Submitted for publication

Well, I just e-mailed in "Watching O'er the Manger" to a publishing company. Wish me luck!

Kids' Hair

We had a little hair styling day a few days ago. Becca just had a haircut and little Michael needed one. Little Michael is "smiling" in this picture. This is his "say cheese" face :)

A really long, overdue update...

Wow, am I slack.

Well, life has been super busy (when is it not) this last month. Mike's been busy with work. The economy has greatly affected their work, and now they are even bidding on out of state jobs (like Texas) to try to get work. No worries about us - his job is secure, and if it were to become otherwise, he would be the first to know, so we feel safe there. Anyhow, work is slow, but good.

I finished writing my Easter Cantata last month and am excitedly getting ready to perform it with a couple of wards (congregations) on Good Friday. I am also excited to have family involved. Uncle Mark agreed to be the narrator and my mom is coming out for it. Sarah and Elizabeth will also be here the week of, and Elizabeth is planning on singing in it, too, so I am really excited about that. Any cousins, aunts, uncles, family, or friends who are in Utah or are going to be in Utah are also WELCOME and invited to sing in it. Just let me know :)

I guess our big family news is that we are working on buying a house. There are a few we are interested in, and we hope to make an offer on a house in Farmington this week. We are sad that we'll have to leave our neighborhood and ward, but very excited to own a house and not have to move from rental to rental so frequently.

The kids are adorable as ever. I'll put some pictures and videos below for your enjoyment and entertainment.

My music composition site

Just a note that I finally updated my music site with some more songs I've been working on. Everything is still under the "Sacred" music page, and all the new songs are part of the Easter Cantata, so that's where you should go to view and/or listen. www.shurtleffnotes.com

Michael the frog and various other animals

Little Michael likes animals. And he likes to pretend he is animals. This behavior is often helpful at dinner time to get him to eat. We'll put food on his fork and then tell him to pretend he's a lion. He'll roar very loud, and we stick food in his mouth while it is open. Sometimes we all pretend to be puppies and we lick the food off our plates (Right now, we're more concerned with our kids eating than teaching them table manners.)

Well last night at dinner, little Michael decided to be a frog. But apparently frogs don't eat, because he climbed down off his chair and proceeded to hop all over the dining room, saying "Ribbit, ribbit". It is fun to his little imagination at work.

Becca is a Super Star - I mean Sunbeam

Becca has had a fun time transitioning into Primary (like Sunday School for little kids. Half the time is spent with kids their own age, and the other half is spent with kids ages 3-8 or 9-12). We made a big deal out of it before the new year, and she was really excited to get to go to the "big Primary room" where there was a piano and she would get to sing. (Becca is the youngest Sunbeam - kids that are 3 going on 4 - having turned 3 on Dec 27th.)

So today after church, some Primary teachers from Junior Primary were saying how funny Becca was in Primary. I asked them what she did that was so funny. They replied that it wasn't that she was funny per se, but that she likes to answer questions (and generally has the right answers) and talks a lot and acts more mature than most of the older kids in Junior Primary. One teacher said I should be proud of her, but she didn't have to tell me that - I was already beaming with pride over my tiny little Sunbeam.

Becca's funny eating habits

As anyone who has observed children knows, most children do not like bread crusts. I have noticed that whenever Becca eats bread or a sandwich, however, she eats the crust first before proceeding to eat the rest of it.

So a few days ago, Becca asked for an apple, and I thought I'd be daring and just give her the entire thing. She took it and went into the living room. A while later, I having forgotten about the apple, Mike went in to see Becca and then came to find me. He asked me if I knew Becca was eating an apple. I said yes. Then he asked if I had seen how she was eating it. I said no. So I went to see what was so interesting and laughed when I saw that Becca is as backward with her apples as she is with her bread. Instead of detesting the skin like most children, Becca was neatly nibbling all around the apple - eating only the skin before she ate the rest of it.