Great weekend

All 13 of the Young Women that came down to St George with us.
(Our 2 Laurels couldn't come and we missed them).

Having fun in the fountain.

Before going into the St George Temple to do baptisms.

I'm back from what turned out to be a "fantabulous" weekend (new word made up over the weekend - mixture of fantastic and fabulous).
My worries of Justin getting to his tournament were ended when one of the mom's I know from school and previous teams volunteered to get Justin up to Brigham City on Fri and Sat (and also took him to see this movie in between games on Sat).
I really enjoy being with the Young Women. Some people view it as a punishment or death sentence and would never want the calling but I think it is the greatest calling ever and want to do it forever (well at least as long as Brooke is in there and then take a break and go back in when Kamryn is in there).
We had a blast with those girls. We went swimming at the neighborhood pool, went to the St George temple to do baptisms, went boating at Quail Creek Reservoir. The most fun things ended up being very impromptu, not planned things. The first night there we had "spa night" and did each others pedicures and manicures, did massages and hair. Very fun and relaxing and great bonding time.
The second night there we ended up doing our own version of "American Idol." The girls took turns lip synching (mostly songs from musicals) and then other girls took turns being the judges. So funny and man, do we have some talented girls in our group. I fully expect to see at least one of them on the stage.
We also fit in some spiritual time with scripture study and journal writing.
It was just too bad that it was such a short trip. I definitely could have stayed longer.

Off again

I'm leaving in the morning for a YW getaway to St George. It's a quick trip - down Thur morning and we'll be back Sat afternoon. We're packing a lot in that short time - baptisms for the dead, a hiking trip in Zions, boating, swimming, stamping, scriptures, etc. We have 13 girls going and 5 leaders and 2 priesthood going. It's going to be fun but it's been a little stressful getting ready to go. My biggest glitch just happened this evening. Justin has a summer select soccer tournament this weekend in Brigham City and I thought I had a ride all lined up for him to get there on Friday afternoon but that just fell through. Now what am I supposed to do? Beg for a ride for him through our team email. Hopefully someone will be able to get him up there. One more thing to worry about while I'm gone. I love getting away and having a little break but I'm not sure this one's going to be worth it.

Family Party

We usually get together with the Shingleton family on fast Sunday. It is usually at my parents but us kids try to take our turns when we can. So last night we were at my sister's house - outside for a BBQ. It was the most beautiful evening and we had a great time. It was especially fun watching most of the grandkids (the teenagers included) play Duck,Duck, Goose and Red Rover. (I'll add pictures later). A pleasant summer evening spent outside with family is definitely one of my favorite things ever.

Movies

One of the things we do at our weekend away at the cabin is "watch" movies. I say that in quotes because we really mostly listen to movies we've seen more than once and we do this while scrapbooking. It's fun to watch your favorites again. This year we "watched"
*Beaches
*Selena
*Wedding Planner
*How to Lose a Guy in 10 days - after the last 2 we decided we should have made it Matthew weekend. Maybe next year.
*Pursuit of Happyness
*50 First Dates
*Dream Girls - this was the only one that we hadn't seen before. I'd seen the second half on our trip so it was good to watch it from beginning to end. I really liked it and want to get the soundtrack.
I wish we could go up there for a week so we could really take some time to watch some movies. Maybe next year.

Primary story

So, while I was gone, Taylor was supposed to give a talk in Primary. His teacher sent a note home last week with the assignment but I never saw it so I left for my weekend away knowing nothing about the talk. Paul didn't get a reminder call about the talk. So when Taylor was in class on Sunday the secretary stopped to ask him if he had his talk ready. He said he hadn't remembered about it. Instead of saying that was okay and just skipping the talk or having him just say his testimony she went and found a story out of the friend for him to read. Now she would not know that was a bad idea! Taylor is not a very good reader, especially in front of people and with something he'd never read. Unfortunately his teacher was busy with their lesson and didn't really look at the story or say that's probably not a good idea to the secretary.
So they go into closing exercises and Taylor goes up to read this story. It ended up being quite long and he really struggled with it but made it through and didn't get too upset. When he was finished he came and sat down and said "Holy Crap! That was long."

I'm back

I'm back and I must say I'm not too happy about it. A weekend away is just not long enough. I know I should be grateful for that but I needed a couple of more days. I did miss my kids and was proud of how they survived and took care of each other. I loved spending time with my sister and my aunt. It was like going back to college days (although I never did this in college). We stayed up until 5:00 am two nights in a row and then slept in until around noon. We ate good food, watched great movies and did LOTS OF SCRAPBOOKING! Of course, I wish I'd gotten more done but we did our scrapbooks from our recent Disney vacation. It was good to do it now while it was still kind of fresh in our minds. We had to call Susan's friend at one point and have her look up some details on the rides at Disney World for us. It was very gratifying to come home and have Jared and Kamryn and my parents enjoy looking at the scrapbook. It will be fun for Jared and Kamryn to have it to look at for the next little while. Hopefully they won't wreck it.
Now I must go to bed and try to get back to a normal sleep schedule.

Weekend Away

I'm so excited for my weekend away. Dale started this several years ago by giving Susan a weekend away at the cabin as a gift for Mother's Day and her birthday. I was lucky enough to benefit from that gift. That was the beginning of an awesome tradition. We are going to the cabin from tomorrow until Monday sometime. It's such an awesome thought - no whining, no one needing you, doing whatever we want for a whole weekend. I told Brooke "No offense, but I don't think we're going to be ready to come home on Monday." She asked how long we'd have to stay up there to be ready to come home and I said at least a week.
I actually was up to the cabin for the day today with my aunt Sandra. We wanted to get our scrapbooking stuff up there and get set up. So we went up in her truck and took Jared and Kamryn with us. That really made me realize how nice it will be up there without them for a few days as they were whining and then getting into all of my stuff. For the most part they were very good up there and had fun playing and watching a movie.
I'll report next week on the big event.

GUILT

Yesterday I was overcome with the hugest amount of "mother guilt" ever.
I was at lunch with my friend, Cynthia, and she was looking at the pictures I had just picked up at Costco. She was looking at this picture

and asking me about different kids in the family. And then she said "where's Taylor?" (Now, she is his 2nd mother and also his primary teacher, so she would naturally ask about him). I say, "He's in there somewhere, probably by Jadon." She scans the picture and can't find him. I get a little stressed at this point. Now it's just a picture but I have that same feeling when you can't find one of your kids. What really stressed me out is at the time the picture was taken I didn't have that feeling. MAJOR GUILT! So I think, he must have thought we were done taking pictures and left, since this was the last picture we had taken and it was with a different camera.
When I got home I took out the other picture and look at it,

no Taylor. I couldn't believe it. Where was he? So I think back and remember that after the picture when we were gathering up our stuff to go on the ship he was sitting on a couch watching some Disney cartoon. He must have been there the whole time we were taking the pictures. I feel so bad. Mostly because I hadn't noticed he wasn't with us while we were taking the picture and then for not noticing he wasn't in then after we'd studied it quite a bit. Thank goodness for Cynthia noticing my son.
Later, we were at my mom's and she has an 8x10 of this picture on her kitchen counter. Taylor came in and looked at the picture. I'd decided not to say anything to him and try to scan him into the picture (with help from some great friend who knows how to do things like that - hint, hint). Anyway, first thing Taylor says is "Where am I?" I tell him he must have been watching TV and he says "No one told me we were taking a picture." How sad! The poor middle child that I can't keep track of.

Journal

Ever since I started blogging I have neglected my regular, hand-written journal. I haven't meant to, it's just happened. Last Sunday our lesson in YW was on Journals and our secretary taught the lesson and did a great job. She called us all to repentance and I vowed to write in my journal. The very disturbing thing was that when I opened it and looked at my last entry I couldn't believe it - March 2006! Yikes. That's a long time ago when it comes to journal writing. It really made me sad to think of all the things I had missed writing about - Jared and Kamryn turning one and all the growth they've had over the last 15 months, our trip back east, my walking days with Cynthia, etc, etc. At least I have my blog entries, which I have printed and put in a binder to save. So I wrote in my journal yesterday - for 17 pages! And that was only about our trip to DisneyWorld and Jared and Kamryn's 2nd birthdays. I'm really going to try to do better about writing in my regular journal on a regular basis. And keep up the blog. Wish me luck, or better yet, remind me to write.

IKEA

Thanks to an invite from my great friend Michelle, my aunt Sandy and I joined her and several others to go to the Friends and Family day at IKEA. It was great fun. Others disagreed with me, but I thought it was fun when we walked into the store and all the employees were clapping. I went straight to AS IS and picked up 2 lamps and a small table for the playhouse. We bought our items from AS IS and took them out to the van and started over again. FUN FUN! I didn't get much but it was sure fun to look and get ideas and make a mental list of what I want to come back for. I do love their little plastic dishes - they are great for the kids.

Go Jazz!!

We've got Jazz fever at our house. Thanks to Paul's work we were able to go to the first playoff game against the Warriors. (For that game we sat in the 4th row behind the basket - don't you feel bad for me. Justin hated me for it but only for a little while). We'd been to a regular season game the last week of the season (also for work and we had to sit in the Layton, too bad). So I've gotten into the playoffs and know all the players names and am reading the paper about the games. Couldn't believe the Jazz pulled off the win in CA on Sunday and really hoped that they would win last night. We watch most of the games at my dad's since he has cable. It's nice that he shares with us (we return the favor and let him use our internet anytime he wants). So glad the Jazz won last night! But then we have to start a whole new series and that means more games, more late nights and more time not getting anything done around our house. We're really hoping the Suns win their series and then it will be fun to have that match up after having lived in PHX.

When in need ...

My sister called today in a terrible bind and asked her I could help out. She is the team mom for both of her boys' baseball teams (she has 4 boys, only 2 play baseball so far) and tonight was the night for her younger son's team to man the snack bar. The parents are supposed to sign up for shifts of 2 hours and they need 6 volunteers at all times throughout the 5 hour night. She couldn't get anyone to really sign up and those that had volunteered were backing out. Her husband is swamped at work and wouldn't be able to help her at home or in the snack bar. So I took my youngest two to my mom's, took Brooke, her friend Emily, and Justin to my sister's to tend and then I helped Susan in the snack bar. This is more than a snack bar really - they grill burgers and dogs, cook pretzels, churros, chili, BBQ Beef sandwiches, nachos. And then there are all the drinks and chocolate and candy and really sticky messy snowcones. It was such a crazy night - the recommended amount of volunteers is six at all times - there were 3 of us in the snack bar and the coach was out at the grill. It was actually fun in an insane way. I felt like a teenager again working at the 49th Street Galleria. I was glad to help her out and it was actually easier than dealing with Jared and Kamryn, who are very much acting the part of the terrible twos.

Happy Mother's Day

On this mother's day I would like to pay tribute to my mother. She is the most selfless person I know. Her children and grand-children come first in her life - at least she certainly makes us feel like that. She is always there to help out and she has certainly helped me survive the first 2 years with twins. She has really made my life easy in many ways but most specifically lately by volunteering to be one of the nursery leaders while Jared and Kamryn are in the nursery. It was the easiest time I've ever had leaving my children in the nursery and them not crying. My mom helps me keep my sanity by watching my children for a few days at a time so I can get away and have a break and regroup. My mother never really complains and is always happy to serve and help others. She is a great friend. She is the greatest example I have.

Happy Birthday Kamryn

Kamryn with Jared and Taylor at the food court at our hotel in Disney World. That girl loves her food.

One of my favorite pictures from our trip. Pretty happy for a very early morning.

I cannot believe it is Kamryn's 2nd birthday already. Sometimes it seems like just yesterday that I was going to the hospital after finding out a doctor's appt that I was 6-7 cm dilated and it was one week before I was scheduled for the C-section.
Time has flown by and she has grown up and changed so much in the last year. I call her princess but it doesn't always fit. She's tough and strong-willed and likes to have things her own way. She can also be very girly and likes to wear pretty dresses and look at herself in the mirror after I have done her hair. She loves to play with dolls and is a cute little mommy.
Kamryn is very ticklish and has the cutest laugh. I really love it when Brooke or Taylor get her really giggling. It just makes me laugh. Kamryn is usually more outgoing than her brother Jared but lately she is more of the shy one and hides from strangers.
She still loves her blankies and binkys and I just can't stand to take the binky away. She's so happy and anxious to go to bed at nap time or night time. She will talk to Jared in the morning and try to wake him up. She calls him "la-la" and I'll hear her say "La-La up!!!!" Then they will spend up to an hour in their cribs (which I plan to have them use them until they can climb out themselves) talking, jumping, playing and cuddling with their blankies and binkys until I come in to get them out of bed. Even then they'll sometime want to stay in bed awhile longer while I talk to them. Kamryn is almost always the first one to want to get out and then runs away so I can't change her diaper.
Kamryn loves to go for a walk but she has to be ahead of Jared. Several times this has caused her to fall. She also has a cute little walk which is hard to describe. She kind of run/walks and while doing this swings one arm back and forth and the other arm kind of flails around randomly. It makes for a pretty funny sight.
Kamryn loves dogs but is afraid if they get too close. She LOVES to go outside and can get out even when all the doors are locked. She has no fear and loves to swing high and go down the slide by herself at her grandma's. She also loves to swim and it quite the fish. She may be swimming on her own by the end of summer.
Kamryn's favorite foods are cereal (of course, she's an Adams), toast, JUICE, chicken, FRIES, hot dogs, crackers, yogurt (sometimes), applesauce, strawberries, almost anything I'm eating, most vegetables - especially cooked broccoli and green beans. On the cruise, the waiter brought her a plate of chicken nuggets, fried and broccoli and guess what she ate first? The broccoli. On the cruise she was also introduced to corn on the cob. She loved it. It occupied her for a long time. She would pick off one kernel at a time and eat it.
Kamryn has a gruff voice (like her sister's was at this age) but also has a very girly high pitched scream. She talks a lot yet isn't quite as clear as Jared. I'm sure she'll catch up and overtake him. She gets along with him most of the time but does her share of hitting and pushing him.
She is full of energy and quite the monkey. She is always into things she's not supposed to be and is always climbing.
I love Kamryn dearly and cannot imagine life without her.

Happy Birthday Jared

It is officially May 12 and I wanted to wish Jared a very happy birthday. (I know I won't have time to do this tomorrow).
I cannot believe he is 2 already. The last year has just flown by and he has grown up so much. As his dad put "he thinks he is so cool." Jared has this very boyish walk where he almost marches and his arms are bent at 90 degree angles and he just marches along. We were at the mall today and so many people got such a kick out of him and his walk. Unfortunately there is no way to describe it accurately.
Jared is all boy but at the same time very sensitive (very much like his big brothers). He loves to play with cars and all kinds of sports balls. He loves his siblings and frequently asks me where they are during the day.
He loves Kamryn about 90% of the time. He will give her a hug when she's sad and pat her on the back. And then turn around and hit or pinch her. They definitely deserve each other.
Jared loves to be outside and loves to "play" basketball with Justin and Taylor. He tentatively tries out the trampoline for a few minutes. He loves to play on Grandma's play set and will go down the slide if I hold his hand.
He talks a lot and is more clear than Kamryn ( I think that is due to the many ear infections she had). He calls her Kamryn now but used to call her La-La. She also calls him La-La. I have no idea where that came from. He points out birds, planes, dogs, stars when we are outside. He has a comment on the weather every day. He knows sunny, windy, cold, snowing, raining, dark. We're trying to teach him warm and hot now, considering our weather of late.
Jared is very loving and loves to give out hugs and kisses at bedtime and to grandparents when they are leaving our house or he is leaving their house. He loves his "bln" (blankie) and his "doodle doo" (binky). I was really going to try hard to take away his binky a long time ago but I just can't do it. He sleeps so good and wants to take a nap and go to bed at night. Why would I want to mess that up?
Jared loves to read books and watch Disney movies and shows on PBS. He loves having a bath but can't stand having the shampoo washed out.
His favorite things to eat are cereal (of course, what else do you expect from an Adams boy?), toast, hot dogs, FRIES, juice, hamburgers, my sandwiches, yogurt, applesauce, spaghetti, corn, burrito casserole, and "nandy" (candy). He thinks he likes gum but whenever someone gives him a piece he chews it for a second and then spits and says "guck".
I love Jared very much and can't imagine life without him.

Jared snuggling with Justin on a very early morning on our trip to Disney World.

















Jared playing with his cousin's lion after going on the safari ride at Animal Kingdom in Disney World. I think he thought it was real. It was fun to watch him growl at the lion and then attack it.

Trouble with Two Two-Year-Olds

The trouble with 2 Two-year-olds is they go in different directions. Yesterday I was out working in the yard and hadn't finished before they got up. So I figured I'd get them up and they could play outside while I was finishing up. Well they weren't happy with that - they wanted to go on a walk in their cars.














I wanted to finish so I brought their little ride on cars they use inside outside hoping that would appease them for a little while.

I went back to my weeding mound and soon I couldn't hear them. I knew where they were headed - to their grandma's. I went out front and could hear Kamryn inside calling for me. I got her and Jared was nowhere to be seen. So I put her in her push car and headed out to find him. He had ridden his little car out of our circle and across the street - BY HIMSELF! Scary. Taylor used to do this too but he was more like 3 at the time. I tried to convince Jared to go back home but he would have nothing to do with that. He was headed to Grandma's. So we went there and played for more than an hour and then came home.

Life Boat drill

Memories of the life boat drill from when we went on the cruise 7 years ago were still vivid in my mind - Taylor bawling and all of us being confined in those huge orange life vests for what seemed like forever. So needless to say I was really dreading the drill - this time with TWO toddlers. I guess when you dread something it usually isn't as bad as you expected it would be.

This time around they had infant life jackets for Jared and Kamryn - they were more like rain coats and Kamryn actually liked wearing hers, as you can see.

It was another story for Jared though - he hated it and was bawling, just like Taylor 7 years before. Luckily if they cry enough, one of the Disney employees comes over and tells you to take the life jacket off so we can all have some peace.

So, we all survived and it seemed much shorter this time around.

Can you stand some more pictures?

Most of the 20 grandkids that were on this trip.

The Shingleton family (minus Kyson who was asleep and baby Meaghan who didn't come) in front of the model of the Disney ship.

Even more Disney photos

My family in front of building where our room was at the Disney Port Orleans Riverside Resort. Very nice place and would like to have spent more time there.

My mom and dad at the bus stop waiting to go to Animal Kingdom on our last day at the parks. Thanks to them for providing this wonderful family trip.

Jared with Mickey at the Restaurantosauros in Dino Land at Animal Kingdom. He actually was much happier than he looks. He loved seeing the characters and would give them big hugs.

More Disney photos

So here are some more pics from the Disney trip:

Paul with Jared and Kamryn on the carousel at Magic Kingdom.

I have never had two kids so sensitive to the sun - they freak out when we leave the house and it's sunny. So I got them sunglasses for the trip and they wear those hats most of the time at home. They always wanted their hats and glasses on during the trip.

And Disney World can sure wear them out. Thank goodness for a double stroller that they could lay down and nap in.

Disney Photos

I just went through my photos from our Disney trip - over 400 and narrowed them down to 55 (for this project I'm working on and probably for the scrapbook too). I won't bore you with all 55 but here are a few:

Our family in front of the Orlando Temple.

Me and my husband

Our kids in front of the Nemo ride - the very first one we went on at Epcot.

More to come later.

We're Back

We actually got back late Sunday night but it's taking me awhile to get back into the swing of regular life.
With the wonder of digital cameras, I ended up taking over 400 pictures on our trip and I've been in the process of sorting them out and getting them on the computer. Hopefully I'll post a few later today. I've got to narrow the over 400 down to about 40 for a project my sister and I are working on.
So Typhoon Lagoon was AWESOME!! I would fly back to Orlando just to go there. Jared and Kamryn had so much fun and we loved watching them have that fun. The rest of us also had a great time. The best part was going on this new slide "The Crush 'n Gusher" - basically a water rollercoaster, quite a thriller. I went 4 times in a row with Paul and Taylor. That day was worth every penny we had to pay ($200 for 5 admissions, quite a disappointment and frustration to find out that our 7 day hopper pass did not include the water parks!).
The cruise was fun but challenging. It was actually easier to be at the parks with Jared and Kamryn. There isn't a lot for 2 yr olds to do on the ship and dinners with them were pretty much a nightmare. But we still managed to have fun. The big disappointment on the ship was that Jared and Kamryn couldn't go in the mickey pool - and that was what I was so looking forward to doing with them.
We boarded the ship Thursday afternoon and after dinner my sister's kids went swimming, even though it was very windy. Paul and I were out for a walk with Jared and Kamryn and went by the pool. Kamryn immediately wanted to get in. So we put a swim diaper on her and let her get in just like that. She had a great time and LOVED it until the man dressed like he's in the navy (ship officer) came up to me and told me she couldn't be in there in a swim diaper! I looked at him like he was crazy and said WHAT?!! He told me they didn't allow swim diapers due to 2 girls dieing in Atlanta because some child had some diarrhea leak out of a swim diaper. I couldn't believe it. The one thing that I thought would be so fun and great for Jared and Kamryn and they weren't going to be able to go anywhere near the pool. The officer pointed out that they had a splash area for children in diapers on the other side of the water slide. But that wasn't going to work - all my two would want to do is climb out of there and go in the pool. So we had to stay clear of that whole area the rest of the time. I was very upset about this whole incident and complained but that got me nowhere!! (You can tell I'm still bitter about it).
So the day at Nassau where we didn't get off the ship because we were just going to hang out at the pool all day was kind of bummer day. Brooke and I took Jared and Kamryn into the kids club for awhile and we wandered around the ship and just hung out. I watched the last hour of Dream Girls and Jared and Kamryn loved having disney movies on the TV 24/7.
The shows were really good and Jared and Kamryn loved them. They loved seeing the characters and everything was made worth it when I watched them hugging and kissing Mickey and Minnie. So cute!!
Justin sprained both ankles playing basketball on the ship - one the first night not too bad and then the other ankle much worse the second day. We had to buy him an ankle brace and carry him around the ship (no wheelchairs available).
The food was fabulous and I'm sure I gained back (and more) the weight I lost while we were tearing around Disney World. I even tried Escargot (Justin could try it and get extra credit in French, so I told him if he tried it I would too). Not too bad - just don't think too much about what you are putting in your mouth.
We had awesome service from our waiter and his assistant and I wish Christina could have come back home with us - our stateroom hostess.
It's nice to be back home but not fun to have to get back to all my chores and list of things to do. Very overwhelming.

100th post

To copy a friend, this is my 100th blog at this address.
We are here in Florida enjoying the sun and warmth - although at times a little too warm.
Justin ended up with heat stroke and dehydration today and had to cut his fun short. We went to all four Disney World parks in two days and have been back to Epcot and Magic kingdom for 2nd visits today. Jared and Kamryn have been much better than I expected. They were fantastic on our 6 hour plane trip here (1 1/2 hrs on the ground in St Louis - on the plane at the gate that whole time waiting for a pilot to fly our plane).
We're going to Typhoon Lagoon tomorrow - the greatest water park I've ever been to and then Thursday we board the ship for the cruise!!! I"m very much looking forward to relaxing and slowing down the pace. More reports when we get back (we'rehaving to pay for the internet here).

We're Off

We're off to DisneyWorld tomorrow. My parents are taking their children, spouses, and grandchildren (32 people total) to DisneyWorld and on the Disney Cruise. We've been planning this for almost 2 years and I can't believe it's finally here. We spend from Sunday afternoon to Thursday morning at the parks and then Thur afternoon to Sunday morning on the cruise. To me, it's the perfect combo vacation. The parks are fun yet exhausting and then you get to go on the cruise and relax.
We're flying on Southwest tomorrow, stopping in St Louis just long enough to drop off passengers and pick up new ones. It's over 5 hours flying time. I hope we survive.
I hope to post updates about the trip while we're gone but no promises.

Swimming

I've taken Jared and Kamryn swimming twice in the last week. I've been concerned that they like the water since we are going on vacation to Florida and I want them to have fun at the water parks, in the pool and at the beach.
I don't have to worry about Kamryn - she loves it and has no fear. It's so much to watch her. At the rec center behind our house they have two indoor pools that are perfect for toddlers. One is the splash zone and has a frog slide and lots of water "toys" and a playground to climb on and a regular enclosed water slide. She loves the frog slide and went down about 50 times in a row.
Now, Jared, on the other hand, does not love it. The first time he didn't really want to get in but I made him. He was okay as long as he was clinging to me and eventually that turned into sitting on my lap and watching his sister have fun. I feel bad for him that he's so hesitant about some things while she goes out and has a good time.
After about an hour he finally had made some progress and was playing in the "umbrella" feature. Well, Kamryn headed off to the playground and that was too far away to go on her own. So I took Jared and we followed her. They had fun playing on it and Jared seemed to really like it since he was kind of out of the water. Kamryn watched the kids do down the slide and I could tell she wanted to go. I couldn't send her down by herself so I had to go with her and I couldn't Jared up there by himself so he had to go with us. So I went down the slide with both of them on my lap. It turned out fine and they LOVED IT - even Jared. So we did that about 20 times in a row. I was exhausted and ready to go home. They didn't want to leave but this was on Friday, early day in our area, and the pool was getting too crowded for me.
We went again on Monday and repeated exactly the same thing as Friday - Kamryn loved it from the beginning and Jared had to sit and watch and warm up to the fun.
It's funny how different they are.
I wish I had pictures to post of them swimming but that's impossible since I'm the only adult there with them.

Taxes

I don't know if I'm going to survive the TAXES this year. I've never done such a complicated return. I, of course, use Turbo Tax and even with that I'm going crazy. We sold some stock my grandpa had given me and that's a headache and we also bought some Layton company stock and that's an even BIGGER headache. Paul and I were up until 1:00 am last night and we still couldn't get the taxes accepted to file online. And of course we owe money! I guess I'm going to have to actually mail our return this year. I can't wait until tomorrow and the paperwork is gone and I can put this huge file away and forget about it.

St George, part 2

How many kids can you get in one tub? We could believe how dirty the water
was when they were done.

Jared and Kamryn with their friend Ellie, watching "george".

Game night with 3 families - we were playing golf.

Okay, a week later I'm finally getting back to write about St George.
Friends in our ward invited us to go down to St George and stay with them for spring break.
We drove down Wednesday after school. In my car we had Taylor and 2 of his friends in the back seat, Jared and Kamryn in the middle and Justin in the front with me. I must have told him several times that I can't wait until he can drive. I didn't mind driving and wasn't tired (especially after we stopped and I got a diet coke with lime). I was very nice to my teenage son and let him play his music the whole way down. We listened to The Who, Styx, Queen and then he put in Led Zeppelin. I could only stand 2 songs from that CD but those two songs lasted for 15 minutes. (I thought of putting links to all of those bands but who has time or cares). I was totally shocked when he put in a Sade CD. Now, this was a CD he burned with the Sade songs he likes. I was glad to find out that he can branch out a little bit.
So our drive down went by quickly and we were to St George by 6:40. My friend's house is BIG and NICE and NEW. I would love to trade her houses. It reminded me of Phoenix so much.
We went to chuck-a-rama for dinner with 3 mom's and 12 kids!
Most of the weekend we just hung out and rested and relaxed. I should have taken more pictures but I was being too lazy to get up and get the camera. We had fun playing pool and ping pong in their garage, watching movies, going swimming and playing games. The kids also went to the park and played soccer and volleyball and tag.
It was a fun getaway and we look forward to going again.

St George

Just a quick post (with more to follow after I download pictures) ...
We just got home from St George - 4 hrs and not one stop !!!! That's a miracle when you are traveling with 7 people - two toddlers and a mom who usually has to make 2-3 stops for the bathroom.
We had a great time and enjoyed being with great friends. More details to come. Now I've got to get ready for Easter!!
Good-night

Nashville

**Paul and I with Wendee and Dan at a ward activity we went to on Friday night.**















**This is Wendee and Dan Truman, me and Paul, Rhonda. We were at Chef's Market for a very YUMMY dinner.**


It's taken me a couple of days to get these pictures together so I could post about our trip to Nashville.
It was a great long weekend away. Highlights and thoughts about the trip:
**It was a long flight and this was traveling without children!! We stopped in Chicago on the way there and there were major delays due to Air Traffic Control coverage. We were lucky and were only delayed about 45 minutes. I read on the flight and slept. I got a little bored and kept wondering what am I going to do when we fly to Orlando in Florida with 2 toddlers and Taylor.
**Nashville is beautiful. It's very pretty right now with everything in bloom. It's lots of green rolling hills.
**Went to see the Temple. It is small. It's next to a stake center and is much smaller. It looks like it got squashed flat. I'd planned to do some work at the temple while Paul was at his work meeting but the temple wasn't open that morning. It is only open at certain times and you have to have an appointment to do the work. Bummer.
**We had a great time with Paul's cousins, Dan Truman (of Diamond Rio fame) and Dan's sister, Rhonda. Dan has lived in Nashville for over 20 years and was an awesome tour guide. He showed us downtown Nashville and told us lots of history - both US and family. We saw music row where most of country music is recorded and produced, Vanderbilt University, Grand Ole Opry - the old and the new buildings.
**Went to an actual movie theater to see "Work and The Glory III"
**Had fun on Friday night checking out the music scene in downtown Nashville. Went to Roberts Western World - a bar where the band (BrazilBilly) plays old time country music. It was great weather and spring break for some so it was crowded with a variety of people.
**Loved sleeping in on Saturday.
**Enjoyed a great 4 mile walk at a wooded park near Dan's house. It was so green and pretty.
**Loved spending time with my hubby!!!!!

Popcorn

"I looked out my window and what did I see ...
... popcorn popping on the apricot tree."

Every year when I look out our hall bathroom window and see this tree in bloom it reminds me of that song. I had to take the pictures today because come Wednesday those blossoms probably won't be there anymore - due to the rain and snow expected :(

Boise, ID

Spent part of the weekend in Boise, ID for a volleyball tournament. The tournament was really just a disguise for a girl trip. Brooke and her 3 friends in the ward that play on the club team and all 4 mothers went up to Boise on Friday. I'm not a big fan of road tripping but it sure is fun when you're with girlfriends. We made it all the way to Tremonton before we stopped and had lunch. We got to Boise about 5:30 and checked into the Courtyard Marriott. Nice place for a decent price. Unfortunately Brooke started feeling sick (sore throat, chills, fever) on the way up so she spent most of Friday night in bed while the other girls were out to dinner and swimming with the rest of our team. Luckily she felt a lot better Saturday morning and was able to play her best games in the morning. She started crashing in the afternoon and didn't play the last couple of matches. The team played really well and won their bracket. It's fun to watch the team play and improve. Best of all was the time away with Brooke and our friends. The only bad part was we had to drive back Saturday night - left Boise at 6:30 and drove into SLC at 1:00 am. Next year we're staying and coming back on Sunday. There's nothing better than a fun girl trip.

Car Wash

The car wash is not an great adventure for all ages. I filled up the van today and it desperately needed a wash. Jared and Kamryn were with me and I was pretty sure it would freak them out but I went ahead with it anyway. Both of them had huge eyes as we drove in. I tried talking them through it and they laughed when all the soapy bubbles were sprayed on but then when the big forceful spray started washing the bubbles off they started freaking out. Kamryn lost it first and was bawling and terrified and then Jared joined in. They were both gripping my arm and hysterical. They didn't like the dryer either. When we were finally done it was Jared could talk about all the way to Sam's club - "car wash" over and over (of course I was the only one that could understand what he was saying). I guess we won't do that again soon.

Bits and pieces

Just a few "bits and pieces" thoughts for the day:
**I taught in YW today. I teach the Beehives and we have about 10 girls in our class. Today we only had 6 girls there and it's amazing how different the class was. Usually the lessons go okay but today was great and I felt really good about it and I think the girls really liked it and got something out of it. The miracle in this is that I didn't really start on the lesson until about 10:00 last night and I was up working on it until about 12:30 and we had church at 11:00 (really 10:00 in my head due to daylight savings times). The lesson was on being a peacemaker and we played spin the bottle to discuss situations of how to be a peacemaker.
**Due to the late night I was so tired after church so I decided to lay down for a short nap. I fare much better if I just lay down for 30 min - I'm too groggy if I really nap. But I must have been tired because I napped for almost 2 hours. I woke up with a start at 5:22 and freaked out. We were having dinner with my family at my mom's and I needed to put green bean casserole in at her house at 5:15. So I had Justin run it over there and then I forgot about it until about half way through everyone dishing up at dinner and Paul said "where are the beans?" I had totally forgotten about them and they were very well done with all the little french's onions burned. Naps are just not good for me.
**Can't believe Rob and Amber got out. I thought for sure it would be a non elimination round. I guess it came down to karma and they played dirty on that round and came back to bite them. We're really pulling for the beauty queens now. I'm going to have to worry about my husband though - he said "I'm all over the beauty queens now."

Book of Mormon

I finished the Book of Mormon today. I started it on Sept 11th. I try to read every morning after the kids leave for school and before Jared and Kamryn get up. For most of it I've listened to it and followed along at the same time. I really like doing it that way and feel like I've gotten so much more out of it. Now I'm going to read the Doctrine and Covenants (because Paul's reading it right now and he's downloaded it into our iTunes library).

RS Birthday

Our Relief Society birthday dinner was Tuesday night. The program was women who dressed up as former General RS presidents and told about "themselves". My mom was all dressed up and when I walked in I felt like I was looking at my grandma.

Volleyball Tournament

Brooke played in another tournament last weekend. This was a 2 day-er - Friday from 3:30 - 10:30 and Saturday from 7:30 - 7:30. This was a "reseeding tournament" so that is why it was 2 days. They played Fri and Sat morning at Open Court. I love that place. What a great facility. The spectator section was above the court so it was a fun way to watch. I was able to go Friday night without Jared and Kamryn, which was nice because I was able to just watch the team play and concentrate. Saturday was another story. We ended up having Jared and Kamryn at most of the tournament, which was CRAZY!!! I couldn't leave because I hate missing when Brooke plays. She's getting a lot better and is therefore playing more. She does a great job in the back and also played the front and did well. She had one awesome spike (HIT for those who know the correct terms). We were all cheering and excited and Justin looked up and said "What'd she do?" It was funny. I was just glad he came to support her. He must have liked it because he ended up going to the whole tournament on Saturday.
The next tournament is in Boise ID. Our 4 girls and mothers are going. It will be a fun little mother/daughter weekend. I'm really looking forward to it just for the chance to get a break from my little gremlins.

Update on bathroom project

Well, the bathroom project has gotten pretty complicated as you can see. I'd planned to put beadboard up over the 1st layer of wallpaper and even bought one sheet of the board. When I put it up it didn't look good - too many lines with the tile below it. So now I have to paint -which meant painting over the wallpaper or taking it down. I decided to take it down which was probably a bad decision. I've got major areas where the wallpaper did indeed take off the wallboard. What a mess. I've spent a lot of time getting the walls cleaned up. Whoever put up that paper did it with wheat paste. After spending most of the day yesterday I've got all the paste off the walls and then washed the walls. Now I've just got to patch the tears and holes - which I have no idea how to do but I guess I'll learn. Paul wants me to wait for him to do it but who knows when that will be since he's got his own bathroom project downstairs. So I guess I'll go to Home Depot and learn how to patch walls.

February goal

I did pretty good on my February goal. As you can see, I posted 25 times in February which is way more than I normal. So I'm going to try to keep up with regular posts, just not every day (which will be relief to some, I'm sure).

New project

I've done a terrible thing - jumped into a new big project before totally finishing my last project. I'm not quite done getting the 72 hour kits put together and haven't figured out exactly where we are going to store them.
Today I got this bug to strip the wallpaper off in the main bathroom upstairs. It was actually a fun project - I love demolition work. It came off so easy - the 1st layer that is. Underneath is another layer of very old 70s silvery/gold foil plaid that is never coming off, at least not without taking the sheetrock with it. So I am going to put up beadboard over it. I went to Home Depot and priced it and got the paint picked out.
And I did this all today in less than 3 hours. It's always easier and faster doing the demo work than the new work. And this is at the same time that Paul is working on building/installing a bathroom downstairs so I've definitely complicated things. Sorry about that.

Visiting Teaching

I try not to have too much guilt in my life but I do when it comes to Visiting Teaching. I've been a terrible VTer over the last year. I have not once made an in home sit down visit with any of my 3 ladies. I've dropped off lots of things to compensate. Part of my problem is I have a companion who is pretty flakey and can never go so I've kind of used that as an excuse. I have decided to just kind of pretend I don't have a companion and just go on my own. Another "problem" is two of the ladies I have are too easy to count - 1 lady is one of my best friends in the ward and we walk every morning so I certainly have regular contact with her and know what's going on in her life. The 2nd lady is in the YW presidency with me and I see her all the time too but don't really visit with her like I should. The 3rd lady is who I really have guilt about and should visit her in her home regularly. So I resolved to do better this year. I took each of them Valentine's cookies and visited with them briefly at the door. And today we all went to lunch together to this place. We had a great time and enjoyed good food and especially good desserts. It was fun to visit and get out. I plan to do this on a quarterly basis and maybe we can even get my companion involved. Now I just need to call my supervisor and report 100% for once.

A night of TV

We don't usually watch TV on Sunday - we try to spend time together and have FHE or play a game. But tonight we just boob tubed it all night. We watched this and were excited that Jennifer Hudson won. We've been a fan of hers ever since we was on Idol. We also watched this. How much have Rob and Amber won? Do you think they're paying their taxes and do you think they've been able to go on all those trips? My family is rooting for them but I think they've had their turn. I'm for the beauty queens and really, really want Kentucky and the cousins to go home.

Favorite Spot

This is Kamryn and Jared's favorite new spot. It's kind of like their little hideout. It's in the kitchen under the desk. I keep my church bag and the diaper bag there. They love to go through the diaper bag and read their books and then pull everything else out. It's fun to watch them under there together.

72 hour kits

So my project to finish for Feb is to get our 72 hour kits put together. I bought most of the stuff back in Nov when our ward sponsored some nights to inspire us to get this project put together. So I ordered everything I thought we would need and then when I picked it up I put it all in the garage for awhile and then moved it to the dining room and finally down to the storage room, where it's been for the last couple of months. I look at the pile every time I go in the storage room - which is frequently considering that is where our extra fridge is and most of our food. It's been driving me crazy so I've put it at the top of my list of things to do the last two weeks. I didn't get to it last week so now I have 5 days until the end of Feb to finish. I pulled all of the stuff out of the storage room and moved it into our office area so I could spread things out and fill up the back packs. I spent time on it today while Jared and Kamryn where playing and watching their latest favorite thing to watch. I have all the back packs filled with food, extra clothes, flashlight, emergency blankets and radio, etc. I have 5 buckets to put the backpacks in. My friend gave me that idea - then if you are faced with that emergency you can where the backpack and carry the empty bucket if you need to and it will then become your stool and one will become the "potty." Now that I've done all that we are only missing toothbrushes and some soap (that I'll go buy later today) and a water filter (the good kind you have to buy here and I've assigned that to Paul). I don't feel like I can cross it off my list until it's totally complete and I've gone over the packs with the family and where we are going to store them but it's mostly done. It's been a big job and i'm so glad to have it done.

Who's your Favorite?

Are you an Idol fan? Who is your favorite?
So far, I like Chris Sligh (mostly because he's funny) and Lakisha Jones (man, can she sing!)
The results show was way too long (thank goodness for recording it and fast forwarding through commercials and bad songs).

Stake Dance

Our mutual activity last night was a stake dance - not the multi-stake, 14 and up kind. It was just our stake and it was 12 and up. There were invites with a theme (Dancing with the Stars ... and the Asteroids and the Planets) but no other info. We had no idea what the plan was or what the dress was or anything. We heard from someone in one of the other wards that maybe there would be dance instruction, which as a mother I thought sounded like a good idea.
Well, we got there and after opening exercises in the chapel, which was attended by about 40 youth (for the whole stake) they dismissed us to the gym. When we walked in they had a funny scene playing from this movie - where the main characters are showing how they dance (I've seen the movie but can't remember the names). It's a funny clip but there wasn't any sound. Then they started another clip of this movie where the main character was up on stage dancing. Again, no sound.
As leaders we're just standing there wondering what the plan was. Was anyone going to get the night started? Have some mixer games or dances? No - just thanks for Bro so-and-so doing the music and have fun. The kids all just stood there in big groups. It brought back such bad memories. Dances are such bad things for teens. The girls get all excited and want to dance and are just hoping a boy (not just any boy, the cute boy they have a crush on and not the nerdy boy who has a crush on them) asks them to dance. The boys on the other hand are mostly too shy to ask a girl and wander around the gym aimlessly or chase each other around the gym.
The music was a disaster - lots of technical difficulties and he kept playing the same 3 songs over and over. Finally, after about an hour a DJ in the stake saved the night and set up his stuff and started playing songs the kids knew and fun line dances. The kids finally got into it and most seemed to be out having a good time and dancing. My poor 14 yr old son - it was pure torture and one of the worst nights of his life.
(I may be able to get hold of some pictures to post from one of the leaders there).

Update on resolutions

I was looking back at the resolutions I set for this year. I'm doing pretty good on half (2 out of 4 isn't too bad).
I'm doing pretty good on scripture reading - almost every day (extra on some days to make up for some missed days).
I'm definitely posting more often - hopefully it's not too boring.
Haven't even come close to losing weight - definitely need to improve on that one.
And my project resolution - I've decided to change that to get at least one major project done monthly. Once a week was definitely not going to happen. My project for Jan was to repair the wall hanging that goes on the stairs wall. I got that done. Now my project for Feb is to finish putting together the 72 hr kits that I started in Nov. I have 8 days to finish and I'm making myself work on that before I can do anything else. (the clothes are really hanging me up on that one).

blog title

After reading a blog from a member of my book club and about how she titled her blog I sat back and thought my blog title should have some meaning to it. This new title was as good as I could come up with. It kind of fits my family right now - double teenagers, double toddlers (and poor Taylor stuck in the middle of that). Then after I posted the new title and looked at the blog I decided it fit really well with the background that kind of looks like you're seeing double.

SNOW?!

What is with all this new snow?! What a way to ruin a perfect day off? I'm so done with winter. We need to go on some errands today and this only makes it a big mess out there.

Fun Family Movie

We just watched this movie tonight. I really enjoyed it and laughed a lot. It was fun to watch a movie together with my kids.

Photos

One of my AZ friends said she checks my blog occasionally to see if there are recent photos of the kids - so I try to post photos whenever there are some new ones. These are from our little family Valentine's party.

Valentine's update

It's been a pretty good day - I'm finally feeling better (don't think I mentioned that I got sick AGAIN! more of a head cold this time). I baked and frosted sugar cookies all day. The kids and I had fun delivering them.
Paul had to go to Logan today so I knew that meant he wouldn't be home any sooner than 6:30-7:00 so I told him we'd just do the family valentine's night and he and I could go out another night. We had Papa Murphy's and watched American Idol. Then we had little presents - shirts for the bigs kids and teletubbies for Jared and Kamryn.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope you all have a nice Valentine's Day. Things are up in the air at our house as to what we are doing tonight - date night or family night.
I just wanted to share this article from our ward newsletter - it really touched me:

A Valentine Challenge
I remember when I was in elementary school we had to make a Valentine box in order to receive a Valentine from everyone in the class. I remember making tinfoil mailboxes, robots, hearts, bears, etc. I would work very hard on these boxes but took even more care with the actual Valentines cards. I was extremely careful to make sure certain people got Valentines with the very best candy. You couldn’t give a “My heart is yours!” Valentine to just anyone. You did not want to send the wrong message. At the end of the day you received 30 or so crumpled Valentines and a lot of heart shaped candy that later got lost somewhere in your room. Years later you really didn’t look forward to Valentine’s Day, especially if you didn’t have a boyfriend. What fun is it when you don’t have anyone to give you chocolate and flowers?
Years later, you have found that eternal Valentine. Valentine’s Day is now a fun date night. You may not get the chocolate and flowers anymore, but you don’t really care. A quiet evening out, being served at a restaurant, is enough to call the holiday a success. Valentine’s Day means something different to everyone. Whoever you are or whatever your situation, Valentines should be a time to show love and remember those people you love most in your life. During the month of February, take an extra minute in your day to compliment your spouse on ANYTHING, actually get down on your hands and knees and play with your children, shovel the snow off your neighbor’s driveway or make yummy heart shaped sugar cookies and give them to someone you really look up to. My personal favorite is to write a letter expressing why you love that person. Ryan will do this for me every birthday and anniversary. The bottom line,
make this Valentine’s Day different and do something that will really show the people you love most that they are indeed, loved by you!

Dinner

We went here for dinner tonight to celebrate my mom's birthday. She likes to go here because we can have a reservation for our group of 32 and we get a separate room so it's a lot easier with all of those kids. I have a problem when I go out to eat. I can never decide what to order and usually end up with "order regret." My brother-in-law coined this phrase. I like to try new things instead of sticking with what I know I like. So, tonight was one of those nights. Instead of getting the 'Shroom Burger I went with the Fiesta Salad. It was okay but I wished I'd ordered the burger. And the strangest thing - I ordered a hot dog for Jared and the waiter came back and said they were out of hot dogs. How can you be out of hot dogs?

Poor Kamryn

Poor Kamryn. This is how she looked when I got her out of bed this morning. She's got a bad cold and probably the start of pink eye (which she got from her cousins this weekend). Those are dried buggers all around her mouth and they were on her binky too. GROSS! She went straight into the bath so we could clean her up. She was actually a very happy sick baby for most of the day.

Random thought

So, after family prayers tonight, Paul said "Does anybody have anything they want to share?"
Justin (14 yr old) says "Oh I do. One day I was walking home from school, I think it was in November, and I was chewing gum but wanted to spit it out. I didn't think it would be good to just spit it on the ground so I wrapped it around a tree branch. And you know what? It's still there!"

Talk about random thoughts!

I'm off

I'm off to the cabin with Jared and Kamryn. My sister is going up with her 5 kids because they are off track. She didn't want to be up there "alone" so we're tagging along. It's a lot easier to get ready to go to the cabin when it's just me and the little rugrats. I'm all packed up and now I just have to get them up and dressed and fed.
So I'll be back on Saturday and have to do some catch up them. Hope you all enjoy your weekends.

Feb goal

I guess I should have stated this before the 7th of Feb but that is the way this month has been going so far.
My goal this month is to blog every day - of course, I picked a short month to do that.
So far this will by my 7th post for the month and it is the 7th. You'll notice that there are several days already where there are more than one post on a day and none on another - I figure it'll even out.
Hopefully there will be something to say every day - of course, with the way my life is going with teenagers and toddlers in the home, it is NEVER BORING.

Mating

Recent dinner conversation with our family:
Brooke (12) and Justin (14) are for some reason talking about animals mating and which animals mate. Taylor (9) pipes in some comment which I can't remember exactly what it was.
Brooke: "Do you even know what mating is?" (I glare at her not wanting to get into that with Taylor)
Taylor: "Sure. Mom and Dad mated." (He states this very matter of factly while Paul and I are laughing so hard and trying not to).
Taylor goes on: "Of course they mated. They mate all the time!" (Does he know something we think he doesn't know?)
Taylor: "Mating is just another word for dating." (oh that explains everything)

Jared

I wanted to share a sweet story about Jared. He loves to read The Strength of Youth pamphlet and he will frequently sit down and look at the pictures and thumb through the pages. It's almost like he knows what it says.
Well the other day, he was sitting on the couch and he was looking at the first picture in the book, one of Christ. He would look at the picture in the book and then look up at this picture.
Several times he would look from the picture in the book to the picture on the wall and very thoughtfully compare the two pictures. It was very sweet to watch.

One good thing

One good thing about being sick is having some reading time. I love to read and would rather read than watch a movie. I usually don't have much time to read these days and I'm lucky to get my book club book read. Mostly I read toddler books these days, which is fine.
On Wednesday I read Once Upon A Day by Lisa Tucker. I really enjoyed the book, obviously since I said I read it on Wednesday. The ending was a little weak and it had some language so not one I can use for book club.
On Friday I read for one more day by Mitch Albom. I'd already read Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven and loved them both. I also loved this new one and was really believing it to be true for awhile.
Now I've started one by Jodi Piccoult. When I'm finished I'll let you know how it is.

more sick days

How come, as a mother, you don't really get a sick day? Even when you're really sick life goes on and so must you. I had the worst night Thursday. First I made the mistake of going with the youth in our ward to do baptisms at the temple. I was feeling okay when we left but steadily got worse while we were there. At least it was quiet place to feel awful. From there I went straight to Justin's church basketball game. I have a hard time missing my kids' sports games. His team tried hard but they lost. Then we continued on at the church and watched our ward's priest team play - they were ahead the whole game and then lost it in the last 4 minutes. Heart break for them. By then I was a wreak and should have been home in bed. I was freezing and shivering. When I got home, then the sweats started. I have never sweat so much in my life as I did that night while trying to sleep. When it was time to get up - after the kids got themselves off to school I called the doctor and they could get me in at 8:45. Lucky. And lucky for me I had something treatable - strep throat. So now I'm on antibiotics and should be feeling better soon - so far not too much better. Hopefully by tomorrow.

In-Laws update

Here's an update on the in-laws:
John was transferred to HealthSouth, a transitional care facility last Friday and has done really well there. He's been doing physical therapy and getting his strength back. He called me this morning to tell me he's going home tomorrow and he was so excited he just had to call someone. That was sweet. I've taken Carolyn (his wife) there a couple of times to see him. When we went on Tuesday it was quite the sight. She in her wheelchair, him with his walker and Jared and Kamryn helping them. It really was cute with Jared walking with Grandpa and Kamryn pushing her Grammy. Carolyn has been on her own at home this week but has had plenty of people checking on her and helping out. It hasn't been too bad and once John is at home it will be easier just because we will only have to go to one place to check on them and help them with anything that needs to be done. My main job will be doing their grocery shopping and I think I can handle that.

Sick Day

Yesterday I had a sick day - didn't start out too bad, just a little achey and a bit of a sore throat. By evening I had the chills/fever going on and worse sore throat, very achey and major head ache. I was freezing and couldn't get warm. Luckily during this sick day Jared and Kamryn were very good. They were happy to watch PBS shows and read books and play while I laid on the couch. The big kids took care of themselves once they were home from school. It was a long night of either freezing or boiling but I think I must have gotten the worst of it out of my system. I'm doing a little better today - mostly the sore throat is left and no energy. So it will be another lay around day I'm sure.