A week with the cousins

This past week, we had the boys cousins, Tyler and Jaemon, come and stay with us. It was a good thing too since half our neighborhood (which includes most of the boys friends) went on vacation! So we planned some fun things to keep the kids entertained (and make it so they want to come back, right?) I'll say, these kids had a lot of fun. There were just a few mini arguments mostly between brothers. We went to Kangaroo Zoo, set up a mini waterpark in the backyar, went up to Salt Lake for the Days of '47 parade for Pioneer Day to see their grandpa's float again, went to the Clark Planetarium, out to lunch, had a few movie nights with popcorn, and then a big day with Grandpa going to Ogden on the front runner train. You have to know my father-in-law. He loves trains! He becomes a kid when a trian comes into sight. You can imagine he was just as excited as the kids were to be around trains! It was pretty cute! We checked out all the old trains they have up there at the Union Station. Pretty interesting history. We saw an old train they used for delivering mail around the US, as well as a military hospital train, among other types. Then after all that, we went to an OWLZ game which is a local baseball team. They lost horribly, but we had fun being together as a family! Here's some pics to show all the fun the kids

had.

Spears Family Reunion

This past Saturday was the Spears Family Reunion. That would be my mom's mom's side of the family. I haven't been to one of these for a long time, so I was looking forward to seeing some relatives I haven't seen for a while. As Richard and I were driving up to Wheeler farm for the reunion, I had a flood of memories come back. Both of my mom's parents were born and raised in Tennessee. So during my growing up years, we made many, many, many trips there to visit, practically every year. I remember visiting this small town of Cookville where my grandma grew up and spending lots of time with my second cousins. I absolutely loved/love it there! We'd pick peaches, blackberries, raspberries, play childhood games, go visit local sites, go to Memphis, Nashville, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, etc, etc! I would love to take Richard and the kids back there someday. It is so beautiful, green, hot, and humid! My grandpa's farm that he grew up on is still around and owned by some family. I have memories of staying there and the house didn't have a toilet! We used the outhouse. It freaked me out all the time. I remember not sleeping at night cause I had to go so bad, but going out in the dark to the outhouse was not an option. One great memory that I'm glad I have is knowing my mom's grandparents. I was young and they were pretty old! My great grandma died first, then my great grandpa missed her so much, he died a month later.
Anyways, it was a lot of fun being able to see some cousins I haven't seen for a long time at the reunion, including my second cousin, Emily who was also my companion in the MTC! My Dad worked there for a long time and probably pulled some strings to get us to be comps. She went to Winnipeg, Canada which is where my husband grew up. We had a good time catching up!

Me and Emily:

Here's my immediate fam:

Here's the extended fam: (my mom's siblings and families)

Here's the larger group including my some of my mom's cousins. Unfortunately, a lot of the family couldn't come or live in other states now.

Here's a few of my really awesome first cousins!

A 4th full of fun!

We had so much fun this past week, we really wore ourselves out, so that by the time Sunday came we didn't want to do anything! (yes, we did get up for 8:30 AM church! It was tough, but we did it.)

So here's what we've been up to this last week. Richard got Friday off from work so he took Wednesday and Thursday off as well to play! It was great! Hard part was to have Monday come around.

We decided to get adventurous on Friday and hike to the Timp caves. Little did we know that by the time we'd get there, there would be a 5 1/2 hour wait for the cave tours. Yeah, we didn't hike Timp. Maybe another day when we feel motivated to wake up at 6 am and try it! So, we hiked the Y on the mountain above BYU. No, we didn't take Sara, there's no way! But, we took the boys and they really liked it.

Then we brought the kids home and decided to let them cool off and play in the water while mom and dad die on the couch. I still have no idea where they get all their energy! Here they are finally relaxing on the steps.

After a while, we got our second wind and took the kids down to Provo to go to the Freedom Days Festival. They close off center street and fill it with way-too-expensive rides and food and tons of booths of people trying to sell their 'stuff'! It was CRAZY! But amazingly enough, Ethan wanted to go on the 'Tornado' ride so I let Richard be the chaperone. Ethan loved it. Richard didn't. Neither of us can stomach rides like we used to. It was pretty funny though! Then to my shock Preston wanted to go on it!! Now, if you know my kids, they don't venture out and do rides much. So when Preston says he wants to go, I'll pay the high price to get the tickets and get him on it! Thankfully our friend Steve seemed brave enough to go on it with the boys! :) (Since Richard was out of commission and I was getting over a headache. Yeah, I know, excuses.)

The next morning (Sat. the 4th) we ventured out way too early and went to the hot air balloon festival. It was really cool! Well worth getting up early for.

The parade came next and you know, people really are crazy in Utah county when it comes to this parade. They literally stake out spots and sleep there until the next day when it's the parade. You'd think someone famous was going to be there! We couldn't find anywhere to sit until 5am saturday morning! It was nuts. But, we wanted to go since Richard's dad was in charge of creating one of the floats and it was a really cool float!

We continued the day with bar-b-ques, swimming and fireworks at night! So by the time Sunday rolled around, we made sure to just hang out at home, sleep and drink lots of fluids!!

Just going a bit crazy, that's all! Nothing serious.

Once again, I haven't posted in a while! There has been a lot going on! First of all, I have to say my hubby is the bestest!! He finished his MBA last Monday (or technically Tuesday morning at 4:30 am)! I am so proud of him! It's been tough since it was an online program through his school that he got his first masters degree from in RI. It's taken a while, but HE DID IT! We can have a social life again, we can have a date more often, and he can spend more time with the kids again! Ahhh. It's a beautiful thing.
Now to fill you all in on what else is going on...our landlord has put the house we live in on the market. We weren't expecting that at all to happen when it did, but we started to plan to buy or at least look around for another place to buy if it wasn't this one. We love this house, and we like the neighborhood, the ward is okay. (We hate to compare to our wonderful, amazing ward in Newport, RI!!!)
Then about a week and a half ago, we got word from 3 of Richard's bosses that they will be terminating his job. He works for the church on the Joseph Smith papers project, but sadly a lot of the project was funded by Larry Miller and the stocks he held with GM. Now that GM has gone down, the funds have dropped. And basically law students or interns can do Richard's job. BUT, the good thing is that they're going to try to give him up to 6 months before he's out. I can't complain too much. So, we have some time to find a new job. But we're thinking this is the time to put his degrees to work, which means the jobs he'll be applying for will be out of state. Once again, we have to put buying a house on hold. sigh. Someday, it'll happen.
There it is in a nutshell! Just a bit crazy. But, I certainly feel that things will work out, just ask me on the right day. :)

Who...where...and with what?

You have to check this out! My good friend Tristi Pinkston who is an author is starting a scavenger hunt/contest on her blog. She has written "Nothing To Regret," "Strength To Endure," "Season Of Sacrifice," and her new book to be released this month, "Agent In Old Lace." Her contest is based on her new book which is a mystery novel. Click on this link http://tristipinkston.blogspot.com/2009/03/very-tristi-contest.html to get started on finding the clues and get entered in to win a really great prize!

Tooth adventures

My poor Ethan is going to have a lifetime of dental work! Since he was young he's never had good teeth. It all started out with good old baby bottle tooth decay. Yep, he used to walk around the house with the bottle hanging out of his mouth. He loved it. So his top two front teeth were in pretty bad shape. So by the time he was in preschool, he had to have dental surgery which included 2 root canals (one on the top front tooth and another on the lower), and filling about 2 or 3 cavaties. Poor kid. Hard on mom too since I had to see him come off anesthesia and hold him while he threw up after.

Since then, he's had more cavaties, an absessed tooth which got pulled right away, and more pulled teeth to make way for new teeth, since his new teeth always come in before the baby tooth has come out, and now a spacer retainer to pull his front two teeth forward. THANKFULLY, I have a brother-in-law, Jon, who is a dentist which makes it possible for us not to have to pay for dental work (of which we are eternally grateful!!) There have been a few times now that we (meaning me and a couple dental assistants) had to actually hold him down on the chair so that Jon can could give him the shot to numb his gums so he could yank out a few teeth. He cried and screamed! They had to make sure that no other kids were in the office before they started because of this. I really wanted to cry that time! I took him to Target after and bought him a toy, and me some chocolate cause we were traumatized! This was only a couple of months ago. Then a few weeks ago, Jon wanted to pull more teeth cause once again, he had teeth growing in and the baby teeth hadn't fallen out yet and his retainer wasn't fitting because of those same baby teeth. He was so scared to go because of the shot. But, Jon gave him a choice. Either he'd have the shot or Jon would just pull them out without it. So Ethan chose to Not have the shot! Jon yanked them out and Ethan hardly flinched!! I was so dang happy! Of course, I wasn't there. I figured after all I'd been through with dental appointments and shots, it was soooo Richard's turn to deal with this! And it ended up not even being a big thing. (Which means Richard isn't off the hook for the future!)

I seriously don't understand why his teeth are so weak. I didn't have cavaties until I got home from my mission and Richard has never had a cavaty! (So not fair) So, now we've tried to eliminate sodas and sugars. But, why why why is it so difficult to floss??!!! I'm not a fan of flossing, so it's hard to remember to floss my kids teeth. I feel like a terrible mom though when I forget. Cause I know a hole is making its way into one of his teeth as I type! Grrr...

It's sad whenever he smiles I can't help but look at his teeth and feel sick about it. He's such a cute and brave kid! Sigh.

Guess what?

It actually happened! Maybe I'm a bit obsessed with this. Oh well. So if you read my last entry, I mentioned at the end that I wonder if I have cute ears? It wasn't Sara this time, it was Preston. I'm combing his hair before school and he said he had big ears. I smiled and said "You have cute ears!" His ears really are cute. Especially when he gets a haircut, they just seem to pop out more. Along with his eyes! Anyways, after I said he has cute ears.....he told me I had cute ears too! I seriously didn't try to get him to say it. It was so random! I laughed at that thinking about the last entry I made. Kids are the greatest!

Sara-ism

As I'm changing Sara's diaper this morning, she looks at me for a couple seconds and then says, "I like your nose." I am not a fan of my nose! It's a bit too long and pointy especially if you're looking at my profile. So, now my daughter likes my elbows (refer to earlier posting) and my nose! I wonder what it'll be next! I just giggled at her and of course I said, "I like your nose too." I wonder if I have cute ears...

The Forgotten Warrior, by Kathi Oram Peterson

Wow, am I a slacker! I haven't posted for a while, have I? Well, I'll do some catch-up later as today I'm doing a scheduled blog book review on a book I just finished reading.


The Forgotten Warrior was written by Kathi Oram Peterson. It is a well-written story of a teenage girl who while dealing with the sickness of her mother, a sister with a handicap, and a father who once abandoned the family, along with normal teenage life is all of a sudden thrown back in time...to Book of Mormon time...the time of Helaman and his strippling young soldiers.

She is not trusted at first as she comes upon Helaman and his men. But they soon find she can fight as she has a black belt in karate that she learned from her mother. She is soon recruited to teach her methods of fighting to the worn-out soldiers. She gives them hope and courage.

She learns a lot about herself and her abilities as her faith and testimony is tested and strengthened. She also begins to learn about forgiveness. She is grateful for what her mother taught her about faith which coincides with the 2000 strippling warriors having been taught by their mothers to have faith. I liked this parrallel in the story.

I liked Kathi's style of writing. I felt like I was there watching Sydney! I liked her personality; independant, responsible, and caring yet tough. The climax was climatic which of course is the battle very well known in the B.O.M. of Captain Helaman and his young strippling warriors and the lamanites.

I'm looking forward to the next book as the story continues! To purchase the book, click on the following link. http://deseretbook.com/store/product/5017602


Also, here is some information on a contest that Kathi is hosting.


LATTER-DAY STRIPLING WARRIOR CONTEST
Nominate a youth between the ages 8 to 18 (boy or girl), who has performed a kind deed and who you believe is a Latter-day Stripling Warrior. Each person nominated will receive a Latter-day Stripling Warrior certificate signed by the author and the three heroes of The Forgotten Warrior: Sydney, Tarik, and Ximon.Entry forms and more information regarding the contest can be found on the author's website: http://www.kathiorampeterson.com/.

I have a cute elbow!

Yesterday morning I was getting Sara dressed and we were chatting the 2 year old chat and she says, "I like your shirt." I reply with "I like your shirt too." She then looks down at my shoes and says, "I like your shoes." I say, "Thank you." She says "Elcome" (for your welcome). Then she comes up with, "I like your elbow"......that's a first! I just giggled and said "I like your elbow too!" It reminded me of a time way back when I was about 10 or so and we were sitting in church and a lady behind me tapped me on the shoulder and told me how cute my elbows were cause of all the freckles on them. What do you say to that? Thank you? I probably looked at her funny. So, I have cute elbows! It's so nice to be reminded.