I've Got a New Attitude!

A few weeks ago some of my girlfriends and I were sitting around talking about hair and my friend, Wylie, got the bright idea (it really was a good idea) to straighten my hair with a flat iron. Now, I have straightened my hair before but that was like 15 years ago. I used to straighten it with a round brush and blow dryer which took forever, about two hours, and the end result was still pretty frizzy. Ever since the flat irons came out I have wondered how they would work on my hair but was not willing to spend a lot of money to try it out. So when Wylie suggested we try it with my hair I got really excited. I ran home and took a shower then went back over to Wylie's. A few of my other friends were there as well. We turned on the movie Hairspray, which I had never seen before and the girls went to town on my hair. Wylie was standing on one side of me with her flat iron, and my friend Kim was on the other side with her flat iron. In half an hour my hair was done and this is what it looked like:

Holy cow! I love it. I went to church the next day and most people did not recognize me. Because of my new doo I am going to do something for Mother's Day that I have not done in NINE years...go get my hair done at a salon! I don't trust others with my hair so I never go to a salon but I am ready for some hi-lights and at least a trim...I don't know if I'm ready for a full-on cut yet but we'll see. A friend of mine works for a salon and I am going to see her next Friday. I'll post pictures again when it's all done. Yea for straight hair!

Let's Go Fly A Kite

My brother, Brian who lives here in the Denver area as well, loves to go kite flying. He has a few multi-line kites that he flies. All of them are various sizes. I don't know if they are considered stunt kites, but they are definitely not the $5 specials you get from the grocery store. These are serious kites. They are so big and strong that they drag him across the grass and sometimes he even catches air! Anyways, a few weeks ago Sarah and I met him at a park to watch him fly his kites and I took some pictures. It was hard to get both him and the kite in the same picture but I did get some of the kites on the ground. Later in the afternoon Kevin showed up and flew one himself but I wasn't smart enough to get pictures of him, sorry babe.

You Belong in the Zoo...

We took Sarah to the zoo for the first time on April 19th. She had so much fun looking at all the animals and seeing all the people. She was only interested in the animals that moved so if they were sleeping she didn't really care about them. Some of her favorites exhibits were the mongoose's. They were moving all over the place and going in and out of their holes. She stood there and just laughed and pointed as she got excited. She also liked the giraffe's. There was one that was trying to eat some leaves out of the tree and it had it's neck stretched way up high and kept sticking it's tongue out to reach the leaves. Sarah's favorite animals at the zoo were all the birds. Any bird she saw she would say, "Quack, quack". Even the birds that were wandering freely around the park, she would run up to them, stop about a foot away from them, point and say quack, quack.

At the Denver Zoo there is also a carousel and train you can ride so we took Sarah on both of them. It was at the end of the day so she was pretty tired but she did have a good time. She kept waving and blowing kisses to all the people as we went by on the train. It was so cute. We are so excited that Sarah is old enough to enjoy places like this. We look forward to many more outings with her. Enjoy the pictures!

Good News!

(Before you read this post scroll down and read the first one from April 4th called "Kevin's Graduation". It will make more sense.) So the past few weeks have been crazy for us. As you know Kevin graduated with his masters on March 22nd. That same week we had Kevin's parents come out for a visit to attend graduation and Kevin got three calls for job interviews. He interviewed with all of them last week. He had one every day from Tuesday through Friday. Two of the positions were located here in the Denver area and one was at BYU-Idaho. The school flew him up there on Thursday night, he interviewed on Friday for half a day and he flew home on Saturday. Poor Kevin was arranging all of these interviews around appointments with clients and trying to do it without his current job knowing about it. It was tough for him but everyday the timing seemed to work out.

We had a feeling that we were going to have to choose between the three jobs and that was what ended up happening. All three jobs made him an offer. There were good and bad things about each job and we love Idaho as much as we love it here in Colorado so the decision was hard to make. It took a lot of researching benefits, pay, time off, etc. and after a lot of praying we have decided to take one of the positions here in the Denver area. It is working for the Department of Labor in the mining division (as in coal, copper, etc.). He is a Senior System Administrator, which basically means he helps run the computer network.

Most of the time he will work in the office but there will be a little bit of travel involved as well. Basically whenever there is a mine accident anywhere in the U.S. and communications go down, Kevin will be flown out to that site to set up a temporary communication station using satellites. This will give them access to the internet and other communication means. He only has to stay on site until permanent communications are restored. Last year there were about 8 accidents where employees were deployed so it doesn't happen very often. Kevin would take turns with another co-worker going out to the accident sites so he won't have to go to every one.

Anyways, the benefits are amazing and the pay increase will allow us to get into a house within the next year. Kevin will start the new position on April 14th. We feel so blessed and know that Heavenly Father has prepared this position for us. We have been praying for something like this to come along for a year now and it is finally happening. It is incredible to us that this has all happened at the same time he received his masters and we know that this is not a coincidence. Needless to say we are very excited for this opportunity. I am so proud of Kevin and am so thankful for the good provider he is for our family. It is such a blessing to be able to stay home with Sarah.

Curly Q

Just over a month ago Sarah's hair finally started to get longer. As it's gotten longer some curl has started to show up in her hair. The longer it gets the more it curls. It's adorable! People keep asking me where I got her hair cut and when I tell them it's curling from growing out they can't believe it. It really curls on the days that I give her a bath. All I have to do is use a pick and it flips up and curls! Here are some pictures I took right after bathtime, take a look:

Easter

This Easter was so much fun. First off there Sarah had a georgeous Easter dress. Amazingly I found it at Wal-Mart for $15 which is pretty good for the dress I got her. I also bought her a little sweater to go over it because it's still pretty chilly here. When we got Sarah dressed she strutted around the house and kept shaking her hips around to watch the dress move. It was so cute! I got some great pictures of her.

Now that Sarah is walking we did an egg hunt for her. I bought her a basket that is just her size along with some plastic eggs. There isn't a whole lot of candy she can eat so I filled the eggs with fruit snacks (her favorite). We then hid the eggs around the yard. Of course we kept them in plain sight so Sarah could see them. Kevin took her around for the first part of the hunt. He pointed out the first egg and she kind-of looked at him. Then he went over and put it in her basket for her. By the second or third egg she understood that she needed to look for more but she wanted to hold them all rather than put them in her basket. At one point she got up to three eggs in her hands at once. Finally she understood that they needed to go into her basket. After it was over I sat down with her and showed her how to open the eggs. She caught on fast once she realized there were fruit snacks inside them. We had such a good time. Here are more pictures:

Kevin's Graduation!

Kevin finally graduated with his masters degree on March 22nd. He received a masters in Computer Science with an emphasis in Systems Security. The ceremony was short and sweet, about an hour long. Instead of playing Pomp and Circumstance they had two bagpipes and a drummer leading the procession into and out of the ballroom. It was really cool. Here's a few more pictures.

Gnarly old Scottish dudes!

Sarah was fascinated with Kevin's tassle. He kept tickling her face with it. She could not get enough.

This was the hood they put on him when they gave him his diploma. The gold represents the degree of Computer Science.

Kevin's parents who came from Kansas

Kevin worked so hard for this degree. He was able to receive it in less than a year and a half. Kevin I am so proud of you. Thank you for all you do for our family. You are the best! Sarah and I love you!