The Answer is 51

18 years of moving from state to state (including Utah, Colorado, and New Jersey) with his family + 1 year of college in Provo + 2 years of serving a mission in Brazil + 2 mischievous years of college with Mark Scurr in Provo + (26 years of being a dad + 2 years of being a grandpa = 28 years of blissful marriage) = the number of years that makes up Dad.

Thanks, Dad for your advice, support, and love. You fifty-one years of life have constantly blessed the lives of those around you. Your strength and influence have reached and will continue to reach beyond the realms of your comprehension. Happy birthday!

Done and Done

My first summer class ended today! I was supposed to take my final at noon but my professor let us come and take it early. Whew! One class down, two and a half to go. I am halfway done with an online special education class which ends June 20th. Come July I have two classes that are only two weeks long. One class is scheduled from 8:00-12:00 and the other class is scheduled from 1:00-5:00 so it will be a crazy two weeks. But until then I only have to worry about 30 minutes worth of homework, twice a week instead of so much more. I can play with friends when I get home from work instead of worrying about studying. Bring on the summer fun!

Jalaurel Moshatcher

Meet Laurel Mosbacker. She and I met the first two weeks of classes during our freshman year and we were practically inseparable after that. We lived together in Hillside our sophomore year and became known as "Jalaurel Moshatcher". That year of living together was a year of laughter, fights, and tears; but we made it through.

There were endless nights of watching chick flicks and eating Jenny's stuff together. We giggled ourselves to sleep most nights and woke up the next morning with laughter hangovers. Together, we participated in our first:

Bean Dip Night,

roommate dance party,

and "Top of the A 5k Fun Run at Midnight". Her favorite thing to make was banana cookies. I had never had banana cookies until I met Laurel. There never were a lot of actual cookies to eat because Laurel ate most of the dough. The cookies never turned out the way they were supposed to (icing was either too runny or too chunky and the cookies looked a little funny) but they tasted delicious.

We separated for a summer (she to BYU and me to Spain) and reunited once for a sleep over at her BYU apartment where we made banana cookies). In the fall we moved to Hillside to live together again for part of our junior year. I say part because she turned her mission papers in and left for the MTC on February 7th 2006. She now preaches the gospel to the people in Greece and seems to be as happy as a clown.

My bananas went bad this week. I attempted to eat one of them on Wednesday but I just couldn't get even one bite down. So I decided to use the remaining banana in a recipe. Thursday was my turn to cook for my dinner circle and I needed some dessert so I made banana cookies. Laurel would be so proud (maybe even a little jealous) because they turned out PERFECTLY! The cookies not only looked edible, they were perfectly rounded and cooked to perfection. The icing wasn't runny or chunky and spread like a dream. My dinner circle loved it. None of them had eaten banana cookies before and they were all impressed.

Laurel will return from her mission at the end of the summer. I don't know her exact release date but her 18th month mark is August 7th. Sadly enough, we won't be living together in the fall. I will be finishing school at Utah State and Laurel will be attending BYU. Hopefully this doesn't mean the end of Jalaurel Moshatcher.

My New Residence

I am finally situated for the summer months. I have found a new place to live, my first summer course is almost over, and my wonderful job is in full swing. My new place is amazing. I absolutely love it. I miss some things about my old house; for instance, I lived in the basement so it was MUCH cooler-that would have been nice for the summer season. However, my new house has some wonderful perks as well:

This is the front entryway/dining area. There's lots of open space, I never feel crammed.

My wonderful kitchen (complete with a dishwasher)

This is the living/family room. The couches are absolutely amazing-WAY better than the couches at my last house. The back door leads to an awesome backyard along the canal. We have a little grassy area and a bridge that leads over the canal. On the other side of the canal we have a little fire pit and TONS of trees. It is kind of like a mini-forest in my own backyard. I love it. We had a fire there on Saturday night. Hopefully there will be a lot more fires in the future.

My own room! There is actually quite a bit of space. I think it would be pretty easy to fit two people in here but I won't complain. I have two closets and a built-in vanity complete with spacious drawers. I have really enjoyed having my own room. I always thought I would get lonely, but I'm really likin' this. I can wake up for work in the early hours of the morning without feeling like I am disturbing others' sleep.

My room doesn't have a desk so I have set up my computer and my printer on my shelf. When I need to do homework or blog or whatever, I just plop on the floor. It's not the most ideal set up, but it works.

The bathroom is small, but there's only three of us so it all works out. The tub/shower is behind the door.

And my garage! I get to park in the garage! It's really nice. My roommate, Becky, parks in the other side of the garage. The other three residents of this house park diagonally on the side of the driveway. Parking is kind of tricky, but it works. I have been learning some awesome skills in reverse.

It's a wonderful place to live. The majority of the people I hang out with live across the street. It is still close to campus which is a plus since I am taking summer classes. I have two roommates, Becky and Tamera. There are two boys that live below us. I don't see them a whole lot but from what I have seen, they seem like pretty nice boys. I will be able to enjoy this wonderful place until the end of August when I get to move again...

Mom

I tried to think of something really creative to write to Mom on this day of Mothers, but my flow of creativity just isn't flowing today. This list is all I got.

1. Mom answers the phone when I call even if I have already called multiple times that day

2. Mom listens as I sob about life's little trials

3. Mom lets me call her Homeslice

4. Mom taught me how to make food

5. Mom and I share some of the same pet peeves so we understand each other pretty well

6. Mom taught me how to magnify my callings

7. Mom thinks I'm funny

8. Mom taught me organization skills

9. Mom used to stay up late with me when I was in high school, just to talk

10. Mom is optimistic about the ups and downs of life

I love Mom 2,088 x infinity + 7

The Adventures of Coney

After a day full of packing, loading, and unloading Colette, Carla (Colette's sister), Rory, and myself decided to do something fun. We sat around my new house and brainstormed fun ideas. Colette exclaimed, "We still need to get rid of the cone!" So off we went.

While trying to decide where to leave it, Colette said we should take some pictures with it. What a wonderful idea! Let's drive all over town with property that isn't our own and take pictures with it! I really thought it was a wonderful idea.

We took pictures with the Aggie statue.

We took pictures at a park bench by the temple, overlooking the city.

We took pictures on the dock at First Dam and with the ducks.

This is where we had some legal problems. We were trying to find the next good pose when a sheriff's vehicle pulled up. There were quite a few parked cars and so my first thought was that he was going to send them all home. Colette saw his car and asked "Are we not supposed to be here at night?" And I responded with, "Uh-oh. We have a cone."

The nice police man called us on over and inquired about the cone. "Where did you get it? Why do you have it?" We told him where we got it and I told him we were "borrowing" it so we could take some pictures. He didn't quite believe my picture story so he asked to see the camera. I stood next to his truck and scrolled through all the pictures we had taken with the cone. He laughed out loud at the pictures taken on the bull and questioned our feelings for the cone when he saw Rory's lips on it. The kind police man ended with "You take that cone back where you found it. College students don't need a theft on their record-it would be much more difficult to find a job. It is a theft you know. Go return it and have a good night!" And with that he drove away.

"One more stop won't hurt!" I said, so we headed to a nearby park to take a couple more pictures.

Colette gave me a boost into the tree. She also helped me down from the tree but my foot hit something weird in her leg and she collapsed to the ground. Luckily, I was out of tree and no one was hurt.

We tried to balance Coney (Colette's title for the cone) on a regular swing, but he just wouldn't have any of that. We resorted to the baby swing instead.

We returned to the car and said our goodbyes to Coney.

On our way home, Rory dropped off the cone in the street for us.

We started a good year with taking that cone, and we finished an awesome year with saying goodbye to that cone. Another year down. Another summer to go. Another house empty. Another house to live in. And on and on the cycle will go until the end of time.

Cone Shenanigans

CoCo Latte and I concluded a wonderful week with returning our traffic cone to the great outdoors. Last fall, we drove down the street to look at a Halloween display. There was a cone in the middle of the road and Cassie had the great idea of stealing it. We decided we would pick it up upon our return.

When we came across the cone on the return trip I slowed the car down, Cassie opened the door, and snagged the cone. It was quite an exciting moment for us. The cone was a good addition to our living room. Elliott enjoyed playing with the cone when he came to visit. It started some good conversations and looked awesome against our blue wall. However, the semester has ended and none of us wanted to move the cone from place to place. Colette and I decided to get rid of it last night.

We headed over to Creekside to say goodbye to our dear friend, Handsome Haderlie. We chatted for a while and told him we were off to drop off our cone. Once he went inside, we decided to make our deposit on his door step instead of leaving it in the road somewhere.

CoCo Latte pulling the cone out of the car

Approaching Creekside Apartments

Being Sneaky

Depositing the cone

Getting Away

We didn't leave it late enough though. Haderlie had time to return the cone to our doorstep last night and now we still need to get rid of it. I guess the cone shenanigans will extend into tonight's adventures.

A Day with the Boys

Since I finished school on Monday I have had all week to entertain myself. I think I did a pretty good job of finding things to do while leaving my roommates to their studies. Luckily, there were other people that were done with school and were willing to play with me. It's been a fun week and I am kind of sad it is over. I've enjoyed the lack of educational responsibility. I have loved feeling like a free spirit-not a care in the world. I'm sure that would get old pretty quickly though so it's back to the real world on Monday. Monday marks the beginning of early mornings and no more late nights.

To entertain myself yesterday, I decided to drive down to Centerville and spend time with Kim and her boys. Elliott and I had a marvelous time playing a few songs on the piano, playing in his fort, and watching Sesame Street.

Playing in the fort together

Elliott really enjoyed standing on top of his fort and jumping off the edge into the sea of stuffed animals.

Once when Elliott was trying to climb his fort, he hit his mouth on the edge. I wanted to check for blood and bit lips so I showed him what to do.

That's me at my most attractive, I know it!

Quinn and I enjoyed a wonderful nap together. I love sleeping with a baby on my chest; there's something about it that is just so tender.

Mom and Dad stopped by for a little bit. They were in the area to do a little shopping for the remodeled portion of the house. I had a good time running errands and chatting with Dad. Sometimes being away from home and away from family isn't all it's cracked up to be; it was nice to spend time with the fam yesterday.

After putting Elliott in the tub, I headed to Bountiful to meet Bailey for dinner. We enjoyed a delicious Chinese meal at Pei Wei and some scrumptious cookies at Paradise Bakery. It was a wonderful visit.

The day concluded with holding Quinn one last time before my departure. He's a sweet little baby. I'm looking forward to the time I get to spend with all of my nephews as they grow and develop into fun little boys.