Happy New Year!

From the blog 1000 Awesome Things:

That was a tough one.
Come on in and stop for a second to shake your head, dust yourself off, and look back at how far you’ve come.
Sure, it’s been a long year. Some crushing lows slapped you and smacked you around. There were times your heart dipped and you squinted back tears while your stomach squeezed so tightly you couldn’t sleep. There were moments you walked around in a glossy-eyeball daze — when loved ones hurt, friends didn’t stay, or someone dear to your heart slowly drifted away.
Sleepless nights, stressful nights, with teething babies, slurring customers, bad bosses, bickering boyfriends, or blank computer screens. You were feeling and you were dealing and you were reeling and you were healing.
But as you walked your hard path down your long and bumpy road some little drops of confidence dripped like coffee into your head and into your heart. As you stumbled and got back up a quiet inner strength slowly seeped into your bones. And as you climbed over obstacles set in your way some relaxed satisfaction and growing self-awareness glimmered like bright lights at the bottom of your stomach.
Yes, this year changed you and grew you in so many ways you don’t even feel or notice yet. As you struggled you empathized, as you slipped you understood, as you worked you earned…
… as you looked you learned
… … as you dared you grew
… … … and as you jumped you flew.
Your dreams are still focusing and your passion is growing. Your energy is still bubbling as your story keeps going.
You’ve been through so much and gained a year’s supply of experience along the way. You’re stronger than you were last year and stronger than you realize. Sure, there were times you bent, but you definitely didn’t break. There were times you caved, but you definitely didn’t flake.
Listen up: you got bigger, you got better, and you got the scars to prove it.
So stop for a second today to smile and look back at everything you’ve done this year… everything you’ve seen… everywhere you’ve been…
You’ve taken more illegal naps and had more blurry-eyed late nights.
You’ve danced to more wedding songs and smiled at more beautiful sights.
You’ve seen more scorching sunsets and heard more head-bopping songs.
You’ve tripped a few times, but baby, you kept rolling right along.
Yes, you’ve hugged more old friends and kissed some brand new pretty faces.
You’ve cheered more on the sidelines and visited some brand new pretty places.
You tasted more meals, you got more deals, and you’ve sniffed more flower blossoms.
And you made it all the way through this year because you’re so completely
AWESOME!

I hope everyone can look back at this past year and smile.
Love,
Leigh

Our Little Boy Scout

Because of Quint's love of scouting, Corwin has been exposed to it since he was born. It only seems natural that he would join in.

It was so cute how Corwin stood right there with Quint's troop and repeated the pledge, oath, motto, etc. with them.

Help

Leigh,
We need a new invite for Dad to join us on the blog. Could you please resend an invite for him? We've got an account all set up for him, but are unable to get him linked up to our specific blog. If you could help out, that would be great!!
Love you!

Cozy Coupe Christmas Morning

Jake and I stayed up late putting this car together. We were so excited to record Wyatt's reaction when he first saw the car. This morning I woke up to the sound of Wyatt walking down the stairs. So he caught a glimpse of the car before I hauled him upstairs so Jake could bring him down while I grabbed the camera. I guess this isn't a genuine first reaction. Oh well.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I wanted to post some pictures right away while I'm thinking about it. It was great to talk to so many of you last night. We look forward to being able to add Wyatt's voice to the chorus of screaming kids running around Mom and Dad's house :)

Merry Christmas

You get none of that "Happy Holiday" crap from me today! There is one reason why we celebrate today. And that is the birth of our Savior. (Duh. As if you didn't know that.) ;)

I hope everyone's Christmas lives up to their expectations and that no one is disappointed. I love you all and am very glad to be part of this family!!

He'll be a good fellow

Jake has decided to apply for a fellowship in pediatric anesthesia.  That means that he will be specially trained to administer anesthesia to kids for surgeries and he will probably work at a children's hospital (like Primary Children's - cross your fingers).  That also means that he will do another year of training after his residency, called a fellowship.  Unfortunately, Utah doesn't have any pediatric fellowships in anesthesia so we will either tack on another year here in St. Louis or move somewhere else for a year.  Jake is applying here and wants to apply in Colorado and California.  He is a shoo-in here at Barnes (the director of the program kept telling Jake he would be great in peds, he should really do a fellowship, if he wants to get a fellowship here he better turn in his application, etc.) but I think he stands a great chance anywhere he applies.  It's not a match like residency, but we don't really know how and when these things are decided.  I guess we'll let you know when we do.  Anyway, this is great news and I'm really excited for Jake to be choosing a specialty that I think will bring him a lot of joy.  I thought I'd share :)

Dire Grove

Brrrr!!!! This is how I feel going outside now. I went out to the shed last night...crunch...crunch, and then opened the chilly shed door. Then I plugged in the Christmas lights.

What a great game though; I recommend it to any of you that like casual games.

A little bit of Wyatt

We gave Wyatt a haircut last week.  His hair had been getting quite long and I was constantly pushing it out of his eyes.  I just wanted to do a trim up in the front, back and over his ears.  But as soon as I tried to trim the back, he started squirming and I cut a BIG chunk out.  Jake decided we should just chop it off, so he began using the scissors to cut it all one length.  I cleaned it up with the clippers and it looks pretty good.  But I always regret cutting Wyatt's hair because I think it looks so cute when it is longer.  His hair is so light and wispy and I get sad seeing piles of it on the floor :( 

Today is Wyatt's first nap in his "big-boy bed".  We bought a new twin mattress before Jake's family came for Thanksgiving and one of our nephews slept on it while he was here.  Yesterday I got around to hauling it upstairs and putting his new bedclothes on it.  Wyatt was jumping up and down and hugging the bed (it has a Lightning McQueen comforter on it) and was very excited to have it in his room.  We put him to bed last night and he did really well - didn't try to climb out or cry at all.  I checked on Wyatt after he had fallen asleep and he had climbed out from under the covers, but was otherwise sleeping well.  Today he fell asleep in the car and transferring him to the bed was a breeze.  He would usually wake up when I would try to place him in the crib, but the bed is a much easier transition.  We'll see how the next several weeks go, but so far so good!  If I ever remember to buy more batteries for the camera, I'll take some pictures of these things...

Wyatt has learned to say "please" only it comes out more like "eese" (think cheese without the ch-).  It is his go-to for trying to persuade me to do something (Wyatt pulling me by the hand toward the basement: *in a pleading tone* "eese!") as well as to decline anything (me: "do you want a bite of chicken?"  Wyatt: *turning head* "eese!".  It's pretty cute and has, for now, taken the place of "no".

Crazy Snow Storm

We had a pretty crazy snow storm (actually not really that bad), but I had to wait about an hour at the bus stop today. I spent about 50 minutes of it out on the street, before I went into McDonald's. Apparently the first bus hadn't come either, which I found out by talking to a guy who had been waiting for it. I ended up calling UTA and they first said that "it had been there at 7:14". I said, well, we have been here since 6:45 and haven't seen anything (the 7:14 is the posted schedule time). He then put me on hold for about five minutes before coming back and saying that hte bus would be right there. We watched out the window for a couple more minutes before it showed up. It wasn't so bad the first 30 minutes, but then it got pretty cold. Coming home was no issue at all; I even was able to get across 35th south easily (I usually have to wait a bit before both sides are clear).

Thanksgiving

Did everyone have a nice Thanksgiving?  We did.  We hosted Thanksgiving at our house and had two of Jake's brothers and their families visit from out of town.  Dave, Sarah, Sam and Jacob drove from Utah and Neil, Liesl, Isaac and Aurora drove from Madison.  It was a big group, but a lot of fun.  I think any more might have been a strain.  We went to the zoo, the Children's museum and a park while they were here.  We had some really nice weather, with some days in the mid 60s.  Thanksgiving dinner turned out really nice with everyone making dishes so I didn't carry the whole load.  I made the turkey, stuffing, gravy and an apple pie.  I heard Julie made an apple pie this year.  How did it turn out?  Sarah and her two boys are staying with us until Sunday and Wyatt is really enjoying having other kids around all the time.  With having guests around so much, I feel like I haven't been able to keep in touch as much as I should.  Sorry I missed talking to everyone on Thanksgiving.  I love you all!

Leigh

Bubbles

Corwin was just given a stuffed animal to take care of for the week, named Bubbles. He was very excited when he got home from school and was talking to Emily and having her take pictures, etc.

Anyway, we had family home evening and were playing hide and go seek, when it came to our attention that Bubbles was missing. I joked, wouldn't it be funny if we were the family that lost Bubbles?

So we spent a good fifteen - twenty minutes scouring the house for Bubbles, who was playing hide and go seek with us. I eventually found her, hiding behind the blinds in the toy room. It was just insanity.

Sunday

Yesterday we went to a devotional for temple workers at the Tabernacle. As we were driving we could see a storm coming from the north, we drove right into it. At first it was rain, but by the time we got downtown, it was snowing and blowing hard. It wasn't a very pleasant walk to the Tabernacle from the parking lot, but once we got inside it was fine. We could hear the wind howling during the opening prayer. There was an inch or two when we left 2 hours later and the trees looked pretty with the snow on them. It was too bad that the Christmas lights weren't on yet, that would have been very nice.

We taught our last class in Sunday School (Marriage and Family Relations), now we have a break until January and then we will start over again with a new class. We are enjoying this calling, and hope to learn a lot for ourselves too. This group has been great with the comments and participation we have had.

I am off from the temple until 23 Dec. Dad and I are planning a trip to Moab sometime in early December. I like to plan my days off around the days off from the temple so I don't have to get a substitute. Re-paying the substitute can be difficult, working three days in a week at the temple is a challenge. Working at the temple is definitely work and I go home tired.

Primary Program

Well, we had our Primary program today. I was a little concerned after a rocky practice last week (the kids didn't sing, were wiggly and wouldn't stand up and sit down together), but I think the sight of all their parents in the audience scared them straight. The kids did well saying their parts, stayed in their seats and sang loudly (well, most of the time). I was terrified that I would mess up because I had flubbed a few things in each of our two practices. And, as luck would have it, I skipped over two girls saying their parts because their teacher wasn't paying attention and when there was a 10-second pause with no discernable movement, I stood up and the pianist started playing the music. Then the teacher looked at me wild-eyed and started to stand up with the girls. Luckily, the Primary President caught their attention and they just said their parts after the song. Later on, I misread the cues from our pianist and started the kids singing when she was still playing the introduction. Fortunately, she is pretty skilled and was able to catch on and pick up where we were seamlessly. The program ran super long - we went 30 minutes over - but part of that was due to our having four people being confirmed today. It was a nice meeting, but I'm glad that it's done with and all the associated stress has melted away.

Christmas goal

OK. I know...I'm talking about Christmas before Thanksgiving. And normally, I would kick whoever was talking about Holidays out of order...but it's me. And it's a bit difficult to kick yourself. AND this post probably isn't what you might think it will be.
I have a goal to be back in my size 8 lucky jeans by Christmas. Do you think I can make it? I really hope so. I've already lost a few pounds by going to the gym 2-3 times a week with two of my coworkers. And then doing Wii Fit Plus on some of the other days. Now that I think about it...the size 8 might be a bit of a stretch. So maybe I should aim for my size 10 jeans...that might be a more acheiveable goal. But I'm still going to try for the 8...and if I can wear the 10, I'll still be happy. :)
Just thought I'd share that with you all.

Primary Sunday

Well, another Sunday and another day assisting in Primary :) This time it was because they had an all Relief Society meeting with the Bishop and the men helped; I don't think there was even an Elder's Quorum meeting. I know that because I had to leave class three times to get Sister Hardman to help with "going to the potty".

I am cooking up a tasty turkey roast for dinner today. We have also started a tradition of listening to some past General conference talks; they have all the way back to 2003 on lds.org in mp3 format (or you can watch the video). It is very nice; we are listening to Saturday Morning 2003 right now.

Rewrite of the old "V" story

ABC just started a new series, "V", which is a re-imaginering of the "V" mini-series and series of the early 80's that I loved. Emily and I watched it tonight and I was highly impressed.

Since I know that the whole family loves Lost...hang on, never mind. Still, it is an excellent science fiction show. It is on Tuesdays at 7:00 on ABC.

I wish I had others in the family to talk about Lost, Survivor, and now this with. :)

Look at that face!

I just couldn't pass on sharing this picture. It had rained the day before and the sidewalk chalk had been left outside. When the boys went out to play on a Saturday morning, they started using the chalk. However he did it, Alex had chalk caked all over his face and he was pretty pleased with it and didn't want it removed! (Maybe it was just because he hates having his face washed - period.)

Pikmin

Quint already commented on our Halloween, but here are some pictures of the boys dressed as Pikmin (Nintendo GameCube game). Christa did a great job designing and making the hats!

I also want to say that I read the comments and look at the Blog almost daily. I had it on my list to post Halloween pictures today, even before reading your request :-) This was a great idea and I'm glad you got it going!

Halloween photos

I was going to post this in a comment, but I suspect that Julie, Mom and I are the only ones who read those.  Actually, I don't know how many of you read the blog on a regular basis...  Moving on, I just wanted to send out a soliciation for Halloween pictures.  Julie posted one from her phone on Facebook, but I couldn't really tell what Luke and Corwin were dressed as.  I'm hoping that you all aren't as terrible at taking pictures as I am.

Halloween and stuff

We went to a ward trunk or treat on Friday, our first that we have ever been to. It was pretty fun and amusing; they boys got a large amount of candy, a good portion which boils down to me, as they don't like it. The same deal with trick or treating yesterday.

I got thinking about this as I did last year. The more I think about it, the more it doesn't bother me who goes trick or treating, as long as they are in costume and are polite. I was thinking today that I would dress up and bring my own bag, but then I thought that I don't need to be greedy, as I get plenty from the boys anyway. I hope that carry's on as they get older; as it is now, they are very good to share. Not only that, but I get the 3 boy multiplier. :)

We went basically the same route, which includes part of the path that I take to walk to the bus. This is down a back street and along a nice trail between two houses, out to 35th south. There are a few good friends out there that we visited.

I taught primary again today, this time to CTR 6. I have recently been given a second calling on top of 11 year old scoutmaster: I am now also scout committee chair, which means in part that I have had the unenviable task of coordinating rechartering and friends of scouting. I have been really torn about friends of scouting, bothered somewhat by what I see as some corruption with the national level (for instance, it bothers me that one of the numbers for a uniform costs $1).

Anyway, just a bunch of somewhat cohesive thoughts going on for me.

Halloween

We had a pretty low-key Halloween.  We worked on the bathroom all day, went to the church for trunk-or-treat, then strolled around our neighborhood and looked at the Halloween decorations and throngs of trick-or-treaters.  Have I ever mentioned how crazy Halloween is on the next street over from ours?  No?  Well, every year the street one block north of our house goes all out for Halloween.  Most houses are really decked out with lights, coffins, tombstones, skeletons, spiders, bats, you name it.  And we're talking almost every house on the block.  Then the owners sit out on their porches to hand out candy.  No ringing doorbells around here.  People drive in from all around town to trick-or-treat on this street.  It gets so busy that they barricade the road from cars and people overflow from the sidewalks onto the streets.  There were lines at each house to get candy.  Lines!  But at our house?  Our doorbell rang twice.  *Shrug*  Wyatt barely tolerated the trunk-or-treat so we didn't make him beg for candy around the neighborhood.  He just got a good walk.

We didn't take any pictures last night, but Jake dressed up in some fatigues, Wyatt wore the same spider outfit he had last year and I dressed as a spider web (all in black with white string wrapped around me).  Here are a couple of pictures from Boo at the Zoo when our friends the Howsleys visited us last week:

The boots are back!

Remember when Wyatt and I were home for Christmas and Brenda gave Wyatt those boots that he loved so much? Remember how he loved them so much that he wore them to bed at night? Remember how he cried and cried when I took them off for a bath? Remember how I had to hide them under Mom's bed so his feet would get a rest and not prune up and fall off? Remember them? They're back!

I had them hidden under my bed so we could get Wyatt to wear summer shoes.  And I forgot that they even existed.  Well, we had to move the bed so our new windows could be installed (yay!) and there they were.   I put them in Wyatt's room and not long after, they were discovered.  Wyatt took off the shoes he was wearing and put on the boots.  I was impressed that 1) they still fit and 2) that Wyatt could put them on himself (even if they were on the wrong feet).

They are so stinking cute!

Jake's Vacation (?)

As I mentioned in a previous post, we have been kind of forced into redoing our master bathroom.  We've been without our shower (meaning baths only) for about a month.  I'm ready to have the shower back.  Unfortunately, this past month Jake has been very busy at the hospital and very little progress has been made on the remodel.  But this week, oh this week we have been hard at work!  You see, Jake had a vacation week and we really dove in to get things done.  We accomplished a lot, but there is still more to be done.  It will be waiting for us next weekend.  Sigh.

We were going along great and thinking we were pretty hot stuff:

Then, disaster!  We realized that the drain hadn't been installed beneath the shower pan and it was immobilized by tiles.  Wah, wah.  What to do?  Rip out the bottom row :(

Actually Jake doesn't look too upset (but trust me he was).

But we didn't let that get us down.  We kept working and finished a good deal of the tile work before trick-or-treating yesterday.

We just need to add a few more tiles...

and clean up.

Oh yeah, then there's that...

Where is everyone?

No one has posted anything for quite some time, is anything happening out there? We had a fun time for Brendan's birthday. I think he is very pleased to be 5. It is such fun to see all the kids growing up, I'm enjoying it. Dad and I helped Christa pick apples on Tuesday. One tree has giant! red apples and the other one has tiny! golden delicious. We finally got tired of picking tiny apples and left many of them on the tree. She will have to prune next spring to help her trees out. Maybe Scott will do it. The temple is closed next month from 25 Nov to 22 Dec. Dad and I are considering taking a few days and going to Moab then. It should be nice to get away. I like to plan any trips when the temple is closed so I don't have to get a substitute. I'm not real keen on making the time up and substituting for someone else to trade. It's just easier to just show up on my regular days. I substituted one week to make a three day week, not my favorite thing to do. I don't mind the work at the temple, it is just tiring because you must concentrate all the day. Any loss of concentration means errors and that's no fun. Well, time to go make dinner. Somebody - say/write something.

Love, Mom

Temple Square 360°

A friend just sent me a link to this website that has 360° views of Temple Square and other places around Utah. Enjoy it when you get a minute...

http://www.utah3d.net/GalleryTempleSquare.html

What a difference just 3 pounds can make!

Something exciting happened yesterday. I have this brown skirt that I like, but have not worn for many months. It was just too snug to move around in the last time I wore it. Alex & Corwin were staying home sick yesterday, so I decided I could handle a little snugness with just Luke going to church with me. To my great surprise, the skirt fit better than it ever has before!

I only lost a couple of pounds the whole summer, so I really hadn't noticed a difference. But after putting on the skirt, it got me thinking and I realized that my levi's are a bit looser too :-)

New Calling

So let's run down my list of Primary callings, shall we?


Primary president √ (check)
First counselor √ (check)
Second counselor √ (check)
Secretary √ (check)
Sunbeam teacher √ (check)
CTR 4 teacher √ (check)
CTR 5 teacher √√√ (triple check – I’ve taught it in three different wards)
CTR 6 teacher √ (check)
CTR 8 teacher √ (check)
Activities day leader √√.5 (double check point five – did it twice in three different wards)
Sunday school for 12-13 year-olds (it’s practically Primary) √ (check)
Primary chorister ♪ (check!)


So I got called today as our Primary chorister. I’m a little nervous because this is the first genuinely new calling I’ve had in a while (as you can see by the rundown). I’ve never had a musical calling before and I’m really excited about it! As we were driving away from the church, I was already dreaming up ideas for singing time. Our whole Primary is being restructured because our president is moving away. It’s not a great time with the program coming up, but what are you going to do? Anyway, since a lot of you have been (or currently are) in a Primary calling, if you see something or remember something that works/worked well for singing time, could you pass it along? Thanks and have a lovely Sunday!

Happy Birthday Jake!

Happy birthday Dr. Handyman!  Here's to another year chock-full of home improvements :)

Love,
Leigh and Wyatt

Call me!

Here goes....

Hi. Just got a new google voice number: 801-613-TREK (8735). Yeah, my favorite film of the year so far. I've also been watching episodes from the original series on tv.com and playing Beetles Rock Band. Probably going to be Paul Mccartney for Halloween. Ok, enough said. Thanks for the blog invite.

Finally, something about the Sampsel's!

Our ward's primary program will be on the 25th of October (Brendan's birthday) and Brendan has been assigned a scripture to read, Mosiah 4:13. I am excited to see how he does. We received the part yesterday and I told Brendan that we will practice it so that he will be comfortable. Even after telling him that, he insists that he will need either me or Dan to help.
It sometimes shocks me when I think about how old he is already. The time has really gone by fast!
Kathryn is also growing fast. I think that she just might enjoy singing as much as Brendan does. I made up a song about our family last night to the tune of "Are you Sleeping?" and Kathryn wanted me to sing it to her over and over again. The words were: "Mommy and Katie. Mommy and Katie. Brendan, too. Brendan, too. Don't forget Daddy. Don't forget Daddy. We love you. We love you." Brendan and Katie also really enjoyed it when I put in Grammy, Grandpa, Uncle Wes and Julie too.

Unexpected changes

First of all, we are finally replacing the rest of our old windows!  Some of them are old wood casings that are original to the house and some are aluminum replacement frames.  Ironically, the 90-year-old windows are better than the 20- or 30-year-old ones, but none of them are very good.  We're changing out 11 windows and adding (a much needed) one to our bathroom.  I'm super excited about getting these done.

Now for the unexpected part.  Right after we signed the contract for our new windows, the faucet handle in our shower broke off.  No problem, we'll just buy a new fixture.  While we were trying to install the new handle, we realized that we would have to change out the pipe fittings.  OK, this is getting a little more involved.  We really can't access the fittings because they are behind our vinyl shower enclosure, so we try to remove one panel and... rrriiippp!  OK, we'll have to replace the shower enclosure.  Then we decide that if we are going to have to redo the shower, we might as well do it right.  So we're scrapping the cheap vinyl shower and outdated tinted door and we're going to tile the shower walls, knock out an ugly overhang, make the shower head tall enough for Jake (yay!) and put in a pretty door.  Eventually we're going to tile bathroom floor; replace the vanity, lighting and fixtures; put in a medicine cabinet and of course the new window.  Fixing up an old house really forces us to learn a lot of new skills.  I can honestly say that plaster and lath walls don't scare me anymore.  I didn't want to do all of this at once, but the sooner we make the fixes that are needed, the longer we get to enjoy them before we sell this place.  It will be so much better! Instead of a liability when we try to sell the house, it should be a real plus.  Thank goodness for moonlighting so we can pay for all of this :)  I'll try to keep y'all updated with progress pictures.

Happy Birthday Christa!

I hope you have a lovely day :)

Good news!!

I got a new job! I'll still be at the clinic, but I'll be working with Dr Rhodes. He specifically asked for me when he found out that his receptionist now is leaving. The bad thing was I had to tell everyone that I was leaving. One of my doctors now, Dr Snihurowych, was not happy. And Gae, Dr Hanseen's nurse was very unhappy. Dr Snihurowych asked if I was leaving because of her. I told her no. Actually, I think what I said was, "Noooooo!" Because it isn't because of her that I'm leaving. I have two coworkers that I have had difficulty working with and my current supervisor I haven't had the best time working with. So with this new position comes a new supervisor. He seems very relaxed and will let me do my job without me feeling like he is waiting for me to blink wrong so he can write me up. (Yes there were times where I felt like that with Rita.) Also with this new position, I'll be working four 10 hour days. I'll work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday with Wednesdays off. I'll work from 7 am to 5:30 pm. It will be tough to go back to a 5:30 shift, but I'll be working the exact same hours as my friends Janice and Heidi. So I'm sure I'll manage well. :)
Anyway, I had to share that with you all. I'll send out an email once I figure out what number you'll be able to reach me on. Until then, if you need to reach me when I'm at work call my cell phone. Because I'm not always at my "desk".

G minus G, G as G

Quint introduced me to a funny little comic called Garfield minus Garfield.  The premise is that if you remove Garfield from the comic strip, you get a whole new kind of funny showcasing just how sad and pathetic Jon is:

I love it!
Recently I found something just as off the wall.  It is called Garfield as Garfield.  Basically it removes Garfield the cat from the strip and in his place inserts our 20th president, James Garfield:

Oh the hilarity!

yay! multi-vitamins do work!

the stake had a blood drive today. i had enough of a notice to take my daily multi-vitamin...and i was able to donate! yay! i got it done in 4 minutes. morgan -former-greenberg from the ward works for arup and was the one who took care of me. it was great to be able to talk to her and catch up a bit. even though i really didn't know her very well when she lived in the ward. but she did a great job. i could barely feel the needle when it she put it in, and didn't feel it at all when she took it out. and she said that i was one of the fastest that she had done that day. yay! i finally have gotten back to the "fast donation".

Dry Basement

People who have never had a leaky basement don't realize what a headache it is.  We started to get water in the unfinished part of the basement almost right after we moved in.  We did some digging, broke up a slab of concrete and re-routed a drainage pipe and things were fine.  For a while.  Then we started having water in the finished part.  The carpet would get wet; we'd soak it up with mops and towels, rent a carpet cleaner and get really frustrated.  We tried keeping our gutters clear of leaves.  It still leaked.  We tried re-routing the drainage on this side of the house.  It still leaked.  We tried burying black plastic as a barrier.  Dixie dug it up and it still leaked.  We tried installing a French drain.  It still leaked.  We tried sealing where the driveway meets the foundation.  It still leaked.  Our last ditch effort was to hang an ugly blue tarp to try and keep the area dry.  It worked for a little while, but eventually the torrential rainstorms were too much for it to handle and... you guessed it.  Finally we decided to just pour cement.  We poured four large slabs and sealed where they meet the foundation.  Then we waited.  It seemed like a long time before we got a significant storm.  When we finally got a good drencher I tiptoed downstairs afraid of what I might find.  But to my utter delight, it was bone dry!  Hip hip hooray!  Now after several good storms, I declare it FIXED!  I no longer dread the rainy forecast.  I no longer quake at the sound of thunder (maybe just a little).  I am able to just chill and enjoy the fact that the plants are getting water.  It is such a blessing to have that finally resolved.  *Knock on wood*

New schedule - Better Days

I've started getting up earlier in the morning to have a little time for myself before the boys get up. I have a chance to pray, read my scriptures, and write in my journal before the day really begins. These are things that bring me down until I do them. It's amazing how doing them first thing in the morning really improves my day and I get more done.

Corwin usually gets up early too and will write in his notebook while I work. I have to remind him several times though that it is "my time" and that he needs to be quiet. He acts kind of sheepish about needing to be reminded and usually says something like "Oh, I didn't know." It's a nice time together for the two of us.

Corwin Starts Kindergarten

Again, a little late, but still important.

Corwin's first day of Kindergarten was on August 31, 2009. He was really excited and enjoys going. I push Alex in the stroller and we all walk to school to drop him off. His teacher is Miss Jensen. Corwin already knows most of what they are learning, but enjoys going. We've started going to the library too, so that we have a variety to read at least 20 minutes a day. Corwin even got his own library card.

Alex got stitches

It's a little late, but I thought I'd still include it.

On Monday, August 10, Alex had to have stitches in his forehead. As far as I can tell, he was upset that Corwin wouldn't let him play with him and had pushed him away. He was running to come upstairs and let me know his displeasure when he ran right into the door at the bottom of our stairs. I got to him as he was turning to come up the stairs and it started bleeding. Fortunately it only bled a little and I was able to get it to stop easily. It was very deep and there was no question that he would need stitches.

Alex was acting and playing normally, so I took him to the urgent care. He didn' t like it when they poked him with the needle to numb the area up and then he really didn't like it when they put the surgical screen over his face so that only the injured area was exposed. Once the doctor decided to remove it, Alex calmed right down and actually went to sleep while he finished. It took a total of 10 stitches, both interior and exterior.

The stitches were removed a week later and it had healed very nicely. I later found out that the doctor that did it was one of their best and typically works at a different location, but was filling in that day. I agree that he is very skilled and did a great job.

Corwin lost his first tooth

Corwin's bottom front teeth have been loose for a while. Well yesterday he lost the first one while eating a cookie.

He wrote a note to the tooth fairy and left it under his pillow last night. First thing this morning he came upstairs to wake Luke up and show him what he got. I saved him from waking Luke up and he showed me instead. He had asked for 5 different things, so he got a penny, a nickle, a dime, a quarter, and a small notebook. He was very excited. I helped him to fill out his first tithing slip and get it ready to pay on Sunday.

I was hoping that he wouldn't lose his teeth until after school pictures, which are today. It probably won't make a difference because when I tried to take a picture showing his missing tooth, I had a hard time.

Sunday, Sunday here again

We are having a nice Sabbath day today. It didn't start out that way; we were both tired and slept in a bit and got there late, just as the Sacrament hymn was ending.

I almost ended up teaching another primary class but the teacher came at the last minute. Alex does not like going into nursery, but he cheers up after a couple of minutes. It is really cute how he will cling to me and then wave frantically at everyone else, as if he is saying, nice to see you, now I am taking off.

Also, Luke will always say I don't like this church as we are pulling up. He started doing that when the ward split and hasn't let up yet.

I read all the cabin histories during Sunday School (I stayed out in the hall because I was late). It was very pleasant to read and see all the different view points.

I had a wonderful lesson in Priesthood about Temple blessings. I love going to the temple and serving there. This all rolled up with several experiences I have had this week. Examine your lives and see if you can serve in the Temple more, it is worth it!

bah!!

it's amazing how just having to reschedule a doctors day can take a lot out of you. now try and do that for 3 doctors, in 2 days. yep. that's what i've done at work the last two day. yesterday, i was asked to help reschedule dr. rhodes schedule for thursday. his father passed away and the funeral is thursday. i only had 1 person out of the 26 that i talked to get mad. (no, i was not able to reach all his patients. he had 39 on his schedule for that day.) anyway, this patient got mad because i had to reschedule the appointment. then she kinda snooty asked why i was rescheduling her and said, 'i hope it isn't anything bad.' i replied, 'well, his father passed away and that is the day of the funeral.' yes. i did get permission from him to tell his patients why he was needing to be off that day. she immediately felt bad and said she was sorry for giving me a hard time. i hadn't taken it personally and told her that, and then appologized again for needing to reschedule her. if i remember right, i may have gotten her in before thursday. so, that was monday morning. and just calling the patients the first time took me a little over 2 hours. then i was working on that pretty much the rest of the day. now, before i go on i have to mention that on mondays and tuesdays i get off work at 3:30. so around 2:50-3:00, one of my nurses told me that we had to bump one of dr hanseens days because he has to do an emergency surgery for a patient. and this patient that is needing the surgery has to come in on thursday in order to do her pre-op for monday. i looked at her and said i would be happy to do that for her, and asked if it needed to be done today. she said no, and that i could work on it today. so when i got in to work this morning i had that to work on. and the first phone call i got this morning was a patient yelling at me because he doctor didn't call him back. so that didn't help my mood in the morning. but i was fortunate enough to watch dr. snihurowych do an epidural injection on a patient. and that made me forget all about the jerk on the phone early in the morning and i was able to finish rescheduling dr. hanseens schedule. as i was going to lunch at 11, dr. snihurowych came out of her office and said that i wasn't going to like her. she said she needed to leave and asked if i would reschedule her afternoon appointments. i told her that i was heading to lunch, but i would be more than willing to do that for her when i got back. but by the time i got back, my nurse-shelley-had already called the patients and let them know. and i only had to call them back to reschedule them. it was nice to have someone step up and do that for me. so at the end of two days, i am exhausted! not to mention mom, dad and i went to the fair last night in the rain. mom got three ribbons for her three entries. she got 1 blue, 1 red and 1 white ribbon. she was hoping for more blue ribbons. but to get three ribbons on your three entries is amazing.
leigh...have i mention how great an idea this blog was? no? well, it was a great idea! i'm glad you've set it up. since you haven't gotten on facebook yet. *hint. hint* kidding. love you!
i hope my randomness wasn't too difficult to follow. if it was..sorry. like i said, i'm exhausted. :)

Family Reunion

so, today was the davies family reunion. and for the first time in who knows how long, i didn't leave in tears. it was nice. when i first got there, i walked into the cabin to get keys to go back and get my car in through the gate. katie saw me and gave me a huge smile and said, 'aunt julie!' and then started to jump up and down with excitement to see me. that made me feel really, really good. and then there was a time where katie was crying because brenda said she wouldn't carry her down the road. brenda needed someone to walk down the road to help count birdhouses for the scavenger/amazing race that mom set up this year. so, brenda, brendan and i started walking down the road when i heard katie crying behind us. dan was walking with her in his arms and she was crying with her arms held out saying, "aunt julie! aunt julie!" again...it made me smile. i have never had a little kid crying saying they wanted me. especially when that little kid is in his dad's arms. and the rest of the day, wherever i was, katie wasn't too far behind. we'll see if that holds up for the next time i see her. i'm just going to remember today is the day that she was excited to be with me. and when i'm feeling blue, i'll pull up this memory and it should help me get through whatever i'm going through.
and now that i'm home, i feel like i've got a fine covering of dirt all over. and i smell like a campfire. that's always fun. anyway, i missed you leigh and jake. i wish you could have been here with us. on the bright side, hopefully, in a few years you will be here with us. :)
love you!

Quint Stuff

Another day of going through payroll (and it looks like the rest of the city and me will be paid).

I have been working tonight on posting items on eBay. It looks like I have gotten 24 items listed tonight, bringing my total up above 200 again. I also need to re-list a bunch of items that didn't sell this past period.

The boys have been having fun together. Corwin was pushing Alex around in the stroller tonight when I got home from work; I took a video of him doing it and it was funny watching them react to the camera (hamming it up).

Uh, where's the wrapper?

Jake is working nights again so we like to do things while he is home during the day (if he isn't asleep).  Today we went to the new sculpture garden that recently opened in downtown St. Louis.  We only saw a few sculptures before Wyatt spotted the water fountains to play in.  Off came the shirt and shoes, in went the kiddo.  He was having a great time running around as the water was shooting up all around him until he saw a pool-ish area with kids playing in it.  I lifted him in and let him play until I saw a sign that said "no dogs, no diapers, no diving."  Aw, shoot.  We did not bring a swim diaper.  So we had to drag a screaming Wyatt out and because nothing could replace to the pool of water, we ended up going home.  He sobbed most of the way so I suggested we stop for ice cream.  Wyatt has eaten ice cream cones before, so I just handed it back and thought "well, at least he's not wearing a shirt so clean-up will be easier."  When we got home, I went to get Wyatt out of his car seat and clean him up (it was a spectacular mess; I wish I had taken a picture).  As I was mopping him up I saw that he'd finished the cone and realized that the cone wrapper - that little piece of paper they put on the bottom so the guy who scoops your cone doesn't actually touch it, that thing - was nowhere to be seen.  I asked Jake if he had picked it up.  Nope.  I'm pretty sure Wyatt just chomped the whole thing down.  I guess there are worse things for him to eat than an ice cream wrapper.

Baran Family 9/8/2009

Corwin is on his second week of Kindergarten and loves it. He walks to school with Mom, Luke, and Alex (who love that too) and then goes back home with a neighbor friend and Mom.

One of his assignments is to read 20 minutes a day with a parent. I read part of The Lion King with him tonight. Then Emily took Corwin and Luke to the library while I played Burger Time with Alex (well, he watched me play).

OK Wyatt, now put that pea shooter down!

Today was Liam's first day back to preschool. His class is going to be a whole lot larger this year than last. Nearly double, as a matter of fact. And it is a 3-4 split instead of just one age group. Not too sure about that, but there's not much I can do about it. I have already submitted my "notice of objection" to the district about the not having two separate classes, but I doubt that it will make any difference at all.

Today was only a partial day, referred to as an Open House, and parents were not just requested but required to stay the whole hour. Not a problem, although we are not sure if I will be helping out in the classroom much this year because of how Liam tends to act out when I'm there and after I have been there. Chelsea, one of my friends, looked after the twins while I was gone and I really appreciate her doing that. I hate having to rely on Mom to do it all the time.

There is another little boy in Liam's class that is also named Liam. His last name is Moore, so his name collar (which all the kids wear during class) said "Liam M" while my Liam's said "Liam N" (of course). Well, Liam was there first, and he wanted the Liam M name collar because his middle initial is M. I had to convince him that the Liam N was his. I think that the class will have some interesting times ahead!

Wyatt says: "Post on the blog or suffer the consequences!"

The Baran Family Blog

I wanted to set up this blog so the family has a place to post pictures, share stories and just keep in touch. Jake's family has had a blog for several months now and it has been a really great way to keep up with everyone being so spread out.

I thought it would be best to make it private (only members of the family will be invited to view and comment), which means that we'll all need to create Google user names and IDs. Let me know what you think.