February 2008 Update

Rhett’s new job at AT&T is marvelous and he is enjoying it immensely. He only has to work for 8 hours a day (so far) so he goes in around 7:30 and is usually home by 4:30 or 5:00pm. So nice for us!!! This job will be requiring overtime however (beginning next week), so the long and the short of it is that Rhett will NOT be going to school this semester. He withdrew from his classes and plans to start up again next semester…and the CPA saga continues!

We celebrated Rhett’s 35th Birthday on January 24th with a small family celebration. The next night I took him out on a DATE! That word is almost unheard of at our house. We went to dinner then went shopping for some new work pants for him. I’m sure he really loved the shopping part. We were going to go bowling, but it was getting too late, so we opted to go home & get the kids in bed. We decided it would be more fun to go with some friends anyway.

This past weekend our church Stake was split. We had 16 wards in our Stake, so they split us pretty much North vs. South and the new San Antonio Texas Hill Country Stake was created. We both got new Stake Presidencies (of course). We stayed a part of the San Antonio Texas North Stake. I was priviledged to be part of the choir for the Stake Conference. Recently I have been singing a lot more and I am remembering why music is so good for the soul. I sang a solo in Sacrament Meeting a couple of weeks ago and I have received so many compliments. A lot of people (close friends even) said “I knew you sang, but I didn’t know you could SING!” Rhett received several compliments about me also and he just told them “I taught her everything she knows!”

The Spring bug has bit me and I have been Spring cleaning. I am forever trying to come up with better organization ideas to make our little house seem less full of stuff. I have the motivation to paint again, our bedroom this time. I picked out the paint color (to compliment our adjoining bathroom) and I even have a new bedding set picked out. After having the same bedspread for over 5 years it is time for a change! I have recently bought some new decorating pieces for our home and it is feeling nicer each day. My favorite is a huge antique-looking clock to hang above the entertainment center in the living room. It is on a 12-foot tall wall with absolutely nothing on it, so I decided I needed a big clock. The best part is that it was 50% off!!!

My other blog http://mimzyscreations@blogspot.com/ hasn’t quite turned out the results I was hoping for, but I have had a few various orders from local friends. I have a couple of friends who would like me to do some scrapbooking for them, so I guess it keeps me busy enough. If you hear of someone in need of my services, please remember to pass the word along that I’m open for business!!!

In a week or so our good friend is going to come in with some of his workers and do some patch work on some cracks in our ceiling and walls in the living room. They’ll also be removing the popcorn ceiling and texturing it, then painting the walls, ceiling, trim & doors all through the living room, dining room and hallway. I can’t wait until it’s all done. It will look like a brand new house!

A few weeks ago we got a new Primary Presidency in our ward. I was lucky enough to be picked to stay as the Secretary. The previous president told the new one I was the best secretary she’s ever had, so that made me feel good! I actually work a lot on my calling as it seems there is always something to update or change. I really enjoy the calling and am glad to be working with the children of our ward.

As for the boys, there’s nothing new. They are all just full of energy (as always). Austin just got his 2nd semester report card and is getting A’s in every subject and a lot of positive comments from his various teachers. He is still reading far above the level that he should be at by the END of 2nd grade. Reading, writing and drawing are his forte! He also recently learned how to do a front flip on the trampoline. Logan seems to think that life isn’t good without the living room floor completely covered in trains, toys, etc. His latest thing is to make a long train through the house with all the toys, trains, boxes, chairs, etc. as train cars. Oh, what an imagination! Carson continues to keep me on my toes getting into and on top of things. I’m just glad he can’t open doors…yet!

That’s about all from us this month. We love hearing from all of you. Check out the new cute pictures of the boys below.

Love- Rhett, Maren, Austin, Logan & Carson

New Job!!!

Hip, Hip, Hooray! Rhett has a new job! AT&T made him the offer on Friday and we accepted (of course!). He will begin working on January 21st as a Tax Accountant preparing and filing multi-state tax returns and handling sales tax reports. It's the job we were hoping for after all the interviews were said & done. We are thrilled! A big plus about the job is that Rhett will be making a significant amount of money more per year. Yeah! Maybe we can breathe a little now. Our biggest sigh of relief is that the job is here in town so we don't have to worry about moving to a new state (like our past is riddled with).

Rhett's schooling is up in the air right now as we're not sure what the new job will entail. He may be able to take one of his classes he's registered for this semester, but not sure about both. We'll update you on his school status in our next posting.

Thanks to all of you for your love, support, prayers and kindness! We couldn't have made it through the rough times without ALL of you.

Welcome to our Family!

Wow! What a month it has been. I can’t tell you how blessed we feel after an abundance of love has been showered down on us. As our Christmas letter stated, Rhett was laid off just after Thanksgiving from his job at Clear Visions, Inc, where he had worked as the Assistant Controller/Human Resources Manager for 2 ½ years. What a surprise!!! We bounced back quickly though and he is currently working a temp-to-hire position doing Fixed Assets for Pioneer Drilling Company (mostly natural gas, but some oil). He is enjoying the work, but is still interviewing for that “dream job”. He has had several interviews last week and this week, so we keep praying that he will continue to be led in the right direction. Rhett only has 3 classes left, then it’s off to the CPA exam for him. Yeah!!! I can’t believe we’re finally this close after all these years of dreaming about it.

Getting back to the “shower of love” I spoke about, we were surprised almost daily at the outpourings of gifts, money and food given to us. It definitely helped us have a little bit merrier of a Christmas. We were amazed by the amount of support that was shown us while we “weathered the storm”. Thanks to all of you for your continued love and support that we feel from you. We love you all!!!

I have a couple of new things to share about me. I was finally able to figure out how to offer my creative services to those in need! My other blog is at http://mimzyscreations.blogspot.com/ which offers my homemade cards, scrapbooking expertise and jewelry making. If you or someone you know are interested, please check it out! Also, I decided to make a change from the mundane "highlights" in my hair, so I dyed it. Cinaberry is the color...yes, that's red! If you want to see a picture of me with red hair, I suggest you check out my other blog site!!!

Austin received a baseball glove, bat and balls for Christmas, a United States puzzle and his special favorite…a file box complete with 2 reams of paper, crayons, pencils and folders (to keep his art in). I don’t know that he has stopped drawing yet!

Logan had yet another “Thomas” extravaganza for Christmas. We got him an electric train set (40% off I must add), books, coloring book, puzzle…all Thomas! He was (and still is) in train heaven. Our biggest news about Logan is that he is FINALLY potty-trained. We can all sing Hallelujah to that one!!!

Carson’s Christmas included an animal train, puzzle, book and another favorite…Winnie the Pooh. He has LOVED Pooh bear since we got him a stuffed one at Disney World this summer. Carson’s most recent accomplishment is learning to climb out of his crib and up on top of the bunk beds. Fun for me!

Things are going well for us now. I’ll keep you updated on Rhett’s job search. We loved hearing from a lot of you via emails or Christmas cards last month. Keep the updates coming!!!