Weekly Review November 1 '08

I just have a few days to report on, really, since I just wrote last week's review on Monday. This week was a little more eventful than most, though, so I have a few things to write about.

Starting out with Tuesday, which was Jared's 10th Birthday! He was very excited about it the day before. He kept saying "I'm about to make it to two digits!" (Sorry, Jared--there's no going back!) Since Frank and Scott were both out the door before 6:00, and Jared was not awake yet, he had to wait until after school to open presents. He handled the wait very well, though. (I can't say the same thing about Scott a few years ago!) Seth and I went in to wake up Jared in the morning; I blew a couple of party blowers to wake him up.

The boys do not get a party every year, and this was not a party year for Jared. But the years that they don't have a party we let them invite 2 friends over to play and to have pizza and cake. We always tell the friends not to bring a present, but a lot of them do anyway. This year Jared had his friends Sage and Nicholas come over. They are both in his class at school, so I arranged to bring them home from school with me. I think Jared had a fun time with his friends. I think he really liked his presents. Frank did the shopping this year (with help from a list Jared made) and I think he made some good choices--a few things that were on the list, and a few things that weren't but Jared loved. We got him a Pokemon game for the Nintendo DS (Mystery Dungeon, or something like that), a thing for the DS called "action replay" which is a bunch of cheat codes--helps him unlock a bunch of new things in a lot of the games he has, the movie Night at the Museum, a big chocolate bar, and a package of differnt colored "sharpie" pens. He loved the tie tac Mom & Dad gave him and he is excited to pick something out with the money they sent. His friend Sage also got him a gift card to Borders, so he can go pick out some books. Here are a few pictures of the festivities:

What could it be? The suspense is killing me!

Excited Jared & Sage

Blow out the candles!

Here's a video of Jared's birthday (I've never tried this before, so we'll see if it actually works!)

I wanted to post the video of Jared opening his presents, but it's too long!

Wednesday was a busy day also. As I mentioned in my last post, I had my surgery follow up appointment that day. I wasn't sure I was going to be up to driving to Bethesda and back by myself (my eyes get tired easily) so I asked my friend Marci to come with me in case I needed help with driving. My appointment was at 11:00. I dropped the boys off at school at 9:00 (we ended up being late--I'm still not sure how that happened!), then I ran to the grocery store really fast, went home long enough to throw the groceries in the refrigerator, and then went to pick up Marci so we could head down to my appointment. We ended up getting a little lost (I had only been there once before and MapQuest failed me and gave me faulty directions) so I was a little late, but the GPS saved me (I should have used it in the first place.) I was nervous about getting the stitches out, but it only hurt a little bit. Seth sat on my lap through the whole thing and evidently watched very intently; the doctor offered to let him take one out! I said "no way!" After I was done at the doctor, we went over to the distribution center by the temple to make some purchases and then Marci took me to lunch. We were at a restaurant right next to a duck pond, so afterwards I took Seth out there to see the ducks, which he loved. He dropped his sippy cup, though--right over the railing--and there was no way to get to it, so the ducks get to keep it, I guess! We ran into some pretty bad traffic going home, so I just made it home in time to drop Marci off at her house and go pick up the boys from school. So long day, but it was a lot of fun to spend the day with Marci--we got a lot of visiting done!

After I got home we just had time for homework and dinner and then we were out the door again for our ward's "Trunk or Treat". Technically, it was a Primary activity, but the YM /YW had agreed to help and they really did most of the work--nice! They had 4 different carnival games set up for the kids to play. The day ended up being windy and cold, with rain threatening, so we ended up doing it all inside--we set up a big circle of chairs in the gym, and the kids went around the circle collecting candy from the adults. Here's a picture of our guys:


And here is Seth, moving around too much for me to get a really good picture, but still cute!:

He looked adorable in the little train outfit that Mom actually made for Scott 13 years ago! It is actually a little on the small side for him--if Halloween had been a month later, I don't know if I would have been able to get it on him (length-wise). Yes, he is eating some candy already! (And yes, it was blue candy. How'd you guess?) Seth caught on pretty quick with the trick or treating thing, and loved being able to pick a piece of candy out of each bowl as we went around. I didn't get a photo of me, but I wore a pirate hat and eye patch. I thought that was appropriate! I spent most of the evening blind, however, because I couldn't wear glasses with an eye patch!

My friend Rebecca sews incredible costumes for her whole family every year (herself, her husband, and her five children). She always picks a theme, but she also lets her kids decide what they want to be, so a few of them always have something that doesn't go along with the theme. But she and her husband, as well as 2 or 3 of her kids, are always in matching costumes. This year she chose Lord of the Rings. Here's a picture of Rebecca and her husband:

Here is her son:

At least one of her daughters was dressed to match, also, but I didn't get a picture of her. I thought you'd all enjoy those pictures. She is always so meticulous about the details--notice Frodo's hairy feet and all of their ears! (Rebecca does not usually have long black hair, either!)

After that action-packed day, I was pretty tired and my eye was hurting, but it was fun, at least. Thursday was mercifully quiet, and Seth took a long nap. That evening was busy also--Jared had soccer practice and Scott had a school-related open house to attend. I got Jared over to soccer practice, but Frank met me there on his way home from work and stayed so that I could go home. He took Scott to the open house also. It was for a place called the Career & Technology Center which is located at the local community college. They have a program where they partner with the high schools to give high school kids the opportunity to start learning and getting work experience in different trades. It sounds like a good opportunity. Scott was interested in finding out more about the culinary arts (one of the possible careers that interests him is to be a chef) as well as the computer programs. He found out he can get an associate's degree in computers by the time he graduates from high school. So he is looking into that possibility. Frank ended up having a long evening--he had some work to do when he got home that kept him up until 1:30 am. I am grateful that he did so much to help me out--after Wednesday I was very tired!

Friday wasn't very notable except it was Halloween, of course. Fortunately, the weather warmed up a bit (got up to about 61 degrees during the day) so it wasn't miserably cold for trick or treating. Tanner and Jared went trick or treating with their friend Joey from down the street--his dad went with them. Scott went with them also to help "supervise". He didn't collect any candy. They walked a long ways and were gone for nearly 2 hours, and Tanner and Jared came home with a truly appalling amount of candy! Frank and I took Seth around our part of our court (we live on a strange court that has three different branches). There were only a few people giving out candy, so that was perfect since he really doesn't need any! The rest of the night we manned the door. We really don't get that many trick or treaters here anymore, although we had a decent amount. We had too much candy as usual, so we were very generous but we still ended up with a couple of big bags leftover. Here's a better picture I got of Seth right before we left to go trick or treating:

And here he is later, trying out Tanner's Indiana Jones hat and whip:

This morning was busy because Jared had to help put out bags for the "Scouting for Food" service project at 9:00 and he had his last soccer game of the season at 10:00. We got to the service project right at 9:00 and asked for an assignment so we could get started immediately. They gave us a little housing development with just 3 streets, but we ran out of bags before we ran out of houses. We were out of time by then, too, so I went back over to the church (meeting place) and let them know which houses still needed to be done. Hopefully, someone else was able to finish it up.

We went straight over to the game after that. This week the referee was good--observant and fair. The other team was also one of the best teams we've played--hardly any pushing and elbowing going on. It was so nice to see that! Both teams played well, and the score was tied 2-2. Jared did a great corner kick to one of his team mates who then made it into the goal. It was a really nice way to end the season--on a much higher note than last week! Afterwards, they received medals and shared a great big chocolate chip cookie with their team initial on it. The weather was just beautiful today, too--sunny and warm--so that has been nice for a change! Here's a picture of Jared with his medal:

We are hoping to just enjoy the rest of today. We have some yard work to do, and maybe we will work on the kitchen, which still looks like this:

Not too pretty! But mostly, I hope we can spend some time outside--it is so beautiful today and I think we should enjoy it while we have the chance! I'm sure days like today are going to be really scarce between now and next spring!

My eye has continued to improve noticeably every day. It is starting to itch quite a bit, but I know that means it is healing. I'm trying not to rub it! I was thinking on Friday morning how incredible it is how the human body is able to heal! I was remembering how bad my eye was just one week before. Almost all the bruising is gone now and the scar is already starting to fade. I doubt many people would notice anything unusual about my eye now.

Seth has started saying "da" for "yes". I guess he was supposed to be born Russian! (At least he's not backwards like Scott was. Scott used to say "nein" for "yes". We have no idea why!) Seth was so very good on Wednesday when I was out and about all day. Ok, so he did try to climb on the table at the restaurant, but other than that, he was an angel--and he took two naps while riding in the car! Frank discovered this week that Seth has a molar coming in. It's funny that he still only has 6 front teeth and now he is getting one of his second molars!

That's our week, with pictures! We hope all of you are well.

Post-Op Update (Warning--Pictures Not for the Squeamish)

Just a little update on my eye--it is doing much better every day. Most of the swelling and bruising is gone now although a little remains. Yesterday I had my follow up visit with the surgeon. He removed the stitches (not too painful, thankfully!) and said everything looks good. I go back in 6 weeks to have the stint removed (they put one in to help keep the new tear duct open while it heals). Right now I have a pretty decent scar under my eye, but the doctor says that it will fade and be hardly noticeable a year from now; even in 3-4 months it will be a lot less conspicuous.

I forgot to mention before that while they were doing the surgery they discovered some tissue growth in the blocked duct, so they removed a sample of that and sent it in for a biopsy. They did not anticipate that it would be anything serious, but they wanted to make sure. They got the results of the biopsy back yesterday and it is just inflammatory tissue caused by the infections I've had in the blocked duct. So that was good to hear!

When the doctor saw me yesterday he seemed surprised by the pretty impressive bruise around my eye. He said "I don't remember you having a bruise after the surgery." Makes me wonder how soon those bruises usually appear. My eye was covered up by a patch when I woke up from surgery and I couldn't remove the patch until the next morning (approximately 16 hours later) so I don't know when the bruise appeared, but it was definitely there when the patch came off.

So here are some pictures of my eye--this first one was taken on Monday morning. If you don't want to look at them, I understand! (Just be glad we didn't take any on Friday through Sunday! There was pretty dramatic improvement by the time I took this picture.) This first one I took myself, so it's not the best picture.:

These other two were taken by Frank on Tuesday evening. You can see that my eye improved a lot just during those two days!:

Close up

Farther away

It's been kind of funny for me to see the reaction I get from other people. Some people actually don't seem to notice. These are the less observant folks (I think I fall into this category myself most of the time.) In their defense, I have my glasses on when I'm out and about, and they do camouflage my eye a bit. Other people get a concerned look on their face and say "Oooo...what happened to your eye?" Then when I tell them I had surgery, they add a sympathetic "It looks like it really hurts!" The third group is the most humorous. I can tell that they've noticed my ugly eye, but they don't ask any questions. I just know they are afraid to ask because they think my husband hit me or something!

Now that the stitches are out, my eye looks even better. The doctor says I can wear contact lenses again, but I am going to hold off for a while longer. I am not afraid to touch my eye now (I was afraid to come anywhere near it at first) but it is still tender enough that I am not anxious to be pulling it open to put a contact lens in. At first, it really bothered me to move my eye toward the inside corner, so if I wanted to look that way, I would turn my whole head. I am moving my eye that way a lot more now, but it still bothers me a little bit. I discovered why it was bugging me a few days ago when the swelling went down enough--the stint actually runs from the top duct opening in my eye to the bottom duct opening, so a little part of it is visible (if you look hard; it's clear) at the corner of my eye. When I move my eye that way, it rubs against the stint a little bit. The doctor says this is also normal and that in a week or so more I will not notice it anymore. I hope so! In any case, I will only have to live with it for another 6 weeks.

So that's the update! There have been far too many surgeries in the family lately (I just found out this morning that my father-in-law had surgery yesterday for a torn rotator cuff); I am just hoping that everyone else recovers as quickly as I am!

Weekly Review October 27 '08

For those of you who are really paying attention, you've probably noticed I'm a bit late getting my weekly review out. Sorry to keep you all waiting with baited breath (hee hee)...my excuse is that I had surgery on my eye last Thursday (the 23rd) and I have not been up to doing a whole lot since then. Especially things that involve using my eyes! Ok, I guess technically I could type with my eyes closed come to think of it, but I was just trying to take it easy. And guess what? I am not very good at taking it easy! There is nothing that bugs me more than being forced to lie around and do nothing when I can see that a lot of things need to be done. It's just a good thing that I am usually so healthy because I'd go crazy if I had to be an invalid all the time.


When I told people I was having surgery on my eye, most of them assumed I meant Lasik. I wish! No, I was having a blocked tear duct fixed. And by fixed, what I actually mean is they created a new tear duct--apparently for adults, there is no way to "unblock" a tear duct once it is blocked. I was suprised when I read up on the procedure that it's been around since the early 1900's. It's outpatient surgery and fairly minor, but for healthy me it was the most major surgery I've ever been through. My scheduled surgery time was 2:15 but the surgery before me started late, so they didn't get me back until 3:00.

I had an interesting conversation with the nurse who was helping me get ready. She saw on my chart that I had atrial fibrillation, and she started asking me questions about it. As I answered her questions, she looked more and more anxious. I finally told her not to worry, I was sure my heart would not act up during surgery; I haven't had any trouble with it since my last pregnancy. She said "Oh, I wasn't thinking about you...I was thinking about me. I've noticed my heart fluttering a lot lately, and I'm pregnant." I told her she might want to get that checked out really soon!

The anesthesiologist I had was an interesting guy. He came in, introduced himself, and said "I'm the man you'll be sleeping with this afternoon. But don't worry, my wife knows what I do for a living." I couldn't help it; I had to laugh! He asked about my kids, and when I told him their ages and got to Seth, he said "Oops!" I informed him that Seth was not an "oops!", he was a "finally!" He also commented that my 14 year old must be giving me a lot of trouble--I was happy to say that actually my 14 year old is a great kid!


So anyway, they did the surgery. I don't remember a thing about it, which is good! That's the fifth time in my life that I've been "put under" and coming out of the anesthesia this time was the worst experience I've ever had. It really didn't bother me the other four times, but this time I felt pretty miserable. The left side of my head was throbbing, I was incredibly dizzy, nauseous, my throat was burning (from the breathing tube they put down while I was out), and I was so cold I was shivering violently. I remember thinking in my head that I never, ever, ever want to do this again! The first thing I saw, though, when I opened my eyes was Frank standing at the end of the bed, holding Seth which was reassuring. After I recovered sufficiently, we headed home. I wasn't thrilled that we had about an hour drive ahead of us (I had to go to Bethesda for the surgery) through rush hour traffic (it was about 6:00 by then); I was afraid I was going to get sick to my stomach on the way (I'd already done that once) but thank goodness for the HOV lane...we got home quicker than I expected. And I didn't get sick again. I was still very uncomfortable all the way home and I really wanted to go back to sleep, but I couldn't seem to do that. I was more than happy to just crawl into bed when I got home!


After resting and drinking some chicken broth, I started to feel quite a bit better and I slept decent (although fitfully) that night. Friday morning the bandage came off my eye. It looked pretty nasty! It still looks pretty nasty, but now a lot of the swelling has gone down at least. I still look like I got a big punch in the eye, though. Pretty spectacular colors...purple, yellow, green, red. Oh, and those five beautiful stitches...lovely! I wasn't supposed to bend over or lift anything for 72 hours, so Frank stayed home on Friday and took care of me. I pretty much laid around like a slug all day Friday and most of Saturday, too. (Although I have to confess...I did start picking up a few things on Saturday!) On Friday I had to put ice compresses on my eye every hour--20 minutes on, 40 minutes off. On Wednesday I go in for my follow up appointment and get the stitches out. Fun! Enough about my eye!


What happened the rest of the week? Well, let's see...last Sunday Scott made English trifle for us. He had to do it for his cultures & cuisines class (he missed the lab where they made it at school because he was sick.) It was actually quite good. He had to make a shortbread-like cake and homemade vanilla pudding (brought back memories...I haven't made, as in cooked, pudding since I was a child!). Then we crumbled up the cake and layed it with the pudding, cool whip, and sliced peaches. Yummy!


I had a Primary presidency meeting in the morning and book chat in the afternoon on Tuesday, so that was a busy day. There was supposed to be a Court of Honor on Wednesday evening, but it got postponed because of a miscommunication with the district commissioner. Of course, we didn't find this out until after we showed up! I had gone over to the church for that with Seth (Scott and Tanner were both supposed to get merit badges and Scott was getting a rank advancement) but Frank stayed home because he was experiencing kidney stone pain most of that day. I was pretty nervous about that because my surgery was scheduled for the next day and I didn't want to have to postpone it since I'd been waiting to have that done for nearly 3 months! (Plus I didn't want Frank to have another kidney stone, of course!) I said a prayer that night, and I asked for a miracle. I said either the kidney stone needed to pass or it needed to move to a spot where it wouldn't be causing Frank any pain. That prayer was answered...by morning, Frank wasn't feeling any pain at all, and the pain has not come back since! I am grateful because I really needed him to be able to take care of me the first couple of days after surgery. Friday evening was Pack Meeting. Jared got his Bear badge. Frank took all the boys and went to that...I didn't go; I stayed home and "watched" Phantom of the Opera. I say "watched" because mostly I was listening while lying flat with an ice compress on my eye...and even when I was watching, I couldn't really see that well. I thought that was an appropriate movie for the occasion, considering half my face looked pretty ugly.


Scott and Tanner went to spend the night with a friend Friday night. Jared had a soccer game Saturday morning. We thought it would be cancelled because of rain, but the rain didn't really kick in until later that morning. I'm kind of glad I missed the game, because it didn't turn out to be very pleasant. Frank reports that the referee gave the ball to the other team every time it went out of bounds, no matter who touched it last. In addition, the other team was playing very rough and the referee never called any fouls on them. As a matter of fact, one player on the other team elbowed two players on Jared's team at once (sending them flying), then he slipped and fell, and the referee called a foul on our players, and gave the other team a free goal kick (which they made). Frank said at that point, he called out "call the elbows!" The referee looked at Frank and threatened to call the game right then if he said anything else! Frank says he was tempted to say "Go ahead. There's no way they can win anyway with the way you are officiating." but he bit his tongue and didn't say anything. The final score was 5-2; Jared's team lost. Jared was such a good sport about it, though--I was really proud of him! He just shook it off and moved on. I'm glad I wasn't there, because I absolutely hate it when I feel like things aren't fair. Just listening to Frank talk about it made my blood boil!


Kudos go to Frank this week for cooking, cleaning, running errands, and being the primary caregiver for Seth while I was recuperating from surgery. Oh, and he took really good care of me, too! He waited on me hand and foot. One of the things he made for me was something the recovery nurse suggested--ramen soup with an egg cracked into it. It's kind of like egg drop soup, and it's actually surprisingly good--try it! On Saturday Frank went out to get a haircut (very short--it looks great!) and to do some birthday shopping for Jared. While he was gone, I had the boys unload the dishwasher and re-load it with all the dishes that had accumulated on the counter, take out the trash, and fold all the laundry. I have often said that I am the only person who picks things up around here, and I think these last couple of days proved my theory!

Yesterday was our Primary sacrament meeting program. I think it went really well! I just might have stayed home except I really wanted to be there for the program, and felt like I needed to be there to help. We got there on time in spite of the fact that we got up an hour late, thanks to our "smart clock" which automatically resets when we go off daylight savings time. Too bad the clock was programmed years ago and now the date that we go off daylight savings has moved back a week! Our clock didn't know that, so it reset for us. We were having a leisurely breakfast at what we thought was about 6:45, when Frank noticed all the other clocks said 7:45. Yikes! Only one hour until we needed to be at church. I am proud of us for making it--especially me, since I am moving slower than usual these days. I skipped out of church a little early yesterday, though. It was my week to conduct and that wasn't easy because the kids were so totally wired (not too surprising). Any other time, I think I could have handled that, but since I wasn't feeling too great and kind of wanted to crawl in a hole anyway it was just a bit too much for me! About half way through the second hour of Primary I decided I needed to go home. Frank rounded everybody up, we went home, and I crashed for about an hour. I felt better after that.

Today hasn't been too eventful. I managed to get the kids to school and back, so my eyesight is improving. It was nice to be able to do some of the basic chores that needed to be done. Other than that, I tried to lay low.

We heard some sad news at church yesterday--a 17 year old boy in one of the other wards in our stake was killed in a car crash on Saturday. His sister was also in the car, and she is in a coma in critical condition. The boy was supposed to be taking one of the girls in our ward to homecoming that night. Just so sad! When Scott came home from school today, he said he didn't eat lunch because at Seminary this morning he found out that all the youth in the stake were having a fast today for Caitlyn (the girl in the crash). He doesn't really know them, but I think it is great that he wanted to do that! This kind of thing has been happening in our stake too often lately--less than two years ago a brother and sister in another ward were killed in a car crash. It makes me grateful that my kids are ok so far!

While I've been kind of out of it the last few days, Seth has not stopped growing. He can now point to body parts (eyes, mouth, nose, tummy...) and when I look at his little I Spy books with him, he can find all the objects he's supposed to find! When did he figure that out?

It appears that our really beautiful fall weather is gone. It has been much colder with rain a lot of the week. Today has been very gloomy, but still pretty with the fading fall colors and the pearly gray sky. Jared said this morning that the world looked "upside down" with the sky looking a lot like the ocean. He was right!

We just found out this morning about Rachelle's surgery--we hope it goes well and that she recovers quickly!

PS to October 18 Weekly Review

Here's something I forgot to mention in the weekly review. When Scott and I were at the pumpkin patch today, we were walking past the fields looking for a good place to take some pictures. The first field had broccoli growing in it. When we got to the next field, Scott said "what is that growing there? Is that cabbage?" I looked and said "Yes, I think it is." Scott's response was "Let's look for babies!" I thought that was pretty funny!

Weekly Review October 18 '08

This week was definitely not a typical week. The boys' school schedules were crazy! Because of Parent-Teacher conferences, they went in 2 hours late on Monday, 4 hours late on Tuesday and Wednesday (except for the High Schools-they were open all day on Wednesday), got out 3 1/2 hours early on Thursday and were out of school on Friday. None of the parents like weeks like this. I'd be willing to bet that they got very little done on the days they were in school, since it was only for a few hours each day. And yes, I didn't get much done, either!

The first part of the week we enjoyed having Mom & Dad here. Unfortunately, Mom got sick on Sunday. She didn't feel very well most of the day, although she did go to church that morning. But by evening she really felt awful. Frank and Dad gave her a blessing, though, and by morning she had improved a lot. We're glad she got better quickly and that Dad didn't get sick too! I didn't do a lot on Monday and Tuesday--just the things I had to do--so that I could spend more time with them just visiting. It was nice that the boys were out of school part of the day so that they could see more of Grandpa & Grandma also. We played Apples to Apples for FHE activity on Monday evening, and Mom won.

Mom & Dad flew back home on Tuesday afternoon. I took them to the airport after I took the boys to school, and then picked the boys up from school on my way back home. At least this time I didn't miss any exits--as Amy pointed out, I seem to have trouble getting to BWI and back without some kind of mishap! My track record is not so good-- besides taking an unplanned trip into Baltimore when I picked Mom & Dad up last week, once I took the wrong exit getting there and we got so turned around that Amy missed her plane. Last time Mom & Dad came to visit, the car died it's final death on my way home from dropping them off at the airport. At least that didn't happen this time!

We were sorry to have to say good-bye to Mom & Dad, but we are so glad that they got to come see us! Seth even let them hold him their last day here. We hope they enjoyed their visit and that we will get to see them again before too many years go by. That is the one thing we don't like about living out here--being so far away from all our families!

Sunday at church was busy for me because we had our first practice for the Primary program. It went pretty well, though. We even got through the whole thing, which is really great for a first practice! This Sunday the Primary president will be out of town (her brother is getting married) so it will just be the other counselor (Andrea) and I running the whole show. Hope that goes ok!

Scott didn't feel too well Tuesday morning, but I made him go to school anyway since he didn't have any serious symptoms. (He was only supposed to be there for a few hours anyway, so I thought he could handle that.) He was there less than an hour when the school nurse called and said he was there and wanted to come home. So I went and got him, and he did throw up shortly after he got home. This is the 3rd time we've had stomach flu in our family since school started! Enough already! He got a blessing that evening, and he also was doing quite a bit better by Wednesday morning, but wasn't well enough to go to school, so he missed the one full day he was supposed to have all week. He was feeling a lot better by evening--bouncing off the walls!

Seth hasn't been feeling too well this week, either. He seems to have some kind of cold--he's congested with a mild fever and he sounds a little bit croupy at night. He has not been sleeping well at all, which means Frank & I haven't been sleeping well either. Hopefully he will feel better soon.

I scheduled all the parent-teacher conferences for Thursday afternoon. I was able to get Seth down for a nap right before I left, which was nice because I didn't have to take him with me. Scott was supposed to come with me for his conferences, so Tanner and Jared stayed with sleeping Seth. Scott's teachers had really good things to say about him. His government teacher said he is really smart and that he is the "go to" person if he asks a question and nobody is responding because he knows Scott will give a good answer. His science teacher said he is the best student in the class and he really should be in honors science next year. Because he was absent, he has some work to make up, though, so he has been busy this week-end doing some catch up. Tanner has also been doing some more catch up--I found out he has a few more missing assignments. Overall, Tanner is doing well and his teachers like him. He just needs to get more organized and he especially needs to focus better. It takes him a really long time to do his work because he has a hard time focusing. This is not a new thing for him, but it is becoming more apparent now that he has more work to do. We are considering having him tested to make sure he doesn't have ADD or something similar. As it is now, I have to sit right next to him when he is doing homework to try to help him keep on task. Not much fun for either of us! Jared is doing great. I asked his teacher to focus more on spelling with him because I think he needs to work on that.

Jared was supposed to have soccer practice on Thursday evening, but when Frank took him over there was nobody there. We thought they cancelled it because it had rained a little bit and it looked like it was going to rain some more, but we found out at his game today that they had just moved to a different field because there were too many teams trying to practice on the same field. The rain on Thursday was unusual--mostly we are having just gorgeous fall weather. Crisp in the mornings, warm in the afternoons, and mostly sunny. I am loving it, and just trying to enjoy it as long as it lasts!

Scott, Tanner and I spent Friday morning doing homework. Jared had a cub scout activity. The Frederick Ward cubmaster planned an outdoor event with hiking, fishing, etc. and they invited our ward cub scouts to join them. Jared seemed to really enjoy that. After he got home he was invited to go play with one of the other cub scouts and then that evening his friend Evan came over to spend the night, so he had a busy day! Scott went to play football with some of the other YM in our ward that afternoon. I feel like I spent most of the day driving kids to their different activities, as well as helping with homework.

Last night about an hour after we went to bed we were awakened by fireworks! Some of our crazy neighbors were setting some off, even though it is completely illegal to do that this time of year. We weren't too thrilled with them for waking us up, so when the police showed up a while later and gave them a ticket, we were kind of happy about that. Evidently, someone else was even more annoyed than we were and called the police!

This morning was one of the days that we did not have gorgeous fall weather. It was windy and cold! Jared's soccer game was at 10:00. His friend Evan came with us to see Jared play. We were all bundled up in extra sweatshirts, but we still got cold. About 2/3 of the way through the first half, Seth's hands were ice cold, so I volunteered (big sacrifice!) to take him to the car. Evan came too since he was pretty cold by then. We could actually see a lot of the game pretty well from the car, and Seth was very happy climbing around inside the car, so that worked out pretty well. About half way through the second half, Frank traded spaces with me so that I could see some more of the game. Jared played the entire game--the first half he was on defense, and the second half he was the goalie. I didn't realize he was the goalie until I traded places with Frank. I don't like it when he's the goalie (makes me nervous!), but he did a great job--blocked lots of goal attempts--so I was really proud of him. I was pretty frustrated with his team as a whole--most of the kids on offense were just not really playing--but in the end the score was tied 2-2. The other team scored one of their goals in the first half, so they only got one goal past Jared. While we were at the game, Scott and Tanner got their homework done. They had to do that before they could play, so they were motivated to get it done!

This afternoon Scott needed to take some pictures for his digital photography class. He needed to get some in an open space, so I decided to "kill two birds with one stone". I drove him out to a pumpkin patch. Scott got his pictures taken, and I bought a couple of pumpkins. We got one large pumpkin to carve for Halloween and one tiny one for Seth. It turns out that today is the annual "Family Festival at the Farm", so as well as pumpkins to purchase, they had a petting zoo, hay rides, pony rides, face painting, etc--all free. I was sorry Seth wasn't with us--he would have loved the animals--but he needed to take a nap! Scott and I took a look at the animals and went on a hay ride. I think Scott would have got his face painted, too, except we had to go to the store afterwards!

At the store we got Sunday shoes and dress pants for Scott since he is outgrowing the ones he has (already!) I also got some shoes for Seth. Our trip was cut short because Frank got a call from a frantic client with an emergency, so he had to go down to Rockville to take care of that. Fortunately, he was able to get the problem solved fairly quickly.

Tonight Scott is going to his first dance--a barn dance for all the youth in our stake. I asked him if he was going to dance, and he said "probably not--I don't know how to dance". I think he is going for the food! Actually, they are going to have hayrides, games, and a pie eating contest as well, so it sounds like there will be plenty to do besides dance. Maybe he will work up the courage to try dancing, too. I told him he should find girls who look left out and ask them to dance--it would make their day! It will be fun to hear about how it goes later. Knowing the girls in our ward, I'll bet some of them will drag him out there and convince him to give it a try!

That's all we have to report this week.

Weekly Review October 11 '08

Is anybody else having trouble trying to listen to General Conference online? I can't get the new media player to work--it gets "hung up" every couple of seconds. I am sad because I want to listen to all the talks again. We didn't get to hear as much of Conference on Sunday as we wanted to hear--Seth didn't go down for a nap like we hoped he would. At least I can read the talks now, though.

The first part of this week wasn't terribly eventful. The main thing that occupied us was helping Tanner get homework done. Not only did he have to catch up on a lot of work that he missed while he was sick last week, but on Monday he also brought home his interim report card. Yikes! He is doing great in Language Arts and Social Studies, but his math report said he is "in danger of failing" and science said he "was failing". The main reason for his bad grades is assignments that he hadn't turned in. Apparently Tanner knew he was in trouble a few weeks ago, but he didn't tell us. We had to have a chat about how he needs to talk to us and his teachers if he needs help! Anyway, a lot of e-mails went back and forth between me and his teacher, and by the end of the week all the missing assignments were turned in. But he spent every night doing homework all evening in order to do that. Not much fun for him, or for me.

I helped with Cub Scouts on Wednesday evening because a couple of the den leaders couldn't make it. They were making a little movie of a story that they had written last week. It didn't make a lot of sense, but it included pirates, a wild tiger, an army truck, a jet plane, and lots of explosions and shooting. The boys loved it and had a great time, of course! Tanner had scouts also, but Scott did not because they had a lawn aeration fundraiser today instead.

Thursday was a busy day. The boys were out of school that day for Yom Kippur, so I decided to get a few things done that I needed to do with them. This included picking out Halloween costumes and haircuts for everybody, including Seth and I. The boys also had to clean their rooms and I had the usual laundry / grocery shopping / vacuuming to do as well. We were trying to get it all done before I left to drive to the airport to pick up Mom & Dad. We did get
most of it done!

So yes, Mom & Dad are here! We are so glad to have them with us for a few days. So far, Seth will only "flirt" with them--he won't sit on their laps or anything like that yet. But he is getting more comfortable with them. He sat down right next to Mom this morning. I ended up going to pick Mom & Dad up by myself because Seth was taking a nap. So I left the older boys home to take care of him; Frank wasn't home from work yet. Mom & Dad's flight was right on time and I was able to pick them up at the curb after only a short wait. We had a little trouble getting
home, though--I missed the exit to get onto I-695 and we ended up in downtown Baltimore. I pulled over and Mom helped me consult a map; after that we managed to find our way pretty easily to I-95 which took us where we needed to go. By the time we got home it was almost time for Jared to go to soccer practice, so Frank took him while I finished up dinner.

Friday was busy also. Scott had an appointment with the orthodontist that morning so as soon as I took the other two to school, I went back to the high school to pick him up (he was able to go to Seminary and most of his first class by then). Scott had a band put on one of his back molars, so it was a longer appointment than most. Seth did well, though--they have a lot of toys and books for the kids in that office which helps. When Scott was done, they came out to talk to me and told me that he needs to have his bottom wisdom teeth pulled. I'm not too thrilled about
that since not only will it be no fun for him, but also I'm sure it will be expensive for us. I knew he'd have to have that done eventually, but I didn't think it would be this soon. I was thinking more senior year in high school, or right before his mission.

Friday evening Jared had a birthday party and the rest of us went to a cook out. Some good friends of ours were in town and the cook out was held so that some of us would have the chance to visit with them. (The friends are Peter & Darin Nielson--they used to live in our ward but moved away about two years ago. Darin was the RS president and I was one of her counselors.) My friend Starr (who was the secretary of the RS with us) arranged the cook out, and it
was held at her parents' farm. It's very beautiful out there, and we had a good time. I think I spent a good part of the evening following Seth around making sure he didn't fall into the campfire, but I did get to do a little bit of visiting also. We were all anxious to hear about how Peter's brother Christian and his wife (Stephanie) are doing--they were in a private airplane crash about 2 months ago and both were severely burned. They still have a long, long way to go before they will be better. Stephanie was burned much worse, and she still has only a 50%
chance of survival--but she's made it this far, at least. Anyway, Tanner and Scott both helped with Seth. Tanner took Seth for some rides on a little 4 wheeler they had out there which he particularly enjoyed. Frank took Jared to the birthday party, so he got to the cook out late and when he arrived he realized he had a flat tire. So he spent a good part of the time trying to take care of that. Unfortunately, the tire had to be replaced, which Frank did this afternoon.
Scott and Frank were gone a good part of the day helping with the lawn aeration project--they met at the church at 7:45 this morning and got home around 2:30. They were tired and sunburned, but they got all the lawns done. I am not very happy about the fact that they were some of the very few that actually helped--most of the leaders and other boys thought they had more important things to do. So did we--but we didn't get to do them. I'm sure I'll get over it, but right now I am mad about it!

Dad and I took Jared and his friend Sage to their soccer game this morning. Seth came too, so I didn't get to watch much of the game because he was much more interested in all the balls lying around and the dogs people brought than he was the game. Jared's team lost 3-1. His team is struggling a lot this season--they have only won one game so far. But they seem to be having fun, at least. Jared seems to be pretty unruffled about it. We didn't do much the rest of the day, but it was nice to relax and visit a little. I wanted to try to get some family pictures taken, but we just didn't have the time (and Frank and Scott were too tired). I hope we can get that done before Mom & Dad leave.

The weather was beautiful today. Seth wanted to be outside all day, and I can't blame him much. I took him for a walk down the street and he was fascinated by the neighborhood pets and Halloween decorations.

That's about it for this week--I need to go sweep & mop my dirty floors!

My Husband, the Baker

I am so lucky...my husband likes to cook! And he makes the yummiset things! Some of his specialties:

• Scrumptious cinnamon rolls


• Homemade pizza to die for


• Heavenly dinner rolls


• Totally decadent chocolate chip cookie bars

And now, his newest specialty:

Fruit turnovers!

He made some strawberry and some apple turnovers for us to enjoy during General Conference. With homemade crust, mind you! He called my friend Rebecca and got her pie crust recipe. I thought making pie crust was an art that took time to learn, but I am tellin' you--the crust on these little gems was a perfectly delicious balance of moistness and "flakiness". I'm not even much of a fan of pie--especially fruit pie--and I LOVED these little treats.

The man is a natural!

Minutes I love; minutes I don't

I was doing a little "blog hopping" recently, and read a statement by a mother of many children. She said that she was "loving every minute of it", meaning motherhood. I have to admit, my reaction was "really?!"

Don't get me wrong; I love being a mom. As far back as I can remember, all I ever really wanted to be was a mom. I think I was born wanting to be a mom--I even have proof!

Here is a picture of my twin sister and I on our 2nd birthday:
I mean, would you look at that? There we are--still babies ourselves, really--loving on those baby dolls! Talk about mothering instincts!
So now that I've established that I was born to be a mother, I have a confession to make: I do not love every minute of motherhood!
(*Gasp!*)
Consider these kinds of moments:

• I've just asked my child to stop playing and go brush his teeth (we have to leave in 2 minutes) for the 10th time this morning--don't love that minute
• I just found out that one of my boys has been charging his friends at school for the use of his pencil sharpener--ok, a small part of me has to admire his entrepreneurship, but still don't love this minute
• I spent the last two hours helping one of my sons do his homework; he's got a lot to do because he hasn't been turning in assignments and I just found out about it--didn't really love any of those minutes
• I just wrestled the baby into his car seat; he's decided that he hates his car seat. I know until he outgrows this phase that I am going to have to do this at least 4 times a day, most days more--didn't enjoy that minute
• Dinner needs to be made, two kids need help with homework, and the baby is hanging onto my legs and crying--don't love this minute
• My child came in the house crying because the other kids are making fun of him--didn't love that minute.
• My son comes home from a new school upset and completely overwhelmed, and I know I'm going to have to send him right back tomorrow...and the next day, and the next day--don't love this minute at all
• The baby just threw up all over the kitchen floor (but not on me, at least!)--not loving this minute
• One of my kids just called his brother an idiot and then hit him--the kind of minute I love the absolute least!

Maybe that other mom really does love every minute; I don't know. Either she is a much better person than I am, or she has amazing perspective. ("Isn't it wonderful; my kids are learning socialization" while they are hitting each other.)
There are minutes I love, though. For example:

• One of my older boys laughs at something the baby just did, and I know he is just as delighted with the wonders of a baby as I am--love this minute
• The look of excitement and delight on one of my boy's faces when he does something new for the first time--love that minute
• My baby gives me an ear-to-ear grin when he sees me for the first time in the morning--love every one of those minutes
• My oldest son says "I feel happy because today I realized I'm different from most of the kids my age, but I'm different in a good way."--love this minute
• I ask one of my sons to go do his dishes, and he does it! Right away; the first time I asked!--really love this minute
• One of my boys says "I'm sorry" and he really means it--love this minute
• Someone's feeling grumpy, so we have a tickle fight and end up in a heap on the floor with everybody laughing--loved that minute
• We are reading scriptures together, I look around and realize that (for once!) everybody is quiet and paying attention--love, love, love this minute!
• One boy prays for another one--love this minute
• I feel my baby reach up and run his hand through my hair (a security thing for him)--really love this minute
• I overhear one of the boys saying "I love you" to the baby--love this minute
• I hear my oldest son in the shower at 5:15 am and realize that once again he has gotten himself up and is getting ready for Seminary--love this minute
• One of my boys shares his candy with another one (without being asked)--just love that minute!
• I see two of my boys snuggling and laughing together under a blanket--love this minute most of all!

What are your least favorite motherhood minutes? What minutes do you love?

Watching Seth

Seth didn't sleep very well last night. I have no idea what was on his little mind, but from about 2:45 to about 5:00 am, he was wide awake. Then he fussed and woke up again around 6:00 and 6:20. At that point, he ended up in my bed. (Something that happens only very, very rarely!) The phone ringing at 7:45 woke me up (Frank, on his way to work, calling to make sure I was up. A good thing, 'cause I wasn't! Neither were the two boys who needed to be up getting ready for school.) but Seth slept like a little angel until about 8:15.

The bottom line is, I was tired today. And on days like this, I allow myself to throw the "to do" list out the window. This is not a bad thing. I mean, the world is not going to end if the bathrooms are dirty for one more day. So I floated around in a kind of tired haze, and found myself observing my little guy even more than I usually do. We read books; we "cooked" some soup (using a toy pot and plastic food) and "sampled" our work; I taught him to play "ring around the rosie" (he loved it; peals of laughter!);I let him chase me with his walker toy (more peals of laughter).

At one point, I tried to change Seth's diaper (I thought it was messy) and he kicked up a fuss. Which is unusual for him; he is usually pretty docile about diaper changes. I managed to determine that he wasn't messy after all, so I let him go. "Does he know something I don't know?", I wondered. Apparently yes--a few minutes later...grunt, grunt...now he needs to be changed! He walked over to the abandoned diaper and wipes I had readied earlier, picked them up, and brought them to me! Too bad he's only 16 months old...much too early for potty training.

He has spent the last half hour on the deck, watching the neighbor behind us mowing his lawn...totally fascinated! Now he is crawling back and forth underneath my chair as I type. What a monkey!

It is impossible to be unhappy on a day like today, even if you are dead tired. It is one of those gorgeous, sparkling autumn days. The reds, oranges and golds of the starting-to-change leaves stand out beautifully against the soft blue sky.

But even that doesn't compare to my little man...I could watch him forever! Why don't I do this more often?

1776

My book club read 1776 by David McCullough last month. The title is pretty self-explanatory; a recount of the events of the Revolutionary War that happened that particular year. I love anything historical so I really enjoyed it. The author did a great job of describing the people on both sides of the conflict in a fair way. The Americans didn't necessarily look all that good a lot of the time, and the English (King George in particular) weren't portrayed as big bad guys. George Washington was indecisive and made a lot of mistakes. The British made a lot of mistakes, too. War was so different back then! We had an interesting discussion at my book club about how different that war would have been if they had had cell phones, GPS, etc. back then.

I always knew that things were pretty desperate for the Americans during that war--that they had trouble maintaining a sufficient army, that they didn't have uniforms or enough weapons, ammunition, or food. I knew they lost some battles and that things looked pretty bad. But I had no idea just how bad it really was until I read this book! I am amazed that they didn't give up. I am also amazed at the clarity of the "vision" that a precious few (such as Washington) had about what they were fighting for and the impact it would have on future generations. It's amazing that they didn't give up! I'm so thankful they didn't, though.

The main message I got out of this book personally (no doubt I'm influenced by what's happening in my own life) is that just because you're doing the right thing, and even though God is on your side, it doesn't mean life is going to be easy! There were numerous examples of miracles in this book--weather and otherwise--where it was obvious that God stepped in to help this poor struggling group of Americans. I firmly believe that God was on their side; that an independent country like America was absolutely necessary so that the gospel of Jesus Christ could be restored to the earth. But that does not mean that God stepped in and made it easy for them! It was still incredibly hard. They lost a lot of battles. They went without some of the most basic human needs (food, shelter, warm clothing). Those men (and women) really suffered! I found myself thinking "That's how life is, isn't it?" God helps us; He often saves us from complete disaster. But He also allows us to struggle and grow. It's important for me to remember that if things are hard and I'm struggling, that doesn't necessarily mean that I am doing something wrong. As a matter of fact, it more likely means that I am doing something right!

This book was a great reminder of that important truth.

Weekly Review October 5 '08

Last week when I left off I was about to go to the RS Broadcast. Our stake had Enrichment meeting first; we talked about nurturing our families at mealtime (the importance of families eating meals together daily). We had a potluck dinner first--we were each asked to bring a dish that's a family favorite or that triggers happy family memories. I brought rolls, which actually Frank made with minimal help from me. They asked us to share special memories of mealtime, and ungrateful child that I am--I really couldn't remember anything! Maybe it's just that my memory is going, not that I don't appreciate all the meals my mom made when we were growing up. I do remember that we had breakfast and dinner together pretty much every day, and that we had hot breakfast every school day. I appreciate now what a great achievement that was; I have not been able to accomplish that in my own family! The broadcast from Salt Lake City was great, of course--always is!


Frank likes to have some sort of project to work on while we listen to General Conference--helps him stay awake! Last week he decided that this time his project would be to pull down the wallpaper in the kitchen so we can paint it instead. This is a project we've been meaning to do for years, actually. We painted the dining area and part of the kitchen about 5 or 6 years ago, but didn't want to go to all the work of taking down the wallpaper, so we tried to pick something that would coordinate with the wallpaper. It didn't really work out, though, so we've had kind of mismatched walls all these years. The wallpaper was here when we moved in, and actually I liked it at first (small pink and blue flowers), but it's starting to look pretty shabby. I think my tastes have changed a lot in the last 8 years also. I'm not into the "cutesy" country look so much--like a more classic, simple style with solid colors and clean lines. Anyway, I'm more than thrilled to be rid of that wallpaper, but the idea of painting (and pulling out the fridge and stove in particular) got me thinking that the whole kitchen really needs a good deep cleaning and de-cluttering. So I got all ambitious and started cleaning things up, but then on Wednesday I got sick and I lost all my steam. I did get the pantry and the refrigerator cleaned up, though. The rest will have to wait until later.

Speaking of the kitchen, there's a lot of things I would like to do to improve it. If I had been picking out the countertops, cabinets, and flooring myself, I'm sure I would have picked something different! I mean white countertops and a white floor? I'm sure it looked pretty for about...a month! The floor now looks dirty all the time--even right after I clean it. So do the countertops. Unfortunately, changing all these things takes time and money--seems like I never have extra of either of those things! So I try to content myself with making lists and planning what I'm going to do "someday", and doing one thing at a time. Getting rid of the wallpaper and painting instead will definitely be an improvement.

Right now it looks worse, though! Frank worked hard all day yesterday (I helped as I was able, but was mostly occupied with keeping Seth out of the way) pulling the wallpaper off the walls. I had a feeling it was going to be harder than it looked, and I was right. The wallpaper was vinyl, so we had to pull the vinyl top layer off first before we could even get to the layer where we could use wallpaper remover. Then parts of the wall kept coming off with the wallpaper because the wall was not properly prepped before the wallpaper was put on (not our fault). Bottom line is, after working hard all day most of the wallpaper is gone now (there's still a small section that needs the bottom layer removed) and the wall is bare, with lots of dark patches where part of the wall came off with the paper. An interesting decorating statement! We had one of our neighbors who is a professional painter come in to look at it for us and give us advice. He told us what we need to do next, which involves making sure all the glue is gone, then sanding and priming the walls a couple of times before we can paint. Fun! So the paint is not going to go up for a while and in the meantime we will just have to live with the ugly walls. In the end it will be worth it, I hope! At least I have the inner satisfaction of knowing that the floors and walls behind my refrigerator and stove are clean, now! Frank is very tired and sore after working so hard all day.


The bracket on one of Scott's back teeth popped off last Friday (he says he was eating a cookie). I called the orthodontist who said to just clip the wire off as close to the next tooth as we could, and call Monday morning to make an appointment for him to look at it. (The office wasn't open on Friday.) He had to go in Wednesday afternoon. They decided that he needed to have a band put around that tooth instead, so they put in some spacers and he has to go back next Friday to have the band put on. Frank took Scott to the appointment because I wasn't feeling well that day.


We had another round of the stomach flu this week--this time it affected Tanner, Seth and I. Seth and I got pretty mild cases, but Tanner was extremely miserable on Wednesday. Seth only threw up once--that was on Monday evening, and it happened without any warning. He wasn't acting sick at all, then all of the sudden he started fussing, I picked him up, and he lost it. Amazingly, he didn't get me or himself--just the kitchen floor. The floor needed to be mopped anyway.... That was it for Seth. I'd say his appetite hasn't been as good this week, but other than that he has not acted sick at all or had any other problems. Tanner got sick in the middle of the night between Tuesday / Wednesday. I got up with him and by the time I got him settled back down, I was wide awake and couldn't sleep for a couple of hours. That's when I noticed that I wasn't feeling too great myself. I never actually "lost it", I just had stomach cramps that hurt worse if I got up and walked around. I barely ate anything on Wednesday or Thursday, although Thursday I was feeling well enough to get around and do all the things I needed to do. By Friday I was feeling much better and able to start eating again, but we had pizza for dinner and that turned out to be a mistake. I started feeling sick again and went to bed early. Saturday and today I am still feeling residual effects, so I am still being careful what I eat and only eating a little bit. (Which stinks, because I got special yummy treats for General Conference!) Tanner started feeling better on Thursday, but on Friday morning he was feeling worse again and ended up staying home from school that day also. He seems to be doing better now. Whatever it is, it hangs on for a while.


The boys didn't have school on Tuesday--they were out for Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). That also meant Frank was extra busy on Tuesday and Wednesday because the other senior tech guy at his work is an orthodox Jew and took those days off. Tanner spent that whole day Tuesday doing homework. He had put a couple of things off that he shouldn't have. He also has trouble focusing on schoolwork, so he takes a lot longer to get things done than it should take. Besides that, he had a total melt down when I wouldn't let him go play with friends for a while--I told him he had to get his homework done first. That was another hour wasted while he felt sorry for himself! He did finally get everything done, and then he ended up being sick and hasn't been able to turn any of it in yet! I hope we are done with sickness for a while. Seems like we have had more than our share this last month.


Seth and I had doctor appointments on Wednesday morning. I was worried about doing that since I wasn't feeling well, but I didn't want to reschedule either of them. It was Seth's 15 month check up and he's 16 months old already! I needed to go also because I had to have my doctor check me over before I can have surgery done on my eye. So we pulled it together and made it to the doctor's office, and luckily I was ok. Seth had to get 3 shots which wasn't so fun but he only has to get one more at 18 months, and then he's done until he's 4 years old--hooray! They did not write down his weight and height for me, so I can't remember now exactly how big he is, but I know he is 25 pounds (don't remember the ounces) and I think he is about 33 inches tall. He's in the 90th percentile for height and the 60th for weight.


I had a Primary meeting Friday morning--we were working out the details for our Sacrament Meeting program which is coming up in 3 weeks. I've had some major frustrations with the Cub Scout program come up this week, but I will spare you all the details since all I feel like doing right now is complaining about it! I'll just say that no matter what we do, someone is upset about it.

Jared went home with one friend on Thursday to go to soccer practice and with another friend on Friday for a birthday party. He is quite the social butterfly--he has a party next week, too.

We enjoyed what we heard of General Conference yesterday. We got a lot more out of the first session because Seth was asleep for the whole thing! We only heard bits of the second session, but what we heard was really good. Hopefully today we will get to listen more. We usually go to the stake center to watch the Sunday morning session, but this time we are going to stay home and watch on the internet (like we do all the other sessions) because Seth is at an age that we don't think we'll get much out of it while at the church--we'll end up out in the hall too much! It will be better to stay home where he can play (we hope). Actually, I'll probably try to get him down for a nap right before the first session starts like I did yesterday. That worked out well! I absolutely love that we can start listening to the talks online within a few days after conference ends, so we can listen to the things we missed!

Frank took the older two boys to the priesthood session last night. (Tanner will be 12 next month.) I got Seth to sleep and then swept & mopped all the floors while I watched a movie on television called The Notebook. (Jared entertained himself until his bedtime.) I'd heard it was good, but I'd never seen it before. It had too much kissing, etc. at a few points (I had to turn the channel a few times) but otherwise it was a very sweet story. Reminded me of my Johnson grandparents! Yes, I cried.

Happy Birthday to Shellie yesterday--hope she had a fun day!

Some of you have been very silent lately--you know who you are! Let us all know how you are doing!