Last of the Christmas...er..."Holiday" Concerts

Amber had her second choir concert tonight. The one last night was at the mall, but that one isn't fun because the accoustics are bad and there are never enough chairs. I like the concert at the school much better. We almost missed it tonight because we started dinner kinda late for making it to a 6:30 concert. Amber and the other kids were very cute, though. I can't believe it's Amber's last year in elementary school.

David made a fantabulous dinner tonight. He roasted a turkey - his turkeys are the best! He also made baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, stuffing and olives. I got to make the gravy, which I thought was a pretty good deal. For some reason David doesn't like to make gravy. Gravy is way easy if you remember to keep stirring it. Too bad I had to wolf dinner down so fast.

Jarom had his band concert last week. He got to play a trumpet solo on a Jazz Band song and he did a really good job. Meagan recorded a video of it. Maybe she'll post it on Facebook or something. Jarom also 2 moles cut off his back this week. Poor Jer-Jer. We have to be very careful when we hug him. He also FINALLY got his colored pencil drawing done and turned it. Yay! I guess he gets to use the computer again.

I got to Katelyn's choir concert the week before that. Long story. Holly called me at the last minute looking for a ride. At least I was able to take her. I decided to stay so she and Katelyn would have a ride home. The junior high's choirs are quite good. I especially liked Carol of the Bells, but that's always been one of my favorite Christmas songs. The choir director was cute. She reminded me of Becky. When she directed the choir she was almost dancing and was very jazzy. She looked like she was having a good time.

Lots of Firsts

Friday Meagan finally bought a laptop. She ended up getting it at Costco, because the lenovo website didn't have anywhere you could ask questions or call anyone. I think she likes her computer. She found out she needs to burn some recovery dvd's before she's supposed to connect to the internet. You'd think they'd include the formatting cd's/dvd's with the computer. Oh well.

I finally downloaded Windows 7 yesterday. That took forever, then I had to put new security software on the computer. At least Qwest lets you download anti-spyware and security software for free, so that's cool. I'm not sure if I like Windows 7 better than Vista or not. I haven't used it enough yet to know.

Yesterday, before I got a chance to put the security software on the computer, Cameron got on the internet. I guess I forgot to tell him not to get on the internet yet and he kind of freaked out at me freaking out at him.

I'm not sure how he shut down the computer, but when I tried to re-start it, it wouldn't start up. I was afraid I was going to have to install Windows 7 again. Ack! Fortunately I didn't have to. Somehow the computer resolved it on its own.

Yesterday - you're not going to believe this - we finally let Thor outside. It was a rather emotional experience for the entire family. We all had to say "Goodbye" to him in case he didn't return.

We actually had to put him outside, he wouldn't go out on his own. Once he got outside, he had to sniff everything in the driveway. He must have been in shock, not believing he actually got to go outside and we weren't going to chase him outside and drag him back in the house. Eventually, he wandered under the trailer and we shut the door because we couldn't see him anymore.

He came back about a half hour later. We were surprised. He was in and out the rest of the day.

Today we let him out again and he lost his collar. Goofball. Less than two days and he's already lost his collar!

Yesterday Jason came to hang out with Meagan for her birthday. He lives about an hour and a half drive from us, so I don't think Meagan will be seeing him every day. Jason seems nice. Meagan has actually found a boy that both she and her father like. Shocking!

Jason ate dinner with us after he and Meagan went bowling with some friends. David made his specialty - Chicken Curry Salad. Jason, a self-proclaimed picky eater, liked it. Even Jarom ate some of the chicken.

Well, I'd better go. Jarom's got to work on his temperate zone project that is due tomorrow.

Black Friday

Meagan and I went Black Friday shopping today. I don't think we'll try it again - at least not at more than one store in a day!

A couple of the things we had on our list were in stock by the time we got to the stores, but most were not. Of course, we were not crazy enough to leave the house at 3 or 4 am like some people. And we did go see Jarom's last Christmas Parade with the Jr. High band, so it was all good.

AND... Meagan finally got her laptop, so she was very, very happy!

Conversation at Dinner Tonight

David to Amber: "What was President Eisenhower before he was President?"
Amber pauses, so Jarom answers: "I don't care who you are, before you become President you're a human."
Me: "Does that mean you're no longer human after you become President?"
Jarom: "No, after you become President, you're a gopher."
Me: "A gopher?"
Jarom: "Well, actually I think you become whatever your party's mascot is."
Me: "Like a donkey or an elephant?"
Jarom: "Yeah, or a leaf."

Yay! It's Friday!

And that's all I've got to say, 'cuz I'm too tired to say anything else...

OK, you know I couldn't really stop at that.

We got our car back from the shop today. It has 4 new tires on it, so now we should be able to get through the snow better. I'm soooo happy about that!

The kids didn't have school today, but I had work. Glad it's over.

Not Happy with Mr. Stripey

So, this morning I go into the bedroom to get some clean clothes out of the laundry basket and the clothes smelled weird. And they were wet. Apparently Mr. Stripey got back at me for having Cameron bring him back in the house after his escaped. Dumb cat!

Maybe I will like him better tomorrow if he doesn't do it again. In the mean time, I'm locking him in his cage tonight and not letting him in the bedroom. I was about ready to throw the cat outside. Of course, that's exactly what he wanted.

Who Needs Sleep?

Here's what we've been up to lately:

David - is still writing his book. He's on his sixth notepad. He's read me some of it. It's interesting. Some parts are quite silly.

David, Cameron, Jarom and I did baptisms at the temple last night. The Stake had a dinner for adults and youth. It was nice, except the Stake didn't expect so many youth and didn't schedule the baptistry. A couple of scheduled groups were there already, so it was crowded. The dinner started at 6:00, then we went to the baptistry and didn't leave until 10:15. At least the temple is a good place to hang out.

Meagan worked last night. Holly was nice enough to let Amber hang out at their house. Amber loves spending time with Katelyn. Thanks Holly!

Meagan - finally recovered from her wisdom tooth ordeal. She can eat normal food now. She's ecstatic about that. She's also trying to buy a laptop with windows 7 on it. She found the one she wanted, but they're not selling it with windows 7 from what we can tell on the website. Maybe she'll have one by next semester?

Meagan loves Halloween more than anyone I know - other than Becky. Meagan dressed up for Halloween 5 or 6 times and was way excited about each time.

Meagan also loves Michael Jackson - maybe even more than Becky - which is almost impossible. Meagan, Becky and I saw "This Is It" Thursday night. The movie started at 9:40. Well, 10:05, after all the commercials and previews. We got home about 12:30. All these late nights are getting to me.

We got to the theater at 7:30 and had to wait until the next movie. David had a good point. With 25 minutes of previews, etc, we probably could have made it to the "7:00" showing right as it started. We waited, though. Meagan got 3 point cards, so we went on all 5 rides. Then we went on the bumper cars and the roller coaster again. And again. Then we sat in the lobby. Then we watched some of the very boring hockey game. Then we sat in the theater for a half hour. We were afraid the theater would be packed. We shouldn't have. By the time the movie actually started, there were only a dozen people.

I could have done without one of Michael's dance moves (if you've seen him dance, you know which one I'm talking about). That aside, he was an incredible dancer, singer and songwriter. He was in incredible shape for a 50 year old. Professional dancers half his age struggled with the moves and he barely broke a sweat - and he was singing and directing while he was dancing. Amazing.

Too bad he had such a severe anxiety disorder. That's all I can figure. Why else would he need anesthesia to get any sleep? Anxiety is no fun. Unfortunately, I know from experience.

Cameron - told me the other day that being a physicist might be an interesting career. I almost fell on the floor. Cameron? My writer? Cameron did like his physics class last year - which shocked me. He did really well on the ASVAB - especially in science. Overall he got a 98. Meagan says the military is gonna be hounding him now. That's probably true. Meagan got a 68 on the ASVAB and recruiters were calling her all the time. Until David answered the phone and told a recruiter to stop calling because "Meagan thinks the military sucks." They stopped calling.

Jarom - we finally paid off his braces. Not sure when he gets them off, but we're done paying on them now. Yay! Jarom also finished reading "A Tale of Two Cities." He let me read the 12 page synopsis his teacher gave him. The synopsis was way more interesting than the actual book. That book has an interesting plot, if you can find it through all the wordiness.

Amber - finished her social studies project exactly 15 minutes before 7:00 on Halloween. I told her if she wasn't done by 7:00 she couldn't go trick-or-treating. I was glad when she finally got done. She did a book about 10 ancient Greek gods/goddesses. I really liked her picture of Artemis. She drew a cute deer and two adorable hunting dogs with little tiny fangs. I want her to draw me a picture like that.

Cameron and Jarom were nice enough to take Amber trick-or-treating. I guess Amber didn't line up any friends to go with because she wasn't sure she was going. I was glad it snowed Tuesday instead of Halloween. The weather on Halloween was warmer than I thought it would be. We got about 130 trick-or-treaters. About 100 people came between 6:30 and 7:30, then it died out.

Me - I got my first assignment for ICL done and mailed in. I also entered a story in their Fantasy/Folktale contest. We'll see what comes of it. I'm starting to work on the second assignment now. It's amazing everything I didn't know about writing. The good thing is, I'm writing again. Considering I hadn't really written for a year and a half, that's amazing.

Wednesday wasn't my greatest day. I locked myself out of the office and Joe didn't have his cell phone, so there was no way to reach him. When I went home for lunch I tripped on the back step and banged up my knee. (My knee is ok, I only got a bruise, thank goodness!) Joe didn't get my message on his phone until 6:00. He told me later that he kept calling the office from patients' homes. When I didn't answer after repeated calls, he thought, "Oh, no, Heidi's quit!" I didn't quit and luckily he wasn't mad at me. I went in Thursday morning and finished up what I didn't get to Wednesday. It all worked out...

My work had a dinner Thursday night, so I got to meet Melissa and Steph for the first time. I met Donna when I worked at MSC, but I only vaguely remembered her. Of course, I already knew Joe. What a fun group of people! It was nice to be able to talk to all of them.

Well, I think I'm going to bed!

Curiouser and Curiouser

I wrote this a week ago, it's taken me that long to post it. I've probably told most of you about it by now, but I thought it would make an interesting post anyway:

Yesterday I got a phone call at home from Gary Graves. Right out of the blue. I thought it was really weird he was calling me. When I left MSC, he basically shooed me out door, never told me "Thank you for the 3 years you worked here." Nothing.

Then he tries to make small talk and pretend he cares what I'm up to, like he's my friend or something: "So, is there anything new happening in your life?"
"No."
From there he was all business. "I was wondering if you would like to come back and work for me a few hours a week."
Silence on my part.
"I'd pay you $15 an hour."
Really, I think. Funny how you wouldn't give me a raise above $10 an hour for 2 1/2 years. He wouldn't even give Georgia or Lisa a raise the entire time I worked there. Or even after I left.
"I'm not sure. I'd have to think about it."
"OK. I'd really appreciate it if you would."
Yeah, whatever.
So I thought about it over night and talked to David about it. He said, "You should tell him you'll go back Stratton never works there again."
I thought that was a good plan until I realized I'd still have to deal with Gary and Sue. Ack! What was I thinking? Why did I even say I'd think about it? Because $15 an hour is a lot of money to me right now. But enough to get me to go back? Nope.

Today I called Gary to tell him my answer. I got his voicemail. I left a nice little message. "Thanks for thinking of me, but 25 hours a week is all I want to work right now and I already have that."
And I think that's the end of it. Whew! I don't have to talk to Gary again after all.

Then Gary calls me back.
"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. Your answer may still be the same, but let me clarify what I wanted. I don't want you to work for me on a permanent basis. Just for 2 or 3 days until I can hire someone else. It would really help me out if you could answer the phones while I did interviews and then passed along some of your knowledge when I do hire someone."
I thought about it for a few seconds, then told him, "The answer is still the same."
"Oh. Okay. Good-bye," and he hangs up. No "thanks for getting back to me" or anything. But, what did I expect? This IS Gary Graves we're talking about.
"Jerk!" I say after I hang up the phone.

If he's worked himself into a corner by mistreating all of his employees, then let him deal with it! I'm so glad I don't ever have to go back there again! Good Riddance!

Glad It's Over...

I went to volleyball for 4 hours this morning. Glad volleyball's over with for October. I even tried a few serves this morning to see if I could get them over the net. I got about half of them over, which, for me, is good.

I signed up for the Institute of Children's Literature, hoping to get over my writer's block that has lasted almost 2 years. (Sad, huh?) The good news is, I'm writing again. Yay! I wrote 2 stories over the past week. Now I just have to decide which one to mail in for my assignment. I've had several people read both stories and vote for the one they liked best. As of now, the vote is split. I'm undecided. I guess I'm gonna have to decide soon. It's due this Wednesday!

In other news, here's what's going on with the rest of the crew:

David - has started writing a book. It's amazing, really. I never in my wildest dreams thought he'd write a book. He started just a couple of weeks ago and already has almost 3 notebooks filled. I think the note books are only about 40 pages each, but still, that's alot of writing. He says the book "Rell" that one of the members of our Stake wrote is what inspired him to start writing.

Meagan - can almost open her mouth wide. At least she's not complaining about pain so much and she's off the lortab. She seems to be doing well in school. I don't know because I can't check her grades, but she's in college now, so that's up to her. This semester she's taking Biology, Chemistry, College Algebra and Social Dance. Her favorite class is Social Dance.

Meagan is such a trooper that she didn't miss any classes - even the Algebra class they cancelled the Monday after she had her teeth pulled. She wasn't so happy they didn't tell her about that and she went all the way out to the airport for nothing.

Cameron - is his classroom encyclopedia. Whenever the teacher wants a definition, he asks Cameron. He told me that one day his Biology teacher asked them why they should be studying Chemistry and Physics along with Biology. His teacher liked Cameron's answer so well he asked Cameron if he wanted to teach the class. I keep telling Cameron he needs to be a professor. I can imagine that - especially if he were an English professor.

Jarom - has been reading "A Tale of Two Cities." I tried reading that book and could not make it all the way through. I told Jarom's teacher that and she said it's only because I didn't try hard enough. I think it's because it was sooooo boring! As of midterm, Jarom was doing the best in the class on the quizzes, so I guess he's doing better with the book than I did. Jarom's also been drawing some very nice pictures. He is quite the artist.

Amber - is supposed to be making a picture book about Roman gods and goddesses for her social studies project. She's really been dragging her feet. Last Sunday she made a Halloween diorama out of clay in about an hour. It was really cute - ghosts, a scary tree, headstones, a werewolf and a skeleton. I'm thinking she may have to switch her social studies project to making a diorama.

Jetta - is hanging out. Probably wishing the Mitchells would come back and visit her. She loves them. Other than that, she's been following me around the house and occasionally sniffing the cat. For the most part she leaves him alone. I'm glad because she used to harrass him.

Thor - keeps jumping in and out of window sills. It's probably not the best for his leg, but I don't know how to make him stop without keeping him in his cage forever and that just seems too mean. Now that Jetta's leaving him alone, we need to call the vet and make an appointment to get the pin out of his leg.

Sore Mouths and Stuff

Meagan's mouth is almost healed now. She can chew on soft things. Jarom just got his braces tightened on Friday, so now he can't eat much. My poor kids. Meagan has a friend who got his wisdom teeth out about the same time she did. He tried eating a piece of roast beef the day after he got his teeth out and got an infection. I'm glad Meagan didn't do that!

Amber made a Halloween diorama out of clay this morning. It was cute. It had ghosts and headstones and a haunted tree. Maybe I'll have to take a picture of it and post it. Have I ever posted a picture on my blog before? I don't think so.

Well, my computer time is almost up, so I'll have to say goodbye! BTW - thank you, Becky, for bringing pumpkin whip to my ailing chillins. They loved it! And Jetta still loves Ray, of course.

Wow, it's been like a month...

David talked me in to signing up for Pet Society, which I thought I would NEVER play and I've kinda become addicted to it...so that's where most of my computer time has gone. That's why I refuse to sign up for anymore games on facebook. Now that we've made up a schedule, I only get about an hour a day on the computer. Meagan and I are sad that we no longer have free reign of the computer. A good computer and high speed internet have attracted the rest of the family to spend much more time on the computer. Oh, well.

Thor is actually out of his cage now. It's pretty weird. Our biggest concern is him sneaking outside, which he does every chance he gets. The vet will probably be taking the pin out of Thor's leg in a couple of weeks and we'll see where it goes from there. Thor is limping a little bit now, but I think it's because he's walking more. He was in a cage for 2 1/2 months, which is a long time for a wild little kitty.

Meagan survived getting all 4 wisdom teeth pulled. They were all still pretty deep in the bone, so she's had quite a bit of pain. I think things are starting to get a little bit better.
Saturday morning she said, "I hate David."
I'm like, "What? Which David?"
"Uncle David," she replied.
"Oh, yeah, I said. "Would you like some potato chips?"
"No!"

Uncle David had no problem getting his wisdom teeth pulled and was eating potato chips the next day. Meagan is still eating mush. Poor Meagie. I hope she survives school tomorrow.

Labor Day Weekend

Sunday we went to Matthew's blessing. It was nice. We went to a park afterward and ate lunch. There was actually quite a bit I could eat. Shocking. The weather was perfect and it was nice to visit with family. Matthew was very cute. He sure is a sleepy baby. It's only the second time I've seen him since he was born.

We went to the canyon with David's family yesterday. The picnic areas were not so crowded, but the parking sure was. We were lucky David has a handicapped parking tag or I don't know where we would have parked. Kailien had to park in a non-parking spot and move when someone left. Everyone cleared out from breakfast about 11:00 am and about noon a bunch of people started showing up for lunch.

It was nice even though it was a little crowded. The picnic tables are far enough apart that nobody really bothered anybody else. We left about 1:00 pm and I hated to go. It's so pretty in the canyon.

At least this time we didn't have a ton of sugar! We had pancakes, french toast, scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage, bacon and fruit salad. All I could eat was the eggs and fruit. At least I could eat that! I thought about taking up stuff for gf pancakes, but it seemed like too much of a hassle, so I ate a piece of toast before I left home. It worked.

If you want to see pictures of it, Meagan has some posted on facebook. We had a huge fire for a while. After it died down, Cameron and James poured water on it ashes spewed all over us like we were by a volcano. That was fun.

I was so confused yesterday. On the way home I was thinking, "Now we need to go put flowers on the graves. Oh, wait, wrong holiday." Not that we got around to it on Memorial Day. Maybe we should have yesterday.

Maybe my side of the family can go to the canyon on a Saturday morning later this month. I just gotta figure out when I have volleyball and when I don't. I think the last Saturday will work.

Meagan got up this morning thinking she had class at 9:00 am. Nope, it starts at 1:00 pm. Maybe I shouldn't have pointed it out to her? She would have been hanging around at the campus for a while, wondering where everyone in her class was.

Kitty Update

David and I took Thor to the vet this morning, hoping his leg would be healed enough that we could let him out of his cage. The vet said the cat's leg is healing pretty well, but he'd leave the cat in the cage another month or two. He said, "Of all animals, cats do the best in cages. Cats don't like to move around if they don't have to. Some cats live quite happily in cages their entire lives."

The vet wants us to keep Thor in his cage for another month or two. He has another appointment on Sept. 29. Poor kitty. He looks so bored. He was doing flips in his cage again last night. I guess he can live in his cage another month or two. Better to err on the side of caution...

Back to School Again

All the kids have started school and we are kind of getting back into a rhythm again. I got to go to the Jr. High with Jarom on Wednesday morning to change him to Mrs. McBeth's for advisory so he can be in Jazz Band again and see why he didn't get into French 2, like he wanted. He got moved into Jazz Band, but French 2 didn't work. He would have had to trade it with either a Quest class or Geometry and he didn't want to do that. I guess he'll have to take French 2 next year.

It's a good thing we went on Wednesday morning, because he got really sick that night and threw up several times. He didn't go to school on Thursday or Friday. By Friday afternoon he was feeling better. He thinks it may have been something he ate, but I didn't ask him what he thought it was.

Cameron is taking 3-D animation and pottery at the High School and likes those. I guess he likes his other classes, too? David said Cameron came home from school the first day and told him, "I hate English. I'm going to have a TON of homework in that class." I don't doubt it. That's the class he had to read a book and write 3 essays for over the summer that were due the first day of school. The book he had to read wasn't too bad. It was "My Antonia" by Willa Cather. I finished reading it Saturday night. It was a classic that wasn't terribly depressing. And it even kind of sort of had a happy ending. Amazing. I'd hear of Willa Cather before, but never read anything by her before.

Amber gets to get a ride home with her friend Kyleen every Monday and Wednesday because Meagan has the car at school and I work both those days. I'm glad Kyleen's mom is willing to help out. I don't like the idea of Amber walking a mile and a half home all by herself. Amber hasn't had any homework that I've seen. I think I'm going to have to start checking grades online to make sure she's doing her work and turning it in.

We got a flyer from the Elementary School urging the kids to walk to school more safely. According to the flyer, Amber is half a block outside of the boundaries. David made a big deal about it, but I told him I'm not going to worry about it. If they really wanted Amber going to a different school, they wouldn't have assigned her a teacher at her current school. Besides that, she's in 6th Grade, so it's her last year there anyway! Meagan said, "But I had to change schools my last year of Elementary School!" I said, "That's true, but they told us about it long before school started." "That's true," she conceded.

Meagan's first day of college was last Wednesday. She came home from school and said, "It was long and boring." She did kind of spread her classes out, but she's got to go from the main campus to the airport campus and back again, so she needed a little extra time to do that. Plus, she was lucky to get the classes she needed, by the time she finally figured out what classes to take. I'm glad that's over with! I'm sure she is too.

September is going to be a busy month. We're in charge a Stake YM/YW Activity this Thursday, YW Volleyball starts next week and I'm in charge of Standards Night on September 20. I get to make invitations and flyers and such. At least Cindy will be helping with refreshments and I guess Jen will do decorations. I need to remember to ask Mary Ann if she'll do the music. Alot more stuff goes into these things than meets the eye, that's for sure!

Whew!

Meagan, Amber and I had a long day yesterday. First, we started out talking to Meagan's counselor at school. She told us Meagan should take Math 1050 or she'd have to take the math test again in a year and hope she passed again. If she took Math 1050, she wouldn't have to take math again, even if she decided to get a Bachelor's degree eventually. She also told us Meagan should take Chemistry 1010, not Chemistry 1110. Apparently Chem 1110 is a really hard class. So that totally changed Meagan's schedule, which we thought was pretty much set for this semester.

Then, we went to the main campus and Meagan got her *FREE* student bus pass. I wish they'd had free student bus passes when I went to school. We couldn't get the parking permit because we kinda forgot to take the suburban registration... Guess we'll do that Thursday morning.

We also checked out textbooks. If Meagan had to buy all her textbooks new it would cost about $600. That's about half of her tuition and fees!!! Man, textbooks are expensive.

We were going to go meet with the research company about Meagan's wisdom teeth right after that, but I kinda forgot to tell her that, so we had to go home and get the address. At least it gave us enough time to grab something quick to eat.

Then we went to the research company and had to read through 2 research studies, which took about 2 hours, by the time their staff consulted with us. The first research study required Meagan to have an iv in her arm for 24-30 hours and that kind of freaked her out. The consultant was nice and found Meagan a study where she'd just have to wear a monitor that was similar to a wrist watch, no iv. That made Meagan SOOOO much happier. Then we found out they didn't have any Friday openings until Sept, so we're going to have to go back for her screening on Sept. 1. At least we'll save lots of money by not having to pay an oral surgeon to extract her wisdom teeth, plus she'll get paid for her time... so I guess it's worth it.

Meagan's friend Brianna and her sister had their wisdom teeth pulled out by the same company and were pleased with the results, so that makes Meagan and me feel better about going to a research company for this...

Anyway, we got home and were able to trade Meagan's schedule around to the classes her counselor recommended. I was relieved, until I realized, right after Meagan left for work that her new schedule wasn't going to work with having her wisdom teeth pulled out! Ack!

After Meagan got back home, we went back to the drawing board and moved her schedule around for, oh, I don't know, the tenth time? We got it to where she'll only miss one biology lecture when she gets her teeth pulled. AND, even better, all of her classes except one are now at the main campus! Yay! Before, they were all over the place. I swear, every class was at a different campus, which was rather unnerving.

So, Meagan and I are both relieved and I am just about ready to hand the college reigns over to Meagan. Maybe I should have from the start, but she seemed to need and appreciate the help, so I helped her. I did tell Cameron that he HAS to decide which college, if any, he is going to by the end of the third quarter of his senior year! He looked at me kind of weird and said, "Okay."

The one thing I did learn from all of this is I'm probably not as stupid at chemistry as I thought I was, I just took too hard of a class in college. No wonder I was so lost. I'm glad Meagan's taking the easier chemistry class first.

School is Almost Here Again

Thank goodness Meagan is almost ready to go back. This college thing has been a little hard for her to grasp. Hopefully after the first semester she'll have it down and she can do it on her own. I've spent a lot of time helping her figure out grants, schedules, etc. We're almost there...

I strongly encouraged Meagan to go take the math placement test last Monday. She was glad she did. Hoping to do well enough to make it into Math 1010, she exceeded our expectations and tested out of it! Wow, Meagan is pretty smart.

Today I overheard Jarom tell Cameron he was a little bit excited to go back to school. "Well, just so I can see my friends, mostly," he told Cameron. Cameron and Jarom both have their schedules now. They both got what they asked for, so that's good. Jarom got Mr. Owen, who is the best math teacher at the jr. high. I was so excited when I saw that, I did a happy dance right there in the kitchen. Meagan had Mr. Owen twice. She had an awful pre-algebra teacher in 7th grade and almost failed it. She got Mr. Owen for algebra and geometry and got straight A's.

Amber is starting 6th grade this year. David and I have one kid in elementary, one in jr. high, one in high school and one in college. Wow. This is going to be quite the year.

Thor is getting better, I guess. We've pretty much kept him in his cage the last 2 weeks. Every once in a while the kids aren't fast enough moving him from cage to cage and he escapes and runs around the house. They catch him pretty quickly. He has calmed down enough that we don't have to give him tranquilizers all the time.

Last Tuesday our family finally made it up to the canyon. I've been wanting to go all summer. It was fun. We roasted hotdogs and made s'mores and dutch oven chicken. We left the potatoes at home on a kitchen chair, so we had chicken and carrots with biscuits on top, with no potatoes. The biscuits never really browned, but they did get done. Jarom said they were his favorite part.

We attempted a dutch oven apple cobbler, but put it on the coals too late, so we had to finish cooking it at home in the oven. We had banana boats, too. And Cameron brought up a box of 24 fat boy ice cream sandwiches. We way over-sugared ourselves. Next time we're only taking up ONE dessert, not four! And, if we do another dutch oven cobbler, we'll know to put it on the coals at the same time as we do the main dish.

We didn't have enough time to hike, but we did walk around the picnic area. Amber and I waded in the creek, in Quintin's honor. He told me last summer that he liked to go up to that canyon and soak his feet in the cold water. I swear he was still a little kid at the age of 78. Even in August the water is ice cold. Cameron managed to fall in the water, but didn't seem to mind much. It was still pretty warm in the sun.

I love being up in the forest "away" from civilization. A tree squirrel smelled our dutch oven chicken and came sniffing into our picnic area. She hopped up on one of the picnic tables trying to figure out where the food smell was coming from. She even climbed onto the fire pit and sniffed. She finally realized the food was too hot to get to and ran away. Cameron felt pity on her a tossed her a slice of bread, which she promptly grabbed and ran away with.

I doubt we'll make it to the canyon again this summer, but at least we made it once. Maybe Labor Day weekend?

Thor-Thor Wild Cat Visits the Vet

So, we took Thor to the vet for his 2 week check-up. The vet said that Thor's leg seems to be healing fine, but was alarmed to know we had let Thor out of his cage and he has been jumping around the house. "That could re-break his leg!" the vet emphasized. Oops...

Then we explained to the vet WHY we had let the cat out of his cage. The cat kept meowing incessantly and would not stop. Like for HOURS on end. Then he started climbing on the gate of his cage and falling on his head. We figured that couldn't be good for him - or his leg. So at first we just let him out to wander around in the basement with a gate up. That was ok for a couple of days. Then he tried to jump the gate - and succeeded a few times. Then we tried putting up two gates. Then the cat tried climbing or jumping them.

Finally we just gave up and let him go upstairs. Then he started jumping onto the window sills. This morning he tried jumping onto the bathroom window sill and biffed it. I didn't see it, but I heard it. Trying to keep a wild cat down is not easy. He also kept trying to sneak outside. He made it a couple of times, but luckily we were able to catch him. He's getting faster, though, so it's not so easy to catch him. Except for Meagan, that Thor loves so much he'll just walk right up to her...

The vet said he could put a splint on the cat's leg, but most cats don't do well with splints. Some of them try to chew the splint off and they're a hassle and cats hate them. Thor would not do well with a splint, he hated his stitches so much he chewed them out himself a few days after his surgery. The vet said the cat HAD to stay in a cage for the next month with no chance of getting out. I asked him if we could get some tranquilizers for the cat. He thought about it and agreed. His assistant gave Thor a tranquilizer and gave us a bottle with few to take home.

All the way home, Thor meowed and meowed in his pet carrier. He was not a happy cat. Thor got the tranquilizer at 10:45 and finally at 11:15 it kicked in. I was so happy!!! Maybe we can keep him in his cage for the next month or two without either him or us going crazy!

YW Camp

Well, Meagie and I survived camp. It was fun, but it was alot of work. Now I remember why we don't go camping - well, that and David's whole oxygen thing.

Meagan and I didn't leave home until about 11:30 on Tuesday. I felt really sick Monday night when I was going to pack. I laid on the bed and moaned felt horrible and wondered if I was going to make it to camp. Luckily, after saying lots of prayers, David giving me a blessing and taking some vitaminerals Nox, I felt well enough to go by Tuesday morning. Then I had to pack.

It was a good thing I had Meagan along as a navigator. I didn't get lost even once going up to the campground. That is unusual for me.

The first day was the Stake Day where all the girls in the Stake play games and eat dinner together. Sherry, our Stake Camp Director, really goes all out for camp every year and the rest of us just follow her lead. Our theme this year was B.U.G.S. (building up gospel standards - and enjoy the journey). The games we played were the Bug Olympics. There were 8 different events - the grasshopper jump, dirt and worm eating contest, a bee relay, metamorphosis, fly swatting . . . I can't remember them all.

I helped set that up for a while, then I helped Cindy (the Stake YW Pres) decorate cakes for dinner. Dinner was an "Ant Picnic" so we were trying to make several little ants on each cake, but they looked more like spiders, so we started doing one big ant on each cake. It was not my best work ever, but it was passable, I guess. Several of the YW tried piping ants on the cakes and said, "Wow,this is harder than I thought."

Tuesday night was relatively warm and I didn't freeze while I was sleeping, which was very nice. This year I took a big flannel lined sleeping bag instead of a little nylon one. Sleeping bags are hard to roll over in, even for me, and I'm not that big. I like sleeping in a bed with blankets and sheets much better. I went to bed at about 9:30 pm on Tuesday because I was exhausted.

Wednesday I went with 3 other Stake Leaders to Heber City to get some ice, etc. There was a hail storm in camp while we were gone. Meagan took a photo of the hail stones. Maybe she'll post it.

After that, I mostly sat around wondering what to do with myself until Sherry needed some help setting up the spiritual hike. Me, Sean (the YW 2nd Counselor's husband) and two girls from my ward that got in trouble for pulling a prank went to help set up. The hike was based on Lehi's dream of the Tree of Life, so we built an "iron" rod in the woods that led to the tree of life. We were late getting back for dinner - and I'm the one who did the meal assignments. We were really bad at getting to any of the meals on time.

Wednesday night I stayed up with the Stake and Youth Leaders and ate lots of stuff I shouldn't have (mostly sugar!) and went to bed about 11:30 pm. It was alot colder - my feet never did get warm, but I slept pretty well in spite of it. I had several strange dreams, like David and I driving our car around the inside of the fitness center and something about panhandling and how the laws had changed. It looked more like NYC than my city.

Thursday after breakfast, I packed up all my camping gear so I would be ready to go home after the spiritual hike and not have to pack in the dark. After that, it was mostly finishing setting up the spiritual hike. At one point I almost felt like I had heat stroke. That, and I really regretted the 2 pieces of bacon I had for breakfast. It tasted good, but I didn't feel so good. Maybe I'm supposed to go kosher? After sitting in the shade for a while and drinking some propel water, I felt better.

We got finished just in time to go back and eat dinner with our wards. Our ward had pulled pork (yay, more non-kosher food!), funeral potatoes, green beans and dutch oven cobbler. Technically the only thing I could really eat was the green beans, but I ate some of the other stuff anyway. It tasted good.

I walked over to East Camp, where the spiritual hike was, by myself. I somehow got to be in charge of running the ipod at the end of the hike by the "tree of life." It was a song Sherry found about Lehi's dream, which was fitting, but the song was really long - almost 5 minutes. Between that and technical difficulties with the ipod, alot of groups got backed up and had to wait for a while. The "fruit" on the tree of life was little temples made out of clear beads. Several of the leaders (not me) spent hours making them by hand. The tree looked pretty cool with little bead temples and white flowers and clear Christmas lights on it. Until the converter box connected to Sherry's van started sparking and burst in to flame. Luckily Sherry was standing there at the moment, so she got it stopped, but that was the end of the lights and music. There was only 1 1/2 wards left, so we almost made it. I think it turned out okay in spite of it all.

After that, I went back to camp and headed home. It was already 9:30, so it was dark. I only made 2 small wrong turns and made it home by 11:00. Driving down Parley's Canyon at night reminded me of playing Mario Karts - Bowser's Castle specifically. I kept expecting a stone column to stomp me. At least there were no flames. I was thinking - Meagan would be good at this - she's better than me at Mario Karts.

I was glad to get home and see my family. The house was still messy, but what was I expecting, really? At least everyone was ok. I didn't go to bed until about 1:00 am because I stayed up talking to David.

Yesterday morning I got to go back to work and it was very busy, thanks to me taking Wednesday off. I'm tired today and haven't done much. Thor is a little happier today because we let him come upstairs. He still wants to go outside, but that's not going to happen for a while.

Thor and More

Last Friday David called me at work and said he found Thor limping across the backyard very slowly. It took Thor two or three minutes to make it half way across the backyard. Thor got mad and howled at anyone who touched him because he was in so much pain. David and the kids took Thor to the vet. The vet said he had a broken leg, a fever of 104 degrees and was dehydrated.

The vet kept him Friday night. I went in Saturday morning to talk to the vet about Thor while everyone else went to the Youth Parade. The vet said he thought a dog had attacked Thor and broken his leg, because there were a couple of puncture wounds on his leg. Thor's high fever, injury and dehydration on Friday made the vet wonder if he was going to make it through the night. Thor's fever had gone down by Saturday morning and he was re-hydrated, so the vet said his prognosis was good. Thor is a tough little cat.

The vet showed me Thor's x-ray. He had a compound fracture in his leg. He needed surgery to get a couple of pins put in his leg bones so they would heal correctly. Luckily, his nerves were not damaged or his leg may have had to be amputated. I saw Thor for a couple of minutes. I've never seen him as still as he was at the vet's that morning.

Yesterday the vet operated on Thor and we got to bring him home. His left leg has almost all the fur shaved off of it and it looks quite pitiful. Thor is sleeping now in a kennel Kailien loaned us. It's fairly big, but not really big enough to fit his "bed" (Cameron's pillow) hedgebe...i want food whoever's reading my mom's blog..now mom's gonna get mad at me.. Amber is apparently helping me with my blog. You'd think I never feed her! Just because she didn't want any puffy oven pancake this morning! Oh, I guess she did have some. Maybe it's time to feed her again. She wants to go to Holiday Oil and spend her birthday money on junk food. She can get a slushy with two bucks, she just told me.

OK, now that that's over, the kennel isn't really big enough to fit a cat bed, a litter box and some food and water. I checked on Thor earlier and he was sticking his neck in his water. I moved him around so his head wouldn't be by his water and he moved right back to where he was before. Oh well. This morning I took him out of his kennel to give him his anti-biotics and he hopped right back into the kennel as soon as I let him go. This is strange behavior for a "jungle cat".

Well, I've gotta go clean. That's what we've been doing for the past week. I think we're all tired of it, but we're still not done. We moved Cameron and Jarom upstairs and Amber downstairs. Holly and Gary were nice enough to give us a bunk bed they weren't using anymore. It's in MUCH better shape than their old one that had been modified to fit in the basement. The downstairs ceiling is not tall enough for a regular bunk bed, so we moved the boys upstairs. Amber's room was very, very dirty. Moving her was a project and a half! Her new room is much cleaner, since she got rid of quite a bit of stuff.

The day after we set up the "new" bunkbed for Cameron and Jarom, our airconditioner went out. David overheard Jarom telling Cameron, "Why did mom and dad move us up to this inferno?"

Luckily, this morning the bishop came over to go to the temple with David and got the a/c running again in just a few minutes. After 4 days of living in a sauna (the highs have been around 98 degrees outside), we are very, very, very happy! Jetta's happy, too. She's no longer having to do her kundalini yoga "breath of fire" so she can stand the heat. It's a good thing she got her fur shaved off before the a/c went out. David and I think getting insulation blown into the outer walls of the house would be a good idea...

Okay, I'm going now...

Shiny New Computer and High Speed Internet!!!!

Woo Hoo! I have a nifty new computer and 7mbps high speed internet and it's all up and running now. That's about it for now, because I have promised Amber for a while that she can get on the internet. She has been waiting for days.

Poor Meagan has been languishing because she hasn't been able to get on the internet. I guess I should go call that dial up internet company and cancel with them before I forget. The really good thing about them was that they only charged $4.95/month. Can you believe it? The bad thing was that it tied up my phone line and it was so slow it wouldn't let me download anything. It would freeze up after a minute or two. I can't even imagine how it will be to be able to watch you tube now. Before it was sooo slow. So, yeah, I'm excited!

Oh, yeah, thanks David, for building my computer! It was fun, wasn't it? I've decided it's complicated enough just hooking the thing up once it's built and getting the internet running on it. I don't think I'll take up computer building any time soon.

My Son, The Contortionist, and Other Stories

The other day only Cameron, Jarom and I were home. Cameron and Jarom kept hiding from each other. I went into the upstairs bathroom. I knew Jarom was hiding in there somewhere. I thought he was in the shower. I opened the door and no Jarom. Where on earth could he be? There aren’t that many places to hide in the bathroom – it’s not that big. So, I start opening the cupboard doors. He’s hiding in the towel cupboard, which is about 4 feet off the ground and not very big. He had contorted his 5’8” frame into the tiny cupboard.

“I didn’t know you fit in there,” I told him.
“Not as well as I used to,” was his response.
“I take it that’s not the first time you’ve been in there,” I said.
“Yeah.”

All these years and I never knew. Of course, I couldn’t say much because there was a time in my life that I thought the funnest thing in the whole world was swinging from the rod in my closet. Yeah, I don’t know if my parents ever knew that. At least I wasn’t very big (maybe 5 years old?) and the rod was pretty strong. I also liked to clear out everything in my closet and “camp out” in it. I guess Jarom and I ARE a lot alike.

David is doing better every day, but still tired. He told me this morning, “My energy level drops about 3 or 4 times a day – it used to drop only about once or twice a day.”
“You’re still getting over being very sick!” I told him.
Oh, yeah, I guess he forgot about that.

Meagan found out that she got a Pell Grant so she can start college in the fall. Yay! I guess now she just needs to sign up for classes. They wouldn’t tell her the amount of the grant over the phone, just that she got one. It’s a relief. I just heard the door open, I think Meagan just got home from bowling with her friends.

Cameron, Jarom, Amber and David went out to Bountiful with me today. They played D&D with David (confusing, I know) while I muscle tested with Sheri. Then David guided me through buying components for a new computer. I’m so excited! We’re going to have a decent computer that will actually be worth getting high speed internet on. Woo hoo!

Meagan is very sad that MJ died today. Poor Mikey. Meagan and I have been reading articles about him on the internet. Michael Jackson is one of Meagie’s favorites. He is pretty good. Better than a lot of stuff that’s out there. His music and videos hold up amazingly well even years later.

David Update

The day after Meagan's graduation, David started feeling sick. Maybe Cameron gave it to him? Maybe it was all the stress of his little girl growing up? Who knows. For just over a week, he moped around home, feeling sick. I took him to two different doctors and they each gave him a prescription for anti-biotics (my favorite!). The first doctor said it was bronchitis. The second said it was pneumonia. He also said that David eating grapefruit made the first anti-biotic not work. That was probably the first time this year David had eaten grapefruit. Anyway, for whatever reason, the bronchitis progressed to pneumonia.

Finally, I took David to the ER on Sunday morning because he just wasn't getting better. Sunday morning must be a good time to go to the ER. We didn't even have to wait. They took David right in. There was NOBODY in the waiting room, which, if you've ever been to the ER before, is amazing. The ER doctors said they didn't know anything about grapefruit rendering that particular anti-biotic invalid, but perhaps it was possible. They ran lots and lots of tests on him and decided to check him in to the hospital. We figured as much. David packed a hospital bag before we left.

I hung around the hospital until Sunday evening, then came home and soaked in the tub. I went to work half a day on Monday, then went back to the hospital. The official diagnosis was that David had pneumonia, influenza A and a fungus growing at the back of his throat. Like our neighbor said, "Hey, if you're going to get sick, you might as well get it all over with at once." He ought to know. He's been in and out of the hospital a lot the past few months between surgeries and recovery. They gave David the same drug they've been giving the patients with swine flu, even though he never tested positive for it. I guess they've had enough false negatives, they're being overly cautious now?

I hung out at the hospital for several hours on Monday, then decided I should go home and see what the kids were up to. Meagan started her externship with Dr. Ferre the Monday after school got out, so I've been getting her up early most weekday mornings. She's worked there 5 days now, I believe, so she's about 1/3 of the way done. I got to wear a mask my entire time at the hospital on Monday. That was fun. I hate masks. Meagan did not feel sorry for me. "I've been wearing one at work all day," she told me. "You get used to it." I guess I didn't wear one long enough to get used to it. It was really annoying when I had it adjusted wrong and it steamed up my glasses.

Tuesday I didn't have to work, but I stalled going to the hospital because I didn't want to wear a mask again. Turns out, I didn't have to! When I got there at about 1:00 pm, David greeted me with, "You should have been here an hour ago, they were going to let me check out!" Of course, checking out of a hospital is never a quick and easy prospect. Even when they say, "Oh, sure, you can check out now," it still takes a few hours. At least David got to eat lunch at the hospital. I knew he was getting better when he was complaining about being hungry and bored. We spent most of Tuesday afternoon looking out the window at the cars, people and the helicopter moving around the hospital parking lot. David was on the 8th floor, so he had a good view.

Tom, the nurse who checked him out of the hospital reminded me of Christopher. When he came in to take out David's iv, he had 2 rolls of coflex. "Which color do you want, bright green or bright pink?" "It doesn't matter," David replied. Tom came over with the pink coflex and a big smile. "Of course you chose the pink," I told him. "It's funner that way!" he said. Yup. I can see Pherphy doing that.

I think David's favorite person in the hospital was Natalie. She was his CNA Tuesday night. The dinner they gave him was not very big and he was starving. He asked her if she could get him a hamburger and fries. "I guess I could go downstairs and get that for you," she said. A half hour later, she was back with a burger and fries and David was very, very happy. Of course, the next day, Tom came in and told David he needs to eat a low-fat, low-sodium diet. I'm not sure he's doing that.

When I checked David out, I had to buy him a bunch of prescriptions. That's when I noticed I'd lost my checkbook. No big deal, I thought, I'm just not looking in the right spot in my purse. So I paid with my credit card. When we got home and I still couldn't find it, I panicked. So did David, because he was starving again and I wouldn't go buy food until I'd found my checkbook. Good news is, I found it. (I even cleaned up the bedroom a bit and took a big box and 3 bags of stuff to the DI. Are you shocked, Sheri?) It took me a couple of hours, but I found it. Tuesday also happened to be Amber's birthday. She didn't get much of a celebration, but we did manage to cook some frozen pizzas and have cake and ice cream.

I'm really glad June is almost over. This has not been my favorite June. I am glad, however, that we are all doing much better now. I may even catch up on my sleep soon!

Meagan, High School Graduate

I can't believe my cute little Meagan is a High School graduate. She made it! Actually, I knew she would. She is a good student and a very intelligent girl.

We had a family party before her graduation and I ate WAY too much food. It was all really good, but I ate too much! Now I’m eating ginger chews to calm down my stomach. It was fun, though. Most of her aunts and uncles, several of her cousins and her grandparents and adopted grandparents came. It was nice to see everyone.

We left kind of late for her graduation and traffic was crazy. Most of the way it was almost a standstill. I was beginning to think Meagan wasn't going to make it to her own graduation. She was supposed to be there at 6:30 and got there about 6:50. Apparently a lot of graduates made it there after Meagan did, because they were in order of their arrival and Meagan was about the middle of the girls.

We almost didn't find a seat. We had to sit near the front by the curtains. It was a good thing we got seats, because David ran out of oxygen about half way through the program. He did make it home ok. I even backed out the suburban without smashing into any cars in the crowded parking lot. I was soooo proud of myself! Thankfully mom and dad searched for Meagan after graduation and brought her home so I could get David home to some oxygen.

I couldn't believe how many leis some of the Polynesian students had on. One of them, you couldn't even see her face. I told David we'd have to start our own tradition. I'm just not sure what...

Meagan's friend Radley (she had her Dental class with him) gave a very random talk about perserverance. One of the examples he gave was the Black Knight from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." I'm not sure he's really a good example of perserverance, but people did pay attention. Ray would have been proud that he quoted Harvey Dent from "The Dark Knight." Too bad Harvey ends up being a bad guy...

Whew! It's over. Now I can breathe! I have no idea how I'm going to survive my kids’ weddings, mission farewells and so forth. I told David we're hiring a caterer for the weddings...at least we can have the receptions at the church...

Shruberies

Here's what I've found out about landscaping:

When you go to the nursery (or Home Depot or wherever) to buy plants, make sure you get all the other stuff the plant tag says you'll need at the same time. Like soil amendment, mulch, fertilizer, etc. etc. Otherwise you make lots of trips to the store and it takes forever to get your plants planted. We bought a shrub a week and a half ago that I have yet to get planted. Now that I have everything, I'm going to plant it tomorrow.

I learned something a couple of years ago, too, thanks to Anna. When you plant a new plant, you've got to water it every day for the first summer, or it will die. No wonder the crimson pygmy barberry bushes I planted all died. And the little pine trees. And lots of other stuff.

I like flower bulbs. They're pretty hard to mess up. You don't have to water them every day. The only thing I don't like about bulbs is that they look really pretty for a few weeks, then they die and look bad and weeds grow up and take their place. Ack! That, and you have to dig them up every few years and thin them out.

I'll have to tell you what Bro. Tuia told David and me about growing grass (as in lawn, not drugs) and fertilizing gardens. But that's for another day. Guten nacht!

Sunday Doings: "New" Ward, Seminary Graduation, Cameron's Ordination

On Sunday our ward got combined with another ward. Now my cousin John and his family are in my ward. We haven't met together yet, that's this coming Sunday. Should be interesting.

We're wondering what's going to happen to our "assigned" seating. We have been sitting in the same pew for years. I wonder if we'll get to keep it? I guess it depends on how early we get to church. Since church is at 9:00 am, there's not much chance of us getting there early. When church was at 1:00 pm we got there about the same time as the organist - about 20 minutes before church started - but now we're lucky if we get there during the opening hymn. Especially on days David has an early morning meeting and I get to herd all the kids out of the house by myself. I'm pretty sure Cameron's not going to get to sit on a pew all by himself anymore. He usually sits on the pew in front of the rest of us.

Meagan graduated from Seminary and Cameron was ordained a priest the same day our wards were combined. It was quite the Sunday. Seminary graduation was good. The Stake President spoke about Joseph Smith going to the grove, thinking the only answer he was going to get was what church to join, not that none of them were true. He also spoke about not leaving the church, because that's where safety is. The CES representative spoke about horseback riding and that living life is going to bring you challenges, but the gospel can help you face those challenges.

Meagan was the only graduate from our ward at the graduation. There was one other graduate from our ward, but she wasn't there. Meagan barely made it through this last year of seminary. There were a couple of girls that sat next to her in seminary that really bothered her. Luckily her teacher changed the seating chart so Meagan could stand to go.

Cameron was ordained a priest under the direction of our brand new bishop. The new bishop (who is from the ward we combined with, so he doesn't really know us) had Cameron go around the room and introduce everybody. Aunt Holly mentioned that whatever you do, don't let Cameron hug you.

After Cameron was ordained, he went around the room and shook hands with or hugged everyone in the room. He hugged our recently released bishop, looked at the new bishop and said, "Oh, why not? I'll give you a hug too." Then he proceeded to hug the bishop, lift him up off the floor and swing him around. The bishop is probably in his 60's, so he's not exactly young. He was a bit surprised, but seems to have survived Cameron's wild hug.

You have to remember that this is the same boy, who, when Meagan was having her Baptism interview with the bishop, blurted out his own answer to, "Do you know what happens when you get baptized?" The question was directed at Meagan, but Cameron answered before she could: "First they take you in the water, then they grab your feet and pull you under..."

The bishop started laughing (this was Bishop Hymas who pinched one of the Wisemen on the bum at our ward Christmas program) and wanted Cameron to continue. I think Cameron was sincere, but with the bishop's reaction, he froze up and wouldn't tell the rest of his answer. I think Meagan was kind of scared. I had to assure her that wasn't really going to happen.

This is also the same Cameron who told me several years ago that the Pilgrims invented the lightbulb. I asked him how they did that. "They went to the beach and got lots of sand. They stuck the sand together with scotch tape and made the very first lightbulb," he replied. Very creative. I miss that boy! (But the Cameron who's around now is pretty entertaining, too. I guess I'll keep him.)

Testing, Testing…

Meagan took her dental benchmark test and passed on her first try. She was one of only two students at all of GTI this semester that did. Yay, Meagan! (Isn’t she so smart?)

Speaking of tests, Cameron took his driver’s test today and got 90/100, so he passed. I’m a little more scared about that one. OK, Cameron is a pretty good driver, but the whole having 2 teen drivers in the house… ack! (OK, Meagan’s good, too, but still!)

Cameron turns 16 in a couple of hours. Well, technically at 6:50 tomorrow morning. I can't believe it's been that long. I remember it like it was yesterday. There were two big movies in town that had long lines going out into the streets: "Jurassic Park" and "Legacy." I'm pretty sure he was born on a Monday. It was the second (and last) time I took castor oil to induce labor. At least he was only a week late...

Today we spent most of the day digging up part of the front yard. That was fun, let me tell you. We have really heavy clay dirt in our yard, especially when it’s wet. Of course, when it’s dry, it’s like trying to dig through a rock, so somewhat wet is better. We didn’t get nearly as far as I had hoped, but we did make progress. I can’t believe how many flower bulbs and “octopuses” we dug up. Meagan calls daylilies “octopuses” because of the way their roots look.

I asked Jarom if he thought we should be farmers since we are so good at physical labor. He said, “Oh, yeah…” I think that meant, “No.”

Amber has been reading 20 minutes every morning, so she’ll remember to read. It’s been working out better than reading after school.

Amber got to perform with her school's choir at Abravanel Hall on May 5. I’ll have to post pictures as soon as I have Meagan help me figure out how. She has a concert at the elementary school on Thursday May 28 at 6:30 pm if anyone would like to come. That concert is funner than the one at Abravanel Hall because Amber gets to sing a lot more songs, the parking is easier and the concert only lasts about 1/2 hour instead of 2 1/2 hours. Oh yeah, and it's free.

David has started painting again. I came home for lunch one day and saw him painting. I said, “What is it, the end of the world?” It’s been over a year since he last painted. In a way I like it better when he’s not painting. Oil paints are smelly. Maybe that’s why I never got in to them. At least he’s enjoying himself, though.

Cars and Reiki and Jump Rope

Tomorrow's Senior Ball and Meagan is excited. She's been having trouble getting her friends to decide what they want to do other than go to the dance, but I think they've finally got it figured out. I hope so.I'm pretty sure Meagan's got all of her graduation announcements sent out or delivered. I'll have to check and make sure.

Meagan and her dad found a 1995 Ford Taurus for $500 that Meagan wanted to buy. I told her she needed to talk to her Aunt Becky before she bought a Taurus. We did sit down and figure out about how much it would cost her a month to keep a car on the road. I think she was surprised how expensive owning and operating a car is. That's why I didn't have one until I got married. The bus isn't great, but it is inexpensive...

I went out and muscle tested with Sheri yesterday, like I usually do on Thursdays. It's a lot funner muscle testing with somebody else than doing it on my own. David (brother, not husband) even got in on the action and helped us out a bit. Thank goodness for Sheri and David. I don't know what I'd do without them since Dee's not practicing anymore. Thank goodness we had Dee when we really needed her, though!

David (my brother) is going to start school at SLCC in the fall. I told him maybe he'll be going to SLCC with Meagan. Maybe they could even take a couple of classes together. Wouldn't that be fun!

Amber and I took Jetta for a walk last night. I figured it would be a good way to get a little exercise. I saw Anna and talked to her for about 20 minutes. She says she's been taking intensive Reiki classes and completed 1 of 3 levels. Reiki sounds pretty cool. She's working toward becoming a Reiki Master.

Amber is interested in jump roping lately, she even got Anna and me jumping rope. Anna is better at it than I am. Of course, Anna can jump on a pogo stick, which is something I can't do. Speaking of pogo sticks, did I ever mention that Meagan got to choose a founding father to do a report on a few months ago. Guess who she chose? Alexander Hamilton, of course. I laughed.

Jarom has been swamped with homework. He was up until midnight last night studying. I told him he'll be sad during the summer because he won't have any homework to do. He says he doesn't think he'll miss it.

Cameron is still giving very strong hugs. He hugged me last night and almost knocked the breath out of me. "Oh, did that hurt?" he asked. "I wouldn't make a noise like that if if didn't," I responded. That boy doesn't know his own strength. Either that, or he likes showing it off... At least he'll still hug me, though. I guess I should be grateful for that!

Flew, Floo, Flu

Today at church, Bro. Davis got up and was talking about swine flu. That got me thinking about the flu epidemic in the early 1900's that Grandma Gambles used to talk about. The one that killed lots of people. I didn't pay much attention to what she said about it, 'cuz hey, it happened forever ago and it wasn't relevant. Bro. Davis said it killed about 50 million people worldwide. Wow. That's a lot.

I was thinking, didn't it happen around the same time as WWI? Bro. Davis said it happened during the 1918-1919 school year. All the schools were closed that year. Grandma must have been about 8 or 9 when the epidemic hit. I wonder what I'd do if my kids had to stay home from school for a year? I bet they'd have everyone take classes online. David would LOVE that!

After Bro. Davis, Bro. McBride got up. Bro. McBride is old. Very old. I was thinking, I bet he was around when that flu epidemic happened. I wonder how old he was?

So, Bro. McBride started talking. He was 4 when the influenza epidemic hit. I guess that would make him 95 this year. His brother and his cousin went to Europe to fight in WWI. They didn't get sick, but they brought influenza home and he caught it. He survived (obviously) but says it must have weakened him because he's been tired ever since. He said, "I think that's the reason I've lived so long. I've been tired my whole life so I've rested alot."

I didn't know the flu spread because of WWI. I guess it makes sense. I have no idea what's going to happen with the Swine Flu outbreak, but I hope it's nothing like the 1918 flu. I think we'll all be OK, if we deal with it properly. Like not panicking and staying as clean, healthy and positive as possible.

Meagan told me she's heard that people said we would get a black President when pigs flew. Then within the first 100 days of Obama's presidency, the swine flu broke out, so it happened: pigs flu! Oh, that's bad, isn't it?...groan...

Babysitting and Such

Meagan graduates from high school on Friday June 5. So, if she never sends out the nifty graduation announcements we bought, now you know!

Meagan has seemed to handle the Tyler break-up better than I thought she would. She's been hanging out with Brandon - the silly boy that talked her in to signing "Ugly Girl" with him in ASL. I actually got to meet him today. He seems quieter than Tyler, but then I only saw him for about 2 mintues, so who knows. He seems nice enough. Ah, Meagan and her boys...

Last night Amber and I went and watched Dana and Byron so Becky and Ray could go out for Becky's birthday. It seems like I forgot everything I ever learned about being a parent. Well, of small children, at least. I'm sure it would all come back to me, but, wow... I am not so good at baby wrangling anymore. It must have taken me 5 minutes to get Byron's blanket sleeper on him.

Byron and Dana are very cute, but it took a while to get them to go to bed. Not that I'm all that great at getting my own kids to bed. Speaking of which, look at the time! It's already after 10:00. I'm glad Amber went with me to help me entertain the wee ones. She is very helpful.

Cameron and Jarom are downstairs playing Super Smash Brothers. Amber's in the living room with me listening to "Pirates" on the cd player. Meagan is at work. David is in the bedroom. He's probably the only smart one who is going to bed on time. Maybe he has an early morning church meeting tomorrow. I wouldn't be surprised.

Down Dog

Yesterday I spent lots of time with Becky and her cute family. Becky and I went to yoga at 24 Hour Fitness. Man, am I sore today! I wasn't this sore yesterday. I must have done 100 down dogs! I wonder if Becky is sore, too?

Becky, Dana and I went to World Market. I was surprised to discover that they sell mostly furniture. For some reason, I thought they sold mostly food.

Becky and Ray had me watch 3 episodes of "Flapjack and Captain K-nuckles." What a weird show! Kinda gross for little kids. It was silly, but a bit disgusting. I did end up telling the kids about 2 of the episodes today. Meagan and Amber have seen it before, but not the boys.

Becky, Ray, Dana and Byron came over last night to bring David his birthday present. His favorite part was the "plexiglass" toilet candy that Becky bought at World Market. It was a plastic toilet with powdered candy in it and two "plunger" suckers. Silly.

They got here while we were putting together our 72 hour kits. We still don't have everything in them, but at least we found a permanent spot for them and I know what we need to get next.

Jarom, Cameron and Amber played outside with Dana. Meagan was at work, so she missed out. Jarom took the bubble gun he got for Easter outside and blew lots of bubbles for Dana. She was thrilled, except she wanted to be in control of the gun and Jarom wasn't too excited about that. I took Byron out and he liked the bubbles, too. We found out that Thor is terrified of bubbles. That surprised us. He hid under the Suburban for awhile then ran across the street.

Byron had to check out everything in our living room. Fortunately we still have a baby gate, so we were able to keep him in one room. Our living room is now mostly baby proof. I got out the plastic Noah's ark. Byron played with that for awhile. He also had to check out an old glow stick, the bread machine (doesn't everyone have one of those in their living room?), a power strip, all the books and papers on the hall tree, the printer (he figured out how to turn it on), the filing cabinet, David's oxygen...

When we thought we had picked up everything he could possibly stick in his mouth, Byron found a clump of dog fur on the floor, which rather delighted him. He liked the dog, too. So did Dana, Becky and Ray. And Jetta loved them. In fact, she followed them out to the car. When Ray told her to get in the car, she obediently jumped in and took his spot. After we got her out, she jumped back in again. I think Jetta would go live with them, if she could. We would miss her, though!

I guess Meagan and Tyler are officially over after almost 2 years. Poor Meagie. She's tough, though. She'll be ok. Hopefully she waits awhile before she gets another steady boyfriend. A couple of years, I'm thinking.

Mom said that Holly went to the doctor and found out that her liver tumors are actually shrinking. That is awesome! I hope it continues until the tumors are completely gone. I guess fasting and prayer do work. Of course, God does answer prayers in His own way. Sometimes it's in the way we hope for, like this time, it seems.

Food Storage and Polyjuice Potion

It has been a while since I blogged. It doesn't seem like that long. I have taught both of Amber's primary lessons I promised to. I hope Sister Huff is really coming back now. I know why I am not a primary teacher at the moment. Every other week David has to go to a 7:15 am meeting with the High Council and I get to make sure the kids get up and go to church by myself. True, it's not as difficult as it was when they were little, but they really aren't morning people - except maybe Amber. I wish we had 1:00 church again!

This morning it wouldn't have been so bad, but I had totally forgotten I was teaching primary until I looked at the calendar at about 7:15. If the kids and I had been ready and eaten breakfast, that would have been ok, but I had just barely gotten out of bed. As Sister McCombs pointed out to me later, "It's a good thing you had a calendar to remind you." Yes, it is - at least I did show up to class. I had a few minutes to throw something together - even if we were 15 minutes late for Sacrament Meeting. Hopefully I don't get asked to teach primary again until we have a later church block.

My big thing this week has been organizing the kitchen. I found some web sites about food storage and one of them had a couple of short videos about organizing your kitchen and food storage room so they're easier to use and you actually want to cook. I can use all of that I can get!

I am pretty much done organizing the kitchen, which has been a BIG job. I have driven my family crazy, moving everything around - especially Cameron. I think he's still mad at me. In the long run, I think it will be much better. Our fridge is the cleanest it's been in a long time. Now I've just gotta finish the kitchen and then figure out the food storage room. The hardest part of the food storage room is going to be figuring out exactly what to store, since I can eat hardly anything and Jarom will eat hardly anything.

I found a food storage web site that has a picture of what a year's supply of long-term food storage would be for 1 person, according to LDS church suggestions. It really didn't take up as much space as I thought it would. According to the web site, everything pictured would allow 1 person to eat 1 loaf of bread and 1/3 of a cup of beans a day. Jarom thought the loaf of bread sounded ok, but he wasn't too excited about the beans. Me, I'm not too excited about whole wheat bread. I could do rice and beans, though.

David and I went to Emergency Essentials yesterday to look around. David bought 3 emergency ration bars - the type that are 400 calories with lots of vitamins, some protein and a tiny bit of fiber. Mostly they're white (wheat) flour and shortening with a bit of wheat gluten - yum! David chose three flavors: orange, coconut and vanilla. David and the kids tried the orange flavored bar. David and Amber thought it was all right, Cameron thought it was edible, Jarom said it was slightly better than beans and Meagan ate the corner of her piece and let Amber eat the rest. I guess we won't be stocking up on those. I don't think they're very nutritious anyway. Lightweight and will keep you alive - if you're not allergic to them - but that's about it.

On Friday I decided to be brave and attempt to make a green drink for myself. Sheri and David (brother, not husband) make them all the time. Sheri even made one for me a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty good. The directions Sheri gave me were pretty general, and I think I messed them up.

I think I crammed the spinach into the blender too tightly and didn't add enough frozen fruit. It turned into a very, very green drink, not pink like the one Sheri made me. It was kinda hard to swallow, but I did because it was my breakfast and I didn't have enough time to make another breakfast before work.

On my way out the door, with the cat, my very green drink and all my work stuff in my arms, David asked me, "Who's hair did you add to that?"
I said, "What?" and tried to figure out why he would ask me that.
"Oh, I said, "Because it looks like polyjuice potion?"
"Yes," he said.
"Well, not the cat's," I answered.
"Why not, Hermione did," was his reply.
"Yeah, and she hid in the bathroom all day and wouldn't come out," I said.
"That's true."

The cat did sniff the drink like he was interested in having some of it. I didn't let him. I drank all 3 cups of it and felt kinda sick to my stomach all morning. I think overall, though, it was very healthy for me...

This morning I tried making another green drink that was more similar to what Sheri made me. It was a bit closer, but still rather green. Actually, it was kind of brown - "chocolately" was Meagan's word for it. Amber's wasn't nearly as appetizing. I don't know why I couldn't talk any of the kids into drinking some of it.

The funniest part was when I stopped the blender, took off the lid and a big air bubble blurped up through the green drink. "That's pretty polyjuice-ish," she observed. "Have you been brewing it for a month yet?" I drank the whole thing, again. Maybe the third try will be the charm? After I finished the drink and put a little bit of water in the blender and whirred it around, Jarom came upstairs and said, "Hey, it's a Hulk drink."

Friday night Holly and Katelyn came over and took Cameron, Jarom and Amber to the dollar movie. They saw "Bedtime Stories" with Adam Sandler. They seemed to like it. I was glad I didn't go because I was falling asleep on the couch before they even left our house. Holly brought the boys home and Amber slept over with Katelyn. I can't believe Holly stayed awake that late. She did have to go pick up Gary, though - at about 1:30 am.

A Wii Bit Sore

Yesterday I felt kind of sore and couldn't figure out why. I think I figured it out - I've done the wii fit twice this week - for about 1-1/2 hours total. I'm not used to working out that much any more. I used to go to the gym three times a week and work for about an hour and 15 minutes each time. Now that I've got to do kinesiology for myself, I don't have as much time to go to the gym. I miss it. I guess the wii fit will have to do for now.

Mostly what we've done today is listen to conference on the radio. We can't get channel 5 on the downstairs tv to work. It does work on the upstairs tv, though. I have enjoyed the talks and music.

David - caught Jarom and Amber's cold. He's in bed sleeping right now. He turned 43 on Wednesday. All 6 of us went bowling on Thursday because that's what David wanted to do for his birthday. We didn't go on Wednesday because I had to work. And I was so exhausted I came home from work, ate a bowl of cereal and crashed on the couch.

I think David had fun. I don't think we've ever gone bowling as a family before. Jarom was upset because he was the only person that didn't get at least one strike. He did get a spare, though.

The nice guy at the counter drilled the holes in David's and my bowling balls bigger for free. David needed one of his holes bigger because he's getting arthritis in his ring finger. I needed mine bigger because I don't think the holes were drilled big enough in the first place. It always freaked me out to use my bowling ball because I thought (psychologically, at least) that I was going to get my fingers stuck.

David's blue bowling ball and the orange ball from the bowling alley that Meagan and Amber were using got stuck twice at the end of the lane. David thought they had something going on, because it was always just those two balls that got stuck - together.

Meagan - bought David and MP3 player for his birthday. Now he just has to figure out how to use it. Meagan has been looking all over for her graduation photos and cannot find them. I'm sure I put them in a very safe place. If only I could remember what that safe place is. Meagan xeroxed off a copy of her Seminary General Conference assignment for everyone who wanted to do it. It was a word tally, which I found confusing, so I just started taking notes.

Meagan is heading out for work. She just came by and hugged me, then she "healed" me by putting the heal of her hand on my forehead and pushing. That's what they did in NC on David's mission when he went to other churches, so he taught it to the kids...

Cameron - just went and spent all his hard saved cash on a copy of the "Legend of Dragoon" video game. He's playing it now and is glad that it works because he bought it used from Game Pedlar. Meagan was nice enough to drive him to the mall. Or did he drive? I'm not sure. He says his driver's ed teacher says he's getting to be a better driver.

I came home from work last night and Cameron was shaving David's head. I used to have that job, but I guess it's Cameron's now. That's ok with me.

Jarom - is very happy because we have bagels again. And we had double chocolate cream pie and vanilla ice cream for David's birthday. Because we took so long bowling and buying David's birthday dinner (pizza) at Costco on Thursday, I was helping Jarom with his math yesterday morning before school. David was driving us crazy because he kept saying he didn't understand what I was explaining to Jarom. "It doesn't matter!" we both told him. Of course, David probably would not have been interested at all if we weren't in a hurry. Or maybe he would have.

Cindy and I had a discussion about this Tuesday morning on our walk to the Conference Center. She teaches Algebra at a Jr. High. She told me she tried to teach her husband algebra when they first got married. He didn't understand it and it only irritated him. Finally he said, "You're just going to have to live with me not understanding algebra."

I told her I had determined when I was a teenager that I would never marry a man who didn't understand AT LEAST algebra. Boy, was I wrong. I never tried to teach David algebra other than trying to explain why x and y and other variables are used in algebra. He just didn't get it, so I gave up. I eventually realized that David is smart in alot of things I'm not (sports, strategy, locksmithing, etc, etc), so it's all good. We balance each other. I did have to tell the kids to NEVER ask their dad for help with their math homework. He can help them with anything but math...and maybe science.

Amber - slept over at Kyleen's last night. She almost snuk out of the house without doing her missing homework assignments, but I got home just in time to make sure she did them. She was not happy with me, but she did do them.

Amber had good citizenship, so she got to play her DS for an hour or two at school yesterday. That was the reward for the well-behaved kids in the 5th grade.

Amber's primary teacher came over yesterday and asked me if I would teach Amber's primary class for two weeks. I thought about it and said, "Yes." The first week is Easter and the second week we have lots of YM/YW stuff going on, but I guess it will be ok. I told Amber she could teach the class. She said, "OK, as long as I can have the book." Maybe I'll have her help me. And the other kids in her class. I don't even know who's in her class anymore. We've had several families move out of the ward since the last time I taught her class.

Amber's teacher also had to show her the amber jewelry she's collecting. She told Amber she's glad she can collect something that reminds her of Amber. Awww....

YW Training Downtown

Cindy and I went to Young Women Leadership Training downtown. It was soooo good. I can't believe I didn't make time in the past to go. The spirit in the room at the Conference Center was so strong, so good and so soothing. The YW General Presidency are so cute and fun. They all have such a glow about them.

Sister Dalton, the YW General President, talked about how going to the temple makes her feel like she just got a "teflon" coating. The cares of the world and people getting mad at her for doing dumb things just bounce off and she's happy no matter what's going on. She said it lasts about a week, then she has to go back for another coating. Also, the guardian angels that have been following her around for past week have left because they've gotten sick of her and she has to go get a new bunch.

They talked about lots of other things, but that is what stands out in my mind the most. Maybe I'll have to try it...

Mostly Doin' Church Stuff Lately...Oh, Yeah, and Work...

Our family went to the Draper Temple dedication at our Stake Center. It was nice. Lots of good talks and so forth. The time went really quickly. I should go to the temple more often.

I went to the YW Meeting for General Conference on Saturday. Our Stake got tickets to go downtown. It’s crazy going downtown during a big event like that, especially with all the construction. I went with Cindy and Mary Ann who are in the Stake YW Presidency. I found out on Sunday that I was the only one from my ward who went downtown. Everyone else watched it on TV. Meagan probably would have gone downtown with me, but she had to work. The talks were good and the weather was still pretty nice.

On Sunday, we went to Mom and Dad’s for a long overdue Family Home Evening. We never did have FHE in January ’cuz I got sick. David and I were supposed to be in charge. We didn't have it in February because we decided we should wait until Holly had her surgery and recovered. Jarom and Amber didn’t get to go on Sunday because they had colds. I hope we’re all over being sick for a long time.

I’m so glad I have Tuesdays and Thursdays off. Yesterday at work was long and semi-crazy. Not as crazy as Friday, though. I don’t like having to deal with the schedule and everyone wanting to change their times. People just don’t seem to get the idea of a “house call.” You can’t be too particular about the time because the therapist is traveling, not the patient. Maybe that’s why doctors stopped doing house calls???

Right now I am listening to the crazy cd that Becky burned for me. It is hard to think about what to type when I’m listening to the silly D&D boys. This is the second time I’ve listened to it today. Thanks for the cd, Becky!

That’s about it. I’m about to go to the Training Meeting downtown at the Conference Center with Cindy. I guess I should go get ready.

Webcrawler

Sheri gave me a pdf file of a book that I want to print out. Lo and behold, it requires adobe reader to open the file. Does the adobe reader on my computer work? No. So I am attempting to download it. So far it has downloaded 6% of the program and it says it is going to take another 2 hours and 11 minutes to download the rest. It seem like I have done this before only to have my computer crash when the program was 95% downloaded. And then it was an older version. I can’t even find adobe 4.0 or 5.0 anywhere on the internet to download. Only 9.0 or later. Sometimes I hate computers.

I am blogging while I am waiting for adobe to download.

Yesterday I came home from work, curled up on the loveseat with the cat and fell asleep. I got up once to switch to the couch so I could stretch out more and didn’t wake up again until 6:00 am when my alarm went off. It felt like I had only been asleep an hour or two.

David – and I went to Dr. Poku’s this morning. The doctor said that David’s stress test looked ok and he was not going to order an angiogram because it would probably be clear just like it was 5 years ago. David says he never wants to do a stress test again. So, David gets to take another drug that is supposed to strengthen his heart. We’ll see. At least his blood pressure seems okay without medication. After that we went to the DMV, Costco and Chinese Gourmet. We picked up Meagan and Cameron from school and David came home and passed out on the bed. He’s still asleep.

Meagan – switched out of her Auto Shop class for 4th term and is going to be a TA in Humanities for Mrs. Christensen. She had the class last semester and liked the teacher, so that will be good, I guess. At least we don’t have to worry about her needing to take the car in to do something to it when we need it.

Cameron – just finished reading “Lord of the Flies.” I hate that book. I had to read it in school and it is one of my least favorite books. It’s up there with “The Old Man and the Sea.” Cameron didn’t like it either. He wrote a good paper about it, though. He also read “Congo” by Michael Crichton and got to write a paper and draw a picture about that.

Jarom – is doing a colored pencil drawing of a sunset. He’s not very far on it, but he likes the rocks in one corner of the drawing the best so far. This morning I told Thor to wake up Jarom. I finally got him to jump up on the bed, but then he just curled up next to Jarom and started purring. “This is not what I am paying you for!” I told Thor. He didn’t care.

Amber – got to go to JA Biz Town yesterday. JA stands for Junior Achievement. The 5th graders got to go and pretend they were grownups. They filled out a job application and got assigned a job in the “city.” Amber got to be a Savings Officer at the bank. Ick! Being a Loan Officer was one of my least favorite jobs ever. I guess she had fun. She said she would have rather been a Teller, CEO or CFO. They got to use computers, the Savings Officers only got to use a stamp. Her friend Kyleen was the CEO of the Restaurant and Charity was a Reporter for the TV Station. Amber did get a pb&j, carrots, an apple, doritos, a rice crispy treat and chocolate milk for lunch, though. So it wasn't a total loss.

Well, now adobe is 30% downloaded and I only have 2 hours and 3 minutes to go...awesome...

Dog and Kitty Show

Okay, here's the update:

David - as far as I know he hasn't heard back from the doctor on his stress test, so I guess that means he's not in any imminent danger. I hope. I guess he got the results of the sleep study. He gets to have his c-pap adjusted up 2 notches.

What else? He's been playing the same video game for about the past month. I'm not sure what the name of it is, but he plays a character that looks like Link in an orange poncho. He can also turn into a girl genie, a cat-girl and a caveman. Mostly the game consists of running around, opening treasure chests and going fishing. I don't like games that take forever to win, so I'm pretty sure I'm not ever gonna be playing that game. Whatever it is.

Meagan - and I went to a meeting during Parent-Teacher conference. We found out she doesn't have to do an externship to pass her dental class and graduate from High School. She probably DOES have to complete it in order to get her Certificate so she can work as a Dental Assistant. The good thing is she can do her externship during the summer which will be much easier for all of us. I think she's going to extern at Dr. Ferre's. She should like that; he and his staff are nice.

Cameron - participated in a History Fair last week. I didn't even know there was such a thing. A large share of Cameron's history grade depends on this project. Cameron and 3 of his friends (Michael, Nephi and Braden) made a video about William Wallace and why he was important to the history of Scotland. David and I took Cameron to the History Fair and hung around because we wanted to see the video. Michael says he wants to put it on youtube, so maybe you can find it there. I haven't looked.

Cameron got to be William Wallace because he was the biggest of the group. It was kind of like Monty Python in that most of the actors had to play more than one part - and it was kind of silly. Michael got to be the King of England, the entire English army and the judge that sentenced Wallace to death. He also played the soundtrack on the electric piano. Nephi got to be William Wallace's army and the guard that watched over Wallace while he was awaiting his execution. Braden was the narrator, cinematographer and video editor. Cameron wrote and typed up the process paper.

My favorite part of the video was when Michael chased Cameron across the park with a wooden sword. Cameron turned around at the last second and waved his hands in the air like he was scared, but not really. Cameron hid his face in his coat collar when the camera closed in on him after the sentencing. Cameron said he had to because he was laughing. Fortunately you couldn't really tell.

Cameron's friend Nick did his project on William Wallace, too. He did a display board like most of the students there. He knew more info about Wallace than Cameron and his group did - probably because this is the 3rd report he's done on Wallace. At least he was giving Cameron pointers on what to answer questions the judges might ask. I saw the second judge trying not to laugh as he left Cameron's group. I guess at least he found their film entertaining.

Nick and Cameron kept wrestling each other in the school cafeteria, where the History Fair was held. They were doing it for fun, but finally I had to tell them to stop. Boys are silly.

Jarom - has dishes this week as his chore. He is not happy about it. Whoever has dishes always makes a big deal about it. Other than that, Jarom's spent a lot of time sleeping on the couch. Maybe school's been rough. David thinks it's because Jarom is growing so fast. I swear he's grown 6 inches in the last year. Maybe more. Personally, I think it's because Thor has rubbed off on Jarom. Once Thor gets in the house about all he does is sleep on the couch.

Amber - is watching "O Brother Where Art Thou." It's one of our family's favorite movies. I like the music. The kids like the part where they're in the movie theater and Pete whispers, "Do not seek the treasure!" Delmar whispers back, "We thought you was a toad!" and Pete looks at him like he's crazy. Sometimes the kids will wander around the house saying, "We thought you was a toad!" in a loud whisper. They also like where the guy running for guvna keeps yelling, "Is you is or is you ain't my constitchency?"

Amber spent half of yesterday at Katelyn's doing who knows what. Probably playing the wii. And harassing the cats. I'm glad she and Katelyn have fun together. Amber thinks Katelyn is awesome.

Jetta - still freaks out over Thor sometimes.

I think Thor hates me now. He doesn't like me picking him up or holding him. As soon as I do he tries to wriggle out of my arms. I swear he spent most of last night glaring at me. He doesn't love us, he loves our couch. Oh, and the fact that we feed him.

Thor does seem to like the kids better than he likes me. Okay, maybe he only dislikes me, which is sad, because he used to be such a cute, friendly cat. Cameron says he's surprised Thor likes him since he hit him in the head with an apple not too long ago. He added quickly, "I didn't mean to!" This is good (sort of) because even if Thor is being obnoxious, he still doesn’t deserve to be hit in the head.

I started calling Thor "Mr. Snootypants" last night because he was so aloof. Jarom didn't know what snooty meant, but he thought the name was funny. I explained it to him. "Oooh, now it makes sense," he said.

I appreciate Jetta even more than I did before because she's always happy to see me and follows me around the house and loves me - unlike Mr. Snootypants. I told Jetta, "Now I know how you feel when everyone pays attention to the cat and not you." That got me thinking, maybe Jetta told Thor that he'd better not like me any more, or else...

If she did, it's working.

Cameron's Bridge

I just have to tell you how much weight Cameron's shakey looking bridge held: 906 pounds. Amazing! I think the first one I built only held 650 or something and the second one held about 550 before it slid out of the machine. Maybe Cameron SHOULD be an Engineer...

Quint's Funeral

Since mom wants to know and Georgia couldn't stay, I thought I would re-cap Quint's funeral. Quint liked to dress colorfully. Some of my favorites were his penguin tie and his all-white shirt with one red pocket. When I talked to his family, I found out that all of Quint's sons and grandsons had raided his closet and were wearing his loud ties, shirts and jackets. One son even had on a pink sports coat. I found out why Quint dressed so colorfully and why he wore penguin ties. His family said he didn't want to go to church in a dark suit and tie and a white shirt and look like all the other penguins. Quint must have gotten a kick out of his family raiding his closet in his honor.

The first speaker was Gordon - Quint's brother. He gave the life sketch. Gordon said that he was the oldest, then Quint, then Patricia, then Russell. They lived in Salt Lake City until they lost their house due to the Great Depression. Their family moved to Idaho and lived on their uncle's farm for a while. Their mother was a nurse and she got a job before their dad did - in Walla Walla, Washington. They lived there 3-4 years until their dad was able to get a job, then they moved back to Salt Lake City. They were able to buy back the very house they had lost years earlier.

Gordon said that Quint was always the favorite and he could prove it. When Gordon got engaged, he brought his girlfriend home to announce his engagement. When Russell heard the news, he looked at Gordon's girlfriend and said, "You're going to marry him? You could wait a few years and marry Quint. Quint's a lot better." Sad. I can't believe Gordon would tell that story. In spite of it all, Quint and Gordon got along. Gordon said, "Quint was everything you could want in a brother."

Three of Quintin's grandchildren and his one and only daughter spoke. They all told funny stories about Quint. They told about how Quint loved to cook and would make his family dinner and "brekkie" when they would come to visit him. One grandson said that Quint would set the table days in advance when he invited people over for dinner. It wasn't normal table setting, it was more like you were going to the circus. Instead of glasses, he would have glass jars or pitchers. Instead of silverware, he would have salad tongs or wooden forks. When his grandkids would try to re-set the table with normal silverware, he wouldn't let them. He made them eat with the weird utensils on the table.

Another grandson said Quint added something unexpected to almost everything he cooked. Once when he was cooking a pot roast, he looked through the fridge for something to add to it. He found a jar of jelly and started putting big spoonfuls of jelly over the pot roast. "Grandpa, what are you doing?!" his grandson asked. "Shut up and eat it!" Quint said. So they did. And it was good.

Quint's daughter, Kris, said he would call her up and ask her what "soss" would go with the meat he was cooking. Apparently there were some words in the English language he liked to massacre. Kris was never his "daughter" she was his "dawhta."

His grandkids said he had a playhouse out in his backyard. When they came over, he would go out and play house or dolls or whatever the grandkids wanted to play. He would even let them put his hair up in little pigtails all over his head and paint his toenails.

Quint loved to go dirt-biking. His family was relieved when they finally converted him over to riding a quad, but he still drove crazy. He'd go up all the steep hills and tip his quad and do things his full-grown sons were scared to do. Quint told his family he wanted to die on a quad with a big smile on his face. They were relieved that didn't happen.

The last person to talk was Quint's Stake President. Eighteen years ago, the Stake President was Quint's Bishop and Quint was the first counselor. The Bishop/Stake President was long-winded and their meetings would go on for hours. Quint always told him to "keep it short." Apparently that didn't work. Once Quint got to the Bishop's office first before a meeting. He had a big tray with a two pound salami and some really strong cheese on it. By the end of the meeting, they'd eaten all the cheese and salami, but the room stunk for the next two weeks.

Quint's favorite calling was being a Primary Teacher. A few years ago the Stake President called Quint into his office and called him to be a High Councilor. Quint told him, "No." The Stake President almost fainted from shock, because that was not like Quint. "It's really not that bad," the Stake President told him. Quint looked at him and said, "I want to stay a Primary Teacher for the rest of my life. I've been on a mission to Finland and a mission to Austrailia and I feel like I didn't convert anyone, but I feel like I'm converting these kids. I'm making a difference." With that explanation, the Stake President told him he could be a Primary Teacher the rest of his life. "Don't release me," Quint said. And they didn't - even after he died.

Quint loved the Primary kids and they loved him. The Primary sang a song at his funeral. There must have been 30 or 40 kids up on the stand singing for Quint. I imagine he loved that.

This is an aside by me: Sometimes at work I would hear Quint whistling songs - usually they were Primary Songs or Hymns. I wonder if he even realized he was doing that. Once he asked me if I had a dog. I looked at him weird and said, "Yes, why?" "Because you talk to yourself a lot," he said. Later that week I caught him talking to himself and pointed it out to him. "Of course I talk to myself," he said. "When I talk to myself I know I'm going to get an intelligent answer." I had to agree with him.

At the very end of the funeral, when the pallbearers were taking the casket out, the organist was playing "Quentin's Theme." Apparently Quint heard it years ago on a tv or radio show - I think it had something to do a with a superhero? I can't remember what they said the name of the show was. When Quint heard the name of the song, he said, "That's the song they have to play at the end of my funeral." So they did. It was much more somber of a song than I thought it would be. Fitting for funeral, I guess. I would have forgot that's the song they were playing, but Steve leaned over to me and whispered, "Quentin's Theme," and I remembered.

After the funeral, I had to tell Steve the story about Georgia taking Quint to the hospital several times when he was sick. Georgia went to pick up Quint and the nurse (or someone) asked, "Oh, are you related to Quintin? Are you his granddaughter?" Georgia started to answer when Quint piped up and said, "She's my mistress." (If I told that wrong, you can correct me, Georgia.) I told his sons about it later and they just nodded and said that their dad having a mistress was a long running joke. They'd tell him that's why he went on so many business trips to Montana.

After the funeral, I made David drive past the cemetary so I would know where to find Quint's grave. Quint's grave is just across the walkway from David's parents' graves. That's convenient. David laughed when I told him I wanted to see Quintin's grave. I said why are you laughing? Because his last name is "Graves"? Yes. Silly David.

So, there you have it. Quintin's wonderful funeral. Oh, and there were so many people there to talk to Quint's family that the funeral started at 11:20, not 11:00 like it was scheduled to. There were lots of people there. The entire chapel was full and half of the gym. One grandson summed up Quint the best: "Quint lived in his own little world and everyone was invited. The thing is, once you went in to his world, you never wanted to leave."