Friday, September 28, 2007

nothing like a swing on the back deck and a good book

 ok that last blog when i listed all the things i was going to do well--i looked at my swing and realized i had sat in it a total of maybe a 1/2 hour all summer and i decided to make up for it.  i straightened the whole house, started the laundry (which was considerably more than 7 loads--thank goodness, because it made me feel like i was getting something done), and sat down on the swing with a pillow, blanket and "twilight." i came up for air only long enough to hurry and load  and fold the next batch.  it was a perfectly overcast day just the right ambiance. i didn't glitter in the sun as i read over 400 pages and finished the book.  meags called and asked what i was doing.  i told her i was watching for the ups truck.  she was a little confused by my lack of motivation, but it was great i would just look up or rather down when i heard a big truck. i know it wouldn't have made it without my vigilance.  and i was right the picture did arrive that day after everyone had left, but it does look great over the fireplace.  when you come up again to visit and swim at bg lake (sorry brooke) you will get to see it.

right now i'm headed for bed.  i just got back from the temple.  i'm trying to get all this stuff done before i leave for germany and it was a small or rather large miracle that i got everything done on my list for today and made it to the temple in time for the last session.  as i sit here it really doesn't make sense that i made it with traffic and a train that went forward and then decided to back up and held up traffic for ever and the girl at the shoe store finding the right size running shoe for me in record time in the shipment that had not yet been unpacked--not to mention i made the freeway going the right direction because i didn't know if i was north or south of the temple because the shoe store was at a mall i never go to down by the temple. all i can say is lucy c snodell really must have wanted her work done today!!!   i appreciate God's hand in my life!!!

we had a brokers open house today with a catered lunch.  i have no idea how it went, but i am curious.  i have been busting tail for 2 days trying to eliminate any evidence that humans actually live here.  as i got out of the shower after wiping the whole thing down and then blow drying my hair and mopping up any tell tale hair i started feeling like a was reliving the film "gatica,"  believe me its tough when an eyelash can give you away.

it was great to see you back on the blog love to all aunt le anne

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Bavaria

Hi family. I really have been trying to get on here. The other day I got two sentences written the entire day. My lap top is not working so I have to come down to the basement to the computer and by the end of the night I am so tired I just crash and burn- for about two hours until I have to get up and waddle to the bathroom and grab a pillow from the sofa to prop my body up so I am not totally strangled by the stomach acid gurgling in the back of my throat.

Thank you for all of your blogs and pics of the wedding. I just did my best to try to pretend it didn't exist. If one more person mentions their swim across Battleground Lake I will arrange for some sort of unpleasant experience to find you (I have connections, my husband is an Army Ranger, always walking that fine line between legal and deadly). Oh, I'm sure when he reads that he's just going to be disgusted.

Jess, that is awesome about Indie, miracles can happen and it is not unreasonable to believe they can happen for her. She is such a darling little pudge. I can totally relate to your video cam story, I did fine in Korea except when we got on video cam with the kids. I think bawling runs in the family.

Things are going pretty well here. Just always busy, which is good I guess. I finally feel like I can be a happy person again. Just don't ask me how I feel from Jan- March. Mike is doing well, staying incredibly busy and doing lots of dangerous stuff that he can't talk about but that makes me worry all the time.

I am so ready to have this baby I could die. I HATE being pregnant. Plus I have this two inch row of stitches on the side of my leg that makes it nearly impossible for me to bend and my back and hips are killing me. But besides that, as I mentioned before, I'm pretty happy. I thought that tonight I would copy a part of the e-mail I sent Mike today. I know, I did this before but it is way easier than writing it twice. Besides, when I only write once a month or so I tend to leave out the day to day and this can give you a little glimpse. So here goes-

First of all, this morning when Jane woke up she described to me what could only be a UTI so I told her if she could, to go to school and I would make a Dr. appt. Then, as she is getting on the bus, Sadie reminds me that I promised to come to lunch this week and could I come today? Since tomorrow is my baby shower- today was the day.

So it is a beautifully gray, wet day where I planned to stay in and do laundry and play with Ellyn and work on the computer and I spent the entire day out and about. Ellyn and I ate lunch with Sadie and then came home so I could clean out the Pilot and load the car seats into the BMW . It wasn't raining at this point and Ellyn is playing in the driveway. Edie from across the street comes over to chat about the new PX and she picks up the Honda keys for me that I had purposely dropped down by the tire. I'm really trying to hurry because I have to get Ellyn back to pre-school and drive clear out to Graf to get Jane for her appt. So I load everything over, brush out the car and go to lock it and I can't find the keys anywhere. I search through both cars, through the garbage, backpacks etc... Finally, I take the Navi out and leave the car unlocked and take Ellie to school. I drop her off and head out to Graf where they have a HUGE line of cars coming back from lunch and this stupid Charging Boar military operation that was supposed to be over and done with is still g+oing on and they are searching just about every other car. I finally get on post and pick up Jane and instead of having an extra 20 minutes we are 20 minutes late for the appt. but they agree to fit us in. However, by the time she does her sample and vitals and all of that it is almost time to pick up Ellyn. I ask if Jane can stay and wait for the Dr. while I get Ellie and the nurse says that we can both go and she will just sign us in to the Dr. when we get back. So we go and get Sadie and Ellyn because I know we won't make it back before the bus. Go back to the clinic- without a stroller or books or anything because it is all in the Pilot, and wait for the Dr. For some reason Sadie is totally crazy. She is all over everything and no amount of threatening or bribing is working. Ellyn keeps wanting to get down and rub her hands on the floor, I'm totally sweating. The Dr. comes in, she is very nice, talks to Jane, gets called away for a few minutes, finally comes back and figures out the dosage for Jane's RX. I'm sure she thought I was totally insane. We go out the door and Dr. Lukezic is in her office with the door open and asks about my leg because the dermatologist knew she would be seeing Sawyer and wanted to give her the heads up??? Then I tell her about Ellyn's lab results with Dr. Fiedler and we leave. I get Ellyn in her carseat and I'm loading Sadie in and Jane asks me "Mom, are we going to pick up my medicine?" Yeah, completely forgot. Load them all back in, get the medicine, say hello to Jen Read who no doubt saw us leave and come back in and thinks I'm a lunatic and then finally left for good. When we get home I look through the whole Pilot once again and there are no keys. I go back over to the garbage can, look through the top pile of trash, look through the bag I had filled with garbage from the car, look into the animal cracker bag that is in the trash bag and there are my keys.

So that was my day, followed by dinner, homework (which Jane had about 3 hours of, working steadily, she was exhausted by bed time), and showers for the little girls. Sadie informed me at dinner that she hopes Sawyer is allergic. Her friend Sophia is allergic to peanut butter and Sadie is downright jealous. She told me that she is not allergic to peanut butter but she is allergic to the dark and to fast rides and not to jelly but she thinks jelly is disgusting (where did we get that child?). We officially broke out the hot chocolate tonight and that was our dessert after dinner. We ate dinner at like 4:55 because we were all starving.

I know, the excitement is unbearable. You are all jealous. Well, it is 11:04 and I have to go start the bedtime, sleeping, potty, heartburn routine. I can't wait. Aunt Paula, you are in our prayers. We all love you all so much. Take care. Love, me

ColoradoBennett

Darla, didn't you post a while ago a question about how to get rid of fruit flys? Adam and I were talking about that last night because he has fruit flys in his truck (along with some really ripe bananas). I think it was Cory who responded with the way to get rid of fruit flys is to "eat your fruit." But the email that Aunt Jack just sent out has the real answer:
15. Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies , take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid , mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

I love Apple Cider Vinegar.

Where have all the bloggers gone...

Remember that song "Where have all the cowboys gone" I can't get it out of my head when I check the blog and see that no one has written. I must break the silence.

First off, Washington was great. It was great to be with most of the cousins and it was fun to ride with mom and the sisters. Brookie, I will tell you a story of while we were there. I left little Indie at home with Tony (please don't think I am a horrible mother!!) and before I left I was nervous that I would be home sick the whole time but it turned out to be okay. So the last night we were there I realized I could web cam with Tony and baby and as soon as I saw her I started crying, I really missed her. It was funny, everyone gathered around to see her and I am sitting there sobbing. Anyways the highlight of the trip for me was the run around battleground lake and the swim. I loved it, it was so beautiful. I can't wait to go back with Tony so he can see how gorgeous it is up there.

Things are going well for us. I took Ind to her 6 month check up yesterday and the Doctor said Indie is doing everything a 6 month old baby should be doing and some things a 7 or 8 month old would do. It was great to hear that. She really is doing awesome, my heart just about explodes every time she smiles and laughs which she is doing quite regularly. Oh another funny story. I was telling Tony that it makes me happy when she plays with this little toy hanging on her car seat because I know she can see it and Tony says, "Honey, she can see, I know that 100%, if she can't see then why does she smile everytime she sees me" and I said "it is because she can hear your voice" and he says "watch this" and he pokes his face right in front of hers without saying a word and she got this huge smile on her face and he says "see!" It was great. She really is doing great. She goes in for her MRI this saturday the 29th and last week I took her in to get her blood drawn so they can do another genetic test to determine exactly what she has. We should get those results in about a month. I told Tony I am a little nervous for the MRI because I don't want them to pin point exact things that say she will never do certain things because I know miracles happen but I guess regardless of whether they say she will never do something or not miracles still happen. I am excited to see what the future holds for my little angel.

We went to Harley and Jordan's play last week. It was great, really adorable, they both did awesome and even Monica performed a solo that night. It was so fun.

Dad and little Kev are hunting and Tony has to work tonight so mom and the girls and I are going out to dinner, it should be fun. I should stay home and get some stuff done but where is the fun in that. I am not kidding, I haven't cleaned my house in probably 2 months and I have, no kidding, about 7 loads of laundry that need to be done but memories are not made cleaning and doing laundry. I will take a picture of my laundry pile so you believe me it is unreal.

Okay, enough rambling. Love you guys.

Jess

Monday, September 24, 2007

VA

LeAnne,
Thanks for sending the package. We just got it today. Sorry we're always leaving things...:{ We love you! ~Darla and Geof.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Provo

Right now we're watching a thing on this child prodogy who is 7 years old and plays the piano like a mad man. he practices the piano 8 hours a day. at first i thought "that kids amazing!" now i'm just thinking "that kid needs a life!" that's what i have to tell myself at least to keep from feeling like a failure.
well school is over next saturday!! i'm so excited i can't stand it. i have to wait until the 27th of october to take my practical exam which sucks, but i get to have a few saturdays off with jason. that'll be nice. the other night we were over at one of my clients house for dinner and she asked jason what it will be like to have a full time wife. it was pretty funny. i'd never thought about the fact that i'd been working and going to school since we got married. it won't last long but at least til i get my license.
so this client of mine, muriel, is from england. she had a graduation dinner for me and 5 of my guests. it was so fun! she is big into english hospitality so she served us like 6 courses on her fine china which she brought over from england. i made everyone dress up cuz i wanted to. we started by her giving a toast to me then hourderves (or however you spell that), salad, soup, the main course, dessert, and ended with cheese and crackers and paro which is a substitute for coffee. the food was amazing! and we all ate so much we thought we were gonna puke. it was really fun and she has the best stories.
washington was awesome. everything i hoped it would be really. the swim across the lake was magical. i'm so excited to go home for thanksgiving!!!
ellynn

Friday, September 21, 2007

er....

His name is Levi, not Tyler. His little brother is Tyler.

Our pics from AK (finally!)






Here are a few pics from our amazing trip to the most beautiful place on earth. There are a few with our little cousin Tyler (my brother Chris' son), and the guy swimming in the freeezing ocean with Geof. is my brother. It was a wonderful trip! We also LOVED seeing all of you in Washington. LeAnne, Ellery, Meagan and Cory, you guys are the best! Thanks for everything. love, Darla, Geof. and co.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

thank-you for coming, it was great fun!!!

i just returned from the airport and geof. called to say that darla and co. made the flight.  i am going thru the house and gathering all the little items that were left so that i can mail them off.  my plan is to gather up the rest of the bedding, finish up the washing, vacuum thru quickly. i will clean out the epperson's suburban, wash and fill it with gas and return it along with the crib and clothes to erickson's.  then finish raking out the bark, weeding, fix the sprinkler head that popped off, finish raking the orchard and do some work on the east side hill.  oh and take all the d.i. stuff to the stake house, vacuum and wash my car.  clean out the garage of everything that has been dumped in there from cleaning out the cars, take out the recycling, garbage, and compost.  do my visiting teaching, go to the temple,  wash down any little hand prints, get my drivers license renewed, book a ticket for germany, finish packing. and jack tells me it won't be halloween without my decorations so. . . and then i'm going to go visit a friend down in salem. and hang the picture i ordered for over the mantel that didn't arrive in time for the wedding.  it's the antique looking panoramic view of the sacred grove etc.etc.etc.. . . .  . . 

but then again . . . i think i'm going to start a load of wash so i feel like i'm getting something done and go sit down and read "twilight" till i fall asleep which should take all of 10 minutes.

i love you all thanks again for coming.  i am so blessed.  my prayers were answered for the wedding and paula coming thru the surgery so well.

aunt le anne

ps the pictures were great  and the jib jab hysterical!

Monday, September 17, 2007

Washington





We made it home after the trip that we spent more time in the car then we did there!!! It was great and I thought that I would get some pictures out for those of you that couldn't make the trip! I'll write more later and will be sending the pics from winkflash out tonight. Love you all, Aunt Jack p.s. We are a very very blessed family, it was so good to be a part of this weekend with such wonderful people!!!! p.s.s. Don't ask me how I always seem to get the same picture twice!

The Sisters


Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!
One more

Saturday, September 15, 2007

This is Aunt Paula

Hey, we just got back from the reception well everybody but LeAnne, Ellery, and Adam. It has been a great day. Brind and Julia are such a cute couple. I was so surprised when Julia came out in a three quarter length wedding gown with a bright red ribbon tied in her hair and bright red Jessica Simpson pumps. She looked so cute and Brind was the perfect adoring new husband.

I love you all. Take care. Oh, and I want to thank the funnest girl to watch dance, Mindi, for helping me to blog. Love Paula

everyone has arrived safely

i am typing in the dark because everyone has gone to bed except cory who is working on the wedding video.  i will beat him to bed i know, but that is ok i'm meaner when i am tired.  we were so glad to get everyone here this morning at about 4:45 am.  we slept in till about 9 which was great.  then we went to battle ground lake, did our run around it to warm up then dove in for the swim over and back.  it was awesome.  too bad there was no fog.  just a few very good natured fishermen who we assured we were scaring the fish their way.  we are doing very well in spite of the numbers.  my idea of cold cereal and bananas and ice cream is working well.  if they stay for sunday dinnner it will be salmon grilled peppers and garlic potatoes with homemade rolls wahoo!! maybe brind and julia will stick around but then maybe not.  wish you were all here, but we are way grateful those that could make it.  love to all aunt le annne

ps i always forget something--yesterday i turned off the sprinkling system so that i could mow and edge the lawn.  then i set it again to finish out the cycle.  the eppersons had come over to visit the kids were out on the trampoline--all eight of the older ones when the sprinklers came on.  they were drenched.  it was so funny.  they all came in to dry off and i unloaded my t-shirt drawer so they spent the rest of the night in big oversized t-shirts.

the family dinner went well i think except for the fact that my kids are a little too much like me and felt like they needed to rearrange the entire room so that we could all be at one big table, but then that left julia's family off by themselves so that didn't work so they figured out a new configuration that was in a u shape and then they decided that the bride and groom should sit at this table alone then no, everyone should just move down so they can sit in the center.  the little manager guy comes out to talk to me and says that we are eliminating seats with our new arrangement.  i just shake my head, smile mildly and assure him that they can count and it not his fault they are messing up his dining room.  they will take responsibility for their madness.

kev there was a dear on the road last night coming up to our house--nice doe

tony and little kev we missed you on the run/swim this morning oh well as fast as this house is moving (not one person thru in 5 months) you may have another chance.  now i am done love you all

Friday, September 14, 2007

Hey Brooke!!  It's your evil twin Patti (I wish).  Rob said that we were filling in for you and Mike at the dinner!  We all know that it wasn't the same, but hey we were thinking of you.  Rob and Cory were making jokes the whole time and now I know more about Meagan and Cory's personal life than I ever wanted to know.  Let's just say over the Atlantic.  Mindy's new nick name is Rock Star.  You will have to ask Adam about that one.  Your family is wonderful, but I am sure you already knew that.  June is beautiful...truly.  Her features are amazing for a baby so young.  Well I should probably get back to my family, who is at home!  We all love and miss you all so much!!  You all are always in our thought and prayers.

I made it out of West Kaysville!!!!

Brookie

Your Mom told me to tell you about our wonderful trip last night!!! Alicia, Jess and I left at 5:00 last night and drove through the night! Oh yes it was wonderful. Alicia and Jess made a pack that one of them would always be awake so I would never be by myself. That turned out that one of them were trying to keep that other one awake so that would could keep me awake and I took no dose so I could go to sleep if I wanted! Anyway the story that I set down to write was about how I was getting pretty bored at one point and started to singing "99 bottles of rootbeer on the wall"! I came up with that because I was praying that I wouldn't fall asleep and thought that I would make the big guy upset after I asked for his help if I sang it that regular way. I hope that this has made since because I have very little sleep!! Got to go and eat, Love you Aunt Jack

Monday, September 10, 2007

Let's go

Hey, I'm all for it. Since the house fell through, there's really no use for all of that equity dough. Might as well burn it on Mickey Mouse.

kaia i'm with you especially if cory is footing the bill

 

Elly's graduation was wonderful. she sang and did a fantastic job.  there is a little girl that works at the salon that is downs syndrom. her name is debi and she loves ellynn.  when elly was practicing at the school debi started to dance. ellynn told her she needed to dance for the graduation performance. the instructors said that debi probably wouldn't because she is pretty shy in front of a group and there would be about 110 people. elly just assured her that she would love to have her dance while she sang if she wanted to.  it was so sweet--when elly stood up to sing, debi came right up with her.  her head was down and she wouldn't look at anyone, but as the song went on she started to really have fun.  it was so cute.  ms. evans really is a great woman she has made doing hair an act of service.  they do hair at nursing homes and give hair cuts to the homeless under the viaduct etc.  it was a lot of fun. and ellynn informs geof. that we now have 2 college graduates in the family. 

we made it home from elly's graduation this morning at about 3:00 am.  it all started at 12:30 pm. so it made for a long day.  we did get on 2 flights that were completely full and over sold which was just a miracle.  i am praying it goes well for darla and co. tomorrow.  sitting in an airport waiting to fly standby trying to keep meagan fed and entertained is hard enough let alone 3 little kids.  alaska with a 6 week old baby?  i am amazed!!!

mindi, remember what i told you--in spite of my best efforts, he is still male.  and there is this a no return policy.  darla and julia keep that in mind!!!

brooke just keep in mind that mike has been gone slightly less than one month and so far we have had ellyn in a cast and you with a malignant melanoma.  what are you doing for an encore for the next 14 months? and yes i am a mom and you are far away and when i'm tired i do tend to over react---just a bit.  however i do think i have done well all things considered.  tell you what, i will react for you. 

i will tell you all that when i think of our family.  i am so grateful for your prayers for each other and for your support of a possibly overeactive mom and g'ma.  cannot wait to see you all.  it will be crowded, but so fun to have everyone together.  love, aunt le anne

ps cameron thanks for the update on jan.  i am so excited for him.  i remember when we took him up skiing one time when we lived there and geof. asked why we bought him a lift ticket?  why not just let him run to the top, ski down and then run up to the top again.  he has so much energy and it's all headed in the right direction.

chels, i am not your mom, but i do have a list with all the addresses on it.  it's a mess, but legible for the most part.  no it's not typed out in alphabetical order--that's why i said i'm not your mom.

ColoradoBennett

This morning Kaia got out of the shower and said, "Cory was thinking we should go to Disneyland." It was funny the way she said it. So after the wedding and blessing, lets just all work our way down to the happiest place on earth. I think Kaia mentioned something about Cory paying for it all, too.

Bavaria

Mind, I would imagine being married to Adam would keep a healthy glow on your face just about 24/7. I don't know what else to tell you, you married him :).

I do love that quote from Pres. Kimball, but don't put me on a throne quite yet. While it sounds very dramatic to say that I have skin cancer and while shaving my head is a daily temptation with as much as Ellyn pulls my hair, I don't think I am as close to my death bed as my dear mother might have people believe. The melanoma is actually quite shallow, should not have entered my blood stream and besides the huge inconvenience of driving four hours (so they can properly monitor the baby) to have a chunk of skin taken out of my leg, this isn't too big of a deal. Now listening to my mom and Mike lecture me on putting sunscreen on my glowing white legs the rest of my life. That is tragic.

Another tragedy is that I will not be there this weekend for my brother's wedding and you all will. I am incredibly jealous. It will be a party and I don't know that I want to hear about it.

Chels, I can't believe how much you already have done for your wedding, obviously that gene must come from your dad's side. Jess, Indie is so dang cute, I just want to eat her cheeks.
Meags, Ad, Cory, and Min, I'm sorry Allenet fell through. Something will come up, plus I know how much Cory really just missed living in mom's basement. Cam and Monie tell Harley good luck for us. Wish we were there too.

I have to go squish my daughter now, she is impatiently waiting for my to attack her, my little Elbow.

I love you all. Love, me

Sunday, September 09, 2007

ColoradoBennett

President Kimball wrote: "Is there not wisdom in His giving us trials that we might rise above them, responsibilities that we might achieve, work to harden our muscles, sorrows to try our souls? Are we not exposed to temptations to test our strength, sickness that we might learn patience, death that we might be immortalized and glorified? If all the sick for whom we pray were healed, if all the righteous were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the gospel, free agency, would be ended. No man would have to live by faith."
Brooke, I imagine in heaven you will be placed upon a high tower and on the side will be written "The Queen of Patience". And you'll have beautiful, long braided hair and when people come to visit you'll let down your hair...oh, wait that is another story. We have to live by faith, but we'll continue to pray for you.
The heartbreaking news about Allennett: the deal fell through yesterday.
On another note, I'd like to ask blogging females what they would do to their husbands if they referred to you as "a rock-star lover" while giving a lesson in Elder's Quorum on marriage. Someone told me in the hall after Church that my ears should be burning and that Adam talked about me during his lesson. I haven't stopped blushing after he told me the details of his class.

Friday, September 07, 2007

I have a free minute!

It's a miracle, I actually have a minute to post. It's been a while since I've done a real one. The boys headed back to Texas about three and a half weeks ago. It was a rough goodbye and it never gets easier. Followed by crazy adjustments...family mode and couple mode are two very different things.

With that change, I also started a new job. I work at Kiva Energy in North Salt Lake. They are a wholesale propane company. I am basically their office manager. I do the invoicing, billing, scheduling, ect. It is 10.1 miles from our driveway so I love that. So far everything is good. It is a small office and I like the people I work with. Still learning and somewhat trianing but so far so good.

Keat and Ike started school. Keaton is in 4th grade and Isaac started Kindergarten. Things seem to be going well. Keat joined the cub scouts the other day. He is pretty excited about it. I guess Ike is just exhausted all the time. Kindergarten down there is a full day. He complains about a different body part hurting each morning in hopes he will get to miss school and sleep longer. He cracks me up.

Joey is staying busy with work. He goes out to New York the last week in September to do a job for Bill Clinton's birthday parties. He always has a good time there because his bosses treat him like a prince. He saw three broadway shows last time. I always become super jealous. Maybe one day I'll get to tag along...we'll see.

Wedding plans are starting to pick up. We meet with the photographer tonight to get things finalized. My dress was delivered last week! I am having a few things done to it so the lady still has it. I'm really excited about it. The Wight House is under-going all of their renovations and things seem to be on track. We met with the guy a few weeks ago and chose the table clothes, center-pieces and cake details. It was fun. Invitations have me a little stressed. I feel like it's going to be the hardest part. Don't mind me when I'm walking around with a notebook asking for all of your addresses next weekend. :) Flowers should be a cinch. Sorta banking on Christmas trees with white lights and garland filling in for that. Throw in some red roses and call it good.

Okay, enough with my to do lists. Boring stuff....

I'm excited for next weekend. Can't wait to see everyone!

~Chels

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Weather

What is the weather like up there? I am trying to plan what to wear.

Thanks,

Jess

chels

don't rent a car or get a hotel friday night.  we will be down that direction anyway. was it the comment about how late it will be friday night and your mom needing her sleep?  i have ear plugs.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Bavaria

This is completely cheating but I copied part of the e-mail I sent to Mike yesterday and I'm using that for the blog. I just have so many hours in a day and not many of those include hours I can spend on the computer (nor do I want to really, I'm not a sit in front of the computer type girl).

Oh, I do have a little something to share that I have been meaning to put on here for a few days. Two weeks ago I was finally able to have a mole on my calf removed. Mike had not so kindly nicknamed it "the tick." and while I wouldn't mind having a Superhero as a constant companion right now, The Tick would not be my choice. This was a new mole which started growing this spring and while Mike was worried about cancer and such I thought it was ugly (obviously he did too or he wouldn't have named it something so gross). So... after the whole process of having my OB refer me back to my doctor (stupid policy here) and then my doctor referring me to a dermatologist and me waiting about two months to call back for an apt. I was finally able to go into the dermatologist. He takes a look at my mole and says "well I normally wait until after women have given birth but this mole is new, dark, and oddly shaped. Let's take it off." Great. After he removes said mole and stitches up the little skin punch with the darkest, ugliest thread known to man (is there something so wrong with flesh colored thread or white or light pink- if a nurse is so blind she can't see the more discreet thread I don't really want her working on my incisions anyway) he mentions that they will have it biopsied and call me with the results in a week or so. "Okay," I say and promptly forget about the ugly mole test.

Fast forward to last week. My Catholic friend is over at my house interviewing me for her world religions class. The phone rings and I answer (no phone call is ever ignored when a spouse is deployed).

Me-Hello?

Dr.- Hi, this is Dr. H. We have the preliminary results back on your mole. The tests came back abnormal.

Me-Abnormal (what tests, oh yeah, the biopsy)?

Dr-Yes, the mole doesn't fit into the perameters of being considered normal according to our tests. We don't have a dermayadayadayada here so we are going to have to send your mole to Walter Reed Medical Center.

Me-Walter Reed? At this point I am picturing "the tick" in a petri dish, swirling around in clear liquid, it is being loaded into a red Coleman cooler and packed with dry ice. A soldier in class A's is running across the tarmac with the cooler in hand as a plane awaits, engines running.

Dr.-Yes, they will do further tests there and determine whether or not it fits into their criteria for being normal. We should know more sometime in the next week or two. If it is just abnormal we will wait until after the baby is born and then do a little surgery and remove more tissue from the area, if it is malignant we will do a bigger surgery, when is the baby due?

At this point I am picturing a chunk of my leg being removed the size of a shark bite, or laying on my bed telling my kids goodbye.

Dr.-Either way I will need to come back and do a full body check (Fabulous, they are going to have to fly me to some marina where they can float me on my back and then on my stomach while a team of divers inspects my whale like body for "abnormal" moles. So, as soon as I get those test results in the next week or two I will let you know.

Yeah, it's been over a week and instead of having completely forgotten about the stupid mole I get to contemplate daily whether or not the Lord would really let me have skin cancer on top of everything else. I'm also quite certain that I'm going to look like the teeing off point at a golf course with all the divets they are going to take from my skin because right now even the smallest freckle is stretched to the size of Russia. So that is my mole story and the rest is my e-mail to Mike about Sadie's first day of kindergarten. I love you all.
Can not tell you how exhausted I am and how much I have to do. Three kids in school wipes me out. Sadie had a fabulous day today. The only low point is that she didn't have anyone to sit with on the bus on the ride home, but...she still wants to ride the bus. I'm at the school every day picking up Ellyn but she wants to ride the bus. I told her she could always change her mind. They invited parents to come eat lunch today so Ellie Boo and I went in and ate lunch with her class. She was so grown up about taking care of her lunchbox and she was waving to just about every kid on the planet. There are so many from our primary and a few from FRG. She is just a social little butterfly. Last night she went into the kitchen and got out an apple and the apple slicer and proceeded to slice apples and put them in a bag so she could have them for her lunch today. It was too funny. When she got home from school I asked her what she learned today and she told me they learned how to line up their toes on the piece of tape. Academic Genius.


Jane's homework has finally kicked in. She spent almost the whole evening doing homework and piano practicing. It was funny though, she said quite good naturedly "I guess my days of playing are over." Right now she doesn't mind it, it is still a novelty, and hopefully by the time it gets to her she will be a little bit faster. She also has a pretty mature attitude about her schedule. She has a math teacher that is supposedly really hard and pretty strict but Jane doesn't mind her so far and she really likes the rest of her schedule and doesn't want to mess it up. She can be so logical at times and so not at others. She's a sweetheart though.

Ellyn had a fairly good day. We had the whole morning together and with more one on one time I made her do more things with me, like unload the dishwasher. One glass was great, 6 made her ornery. She also got really used to me being right with her and threw an absolute fit when I went upstairs to get her socks by myself. The nerve. Her limp is still there and seemed more pronounced today. So frustrating. I think I will call Dr. Lukezic and have her take a look. The good thing is that it doesn't seem to be bothering her today.

Okay, we had the most insane weather all day. One second it would be clear blue beautiful skies, 55 degrees, crisp and pleasant with some dark clouds on the horizon. Ten minutes later the wind would kick up the clouds would rush in and pouring rain would absolutely drench everything. It was alot of fun to deal with.

Finally, the end. Love, Brooke

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Crabb's

Ok, this is just a quick note to let you all know that we are still alive.

We are so sad that we are not going to make it to the wedding:( With Harley's play and the trip to California right after we just couldn't make it work. Brind, I know people say this stuff all the time and I always thought it was a little cheesy but it's true, we will be thinking about you on your big day and wish nothing but the best for you two.

The videos are absolutely hilarious. I'll try and find some time to make some with our family.

Here is some pretty cool news from Jans letter last week:

ok now for the cool news of the week... this morning while i was in
the shower my comp knocks on the door and says are you about done
cause president dunaway (my mission president) just called and wants
to talk to you. so i jump out and i was thinking "ok now the only
time president calls missionaries as far as i know is when they are
not expecting it is because something has happened to their family or
they are going to be called to be assistant". so i call him back and
he starts talking to me and says "so after much talk and prayer (at
this moment i was like no freaking way he is calling me to be
assistant) but then he continues on and says "we have decided to send
you to serve in lugano" and then he explained why he himself called me
to just tell me this, and come to find out lagano is the only city in
our mission that is outside of italy so at the end of october i will
start serving in switzerland, how sweet is that. so the reason why he
called me so early is because we (me and him and the ap's) have to get
me a visa to live in switzerland, and he also said that the visa will
only last for 3 transfers... so yeah he then explained the situation
and told me how they havn't had a baptism up there in four years and
he feel that i am the one to change that... so basically i am really
excited right now, but the only problem is i have no excitement for
transfer calls for the next for transfer calls which means for the
next 6 months i know exactly where i will be and what i will be
doing... though now i can be specific about telling you when i will be
transfered and when my addresses will change and what not... but yeah
how cool is that, i guess not many missionaries get to do this, so i'm
happy right now...


Well, I know that's not much of an update on us but I'll get Moni back on here too.

Cam

Alicia and Lyd


Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

OK I'm done!!! Till I do my sisters!!!

Me and Kev


Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!
Just about done!

Jessica


Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

I'll quit in about 3 more!

Indie


Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

We can't stop making these!!!

You gotta see this!


Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

We all know that I'm going to be killed for this!!!!

Chloe and Maddie


Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!
Had to try this!

Our WA Schedule

Hey everyone! Funny videos! I have been horrible at posting, but good at commenting. I never have enough time. I started a new job so still training and trying to get in the swing of things. My Mom and I will be flying into Portland late Friday night. We are renting a car and staying in a hotel that first night so no need to worry about shuttling us around. We will meet up with everyone on Saturday to enjoy all of the festivities. Then we will stay at LeAnn's house (if that's okay) Saturday night to early Sunday morning. Our flight leaves around 7am so we will be rolling, out of bed around 4:30 or 5. I know you are all jealous. :) It will be quick but fun and we are excited!!!!! See you all soon!

Chels

Monday, September 03, 2007

jibjab

Ellynn and Jason,
We're so excited for this hysterical new website. It's perfect for our dancin' fam! Look at Cole and Dayne, they're amazingly groooovy. Wish I'd cut Cole's head out better..(:
http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/514237

Brooke,
Adam and I have been trying to send an email to Mike but it keeps coming back to us. Can you please confirm the email address for us please.

Tristan and Sierra


Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

ColoradoBennett

Kaia, Tristan and I fly in on Tue, Sep 11 at 11 AM. Adam and Sierra fly in on Thursday, Sep 13 at midnight.
Ellynn & Jason, those videos were great. If we could have a live hula performance by Adam and Cory and if Geof. could wear that great "Three Amigos" outfit to the reception I think it would really be fun. I can't mock Meagan because she just looked great.

VA

blessing back on for Sat. night since my uncle can't make either Sat. or Sunday. Oh well.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

where are you!?!

monica and cameron where are you????  i miss you!!  is harley's opening night the same weekend as the wedding?  she will be wonderful!!  please come back to the blog.  i know you are busy but just a word would sustain us.  love........me

Yet another amazing video

http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/504495

Hula

Here's a little ditty we whipped up. we're just so excited for the get together!

http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/504076

jason & ellynn

Is my bark worse than my bite?

The answer would be YES. Brooke my dear, dear sister you know how i love you. however i'm not sure the call at 12:30 was exactly necessary. but i guess if it takes writing mean things on the blog to get you call me, so be it because it's impossible to get ahold of you in person to say mean things....er...anything. But i do love you like a fat kid loves cake!
Mom, jason and i will be flying in on Lexington airlines at 4 am on friday. if you could be there to greet us with some cookies and milk that would be great. actually you'll just have to leave the door unlocked since i don't have a house key anymore and i'll come in and gently let you know we made it okay. and i have no idea what you're talking about with the singing at the dinner. just so you all know, brind will be the one performing and he has chosen "you are my fire" by the backstreet boys. and cory will be his back up dancer.
Graduation is this coming friday. i've almost got it all put together. now i just gotta print up the program. the highlight however is that mom and meagan are coming and i get to spoil them all day at my school on saturday.
k i gotta go because jason can't handle not having complete control over HIS laptop at all times. it's really annoying.
Blog out
ellynn

just so you know

i talked to brooke this morning and elly's blog earned her a call after midnight from germany.  it was the middle of the morning for brooke why not? 

with everyone flying in and out could you all give us your schedules and airlines so we can co-ordinate pick-up and delivery.  we are going to check with the eppersons to see if we can borrow their suburban for the weekend to help with transportation everywhere.

in fact it would help to know everyone's scheduled comings and goings.

jack the yard is beautiful.  wish i had your help and expertise here.  the up side is the grass isn't as brown as it usually is this time of year.  remember we have green lawns all winter and summer is the dormant time because water is so expensive.  oh well.  

can i say again how excited we are to have everyone.  aunt marilyn bennett called yesterday and she is coming too.  wahoo!!!  

love you all, aunt le anne

ps. jordan and harley break a leg on the opening weekend of annie.  wish we could be there too.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Oh Ellynn

Just wondering how long it would take you to read the blog. I saw your number on my caller ID and I'll have to go on to Mike's e-mail and go to that date and listen. I didn't know you recorded a message. You did send me my book, remember I called and thanked you from the bottom of my heart. You know I love you more than my luggage. Let us not contend one with another. Maybe you'll read this message by Sept. 15th, or someone can tell you about it and you won't be angry anymore.

Love, me

Happy birthday my foot

i was reading the blog and couldn't go on after i read brooke's little blurb about her birthday. hey i don't think you know this but that message with one of your sisters singing happy birthday to you with meagan's children in the background. Yeah, that was ME! and i would also like to remind you that i spent 20 bucks sending you your damn book! so just remember that.
ellynn

question...

Okay, try again. I was just wondering who was leaving on Sunday and at what time. The reason being that my uncle and aunt (who live in Battle Ground) won't be able to go the wedding or blessing because of stake meetings that night. Dang it!! So if we could possibly do it early Sunday morning, that'd be better. Geof. could do it and then would have to fly out right after. Let me know. THanks! WE're excited!

question..