Just Another Day

Baby Brother...I think they like him

2011-02-23T21:49:00.005-07:00

Its about time!

2011-02-17T09:21:00.002-07:00

I have been patiently awaiting this book for about 4 years now I think. Its the 4th book in the Green Rider series that I absolutely love. I admit I'm a big fan of fantasy adventure. I'm not sure what it is about this series that captures me but every spare moment will be spent with my nose in this book...and then I will wait patiently again for the next few years for book #5.

Life

2011-01-31T21:46:00.011-07:00

Life has been a bit crazy the last 2 months. Heres a peek at whats going on in the Lyman house.

The last 4 weeks I have been having some issues with pain in my arms. It got bad enough that I went to the doctor (I never go to the doctor!). He did some blood work and some tests and came back baffled. Blood work showed something was going on but didn't point to anything specific. So I ended up going in for an MRI last week. I was sure I had something out of wack in my neck but the MRI came back and everything looked okay. My doctor reffered me to a neurologist and told me to get an appointment as soon as I could since basically he has no idea whats going on....just what we need....more doctor bills!

This little munchkin's personality has been blooming. She talks tons and her eyes just sparkle. She is also into EVERYTHING! This is her new favorite spot in the house. Yes, that is the top shelf of my pantry....

She also decided she was old enough to wear makeup.

Crystal became an official Saftey Patrol officer at school. She was so excited and proud. She has been eyeing that belt and badge all year and now wears it all day, even when she is at home.

Rooker turned 8 and became a Cub Scout. He is loving it!

And this little guy is growing like a weed! He is up to 4 lbs 13 oz. and it goes up every day. They actually cut back his calories because they have been so impressed with his growth. Today they also tried again to give him a taste of milk on his binki and he actually tolerated it really well. They will test him a few more times but it is a big improvement. Hopefully he will be trying out a bottle by the end of the week. The end is almost in sight!

I owe a HUGE HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has watched my kids for me while I have ran to and from the hospital and doctor visits. I am blessed with many great people in my life!

Growing!

2011-01-19T08:12:00.004-07:00

Well I figured its about time to do another update on this adorable little boy. I can't beleive he is already 20 days old! I have had a really hard time getting good pictures of Renz. Trying to take them through the isolet bed and no flash allowed just doesn't work out well. The nurses in the NICU take pictures and put them on a dvd so before I do an update here are a few early pics of him.

Here is his isolet bed and all the gadgets that help take care of him.

This picture was taken about 2 hours after he was born. It was the first time I was able to see, hear and hold my son. They wheeled my bed into the NICU and I was able to prop myself up and reach in and hold his little foot.

Look at this kid now! I went in on Sunday night and found him dressed in a sleeper. Its the first time I had seen him in clothes and it was adorable. Renz continues to do really well. There have been a few minor bumps but nothing serious. As the feeding amounts increased he started having some really bad reflux. They were able to start him on medication and it seems to be under control for the most part. About the same time his oxygen saturation levels started to drop. They ended up having to put him back on the nasal cannual.
He absolutley hates having things stuck in his nose and will constantly claw at them and pull the cannual out of his nose and down into his mouth. Makes me laugh because in this picture you can see all the tape that they stuck on his little face in an attempt to keep him from pulling it out. Hopefully he will be able to get completly off the oxygen again soon!

Despite the reflux and oxygen issues he has grown tons this last week. After birth he had dropped to 2lbs 13oz. As of yesterday (1/18/11) he was up to 3lbs 11oz. He is definatley growing and changing!

Yes, it is hard. I miss being able to see and hold this sweet little boy everyday and being a real mom for him. Its also hard shuffling my other kids around on the days I do get to go in to see him. But the time seems to be going by quickly and soon we will be able to be a normal family again!

Things I am looking forward to in the not so distant future:

bottle feeding

an open crip

swaddle bath

coming home!

Renz Update

2011-01-06T17:11:00.008-07:00

It's been almost one week since little Renz made his grand entrance into this world! He is doing so well. Ever since he was delivered we have received only good news.

I was able to hold him during his first feeding the day after he was born. He ate 3 milliliters (less than a teaspoon). He is now up to 14 milliliters. Yesterday they were able to take out the IV and remove the oxygen cannula so he is now breathing completely on his own.

He is also regulating his own temperature really well. They actually had to turn off the humidity in his dome because he was staying too warm. If he can continue to keep up on his temp he will be able to come out of the covered bed. At my 20 week ultra sound, I was diagnosed with Single Umbilical Artery (SUA). A normal umbilical cord has 1 vein and 2 arteries. With SUA, one artery is missing. One of the more common complications with SUA is kiddney development. Tuesday they did the renal ultrasound and found that everything was normal and healthy.

He can suck on his binky and enjoys having his hands near his mouth. Developmentally those are really great signs and will hopefully help him when it comes time to try out a bottle. He also loves to grab stuff. He is constantly grabbing a hold of his cables and cords.

At this point I am able to hold him once a day for an hour while he eats. I also take his temperature and change his tiny diaper. He has started to gain weight again. He started at 3 lbs 2 oz but had dropped down to 2 lbs 13 oz by Tuesday. Today he is back up to 3 lbs 1 oz.

There is no better feeling than seeing him improve and get stronger each day. Honestly he just melts my heart.

fyi-I did 2 posts today, just in case you missed it :)

Renz???

2011-01-06T17:08:00.001-07:00

People keep asking me where the name Renz comes from. So here you get to have a little Durfee family history lesson. (My mother would be so proud!)

Lorenzo "Renz" Durfee was my great-grandfather. I learned about Grandpa Renz for the first time while typing up some histories for my mom. I really loved the name and I am excited that I had another little boy I could pass it on to.

Here are some interesting things about baby Renz's namesake:

*He was born August 31, 1865

*He was small in stature, 5 ft. 4 in. tall, chest size 36, and wore size 5 ½ shoe.

*He had grey eyes and brown hair.

*In 1893 he served a mission to Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia.

*He served as Bishop in the Almo Ward

*In the late 1920’s Renz and his boys started to build a new home on the ranch. He was injured while getting logs from the near by hills and sustained a chest injury. He was taken to Ogden for surgery but was never well after that. Cancer developed in the opening to his stomach, and he died March 23, 1935 at age 67.

Now you know. : )

Tiny Miracle

2011-01-01T18:39:00.006-07:00

Renz Ransom Lyman

7:25 AM December 31, 2010

3lbs 2 oz

15 3/4 inches

Renz Ransom Lyman decided to make an unexpected early appearance. Here is his birth story.
Midnight December 18th my water broke. I was admitted to the hospital and hopeful of a long uneventful 6 week stay. Things seemed to be going as planned....but things can change rather quickly. 4pm Thursday, December 30th Sadie came to visit and bring me more goodies. :) While we were visiting I started having a few irregular contractions. By 5:00 I was having regular contractions every 5 mins. I called Mark and told him to come in. I was afraid that the baby would come. The nurses hooked me up to the monitor and the contractions continued evey 5 mins until about 9:30 that night. By 10:00 they had stopped completely. The baby seemed to be doing fine still. The resident on call came and checked me and I wasn't dialated or effaced at all.
I went to bed and slept all night. Mark left around midnight.

5:00 AM Friday morning I woke up and new something wasn't right. I called the nurse and again they hooked me up to the monitors. I started having contractions every 5 mins just like the night before. After about 30 mins on the monitor the nurse unhooked me and left. She paged the resident and said she would be back. Very quickly the contractions got much much worse. I sat in the rocking chair and just rocked back and forth trying to make it through each one. I called Mark and told him to come. It seemed that the doctor would never come! Finally my CNA came in just to check my temp. She looked and me and asked if I was okay. All I could say was "no". She left and returned quickly with the nurse and resident. As soon as the resident saw me she told me I needed to get down to labor and delivery. It was around 6:15 AM when she checked me again and found I was dialated to a 5 and 90% effaced. The baby was coming and seemed to be coming fast. They began to prep for the c-section. Because of so many prior c-sections and fear of a lenghty surgery, they did both a spinal tap and an epidural. Mark still wasn't there. I think that was the worst part, not having someone to hold on to through it all. All of the doctors and nurses were just the on call staff. I really felt very alone and scared...in addition to a lot of pain. About 7:00AM I was in surgery. Probably 15 mins later Mark walked in and grabbed my hand. Such relief! I would not have made it with out him. 7:25AM they told us we had another boy. It was really very strange. They baby didn't make a sound and they didn't show him to us at all. They rushed him straight to the NICU. I think the surgery lasted over an hour and a half. It seemed like forever! About the time I was sure I couldn't stand it any more they told me they were finished. It was a rough surgery. Lots and lots of scar tissue.

After about 2 hours in recovery (my temp and blood pressure were low) they pushed my bed into the NICU so I could see my baby for the first time. I was able to reach in and hold his tiny foot. I was releived to find that he was doing really well. He seems to be a strong, healthy little boy in spite of being 10 weeks early. For that I am very very grateful! The nurses in the NICU are amazing. I can't imagine working with such tiny fragile patients. Today they showed me how to change his diaper and check his temperature. I was also able to hold him while they fed him for the first time. I am still very nervous around him. I feel like I will break him. It is like having my first baby all over again. He will be staying with the NICU until his due date (March 12th). Its possible he will come home earlier but that is the date they told us to plan on. I appreciate all the love and prayers of family and freinds and am thankful for all the help we have recieved during these past weeks!

The First 48--long boring post sorry!

2010-12-20T05:19:00.004-07:00

48 hours down....??? how many more to go. The little vinyl saying posted above my panty door "One day at a time" has a whole new meaning for me. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I have found myself here in this situation. This is not me...

**rewind**rewind**rewind**

84 hours earlier...Thursday December 16th
I was home watching Bridger and Brynzi play outside in the snow and having a great time. Then Brynzi decided that she missed her sisters terribly and decided to wait for them at the bus stop. It was so cute. She was slowly riding her wiggle car down the road sobbing for "Tostol" (crystal) and Bailey. I scooped her up to take her back inside and get her warmed up. I neglected to think about the icy section on the edge of the driveway, or the fact that I was wearing crocs and 27 weeks pregnant carrying a 24 lb 2 year old. Oh so gracefully I fell on my rear. No big deal really. My hand took the brunt of the fall, but later that evening I noticed that something wasn't quite right.

Friday, December 17th
Of course I shrugged it off. We had plans to finish up all of our Christmas and birthday shopping on Friday. I told myself that if I had any more signs that I was possibly leaking amniotic fluid I would immediatley go to the hospital. I even packed an overnight bag for the kids just in case. But everthing seemed okay. We got home later that afternoon with no event. I started dinner. I knew I was really achey. I knew I needed to lay down. But there was dinner to cook and dishes to do, the animals to feed. I just kept going.
Around midnight I finally decided I should go to bed. Thats when I really realized what was happening. My water had broke and I was only 28 weeks to the day pregnant. I called my doc. He told me to go the the new Murray hospital since it would have the capabilites to care for my baby if I ended delivering. This also meant that my Dr. would not be able to take care of me anymore as he does not have privleges at Murray.
You see movies where the woman goes into labor and the husband is freaking out. Mark is always in control it seems. While my world was spinning violently out of control he was there to calm me and give me a blessing. Thankfully, my brother was staying the weekend with us so we were able to get in the car and leave without worrying about the kids.

Saturday December 18th
We arrived at the hospital just after 1Am. I was an emotional wreck. I was scared. I was worried. They checked us into a room and called for the resident. I was having a hard time with this. I really just wanted Dr. Smith not some on call resident. In walks this really young guy....disshevled hair, shaggy beard and a r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w southern drwal. In my head I was screaming "You have got to be kidding me!" I could also tell that he was pretty nervous about my situaltion. My membranes had totally ruptured. I had 5 previous c-sections. I was also contracting every 3 mins according to the monitor (though I couldn't feel them). Things were not looking great.
I received the first of 2 steroid shots and they started pumping me full of IV antibiotics and fluids. They told me that if I could make it through the first 48 hours things would be much better for my baby. Hoestly, I freaked when they told me that they hoped that I would be in the hospital for hopefully a month to a month and a half.
The kids were able to come visit me later that day. It was so good to have them bouncing all over my room! My nurse for the day Lori grew up with 10 brothers and sisters and she was so great. She brought them tons of crackers and cookies and juice. It was Rooker's birthday and he was able to open his presents there in the room. They ended up staying for I think close to an hour. I must say that I am SO grateful for 2 amazing moms who are there to help me out!

Monday, December 20th
So here I sit...or lay rather. To the bathroom and back to bed. No chair or couch. But things are really looking good. Ultra sounds have looked good. I am feeling great. The baby seems content to stay where he/she is. No contractions or anything like that and the longer we can keep it like that the better! I have come to terms with the fact that it is much much better for me to sit in this bed, my back and toush somewhat uncomfortable than have a 2 lb baby.

My goals for right now:
1. No delivery
2. Stay positive
3. Be happy
4. "One day at a time"

I must say that I am looking forward to my first massage ever on Tuesday. My CNA yesterday is also the licensed massage therapist for ladies just like me. I imagine my back will LOVE it!
Sorry for the long post. It is more for me than anyone else. This is as close to a journal as it gets for me!

2010-08-31T11:26:00.003-06:00

Today my farrier knocked on the door and told me that he had shooed my horse. A few minutes later I noticed that Bridger was moping around and I asked him what was wrong. This was his reply, " Mom, I don't like that guy. He said he shoot the horse." He was relieved to find that Sunny was alive and well and just sporting shiny new shoes.

Proud parent moment....

2010-08-21T09:08:00.004-06:00

There is nothing Rooker hates more than WORK. I often have to remind him that it doesn't matter if he likes it or not, it is just something he has to do. Yesterday we were having one of these conversations. He informed me that when he grew up he was not going to go to work. I explained to him that if he did not work when he was a grown up he would end up like one of those guys we see holding a cardboard sign and waiting for someone to give him a dollar. He would have no car, no house, no games, not even any food...nothing. He didn't like that. I tried to tell him that he could go to school and learn to do something he would like to do for work. The other kids and I started listing every occupation we could think of. Doctor, pilot, gardener, dentist, policeman, fireman, chef, truck driver, astronaut, computer game maker, scientist, builder...."No" was the constant reply. Then Bailey said "I know, you could be Mayor!" Instantly Rooker perked up and got very excited.

So there you have it. I am raising a politician. Hooray for me.

There is the face of your future Mayor.

Philosophy of a 3 year old

2010-08-19T15:24:00.003-06:00

If you feed a little dog (aka: Cisco) lots and lots of hot dogs, they will grow into a big dog and not be scared of storms...
I learn something new everyday.

"I Like Hearts"

2010-05-26T19:49:00.002-06:00

"I Like Hearts"
by Bailey Lyman

I like hearts because some are pink.
I like hearts because they are pink.
It is my favorite color.
I like hearts. Who has a heart?
People have hearts.
They have to love each other.
Thats how hearts work.
The End.

Small miracles

2010-05-26T09:49:00.003-06:00

Saturday the kids and I went and picked out a lamb for Crystal's 4-H project this year. She picked out this beauty she named Coco.

To enter a ewe at the fair, they are required to have a scrapies tag to verify that they have been vaccinated for the disease. Well, Sunday night it snowed and when I went out Monday morning to do my chores there was blood all over the snow. Coco's tag had been ripped from her ear. (I'm pretty sure one of the goats grapped it and pulled it through the fence.) So I called the guy who is coming out to tag her for the fair next week and told him my perdicament. He didn't think it would be a problem as long as I could find the tags. No problem I thought, I'll just wait for the snow to melt and they'll be easy to see. Well it didn't work out that way. I looked and I searched and I looked some more. Nothing. A few weeks ago I taught my primary class of 5 year olds about prayer and how Heavenly Father hears and answers our righteous prayers. It really was a great lesson about a simple basic truth. Well, I did just what I taught those 5 year olds to do. I had done my part. There was no where else to look. If I kept my eyes open, I believed they would turn up.

This morning as I walked to the front of the house I noticed what looked like a bit of paper on the lawn. Yeah well I'm sure you guessed it already. It wasn't paper, it was the tags which I had been desperaly searching for the last 2 days. Because they had some blood on them Cisco had found them and ended up dropping them right in my path. I know, I know, its not some hugely amazing thing. But moments like these are what testify and remind me that I do have a Heavnly Father who knows the desires of my heart and that when I pray he listens.

Alma 37:6-7

Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.

Little Tumblers

2010-01-15T14:10:00.003-07:00

While Bailey was practicing her gymnastics yesterday, Bridger and Brynzi decided to join in. It was pretty entertaining and I was able to catch some of it on tape.

A new head

2009-12-17T00:25:00.003-07:00

While racing me to his bed the other day, Bridger cracked his head on the headboard. The next day it was still tender and he really wanted to go to the doctor. When I told him that the doctor couldn't fix it, he got real serious and said, "Then I want a new head. I don't want this one anymore." What a silly kid.

What do you do?

2009-12-07T10:20:00.007-07:00

Let me introduce you to my little boy. His name is Bridger and he is almost 3 years old.

Cute isn't he?

Now let me tell you about my little boy. My little boy loves...really LOVES to hunt trouble. He literally gets a twinkle in his eye and a silly grin when he knows what he is about to do is BAD! The other day he climbed up on the kitchen stool and saw there was a pair of scissors there. His eyes lit up and he said "oooh scissors". Luckily I was right there and removed them from his trouble hunting fingers. My couch has already seen the result of Bridger and scissors. The same thing happens with pencils, markers and crayons. My home is filled with his beautiful artwork. Now let me share the latest of his diabolical plans.

Sunday after church I was cooking dinner and the kids where helping me put away the last of the groceries from my late night Saturday grocery trip. I handed Bridger a 12 pack of toilet paper and asked him to put it in the closet in my bathroom. Being the good helper that he is he got right to it. Several minutes later I realized that he had not returned. I yelled his name and he called back...he was still in my bathroom. Now knowing my little boy the next thing I yelled was "Are you making a mess??" Again he called back..."Yes". As I walked into my room this is what I found...

Wait theres more...

See his little head poking out...what you can't see is the grin on his face as he waits for my reaction.

"Cheese!", he says.

All that hard work must have been exhasting. He fell asleep while doing penance in his room.

So tell me what do you do??

Man I love this show!

2009-11-20T08:28:00.003-07:00

Halloween

2009-11-03T09:05:00.005-07:00

We had such a great Halloween! We love spending holidays with family and prefer the traditional house to house trick or treating so we headed to Fruit Heights for the day. When we got there we helped Grandpa rake leaves in the front yard and the kids thought it was pretty cool that they got to climb on the roof while Grandpa cleaned out the rain gutters.

Rooker, Bridger and Brynzi took a ride in the wheelbarrow and helped throw the leaves in the garden. Bridger was a big help as you can see. :D We also ate yummy chilli and treats that Marie made and had some delicous homemade rootbeer.

About 6 o clock we headed out. The kids were so excited. Crystal and Rooker took the lead and they all litterally RAN from house to house.

Bridger was not about to be left behind and ran right along with them. He was really cute. He would get to the door and say "Trick or treat give me candy!" Eventually he wore out and I ended up carrying him. Then he got picky about which houses he wanted to go to. Yes this house...no that house. What a goofy kid.

Here is a pic of my little spooks. Crystal was a sorceress, Bailey a cute witch and Rooker was a Cobra ninja from GI Joe. Bridger was supposed to be a mountain man but we lost his coon-skin cap and he latched onto a pumpkin jester hat. Brynzi was a monkey.

Crystal and Brynzi with Uncle Joe.

This is the caravan of adults that was following all the kids. Such good company!

And eventually Brynzi just fell alseep on Uncle Ben. Awww.

Randomness

2009-08-25T16:18:00.005-06:00

I'm actually feeling in the mood to blog. It probably has something to do with the 6 loads of laundry sitting in my room waiting to be folded and put away...
Anyways I thought I would share some random things I got off of my camera.

What do you get when you put Bridger in his room for pulling his sister's hair?

A whole tube of desitin smeared all over him, the door and the carpet.

A super cheesy picture of Bailey at Cherry Hill. I especially love the woman's hiney in the background haha!

Check out that backbend!

Bridger's new Diego shoes that he wears all the time....regardless of whether he is wearing anything else...

First day of school...they actually look like they like eachother!

Yeah...I'm not sure where these came from. Looks like "someone" was trying to get some shots of her glamor makeover. She should fire her photographer :P

And here is some shots of Brynzi in all her cuteness. I just couldn't stop taking pictures of her crawling around. Check out those cute boots I found and couldn't resist.

BANG!

2009-08-24T11:38:00.004-06:00

Mark and I love games...card games, board games, computer games we like it all. Mark is constantly researching and brings home new games often. BANG! is one of my favorite games ever. It is a wild west game done by an Italian publisher which makes it kinda funny. Don't worry it does have english subtitles. To play, each person is given a role card. This card determines whether you are the Sheriff, Deputy, Outlaw, or the Renegade. Only the sheriff reveals who he is. In order to win the game the sheriff must kill the outlaws and renegade, the outlaws must kill the sheriff, or the renegade must be the last man standing. You also get a character card such as El Gringo or Slab the Killer which gives you special abilities.

As you go through the game you pick up items such as guns and horses, evade wild indian attacks, survive the exploding dynamite and tons of other stuff. Ahh...what a fun game. Now I just want to play!

Yellowstone Top 10

2009-08-04T22:54:00.003-06:00

To go with the pictures I posted I thought I would share a few highlights from our Yellowstone trip. So here is my Top 10 Moments...in no paticular order.

#10: Finding out there was a grizzly bear frequenting the campground we were staying at and having to be very careful with our food and such. Sure the food was in the car but what about my dirty, smelly sleeping children in the tent....

#9: Bridger climbing into the car and saying "Drive me Mom. There's bears out there!" ater Mark told him the bears would get him if he didn't go to bed. Eventually I convinced him that if we were very quiet we could hide from the bears in our tent.

#8: The kids playing "toilet tag" Inspired by the latrine style restroom they were forced to use.

#7: Riley (Carolyns almost 5 yr old) refusing to use a bathroom with out running water. Pretty funny lol.

#6: Making the bathroom run with my sisters with Jonathan lurking in the shadows while we totally freaked ourselves out telling weird stories and then having to walk back to my tent all alone.

#5: Having to stop every 15 mins to let yet another kid out to pee in the bushes while driving the upper loop in Yellowstone....seriously who kept giving those kids access to the water bottles haha!

#4: Boiling stinky mud, Old Faithfull, hikes, a petrified tree, misquitoes, "Bird Poo Mountain" (thats what the kids called it anyways lol), breathtaking views, buffalo, elk, a bald eagle, and even a bear.

#3: Realizing Rooker was missing and then realizing that he is the one standing a neighboring campers table with his coonskin hat on and a stick in his hand yelling and having a blast with his new found friends.

#2: Traffic jams caused by a chipmunk...okay maybe a bear who knows, we couldn't see anything half the time but comeon people move it off the road....and I don't think that buffalo wants to be pet....

and

#1 Spending time with my awesome family(aww)

Camping in Yellowstone

2009-07-31T22:45:00.000-06:00

There she goes!

2009-05-21T14:02:00.005-06:00

Little Z

2009-05-18T12:41:00.009-06:00

This little girl is growing so fast. She is constantly on the move and so close to crawling at 5 months!

The goats like that walker as much as Brynzi.

The ladybug hat that she got from Aunt Sadie. So cute!

She can sit on her own now.

She loves that cat!

Just like her mom...

2009-05-13T13:49:00.004-06:00

Bailey came in with her hand over her forehead like she was trying to hide something. She tried to evade all of my questions until I finally put the story together. Turns out she was riding the scooter down our new slide and it was a little bit of a wild ride. This kid cracks me up. She didn't shed a single tear and reassured me that it was a good idea because when she did it earlier it was fun. I never know what she is going to do next. At least all she got was a knot on the head and not a broken neck!

Stop that car!

2009-04-22T17:12:00.008-06:00

Yes...that would be my son speeding away down the road naked as the day he was born!

A couple people got quite a chuckle as they passed him by and he gave his big cheesy smile and waved away.

Too bad no one got pictures of the mom w/baby in hot pursuit! LOL

things I really need to blog about....

2009-04-13T11:29:00.002-06:00

Crystals 8th birthday
Crystal's baptism
Spiderman Rooker
Cruise 09

Families are forever

2009-02-20T14:45:00.005-07:00

Last Wednesday we took our family through the Draper Temple Open House. I was really glad that we were able to go. My mom has been trying to come down and go with us but it has been hard to find a day that would work. Finally I just decided that we were going to go before we missed out on it. The tour took about 2 hours plus the hour drive but the kids really were great. While we were driving there the kids about drove us nuts asking "Are we there yet?" They were so excited that they were going to be able to go inside. As a mom it doesnt get much better than holding up a child so they can catch a glimpse of eternity as they look into the mirrors in the sealing room or walking through the Celestial Room with thoughts of heaven and my own forever family.

This and that

2009-02-12T09:24:00.008-07:00

I thought I would do a post with some random stuff.

Brynzi smiles and coos now. She let loose a couple big laughs a while ago when the kids were wrestling next to her but we haven't got her to do it again since.

We went sledding with Garrrett and Carolyn for thier ward elder's quorum party last time we were home. Mom watched the 2 babies and it really was a lot of fun. Garrett had his snowmobile there and hauled us to the top of the big hill. After we were all sledded out they started a fire and we roasted hotdogs and and drank hot chocolate. Thanks for inviting us guys!

haha we look kinda rough there!

We also purchased a real dining room table to replace the hand me down that we had been using the last 9 years. We actually can all sit around the table for dinner now and it has been really nice.

Fill in the blanks

2009-02-11T22:57:00.004-07:00

Bridger is so funny to talk to right now. He is a total jabberbox and just talks nonstop. He isn't satisfied with just a 4 word simple sentence anymore. You can really see that he has whole complex thoughts running through his head that he wants to express but the problem is that he doesn't know all the words that would do that. What you end up getting is a run on sentence with a funny mumble to take the place of the word/words he doesnt know how to say. Such a cute little guy.

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said...

2009-02-06T15:59:00.003-07:00

I took Brynzi and Bridger in for well checks today. While Brynzi was all smiles and cuteness Bridger was as stubborn as can be. He was not to sure about the whole Dr. thing. He has been healthy as a horse since the day he was born and has only been in for well checks. The last one was when he was 12 months. He refused to get on the scale and I ended up having to hold him and then re-weigh myself. While getting his head measurements he tried to get away and tripped and hit his head on the floor. Finally we had to pin him down on the mat to get his height. Needless to say he was not a happy camper but as soon as we left him alone he was peachy. Thankfully it turned out he was all up to date on his shots so he didn't have to have any. Brynzi on the other hand wasn't so lucky. She had 3 shots and one oral vaccine. Its nice when they're too little to care!

Bridger weighed in at 27 lbs (40%) and is 36 inches tall (97%). I think he's going to be like his Uncle Jonny...tall and skinny. I am actually supposed to pack in extra calories for him where ever I can. She doesn't want him getting any skinnier. I wish I had that problem!

Brynzi weighed in at 10.5 lbs (60%) and was 22.3 inches tall (60%). She is our perfectly perporionate baby.

Busted!

2009-01-24T21:59:00.010-07:00

I was going through some old pictures and found these...

That would be Crystal and Rooker and yes...those are eggs smashed all over his head. What makes me "crack" up is that he seems to be pretty happy about the whole thing.

Let's see...here she is again.

And one more time...

What a little stink! I can't believe she is almost 8 now!!

What a sweetie!

2009-01-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

She's here!

2008-12-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

Brynzi joined our family at 7:58 am Monday December 1st. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 15 oz. and 20 inches tall. Everything went excellent. I love Alta View Hospital. Their staff is always great and my doctor did such a great job. My recovery from the c-section has been quick and I was all ready to check out by Wednesday morning. It really is good to come home to everything. I have such a hard time "taking it easy" so the biggest thing for me is to try not to over do it. So far Brynzi has been such a sweetie and has the softest most kissable head. What makes newborns so snuggable!

It's official!

2008-10-22T22:11:00.000-06:00

Today I scheduled my repeat C-section for December 1st at 7:30 am. I'm so glad I don't have to sit around waiting for labor pains or my water to break :P Yay! Meanwhile the kids have been working overtime to convince me that I am going completley nuts. I am starting wonder how in the world I am ever going to handle it all with a new baby. I recall feeling the same way before Bridger was born too...hopefully things will settle down and I will actually survive number 5.

6 Random Facts

2008-09-15T12:56:00.000-06:00

1. I was born and raised on a small dairy farm in rural Southeastern Idaho. I was big into FFA and competed on all the teams. I even ran for a state office and made it to the final cut.

2. I married the first guy I actually ever dated. I met Mark at USU when I was 18. We started dating in March 1999 and were married in July. He is also the first and only guy I have ever kissed.

3. I am a computer gamer. I have loved them since i was a kid. It's a hobby that Mark and I both enjoy.

4. I am a very unorganized person.

5. I love to read but have a hard time finding books I actually enjoy. When I find a book I like, I simply can not put it down until I am done. If I can put it down...it is likely that I will never finish it.

6. I am anti-social. I don't like to be around people that I don't know well and I feel very out of place and uncomfortable in a crowd.

I tag Melodie and Carolyn.

I was wrong. It's a GIRL!

2008-07-05T19:45:00.001-06:00

Thats right. Even though I was sure our next baby was a boy, I was wrong. I had my ultrasound done on Wed. and it was really fun. I was the first appointment that day and the Dr. had been called out to do a c-section so I was pretty much the only patient in the office. The specialist who did my ultasound was great and because the office was pretty much empty she took lots of time. They also have one of the new 4D machines which was fun to watch. You can actually see a baby! While we were watching, she let loose a HUGE yawn. It was sooo cute! How can anyone say unborn babies are not alive???!!!???

How'd it do that??

2008-06-25T21:06:00.000-06:00

Tuesday morning we were in a rush to get out the door to go to Lagoon. I had my arms full of towels and swim stuff and added our camera to the top of my pile. I loaded everything into the back of the suburban and we were off. Well when we got to Lagoon Mark went to the back to unload and peaked around the corner at me holding up the camera and looking at me funny. Turns out I had set the camera on the back bumber while loading the towels and such and forgot to put it in the car. It rode all the way there perched on the back bumber. Its a good thing it made it cause I would have driven myself totally crazy trying to figure out where I put it, never realizing that it was smashed to bits somewhere on I-80. Doh!!

Calvin and Hobbes

2008-06-24T01:17:00.001-06:00

You may think less of me...

2008-06-24T00:49:00.000-06:00

...but I love watching reality TV shows. My favortie by far is The Bachelor/Bachelorette. It's lame (I know!) but I look forward to watching it every Monday night. I have all my opinions about which ones I do and do not like. I get excited when one I don't like gets booted off the show, and I love trying to figure out who is going to make it to the end. Poor Mark gets to listen go me give him a recap :P Secretly I think he enjoys it too!

Stockton 2nd Ward

2008-06-23T09:17:00.000-06:00

Well we are now part of the new Stockton 2nd Ward. Yesterday when we got to church I noticed the Stake Presidency sitting on the stand. I thought to myself that it must be Ward conference or something. After the opening song the counselor conducting turned the meeting over to the Stake Pres. who then informed us that the day had finally come to split the Stockton ward. He gave the new boundries (which are basically Stockton- Stockton 1st and Rawhide/Southrim-Stockton 2nd) and then released EVERYONE in the 2nd ward from thier callings. It was pretty crazy. Our new bishop will be awesome and I am really excited to have this finally happen. It will be interesting to see how this works...one week doesn't seem like a lot of time to organize an entire ward.

In case you didn't know....

2008-05-13T13:23:00.000-06:00

We are expecting another additon to our family :) Thats right number 5 is on the way! I am about 11 weeks so far (due date is Dec 7) and had my first doctor appointment last week. I had been really nervous about having a miscarriage so when the doc found the heartbeat and it was loud and strong I was very very relieved. Everything seems to be going just fine. I am however "very anemic" and working on trying to hold down the iron supplement and pre-natal vitamins (which so far I have not been successful :( That stuff will make you sick as a dog!). Maybe one day I will get some of my engery back...but until then I will enjoy my 3 hour afternoon nap that I can't seem to function without right now :)And just for the record...my prediction is its a boy.

Propane sucks!

2008-04-21T15:23:00.000-06:00

I just recieved a call from our propane company informing me that prices have risen and that they will be increasing our monthly budget amount to make up for it. Of course gas prices always fluctuate and I expected an increase but check this out. Last year it went up $10/month. This year $65/month! Is it just me or is that insane?? Maybe its time to look at other heating options.

Irrational Fear or Not??

2008-04-15T16:22:00.000-06:00

Some of you may know that I am extremely freaked out by snakes. It doesn\'t matter to me if it is really just a harmless little garter snake they still just creep me out. Last summer we had a little episode where our cat brought in a little snake and left it in our bathroom while Mark was at work. Just thinking of it gives me chills. Well, today Curt (our contractor for the basement) called me downstairs. He told me he wanted to show me something they had found and he started to lead me to a small box. Immediatley I got nervous and told him he was freaking me out. They opened the box and inside was (of course) a snake...but not just a snake...a baby rattlesnake! Apparently it was in our mechanical room (where we had put all thier equipment) and they were just going to grab it and then decided its color and pattern were a little different so they scooped it into a container and looked it up on the internet to be sure. Honestly I am horrified. Now I keep having visions of snakes coming out of the vents and stuff out of horror films. What if there is a nest of them...???!!! Ok, I\'m not think going to think about that :P I\'m just going to hope that it is taken care of and won\'t happen again but I will be on the lookout and more cautious. Thanks Curt for taking care of it for me!So, who wants to come hang out in our new basement....????.... :D

Home Depot Fiasco

2008-04-11T13:21:00.000-06:00

Yesterday the basement was supposed to be finished with the final inspection happening today. I don\'t think it is going to happen. :( Right now none of the bathroom plumbing is in, door/closet hardware is still not on and the bathroom vanity is still in peices. I figured they would show up really early this morning to try to finish things up but it is 10:30 and still no sign of them. Truly, I'm not horribly surprised, do contractors ever finish when they say?? I do have to write about the craziness that happened yesterday. Around lunch the workers came up and asked me if I had the screws for the hinges I had bought...umm....oops....didn\'t even cross my mind when I bought them. So they headed into Home Depot to pick them up for me. Later that afternoon they came up with yet another problem....the hinges were not the right ones...sigh... Of course they had just returned from Home Depot so I loaded up the kids and headed in. (Just a quick trip in and out of Tooele takes about an hour...especially with kids) So we get to the store and I start unloading everyone and suddenly realize I do not have my wallet! Things are just not going my way! I decided to try to see if they would issue me a gift card for my return, which they did but they ended up only having half of the hinges I needed in stock. It was enough for them to get started hanging doors and then Mark brought the rest home with him. Just one of those days!

April Fools

2008-04-01T19:32:00.000-06:00

Crystal came home from school today and was excited to tell me about April Fools. Her teacher told them that for lunch today there was only one choice and that was onions and liver. Then she tells me very dramatically, "I HATE onions and I have NO IDEA what liver is!".

Bailey Cutie Pie

2008-04-01T19:19:00.000-06:00

As you can see from the previous post Bailey is a miscievious stinker. Honestly she can be such a pain. From getting dressed to going to bed she is just a pain. But how do you stay mad at a little girl who will look at you with deep brown eyes, wrap her little arms around your neck and say, "Mom, you make my heart so happy."

Mystery solved

2008-04-01T13:18:00.000-06:00

Latley I keep finding little snippets of blond hair around the house. Its not much but enough to tell me that Bailey has been snipping away at her hair. I keep telling her that only the "hair cut lady" cuts our hair. Well this afternoon Bailey was trying to pull her pig tails out. When I saw her pulling at them I asked her what she was doing. She told me she wanted the hairbands out and then asked me where the big scissors were. !!Whoa there sister!! So then I gave her a big lecture about how scissors are NOT a good way to get her hair bands out. I tried to take them out for her but she was adamant that she was going to do it. Of course not even 2 minutes later I see her tear down the hall to her bedroom with the scissors in hand. I got to her before she had time to carry out her devious plan but I am pretty sure I know what those mysterious snippets of hair I have found are.

Kids + Grocery Store =....

2008-03-27T11:17:00.000-06:00

Once in a while I take all my kids into the grocery store. Most times I swear I will never do it again. Tuesday was one of those days. I had a few checks that needed to be deposited and a couple grocery items for dinner to pick up. No big deal...right...?? Really, the kids were pretty good most of the time. I grabbed all the things I needed and headed to the front of the store. Of course the ONE register they had open had a line so I opted for the self checkout lane. That was a mistake. As soon as I begin to scan my items, Bailey suddenly has to go to the bathroom. Apperantly it was urgent and she starts dancing around announcing to everyone over and over that she has to pee NOW! Bridger has also had it. It is way past his nap time and he starts crying and attempting to climb out of the cart. I am trying to scan the items as fast as I can. Meanwhile Rooker thinks it is the coolest thing he has ever seen and cant keep his hands off of the scales and the scanner. I get to my last item, which of course is produce...with no number on it. My temperature is rising as the situation escalates. I wait for the lady to finish with another customer and get the code but in my hurried attempt to input it....yep...I missed a number. I now have to wait for the checker to come to my assistance. Well we did make it through the checkout line and we made a dash for the restrooms only to be cut off by a 90 year old man in a motorized cart. Bailey did make it in time :) Kids sure keep life interesting.

About time...

2008-02-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

As we speak, 4 adorable, woolie little lambs are on their way to our house. I asked Steph to keep an eye out for some animals for me (she is an animal science major at USU). She called on Wednesday and told me the university farm had 8 bum lambs they were giving away and asked if I wanted some of them. I am super excited....and a little nervous. We raised some bum lambs when I was a kid and I was also in charge of 23 bum lambs when I worked at the historical farm when I was in college. That was like 8 years ago! Hopefully I will remember what I know and be able to keep them alive. Its going to be a fun project for me and the kids. Yay!

Geneology I am doing it...???

2007-12-17T16:27:00.000-07:00

I have been working on digitalizing (if that isn\'t a word or is spelled wrong I appologize! :D) a HUGE book of histories that my mom gave to me after I volunteered to transfer them to her family history website. Anyways, it really is neat to read and learn about my ancestors but honestly it can be very depressing! I have found my self shedding tears a few times...overwhelmed with how crappy life could be back then. The one that has me most upset is the story of Catherine Mary Griffiths. She is not technically my ancestor...she was the 4th wife of Heman Hyde (what a great name!lol) who is a great great great something (I haven\'t got it all put together in my head). Anyways she imigrated from Wales and at age 34 became the 4th wife of Heman (who was in his 70s! I really dont get the whole polygamy thing...) Well she had 2 children who died with in a month of each other from scarlet fever at the age of 4 and just under 3 years old. Heman died 5 years after that. She never remarried and lived alone in a small house next to the 3rd wife. She died at the age of 71 and was burried next to Heman with no headstone (while everyone else has one!). The only thing that was remembered about her by one of the grandchildren of the first wife is, \"If he remembers the right person as Catherine, she was short and on the heavy side.\" How terrible is that! For some reason I am very compelled by her story and wish I knew who she really was.

Family Scripture Study and FHE

2007-12-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

Recently Crystal has been bugging me help her read out of her scriptures. Me being the great mom that I am kept pushing it aside and telling her "not now"...etc. The couple times that we did sit down and read a verse or whatever I was impatient. Finally I told her that she was too little to understand them...it was too hard...blah blah blah... She just looked at me and taught me a great lesson in one sweet little sentence. "Mom, I don't care if I understand them...I just want to read them."Needless to say we will be starting a family scripture time tonight after FHE. I'm sure it will only be a couple verses...nothing huge...but my kids will begin to learn that the scriptures really are important and that we do not have to have a perfect understanding of them to read them. And I'm sure as we read and study as a family we will all have an increase in our understanding of them. On a side note, our FHE's have been awesome the last few months. We actually remember to do it for one thing (yay!). I made a simple chart that we rotate around and the kids get all exited about their job. It is always very simple only takes about 20-30 minutes. It feels good to know that we are following the counsel of our Prophet! One more thing off the "guilt list"...many more to work on :D

Worst movie ever!

2007-11-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

Mark and I decided we were way overdue for a date night. Saturday afternoon we left the kids with Joe and went to lunch and a movie. Lunch was great! We went to a sushi restraunt and I tried unsucessfully to figure out chopsticks and had to ask for a fork. For some reason chopsticks are just beyond my ability to use. The food great! The Philadelphia sushi was probably my favorite...it had smoked salmon, cream cheese, and avacoado wrapped in the rice...mmmm. Anyways after that we went to see Beowulf. Honestly I didn't know anything about this movie. I had not seen a trailer or heard much about it. I did remember reading the poem in English somewhere along the way. I thought it was going to be some epic show like Gladiator or something. BOY was I WRONG! This movie was terrible!!!! The whole thing is digitally animated which made it really lame-o to me. I couldnt figure out why they would do that. On top of that it was horribly, horribly, gory. Seriously that is the bloodiest most disgusting show I think I have ever seen. After about 25 mins of torture I finally got up and left the theature. (I should have left after 5!!) Instead I sat in the car and read my book. Which I enjoyed much :)

Dear Santa

2007-11-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

Rooker is VERY excited about Christmas this year...more so than any of the kids have ever been. He got a pencil and paper tonight and informed me that he was going to write Santa a letter. He carried it around with him for about 2 hours. Rooker cant write yet of course...he does know different letters and such but he was very careful adding letters and "words" to his paper. When finally he announced his letter was done, I asked him what it said. He looked at me with his intense "Rooker face" and said "I don't know....but Santa will know what it says."

Tornados and Potatoes

2007-07-02T19:36:00.000-06:00

We were all outside enjoying the hot summer weather today and the kids were all having a ball in the kiddie pool and sprinklers. I noticed a big dust whirlwind and was teasing the kids that there was a tornado coming. Rooker didn\t know what that was so I told him it was a big wind storm. Not sure what they are doing but it sounds like someone has been doing some blasting on the mountains around. Every so often you can hear the rumbles....sounds like thunder. So anyways a little while after our tornado discussion there was the rumble. Rooker comes flying around the corner of the house yelling, "MOM! I HEARD THE POTATO!!!"

We bought a Suburban!

2007-06-29T16:00:00.000-06:00

It is sooo nice. By far the nicest vehicle I have ever owned :) I love all the room and the kids love the nice 15 inch screen DVD player. It was kinda funny when we told the kids we were going to get rid of the van for the new car they got pretty upset.One of our neighbors drives a suburban almost exactly like the one we bought...she is also a blondie and very outgoing and involved in the neighborhood. So as I drive down the road everyone waves at me...I wonder how long it will take them to figure it out...

More info on the fire

2007-06-28T11:59:00.000-06:00

Turns out it was some kids playing with firecrackers that started the fire. It burned the entire empty lot in between thier house and the Beards. Looks like the only damage it did was melt the new vinyl fence that was put in a couple weeks ago. It was pretty amazing that it didnt explode the Jolleys' propane tank. It burned right around it.

A little neighborhood excitement

2007-06-27T19:57:00.000-06:00

About 45 mins ago Crystal came in the house all out of breath saying that Annalee and Eric's (2 houses down from us) house was on fire. I ran outside to see what was going on and sure enough flames where shooting up all around thier house. Not sure yet how close it really got to thier house...as it burned from the front of their lot to the back it looked more like it was in the empty lot next to them. I can't even imagine how freaky that must have been to stand there and watch those flames come so close to your home. Things can happen so fast...one minute you are sitting in your house watching TV or whatever and then next you can be standing there watching your house burn and theres nothing you can do but watch.

Rooker's Headaches

2007-06-20T12:10:00.000-06:00

A week ago, Tuesday, on the way to Lagoon, Rooker started complaining that he had a headache. By the time we got to Fruit Heights he was sobbing from the pain. The same thing happened every morning. About 10:00 I could see him starting to rub his head above his left eye. Asprin seemed to help but he would still cry and cry and then fall asleep. Monday I took him into the Dr. They checked his eyes and everything else. Everything seemed just fine. But no explanation as to why he would be having the recurring headaches. She referred me to Primary Childrens to have a CT Scan done. I told Rooker that they were going to take an xray of his head and he was way excited that they were going to take a picture of his sketeton bones :P Well the CT scan showed some extra fluid in his sinus cavity but nothing that should be causing him any pain. There was also no tumor or growth of any kind that we needed to worry about (which was a huge relief!). They gave him an antibiotic to get rid of the fluid in his sinuses and told us that they wanted to do an MRI to look a little deeper. So we are headed back tomorrow for the MRI. Maybe we will never know what was causing them. He didn't have one yesterday and hopefully they are gone for good. I guess we will just have to see.

The New Testament

2007-06-14T12:40:00.000-06:00

Mark and I had a kinda went through a slump as far as scripture study goes. Sunday we finally started it up again. We started in Acts and have been reading several chapters a night. Seriously the scriptures are awesome! I really enjoy reading them....so why is it so hard to stay in the mode and so easy to slack off. ><

Tim & Faith Concert

2007-06-13T23:09:00.000-06:00

So Eddie called Monday afternoon and asked if I would like to go to the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert that night with Sadie. I met up with Sade in Bountiful and she drove us downtown. (I have lived here 8 years and am still afraid to drive downtown :P) The concert was great! Faith Hill has an AMAZING and powerful voice. The concert lasted about 3 hours. I couldn\'t beleive how her voice could hold out like that. I loved watching the people down on the floor next to the stage. Any time Tim or Faith would take a step towards on end or the other you could just see the people flood from their chairs to the stage edge. Then there was the awesome back up singer. I cant even describe him...lets just say he really got into it LOL. I also thought it was kinda funny that Tim changed his out fit more than Faith. He reminded me of the show Maverick. Anyways they put on an awesome show and I am definalty going to go again next time they are in SLC. Thanks Eddie :)

Snakes! yikes!

2007-05-25T15:26:00.000-06:00

What is it about snakes that totally wigs me out?? Mark found this big blow snake in our yard the other day and decided to pick it up....I was just disgusted. I have dealt with some pretty disgusting stuff in my life and I dont consider myself to be the squeamish type....but man, he picked up that snake and I was such a baby! The kids loved it :P Then the cat brought a little tiny water snake into the house this morning. I was pretty sure it was dead so I got a little tissue but when I picked it up it started to move! Gives me the shivers just thinking about it. I had to wake up Mark to get rid of it for me. I seriously hate snakes!

A day all to myself!

2007-05-25T03:42:00.000-06:00

So I have one full day all to myself....what in the world am I going to do all day???? Lets see, here is my list of things I would like to accomplish:
Go the the gym
Take the cat to the vet
Get the car tires aligned
Make dentist appointments
Shampoo the front room carpet
Get a hair cut
Clean the basement and DI EVERYTHING!
Fold the laundry
Clean the bathrooms
Play some WoW

Sounds like a good day to me :)

Growing boy

2007-05-22T16:06:00.000-06:00

Wow, Bridger is growing so fast! 4 months old now...time flies. He is already getting mobile too. I set him down and he rolls all over and if he sees something that is out of reach he will scoot himself over too it. He still doesnt have a lot of baby fat. Definatley not a chunky baby. I\'m pretty sure that he is going to be blonde haired and blue eyed....FINALLY!! :)

The Almo School

2007-05-19T18:56:00.000-06:00

I had a rare opportunity to attend the Almo School....a two room school house in the heart of the Almo valley built in 1916. Mrs. Cahoon taught in the "little" room, K-2nd while Mrs. Aaragon had the 3rd-6th grades in the "big" room. There was also a lunch/multi purpose room. My grade was larger than most with a grand total of 5 students (Ryan, Jason, Becky, Kaylene and I). It also had aProbably the most memorable thing about school was recess. It was during this time that we trasformed from school kids into wild horses and cowboys. Let me tell you, we really got into it. The trees became forts (usually one for the girls and another for the boys). We used bark with ground up bricks and wild rose berries for jerky. Grass and the russian olives were gathered for hay and oats for the horses. We even dug holes and lined them with plastic bags so they could be filled with water from the creek. Jump ropes were used to catch your horses. And you always had to be ready for attacks from the rival forts who could steal your prized horses and take prisoners.One time someone brought a pair of handcuffs and Becky was captured and chained to the fence up in the willows. When the bell rang,(the bell was an old fashioned rope pulled school bell) everyone ran inside and totally forgot about her. Eventually the teacher realized that she was missing and she was rescued.Another neat thing that I remember was learning to square dance. Every year we would sing and dance at an \"old folks\" home in Burley. We would spend weeks practicing, with Mrs. A playing her accordian.We also put on a play every year just before Christmas. One year I was given the lead boy role :P I didn\'t mind I was such a tom boy anyways. I even had to sing a solo! (O.o)

and it continues....

2007-04-04T16:53:00.000-06:00

Earlier I related my frustration with my insurance company....well today I recieved a new statement from the hospital informing me that I am past due with payment. So I called up my insurance company yet again and just inquired as to the status of the claim. I was not surprised when he gave me the same information that I was given 3 weeks ago....so typical! Anyways I polietly informed him of my frustration that nothing had been done regarding my earlier call. Lucky me I was actually talking to someone who was willing to do his job. HE made all the calls....even talked to supervisors to make sure that things got corrected and said the check would be sent within 7 days. Thankyou Steve!

Ice boogers

2007-03-31T11:51:00.000-06:00

Crystal loves to tell me about all the things she learns at school. Sometimes though she gets confused or doesnt hear the teacher clearly or forgets by the time she gets home....anyways the end result can be quite funny. She does this alot and I have to figure out what she is trying to tell me about. A "cyote" bear (koala)lives in trees and eats leaves. My favorite by far though is the very dangerous ice "boogers" (burgs) by Antartica.

Learning to read

2007-03-26T12:54:00.000-06:00

Crystal has really tanken off in her reading. It has been really fun to see everything just start to click. She can figure out most words in books and can write simple sentences. She loves words and figuring out what they say. She even stopped to read the graffiti on the park playground...(O.o)

Goodbye Quicken

2007-03-26T12:47:00.000-06:00

We finally dumped Quicken as our money management system. I have been hating quicken for a while now and when it started giving me messages that it would no longer work unless we purchased the new version, I started looking for something more compatible with the way we manage our money. I ended up finding a place called Mvelopes.com. Basically it is a web version of the envelopes system. You set up your accounts, put in your income and then "fund" different envelopes. Each time you log in it checks your accounts and downloads any new transactions. You just click and drag the expenses to the envelope that it corresponds to. It is really simple and clean. You can customize all the envelopes and you can always see exactly how much $$ you have left for fuel, or groceries...etc. Plus it is all kept online. You dont put any software or anything on your computer. You can log in from any computer anywhere and see what is up with your money. Seriously, I think it is fantastic!

"I'm good"

2007-03-21T14:43:00.000-06:00

Last night when trying to put the kids to bed Bailey was being a stink. She just wouldnt stay in bed and was just a pain. Well she wanted to rock so I took her out to the chair and I told her she was a stinky face (real mature i know :P) So she pouts and in a little whine says "Mom...Im just Bailey Boo...memeber Mom" So I told her no...she was a stinky face. In her most innocent, sweetest voice, she wraps her little arms around my neck and says "I good Mom...member Mom...I just good." Pretty convincing....

...and guess what?!

2007-03-21T14:22:00.000-06:00

Rooker comes running up from the basement to tell me about the spider that he and Bailey had found. It went something like this..."Mom! Mom! Bailey and me found a spider on the 'ment' wall!...and guess what? When I kicked the 'ment' wall....guess what?...(whispers and moves his hand like a spider)...it moved! So I kicked the wall again....and guess what?...(whispers again) it fell off the wall!...and guess what? (whispers) I tried to step on it...but guess what?....(whispers and moves like the spider again) It ran past my boot!....and guess what?....it ran fast...and then slow!...so Mom....come see it! Its 'soakin' cool!!He is just so intense in everything he says. What a funny boy.

Stirring up trouble

2007-03-18T00:48:00.000-06:00

The other day the it was so nice outside that I took all the kids outside and they were helping me put rocks in the window wells. Crystal got home from school and while we were talking Rooker and Bailey disapeared. I figured they were in the sandbox or jumping on the tramp and didnt really think much of it. I sent Crystal into hang up her stuff and she came out and told me that Rooker and Bailey were in the soap. When I went to investigate I first found my clorox spray--lid off--spilled all over the garage. In the kitchen there was an empty windex and fabreez. On the back porch, was Rooker stirring his concoction in the dogs water bowl. Bailey had a rag cleaning her face, arms and legs. Yeah she ended up with a nice chemical burn all over. They never cease to amaze me....

Fe-fi-fo-fum!

2007-03-18T00:34:00.000-06:00

Rooker was being a stink to Bailey tonight...basically smashing her into the floor. He is always pretending to be a giant or a monster of some kind and Bailey is usually the unfortunate target. The other day he put on Mark's boots and you could hear him stomping around the house saying "Fe! (stomp) Fi! (stomp) Fo! (stomp) Fum! (stomp). He really has a crazy imagination. I love it! Anyways...I told him that if he didn't stop and leave Bailey alone I was gonna spank him. So he informed me that he was a giant made of glue and if I spanked him I would stick to him forever.

Insurance Farce

2007-03-12T20:41:00.000-06:00

Ok....I am very glad that I have health insurance but what a pain...really! I have never had anything bigger than a routine office visit go through without problems. Basically I am just going to vent :PI get the insurance claims for Bridger\'s birth and while most things look right the actual hospital stay (which is the biggest chunk) is all wrong. They were charging me a $1000 decuctible PLUS %40 of the balance. My plan is a $500 ded. (which I had already paid!) and then 20%. I have Mark send Mindy (our insurance rep. through workforce) and email explaining the problem. She sends back saying she will look into it. Well I get the mail today and open the actual Dr. bills with the amounts due upon reciept. Since I had not heard anything further from Mindy I decide to call Fiserv directly and find out what is going on. After speaking to a rep she informs me that the hospital where I delivered is \"out of network\". **sigh** I know that it is indeed \"in network\" (it says so on their website) so she tells me that I will have to call Beechstreet directly and have them fax the information proving that it is. She gives me the number to call so I hang up and call Beechstreet. So here we go...the insurance runaround. Beechstreet wont even let you talk to a person if you are a patient. It just gives you a message telling you that they are NOT your insurance provider and that I must deal with problems through my provider. **uggh** So I call Fiserv again...after being transfered to the girl I talked to originally she tells me that I must choose the option that says I am an insurance provider...just to get through their system. And....here we go again....call back finally talk to someone. Yes the hospital is a listed provider...but they dont see a copy of the claim I am refering to....I must call my insurance provider and have them fax the claim with the problem explained. So yeah I call Fiserv again and have them fax it. I just hope it is actually going to get corrected without going through all that again. So I just spent an hour with a fussy baby and 3 other kids wanting my attention, on the phone, trying to fix a problem with the communication between two companies who are supposed to be working together to serve ME!

Bridge to Terabithia

2007-02-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

So Crystal and I went to see Bridge to Terabithia last night. It was only playing at the luxurious Ritz theature in Tooele. Yes, that was sarcasm....the Ritz is a run down building in downtown Tooele....it smells funny and they have weird clown pictures hanging on the wall. Also upon arriving about 10 mins before show time, I found out they only accept cash. No checks, no cards. Honestly I don\'t know how a place like that stays in bussiness. Anywho, we both really liked the show. Its about a boy who is struggling with school and home issues and ends up becoming friends with a new girl who moves next door. She is kinda different, a little quirky and she helps him let go and see things in a new way. It really is a sad story and I ended up crying. I am a sucker for shows like that. I love it when they can make you feel enough for the characters that you just can\'t help it. Crystal looked over at me and pretty much announced to everyone that I was crying. :P Well baby is hungry so I gotta leave it at that I guess.

Little bit of everything...

2007-02-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

First off I should start by saying that we had baby #4 on January 8th, 2007. Bridger Esdras weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz. The c-section went well. With all of my previous surgeries, I have had a lot of scarring and lost a lot of blood (Bailey's delivery being the worst). We pretty much figured that this would have to be our last but amazingly alot of the scarring was gone this go round and we are thinking there may be another :) Bridger is now almost 4 weeks old! Time seems to go so fast.

I love tax season!

2007-01-23T16:35:00.000-07:00

I just finished filing our taxes for 2006. This year I did them completley online. Talk about easy cheesy. I logged onto Taxcut.com and was done in about an hour. They even e-filed them for me. Totally worth the $40. Seriously doing taxes is the best...at least when you are getting a refund. Shall we take bets on how quickly the $$ disapears? Between a $2000 transmission for the van, fixing the red car, and having a baby will there be anything left to finish our fence and some grass in the back yard???? I'll just keep crossing my fingers :)

12 days to go!

2006-12-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

Its getting close! Its been so long since we had a new baby, its going to be a bit of an adjustment. I'm getting really excited to get rid of my big...no HUGE belly. I cant wait till clothes will fit me again. Sometimes I feel like Gus on Cinderella. She pulls the shirt on him and it pops back up over his stomach. Really I can't complain. Its been a good pregnancy. One thing that has been different with this pregnancy is that I have had carpal tunnel syndrome the last 2 weeks or so. My hands are swollen, stiff and sore. They also get numb and tingly alot or fall completley asleep. I\'ve been waking up 3-4 times a night with both hands asleep. K\'Lyn gave me some wrist braces and they have helped alot. Hopefully it will take care of itself after the baby is born.The last few days I have also gotton my first really strange food craving that I can\'t seem to satisfy. I really really want something that tastes like my grandmas root cellar...that moist earthy smell. :P The closest I can come is eating a plain raw potatoe with the skin on.One other fun thing is that this baby loves it when I rub my stomach. He/she will push out and follow my hands. It looks really strange, like something out of a sci-fi movie. Its weird to think that there is probably about a 7 lb baby in there right now!

There are strange things done...

2006-12-27T11:51:00.000-07:00

OK, honestly I think that the Tooele area has an above average number of strange people. I'm sorry...its true! While driving home around the lake, twice I saw people out in the sagebrush. They where equipped with tennis rackets and 30 gal. trashcans, wacking away at the sagebrush. What in the world are they doing?? Anyone shed any light on this? Then there is the guy who spends all summer out on the side of the mountain with his metal detector and sifting box searching through the dirt. When you drive by (even now) you can see all the mounds of dirt wher he sifted....looking for....who knows what. I just dont understand. :)

One of those days...

2006-12-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

OK so yesterday I had a horrible day! It all started Sunday night on the way home from Fruit Heights. Rooker was an emotional wreck and cried and yelled half the way home. Finally he fell asleep and Bailey decided she would pick up where he left off. About 10 minutes from home they finally all fell asleep.
3:00 AMBailey woke up. She gave me all her "stuff" (blankets, pillow, stuffed animals) and wanted to come lay in my bed. That was fine with me. Then she demanded that I carry her as well. >< When I told her I wouldnt she had a COW! Just made me madder...so I went and laid in bed and she screamed and yelled for about 40 minutes. Kinda funny, in the middle of her episode I asked her if she had legs. She stopped crying and said yes she did. SO I asked her if they worked....she said yes to that too and even came in the room enough to show me that they did indeed work. When I suggested that she use them to climb in bed she went right back to her fit. What a stink!
4:30 AMAnyways to make a long story a little shorter, about the time Bailey got back to sleep, Rooker came in. Bailey was taking up most of the bed so I told Rooker that he had to sleep at the foot of the bed. I dont know if he just didnt understand or what but basically I got pushed out of bed. At this point I gave up all together on sleep and went upstairs and played WoW till it was time to get Crystal off to school.
9:00 AMI laid down on the couch and pulled a blanket over my head to rest. Crystal was at school the other two where playing. CRASH! I pulled the blanket down and see our Christmas tree toppled over. Pine needles and yucky water spilled all over the floor. Bailey just sitting semi under the tree. So much for a nap. I tried to set the tree back up. Of course it looked awful and I couldnt get it straight. About 5 mins later it fell over again. That was when I tore everything off the tree and hauled it outside. Bye bye Christmas tree.
1:00 PMMy neighbor Tiffany called and invied us over to play for a while. It was nice; the kids just played while we chatted. Well about 3o'clock we left...or tried to. Rooker had a hard time getting out the door. I couldnt get his boots on and he kept trying to play with stuff. Finally I just carried him outside screaming where we sat for forever still just trying to get his boots on. I was about ready to just carry him and his bike home when Tiffany came back out and took him from me and carried him and his bike)all the way to my house. Him yelling and crying the whole way. Did I mention we have the best neighbors ever :)
To finish off my day, graceful me stumbled while going down the stairs and then stepped on a boot at the bottom and twisted my ankle. Now I am a 9 month pregnant cripple who needs to shampoo her carpets :)
On a side note, my hands have been swollen and stiff and sore. I feel like I have arthritis or somthing...weird. I am falling apart!!
Not to worry though. Today is a new day and I was actually chuckling as I typed this. Amazing what a good nights rest can do. :)

Imaginary Friends

2006-11-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

Well, our first imaginary friend has come to live wiith us. Our pediatrician mentioned that it is very common in 3 yr olds but Crystal never had any. Rooker has made references to \"my guy\" for a while but it never dawned on me what was going on until this morning when he informed me that he needed to take a paper to "my guy". He then headed up the stairs. I thought it was a little strange so I asked him where the guy was. "Right here Mom", and he set the paper at the top of the stairs (like duh mom =P). Its pretty funny and really very interesting. As of now, the guy is playing games on Dads "puter".

Cookin' Marshmallows

2006-11-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

As we speak, Mark and the kids are outside roasting marshmallows around a fire in our backyard. It is also freezing cold, dark, windy and raining! I might also mention that Mark is wearing shorts and flip-flops. =P I guess when you need a fire-roasted mallow, you just gotta have one. I think I will watch from the window this go round.

First kiss...AHHHHH!

2006-10-31T12:21:00.000-07:00

So the other night while tucking Crystal into bed she told me that Ethan tried to kiss her on the bus. Ethan is a boy in our neighborhood that she has become good friends with at school. Anyways, she told me that he kept trying to kiss her on the lips and she told him that you weren\'t supposed to do that. (We have a rule in our house that only grown ups kiss on the lips.) Well, apparently he succeeded in getting his kiss. There is also a boy that she talks about named Andrew at school. Just by the things she says, I think Andrew has a crush on Crystal. "Andrew says I'm pretty." "Andrew always sits by me." "Andrew always looks at me and smiles." AHHH! They are only 5!! I'm not ready for this! This is only kindergarten....imagine Jr. High....**shiver**

Bailey Biker Maniac

2006-10-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

Last week I came into the living room and found Bailey positoned at the top of the stairs on a little ride on car. She was already hanging between the first and second stairs...ready to go. When she saw me she just smiled her cute "Bailey smile" and said, "Catch me Mom!" Haha...I dont think so. I got her off before she really got anywhere. So the next day we went to the Stockton park to play. I had loaded up thier bikes to ride around. First thing she did was haul her hotwheels bike to the top of the playground (which wasnt easy). I just kinda watched to see what she was going to do. I figured she was just going to push it down the slide or something. Well, she finally got it to the top of the tallest curly slide, and without any hesitation climbed onto the bike and once again gave me that smile. I let her know that was probably not the smartest thing she could do and talked her into just pushing the bike down without her on it. Well the next thing I know she had pulled her bike over to the skateboarding ramps and was having a ball. What can I say...she is her mother's child. o.O

Disneyland

2006-10-19T20:24:00.000-06:00

We got home from Disneyland close to midnight Saturday night. Due to some airline problem somewhere we ended up having a 6 hour layover at the LA airport with 7 kids under the age 5. Actually they seemed to handle it pretty good though I have no desire to do it again :P
Disneyland itself was great! I admit there is ZERO rest and relaxation involved in taking 3 little kids to Disneyland but it was worth the sore feet and aching back. Crystal, I think, was at the perfect age for really feeling the "magic" of it. Grandma had got them all autograph books for the characters to sign and even if we didnt get to actually meet the character she would pull out her book and I would help her write down who we had seen. The first evening there we ate at Airel\'s Grotto and while you ate the Disney Princesses would make thier rounds and visit each table. It was really fun. Bailey didnt care much for them but Crystal loved it and Rooker got this huge, cheesy grin every time one came around. It was cute.The highlight of the trip for Rooker was the new Buzz Lightyear ride. About halfway through the line there is a lifesize animated robot of Buzz and he asks you to help him defeat Zurg and his forces. Rooker was just in awe. In the ride you get into a cart and with your own blaster shoot at targets on various robots and aliens and at the end help Buzz take out Zurg himself. After we got off the ride, Rooker put his fist in the air and said "To infinity and beyond!" Crystal and Bailey really liked it too. Bailey would even yell "get'em! get'em!" and had a lot of fun. We ended up going on the ride 3 times.A highlight for Bailey was the Dumbo ride. She watches Dumbo all the time. On Sunday when we got home a neighbor asked the kids if they had fun and they all started talking at once. All Bailey had to say was "I rode on Dumbo!". When we were in one of the shops looking for something Crystal wanted to buy, Bailey found this stuffed Tigger. It was funny cause she would walk around with it then take it back and pick up another stuffed something or other and walk around with it. She kept going back to the Tigger though. It was like she was test driving each one. Tigger won out in the end and yes, he came home with us. :)One of the funnest rides for me was the teacups. No one wanted to go so Daniel and I ended up taking the kids. When Dan would start to spin the cup really fast Bailey would get mad and start yelling "Stop Dan'l!" but when he would stop she would yell "Spin! Spin!" I couldn\'t stop laughing.Friday night there was a parade down Main Street and fireworks after. The parade was really fun for the kids. The fireworks didnt start till about 9:30. It started to rain and the kids were cold and tired so we ended up going back to the hotel.All in all we had a great time and have some awesome memories. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Worry wart

2006-10-19T19:10:00.000-06:00

Last night I finally got Bailey to sleep and crawled into bed when Crystal started yelling my name over and over. Irritated I got back out of bed and went to see what the problem was. "Mom, how many sleeps would it take for my teeth to grow back??" We had been to the dentist that morning and apparently Mark had been talking about how your baby teeth fall out when you are 7 or something. I don't know how long it actually takes for a tooth to grow back...but she was adamant that I give her an answer. Being the good mom I am...I made something up :P We also had an interesting conversation about the tooth fairy and what she did with all those teeth. Anyways I finally got her to say goodnight and settle down. Back to bed I went..."MOM!....MOM!" Once again Crystal yelling at me again. When I got to her room she informed me that Daddy said that if you don't eat anything for 6 sleeps you die. Okay, I thought, not sure where this is coming from but we talked about how our bodies need food to keep working and that is why we eat good food every day. "But Mom! If my teeth fall out and it takes 10 sleeps for them to grow back...how will I eat!!!" Well she finally figured out that all of your teeth didnt fall out at the same time and that she would still be able to eat...and no she would not die. It is funny what goes through a 5 yr olds head.

Green Rider Series

2006-09-23T11:54:00.000-06:00

I grabbed some books from Steph's shelf when I was home last weekend. "Green Rider" and "First Rider's Call" by Kristen Britain were 2 of them. Basically they are a fantasy adventure story about a girl named Karigan. I LOVED these books! I'm not sure what it was about them that I liked so much. I just got pulled into the story. I even cried at the end of the second book :P The first one I read over a few days. The second one I just finished last night. I read it in 2 nights and a day. They are both like 600 pages. Almost a releif to be done with them so I can get on with other things. I have been reading every spare minute. The third book of the series is supposed to come out in July of 2007. I will wait for it anxiously as there are loose ends left in the second.

What Smells?

2006-09-18T02:04:00.000-06:00

We just got home from visiting my parents for the weekend. We now have a freezer, a dresser and a fire ring (an old pivot wheel). Thanks Mom and Dad :) On my way out to help get the dresser in, I stopped to fill up the cat food and left to move the cars around. The next time I went in the garage I noticed a pretty strong skunk smell. What I didnt know was that the skunk was inside our garage...hiding behind the dog house...right by the cat food. Well, we decided we had to get him out. Mark grabbed a shovel and I had the good sense...or so I thought...to stand back on the opposite side of the garage. When he pulled the dog house out a bag of icemelt fell down and I\'m pretty sure he sprayed again. He then made his way under the stairs and yes....to the opposite side of the garage. Over my foot...brushed up against my leg he paused....and I froze. My loving husband laughing his head off wishing he had the camera. Lucky me the skunk decided to move on and trotted off. He left us plenty to remember him by. Peeyew!

I hate maternity pants!

2006-09-14T21:17:00.000-06:00

Ok...I HATE maternity pants. I really, really do. I always hold off as long as I possibly can. Yes I admit that my normal jeans are pretty snug now...especially if I am sitting for a long time...like in the waiting room at the Dr.\'s office....I went to my ultra-sound and we weren\'t able to see a whole lot because he/she was kinda squished (o.O) so I have to have another one next month. I am 22 weeks pregnant and everything is going really good. The things we did see at the ultrasound looked healthy and the dates are on track. Jan. 13th is still the due date. We decided to stick with our decision to not find out the sex of the baby and I am glad we did. It is fun not knowing :) The baby is kicking and moving around alot and I am getting excited for the delivery all ready. I love getting up and going to the hospital, knowing that I am going to have a beautiful baby in a few hours. I also secretly LOVE the first meal I get after I have a baby. I am always sick to my stomach after the C-section and so it is 24+ hours before I get any food. Jello and beef broth...yummm! Things I dont love so much but make me chuckle at the moment....the epidural or some drug they give me makes me incredibly itchy afterwords. Then to help with it they give me a strong dose of Benedryl which makes me kinda wacky...its really kinda funny. I remember with Crystal my Dr. came to see me after they had put the benedryl in my IV...I knew I was being a complete dork but I just couldnt focus on him. The other thing is that they put this HUGE peice of SUPER STICKY adhesive over the incision. It is horrible....it takes like a month to get it to come off all the way. So anyways, if you cant tell I am getting excited for the new baby :P 3 1/2 months to go. ^^

Nothing in paticular

2006-09-14T20:52:00.000-06:00

I was just reading all of Mark's latest blogs...they are the best! I am just going to go off of them so if you have\'t read Mark's you should go and read them :) First off, yes Mark bought a skateboard and his Mom's comment about 29 going on 14 is sooo right on. :P He does love it though! As for riding the bus, he is always telling me about the interesting people he sees and things that go on downtown. Its almost like when your on the mission...like how Ben writes home about all the interesting people he runs into and different situations. Since Mark has been going through downtown several times a week, he's always got stories. Really I think downtown is like a whole other world. As Mark mentioned we are refinancing. It is really crazy how things just seem to fall into place. We got tired of seeing our intrest only loan (20% of our house) go up every month and know that it will never be paid off, so we just kinda spur of the moment decided to go to Well's Fargo to talk about getting rid of it. The loan officer asked us if we had been watching the rates...of course we are clueless...aparently like 4 days before we went in the rates (which had been on the rise) had dropped and been dropping. Anyways we were able to lock in a really good rate :) In the end we are going to be saving over $400 a month and get rid of our crappy intrest only loan!

Scripture Power

2006-09-14T20:27:00.000-06:00

On the way home from Salt Lake the other night, Crystal and I were singing dumb songs and just chatting. The other kids had fallen asleep. Crystal has to talk the ENTIRE way...no sleeping for her. Anyways, out of the blue she quotes a scripture. \"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear\" (Psalms 27:1) Then she started talking about how she loved those words and how pretty they where and how sometimes at night in her bed she would think about it and it would make her feel good.Ok...I was blown away. In primary they are supposed to memorize a scripture once a month. (I think that that was the one for August) Its something that is done on thier own time at home and then during opening excercises they can go up and pass it off.I have never helped her memorize the monthly scripture. I just figured she was still too young...she doesn\'t understand. Then here she is quoting it to me and telling me how she uses it in her own life!**bonks myself on the head!!**So I just think we tend to underestimate our children. The words to the song \"Teach Me to Walk in the Light\" keep coming to mind. It has been one of my favorite hymns the last few years. (I sing it almost every night to Bailey while I rock her to sleep)\"Teach me to walk in the light of his love;Teach me to pray to my Father above;Teach me to know of the things that are right;Teach me, teach me to walk in the light.
Come, little child and together we\'ll learnOf his commandments that we may returnHome to his presence, to live in His sight--Always, always to walk in the light.
Father in Heaven, we thank thee this dayFor loving guidance to show us the way.Grateful, we praise thee with songs of delight!Gladly, gladly we\'ll walk in the light.
First I think of the great responsibility that I have as a mom to teach my children. But then in the second verse it talks about how we are all learning together. We have the same destination--to return to our Father. My children are just as entitled to the promptings of the spirit as me. They CAN understand the scriptures. Sometimes I guess I need to be reminded. Sometimes my children teach ME!

Third Day of School

2006-09-14T19:52:00.000-06:00

I should have blogged about this a while ago but I guess now is just as good :)
The Wed. after school started, Mark was home from work for the day. (He was scheduled to work the night shift) Anyways we decided that it would be a good time to do some shopping and run some errands while we where down a kid. Crystal usually gets off the bus around 12:20-12:30. Well when we where coming down our road at about 12:10 I could see a little girl on a bike. As we got closer I could tell that it was Crystal and she was with our neighbor, Tiffany. I was a little baffled. Apparently Wed. is half a day at the elemetary school so the kindergarteners get home an hour earlier than normal. I felt SOOOO bad. I couldnt believe that it had not been mentioned. I do have to say that Crystal is pretty self reliant. She was smart enough to go to Tiffany\'s before she got all freaked out. She ate lunch and played with Bradon till we got home. I am VERY grateful for good neighbors! Ever since then though, she has been really paranoid that it will happen again. Finally, I wrote Mark\'s cell # and Sadie\'s phone # on a paper and we keep it in her backpack. That way just in case it does happen that I am not here for whatever reason she can get ahold of someone. Downside....she thinks she has to call Dad and Maddey every 10 minutes. Very annoying :P Hopefully the coolness of having phone numbers will fade and she will use them only when she needs to.

2 Nephi 9 The Atonement

2006-08-29T15:06:00.000-06:00

Just finished reading 2 Nephi 9. Jacob, the brother of Nephi is speaking to the people about the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I love the way that Jacob writes. He is so excited about the goodness and the mercies of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Over and over he rejoices in the plan of our Father. There is a plan for us and the key to the plan is the Atonement. Only through the Atonement of Christ can our "joy be full forever" (vs. 18)Such a good chapter! If you havent read it recently, read it.

First day of school

2006-08-29T12:09:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Crystal's first day of scool! We got up, ate breakfast and got dressed. Everything was going good. I took some video of her telling how excited she was to go to school. It was getting close to time for her to go. Crystal wanted some more pictures taken so we went out front. I left Rooker at the back windows to watch for the bus to go by so Crystal would have time to run down to the bus stop. Well that was a mistake on my part...3 year olds dont have the best attention spans. When we were done with the pictures I asked if he had seen the bus yet and he said no. I decided to check out my bathroom window just to make sure. Well, sure enough, the bus was coming down the road! I pretty much pushed her out the door. "The bus is coming. The bus is coming! Go, go! Run! Run!" She had told me that she didnt want me to come to the bus with her, but when she started down the road she stopped and said "Come with me". I felt so bad. I was in bare feet, Rooker and Bailey weren't dressed. And the bus was almost here. My poor child. First day of school. Running as fast as she can down the road. Im sure she was dead tired by the time she got down there (just as the bus pulled up). I felt awful. I never thought I was the kind who would cry the first day of scool, but when I saw her running and tired....and realized that I hadnt kissed her goodbye...I admit I bawled. Then I called my mom and told her what an awful mom I was and cried some more. In spite of it all, Crystal had a great day at school. She really likes her teacher Mrs. S. She met lots of freinds and loved talking to Brooke and Shandra (from her primary class) on the bus. She said she got lost when she went to the bathroom. She did just as I had told her and found a grown up to help her get back to class. She was excited to go back today. I guess life is good.

Super Saturday

2006-08-27T01:08:00.000-06:00

Tis the season...fire season. Every summer Lyman Bros. gets really busy with fire calls. They basically send out guys with satellite trailers and get internet and phones to the fire camps on all the big wild fires around the west. Well most of the guys who get sent out are the 24 hr shift guys, which means that Mark and a few others end up trying to cover everything. Not all bad. It is really nice to have a little extra income :) This last week seemed paticularly busy and I ended up going home for a few days. Crystal has kinda been on a rampage lately. Hoping that school nips it in the bud. Anyways I have just been feeling pretty run down. So today when Mark got home we wanted to do something fun. Mark had seen an advertisment for some dinosaur park while riding the bus and looked it up online and we decided to go. It was perfect. It was a huge botanical garden at the U of U and lurking around in the shrubery and trees were dinosaur replicas. One of the nicest things to me was that there were few people there. There were tons of little niches with benches and such. There was also a pond in the middle with a bazillion ornamental fish and a few ducks. We happened to scrounge up a couple quarters and were able to buy the food and the kids got to feed them. It was just sooo nice. The perfect outing. After we were done exploring the garden we decided to go to eat at the Myan. In case you dont know, the Myan is a themed out restaraunt. You eat in the tree tops and every 30 mins or so there are cliff jumpers and they do a little show on the waterfall in the middle of the place. There are also people who come to each table and make balloon animals for the kids. You also get free cinamon sugar scones at the end of your meal. :)We spent less than $25 for our whole family to eat and be entertained. I think its a great deal! Well, we were seated on the 3 level, at the very top of the tree and Bailey was looking over the railing watching the waterfall and....SHE DROPPED HER BINKI!!!!! I think it landed in right on someones table below , hehe. Well as you may know, Bailey is quite attached to her binki. We took it as an opportunity to get rid of it for good. She kept asking about it but seemed to understand that it was her fault, she lost it, there is NO MORE BINKI. I usually rock and sing a few songs to her before I lay her down. Sometimes I ask her to sing me a song and she will hum me a little tune. Tonight when I asked her to sing, she sang a lovley song about a binki. It was adorable. Goodbye binki!So anyways, I had a great day! It was just what I needed.

Adventures at Grandma Dots

2006-08-08T15:45:00.000-06:00

Growing up I loved the time spent at Grandma's house. My cousin Jennifer lived just across the pasture and we would have all sorts of adventures together. She had a pony named Copper that we would halter and ride bareback around the ranch and pretend we were Indian princesses. One of our favorite things to do was to ride Copper or my grandmas 3 wheeler up to the old windmill and have a picnic. There were also old orchards in the mountains or the beaver dams that we would hike to. One time in paticular, we were going to picnic at the beaver dams. We had ridden the 3 wheeler to the end of the road and started walking across the feilds. This time we had my little sister, Carolyn, with us as well. I think I was about 8 or 9. Anyways as we were walking, there were some cattle lounging in the shade of some trees a ways off. When they saw us, for some reason, they started to run toward us. It scared the tar out of us! Here we were in this large open feild...nowhere to go...and a herd of cattle coming at us! A little ways off was a lone tree...our salvation! We ran to it and climbed up as the cattle surrounded the base of the tree...and stood there...and watched us...and watched us... Finally we just ate our lunch up the tree and waited till the cows eventually lost interest in us and started to wander off. Never did make it to the beaver dams. :P
We also loved to play games at Grandma's. Chinease checkers was grandmas favorite. You'd have to be careful when playing with Jen cause if she was ever about to lose she would shake the board and mess all the marbles up. Other favorites were Slap Jack, Go Fish, and Old Maid. At night we would sneak them into our room and stay up late playing cards and jumping on the bed...usually we got caught too.Before bed, we would always request melted cheese sandwhiches and hot chocolate. In the summer we would usually sleep out on the trampoline or in Grandma's camper. Sleeping outside was always and adventure there. Jennifer had 4 older brothers...who had lots of scary halloween masks. They loved to scare the dickens out of us.
Such great times!

Mmm...fresh bread

2006-08-02T14:13:00.000-06:00

My earliest memories are of the Cove. I remember climbing the little apple tree in the back yard. I remember Mel and I exploring the "forest" along the creek out back. I thought it was magical in those trees. (Going back as an adult, my magical forest is not quite as I remember) We had an old tire swing that swung out over the creek. Mel and I spent alot of time there. One time in paticular, I remember that mom had just made some fresh bread and it was cooling on the counter. I blame Mel (she would have been maybe 5 and me 3)...but somehow we decided we would take the bread and have a picnic or something. Anyways we got a big brown paper bag and loaded up the bread and headed out to our swing. While we were distracted playing the cats got into the bread. I'm sure mom was really happy...

I admit I am blonde

2006-08-02T12:41:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I made a last night I made a late night grocery shopping trip. While in town, I noticed that one of my tires was pretty low so I drove over to a gas station and found an air machine. I scrounged for some quarters and began to fill the tire....or tried at least. I sat there for several minutes. Nothing was happening. The machine was running but my tire pressure was not changing. I had almost decided that the thing was broken, when I noticed a little lever on the hose. Derr! Of course by the time I figured it out my time ran out. Grrr! Anywho, I was able to find 2 more quarters and fill my tire. But hey, I get points for noticing that my tire was low...right?

Cats do have 9 lives....

2006-08-02T12:32:00.000-06:00

So I went to the grocery store late last night and while I was unloading, Oscar (our cat) jumped in. I had no idea and he ended up locked in our van. Well whether he is incredibly lucky or there are some brains in there...somewhere...I dunno. Somehow, though, he ended up turning on the emergency lights. Anyways when Mark left for work, he saw the lights and opened the door to turn them off and out jumped Oscar. I had no plans to go anywhere today. Would I have found him before the van became an oven...??? I think you're down another life kitty.

Ears and Tears

2006-07-27T03:14:00.000-06:00

Last night was rough! Crystal woke up around midnight just sobbing. Her ear was hurting and it was miserable for her. I gave her some tylenol and some ear drops that are supposed to help with ear pain but nothing helped. Finally I woke up Mark and asked him if he would give her a blessing. About 3:30 or so she was able to stop crying but she just thrashed around unable to sleep until she finally crashed at 5:30. When she woke up around 11:00 this morning, she didnt act like it was bothering her anymore. I wasnt sure whether to take her into the Dr. or not. I hate trying to figure that out! Anyways, Mark told me to just take her. Turns out her ear was full of wax way down deep. Took the Dr. 3 times to pull it all out. Yeah, gross. When she could finally see down past all the junk, it turns out she had an ear infection and gave us an antibiotic. Hopefully we all get a little more sleep tonight, cause I am tired!