Can't be in two places at one time

Wish I could have been here:
Rachel and Adam's wedding (Rachel is my beautiful niece)
Photos by my amazingly talented professional photographer sister - Kelly.

Instead, I had a calling to do. Ward Camp Director for our church girl's camp. The bride should have consulted me first before setting the date ... my date was set first! ;o) ... I couldn't abandon my post.

Plus I love these girls!

Jenna did the 4th year hike this year (with the girls in level 4 at our church girl's camp). She was a trooper. She encouraged everyone with her big smile and her twinkle in her eye. She said it wasn't hard. I heard otherwise. She is one tough cookie!

We are proud of her! 4 days backpacking. 28 miles. Bears. Cold. Hot. Ducking under trees with their 30 lb backpack. I heard it was an amazing experience. I need her to write it down.

Jenna and Jaley - after Jenna's triumphal return!

A reputation

Jaley had her hand surgeon appointment yesterday.

Her reputation preceeds her. The surgeon walked in and said, "Oh, I've heard all about you!"

He took another X-ray. There are 2 pieces still in her finger. They are between the nail and the bone. He said he would like to see her in another week to see how her finger is doing and wants to consult the other doctors in his practice as well - he is thinking surgery might be in the picture.

Stronger than you know

John bought me a Bernina sewing machine over 18 years ago. The sales man told me that it could sew through 10 layers of denim with no problems.

Today it sewed through Jaley's nail AND bone. She and Jenna were working on their Individual Worth Value Project for their Personal Progress - sewing day-packs for the 1st year campers in our ward for girl's camp. She was having so much fun before it happened. She kept saying over and over that this was the funnest activity. It was so fun to hear Jenna and Jaley working on this together. I had my back turned to her ironing one of the packs when I heard a scream.

She yanked her hand away and broke the needle. I could see the tip of the needle on the under side of her finger. I tried to pull it out with pliers, but it wouldn't budge. I knew what happened - but didn't tell her.

I took her to the ER. X-rays proved what I had thought ... through the bone.

She about had a panic attack when she found out she would need 4 shots to numb her finger. They gave her a pain killer to relax her. Needles scare her - how ironic. She was so brave. She cried during the numbing shots - I cried with her. I hated seeing her in pain. I wished I could take it away from her.

It took a long time to pull the needle out. It broke off at her fingernail and the tip barely stuck through the surface of her skin on the other side. It was STUCK. The pediatric doctor had to consult another one and use his help as well.

While going through this waiting process to figure out what to do, Jaley was funny and sweet while "doped up". She told me that her bathroom needed more toilet paper. When she heard "hand surgeon" after hearing about the piece still in her finger she said, "Papa still has shrapnel in him and he's fine." She also told me that she was glad this happened to her rather than one of her other siblings because she doesn't like not knowing what is going on and not being able to help. She also teared up when she was remembering how her siblings came to her aid when she got hurt - they held her good hand, they helped her out to the car ... and a couple of them had tears in their eyes. So sweet. That's my Jaley.

The second set of X-rays showed that there was still a piece of the needle in her finger - between the nail and bone. The hand surgeon was called. We get to see him on Monday. He thought it was too traumatic to do surgery on her to remove it (I AGREE). He wants to monitor it. What a relief. Surgery was one of the other thoughts that crossed my mind while driving Jaley to the ER.

Poor Jaleybug. She is stronger than she knows.

Chores Glorious Chores

That's what you will hear coming from my lips - to the tune of Food Glorious Food (from Oliver).
NOT what you will hear from the kids!

Last year we did "Own It". It worked well for the most part.

This year I have lists. I was doing daily lists; now it is weekly. I am having them report on their progress during dinner (or mark off their chore chart).

What do I have on their lists?

Daily chores.
Pick up room (includes making bed)
Scriptures/Personal Progress/Cub Scout Achievements

Chores they need to complete sometime during the week:
They each have a portion of a "large chore" divided up amongst each other on the list as well. They can pace themselves, BUT it has to be completed by NOON ON FRIDAY. Last week it was cleaning the kitchen cabinet doors and drawer fronts (with soapy water - yes, I need to write it on their list!). I put post-it notes on each door front with their names on it. This week they each have Post-it notes on 5 chairs to wipe down and replace the felt pads on the legs. What else do I have up my sleeve? Blinds. Window Sills. Baseboards. Wipe down doors. Windows. Deep clean closet. Deep clean their shower (mom clean that is) with comet cleanser - that soap scum spray doesn't really work.

They also have to clean their bathroom (shower, sink, toilet, floor and mirror), vacuum dust and de-clutter their room and complete their laundry (include sheets - wash, dry, hang, fold AND put away) - I don't care when, just have it done by Friday at noon.

The chores are TO BE FINISHED BY NOON ON FRIDAY ... or I get to keep all electronic devices until the next Friday.

For those who have diligently worked on their chores, we hit Sonic's Happy Hour on Friday from 2-4 p.m. for their 1/2 price drinks (Limeade with LOW ICE)!!! That has been really fun! (And right now they have buy one, get one free milk shakes - until June 28. If you purchase an odd number of milk shakes, they give you a coupon that expires mid July! Oh, Hot Fudge milk shake is my favorite - and get the large!).

Helping

Kendall loves to help. He loves to shadow Kerst.

Yesterday Kerst was working on a Bear requirement for cub scouts that required the use of tools. Kerst was wearing protective eye wear. Kendall wanted to do the same.

Kendall stood on a drill case watching Kerst drill holes. He was wearing his swimming goggles - so he could be just like Kerst!

FOREVER

My parents are celebrating ...

Happily Ever After

Photo by my sister, Kelly ... (she's a professional ...)

And FOREVER

Grandma and Grandpa. Mom and Dad. Me, Sean and Reed.

Sealed for eternity - Manti, UT 1974

Embrace Life

My friend Becky sent me this in an e-mail. It has a powerful message - seatbelt safety.





Be safe this summer with your travels near and far!

4 6 4 6 4

Kendall has a spot to wave goodbye. The front picture window. He waves goodbye to Julia and her girlsfriends when they would home for lunch during school. When Kerst would head out for school, Kendall would stand at his goodbye spot and wave (or cry) goodbye.


Kendall has some unexplainable connection to me. He senses when I am leaving the house. He makes it difficult to leave with all of his tears. I try to sneak out but that doesn't work. Someone has to hold onto him as I leave.

I even tried spelling my departure to the older kids or John so the knew I was heading to a meeting, etc. NOTHING gets past this kid.

Lately we have been making a game of waving goodbye. He will stand at our front picture window and do a silly wave. A favorite wave of his is putting his hands by his ears waving while sticking out his tongue.


Since spelling doesn't work and the silly wave isn't always a sure fire fix, I have a new method.


"4 6 4 6 4"



Huh? I'm sure you are asking.


G O I N G


in texting format.


I wonder how long it will take him to figure this one out!

Welcome to Colorado

Colorado draws a large crowd of tourists for the many outdoor activities offered year around.

If you drive, you are greeted with this sign:

Colorful, huh?!

If you fly, you are greeted (coming and going) with this statue at the airport:

This history of this blue stallion ...

The artist, Luis Jamenez, was commissioned to make this stallion back in 1992. The construction was delayed to due his health problems. In June 2006 Jimenez was killed when a portion of the statue pinned him down and severed an artery in his leg. The statue was completed under the direction of his family.

The Mustang has been nicknamed by the locals as "Bluecifer," "Satan's Steed," and "Blue Devil Horse."

He does look evil ... blue. Glowing Red Eyes.

Now Bluecifer has a friend joining him (for only the summer though).

Anubis.
The Egyptian god of death. He is the "jackal-god of mummification," and "assisted in the rites by which a dead man was admitted to the underworld." He is visiting to promote the upcoming King Tut Exhibit in the Denver Art Museum.

So ... Welcome to Colorful Colorado. Enjoy your visit!

Sunday ... Monday ...

Kendall talks my ear off. All day. Every day.

Questions. Comments. Random stuff.

We have been recently talking about what we can and can't do on Sunday so we can keep the Sabbath day holy. This came about when his favorite life guard, Miss Devin, asked him if he was going swimming the next day (Sunday).

Today he was talking about not being able to swim on Sunday.

He then asked me if it was okay to swim on Moonday.

I chuckled.

Sunday. Moonday. Starday.

Oh the beauty of a 3 year-old mind!

Ambitious Jaley

When we moved here Jaley and I were looking at decorating ideas for her room.

She wanted blues yellow and greens. My resourceful and creative sister-in-law Julianne shared this color scheme she wanted to do for her son. We loved the stripes and brightened the colors for Jaley's room. While looking around we found a yo-yo quilt. We fell in love with it .... only it was over $1,000.


I told Jaley she could start saving her money or she could make one.

Soooo....

she decided to make one as one of her Young Women Personal Progress Projects.

She calculated we need just under 1,700 yo-yos.

We started this project 2 years ago, but she wasn't quite ready for the undertaking.

This past April, she decided to start it up again. With 40 yo-yos done ... we were well on our way ;o).

Here is our progress:

Cut out 1,700 circles out of fabric to compliment her room. We traced around a blank cd/dvd. Jaley cut and cut and cut and cut.



And then we began sewing. By hand. Where ever we went, we brought a ziplock bag filled with circles, needles, thread and scissors. We plugged along! It takes us just 2-3 minutes to sew one yo-yo.



Last week we finished sewing all of the yo-yos!

My dear quilting friend, Linda D. from IL helped me figure out how to assemble this quilt. We put the yo-yo's on the dining room table according to fabrics. We had 25 different fabrics (but not all the same number of yo-yos in each).

We put 25 yo-yos in each baggie.

Now we are sewing them into rows of 5.

And then into blocks of 25.

And still, where ever we go, we have a baggie filled with needles, thread, scissors and yo-yos.

Each square is taking under 1 hour (depending on the interruptions). This project is keeping
us out of trouble!

We have 72 blocks to sew together.

and then we need to attach it to the black think quilt we picked up at Target that you can see at the foot of her bed.
At the last General Conference, Elder Eyring gave a talk that encouraged Moms to participate in the Personal Progress program with their daughter. It has been a lot of fun to do this project with Jaley. We have listened to books on tape, sat and talked, or just enjoyed each other's company. The YW value projects are to take at least 10 hours. We have passed that a LONG TIME AGO!