Letter to My Missionary Part 12

Sunday, February 17^th, 2013

My dearest brother,

I am happy to report that this week was better than the last. It has taken me some time to get back into my element and I struggled towards the beginning of the week. Thank you for your sweet e-mail; it really meant a lot to me.

Monday I had a hard day and was feeling particularly emotional. I feel like I am wandering through the wilderness right now without any real direction. I felt inspired to look at a favorite blog and decided to attend a retreat this May called Blend. It is where fitness bloggers (and readers) get together and have a little retreat. We will have workouts and yummy meals and I will hopefully get to meet some new friends and increase my peer network for my future career.

I also decided to pick back up on my other blog. (Not my normal family one.) I post recipes, fitness things, recipe reviews, thoughts about health and nutrition, and what not. I have enjoyed it so far.

Other than that there hasn’t been a whole lot going on with me. I decided on Wednesday that waiting until Friday for date night was too hard so we went out to dinner spontaneously on Wednesday night. We went to Braza Grill. It is a lot like Rodizio Grill but not quite as expensive and we had a buy one get one coupon. We really enjoyed it and although I do like Rodizio better I am happy to buy more coupons when they are available and return to Braza occasionally.

Jake will most likely start at WGU next month. He has decided on a business degree with an emphasis in IT. It is perfect for him and I hope that the school turns out to be an ideal situation for him and for our family. Unfortunately, the Pell Grant that we received for his schooling doesn’t cover all of the cost of tuition or the cost of printed materials that are required for his courses… hopefully between my pell grant and his we will be able to cover the cost of both of us being in school. He is still looking to apply for new jobs but he is content with where he is right now and is trying to make the most of still being on the phones.

Abrielle is doing well although she caught Nathan’s croup. In older children it manifests more as a bad cold and so she mostly just goes around hacking away while I continue to remind her to cover her mouth. She is getting really excited about her birthday this week. Can you believe that she will be four? We are going to take her out for the day to do some shopping and get some yummy food and she is really excited about it.

Nathan decided that having a continual runny nose wasn’t enough for him and he decided to stick his hand under the treadmill return today while Abrielle was walking on it. It tore off a few layers of skin on the back of his hand and he wasn’t very happy about having to get it disinfected and wrapped. He is much more of the “get-into-absolutely-everything” type than the “throw-tantrums-over-everything” type that Abrielle was and he certainly keeps me on my toes although he continues to be wonderful and bring smiles to our faces.

Both kids were greatly spoiled on Valentine’s day. I gave them strawberry oatmeal with caramel cream hot chocolate for breakfast. Mom, Grandma Traci, Grandma Bentley and our cute neighbor Linda all gave them Valentines and then we went to the Bentley’s in the evening so that they could enjoy heart shaped pizza. They were both in heaven although the sugar was too much for them and they both crashed. I have since hidden all of their candy and keep telling them, “Sick kids don’t eat candy.” I guess I am just a mean mom like that! J

I hope that you had a wonderful week and know that we love you so very much. You are awesome and amazing. Keep up your wonderful work and cheerful attitude!

Love always, Shayla

We needed a break so I popped popcorn, we climbed into my bed, cuddled and watched Toy Story 2.

Cute kids coloring dinosaurs

He is a natural with a hammer

This is Nathan's "It's HOT!" face

Trying to figure out why we let him have a hammer...

Hard at work on Grandma and Papa Bentley's new house addition!

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QUESTION FOR MY DEAR READERS: How did you spend Valentine's day this year? Did you do anything out of the ordinary or was it just another day in the life? Leave me a comment and let me know!