Wow!

It's really been almost 2 months since I blogged!? I'm awful.

So here's a quick update.

Tyson is liking his new job. The learning curve has been a bit frustrating for him because he's used to programing what he's used to programing, but I think it's a good challenge for his brain.

I don't like the commute. And I'm sure he's not so happy about spending so much time in the car and paying for gas. But we have a job and we're grateful for that fact! It's just taking some adjusting.

Gwen is growing like crazy. She's 6 months old. Rolling ALL over the place, eating veggies and fruit like a pro (except she doesn't like the green beans or peas very much). She is babbling Dada's and Nana's and blowing raspberries. Still no mamas, but she's trying her Ms.

Becca is thriving in pre-school! She knows how to write pretty much all of her letters and is finally recognizing numbers. She's doing good at starting to sound out letters and wanting to write words. She's always asking us how to spell stuff so she can write signs. Ex. STOP, GO, Girls Only. She loves dance class. Her spring recital is coming up and I'm excited to see her on stage again! She just turned 4! She had a great birthday and a fancy nancy party. She is growing up too fast!

I am doing okay. Adjusting to new schedules is hard for me. But I am super grateful for my family and all that we have. I had a great birthday and it is so strange to say I'm 29!

Wahoo!

WE HAVE A JOB!!! Okay, well Tyson got it. But that is super awesome. We're so excited!

Tyson starts on Wed. It's a gaming company that mostly does XBox stuff, like XBox live etc. But they have a few cross platform games and PC games too. It looks right now like Tyson will be on an XBox project, but we will see!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers on our behalf. I know without a doubt it is a big factor in Tyson being led to this job. Thank you all so much!

Oh and P.S. the company is called Wahoo!

Ah!

Is it Friday again!? Post will have to go up tomorrow!

Family Five (5) - a day late

1. This has been a crazy few weeks. This week we had some big events. First Gwen was blessed on Sunday. It was a big fabulous event. Tyson gave a beautiful blessing, and she was silent the whole time! (Becca screamed through hers). It was also great to have both grandmas here, family and friends to celebrate the event! Here's some pics from the big day!

Gwen and those in the circle: Uncle Casey, Andrew, Uncle Taron, Daddy, Uncle Tevan, Uncle Sean, and Cousin Rob!

We just love our baby girl!

A very stoic baby in her pretty dress.

Me and my girls! Love them so much and am grateful they came to help us celebrate!

The Bowen clan.

Grandma Bowen and her Utah grand-babies.

The Ratliffs!

2. Then of course Valentine's day. We didn't do anything huge, but we had a lot of fun events and cute pics with the girls in their cute outfits!

Thumbuddy brought us treats and books!

Then we had pink waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.

Ready and excited for school! She calls these shoes her "ruby slippers".

Loving her sister!

Me and my sweetheart at dinner: crock pot ribs, baked potato with cheese sauce, asparagus and corn!

Grandma and her Valentine for the day. ;)

Making Oreo truffles.

And chocolate dipped strawberries!

Yum!

Happy Valentine's day from our family to yours!

3. Grandma Ratliff had to leave on Monday, but my mom stayed for the week. Yesterday we went to the aquarium and it was really fun! We saw the new otters (who were asleep), and all the other animals were really active. It was a good day.

SO cute!

Becca and daddy in the "otter hole"

4. My girls are just growing and being so cute! Becca's imagination grows by the day. She is always making up silly stories. She loves her big sister so much. Gwen is growing and changing every day. She rolls over ALL the time now, but hates being on her tummy and rarely goes from her tummy to her back. So she just screams. It can be frustrating, but it's fun to see her reaching milestones. Here's some pics of the girls just for fun.

Becca wanted to try the baby bjorn, it was so funny! She coudlnt' hold Gwen up!

But she could sit on my lap. Ha ha.

Sweet smiling girl!

Her bow tilted way to the side, but I thought it was cute, reminded me of a flapper girl from the 20s. ;)

Big sister and little sister!

5. And I'm sure many of you are wondering how we're doing with the job stuff. Tyson has some good leads and has already had one interview (which went well, so we're waiting to hear their offer details now!). He really wants to look into as much as possible and find the right place for him. But it seems like we will have a good chance to do so and locally! We so appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers and all the offers we've had. We have the best friends and family around!

Some News

This morning, my brain can't wrap around thinking up five things that happened this week. There is only one thing that I can think about...

We decided it wasn't going to help anyone to try to keep this quiet.

There really is no easy way to say this. Tyson was laid off yesterday.

The company is "changing directions" and wouldn't tell Tyson much about their new plan, but they laid off about half of the guys that work there (and all of their top talent) and several full departments. They have offered to get Tyson some names for some recruiters, and to give glowing reccomendations. We are hoping and praying to find something soon.

We know many of you have and/or are dealing with similar situations of being out of work or sufficient work. Times are just hard, and I am a little scared, but we will be okay for a few months at least.

We love you all, and wish we had better news.

In the meantime, today is vacation day for us, and then on Monday we will start dealing with what this all really means.

Family Five (4)

So I'm a couple of days late with this one, but here's why!

1) We've been to the doctor 2 times this week. It turned out that Gwen didn't get what Becca had, Gwen got RSV. Which really freaked me out. RSV can be bad in babies her age. They can have a really hard time breathing and end up in the hospital and get pneumonia etc.

But I am SO grateful for the power of the preisthood and the power of prayers. Tyson gave Gwen a beautiful blessing Monday night after we found out she had RSV, and our friends and family have been so great to keep her in prayers. Well it certainly worked because the doctor said Gwen's lungs sounded "amazingly well". And he said she is just doing perfect.

Other than having to still keep her away from others because we don't want to spread it to someone who might not handle it well. We have been really blessed!

2) Becca was THRILLED to go back to school and dance class this week as she is on meds for an ear infection, and not contagious (tested negative for RSV). She is so social and thrives on being with other kids.

3) Becca has been craking me up lately. We don't even bring it up at all most of the time and she is insistent that she is going to marry her friend down the street named Cameron. He was in her nursery class (not in her sunbeams class now) and is in Pre-school with her. Last night she asked Tyson about his wedding ring.

"Dad, what's that ring?"
"This is the ring mommy gave me when we got married."
"Oh. I'm going to get one of those for Cameron and he'll give me a pretty one with a jewel."

It's just part of her every day conversation now. ;)

This is Becca and Cameron on their first day of school. She's already looking at him adoringly. ;)

4) Tyson has been very busy at work. They are trying to get things done for a deadline on Tuesday. Which has been hard on me. Being stuck at home so much with sick kids the last two weeks I had the chance to get out of the house finally this weekend and it felt like a struggle to get him home. Which I understand, it's just frustrating sometimes. I do have to say though, that if this deadline wasn't coming up Tyson would be just fine with it all. He loves having time to spend with the girls and they love him so much. I guess what I'm trying to say is we're all missing daddy and are looking forward to this deadline being gone (although that just means a new one around the corner).

5) Because of all of our illnesses I still haven't gotten Gwen's 3 month pics done, and well lets face it...she's going to be 4 months on Friday and she's already 17 weeks old. I think we might try to take some pics in the next week or two anyway, but I feel so bad sometimes. That is one thing that I worry about because I always felt left out in that department as a kid. We'd watch old family slides and they could go to when my older sister was born then they'd be done. Nothing left. No me. Then the video camera didn't come till a few years after I was born. So I kinda just didn't exist. There's a few pictures, but not many. Gwen I promise we'll get them done soon. Just stop coughing so we can leave the house okay? Thanks!

Family Five (3)

1) It's been a hard week. Sunday night Becca just got miserable. She's been kinda boogery for a month, but no other symptoms but it all finally caught up with her. And each day she just got worse and worse. We went to the doctor yesterday and she has 2 ear infections. Glad we could treat her. She is already SO much better and is more active today.

She is a funny duck. I NEVER know when she has ear infections. Sometimes when she's sick for a long time and I think she does we go in and nothing. Other times she does. Soemtimes she has no symptoms at all and has had ear infections at well checks. Yesterday I said to her "The inside of your ears are ouchy, so we're going to get medicine to fix them." Her response... "I don't feel it." Silly girl. But so glad to get it cleared up!

2) We had Stake Conference this weekend. I probably only hear about 1/4 of what was said thanks to Becca and Gwen, but it was a great conference. I especially loved President Ellis' talk on balance. We can't obsess about any ONE thing in our lives. We need balance of mind, body, and spirit.

3) We had to miss pre-school and dance this week. I hate missing things I pay for. Sigh.

4) I feel horrible. I knew I needed to get Gwen's 3 month pics done last week, but it didn't happen cause I was stressed about finding an outfit. Then Becca got sick and we've been stuck at home. Hopefully I can go in the next few days (Gwen has been fussy lately though, so I hope she isn't getting sick too!)

5)And our BIGGEST news? Gwen is rolling over! She still struggles a lot of the time, but she's definitely doing it! Both from back to tummy and tummy to back! I love her little milestones! I haven't gotten the best video of it yet, but I'll post the video later tonight when Tyson gets home and can help me transfer it.