Fellowship #2

Remember how a couple of years ago, I posted an April fools day joke on the blog about Jake doing a second fellowship? Well, this ain't no joke! Jake has decided to do a second fellowship in pediatric cardiac anesthesia. He has interviewed at Stanford and will interview at Baylor tomorrow. Earlier tonight (while sitting in his hotel room prepping for his interview with Baylor) he got a phone call from the good people at Stanford offering him the fellowship position! He will see how things go in Houston before he makes any decisions, but getting the offer from Stanford is a huge thing for us! Congratulations, Jake!

Here's your perfectly normal pancakes, kids!

Have you seen this video?  I think it's hilarious!  A group of brothers reenact stories from their childhood - with their own kids as the narrators.  They have several videos, but I think this one is the funniest.  Enjoy!

Mama's Preachin'

Every once in a while I come across an article that I want to share and I think the blog might be the best place and way for me to do it. So, here goes. This is part of an article that appeared in the Deseret News in June. It was written by Greg Kratz and I like his thoughts. The title is "No vacation time? Trap family in a minivan and drive." His family took a 25 hour road trip to Houston, something Leigh & Jake are very familiar with.

"...As I drifted in and out of sleep, I pondered the fact that I always dread these long road trips while we're preparing for them. But I've also learned that, if you really want to break out of your work rut and get in touch with your family, there's nothing like spending 25 hours together in a vehicle hurtling across fairly barren countryside to help you reconnect. Here are some things I've discovered on our trips:

*Our children genuinely enjoy spending time with each other. They travel well, and they have a great time making up games, watching movies and singing along to the music on the radio. They also fight every now and then, and they sometimes get a bit whiney.

*Our children also enjoy spending time with their parents. During the hours at night as they drift off to sleep and in the morning as they start to wake, we're able to have quiet conversations with them. We are a captive audience, which is rare in our busy lives...it's a long trip and we're all in it together, so we take time to talk.

*I love talking with my wife. When all of the children are asleep, and we're trying to keep each other awake, we chat about all kinds of things. Over many years of road trips, we've made some major decisions during discussions by the dashboard lights. I wouldn't trade those conversations for anything.

*It's cool to watch your children sleep. I think all parents do this when their kids are babies, but it's amazing to watch them when they're older too...all peacefully resting next to each other, breathing softly, as the light of the moon streamed in through the windows of the van and gently touched their faces. It was a beautiful sight, the kind that makes you feel all is right with the world.

*Of course, you also learn practical things on long trips, such as: gas is really, really expensive; Twizzlers are good snacks for keeping you awake; satellite radio is a godsend when you're in eastern New Mexico and west Texas; it's OK to let your wife splash water on your face if you look drowsy while driving; at least one child will always decide he or she needs to go to the bathroom five minutes after your last stop; and nothing will put you in motion faster than hearing 'I think I'm going to throw up' as car sickness sets in at the end of a long day on the road.

*Most of all, you learn that it's OK to be in a remote location with your family-and without cell service-every now and then. Work will still be there when you get home. It always is. But the children will get older and leave some day, and you'll regret it if you missed such moments.

The fact is, work/life balance doesn't just happen. You've got to search for it. And if you look hard enough, sometimes you'll find it while sitting in a minivan, a box of doughnuts on your lap and your family snoozing all around you."

Hope you enjoyed this, love, Mom

Family Portrait

Wyatt needed a family picture for school and it turned out so well I thought I'd share.

Board Exam

Jake passed his board exam (you know, the one he took while we were in Utah?) and we couldn't be prouder. Next year he can take the oral boards and then he will be a board-certified anesthesiologist! Wa-hoo!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

When we got home from our long trip, we found that our yard had been overtaken by weeds, our lawn was looking a bit crispy and a few of our plants had bit the dust.  Not all of them, mind you.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, so what better activity than to combine watering the lawn with running through the sprinklers?  Wyatt loved it.

Oh yeah, I forgot that Wyatt likes to do this.

 We had a fun afternoon, even if the dog next door didn't like it...

While we were in Utah, we tried out a few things we've never done before.  One of them was a little water feature in Liberty Park called the Seven Canyons.  It is a series of cement channels with pools and waterfalls and each stream represents a canyon that leads into the valley.  Wyatt had a lot of fun running and splashing and it was free, free, FREE!  We actually only explored a tiny bit of it because when Wyatt likes something, he tends to fixate on it, so we pretty much split our time between one stream and the giant pool it led to.  It was a bit crowded, but not so much to inhibit his playing.  I would absolutely recommend taking the kids there!

The other place we tried was the Living Planet Aquarium.  It was a bit pricey for what was there.  If we lived in SLC, I would just get a year pass and use the heck out of it.  It was entertaining for a while, but not enough to justify $8 per person.  What Wyatt loved the most was the "Nemo" fish he got from the gift shop.  That may just have been the best $20 I've ever spent since he still carries those fish everywhere he goes.

I guess I'm just a cheapskate, but I thought the Seven Canyons was a lot more fun than the aquarium and the price was right too!

Utah Storms

While we were in Utah, there were a couple of good storms.

 Wyatt liked to watch from behind the screen door.  Actually he wanted to be out dancing in the rain, but I made him stay inside.

 One of the storm produced some good-sized hail and Wes and I gathered some up.

Maybe they're not as impressive as the huge hail stones we had a few months back here in Missouri, but these little guys gave a pretty good sting when they hit you on the head!

Cabin Trip

I just wanted to post some pictures we took at the cabin.  No neet to explain, you were all there!

First Day of School!

Today was Wyatt's first day of his second year of preschool.  He is going back to Wilkinson where he was last year, but he has a new teacher and is riding the bus.  He rode a bus to summer school and we've met his teacher, so there were no huge surprises for him, but I was still anxious for the new year.  I've gotten used to spending all day with him and I'm going to miss seeing him so much.  Wyatt was excited to go to school and ride the bus - he was very obedient about getting ready and going outside to wait to be picked up.

Wyatt with his new haircut.  I always think he looks so much older with short hair.

He had a full backpack - lots to take to school for the first day! 

Waiting patiently for the bus. 

When the bus pulled up, he was a little out of sorts because it was a long bus, not a short one like he rode all summer long.  He kept saying "no, no, no" and lagged behind as we walked to the bus, but he got on and sat down without too much of a struggle.

Picking a seat.

Let's roll!



There were two boys on the bus already and one recognized Wyatt from school and kept calling out "Wyatt!  It's Wyatt!"  Apparently he's a minor celebrity at school :)  I'm excited for this new school year.  He's got a great teacher and therapists to work with.  We've seen some encouraging leaps forward in his development over the last few months and hope to see it continue throughout the year.  Hooray for Wyatt, we're so proud of you!

Our address

We have something new about our address. It is Taylorsville, UT 84129. Taylorsville now has its own ZIP Code.

WhatsApp Messenger

First blog post in June... ACHIEVMENT UNLOCKED!

http://www.whatsapp.com/

May I suggest a social texting app for your mobile phone? It's called WhatsApp Messenger. It is free to use and supports many handheld devices. It would come in handy as we venture out together this summer and beyond. If you're already using one, and don't want to add another, do share! And now I shall bore you with a few pictures of our recent visit to the land that Uncle Walt built...

Storm Photos

We had a big storm blow through St. Louis last night.  We are all safe and didn't suffer any damage, but I thought you'd be interested in some pictures:

We had some large hail stones.  It was not a pleasant sound to hear those bouncing off of the cars!

The largest were about the size of an egg.

I gathered up several for reference:

Our neighbor has two large blossoming pear trees, one of which is very close to our house.  When we first moved in, she had four.  They get so big and top-heavy that they don't fare well in high winds (as we witnessed with the first two trees).  So you can imagine that we've been holding our breath, hoping that the one just outside our bedroom window doesn't fall onto our house during some big storm.  Yesterday it lost a huge branch.  Thankfully it fell out into the street and didn't cause any damage.

The limb is almost as big as a full-grown tree!

Why do we choose to live in places with such wild weather?

Haiti Trip

As some of you may or may not have heard, Jake is leaving for Haiti on Thursday to do a medical mission with some of his coworkers, organized by a non-profit group. He will be there until Tuesday doing long, pediatric neurosurgery cases. I'm so proud of him for choosing to do this! When we come out to Utah this summer, we'll plan a night that Jake can share his stories and photos for anyone who is interested. Haiti is a very poor country and still struggling from the effects of last year's earthquake. You can imagine that it is a challenging place to visit. Please keep Jake in your prayers that he can stay safe and healthy while he travels and works. Our trip is less than two months away; let the countdown commence!

Quint's blog

Quint, where is your blog, what happened? I was looking forward to it.

Mom

New HPDH2 trailer. GO!

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt1201607/

I saw this website in an article in the Des News and thought I would pass it along. It is a blog about teaching autistic children in Primary, titled "Autism and Primary-making them work together. With our little ones with this disability, maybe it can be of some use to help the kid's Primary teachers and also in our families not only in Primary but in FHE and daily activities.

autismandprimary.blogspot.com

The twins are now sleeping in their own "big boy" beds. They are pretty excited about it, although Danny would still prefer to sleep in "Mama's bed". I went with Mom to buy the mattresses and "bunky" (platform) boards yesterday, but although I had ordered the boards on Saturday, they hadn't arrived yet. So, the salesman who was helping us offered to deliver them to my house later that night. Well, wouldn't you know it, the truck still didn't arrive. Fortunately, it did today and so he brought them over and we made up the beds. I almost wish that I had never taught the kids "10 little monkeys" because they were singing that as they test-jumped on the new mattresses. I had to tell them repeatedly to stop before they finally did. I think I have a long road ahead of me here!

Some new stuff from me

I decided to start taking a picture each day and blog about it, I have created a new blog with my first entry here, if any of you are interested.

New Opportunity

This past week, I was called into the board room at work with 4 of the managers. My inital thought was that I was in some major trouble. Although, I couldn't think of why. I was told right up front that I wasn't in trouble, but that I had been picked by management to be one of 3 leads at work. With this new position, I would get a 5% increase in pay and I would get away from face to face contact with patients. Something that I have been wanting to do for quite some time. I asked if I could have a day to think about it and that I would get them an answer on Thursday. I spent a lot of time thinking about the pro's and con's with this new position. Two of the biggest con's is that 1) I wouldn't be able to work with Dr Rhodes and his staff any longer, and 2) I would have to give up my 10 hour days. Resulting in me not being able to work in the Temple on Wednesday nights. As much as I wanted to work in the Temple, I just couldn't pass up this opportunity. So I accepted the job. Then when I was on my way home from work yesterday I got a little depressed thinking about the Temple. I talked to Mom and she told me that maybe this is my answer. That I'm not meant to work in the Temple at this time. That made me feel better. As much as I wanted to work in the Temple, it just isn't the right time.

I'm not 100% sure what I'll be doing with my new position. They don't have a job description yet. Much to the shock of Mom and Brenda. I told them that my company just isn't as on top of things as Nelson's is. Once I find out what I'll be doing, I'll post it on here. :)

Woohoo!

I'm offically down to 25 classes. I passed my last class for this term today. Now I'm onto my math classes. I acutally don't offically have to start working on them until March 1, but I don't want to wait. I'm on a roll right now. I need to keep up with the work. So, I'm going to take tomorrow off and party with the family (superbowl) and then get right into algebra, measurements and geometry. :)

Talking in Church

Scott and I got the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting today. Don't feel left out that we didn't invite you. We forgot to invite ANYONE, including someone to "wrangle" the kids. That was fun, let me tell you.

I was scheduled to speak first, but Liam told me, "I need to speak first, Mama." I asked him what he wanted to talk about, and he said, "I don't know," with a frown. I suggested Jesus, and he replied, "Yes, I can do that." So, I lifted him up and let him talk for a few moments. He said, "I like Jesus. He is nice. He loves me, to a number that nobody knows. Probably 1000 and a half." If you weren't aware, Liam likes to quantify things on a scale of 1 to 100, so Jesus being at 1000 1/2 is pretty impressive. Then, Tommy wanted to talk. I lifted him up and he said, "Hi, I love you," and then buried his head in my shoulder. There were a bunch of oohs and chuckles over that.

My actual talk was on President Monson's conference talk, "The Divine Gift of Gratitude". It was a real "deer in the headlights" moment for me. Not only do I have to paraphrase the Prophet, but I am not sure I am as grateful as I ought to be anyway. However, I managed to muddle through and I had several people compliment me on it afterward. So, I must not have made too bad of a showing for myself.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to pay much attention to Scott's talk (on "The things that are really important" or something like that) because my "things that are important" were being squirmy and noisy. Tommy started singing a mix of "Jingle Bells", "I am a Child of God", and "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" at not quite his top volume while Dan tried to get up on the stage to be with Daddy or play the piano (whichever he came to first). Liam was just trying to get my attention any way he could. Thankfully, my friend Chelsea came over and bribed them to calm down with a baggie of crackers. Her husband, Jeremy, is our "active" home teacher. His companion always seems to have "something else" to do instead of visit, but Jeremy is very consistent.

Also, I found out that starting on January 1st, LDS Social Services no longer requires a Bishop's referral for counseling. So, tomorrow, I am going to "self refer" us so that we can start family counseling to help best deal with Liam's Asperger's syndrome. I'm not sure when that will begin, but I will keep you posted on our advancements. Leigh, LDS Social Services may be something that you can look into, too.

New calling

So...I was asked to go visit with Bishop May this morning. When I went in, he said "I could put you in the hot seat and ask you why you are here." I told him I had a few ideas of why. He asked what and I said either it's about the Singles Ward or a calling. He said it was about a calling. Then he started going into how sometimes we get callings where we aren't always the most confortable. Then it hit me. I said that I now have an idea of which calling. He asked what I thought and I said Relief Society teacher. He said, "Yes." Then asked how I felt about it. To be honest, I'm perfectly fine with it. In fact, I'm excited to teach. They announced it in Sacrament this afternoon, and I've had so many people come up to me and tell me how excited they are that I'll be teaching. That just makes it that much easier for me to teach. To know that I've got so many people behind me.
I was thinking this afternoon about all the callings that I've had. And now with this one, I will have held a calling in every auxillary that I am able to have a calling in. Lucky me. :)

Luke Loves to Learn

Luke is really enjoying preschool and learning so much. I volunteered a couple of times this week and his teachers couldn't stop telling stories and pointing out how smart he is and quick to respond to all the questions.

I agree - he is a smart cookie!

Emeline is growing up!

It's hard to believe that she's nearly 4 months already. She is awake more during the day and sleeps less. She is trying to figure out what to do when she's awake. I'm trying to help her be happy on her own. Luckily for her, all 3 of her brothers like to play with and entertain her :-)

I just had to share this cute picture of her learning to like the exersaucer.

New Years Eve Celebration!

Thank you again to Dan & Brenda for hosting a great New Years Eve celebration. Good food, good movies, good games, and great family!

We enjoyed sleeping over again this year. This time Christa and Liam stayed too. We had waffles for breakfast, followed by games, pizza for lunch and more games. We had a lot of fun!

Christmas & Sick Children

It seems that about half the time we have at least 1 sick child for Christmas and this year was no exception. Alex was sick on Christmas Eve, so Quint stayed home with him and Emeline while I took Corwin & Luke to Mom & Dad's for our traditional celebration. We had planned for Quint to take them for a short visit on Christmas day while I stayed home with the sick. Fortunately Alex's fever broke and he was much better before going to bed on Christmas Eve and we were all able to go celebrate.

Other than spending a few hours with Quint's family, our own little family spent the day together. It was relaxing and an enjoyable day. Corwin & Luke were sick the next day though - I'm glad it was just a 24 hour bug.