Changes

In August we'll be moving to Las Vegas!

For those that just read my blog and don't hear from us much in the real world this might seem a little random but it really has been a long decision process. I didn't want to blog about it until we had officially decided. Ever since Bracken graduated with his Bachelors from SUU in 2006 he has had the thought of going to law school in the back of his mind. It just didn't feel like the right time to go when he graduated. Last year we thought about it again and decided that Bracken should take the steps to go to law school. Then when the time came to apply he would be able to if it felt right. He took the LSAT last June and started applying to law school in October. We started hearing back from schools in February. Bracken had many choices of where to go and we narrowed it down to ASU, Gonzaga, and Creighton. We had heard back from a lot of schools when Bracken felt like he should apply to UNLV. So he sent that application in late.

At the end of March we took a trip to ASU. We both loved the trip, felt good about the law school and of course loved the sunny weather while it was snowing back home. While we were traveling home it felt like that would be the place we'd end up but we figured we'd still think about it for a week or so. When we got home there was a letter from the UNLV admissions office. He got accepted and got a scholarship. Well...that changed our thoughts. UNLV is closer to family and now considerably cheaper. We mulled over ASU or UNLV for a couple weeks. Then took the trip to Las Vegas. Although the trip was much shorter and not the fun vacation like Phoenix was we felt good about it. So now after about six months of going back and forth of if we are going or not and where we have finally decided-Las Vegas!

Having that decision made feels so nice. It's nice to know what city you are going to move to in three months and spend the next four years (at least) in. Now to get down to the actual work of moving. We put our house up for sale and we've had a few showings. Hopefully it'll sell before we leave so we don't have to pay mortgage and rent. I've been researching housing and before I know it we'll be packing. I'll miss our house, our neighborhood, our ward and being so close to Bracken's family but I guess a new adventure awaits so here we come!

Past Month

I got a camera for graduation in December. Let's just say I love it and I'm a little trigger happy. Plus who doesn't like to take pictures of their kids! Of the over 400 pictures I took in the last month, here are a few of my favorites.

St. George/ Las Vegas Trip

Our plan was to drive to Cedar City on Thursday and spend time with my parents and siblings and on Saturday leave the kids with them and Drive to Vegas to check out the law school at The University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) but my mom was sick with the flu on Wednesday and still recovering. Fortunately my brother Parker, his wife Christine, and their two little girls Kaylee & Rachel were hanging out in St. George at her parent's house. So we drove through Cedar and spent time with them in St. George instead.

Thursday night Dixon, Linda & their daughter Audrey were visiting Parker & Christine so we all hung out when we got there. Hayes was having a ball running around with Kaylee & Audrey. Kamri was showing Rachel how to crawl and all of us were just enjoying talking and laughing at our kids.

Friday we spent a lot of the day at the park and Friday night my parents and EJ were able to come down for dinner since my mom was feeling better. Hayes was so worn out from playing at the park he was dead asleep for most of dinner. It was fun being able to see all of them and I can't wait to see them again in June!

Saturday we left Hayes & Kamri with Parker & Christine. Bracken and I drove to Las Vegas to go to the law school open house for admitted students at UNLV. We were in Vegas for about 3 hours. We had a tour of the law school, talked to some current students and professors and listened to a speech from the dean. We were going to drive around Vegas to look at some housing but we were driving all the way home so we decided we'd make another trip. After the open house we drove back to St George, picked up the kids, and drove home. We were in the car for around 12 hours that day. The kids were dead asleep when we got home but Bracken and I were sure antsy to get out of the car!

Sneak Peek

To blog tomorrow:

A trip to St. George and Las Vegas.

Too many pictures of the kids loving the outdoors

and we've finally decided where we are going to live for the next four years come August...

Pottery Barn Copycat

I love looking through the pottery barn catalog. I love a lot of their stuff but not really in the position to spend all the money for it. I loved the grass as a centerpiece though. I saw some wheatgrass at the grocery store and thought it looked the same so I went on a hunt for wheatgrass seed. After going to three stores trying to find the seed I was told it was just hard red wheat. (since then I've seen wheatgrass a few times in blogland, maybe i'm the only one dumb enough to go searching for wheatgrass seed?) So I got out my food storage and copied pottery barn. Between this and my failed attempts at making bread my wheat storage just might actually get rotated.

I think I'm going try and make a table runner for underneath. Maybe some day I'll have the nice dishes and table linens but for now I have sure loved having the green in the house, especially a few weeks ago when it was still snowing!

If any of you are interested in growing it. all you do is soak the seeds in water overnight (or 10-12 hrs) then let them dry for 10-12 hrs. Then you put them in some dirt, make sure it stays wet, and you'll see sprouts in a day or so. It lasts about 4 to 6 weeks. easy!

Phoenix

Bracken and I took a trip to Phoenix the end of March to check out Arizona State University's law school. We left the kids with Teresa and Stock (Thanks again soo much for watching them!) on Tuesday morning and caught a plane to Phoenix to stay until Friday night. It was such nice weather which was awesome since it was snowing at home the whole time we were gone.

We had nothing planned except for an admitted students reception Thursday night and open house Friday morning. Tuesday we decided to go check out the Mesa Temple and it just happened to be the dress rehearsal for the Easter Pageant. I didn't even know they had one but it was huge, and amazing. I loved it and so glad we came across it randomly! Such a nice reminder about Jesus Christ his life and Resurrection. Then we went out to eat at PF Changs, I love their lettuce wraps!

Mesa Temple

The stage before the show started.

During the show.

I will admit it was so nice not to have to chase kids and try to keep the quiet during the pageant and dinner. It was also nice to be able to sleep in the next morning!

Wednesday we woke up just in time for the hotel's breakfast. They had the best oatmeal and am now a fan of oatmeal with brown sugar, raisins and pecans. oh yum! We then went to the Tempe Diablo stadium to watch a spring training game of the Angels against the Rangers. I didn't even know the score when we left but it was nice to sit there in the sun, eat sunflower seeds and relax.

Bracken took a picture of the grass...I guess we really were missing green at home, but finally our grass is starting to look this way!

I had to take a picture of the field and make sure to get a picture of this guy. He was just laying in front of us, chatting it up with this couple next to him that he didn't know. He kept on getting out suntan lotion and rubbing it all over his hairy chest while he was talking to them. So grody!!

Well then I guess we never got the camera out after that. Wednesday & Thursday we went shopping, drove around, ate, and were just lazy. Thursday night we went to an admitted students reception at the deans house. A lot of just small talk about where we were from, what kind of law Bracken was interested in studying and yadda yadda yadda. It was hilarious having a guy from New York say all he knew about Utah was The Deseret News but saying it like it was french without the "t". Then he was worried he offended us by saying that most of the mormons live in mesa and then immediately said..uhh I mean not that you have to live there..but most like to live by people that share their values...i mean uhhh. And of course Bracken made him squirm some more. It took awhile for us to convince him we weren't offended.

After the reception we went to California Pizza Kitchen with our friends Jesse & Jaymie. It was a lot of fun hearing about how their life is going and just catching up with them!

Friday we went to the campus and met professors and took a tour. Then it was off to the airport and flying back home! It was a nice relaxing trip!

Online Shopping & Diapers

I found this cool website that gives you cash back for shopping online. All you have to do is go to their website and click on the store you want to shop and they track how much you spend there. Some stores you will get 1% of your purchases back and some up to 10%. Of course most of the stores are closer to the 1% range so it's not really a good excuse to use it just so you can buy something online. BUT if you are buying something online anyway, you might as well get an extra buck or two back just for clicking through the website.Plus if you sign up under a referral then you get $5 just for signing up. (Plus I get $5 for referring you)
You can go to their website www.ebates.com to learn more or can get your $5 just for signing up by using this LINK to my referral.
I haven't gotten a check in the mail yet but they send them out on May 15. I'm only getting like a whole 8 bucks but I don't shop online much. I just wish I would have known about this site before Christmas and when I bought all my kids clothes.

So I know I'm sounding like a sales pitch by now but just another idea that my sister shared with me. I got a good deal on diapers and had them delivered to my door.
If you have never used diapers.com before then you can get $10 off diapers by using the code SPRING_$10 when you check out. You also get free shipping if you order more than $49 worth.
Today I used the code and ordered two boxes off diapers size 4 & 5 for a total of 282 diapers for $67.98 or .241 a diaper for those who pay attention to per diaper cost. I also clicked on the diapers.com store through ebates so if you count the 1% back I'll get from them for .238 a diaper. Maybe I sound a little crazy since that doesn't seem like a huge savings but usually with a coupon at the grocery store you are lucky if you get them for 26 cents a diaper. If you have a baby in smaller diapers the diapers would be even cheaper since there are more diapers in a box. If you only signed up for ebates for this one purchase and counted the $5 you get just for signing up for ebates then it'd be an even better deal on the diapers. Mine would end up for being .22 a diaper.
I hope my explanation made sense. In short: if you want a good deal on diapers use my referral code SPRING_$10
And if you do a lot of shopping online go to ebates and click on the store you want to shop through and you'll get some cash back (just like a rewards credit card right?)
Happy Shopping :)

Bracken during a close Jazz game.

Heck even if the game is entertaining, Bracken's reactions to the game are even more so.

Skiing

This was almost a month ago. I can't believe it. March 28th we went skiing with Bracken's side of the family. We decided to have Hayes try skiing and we brought Kamri along too. Man it was a lot of work getting everything, bundling everyone up and getting on the slopes but it was so fun watching Hayes go down the hill. He has no fear. I was more scared going down the hill the first time (it's been awhile) than he was. Of course he did have Bracken holding onto him...him maybe I'll have to try that next time...
Kamri and I stayed at the bottom of the slope and watched everyone come down, then Kristin & Telly watched Kamri so we could go together with Hayes. Then I went out for a few runs and went with my 6 year old niece Livi. She saw me fall when I got off the lift the first time so when I went up with her she was reassuring me that it really wasn't that hard to get off the lift and I shouldn't be scared. It was so cute. and then when I got off successfully she was cheering me on. "See! You did it! I knew ya could!" So funny! Then she wanted to race and took off. Man I need to brush up on my skiing skills before I hit the slopes with Longhurst kids...it's in their blood!

All bundled up!Doesn't he look so excited?! Now that the ski's are actually on he decided he was excited!

This was his first run down. Bracken tried holding him in between his legs but Hayes asked him to put him to Bracken's side. He was smiling the whole way down.The next time down the slope Bracken would let go every once in awhile for Hayes to go on his own. He crashed a few times but he still loved it!

Kamri loved rolling around in the snow. Rolling was about all she could do all bundled up!

Homemade Tag

Another fun TAG. Can't wait to get my creativity juices flowing again...it might be scary to think of what I come up with in the middle of the night. The first five people to respond to this post will receive something made by me. HOMEMADE! The item will be my choice made just for you!

Restrictions and Limitations:
1. I have complete creative freedom
2. What I create will be just for you
3. It will be done within the next 6 months
4. You have no clue what it will be. It may be personalized note cards. I might bake something. I might not think of anything until 6 months from now...

The catch? You must re-post this on your own blog and offer the same giveaway to 5 people who comment.

The first 5 people to leave a comment telling me they are in, will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift from me! Be sure to post a picture of what you get!