Happy VDay to you!

Dear neighbors,

When two little girls who live across the street from you and have for over a year and a half come by with Valentine cupcakes, you don't get to reject them. I don't care if you won't eat them. Take the plate and throw them away for all I care. The fact of the matter is people always talk about being neighborly, talking to one another, etc but at the end of the day, you don't even have the common courtesy to pretend to appreciate them. You should be ashamed of yourselves! I would say that from now on I won't be nice to you, but that won't happen because I have class.

Sincerely,

The mom

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Hello everyone!

It has been a long time since I have posted anything and a lot has happened. Christmas was awesome. Afterwards we went to Davis and Sacramento to see friends. We then headed to Livermore for the rest of the New Year's eve week. My parents' neighbors have two kids the girls play really well with. They all just played together the whole time. I never personally witnessed any arguments, fighting etc between any of them! It is nice to have kids that play well together. I wish we had neighbors two doors down like them!

Garrett did really well this last semester. I am so proud of him. Who would have thought that working over 20 hrs a week at Target, interning two days a week at a legal clinic and taking five classes makes someone get better grades? Hopefully there never is a repeat of that in the future except for the grades part of course!

I promised I wouldn't talk about me and law school in the next post so all I can say is today is my first day of class. First class in 59 minutes. I will say though that if you ever have around 200 dollars in a checking acct and then deposit a huge amount of money in it (new car buying amount) don't expect the money right away! We have never had the situation where both of us deposited checks w/ high amts at the same time. Long story short, we will get about 1/6 of it tomorrow and the rest on the 20th. Rude right? Whatever at this point. Not much we can do about it.

Madison quit her after school program. We told her the new situation and she chose to come home right after school to hang out w/ the mom. It won't be much more than an hour or so but its important to have some interaction. We will probably do early dinner some nights together and then have G have dinner w/ them on other nights. We could technically be home together for dinner hour on Mondays and Wednesdays(at 5pm) but it comes down to the parking issue or lack of parking issue at the school.

Reagan is getting so tall. I swear she grew a foot this past month. She is so cute and I love her little quirks. The "face" as people call it can be endearing to an extent, but my favorite is when she points to something but instead of just a straight arm pointing in the right direction she shirks up a little and points with a little bit of crookedness in her pointer finger. I am not sure how else to explain it.

Well that is for now. On a side note: I haven't decided if I am going to keep up with posting. I will try for now but am trying to be good about more homework, less internet. It came down to internet time or tv. TV won. Also, the same goes for facebook. I will keep it up for the most part but won't "participate" in the games on there. So if you send me a free tree, I won't get it b/c I am blocking the applications for now. You will see me again on the farm and the sorority house this Summer!

realization

Earlier today I applied for my Stafford student loans for school (6 more weeks!) and the "freaking out" phase began in regards to law school. Am I worried about the course load? No. Am I worried that I will look like an idiot in class? No.

No, I started freaking out b/c I realized that A. with one click of the button I would have twice as much student loan debt compared to what I had when I left BYU and B. if I fail out of school (this does happen to people...) I will still owe a whole lot of money and no career prospects.

So now I can understand the stress of law school. It isn't the fact that you have so much to do. Its the fact that if you majorly screw up you will have thousands of dollars in student loans and no way to pay it back.

So yes today I had my first, Oh my gosh what the heck am I doing moment?! But then I got over it.

Just as I got over it though the mail came and I received my Summit package (1 semester class that helps you pave the way thru school, prepare for life as a lawyer, etc). It even comes w/ a DVD! I was still getting past my loan experience so I had Garrett put it in a file folder marked TJSL to read at some point before orientation on January 11.

Oh and then there's the fact that student loan money doesn't come in until AFTER school starts. Ummm...did anyone forget that you have to buy books before class starts?! Luckily I have an in-house library and a resourceful husband who checks out the book exchange table for 1L course books!

Next post won't be on law school. Promise!

law school here I come

Before I give my rant I would like to thank my supporters! Garrett has supported me this whole way and Mariah has been my cheerleader. Teddy wins for the best "congrats!" and Jaymie wins for the one person who really "understands." Kalon gets hugs and kisses for moving here so I can have Mariah!

For those who don't know this, I have wanted to go since I was young. Long story short, after many attempts to get a job this year after my library one ended I realized that I should finally go to law school. Garrett and I prayed about it and felt it was the right decision for our family at this time. I know if I don't go now it won't happen. As it is, I am 5 yrs behind the rest of the group and don't want to be in school when the girls are in high school!

There are those out there who have the opinion that women should stay home with their kids. I used to feel that I had to defend my personal decisions that someone I am talking to doesn't agree with, but after a conversation earlier today I have decided I no longer need to back up my decisions with examples and so forth. If I want to go to school that is my decision and I really don't want to hear the comments like "what are you going to do with the girls" or "so does that mean you aren't having anymore kids?" First off, last time I checked, my older daughter is in school all day and Reagan and I will be together all day everyday if we like it or not. She is almost 4 and pretty independent. Of course I have my cheerleader aka Mariah who is willing to drive to my house and help if needed. I of course would drive Rea up there, but its the point that she is willing to do it. As for not having more kids, once again that is not anyone else's business. I first want to apologize to those out there in the mormon world who I thought rude things about in my head b/c they only had one or two children. This was when I was younger, but still it wasn't right. Having children and how many to have is not anyone else's business but your own.

Interestingly in all of this, my personal statement was about the box that women are put in with regards to what I have basically stated. Too often there is either a double standard or an expectation that unless you have to work, you shouldn't work. What I am amazed at is the double standards that occur. I find it amazing that those out there who don't agree with women working are the same who love their child's teacher or pediatrician who without them going to school and working outside the home wouldn't be that teacher or doctor for your child. So those who don't think mothers should work should look at those around them. Perhaps they shouldn't go to that doctor, have their child in that classroom, or perhaps if their husband has a business tell him not to hire mothers because that is against what they believe! Obviously this is an exaggeration of the situation, but I just wanted to make the point. You also have the individuals out there that think its ok for their daughters to go to school, but heaven forbid they actually use their education outside the home and its ok to work while your husband is in school or out of a job, but how awful it would be to keep the job you have grown to love because there is the expectation to go home.

There may be those out there who don't agree with me about what is "right" but shouldn't the decision be based on your family? Of course! The real question though is how often do we judge others because of their decisions? I do this too, though more on a superficial (like what the person is wearing) than a decision like occupation and number of children to have.

With this I say bravo to you who stay at home and bravo to you who leave the house to work. I realize now that there is no such thing as a worldwide solution. If a mom is happier to be at home than away in an office or classroom, that is what she should do. On the other hand, if a mom is not fulfilled by being home all day, regardless of the number of children and their ages, and the solution is to get a job, go to school, etc that once again is her decision.

Boxes come in every shape and size. The box that fits your neighbor, friend, or family member isn't going to be the same size box for yourself. I definitely have learned this over the years. Luckily for me, I finally am doing what I want to do and not what is "expected of me". The best part of all is that I no longer care what others think but I am doing what I want and what makes me happy!

The family tone is set by the mother so in the end I would like to say, "if mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."