus, we had to finish cleaning and packing the trailer. I think we finally got on the road around 2 pm. Sad to say, I wasn’t going to miss the thousands of gnats flying around outside. They were everywhere.
It was quite a bit chillier in Waterton, and I was glad that we had brought warm clothes along. Dad (Grandpa) took Amy for a walk down to the lake while we got things ready for supper and when they returned Grandpa started a roaring hot fire where we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows at one of the camp kitchens. Amy received her first introduction to the frisbee, but as most beginners, had no coordination with it.
We returned to the trailer and got things ready for bed and then watched “You’ve Got Mail” on DVD (Chris brought his laptop). Mom and Dad offered to sleep in the back of the suburban, we brought the play pen for Misha to sleep in, Chris and I slept on the couches the folded down, and Amy slept on the bunk. She called it the closet because when you folded it up, it had three cupboard doors for easy access to stuff. Amy loved it. In fact, the main reason I chose to go camping was for her benefit. I remember how much fun we used to have when we camped in Waterton, and I wanted her to be able to experience it as well. We all had to go to sleep when the girls did, but they both slept very well both nights we were there.
Tuesday brought with it rain. All day long. We drove up to Red Rock Canyon and saw four bears along the way there and back. While Misha slept, Mom stayed in the suburban and crocheted and Chris, Dad, Amy, and I walked up to some falls. Chris pushed Amy in the stroller and got an even better workout than all of us. After Red Rock, we drove down to the “castle” or the Prince of Wales Hotel. It was rainy and windy so we didn’t get outside but the view from the windows inside was pretty spectacular. Amy fell asleep after we left the castle and proceeded to sleep for the next three hours in her car seat. We drove back to the trailer for lunch and just kept an eye on her as she snoozed away. We watched “Remember the Titans”.
We cooked supper in the trailer on Tuesday because it was so chilly, but walked downtown to get ice cream at a local shop. We should have opted for hot chocolate instead, but there was none to be had.
Wednesday dawned fairly sunny. Wouldn’t you know it! The day we decide to go home. We left Waterton around 10:30. We stopped in Cardston at the temple so that Chris and I could enjoy a session. Unfortunately I left my recommend at Mom’s. The temple worker who helped us had to call our bishop, our stake president, whomever he could find at home to make sure I had a current recommend. That took about a half hour but we were finally able to enter. The girls stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. Mom took them to her sister’s just a couple of houses away from the temple.
When Chris and I walked out the front doors of the temple, the girls were waiting for us. Amy gave me a big hug and said “You came back!”. Chris went to hug Misha as we now call her, and she bypassed him and came running towards me. Funny girl.
Mom and Dad offered to watch the girls even more so that Chris and I could go out that evening. We didn’t hesitate in taking them up on their offer. They fed the girls and put them to bed while reassuring Amy that we would be there in the morning. Mom thinks the girls are wonderful and little angels and loved being able to spend time with them.
Chris and I went out for a leisurely, quiet dinner. No girls crying, spilling things, throwing things on the floor, or making lots of noise. We went to a restaurant called “The Cheescake Café”. Kind of spendy, but with the exchange rate, not too bad for us. We followed up dinner with a movie–“The Bourne Identity”. It was a great spy thriller that we both enjoyed.
Amy was definitely happy to see us the next morning and both she and Misha slept through the entire night. For all the changes of this trip in sleeping arrangements, they were both great about going to sleep. Misha had one rough night, but that’s all. When we stayed in hotels or the trailer, we had to go to sleep at the same time as them, so they went to sleep a little later than usual and we went to bed a little earlier. We could certainly use the extra sleep.
Thursday morning Mom started working on some Christmas sewing projects for the girls. They both have new tutus, Amy has a cape and Misha should hopefully get one later. Grandma is also going to sew some new clothes for baby-Amy’s doll. Amy spent the morning outside helping Grandpa pull the stakes out of the pea patch and pick up apples. She had such a great time as I knew she would. Mom and Dad are so good with them.
Mom and Dad are ordinance workers at the temple on Thursday so they left around 1 pm and Chris and I and the girls drove into Lethbridge. We had to have a nail removed from one our tires. Sadly, Amy had just fallen asleep, and we had to wake her up. That was the extent of her nap for the day--about 10 minutes.
After getting the car fixed, we went to Wal-mart for some snacks and to check out prices. We had hoped to get another movie for the girls to watch on the way home, but they were sooooo expensive. I was amazed. Needless to say, we didn’t buy much.
We went also to visit my grandma, mom’s mom. She lives on her own now, which is quite a challenge I am sure. She has an eye condition called macular degeneration which has caused her to lose a lot of her eyesight. I believe she still has her peripheral vision, but it is a lonely life for her. She was thrilled that we would come to see her. When we were leaving she gave the girls a bag of cookies to eat and felt badly that they weren’t homemade. I told her that I rarely made cookies myself and not to feel bad. We took some pictures and she even tried taking some of us, but I think she got our stomachs and feet instead of our heads. I told her that I loved her, and she was so surprised. She did say it back, but also called on Friday morning before we left to say it again because she couldn’t remember if she had or not.
We left Friday morning around 10:30 am to get to Billings. Chris made hotel reservations for us this time, and we were able to stay at the Howard Johnson Express. It was cheaper than the dumpy place we had stayed in the week before. We even got a continental breakfast with it. Amy was excited to be heading home and before long both girls were glued to the laptop and their movies. It was good to be home but it was also good to be going back to our home. The girls seemed to enjoy themselves, although Amy is more aware of where we were.
We stopped in Great Falls for lunch and to let the girls play at a park. They appreciated being able to get out and run around and it is nicer for us as well. We arrived in Billings around 4:30 and after quickly finding our hotel and checking in, went to dinner. Olive Garden is always a winner with me and the girls actually will eat some of their food. If we get fast food, they only like to eat french fries. We went over to Costco after and spent a load of money on diapers and a new VCR. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Montana had no additional taxes. Chris felt even more pleased with his VCR purchase.
Again, we all went to bed about the same time since we were all in one room. Misha woke up about 6:45 am and Amy shortly thereafter. They were anxious to go get breakfast since we didn’t have any orange juice in the room with us. They gotta have their oj in the morning! The continental breakfast was so-so. Not really too healthy. We were on the road by 8:30 am and ready to be home. It was quite a bit cooler on Saturday morning with lots of heavy rain. It lasted for awhile, even turning into snow at some elevations.
It was a pretty fast moving storm though. We finally got past it and stopped for lunch in Sheridan, Wyoming and the storm passed over us again. We were in rain off and on through Wyoming. Finally, we made it into Colorado and decided to stop at Wal-mart in Loveland and get our groceries for the week. No sense making an extra trip. We finally rolled up the driveway at 4:30 pm. Amy and Misha had just fallen asleep, but Amy quickly woke up. Especially when the neighbor boy came running over even before I got out of the car to try and sell us a coupon book. He took one look at our van and said, “You’ve got a lot of stuff!” I told him we had been gone for a week.
It felt good to walk into the house and smell that new construction smell again. Sadly, all of my plants were lacking water. I am not sure if all of them will make it. I had cleaned the house before I left so it was nice not to have to worry about coming home to a messy house. We had a great time in Canada.
They were both awake at their normal time of 6:45 so we made an early start for Alberta. The drive on Saturday only took us about 6 hours. Of course, we have to make our usual stops with the girls to let them release some energy, but we pulled into Stirling around 2:15 that afternoon.
The girls had it great, or maybe I should say that we did. We moved their car seats all the way to the back seat of the van, removed one of the middle seats, folded the other middle seat down, and slipped Chris’ laptop into the back pocket of the folded middle seat. They watched dvd’s all the way there and back. It was wonderful. I had to get out of my seat to get them treats and toys, but having the movies was a godsend. Amy loves to watch “Princess Diaries” and Chris was able to find a used copy online for only $10. It will get a lot of use from our girls.
We pulled into my parent’s driveway right behind a new trailer they just bought. I didn’t know they were planning on getting a new one or selling their old one. It is about three feet longer than the old one with much more cupboard and living space. The bathroom is much nicer as well. It came in handy as we were going camping to Waterton National Park on Monday.
We got the girls settled and the van unloaded. Chris helped Dad make repairs to the trailer and transfer all the stuff over from the old trailer. That took most of the evening. Amy did her fair share of cleaning in the trailer as well and shadowed Grandma where ever she went.
Church was bright and early at 9 am. We are used to church at 2 in the afternoon, so this was a nice treat. Misha missed her nap, of course, and was rather crabby throughout the entirety of church. Chris kept her in the foyer most of the time, but I don’t think he minded too much. Amy was excited to go to her class. I am so glad that she doesn’t get upset over going. Lots of kids are pretty leery about new places.
It was nice to see some familiar faces again, but there are so many people there now that I don’t know. What is amazing to me though is the number of people who are big. Not just fat but really huge. I vowed that I would never be among the fat Stirling people. I would guess that at least a 1/4 of the ward was large.
The girls had great naps in the afternoon on Sunday and we just spent a lazy day around the house. Amy loved sleeping in Grandma's princess bedroom.
Monday, however, dawned bright and early. Especially since I had to get up with Misha four times. She finally stayed awake at 4 am and would have nothing to do with going back to sleep until about 6:30. I think she then slept until 8. Mom had pears to can and dad had a funeral to go to. Plus, we had to finish cleaning and packing the trailer. I think we finally got on the road around 2 pm. Sad to say, I wasn’t going to miss the thousands of gnats flying around outside. They were everywhere.
It was quite a bit chillier in Waterton, and I was glad that we had brought warm clothes along. Dad (Grandpa) took Amy for a walk down to the lake while we got things ready for supper and when they returned Grandpa started a roaring hot fire where we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows at one of the camp kitchens. Amy received her first introduction to the frisbee, but as most beginners, had no coordination with it.
We returned to the trailer and got things ready for bed and then watched “You’ve Got Mail” on DVD (Chris brought his laptop). Mom and Dad offered to sleep in the back of the suburban, we brought the play pen for Misha to sleep in, Chris and I slept on the couches the folded down, and Amy slept on the bunk. She called it the closet because when you folded it up, it had three cupboard doors for easy access to stuff. Amy loved it. In fact, the main reason I chose to go camping was for her benefit. I remember how much fun we used to have when we camped in Waterton, and I wanted her to be able to experience it as well. We all had to go to sleep when the girls did, but they both slept very well both nights we were there.
Tuesday brought with it rain. All day long. We drove up to Red Rock Canyon and saw four bears along the way there and back. While Misha slept, Mom stayed in the suburban and crocheted and Chris, Dad, Amy, and I walked up to some falls. Chris pushed Amy in the stroller and got an even better workout than all of us. After Red Rock, we drove down to the “castle” or the Prince of Wales Hotel. It was rainy and windy so we didn’t get outside but the view from the windows inside was pretty spectacular. Amy fell asleep after we left the castle and proceeded to sleep for the next three hours in her car seat. We drove back to the trailer for lunch and just kept an eye on her as she snoozed away. We watched “Remember the Titans”.
We cooked supper in the trailer on Tuesday because it was so chilly, but walked downtown to get ice cream at a local shop. We should have opted for hot chocolate instead, but there was none to be had.
Wednesday dawned fairly sunny. Wouldn’t you know it! The day we decide to go home. We left Waterton around 10:30. We stopped in Cardston at the temple so that Chris and I could enjoy a session. Unfortunately I left my recommend at Mom’s. The temple worker who helped us had to call our bishop, our stake president, whomever he could find at home to make sure I had a current recommend. That took about a half hour but we were finally able to enter. The girls stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. Mom took them to her sister’s just a couple of houses away from the temple.
When Chris and I walked out the front doors of the temple, the girls were waiting for us. Amy gave me a big hug and said “You came back!”. Chris went to hug Misha as we now call her, and she bypassed him and came running towards me. Funny girl.
Mom and Dad offered to watch the girls even more so that Chris and I could go out that evening. We didn’t hesitate in taking them up on their offer. They fed the girls and put them to bed while reassuring Amy that we would be there in the morning. Mom thinks the girls are wonderful and little angels and loved being able to spend time with them.
Chris and I went out for a leisurely, quiet dinner. No girls crying, spilling things, throwing things on the floor, or making lots of noise. We went to a restaurant called “The Cheescake Café”. Kind of spendy, but with the exchange rate, not too bad for us. We followed up dinner with a movie–“The Bourne Identity”. It was a great spy thriller that we both enjoyed.
Amy was definitely happy to see us the next morning and both she and Misha slept through the entire night. For all the changes of this trip in sleeping arrangements, they were both great about going to sleep. Misha had one rough night, but that’s all. When we stayed in hotels or the trailer, we had to go to sleep at the same time as them, so they went to sleep a little later than usual and we went to bed a little earlier. We could certainly use the extra sleep.
Thursday morning Mom started working on some Christmas sewing projects for the girls. They both have new tutus, Amy has a cape and Misha should hopefully get one later. Grandma is also going to sew some new clothes for baby-Amy’s doll. Amy spent the morning outside helping Grandpa pull the stakes out of the pea patch and pick up apples. She had such a great time as I knew she would. Mom and Dad are so good with them.
Mom and Dad are ordinance workers at the temple on Thursday so they left around 1 pm and Chris and I and the girls drove into Lethbridge. We had to have a nail removed from one our tires. Sadly, Amy had just fallen asleep, and we had to wake her up. That was the extent of her nap for the day--about 10 minutes.
After getting the car fixed, we went to Wal-mart for some snacks and to check out prices. We had hoped to get another movie for the girls to watch on the way home, but they were sooooo expensive. I was amazed. Needless to say, we didn’t buy much.
We went also to visit my grandma, mom’s mom. She lives on her own now, which is quite a challenge I am sure. She has an eye condition called macular degeneration which has caused her to lose a lot of her eyesight. I believe she still has her peripheral vision, but it is a lonely life for her. She was thrilled that we would come to see her. When we were leaving she gave the girls a bag of cookies to eat and felt badly that they weren’t homemade. I told her that I rarely made cookies myself and not to feel bad. We took some pictures and she even tried taking some of us, but I think she got our stomachs and feet instead of our heads. I told her that I loved her, and she was so surprised. She did say it back, but also called on Friday morning before we left to say it again because she couldn’t remember if she had or not.
We left Friday morning around 10:30 am to get to Billings. Chris made hotel reservations for us this time, and we were able to stay at the Howard Johnson Express. It was cheaper than the dumpy place we had stayed in the week before. We even got a continental breakfast with it. Amy was excited to be heading home and before long both girls were glued to the laptop and their movies. It was good to be home but it was also good to be going back to our home. The girls seemed to enjoy themselves, although Amy is more aware of where we were.
We stopped in Great Falls for lunch and to let the girls play at a park. They appreciated being able to get out and run around and it is nicer for us as well. We arrived in Billings around 4:30 and after quickly finding our hotel and checking in, went to dinner. Olive Garden is always a winner with me and the girls actually will eat some of their food. If we get fast food, they only like to eat french fries. We went over to Costco after and spent a load of money on diapers and a new VCR. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Montana had no additional taxes. Chris felt even more pleased with his VCR purchase.
Again, we all went to bed about the same time since we were all in one room. Misha woke up about 6:45 am and Amy shortly thereafter. They were anxious to go get breakfast since we didn’t have any orange juice in the room with us. They gotta have their oj in the morning! The continental breakfast was so-so. Not really too healthy. We were on the road by 8:30 am and ready to be home. It was quite a bit cooler on Saturday morning with lots of heavy rain. It lasted for awhile, even turning into snow at some elevations.
It was a pretty fast moving storm though. We finally got past it and stopped for lunch in Sheridan, Wyoming and the storm passed over us again. We were in rain off and on through Wyoming. Finally, we made it into Colorado and decided to stop at Wal-mart in Loveland and get our groceries for the week. No sense making an extra trip. We finally rolled up the driveway at 4:30 pm. Amy and Misha had just fallen asleep, but Amy quickly woke up. Especially when the neighbor boy came running over even before I got out of the car to try and sell us a coupon book. He took one look at our van and said, “You’ve got a lot of stuff!” I told him we had been gone for a week.
It felt good to walk into the house and smell that new construction smell again. Sadly, all of my plants were lacking water. I am not sure if all of them will make it. I had cleaned the house before I left so it was nice not to have to worry about coming home to a messy house. We had a great time in Canada.
Wednesday, 11 September, 2002
Today is the first anniversary of the tragedies in New York City at the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania.
I received a letter from INS a couple of weeks ago stating that my petition for permanent residency had been granted. YEAH! But we still had to go to INS one more time to submit more passport photos for my new card. When we went to the INS office two weeks ago, they stamped my passport so that I can leave the country. I am finally an official permanent resident, though the actual green card takes two to ten months to get to me. Leave it to INS to be so timely.
We are leaving for Canada on Friday. We have not been since Amy was about six or seven months old. I am not looking forward to the drive there, but we should have movies for the girls to watch that will hopefully make it easier. We bought some new movies and fun toys that they will be able to play with along the way. Hopefully things that will hold their attention and keep it off of the fact that they have been sitting in car seats for a very long time.
I am just hoping that we all stay healthy for the trip. Both Amy and Alicia were sick two weeks ago with colds and when they were finally on the mend, I came down with strep. That was pretty painful. Fortunately I got onto antibiotics pretty quick and was feeling much better within a couple of days. Sadly, Amy showed signs of being sick with a cold again yesterday. I hope that it won’t last more than today and that the rest of us can stay healthy as well.
Susan and Becky are pregnant. Susan is due in March and Becky in April. Susan has had a lot of challenges with a cyst and went to the doctor because she had a lot of cramping and pain. She wanted to make sure she wasn’t pregnant so that she could take some heavy duty medicine. She was and now there is a lot of concern about keeping her and the baby healthy throughout the pregnancy. I hope that it will go well for her as she doesn’t really have an easy time being pregnant.
Chris and I both had dental appointments yesterday and took the girls along with us. We had hoped that Amy would let the hygienist look in her mouth, but she wasn’t opening her mouth for anyone. She was pretty interested in watching me have my teeth cleaned though.
We are in the process of refinancing our house right now. A couple months ago, we had a speaker in church who challenged us to pay extra fast offerings and promised us that if we did we would be blessed in a myriad of ways, including financially. I decided that I would take that challenge and started paying more fast offerings. I didn’t really know how we would realize these financial blessings, but I had faith that we would.
Chris met a new member of our ward a month or so ago while helping some people move. Eric works for a mortgage company and mentioned something about refinancing. Chris came home and mentioned it to me and from there the idea grew, and I convinced Chris that we ought to check seriously into a no-cost refinance. When figuring the numbers, we should come out almost $300 a month ahead with our new loan payments plus have a one month reprieve from paying. It is amazing to me how the Lord works. Raises at IBM only come once a year so we knew that a raise wasn’t in the works for us, and even though we aren’t making any more per month, we will have more income to work with. Such a testimony builder in that the Lord is always mindful of our needs.
Alicia is growing up fast. I think much faster than Amy because she has Amy to follow and tries to do so many of the things that Amy already does. She has mastered walking, running, likes to walk backwards, goes up and down stairs easily enough and pretty much makes her wants and needs known. Like Amy, she loves her morning orange juice. That is the first thing that either of them want when they wake up. They both love to shower and hate having to get out, and I am sure she will come to love Wal-mart for the free cookies for kids.
We went to K-mart the other day and Amy doesn’t quite distinguish it from Walmart. She calls it K-Walmart. We purchased new shoes for Amy for the fall that help her run fast, fast, fast. We have started to buy some things for birthdays and Christmas and have to be careful about making sure they are hidden before Amy sees them. She has such a good memory.
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