Saturday in Park City

When Adam and Tessa woke up Saturday morning, their first question was, "Is Daddy home today?" When I said that he was, a chorus of cheers could be heard for miles away, I am sure. We decided to take advantage of having Daddy around on a Saturday and we headed up to Park City for the afternoon.

We went to the Kimball Art Center to see the Lego exhibit there. We were all amazed at what this artist had created. The kids left the museum, anxious to get home so they could make some Lego creations of their own!

 We are very blessed to have good travelers. All 3 of our kids do great traveling in the car and Eric and I love hearing their imaginations at work as we drive. 

 On our way home, we stopped in Heber for a fun dinner at Dairy Keen. All 3 kids loved watching the trains and Gwen could not shove her hamburger in her mouth fast enough.

It was a great way to spend an afternoon together! We love making new memories!

Changes....

This week has brought some big changes to our family. Good changes, but big ones. Last month, Eric received a job offer for a company in Draper, called Edwards Lifesciences. He accepted and just began on Monday. It was difficult to say goodbye to his old job. Although his pay wasn't great, it was a good, family oriented company. We are grateful for the job they gave Eric when we desperately needed one 4 years ago and for the things Eric has been able to learn while he worked there. 

His new job is will be challenging, but in a good way. They manufacture heart valves and heart catheters. Totally different from trailer hitches. Everything his teams manufacture are done in a clean room. In fact, Eric's office is even part of the clean room, so to be in his office, he has to have on shoe covers, a hair net, gloves, and a body suit. Way different from his paint stained jeans he wore to Progress. Everything he takes in has to be sterile. So pretty much all he can have in his office are papers he is working on for the production line. 

When he was first contacted about the job for an interview, we really didn't think much of it because he has been interviewing for a new job for months and months with no luck. He almost backed out of the interview because it was going to be 3 hours long and he had to get to school for finals that same day. Honestly, I was a little bugged that he went too. I just figured it was a waste of time. I am so glad the Spirit prompted him to go! He got a job offer about 2 hours after his first interview. He had some of the details and then I really wasn't excited about the idea of this new job. (It was a bad weekend for me-I was very tired and very lonely.) Taking this job would require a much longer commute, cause we don't want to move anytime soon, with longer hours than he was working. He would be leaving our house by 5am and not getting home until 6:30ishpm, depending on traffic. Plus all his school stuff on top of that. They hadn't told him anything about pay, but we figured it wouldn't be much more than what we were already making and by Sunday night we had pretty much decided to turn down the job on Monday. Well, Monday morning they called him back with a great offer! So great, that even with the crappy hours, we felt like we couldn't turn it down. Over the last two weeks as Eric prepared to leave Progress and start at Edwards, we have really seen the hand of the Lord guide us to this point. Not only will this job be a huge blessing financially, but it will give Eric experience and opportunity to grow and progress in his career. And, they are willing to work with his school schedule which has been an issue for most of the other jobs he was interviewing for. They told him on Monday that they had been interviewing other people when he interviewed and they had been looking for the right person and they really felt like Eric was that person. That was great for him to hear!

It has been a big change for him, but so far he is liking it. We had more good new come on Monday, when he found out that his hours will be more like 7:30am-4:30pm. Way better!! He also has to dress "professionally". It is weird to see him leave for work every morning in dress clothes. It feels like we are finally grown up:) 

All joking aside, we are very thankful and feel so blessed for this opportunity! We hope this will bring many more opportunities for our family in the future!

Adam

Adam has been a busy boy lately. He has had a lot going on in school and he of course keeps busy with his daily basketball games every afternoon. Here are a few Adam highlights from the last couple of weeks.

Before Spring Break, we had the school book fair and Art Show. Adam was thrilled to get a new basketball book at the book fair and he won a basketball poster! 

He also entered a drawing into the school Art Show. We loved that he included a Y on his mountain.

Adam's writing has improved so much this school year. It was already pretty good, but now it is really good! This is a rough draft for a story he is writing. His Dad and I were both very impressed with his penmanship and his spelling. We love the words that he tried to figure out on his own. Not bad for a rough draft.

Recently, he and his classmates all had to write a report on their favorite animal and then do an oral presentation. Adam chose a platypus as his favorite animal (thank you, Phineas and Ferb). Mrs. Riley video taped their presentations and sent copies home for us to watch. We had fun watching him and all of his friends!

 One of Adam's favorite parts of General Conference...banana splits after Priesthood Session.

 His Uncle Ben left on his mission this week and the night after we said goodbye to Uncle Ben at the MTC, I found this picture of Ben and Adam. It has always been one of my most favorite pictures!

 I had to run to the store and get some bananas and apples the other night, and look who I found shopping! I showed Adam when I got home and he was beyond thrilled! He'll never let me go shopping without him again!

 This Saturday, Mommy and Adam had a special afternoon together. Daddy was at school and the girls got to play at Ma and Pa's house while we went and saw the play, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Hale Center Theater. We stopped for a quick lunch at Arby's (Adam has been dying to try their curly fries since his teacher told him that they were her favorite) before we headed to the show. 

 We had a really fun time together and loved the show. I loved hearing him laugh. We even ran into some cousins while we were there! Every once and a while I would catch Adam pretending to shoot a basket with his hands. This boy is basketball obsessed!!!

 He loved the Spies and the Child Catcher. During intermissions, one of the Spies was walking around passing out red vines to people. Adam was lucky enough to get one.

He also wanted his picture with the Child Catcher. He is brave! The Child Catcher always gave me nightmares as a kid.

 It is hard to watch my baby grow up so fast. He made me cry at the play when he hugged me and said, "You're the best Mommy ever!" We are so proud of our Adam and the good boy that he is!

Saying Goodbye.....For 2 Years

Today was (Little) Uncle Ben's big day! He entered the MTC to serve the Lord and the people of Chile for 2 years. We are so proud of him for making the decision to go and are excited to hear about his time in both the MTC and Chile. He reported today at 1:15pm.  We met for one last big family lunch before sending him off.

Eric wasn't able to go to the MTC with us, but he met us for lunch and said goodbye to Ben there. 

 When did all of my little brothers get so tall? It is hard to say goodbye and see them grow up and go away, but I am so thankful that my kids have had wonderful examples of good missionaries to follow. Adam keeps reminding me he only has 11 year left....

 Gillian, Ben, and Matt

Katy, Ben, and Andrew

 Dad, Ben, and Mom

 

Kevin, Ben, Amy, and Symphony

Once upon a time, we were taller than him....

 So proud of our Beany Boy! He will be a wonderful missionary!

We did the traditional-all pile in Mom and Dad's van to drop him off. We always joke that we look like a clown car at the MTC cause people just keep coming out of the van. I tried to get my parents to rent a 12 seater for the day, but they didn't go for that. 

We stopped at the curb (spot #4) and said our quick goodbyes. They gave us a strict 2 1/2 minutes to do so.

 My kids love their Uncle Ben. They will all be so big when he get home. He will miss Adam's baptism next year, but will hopefully have one of his own that same day in Chile. They have big plans to write him a lot of letters and color him lots of pictures. I have already thought of like 4 things to tell Ben and then realized I can't just text him anymore. They will all have to wait for a letter. I told Adam we would send Uncle Ben some treats and he wanted to break a world record and send cookies to every missionary in the MTC. I'm glad he has such confidence in my abilities, but that for sure won't be happening!!

We love you, Elder Lemley! See you in 2 years!!