The Two U's

The kids and I went to Utah last week and it was so great! My sister Jana and her husband were on their way through Las Vegas from Arizona from a family reunion on Monday. Jon was so excited to be with his cousin Sadie finally that he would not get out of their car. Jana and Randy were kind enough to let Jon ride up with them on Monday. It was a strange day without three kids and an odd drive up to Utah on Tuesday. My little sister Carla ended up having her baby on Tuesday night, two weeks early. Gratefully, she and the baby are doing fine and are both at home. Adelaide Elizabeth Thalman is adorable and has the most blonde hair I have ever seen on a baby!

Wednesday we went to the BYU Museum of Art to see the "I Spy" exhibit. The kids seemed to think it was quite interesting. We had 12 kids and 5 adults, I think we all felt outnumbered at some point. My nephew Carson found the reoccurring character in all of the pictures. The biggest event on Wednesday was actually the snow! It snowed a ton.

Thursday morning Joey could not resist shoveling the snow. He really does love snow! Jon unfortunately became sick on Thursday with a fever and then vomiting. He was doing better by Friday evening. My mom and sister Jana and sister-in-law Tammy took me to lunch at Zupas for a late birhtday celebration. Then we went to see my sister and her baby.

Friday, brought a trip to The Living Planet Aquarium in Salt Lake. I took Joey, Arabella, Josh and Brooklyn

with me and Jana, Randy, Sadie, and Trevor went up too. Jon was too sick to go with us. We touched stingrays (slimy), saw some sharks, pirahnas, poisonous frogs, and local Utah fish. My niece Calee was a participant in a national science fair in Texas so my parents were watching my sister's other kids. I really enjoyed spending time with them. They grow so fast. Joey loved having Josh show him how to play various Wii games.

Before heading home on Saturday, we stopped to see our dear friends Buff, Ethan, Alli, and new little Ty McBride (Ryan was driving up from Vegas). We miss them but I am confident my kids will ask to visit and play at their house again soon! Our drive home was really good. Arabella did not like the last 30 minutes or so. We were all glad to see Daddy! We had so much fun seeing everyone and wish we could have stayed longer! Thank you mom and dad for being such great hosts and the rest of my family for taking time to play with us!

This is where our second U comes into play. Peter told me Saturday night that he has entered the ranks of the unemployed. He was laid off on Thursday. :( x100! Whereas his job is so heavily dependent on construction we have known for awhile this was a possibility but we were hopeful. We did not know our insurance was cancelled that same day and I went to the doctor today! We found out it was cancelled because the boys were supposed to see the dentist tomorrow and the office called to say the had checked our eligibility and we were no longer insured. I was already home from the doctor. We will be able to COBRA but that was the most frustrating part of this whole thing. I have talked with my manager and I will be able to pick up extra shifts and may be able to switch to full time if we need to get the benefits. I am grateful that I have a job where I can get more hours and support my family. It is strange that the reason I got a degree and kept my license current was so just in case something happened I could support us. Well, that time has come. Peter is already looking for a new job but the market here is terrible and we will not be able to sell our house due to the real estate mess. I am grateful for so many things though. I have food storage, a job, adorable kids, a garden, the gospel and the peace of mind in knowing that my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ will be by us to comfort and bless us throughout this experience. I told Peter tonight that someday we will look back on this time and we will be able to see it for the faith building lesson it is!