THE EAMES FAMILY

Scary day

2009-11-25T18:10:00.002-07:00

I took the pups in for their dew claws at 11am. We made an appointment to check Corde's hormone levels to see why she was so thin for later that day. She went from 147lbs pre-pregnacy to 106 the day she had them and in 3 days lost another 20lbs!! She was 82lbs today.

Took her back at 3pm and they saw the blood from her uterus and knew there was an infection. They ran it through and saw it was a massive infection and that she was lucky to be alive. They took her back for emergency surgery.

They weren't sure she would survive surgery with her weight as it was.

I left the office with out my girl and quite upset.

I just received word from her dr that she has made it through surgery. Although she is majorly medicated she is still trying to walk! They are very hopeful that she will make a full recovery. We will talk about bringing her home on Friday.

New puppies update....

2009-11-23T16:33:00.003-07:00

Went to her vet today to give her the clean out shot and an overall assessment ect...

There really is still another puppy in there!! now we have to wait for that to come out too!! I don't think it will be alive but she isn't contracting still...

I will keep updating..

Well 2 hours after the the shot she finally produced her last puppy. This one was also not fully developed. So our very tired mamma dog can finally rest.

New Puppies!!!

2009-11-22T09:17:00.002-07:00

What a day! Corde is exhausted and so am I.
(the details are mostly for my benefit so I have them saved somewhere)

Her temp dropped Saturday afternoon meaning we had 2-12 hrs before she began active labor. We had a b-day party for Joe's dad at 2! So we hauled her with us to Red Robin and I checked on her every 20 min. No puppies. Thank goodness my car was saved!

We chill at home the rest of the day hopeful they come soon. With Joe gone in Seattle I am not sleeping well so 930 rolled around and I was dead tired. I put the older girls in charge and went to sleep. At 11:30pm I woke up in a panic. Ran down stairs to find she was beginning!!!

3:35am her first puppy was born. It all went smooth and with out complication! She is a brindle and 23.56oz .

A short while later like 5 min (I was laying on the couch at this point) she came to the edge of the caged area whining. I went to her and saw blood. I had just figured it was from the placenta from the pup she had just had. I wish I had known better...

3 hrs later she delivered a full grown good size still born. It was her placenta that ruptured causing her to suffocate and delaying the birth. We both cried. It was a very sad moment.

At 6:50am a healthy girl came tearing out feet first. I helped her along and she is also a beautiful brindle and 21.84oz.

At 8:25 am a baby (no gender) came through who had stopped development quite some time ago. Corde was ok with this one.

8:37 a baby boy came literally climbing out. He is the biggest so far weighing in at 25 oz He is also brindle. I began thinking "I hope we get some other colors soon!!"

After I wrote this I went upstairs to find another puppy!! She was tired and hadn't started cleaning it. I thought we were going to loose her. I rubbed and rubbed and finally she screamed.
9:35am 22.72oz

They all came pretty much every hour after that.
F - 12:10pm 22.12oz
M - 1:45pm 21.87oz
M - 2:45pm 19.12oz
M - 3:19pm 22.22oz

At 3:19 we had 8 living and 2 that hadn't made it. She still looked too big. I felt around and felt another puppy. An hour later nothing. She just slept. No contractions nothing. I called the after hours vet. They said to watch her for another 20 min. If no contractions then bring her in.

So at 4:40 we were in the car. Got to the office and waited another 30 minutes!!! Finally the dr comes in. She immediately starts grilling me on how thin Corde is and saying how we should do all these tests ect... like I am negligent. I tell her I have already discussed my concerns about her weight with HER dr and they were going to run blood tests after she had the puppies. UGH!

They do the x-ray and she says it showed 3 more puppies!! They also wanted me to run a blood panel on her in case her levels were off ect... At this point I had had 4 hrs of sleep in the last 48 hrs. I called Joe he said to wait. I was concerned about how skinny she was and how she had dropped so much and so fast. He said to call our friend who breed dogs. She suggested that they give her a calcium shot and see if that helps induce that labor and help her with her energy. But also that the dr is correct in being concerned.

The vet was concerned not knowing my dogs history ect that she could kill her if she did that. I think they just wanted me to pay out the nose... I finally gave in. Of course all her tests came back normal. They gave her a shot of pit to induce labor and sent us on our way. ( I wasn't going to pay more for the dr to not watch her like a hawk) We get half way home and she has a pup in the car! I was in the left lane going straight at a red light. As soon as I heard her licking I gunned it through the light and turned right in front of the guy next to me and stopped the car got out and tried to save it. I think this puppy was dead before he was born.

We made it home and finally at 8pm she had another pup. He was hard to get out. He will be the largest of the litter when he is grown. 23.21oz. He wasn't breathing but was trying. I worked on him for 30 min when finally he cried out. That was the sweetest sound in the world. I want to keep him.

I waited til 11:30pm for the last pup. None came so I called it a very long day and went to bed until it was time to feed them again. We are keeping them separated to sleep so she doesn't accidentally squish them.

Last day in NYC (Day 10)

2009-11-18T12:05:00.002-07:00

Today was going to be a great day!!!

The forecast was for 65! In NYC!! We stepped out and it was cold so we figured it would be best to bring our coats. WRONG!

We we late meeting our friends the Johnsons in Central Park for brunch. But it was all good. It gave us a great table!! We had brunch at The Boathouse. Yes the one from 27 Dresses!!! I love going to places from movies I love. The food was sooooooo good!!!

We made our way to see FAO Schwartz and then onto Chinatown. I shouldn't have worn my black boots... I had anticipated sitting more... It got REALLY warm and humid. We had to haul around our coats ALL day. We did tons of window shopping in Chinatown. I was hoping to find pearl earrings but no luck... We had such a great time visiting with them. It had been nearly 7 yrs since they moved back east. After Chinatown we had to say good buy to the Johnsons. They had to get back to their son's awards night. We headed for Ground Zero. Here's how the night SHOULD have gone...

Ground zero then heading over to the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty in the day light/sunset then catch it at night on the way back seeing some of Staten Island inbetween and Manhattan all lit up. Once back in Manhatten meet up with my friend Phoebe from 4th grade for dinner and then catch a late night show of some sort or dessert somewhere then head back to the hotel.

Here's what really happened. Saw Ground Zero then decided to high tail it up to see Wicked on the lottery. We raced and went the wrong way on 51st then had to turn around and race to get in the lottery in time(all this time in heels) only to find the play just getting out! It was an early show on Sunday! My feet were dead. I was sad we missed both the ferry and the show. My phone died so I couldn't call Phoebe. We had dinner at Heartland which was great!!! We headed home and found a place with yummy cheesecake. We got a piece to go and got on the train and called it a night...

At least now we have a reason to go back to NYC. To redo that night...

Now we are home with wonderful memories!

Sorrento, Rome , the air and NYC (Days 7,8 & 9)

2009-11-18T11:41:00.006-07:00

We had free time in Sorrento until 2pm. We walked through the shops on the main street then found our way onto the back streets.

I am SOOOOOOOOO glad we did!!! I found shoe stores!!! Happy shoes stores!!! We also found some last minute gifts for those we had not found the perfect gift for. But mostly it was all about the shoes!!! Well and all teh other things I had found for me. I had done very little shopping for myself. A pair of gloves in Rome and a necklace and bracelet in Capri.

I saw these ADORRABLE boots but at 89 Eruo.. I walked away. We found another store and I found these way cute heels. They were hand made Italian leather and they were half off!! 30 Euro! Since I was sure I wasn't going to find another pair I snagged them. I LOVE them!!!

We continued shopping. I bought a bag of Italian chocolates, earrings, a Christmas ornament, lacy boy shorts and the boots!!!!!!!!!!
Joe made me try them on and that was it. I was in love. They are changeable with cable knit on the inside that can be rolled down to any point or they can be all the way up and be knee highs!

We headed back to the hotel and stopped for lunch. On the way we stumbled upon these old ruins of Sorrento! To look down gave us vertigo! They were way cool!! We got back to the hotel for the group picture and loaded the buses to go back to Rome to head home.

Once in Rome a large group of us decided to go into the little beach town for dinner. We loaded the bus and scared the driver I think... Joe explained to him in his broken Italian that we were looking for a good place to eat. The driver called his son who spoke English and they recommended a place and the driver went out of his way to drop us there. We all tried to tip him but he wouldn't hear of it! We all arrived at the restaurant but it wasn't open for dinner yet so everyone left!!! Joe and I decided to return. We were SOOOOOOOOOO glad we did!!! The atmosphere was great. Very romantic. The food was fantastic! A guy came inside selling roses. Joe bought one! (I saved it) Dessert was the best tiramisu I have had!!! We meandered through the little town and found our way back to the bus stop where others had gathered. We went back to the hotel to repack all our bags so they would fit everything for the international flight.

We woke bright and early then sat in the airport FOREVER. Our plane was an hour late taking off. It wasn't late arriving. It sat there as long as we had sat there... 10 hrs later(and 4 hrs of sleep in flight) we landed in NYC. We got a cab to our hotel and we got ready for a night on the town. I felt great until we sat down to eat. Thats when the jet lag hit me. I felt dizzy and REALLY tired. We ate but went right back to the hotel where I crashed.

Isle of Capri!! (Day 6)

2009-11-18T10:56:00.005-07:00

We woke up early for Capri. 5 am to be exact... And NOT because we had to.... Riina had told Paul (my regional manager) of the dinner story and how she wanted to get him back. Paul suggested an early wake up call and proceeded to the desk to ask for one! Thus at 5 am the phone rang.

We sort of went back to sleep. Got up in time to rush up for breakfast and get on the bus to get on the boat. Then we waited around for the boat....

Capri was worth it!!! What a beautiful island!! Our new guide Gino was awesome! He was fun and just great!

We started out on a quick bus tour to the city of Capri. The roads are so narrow that the passing cars nearly touched! We walked through Capri to some beautiful gardens which are part of a monastery there. On the way we saw THE hotel of Capri where the elite suite (which had its own swimming pool) was 2600 Euro PER NIGHT! INSANE!
The view of the cliffs and ocean were amazing (there aren't enough "cool" words to describe Italy)
There was a road that leads to the beach. I was glad I didn't have to make that road. (go see the pic)
We then had some free time to do what we wished. On the way back through the city I found a cat! He was noisy and was happy to be getting some attention.

We got back on the bus and headed up the island to AniCapri (Upper Capri) Where we had more free time. We wandered in and out of shops hoping to still yet find me some shoes. No luck. But I did find a gorgeous knee length leather jacket to die for!! I wish I had bought it but it was 150 Euro... We asked a shop keeper where to have lunch and we were directed to a little place up the hill. We found 2 of our group also there so we sat with them. They had sat with us and Riina and Justin the night before at dinner. We got to know them better and had the most fabulous meal!
It was time to head back down to the pier for those who wanted to go on the boat tours. We chose not to and spent the time wandering the shops along the pier. We wish we had rented a scooter and rode around the island.... it looked ominous so we didn't. It ended up being a beautiful day and a missed opportunity. We ran into Justin and Riina who had found the most wonderful chocolate treat EVER invented! I have no idea what it is but I wanted to buy the whole platter and take it all home.

We all piled on to the dock to await the boat. Then chaos struck. A goods ferry was leaving port and last minute trucks were driving down the dock to get on. This would have been all well and good except there were close to 300-400 PEOPLE standing on the dock at the time!!! We all had to back up against the wall or fear being pushed into the water! It was crazy! I got some good pics of Joe freaking out!

Once we were back in Sorrento we cleaned up and headed to the farewell dinner. It started out simple.... appetizer samplers of cheese stuffed eggplant, fried zucchini straws, potato crochettes, and rice balls. The offered 2nds to those who wanted it. Then came pasta. Ravioli and manicotti. It was all very good too! We were all prepared for dessert when out came sausage and spinach. MORE FOOD!!! Finally dessert arrived. Through all this a poor, sad lived man wandered through and played all the cliche Italian songs us American's associate with Italy. He serenaded a few and finally left.

We headed back to pack to go back to Rome the next day. The staff was ill prepared for my husband as were all in our group... We entered the lobby and headed for the elevator. It was full so I waited. Then the look of shock was on all those in the elevator as I found myself being hurled towards them! Joe had pushed me into the elevator. He then followed me in and the lady at the desk was yelling at us as the doors closed. I heard someone say tilt... The elevator didn't move. The doors wouldn't open. We just sat there. Finally it moved and we went to the basement. Floor -1 Joe got out. Still the elevator didn't move. Justin got out. The elevator didn't move. We all got out and were met by one of the staff and directed on how to get back up. LOL!!! He will never live it down...

More Rome then onto Napoli, Pompeii and Sorrento! (Days 4 & 5)

2009-11-12T17:36:00.008-07:00

We have been having SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun we have not had time to update the blog!!!! We only get internet in one room of the ENTIRE hotel so we run out of battery!

Day 4
Rome It was another free day! We saw TONS!!!!!
-The Mouth of Truth
-The area of Trastevere
-The Sistine Chapel
(just to name the highlights)

We began our day with the hopes of me finding shoes as we wandered the streets of Trastevere. We stopped just before the bridge to Trastevere so we could go to the church of Santa Maria where the Bocca della Verita (Mouth of Truth) is home to. And no D - we did not re-enact Roman Holiday... there is a time and photo limit to keep the line moving and a guy there to make sure...
We crossed the river and saw some cool ruins which were part of Tiber Island. We made our way through Trastevere. Beautiful area!! We saw a cool fountain and went to take a picture if it with Katya's horse. We were stopped by some guys who were clearly NOT sober. They were really nice and wanted to talk soccer with Joe as he was wearing the wrong kind of jersey for their liking. They wanted us to come back at 2 to smoke some dope! lol! We told them our religion so they invited us back to have drinks. lol! Yah we didn't find them again. We went into a bunch of stores adn stopped at all the street vendors. No shoes... got some cute tights though! Tried one last store. It was a department type store and found these cute gray heels for 7.50 Euro! We looked around a bit more. Went to check out and the lady rung them up then said oh I'm sorry wrong price and she rung them up full price! Now had the tag been shoved in the shoe I would not have objected but it was attached to the security tag! The manager came out and said the same thing so I left them. Sad huh?! We had lunch (more pizza) one had anchovies hidden by zucchini flowers! GROSS! We got more gelato to take the yuck out of our mouth and bumped into more friends from our group! We left them and made our way to the Vatican. We got off the bus and promptly went the wrong way to the Sistine Chapel. Turned around and went the right way. After an hour or so of wandering the surrounding buildings (not by choice) which were filled with the most amazing art work of paintings, stone ect... we found ourselves inside the Sistine Chapel. It was so much to take in! We starred at all the paintings of the stories from the Bible. It was crazy! To think someone laid on their back to paint all of them... it was... yah.... We made our way through the maze the other way and headed outside. I had wanted to make it to St Peters Bascilla but it was getting late and I wasn't sure we would make it. Plus there was a pyramid to see too! We went to find a bus ticket. No luck. We wandered 2 blocks and finally found one. As we made our way back to the stop our bus passed us. We figured no big. We had been taking the buses and there is always another near by. 30 MINUTES LATER our bus comes again! Needless to say we didn't see the pyramid. We headed back to town to finish the souvenir shopping we had begun the day before. We stopped to have dinner at an outdoor seated restaurant. We were placed next to an older German couple. We had a great time talking about traveling ect.. Dinner was yet again wonderful. We walked slowly back to the hotel to take in more of the sites at night and to delay the packing of the bags... We came to a square where each corner of the buildings on each corner had a huge carving. They were beautiful!

Day 5
We headed south to Sorrento going through Napoli (Naples) and Pompeii. The country side is so beautiful! You see villages far of on the rolling hillsides in the colored stucco everywhere. Our tour guide had a really thick accent and apparently never bothered to find out how English words were really pronounced. She would speak them how they would phonetically sound. So not only did we need to translate that but it was heavily accented too! It was hard to take in what information she was offering. Once in Napoli CRAZY took on a whole new meaning! There were cars and people everywhere you looked just going. Not really watching where they were going but somehow no one was dying! Roads that in the US would be for 2 cars were filled with 6 plus scooters! The lights (we were told) were more like guidelines. You only stopped if you had to. We were headed to the capitol center when we were stopped by a political demonstration! We were redirected and missed capitol center... We climbed the hillside and stopped for a picturesque view of Napoli. It looked just like a travel magazine!

We made our way back down and headed to Pompeii. There we saw the ruins from 79 AD. 79AD!!! It was unreal!*Taken from Wikipedia - Pompeii is a ruined and partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples. Pompeii was destroyed, and completely buried, during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in 79 AD. The volcano collapsed higher roof-lines and buried Pompeii under 60 feet of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1,700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire.*
Go see the pictures! Truely amazing. Actual hollowed out molds of real people were discovered and plaster was poured in to make replicas of how people were when they died.

We finished heading south, got to our hotel and it is amazing! We have an ocean front view!!!!!!!!!! So beautiful!!!!!! Because we filled their hotel they thanked us by a free welcome dinner that night. They served fish... luckily we were sitting with our friends Riina and Justin and he doesn't eat fish either. So they special made us pork! The staff at this hotel were so wonderful and accommodating.

Joe was getting more bold in our friendship with Justin and Riina. Riina was an exchange student from Finland. She returned and married her host brother. They divorced years later and she is now dating Justin. She is 3 yrs older then him. He asked Justin - "So how long have you been interested in older European women Justin?" Riina gasped and immediately threw her napkin then her fork at Joe!!! It was great!!!! We sat and talked with them the rest of the evening. She vowed to get him back at the end of the night.

Italy!!!! (Days 2 & 3 of our trip)

2009-11-09T15:34:00.006-07:00

It is SOOOOOOOOOOO amazing here!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even describe how great it is!!!!!
( I have added albums of our days - TONS of pics! Just skim or look at them all if you want!)

I love how Joe has described the first part of our time here.

November 7, 2009
Got up and packed and took the trains to the airport. That was quite a chore. Sat around the airport for like 4 hours. Did a lot of reading and listening to my Italian tapes. Then some old Turkish woman who looked just like an old Russian Babooshka came and asked to use our cell phone. She wanted to make a call to Turkey. She didn’t speak a lick of English. I finally communicated to her that it cost too much money for me to call Turkey on my cell phone, and she went away, lol. The flight to Italy was quite long. Jen slept ok, but I maybe got in 30 minutes of sleep. I mostly read and listened to my Italian tape.

November 8, 2009
Arrived in Italy about 7am local time. We found our tour bus, but they only had 1 bus and were expecting 50 ppl, but we needed 2 busses as we had 90 ppl. So we sat around the airport for like 2 hours waiting for our second group to arrive and the tour ppl to get their stuff straightened out. When we all finally got on the bus we were missing 1 person. Turns out it was someone whose bags got lost, so when we couldn’t find her we just left. Poor Girl. The busses took us to our hotel, but the rooms weren’t ready so we unloaded all our bags into 2 rooms. One of the guys had to argue with the cleaning woman about how she couldn’t clean the room with all our bags in there. Then we got on the bus, with no time for lunch, and headed out. This was about 11am local time. So many ppl were tired and sleeping during the tour. We got out several times. We walked around the coliseum, and walked by a soccer field that was all dirt and mud and pools of water from all the recent rain, but ppl were still playing on it. These adult teams with some pretty old ppl playing too. That was really funny. Then we got out at the Vatican and saw the front of St. Peter’s Basillica. Then got out one last time to look at some square, I forget the name. Then they dropped us off at our hotel, and we took our bags to our room then went out and explored Rome. That was way cool. We went and saw this church down the street, then I bought Jen an orange rose from a roadside florist. On the way to the church we stopped at a bakery and Jen got a truffle. Then we wandered up to this other church but didn’t go in, saw the Laundromat, then back to our hotel. I got in another 30 min nap then we went to dinner. We sat with Paul and Sarah which was fun, and had a great dinner. Bread, soup (minestrone kind of), mashed potatos and meatballs with peas. Then this weird dessert in a shot glass. Some kind of custard. Jen says she thinks that the alcohol wasn’t totally burned off because she felt a little tipsy. I didn’t taste any alcohol in it. After dinner we went back and took a bath. The towels smelled like vinegar, and they weren’t incredibly absorbent. The toilet is like a 5 gallon per flush thing that splashes when you flush. And the beds are about like box springs. But with the windows open we can hear Rome, which is all scooters and crazy European sounding police sirens and cars driving by. It’s so awesome to listen to.

Day 2
The flight was pretty uneventful. I got some decent sleep and felt great when we got to Italy. We got to the airport and had to wait for the other group. We loaded the buses and headed to our hotel in Rome. Once there we dumped all our crap into 2 rooms and headed out to see parts of Rome. We started out on a bus tour of Italy since the rooms weren't ready yet. We saw all the major points(The Colosseum, Arch of Constantine, Santa Maria Maggiore, Altare della Patria, St Angelos Castel, St Peters Square at the Vatican and Piazza Navona) and made notes of what we wanted to make sure we saw better with our free days. Once the hotel was ready for our group we took our stuff to our room and we headed out to see Rome on foot. We saw some beautiful churches and were able to actually witness a baby christening!!! That was pretty cool. Found a yummy bakery and had this great chocolate treat. Have no clue what it was called but I want one again! We had to head back to the hotel for dinner where we stayed till they kicked us out of the dining room.

The next day(Day 3) was a free day in Rome!!! We just wandered all day! Some of the best things were
-Trevi Fountain
-The Spanish Steps
-The Pantheon
-Basilica di San Giovanni
-All the things we saw the day before only at night!!!
-Tons of soccer stores
-Great food
-GELATO!!!!!!!!!!

We bumped into a couple in our group Riina and Junstin. They are from Colorado. We had lunch with them and enjoyed a few of the sites then split into our own directions. I had hoped to find them at the Pantheon so we could get gelato together bit we didn't see them. We did quite a bit of shopping at the shops for soccer jersey's. I think Joe found 5!!! (I'm keeping a tally for my shoe revenge) It rained off and on all day. It wasn't too cold so it was pleasant I guess... We wandered the streets of Rome as night fell. We found our selves in front of the Colosseum with all teh lights glowing. It was breathtaking. We walked around that whole area again seeing all the buildings lit up. We found the restaurant that a student had blogged about. It was perfect!! It reminded me of what JP's would be like if they were in Rome 20 yrs in the future. It felt like home. The food was excellent and we told everyone about it when we came back.

ITALY Here we come!!!!!!!!! (Day 1)

2009-11-06T20:53:00.005-07:00

So with all the craziness of getting ready for our trip I completely forgot to do a blog about Cali!! Not to mention the first snow AND Halloween! I will add them on the airplane and post it when we get to Italy.

For now I will update on our trip so far.

We headed out Thursday morning for NYC! We have had a blast!!!!

Thursday we got to our hotel later then we had wanted to and got settled. We decided to stay local and have dinner at the Pine which is adjacent to the hotel. AMAZING FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We then went back to the room to watch the REAL kick Ohio's butt!!! It was an awesome game!!!!

Friday we had a leisurely start and spent the entire morning walking Central Park! What a great way to spend the day! We had lunch from a side walk stand and later on hot chocolate (which I promptly burnt my tongue on...)

After we saw all we wanted to see of Central Park we headed to the 5th Ave area and did some shopping. Got the kids great gifts and I got a new vest! I LOVE it!!!

We headed to Times Square did the whole site seeing thing and had dinner at Chevys. Not fancy but delish!

Now we just finished repacking so we can head to Italy!!! We are SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!!

Enjoy the slide show!

Bear Lake

2009-10-27T16:13:00.001-06:00

For this years choir tour we decided to make it way low key and way fun. Usually we go somewhere far and exotic (Caribbean cruise, Hawaii, ect...) This year we stayed in a couple homes up at Bear Lake. The original plan was for me and Joe to take the motorcycle up there but when we found out Zi-hyun and Anja would be with us and that Zi-hyun would not be going with us to Cali we decided that the girls should go with me.

We had a BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!

We headed up and stopped at the spring up Logan Canyon. We met the rest of the choir and gang at the Pickleville Playhouse where we had a fantastic dinner and watched an amazing cast put on Annie Get Your Gun. It was awesome!!! One of the leads is my brother Bradley's best friend so my parents and Brad and his wife Janelle met us up there too!

We stayed the night with my family in some of Janelle's families cabins then spent the next morning with them at the lake. At lunch we said goodbye and headed to where the choir had a spot at the North Shore.

We got there just in time to eat and play! Anja and Zi-hyun took the canoes out for a while then we all piled in Shauna and Rusty's boat and had our turn on the 3-man inner tube. THAT was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FUN!!!!!!! I wish someone had gotten pics!

As we were packing up to head back to the cabin to make dinner we decided to make a potty run. The car got stuck in the sand!!! Laron and Jim had to come and help pull me out. Again no pics... :( it was pretty funny though!

Once we were back at the cabin a began to prepare for dinner. I was in charge of that nights dinner to feed ALL of us. As I got the chicken going I went to locate the rest of the ingredients only to find that they had been left behind, at home, in my garage!!!! We all silently prayed as Kathy and Jen ran to the ONLY store that they would have ingredients that would work. The returned triumphant much to everyone's astonishment. The store had exactly what we needed in the exact quantities we needed! Dinner was delicious!

Dessert was cobbler and it was heavenly! While it was busy cooking in the dutch ovens we had bells playing and a mean game of Apples to Apples going.

It was a great night!!!

Sunday we woke and went to the church in the area to sing for their meeting. It was awesome and they were all so impressed that they have asked us to come and perform in the Paris, Id Tabernacle concert series! After church we headed back to clean and pack and head home.

Us girls stopped at a market to get our raspberry shakes. They were way yummy!

WE stopped at the Ut Id border for a photo op when we heard someone on a bullhorn talking to us. We looked around and saw it was a cop! He wanted to know if we wanted him to take our picture!! It was so awesome!!!

We made it home, unpacked, washed and packed again so we could leave in the morning for Cali!

Brynn's 7th Birthday!

2009-10-27T10:14:00.006-06:00

Brynn wanted a Hawaiian birthday. I found this WAY cute idea for cupcakes but for weeks could not find the things I needed for it.

They day of I still hadn't. I took Anja with me and we went to the stores to try and locate said items. No luck... so we improvised. We made up an entirely different cake and it was just as good!

We started out by listening to Hawaiian music and the kids just danced and played. Once everyone arrived they all went for a swim. I lowered the hot tub temp so it was perfect for swimming and playing in on a REALLY hot day.

After the kids were exhausted and starving we made fruit kabobs. The kids had a blast making those and eating all the fruit. Then cake and hawaiian ice creams (thery were in REAL fruit shells!)

More swimming then presents then everyone got to go home.

It was a great party!

Time Flies...

2009-10-21T10:54:00.005-06:00

...When your life is INSANE!!

I can't believe it has been over 2 months since I last blogged!!! As usual it has been crazy in the Eames house.

The kids have been super busy with soccer and dance and school. They are now all in this years Christmas show at the OBT. X-MAS MEN!!

Katya - began Irish dance lessons and loves it! She is doing well in school and has been chosen to participate in a talented and gifted program for those with high reading and English scores. She is really excited!

Taylor - is LOVING being goalie. She loves her soccer team and has also been taking private futsal (footworking tricks) lessons. Tay also got glasses! Not sure where my kids are getting it... Joe and I both don't have glasses. Well just 4 days after she got them she was reffing a tether ball game (she couldn't play as she had broken her thumb playing tether ball just the day before) She got whacked in the head with the tether ball and her glasses broke! *sigh*

Brynn - is just plugging along. She hasn't found anything besides acting that she really enjoys doing. Except torturing her brother. She is doing well in school and really likes 2nd grade.

Ryan - is finally done with soccer! Woo hoo! Tuesdays were killing me! He is really excited to be in the play with "real X-Men"

Since my last blog this is what has happened.

I placed my last student!!!!!!! We're going to ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
B-day party for Isaac Platt in Sugar house
G-pa Eames took the kids to teach them to golf and we lost Katya
Anja came and we had SOOOOOOOOOO much fun with her!
All my foreign students arrived
Celebrated part of Brynn's b-day at the OBT (her party will have a blog)
Took Anja and Zi-hyun to Bear Lake with me for the choir trip(look for its own blog too!)
We all (except zi-hyun :( ) went to Las Vegas and California and had a BLAST!!!!!! (separate blog)
Anja and I went to the Great Salt Lake for sunset
We had Zi-hyun's birthday at a Korean restaurant
One of my students ran away back to Thailand
We also celebrated G-ma Eames b-day and Anja's b-day and Zi-hyun's with the rest of the family
I took the exchange students to Park City. They LOVED the Alpine slide!
Celebrated my sister Melissa's b-day
Took the kids to the zoo again this time with G-ma Eames
Canned 10lbs of chicken and some pears
Made Halloween gingerbread house
Went with Ryan's class to the zoo
Been looking up places to eat and see in NYC and Italy!
Joe and I went on a diet for 11 days. Lost 9 lbs! We are doing it again!

So been busy to say the least. Watch for the other blogs. They will have pictures

Another month has past

2009-08-02T16:35:00.013-06:00

And the Eames have stayed busy. What else is new right?!

Ryan turned 5 on July 2nd! He will start Kindergarten This week!!!

We had Ryan's Ben 10 party. I had all these great plans and then it RAINED! Right as the party started of course.... so I had to superhumanly fast put up the walls to the gazebo and move everything else inside. It was crazy but the kids all had fun!

We never made it camping. Too many other things going on and schedules just didn't match up with our friends.

We spent the 4th at Riverton Days. It was a very nice relaxing day and we just did what ever we felt like! On Sunday we had Ryan's and my brother Steven's family party. We had such a great time!!! We BBQ'd and just sat and ate and talked then opened presents. After, we made a fire and made s'mores til it was dark and then did fireworks. The kids had a blast! I love how my family is growing and my kids have all these cousins!

Ryan went to the Instacare AGAIN.... this time he was "quietly" eating his PB&J sandwich while I was in the shower. Next thing I know I have a million screaming girls telling me Ryan's head is bleeding. SO I get out and throw on my robe, come down the stairs to find him laying in a tiny puddle of blood with a gaping gash in the back of his head. He was rocking back in the chair, it fell out from under him and he hit his head on the back. 3 staples in his head and a Popsicle and sno cone later all was well.

Joe's office had thier summer BBQ. We had great food and played a wild game of wiffle ball.

I went to my sister Sarah's band camp concert. I love going up to East Canyon every year to hear them. It amazes me how little time they have to rehearse but it sounds as though they had rehearsed for months! I got home just in time to go out for girls night at Chili's. I love my friends... I got another girls night for Joelle's b-day the next day too!!! Saw the Proposal! LOVED it!!! Definitely buying that one!!!!

We went up to Logan on the 19th for my newest nephew's baby blessing. We almost didn't make it but I am so glad it all worked out and that we got to go. It was so good to see family and be there for Brad and Janelle.

I took the kids to the zoo and we met our friends Joelle and her son Kaleb there. It was so much fun!! We had a great time just seeing what we wanted to see and let the kids just do whatever. No agenda. It was nice.

Well it has been a week since I began this post.... Will life EVER slow down?!

My niece Leah celebrated her 4th birthday at Chuck E Cheese then back to my sister's house where the rest of the family joined us for cake and ice cream.

We FINALLY made it to the Oquirrh Mtn Temple open house. It was so wonderful to take the kids there and to tell them of special ordinances they will get to participate in soon. The temple is so beautiful inside. Def in my top 10!

We are teaching RY to ride a 2-wheeler w/o training wheels. It is going well but as to be expected is full if crashes and tears. He will get it I just know it!

Last weekend Joe and I went on a much needed reprieve. We took the motorcycle up to Park City for 3 days and rode all over the Heber Valley. It was so beautiful and relaxing. I needed the break. We had a wonderful time reconnecting after the crazy last few months we have had.

In amongst all of that I found time to place 2 more kids bringing my total to 10. 1 more and we go to ITALY!!!!!!!!! To help that along I went to Cedar City over Pioneer day with other CETUSA coordinators to find a few more host families and finish filling the schools down there. It was a fun trip and I met a ton of great people. If you have any connections down that way let me know!

Marina is from Spain. She will be with a remarkable retired couple in their beautiful home in Fruit Heights.

Maria is from Brazil and will be in Midway with the family of a Spanish teacher at Park City High.

We picked up Zi-Hyun from the airport and have begun to get her all settled for college at SLCC. We are excited to have her home!

Ryan began Kindergarten!!!! He is so excited to be at school and looked so grown up all ready to go. He is in Mrs Cleggs class and has friends there already! He got to go to school on the motorcycle with Dad. (I was at SLCC with Zi-Hyun at her Orientation.) We are on B Track this year. Katya is in 6th grade and has Mr Stirland. She really likes him. Taylor is in 5th and has Mrs Bowser. Tay is happy with her teacher so far. Brynn is in 2nd and has Ms Peterson. She says she is really nice. Eventually I will get a free min to meet with them. I was working the Kenney Chesney concert on Back to School night. I think this year will be a great year! All 4 are in school together. Its exciting!!!!

My exchange students have begun to arrive. Most of them will be here this next week with 4 arriving on Saturday! I am really excited to see what this year will bring as I include all these kids in my life.

My choir has begun rehearsals again. We will go on our local tour this year to Bear Lake. We will perform a couple times up there in various places, see Annie Get Your Gun at the Pickleville Playhouse and play on the lake.

Anja arrives this week to be with us for a month. We will go on vacation over Labor Day week. Sadly by the rules of Zi-Hyun's visa she will not be able to come with us on our vacation. We are sad that she can't come...

So life is ever still crazy but we are enjoying every minute of it!!!

Is it REALLY Summer?!?!

2009-06-28T11:16:00.029-06:00

I think it just finally might be!! After 3 weeks of straight rain and thunderstorms, with only 2 days of sunshine stuck in there, we are now on day 6 of sunshine!!! But I am NOT excited AT ALL...

I am sure some of you thought I fell off the face of the planet. Nope... just the blogging world. We forget to take pictures off the camera and so where is the point in blogging. And there is this little thing called Facebook that I am NOT addicted too.

That said I will quickly(maybe) update the last 2 months. Has it really been 2 months!!! Almost 3!!! I am such a slacker!

April started the new theater classes. A few girls from our ward and neighborhood joined Brynn and Taylor in the casts. It also held my birthday! I had a great birthday this year. My best friend Danita came into town! We had a HUGE group pf us all go to the OBT for the opening of Transmorphers: Mormon meets the eye. Written by Logan Rogan. HILARIOUS show!!!! I wanted to go see it again and again but alas life is busy and we didn't make it back... we stayed for the improv show after and they did a day in the life of me again! It was awesome! I love that theater and everyone there. I don't have pics cuz our camera broke and I haven't moved the ones Danita put on our laptop to my computer.

April was also the real start of my new job as an exchange student coordinator. I absolutely love this job!!! I have a goal to place 11 kids this year. I placed 2 kids in April.

JiYoung form Korea who will reside in Provo and Lucy from the UK who will be staying in Alpine!

Oh and my other job as the fundraising coordinator had it's first chance to shine. We now run the huge pizza stand at the new Rio Tinto stadium. I am incharge of making sure I have enough people signed up to work and then make sure they get there. We had quite a few events in April. Its really fun!

May was INSANE!!! We had play rehearsal for Brynn and Taylor. Soccer for Ryan and Taylor. More events at Rio Tinto. I was all over the valley doing presentations at high schools in the classrooms to find host families. I have met so many great people!! On top of the presentations I was meeting with the host families to help them choose thier student and sign paperwork and answer questions. I placed 2 more in May. The first of the 2 came in just in time for the deadline for me to get a bonus on each kid I place! Thats 4 so far!! I know the Lord is truly helping me find these incredible families. My kids this month are a boy -
Jean from France who will be living in West Jordan and Luisa from Germany will be in Draper. Luisa has a twin sister who had not been placed. I made it MY goal to find her a family and I did it!!! It was official last week! I don't get the placement because the family is in Virginia. But I am just happy she has a home!

May also was Taylor's 10th birthday!!! We had a Harry Potter birthday. I will make a photo album for it since it was so cool! It was an amazing party! So much fun to do!

We also made our box garden and planted pumpkins, zucchini, radishes, red and green peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, and iceberg and romaine lettuce. The pictures were take just 2 weeks after we planted! I over planted the 1st garden. I'm not really sure why... but I am so glad I did. It took us nearly 6 weeks (cuz of the storms) to get the kids garden built. Too late to seed.. But once it was done I had starts big enough to transplant!

We also got a new couch thanks to the Gordons! Thanks Summer and Dennis we LOVE it!!!! So comfy!!June felt like I was finally going to be able to breathe. Yah right!

The girls performed their play. It was SOOOOOOOOOO cute!!! It was about pirates becoming stranded on an island with disco monks. It was really funny! If you ever have the desire to see a kids play or your kids want to we should have the DVD soon! Soccer ended so we had a bit more free time. We got a new camera but the SD card won't download to the laptop so now we need a cord to DL the pics of Tay playing soccer. I thought technology was supposed to make things easier... The end of school drew closer and finally summer break started!! But the rain didn't...

We had Katya's 11th birthday party!!! The day began at 2. We went to the salon and everyone got manicures. Then back to the house for a fashion show. On to IHOP for dinner then down town to the OBT for cake and presents and the new play Utahoma! They pulled Katya and her friend Laura(who's b-day was the day before) on the stage and the WHOLE audience sang Happy birthday to them! It was a great birthday!!

I finished up my presentations at the schools and then started all the phone calls. I put ads out on the internet bulletins and all over Facebook. All my hard work paid off!! I have 4 placements in teh month of June alone!!! For a total of 8!!! I only need 3 more to reach my goal!! I have a few leads and more opportunities coming my way in July that I am sure I will make my goal and I may even pass it!! My kids this month are Juliane from Germany who will be in Orem. Claire from France whos family is in Kearns. Yeen from Thailand will be living in Salt Lake(Ft Union area) and Akbota from Kazakhstan will be in Layton.
I am SOOOOOOOOOO excited to be the coordinator for these kids. I can't wait for what the new year will hold!

Our garden is growing really fast now that we have sun. I have not take recent pictures but we have already harvested most of our first crop of radishes!

My sister Sarah came and helped me de-junk the kids rooms while they spent 3 days at g-ma Eames house. I can't believe how much stuff 1 child can hide so well in their room! I knew they had an over abundance of toys and clothes ect... but I hauled out 2-3 bags of garbage (school papers in desk drawers, wrappers, broken toys ect)
PER ROOM!!!! All 3 rooms are now clean organized and decorated! They had better stay that way or else!

Our next adventures look like they will take us to Riverton Days for the 4th and camping with friends and a trip to Cali with the family!

Vacations Vacations Vacations

2009-04-02T18:46:00.005-06:00

I REALLY should get on here more often.......

So February 23rd I flew to Portland to see my new niece Ava and go see Duncan Sheik in concert with Danita and a few others. I only went because I got a SCREAMING deal on airfare. $100 round trip!

I spent Day 1 and most of Day 2 with my sister Becky, her husband Jake and their daughter Ava. She is SOOOOOOOOO cute! They picked me up, we hung out in Portland, Saw the Pitock Mansion, saw my old school and old house, went and had dinner at 5 Guys Burger and Fries, hung at Britt's apartment and saw my dad, brothers Caleb, Ben and my sister Chelsie too. Went back to their place in Willsonville. In the morning(Day 2 still) I got to hang out with Ava at her care center and then I was introduced to the class Becky teaches there. My dad came and picked my up for lunch and it was off to Olive Garden. Then we headed to Britt's place again. I stayed with her for 2 days. After dad left I went shopping. Came back and went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory and Target with Danita then we met my mom at the movies. We saw Confessions of a Shopaholic. I LOVED it!

Day 3 I hung out with Brittany all day. We headed to downtown Portland. She went and got her hair cut by her best friend Dani. We had lunch and Noodles and Company, then just bummed around town. That night I had planned a HUGE get together for all my friends and family to come. It was SO much fun!!! My aunt and uncle came and my cousins, my siblings and dad and a ton for friends. It was so good to see everyone!

Day 4 it SNOWED!!!!!!!!!!!! I was very angry.... We headed to the beach anyway. We being me, Britt, Mom, Chelsie, Ben and Caleb. On our way into the beach we stopped and picked up Danita's mom Diana. She is my mom's friend. Made it easy to hang out with Danita(myBFF) growing up since our moms were friends too! We had a great day at the beach! It was sunny and sort of warm if you stood in just the right spot and the wind didn't blow. But it was beautiful. We played all day! We raced back home so I could make it in time to change ect... for the Duncan concert!!! Danita and I met my friend Andrea and Danita's friend Amber for dinner at a fabulous Thai place. YUM! After dinner we met Andrea's friend Ryan at the concert. The concert was AMAZING! Holly Brook opened for him and plays in his band. I loved her!! I had waited 12 yrs to see Duncan in concert and it was just as wonderful as I had imagined.... Danita and I slept over at Andrea's on her floating house on the river. She is a fantastic artist and her home was perfect and inviting.

Day 5 I headed home after basking in the sun on Andrea's back deck and having a wonderful breakfast and lunch cooked by her and her other house guest. It was great getting to know Andrea better and enjoying her hospitality. She dropped me off at the mall where I met Shelly my next door neighbor growing up. It was so good to see her again! We sat in the bookstore and had a drink and cookies and chatted. Then she took me to the airport and I came home for 4 days where in those 4 days I had a baby shower 2 weddings and kids dentist appointments.

March 4th I flew into Palm Springs California to surprise my best friend Holly Platt for her birthday!!! She had NO IDEA I was coming. Her husband and I planned it all after she had surprised me at Thanksgiving. I was waiting for good airfare and it finally came. $220 RT into Palm Springs!!! Later on we brought her new friend Jen into the plans so she could make sure to take Holly out to lunch with other friends for her b-day. I called Holly from outside the restaurant to wish her a happy birthday. We chatted for a few minutes but it was loud outside and even louder inside. Then I walked up to her and asked if I was too late for lunch. She looked up thinking I was a friend from there then realized it was me and screamed. Fumbled her way out of her chair, threw her arms around me and bawled! It really was the best surprise ever. For the next 6 days we ate and shopped and ate and shopped and ate and shopped, went to church, watched movies and ate and shopped some more. We hit the Cheesecake Factory twice! One when we went with a few other people I was verbally abused by the waitress. She told me and and another couple that we were driving her crazy then she came back and said she could just strangle me!!! All because it was taking us longer than 10 min to decide what to have from their 20 pg menu! The next time it was just me and Holly and we told our server what had happened. Turns out she was the head trainer for all the servers. She gave us a free cheesecake! They must have spiked the strawberry lemonade because after that we went to Walmart and we were so obnoxious and laughing so much everyone must have thought we had a bit much to drink. I had a great trip and it was so fun to be with Holly and play with her and her kids.

We said our goodbyes at the airport. I headed to Phoenix for my connecting flight. We landed and hour before my flight. Then we sat there......... and sat there........... and sat there.......... turns out the gate attendant who had let all the people on the plane that had JUST left the gate we were waiting for left and there was NO ONE to let us off the plane. ALL of us missed our connecting flights! Here's the great part. All the connecting flights were with in the SAME airline and they didn't have the decency to wait for all of us who had been held captive on the plane!!!! So about 60 of us had to stay the night in Phoenix. Now usually I would have said WOOHOO!!! What a fun adventure!!! BUT I knew Joe had a hotel and special things planned for me at home. I was SOOOOOO mad that they made me miss that and waste all the $$ for the hotel... I was not happy.

Came home and indoor soccer was in full swing. Joe was Ryan's team's coach. Taylor made a new best friend named Destiny. I think they will be good friends for a long time. Joe and I hit the comedy show again and laughed our selves blue. It was a great show. St Patrick's Day came and the leprechauns turned our milk and water green. We had a great Irish dinner and had a good time. Soon after that we celebrated my sister Emily's b-day with a small party at her house. It was fun to see my family.

Friday March 27th will go down in the history books as Jen Eames being the best sister ever! My sister Sarah turned 16 on our anniversary(29th) My parents were supposed to be on a cruise that weekend so I had told my sister we would have her Sweet 16 at my house. We began plans then my parent's cruise got bumped up by 6 weeks. We still decided that enough plans had been made to just keep them. She invited just over 20 people and all but 2 showed up and some of them brought other people! We had it at the OBT for the 7:30 comedy show. They treated her like royalty. We had a party before hand and they involved her through the WHOLE show! It was awesome!!! I of course forgot my camera(I was also packing to go to Vegas in the morning) So I used Sandy's (theater owner) and I don't have the pics yet.... It was definitely in my top 5 of all the shows I have seen. I was laughing so hard my head and side hurt! It was a great party. Then 11 girls came and slept over at my house. They sat and laughed and screamed and talked in the hot for over an hour. Then we made a late night Walmart run for snacks. The house was quiet by 4am. (THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO TOOK MY KIDS!!!)

The next morning we had breakfast and cleaned up. I took all the girls home back to West Valley and then came back and packed the car and Joe and I headed to Las Vegas for our 12th anniversary. And because I am now tired of typing I will copy and paste what I wrote on my face book.

We stopped in St George Sat night. We went to dinner at Chili's with Aleeca Childs and her husband Wayne. We had a great time talking and getting to know them better. Can't wait to come down and go camping!

Sunday was our anniversary. Leaving St George, we stopped for breakfast at Jack in the Box and got the best breakfast EVER!!! Stuffed mini churros and a pomegranate berry smoothie. YUM!!!! We checked into our hotel and went to hear the timeshare presentation that allowed us to go to Vegas for 4 days for $99. With that out of the way we went back to the room and settled in. The view was AMAZING!!!!!!! We headed out to the Strip for shopping and dinner. We went to Cheesecake Factory. While there we saw the Atlantis show and the HUGE aquarium there. We wandered the strip then headed back to the hotel where I had the room service staff come and set out choc covered strawberries and sparkling cider and scattered rose petals all over the room. It was so perfect.

We got up early the next day on limited sleep so we could get discount show tickets and it paid off! We got tix to the Excalibur dinner show and Phantom for that night. We walked the strip some more as we headed out to exchange our vouchers for real tix. We remembered we had Brynn's Flat Stanly and started getting some great pics! We saw the new Bumblebee Camaro and a HUGE life size Bumblebee transformer. That was way cool! We got accosted by another timeshare presenter. The deal was too good... 2 tix to Blue Man Group for $17 each! SO we went and saw the new Planet Hollywood timeshare and condo presentation. They are going to be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sweet!!!!!!!!!! We didn't buy of course but got the tix for the next night. After all of that we FINALLY got our vouchers exchanged and raced back to refresh for dinner.

The Excalibur show was awesome! Dinner was delish! With Flat Stanley with us we got to meet and greet so many of the cast including one of the horses!

The show was shorter than expected so we had plenty of time to go back to the hotel and change for Phantom. Phantom was breathtaking! We didn't get tix down below... I wish we had... Next time we will for sure! It was a fantastic day! We went and hung out listening to karaoke til 1 am then went and got a late night meal and walked back to our hotel.

Tuesday was a perfect day!!!!!!! We got up early again.... packed for a day of fun and sun. We were headed to Lake Mead for the day! Stopped at the store to get lunch stuff and went to Joe's friend Ryan Runia's house. Got him and picked up subway, his boat and off we went! The water was beautiful. The weather perfect! We had the best time just chillin and talking and doing NOTHING! We all took a dip in the FRREEZING water. No pics... we were in the water... Got great scenery pics and pics of Ryan water skiing. Got some sun and relaxation. What more do you need?! We headed back into town around 7 and grabbed dinner at a great BBQ place in Henderson. Back to Ryan's house so I could shower since we were going to be late for Blue Man if we didn't hurry. We got there with 10 min to spare. We had 4th row seats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The show was spectacular!!!! I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!! We got to meet the band and 2 of the Blue Men. They took pics with Flat Stanley. One even made a face on the back of his head with blue paint and a real kiss!!!! It was late and I was a bit sun kissed so we headed back and I took a cool salt bath and read a book.

Wednesday was the end of our trip.... :( We STILL hadn't met up with friends we made last time we went down there. They had a baby in Dec and we hadn't seen him yet! So I was sad about that...

We spent the day being tourists and shopping ect.... Got all the kids their gifts and ate at Toby Kieth's. We headed out at 2:30 and made our way home.

It was a great trip and we found alot of things to take the kids to the next time we go down.

I will add pics soon.... If you read this far you are either amazing or REALLY bored... or you just love me alot.

REALLY?!?!?!

2009-02-18T14:17:00.003-07:00

What would posses a 4 1/2 yr old to
wake up
take $$ from his piggy bank
walk 3 BLOCKS to the gas station
to buy a gumball?!?!?!?!?!

Ryan is playing his reading computer game. It is talking about gumballs. He says he wants one. I say no. He answers " I won't get it in my hair" I reply "Its not your hair that concerns me its the rest of the house. You may not have gum." He continues to play his game then goes upstairs.
Awhile later I check on him & check the mail.

All is well.

I went down to the office in the basement, got online and proceeded to pick out exchange students for the host families to choose from when the doorbell rings. I go up the stairs, hear Ry run to answer it, instead he comes to the family room and he meets me coming up the stairs. I tell him I am glad he didn't answer the door. I turn the corner to see a police officer in my front room. I turn back to Ryan, say well I guess you DID answer it.

As I turn back to the officer he is shaking his head. At that moment I knew Ryan had been brought HOME by him. The officer then informed me he had picked up my son AFTER a woman had stopped and called the police. Ryan told him he was going to the gas station to buy a gumball.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-09T11:05:00.003-07:00

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!

Well here we are.......

2009-02-01T09:36:00.002-07:00

Nearly 2 months has gone by!!!!!!!!! 2 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really am a slacker....

In my defense I did attempt to update the blog 3 different times. Then I realized I would have to change the back ground too so I did nothing... and then there was facebook....

We have been so super busy!

December was INSANE!!!!!! With the 3 girls in the show downtown and at the SAME time we had rehearsals for the show at the elementary school AND Taylor had rehearsals for another show she was in. In all of that I had my performances for the choir I am in.... Not to mention we had to fit Christmas and family stuff in there as well. Not sure how we all made it out of that month alive but we did. The kids were AMAZING on stage! They really did very well. My solo at Temple Sq was great too!

Christmas was the best!! We were all so super spoiled! The kids got mp3 players from Santa. The older girls got stuff for their room. Katya got nearly the ENTIRE Baby-sitters Club collection! I love eBay.... It was a great day! Joe got me a massage table!!!! And some beautiful art work for our room! He got a new leather jacket. Santa brought me the most beautiful jewelery from Turkey. We spent the afternoon and rest of the night with my family. A very relaxing Christmas.

We had a great New Years Party. (I love parties) Played some new games. We had a great time! January brought crunch time for rehearsals for Taylor's show and the one at the elementary. I graduated from my foot dr!!! My foot is healing well and straight! The whole family(except Katya) got the nasty cold virus that lasts for 18 days. Brynn brought it home, then it went to Tay and Ry. They were nearly done and I thought I was safe. Nope. I was down for a week. NOTHING in the house got done... it was pretty sad. lol! Joe got it half way through mine. It was a nasty one! Taylor's play was fantastic! All the kids did really well and I could tell they had learned alot. Taylor's character was goofy and got great laughs from the auduience. She truly is a natural. I hope we continue to have opportunities for her to grow this talent.

Now here we are. February 1st. The play at the elementary is in 9 days!!! I am excited! I think I am ready for it to be over though. It has been hard work and all consuming these last few weeks. For those who are just joing us I will give a tiny bit of history...

My friend and neighbor Mary gave the PTA the great idea of doing a school musical sometime down the road when there was $$ ect... A few weeks later she is asked "so do you want to do it?" Well if she had said no there wouldn't have been one and all would probably have been well BUT she said yes and what a great experience it has been for all involved! After he panic attack she called me and asked if I would be the music director. I said yes and since I was NOT recovering from a surgery at that point I can not blame the drugs... We brought Sharon on board and she has been a GREAT acting coach!!! We have rehearsed every Mon and Wed for nearly 5 months. Tomorrow starts our dress rehearsals. We will FIANLLY have the kids on stage. We will add lights sound and props and HOPE we will pull it off after 3 days of reheasals with them. THe kdis ahve worked so hard and have come so far. I am very proud of them. We were given an unexpected treat last week! One of Salt Lakes auditionees from American Idol that went to Hollywood (this season) is the nephew to our choreographer Beth. He came and met all our kids and talked to them, sang for them and posed for pictures!!! That was such a great treat for those kids!

The rest of the month will bring weddings and baby showers and trips! We will go to St George for my niece's baptism then the end of the month I get to go to OREGON!!!! I am going to see my little niece Ava who will already be 4 months old!!! I also will finally get to go to a Duncan Sheik concert!!!! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Excited for that trip!!! I will get to see old friends (thank you facebook!!!) It's a great prize after all the hard work.

Well I suppose I had better make sure my kids hair is done for church... Happy February everyone!

Busy busy busy!!!!

2008-12-03T12:04:00.007-07:00

It is a wild ride at the Eames home this season. Our 3 girls are discovering they LOVE theater. Taylor is rehearsing 3 shows, Katya has 2 and Brynn just has the one where all 3 girls are on stage together. They are doing so wonderful! I am amazed at how easily this comes to them. They will be on stage Dec 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th and 18th. If you will be in town or already live here and want to go call or email me and I will get you a discount and info.

While I am getting them to rehearsals (except Tay's Wed one THANKS LAURIE LUND!!!) and soon to be performances I am also the music director of the show at the elementary school. And I sing with a professional choir and have 19 more concerts to go before the 23rd. Our big concert on Temple Square is Dec 23rd at 8:30 pm in the Assembly Hall.

In between all that there is normal life and all that has to be done in preparation for said activities and Christmas! But we are loving every minute of it and it keeps us busy and out of trouble.

With that said you can see why I have not updated my blog! Here is what has gone on in the last couple weeks.

I went with my girlfriends Lisa, Joelle and Stacey on our annual girls night to the Utah Chocolate Show. It was smaller this year but I think I had more fun! Joelle's sisters came along with us this year. We had such a great time trying all the chocolates and all other kids of food there. The chocolate fountain was a popular place. There was a cake contest. Those were some AMAZING cakes! After we gorged on all the sweets it was time to put real food in our belly. We headed down to Johnny Carino's (where we go every year) Our fav waiter has since left since last year but we had a great replacement!!! He was awesome! We had a wonderful time talking and sharing pictures. It was a great night!

Joe and I were able to get out one night so we hit the Laughing Stock comedy show at the Off Broadway Theater where our girls perform. What a great show!!! I love that place. It is almost like a 2nd home.

We had Joe's dad's birthday lunch. All Joe's family that lives here was there even his ex step nephew! He is a really great guy. He is my age and fun to talk to.

We also had MY dad's birthday party! My brothers gave our dad such a great gift!!! They cut the pocket off of one of their mission suits and put their name tag on it and put it in a special frame!! It looks so cool!

We did some yard work and raked up all the leaves. I think my tree needs to grow less leaves....
Ry had a blast jumping into the piles. I tried to make a virtual flip book but I can't find a place to make one...

Thanksgiving was at the Jensen's home. They own the theater that we are so fond of. We had a great night with them and their family. We had a late dinner which I was totally ok with! I had all day to prepare the rest of my desserts and I didn't feel rushed. It was very nice. After we stuffed ourselves beyond capacity some of us fell asleep while others talked. Soon we had a roaring game of American Idol (karaoke) on the Wii going. It was SOOOOOOOOOOO fun!!!! Every one took turns singing. We started cleaning up around midnight and bid our farewells.

Well thats been our life in a giant nutshell. We are staying busy but like they say the busier you are the more you tend to be able to fit in.

We are so excited for this Christmas Season that has begun. I love how nearly the whole world becomes just a bit nicer to one another. I love the music. I love the parties and friends and socializing. I am especially grateful for the birth of our Savior. With out Him life would be meaningless.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

The BEST Weekend EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-17T11:08:00.002-07:00

What an amazing weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My 2 best friends Breezy and Danita flew in for the weekend so we could celebrate being best friends for 20 yrs!!!!

We decided he best way to do that was to go see New Kids on the Block!!!

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (really wanted to use a diff word... ;) )

It was UNREAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will start at the beginning. Breezy was supposed to be here Fri night at 6:30. Her flight was canceled due to plane malfunction. She was able to get on a later flight that was to get in at 11:30pm. Danita got in just before 9. We went and grabbed food and went to the OBT for the comedy show. What a riot!!! The did the best game of Hecklers I had ever seen!!! Then they did Late for work just for me and Danita cuz we had to leave before the 2nd half of the show. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO awesome!!!!!

We left there and went to the airport to get Breezy! Her flight was another 30 min late! Oh well she got here and it was the BEST to finally see her again! We started for baggage claim when she said all she had was the her backpack. It wasn't even full!!! D had packet 2 suitcases and I had a huge full packed duffle and I still forgot stuff!

We headed to our hotel up in Ft. Union. We settled in and talked FOREVER and probably annoyed our neighbors. Oh well!!! Then we hit the hot tub! The place we stayed had a 24 hr hot tub (I made sure they did) It was so nice to relax and enjoy. We stayed up WAY too late and woke up just at the tail end of breakfast.

After breakfast we watched the rest of 27 dresses that we had started to watch in the dining room. Then we all slowly got ready for the day. We went to Ross and went shopping for D so she could find a jewel colored shirt for our photo shoot.

YES!!! I said photo shoot!!! D has a photographer friend in Springville that came up and did our pics. She was awesome! We got some amazing shots. I can't wait to see them! I did things with my foot that NO ONE had better tell my dr. But I was very careful and ony once almost hurt myself.

We left Salt Lake and went straight to the Cheesecake Factory. YUM!!!! There was a slight wait so we went and hung out in Nordstroms. Looked at shoes and D and I got our make up done at the Lancome counter. We looked smokin hot and ready for our big night! Dinner was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO yum!!! I love avocado eggrolls!

We ran back to the hotel to quickly change into our concert attire and poof up our hair. After we were satisfied we looked like older versions of our 15 year old selves we headed out to go see NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The concert was beyond words. I wasn 't expecting much. I was blown away and am completely in love with them again!!!! We were all screaming and finding ourselves giggling all night. They were even more amazing then when we were teenagers. I will be glowing for weeks!!! It was so awesome!!!!!!!!! After the concert we tried to use my E Center contacts to get back stage but the people I knew have all left. We were so sad..... We ran around the building and watched for them to get on thier busses. We watched Joey leave and thats all the cold we could stand. It was after 1 am and we were FREEZING!!!!!!!!!!!

We popcicled our way back to the car and went to eat at the Waffle House in Ft Union. It was so good and warm. Near 2:30am we headed back to our hotel. We went to the hot tub again and warmed up even more. After we got back to the room Breez crashed hard and D and I uploaded pics and vidieos to the internet. I crashed somewhere around 4. Danita stayed up til 6am!!! Silly girl.

We slept in til we had 40 min to get out of the hotel. We missed breakfast. We were almost ready and they came looking for us. We were out of there by 12:30 AND starving. In keeping with our anniversary theme we headed to Red Robin. We tried 2 new sandwhiches. They were really good! We left there in search of a park to inhale our cheesecake from the night before. We settled on the one down the street from G-ma Eames house. Joe was there getting the kids so we had them stop by so we could take pics of them for Breezy to take back to her kids. They are all really good friends too. We then took Breezy to the airport.

I hate "see you laters"

Danita got to spend the evening with me at her brothers house and then my choir rehearsal. Monday we had lunch with Tomoko and Angie. Roomamates of Danita's in Provo froma few years ago. That was way fun and I have a new friend!!! Angie just lives in South Jordan! We also went to the play reahearsal for the school then it was time to get D packed and to the airport. Again I had to say "see you later"

2.5 days was not enough......

Updates to come....

2008-11-11T21:38:00.002-07:00

So don't get your panties in a wad Amy!!

I'm workin on it!

We have been unbelievably busy since my last post.

Joe and I went to Vegas, we took the kids to see the Halloween show at the OBT (where they will be performing in Dec), I had foot surgery, we had Halloween Parties all over! The girls have play rehearsals on Mon, Wed, Wed, and Sat. Tay has acting lessons on Thurs. I direct the music for the play at the school so I'm doing that and recovering from surgery and getting everyone every where. We had my niece Megan's 1st b-day. I have also been subbing at the school. Not to mention dr appts. Joe and I also went to the Real game which they won so it kept them in the play offs. They beat LA and now will play NY this weekend!!

So we have been busy. I will publish posts with pics highlighting all the big events and some small ones.

Vegas Baby!!!

2008-11-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

We had a great trip!!!! What a blast!!!!!

We got in Fri night and had been told of this club so we went and checked it out. It was fun and while Joe went to the bar to get a diet he walked upon a scene of a guy cleaning up a spill near a preg woman. He looked down, looked at her nad asked "did your water break?" She nearly died from laughter. She loved Joe right off nad got her husband. They came back to where I was and we all hit it off. We talked with them and got all the local scoop on Vegas. He is a chef at a great Medditeranian place. Sat we met him there at lunch. He cooked for us then came out and hung out with us. Sat night the club was having a jungle theme night. They invited us to go with them. So we did and hung out with them til dawn! It was so much fun! They are great people! During the day Sat before lunch we did some window shopping at the new mall ther ein Vegas. AWESOME place! We did some real shopping at the Armani store. We had lunch then we hit the strip for a while then we went to savers to find jungle clothes. They were having a great sale so we walked out of there with a crap load of winter clothes for the kids!

Sunday we slept ALLLL day. After staying up til 4 one night and dawn the next we were pooped. We made it down to the strip at dinner time and hit this great Japanese place in the Paris. Great food and beautiful place. We walked the strip a bit longer then headed back to the hotel to sleep again.

Monday the sun FINALLY came out!!!!!! I decided to take a vaca day and wore jeans and a tank top. After a few guys OBVIOUSLY were staring and "not" staring Joe and I decided to make a game out of it. It was HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!! We laughed all day at the guys who blatently stared, the ones who looked then looked at joe and looked away really fast and he ones who tried to look like they weren't looking. It was a blast! I got a henna tattoo on my lower back. It looked so pretty! AND we for got to take a pic of it! Rrrrrrrrrr!

Monday night was the whole reason we went. Terry Fator!!!!!!! What an AMAZING show!!!!!!!! I would have paid double to see it. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!! 3 times I was so overwhelmed by his amazing talent I was brought to tears. After the show we had the chance to meet him and get pics with him. He is a great guy and so real. In the audience was Tony Orlando (google him) We got to meet him after the show as well! He was a great guy and told Joe that he was a very lucky guy to be married to me.

Tues we hung out on the strip for a while then headed home. In the Bellagio there is this atrium area. They had it all decorated for fall. It was so beautiful!

We had a great time and can't wait to go see Terry again!

My last surgery for 2008 (I hope!)

2008-11-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

On Monday we had our last Hoorah as a family before my surgery on my foot. We took the kids along with a bunch of my family and some friends to see the halloween show at the OBT. Dracula vs the Hunchback. 2 hrs of straight hilarity ensued!!! It was awesome!!!! What a great show. If you missed it you can blame me....... I wasn't doing my job to blog about it.

After the show we met Dracula outside and Ry used the force on him

On Wed the 22nd I went in for bunion surgery. I really hadn't planned on one last surgery. I really had had enough of them. BUT there is always a but... I wanted to see this new dr and see how I liked him and get his opinion on my foot. After talking to him he really wanted me in to get it taken care of before it turned into a bigger problem. He promised I would be able to stand for all my Christmas concerts and the surgery was free since my deductible was met so I said ok lets do it one more time...

Now here I am 2 weeks post op. I am doing far better then I would have thought. I am able to be to the rehearsals and direct the kids in the songs. I can do most house work so I am feeling productive. I have to take a pain killer every night so I can do my therapy. If I don't the pain lingers and makes me not want to continue to move my toe around. I keep hoping its not going to become an addiction. I'm in this stupid boot till Christmas....

Halloween Fun!!!

2008-11-11T21:35:00.002-07:00

Halloween had a late start this year with us being so busy with rehearsals then me being laid up but we pulled it together at the last minute.

A few days before we had a ward Halloween party. The kids had a costume parade. It was a great night.

Every year we have all the trick or treaters and their families come in from the cold to have donuts and hot drinks. This is our 2nd yr of doing it and it has been a great success. We love it!

I got the house all decked out and it looked like a spooky dungeon.

The night before Halloween we carved pumpkins. the kids had a really fun time getting all gooey and gross. We roasted the seeds and they were YUM! We stuffed the kittens into the pumpkins. They weren't too happy about it but it made for good pics!

This year Katya was a hippie

Taylor was a toaster (yah she's weird)

Brynn was Pebbles

Ryan was Spider-Man

Corde was Clifford the Big Red Dog

They had a great time trick-or-treating. The weather was PERFECT!!!!!!!!!! They all got TONS of candy. Katya went alone with her friends for the first time and she loved it.

Got tagged again

2008-10-20T01:13:00.004-06:00

So I was a bit slow (still am) on getting the pics form our AMAZING Vegas trip off our phones. I got tagged by my friend Emily Sorensen in the mean time so here is some more about me....

Tagged--High school!
1. Did you date someone from your school? Pete Mickelonis, Travis Ougheltree, John Rupp and Jason Weed
2. What kind of car did you drive? I got rides
3. What was the most embarrassing moment of HS? I seriously can't think of one...
4. Where you a party animal? yah... I still am!
5. Were you considered a flirt? yes very much
6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? choir. Singing is still my life
7. Were you a nerd? In some circles I was. I was a floater. I had friends in all the "groups"
8. Were you on any varsity teams? no
9. Did you get suspended/expelled? no I could usually sweet talk myself out of anything
10. Can you still sing the fight song? not even a tiny bit
11. Who were you're favorite teachers? My choir director Mr. Kuehn
12. Where did you sit during lunch? I ate in the music building
13. School mascot? Trojan Warrior
14. Did you go to Homecoming and with who? What year? Sophomore - Travis Oghletree Jr - Pete Sr - Jason
15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Some parts
16. What do you remember most about graduation? Super balls EVERYWHERE
17. Where did you go senior skip day? Down Town Portland. We were going to go to the beach but we left too late
18. Were you in any clubs? nope
19. Have you gained any weight since then? yah
20. Who was your prom date? Jason Weed and Mindy K (LONG story)
21. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Didn't go. Was told that was a good decision
22. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself? Don't date Jason

A 'tag' from Amy...

2008-10-09T01:27:00.004-06:00

Three names I go by-
Jen
Sexy
New Boobs Jen

Three restaurants I love-
Cheesecake Factory
Red Robin
Melting Pot

Three trips to plan in the next year-
Caribbean cruise
Las Vegas
Portland. Or

Three things I want badly-
A cleaning wife
Endless cash flow to help my family
Remodeled bathroom/laundry room

Three pets I have had-
(currently)
2 dogs
8 cats (anyone want a kitten?!!)
4 fish, a frog, a snake and a hamster

Three things I did yesterday-
Got my hair done
Taught 60 kids a new song
Had a girls night with my ward friends

Three things I ate today-
Piece of cinnamon bread
Chicken tacos
Cupcake

Three fears I have-
Loosing Joe
House burning
Loosing Breezy or Danita

Three things I plan(ned) on doing today-
Get nails done (hair dresser took too long LOL!)
Getting hair done
Laundry

Three things I plan on doing tomorrow-
Get nails done
Go to movies with Amy and Justyn!!!!
Pack for vegas!!!!!!!!!

Three favorite holidays-
Christmas
Halloween
St Patrick's Day

Three favorite beverages-
Water
Dr Pepper
Very Berry Raspberry Lime-aide @ Red Robin

Three things I can't live without-
(Other than my family)
Cute shoes
Books
Joe

Three people I tag-
Holly P. , Janelle , Emily S & Emily R (same name counts as 1 right?)

Sunday Drive

2008-10-05T22:25:00.002-06:00

After Conference we decided to take a drive up the canyon to see the color change. It was so beautiful! I took so many pictures.

We took pictures of the kids and they are so wonderful I have decided that Danita will come back every year in Oct to take our pictures there.

WOW!! We have been busy!

2008-10-05T15:20:00.001-06:00

Between all the soccer games

acting classes

gymnastics and play rehearsals we also fit in G-ma Eames's birthday

family pictures

Melissa's birthday party

buying a new car, a visit from my sister Holly, dr appointments (to set up one final surgery...), Joe and I went on a benefit motorcycle ride for Cpt. Terry who was shot in June, and auditions for the Christmas play at the OBT. All 3 of the girls are in it!!! They are so excited!! Then the best thing of all happened!!! Danita my bestest friend in Oregon came to surprise me last night!!!! She came with her sisters Jaeda and Casey and Casey's room mate Candice.

I will highlight the best ones in their own blog so make sure you take a look to see all the great pics!

Danita!!!!!!

2008-10-05T15:12:00.003-06:00

9pm last night....

We had just come home from the movies with the kids. Joe and I were sitting down to watch our shows we had tivo'd when the doorbell rang.

I ran up the stairs thinking who the heck is at our house at 9pm!?

I opened the door and there was my best friend!!!!!!!!! DANITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was SOOOOOOOOOOOO happy to see her!!!!

She was with her sisters and her sister's room mate. They came in and we talked, looked at pics and surfed the web watching videos. Jaeda played with the kittens and Casey played with my kids. Then we all left and wet to Red Robin where we had the BEST waiter in the world!! Peter at the District Red Robin ROCKS! The bar tender was awesome too!! He found me a lime when they thought they were out!!! Just for me!!!!! I yelled "THANK YOU!!!!" Across the whole restaurant. He help up the pitcher he had in his hand and yelled back "Your welcome!"

We had the best time and ate YUMMY food.

Thanks for coming to see me Peanut!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Car!

2008-10-05T15:11:00.001-06:00

After our motorcycle trip Joe has talked nothing (well almost) but upgrading the bike. When our friend (friends we rode with) called to say his dad was selling his bike (the one they rode) Joe was all over it and really wanted to get it. I wasn't really fond of the color. So he began looking around for other bikes.

I asked him how we were going to pay for it and he broke it all down AND added that in the spring we would get a new car with the tax return. We began to look for what we wanted to purchase in the spring. We decided on a Mazda 5. A few days later I was thinking in the shower... getting a new motorcycle now is so stupid! We would ride it for what 3 more weeks then store it all winter?! We need a car that fits us all before winter hits. Gas is too expensive to drive the truck all winter.

I took my thoughts to Joe and he reluctantly agreed. We began actively looking for a car. We're getting paid 5k from a side job in a month or so so we wanted to be out the door that much or less no matter where we bought it from. Our civic is paid off and we can get about 10 out of it. It proved to be harder then we thought as there just weren't very many Mazda 5's to be had that worked for us.

There was one in Spanish Fork that was perfect it was just so far we had to plan a time to go see it. That day came and Joe called me to get eh phone # to make sure they knew we were coming. I logged on again that afternoon, having already been on that morning and saw nothing new, and there it was!!!! It had only been listed for 2 hrs. It was our car!!! I called Joe and he called the people and we ran straight up to Syracuse, drove it and bought it in less then 2 hrs. We are so thrilled!!! We love it!!!

We got a great deal on it. It is worth way more then we paid for it AND it came with a dvd system!!!

Benefit Ride

2008-10-05T14:42:00.003-06:00

Joe's cousin Darren is a police officer. The police captain of Lehi was shot twice in the head in June buy a crazed woman when he pulled her over for reckless driving.

His med insurance is not covering all his medical bills so they have been having fundraisers for him. We were told about a benefit ride from him.

We rode from the Lindon Harley store and headed south to Spanish Fork and rode the Mt Nebo loop. It was SOOOOOOOOOO beautiful!!! I took so many pictures with my phone. We had a great time. We came back up north to Lehi to have a bbq lunch at the park.

There were over 300 motorcycles on this ride. It was incredible!!! We were so glad to be a part of it.

Soccer Days

2008-10-05T14:26:00.003-06:00

It begins....

2008-10-05T14:23:00.002-06:00

Katya has officially entered the "Pre-teen Zone"

Only my son....

2008-10-05T13:26:00.006-06:00

Would think of this...

I went out to the mailbox and came back in to find this...
He figured something sticky would work to keep the metal thing on his face...

Miracles Still Exist!!

2008-09-20T09:16:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago we returned home from camping over a long Labor Day Weekend. The next day the kids immediately went back to school and life went back to its faster then the speed of light pace. The following Tuesday I realized that I hadn't seen Belle since we came back home.

I immediately thought the worst since she is not one to just run away or wander off and not find her way home. We had just had a large section of our yard treated for ants and thought she had eaten some of the poison. Then a few days later the thought came to me, what if she had gotten into the car, fell asleep and I went to the school that Wednesday afternoon and left the window down and she got out....

So I posted on KSL and Craigslist. A week went by and nothing. And now here we are. I had decided to admit defeat and that she was gone or very happy somewhere else. I awoke this morning to my cell phone ringing. I answered and got horrible static and a loud tone like a fax machine. I hung up and called them back. A lady named Cassie answered and said she thought she might have my cat. They have had her for quite some time and hoped it was mine but at the same time hoped it wasn't as her children have grown to love her. And who wouldn't?! She is a very special cat.

Here lies the miracle. Cassie has never been to craigslist. Her daughter lost her cell phone and was given the idea to look on craigslist. So Cassie got on this morning and after looking for the missing cell phone thought she should check to see if anyone posted this cat lost. Sure enough there she was.

Now we have our sweet Belle back home. I am overjoyed!!!

Thank you Cassie and kids SOOOOOOOOOO much!!! You took such good care of her!! I will remember you for always!

It Begins.....

2008-09-18T10:06:00.002-06:00

The madness and the insanity that is school and extra curricular activities!!

This year is by far our busiest ever!!!!!!!

Here is a break down of our week.

Mondays
Gymanstics for Katya and Brynn
School play rehearsal for Katya and Taylor

Tuesdays
Soccer for Ryan (every other Tuesday)

Wednesdays
Play rehearsal for K and T
Soccer practice for Tay

Thursdays
Acting classes for Tay
Soccer games for Tay
Soccer games for Ry(every other)

Fridays
We get those off!
But we try to do something as a family

Saturdays
Soccer for Tay and Ry

In addition to all of this I am doing the music portion for the school play, my choir just started back up again and Joe is Taylor's soccer coach. So we are staying SUPER busy.

Pictures soon to come!

Come One, Come All to the State Fair!!

2008-09-09T14:32:00.003-06:00

We had a great time at the fair Monday night. We met up with the Marshes. Chris is Joe's boss during the day. Lindsay is my friend and all the kids are great friends. They had the best time with each other!

We met up in the rabbits and from there went and saw all the other livestock, the fruits and vegetables. We saw a magic show but Chris and I agreed that it felt more like we were watching a televangelist perform tricks! LOL!!! It was pretty lame.....

From there we went and ooo'd and ahhh'd over the tigers from India. They were pretty neat! And so pretty. We headed over to see the Funniest kids competition. It wasn't all that funny.... so we left and caught the end of the reptile show. It was so cool! I got there and in a good position just in time to be picked to go and pick up a GIANT tortoise!!! That was pretty cool and the kids thought I was awesome! The kids got to have a boa draped around their shoulders. Ry started freaking out. Last week he had a dream that a snake bit him and was trying to eat him. We made him touch it and really look at it. Now he is just fine and likes snakes again.

We ran across the street to get McD's for the kids. Came racing back in time for the kids to squeeze their way up in to the front area to see the tiger show. They loved it. Except K pushed Ry and he hit his head on a wheelchair. So he came out crying and Joe had to take him off somewhere to get him to quit crying. I was walking around the back of nearly 1000 people TRYING to get pics of the tiger show. I finally got a pretty decent location but had to stand on my tip toes to get any pics. The show ended and we all regrouped but we couldn't find Joe or Ryan. We finally all came together. The Marshes went on their way home and we stayed for another hour and got treats and walked around.

It was a fun filled night. The kids all had a great time. Next year I think we will use the all day ride pass deal if they do it again.

Opa!

2008-09-09T13:35:00.000-06:00

On Sunday afternoon we headed downtown to the Greek Festival. I have a dear friend who is a member of the parish and in the choir for the festival. I also wanted the kids to see traditional Greek dancing. It was amazing! It was so much fun to watch the dancers. The kids loved it!

We had yummy Greek food and Taylor got to join a dance circle. It was alot of fun!

I Graduated!!!

2008-09-04T23:09:00.002-06:00

I am all done going to physical therapy!!!

I still have exercises to do at home but I am done seeing the therapists and having 2 hrs of my day gone. I was going 3x a week for 2 hrs each time. then the last 3 weeks was 1x a week. I was there for almost 3 months.

If feels good to be done! The exercises I need to do at home are harder but they take up less of my time so that is always good!

I am on my way to being fully healed!!!!

How was your Labor Day Weekend?

2008-09-02T14:38:00.009-06:00

We had a great time!!!! Friday night we met some new friends and introduced them to the OBT. We went to the improv show that night and it was insanely hilarious!!!

Saturday we packed up and went down to Manti, Ut and met with Darren and Stacey and Kale camping. We had a great time!!! It stormed both nights but during the day it was perfect weather for 4 wheeling and just hanging out.

Everyone but me got to go out on the 4 wheelers. I got some reading done. The kids got to swimming (forgot to grab the camera and didn't think about it while they were swimming) Brynn learned to ride the little 50cc dirt bike all by herself!!! She is a natural!

We stayed up late Sun night and played games in Darren and Stacey's trailer. I was getting totally pissed cuz I sat on phase 3 of Phase 10 for 6 turns!!! What made it even more aggravating was I was 1 card away from going out as soon as I got my hand and it stayed that way the WHOLE round 6 times!!!! It was frustrating.....

It was a nice way to end the summer. On our way home we saw the most horrible thing...
There is SNOW on Mt. Timpanogos!!!!!!!!!!!

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell I'm not ready for summer to end....

It's Triplets!!!!

2008-08-28T23:58:00.002-06:00

My sister's Momma Kitty that we are taking care of as they are between permanent housing had her babies!!!

I was out for a girls night and Joe tried to send me pics on my phone but my phone is acting weird...

But I had a wonderful surprise when I came home!!! I am sad the kids missed it. She had them after they had gone to bed.

Yes... I am Spoiled....

2008-08-25T13:49:00.009-06:00

Joe and I had an unbelievable weekend!!!

We went on a 4 day motorcycle trip with friends of ours up to Jackson Hole! It was incredible and I can't wait to go on another bike trip!

We left home at 4:30. We wanted to leave at 2 to beat traffic since we had a couple stops in SLC to make before really getting out of town. Instead we hit the heart of rush hour and added yet another hour to our trip. After a few pits stops to gas up and once thinking we ran out of gas (really Joe just forgot what tank we were running on...) we made it to St Anthony at 11pm. We were freezing cold! The temperature dropped just before we hit Idaho Falls and going 75 down the highway made it 1000x worse! Not to mention our butts were SOOOOOOO tired and sore. So we were so glad the hotel had a 24 hr hot tub. We got settled and went for a dip only to find the hot tub was ICE cold! That was frustrating. We enjoyed our rest and set out the next day for Jackson Hole.

We went with Derek and Tracy who live in Rexburg. They had a kids football game to be at that morning so we went and visited Justin and the boys. Holly was in Oregon at our sister Becky's baby shower. They were sad that we didn't have their kitties or our kids with us but they had a blast trying on our helmets and shooting each other with a Nerf gun with them on. Carter and Brenden each went for a ride. They LOVED it!

We left them and headed to Derek and Tracy's house. They finished getting their bike loaded and we were off! We had thought about going through Yellowstone before heading down to Jackson but decided it was going to make the ride less relaxed. So we cut down through Swan Valley. The ride was amazing! Absolutely breathtaking. We arrived in Jackson and got a quick bite to eat and did some shopping before we headed to see The Bar J Wranglers. That was Joe's whole reason for going. They were fabulous and well worth the drive and sore butt. You will have to watch for them to come to your area or go out to Jackson Hole.

After the show we retired to a bed and breakfast just outside Jackson in Victor called Fox Creek Inn. It was a beautiful home. Our hostess Julie was very accommodating to our late arrival. We were disappointed yet again... the hot tub there was also not functioning properly. We were tired enough that it wasn't a big deal. Breakfast the next morning was perfect! The grounds were so pretty and Julie is an animal lover. She has a 27 yr old parrot and a sweet dog who is very good at begging.

We went sight seeing that morning. What a beautiful country we live in! We hit an antiques show in Teton Village. We headed back to Jackson and did some more shopping. It was getting close to head home time so we went to the base of the Tetons and had lunch. We had a great time sitting and eating and talking. So much in fact that we left an hour and a half late. We said our goodbyes. Derek and Tracy went back home. Joe and I took the back highways to Eden to our condo up there. We got there at 9:30 and BEGGED them to keep the hot tub open just a bit longer. They let us stay til 10:30. It was just perfect! We met some really nice people and had a great night.

Now we're home and letting our bums recover. Our next adventure begins on Friday when we go camping in Manti !

Shopping with Mom

2008-08-21T20:46:00.000-06:00

I took Ry Ry with me to get last min things for the motorcycle trip Joe and I are taking.

We had a fun time.

Brynn's Parties

2008-08-20T22:57:00.005-06:00

Yah I know most kids don't have friend parties every year but I LOVE parties so my kids get one!

This years party for Brynn kind of snuck up on me. Not sure how... but it did. I have these HUE plans for a water party at the park with the fire truck there to get all the kids wet... oh well. Next year! This year we did fairies.

After all the girls arrived we made Tinkerbell magnets. The kids LOVED it. Then we had cake and ice cream, presents then they used Brynn's new make up and dressed up like fairies. It was simple and fun and the kids had a great time.

Monday night we had all the family over to celebrate Brynn. We had a bbq and did presents and cake and ice cream and all the cousins played. I love when my family gets together.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYNN!!!!!

2008-08-19T12:28:00.006-06:00

From the moment Brynn was born she was a special child. She had already had devil horns made out of her hair before she was even finished being born(Thanks Dr. Jarrett), she received 10s straight across on her APGARs which is very rare, after 10hrs of being born she smiled not once but 4 times in an hour. She continued to smile for everyone who came to see her.

Brynn's birth was by far my easiest. I was released a day early and went from the hospital to Katya's pre-school orientation. That made up for the 6 straight months of vomiting I had during my pregnancy. Well almost...

She was a super happy baby for 3 weeks and then she began to become more irritable and started projectile vomiting after every feeding. I noticed she was loosing weight because clothes that fit her at birth were too big. Her 6 week check up came and she had gone from a happy 8lbs to just over 5. My whole world started crashing down. We stopped nursing thinking it was my milk but even water made her vomit. We monitored her for another week and she lost another 6 oz. We were sent to Primary's right then. They ran some tests but found nothing. They kept her for monitoring. She was there for 3 days and we were sent home. She was still loosing weight so after another week and 5 more oz they kept her another 8 days. She continued to decline. They ran every test and could find nothing abnormal that could be causing it. My baby was slowly dying and they could tell me nothing. I had my first and only nervous breakdown that week. Joe was so scared he thought he should call for an ambulance.

On her 3rd day(the 2nd time) they tried a feeding tube to her stomach but she would vomit. So they put a tube to her intestines. When she was released we were sent home with a pump. Over the course of 2 weeks she pulled the tube out 8 times and we had to take back to Primary's every time to have it put back in. It was put in every time with out anesthesia. After the 4th time I couldn't watch or listen. It was too hard to hear her scream. It was sometime around this time that they suggested we think about putting a shunt in her abdomen. It would be permanent and stunt her overall growth. We told them we would think on it.

After the 8th time, on Christmas Eve, I said enough was enough. That time she had her hands taped down and she was asleep. 15 seconds later (the time it took me to open my car door walk around the car and open hers) It was all the way out of her body. I said a silent prayer and went into WM to get last min items. Since we had been in the hospital all day no one had really eaten so I got some popcorn chicken for me and corndogs for the 2 girls. Brynn kept making sounds and looks of wanting to eat my food. At this point I was in the baby dept to get diapers ect... I told Brynn that she was too little for big people food. She began to cry. Then what has only happened to me once before in my life I heard a distinct voice tell me to feed her solids. I didn't think twice and began filling the cart with baby food. I didn't know how I was going to feed it to her since she didn't know how to eat from a spoon but I didn't care. As I rounded the corner a bottle stood out from all the rest. It was a feeder bottle. Works with suction. You fill it with baby food or rice cereal and as they suck on a nipple the food is pushed up. It was exactly what I needed. I bought 2 of them and hurried home. She ate the food so fast I thought she had inhaled it. I waited and waited. No vomiting! That was the best Christmas ever! 3 days later I was able to tell her dr the wonderful news. With in a month she had gained back a whole pound! She stayed in the negative end of the size graph for 2 yrs but was steady in her growth so we were happy.

Now she is as healthy as could be. She is still tiny but makes up for her size in ambition and leadership. She can be quite ornery and bossy. I wonder sometimes if it isn't from all the unpleasantness she suffered through as a tiny baby. But she is our miracle child. We love her and wouldn't trade her for anything. I fear for her life everyday thinking that I was only lucky the first time and that I really won't get to keep her. Amazing what trauma does to your brain.

Brynn is super smart. She is one of the top readers in her class and only 1 of 4 who knew all of her letters (upper and lower) and all their sounds. She is great at math as well. We are so proud of her.

Happy 6th Birthday Brynnie!!!

Update Complete

2008-08-10T01:34:00.005-06:00

I have caught up 3 weeks worth of blogging. 11 posts in all.
So you will have to go back 2 pages!

Go see how busy we have been!

Happy reading!

The Zoo

2008-08-10T01:32:00.001-06:00

So we have added 2 more animals to our zoo.

Holly and Justin are inbetween homes and needed a place for thier cats. We are happy to have them and the kids LOVE them. Here is the kicker!

Her one cat came to us PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crazy Animals

2008-08-10T01:19:00.006-06:00

Weekend with the Fredricksons and Westovers

2008-08-04T00:54:00.002-06:00

What a great fun camping trip!!!!

We went with Lisa and Zane and Lisa's family. Lisa's parents have a Camper World membership and came along with us so we could all go to the campground up near Plymouth. They are along the line of hot springs that runs up in that area. The in ground pool is fed by one of the springs. It was wonderful!

Lisa's brother Brian and his wife Tiffany came up with thier kids and we all had a blast! It turns out Tiff and I grew up in the same region and went to the regional activities. I knew her! She was wearing purple birks and I only knew one other person who had them besides my best friend. Her! I saw her on the beach trip when we were like 16. It was so fun to talk of Oregon ect.. we just really hit it off!

The kids swam and swam and swam some more. They LOVED it! I got kind of frustrated cuz even though I put sun block on my kids 4x in as many hours they all came home as lobsters! I think the 102 deg water had something to do with it..... I got some nice sun and got more of my book read. It was a very relaxing time.

Sat night Lisa's other brother came up and we sang songs around the campfire. We heard a whole group of coyotes howling and they had pups it sounded so cute! No one wanted to leave. I have decided we must do it again allot!

Crash

2008-07-30T22:19:00.001-06:00

While I was off running errands Holly took the kids to the splash park.

It was all fun and games until someone got a black eye.

Yup Ryan again....

AMERICAN IDOL!!!!!!!!!!

2008-07-29T22:50:00.001-06:00

What a crazy day!!!!

Britt and I got to the arena just after 5am! We sat around outside til 7:30 when they started letting people in. There were people singing everywhere and talking about the last time they did this. It was interesting to see how much talent really was there. Kind of overwhelming. There were those who were there for attention as well and sucked but how else will you be on tv?!

Once we were in the arena in our assigned seats we waited for the auditions to begin. Before they did they had to do all the filming for the show showing all the hopefuls. Then Ryan Seacrest came out to do his little parts going and coming from commercials.

Once all of that was done the auditions began. Our section was 3rd to go!!!!!! I don't know how we lucked out but it was nice! The anticipation grew. Brittany finally made it down to the floor.
They had 11 tables set up each with 2 producers. Groups of 4 went before them and sang one at a time. After they were all through the producers would decide who is any went on . Then the next group of 4 would step up. It was quite efficient.

After all the suspense my awesome sister did not move on. We were all sad and heartbroken but she took it in stride and chalked it up to a learning experience.

GO BRITT!!!!!!!!!!

Milestones

2008-07-28T21:19:00.002-06:00

Today was the first day of school for the 2008 school year!!!

Katya is in 5th grade and in Ms Bridenstiene's class

Taylor is in 4th grade and in Mrs Leavitt's class

Brynn is in 1st grade and in Mrs Murphy's class.

So I have 3 in full time school!!!!!!!!

Ry Ry is glad to have me and the house all to him self. I am still trying to find a good pre school for him that isn't full and doesn't cost a fortune! If you know of one LET ME KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday (the day before school starts lol) Brynn learned to ride a 2 wheeler!!!! We are so proud of her!!! She got to ride to school like a big kid with her big sisters!

BRITTANY SPEER!!!!!!!!

2008-07-27T22:08:00.001-06:00

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Its Brittany Speer!!!!

Ok not THAT Brittany.......... but my super cool sister!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday night I went to the airport and got her then Sunday at 5am we went to the Energy Solutions Arena to register her for AMERICAN IDOL!!!!!!!!!!!! We were done by 8am!! We were SOOOOOOOOOO surprised!

After church we went to Park City since she has never been there. We had a BLAST!!!! On Sundays they have an open air market so that was fun! Then we just wandered and took in the sites. It was a beautiful day! We saw a real live Lotus!!! Took pics with the giant cow and the moose. We took the back way home through Heber.

Royal Tea Party

2008-07-26T23:52:00.001-06:00

My niece Leah is now 3! My sister Emily had a royal tea party for her. It was magical!! I couldn't have planned it better!!!

I can't even describe how perfect the day was so just view the slide show.

I am pretty proud of the cake though... I made it myself. Its rolled fondant with skittles!

Isaac Platt's Birthday!

2008-07-25T23:49:00.001-06:00

The kids had a great surprise yesterday! Our good friends the Platts, who lived behind us in West Jordan and then moved to California shortly after we moved to Riverton, came into town for Pioneer Day like they do every year.

This year was special though. We celebrated Isaac's birthday early so his friends here and ALL his cousins could be here to celebrate him! The girls were SO excited to see Isaac and his brother Parker and sisters Chloe and Ella. I was so happy to see them all too! I love her family as if they were my own.

We went to The Tesseyman's(Steve's family) home so we could caravan to the swimming pool. The kids had the best time! Holly caved and got inner tubes for all the kids to share amongst themselves. They did a very good job of sharing too! There was a slide and a whirlpool and lazy river. Every one was quite upset when it was time to leave. We went back to the Tesseyman's for pizza and cake and ice cream. Then the favorite part of all the kids. PRESENTS!!!

After the party died down we stayed to just be with the Platts a little longer. The girls had a great time playing with their friends who live so far away. We finally left kicking and screaming at nearly 11pm! Ok I was kicking and screaming...... I love my best friend so much. It is very hard to be so far away from her. But I do save $$ HA HA HA!

Happy Birthday Isaac! We love you Platts!

Enjoying The Arts

2008-07-23T15:48:00.001-06:00

We went to see the new play at the OBT on Monday. They are doing the 12 Dancing Princesses. It was very good although I could tell they weren't quite ready . They had a guest director and I am sure that made thing just a little more difficult then normal. It was a great show and my kids LOVED it!! We went with my whole family because one of the princes is my brothers best friend Brady. I tried to get pictures but my camera died after 2 crappy ones! I got some others with my phone but I haven't gotten them off my phone yet.

Tuesday I went up East Canyon near Park City to watch my sister Sarah perform in the jazz band up there at band camp. She is a great trumpet player and loves it. She is a bit like me though... She left her trumpet on the bus when she got to camp!!! The concert was wonderful and it was great weather.

After that I met up with my best friend Holly(who now loves in Cali) and we practiced the art of shopping. We had to get stuff for her son's birthday party later that week. We also happened to find some really good deals on the clearance racks! It was a happy day!

Sleepovers, Animals, Birthdays and Fireworks too!

2008-07-21T15:06:00.006-06:00

Busy weekend!

Friday night we went and saw the new Batman movie Dark Night. WOW!!!!!!!!! What a great movie!!!!!!! One of the best in the last decade! We went with Darren and Stacey so we had Kail over for a sleepover after.

The next morning we wet to Liberty Park in Salt Lake for the Animal Planet Expo. It was all free and the kids had a blast there. Tons to see and do. We were in the right place at the right time to see the dogs do Frisbee tricks. The kids LOVED that one! We also got to get up close and personal with some pretty exotic animals. It was SOOOOOOOOO hot and the kids found giant barrels of water. Before I could even register what they were doing they were all soaked head to toe. By the time we got to the car they were dry!

Right after that we all headed to Bountiful for Jackie and Russel's birthday lunch. I got Jackie the entire Twilight set! Think goodness for Walmart!

Just after we got home Jim and Joelle called to see if we wanted to go down to American fork for the Fireworks that night. So we packed back up and went down there to have dinner at the park then we went to the High School to watch the fireworks, It was great! The kids LOVE Kaleb and they had a great time just being able to run around.

The Best Weekend EVER!!!

2008-07-13T17:33:00.002-06:00

This weekend was supposed to be a major let down. We had planned to go to Bear Lake with Joe's cousin Darren. They were going to go up Friday and I was to meet them Sat afternoon after my choir meeting. The brakes on the truck were going out and Joe forgot to take the part with him to my cousin Jerry's work to get them fixed so it put it back a day. On top of that we checked out the camp areas up there online and it was going to be $50 just to camp!!! For one night!

So we bagged the Bear Lake idea and we were just going to stay home and maybe go to a movie. Then Joe's mom asked if she could take them and suddenly the weekend held possibilities.

We took the kids to Grandmas Friday night so we could go get the truck. We went to Red Robin and we WERE going to go see Get Smart but ended up just walking around the District (outside mall) and talked through the whole thing! It had been so long since we just talked with out anything else going on, places to be, kids interrupting ect... it was SOOOOO nice! We stayed up WAY too late and slept in. I had an hour to get ready and be to my choir meeting at noon! While I was there til 5 Joe went to the movies with his friends Tony and Phil.

When we met back up we went to our favorite Indian restaurant and then headed downtown to our hotel! We stayed right downtown and walked to the OBT for the comedy show. It was so nice and warm! The show was AMAZING!!! The guys were so on! I hadn't laughed so hard in my whole life! We walked back to our hotel after we stayed and talked to the theaters owner for and hour! The hotel had a hot tub open 24 hrs! We had the best time staying up til 3am!

This morning we got up just before 11 and ran down to catch breakfast before it closed then we got ready and headed to Park City. There was a street market so we walked though that then went to the book store to inhale the wonderful chocolate store that shares a building. Mmmmmmm

We drove the back way and passed through Heber and stopped at the church there. 11.5 yrs ago Joe and I had our first kiss there under a tree. It was fun to be there again and remember that day. I love every second of this weekend. I am so glad it turned out way better then we expected.

All Caught Up!

2008-07-08T22:21:00.001-06:00

Read on to see our fun adventures!

There are 6 new posts full of pictures and craziness!

4th of July Weekend!

2008-07-07T13:20:00.003-06:00

Thursday we headed out to go camping with my dad and brothers and my sister Sarah. We tried to convince my mom to go but she was tending Brad and Janelle's kids and didn't want to bring them out. We were sad but we had a good time.

We got there a bit later then I wanted but it all worked out. We camped up at my dad's stake property in Spanish Fork Canyon. It was so pretty and we were all alone! Well except for all the flies and bugs....

I started dinner while Joe set up camp. My brothers got there about 30 min later and helped Joe and set up their own tent. Just as dinner was ready my dad and sister pulled in. We had a great dinner and then spent the rest of the night singing songs around the campfire. My brother Alan brought his guitar. It was a great night. I wish all my family had been there. But we can plan another time.

Friday the kids spent all day swinging on the rope swing and going on rides on the 4 wheeler. My brothers left just before lunch to go to their other 4th plans. We had some neighbors join teh area. He was friends with my other brother Brad. He had his wife Brooke with him and their friends Sharon and John.

Me, Joe, Dad and Sarah all read and then played games til it was time to start dinner. Dad and Sarah had to get back to mom and the other plans they had. My sister Holly and her fam were supposed to come down and Joe's cousins were supposed to come up that day but neither showed so we had a TON of food at dinner. Just as dinner was ready the neighbors came back so we invited them to come eat with us. It was a really nice evening!

Saturday we woke up early and broke camp. I wanted to be out by 9:30 but we didn't make it. 10:15 was prety good. We got to Joes family reunion up Springville Canyon just at the perfect time and all went well. I was in charge if games for the kids and they had a good time. We had a fishing thing and water fights. Then a raffle and a piñata. After most everyone had left we had a small b-day party for RyRy.

That night all of Joe's family that was up from New Mexico and his cousin Darren came over to do fireworks. Darren is a cop and had boxes of illegals. It was so fun! Until we got caught.... It was really good to see his family from NM. We love them and don't get to see them very much and when we do see them our time with them is so short. I think we will go down when the kids go off track again.

Busy Week 2

2008-07-07T13:10:00.009-06:00

As you can see I had alot to catch up on. It just keeps comin....

Friday we went down to St George to buy a new trailer!!!! Love it and we love the family we bought it from! We are planning to go camping with them when they get a new trailer!

Monday we went to my parents house for Kyle's, Steven's and Ryan's birthdays.
We had a nice BBQ and time to just chill and hang out. I love my family. All the littles ones get along and love to play together. Steven made home made ice cream and it was so good!

Steven got gift card
good at the entire mall
downtown. Lucky....

We all pitched in and got Kyle a nice music stand and light so when he sings songs to teh kids on his guitar he can actually see his music! What a concept!

Ry was spoiled. We gave him a crap load of toys that Joe bought before he was even born. We had to wait til he was old enough to actually play with them.

That night we headed home with my brother Brad's dog Honey in tow. We kept her for 5 days while they went to Park City for their anniversary. She was a good dog and loved playing with my kids and dogs and my dogs loved having her around. We went camping for the 4th(another post) and she had a blast!

We went to Riverton Days for Ryan's birthday. We had Joe's cousin Darren and his family come with us. Kale(Darren's son) is Ryan's age and they are best buds. Everyone had a great time riding rides and playing games.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

2008-07-02T13:56:00.001-06:00

Ryan is 4!!! Time has gone by so fast. I can't believe my youngest is already 4! One more year and he will be in in Kindergarten! I did the math a while back and realized that when he graduates I will only be 45!!! I am excited about that!

We are so blessed to have Ry in our family. He is such a joy and so very loving. He loves to give hugs and kisses just because. My favorite is when he comes up to me and hugs me and says "I love you momma." Or when he touches my face and says "Momma you are so beautiful."

Ryan has been a challenge for me. He is a crazy boy and I wasn't sure I would be able to do a boy. When he started all his mischief (see Ryan Out Takes photo album) I was sure I wouldn't last.

He LOVES Star Wars which Joe is SOOOOOOOOO happy about. Joe has always been afraid that we would name him with Anakin as his middle name and then he would hate Star Wars. But no worries. He even put in a special request that he get a Star Wars Pillow from G-ma Eames.

Ryan loves to play outside with he friend Ryan. He also loves to make new friends and does so very easily. More so then any of my other kids. He is so smart. He has been able to recognize his letters and numbers for a year now and if I worked just a little more with him he could be reading very soon.

His favorite thing to eat is cereal. Joe spoils him rotten. He is very much loved by all his sisters and the rest of our families. He really wants a baby in our home. He is finding it difficult to understand why we can't have one like all his friends do. He is excited to learn new things adn LOVES video games.

Busy week!

2008-06-26T22:03:00.001-06:00

My niece Samantha turned 14! I can't believe how fast time has gone! She had a great party with her friends. She got some great gifts. Her fav was when her friend sang a song to her with his guitar. That was really neat.

On Wed I went out for a girls night. I came home and Joe informed me that the next morning I shouldn't be surprised if Ry Looks funny. Ryan was running through the house and slipped somehow in the front entry way and slammed his right eye into the corner of the bottom stair. He had a nice shiner for a few days.

The next day we had a surprise party to go to for our neighbors and friends. Rich turned 30! It was a great party. Every one had a great time. There was good food, a water slide for the kids to kmeep them busy so us adults could socialize. Lisa even made home made ice cream! YUM!

That night the girls had a sleepover. Every one got a make over. Even RyRy.

My Yellowstone Trip

2008-06-25T23:15:00.001-06:00

Day 1

We took the back way to Yellowstone passing by Bear Lake. It was so pretty up there! From there we stopped at the cheese factory then headed to Jackson Hole. We were able to hang out there for a couple hours. I had never been. After I had been there for 20 min I called Joe and told him we are SOOOOOO going on our bike ride up there! I LOVED it!!!!!

We got to Yellowstone. We headed straight to Old Faithful. After we arrived we all ran to the bathrooms to change into our choir wear. That was hilarious! I don't how the guys faired but having 20 women all trying to change clothes in one bathroom...... need I say more?

Our concert was wonderful. We were asked to sing longer but we all really wanted to go watch Old Faithful erupt.

Our hotel was in West Yellowstone. I got to have 3 room mates and 2 of the ladies I was so glad to get to know better. I already knew Shalynn.

Day 2

Today was a FUN day! We hit the South Loop. We saw some beautiful waterfalls and tons of wildlife. We got to see a momma bear and her baby cub. That was amazing! Along the way we saw HUGE snow drifts. We made the driver stop the bus so we could make snow angels in June!! That was awesome! At one of the falls we stopped at we all go together and sang a few songs. What a neat experience!

We walked through the hot pots and geysers and got stopped by a few herds of Bison along the way.

That night we went to the Playmill theater to see Oklahoma. It was fabulous!

Day 3

We ran the North Loop today. We saw more hot pots and geysers. Did ALOT of walking and took tons of pictures. It was so much fun just being together as a choir outside of practice. Of course we saw more wildlife! We ended our day on a chuck wagon ride into a canyon for a chuck wagon dinner. That was SOOOOOOO yum! It was so wonderful being out there and eating good food! I will do that again!

Day 4

We were invited to sing for two church services in West Yellowstone. What a great day that was. Both congregations were so grateful that we came to bless them with such beautiful music. Between services we had lunch out in the forest is our formal wear. That was fun and I'm sure to all those who passed us it looked quite funny.

We stopped in Idaho Falls for dinner and my sister Holly came to meet us. She used to be in the choir as well. It was so fun to have her there. Everyone was so excited to see her again. She brought her boys with her.

We headed home and got stuck on the freeway for nearly and hour! But in the end we all made it and were happy to be home and pass out all the gifts.

Happy Birthday Katya!!!

2008-06-25T08:58:00.005-06:00

I am late getting this posted. I was gone to Yellowstone on Katya's birthday and just got home late Sunday night.

Katya is now 10!!! A whole decade!! Its kind of surreal to know I am old enough to have a daughter that old.

It has been a wild ride with her. We never had the chance to have just her in our home. She was 3 months old when we found out I was pregnant with Tay. I went into a deep depression and had a hard time being a good mom to her. When her sister tried to come early twice I was not allowed to even hold her anymore. She had to learn to walk at 9 months at least while holding my hand. She was a very good sister when Tay came. I am sure she thought Tay was a doll. She was small enough to be one.

Katya has always been curious. I would find things in unusual places. Tampons in the cat dish, kittens in the garbage, dryer and dresser drawers, toys in the toilet, random items at the bottom of the stairs to the basement ect... Tay soon became her accomplice. As they grew up almost like twins they got into more trouble then sometimes I could handle. One such day they were 2 and 1. I put on Teletubbies and went to take my shower. When I came back down they had not only figured out how to open a child doorknob lock but had the buddy system down pat. They opened the door to the pantry then pushed a chair to it and had gotten the cannery cans of flour, oats and sugar off one of the high shelves. Then they covered my entire front room with the contents. I turned around went back up the stairs and called Joe. I told him he had to come home right then or his daughters would be dead. They also did it one day with green paint.

When Katya was around age 3 I noticed she had developed some anxiety issues. She was constantly worried about everything and every one. Temper tantrums got worse. Joe didn't see it. When Kindergarten came he did. She would cry all day long, hide under her desk and refuse to finish projects because they weren't perfect the first time. We decided to try teaching her how to recognize her feelings and change her reactions rather then run to meds first thing. It wasn't working so well. We continued that summer and hoped for the best in 1st grade thinking if its the same we take her in. A miracle happened that year. Marie Dalgleish. She saved our daughter. I really don't know how she did it. Katya still has her days but she is able to calm herself and control her reactions.

We love having Katya in our family. It is her anxiety that makes her so responsible. I know if I leave her in charge she will take charge and all will be well. She loves to create. Love animals. She loves school lasagna and chocolate milk. She loves to try new things with her hair and can do her own hair. She is very smart and does well in school. She is fantastic with little babies and will be baby sitting for her nieces and nephews sooner then I think.

We are so blessed to have her as our oldest. We love you Katya!

Joe

2008-06-17T21:09:00.002-06:00

Joe is the best!
The best dad, friend, husband, lover, game player, maker of PB&J, provider, spoiler, snorter(when he laughs), date, ect...

He is amazing! He has been a real trooper for the last 6 months while I have had surgery after surgery AND he even found time to take us all to Disneyland. For the last 6 weeks he has been getting up early to get the kids ready for school and sent off while I slept(sleeping pills) and recovered from my last surgery.

He takes the kids each week out on a date and me too! He works so hard for our family and very rarely complains. He stays up all night working and then works all day too. We are fortunate to have him here at home with us. We love him very much and I think it would be a really sad day if he ever has to work in an office again.

He is my best friend and he spoils me rotten. He hasn't complained at how filthy our home has been all year. He has just gone with the flow and loved me and cared for me and made sure I recovered from each surgery. I don't think I could have done it with out him.

Thanks baby! We LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Father's Day was a fun day. We woke up early(church is at 9) and made Joe breakfast in bed. Then we gave him his gifts. New sheet music for him to learn and play, flip flops for the summer and a new Chuck Norris t-shirt. He also bought a 4 wheeler that we considered to be a fathers day gift for him.

After church we just hung out with dad in the yard and waited til it was time to go to g-ma and g-pa Days house. We spent he rest of the evening there eating and talking and playing games. It was alot of fun being with my family.

Yesterday we took his dad and mom out to dinner for fathers day. It was a nice time and his dad LOVED it. He is a hard guy to do anything for. So we were glad he enjoyed it.

We love all our dads in our lives and are so grateful for all they did to raise us and help us be who we are today.

What a weekend!

2008-06-15T15:32:00.001-06:00

Read on to see all we did!

Flag Day Parade!

2008-06-14T15:16:00.007-06:00

We have 2 men in our ward serving in
Afghanistan. The Primary presidency
thought it would be a great idea if we
had a primary parade on flag day in
honor of all the people serving our
country.

What a great time it was!!!!!

We all met at the Lords' house. We
had a police escort down 2900 W
and while they rode on the side walk
down 13400 S. The kids thought that
was SOOOOOOOOOOOO cool!
Cuz it was!

Once we made it to the church parking
lot the kids were met with popcicles
and water.

After they got all sticky we headed
inside to sing patriotic songs, make
cards for the men from our ward and
took a great picture of our primary
kids that came that day.

It's a Luau!!!

2008-06-13T22:27:00.007-06:00

What a fun CRAZY day!!! It all ended perfectly with the best 10yr old luau!

I began my day by going to the physical therapist at 10am. Got there only to discover my wallet was missing! I searched the car, called Joe to search the kitchen and called Wal-mart. The last time I used it was at WM at 10:30 the night before getting balloons ect... How I left it at the register I will never know. Next I had a lunch date with Lisa Dutton and Kathy Blake from my ward. It was SOOOOO nice and much needed. I left them just after 3 and RAN to WM to pick up the birthday cake and Ice. Got home at 3:30. The party started at 4! I had 30 min to decorate and get the pizzas cooking. I DID IT!!!!!!!

The party was alot of fun. All the girls started out playing and getting to know one another. Only a few knew each other. Katya reunited recently with a friend from her school in West Jordan. Her family is great and we are fast becoming very good friends. What makes it even more funny is they know our really good friends Jim and Joelle!

We soon had Hawaiian pizza and sno-cones.

Once they were all sugared up we did presents. Katya had everyone wear the Indiana Jones hat while she opened their gifts.

Then the very looked forward
to event of the year. The hot tub.

After they all jumped on the trampoline and played a few games on their own (and dried off some) Everyone got grass skits! Even Chewie joined in!

Next it was time for cake and ice cream . I think this was my favorite part. I love the job WM did on the cake! It is exactly how I had pictured it! The ice creams were so perfect I could hardly stand it! I found them at Costco. They are fruit sorbets INSIDE actual fruit shells!!! They are SUPER yummy and a huge hit!

We did the limbo but it quickly lost interest. I turned on the kids station on the cable and the kids just jumped and danced. The Mr. C. Funky slide song came on so I taught the kids the dance. It was so much fun!

I sent the kids home wired, tired and filthy. They had fun.

Indiana Jones Madness!

2008-06-12T23:01:00.000-06:00

Ever since Taylor was in the Christmas play at the Off Broadway Theater we have not missed a single show of theirs. The most recent (as I have mentioned before) is a parody on Indiana Jones. They timed this to coincide with the new movie. The new movie inspired a new Wii game. Lego Indiana Jones found its way into our home. (The day it came out)

What sets us apart from other families is that we are not using the real character names. My kids and Joe and myself are using the perfectly chosen names from the play. It is so funny!

In the midst all this Indy madness Katya recently purchased an Indy costume from, her friend, Laura's garage sale. I was in Kaysvillle at my cousin Carmen's bridal shower when Katya brought it home. After I got home Joe showed me the pictures he had taken.

The kids had put on their own Indianapolis Jones play! Katya was Indy. Tay was Mara and Ry was Ping Pong!!!

I wish I could have seen it!!!

During all this Brynn was just hanging out with the new kitten.

All a Glow

2008-06-09T19:21:00.012-06:00

Tay had a great birthday. Her one wish was to have a glow party. Since my recent surgery and the fact that in order for me to sleep well I have to take a sleeping pill we could not have a sleep over. Tay was very sad but we had a super late party and explained my reasons to the parents and we had a great turnout!

We started with dinner and just plain old playing.
The kids jumped on the tramp and played in the
sandbox. Came inside to dance and write Tay a
message on the chalkboard.

Next came the gifts. Always the favorite!

After the kids had digested their food they were
allowed their 1 hour in the hot tub. Too hot for
them to stay in any longer.

Cake and ice cream filled in the time for it to get dark.

Once it was dark enough it was time for the real party to begin.

All the kids got to put on as much glow stuff as they could

including the flashing mouth pieces!

Once the glow gear was in place

it was time for hide and go seek
in the dark. It was so fun seeing
all the floating glowing things
running around the yard and
my circle.

All the kids had a great time and

kept saying it was the best party ever.

Every one was home by 11pm. It was a perfect party.

Next one is Katya's on June 13th.
It's a luau!

A Little Shoe Addiction?

2008-06-03T19:57:00.006-06:00

So I was talking to my best friend Holly and the conversation came around to the SUPER cute new flip flops at Wal-Mart. Are you surprised?? Didn't think so.... The conversation went some thing like this.

Me: "So remember the cute brown flip flops you got me for my birthday?"
Holly: "Yah..."
Me: "Did you see the new ones at Walmar.."
Holly: "The cute blue ones?"
Me: "Yah! I got the blue ones!"
Holly: "I restrained and just looked"
Me: "Did you see the brown ones with the yellow and green? I got those too!"
Holly: "I know what ones you are talking about!"

So as the conversation continued I admitted my addiction. Those 2 pair I had thought pushed me over the 80 pair mark. That does include grubby tennies. Atfter I got off the phone I went and counted. Sad huh? 85 pairs of shoes!!!! And I want MORE! How sick is that??? I think I need help.....

Here are a few of my favorites that I wear at least once every 2 months. Sometimes more.

Birthday Party Fun!

2008-06-01T23:17:00.010-06:00

Sunday evening we had a HUGE combined birthday party for Taylor, Katya and my brother Alan. My sister was down from Idaho and Brad and Janelle came down from Logan even though they have to come again THIS weekend! They brought their puppy Honey with them. Corde and Chewie were in heaven!

We had a full back yard and got to break in our new BBQ grill!!! We had over 30 people 16 of which were children!

There was tons of good food too!

My brothers took time to sit at the piano and sing. We all had the best time just hanging out.

Ryan, Andrew, Kaleb

All the kids had a BLAST!! The boys were jumping on the trampoline while the girls rated how well they did. It was SOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!

Leah & Camille

As the time for presents began my and Holly's friend Jen (from Oregon) came by with her kids and her NEW HUSBAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They sort of met 3 weeks ago and eloped on Friday!!!!! Holly and I were speechless then started screaming!!!

Welcome our newst family member

2008-05-31T23:31:00.002-06:00

My sisters cat had kittens. I saw the pics and KNEW we had to have the orange tabby!!!! So here he is our new bundle of joy. Prince Caspian.

Our new toy

2008-05-30T22:29:00.000-06:00

So Joe couldn't stand it ANY MORE. With the fact of my arm not being the best this year our hopes of lots of camping this summer were drowned.. So went and got the family a new toy!Even though I can't ride it, it will still make for great days this summer as a family.

Special Concert and School Carnival

2008-05-30T22:15:00.005-06:00

I had one of those weird "old mom" moments this last week. When I was 15 my stake had a youth conference. We called it Yagottawanna. It was an AWESOME weekend filled with talent shows, concerts, activities, movies, picnics, water fights, firesides, guest appearances and a HUGE dance at the end . It was one of the best experiences from when I was a youth.

One of our special guests was Steve James. He know writes all the music for the school safety program in Utah and other states I think. He came and did a special concert at my kids school!

It was so surreal seeing him and hearing him again. I went up and talked to him and he remembers very well that weekend in Hillsboro, Or. The concert was great!

After the concert the school had a HUGE fund raiser carnival. He kids had a blast! The kids got to dunk the principal! It was a great carnival!

I am SOOOO glad I live in an area where I can trust all the people around me so that my older ones could run off with their friends. I had to take them by myself and with one arm it proved quite a challenge to keep everything under control. We all made it home in one piece.

Happy Birthday Taylor!!!

2008-05-27T22:40:00.001-06:00

Today Taylor is 9 years old. I can't believe how fast time has gone!

Tay has grown and developed her own personality it wasn't until I went through pictures that I realized how she has had it all along. She is our actress. She has always loved to dress up and be in the spot light. It was such a thrill to see her up on stage last winter. She was amazing! We hope she will continue if this is what she wants to do. Here is a picture montage documenting Tay's life.

Taylor I am so proud of you! You have had more struggles and hardships in your short life then anyone should have to deal with. Yet you have remained strong and loving. You are a joy to our family and even though we weren't expecting you quite so soon we are SO glad you are here. You are turning into a remarkable young lady. We love you!

2008-05-27T22:32:00.001-06:00

I was putting together some pictures for a family thing and I made this one. I LOVE it!

Grand Opening!!!!

2008-05-22T11:22:00.007-06:00

Yesterday was the grand opening of the new Wal-mart by my house!!! I can now WALK to do my grocery shopping as soon as I can pull the wagon....

We had a great time looking at the new store and the kids had a blast with all the fun activities they had going on.

There was free ice cream and hot dogs. A air chamber the kids got to go in and catch coupons ect...

Free tattoos and tons of businesses offering free samples. Free balloons.

The Oscar Meier Weiner Mobile was there.

We had a good day. We bought a new bbq grill!!! Just in time for all the big b-day parties this summer!

Aunt Becky and Uncle Jake Visit

2008-05-21T23:15:00.002-06:00

My sister and her husband came to visit us and my kids. Mostly my kids. We had a great time.

They took Brynn and Ryan while the sisters came and made meals. They took them to run errands and then to lunch. I will get pics from them. Then That night the four of us took Katya and Taylor to see the Indianapolis Jones play at the OBT. We all LOVED it!!!! It was still funny the 3rd time!!!

Tuesday we just hung around the house and then went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory! YUM!!!!!!

Today we went to the grand opening of the new Wal-mart by my house!!! We had a great time. After Jake showed us what happens to Coke when you add Mentos.

The Best Friends (Ward) EVER!!!!!!

2008-05-20T08:59:00.003-06:00

As of yesterday I am 2 weeks post op from my shoulder surgery. I have mobility if my fingers but any other arm movements send me through the roof in pain. Fortunately that means I can type but basically nothing else in the house. Although most days it drives me up the wall not being able to function normally it has been nice to read and relax and watch movies oh since January.

ANYWAY................ Off the subject. I went to see my doctor last week and was told I will stay just like this. No physical therapy and in the sling for another month. No driving, cleaning, ect.... So I had this brilliant idea! Since to cook decent meals means using both arms or asking Joe to do it I called our compassionate service leader and told her the situation. I really didn't want the sisters bringing in meals for a whole other month+ so I asked her to gather a small group to come to my house Monday morning to make freezer meals! Aren't I a genius?! I had 6 women come to may house and they made 20 meals in 2.5 hours!!!!

I am forever grateful. I can't even begin to express how much that act of kindness meant to me. It has given me more of a feeling of independence. It has helped to make the light at the end of this tunnel a little brighter.

Thank you Kaelynn, Hilary, Tina, Nina, Lanae and Dawn for the super fun day!

Katya's New Look!

2008-05-14T18:20:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago we realized that Katya couldn't read the numbers for the hymns at the front of the chapel. So we started experimenting to see what she could and couldn't see. Nothing far away was the verdict.

Last week Joe took her to get her eyes examined. Today they went and picked them up. She looks so good in them. looks older I think. She is very excited for them. We have tried to make this as positive as we can since she does have the tendency to freak out.

She got to pick out a cool case for them as well!

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T22:49:00.006-06:00

We had a pretty quiet morning today. Church is at 9 WAY too early for Joe to be able to get me and 4 kids ready on time. I can't shower and dress on my own and apparently neither can my kids.

ALSO I was up ALL night til 3 am miserable and uncomfortable. I HATE HATE HATE painkillers. Hate how they make me feel so I only use them as a last resort. I guess I should learn to use my last resort before 3 am....

ANYWAY........

Joe got the kids there by 10am for Primary. They came home and we had lunch and cleaned up a bit.

We did gifts. The kids went all out this year!

Katya made me a few cards, a necklace, flowers AND a paper doll of ME complete with accessories and an arm sling!

Taylor planted flowers for me at her activity days. They are beautiful! She painted the pot herself!

Brynn drew a self portrait of herself at school using a mirror. It was a gift for both Mother's Day and Father's Day.

Ryan had an outline of his body done for me for mothers day so I will always remember how small he was.

Joe and the kids got me 4 movies to watch while I am stuck in bed.

Mona Lisa Smile (haven't seen!)

A Knights Tale
Footloose
Dirty Dancing

I LOVE those last movies!!!

They got me a whole hand full of the Utah Truffles. SOOOOOOOOO YUMMMMMMMM!!!!!

I also got more pieces of jewelry from my stash at my sisters house. I can't remember what is in there so its always a surprise!

I can't go in a car until Tuesday and my family was having a big bbq for mothers day. I couldn't go. So I texted my brother Steven to see if everyone wanted to come over for dessert. They did! So the kids and I spent the afternoon making treats.

Just before 9 all my family came!!!! I was SOOOOO happy to see them! I missed Brad and Janelle. They needed to get back to Logan. :( They had thier puppy with them and I wanted to see her! And thier kids of course!

Everyone had a good time playing the Wii (Joe got it while I was gone.)

We had yummy desserts and just talked. I am so glad they came to see me!

One Wild Ride

2008-05-10T14:40:00.007-06:00

Last Wed morning I left to go to Oregon to see my grandfather. He feels he doesn't have much time left here on earth so I figured I would fly out to see him before my surgery makes it so I can't go anywhere.

I arrived in rainy cold Portland at lunch time. My sis Brittany picked me up from the airport. We headed straight to the mall for shopping and lunch! Britt's best friend Dani met us for lunch but then had to leave. Danita(my best friend) met us for some shopping and Cinnabon. When Nitters had to go back to school Britt and I walked her to the train and the we went back for more shopping. We fully intended to go to the pet store see the animals but we got sucked into this awesome store called Papaya!! LOVE it!!!!!!! We left there and went to another shoe store. We had been there 5 min when the phone rang. It was my mom. She asked if I had my rental car yet. I told her we were still shopping. She asked if I was going to still get the car today. I said of course I was, what time is it? It was 10 to 5!!!!!!! I was supposed to pick up my car at 5 and we were nearly an hour away!!!!! We had been in papaya for over an hour and didn't even know it!!

We hauled booty out of there with all my 2 new pairs of shoes (one i have buyers remorse over), perfume, 3 new shirts, lip gloss and gifts for my sisters.

Britt knew all the back roads and we made it to the car rental place in 40 min! SWEETNESS! I met my friend Mindy at the car rental place and we ran back to Britt's to unload all my crap and so I could change clothes. Mindy and I left and picked Danita up from the train and we went to the beach!!!!!!!!

We went to Danita's parent's restaurant for dinner and had the best time!!!!!!!! Did any of us even think to take pictures? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO of course we didn't that would mean we were smart!!! We really did have a great time. After dinner we took Nita's sister Casey home and we chatted with their mom(my other mom) for awhile. We realized it was getting late and we needed to get back to the Portland area. We dropped Minders off and then Ni and I crashed at Britt's.

Thursday

Yes that was ALL in one day!!!

We spent the morning at Britts. She made us a yummy breakfast. Then I took Nita to the train and went to see my grandpa. He is doing well. In a mobilized wheelchair and has a hard time speaking. He was so happy to see me and pictures of the kids. We need to send him more pictures and stories. He really liked the stories about Ryan. Especially the peanut butter one. I went with him to lunch and we talked some more. He said he liked this new place better cuz they had better food. After his lunch was over he headed down to the common room for a movie. Since I had other places to go I excused my self from the movie and left. It was good to see him and fun to show him pictures. I wish I had had the sense of mind to take the kids to see him when we was there in August last year! With the car breaking down I didn't even think about it.

I left there and saw that my phone didn't work there and I had 3 missed calls. SO I called them back. One was my dad and he wanted to meet for lunch. I met him at Red Robin. We had a nice time and I showed him pics too.

After lunch I tried to go to Britt's but she want home yet so I headed into Hillsboro and decided to try and see the scoot. old neighbors of ours that moved. They weren't home. darn! I headed to my moms where there was a big party in honor of me. I was still kind of my birthday. I ended up in a chair showing pictures all night to all my family. Not really the socializing I wanted to do but I didn't have my kids here so they wanted pictures.

We had just over 20 people there. Of course my mom was there with my sister chelsie and my brothers Ben and Caleb, my dad, my sisters Lindy and Britt came with their boyfriends, my sister Becky and her husband Jake, my aunt Lori, her daughter in Lilian and her 2 kids, my aunt dana and uncle Mike, my cousins Jeremy his wife Taysia and thier son blake, cousin Heidi her daughter Annlawa and cousin Aaron, Danita and me. We had a blast and there was SOOOOOOOOO much good food!!!

I slept at my moms that night and the next day it was time to go home. Mom and I went to costco where the card Nazi wasn't going to let us in. Because my card didn't say I was an elite member even though I am we had to wait 20 more minutes before we could come in. Can you believe that!?!?! I was not very nice. I told her what I thought and we went in the other door. Stupid card Nazi.

We went to lunch. A bunch of us were supposed to be there but it ended up just me and mom and Debbie. It was good to see her and talk with her and hear how her family is doing. Her kids are my siblings ages. It was a good lunch. After lunch we went to Kohl's and I got entirely WAY too much jewelry then off to the grocery store where I saw my friend Leanna's sister Jen!!! It was so good to see her. Had I known Leanna was having a shower the next day I would have stayed for it!!! DANG!!!!!!!

I left mom and went to take my car back to the rental place only to have them tell me I had to take it back tot eh one in Hillsboro! UGH!!! SO back Otto Hillsboro I went. mom picked me up and then we went and got Danita and we were off to the airport!!! Danita got to fly to Utah with me!!!! Her brother was blessing the baby on sunday.

We got in just after 9pm. Joe came and got us and dropped us off at the movies!! Nita and I saw Made of Honor. SOOOOOOOOOO good!!!! After seeing Scotland on the big screen we decided that if Breezy doesn't come on the cruise with us then Nita and I are going to Scotland! My aunt lives there so we have a free place to stay!

SATURDAY

I had a nail appointment then we went and saw Iron Man. We is Joe , me , Danita, Joe's cousin Darren and his wife Stacie. After the movie we went o this new Irish place called McCools. Not the best but not bad. Danita and I went back to the house to get changed and then then Joelle showed up and us girls all left to go to Salt Lake to see the new play at the OBT!! Girls night! We met up with Danita's sister Jaeda at the theater. Joe and Joelle's husband went to the indoor football game! Every one had a great night. After the play me and Danita and Jaeda stayed for teh comedy show. It was hilarious!!! Danita and I got to go up on stage AGAIN! Before the play started Mike was asking for any birthdays or anniversaries and Danita and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary of being best friends! So back to the comedy show.... Danita and I got to do action figures!! We got to move the actors on stage in a scene. It was sooooo fun!!!

Sunday

Danita and I planned to go to Russ and Sarah's church together followed by Joe and the kids for the baby blessing. Mom and Dad Pappas REALLY wanted to see my kids. Well all Hell broke loose that morning. After my shower I was drying off and my shoulder dislocated!! I couldn't put it back in. Went to the instacare they were afraid to reset it so they sent me to the ER. They took me right back. After 2 hours of waiting for them to give me drugs and another hour for them to get to xray they came in to reset it . I moved my self, bumped my elbow on the bed and my shoulder went back in place!!! So all of that for me to do all the work! UGH!!!

We didn't make it to the blessing. I barely remember the rest of the day thanks to the drugs they gave. good drugs.... I didn't make it to choir either.

MONDAY
surgery next post....

My surgery

2008-05-10T14:15:00.001-06:00

Monday morning I went to get my shoulder fixed.

They had to cut off my CTR ring. Cuz of my dislocation the day before my hand had swollen up and there was NO WAY that ring was coming off. So they cut it off. It was cool! It left a great imprint in my finger.

I wouldn't let Joe take my picture. I already felt miserable from the day before AND I couldn't wear any makeup! Not even lipgloss!! So he got my feet.

Joe wore the LEAST appropriate shirt to my surgery. Like that surprises anyone....

I was in surgery for 2 hours and today is the first day I have felt half way normal. I have a cool sling better then last time. I had this neat ice pack thing that pumped ice water into a gel pack thing. It was much better then last time 3 yrs ago. crazy how things change in such a short amount of time.

My recover will be slow and steady. I will have less mobility in my arm when all is said and done but will be better for it and maybe this surgery will last longer.

I am at day 5 and I feel ok. I can't do much of anything. too much movement even of my body sends shock waves to my shoulder and I hurt. So I have been in bed and in a recliner until today. I do need to go rest though...

The ward has been AMAZING!! They have brought in meals and people have been coming in to clean and do laundry. It is so wonderful!!! They have saved Joe more then they or even he knows!

A Trip to the Dr

2008-04-29T19:04:00.003-06:00

So the last 2 weeks I started noticing my breast implant doing the same thing it was doing when I went in for surgery. My Dr had told me to start massage to prevent scar tissue. As soon as I started they fell right back into the same pocket they had created before. UGH!!!

I called my Dr this morning since Saturday I got some new bras to try and fix it without surgery. He really likes 2 of the choices I made so we will stick with those for 2 months and see what happens. O 2 more months of sleeping in a bra. JOY!

Anyway this was all so I could tell you the HILARIOUS things Ryan said!!!

While we were waiting for the Dr to come in I changed into a robe. Ryan started saying " What if I was a grownup and I had to go to the Dr but I went to the wrong Dr place. I went to the girl Dr place and I was a boy. A girl place like this."

I answered him saying "sometimes boys come to this Dr if they need noses or other parts of their faces or bodies fixed."

He said " Like lips?"

"Not usually" I said

Dr Warnock came in and I showed him my issue. Showed him the new bras. He stepped out so I could put one on for him to see if it gave good support ect...

I proceeded to put it on and Ryan says " Mommy you have nice boobies but they are broken huh?"

OH MY HECK!!!!!!!!!!! It took all I had to not laugh! I answered "yah they are kinda broken. Thats why I am seeing the Dr."

He then asked " why do mommy girls have big boobies and not little girls?"

I told him that Heavenly Father made mommies that way so they could feed their babies.

He looked shocked and said "They eat them!?!" It was even harder not to laugh that time!!!

Just then Dr Warnock was walking in.
I told him that no they don't eat them. The mommies make milk and the babies drink it from the mommies.

It was SOOOOOOOO funny!!! Kids!

Best and Worst Birthday EVER!!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-25T23:59:00.002-06:00

So this years birthday was SOOOOOOOOO much better then last years! But it also had a scary ending.

Yesterday was my 31st birthday. I did my usual Thursday thing and went to Taylor's class for spelling. I took treats in for the kids. Then I went to my nail appointment. I ran a few more errands and then WAITED for my favorite part of the day. DINNER

Joe took me to the Melting Pot [www.meltingpot.com] That is my number 1 favorite place to eat! It is so freakin expensive that we have gone 3 times now in the last 6 years. It is SOOOOOOOOO worth it! We went with Gordon and Kendra. Dear friends of ours. Kendra's birthday is 4 days after mine so we celebrated together. We had the BEST time!!! We were there for 3 hours! You don't even notice being there that long. That is why I love that place. You eat for 3 straight hours but it is just the perfect amount of food. You don't feel like you are going to die. UGH! I Love that place!!!

Anyway we had a wonderful time.

The scary part came just as we were sitting to dinner. Joe's dad called. Joe's mom had gone to the hospital feeling weird. The were keeping her for observation. Nothing serious had happened but they wanted to run a few more tests.

So today I went back to the school for Kids Market place. The 3rd graders all choose an occupation. Based on that occupation they get $$ to spend on life's necessities and they can choose how much they want to spend on those things. I was at the clothing table. Most kids picked yard sale/thrift store for $5. It is a great program and they learn that life isn't cheap.

I had plans to go to lunch with my cousin after I was done at the school. I got done a bit early so I came home to change. Only to hear that Joe's mom had a heart attack that morning! We went to go see her at the hospital. Thanks Lisa for watching Brynn and Ryan last minute!!

I took the car so I could go to lunch. Joe took his motorcycle. I got to the new hospital in Murray right near his parents house. I went to the place I was told and they told me they had no patient by that name!! I tried to call Joe. No answer. I wandered around the hospital for nearly 45 minutes! I went back to teh car to get my cell. Still no Joe. Finally he calls. He asks "Where are you?!" I ask him the same thing. I tell him I have been all over the new hospital and they don't have her in their system anywhere. He kind of starts laughing and says she is at the U hospital!! Why didn't he just say the U or the University Hospital??!! UGH! I get up there finally. Saw Mom. She is doing well (update on separate blog)

We left but I didn't have time to go to lunch :( So I came home and went to another nail appointment to fill my toes. Then Joe and I went to see the new play at the OBT (the same place Tay had her play)

It was the best show I have ever seen!!!! I laughed so hard through the whole thing! I LOVED it!! Everyone in Utah you HAVE to go see it!!!! The show is Indianapolis Jones and the Raiders of teh Temple of the Kingdom of the Last Crusade. It is an absolute riot!!! It runs every Monday, Friday adn Saturdahy night at 7:30. Mondays are 1/2 price!

I was having such a good time that we decided to stay for the improve show. It is my birthday! The improve show was just as good as the play.. Intermission came and I went to talk to Sandy the owner. We are friends. The show started again. My favorite skit came on. Half Life. They take a made up situation and turn it into a skit. The have 1 min to begin with. Then the cut it in half over and over til at the end they have 1 second to finish the scene. I am waiting to hear the audiences ideas when Cody who was MCing asked where Jen Eames was!!! I raise my hands and say thats me!! He tells everyone its my birthday and pulls me from the audience. He asks me about myself. My likes dislikes, job, husband what he does ect... I answer and he announces that this Half Life will be a day in the life of Jen!!!!!!!!! It was so freakin awesome!!!! I have never had the best time EVER!!!!!!! They were all so right on! It was the best!!!! I love those guys!!! I can't wait to go back. I think I will next weekend!

New Look!

2008-04-15T19:40:00.000-06:00

I got a new look today! I knew I would need to go short for my upcoming shoulder surgery.