Memories of MAY...

Let's see here... oh, yes... May started out with Jaren's first three day stay at the hospital for his respiratory problems. He's definitely following in his older brother's footsteps. We think he's allergic to milk and wheat so far. He's probably got allergies like the rest of the males in this family, go figure! The kids had fun visiting brother and playing in his "cage"!

Jaren was released on our anniversary, Cinco de Mayo. So we've been married for 8 years now. Good news... we STILL love each other. We never got to celebrate it, but we do fun stuff together every now and again anyways! I love you, Stinkyface! Thanks for the beautiful flowers!




Krista, Tiona and I celebrated Connie's graduation from UNI at the Olive Garden and let me tell you, we were just roaring with laughter! Congrats again for a wonderful achievement!!! "Outer Darkness Cheese"... I'll leave it at that!!



I helped the girls with a craft this month. They were studying about "Things that Grow": babies, animals, chicks, plants, etc. We made a little nest with some chicks in it and they LOVED it!




We also crashed the Lou Henry Elementary "FUN FAIR" (well, my mom teaches there, so we really didn't crash it... ;) They go all out for the fun fair! They have a petting zoo, dunk tank, blow ups to jump in and all sorts of games and yummy food. This year the kids won two gold fish a piece, so after we left, we bought a little tank. Yeah... fish die fast. Not a great pet for the kiddos. I've also found out that if a pet does NOT make noise... it doesn't really get taken care of... the squeaky wheel gets the oil... ya know what I mean?!


Here are some pictures of Jaren trying to keep on standing next to the couch. He eventually toppled over, but was a tough little tot and didn't even cry! He's also just too cute when he flashes me his cute smile when he plays with his toys.






I took the girls to the Arboretum as well this month. Here are some pics of that:




At the end the month, we had a Book of Mormon Ward Activity which I'm glad I took the kids to. They had lots of fun going to the different stations and having hands on activities. Good job to those who made it possible, the kids had lots of fun!

APRIL Has Come and Gone...

Here is a short recap of our adventures in APRIL 2008...

We flew kites with the kids and our little friend, Isaac. I thought it was good exercise for the kids, until I look over and see Eden and Ollie laying on the ground flying their kites!!

My lifelong friend (for over 20 years now), Meghan celebrated her birthday and invited our family and other friends out for some bowling. The kids loved it as always! Happy Birthday, Meg! I'm so glad that we are still such good friends! I'm so happy you are having a girl and that we still live so close!!! She can call me "Auntie Stacy"!!!

We have a new niece to welcome to the family! ADDISON PAIGE PALMER... too cute for words! She was born on April 23rd and we are going to visit the whole family in California this September. I can't wait! She is truly a doll!

Eden had a family gathering where they sang songs, danced and played in the gym with giant parachutes and plastic chickens! That same night, Oliver had his 1st grade Vocal Music Concert. They both did great and we had lots of fun!

My friend's sister, Laura, got married on April 26th and we attended that in Janesville. The kids LOVE going to wedding receptions and dancing all night long! Unfortunately, we had to take Ollie to my mom's house due to every guest having nuts for a snack. Oliver complained that his throat was getting itchy. Eden had lots of fun dancing! Congratulations again you guys!

Jaren got to spend some time with his little friend, Eliza. I got some cute pictures of them playing together!

NO INTERNET FOR ME...

For the last two weeks and counting I do not have access to the internet. So, I'm at a friend's house writing this, telling you to call me if you are really interested in what's going on in my life! :) Hopefully I will be online soon! I'm having Internet withdrawls!

Hook, Line and Soggy Bottoms

Back in the beginning of April, my brother invited us, especially Oliver, to go trout fishing with him near West Union. We packed a sack lunch and started on our journey. First, we stopped at Hank's for some bait. As Bry went in, I saw a vending machine with LIVE bait in it! That was certainly a first! By the way I just loved the large hook hanging from the sign.

After an hour or so we finally arrived and saw that the first road was gated closed. We drove up the hill and stopped when we hit another gate that prevented us from going any further. Bry said that we'll just have to hike the bluff which was called the "Backbone Trail". So we loaded up our food and fishing gear and headed down the path. On the way down Ollie found a feather, we saw some different birdhouses and we even saw a garter snake that Bry tried to pick up! It was a gorgeous day, but oddly enough there was still some snow on the ground!

Eden found some deer prints in the mud.

I have to admit that some places were a bit scary! At first we had lots of leeway on both sides, but there came a point where there were dropoffs off of each side of us and little to climb across, I'd say it was about a foot and a half wide. Yeah... I was thinking, "I'm going to plunge to my death right about now!". Mom was getting dizzy at times so I let her go ahead of me so I could help her across the tricky parts. The kids did just fine with the help of Uncle Bryan!

Here is a peek at how high up we were!

Bry and Ollie

Ollie fishing.

Oliver did a pretty good job at casting, but one time it flew back and missed my face by a couple feet! We ate and then the boys fished for a bit. I got my camera and took a walk a little further up the creek. Everyone soon followed and I got some fun shots!

Eden and Grandma being silly!

Me standing by a HUGE rock embedded in the side of the bluff.

Oliver and Bry traveled further up the way and Bry found a fallen tree that he thought would make a nice perch to fish from. I was taking pictures a few feet away, but one moment I saw him standing on the tree and the next moment I heard a huge splash! He must have lost his balance and down he came! His wallet, his phone and himself were all equally soaking wet!

Bry tromping out of the water to dry land!

Needless to say we were done for the day and never caught a single fish! I guess you could say that my brother was the biggest "catch" of the day!

Where has the time gone?!

April has come and gone with lots of things happening and May is nearly over... I will post some blogs each day (I'll try...) about:

*APRIL*

Fishing

Kite flying

Our Newest Niece

Birthday Bowling

Eden's Family Gathering

Oliver's Vocal Music Concert

A Friend's Wedding

Jaren and Eliza

Random pictures of the kids

*MAY*

Jaren in the Hospital

Our 8th Anniversary

Jaren's Funny Tricks

Olive Garden

Crafts

Fun Fair Fish

Our Trip to Des Moines

(Bill Cosby)

(Zoo, Crab Shack & Capitol)

The Big 5 Tag

The Big 5 Tag
10 Years Ago: I was getting ready to go off to Ricks College (BYU-Idaho) in Rexburg, Idaho. It was my first move away from home. Very excited and nervous at the same time.

5 Years Ago: Ed and I were celebrating our 3 year anniversary. We had two kids, Ollie and Eden at that time!

5 Months Ago: We were in sunny California visiting Ed's brother, Jared and his family and going to Disneyland for the first time!!! OOOOOh... to be back again. They now have a week old baby girl, Addison!

5 Things on my To Do list today:
1. Buy a summer pool pass and save $10.oo on it if I do it by TODAY.
2. Clean out the van... well... the trash at least!
3. Get out of my PJ's and shower before leaving my house.
4. Find my camera!!!!!! (Thanks, Reggie!)
5. Register Eden for Kindergarten.

5 Snacks I enjoy:
1. Fudgesicles
2. Arctic Rush from DQ (it's like a snowcone in a cup)
3. Funyuns
4. Fresh fruit - especially peaches, nectarines and grapes
5. Snack mixes

5 Things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire:
1. Pay off our debts (student loans, house, car, credit cards, etc.)
2. Go back to college and get at least my BA
3. Buy houses for all of our parents
4. Tour all of the Disneyland Theme Parks around the world with our kids.
5. Go to Norway

5 of my Bad Habits:
1. Procrastination
2. Forgetfulness
3. Interrupting people
4. Negative Self Talk
5. Taking things personally

5 Places I have lived:
1. With Heavenly Father in the pre-mortal life.
2. In my mother's womb
3. Cedar Falls, Iowa
4. Rexburg, Idaho
5. Waterloo, Iowa

5 Things people may not know about me:
1. I would love to visit Norway to see where my ancestors came from.
2. I've never owned a dog as a pet.
3. I can make myself burp.
4. I've always wanted to work with Chimpanzees for a living.
5. I have a mental disorder (More to come next month...) and I'm actually still fairly 'normal'! :)

Sealing in Nauvoo

On April 4th, I was excited to be able to attend my friend, Keeley's sealing to her fiance, Ben, in the Nauvoo Temple. It was a wonderful day and they couldn't have asked for better weather! It was beautiful! I always remember when Ed and I were sealed almost 8 years ago in the St. Louis Temple whenever I attend a friend's sealing. Wonderful memories!

The Nauvoo Temple and a statue of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum Smith on the two horses below.

Myself, Keeley and Jamie. Jamie and I are Keeley's visiting teachers.

Keeley and Ben. Just married for time and all eternity!

"Marriage - The Musical!"

Aquatrim

So... we are planning on joining our local YMCA in order for us all to get healthier.

I used to do Aquatrim (water aerobics) with my mom when I was in junior high. Now that I'm older it is pretty much the only way I can work out.

I had to find something that I could do with the least amount of stress on my feet (heel spurs), back (chronic backaches), knees and now my left hip. I feel like this is the best way to work out... even though the noodles we sometimes use ride up a bit!!!

I usually wear swimshorts over my bathing suit, but they tend to slow me down when I try to jog back and forth in the pool. The last time we did some exercises where we jumped out of the water with our knees tucked under us. Yeah... with each jump up... down slipped the shorts until they were around my knees and eventually in a heap in the bottom of the pool! I was just dying laughing! So I fished them out of the pool and laid them on the edge of the pool.

I like the fact that sweat isn't running down my face and pits as well! That's a big plus! Ain't life grand?!

Oliver + Asthma = Ambulance

Have you guessed what this photograph is of?

It's actually a Civil War Ambulance Crew... which brings me to my next blog...

On Monday, March 24th I sent the kids to school as usual. I was tired and Jaren was sleeping so I decided to take a nap as well. After a while I heard the phone ring and it was Ed on the other end asking,

"Where were you? Where were you?"

I said, "I'm here! I'm here! I was taking a nap! What's going on??"

Apparently the school was trying to reach me, but I had not heard the phone ring as I was in la la land! He was in the car on his way to Oliver's school because Oliver wasn't responding to his inhaler at school. He said the ambulance was on it's way to pick him up from school as well. I was like, "WHAT??" Evidentally he told his teacher that he needed his "treatment" (inhaler) and so she sent him to the office downstairs. The secretary gave him a few puffs, but Oliver said it wasn't working. She must have turned around for a split second and so he decided to try and go back to class. An associate found him crying in the hallway and noticed that he was having trouble breathing so she took him back to the office. The secretaries husband has asthma and so she decided to call 911.

The ambulance got there and started an IV and gave him some oxygen. Whenever they'd take the oxygen away his oxygen level dropped to 80.

So, I'm at home wondering if he's ok and if someone is there with him so he's not alone, freaking out in the ambulance. Ed said that he was pretty quiet and just laid there. Later, Brenda, an associate that works there (I also babysit her daughter), said that she offered to go with Ollie since he knew her, but the EMT's said that it wasn't necessary I guess.

So... Ed gets there and follows them to the hospital where they could give him more powerful breathing treatments. They got him back to "his normal" and came back home the same day. I got a bag ready for him with coloring books, his leapster, reading books and some clothes as I thought he was going to be admitted.

We definitely need to ramp up on his meds now that it's getting into allery season. He was also running alot at recess which I'm sure triggered his flare up! He says that he wants to be a firefighter now, since the guys in the ambulance were firefighters! He's such a sweet little guy even though he's got a lot on his plate at such a young age.

Enchanted by "Enchanted"

I had wanted to take the kids, especially Eden, to this movie while it was in the theaters, but we never got there in time. We bought the DVD just knowing Eden would LOVE it!

She has watched it so many times already. FOUR TIMES IN ONE DAY!!!

Spring Break Extravaganza!

MONDAY - St. Patrick's Day GREEN Dinner (see previous blog).









TUESDAY - Lunch at Chuck E. Cheese with Brenda, Nathan, Nick & McKenzie. They had a new machine that took your picture and scanned it onto a card. Mine was a "Diva" card. Ollie had a "Firefighter" card. Eden had five different cards, including a "Hip Hop Dancer" card! I even got one of Jaren. His was a "Rock Concert Backstage Pass" card.

VIDEO: "How Eden Got Her Groove Back"

WEDNESDAY - Rollerskating and a visit to TILT, our local arcade featuring Black Light Mini Golf. The kids went skating and were even better this time! We wanted to do something with Ed during break so later in the evening we went to the arcade. Oliver and I played the Black Light Mini Golf. It was done up like we were playing under the sea. Really great artwork! Ed played some games with Ollie and I took her to Claire's, a girly store. She got some lip gloss and a pair of pink rhinestone slip on shoes that look like crocs. She still doesn't want to get her ears pierced. I figure that she'll let us know if she ever wants to go through with it!

Oliver and Eden at the Roller Rink

Entrance to the Black Light Mini Golf. Eden and Ollie.

Oliver concentrating so intently!

Ed and I had some Pirate Target Practice!

THURSDAY - A Night at the movies! My mom watched Jaren so we could take the kids to see "Horton Hears A Who". I thought it was a really cute movie! I just can't get over how much it is to take two kids to a movie and get popcorn and drinks... INSANE! We all just love seeing movies together!




FRIDAY - My mom and I took the kids to La Chapala, a mexican restaurant. We just love everything about it. I guess a cook from Las Margaritas started his own restaurant and so the food is exactly the same. Oooooohhh so good!