Monday, February 1, 2010

February 2010 Update

Well, a few big changes recently happened in our family. Here’s the scoop!

Rhett officially ended his contract work with AT&T on January 20th, so he’s once again job hunting. If you haven’t been keeping track, this is the 5th time in our marriage that he has been laid off of work. What rotten luck he has! Anyway, he’s had a few interviews with staffing agencies, so we’ll see what happens. We continue to have faith that the Lord will help us through this situation yet again. Rhett is still working at Sears, however they have recently cut back everyone’s hours, so he’s working there even less than before. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers!!! On January 24th we celebrated Rhett’s 37th birthday. This is a pic from Rhett's birthday.



On Sunday, January 24th (yes, Rhett’s birthday) I was sustained as the new Primary President in our ward. Wow!!! What a surprise. We knew that there were going to be some counselor changes soon, but none of us expected this. I served as the Secretary in Primary for 3 years and loved every minute of it. Thanks to a marvelous President, who kept me under her wing and taught me pretty much everything she knows, I am hoping that I can do her proud. I have a great Presidency and look forward to working with them and teaching the children of our ward. My counselors are Jodi Peterson – 1st, Cortney O’Neill – 2nd and Mindy Clayton – Secretary. I am excited for the challenge!

On January 20th, Austin participated for the second year in a row in the Wetmore Elementary School Spelling Bee. This year however Austin made it to the 3rd round and ended up in the top 7 spellers. Way to go!!! Last year he got out on his first word. He continues to surprise us in his advancements in school. He is especially good at writing stories, and is busily preparing for the Writing TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) test. Austin lives and breathes basketball. He loves to play, watch and especially talk about it. For Christmas he got “warm ups” like the players wear, and now has a Tony Parker (Spurs player) jersey. He would wear them every day if he could.

We were blown away when we received a letter from the school saying that Logan had been chosen to participate in the Gifted/Talented program. With all his difficulties he’s been having with behavior it just surprised us I guess. We’ll see if it helps or hinders him to be participating in this special class 2 days a week.

What else can I say?…Carson loves to play Wii. It’s his favorite thing to do…and he’s pretty good at it. His favorite continues to be bowling. Carson became a Sunbeam this year, so that officially puts our entire family in Primary each week. Rhett is still a teacher, and Jackson hangs out with us of course. Carson is enjoying it and loves being a big kid!

Jackson is FINALLY sleeping in his crib in the room he shares with Carson. Thankfully he learned how to sleep through the night also. It just took me ignoring him in the night for a few days (hard, but it had to happen), and all of a sudden he stopped waking up. It makes for a much happier baby and a MUCH happier Mom that we’re getting more sleep. At Jackson’s 1-year check up the Dr. informed me that he’s getting his top molars. One is already through. My baby is growing up so quick!

Something fun that we were able to do as a family was go to "Monster Jam" on January 16th. We had sooooo much fun, even though it was REALLY loud!...(and we all had ear plugs in too). We had to park downtown and walk about 1/2 mile to the Alamodome, but it was worth it. The best part was that Rhett won the tickets on the radio, so it was a free family outing (minus the parking and dinner of course). We also got pit passes to go down before and meet the drivers and take pictures with the monster trucks. The boys LOVED it! Here is a pic of them in front of "Grinder", which is also the truck in the video clip that is doing some tumbling moves, then lands on its "feet" and keeps going. In the end however, it did end up on its top. I didn't catch the live version, so this is a replay they showed on the screen. My camera doesn't record audio, so it's a silent film...Crazy!!! The other video is of "Grave Digger", one of the most famous monster trucks doing some crazy stunts. It was a great time had by all.







Well, I guess that’s all that has happened this past month. We look forward to the New Year and hope that it will be the best yet for us. Wish us luck in the job hunt and we hope you all have a wonderful month!

Love – Rhett, Maren, Austin, Logan, Carson & Jackson