Many Happenings

I have been such a slacker, but that doesn't mean our lives have been boring.

Steve passed his quals with good compliments from the board who reviewed it and gave him his oral examination. He worked so hard on his two week paper and the hard work paid off. Now he just has his dissertation to complete. He submitted a topic proposal for it and it was approved the first time (This is apparently rare. For everyone we've heard of, it usually takes at least two times). He is on schedule to complete it and present it along with a lecture recital and his defense of it all in early June. He will then be known as Dr. Hunter (as long as his review board likes what he does--which I am sure will not be a problem). In June, Steve has also agreed to do one more round of Collegium for Eugene Corporon and then we will be on our way to.... somewhere. That is the part of the equation we are not sure about yet. Steve has submitted job applications to a few universities that are looking for trombone/low brass professors. Hopefully at least one of them will like what Steve has to offer and invite him in for an interview and a job. :)

I know I shouldn't be getting my hopes up, but he has applied for a job at Dixie State. This is closer to home and family. It would be a wonderful job, so if you have a moment, pray for us and the people who will be reviewing candidates for the job. We are hoping to hear back on some of the jobs in the next couple of months, so I'll keep you posted of any news.

Onto another aspect: Nathan won second place in science fair this year. He was so excited. We are so proud of how hard he worked and how well he did. He will be able to compete in the district level science fair. I don't know exactly when that is, but when it happens, I'm sure Nathan will be excited to attend.

Amy turned four (can you believe it?!) on Feb. 16th. She had a fun day and received some nice things. She had the cake of her dreams (she told me about a month in advance what she wanted)-- funfetti with pink strawberry frosting. The cake did not disappoint her. Justin, Alli, and their two kiddos joined us for the evening to have Amy's birthday dinner. She chose steak (new york steak to be exact), and fresh broccoli (she loves broccoli). Last year she insisted on hotdogs; it looks like she is moving up in her food tastes; let's just hope next year is not too expensive. :)

I turned 29 a few days ago. It is my last year in the twenties and I am hoping to still feel young for a while. Steve had things to do that night, so we didn't do too much, but he did get me Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (one of my childhood favorites) and a puzzle book. He also got a new game (which is lots of fun, so if any of you are ever around, ask to play it) Carcassone. It seems like a mix of Settlers and Tsuro (two fun games). We have spent too much time playing it together and with Allison and Justin. It's a hit! It won the same award that Ticket to Ride (another fun game) won, so it has to be a good game.

I haven't said much about Lucy, but she is getting so big. She is also a climber, as of late. She has been climbing up on the counters any time I leave her alone for a minute and she is instantly into the cupboards trying to find food to throw down to the dogs. So far I have lost a loaf of bread, hotdog buns, goldfish crackers, and some pringles to the cause. The dogs didn't know what to do with the can of stewed tomatoes or the box of mac and cheese she threw to them. I think they were just glad the can didn't hit them on their heads. I have been trying to convince Lucy that she doesn't need to climb so much by trying to wear her out during the day, but so far-- no luck. I am sure she will outgrow this phase because this is exactly what her brother did at this age. I never thought there could be another kid like he was, but she is following in his footsteps. I hope that means she will be as good of a kid as he is now when she is older (not that she is horrible--she really is a sweetheart). In the meantime, I can look past her mischievousness each time she looks up at me and says, "love you." This is what she told me right before I took the picture below. Except her actions this time were emptying the bottom two shelves on the bookshelf and making a mess on the floor, which she tried to hide by covering it up with a blanket and Nathan's backpack. I have to give her credit for her creativity.

On another note, a while ago, there was a freak snowstorm in Denton. There was record snowfall (and I'm not talking about a couple of inches. I think the weatherman said we got eight inches). Now for Utah, this would not be too big of a deal, but here it shut everything down. Nathan ended up having a five day weekend because of it and he was thrilled. Steve even had work and school off (because he works for UNT and a local high school). The good thing about this is that it gave him all the time he needed to finish his 15 page topic proposal for his dissertation and get it in. Maybe that is why it passed the first time through; he had plenty of time to think about every word.

This last set of pictures shows Amy in the new "princess dress" my mom sent to her. Lucy wanted to get in on the action. Then we had to take a picture of how nice Nathan looked dressed up for church. Ignore the girls' hair. It wasn't done yet. They were super cute when it was fixed, but of course I don't have any pictures of that. Maybe next time.