Virginia Sempervirens

Today

2011-12-15T14:22:00.001-05:00

Amazing how much can happen in less than five minutes in a home with small children.

Today featured me chasing a naked J around. He had taken off his diaper (thankfully a clean one) and was trying to convince me he didn't need any clothes at all. (With his severely limited language skills.) While I was getting him dressed I found Robert playing with his cars IN the toilet water. One car went straight to the trash. No way to get it clean enough to be trustworthy.

No pictures of this...

P.S. RM can shred toilet paper lightening fast!

Crazy

2011-12-14T14:44:00.004-05:00

This picture was taken right after RM's first birthday. Keep in mind he could only take about two or three steps at a time. I heard him complaining, and when I turned around, this is how I found him. Luckily he thought posing for the camera was fun. (It's blurry because I was trying to be fast. Don't judge me too harshly.)

Here's a little video of some more of his antics...

December 11, 2011

2011-12-14T14:40:00.000-05:00

December 11, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a crazy week, but we have still managed tosurvive somehow. Monday was our mostnormal day. I did the grocery shopping,etc. For FHE we had a lesson onChristmas.

Tuesday I decided to take J to the doctor. He’d had a runny nose for quite a while andit had now developed into a fever. Idecided not to risk it. Turns out he hada sinus infection and a double ear infection. Glad I took him. We got hismedicine and then had a quiet day at home.

B-man reading on what will be J's bed. As soon as he decides he wants to get out of his crib.

Wednesday RM woke up with a fever and runny nose. He was pretty irritable all day. Then just as I was getting ready to put Jdown for a nap the school called to say that B-man had thrown up “a lot” and Ineeded to come get him. I hurried andpiled the kids in the car, and then we all filed into the school to gethim. He did a good job of staying in hisroom the rest of the day and reading. Idon’t actually think he had stomach flu because he wasn’t acting sick, but whoknows.

Notice anything about B-man? He pulled out his front tooth on Friday night.

Thursday B-man was home from school still (they told me tokeep him home) and RM had a higher fever and was more irritable. I kept my expectations very low for the dayand that helped me not be so panicked. Also M got home a little earlier than he normally does, he was a welcomesight coming through that door. That nightM and I watched a few episodes of the last season of “24” before bed.

The boys watching intently while our home teacher showed them the Star Wars pop-up book.

Friday M was home from work. I took advantage of having an extra set of hands and had a littlebreakfast with two of the women that I visit teach. The breakfast went really well and we weredone by ten o’clock. Around lunch Idiscovered RM had an even higher temp (102.7!) and so I decided to take himin. They almost didn’t have a spot forhim, but they basically double booked a time so I could come in. They did all sorts of tests, and even drewblood and did a urinalysis. Butbasically they don’t know what he has. Poor guy! We just gotinstructions to keep giving him ibuprofen and lots of fluids. That evening M went to the temple with theyouth from our ward. I got pizza for usand the boys and then we watched an old Christmas movie. The boys all wanted towatch Pink Panther but I thought we should branch out. That night I worked on RM’s stocking. I got it done, but now I am debating if Ishould redo the sewing portion. I hatewhen I try to rush and then want to redo everything. Remind me not to rush, to just wait a dayuntil I have more time to do it properly, instead of just trying to get it donewhile the sewing machine is out.

Saturday was a slower day. RM was still sick. We mostlystayed pretty close to home. M madepancakes in the morning and then had to go to a two hour planning meeting for aYouth Celebration for next year. While Jwas napping M put up the new chandelier in the dining room. It went pretty smoothly for the mostparty. I made a chocolate tart in betweenhelping him. Once the boys were awake Itook RM and ran a few errands while M took J and B-man on an errand. They got to ride in a truck making it extrafun. We then went to Home Depot to get afew items before heading home for dinner. That night after the boys were inbed we had some friends come over for dessert and to play games. We ended up playing Rook and M and I won! Wehad a great time and stayed up too late chatting with our friends.

J really wanted some of that "pie."

Sunday was pretty normal. RM’s fever was finally gone, making him a much happier guy. M had a meeting in the morning early, andthen he had one at our house with some of the young men to plan the highadventure trip this year. Only B-man andI went to church since RM was sick. Itwas nice to be able to sit and listen to the talks. Primary was crazy but wentwell over all. We came home and M had madebiscuits and diced and roasted sweet potatoes to go with our crock potdinner. It was delicious! After dinner our home teachers came over andthen we put the boys to bed. The boysloved looking at a Star Wars pop-up book that our Home Teacher brought over.

We love you all!

The C Crew

Some Days

2011-12-07T14:10:00.001-05:00

Today RM has a fever and is feeling sick. J went to the doctor yesterday for his ears and a sinus infection. Then right as I was getting ready to put J down for a nap, the school nurse called to report that B-man had thrown up "a lot" and I needed to come get him.

Some days are like this. I had a cup of hot chocolate to help me take on the rest of the day.

New House

2011-12-06T14:06:00.001-05:00

I know it's been months... but here are some pictures of the new house.

Entry way and living room.

Living room from the front door.

Dining room. We just got this table in time for Thanksgiving.


Living room

Family room ahead, kitchen to the left, study to the right.

View from kitchen looking towards the family room.

Kitchen with some cute boys.

Study


Looking from the family back towards the living/dining room.

Pictures of the upstairs to come...

Birthday Boy!

2011-11-07T22:19:00.000-05:00

This little guy turned one. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. One year ago M was out of the country and this guy decided he just couldn't wait to get here. We all love him so much!

He loves food. Really any food except cottage cheese. And he knows when he is missing out on a treat.

He can really throw a hilarious tantrum. He lays down on his stomach and cries. Luckily they don't last long.

We all get some seriously good hugs and snuggles from him.

This was taken on his birthday, he likes to attack the camera.

He can wrestle with the big boys.

Says "hi, bye, dad" and makes a dog sound.

Did I mention he loves dogs?

Woke up on his birthday and decided to stand on his own like a professional. Started taking his first steps a week later.

Charms everyone with his enormous smile.

Has a kind of low gravely voice.

Love to point out balloons, lights, etc.

Really enjoyed his birthday cupcake.

Halloween

2011-11-07T22:06:00.001-05:00

Here they are in all their glory. I hope you can figure out what they all are...

Black Ninja (B-man explained the leader ninja wears the cape.) He would sometimes also say he was Zorro. Hot air balloon, and a Ferrari race car driver.

We thought about this costume for a minute, but we didn't think it would work well with the cold weather. Do you get it?

October 30, 2011

2011-11-07T22:01:00.003-05:00

October 30, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a great week. Lots of fun things to do and celebrate. The week started out pretty slow. J and RM were still sick, and seemed a little worse. I had an internal debate about whether Ishould take them into the doctor. Idecided not to since they didn’t have fevers. I also knew I had a “well-child” visit for both of them that week, and Ireally just wanted to wait for that if I could. Monday night M took the boys to soccer and I went with a woman that Ivisit teach to a school board meeting about changing school boundaries. They are building a new school in the area,and it will be affecting a lot of the schools in our town. We just wanted to go and make sure that nothingcrazy was going to happen. Mostly it waspeople from the town commenting. We still have no idea what they are thinkingor planning.

Tuesday was a quiet day. Not a lot going on. The boys weresick still. Wednesday was RM’sbirthday. It was such a great day. First of all he woke up seeming to feel alittle better and was in a much better/less clingy mood. Then he spent a lot of his time practicingstanding up by himself. It was like hedecided that he needed to learn a new trick… and fast! It was adorable. Sadly we were pretty busy that day, so not alot of celebrating happened for the birthday boy outside of family singing tohim. He did get to video chat with bothgrandparents which made for an even better day. That night I took B-man to soccer. Then M got the boys ready for bed and I met him with the little boys atthe church for mutual. Then M stayed formutual and we all drove home and the boys went to bed.

Thursday morning I took the boys for their one year old andtwo year old checkups. Turns out that RMhas an ear infection, a pretty bad one. No wonder he was so cranky. Hereally didn’t have a fever, so I felt very bad that I had missed it. No shots for RM since he was sick, but J gota few. He wasn’t that happy about it,but he cheered up quickly when I brought out the gum. We spent the rest of the morning at Costco toget the medicine and then home for naps.

Friday M was home from work. It was great to have him around. We worked on some things around the house, and ran some errands, andthen in the middle of the day I watched the children of a woman I visit teachwhile she went to the doctor. RM and Jwere excited to have some friends over to play with. Mostly J missed it while hetook a nap. The rest of the day was abig fat party. When B-man got home wecarved pumpkins, and then we celebrated RM’s birthday. We had calzones for dinner and then openedpresents up. RM had a lot of helpersfrom J and B-man. He would get reallyinto figuring out his new toy and be totally unaware of the other packagesuntil his brothers started to open them for him. J is convinced that most of RM’s new toys arereally his. After presents we had “cake.” Since he doesn’t have an opinion yet Idecided to make pumpkin muffins and frost them with some chocolate frosting Ihad made recently. RM really went totown on his cupcake. J loved blowing outthe candles when we did our wishes. It wasa great party. Once the boys were in bedand the kitchen clean M and I watched an episode of “Foyle’s War” and then wentto bed.

Our snowy jack-o-lanterns.

Saturday we woke up to snow!!! It had been fore casted so weweren’t too surprised, but it was still a shock to the system to see snow inOctober. It was very wet slushy snow,but it stuck around all day, and continued to snow all day. Believe it or not we still found a few garagesales to go to despite the weather. Theboys got a huge bin of new random cars, trucks, animals, etc to play with. M meticulously went through all of the woman’stoys to pick out the best ones that we would take home with us. We ran a few errands in the afternoon andthen came back home to finish preparations for our ward party. Before the ward party our neighborhood wasalso having a party. We wanted to tryand make it to both of the parties if we could. M dropped us off at our neighborhood party and after running home forsomething and coming back he realized that I needed a lot of help. It was really too cold to be outside on thebouncy slides and things they had rented, and doing the food for the boys bymyself was a bit of a logistical nightmare. He decided to stay and we hurried to eat so we could get him to thechurch to help with the set-up. Wedropped him off at the church and then I ran home to get the rest of ourcostume things. Then we went back to thechurch and got everyone dressed and ready to go. The party was a lot of fun. B-man loved roaming around with his friends,and J thought he was in heaven being able to walk around and find candy andsnacks at his level. He didn’tappreciate a father that was dressed as Darth Maul, it really freaked himout. But other than that it was a greatnight. We were just happy he kept hiscostume on. Three hours before we weren’teven sure if he would put it on, let alone keep it on! After games and things we had the trunk ortreat. It was moved inside because ofthe foul weather, but people still had a good time. We then booked it out of there to gethome. Once home we hurried to get peopleready for bed. I then went and picked upthe babysitter for a party that we were going to that night. We had a pretty quick turn around, and madeit to the party at a decent time. M andI had fairly easy costumes that didn’t require a lot of make-up. The party wasvery fun, especially the games that the teams played together. It’s amazing how fun very simple games can bewhen people are willing to try. After afun night we made it home and were happy to go to bed after such a fun fullday.

Today has been a great day. M had no meetings and it made for a nice leisurely morning. Church is getting crazier with J and RM, butwe made it through somehow. During thesecond and third hours M filled in for a nursery teacher that was gone, and thewhole Primary was together singing and practicing for the program. It was crazy, but we made it through. We then came home for pot roast dinner, ransome errands to return items to friends, and then got our very tired boys inbed. To be honest I am excited to go tobed myself.

We love you all!

The C Crew

October 23, 2011

2011-11-07T21:55:00.001-05:00

October 23, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday was our normal routine. We did shopping on Monday and then for FHEwe took all the kids to soccer practice. We try to sing primary songs or talk about something gospel related tomake it a little more like a real FHE.

The rest of the week is kind of a blur. We have had a lot of things looming over ourheads. We were prepping for talks,trying to get other projects done around the house, and then the usual homethings. J and RM started getting sicktowards the end of the week.

J did this to the bread. I am trying to figure out if he was hungry or frustrated. Maybe both?

Friday morning one of my friends came over for a little justto break up the monotony. We had a goodtime and I showed her my finished bookcase project. That night for our family party we had pizzaand then watched more episodes of “The Pink Panther.” It’s a hit at our house.

I love seeing all four of these heads together. I'm sure B-man would have been on M's lap if he could too.

Saturday was a busy day. I was out early looking for things at garage sales. It was a quick day but productive. I headed back early so that I could make itto B-man’s soccer game. It was a coldday and since RM was sick he stayed in the car with M. Eventually he took J and RM home while Ifinished the game. B-man wasn’t playingthe last quarter anyway. After soccer wewent home and B-man rode his bike to a birthday party for some friends in theneighborhood. He was so excited that hecould ride his bike there. While he wasgone I hit a few more garage sales and then M and I took turns working on ourtalks. We also managed to clean up thegarage a little, plant a bunch of bulbs, and enjoy being outside a little.

Today has been a busy day. We spent the morning finishing our talks, and I was also working on ajumbo singing time. Next week we beginpracticing in the chapel for our Primary Program. M also had two meetings to go to. Once at church we got really nervous. Neither one of us was very excited to wranglethe boys alone while the other was speaking, but we also weren’t that excitedto speak. It was a no winsituation. I’m not going to lie, itwasn’t pretty but we made it through somehow. I’m just grateful that I can usually count on B-man to be reverentwithout much effort. After church wecame home and started working on dinner. We ate and then went for a post dinner walk. When we got home we had some friends therethat dropped off their daughter so they could go speak at a fireside. The boys had a great time having herover. B-man had a little impromptuSunday school with her. He read her achapter in the Book of Mormon, and then made her say various phrases like “Ilove God.” And “I’m grateful Jesus madethe Earth.” It was reallyhilarious. We chatted with them for awhile once they came back and then were grateful for the end of the week! We are so happy to be done with the talks…

We love you all!

The C Crew

October 16, 2011

2011-11-07T21:48:00.000-05:00

October 16, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday was Columbus Day. B-man was out of school, and so we celebrated by meeting a friend andher kids at a children’s museum in Winchester. It was a beautiful drive and the museum was in a very quaint historicpart of the town. The museum itself waspretty small, but it had things that all ages loved to do. We stayed for two hours (all that the parkingmeter would allow) and then headed back to the car for a picnic. Our picnic was basically on the street. I sat in the car with the van door open andfed the younger boys in the stroller while B-man paced the sidewalk with hisfood. The boys didn’t seem to mind ourlack of convention. The rest of the daywas fairly quiet. That night afterdinner I took B-man to soccer. Thepractice went well and the two younger boys were happily and easilyentertained. Once home we startedgetting ready for bed. We had somefriends that were going to stay with us that night, and so I had to do a bit ofshuffling as well. RM ended up back inour closet. It felt just like the goodold days. Right after everyone was inbed, and I had managed to pick up the house a little the Mannewitz’ arrived. I showed them their rooms and then they gottheir kids in bed. We chatted for a fewminutes once everyone was asleep before heading to bed early ourselves.

The next morning it was great to have someone around to chatwith. It was fun to see their new babyand hear about their life since moving a few hours away. Too soon they had to leave. I did some grocery shopping that day and wehad a quiet night.

Wednesday it was raining which meant no soccer for B-man. I am not going to lie… it simplified my lifequite a bit. That morning though I took RMto the eye doctor. They were doing afollow up exam. I’m not sure it wasreally necessary, but they said to come back in six months so I did… RM was an excellent patient and spent most ofthe time charming the women in the office. He was doing a pretty good job. It is strange to think that it was six months ago that we were theregetting him checked the first time. Timereally goes by so quickly. That night Iwas up late doing a bunch of baking. Ibaked a batch of bread and then a pumpkin cake for book club.

Thursday I spent most of the day trying to get the housecleaned and ready for company. A friendinvited me over for dinner which was very helpful because I didn’t have toclean up a dinner mess. Once everyonewas in bed I rushed around getting everything ready. I made a pumpkin layer cake, and it was thefirst time I had made the cake, plus I was changing the recipe. (Swapping outcool whip with whipping cream.) I was alittle nervous, but it was easier to assemble than I thought and turned outdelicious! For book club we discussed BattleHymn of the Tiger Mother and had a lively discussion. It was a very interesting book to read. I highly recommend it to anyone. M and many of the other husbands also readthe book. After most of the women hadleft I got to chat with one of my friends for about an hour before we realizedthat we had to go to bed or we would be toast the next day.

Friday was a good day. I love Fridays. We ran a few errands in the morning, andagain in the afternoon. We got pizza fordinner, and everyone was excited. I lovepizza night when M is gone, it is so easy. That night for our family dinner we watched some old school episodes of“The Pink Panther.” They were a hit withB-man and J. J currently loves pink sohe was very happy with the selection.

Saturday we were all excited that M was coming home. We all went garage sale hunting in themorning before and after B-man’s soccer games. He really wanted a nerf gun, and my friend called me during his soccergame to tell me where one was. We rushedto the house after the game and sure enough they still had one. We went home for lunch and naps. After naps we went to pick up M from theairport. We were all so excited to seehim. We ran a few errands on the wayhome. The rest of the day was prettyquiet.

Today was ward conference. M was also sustained as Young Men’s President. Church went reasonably well for us, and ournew callings. I really love working inthe Primary. We came home for dinnerand our home teachers came over after.

We love you all!

The C Crew

Hair Cut

2011-10-26T14:36:00.004-04:00

At the beginning of October J finally had a hair cut. Nobody really wanted to do it, but it was WAY past time. That blond hair was so hard to chop off.

October 9, 2011

2011-10-26T14:34:00.002-04:00

October 9, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a really fun week. It has been great having Sho here. Monday she was at her sisters and in routeback to our house. We spent the daydoing our normal routine. The weatherhas been beautiful and we all went to soccer practice and then came home to getready for bed. Later that night Sho madeit back in town.

RM actually climbed inside the cupboard and shut the door on himself. He was happily playing in the empty space.

Tuesday was a relatively slow day. We spent most of the time hanging out aroundthe house. That night M retrieved abookcase from a friend’s house. They hadbeen storing it for us while we were gone. It made for a late night for M, but it is nice to be able to startunpacking books.

Wednesday morning M went into work late. We used the extra time to go get breakfast ata local place that we like with Sho. Weforgot to put money in the parking meter and were greeted with a ticket. Yuck. Once home Sho headed to Delaware to go to the beach and M went towork. I stayed home with the boys andworked on unpacking and arranging books. I mostly just made a big mess. That night M took the B-man to soccer. I got the J and RM all ready for bed, and then once M got back I rushedoff to a Relief Society meeting. It wasbasically a review of Conference and I had been asked to share my thoughts onElder Ballard’s talk. I got to choosebefore hand and was excited that I chose Elder Ballard.

Thursday M took another late morning. I wish it was his normal schedule. It is so nice to have him around! We did another fun breakfast and then he wasoff. We were all pretty tired and so wehad a pretty quiet day around the house. I hung some pictures and made Sho follow me around the house. That afternoon we made a run to get some piefrom a famous local shop. It wasraspberry peach and it was delicious! Weate it that night when the kids were asleep.

Friday morning Sho left to go back home. We were so sad to see her go, but we arehoping that she will be back soon. Themorning was pretty quiet, and things got busier in the afternoon. M got home a little early and I used the timeto run to a Consignment sale. I didn’t buy anything. I have a hard time paying consignment priceswhen I know what I can get things for at garage sales. Plus they didn’t have the specific things Iwas looking for. Right after B-man gothome from school we discovered that he had lent his watch to a friend from thebus. We were a little worried that with thelong weekend something might happen to the watch. Plus we use that watch all the time to tell B-manwhen he needs to get home, or how many more minutes he can be doing something,etc. Since B-man knew where he lived wedecided to walk there. It was a longwalk but beautiful weather and nothing too difficult. B-man rode his bike and the younger boys werein the stroller. We did find the boy andthe watch; and after playing at a park we walked home so I could startdinner. That night for our family partyI made calzones, and then we went to pick out our pumpkins. The first place we went to was closed (it wasa nursery with more of a Halloween feel) so we went to a grocery store. The boys were just as happy. J loved carrying around the big pumpkins tofigure out which he wanted. As soon asthe boys were in bed we started working on spray painting a book case that Ihad gotten on Craigslist. It was a darkwood color and I wanted it white. I hadthree cans of paint and we quickly realized that we were going to needmore. M ran to the store and got eightmore. By the time we were done with theeleventh can it looked much better. Wethought it might even be done. But whenwe inspected it on Saturday morning we realized it probably needs another twocans. It’s a good thing the cans onlycost a dollar! I should have bought someprimer. That probably would have helpedsince we were going from dark to light. I’ll know better for next time. By the time we were done we were covered in paint. My hair looked like it was almost completelygray, and we both had white arm hair. The spray really spreads. We cleanedup quickly, had a treat and then went to bed very tired.

Saturday morning I went out to some garage sales. Our neighborhood was having some and I foundsome fun things for Christmas and filled some gaps in the boys’ wardrobes. I quit early getting home so that we could goto B-man’s soccer game. This was onlyhis second game so far because of all the rain. He ran and ran. He’s a reallyfast runner. We are working on the otherstuff. He did have some great defensiveplays in the second half. J and RM lovedbeing at the game and were so happy to be outside. The weather was so beautiful that B-manbasically played outside most of the day. He was so happy to be able to ride his bike and play with theneighborhood kids. M ran an errand with afriend that took most of the afternoon. Verylast minute we went over to a friend’s house to play volleyball. I fed the kids early, and then as soon as Mgot home he changed and we headed over. We started with three on three (boys v. girls) and although the girlshad some highlight worthy plays the boys were able to win both games. Once another couple arrived we played four onfour. The match went to three games andwe lost in the end. Mostly because I washolding RM so he wouldn’t scream. Thekids did really well until the last five minutes and then they were justdone. Even the Cheerios we set out weren’tkeeping them happy. We headed home andput everyone to bed. Then M’ friendJared (from Tortola) came over. We hadmore delicious pie and some great conversation. I was SO tired. I can’t rememberthe last time I have had that hard of a time staying awake while people aretalking. It wasn’t even late! It was almost rude how asleep I was. I hope I didn’t offend him. I was so happy to finally go to bed.

Today has been a good day. Nice quiet morning. M let mesleep in a little and then have a cat nap in the morning. I wasn’t feeling allthat hot, but after the nap I was restored and ready to go. We met with the bishop right beforechurch. M has a new calling. After Sacrament meeting I went to Primary andhad my first experience leading the music. I was a little nervous, but I think it went okay. I have a lot of learning of words to do. It is so obvious when the leader doesn’t knowthe words. After church we made a quickstop at home for M to pick up his suitcase and then we went to theairport. M is off to Germany for anenormous book fair. I am trying not tobe jealous. We said our goodbyes andthen came home for dinner and a quiet night.

We love you all!

The C Crew

Waking Up

2011-09-28T22:57:00.003-04:00

Blanket chewing is normal here.

A little grumpy at first. Also normal.

Realizing that M is here and can get him out of bed.

Tortola

2011-09-28T22:53:00.001-04:00

Waiting for the ferry to Tortola in St. Thomas.

On the ferry.

Smuggler's Cove

The trail to "The Baths" on Virgin Gorda.

On the trail from the "Baths" to "Devil's Bay." I thought this was the path, but I was wrong. We did lots of climbing over and under these huge rocks.

Eating lunch on the beach at Devil's Bay.

View from the shore.

Post lunch and snorkeling. A storm blew through while we were snorkeling but we didn't even notice.

At the end of the day. More clouds were gathering.

Add caption

Our awesome rental car. It actually seats four with cargo space.

Our humble abode. Our apartment was the whole first floor.

At the Road Town bakery. We were sad we discovered it so late. It was delicious.

Bow Tie

2011-09-28T22:37:00.002-04:00

This really captures his hair.

Pretending to be sad.

September 25, 2011

2011-09-28T22:30:00.001-04:00

September 25, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

We have had a great couple of weeks. My mom flew out to help us settle in, and wehad a great time having her here. Shestarted out the trip sick, and we were grateful when she started feeling alittle better. She was very kind and letus rearrange her trip and stay longer so that she could stay with the childrenwhile we went on a couple’s vacation. Weflew out September 15^th, and flew to St. Thomas in the VirginIslands. We then took a ferry to the islandof Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. M’ friend Jared (he rented a house and offered to let us stay there withhim) met us at the dock and took us back to the house. It was a clean three bedroom apartment in thebottom level of a house. Once we gotsettled we changed into swim gear and headed to the beach. There was an amazing beach very close to thehouse. We all went swimming. I chose to hold off on snorkeling until thenext day. It was late and so we wentback to the house and got ready for dinner. We drove into the main city Road Town and had a pizza dinner. Coincidentally we discovered that church metin the same building as the pizza restaurant. Someone in the group looked up and realized that there was a church signon the building. Kind of funny.

M and I slept in the next morning. We were still up by 8:00 am but when you arenormally awake by 5:30 it feels a lot like sleeping in. It was wonderful! After breakfast M went with Jared to pick upour rental car. We had originally gottena compact car, but at a different rental agency we got a good deal on a carwith four wheel drive. It wasn’t prettyto look at, but it got the job done. Theroads were fairly bad, lots of pot holes, winding, and very hilly so we wantedsomething with better traction. We thenpacked a lunch and headed off to the beach. We went snorkeling first thing. Icouldn’t believe how easy it was to see things. We hardly had to swim out from the shore at all to start seeingthings. I kept forgetting I was in theocean and then I would be surprised when the water was salty. The water was perfectly clear and warm. When we got tired of snorkeling we would takea break and visit in the water. We wouldalways be surprised by fish jumping by us just feet from the shore. We stayed a long time at the beach, weeventually left because a storm came in and it was getting ready to dump somerain on us. We made it back to the houseand got ready to go to dinner. We triedto find a curry place, but addresses don’t really exist and we couldn’t find alocal that knew what we were talking about. We settled on a burger place that was out in the open air. It was a little pricey but good. The burgers had beets, eggs, pineapple, andbacon on them. M was thrilled.

Saturday we caught a ferry to Virgin Gorda, another islandin the BVI. Once there we went to a“National Park” known as “The Baths.” Itwas amazing. After paying a very smallentrance fee you walk down a tree covered path to the shore. You could swim there, but we decided to goon a further (20 min) walk to Devil’s Bay. The path takes you around, over, under, and through some enormousboulders. They are the size of smallhomes and they are in the water. You getsome fantastic views of the light coming through the boulders and lightingthings up. The hike wasn’t difficult,but there were some very awkward places that we had to get through. It was well worth the effort. We walked out onto a stunning beach that wascompletely empty. We had very few otherpeople. We found a place with a littlecloud cover and then went exploring in the water. Within a few minutes M convinced me that Ineeded to get my snorkel gear on. Thesnorkeling there was incredible. Itdropped off very quickly and all the reefs were created by these enormousboulders plunging down into the water. While we were out snorkeling it started to pour rain for about tenminutes, but in the water you couldn’t even tell it was raining. We got so lucky with the weather. Even though it rained it never messed up anyof our plans, and we had plenty of sunshine. The rain blew through very fast and the rest of the day we had sunshine. We stayed as long as we could, but eventuallyhad to leave and catch our ferry back to Tortola. Our ferry let us off in Road Town and aftergetting a few hints we were finally able to find the Curry Shack. We were rewarded with delicious and inexpensivedinner. (Food on the island is verypricey.) We explored a little more downtownin the car before heading back home to watch a movie.

Sorry for the sideways... I'm not sure how to change that.

Sunday was a rainy day. (Perfect day to be rainy!) Wewent to church and stayed a long time after talking to the missionary couplethat was there, and the local leaders of the branch. They were a small branch but they have someamazing members. It was interesting tofind out that most of the people on Tortola are not born there. Many come in from other islands or Caribbeancommunity. We then went home and had ourown tasty burgers for dinner. The restof the day we chatted and played games.

Monday was our last day. It was very sad. We went to thebeach early and then took a little break to go into Road Town and try out abakery that had been recommended to us. They had delicious sandwiches and amazing pastries. M and I had the best chocolate cake/torte wehave ever had in our lives and it was all super cheap because it was runthrough the community college and everything is made by the students. After a leisurely lunch we headed back tothe beach for more snorkeling and chatting. I thought I would get bored with only beach stuff to do, but I wasreally wrong. I was never bored, noteven for a second.

Tuesday we got up and going so that we could get off. We decided to go with an earlier ferry thanwe really needed because sometimes they cancel ferries and we wanted to makesure we wouldn’t have any problems. Itwas a pretty storm day, and it made for a rough ferry ride. Once at the dock we decided to goexploring. We had a lot of time to killbefore we needed to be at the airport. We ended up walking to a little shopping district. There was a cruise ship in town and so therewere lots of people out. I was amazed athow many of the shops were for jewelry. Probably 75% of the shops were selling pretty expensive jewelry. Eventually we went back to the docks and tooka taxi to the airport. Just as we wereclearing security we found out that our flight was delayed. It was originally supposed to leave at 4:15pm but after many delays it finally left at 9:10 pm. We were so sad because we missed out onanother chance to play and visit the bakery, plus we missed out connection inMiami so we had to rearrange my mother’s flight back home. It was sort of stressful. But we were at least grateful to know thatthe kids were in good hands and we were together! We got in very late and got to the hotel thatthe airlines provided. We got some dinnerand then crashed very late. The nextmorning we had breakfast and then headed back to the airport. We had no problems with the rest of ourflight. At the airport my mom met uswith J and RM. RM was asleep but Jseemed happy to see us. We chatted for afew minutes and then I helped my mom get all of her stuff checked in and readyto go. We were so sad to not have moretime to show pictures and catch up with each other. Once home RM was finally awake and gave methe best snuggle I think I have ever had. He was so cute and just wanted to hug me. The rest of the day went smoothly and I wasamazed at how my mom had the house in pristine shape.

Thursday was another normal day. Honestly it seemed like a dream to think thatjust 48 hours earlier we had been sitting on a beach. But it was good to be back with the kids. I mostly spent the day unpacking and gettinga little grocery shopping done. Myvisiting teachers also came and I made dinner for a family in our ward thatnight.

Friday I took the boys with me to eat lunch with B-man. He was the VIP for his class and on Fridaysthe parents can come eat with the student. I got B-man a super fun lunch from McDonalds and when he came into thecafeteria he gave me a hug and rushed by. I was distracted and talking to the teacher and I didn’t realize untilit was too late that he had gotten a school lunch. So now he had two lunches to eat. Turns out he was pretty hungry, because bythe time lunch was over all the food was gone. J and RM loved being with the big kids. The rest of the day went pretty quickly. We had pizza for dinner and then for our family party we opened somebelated birthday gifts from Grandma Elna on the webcam. We chatted for a while and it was fun foreveryone. That night M and I put up somedrapery rods and drapes in the study.

Saturday morning I went with a friend to garage sales. We both found a few fun things. Once I got home we tried putting the car inthe garage. We figured out how to fitboth cars in the garage. We don’t havean automatic garage door opener though, so it will probably be a while beforewe park them in the garage on a regular basis. Plus it is a VERY tight squeeze for me. Then M went with B-man to our ward’s day of service. They worked to help clear a battlefield thatwill be used to re-enact a civil war battle this year for the 200^thanniversary. It was good work, but itwas muddy and messy. Not the kind ofthing I could do with two toddlers. Weran a few errands instead and then gave them naps. After they got back we had leftovers fordinner and then got everyone in bed.

Today we got all the boys to sleep in! J and RM were both up before 5:00 am, andthankfully we were able to get them back to sleep. I have a few ideas that I have been trying toimplement to get them to sleep less during the day and more at night. 5:15 am is just too early for me to be upwith the two kids. Plus they werecranky! We had a great breakfast ofwhole wheat pancakes and then had a leisurely morning before church. I have a new calling, I am now the PrimaryChorister and so I was in Primary today trying to learn and pick up a fewhints. I am very grateful to have twoweeks until the next time I need to be ready to go.

We love you all!

The C Crew

Teaser of Tortola

2011-09-22T22:21:00.003-04:00

This is the beach that M and I spent most of our last week at.

When we did venture out we went to an even better beach that was only accessible through a trail with these views.

More pictures to come, but needless to say it was a fantastic trip.

Happy Birthday B-man

2011-09-12T22:14:00.000-04:00

B-man is now 7. I really can't believe how big he has gotten.

The day before his birthday he found one of his presents that I had neglected to hide after getting some work done on it. He LOVES the guitar and carried it around all weekend.

Opening his other gifts.

Grandma D was in town, but she hid from all the pictures. It was so fun to have her around for all the festivities.

J especially loved blowing out candles on the cake for B-man and we indulged him with several rounds of blowing them out.

RM missed all the cake but loved the party still.

I'm alive.

2011-05-29T23:55:00.003-04:00

We are all alive, I promise! We have just been in a crazy bit of chaos. Here is our last three weeks (almost four now) in a nutshell... (The full story is written and waiting on pictures. I don't know how to do that.)

1. We moved. Only half way though. We packed up our house and left the old one.
2. Grandma E flew with me and the boys to her house.
3. M flew to Baghdad. (Not fun.)
4. Now I am in San Diego
5. We have a closing date on the new house.
6. We'll be on the West Coast all summer until M gets back from Baghdad

May 1, 2011

2011-05-07T08:33:00.002-04:00

May 1, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

We’ve had another crazy week. I can’t remember very much of it to be honest. We have been trying to use up the rest of the cow that we bought quite a while ago, so all of our meals this week have centered around a cut of meat that we needed to use. Monday night I realized that our meal was going to make way more than what we could eat, so we called a friend to come over with her daughter. (Her husband travels a lot and was out of town.) We had a great dinner and then a very simple FHE.

The rest of the week is a blur to be honest. Not a lot happening that is very noteworthy. Mostly me trying to balance, packing, caring for, and playing with children. Wednesday night was book club. We discussed Sarah’s Key. There was a huge thunderstorm that came through during the book club.

Friday for our family party we made hamburgers, and then we watched part of a special from Top Gear. (A BBC show about cars.) It was a special where they were racing across the Middle East. Kind of appropriate for our family.

Saturday morning I went out to garage sales with a friend. We found some great things. The rest of the day we spent working around the house. In the evening we went to a ward party. It was a potluck in the parking lot where we all brought blankets and chairs to sit on, while the kids played games in the field and parking lot. We had to do a major tick check on everyone after their baths and before bed.

Sunday was Fast Sunday and so M had no meetings. When M went in to get J in the morning he discovered that J had removed his pajamas, and his stinky diaper. The good news was that he didn’t finger paint with it, but there was still a mess to clean up. He’s in the stage where he would rather not wear clothes if possible… Church was great, although a little sad as it was our last Sunday. M will have one more week, but the rest of us will be gone by then. After church I worked on dinner items. We actually went to a friend’s house for dinner. I had some great cuts of meat that needed to be eaten, but our house is in no shape to host people. So I felt comfortable enough to say, “Can we come eat at your house if you cook this meat?” Thankfully she agreed. We had a great dinner, and then came home and got the boys ready for bed.

We love you all!

The Clark Crew

April 24, 2011

2011-04-26T20:08:00.002-04:00

April 24, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a great week. I have loved being able to have B-man home for Spring Break. We started the week off slowly, and then finished it at a much quicker pace. Monday was our normal shopping day, and then FHE that night.

Tuesday and Wednesday were fairly slow and a blur. Tuesday after M got home from work we went to the storage unit and found some items that we have needed. We went to a park on Wednesday to enjoy the nice warm weather and sunshine. That night I played basketball with some friends. It was great to get some good exercise.

Thursday morning I boiled eggs and then we dyed them. It was a little crazy with J, and he did crack several of eggs in his excitement to switch colors, but we still had a good time. I love dyeing eggs. It was a hit with the kids too. We spent the rest of the morning packing and cleaning so that we could go on a little family trip. It was a really busy morning… After packing a lunch we drove to M’ office and picked him up. We then headed to Philadelphia, PA. The drive went well. It is about three hours away, and J slept a little during the trips. There were plenty of trucks to keep them distracted in the mean time. Once we got off the freeway and were very close to our hotel (less than a mile away) we got stuck in some nasty traffic that added almost an hour to our trip. That set us back a little in our schedule. We put our stuff in our room, and then headed back downstairs. I got an amazing deal on a hotel through Priceline, and we were staying right downtown in a very nice hotel. We realized that all of the historical sites would be closing by 5:00, so rather than getting an early dinner we decided to do some sites first and then dinner. We walked the six blocks to the visitor’s center. The entire way the boys were in awe. J could not get over all the things to see in the city. The trucks, taxis, cars, people, etc. I just wanted to make sure that we all stayed together and didn’t lose B-man or something. After a brief trip to the visitor’s center we then headed over to the Liberty Bell. I waited in the line while M, J, and B-man ran around on the grass playing tag. It was beautiful weather and they had fun getting some energy out. We then entered the building that houses the Liberty Bell. It was interesting to see how large it is in real life, and to be able to see the crack in detail. J only tried once to go touch the bell, so it was a good outing. After the Liberty Bell we walked back to our hotel, got our car and then went to get dinner. We were all starving by this point. We always do some research on where to eat in cities when we go out of town. We decided to first hit a place for a “Philly Cheese steak.” There are two places that are across the street from each other. We went to the one that we had heard was best first. We then decided that we might as well try them both, so we did. And if you are ever in Philadelphia, we thought “Geno’s” was a clear winner. One fun thing about this trip was seeing how old B-man is getting. He even weighed in with his own opinion on the food, and what he liked better. It made the trip all the more fun. After finishing our sandwiches we got in the car and headed back to our hotel through the Italian market area. We actually stopped at a fruit stand that was still open and got some fruit for J to eat. After getting back to our hotel the boys all changed into swim gear and we went to the pool in our hotel. It was on the seventh floor. I thought that was very strange. The pool was a little chilly for J, but B-man and M had a great time. We then headed to our room for hot showers and bed. We put J in a pack-n-play in the bathroom, B-man in his own bed, and RM was on a chair turned around and pushed up against the wall. The first ten minutes the two youngest were crying, but after picking up RM and letting him fall asleep in our bed things quieted down and all the boys fell asleep. I then was able to transfer RM back to the chair, and he slept pretty well there the rest of the night. M and I stayed up for a little bit, but went to bed fairly early.

Us in Independence Hall. J wasn’t thrilled to have his picture taken. If you look very closely you can see RM’s little legs in my other arm.

Saturday morning was cold and soggy after all the rain. That morning we had our egg hunt, and the boys opened some prizes from their Grandparents. It was a great morning. After the morning festivities I picked up a friend and went to two garage sales. That was all there was with the rain. Later that morning we packed a picnic (egg salad of course) and headed to an egg hunt that was organized by some friends of ours. It was a big hit with all the kids. Sadly the weather was very cold and wet. In fact after the hunt, and the picnic it started pouring rain and most of the kids got drenched to the bone. It was cold enough that we came home and turned on the heater and put all the kids in warm baths. (Ironically right after we did this the sun came out and it got to be over seventy!) The rest of the day we just worked in the house going through things, and then ran a few errands right before bed.

Sunday was a great day. M made a great breakfast of egg tacos, and then we got ready for church. Sacrament meeting had excellent talks on Easter. J even had a slightly easier time this week. After church I started making rolls to take to a dinner that we had been invited to attend. It was a family that M home teaches. I was when I went to roll out the dough and realized that I had managed to kill the yeast. (Still not sure how that happened.) It was not salvageable. Not what you want to have happen when you are going to someone’s house… We picked up a woman in our ward that was also invited and just as we were knocking on her door a tremendous thunderstorm came through. It was loud, and full of heavy rain. Thankfully it was fast moving though, and by the time we arrived at the house for dinner the worst had blown over. We had a delicious dinner with wonderful company. Their oldest daughter had even organized a little egg hunt for the kids. We then came home and got everybody ready for bed.

We love you all!

The C Crew

April 17, 2011

2011-04-20T13:35:00.002-04:00

April 17, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

M left early Monday morning for a conference in Seattle. I must admit that I had been slightly disappointed that the government had not shut down. If it had, it would have meant that M would have had to stay home. So now you know how selfish I am. But he did go, and he enjoyed the week for the most part. That morning I had a friend watch J while I took RM to a pediatric ophthalmologist. They had prepared me before hand that it could be a long wait. Thankfully the wait was half what they told me. We went in, and first saw the “assistant.” (I know there is a better term for it.) We were seeing the doctor because both I and the pediatrician had noticed that one eye was not tracking like it should. The pediatrician said it was probably just a lazy eye. Well after a thorough exam by the assistant and the doctor, neither one saw it! (When I said that I noticed it in pictures too, they asked if I had brought any…. Oops.) I guess that is good. They did say that he has a wide bridge on his nose that may have made it look off, and that he is more far sighted than a normal infant. So we are going back in six months to see if he is still off. After the appointment I went and picked up J. He had been enjoying the wonderful weather with his friend outside. That afternoon after B-man had finished his homework we went to a friend’s house. There were three women there and we were all flying solo for the night. We ate dinner, and then I did a FHE lesson on Easter and the resurrection.

Tuesday through Thursday is pretty much a blur. I honestly can’t remember anything. We were just in our routine of normal life. I am working on packing, collecting boxes, etc.

This is RM’s new trick with his lips.

Friday morning I took the boys over to a friend’s house for some play time. J loves their house and gets so excited whenever we pull up in their driveway. We had a great time and loved the perfect weather without bugs. Those days don’t happen as often as we would like. That night for dinner I got really brave and took the boys out for pizza instead of making it. We went to this place that is a pizza buffet. All things considered it went really well. We did have a spilled water cup, and J had marinara sauce all over his face and hands (good thing I remembered a bib) but it wasn’t too terrible for everyone. We even all left full. For our family party we watched “Dirty Jobs” and then the boys went to bed.

Saturday morning was pretty relaxed. The weather was rainy and stormy all day. In the afternoon we went and picked up M from the airport. We were all so happy to have him home. J wouldn’t let him out of his sight the rest of the weekend. We had a slow day the rest of the day. That night after the boys were in bed we ended up watching an edited version of “Slumdog Millionaire.” It was an interesting film, but it was really sad too.

Sunday was a good day. No meetings for M in the morning. Church went well for the most part. After church I worked on dinner for us and a family that had just had a baby. We took a little excursion to take them dinner, before coming back and eating our own food. After dinner we went for a nice long walk to help burn off some time and energy.

We love you all!

The C Crew

April 10, 2011

2011-04-13T20:18:00.002-04:00

April 10, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday morning I made an appointment to take J in the doctor. We made it in and were able to see someone pretty quickly. The doctor was concerned because he was obviously still full of infection, plus he has a swollen spleen and lymph nodes. We left with a different antibiotic, and instructions to come back the next day to see if he had improved. We spent the rest of the day at home. That night we had the missionaries over for dinner. They then provided the lesson for FHE.

Tuesday morning we went back to the doctor. The good news was that J’s ears had improved. The bad news was that his spleen was still swollen so the doctor wanted to do some blood work to see if they could pick up what was going on. So we then headed over to the hospital for the lab there. I couldn’t find a close parking spot, and it was raining, so we trudged through the rain and finally made it. I was very tired from carrying both boys by this time. (They have a combined weight of 50 lbs. now.) Then after waiting around they finally tell me that my insurance isn’t accepted there. I seriously almost started crying when they told me that I was going to have to walk back to the car, and then go somewhere else and wait some more. Luckily there was a different lab close to the hospital and they let me walk through the hospital so that I didn’t need to go outside. Thankfully the other lab was fast, and I came out of the lab closer to my car. So it wasn’t so bad after all. Later that day I finally went to get some groceries. We were desperate for some provisions in the house.

The rest of the week was pretty quiet. The tests all came back normal, so no mono or anything else. Hopefully this antibiotic will take care of this infection and we will be done! He does seem much improved. We have been working on packing one box a day, in an effort to not get overloaded. Our house is full of boxes, mostly empty now, but the ration is always changing.

Friday morning a friend came over with her children and we let the kids play. Later for our family party we had pizza and then watched a show together.

This is J saying “See ya!”

Saturday morning I went to some garage sales. It was a good day, and I got a lot of great clothes for the boys. The rest of the day we worked on various projects related to moving. In the late afternoon we went to B-man’s school carnival. B-man played a bunch of games, and J was content to eat some popcorn. We did the cake walk (as a family of course) and won on our first attempt! Actually J won, but it looked a little sketch because he was wandering around a bit and there were a few open spots. It was totally legit though. We then came home, heated up pizza for dinner and then got everyone to bed.

Sunday was a good day. We had the usual routine and the usual craziness during Sacrament meeting. We are so happy that J loves nursery now, because he is a loud little boy. After church we had a very relaxing afternoon and evening. After an early dinner we went for a very long family walk. It was beautiful weather and everyone had a great time. After the boys were in bed M packed for a conference that he would be going to this week.

We love you all!

The C Crew

April 3, 2011

2011-04-05T20:30:00.002-04:00

April 3, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a great, but crazy week here as usual. Monday after the usual grocery run we had FHE and discussed and then worked on memorizing the fifth Article of Faith.

Tuesday we had a very early dinner so that M could go home teach several of his families. The visits went well. We also had the oven guy come and finally finish the repair on our range. It took him several trips, but once he figured out that he had the wrong part it was an easy fix. We were just sitting down to dinner when he arrived, so we just kept eating.

This is RM’s bed in our closet. I had to record it for “posterity.”

Wednesday I took the younger boys to the doctor. RM was just getting his check-up. He is doing great except for some eye issues we need to follow up with. J was supposed to just get shots, but I had him checked because he had been off an antibiotic for only a few days, and all of his symptoms had returned already. When I took him in, the doctor said he was still very sick. So we got a new antibiotic and were sent on our way. I will be so happy when he has finally kicked this lingering thing. Whatever it is. That night M had a Presidency meeting at our house, and I hid in the basement.

Thursday was a slower day. In the afternoon I went to the dentist. I’m glad to have that over. I need a little work done, more preventative than anything else. Later after dinner B-man went to another party at “Pump-It-UP” and had a great time.

Friday M had the day off. I love having him around all day! I went and worked out in the morning, and then the rest of the day we ran some errands and just stuck pretty close to home. That night for our family party we drove to Chevy Chase, MD to see the cherry blossoms. We were a few days early, and the trees were not in full bloom, but it was still beautiful. Right as we got out of the car a huge cloud came and blocked the sun making it much colder. Between the cold and a couple taking wedding photographs, we didn’t feel like we could linger as much as we would have liked. We took some pictures and then drove around the neighborhood for a few minutes before getting on our way. We then headed over to Arlington where we got some food at a few places we had wanted to try. We got some treats at a German bakery, and then headed over to the “Italian Store” and got a delicious sandwich to share for dinner. We then packed the kids back in the car and headed home. It was a good family party, and we decided that we want to do something like this more often.

Saturday morning I was up early to hit a garage sale and consignment sale with a friend. My friend found great stuff, but I had very little success. I then came home and got ready to watch Conference. We had a picnic lunch during the first session. It was so nice that J’s nap coincided with the morning session each day. We were actually able to watch and listen! We pretty much spent the day enjoying the wonderful talks and being together.

Sunday was more of the same. Lots of time to enjoy being together and listen to conference. It was wonderful. We were able to finish off the last of the treats from the bakery, and then had a simple dinner during the afternoon session. We realized after dinner that J was running a fever. Ugh! That means I will probably be back at the doctor to try and figure him out again. We did run to give some friends some seeds that we were not going to be using this year. It was an easy way to get out of the house and let the last hour before bed pass.

We love you all!

The C Crew

March 27, 2011

2011-03-27T20:20:00.001-04:00

March 27, 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday I managed to get out and get the shopping done. That night for FHE we went and helped to clean the chapel. We were the first family there and started off cleaning. Thankfully several other families showed up and we were done in just over an hour.

Tuesday I had a repairman come to fix our range again. Once again he couldn’t get it working but he figured out that he has been ordering the wrong part. So hopefully we will have it fixed this week. B-man was excited to have someone to chat with. He was asking him if he goes to church, and if he has a bible, etc. It always is a little embarrassing to me, but we are trying to be as bold as B-man. That night I made sloppy Joes and took some to our neighbor who has been sick.

Wednesday morning we had people come in and fix some windows in our house. They worked fast and were very cute with J who kept following them around and watching what they were doing. That night I went to basketball practice and then after coming home to help with bedtime I went to book club. We discussed “Pope Joan” which was a very engaging interesting read.

Thursday was a slower day. The big event was the BYU v. Florida basketball game. M went to a friend’s house to watch it with some friends and I watched it at home. It was an exciting game, but we were sad at the outcome.

Friday early afternoon I took the boys to a friend’s house for lunch. It was a great way to pass the time in the morning, and the kids all got along well. Then that night for our family party we had hamburgers for dinner, and then watched some nature shows. Once again we picked something that was a little too intense for B-man, so we fast forwarded a lot.

(M wrote the rest of this letter.)

Saturday we all got up early to watch R play in the women’s basketball tournament. We were hopeful that they could win this first game to get to the finals….but they were beat by a better team. The difference between women losing a game and men losing is that the women will still be having fun even though they are losing. Some of the women were still smiling!! I had to keep relatively quiet, so I didn’t bad mouth the refs – they were hacking R all over the place, with no calls.

On the way home we passed by a couple of garage sales – both weak and overpriced. We got back home to find a blinds-repairman next door waiting to work on a neighbor’s house. Since they weren’t responding, we asked him if he would look at our blinds. He fixed our blinds in about 20 minutes…and it would have taken both R and me at least an hour to do it together. We paid a fair price, with both of us happy.

While B-man was playing with a friend, we went to do some returns and purchases at the mall. The mall isn’t much fun for me, so I can’t imagine having to do the same thing with a six year old. The only time that a mall is even worth entering is when you’re in the desert (say Kuwait or UAE) and it’s the only place where you can be assured of air conditioning.

I went to a friends’ house for a game night – his birthday party, so a bunch of guys went over to play some board games. It was fun to get together with the group of guys, mostly from our old ward.

Sunday was a good day. I had a meeting in the morning. Then came home to help with the last minute push to get out the door and be on time to church. Sacrament meeting is always interesting with J; hopefully soon we will see improvements in his behavior. After church R made a fantastic dinner, and then we had some friends over for dessert. It was a great way to spend the evening.

We love you all!

The C Crew

March 29, 2011

2011-03-24T19:48:00.002-04:00

March 20, 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

We started to memorize the 5^th Article of Faith for Family Home Evening. B-man is doing a great job learning them, and we are re-learning them along with him. We, finally, celebrated R’s birthday with cake, though I should maybe have planned it a little better since R had made a peanut-butter , chocolate pie for an FHE treat.

B-man went to a friend’s birthday party on Wednesday evening. Just after getting the boys in bed, I had a presidency meeting (haven’t had one in too long) that was very effective. We now have a full quorum presidency, a complete set of instructors and a good plan for what is coming up. We need to encourage better home teaching, but that will come along just fine.

(B-man finally lost his first tooth... good thing since his next two are already in place.)

Thursday evening R went to a Relief Society meeting that was a tri-ward event. She reported that the classes were very good.

I had Friday off, so after B-man got off to school, R was able to go back to bed for a little while. While she worked out, J and I had a fun time at home (with RM napping most of the time). I spent the morning figuring out some of our summer plans and paying some bills. We spent most of the afternoon in the neighborhood; throwing Frisbees, playing tag, and playing at the park. We took a short break to go check out a house that just went on the market. It looked like a great house, on a really, really tiny lot.

Our HOA had a bingo/pizza party that evening, so we took the boys to play some games. The boys had a great time. J loved drinking endless Capri Suns, while B-man was intent on winning a bingo game. He didn’t end up winning any games, but R and I made up for that. We came home with a few boxes of Girl Scout cookies and a toy airplane that B-man thought was cool.

Saturday was a busy day. The boys slept in (maybe until 7:30) and then we got rolling. R made pancakes and then we left the house in a mess to go to a basketball game. On the way we stopped at a garage sale (first one of the season) and didn’t find much worth purchasing. It’s hard to buy some stuff, when we don’t have a house to put it in.

R played a great game, against a ward with a lot of our friends in it. Our women played very well, and dominated throughout most the game (think BYU v Gonzaga). R might have had her best, or second best, scoring game. It’s a balancing act, or watching the kids run around and cheering on our team.

B-man and I helped a family move into the ward early in the afternoon, and then we went over to our friend’s house to watch NCAA basketball tournament. It was fun to get together, and the weather was good enough that the kids could run outside. We had a late night, just starting the BYU v. Gonzaga before having to take off to get the boys in bed.

B-man spent this afternoon building and playing with Lego’s. J had a great nap and we had a great dinner together. With the three boys, dinner is getting to be a very noisy event. We constantly are trying to keep J from yelling for more food, RM crying to be held and B-man actually wanting to talk with us. We have some room to improve!

We love you all!

The C Crew

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T21:38:00.001-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had no visits from leprechauns... but we did have a visit from the Tooth Beast.

And he even left something green for B-man.

March 13, 2011

2011-03-16T13:23:00.002-04:00

March 13, 2011

Dear Family & Friends:

I have been all week at a training class. It seems like whenever I am away R is going to the doctors with the boys. It turns out that both RM and J have/had pinkeye and J had a sinus infection. It’s nice to be back.

R was able to have dinner (a few times?) with a good friend while I was out of town. It’s nice to have easy friends (with husbands on the road) to make it possible to spend time together. We’ve got a great group of friends that make life a lot easier for us out here.

R was able to squeeze in visiting teaching before/after doctors appointments for the boys also on Friday.

Saturday was a busy day. R had a basketball game and had fun, even though they didn’t have enough players so they had to forfeit. After dropping the boys off at a friend’s house on the way home, we went to look at a couple of homes that just came on the market. It’s always an interesting balance of location, house size, and lot size – in the end I’m sure that we’ll find something that we’ll be very happy with.

B-man and I went to a ward baptism in the middle of the day, while R stayed home with napping boys. We’re enjoying the frequent baptisms that we go to, knowing that it will be very soon (still 1.5 years) when B-man will be getting baptized.

The weather was nice enough in the afternoon that the boys spent the afternoon outside. B-man loves having his bike out of the storage unit and J loves to run into the street and go places that he’s not supposed to. Thankfully we live on a street with minor traffic, so it usually isn’t too bad.

I went to Ward Council this morning, while the rest of us tried to sleep as long as possible. R had to wake up the boys at 7:45, giving us just enough time to get everyone ready for 9:00am church. After a quick lunch of leftovers, I went out to visit a few families in the ward. We can’t wait for all of the boys to get better so that we aren’t dealing with sick, cranky, crazy boys.

R made a wonderful Sunday meal. And then we put the boys to bed.

We love you all!

The C Crew

Singing in the Rain

2011-03-08T23:58:00.001-05:00

This is J’s version…

March 6, 2011

2011-03-08T20:46:00.002-05:00

March 6, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

We started our week off with a bang by closing on the sale of our home. After getting B-man off to school we did some quick finishing touches on the house and then left and had breakfast together while they did their final walk-through. We then dropped off J with a friend and headed over to sign the papers. Everything went very smoothly and I was happy to see that it was a young couple that was buying our house. I really just want the people to take good care of the house. I shouldn’t care, but I kind of do. After the closing we talked with our realtor for a few minutes and then headed home. M then went to work. The rest of the day was fairly normal. That night at FHE we continued our lessons on the Articles of Faith and discussed/memorized the Third.

Tuesday was a slow day. I can’t remember much of what was happening. I went to the grocery store etc. Wednesday was also slow. In the evening I ended up going to another auction. I bid on a few items, but ended up leaving early. It was a mad house. They had two auctioneers going at the same time on different items, it was standing room only, and I had poor RM. He was a champ, but if it was sensory overload for me, I knew it would be for him too. So we left, and I decided I don’t really like auctions. I prefer a garage sale where I can name my price and I don’t have to compete with other people. (Plus sit around and wait for the good stuff to be auctioned off after all the junk.)

Thursday morning a fellow came to give us a quote on repairing some windows. (Long story, but it was supposed to be done by now.) It was obvious to me within minutes that he had no idea what he was doing. I wasn’t surprised when he never called back with his quote. Later that afternoon after M was home, he had a sales guy over to give him a quote on new windows. I hate that type of thing, and M loves it. So when he came I left and went to get some blood tests done. When I got home he was still there, so I just listened in and started working on dinner. The price was too high, but we did get him to come down quite a bit! Never take the first offer.

B-man’s latest creations…

Friday was our family party day. We had a repairman come in the morning. He fixed our stove (it sounds like everything is broken, but it isn’t) and then when I tried it two seconds after he went out the door it wasn’t working again. (One of the burners doesn’t light without a match.) I ran after him, but he was already gone, so now we get to have them come back again. What a pain. Hanging out with repairmen is not my favorite thing. That night we had pizza for our family dinner, and then we watched a movie together. I can’t remember what it was.

I love that B-man can sit and read. He is really getting into books.

Saturday was supposed to be a nice relaxing day, and it was, but ultimately we added a lot of things in at the last minute. We all went to Home Depot for their kid’s classes. M and B-man worked together while I looked at a few things with the smaller boys. After the class we came home and finished our Saturday chores. While doing my usual searches for houses I discovered a new house on the market that was interesting. We piled back in the car and did a drive by to check out the yard. We decided the yard wasn’t a deal killer so we headed back home, and then called our realtor to see if we could get in. I headed off to the gym to go swimming. When I got there I realized there was a class about to start in the pool. I should have just gone home, but I decided to stay and do the class. Sadly the class started very late, and I had only been exercising for less than ten minutes when I heard my phone ringing and M was telling me to come home so we could go look at the house. It wasn’t worth all the effort of getting into a swimsuit and getting wet. Anyway I ran home, changed quickly and then we all headed off to see the house. In our rush I forgot to find places for the kids so they were all with us. Not the best way to look at a house, but we managed okay. We walked through the house, and were able to get a good feel for the house. We really liked it, but there are a few potential problems we need to consider. We then had a few hours of relaxing and fun. (Or obsessing about homes.) Around four we got a call from a friend that was in DC. After a little debate about whether M should go alone, or if we should all go we decided to all go together so that we could discuss things in the car. The drive in was very lovely, and we found perfect parking and met up with our friend quite easily. It was very smooth. We then headed over to the DC hot spot of “Ben’s Chili Bowl.” It was crowded and loud, but we made it work. We eventually had to leave because the kids were getting stir crazy. We got home and everyone went straight to bed. We were sad to not have more time with our friend.

Sunday was a good day. J stayed in nursery, and RM was a happy clam for me. After church we had a very quiet afternoon. We had a super early dinner so that M could get on the road on time. He had to go to some training. We managed to fill the evening with nature videos on YouTube and playing in the basement.

We love you all!

The C Crew

February 27, 2011

2011-02-27T20:32:00.000-05:00

February 27, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

I will try my best to remember the week. I really am losing my mind sometimes I think. Monday was President’s Day. B-man and M were both home. We didn’t do too much to celebrate. Just enjoyed a day with nothing to do. I had a doctor’s appointment and then later we all went to Costco together. That night we had a patriotic lesson for FHE.

Tuesday we had a bit of a snow storm, and so B-man had a snow day from school. He was thrilled. We enjoyed a nice lazy day without much to do. I watched the kids of a friend so she could run an errand.

Wednesday we were back to the routine. I made it to the grocery store to finish our shopping for the week. That night B-man came with me to play basketball. After getting home I had just enough time to clean up and get the kids into bed before heading back out to go to book club. We discussed The Road and had a great night with a good amount of women there.

Thursday was a fairly slow day. I watched a little girl in the afternoon. J loves having friends over, and it really helps the time to go a little faster when people come over for short little bits. I can’t remember anything else.

(Look really closely and you can see J having fun with RM.)

Friday was another fairly normal day. We had leftovers for dinner (love that) and then for our family party we watched “Cloudy with a Chance for Meatballs.” I slept a little, the boys liked it, but B-man did get freaked out towards the end. He is such a complicated six year old.

Saturday was a busy day. We started off with a basketball game for me. The game didn’t start so well. We were missing our only experienced ball handler. At the end of the first quarter we were down at least 0-12. But, we started clawing our way back! We ended up going into overtime, and we won! We only five players (so no subs) so we were all tired and beat up, but it was a good game. I got out a lot of stress… We then came home and started doing our Saturday work. We were prepping the house for a final walkthrough before closing and so we did a bunch of deep cleaning. Floors, bathrooms, etc. B-man is great and cleans the sink and counters in his bathroom all on his own. We finished our jobs and then I ran a few errands, and then traded with M who went to watch the end of the BYU vs. SDSU basketball game. We love a win for BYU! After the game we spent the rest of the evening feeding the boys and getting ready for a date. Right after putting the boys to bed (except B-man, he got to stay up a little later) we headed out for our first night out with no children in a long time! It felt very good to have a date. Our realtors threw a party for clients and contacts to say thanks, and it was a lot of fun. Great food, and some of our friends from our ward were there so we were ensured a great evening.

Sunday morning M headed off to meetings and I got the boys ready for church. Once he got home I hurried to get ready, but lost track of time. We barely made it to church on time, which felt a little like we were late. M helped to bless the Sacrament, and for those twenty minutes I thought I was going to die. J was a crazy monkey all over the place, RM woke up and needed to be held, and I was not sure what to do. I stood up at one point to take J out (he has a VERY loud voice) and then realized that I was going to be making more of a disturbance leaving than staying so I just sat down again. Eventually the time passed and M was able to come help me. When I finally left to go feed RM I was sitting in the mothers lounge enjoying the quiet. I had completely forgotten to turn on the speaker so I could listen. Thankfully another mother came in and turned it on. After church we were thrilled to have gorgeous weather. Poor B-man really wanted to be running around the neighborhood with his friends. Instead he had to sit on the porch steps and chat when then came running around. I made dinner, and had a slight problem with the roast. My thermometer was off and so when it came out of the oven (and the rest of dinner was ready) it was not quite ready. We went ahead and ate everything else. Then after the boys were in bed M cut the roast and we had a few slices. It was delicious, just a little late. After the boys were in bed we went around and tried to get the house as close to ready as we could for the final walk through before closing on Monday.

We love you all!

The C Crew

February 20, 2011

2011-02-23T12:57:00.002-05:00

February 20, 2011

Dear Family & Friends:

While I was at a training class this week, R had a fun time with the boys. I always seem to leave her with the boys on the crazy weeks. J is getting over a cold, ear infection and a runny nose and RM is stuffed up. It doesn’t make for fun nights.

For Valentine’s Day R made cupcakes with and frosting during the day with J. J has a sweet tooth and was very excited for the treats. For Family Home Evening they delivered cupcakes to some people and then had a lesson on J 3:16.

R had lunch with some friends on Wednesday. They surprised her for her birthday, for the following day. The kids all played around the house while the women ate a fun lunch. It’s fun to have such a good group of friends around.

For her birthday dinner, R took the boys to Wendy’s. It seems like the Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger is getting smaller and smaller. We’ll make sure we celebrate her birthday better this next week.

On the way home from work on Friday, I met R and the boys at a park. The weather was perfect, 72 degrees with a little wind, and the boys took advantage of it. They ran around for an hour before we went back home. We went to our friends for dinner – burgers in February! We ate out on the deck until the crazy winds pushed us inside.

R went to an auction on Saturday. She almost purchased a few items, but ended up not buying anything since we’re not sure what we’ll need in the next house. After she got back home, I went to the Stake Center to referee a couple of basketball games. It was my first time, and the young men didn’t complain too much about my calls.

Right after the game, I tried to find someone to carpool with to the temple. I couldn’t find anybody ready to go on such short notice, so I raced to get there by the 5:30 start time. While I was at the temple, Becca and the boys had a fun pizza dinner.

We all made it to church today, with nobody sick. J apparently forgot how to act at church, and had to be pulled out a few times for shrieking. Right at the end of Sacrament meeting, RM had a blowout diaper, a lot of which got transferred to R’s outfit. Thankfully, she had a jacket to cover up most of the mess. We went to a friend’s house for dinner to round out a nice day.

We love you all!

The C Crew

Rascal

2011-02-23T12:48:00.003-05:00

J is a rascal these days. It's a good thing he is so cute and sweet while he is being a rascal or else it would be trouble. I was sitting on the couch on Friday feeding RM. I heard J getting into something, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I should have gone and checked. Then I could have avoided the mess... Silly me thought there was nothing in the pantry he would be interested in.

Birthday Surprise

2011-02-23T12:29:00.002-05:00

I can't remember what I was doing, but when I found J he had a little surprise for me on my birthday... He had found a cupcake I was saving to eat later in the day, and B-man's Valentine's Day candy. He was pretty pleased with himself.

President's Day

2011-02-21T22:30:00.003-05:00

Exactly one week ago J woke up crying early in the morning. That woke up B-man. J eventually fell back asleep, and then I heard B-man singing loudly a song that he had made up. In my early morning stupor I couldn't remember the words, but it was about George Washington. I stumbled into B-man's room and asked him to "please be quiet so J doesn't wake up again!"

B-man responded with an emphatic... "But Mom, he was such a GREAT man!"

Then all today he has been talking about President's day. He chose his outfit especially for this holiday, and he chose the pose. (This coming from a boy that no longer lets us take his picture at all!)

He chose the pants because they reminded him of the army, and the shirt because of the American flag. And yes it was freezing today.

February 13, 2011

2011-02-13T13:25:00.002-05:00

February 13, 2011

Dear Family & Friends:

This has been a busy week, but nothing much to report.

Thursday evening M went home teaching and visiting a few families in the ward.

Friday M went out with the guys. A friend had come back into town for a few days, so they went out to dinner and went back to watch a movie. When M got home that night, he thought that he would try to fix the stove (yes, at midnight) and proceeded to make the stove worse than it was before. He was hoping to keep the problem from getting too expensive, but after spending a few hours (going to bed at 2:00am) he decided to call up a licensed technician.

M and B-man helped a friend move on Saturday afternoon. B-man was very excited to be able to help and M enjoyed chatting with his friend.

I took the RM and B-man to church this morning, while M went to the doctors with J. He’s been sick for the last couple of weeks, and he had a fever start up again last night. Since he couldn’t go to nursery, we thought it would be worthwhile to take him to the doctor. It turned out that he had an ear infection, but otherwise was fine. We are glad that it wasn’t worse.

M had to take off after dinner for a training class. We tried to find friends and family who could chat on the webcam.

We love you all!

The C Crew

Random Fun

2011-02-03T13:42:00.004-05:00

Here is RM being ultra cute.

Sorry you have to hear my voice, just be grateful you can’t see what my face is doing!

And here is one of the older boys. This is a pretty typical evening in our house. Only usually we are all fully clothed.

January 30, 2011

2011-02-03T13:01:00.002-05:00

January 30, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a strange week. Monday B-man went to school as usual. I stayed pretty close to home the rest of the day. The night we had FHE and discussed the articles of Faith and worked on memorizing one.

Tuesday was a teacher work day so B-man got to be home from school. We went to the grocery store, and he got to play with one of his friends in the neighborhood. It was a fairly slow relaxing day.

Wednesday morning there was a little bit of snow. Maybe just more than an inch. School was cancelled and B-man got a day off. The rest of the day was pretty nice, and even though the news was calling for more snow that day, it really didn’t seem likely. M even came home early because of the snow. But when he got home it still wasn’t snowing. We watched a little girl of some friends that are moving so that they could make a few runs of things to their new place. By the time she came to get her (and we stopped yapping) the snow was really coming down in earnest. It snowed very heavily for the rest of the day. There was even thunder and lightning when the storm started. Very strange for that to happen while it is a blizzard. I was so grateful that M was home. The roads were terrible and many people were stuck in rush hour traffic for hours and hours. What normally took people one hour to many people more than seven to get home! Gross! M shoveled several times while it was snowing. It was a super heavy wet snow, and he didn’t want to wait until the morning when it would be harder to remove than it already was. He came into bed about midnight after his last clearing of snow. We got at least 10” but maybe a little more.

The next day school was cancelled again. M had two extra hours from work to get into work so we all slept in a little…. (like 7:15) and then he went out and thanks to his shoveling the night before he only had to move what the plows had put back in front of our cars. It took him fifteen minutes and then he was off to work. I was really hoping that he would get the day off to, but oh well. That morning the roads were clear enough and I watched the kids of a friend so she could go do grocery shopping. B-man spent the morning outside. He was so excited to have so much snow to play with, and with all the neighbors out clearing off snow he had plenty of friends and other adults around. It was perfect for him. Somehow we managed to pack away his snow pants, so he has been doubling up and then I get more laundry, but it is worth the extra work. That afternoon M did come home early so that he could take B-man sledding. We have a great sledding hill nearby, but I just couldn’t take him with RM and J. Just a little too tricky. B-man has been waiting all winter for some good sledding, and this is the first storm that dropped enough for a sledding trip. M took B-man and at the last second also took J. I guess J even went down the hill once and was a fairly good sport. The boys all came home frozen and we had hot chocolate and then dinner.

Friday schools were closed again. B-man spent most of his time outside again. The day was fairly quiet and not a whole lot going on. M helped move our friends for most of the evening. We were going to have our friends over that had moved for dinner, but I discovered that J had a fever. So we had to scratch that plan. That night we had homemade hamburgers (or “burgers” in our house) and then we had a family party and played the Wii. It really is fun for all ages.

Saturday J woke up a fairly sick boy. Unfortunately for us the home inspection on our house was already scheduled and we had to be out of the house. I also had a basketball game, and the timing worked out perfectly. We went to the game, and M stayed far away from people with J and RM. B-man had a good time playing with his friends. The game was a forfeit (in our favor) but there were enough people that we were still able to scrimmage and have a good game. After the game B-man got to go home with one of his friends. He was so excited and it worked out well for us because we didn’t really know what to do with our boys until we could go back to the house. We ended up getting some lunch and then driving around. Luckily we discovered that the inspector had finished early so we came home and let J sleep in his own bed for a little nap. He was not a happy camper for most of the day. He had a terrible cough, fever, etc. I went to get B-man a little later in the afternoon. M (at the last minute) decided to go see a woman that he had baptized on his mission. She was in the area and would be returning to her country in a few days. He thought it would be a fairly quick trip, but in the end it took all the rest of the day. He was happy to have seen her. B-man stayed home with me, he played outside in the snow (it hasn’t been melting) and then helped me sample new recipe for baked churros. They were good, but they were more cream puff than churro.

Sunday M had no meetings. He ended up staying home from church with J who was still running a fever. In our Sacrament meeting our Bishopric was reorganized with a new bishop. Our old bishop had served for six years! That is a long time. In the third hour there was a Relief Society Visiting teaching conference. It went well, and then we were off back to home. The rest of the day was pretty quiet and uneventful.

We love you all!

The C Crew

P.S. Here’s a little movie of one of the ways J keeps himself entertained.

Shark Tooth

2011-02-03T12:58:00.003-05:00

B-man is resembling a shark these days. Here is the evidence...

I know he will soon be losing his baby teeth. I mean they have to come out sometime right? And for next several years I know his smile will be resembling a jack-o-lantern. So I wanted to make sure I got a picture of his smile right now. With all his baby teeth...

January 23, 2011

2011-02-03T12:14:00.002-05:00

January 23, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has flown by so quickly! Monday everyone was home because of Martin Luther King Day. We had a great day. We headed off to a community center nearby that has an indoor pool and water play area. The boys all went swimming while RM and I watched from a bench. J was a little hesitant, but eventually he was so happy he didn’t even want to get out, even though it was apparent from his shivering that he was freezing. B- man loved the water slide and went down it too many times to count. We went early on purpose so that we would miss the crowds and have time for naps in the afternoon. On the way out of the pool there was a little miscommunication. By the time I met up with the boys B-man was getting ready to climb a 30 foot rock wall. I fed RM and we cheered him on as he climbed. He tried about four times. Every time he got a little higher until he finally made it to the top. I was very impressed! We stopped for a quick bite to eat at Costco on the way home and then immediately put J to bed. He was wasted! While J was sleeping B-man played with some boys from the neighborhood. They were outside running around playing football etc. I ran quickly to a few model homes to try and get some ideas for decorating. When I got home B-man was still outside playing. I warned M that we should probably expect a meltdown at the end of the day because he had been doing SO many physical, demanding things. About twenty minutes after I said that B-man came in with a hurt nose. We got him fixed up and warned him that it was almost time to come in and have dinner. Well when it was time to come in and have dinner he wanted to go to a park in our neighborhood and keep playing. He had the ULTIMATE meltdown when we said that he couldn’t go. Luckily we were mentally prepared so we mostly found it entertaining. He even mentioned running away and living with his friends. I remember using that line. M even got out the video camera to record what he was yelling from his room. But by the time he got it going he was starting to wind down. Once he calmed down we were able to have a more normal evening. We ate dinner, and then had FHE and discussed faith.

Tuesday B-man got to stay home because it was a snow day. We had about an inch of snow and ice, and so all the schools were closed. Sadly there wasn’t enough snow to go sledding, but we had a good day of hot chocolate, playing the Wii, and reading books.

Wednesday was back to our normal routine. That night I went to a Relief Society meeting. Thursday was a super slow day. M traded cars with me so that we could get some work done on my car.

Friday went by super fast. I did visiting teaching in the morning, and then right afterwards M and I set off to buy a dishwasher off Craigslist. Right before we got there the person selling it said we couldn’t come because they couldn’t get the dishwasher out. We decided to go anyway, and M would figure it out. When we actually saw the dishwasher we decided that we didn’t want it. It was a little older than they said and was missing an option that we wanted. Since it was stuck it was an easy way to say “no thanks…” We then drove home and made it just in time to get B-man from the bust stop. It was a fun date in the car at least… We then went to Costco to get some things that we needed for the weekend before finally heading home. That night we did homemade hamburgers for dinner and then had our family party. We played on the Wii and had a healthy competition in bowling and baseball.

Saturday morning we all went to my basketball game. We were missing one of our key players and it was obvious. Plus the team that we were playing was really good. It was great practice for all of us and will keep us humble. In other words, we got creamed. We had a few hours after the game that were quiet. M then took B-man with him to set up chairs at our building for Stake Conference. When he got home he had to hurry and get ready for the Priesthood meeting. While he was gone we ate dinner, played games, and got everyone bathed and ready for bed. He picked up our babysitter on the way home, and then once he got home he took me back with him for the adult session of Stake Conference. We had a visiting authority (Elder Lansing) and it was a great meeting. Very good talks. After the meeting we then went to the home of a family in our ward. They had invited anyone that wanted to come over for appetizers and desserts. It was a nice way to get together and visit with people from the ward.

Today has been a good day. Even though Stake Conference was an hour later than church, we barely made it on time. Not sure how that happened. Stake Conference with kids is always an adventure, and today was no different. But we were able to get some good things from the meeting despite all our children trying their best to distract us. After dinner we had a great leisurely afternoon and then had some friends over for dinner. We have to be careful who we have over right now because we got rid of most of our chairs. Luckily this family only has one child. Now the boys are in bed and we are winding down for the evening.

We love you all!

The C Crew

January 16, 2011

2011-01-23T13:36:00.002-05:00

January 16, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Here’s a quick rundown of our week. Monday was a fairly slow day. I did get a call from the school because B-man had snuck my phone in his backpack and it had gone off during class. I reassured them it wasn’t an emergency, just a sneaky six year old. I made a run to the grocery store, and we had a little FHE after dinner. M watched the National Championship football game with some friends after the boys were in bed.

Tuesday morning we had a showing of our house. We are now under contract so it should really start to slow down. In fact we didn’t have any the rest of the week.

Wednesday we went to go look at houses. We went back to a house that we have a contract on to take pictures, and we also went through one other house. It was nice to get some pictures of the house we may be moving into so that we can remember all the details and plan what we want to do. That night I went to play basketball with some friends right after dinner. I’m lucky to have M. He always insists I go and never complains about watching all the kids and putting them to bed.

Thursday was a pretty slow day. I watched my friend’s kids for her while she went to the grocery store. She had watched the boys for us while we looked at houses. It’s a good arrangement for me; hopefully she feels that way too.

Friday was another nice slow day. M came home a little early which was great, and we had a fun family party. I made pizza and then we watched the rest of “Up.” B-man wasn’t thrilled with our selection. How is it that a he loves “Star Wars” but was scared to tears by “Up?” We learned our lesson thought, when he says it is a scary movie, he means it.

Saturday was a great day. We had a leisurely morning, and then got ready for my basketball game. Right before we were set to leave a guy called back about an item we were looking at on Craigslist. So M took J to go check out the item (a microwave) and I took the other boys to the game. The game was fun. It was against our neighboring ward, and had several players on the team that used to play for our team! It was a competitive but polite game and we came away victorious. After the game we came home and put J down for a nap. After his nap we headed over to a friend’s house. She had made a bunch of 7-Layer dip and needed help polishing it off. She knew who to call… The kids played well together while we enjoyed good conversation and food. After our snack break we did a quick Costco run before coming back home for dinner and then bed.

Today has been a great day too. M had no meetings so the morning went pretty smoothly. We are still adjusting to our new church time. After church we came home, and ended up eating dinner pretty early. I made a roast and all the trimmings. The only problem was that the roast ended up cooking WAY faster than I thought, and so it was done more than an hour before we were supposed to eat. I guess that’s what hot gravy is for. After dinner we struggled to figure out how to fill the rest of the day. B-man was pretty wiggly by the end of the night. A game of Uno helped to calm everyone down before it was bath time.

We love you all!

The C Crew

J’s Favorites

2011-01-12T12:24:00.002-05:00

Here are J’s favorite things these days.

Coloring

He also loves to bite off the end of the marker. Why? I have no idea.

January 9, 2011

2011-01-12T12:19:00.002-05:00

January 9, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

The story of this week is pretty similar to the last several weeks. Sick kids and showing the house. RM has started to make a lot of improvement, but J had some lingering symptoms. We just kept hoping things would get better. We had showings almost every day this week too. I am getting more efficient at getting the house ready.

Thursday J developed a high fever. Given all that he has had in the last two weeks I decided that he should be seen. Luckily I was able to get an appointment during a showing when I had to be out of the house anyway. Unfortunately the appointment was at an office that was further away. I called the school and had them tell B-man to go to their house after school. They live in our neighborhood and apparently he did a great job of walking to their house by himself. He is getting so grown up! The appointment at the doctor’s went well. They did several tests to try and figure out what he has going on with him. They also gave him a nebulizer treatment. He screamed and writhed the entire time. He was a very sweaty feverish mess by the time he dislocated the tubing from the machine and the rest of the medicine dumped out. I was so relieved it was over! After some debate the doctor sent me to get a chest x-ray. I then hurried home and picked up B-man. Then we all drove over to the radiology place and waited. Thankfully M was able to meet us there. I then took B-man and RM home so that we could work on homework etc. Turns out the x-ray was negative for any obvious pneumonia, but they will be treating him as if he has it. That night I went to book club. We discussed “The Room.”

Friday was a slow day at home. I shot around with some friends in the morning. M was home and was able to help me take J and RM in for their “Well Baby” check-ups. It was so nice to have an extra set of hands. That night after dinner M and B-man went to a little party at our Bishop’s house. It was designed to let people get to know each other.

Saturday morning I went to play in a stake basketball game. B-man came to cheer me on. I am really out of shape, but the game was still fun. After the game we rushed home so that I could get cleaned up before a meeting with a realtor. We received an offer on our house and he wanted to meet to discuss the terms etc… The meeting went well, and the rest of the day was wonderfully relaxing. We played games and just enjoyed being together. We were happy to see that J’s fever had finally broken and he seemed to be feeling a little better. We were also waiting to hear if our counter offer had been accepted. That night we watched some episodes of “Lost” and got news that we had another counter offer to consider. We countered again, and then went to bed.

Sunday mornings are much busier now that we have 9:00 church. M has very early meetings, so he is gone when the rest of us get up. We got up and going. M got home just in time to help straighten up the house while I finished getting myself ready. Sacrament meeting had excellent talks on Fast offerings and setting goals. Then we took J to nursery. He walked right in happily, but after a diaper change by me he wasn’t too excited to stay in nursery without me. When we arrived home, we noticed that there were strange cars in front of our house. We realized that someone was in our house right then! We were glad that we had taken the time to get it mostly ready. After spying on them, and watching them leave we went home. I enjoyed a nice afternoon nap, and the boys had a good time reading and such. We received news from our realtor that the people that came through our house without notice were probably going to put in an offer. That was very exciting. We love multiple offers. B-man invited a neighborhood friend over for dinner. B-man was excited to have him, and he was super polite and ate all the food even though it was a strange meal. After dinner we video chatted with M’ parents and then got the boys ready for bed. M then left for a meeting with a Stake Presidency member.

We love you all, and hope you are doing well. Hopefully our house will be sold soon!

The C Crew

1st Grade

2011-01-11T12:51:00.002-05:00

I am pretty sure that B-man's teacher will ALWAYS remember him. Here's why...

1. L-I-C-E

Enough said on that one.

2. Stomach flu.

B-man lost his lunch in her classroom. He told me she said it was alright because the "janitor has a special cleaner to clean it right up."

3.The Cell Phone incident

B-man snuck my phone in his backpack yesterday. M called me and it rang in class... They sent him to the office because they thought it was some sort of emergency... Nope, just a sneaky six year old. When I questioned him on the matter he said that J gave him the phone, and he's "always wanted a cell phone."

His poor teacher.

January 2, 2011

2011-01-02T12:08:00.000-05:00

January 2, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy New Year!! I can hardly believe that it is 2011. Seriously where does the time go? This week has been a pretty slow one. Full of very sick kids and lots of showings on the house. Monday was the worst for sure. I had just taken RM to an urgent care the day before, and they said things were fine. But all day Monday he had these coughing fits. He would just cough, and cough, and cough, and then fall asleep all coughed out. It was very sad, and more and more troubling as the day went on. B-man did get to play at a friend’s house, which helped him feel like he was having fun. After FHE M and I continued to be really concerned about RM. He and J both had very mild fevers, which I was monitoring very closely. Fevers in tiny babies are not a good thing. Finally before going to bed M gave RM a blessing.

The night went slightly better, and in the morning his coughing seemed much better. We decided to take him into our doctor. I got the earliest appointment I could and was so grateful that M was able to watch the other kids for me. After several tests, and a coughing fit (that I was glad the doctor heard) we were sent to get a chest x-ray. The doctor said that he definitely had RSV, probably pertussis, and wanted to rule out pneumonia. I was so sad, but was so happy to have some things to get this little guy feeling better. Later on that day we found out that the chest x-ray was clear, so there was no pneumonia. After a very lengthy stay we finally made it home. M headed off to work, and we stayed close to home. Eventually we had to get out so that we could get his medicine.

Wednesday I took RM in to get checked on and make sure he hadn’t worsened. Thankfully he really was improving. He is on a nebulizer and an antibiotic and things seem to be helping. Wednesday and Thursday were slow days. We tried to take care of J and RM so that they could get over their illnesses. We were all on the mend this week. I felt bad for B-man. His break from school has had less playing in it than we would have thought, but we just couldn’t go anywhere or have anyone over with our germs.

Friday M didn’t have to work. In the morning I sent him and B-man to a community pool that is in a neighboring city so they could have some fun. M didn’t swim because his suit is in storage (whoops) but B-man was so happy to play in their indoor pool. It is a great place with a lazy river and a big water slide. After their morning fun they came home and we had to leave for a while so people could go through our house. That night we had a family party for New Years. We ate pizza, had a WII tournament, and we let B-man use those poppers. J was not a fan and started to cry. We then put the boys to bed at their same bed time. I don’t think B-man minded one bit. Then we decided to go to bed early too. We’ve had a lot less sleep lately with all the sick kids. J had a hard night though, so we ended up being awake at midnight because he had been crying. Oh well.

Saturday morning we made pancakes in Star Wars shapes. It was a big hit. The rest of the day was very lazy and relaxing. We had a group come through the house, ran some errands, etc. RM has decided to start smiling. I know he must be feeling a little better to show off his gums. That night I went to go work out at the gym. I was amazed at how empty it was until I was informed that it was closing in fifteen minutes. Just enough time for me to get in a little work out.

Today was our first Sunday with 9:00 church. We were all very excited, but sadly I had to stay home with the sick boys so that we don’t pass our germs along. After church M went home teaching, and then we had dinner. We finished off the evening with a video chat with M’ parents.

We love you all! We hope that you had a great New Years.

The C Crew

December 26, 2010

2010-12-26T13:04:00.000-05:00

December 26, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas! I am so sad that Christmas is already over. It went too quickly this year. We tried to pack in a lot of Christmas cheer this week. I hope B-man feels like we were successful. Monday B-man was still in school. I spent the day making bread and I also managed a trip to the grocery store. A friend and I are going to start trading babysitting while we go to the grocery stores. Hopefully it will work out well. That night for FHE we delivered things to some of M’ home teaching families.

Tuesday was another baking day. I did more bread and cookies. I made a big mess in the process and of course someone called to come see the house. Luckily I had enough time. We got everything done and out of the house in time. We spent the evening at Costco. The realtor was supposed to call when they were done, but never did. So the boys got to bed a little late.

This is what the boys did while I was baking…

Wednesday was B-man’s last day of school. He had a great day at school and was excited to be on “Winter Break.” Thursday we had two showings of the house. We are really surprised to be having people coming through this week. It wasn’t what we were expecting. Shortly after the showings M got home. It was so fun to have him home early for the fun.

Friday was Christmas Eve. We took the boys to do some shopping for each other. M helped J, and I helped B-man. We then came home and took turns wrapping. B-man was really excited to help wrap. J loves having the tree and presents under the tree. Of course that means that all of the ornaments have been making a slow migration up the tree to where he can’t reach, and only one present was a victim of his early opening. We had another showing that day, (I was mostly annoyed by that) and then that evening we had a tasty dinner and some fun activities. We read the several scripture accounts of the birth of Christ, and the boys were able to open two packages. One was pajamas (which they loved) and the other was some great pears for the tree. J REALLY liked opening up a present. The boys went to bed easily. I did a bunch of cooking after the kids were in bed to make it easier on Saturday. Poor RM had a hard night. All of us have colds, and he was having a hard time sleeping well.

Christmas was a fantastic day. We take things really slow and stretch it out as much as possible. Plus we had the bonus of being able to listen in on two missionary phone calls, and lots of video chats with our family. We let the boys see what Santa brought at about 7:30. They were thrilled. We then took a break to eat breakfast, play with the new toys, chat with family, eat orange rolls, etc… We were in no rush. J took a nap. After J’s nap we then opened up the gifts under the tree. Mostly J and B-man opened up every present. It was so exciting for both of them. We ended the evening with a video chat with my family as they were chatting with one of my brothers on his mission. It was a great day full of family and love. (Even if we were all under the weather.)

Early Sunday morning RM woke up very distressed. M and I were both a little distressed too. He sounded awful, and we were worried that he wasn’t breathing very well. I went downstairs with him to look up some advice on the internet. By the time I was done RM had calmed down and was breathing more easily. I then went back upstairs and we both went to bed. He did a little better the rest of the night, but Sunday morning I wanted to make sure he was okay so we went to an urgent care very close to our house. The doctor’s office was very crowded with lots of coughing people. I hated being there, and of course by that time RM was acting like he just had a cold. Why does that happen? I really hate it. I am not one to go to the doctor at the first sneeze, but it is hard to explain what is so concerning when the baby isn’t doing it at the time the doctor sees them. Oh well. I was planning on staying home from church, but had to meet with a bishopric member at the last minute before church. We all drove in two cars, met with the bishopric member and then I took J and RM home. I am being released from my calling in the Young Women. I am really sad about it. After Sacrament meeting M came home and then I drove to the church so that I could teach the Beehives. (Also a last minute discovery.) When I arrived at the church I discovered that I had left my lesson stuff at home. I immediately turned around and went home to get it. Luckily I live close and had enough time. After church B-man and I came home immediately. The rest of the day was very relaxing. We had leftovers for dinner, and were able to listen in through video chat when my youngest brother called from Argentina on his mission. We were able to speak with all of the missionaries in our family! It was great. While we were chatting with them RM started doing his funny breathing again. We were on the video chat suctioning out his mouth and nose. It was a little distracting to us, but it did help him a little. We are hoping that we all get better very early in the week.

We love you all!

The C Crew

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T21:43:00.002-05:00

We are pretty excited for Christmas around here. Maybe a little too excited. Last night (December 23rd...) B-man came into our room THREE times. On one occasion he mentioned to M on his way back to bed that he had heard a "clickety-clack." Turns out it was just his clock. But at least he knows what to listen for tonight...

Merry Christmas!

December 19, 2010

2010-12-21T22:00:00.003-05:00

December 19, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been a little slower, but still very fast and full. Monday was bitterly cold. For FHE we went to get our Christmas tree. The only problem was that because it was so cold I stayed in the car with J and RM while M and B-man chose the tree. Really B-man chose the tree, and he loves it which is really important. I kept telling myself not to ruin it for him by commenting on how small the tree is. It was too late to decorate it that night by the time we got it in and ate dinner.

Tuesday after school B-man insisted on decorating the tree. So we did. Of course J started taking off the ornaments about as quickly as we were putting them on. He broke one ornament while we were taking a break to work on dinner and even cut his hand on the crystal. Luckily it wasn’t too deep. We were all a little nervous about what would happen the rest of the week. The bottom of the tree is pretty bare where he can reach.

Wednesday I finally made it out to the grocery store. Just as I got to the store and had on item in my cart the realtor called and said that a couple that had been through our house previously wanted to come back. The only problem was that they only gave me about forty minutes notice, and of course I had assumed that no one would be coming when I left the house. I rushed home and put J in the high chair with cheerios while I ran (no exaggeration) through the house. I even managed to put a dust ruffle on a bed that I had taken off to wash. I am not sure how I got the mattress off and then back on again by myself, but somehow I did. Of course they came five minutes early, so I was still there. I quickly gathered the boys and headed to the bus stop to get B-man before heading back to the store to finish my shopping.

Thursday we got several inches of snow. B-man even got out of school two hours early because of it. Snow is always fun here. That afternoon we went to look at a house. It had some really good things, but also some big costs involved. I LOVE looking at houses. I don’t think I would ever get sick of it.

Friday after school we got some Thai food and had dinner with some friends. It was a good way to be out of the house and keep it clean.

Saturday morning I was up early to go play basketball. When we got to the church we discovered that the gym was set up for a ward Christmas party. So I headed back home. At least it got me up and going. The rest of the day was fairly normal. M left to get the car wash, and of course right when he left we got a call that someone wanted to come see the house. So once again I rushed through getting things ready. (I was so happy that J was sleeping this time.) M got home just as we needed to be out. We packed up and then headed to Costco. That is always a good place to kill some time.

Sunday was a good day. M had meetings in the morning and then came home. We made sure to leave the house in perfect condition in case someone called while we were at church. But of course no calls… After church we went to a friend’s house for dinner. We had a delicious dinner and then a fun little gift exchange for the kids and adults. The adults’ was a white elephant, and it is always hilarious. After staying too long we had to get home so that B-man could get enough sleep for school. It seems just wrong that he is still in school.

We love you all!

The C Crew

House

2010-12-21T20:16:00.003-05:00

I have figured out a sure fire way to get showings on our house...

Assume that surely no one will come because of various reasons. Then work on other projects that are messy.

Seriously... I am 100% on this. If I try to keep the house spotless no one comes. If I allow it to get to a normal living state someone is sure to call and say they will be there in thirty minutes!

December 5, 2010

2010-12-10T19:54:00.002-05:00

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has absolutely flown by once again. Most of the week was fairly quiet. At the beginning of the week our realtor came to take pictures of the house. The house really looks great right now.

I also had several doctor’s appointments. It is s

uch a pain to go and find someone to watch the kids. I really hate asking people even though I know they don’t mind. I also took J to the doctor. He had a lingering cough and I thought it needed to be checked out.

Friday morning some window washers came to work on our windows. They were super fast and did a great job. They were very nice and kept making comments about how nice the house looked.

Saturday we spent the morning prepping for the open house. We had a cleaning lady, and son, come spend a long time at the house cleaning. They were both supposed to be working, but it was mostly the mother. They took way longer than anticipated, and were still working when the open house was supposed to start. We left that in the hands of our realtor since he had set it all up. We figured that was his problem. R started to get really nervous that they were taking so long and started to try and pitch in. It at least made her feel a little better. While I stayed home with RM, M and the boys went to a baptism of a friend. We went into DC and spent the afternoon at the Natural History museum. Since it was so cold, it was the perfect way to spend our time.

Sunday was a slow morning with M home from meetings. It was a great day to relax after the previous crazy day.

We love you all!

The C Crew

Open House

2010-12-03T14:32:00.003-05:00

Wondering why we have been so busy? Well it's because our house is officially on the market! There's an open house Saturday from 1-4. Feel free to swing on by and look through the place. We won't be there, so we won't even know... Know anyone looking for a new home? Feel free to send them our way.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-29T20:07:00.004-05:00

Thanksgiving morning I woke up laying on my side facing the middle of the bed. I heard J's little earnest grunts and prods. He was trying to lift up the covers and peek under them. He thought he would find our new little baby under the sheets and he was anxious to kiss him and snuggle with him. (The baby was in the cradle.) That's a good way to start the day as a mom. We have a crazy, loud, and sometimes frantic house. But we are richly blessed, and we know where we need to direct our gratitude.

November 21, 2010

2010-11-21T20:20:00.000-05:00

It has been a crazy week here. More to come on why it has been so crazy lately. But here are some cute shots of the boys.

Grandma E with the boys. We were SO sad to see her go home.

B-man reading to J.

This is where J stands to lead the music. He does this a lot. He starts swinging his arm around and we sing a Primary song.

November 14, 2010

2010-11-14T21:42:00.002-05:00

November 14, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Time is flying by! On Monday we had a day that was just our little family. We spent most of the day working on laundry and other things around the house. Then that night we had FHE and talked about the Holy Ghost. Late that night M went to the airport to pick up his mother that had flown in to help us. We were so excited to have her here!

Tuesday was a fairly slow day. We went to go check out a back yard of a house in the afternoon. We were working on some things around the house too.

Wednesday was fast and I can’t remember anything…

Thursday was a fairly slow day. That evening M took B-man to an end of the season soccer party. B-man was THRILLED with his trophy. Seriously he has been looking forward to his own trophy for several months. It is just a cheap trophy, but he was so happy to get it. It was a fun evening and he had a great season.

B-man with his coaches.

Friday we worked on lengthening some drapes in our front room. We bought some fabric and then E worked her magic. The altered drapes are so beautiful, and I am so happy that I had her expert hands doing it instead of mine! That night we watched “Inception” and all really enjoyed it. I feel like I need to watch it again to really understand it all though…

Saturday was another workday. M went to a church broadcast in the morning, and then we worked up until E and I went to the same broadcast in the afternoon. I was a little drowsy during the event. That night we worked on another set of drapes, and then we all went to bed pretty early.

Today has been another quick day. M had a council meeting this morning, and then they went to church extra early to set up chairs for the Primary Program. I went to church a few minutes late with RM. We slipped into the back in time for the Sacrament. B-man delivered his line very confidently and clearly. His grandfathers would have been proud. After his great delivery E, J, RM, and I left to go home. The rest of the day we spent working on dinner, taking family pictures, and working on homework. It was a wild end to the night, but we made it through.

We love you all!

The C Crew

November 7, 2010

2010-11-07T21:55:00.001-05:00

November 7, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

You’ll have to forgive me if trying to recall the week is a bit of a blur. That’s what happens when you are on newborn time… Monday B-man had school off because of parent teacher conferences. My conference was that morning. Luckily my mom was there to watch the boys while I ran to the school quickly. I had a great meeting with the teacher. She really gets B-man and understands him. It was a good chance to visit with her and talk about all the normal school stuff. It seems he is doing well. There is always room to improve, but he is really making progress. After the conference the rest of the day is a blur. J and B-man were both fighting colds, and we didn’t really go anywhere or do anything. The boys had a bunch of energy at the end of the night as a result. For FHE we had a lesson on the pre-existence and how Heavenly Father knew each of us before we were born.

Tuesday was very similar to Monday. Not a whole lot going on. My mom is a laundry master and has been keeping us all in clean clothes. It’s amazing how much laundry is added by one tiny baby. That night B-man had soccer practice. My mom took him and he was able to get out some energy. He really needed to run around and get some of it out.

Wednesday was a very exciting day. It was the day that M got home. We hadn’t heard from him at all on Tuesday, so we weren’t quite sure what time he would be coming in. I was surprised when he called an hour earlier than I thought letting me know he had landed. I tried to be fast and get myself dressed and out the door with RM while my mom helped B-man get off to school. M had to wait a little, but I was doing my best! It was so great to see him, and for him to be able to see RM. Later M went to B-man’s school and met him for lunch. B-man was so excited to have M at school. The rest of the day was pretty quiet. I had a few visitors, but mostly it was nice and quiet. It is so nice to have three adults. It means that we were able to get a lot more done. (Like shower every day.) That night M went to bed early and my mom and I ran a fun errand. My brother has been temporarily assigned to an area in a mission that is only thirty minutes from our house while he waits for his visa. My mom made a big batch of rolls, and we drove up to his apartment to door bell ditch them. The only problem was that he hadn’t told us his apartment number, and we didn’t know that until we were staring at his building. Mom and I sat in the car for about twenty minutes using our deductive reasoning skills to figure out which apartment we thought they were in. (There was no picture of Christ visible in a window.) Since we had to be sure it was the right apartment I took the rolls and RM and bravely knocked on the door. (It was almost ten by this time.) Luckily we guessed right because a missionary came to the door. I asked if Elder Dyer was there, and then had a very quick conversation with my brother. I got to show him RM, and made him promise not to get distracted. It was so fun to see him, and to see how excited he was about getting his visa that day, and also committing a family to baptism. What a great day for a missionary! I then walked down and tried to get in the car. Somehow I managed to set off the alarm, twice! So much for keeping a low profile. My mom saw my brother peeking out the window while the alarm was going off. I hope he was laughing like we were…

Thursday morning was pretty slow. There was no soccer practice that evening because of rain. That night after everyone was in bed I went to book club. We discussed Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. It was a small turn-out so I am glad that I went. I really enjoyed the story as well.

Friday was another slow day. I ran a few errands with my mom during the day, but other than that it was a quiet day. That night my mom was very kind and insisted that M and I go out on a date. We went to a place in town that we had never tried before and had a great time with great conversation. While we were gone all the boys were having a dinner date with Grandma. B-man was thrilled, and J was just too tired to appreciate how fun it was. RM slept like a good boy.

Saturday was slightly busier. My mom was busy packing her suitcases, and we had a semi-relaxed morning until it was time to go to B-man’s soccer games. They were further away than usual and there were two of them, which meant that my mom had to be ready to go at the same time. To complicate matters further it was VERY cold outside and so we were scrambling for coats, hats, etc to keep everyone warm. We made it to the game barely on time, and after some parking changes ended up with a spot on the street right next to the game. That meant that mom and I could sit in the car with RM while M cheered from the sidelines. Even J had to take a break from the cold a few times. It really worked out quite well. B-man played very well, and was really working hard. After the game we visited for a while before taking my mom to the airport. It is always sad to see her go. We then drove back to the soccer fields and watched B-man’s second game. J and I hung out in the car together until he was too wiggly and then he went outside with M. It was pretty cute watching him toddle around the field with his little coat on. We made the trek home, and made a few stops for provisions on the way. I realized when we got home, that I had spent the entire day sitting in the car. I wasn’t even complaining about it; I just was amazed. That night for our family party we had pizza and watched a series of Tom and Jerry cartoons before getting people in bed.

Sunday was pretty typical. No meeting for M since it was Fast Sunday, so we could really relax and take our time. Plus the extra hour gave us lots of time to get ready for church. M took J and B-man to church. I thought he was going to come back and bring J so that he could focus on Elder’s Quorum, but he decided just to keep him. I spent the time sleeping! It felt great to get such a long nap. When they got home we hurried and got dinner ready. After dinner we played and read books until bed time.

We love you all!

C Crew

October 31, 2010

2010-10-31T22:11:00.000-04:00

October 31, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Halloween! This has been a big week here for us! Monday was a pretty normal day. I did a small amount of shopping and a few other errands, but mostly I stayed close to home. That night we had FHE and B-man invited a friend at the last minute. We talked about another fundamental of following the prophet. I have no idea what the little boy was thinking, but it was kind of fun to have him there asking questions that an adult might be too shy to ask about prophets.

Tuesday morning started out like every other day. Except I was a lot more achy and was having some contractions. Mostly I was in denial and tried to get things crossed off my list. I took the car for its safety inspection, vacuumed the car, and ran to Wal-Mart etc. I did take a nap while J was sleeping, and woke up feeling better. We ate lunch and then went to deliver something to a friend. We stayed for a while until it was time to go get B-man at the bus stop. After a snack we went downstairs and chatted with M on the webcam. While we chatted for about forty minutes I had three contractions. They were painful enough to make me wince and show M how uncomfortable I was. We made some plans on how to get him “just in case” before signing off. We then went upstairs to work on homework and I made a salad for dinner. We then headed off to dinner at a friends’ house in our ward. They live super close in our neighborhood but I really didn’t want to walk and have any more contractions come. Dinner went really well. Although most of the time I was having contractions. There was no clock visible so I couldn’t really time them. I tried to sit down all of the time. The contractions really started to hurt, and I started to get really anxious. Before I left I admitted to the family that I was a little nervous I was in labor, and asked for a blessing. We then went home (6:30 ish). Once I got home I decided that I at least needed to go to the hospital and make sure. Mostly the thought of getting the boys to bed just was undoable at that point. I started calling all the people that I needed to. I called a friend to watch the boys, she ended up driving over. I called my mom, M’s mom, and my friend who was going to come to the hospital. I started throwing some pajamas in a bag for the boys and packing my bag. While I was doing this my friend was here helping to watch the boys. During this it was getting hard to walk or talk during the contractions, but I still had no idea how far apart they were because I was too busy getting everything organized. My friend asked several times if I wanted a ride to the hospital and I always refused. I was sure I would be okay and this was a false alarm, but at the last second I changed my mind and hopped into her car. The last thing I did before leaving was wake up M and let him know that I was going to the hospital. I was kind of a basket case during these thirty minutes of packing. This was not how it was supposed to be happening. She drove straight to the hospital. While on the way I got a phone call from my friend who was going to be at the hospital letting me know she would just come right away instead of waiting for an update from me. I’m so glad she did. She pulled up and after a little debate I decided just to walk in. The boys were still in the car and we couldn’t leave them alone, plus it was super close. I just hurried in in-between contractions. While I was walking in I could tell I was further progressed than I thought. I waited a few minutes for help and the contractions started coming very close together. Luckily the doctor was at the hospital already and was able to come right away. When he checked me (I had been at the hospital about 5-10 minutes) I was at a 9. He was so cute and helped me get in the wheel chair and wheeled me down to the room. Then everything started happening super fast. I called M to let him know I was going to be having the baby and left him on speaker phone. My friend arrived a few minutes after getting into the delivery room. The room filled with people, they broke my water, and four or five contractions later I had little RM. M was on speaker phone the whole time during the birth and for several hours after the delivery. I was so anxious about having the baby without him, but once RM was here I was very relieved that everything had gone okay and it was over. For the worst case scenario everything went really, really well. My kids were covered, I had M on the phone, and my mom would be coming soon. Apparently it was a VERY busy day, because they let me hold and keep RM for almost four hours after the delivery. It was wonderful. M and I were on the phone until he had to go to work. I felt bad for him that he was so far away. We were so thankful for technology! If I had planned better we could have had him on the webcam…

Wednesday was recovery day. A few friends visited me during the day. The boys were brought that evening by a friend. They were so cute with RM. B-man just wanted to hold him, and J was most excited to sit on my lap and eat a roll. Once he noticed the baby he got really excited and tried to feed him some of the roll that he was eating. I really missed seeing my boys during the day. I was so grateful to all the people that were helping. I’ve never been in a situation like that before where I just had to accept the help and had no control over what was happening. I don’t know what I would have done without the wonderful friends I have made through the gospel. That night my mom arrived. Of course her flight was delayed, but I was just happy to know that she was safely on the ground in the same city!

The next morning I started getting things organized to go home. M and I finalized the birth certificate, and then I packed the bags. My mom got B-man off to school, and then a friend came and got J so that my mom could help get us home without another little person to worry about. Getting home went very smoothly, except that they forgot about me for a while and left us waiting for the last little check-off to leave. Eventually we made it out to the car and then drove to get J. When we got home he went to bed for a nap. The rest of the day was pretty quiet. My mom took the B-man to soccer practice in the evening and we had a late dinner.

Friday is a blur. Most of the morning was spent at the doctor’s. I took RM for his first little checkup and they wanted another check for jaundice. I knew he didn’t need it, but I had to comply. I went to the hospital, but they sent me to another place because of insurance. I hated having RM in that germy place. At the second place I got the distinct feeling that the first fellow had not worked with a three day old very often. I got really nervous when the heel stick didn’t work and they started talking about finding a vein on his arm. They even looked but of course couldn’t find one. Luckily they didn’t stick him. The other worker came in and after a double heel stick and almost an hour of squeezing the heck out of his heel they finally had enough. I was SO happy to finally take him home. He was such a champ and even fell asleep during all that squeezing. Later that night we carved pumpkins. B-man wanted a Darth Vader pumpkin and my mom did a very good job with his request.

Saturday was nice and slow. B-man had a soccer game and my mom took him while J was sleeping. It was a very cold day, but he played hard and had a good time. The rest of the day was pretty quiet. Later that evening my mom took the kids to our ward trunk-or-treat. At the very last minute (unbeknownst to me or my mother) B-man invited our next door neighbor to come along. It worked out okay, but we had to have a chat about asking adults before inviting friends somewhere. I had meant to go and pass out candy during the trunk-or-treat portion of the activity, but by the time I got there the activity was over. It’s probably better anyway.

Sunday morning was nice and quiet. My mom took the boys to church, but didn’t get to enjoy the last two hours because of J and his wiggles. After church we had dinner and got ready for trick-or-treaters. B-man was thrilled to be the person passing out the candy. It worked out perfectly because he never even complained about not being able to go out trick-or-treating.

All the rest of our time has been spent snuggling with our cute new little baby and trying to snuggle with my other children so they don’t feel displaced.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, J, and RM

October 24, 2010

2010-10-24T22:21:00.000-04:00

October 24, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday was a pretty quiet day. Not a lot going on. I wasn’t feeling too great, and spent most of the morning and afternoon trying to figure out how to get rid of my sinus headache. Thankfully by the evening I had found a little relief. Not a lot, but a little. We had FHE and B-man chose an article from the friend for our lesson. I was happy to comply with his request.

Tuesday morning I had a presidency meeting. We had a productive meeting, although it feels weird to know that a lot of the upcoming things I am going to be out of commission for since I will have a new tiny baby. I hope I am ready! The rest of the day I worked on things around the house. Then that evening we went to soccer practice. The field was wet and it was pretty cool outside, but it didn’t slow B-man down much.

Wednesday morning I had a doctor’s appointment. Everything looked good and we were able to talk about dates and things in the next couple of weeks. I also met with the birth certificate registrar at the hospital so that I would have less work when I have the baby. That evening we went to dinner at a friend’s house. It was a great way to spend the evening. We had no mutual that night because of a youth temple trip on Saturday.

Thursday was a very busy day. I spent most of the morning working hard to get the house clean. Mirrors, sinks, picking up toys, etc. Then in the mid-morning I watched a child for a friend while she went on a field trip with her other child. Most of the time both of the kids were asleep so it was a very easy swap. Both J and his friend woke up about the same time and so we had a fun little lunch with them and then they played for a little before my friend came to collect her child. The rest of the day I spent finishing up the house. Right after B-man came home I met with our realtor and a home stager that went all through the house and each of the rooms and told us what we needed to do to make the rooms look their best. Thankfully the list is not too long or difficult. We then ate a quick dinner and headed off to soccer.

Friday was a nice slow day for me. It was kind of nice to have a super clean house and to be able to relax and enjoy it. I was most excited to finally get a couch out of my house. It was listed on several sites for free, and I finally had someone actually show up to get it. I can’t believe how often I was stood up over it. I ran a few errands just to get out of the house. That night I went over to another friend’s house for dinner. We had pizza from a local place. It was a great night, but J was so hungry that by the time we ate he kind of refused to eat anything. Kids are so strange sometimes. He did a fair amount of screaming, but eventually he calmed down enough to eat something.

Saturday morning we had a relaxing start. B-man even slept past seven which is something he rarely does. (Perhaps because he was sleeping in my bed…) Our first outing was to B-man’s soccer game. He played great, and had a good time learning how to play offense and defense and the difference between the two. After his game we rushed over to the church. I was hoping to make it to at least a portion of a baptism for two children that I know. Sadly the meeting was over, but people were mingling and visiting so I could at least congratulate them. I left B-man with a friend and then ran to Costco quickly before heading back over to get B-man and his friend. We then drove to the airport in our city so that we could watch an Air Show that was being put on. Admission was free, and it was a pretty impressive show for such a little airport. I think we all had a good time. I should have brought some water and snacks, but the kids made it through okay. We left a few minutes early to beat the traffic and get B-man’s friend home on time for some things that he had going on. We then went home and relaxed and played. Eventually we were able to chat with M and see how he is doing. Having the webcam makes it a lot easier for the boys and M.

Today has been a good day. The morning was low key and relaxed. I worked on things for dinner and we were able to chat with M. Sometimes on Sunday’s it is hard to work out a time to chat. Church went well. I am happy that next week I will have my mom here to help and I won’t have to do all of church by myself. Those three hours can be exhausting. After church we came home and did a few final preparations before two families came over for dinner. Both of the families have been so helpful while M has been gone and I wanted to try and do something in return. B-man was in heaven to have so many friends over.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

October 17, 2010

2010-10-17T20:29:00.002-04:00

October 17, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

We made it through another week. That is reason for celebration in my book. Our week has been pretty slow because we’ve been sick fighting off colds. Monday morning we had a fun breakfast that included my aunt and uncle. We were all excited to have some company in our house. B-man and J both loved the little surprises that they brought for them. All too soon they had to leave for the airport. It was sad to see them go. The rest of the day we had off for Columbus Day. We went to the park, and tried to have a fun day. For FHE that night we talked about another “Fundamental of Following the Prophet.”

Tuesday I started to lose the battle with a cold that I had been fighting off. That afternoon I took J to the doctor for a last follow up from the pneumonia/ear infection. He passed with flying colors. He and B-man also got their flu vaccine. That evening dinner was super chaotic. J was a basket case. It wasn’t until we were at soccer practice that I realized he might have been sore from the shot. Oops.

Wednesday I was really miserable. My cold was making me miserable, and poor J was also not feeling that well. He seemed to be handling it better than me though. I spent as much time as possible sleeping or sitting. I also did a little bit of complaining to M. I had a very thoughtful friend bring me some hot soup. It was a life saver!

Thursday I felt a little bit better. I was so happy. Still far from 100% but so much better than the previous day. It was rainy, and so it was easy to take it easy and not do very much. I was grateful that soccer practice was cancelled so that we could be very relaxed.

Friday was another relaxed day. After school we put B-man’s bike in the car and drove to a friend’s house. The boys all played and rode bikes outside until they got too cold, and then we headed indoors for a while too. After we left we stopped at Costco for dinner and then headed home. We ate our pizza dinner and then everyone went to bed.

Saturday morning we skipped garage sales. Instead we went to a training meeting for the Young Women leaders put on by the Stake Leaders. I was grateful for the children’s class they had for B-man and J. We came home from the meeting and J took a nap while B-man got ready for his soccer game. I had to wake up J from his nap for the game; I always hate doing that. B-man’s game was at a new field, and so when we got there I was a little confused. I ended up parking in the wrong area, and then we had to walk a long ways to his field. When we got to his field there was parking six feet from the field. That was a little frustrating. The game went well. They boys were down by two for the first half and then came back in the second half to win 4-2. After the game we came home and tried to chat with M. Eventually we were able to connect. Later in the afternoon we went to a friend’s house for dinner and to play for a while. It was a great way to spend the rest of the day. We came home and had just enough time for baths and bed.

Today started out slow. I had no meetings and no lessons to prepare for so I spent the morning working on some dinner stuff and playing with the boys. Church is always crazy even with M. Without him the craziness just escalates. Somehow by the third hour J has calmed down and doesn’t mind being on my lap as much as he does the first hour. After church all our leaders had a meeting with the Stake Young Women presidency. I had a friend that volunteered to take my boys so that I wouldn’t’ have to worry about them during the meeting. It was very kind. After the meeting I went home and got some side dishes and then headed off to the home where the boys were. It was a great dinner. We then came home and quickly got the boys in bed.

M is doing well. He is working very long hours without any days off. We sure miss him!

Love,

R, M, B-man, and J

October 10, 2010

2010-10-11T21:28:00.002-04:00

October 10, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

The week has come to a close. I am happy to see another week go by. Monday I ran errands. For FHE that night we talked about one of the “Fourteen Fundamentals of Following the Prophet” that was mentioned in Conference. I think I will just do those for the next several weeks to keep it easy for me.

Tuesday there wasn’t much going on. I planted three of the four new boxwoods that we bought for our front yard. The first bush was the hardest to get in because it was where the dead bush had been, but the next two went more quickly. I had to stop though so that I could get cleaned up before J woke up. We had soccer in the afternoon. I forgot a sweatshirt for B-man and he was pretty cold at the beginning. Fall is lovely, but I am never quite sure how to dress my kids for the weather.

Wednesday was supposed to be rainy so I skipped going to the farm. In the end the weather was fine and I could have gone. Oh well. I did have a doctor’s appointment. A friend watched J for me, and he took a long nap so I got to run and get some extra errands done. It was really nice! I also started having issued with either a cold or allergies. I’m still not quite sure which one it is. Right before bed we had a fun web chat with Grandma Elna, and then the boys went to bed.

Thursday was a very busy day. Too busy. I should have eliminated something so that I wouldn’t have felt so crazed at the end of the day. In the morning I planted the last of the boxwoods. It was only one so it went pretty quickly. Right when B-man came home from school we picked up a friend’s boy, and then went to the farm. We went to pick our pumpkins for Halloween. B-man took a long time finding his pumpkin. I found the most perfect one and tried to convince him, but he was really looking for the biggest one he could find. He tells everyone that he got the biggest. After picking the pumpkins we headed home so that B-man could get to soccer. I planned poorly though and misjudged how long it would take at the farm. By the time we got home and dropped off the other boy we didn’t really have enough time for dinner. Luckily it was leftovers so we just heated up enough so that people wouldn’t be starving and were a few minutes late to soccer. J loves soccer practice too. He is always dribbling one of the balls onto the field. After soccer we came home and fed everyone more. By this time I was pretty tired and frazzled. I just wanted everyone in bed, and it is still a lot of work to get that to happen. Especially since they needed baths too. We made it through the night somehow…

Friday was a slower day. I got some pansies in the morning and then ripped out the petunias and replaced them with pansies while J was sleeping. After school we had a good time chatting with M on the web cam, and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Saturday morning we went to garage sales. It was a pretty slow day, but at the last house I found a couch. I almost didn’t get it because I didn’t want to have to figure out how to get it into my house, but it was such a steal that I couldn’t pass it up. I begged some help from some friends’ husbands and they were very kind to help. At first they couldn’t fit it through the door and spent a lot of time trying to take off the feet. Eventually that was taking too long and in a last ditch effort they tried a different angle and harder pushing… It worked. I was so happy to have it in and to be able to let them get home. Now I just need someone to come take the old couch. I have it listed on Craigslist for free, but people are very annoying and keep standing me up to pick it up. I have only had this problem with free stuff, not the things I sell. In the meantime I have seating for twenty in my tiny basement. (That is a little exaggeration, but seriously three couches in a very small area.) After lunch we went and vacuumed the car at a car wash. We then braved traffic and headed to Costco before going to a friend’s house for dinner. Dinner was fun, I was so thankful for some adult conversation.

Today has been a good day. I am waiting for my aunt and uncle to arrive. I love having visitors! The morning was pretty relaxed. I worked on my lesson, and tried to find someone to get this couch. (No luck.) Then we went to church. J was crazy in Sacrament meeting, but calmed down during the other two meetings. While I taught he played in the back while one of the other leaders watched him. After church we hurried home so that we could be there when someone came to get the couch, sadly they didn’t ever come, or call, or email. We ate a tasty dinner while waiting and then went on a walk after.

M is doing well too. He is working crazy long hours and staying out of trouble. His room is tiny, but the food is great, so he is keeping happy.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

Sea World

2010-10-05T21:39:00.002-04:00

We have been saving up to go to Sea World for quite a while. We waited until M was in San Diego before going, and with all of our sickies that week I was worried that we wouldn’t make it at all. But we made it, and it was a great day!

We were thrilled that my brother Skate could come with us. It made the day even better.

Sea World is all about time management. You have to plan your day around the shows and when they are happening, and when you can get in to see them. The shows were all great. B-man loved the seal and sea lion show. It was pretty hilarious.

This is how we looked during the shows…

We also had to visit the sharks. That is always a fun adventure. B-man really didn’t want to be in this picture.

We also spent a lot of time at the dolphins. We kept trying to get them to come over and play with us, but with no luck. B-man also LOVED the stingrays and spent probably an hour petting them. That was also the point in the day when J took a nap.

At the very end of the day the big boys went on the roller coaster. J and I were waiting at the bottom to take pictures. Just as they were starting the ride, it stopped. They were stuck at the top of this hill for quite a while before some workers finally came and helped them get down. B-man had a good attitude about his failed attempt at a roller coaster.

After the roller coaster we headed over to see the cold water animals. The walrus decided to put on quite a show for us. I promise I am not the one making all the annoying noises.

We then decided we had to head home. We were all pretty hungry and Grandma D had a delicious dinner waiting for us when we got home. We did stop for a quick picture before leaving the park.

October 3, 2010

2010-10-03T20:38:00.003-04:00

October 3, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Here’s our week in review… Monday was a rainy day. We did a few errands, and stayed fairly close to home. That night for FHE we decided to do a little family fun and took B-man and J to Chuck E. Cheese’s. It was a fun night. Later that night when the boys were in bed I went shopping at “Home Goods” with a friend. I didn’t get anything, but I got a lot of ideas…

Tuesday started out rainy and then got better. I love the cooler weather we’ve been having! That afternoon B-man had soccer. At the very last minute I decided to go. Then we came home and got the boys to bed. I then went to our book club. We discussed “Mockingjay,” the last book in the hunger games. It was a good discussion, but I left pretty early to be home with M before he left. I feel like I need to soak up all the time I can with him. I know when he gets back our lives are going to be so different and crazy!

Wednesday M took the van to the shop to get a few things replaced. We love our mechanic! They are cheap and honest. It was exciting to have the problems fixed on the van. It was all very weird random things that didn’t affect how the car ran. Like I had no dashboard lights and we couldn’t figure out why. But now I do, and it is wonderful! While the car was being worked on J and I went to the farm. We picked cherry tomatoes and edamame. That night we had mutual. We did a little event with all the young women and their mothers. We played some fun games around the theme of “Family Ties” and had a great time. I left a little early so that I could go visit teach one of my women. We ended up visiting on her porch because she had no carpeting (it was ripped out) and she didn’t want us to see. It worked out better than I thought it would.

Thursday was a very rainy day. Seriously rainy. We stayed fairly close to home. B-man’s soccer practice was cancelled because of all the rain.

Friday was a frantic, but fun day. In the morning a guy came to look at our windows and give us an estimate of what it would cost to fix them. They currently have issues with opening and closing. After he left I waited for a babysitter to come to our house. I was going to go meet M and his office for lunch. I started to get really nervous because she was very late. I didn’t want to pay for a babysitter when I would miss the lunch! Thankfully they were able to push the lunch back enough so that I still felt like it was worth it. It’s always nice to see people from M’ work so that I can put a face to the names that I hear. When M got home we did a few random things. One was that we bought some plants for our front yard. The plants were way overdue, but they weren’t on sale like I thought. I got pizza for dinner for the kids, and then we had a picnic on the front grass while M took out a bush that didn’t survive the snow and heat. It was hard work for a guy that has been fighting a cold all week, but he got the root ball out just as I took the boys in for a bath. After the kids were in bed M packed for his trip. He got everything packed quickly and then we had a few hours before he had to leave. He got a taxi to the airport and was off and away. I was very sad to see him go.

Saturday was a busy day. The boys were both up early and so I took them to garage sales with me. I found some great things, and was sad that I had to cut it short for B-man’s soccer game. The soccer game went really well. Their team was winning by so many that during the third quarter B-man played on the other team as an extra player. (Five on four instead of four on four.) After the game we had the snacks and passed them all out and then tried to get to the car. It was seriously tricky. I don’t know why it was so much easier getting to the field then getting back to the car. But carrying J, the cooler, and my purse just about did me in. I was very sweaty by the time I got people buckled and the car packed up. We then rushed home to watch General Conference.

Once we were home we set up a picnic downstairs and ate sandwiches while trying to get Conference on. It was a little hectic for a minute because the sound wasn’t working, J was freaking out, and I wasn’t sure how to get it all fixed. But we made it through. I watched Conference on the internet while the boys played around me. It was a good system. In between sessions we went to park to enjoy the perfect weather and to get out some wiggles. We then headed back at just the right time to watch the next session. We had another picnic downstairs for dinner.

Today has been a little more relaxing. We had a fun breakfast and spent the morning playing and enjoying not having to go anywhere. This time I fed everyone before the session started so that there would be less crumbs to clean up… After the first session we went on a long walk around the neighborhood. I then got dinner ready to cook the next session started. All I had to do for dinner was turn on the stove and let everything cook. So we could have dinner right after the last session. We also got to video chat with M and some of my family, which made the day extra exciting. Video chat is so great!

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

September 26, 2010

2010-09-26T22:20:00.002-04:00

September 26, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been back to reality here. The beach was a fantastic little break, but we had to come back to life eventually. Monday my first thing to do was get J an appointment with the doctor. At the doctor’s office they found a pretty good ear infection, but also wanted to have a lung x-ray taken to rule out pneumonia. The doctor said his lungs sounded clear, but he was breathing pretty fast. We walked over to the radiology place and I was so thankful that we didn’t have to wait long. They hooked J into this little torture contraption that held his arms straight up against him, then wrapped around him so he couldn’t move. All while he was sitting on a sort of bicycle seat. I had to leave the room, but I could hear him screaming the whole time. He was not happy. I left and went home to wait the results. I was pretty skeptical that it would be anything. I figured it would be just another ear infection and he was breathing fast from the fever. (That has happened to him before…) Turns out I was wrong! He did have a little pneumonia in one of his lungs. The doctor called in a prescription for him, and so we did a family trip to Costco before dinner and FHE. I felt like a pretty bad mom. He was way sicker than any of us realized, and he really was being such a good sport. Poor guy. After the boys were in bed I went to a little get together for a friend that was leaving town for a while.

Tuesday was the regular school, etc. I’m trying to get things organized at home before this baby comes too. That afternoon we had a friend and her kids over for dinner. Her husband was gone for a few days. After dinner B-man had soccer. M took him while my friend and I finished chatting and letting our kids play.

Wednesday not much was happening. I did have mutual that night. We had a fantastic lesson on the basics of drawing and water color. The woman that taught the class is an amazing artist and I learned so much even though I was in and out most of the evening helping to watch her kids.

Thursday was a day full of appointments. I went to the doctor for a check-up, (things look fine) and then that afternoon I picked up B-man from school and then we went straight to the doctor’s for J. They checked him out and said he was doing much better. And truly he has been a much better baby since getting on medicine. The doctor and I had a conversation about how hard it was to tell how sick he was from how he was acting. Don’t get me wrong, he had many fussy moments, but he would also have moments where he seemed totally normal except for a fever. Not at all lethargic, etc. We ran a few errands before dinner and then B-man went to soccer again. I went for a few minutes with J, and then came home to get J to bed.

Friday I have very little memory of. All I can remember is the afternoon. I had to pick up B-man from school again and took him straight to the dentist for more cavities to be filled. We still aren’t done with that fun project… B-man did really great, but he had a complete melt down as we were leaving. He was hungry, and his mouth was numb, and he was not happy. He thought I called the dentist to make him go, not that he had to have cavities filled. He also did not want any of the soft food I was offering as a snack for him. It was an epic melt down, and I was so happy when M got home and he had someone else to try and distract him. We got some good news about M’ job, and celebrated with Thai food. B-man was in a much happier mood when he got some real food in him, and didn’t even mind the spicy food. J just wanted the rice. After dinner I ran to a baby shower for a friend. I only planned to stay a few minutes, but got caught and stayed longer. M and I finished off the evening with some treats and “Lost.”

Saturday morning the boys were up early. I have had to wake up B-man every single day this week for school, but on Saturday he was up before he needs to be even for school. It is such a mystery. I went to garage sales with a friend, and then ended early so that we could get to B-man’s game. His soccer game was great. He improved a lot from the first game. It also helped that his team scored and won… J was making lots of friends during the game and asking people for their snacks. M and I were mostly cheering and roasting. It has been a HOT, HOT couple of days. After the game we spent the rest of the day working on various projects around the house. Organizing, cleaning, yard things, etc. Later after dinner I went to the broadcast for Relief Society. It was a great meeting. I skipped a get together after so that I could get home and spend some time with M.

B-man showing us his suit I found at a garage sale. The second picture shows his true feelings about the photo shoot.

Today has been a good day. First of all we woke up to rain! It is so nice to have a break from the heat. M and I took turns with the meetings. He had one first, and then I drove to the church with the boys, and then he drove them home and then the Young Women’s Presidency met with the Bishopric. When I got home we had lunch, finished getting the boys dressed, and then headed off to church. Church went well, but we are certainly excited for J to go to nursery. After church we eventually made it home and had dinner. We went on a quick walk after we had finished cleaning up, and then got the boys ready for bed. M is at a Stake Priesthood meeting.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

September 12, 2010

2010-09-12T13:38:00.001-04:00

September 12, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Here is a quick recap of our week. Monday was Labor Day. We spent some of the day at the pool, and also worked around the house on various projects. I woke up feeling pretty miserable with a case of pink eye. Later that day we all went to the ward Labor Day picnic held at a local park. The party was very relaxed and low key. We all had a good time. We then came home and got everything ready for B-man’s first day of school. We were all excited for his new grand adventure.

Tuesday morning we were up early and going. I had to wake up B-man, but he was a good sport and didn’t complain. In the mornings we try to get all of this accomplished, feed the boys, dress B-man (maybe J) make bed, brush teeth, make B-man’s lunch, morning prayers, and a family prayer. All of those things are super quick, but for some reason we need an hour to get it all done. I then walked B-man to the bus stop, and sent him off to school. He was so excited! All day it was a little strange to have him gone! But it was nice to run some errands with one less person. When I picked him up from school he reported that the day went great and he had a good time. He said his favorite thing that he did was P.E. He’s been really excited to go to the P.E. class this year. We had a snack and then got to work on his homework. That night was also a big night because he had soccer practice. It was blazing hot, but he didn’t complain and just ran and ran. He had such a great time. After practice he came home and got cleaned up before heading to bed.

Wednesday was more of the same. I had a doctor’s appointment, and ended up taking J. Thankfully it went well and he was a good sport. After the appointment I ran a bunch of errands that were near the doctor’s office. It was extra far away so I was happy to get it done in one trip. Later that night I also had mutual. I wasn’t feeling great. In fact I was feeling pretty crummy with a combo of pink eye/cold, but the Beehives were in charge so I really needed to go. We had a farewell to summer combined activity and took the kids to an indoor pool and rock climbing wall. They had a great time, and we want to do it again sometime when we aren’t so limited by the time.

Thursday I had another doctor’s appointment. Everything looks good with the baby. Now we just wish we had a crystal ball so that we could know when he will come. M will be out of town up to pretty close when this little guy is supposed to come, and I asked a few questions to see if the doctor could give me any advice about when to expect going into labor, but sadly I got none. Just advice to avoid overdoing it, and staying hydrated. After school that day we took B-man back to practice. He had another great time, and is excited for his first game.

Friday was B-man’s birthday! To make it even more fun M had the day off from work. He took charge of the breakfast and went and got some delicious breakfast burritos that we all enjoyed before school. Then while B-man was at school we had a good time working on some projects and watching “Lost.” We did take a break to take lunch to B-man. Our entire school district has banned any food being brought in for birthdays, but we are allowed to bring in lunch and eat lunch with him. We got brought him a “Happy Meal” and he was so excited. I had visions of us eating at a little table with just our family, but instead we had to sit with the rest of the class, and there was even someone sitting in-between us. Oh well. I think he still had fun. He really wanted us to see where he plays after lunch and so we stuck around until the teacher came and got the class to take them to recess. Later that afternoon I also went to get my haircut. It feels great to have some fresh ends on my hair!

That night for his birthday we had pizza, his favorite meal. We also ate on the deck. He always wants to eat on the deck, but we rarely plan ahead and so we end up inside since the table is cleaner. He was so excited to eat outside, and the weather was very cooperative. After dinner I hurried upstairs and wrapped his presents. He opened them up and was appropriately excited for all of them. After the boys were in bed I ran to Costco with a few other women to plan our breakfasts for an upcoming trip. Then when I got home later M and I watched some more “Lost.”

Saturday morning I got up and went to garage sales with a friend. We hit a community garage sale in a really nice new section of town. It was in an area I don’t normally go, but it was worth it. There were a log of sales, and not a lot of people. I got a few very fun things for J and B-man. I also found a mattress for the bunk bed. That means that we can finally get the bed set up on top and let B-man sleep there. We haven’t had time yet, but he is very excited. After I got home we rushed to get ready for B-man’s first soccer game. There were only four players that came, and one ended up running off the field and getting sick. That meant zero subs for our team. B-man didn’t complain though and he worked hard all through the game. They got creamed, but B-man did come close to scoring a goal. It also made it obvious to the coach what they needed to work on… The rest of the day we spent getting ready for our trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. It is a narrow stretch of land that extends up the North Carolina coast. We organized food, M made and froze our dinner and we tried to get as ready as possible that evening.

Sunday morning we were up and going early. We finished most of the packing and got ourselves ready for church. M went to his meetings, and then I drove the boys to an earlier church time so that we could get on the road a little earlier. M met us at the chapel for the Sacrament, before leaving for the rest of his meetings. After church we went home and started packing all of the cold food into the coolers. We then met up with one other family and drove about thirty minutes were we picked up another family. We then split their stuff and them into the two cars that were caravanning and hit the road. The drive took less than six hours, and really the kids did very well. We did make a stop to stretch in Norfolk, VA and decided that we didn’t ever want to live there. The weather was just slightly cool and rainy making it easy to avoid going to the beach. We made it to the beach house in the early evening and quickly unloaded the car, organized our food, assigned bedrooms to families, and then worked on dinner for the boys. We rented an eight bedroom house that was only two blocks from the beach. It was clean and comfortable, and because we were doing it after Labor Day it was also super inexpensive. We were all really excited. B-man was thrilled that the house had a pool and a hot tub too. He was pretty much in heaven. We got the kids in bed, and waited up until the rest of the families arrived in the night.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

I Love This Stage

2010-09-08T14:23:00.001-04:00

What can I say? I love this stage that J is in. Here is an example of why he is so fun these days… (Please ignore the random clutter.)

And here he is again from another angle…

September 5, 2010

2010-09-06T20:46:00.002-04:00

September 5, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been a little slower and a lot less crazy. We meant to try and get in a lot of playing, but J has had some form of pink eye and other issues most of the week. That makes it a little hard to take your children places. Most of the week was spend in preparation for B-man’s birthday party. Luckily he thought that was all very fun. Monday when M got home we went to a very early dinner at place in town. The sandwiches were delicious, and we were amazed at the amount of food that B-man consumed. He finished his large sandwich and the last of one of ours! After dinner we came home and got ready for the pool. J couldn’t swim so we hung out on the edge getting our feet wet and playing with various toys. That night for FHE we discussed Father’s Blessings. We wanted to prepare B-man in advance because he gets nervous about it sometimes. Even with the preparation he ended the night saying he didn’t want one. Hmmm…

The big event for Tuesday was that B-man had his first soccer practice. His practices are kind of late (6:00) and so we had to eat dinner first. We have definitely entered a new phase in our family life. The weather has been insanely hot, and B-man did not complain at all about the heat while at practice. He had a great time. At one point he was in a big group trying to get the ball and he just sat on it. Not so great for continuing the game, but very effective ball control. Because of the heat I wasn’t too sad that I had to leave a few minutes early to get to mutual. For our activity all the girls tie-dyed shirts. We are going to use them in another activity coming up. It was a messy but fun activity. I had never done it before, and it was fun to see how it was done.

Wednesday was a slower day. I went to the farm. It was one of our hottest picking experiences ever. I felt bad for the men that had to do it all day. After the farm B-man had a day of play dates. First we had a friend over that is younger. We saw him at the farm and B-man wanted to have him over. Then after we dropped him off at home I took B-man to another friend’s house for a little bit. He was so happy. We hit the pool that night after dinner. When it is so hot it is the perfect time to go and get refreshed before bed.

Thursday was a busy day. I finished the shopping and things that we needed for B-man’s party during the day. When M got home we had a fast dinner and then got ready for soccer and back to school night. M took J and went to soccer. I went to Back-to-School night. I got to meet the teacher, but it was so fast that we didn’t get enough time to get our questions answered and such. I had just enough time to get the kitchen clean before the boys got home from soccer. Apparently he had a lot of fun again. We got the boys clean and then to bed.

Friday was a busy but fun day. Most of the morning was spent working on last minute party details. We packed the goodie bags (which I then forgot to pass out…), made the cake (several near disasters there) and got everything organized that we would need to take to the pool for the party. B-man has been saying for months that he wanted a party at the pool. I was happy to oblige. It was the perfect place to have a bunch of kids. We invited about eleven, and we had seven that came. It was the perfect number. But before we could focus on the party we had to go to the school open house first. B-man was excited for a chance to meet his teacher and see his classroom. They didn’t stay long and then we headed straight over to the pool to set up for the party. We played some games in the pool, and had a water balloon toss. The water balloons were a big hit with the kids. When the party started we had the entire pool to ourselves. It was wonderful, one of the life guards was helping watch J, and I ran the games while M did a bunch of little details for me. We ended the party with cake and ice cream. B-man wanted a chocolate cake with raspberry filling, and he wanted it to be a Star Wars cake. I am NOT a cake decorator. All I know I learned from watching my mother decorate our birthday cakes. I want to take a class, but I have not. And yet I keep making cakes for birthdays and trying to make them look nice because I can’t stand to spend a bunch of money on a cake. After cake people started to filter home. We stayed at the pool for a while because B-man and J were having so much fun. Eventually I was tired and hungry so I forced us all to go home and get some food. We all got dressed and then went to Costco for dinner. We saw several friends at Costco and had a good dinner before heading home to get people in bed. Such an exciting day!

Saturday morning I woke up with no voice. It was seriously gone. B-man kept telling me that I shouldn’t talk for a long time. .. It didn’t keep me from hunting at garage sales. I felt find I just didn’t have a voice. I found some great things for the new baby and some new cowboy boots for B-man to wear on Sundays. After I got home we let J sleep for a while and then headed off to the farm for their potato festival. It was the first day of the potato harvest and they had free pancakes and we were able to pick some potatoes for free too. I love fresh potatoes. The weather was about fifteen degrees cooler than when we went on Wednesday and made for a much more pleasant experience. After the farm we spent the rest of the day working on things around the house. B-man enjoyed playing with his new toys. We had a summery dinner and then went to the pool, but with the weather being so nice during the day, it made it a little too cold for swimming. The boys didn’t last very long in the water. We then came home and put the boys to bed. We then stayed up and watched some episodes of “Lost.” We got several seasons from a friend and are watching from the beginning since we never really watched the show.

Sunday morning was very lazy and wonderful. No meetings for M, and I had no lesson to prepare. Actually I was supposed to be teaching, but I still had no voice making it impossible so I had to switch with another leader. Church went well, other than forgetting to bring the church bag. B-man was a little bored, but luckily I always carry a few toys in my purse that can distract J. After Sacrament meeting B-man always asks to walk someone to Primary. Usually it is one of his good friends. After church we came home and had a quick dinner of homemade fettuccini alfredo. I usually halve the recipe, but B-man has started eating so much, (and J ate it too) that I am can’t do that anymore. I’m sure it is only a sign of things to come. We had a pretty quiet evening after dinner. We went on a walk around our neighborhood to enjoy the beautiful weather, and then headed home for bed.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J