I have had several people asking if we ever got back our Rent Deposit from the Student housing we lived in over the summer. After a couple months of trying to work things out with the management we decided to go ahead and fill out the paper work for mediation with BYU. The staff at BYU housing has been very helpful but we are just having a difficult time setting a date and time for the meeting as JJ has a full schedule of classes, teaching and researching. And he has to be there as he is the student.

I have a feeling that nothing is going to come out of the mediation and we will end up going to arbitration. Acording to Utah (and most state law) if it takes more than one month to return the deposit the renter is entitled to the entire deposit plus $100. The apartment management seem confident that they would win an arbitration case as they “forgot” to put a stamp on the envelope and so there is a ‘return to sendee’ stamped on the envelope (their excuse for why it took so long) I wouldn’t doubt if they have their own ‘return to sendee’ rubber stamps. Anyways, I believe that we have a better chance because the date the check was written out on is past the one month deadline.

As for the cleaning fee we were charged, it would be impossible to prove how clean it was so all we have to rely on is that check date.

On Sunday our car got stuck in the snow, we have no shovel and none of our neighbor were home so in order to make it to church we got two ladles to shovel the snow. It did the job, however both ladles broke! Just so we don’t have to break any more of our kitchenware we decided to buy a shovel. We learned that we were not the only ones in need of a shovel as they were all sold out at Walmart and Costco.

We were able to borrow a shovel from a neighbor last night but hopefully we can buy our own shovel soon!

I was planning on dropping JJ off at school today so I could get Rebekah’s immunizations today and pick up my new glasses  but I don’t like to drive in the snow and there is a lot of snow!

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We are now back home from our Christmas vacation. Sariah and Rebekah were even better on the way home than they were travelling to Alabama, I didn’t think that would have been possible as I thought they were really good before. I think Rebekah realized that no matter how much she whined she was not getting out of her carseat so on the way back home she never whined.

We did have to spend hours singing songs and doing fingerplays with the kids to keep them happy. They also spent a lot of time looking at books and colouring.

JJ went back to school today and is really excited that he is going to be working in the Cancer research lab. The professor only chosed one grad student (JJ) this year. Another professor also wanted him for another lab so I’m sure he feels special about that

I am also hoping to get my new glasses today and buy groceries. We also need to start looking for a bed for Rebekah. She sleeps in Sariah’s bed during nap time now and on the couch at night time so she’s ready! Awww…. my baby is growing up.

We are nearing the end of our Christmas vacation. In two more days we will be making that 33 hour drive back home. I will be glad when that is over with, it will also be nice to get the kids back to their routine. The weather is so nice here in the south that I feel like staying here until March!

The kids of course got spoiled by everyone on Christmas with new toys and books. Sariah and Rebekah fought over their two year old cousin to play with his batman cave he got. I had never seen Sariah be so  aggressive over wanting to play with a toy as she did that one. I am sure she would love a doll house but then again there may be plenty of fighting between Sariah and Bekah over it.

On Saturday we went to Birmingham to visit a friend of mine. We had a great time together and found it interesting that both of us who are from British Columbia married southern men named Jonathan. It was great catching up and she made us  Filipino spring rolls which were so good! I learned how to make them so that is definitely something we will be making at home.

Today we are going to Chickamauga and Chattanooga to visit with my brother in law and his family and maybe go bowling?

Tomorrow we will be celebrating new years eve of course and packing. We just bought one little suitcase with us but it is really good for packing efficiently like those  Delsey luggage are so we can fit almost all of the clothes we brought for the four of us.

I am also looking forward to blogging as much as  I normally do. I haven’t worked on my other four blogs at all! It is hard to blog while having fun on vacation and using a dial up internet connection.

We are finally in Alabama! It was the longest road trip I have ever been on! 33 hours of driving!!!

I am still amazed at how well the kids were. Sariah was pretty much perfect and Rebekah had her moments of screaming and wanting out of the car seat but thinking about her age and how long the drive was she was amazing.

Sariah has warmed up quickly to JJ’s family, she has been talking a lot and sitting on everyone’s lap. She is loving her cousins!

We may need to do some car repairs before the trip back which we will probably do in Chattanooga, TN. The car leaks radiator fluid and the cap to take off to put the coolant in is very hard to take off. It froze on us once during the drive and JJ ended up having to buy isopropyl alcohol to pour over the lid so he could take it off. It worked.

Hope everyone else is enjoying their Christmas season.

We are getting ready to leave for Alabama! JJ is taking his last final exam right now and then he’s going to take the car to AutoZone because the check engine light came on. Hopefully everything is fine and we can leave this afternoon.

I am finishing up the packing and cleaning and deciding which toys and books to bring with us.

Last night we went out for dinner with the other grad students in his group, even one of the professors was there. It was an expensive restaurant so I wasn’t too happy about that especially since it was a buffet style so we all had to pay the same amount. I guess the rest of the grad students can afford to eat at expensive restaurants on a graduate stipend since the rest of them are either single or married with no kids and their spouse has a career. I just tried to keep happy because I knew JJ wanted to enjoy being with his friends. 

While eating Bekah kept asking for milk so I did nurse her and then while we were going home JJ said that he was happy that Bekah didn’t want to nurse because it would have been embarrasing to him for me to nurse her infront of his friends. I told him that she did nurse and he never noticed so no else probably did either. Besides the people sitting the closest to me were from the Phillipines and Africa so I’m sure they wouldn’t care.

After dinner we went to Walmart where we bought a cooler so we can have milk and other food in it for the trip. We were looking for colouring books for Sariah and Bekah but we couldn’t find any so we’ll just go to the dollar tree today before we leave. We then had to go back to the school because JJ forgot to turn the machines off that were reading his experiement, he forgot the day before as well. Maybe we should buy memory for him

We also need to go to Costco to buy diapers. We haven’t bought diapers since August! As much as I love cloth diapers I don’t think I want to use them on a long road trip.

This year a common phrase I have heard people say or write on blogs is “because of the economy we’re not doing Christmas this year”. Does Christmas really require you to spend a lot of money? You don’t need to buy expensive gifts or put thousands of lights on your house to celebrate Christmas. It is a time to celebrate Christ ‘He is the reason for the season’. 

Christmas is also about building cherished traditions with family and friends as well as spreading joy to everyone.

Students, alumni and faculty members of Brigham Young University (the school that JJ is going to) recently put a video together at joytoeveryone.com. It is sung by Jenny Jordan Frogley and David Osmond. I heard the song on the radio here. It is a catchy song that shows smiling people all over the world.

Here is one of my favourite Christmas songs. It is Donny Osmond singing “Mary Did You Know”. I love this song because it really touches on the reason why should celebrate Christ’s life.

Sariah and Bekah were able to visit with Santa at our church Christmas party last week. They were so excited throughout the day, they both even went for a nap very easily because they knew that when they woke up they would get to see Santa. Sariah loved her red dress she wore and she even suggested them both wearing hats.

While in line waiting for their turn to sit on Santa’s lap Sariah kept saying that she was going to ask Santa for a baby doll. Bekah kept pointing at Santa and saying Santa. It seemed like Bekah was going to be Okay on Santa’s lap but she started crying as I took the picture.

Sariah never smiled or talk at all while visiting with Santa. She did listen to him and then said thank you for the candy cane after we left.

Not as cute as last years picture, well, except for Santa’s beard falling off