M-I-L Update #3

So, I spent a couple of hours at the hospital on Wednesday. In the morning I took Jared and Kamryn there and they colored lots of pictures to decorate Carolyn's room. They also picked out mylar balloons to take to her. It was hard for them to pick out get well balloons for their Grammy - they wanted the mickey mouse and princess ones.
She was fitted for her back brace and doesn't like it. Its like a turtle shell - hard plastic that fits pretty tight all around her torso. She will be in it for 4 weeks to 6 months, the average is usually about 3 months.
Today, most likely, they will be moving her to Aspen Ridge, a transitional care facility. It is right by Wheeler Farm and very close to their home. This will be very good for her and John - she can get good care and he can get some rest. We're not sure how long she'll be there or what the next step will be.

M-I-L update #2

So, I spent all afternoon and evening at the hospital with Paul's parents. All things considered, Carolyn is in pretty good spirits. She was measured for a back brace today and will be fitted with it tomorrow. Lots of decisions have to be made now - does she go to short term care facility and then home with home health care or to long term care facility. These are things no children should ever have to decide for their parents.

M-I-L update

We got a call at midnight last night from Paul's dad telling us that Carolyn had fallen again and they were on their way to the hospital again. This time she broke her back and she's been admitted to the hospital. Paul was there all night with his dad. Not a good way to start out the week.

Life is Busy

Life continues to fly by so quickly. I can't believe September is almost over. I love October for lots of reason - Fall is my favorite season, although it means winter is coming and that is depressing; its my birthday which means going out to eat; halloween is coming which can be fun with my preschoolers; football, soccer and volleyball season keeps us very busy but enjoying all those games; fall break at school so we get to sleep in a couple of days, yea!
Here's what we were up to last week:
Monday - laundry day as usual but while I did the laundry I spent the day reading "The Help" - one of the best books I've ever read. Its over 400 pages and I started it on Sunday and finished it on Tuesday.
Tuesday - watched Brooke play volleyball against Lone Peak. They are a powerhouse school in all sports. Even though Brooke's team lost they played their best ever. I stayed for all the teams' games and it was so exciting to watch the varsity team beat Lone Peak - go Bengals!
Wednesday - took Kamryn to dance and then took the twins to preschool. On the way to preschool I got a call on my cell phone from Paul's dad. I knew it wasn't going to be good - Paul's mom had fallen early in the morning and hit her head and broke her wrist. They went in the ambulance to the hospital and he was calling to see if I could pick them up. Of course! So we spent the rest of the late afternoon and evening with them.
Thursday - stayed with Paul's mom during the morning and then took the kids to preschool. After school took Brooke and Taylor to the doctor to get several warts burned off. Came right back from that to host Brooke's volleyball team dinner at our house. The girls decorated t-shirts for game days and then had dinner on the patio. It was perfect weather for a fun evening.
Friday - worked on the ward newsletter all morning and got it emailed off by 1:00. Then met my cousin at my grandma's to visit her. In the evening went to dinner groups for our ward activity.
Saturday - helped some neighbors, went to a boutique-twice, and then soccer for the afternoon watching the boys play great (Justin scored 5 goals in one game), then went to the RS broadcast and dinner and enjoyed visiting with good friends, watched the last quarter of the Utah game - go UTES! and ended the evening watching a Carole King concert on the big screen with Paul for our date.
Wow, I'm tired.

Anniversary Present

This jewelry armoire is what Paul gave me for my anniversary.
This is one of those presents where I went and got it at the Early Bird Labor Day sale at RC Willey's (it was a great deal) and came home and told Paul he had gotten me a present for our anniversary, a little late.
I love this little armoire. I put it together (just screwed on the legs and the lid) all by myself and then had so much fun organizing my jewelry. My favorite part is the hidden necklace area - the sides open up so you can hang your necklaces. I've thought I wanted one of these but wasn't really sure so never really asked for it as a gift. But now I wonder how I've lived without it.

Happy Birthday Taylor

Today is Taylor's 12th birthday. I guess its pretty appropriate for a young man to turn 12 on Sunday in our church. He was ordained a deacon on his very birthday.

He's a pretty handsome young man with a great smile.

Taylor is a happy young man. He's very friendly and easy going these days.

He loves to play soccer and is enjoying 6th grade.

Taylor with his dad and brother, both grandfathers and bishop and young men's leaders who stood in the circle to ordain Taylor to the Aaronic priesthood and to be a deacon.

We love Taylor very much and are so proud of him.

Coloring is Hard Work

1st day at the Rainbow School

Jared

Kamryn and Jared at The Rainbow School

on their first day of school.

They were so excited to go to their super fun school.

Kamryn

Olivia, Kamryn, Phoebe, and Jared
after a great first day of school.

I've been just as excited for school to start as Jared and Kamryn were. Taylor went to the same school and it was such a great experience so I was really looking forward to Jared and Kamryn going there. Soon after Jared and Kamryn were born I called Miss Carol to put them on the waiting list for their school year. Miss Carol is the greatest teacher and she loves the kids so much. Its going to be a great year.

Camping 2009

We usually go camping with our whole family and extended family sometime during the summer but this year we could never get it scheduled. So Paul and I decided to just take Jared and Kamryn and go up overnight for a quick little camping trip.
We got to Washington Lake around noon on Friday and quickly got the tent set up because it was starting to rain. Paul's brother, Steve, and his daughters, Jess and Emily, were with us for the afternoon. Those 4 went on a hike to Rock Lake while I stayed at the camp with Jared and Kamryn. We had fun in the tent while it rained - we ate lunch, colored and read stories. Then the sun came out and we went down to the lake to hang out until Paul got back.
When he got back, we went out on the lake in our little blow up boat for almost 3 hours. Jared and Kamryn were great sports and loved catching a lot of fish.
When we were cold and it was almost dark we went back to camp and built a nice fire and had dinner and then went to bed.
Saturday we went out on the boat again for 2 hours and caught a lot more fish. We packed up camp and then went on a little "hike" to Crystal Lake. We also drove to Mirror Lake to see our friends who were camping there. We stopped at Provo River Falls so the kids could see the waterfalls. They were very concerned that we were going to go in the waterfalls.
It was a great short camping trip and so much fun to hang out with just our little kids.

Kamryn and Jared in the tent

Paul and Kamryn out fishing

Building our fire for the night

Jared and Kamryn helping to take down the tent.

Our little family at Washington Lake

Fishing fun

So much fun that it was exhausting

He's a happy fisherman

Liberty Park

We had so much fun on a late summer outing today to Liberty Park. My sisters and I and our dad met there with our younger kids. It was a perfect day to go, weather wise and people wise. It wasn't crowded at all and only preschool age kids there.
We went to "the canyons" area first and the kids had such a great time floating little boats down the streams. Then we headed over to the big fun playground area where there were water features and a playhouse and slides and swings.

Kyson

Jared

Jared, Kyson and Kamryn - what cuties!

Playing in the "great salt lake" at liberty park

Jared and Kyson running through the water features

Those two boys had a blast running through the water.

Jared with his cute little cousin, Meghan.

While these 2 were walking along so cute

she was telling him stories.

Volleyball Outing

The volleyball team tries to do fun stuff too for team bonding. 3 of us moms took the girls to Wendys after practice for dinner and then headed up to the U for the Lady Utes volleyball match against Cal Poly. It was fun to watch the Utes play some great volleyball and won the match 3-0. It was really fun to cheer for the utes when we know several of the players now.

A Fun Week

Even though my older kids are in school its still been like summer around here with Jared and Kamryn. They don't start preschool until next week so we've had some time to go and do fun things with friends and cousins.

The picture above was taken at Wheeler Farm. We met our friends there and had fun seeing the animals and feeding the ducks. After hanging out at the farm we went to McDonalds for lunch (I actually ate a burger there and it was so good - the new 1/3 lb Angus Mushroom and Swiss).