Here is a sweet picture of one of my babies. Any one want to guess which one. I keep trying to trip people up, and it hasn't worked, so I thought maybe if I went younger people might have a harder time. We are almost done unpacking, and you can expect some pictures soon, but I haven't taken them yet. Oh, and I grilled chicken the other night, soo goooooood. Now I don't have to hunt cows. Yay.

It can seldom be all good.

Carol and I have been posting a lot about how excited we are to move and how much we dislike our current living conditions, which may have put the wrong idea out there. Story time - When Carol and I moved to Texas we didn't have a place to live. I am more than sure a lot of heads were shaken at our general lack of common sense. It wasn't for lack of trying and over this past year, I have been relearning that same lesson, which is; No matter how hard I try and force something, it will only happen in the lords time. So our move out here was something of a leap of faith. We have to express deep gratitude to Grizelda for letting us stay with her for a week while we finalized the contract for this apartment, and things really have worked out very well here. Now that we are moving, which again when it is the lords timing things seem to happen very fast, I have to say there are things I will actually miss. Since just before the new year I have been teaching in primary, and while I some days lament the rowdiness, it is a learning experience for me and more than just general patience. Part of teaching, even to young kids is that the spirit will direct you to new insights that you may have never noticed. Also I have loved those kids. They are amazing. They may not know all the scripture stories, but they know the gospel. It is wonderful to see their testimonies, even if it doesn't happen as often as I would like. To expand on that same theme, this is a wonderful ward. Carol and I are not strangers to moving and new wards. We have been married seven years and have moved seven times (another reason we are excited to settle in a bit more). The last time we were in an apartment comparable to this, the ward was so transient, and we had no intention of staying for more than the contracted obligation, which made it difficult to get to know, or have a desire to get to know any one. This ward has been different, and though I am not a chatty person, I have been very grateful for this ward welcoming us. It has felt very much like home from the first day and that is of immeasurable value. So despite our excitement, there is much that we are going to miss. I hope this isn't good bye, but experience (at least for me) says for most of our new friends it is. Thank you all.
Josh

We are moving.....again.

As of last night, we are now home renters!!!!!!!!
I know, it's a lot of exclamation points, but I am really excited. And it all happened relatively fast. Monday night I saw some listings on craigslist and in the local newpaper. So I decided that I would call about them the next morning while Josh was at school. I left messages and got them returned a couple hours later. I set up walk-thru appointments through the week. The first one was on Wed. afternoon and it happened to be this one to the left. Anyway, Wednesday, we filled out an application and the owner said that he would call and let us know the next day (Thursday). Needless to say, I was anxious all day long. About 4 pm, I couldn't take it any more I needed to know whether we got it or if we needed to keep lookig, so I had Josh call him. Anyway, long story short, we made the deposit and singed the contract last night!! We can start moving in on Monday. I can't begin to explain how excited I am. Some of you readers might not get why I would be so excited to move out of our current living arrangement. Well, I'll just name off a couple of the most important in no particular order.
We will be .7 miles away from the elementary school that both Cora and Jess will be attending. We will be able to walk the girls to school, thus not needing a second vehicle (hopefully).
A yard. I am so glad that the girls will be able to get out more. I hated keeping the girls inside most of the day. But being on the third floor in an apartment community...... it's just not safe to let the girls wander. The girls are also very excited to get a trampoline.
There will be no ants. We are going to take extra precautions to make sure that we don't take any unwelcome tag-a-longs.
Privacy. That will be so nice. Anyone that has lived in apartments knows about the noise disturbances. For the past year, I have had to tell the girls to have quiet feet in order to be considerate to the neighbors below. I will no longer have to worry about that!! Anyway, I could go on and on but I've got things to do and I am sure you do as well. So Leah, there you have it! I posted again, just as I promised.

Boom boom boom (hopefully)

Well, apparently the movie didn't appease the appetite for long. Or maybe I just didn't realize how fast time has started to go. I have started my summer semester (which is supposed to be 5 weeks but I think is actually 4). Since it is so short I have been swamped with readings and already having to prep two papers and a lecture. BUT that is not what this is going to be about. The most pressing thing on our minds is moving, YAH! We want to be very clear, that given the way we moved here, we landed quite well, but as some of you may know we have an ant infestation throughout our complex. They are not fire ants, so that is good, but they are Pharaoh ants which is bad. Pharaoh ants don't go for the normal baits and if you do succeed in killing some they just go into over production, creating a horrible cycle. I would go into detail about all of the nasty discoveries we have made but I will spare you. I will add, that the winter months were quite tolerable, with very few sitings. That being said, we are anxious to leave them behind. Beyond that our contract is expiring and we have filed the paper work to move out (with some difficulty). So we are currently looking for a house to rent. The problem has been that when we have been interested in a home, it has been already leased or in the process. We learned early on that if we weren't willing (or able) to put down a lot of money up front, we might as well not even inquire. So now we have the money but the last place we looked at (and loved) had the same problem. I am hopeful, but Carol is getting a little anxious. Let me explain her anxiety. As most are aware we are planning a trip to Utah as soon as finals end the first full week of August. Our contract ends on the 12th. Obviously we can't move if we are in Utah, so we have to have moved before then. We are not wanting to move the week of finals, so that in essence leaves us about two weeks from now to find, lease and move into a new place (thus the title boom boom boom). There are other reasons for moving besides the ants. We want to put the girls in the same school, and a move is necessary for that. Oh, and we hate the ants. Also we aren't anywhere near bordering on impressed with the office staff, classy neighbors, packing groceries up two flights, packing kids up two flights, lacking any reasonable outside accommodations for the kids, ants, ants, cooling an inefficient third floor apartment, oh and we probably will need a little more room for the baby. So, that is the major plans, hope you are all doing well. The paper bring us home (most of you probably won't get that but for you that do, hope you at least smiled).

Girly Dives

As promised video of the pool activities.

More dives

Here are some more pictures and be looking for a video in the next few days as soon as I down load it and do some quick edits.

Summer swimming

I love their funny poses mid air.
Maren's little jumps barely clear the ledge, so cute.

I think this is Cora attempting a dive, you can see it will be all belly.


So it is summer and we have been taking advantage of the break by taking the girls swimming a lot. They have LOVED it. They are both swimming really well, and as a consequence Maren thinks she should be able to swim also. More than once she has jumped in without Carol and I catching her. The first time it freaked us out. But now we are much more careful watching her, and when it has happened we just pull her up out of the water, and she has a big smile on her face so I guess if she enjoys it. Cora and Jess are sitting on my lap as I write and wanted every one to know that they are practicing diving. In reality they are just putting there hands up above their heads in a diving position and falling or jumping in on their bellies. It is some of the cutest belly flopping you will ever see. I may do another post of pictures, just because we got so many good ones.

Okay here it is for real!!!

Alright, I have toyed with everyone long enough. It was fun though. Well, the baby
is



















a











BOY!!!!
So I had previously asked for names on the first post today, but I decided to remove that and ask for them after you knew what we were having. So Anthony and Rachel thank you for your suggestions, and everyone else, get on it, we are struggling a little with names so put your noodles to work and help us out. Everyone is super excited. Cora and Jess were both just bubbly at the doctors office. I think Cora especially was struggling to contain it. Then as we were leaving Jess pipes up and says "It's going to come out and were going to play with him and teach him nice words." I think he is going to have four moms taking care of him. And I think between Jess and Bear he will have plenty of wrestling and rough housing. And yes, I am super stoked. Carol informed me that I have a permagrin, and it has been a while since that has happened. Anyway, get on those names folks.
Love
Josh

Carol here. So now you know Zeb and Leah, your next child will not be a girl. Leah's going to have to get in boy mode too and you both better get at it. (smile)

And the baby is....

Did you really think it would be that easy. Carol and the whole family loaded up and went to the doctors office today for a sonagram. I think they are scheduling another appointment because the baby is not quite big enough for all of the measurements she needed, and wasn't in the best position, however, the sex was determinable and we are now taking guesses as to what we are having. The results will be posted tonight at 8:00 oclock our time. Have fun.
Love
Josh

p.s. if you don't have the capacity to leave comments, you can email them to jsaf64@yahoo.com

Thanks Carol

Love the crooked glasses. Man she is a hoot.

Okay, here is Cora reading Curious George to Maren. How cute is that. And below is the second edition of guess the child.

So, not much has changed. The girls continue to keep us entertained. We have gone swimming a few times but have failed to take the camera. (Not always the best company poolside.) It has been great to have Zeb and Leah so close. Carol and I actually went on a date. I know it was practically unheard of. We went to dinner and saw Prince Caspian. Carol screamed and clapped when the Twilight trailer played. I was a little embarrassed. It was a great night, right up until we got ready for bed and realized Carols phone was missing. I actually had to go back to the theatre to retrieve it. Fortunately someone honest found it as it was ringing. (I called quite a few times before they answered.) Then they turned it over to the security guard. I threatened to remove phone privaledges. She didn't think that was funny. It is the third issue we have had with her phone, she broke it within the first month we had it, thought she lost it at church and I spent an evening searching for it (she had left it on silent) and finally found it in the truck, and then the theatre incident. So I felt a little justified, and quite amused at her reaction, but then teasing is the Fish family trait isn't it? The girls came over the other night so Zeb and Leah could go to a company BBQ. The girls had a great time, right up until they fell asleep at midnight. Zeb and Leah chose to crash on the couch. It made for an interesting night, when we kept hearing kids laughing and playing, instead of sleeping. Many naps were had on fathers day I can tell you that. The girls ended up staying home from church and sleeping, which I thought was great until I realized I missed them singing in sacrament :[. Then fortunate me, I got to give a lesson and sharing time on Fathers day. Oh, and the other day Maren joined the amazing club. She walked up to me with a piece of toilet paper with a little black speck in between her fingers, and said "kucka". Low and behold it was a spider. The girls were quite impressed, and made a big fuss over her accomplishment. It was dang cute. One other little incident. Maren has figured out how door handles work, not just the lever kind, we don't have those. The normal round handles (probably because she gets shut out of her room so much.) I was on the computer, Carol was working out at the gym, and Cora was playing with me, as Jess went to the bathroom. I got the customary call from Jess to wipe after her deuce laying; I went to the kids bathroom, and no Jess, but I also didn't notice Bear. So I went back to my bathroom and wiped Jess, and began checking the other bedrooms for Bear. Nope, not in the bedrooms. I called her name and started looking in the front room, when I notice the door to the apartment is not closed fully. At this point my heart skipped a beat and I ran outside and down the two flights of stairs as fast as I could. I went out on the street running contingency plans in my head the whole time. If she is not here where do I go next. Back parking lot, then where, back up the stairs and look in the hallways. I suspect I was blocking the truly horendous thoughts that I could have been having at the time. As I jumped the last three stairs onto the sidewalk, I spot a little lost girl looking at a van on the street 60 yards away. I ran to her as fast as I could and scooped her up. That image will be blazed into my brain forever. So we are now locking the deadbolts at all times. It was dang scary.
On a lighter note we are slowing in our house hunt. We are keeping our eyes open, but the houses we have seen are ready right now and we aren't moving for another month so we are going to keep looking but are not going to make any definitive moves until the time gets closer. Oh, and Jess just tried to put on Marens shoes and told Carol, "they seem a little small." So cute.