Austin's Baptism

We just returned home from Fillmore. We had a combined baptism today for my oldest son Austin and my nephew Kole. It was a great day and one that Austin has been looking for a long time. Just thought I'd post a couple pictures from the day.

Austin, Austin, Austin

So my son has all the luck. For some reason he seems to really enjoy arm injuries. In Kindergarten he broke each arm once. The right arm was broken clear through and he had to be put out to have it moved back into place.
Well, his luck has struck AGAIN. Last Tuesday, he slipped on the stairs and landed on his right arm. He jumped up and was fine until a couple hours later. Then the pain began. Then next morning he work up in horrible pain and was fevered, so off to the doctor we went. X-rays and an exam and there was no broken arm...WHAT???? That's right, no broken arm. So we went home with a splint and an appointment to come back in 10 days. Well, since then he has had a fever on and off for days and has been in CONSTANT pain. Ibuprofen every fours hours and he was still miserable.
By Tuesday of this week, Austin and I had had enough. So back to the doctor we went. More x-rays and still the bone is fine, but they were pretty sure there might be a blood clot inside the arm. Again...WHAT??? That word was enough to send me into panic mode. We had an ultrasound and determined there was a mass in the arm, but not a blood clot (or at least there's only a 3% chance it is a blood clot). The specialist thinks it is a ganglion cyst. They sometimes reabsorb back into the muscle tissue, but sometimes have to be surgically removed.
So we have an appointment with the specialist in 2 weeks...nice huh! Hopefully in the meantime no permanent damage is done. I know, I am a little dramatic, it's been a long week!

Austin is 8!

So, I can't believe my Austin is 8. Where does the time go????? He had a friend party tonight and this was the cake. I thought it was amazing. Shane works with a lady who makes them and she did a great job. Obviously the theme of the party was Super Mario Bros. and WOW... a room full of 8 year old boys was more than enough fun. Austin had a GREAT time and I am exhausted. Just had to post the cake picture.

I can't believe it!

That's right, the title says it all. I am in love with my puppy. I never knew I had it in me to be a dog lover, but I love my Lizzy. She can sit and lay down now too...she's super smart. In fact, Shane was teasing me when I was bragging about her and said she's so smart she can even bite and poop as well (ha ha ha, funny Shane)! We LOVE having a dog!

Just on a side note, I just got called to be back in the Young Womens organization and I'm so excited. I get to work with the Beehives...wahoo!!! I will totally miss Primary, that's kind of my comfort zone, guess there's something new for me to learn.

Oh and we just got back from a B-Day party for sweet Tiffany Searle...I couldn't ever sing Happy Birthday without bawling like a baby. What a great event! Happy Birthday Tiff, we love you!

A little seriousness!

So I just have to voice my opinion for a minute. As many of you know this past week a speech was given by our President to the school children in the country. Many, many people didn't want the kids to watch. I know that we all get to have our own opinion, but I was really hit hard by an email message that our school principal sent out...in my opinion she is very wise. She said ..."Certainly, as part of our school curriculum we teach about the Executive Branch of our government and the importance of respecting the office of the President of our country. Someday, all of our students are going to have a teacher, or a boss, or a political leader that they don't like. I hope that they aren't learning that it's o.k. to disrespect or to not still listen to those people." Go Mrs. Crandall!!!

All though I may not agree with what is happening in our government (have I ever?), at a certain point isn't it my responsibility as a citizen of this country to teach my children to show respect and act accordingly. At first even the jokes about Obama were funny, but now, I just feel like I owe it to my children to act like the adult I am. I don't want them to hear me talking bad about anyone...especially someone we should be respectful of. Now don't get me wrong, I know sometimes the people "in charge" don't earn the respect they are given...however, I think respect can still be given to the position.

It seems lately that my children are like little sponges...even more than usual. I have heard things repeated to me that I have said and that others around me have said, and I'm not so sure I like that coming from my kids. Almost everything our kids learn will come from home and I am making a new goal to be better aware of the information I am passing along to them. I would hate for them to grow into the obnoxious adults I come in contact with a lot these days (you know the ones that are never happy, and problems are never of their own making, no teacher is good enough, etc.)

WOW, I know...think about it!

Meet Lizzy!

Austin with Lizzy

Morgan

Allee

Lizzy!

We finally took that big step as a family and got a puppy. She is a border collie and she is the sweetest thing EVER!!! We are having such a good time with her and she is a great puppy so far. The kids adore her and Shane and I think she's pretty great too. In fact, she has Shane wrapped around her little finger.
Hopefully we can love her and train her to be a great dog as well.

Summer Fun!

Me, Lisa, Marcia, Susanne
This was just Saturday night at a meet & greet with the best author EVER! Marcia Lynn McClure writes the best romances...and they are totally clean...I'm a big fan!

So, I have been neglecting my blog, sad I know. The main reason is that I have been having too much fun! Thanks to Sally and her fabulouse fieldtrips. Thanks Sally!!!!!

The other reason I have been neglectful is that I have been taking care of my parents a lot!. It all started with my mom having surgery on her foot. I had planned to go to Fillmore to help them out for a few days. Well, to make a long story short, my dad had some MAJOR health complications while I was there and it just went down hill super fast. He almost bleed to death and spent a while in ICU. He was able to come home and is recovering well now. SHEESH, it was scary!!!! I've decided that I'm the bad luck charm in my family, because when something bad happens, it seems to always happen on my watch...what's that all about????? Anyway, I have been back again for a few days and both my parents seem to be doing much better now. It's still gonna be a long road to recovery, but at least they're on the mend.

The pictures are from a few of the activities we have participated in this summer.





This picture is from our fieldtrip to Kennecott...wow that was cool. This is a tire from the bid trucks they use down in the mine. It blew me away to read that this one tire costs $25,000. WOW!!!
This is one of my new favorite pics...Allee and Tyler. She just loves him so much!


These pictures are from our excursion to Ogden to the Treehouse museum (it has nothing to do with treehouses) there were tons of activities for the kids and they had a great time.

Not sure what that face is all about???

The 4th in Fillmore!

So, as always the 4th of July in Fillmore was so much fun. We got there on Friday afternoon. We ventured to the childrens parade and then played games and had treats. Then Saturday morning was the parade...the kids got to ride in the parade this year and they had a BLAST!!! Then we went to the park for more games, snow cones and more fun. We just hung out all afternoon with the family.

This is the kids riding on the little buggy with Uncle Morgan...our "Real Cowboy"

The wagon in the parade (my dad built the wagon and trained the horses...I have to brag)

Allee got a VIP ride on Johnny...he's a "BIG BOY"

I have to say, the Fireworks show was the best one yet. It went on and on and ON! It totally ROCKED!!!!!!!!!! Here's to the 4th in Fillmore! Can't wait until next year.

Vertigo and all that is busy...oh I mean DIZZY!

So for those of you who don't know I have been suffering from benign Vertigo this week. I woke up Friday and my world was literally spinning. In the past I have been known to laugh at this very illness because it seems so totally LAME!!! I'm here to say very LOUDLY (can you hear me now?) that vertigo is a REAL illness, not just some made up excuse.
Over the past few days, there have been many people ask what causes vertigo. I can't honestly say I know the real cause, but I'm gonna guess at a few of them.
Here goes: stress (caused by the fact that the neighbor kid fell off the tramp last week and broke his arm), stress (caused by the fact that no matter what I do, someone isn't happy), stress (caused by helping plan and orchestrate a frozen meal trade...WOW is all I'm gonna say), stress (caused by stress), stress (caused by nothing besides my own brain and the workings therein), stress (caused by summers with all the kids home all day).
Is that enough of a reason for vertigo??? Not sure, but it sure worked in my case.

The best part of the whole things was when Allee was tired on Monday and she came to me and said "Mom, my head is busy!" She cracks me up. I think a few people might remember about 6 months ago, Allee was spinning in the living room here at home, she stopped for a minute and while laughing she said "I'm gettin BUSY!" Apparently busy really means dizzy. It was seriously hilarious. Probably had to be there, but Monday was a sweet little reminder of that incident.

Summer Camp!

So this summer I am trying something a little different. In late July, I am having a summer camp at my house. It's for ages 3-7 and it's called "5 Countries in 5 days"
We will be traveling to 5 different countries in our imaginations. We will have a snack, craft, games, and stories from the USA, Mexico, Australia, France and China.
I'm SO excited to do this camp, we are going to have a blast! If you know anyone interested, let me know so I can get them a registration form!!!

Timp Cave

So we ventured to Timp Cave on Friday. I was feeling brave going without Shane, and thanks to many great friends, we made it up and back unscathed. Well, almost unscathed...I'm sure all my friends think I am CRAZY, which I am. I had to hold onto Morgan and Allee the WHOLE TIME! I was not about to let go and witness them falling of the edge (if you've done the hike, you know what I'm talking about).
Anyway, we did have a good time and the kids thought the cave was amazing. Thanks to all my helpers...you know who you are.

Flood Irrigation

Cute Jeremiah enjoying the outdoors!

Austin & Olivia

Morgan exploring

Allee smiling for the camera, as usual!

Baby Jakob, he was a trooper that's for sure! He was mesmorized by the ceiling fan
in the living room, he stared at it forever!

The one major incident was Morgan scratching up his leg on the sidewalk, the picture is above.

The gang in the ditch...cute kids!

So, even though flood irrigation is slowly ruining my summer (just ask my friends), we had a fun time with cousins this week. My sis, Lisa came with her kids, and we had a great lunch and tons of fun! We were being very spontaneous I might add...that's a good thing for us.

Summer here we come!!!

Here's Mr. Morgan with his snickers cake on his 5th birthday...where does the time go??? He is totally ready for Kindergarten. In fact at his Preschool graduation, the teacher told us the Morgan keeps reminding her that he already knows everything she tried to teach him...not too surprising.



Here's Austin at his piano recital. He was AWESOME!!! (and I'm not just saying that cause I'm his mom.




And here's Allee just before her dance recital...she was hamming it up, again not really a shocker there.
I have a couple videos of field day, dance festival and Morgan's graduation that I'll post later.

So we are really winding down for the summer, or should I say gearing up. The kids are done with recitals and graduations, now it's time for the fun!!!

Not sure whether to cry or shout for joy!

Preschool Classes

So, it hit me, I mean really hit me today that next week is the last week of Preschool for this year. In some ways, I am so excited to have a break, but oh my, I will miss those kids. A few of them were in my class last year too, so it will be really hard not to have them coming back. They are so fun, and also very funny.
A couple months ago I got out the q-tips for a glueing project and Kennadee says to me "silly teacher those aren't for glue, they're for our ears" like DUH how could I make such a stupid mistake. There's also the funny comments during playtime when the kids say the wrong name for things, like calling the elevator an excavator! I just LOVE my job and all those cute faces pictured above.

So here's the question, do I cry or shout for joy???