Sweet

I shouldn't have bought them. In the first place, they are most definitely NOT on my sugar-free diet. Secondly, they were expensive, and I didn't know where they fit into our new budget. But, as I looked at that bag of Jordan Almonds, I thought of my dad. So, I bought them, because in that brief moment they made me feel closer to him.

When all the kids were settled back into the van, I handed out the gummy worms they had begged for. Then, I handed each child a Jordan Almond, explaining that they were my dad's favorite. (At least, I think they were. I remember that whenever we bought candy at movies, they are what he would choose.) Then we were off for our next stop, the grocery store.

After we had finished at the grocery store and were all buckling up to head home, I got a big surprise. 'Lashes asked, "Can I have another candy almond?" Immediately, all the kids wanted more. Bob said, "Since I'm named after him [my father], I think they are my favorite, too!" Sunshine Boy added, "After you suck on them for a little bit you can bite them and the candy coat just melts around the almond making it so delicious!"

I was almost speechless. I hadn't expected the kids to like the Jordan Almonds; they just don't seem like "kid candy" to me. And yet, not only had my kids liked the almonds, they had really liked the almonds. And, for may be the first time ever, I knew that my kids had made a connection to their grandpa in a real, tangible way.

I will forever remember this moment in my life as --SWEET. 

Good things:

--Jordan Almonds

--Remembering the good things.

--Princess Bug playing with my camera to help me get the "perfect" picture of the Jordan Almonds.

Stress Dreams & Statues

About a week ago Bob joined us in our bed during the night. In the morning we had the following conversation.

RM (directed to me): I had the worst stress dreams all night long.

Bob: Me too. Was I in your dreams?

RM: As a matter of fact you were.

Bob: I think we had the same dream. Were you in a pit with snakes in it?




Yesterday:

'Lashes (while standing on a chair for a pedestal with his arms posed): I know about statues.

RM: What do you know about statues?

'Lashes: They're real...they're dark and full of yucky. 


GOOD THINGS:
-Creative, funny kids.
-Priesthood blessings.
-Knowing my kids aren't too big to come find Mom & Dad when they need comfort.

Finally, a Favorite Photo Friday

I'm way overdue to post one of these. We were cleaning our room yesterday and I found this one. LOVE IT! It's from our trip to Lagoon this past August.

I know many of you are eager for an update and our school/work situation. I have been working on an epic update post for the last couple of days. I'll post it as soon as I get it finished.

Good things:
-Cramming six bodies (one of which is extremely pregnant) into a photo booth.
-A working printer/scanner!! (I've got to post that story here.)
-Christmas pants that are becoming too loose.

Don't Play Cards With This One

Bob got a new Lego game, Wild Wool,  for Christmas. We played it tonight for the first time. The rules are simple and it's quite entertaining. Not as entertaining, however, as watching 'Lashes play the game. 'Lashes was RM's partner (since it's only a 4 player game) and the one in charge of rolling the die. With an absolute poker face the little guy would "shake" the die in his hands while flipping it with his thumbs until the side he wanted to display was on top. It was the x2 side, which looks completely different from the other sides and allows you to take double the wool. Then he'd carefully "roll" it onto the table by dropping it, caged in his fingers, chosen side up. Then he'd celebrate rolling what he wanted to get with the most innocent smile and exclamation of "yay!" He didn't like it when we told him he was cheating. ;)

Oh man. I think we're in for it with one. His Aunt Kate would be proud.

Good things:
-Family time.
-Laughing.
-'Lashes' smile.

Favorite Photo Friday

And I wonder why it is that sometimes we seem to get nowhere... :D This is 'Lashes in early February.

Another Talker

It appears that 'Lashes is going to be as big a talker as Princess Bug and Bob. He's already using short sentences and vocabulary words that astound me. Some of his recent chatter has thoroughly charmed me, so I thought I'd share.

A few weeks ago, he was looking kinda thoughtful while I changed his diaper. Out of nowhere he says, in a cute little sing song voice, "Wee wee wee home." It surprised me so much I started to laugh. I quickly finished changing him and grabbed my video camera. I managed to get him to repeat it, but it was cuter the first time. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll post the clip here.

I'm getting pretty used to having him answer "yeah" or "no" to my questions at this point. However, the other day he managed to take me completely by surprise. I said to him, "'Lashes I have a question for you." And, he replied, "What?"

One of the best, however, happened late last night. We were driving home after visiting with RM's brother's family. From his car seat I can hear 'Lashes straining at his carseat buckles. I glance back to see him stretching as far as his little arm can stretch toward the window and he's saying, "Reach! Reach!" I asked him what he wanted to reach and he says, "Moon!"

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

I meant to do this a long, long time ago, but I got so busy I just didn't get around to it. So, please forgive the post-dated entry and enjoy our family Christmas photo & letter. :D



The Our Family Update 2009

Renaissance Man has been crazy busy in 2009, juggling the responsibilities that come with being a full-time grad student, part-time network admin, head TA for the U of U ‘s Mechatronics course, ward financial clerk, husband and father. In his spare time he enjoys eating and sleeping. :) If everything goes as planned, he should graduate with his Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering in May. Ultimately he’d like to get a PhD and teach at a university, but unless circumstances change we’ll be taking a break and working for a bit before jumping back in.

MamaBug thought she was a busy person last spring when she volunteered to take over the position as Box Tops Coordinator at the kids’ school. That job turned into the additional responsibility of PTA Vice President for the upcoming school year. Shortly after she committed to PTA, she was called as Second Counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. In the last few months she has been in charge of a “low energy cooking methods” night (which had a bigger turn out than some of our ward parties), Super Craft Saturday, and the school’s Reflections contest. She has collected and counted thousands of Box Tops and soup labels and volunteered at the school eye clinic and in the kids’ classes. She also managed to can/dehydrate at least 15 different food products to add to our food storage. Now she is certain that she is a busy person. So, if this Christmas note arrives a bit late, she humbly begs your understanding and forgiveness. :)

Princess Bug, who turned 10 in October, has had a great year. In February she placed second place in the 3rd grade science fair with a project studying how best to remove fingernail polish from carpeting. (Anyone want to guess the inspiration for that project?) In early summer, Grandpa sold Princess Bug a digital camera and gave her photography lessons. Those lessons paid off with a first place finish in this year’s Reflections contest. Her entry has moved on to compete at the council level and we are all excited to find out how well she does. She loves to read and has a great sense of humor. She’s also becoming a great helper, especially with her baby brother, 'Lashes.

Sunshine Boy is wishing for his two front teeth for Christmas! He is 7 years old and eagerly awaiting his birthday in April so that he can be baptized. So far this school year he has been asked to be a peer mentor (to model good behavior & kindness for a classmate with issues) and placed 3rd in Visual Art in the Reflection’s contest. He has a talent and passion for building with Legos and designs some really cool ships! Renaissance Man says that he has “The Knack” just like his daddy. (If you aren’t familiar with the term, google “Dilbert The Knack”. It’s worth it. :) ) He has a tender heart and is very mellow and happy.

Bob is our busy, fun, big boy, 4 year old pre-schooler. The pre-school held parent teacher conferences for the first time this year. We were unsurprised to discover that at his start of year evaluation he has already passed end of year goals in his verbal and motor skills. Now we just have to work on his alphabet recognition. He is cheerful and outgoing, charming nearly everyone he meets. He loves playing with his big brother and sister and can’t wait for them to come home from school each day. He also helps keep an eye on 'Lashes. We suspect that in the near future, they will make a fearful (and wonderful) duo.

'Lashes will be 2 in February and is absolutely packed full of personality. He is trying out new words daily. He shocked us all a week or so ago when he followed the example of his big sister and brothers and told us all a knock knock joke. He has outrageously long eyelashes which he will bat at you with an infectious grin. He is the first of the kids to start out with dark hair and keep it. He knows how to move and climb our bar stools as well as how to unscrew lids and turn doorknobs, all of which he is employing regularly, much to MamaBug’s chagrin. He is sweet and cuddly most of the time, but he knows how to throw and impressive tantrum. He loves to tease and explore.

As a family, we joined MamaBug’s mom & aunt on a family vacation in June to Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore and some LDS Church history sights. We loved hiking around and seeing all the cool natural features in Yellowstone. We thought Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse monuments were awesome. The only down side to it all was taking turns running a fever. We loved the whole vacation (the kids have already said they want to do it all over again, without being sick of course) and wished that we had had more time in each place. In July, we joined Renaissance Man’s brother, and his family on a camping trip to Posey Lake. Princess Bug renewed her love for fishing and Sunshine Boy caught his first fish (and a desire to go fishing more often). We all enjoyed paddling around the lake and taking a side trip to Devil’s Garden.

On the whole, we have had a very blessed, happy, and busy year. We send our love and prayers to all of you and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.

Favorite Photo Friday

Pictures of our family in our Halloween costumes are typically among my favorites. This year's picture is no exception. :D Our family has had a "theme" to our costumes from the time Princess Bug turned one (her second Halloween) until the present. This year I had to get creative to pull us together into an overall theme because Princess Bug had a definite plan for what she wanted to be. This just might have been the last year I'll get them all to agree to a group costume. *Sniff*

Here we are as "Our Favorite Magicians."


Top row: Me as Madame Mim, Lashes as Alec (Presto the Magician's Rabbit), and Renaissance Man as Merlin. Bottom row: Princess Bug as Elphaba from Wicked, Bob as Presto the Magician, and Sunshine Boy as Harry Potter.

While I have you all here, I want to share a really cool story about Sunshine Boy's scarf. The Wednesday morning before Halloween I was at "Crafty Ladies", which is group of ladies from my ward that get together every other week for a couple of hours to visit and work on whatever craft projects we have going on. I was using the time to work on our Halloween costumes. I mentioned that the costume shops wanted $20 for Harry Potter scarves, so I was going to sew my own from scraps of felt left over from previous years' costumes. My friend, Teri, volunteered to make one for Sunshine Boy instead. She is very fast at knitting and crocheting and told me flat out that she could have a scarf finished before I could. So, after "Crafty Ladies" was finished for the day, we made a run to Wallyworld to pick up some yarn.

Would you believe she crocheted the entire scarf and had it back to us by Friday afternoon? Would you believe she would have had it to me even sooner, but she got sick on Wednesday night? Sunshine Boy was ecstatic about his scarf. It was just the perfect touch to his costume (along with the homemade light up wand that RM made for him) and it made him feel so special to know it had been made just for him. In fact, he's still wearing it around. I don't think I could get him to put it away into the costume bucket even if I wanted to. :)

Pumpkin Patch

I'm just now getting around to uploading my October pictures from the camera to my computer. I haven't had a chance to properly sort through them all, but I thought I'd share a few really quickly.

We went to the pumpkin patch the Thursday before Halloween. It's honestly the first time I'd had an opportunity to even think about going. We had fun, even though it was quite cold and we were in a rush to make another appointment. I got some really cute individual pictures, but the attempts at a group shot were comical to say the least. :D


A little too much personality.


Is anyone looking at the camera?


Maybe portrait instead of landscape will help. No? OK. We're done.

An Attempt at Family Photos

On September 26th, we attended the baptism of our niece. (Which was a wonderful experience, by the way.) The after-baptism family dinner was held at a park up a nearby canyon. Realizing our family had a chance to get some LONG overdue family pictures taken, I made sure we had on matching clothes. We asked Renaissance Man's dad to take some pictures for us.

I haven't yet had a chance to see the pictures my father-in-law took. But, I'm hoping that he was able to capture something that my camera missed. We were able to get a few cute individual pictures, but I think we're going to have to try again for a family group shot. Here's a few pictures (of varying quality) that came from my camera.

The best of the whole family


RM & Me


The kiddos


Princess Bug


Sunshine Boy


Bob


'Lashes


A favorite shot

Ring Around the Binkie

I don't know exactly what is was...and I'm not really sure I want to know. However, the boy is cute, so I thought I'd share. :)

Ups and Downs

Finally! I'm just gonna ignore the housework for a bit and get this camping trip blogged! :) Warning, this will be long!

It was definitely different than any other camping trip I've been on yet. Lots of struggles and cool stuff all rolled into one.

Our original plans were to spend the entire week of July 20th camping with RM's brothers' family. But, because we had all spent so much time sick earlier this summer, RM really couldn't take the extra time off work. So, we decided to go just Wednesday through Saturday. We made arrangements with RM's parents to borrow their camper trailer and truck for the trip. When RM drove the truck, he noticed that the steering was really loose. Feeling concerned, he spent Tuesday repairing the truck and we weren't able to pack the camper like we had hoped. We decided to get up extra early Wednesday to finish packing and get on the road.

Well, as we began to pack Wednesday morning, a pulley broke on the camper. The top would go neither up nor down. RM and his father went looking for a replacement pulley, while I did my best to pack the camper and bed of the truck. We weren't able to leave until just after lunch. I took the delay philosophically: there was simply some reason we weren't supposed to be on certain sections of road at certain times. We wound up eating dinner on the road (note that this is now two meals worth of food I have packed in our coolers that we haven't eaten while camping) and arriving just before dark. We set up camp super quickly and jumped right back into the truck to go into Escalante on an errand for RM's dad. It was past bedtime when we got back. Day one of our camping trip over, and we haven't been anywhere near the lake.

Thursday morning we noticed the truck had a flat tire! We ate a pancake breakfast (RM's brother's family had so much batter ready we didn't make our mix at all. Three meals to take back home now. :p ) and RM and the kids headed down to the lake. I stayed behind with 'Lashes to finish setting up camp. Of course they went with little or no sunblock and got nice and toasty. PrincessBug caught her first fish on this camping trip last year, so she was stoked and ready to get some more. SunshineBoy didn't catch any fish last year and has been of the opinion that fishing isn't really that fun. Well, that changed when he caught his first two fish this year. Now he gets it and is eager to go fishing again.

SunshineBoy and Bob holding his and PrincessBug's fish.

I finally made it down to the water in the afternoon and we took a family paddle around the lake.



Unfortunately, 'Lashes isn't very fond of his life jacket, so our excursion was rather short.

'Lashes holding some water plants off of PrincessBug's fishing pole. He doesn't like his life preserver. I wonder why?

Toward evening, RM and his brother put the spare tire on the truck. Shortly after that the camp host came around. He had a tire repair kit and we were able to repair the original tire. Yay! Then we followed RM's brother and their family to a secluded spot a bit up the road to go target shooting. It was a first for my kids.



Uncle C. and RM help the kids target shoot.

RM & 'Lashes with their earplugs.

The gun totin' mama.

After target shooting we headed back to camp for a dinner of freshly caught fish and taco soup. We told SunshineBoy that if he wanted to fish the next day he had to at least try one bite of fish. We're trying to teach the kids that the fish they catch need to be eaten (by someone) or it's wrong to take them from the lake. I even ate some fish to be a good example. But, it was no use. SunshineBoy wouldn't budge, he wouldn't eat even one bite. Mommy & Daddy got tough and SB didn't go fishing on Friday, just boating.

Friday morning RM wanted to go to Devil's Garden. However, when we tried to go, things got weird. The kids didn't want to go, they wanted to go to the lake. I felt grumpy about going. Breakfast took extra long and it was getting hot. Finally we abandoned the idea.

On our way down to the boat for another outing, I got a few pictures of some pretty wild flowers.





While I was taking pictures, I noticed the charm on my necklace was oddly tangled in the clasp and I made a mental note to have Quinton help me sort it out as soon as we got a chance. He was already on the boat when I got there, so I decided to wait a bit. When I got back to the camper, the charm was gone. I was devastated. I hunted up and down the trails, in the boat, near all the clumps of flowers I had stopped by, but with no luck.

Anyone familiar with my charm will know it was literally like looking for a needle in a haystack. You can see it around my neck, tangled in it's clasp, in the picture from target shooting. RM made the charm for me in a jewelry class he took before his mission, so I've had it for sixteen years or so. It's always been one of my very favorite pieces. It's unique and has always captured peoples' attention. Everyone always wanted to know what it was. It was described as a flute, a sword/knife, a stalactite, a needle, you name it. In reality it was just a cool shape made from a broom casting. I've been meaning to take a close up picture of it for months and just hadn't gotten around to it. For the rest of the trip I kept my eyes out, hoping beyond hope that it would show up, but it never did. Even now I'll reach for it, and it hurts every time I realize it's not there. Here's another picture. (Sorry for the poor quality, it's a tight crop from a much larger picture taken earlier this summer).

After lunch that day, RM took the big kids on a hike up to the Posey Lake overlook, while I got 'Lashes to take a nap. The quiet time in the trailer was really nice. My favorite part? The humming birds that would come buzzing around our camp. They have the most amazing high pitched thrum and they are so pretty. I wasn't able to get any pictures, but I found this picture by Greg Joder on the internet that should give you an idea of how beautiful they are.

The whole crew at the Posey Lake Overlook

After the hike, RM suggested going to Devil's Garden again. This time it just felt right. Everyone was happy and excited to go. So, we piled in the truck and headed out on the 40 minute drive to Devil's Garden. Devil's Garden is a really cool set of rock formations, called hoodoos. The worst of the heat was gone by the time we got there and we got there early enough to hike deeper into the formations than we've ever gone before. The kids thought the formations were cool, the multiple varieties of lizards interesting and the fine, soft sand a blast to play in.








On our way back to camp at dusk we came across a dog on the road. It would follow the truck, but run away each time we stopped, only to follow next to the truck again or run ahead of us. It took us three tries, but eventually RM was able to convince the dog to come near enough to us to let us pet it and get a look at the tags. Her name was Bernice and she lived in Kaysville! We picked her up and put her in the back of the truck, gave her some water and took her into town. We tried all the telephone numbers on her tags, but with no luck. No one in Escalante could give us any advice or had seen her owners, so we finally took her back to camp with us, after grabbing a pizza in town because it was going to be too late to eat dinner at camp. (Are you counting how many meals we've missed now?) Bernice was so sweet and well behaved. She spent the night bedded down in the back of the truck.



Saturday morning we packed up camp and got ready to leave. We took Bernice back into town asking around for her owners and leaving many more phone messages with the local sheriff, the BLM and US Forest Service, notes at gas stations, etc. with no luck.


We couldn't find anyone willing to care for Bernice until her owners found her. Not knowing what else to do, we decided to take Bernice back home with us. We figured that if we had to, we'd drive her to the address on her tag.

At the last minute I felt inspired to leave a note at the trail head near where we found Bernice.

Then, we headed for home over the dirt road between Escalante and Loa. About 8 miles out of Loa it began to rain. About 5 miles out of Loa is began to pour. All I could think about was poor Bernice in the bed of the truck getting drowned. We stopped the truck and RM and I got out to cover the bed of the truck with a tarp. We were soaked to the skin in seconds! But, we did manage to get Bernice and the gear covered up well enough to get us to a drier, less windy place where we could redo it better. We pulled into Scipio about 6pm to get gas and eat dinner (a meal we were supposed to eat at home :p). While I was waiting in line to order, my cell phone rang. It was Bernice's owners!! The lady on the phone was so emotional she couldn't speak and she had to hand the phone to her husband. They were still in Escalante and wouldn't be able to make it to us until very late, so we made arrangements for them to pick Bernice up at our house on their way home on Sunday. So, Bernice the dog had a sleep over at our house.

Sunday afternoon Bernice's owners came to pick her up. They have owned her for 11 years and she is a true member of their family. The thought of her lost in the desert made them sick. She had gotten spooked by some gunfire and run away from her owners Friday afternoon. They spent Friday night and all day Saturday looking for her. They finally found our note at the trail head. It had been rained on and sun faded. It was barely legible, but they had been able to make out my cell number by holding it up to the light. It was a wonderful blessing to find Bernice's owners and to get her back to her family. It was definitely a high note on which to end a camping trip that had had several ups and downs.

Pictures of 'Lashes

I finally managed to take some pictures of 'Lashes this morning. I really should have been taking a few every day so we could document the hives progression. Oh well. Here he is, hives day 3. These really aren't the pictures of 'Lashes that I planned to share first. They aren't very happy ones.







So, here are the ones I had planned to share first. Best to end on a high note. :P 'Lashes has decided that food should not only be eaten, it should be worn. It makes after meal clean up much more challenging. But, even dripping in Mac & Cheese he's cute. :D




Speaking of cheese, he's figuring out the whole picture taking thing. RM went to take 'Lashes' picture a few nights ago. When 'Lashes saw the camera pointed his way, he looked at Daddy and said, "Cheese!" Totally took us by surprise and made us giggle. Here's the cheesy photo in question.


Such a cutie! I can't wait for him to look more this this again.

Deja-vu with Someone New

January 2007 Bob had an allergic reaction to amoxicillin and spent several miserable, miserable days recovering from hives. January 2008, Bob had a serious allergic reaction to Omincef, called pseudo-serum sickness, and was nearly hospitalized. He spent a horrendously miserable week or more recovering from hives and swollen, painful joints.

July 2009, 'Lashes has had an allergic reaction to amoxicillin. Friday afternoon at the doctor's office we thought it was the standard hives reaction. But, this afternoon we noticed his joins beginning to swell. After taking him back into the doctor's office this afternoon, it looks to be pseudo-serum sickness. My poor baby boy is itchy and miserable. There's really nothing to do except watch to make sure it doesn't get worse (which would mean we misdiagnosed him and it could be a more serious allergic reaction) and give him benedryl and pain killers. The bright side is that we caught this earlier with 'Lashes, so hopefully he won't get as sick as Bob did.

I've been here and done this before, twice. I think three times is more than plenty, thanks.

Ain't technology grand?

I'm posting this from my moving minivan on RM's laptop. And, no, I'm not driving! ;) RM has access to a wireless broadband card through work. We're experimenting to see if it works where we're headed. We're in the middle of the mountains going to a tiny little town helping my brother-in-law's family move in. The things we do for employment. ;) They will be wanting internet here and we're hoping a card like this will work for them.

Other big news for the day. 'Lashes broke out in hives today. Seems he's allergic to amoxicillin just like Bob and me. *Sigh* Lucky us. At least we can be grateful that there are non-penicillin antibiotics available, right?

Oh Poop!...Or, what happens when virtual reality and the real world meet.

Anyone who saw my blog yesterday or early today knows that it began with the lovely Dots template offered by the nice folks at Blogger. There was much about the template I liked. The colors were great and there was something rather soothing about the roundness of it. However, I knew that I would be changing it as soon as I could. I had seen a 3 column layout on my sister-in-law's blog and I just knew that was for me. I just had to talk to her to find out where she got her backgrounds and the code to make the big changes.

In the meantime, I was content to add some more links, rearrange a few things, adding some gadget/widgets, and generally spend my morning working on my blog instead of doing the laundry. It was early afternoon when I got the information I was really wanting from my sister-in-law and I was really excited to get to work. Princess Bug and I were browsing new backgrounds when Sunshine Boy came running in yelling, "Mommy, 'Lashes just pooped on the table!"

Apparently, 'Lashes has developed a new fondness for taking his diaper off today. The first time we caught the situation before there were any serious consequences. The second time, not so lucky. Somehow he got the diaper off without any of us the wiser. I went into the front room to find 'Lashes standing on a craft table which is temporarily set up there. Sure enough, he left me a present on the table, on the chair he used to climb to the table, and on the tile in our kitchen/entry. I'm not sure by what miracle he missed the carpet and the basket of clean laundry someone tipped over, but I'm extremely grateful. Let's hear it for hard surfaces that clean easily and Lysol wipes. And, where was that child's mother?!

Oh, right. That would be me, the one obsessing at the computer. See, now didn't I tell you that if you saw me spending excessive amounts of time fiddling around with my blog to gently and firmly tell me to get out of my chair and join the real world? So, I guess the lesson learned today is that my blog doesn't have to be just the way I want it in it's first 48 hours of existence. It really is ok to add here and there for a long, long time to come.