Is is Spring yet?.....

Ok. I love the snow. Dont get me wrong, it is beautiful.....but is it ever going to stop? I cant remember the last time Utah has seen so much snow. It has been bitter cold for the past few days so I guess one good thing about the snow is that it brings a bit warmer temperatures....temporarily. I got off of work last night at 4:30 (this morning actually) and it was snow snow snow! That is the bad thing about the shift I work.....I have to drive in the worst of the winter storms. It was so slick that I barely missed being in an accident twice on the way home. There were cars everywhere off the side of the highway. Yikes. Im thankful that I got home safe and sound. So now, Denver is out shoveling the 7 inch deep snow off of our driveway. I dont feel sorry for him though because I have been telling him for weeks to get out the snow blower that comes with this house. It would make his life so much easier and he would never pick up the shovel again. But, he makes all kinds of excuses of why he isnt going to bother with the machine and then spends an hour shoveling......good exercise though! Honestly though, I wouldnt trade it. I love having all 4 seasons and living under these beautiful mountains. Im looking forward to enjoying them more this coming year. Every city has its good and bad but out of all the cities I have lived, Salt Lake has the most good.....even with all this SNOW!

The kids are progressing in their piano lessons. They will have a recital in April....that should be fun :) Their teacher is this little old lady in our church. She only charges us $7 per lesson which is a slammin deal. She pulled me aside last week and said she needed to buy a more difficult book for Ian because he is moving so fast. It is hard because we dont want Evan to feel like he isnt just as great. Evan is moving at a perfectly normal pace its just that Ian is a very quick learner and usually above average in just about everything he does. She was nice to pull me aside and speak quietly so Evan would not hear. Evan has beautiful piano fingers. They are long and thin and as he learns, he will probably end up being a better piano player than Ian. The one thing that Evan has over Ian is passion. He is a very sensitive and artistic little boy and I believe he feels the music more than Ian. Ian is methodical and deliberate and does it well but I think in the end he will probably get bored and move on to something else. That is probably the most difficult part of parenting our 2 boys. They are so close in age that no matter what we do, Evan probably feels that people compare him to Ian. That is the 2nd child syndrome, right? But when they are so close in age it is even worse because Evan thinks he should be just like Ian and when he falls short, it must hurt. I read a great article in Time magazine yesterday about "expectations". In a nutshell it said that we should adjust our expectations to meet the child. Everyone creates expectations. It is how the human mind is able to wrap itself around this world. But sometimes the expectations dont fit the circumstances which always leads to disappointment. If we adjust out expectations to fit the individual child, then the child doesnt feel like he/she is falling short or disappointing people. Ok....so how do you do that? I am going to find a book to help me with that. I dont want Evan to ever feel that he is falling short of anything. I relate to Ian more because our personalities are so similar and I sometimes worry that I am not giving Evan everything he needs. Anyway.....Im rambling.

Can I just say that I hate politics. They are just ugly no matter how you look at them. Ive been reviewing the candidates a little bit at a time although I dont believe in really studying them until the ACTUAL candidates are chosen for each party. I dont have time for that. Of course I have a somewhat personal interest in this one because of the "mormon" candidate. Mitt Romney. At this point I cant say that I know a whole lot about any of them other than the glaringly obvious ones.....woman, black, mormon,....etc etc. Sadly these are probably the premises on which a lot of people will base their vote. Do I lean toward Romney because he is a mormon? Well, yes, of course. I understand his belief system and agree with it so of course that will make a difference for me. Am I going to vote for him? I just dont know yet. What I dont want to do is defend my reasons for voting for someone. I dont think anyone should have to defend that decision. It is our right as Americans to vote for whom we see fit. There is no clause in the constitution that says after we choose we have to say WHY. So, I avoid political discussions at all costs. Politics and Religion.....I hate discussing both of them and ironically they are so intertwined in this upcoming election. No matter how we look at it, this will be an election to remember. It will be in the history books at some point I am sure of it.

Ok......well, I guess Im off to start my job as housewife/mother/maid/chef/comforter.......I hope the week is a good one for everyone.