...when they love the boxes so much?!?!
We currently live in Ann Arbor, MI where Brad is attending and teaching at the University of Michigan. We have 5 children; Hyrum, Isaac, Asher, Samara, and Harper.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Goodies and Handsome
These are things Samara is always saying. If I watch the weather, she says, "Goodies, sunny day!" or "Goodies, rainy day!" Also when we call that it's time for dinner, she'll run to the table shouting, "Goodies, dinner time!" It's just great!
Also, every day when I get her dressed she says, "Oh, I'm so handsome!" It's hard to know what to say to that because she obviously knows that we call the boys handsome when they get dressed, so we don't want to say, "No, Samara you're not handsome." So we just tell her she's handsome and pretty. She does think that her hair is pretty and that shoes are pretty, but getting dressed is handsome.
Also, every day when I get her dressed she says, "Oh, I'm so handsome!" It's hard to know what to say to that because she obviously knows that we call the boys handsome when they get dressed, so we don't want to say, "No, Samara you're not handsome." So we just tell her she's handsome and pretty. She does think that her hair is pretty and that shoes are pretty, but getting dressed is handsome.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Some Christmas Cheer
Send your own ElfYourself eCards
Send your own ElfYourself eCards
Send your own ElfYourself eCards
Send your own ElfYourself eCards
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Summer Vacation Part 4 - Beach time
Part of my family reunion was spent at the beach at Pineview Reservoir.
Hy caught a guppy.
And a snake (gasp).
Hy caught a guppy.
And a snake (gasp).
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Summer Vacation Part 3 - Grandpa's Cabin
We spent a week at Brad's Grandpa's Cabin in Star Valley, WY.
Brad went golfing almost every day. (Don't you love the black socks with shorts? Who dresses this guy?)
We dusted off the ATV and took it out several times. These pics are all from the same day though.
And I spent the week putting a 1000 piece puzzle together and staying inside like a good little prego.
Brad went golfing almost every day. (Don't you love the black socks with shorts? Who dresses this guy?)
We dusted off the ATV and took it out several times. These pics are all from the same day though.
And I spent the week putting a 1000 piece puzzle together and staying inside like a good little prego.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Summer Vacation Part 2-Who knew bowling could be so dangerous?
It's a family tradition to go BYU bowling whenever the parents are in Utah and this year was no exception. Asher had bowled maybe 4 frames. We had a ramp and bumpers for them, but the adults still assisted in the process. It was Asher's turn. He picked up his ball and started walking it over to me by the ramp. He tripped, dropped the ball and landed with his chin against the ball. Lots of blood and 4 stitches later, he doesn't like bowling anymore. 
We'll give it a few months and take him again. Thank heavens for forgetting - especially about all the stuff that happens to you when you're 3.
We'll give it a few months and take him again. Thank heavens for forgetting - especially about all the stuff that happens to you when you're 3.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Summer Vacation Part 1
So there I was, camping at Flaming Gorge, minding my own business, taking pics of my baby girl with her 'cousin' Olive...
when all of a sudden I was ambushed by HYRUM!!! - With a 6 foot snake draped around him.
WELCOME TO MY LIFE!!!
when all of a sudden I was ambushed by HYRUM!!! - With a 6 foot snake draped around him.
WELCOME TO MY LIFE!!!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Springfield, IL
We went to Springfield after Nauvoo and had a great time there too. This was Lincoln's home.
We also went to the Lincoln Memorial and all rubbed Lincoln's nose for good luck (and probably a germ or two).
We found a park to play at while Brad was at his conference.
And of course, the vacation was finally complete with a little critter joining the show. Hy caught a frog, loved it, and let it go 10 minutes later.
We also went to the Lincoln Memorial and all rubbed Lincoln's nose for good luck (and probably a germ or two).
We found a park to play at while Brad was at his conference.
And of course, the vacation was finally complete with a little critter joining the show. Hy caught a frog, loved it, and let it go 10 minutes later.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Nauvoo
We went with a group to Nauvoo, IL in May. It was fantastic! Here's the pic of all of us in our pioneer garb. I promise Samara was not choking on the bonnet, she just didn't like it.
This is one handsome pioneer boy!
Samara loves animals, even/especially wooden ones.
We stayed in the Nauvoo House run by the Community of Christ. They were great to us. This is how close we were to the river - literally 40 feet or so.
About 100 feet in the other direction are the graves of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma.
The turtles in the Mississippi River would climb up on these logs and bask in the sun. My boys thought that was the coolest thing ever...until they saw something else cooler...
The weather was perfect and we absolutely fell in love with the ambiance of the little town.
This is one handsome pioneer boy!
Samara loves animals, even/especially wooden ones.
We stayed in the Nauvoo House run by the Community of Christ. They were great to us. This is how close we were to the river - literally 40 feet or so.
About 100 feet in the other direction are the graves of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma.
The turtles in the Mississippi River would climb up on these logs and bask in the sun. My boys thought that was the coolest thing ever...until they saw something else cooler...
The weather was perfect and we absolutely fell in love with the ambiance of the little town.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
I'm still alive and breathing
No, I have not had ear problems for months. I lost my hearing in my left ear but got it back about 3 weeks later.
It has been too long of a hiatus from blogging. Today is the first day of school though so hopefully I can use some of my time to play catch-up. We had a great summer and were lucky enough to see most of our families and a lot of friends. If we didn't get to see you this time, your time's comin'.
I also had an ultrasound today. I am 20+ weeks and everything looks great. For those who remember Samara's placental (?) problems, you can probably guess that I was overly interested in where the placenta is this time. Well, it's high and looks good and will not interfere with the delivery. My due date is the same - January 22nd. As for gender, all we asked is that the technician be sure that it is either a girl or a boy, but we opted not to know. He gave us some of those 3D pictures. We had never had them done before - they are awesome! This is the closest we got to seeing the face.
What you see here is the hands grabbing the feet with the head in the lower right-hand corner.
Flexible little one, huh?
Here's the more traditional view.
Everything looks great! It's amazing that they can see so much.
I will try to get on here soon and update everyone on the other happenings of our little (and growing) family.
It has been too long of a hiatus from blogging. Today is the first day of school though so hopefully I can use some of my time to play catch-up. We had a great summer and were lucky enough to see most of our families and a lot of friends. If we didn't get to see you this time, your time's comin'.
I also had an ultrasound today. I am 20+ weeks and everything looks great. For those who remember Samara's placental (?) problems, you can probably guess that I was overly interested in where the placenta is this time. Well, it's high and looks good and will not interfere with the delivery. My due date is the same - January 22nd. As for gender, all we asked is that the technician be sure that it is either a girl or a boy, but we opted not to know. He gave us some of those 3D pictures. We had never had them done before - they are awesome! This is the closest we got to seeing the face.
What you see here is the hands grabbing the feet with the head in the lower right-hand corner.
Flexible little one, huh?Here's the more traditional view.
Everything looks great! It's amazing that they can see so much.
I will try to get on here soon and update everyone on the other happenings of our little (and growing) family.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
bull-a-who-what-huh?
Bullous Myringitis. It's in my ear. Every doctor that has heard what I have looks at me and says, "Oh, that's pretty rare!" Then they ask to look. I don't feel like a freak or anything... Or they look at me like I think I have that but they really know I don't. It's awesome! They don't know how I got it, which stinks, but I am not contagious, which is good. They did say if I took some of the infection out of my ear and shoved it far enough into someone else's ear, they might get it. Nice, huh? And it's called bullous myringitis. Here's another. It's as awful as it sounds. Ear infection with blisters on your eardrum. The only symptom is severe ear pain. I got it Wednesday, the 10th, at 4am, and their only treatment at that point was pain control with Vicodin. I got to the ER at 4:45am and left at 3:15pm. I waited pretty much all that time for an ENT to be available. I lost my hearing around 11am. The ENTs are certain that I have the viral strain despite the websites suggesting that the hearing loss is caused by the bacterial strain. I had ear drainage on Wednesday night and I thought I was all better. Thursday I went to my Primary Care Doc and she found 2 more blisters. Friday was much worse. So I decided to have a 'procedure.' During said procedure, they deadened the ear with drops which caused what the doctor described as "excruciating pain for 5-10 seconds." Check. Then he popped one blister. Didn't feel it. Then he put a small hole in my eardrum, smaller than if they had put tubes in even, but big enough to get the tip of a little vacuum in there. Doctor said, "You might feel some pressure and hear a whooshing sound." Check and check. He had sucked out all the infection!! He looked in my ear and found another blister that the infection on the inside of the eardrum had been pushing against the wall of my ear canal. It had not been deadened, but he needed to pop it. He said, "Unfortunately, you're going to feel this." CHECK!
Today, I have no ear pain, but I am constantly exhausted. I have little hearing in my ear, but the doctors have done a few tricks using tuning forks and discovered that I have not lost the hearing altogether, I just can't hear right now. It should return in a few weeks. But honestly, I don't really mind. If I lay with my good ear down, I hear almost nothing and can rest beautifully. Oh, and BTW, I'm 8 weeks pregnant. :) Due Jan 22nd. Been feeling fine up until this.
Today, I have no ear pain, but I am constantly exhausted. I have little hearing in my ear, but the doctors have done a few tricks using tuning forks and discovered that I have not lost the hearing altogether, I just can't hear right now. It should return in a few weeks. But honestly, I don't really mind. If I lay with my good ear down, I hear almost nothing and can rest beautifully. Oh, and BTW, I'm 8 weeks pregnant. :) Due Jan 22nd. Been feeling fine up until this.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Independence, MO
About a month ago over the kids' Spring Break, we drove to Independence, MO. It was an 11 hour drive each way, but nothin' we couldn't handle. Our kids love music (who doesn't?) and we listen to everything - Elton John, Air Supply, Queen, Bonnie Tyler, Elliott Smith, A Perfect Circle, Tool... you get the idea! Here's Ash singing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. Just hang in there. It starts getting good about 35 seconds into it. (I still don't know how to edit videos... Anyone volunteer walking me through it?) This would have been about 10pm Michigan time.
We got there late and checked in a went straight to sleep. Sooo, on every vacation I go on, I forget something! Usually it's something either cheaply replaceable or something I can live without. Examples of recently forgotten items are contact solution, glasses, hairbrush, toothpaste and/or toothbrush, razor, etc. This trip... I forgot pants!! I just made good use of the laundry facilities at our hotel. I did somehow remember jammie pants. I also managed to pack all of everyone else's clothes. sigh.
On Thursday, Brad had research at the Community of Christ Temple. We drove over there to pick him up. We didn't go inside there, but we went across the street to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Visitor's Center. They had a lot for the kids to do to keep them busy while learning about time in the late 1830s.
Hy looks thrilled, huh?
Friday, we drove up to Adam-Ondi-Ahman. There is actually no address for it, so finding it on google maps/ mapquest was pretty tricky. We finally got a rough idea of where it was and started driving. About an hour later, we saw an itty bitty sign that said "Adam-Ondi-Ahman take exit" whatever. I looked up and the exit was right there!! That's how all the signs were - small and sudden. On the way there we talked to the kids about how this place is dedicated to Adam and Eve and how when we got there we would think about them and their family playing on the fields and such. We pulled in and got our picnic out and all the fields were black!! They had just burned the fields to re-nitrogenate (?) them. It was rather disappointing. We hiked around and tried to enjoy any beauty we could find. We realized that that must have been how Adam and Eve felt after being cast out of the Garden... kinda disappointed by the ugliness. We took the family picture above with a timer because NO ONE else was there. There was an occasional missionary sighting, but they all seemed busy.
After we left Adam-Ondi-Ahman, we drove to Liberty Jail. Hyrum said, "Doesn't 'liberty' mean freedom? It doesn't make sense." Asher and Samara were, let's say 'tired' (melted down messes), so I stayed in the car with them while Brad took the older boys in.
Saturday Brad was in the Conference, so I took the kids to downtown Kansas City and we went to Science City. It was the Earth Day Festival, so the kids planted seeds and got a tree to plant - everything died and/or spilled in the car on the way home. :(
Making cloth fly.
Digging for dinosaur bones.
Sunday we drove home and I can honestly say it was the worst day weather-wise of driving for me ever. It rained from the moment we left our hotel in the morning until the time we got to our house in Michigan. The 11 hour drive took almost 14 hours! We got home around 1am. I couldn't fall asleep for at least another hour because my senses were so heightened. Honestly, the lights and the glare of the road and everything else was just too much!
Fun fact: I found what has to be the longest name for a street anywhere - Higashimurayama Drive. The sign was twice as long as it usually is. It's in Independece, close to the corner of Noland Road and Truman Road.
We got there late and checked in a went straight to sleep. Sooo, on every vacation I go on, I forget something! Usually it's something either cheaply replaceable or something I can live without. Examples of recently forgotten items are contact solution, glasses, hairbrush, toothpaste and/or toothbrush, razor, etc. This trip... I forgot pants!! I just made good use of the laundry facilities at our hotel. I did somehow remember jammie pants. I also managed to pack all of everyone else's clothes. sigh.
On Thursday, Brad had research at the Community of Christ Temple. We drove over there to pick him up. We didn't go inside there, but we went across the street to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Visitor's Center. They had a lot for the kids to do to keep them busy while learning about time in the late 1830s.
Hy looks thrilled, huh?
Driving the covered wagon.
Getting water from the well.
Going into the house.
For dinner, we went to a famous BBQ place called Arthur Bryant's. It is in the bad part of town and was an interesting dining experience. The food was outstanding, some of the best smoked brisket I've ever had. Part way through our meal though the police came and addressed a situation outside. I didn't know what was going on (and my imagination can run quite wild) so I just tried to distract the kids for the rest of the time. We got out and realized that they were taking care of a woman who was publicly intoxicated. Hy's version - "She was pulling faces through the window at a restaurant and that is inappropriate."
Friday, we drove up to Adam-Ondi-Ahman. There is actually no address for it, so finding it on google maps/ mapquest was pretty tricky. We finally got a rough idea of where it was and started driving. About an hour later, we saw an itty bitty sign that said "Adam-Ondi-Ahman take exit" whatever. I looked up and the exit was right there!! That's how all the signs were - small and sudden. On the way there we talked to the kids about how this place is dedicated to Adam and Eve and how when we got there we would think about them and their family playing on the fields and such. We pulled in and got our picnic out and all the fields were black!! They had just burned the fields to re-nitrogenate (?) them. It was rather disappointing. We hiked around and tried to enjoy any beauty we could find. We realized that that must have been how Adam and Eve felt after being cast out of the Garden... kinda disappointed by the ugliness. We took the family picture above with a timer because NO ONE else was there. There was an occasional missionary sighting, but they all seemed busy.
After we left Adam-Ondi-Ahman, we drove to Liberty Jail. Hyrum said, "Doesn't 'liberty' mean freedom? It doesn't make sense." Asher and Samara were, let's say 'tired' (melted down messes), so I stayed in the car with them while Brad took the older boys in.
Saturday Brad was in the Conference, so I took the kids to downtown Kansas City and we went to Science City. It was the Earth Day Festival, so the kids planted seeds and got a tree to plant - everything died and/or spilled in the car on the way home. :(
In a helicopter.
In a colon.
Making cloth fly.
A dark slide that was supposed to be a sewer playground (?)
Making a cloud.
Digging for dinosaur bones.
Sunday we drove home and I can honestly say it was the worst day weather-wise of driving for me ever. It rained from the moment we left our hotel in the morning until the time we got to our house in Michigan. The 11 hour drive took almost 14 hours! We got home around 1am. I couldn't fall asleep for at least another hour because my senses were so heightened. Honestly, the lights and the glare of the road and everything else was just too much!
Fun fact: I found what has to be the longest name for a street anywhere - Higashimurayama Drive. The sign was twice as long as it usually is. It's in Independece, close to the corner of Noland Road and Truman Road.
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