Katya's First Birthday Party

Yesterday we had Katya's first birthday party. It was so much fun! We had a BBQ with hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, snicker salad, and chips. We invited a bunch of friends from church and my sister Susan and Jethro's sister Rebekah and niece Nya. The weather was absolutely perfect yesterday. It was about 80 degrees with just a slight breeze. I couldn't have asked for better weather. Katya loved all the attention she got and just being around other kids. What she loved even more than the attention was cake and ice cream. She really had fun having her own piece of cake and surprisingly enough, didn't choke on it. She usually chokes on any food she's supposed to chew. It was a great evening and we are glad to have celebrated Katya's first year with family and friends.

The little boy is Noah and the little girl that is not Nya is Bianca. They are Katya's little friends from church and they adore her. As you can tell, Katya had a blast.

The Award for "The World's Messiest Eater" Goes to....

KATYA!

This is what Katya looks like when she is all done eating. She loves sticking her fingers in her mouth while eating and then pulls them out and proceeds to "paint" all over anything she can reach. We often wonder if more food makes it on her than in her mouth. She is always so cute and funny when she eats that we always enjoy watching her eat (except when she's spitting it all in our face).

The Daunting Task of Reading Classical Literature

For the longest time I have wanted to read all the classic books that everyone talks about- "Moby Dick", "Pride and Prejudice", "The Longest Day", "Walden", "Hamlet", and all the others that people say are must-reads. Just thinking about these great literary masterpieces scares me. I felt intimidated and under-educated. Well, those feelings have changed. I found a book that has got me really excited to read the classics and to really get the most out of them. Here's the book:

The Well-Educated Mind:
A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had
By
Susan Wise Bauer

I have only read about 1/5 of it, but I already love it. It talks about how you should read the different categories of classics: Novel, Autobiography, Histories, Drama, and Poetry. You don't have to be well-educated in order to read classics. You just need to have the desire to read and focus on reading. In just the five chapters that I've read, I have learned so much. Here are some of the things I've learned.

• knowledge is improved through reading
• admit to yourself that you don't know everything about the classics
• practice reading the classics to become better at reading the classics
• you need different skills to read classics
• 3 steps: taste, swallow, digest
• taste- basic knowledge gained
• swallow- make basic knowledge into own understanding through evaluating
• digest- incorporate subject into own understanding
  
• focus on one subject at a time (i.e. 18th century novel)
• better to read books in the chronological order they were written in
• don't expect to read a ton at once
• schedule reading time
• FOCUS
• write down your thoughts, feelings, and questions in a reading journal
• make the book your own - write notes, fold pages, etc.
• only read the preface if written by author or the translator
• should read it at least twice
• don't make a ton of notes on your first reading
• don't feel bad if you can't get through a book and have to put it down and start a different one

There are so many great things to learn from this book. I don't feel at all stupid for wanting to read the classics. I feel so motivated and believe that I can do it. It might be a little hard at first, but if I stick to it, I can do it. Besides, practice makes perfect.

Chapter 5 is all about reading and understanding novels. I now understand that it takes different skills and techniques to really read and understand the different genres of literature. You think that you know a lot by just taking classes in high school and college, but I never learned in school what I learned in this book. It's nice that each chapter tells how the best way to go about reading the different genres. My brain feels so full of information right now. I did get a journal to take notes in because it is definitely information that I don't want to forget and will definitely look back on when I am struggling with a novel.

It gives a history of the novel and helps you understand time periods of the novel (i.e. realism, modernism, post-modernism, naturalism) . This helps me to understand the time periods the writers were coming from and where thee ideas and styles in their writing come from. There are also tips to reading novels:

• keep list of the characters and important facts about them
• read the title, subtitle, and cover first
• write facts learned from title and cover in journal
• brief notes of chapters main events after reading that chapter
• when done, give it it's own title and subtitle based on your own understanding

The book also presents questions one should ask when done with the initial reading. These questions really help to understand what you read and get the most out of it.

My favorite part of the book is probably the reading lists. It lists the books in chronological order with the best edition to get and the price. It doesn't have all the classics, just the ones that have endearing value and that show an important stage in the development of that genre. Most of the books are American and British lit, but there are some other important translated works included.

I have only read the first five chapters for now. I don't want to read anymore for the time being because I want to start reading the novels as to not confuse the different reading techniques. I will hopefully buy the book soon so that I don't have to check it out from the library every time I am ready to start a new genre. I have my book list written down so I can go to the library today and get the first of the 31 novels--Don Quixote. I am really excited to get started reading. I'll keep you all updated on how it's going.

Finally!!!

Well, we finally did it. We cut up our credit card. I have had this card since 2003 right when I got back from my mission. Before I wised up and got an emergency fund, this card served me well. I have been really good about paying the balance off quickly, and I have not used it that much. I could have used it a lot more, but I am glad I didn't. The thing that was holding us back was Staci never wanted to get rid of it, just in case we needed it for an emergency. First off, we never used it for an emergency. Staci never used it at all, but I did, and only for stuff that I wanted, but didn't have the money for.

I haven't put anything on it for quite a while, and I wanted to just shred it, but Staci wanted me to keep it. I have been trying to get rid of it (while still using because we had it), and I think Staci was getting sick of me using it. I suggested that we get rid of it many times by saying, "Dave Ramsey says you should..." Well, NOBODY likes being told what to do, especially if he or she doesn't really believe in it. So, a couple months ago, instead of saying, "Dave says this..." I started just talking to Staci about our money situation, and not even mentioning Dave Ramsey. Well, that helped a lot. Staci started getting more interested in getting out of debt, and staying out. I bought a little book for six bucks by Dave Ramsey, and she started reading it. Then, she started reading stories on his website. Then, finally, she said, "We should just cut up our credit card." I said, "Great! I will close the Wells Fargo Checking Account that we have open, also." We only use that as an easy way to pay off our credit card when we charge something to it. So, I went and closed them both, and now we are good to go. The only debts that we have left are our student loans, and our car loan. I am going to try and get a scholarship for this next school year so that I don't have to take out a loan for another year. We have almost enough money to cover spring and summer tuition, and if I get a good job this summer when school is out, I can save enough for the fall and winter tuition next year. It will be tight for a while, but we will make it. Hopefully, we can have our car paid off by the time I finish my grad program (April or August 2009).

I think another thing that has helped Staci be okay with getting rid of our credit card, is that we got a checking account through ING Direct, where our Emergency Fund account it. The checking account gives us 4% APY (3.93% interest rate). We can write checks (via the web), use our debit card, or transfer money to our regular checking account. It also allows for faster access to our emergency fund.

We are pretty excited about finally being able to get out of debt.

Moving into our new apartment really helped us a lot. The other thing that really helped is doing a zero-based budget (PDF forms here). That is where every dime we make has a home before we get paid. That way, our checking account is down to $0 (except for gas money) before we even get paid. It doesn't mean that we don't have money for everything, but it means that we are never left at the end of the month with extra money waiting for us to blow it on something that is not in the budget.

Those two things (cheaper apartment and zero-based budget) made it feel like we got a raise.

eBay stuff

I just found a cool site that helps find deals on eBay because people misspell their listing titles. Hidden Auction works pretty well, it seems. I found an Appl iPod Mini 4GB for thirty bucks that hasn't been bid on yet. You cannot find one for less than $55, I think if you go the regular route. It is pretty cool.

A day after surgery....

Yep, these were taken today. Katya is just so happy and acts like she never had surgery at all. She seems to be hearing things better and clearer. She just amazes me. The surgery never really fazed her. She is also making these noises that I haven't really heard her make before. So cute! I am just glad that she is doing well and acts like she isn't having any pain at all.

Katya's Surgery

At 6 this morning Katya had surgery to get tubes in her ears to drain all the fluid and keep her from getting ear infections. The surgery went really well. We were out of the hospital by 9, which was really nice. We would have been out a whole lot sooner, but the doctor was late. We are not a big fan of him because this was our second appointment with him and both times he has been late. Besides him being late, he repeatedly calls Katya a boy. When he was talking to us after her surgery he said, "He did great. His ear canals were bigger then I thought. We'll see him in another month." He even called her a boy when we went in for her first visit with him and she was wearing all pink. Come on doctor! Read your stinkin' chart! There is nothing more annoying then the doctor calling your baby the wrong sex. Jethro even tried correcting him, but he just didn't catch on. It drove me crazy. While the doc was saying "he was a little fussy at first." Jethro said, "Oh, the anesthesiologist was fussy?" But the doctor didn't get what Jethro was saying. Let's just say that if we had our choice we wouldn't have Katya see him again. Ok, Enough of my ranting. Here are some cute picks of Katya before her surgery.

Katya in her cute hospital supplied outfit.
It was huge!

Katya actually fell asleep before they took her back for surgery. She was so tired and hungry. I didn't get any pics of her after her surgery because all she wanted was for me to hold her and feed her her glucose water. Poor thing. She was so tired and groggy afterwards. She did smile at us when we put her in her car seat because she was happy to be going home and getting away from the doctors. Hopefully she will have a restful day today and be back to herself tomorrow.

Katya's First Easter

Today was Katya's first Easter. We didn't do anything for her for Easter because we figure we have at least one or two years before she starts knowing what the Easter Bunny is. She did get a dress from her Auntie Amy that is her Easter Dress. It is way cute! Her are some of the pictures from our Easter.

My new Easter dress

Katya always makes goofy faces and never smiles when
her and I are taking a picture together.

Katya always smiling with her daddy.

Katya and her Easter Dinner- Macaroni and cheese
and her daddy's mashed potatoes.

The Beautiful Outdoors

It has been a really long time since I have gone hiking and I do miss it, especially after yesterday. We (Amy, Sarah, Gideon, Rebekah, Nya, Jethro, Katya, and I) went up Millcreek Canyon yesterday to enjoy the beautiful weather and give Sarah the experience of hiking in Utah. It was a blast. There was a little chill in the air, but it was nice. We didn't do anything to intense or long, but it was nice. It makes me want to get out and hike a whole lot more this summer since there are trails everywhere here in the mountains. I definitely need to take advantage of that. Since I forgot my camera, Amy was nice enough to copy her pictures and give them to us. Thanks Amy!

How cute! The funny thing is that Nya wouldn't let Sarah sit
next to her and kept scooting away.


Standing at the top of the waterfall.


Katya with her Auntie Amy


I love this face. It is just so cute!


I am so lucky. I have the cutest nieces.


Amy, Katya, and I by the waterfall.


More pics by the waterfall


Cute family shot


This is Katya's sad face. She does it right before she
cries. Her little lip sticks out and then it turns into a perfect
frown and then her eyes turn into perfect frowns. So cute.
I'm glad we finally got a picture of it.