Santa Cookies and Premeditated Caninicide, Almost

Before...


And after!




Some friends back in AZ had a cookie exchange and posted pictures on facebook. This was one of the recipes I fell in love with (the little Santa faces are soooo cute!). So in a moment of domesticity I baked and decorated. And decorated and decorated and decorated. I seriously underestimated the time it would take to make these puppies. But it was worth it, I still love them! There are about 40 cookies, so I have to be sparing upon distribution. Last night I spent another hour or two assembling teacher gifts to be taken to school tomorrow. Today, our dog Ivy (yes, the cute snowball-laden one from the last post) got up on the table and ate three of the teacher gifts and consumed at least 3 of said Santa cookies.


The evidence speaks for itself.



"Please forgive me, won't you?"
The jury is still out on that one...

S N O W !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a great snowstorm today. It began this morning around 6:30 with lots of wind. By the time Joe and I got up (9:30ish...) the world was covered in a beautiful white blanket. By 10 all five kids were outside bundled from head to toe in snow gear, throwing snowballs and having a blast. Hannah was in by 10:10. The rest stayed out until noon or so. Even Ivy joined in! Her fur on her feet gathered up snowballs as she played, so we gave her a warm bath when she came in. (spoiled little dog) :)

Festivities, Merriment, and the need for a Maid

Happy December! I am really getting behind in my blogging, and it certainly isn't due †o lack of activity around here. The holidays have swept us up like a tailwind and are carrying us along. Fortunately, I love the chaos of the holidays as long as it is punctuated by stillness. Still waiting for the stillness...

So far this season, we have had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner hosted by Steph, decorated our tree (which, when purchased for our condo in '94 seemed so big, now seems almost Charlie-Brownesque) put up the lights, played in the snow (we've not had much, but I think God is easing us into the Utah winter- I'm not sure we own a shovel yet), spent a day at PCMC while Hannah had an endoscopy, attended the Festival of Trees, attended (and Brad, Lindsay and Nathan participated in) a live Nativity production called Journey to Bethlehem hosted by our church, scant amounts of shopping, and spent many an evening warming our toes by the fire. Still to come: an evening with the Tabernacle choir, caroling with our neighbors, LCA faculty Christmas Party, Zoolights, Elementary Christmas Program, Christmas Eve dinner and fun with family, hosted by the Cross Clan and HOPEFULLY, some good skiing.

We also were glad to have my friend Jen and her family here for a week. They are hoping to move up here soon, and we hope they will! They stayed in Park City so we spent a day up there. It started to snow a bit on the way up, but cleared up and was beautiful. The kids swam in the indoor pool and we ladies (CR and Amy and their kids came, too) lunched out. (Note: eat a big snack before lunch in Park City. Food is expensive and very small. Paid $12 for lunch. Drank water. Was still hungry. Helped kids polish off cheap snacks back in Jen's room) The guys went to see Quantum of Solace, and gave it pretty good reviews. Said no fun gadgets, though, which truthfully are my favorite part of Bond movies.

I hope I'll get better at blogging regularly. Teaching hs kids really is worth reporting- some crazy things happen! I feel like I'm managing two families, one with 5 kids and another with 80. Some days I wonder what the heck I'm doing, but today was the kind of day where I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

Results from Hannah's endoscopy: eosinophils in the distal portion of esophagus, bad. No signs anywhere else (stomach, duodenum, intestines), good. No reason for flare-up, confusing. Medicines to keep flare-up from returning, expensive. Hearing Hannah remind us to give her said meds 3x/day, hilarious. Opinion of new GI Dr., very good. Opinion of PCMC, excellent.

Oh, and I won't post pics of my house, but the title of this post gives you an inclination of its state right now. Where are the Merry Maids when you need them?

I'm having trouble getting the slideshow to embed. Will post pictures later.

Staying Afloat

It's been a busy couple of weeks, just like everyone else's, I'm sure. With all the chaos, I am definitely aware of those things in my life that keep me grounded. So here's the proverbial list of things I'm thankful for- and I'm sure it is far from complete.

God, who gives me all good things
My hubby, who is a source of constant love and support
My children, who give me joy beyond compare
My family, especially Mom, Ma, and Dad, who give to us so sacrificially
My friends, new and old, near and far
My job, my boss, and most of my students ;)
A wonderful school for my children
A new church with new friends and new experiences
Laughter, one of my daily fuels
Grande nonfat mocha half-caff from Starbucks (silly but true)
Snow-capped mountains

It's time to usher the children off to bed, so I'll close. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families. I'm thankful for you!

A Loooooong Week

This week felt like it lasted forever. For some reason, I was a stress case all week Why was that? Could it be because my husband was gone for a few days and my daughter was fed a cookie with eggs in it on Friday at school, leading to wonderful GI issues? Yeah, maybe. Could it be because I didn't vote? (long story) Or because I went to the grocery store 4 times and I still need to go back because I forget something every time I go? Or maybe because no doctor's office will call me back to make a stinking appointment for Hannah? Or perhaps it's the 1,563 assignments, quizzes and tests I just finished grading. Or maybe it's because Kaylee ruined a brand-new pair of pants being foolish. Who knows...but it was a long week.

Conversely, Joe came home safely. Hannah recovered. My vote wouldn't have made much difference. The grocery store is open 24 hrs, and Joe says he'll go for me. The appointment will be made, eventually. The papers are graded. Pants can be replaced, and 6-year-olds are supposed to be foolish.

So I think the main reason my week lasted forever was my attitude. I had a crummy one this week.

I'm ready for a new week.


I think.

Feelin' Fine

Hannah spent the day singing and drawing, her two favorite activities. She showed no real signs of illness today, which still amazes me. I did just have to wake her up to give her the meds because I am dingy and out of practice. She took them just fine, albeit groggily. :) She has preschool tomorrow and since she missed it on Monday, and had to leave early and abruptly on Wednesday, she is very excited to go.

Expect the Unexpected

Still smiling even though it's been a long day!

This week began normally, but has taken a few major twists and turns. As you might know, Hannah has eosinophilic disease. Hers presents in her esophagus, which means that when these white blood cells get out of control, they eat her esophagus. We've had it under control for over 2 years, but it seems the disease is rearing its ugly head once again. After 3 days of vomiting (just in the middle of the night, so we were suspicious pretty soon that it was acid reflux, a side effect of eosinophilia) she started having acute diarrhea. So off to the children's hospital we went, as she was looking dehydrated, lethargic, her eyes were slow to respond and they were puffy. It was seriously a breath of fresh air to have doctors know all about eosinophilic disease and not have to explain what it is! I can see why Primary Children's is ranked one of the top ten children's hospitals. Despite the unpleasantness of having to be there at all, the staff made it so bearable and showered Hannah with gifts and love. (she accepted the gifts cheerfully, but she's less willing to accept "love" from strangers.) :) In all we were there for 8 hours, mostly because she needed IV fluids and meds. They gave her IV Prevacid, an acid reducer, and Zophran, an anti-nausea med. You wouldn't believe the difference in her by the time we left! The blood test results show that her eosinophil count is double what it should be, so we will be going in to see a pediatric GI doctor hopefully within the week. She'll likely be having an endoscopy soon, and I'm not sure if they'll test her entire GI tract or just her esophagus. Steroids are usually the treatment, but for some reason antihistamines seem to help also. So, for the time being we are giving her Prevacid solutabs and liquid Zyrtec. When we are able to physically see the damage to her GI tract (on the endoscopy scan), then the doctors will decide whether she needs the steroid treatment. She will also be seeing an allergist within the week to test for more food and environmental allergies. (she's been through that twice before, hopefully she has forgotten!) :)

All that being said, thank you so much for your love and prayers. We know God is taking care of every detail in Hannah's life. She was very brave today. She immediately told Gramma that she didn't even cry when she got her IV. (which is amazing, because she had already had 2 pokes from blood draws!)

October Fun

Here are some pictures from October, not including the Hopekids event. CR started a blog for HK so instead of duplicating, I'll just link to that website. Michael and Joanna took a lot more pics of their visit, and I thought Michael uploaded them to my computer, but I can't find them. I'll post those later.

Things are going pretty well. We are feeling the economic crunch, but we are also trusting God to get us through this time. We are loving the fall weather, and the first snowfall was amazing! It snowed all day on the 11th and the kids made snow forts, snowmen, and had snowball fights. We did have to rummage through many boxes to find our snow gear (purchased end-of-season last year!) but once the kids were outfitted they were on their way. A few days later the snow had all melted, but they eagerly await the next storm! It was especially fun to have the Torlas here visiting from AZ. To see all those desert kids out there in the snow was great. We'll be heading to Bear Lake soon for another HK event. The kids are really hoping there is still snow up there. As long as we don't have to drive in it for 3 hours, then it sounds great to me, too.


Hope all is well with all of you!

Insomnia

Well, frustration from not having posted for awhile will now be alleviated and replaced with eye strain and exhaustion, as I am having one of my normal bouts with insomnia. It happens about once or twice a month, and after 3 or so years of this, I'm pretty used to it.

I didn't get a chance to post yet about our HopeKids event. It was on Sept. 27 and it was at Classic Family Fun Center (or something of that sort). It was a great success- over 100 attendees, 40+ volunteers, donations of time, money, energy, and a generous discount on pizza from a local restaurant. We had the whole place to ourselves for the majority of the morning and it was so much fun to see families connecting, kids laughing, and people serving. I'll post pictures soon. Please be in prayer for our second event, a weekend camping trip in a couple of weeks. Cabins were donated, as were meals, snacks, and again, time and money. Despite desperate times economically, people are still willing to give and serve and that is so encouraging!

This past week our good friends Michael and Joanna and their 3 kids (Jessica, James and Christopher) came up for a visit and boy, were they a sight for sore eyes! The children picked right up where they left off as if those 3 months had never passed. We enjoyed every minute of their stay. We spent Friday afternoon (Lindsay's 11th birthday!) at Antelope Island (for those of you non-Utahns, that is an island in the Great Salt Lake). The causeway is right off the road near our home so it was only about a 20 minute drive. The weather was chilly, but we had a wonderful time. Friday night Joanna, Amy and I were able to tour ye ol' Bountiful so Joanna could see where I grew up. We also went to dinner at Robintino's-mmmmm. Saturday was supposed to be spent touring SLC, the temple grounds, Fort Douglas Museum, etc...but instead we played in the snow! It started snowing early Saturday and didn't really stop until Sunday night. We had a record-breaking amount of snow. We had about 5 inches at our house and after we dug out all the Lands End boxes from last year (no stickers inside telling us not to eat them- I guess sometime in the last year that need came about...) the kids headed outside in all their gear and had a blast. Sunday, after church, we celebrated Nathan's 10th birthday and Amy's 40th birthday and then the kids spent even more time in the snow. Michael and Joanna left late that afternoon, and we were sad to see them go. It was a wonderful week, and now I'm yawning, just thinking about how busy it was! :)
We also were gifted with an afternoon touring the LDS cannery, dairy, and bakery in downtown SLC where they make all the food for welfare recipients and for charity. What an amazing operation. My neighbor is the overseer of all those operations and he graciously offered to take us on the tour. He even arranged for a large van to tote 3/4 of us together! All but Joanna, Lindsay and I were also able to tour the Kaysville LDS grainery and see flour and cake mix being made. Lindsay had an earache so we took off after the first tour. The kids all had a great time and learned a thing or two, also! This same wonderful neighbor had us over for a bbq (before it snowed!) and allowed the kids to pick melons and veggies from his huge garden. The next day we had a wonderful feast of stew made with his fresh veggies. Watermelon from his garden was dessert- it was delicious! Almost makes me want a garden...almost. I need to learn a thing or two about it, first.
Well, my eyes are actually getting heavy so I'll go to bed now. I'll post the pictures tomorrow.

Four (well, two) Weddings and a Funeral

It's been a very full month. A few weeks ago, we spent a weekend in Wyoming for my cousin's wedding. Mom and I drove up with my cousin Dani and Lindsay and Nathan. We had a great time- the drive was uneventful, the accommodations were wonderful (we were in Jackson Hole) and it was so fun to see some of my Dad's side of the family. The wedding was small, and very "cowboy." Lindsay loved it. :) On the drive home we saw the most hilarious thing. I wish we had stopped by the side of the road for a photo opp, but we were laughing and stunned and didn't think of it until miles down the road. We were zipping down a stretch of highway on a steep hill and as we came around a bend we saw legs. Cow legs. Upside down cow legs, like a beetle that had been overturned. The cow was obviously dead, and rigor had set in awhile back. But the cow was flat on her back, legs (literally) straight in the air. We felt bad laughing at the poor thing, but we did anyway...for about 20 miles.
The second wedding we have attended recently was that of a boy, no man, that I used to babysit. So hard to believe he is 24- holy cow, how old does that make me? It was fun to see him and his family and to catch up on all that has happened in their lives. The family had five sons, one of whom was killed at age 11 by a truck with faulty breaks as he was crossing in a crosswalk. You wonder how a family survives a tragedy like that. I was so pleased to see them all doing so well. It all goes back to hope...
Unfortunately, along with the joys of recent matrimony, we also attended a funeral for a son of a family friend who was killed by police in a standoff situation. Even as I type that it seems surreal, like something you only see on tv. When hope is lost, desperation takes its place. Please pray for this family, I can't imagine what they are going through. I don't feel comfortable posting too many details, but God knows those details. Pray especially for his young son and wife who are dealing with so many issues right now.
Sorry to leave you with that, but I need to get off the computer and grade some papers. Our friends, the Torlas, are coming to visit for a week and I need to get ahead of my game so I can spend some time with them. I conducted my first parent-teacher conferences last night and they all went very well. PTL!

Advice for the Embicilic

We recently placed an order with Lands' End and inside the shoe box was a sticker.

Look closely...........

It says "Throw away. Do not eat." I mean, is this REALLY necessary? As if without this warning, people across the world would sit down to a nice meal of dyed cardboard? One of my kids innocently said "well, maybe it's for people who are starving in third world countries." Well, perhaps...it's as good of an explanation as any. However, I sincerely doubt that many of those people are investing in squall boots from Lands End. Call me crazy.

A big congratulations!

My friend Carley just had her first baby, a big bouncy baby boy named Colin Joshua. (big is right...10 lbs 1 oz and Carley is a pixie!) So happy for the new little family!!

Lofty Goals

Joe:  Hannah, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Hannah:  I want to be on the bus.

Well, a girl can dream...

Aaah...a break!

I love 3-day weekends!  After all the hustle and bustle of the week, today we are resting and relaxing (no Wii, no tv, no work, no housecleaning...).  We are also enjoying watching the storm roll in from the west.  I love this house because we have lots of windows and I can watch the weather from all directions.  Here is a pic of the weather to the west...

and here is one to the east. 

I love storms, and I hope this one is a doozy!  The wind already blew our recycle bin over, which, fortunately was recently emptied.  :)

Let the thunder roll!

Long lost update...

It's hard to know where to start!  The time has flown, but has been so full it seems like we've lived a year in the last few weeks.  

House update:

With the help of many, many amazing family members our basement is now 90% complete. We still have a lot of touch-up painting to do, but the boys are settled into their new room and are loving the extra space.  We now have a toy room (hallelujah!) so no more Polly Pockets all over the kitchen floor.  We had plenty of floor space (no beds though) for all of Joe's family who came to stay last week.  Joe's parents brought their RV so they slept in that, and Joe's brother Kenny and his wife Cecilia stayed in a hotel.  So really, we just had Sandy, Juliette, Shawn and Annette in the house.  Well, plus the seven of us.  And three dogs...

Career update:

Joe has traveled for 8 of the last 14 days.  This has made life challenging for us, but we seem to have survived.  I have extreme sympathy for working single moms.  But I am VERY glad we are all together again and I can see what having this job will be like under more normal circumstances.  It was a good first week.  (we started on Wednesday, which was a huge blessing) The students are great, for the most part.  I will definitely have my challenges.  I have half the football team in two of my classes.  They are great kids, but I don't speak their language.  I'm learning, though.  Friday, one of them (who had just announced I was his favorite teacher) said, "Mrs. C, we're gonna keep it tight for you."  I wasn't sure whether to thank him or not, as I wasn't sure what that meant.  I'm very white.  :)  I am really hoping I can teach these kids, it seems last year they learned little.    Whether that was more their fault or more the teacher's fault remains to be seen.  They've all admitted they're scared to take geometry (understandable) but I want them to learn it and learn it well enough to feel confident to move onto their next math class.  Keep praying.  On a lighter note, my other geometry class is a very bright group of kids who seem very ready for geometry.  Glad for that.  Honors Biology is a good group of kids.  They actually remind me a lot of the kids I hung out with in high school. However, I'm a lot more afraid to make a mistake with this group.  I could lose credibility quickly.  My regular biology class is full of basically the same kids as my challenging geometry class.  Lots of cheerleaders and football players, some average kids, a few wallflowers...it's like I'm in the movie "The Breakfast Club," but without the fun background music and the foul language.  Well, there's a little of that...yep, even in a private Christian school.  Kids are kids are kids.  Week two begins tomorrow and I'm not scared off yet.  This is a good sign.

Children update:

Hannah:  She began preschool this week.  She goes M-W-F from 8:30-12:00.  I teach from 8:30-11:50 so you can see once again how God has blessed us with amazing timing.  She is home with Joe on Tuesday and Thursday mornings but she is the kind of kid who plays great by herself.  She goes down into our toy room and stays for hours playing Barbies or Polly Pockets. She doesn't really like TV, so there's not much plopping her in front of that.  She does like Wii bowling (ok, she beats all of us regularly) so that buys some time, too.  We were very worried about sending her to preschool because she is so shy, but going with all the big kids and wearing the backpack, and packing the lunch- she just loves it!  She is a little shy when we drop her off, but when it's time to pick her up, she's never anxious to leave.  More answers to huge prayers.

Gotta love those little bruised-up bird legs.  She is so active, but kinda in a clumsy phase.  The red mark on her face is from walking into a chair.  :)

Kaylee:

Kaylee started first grade.  She was homeschooled for kindergarten, so "going to" school is a new phase of life for her.  She loves her teacher and has a clan of friends already.  On the first day of school, she came home and said, "Two boys say I'm their girlfriend."  WHAT?  IN THE FIRST GRADE?  Sigh.  Though I was pleased to hear that she denounced the relationships and on the third day of school she "broke up" with them.  Oh my.  She's only 6!  She also lost her first top tooth this week, so it was a week of milestones.  First day of school, first relationship, first break-up, first top tooth lost, the list goes on....   :)

Nathan:

Nathan began the fourth grade.  He has adjusted nicely to his new life and new friends.  He still misses AZ, but has done so much better than we could have imagined.  He goes into a fifth grade classroom for math, which makes it nice here at home because he and Lindsay have the same math homework every night.  He is thrilled with his new room (or should I say, his half of his new room- Brad has the other half) and is busily hanging his Suns posters and other basketball paraphrenalia.  He is eager to start Junior Jazz this fall.  

Lindsay:

Lindsay is back in school after two years of being homeschooled.  She is really loving having lots of friends around, and is adjusting nicely to being "on her own."  She is, for the most part, being very responsible and filling her fifth grade shoes nicely.  (I say "for the most part" because we had a catastrophe of forgotten homework this morning- I doubt that will happen again!)  Her favorite thing about her classroom is the bunny, Midnight.  Each kid gets to bring the bunny home for a weekend (whoopee....can you sense the thrill in my voice?)  and they also get to care for it each day at school.  Amazingly, even with Lindsay's love of animals, she is able to focus in class.  Hallelujah!

Brad:

Seventh grader already...so hard to believe!  He is also really enjoying his new school and has made some new friends.  He says the kids are nice for the most part and has had a relatively easy adjustment period.  He is in 8th grade math (Algebra I), Honors Language and Honors Reading.  So far he's doing well.  He loves having a locker and is surviving not having recess anymore.  He is also taking art, one of his favorite subjects.  His side of the boys' new room will be done in a tiger theme, his favorite animal.  

You can see the enthusiasm in Brad's face concerning being dressed like this. He literally groaned when the box arrived from Lands End containing 20 polos and shorts in a variety of sizes and colors.  He is not my "tuck-it-in-and-wear-a-belt" kinda kid.  He's more of a "baggy t-shirt, baggy shorts, anything with Tony Hawk or camouflage" kinda kid.  I can feel his pain, can't you?  :)  Well, he can be a slob on the weekends.  haha  He also had to cut his hair for school to keep with dress code.  That went over well. *snark*  The lady did a pretty good job with it, though...at least he 1) can see where he's going and 2) doesn't look like a GI.  Here is a picture we had taken of the kids with my niece, Juliette,  the week before the haircut.  I had to keep pushing the hair out of his eyes for the picture so he didn't look like a lhasa-apso. (however you spell that!)  

This weekend Brad is up in the mountains camping with the other middle-schoolers.  I like how they work hard to get the kids to know each other.  Nothing says "get to know me" like sharing a tent or a small cabin.  :)

Here is a slide show of our previous month.  If you click on the pictures, you can read the captions.

There is probably so much more to say, but I'll have to get to it later.  I have 2 tests to write and a hungry family to feed!

Blah.

Have you ever been so inundated with transition that even change seems mundane?  I know, it sounds weird, but that seems to be the place I'm in.  As thrilled as I am with all that's happening around me, I'm locked in this strange place of fear and disappointment that I can't quite put my finger on.   To be honest, I think it might be fear of failure.  Will I be a good teacher?  Will I relate to the students (I honestly do love teens, so there's no real fear of them, per se...) and, how will I deal with all the new relationships all at once (as I am in nearly every aspect an introvert...)? Will my new venture cause me to lose ground in parenting my own kids?  I guess there really is wisdom in not borrowing trouble from tomorrow- but that is so much easier said than done! Boy, do I need prayer...if you have some to spare, toss it my way, would you?  Thanks.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

David Bowie references aside, once again God has rocked our world with change!  It's a good, no, a GREAT change!  Seems the original job at the school has opened up and today the principal called and offered it to me!  I'll be teaching HS biology, honors biology, and geometry!!!!  Yahoo!!! Seriously, every prayer we had concerning this issue has been answered!  I'll be able to teach in the mornings so I can be home with Hannah in the afternoon.  I'm so excited (though I'm not making definite plans till I've signed on that bottom line!) 

So, no barista for me.  Oh well, I still get plenty of practice at home.  :)

Trying to take it one day at a time...

I officially have news concerning our lives here, and I'm still reeling a bit from all the recent changes.  First, it seems I will not be teaching at our kids' private school as planned.  The principal (who told me he was really wanting to give the job to me) went on vacation for a week and while he was gone, the superintendent filled my position.  Apparently another teacher at the school wanted the position, so that's the way it works, no matter how disappointing.  After much prayer and petition, I have applied at our local Starbucks.  I know, kind of funny, huh?  I certainly don't see this as a permanent career move, but to get some extra help with tuition payments it seems a good choice.  My goal is still to get my foot in the door at the school (I was offered a substitute teaching position, but with Hannah still at home most of the time that would be difficult childcare-wise).  And since our school has all-day kindergarten (I'm not a fan) I might be homeschooling her next year and would need even more flexibility.  You can understand why I am up at 4:45...I'm trying hard to give this all to God and trust that He'll take care of the details, but I am such a control freak sometimes!  :)

Joe's parents have been with us now for almost two weeks.  We have really enjoyed having them here.  I wish this trip could have been more relaxing for them, but we're not in a relaxing place in our lives right now.  We're the "new kids" in the neighborhood so our doorbell rings all day long.  It will be nice when our novelty wears off and my kids have to actually pursue playdates.  It starts around 10 am and at 9 pm we're booting kids out the door.  

We have a very large unfenced yard.  This is not ideal with 3 dogs (one belonging to my in-laws, we haven't acquired another) so Joe and his dad are building a fence around a small portion of our side yard so the doggies can do their business and not follow up with a jaunt around the neighborhood.  Concurrent to this project, we are fighting valiantly against hornets and wasps who have decided every nook and cranny of our house is a great place to "nest" or "comb" or whatever it is they do.  We're also still unpacking, fixing missing and broken sprinklers, making basement decisions (carpet, tile, paint, bedding, furniture, yada, yada, yada) and trying to carry on with normal life (what is that anymore?)  Joe works from home now so when he emerges from the den I pounce on him like a rabid cat to help me with this or that.  I'm sure some days he misses the hour commute where at least he could listen to NPR before being inundated with the "honey-do" list.  Well, maybe not...

Hard to believe it is almost August.  I usually really look forward to new months, like a new beginning every 30ish days.  I can honestly say I'm holding onto July for dear life because I'm quite unsure of what's next.  I know I can trust God, but will I?  Stay tuned to find out, I suppose.

Our first HopeKids event will be in September.  I am really looking forward to getting things underway, to see where we fit in in the scheme of things.  I really enjoy behind-the-scenes planning, so I'm excited to be a part of it!  I'm also looking forward to meeting the families and especially the kids.  Please pray for them.  Most of the kids registered right now are kidney patients at Primary Children's Hospital.  Their lives are so tough, makes my bellyaching seem so ridiculous.  It really does keep things in perspective.

I might end up starting a new HopeKids SLC blog when things get going.  I'll have a link to it from my blog, but that will include prayer requests, stories, updates, stuff like that.  I'd like to do it, so I guess it depends on how much time I have.  I'll let you know...

Well, it's after 5 am and I've slept very little.  I'm going to try to catch a few zzz's before the morning bedlam begins.  :)  Thanks for reading.

My friend Christine tagged me with the following:

Rules: Find the book nearest to you with 123 pages or more. Turn to page 123 and find the fifth sentence on the page. Provide the title and author, and then type in that sentence.

Ok, so here goes.  The book is A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle.  The sentence is, 

"Were there--there were--two other--men who resembled me?"

I'll tag Tiffani.  As a homeschooling mom, I'm sure she has lots of books nearby.  :)

The Gang's (sort of) All Here

CR and Amy and the kids, plus Amy's parents and grandparents arrived this week.  It's great to finally have them here and of course the kids are thrilled to pick up where we left off in AZ.  A few days ago we all went to Lagoon (local amusement park) and we had a great time.  Hannah has never been a fan of amusement parks, but for some reason she loves Lagoon.  (this is good since we sprung for the season passes!)  Today we are taking it easy, getting things done around the house (ok, I am getting things done- the girls are playing Littlest Pet Shop).  We really are loving our new house (we'll love it even more when the basement is done and we can spread out a little!) Today will be filled with yard work and general tidying and tomorrow the rest of our gang arrives from AZ.  I'm so excited to have us all here again!  We'll have Joe's parents here for a couple of weeks, too, which will be fun.  

Hope you are all enjoying your summer!   

I was in the mood for a little Monty Python- this stuff still cracks me up. For those of you who don't appreciate Monty Python humor, my apologies. :)

Heavenly Scent

The roses and my hubby- both heaven sent!  (aw, shucks)  Aren't they beautiful?  

Out of the mouths of babes...

So here's the latest funny from the Cross family. Over lunch at Taco Time (a local favorite) we were discussing the biology of tazing someone (I don't know how to spell it, but you know, the guns police use to zap you into submission). Anyway, Brad was curious to know exactly what happens when someone is tazed. All the children agreed they'd rather not ever be tazed, and Nathan, who had been quietly taking it all in up to this point remarks,

"I know who wouldn't mind being tazed...hobos! They don't have anything else to do anyway."

After 5 solid minutes of laughing so hard we were crying, Joe and I tried to explain that being homeless does not necessarily mean you are bored and willing to have your nervous system overloaded with electricity, rendering you incapacitated. Perhaps we're wrong on this one...

Interestingly, Nathan is really a very compassionate kid. He'll give you his shirt off his back if you need it. That's what made it so funny- just an innocent observation from a 9-year-old.

Happy Fourth of July!

In celebration of America's birthday I changed all the songs on my playlist to be patriotic songs. Enjoy!!  We're excited to light fireworks tonight ('twas illegal in AZ) and to celebrate with my family at my aunt's and uncle's house.  Hope you all have a great fourth of July weekend!

I included the Star Spangled Banner by the Dixie Chicks.  Though I certainly don't see them as examples of patriotism, it's a fun acappella version.  Also, I realize that "Independence Day" and "American Pie" are not technically patriotic, they are fun songs.  :)

Our basement is almost completely framed now.  I'll take some pics and post them later.  Our house smells like a forest with all the wood!  :)  

Blogging Blunders

I read through the last entry and realized a couple of pictures had gotten nuked somehow.    So here is a picture of me with my friend Joey and also another cute one with all the kids.  You have no idea how many shots were taken, and no two were similar.  Talk about squirrly kids!

Settling in

Because we are no longer a "family on the move" I've decided to change the layout of our blog.  Just add that to the long list of changes we've had over the last month!

What an adventure!  In the past few weeks, we have finished packing boxes, officially sold a home, officially purchased a home, driven a packed car to UT, unpacked boxes, packed suitcases, flown to AZ, stayed with very gracious family (Joe's parents), participated in Choir Camp, made Egyptian costumes out of pillowcases, felt and lots of baubles (see pictures below), enjoyed a going-away party hosted by our wonderful friends, cried, cried, cried (okay, that was mostly me), packed said suitcases, flown back to UT, attended Gramma's retirement party, unpacked said suitcases, and now we are all pooped.  

But we wouldn't have traded that time in AZ for anything.  I could write and write about all of the wonderful memories, but pictures are much more fun.

Happy Father's Day to the best Grampa in the whole world!

And of course, Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy in the whole world!

The kids decorated their own Egyptian collars

Walk like an Egyptian...

Hannah with her friend Allison at our good-bye party

Lindsay with her friend Jessica (Allison's sister)

Jennie and her friend Cathy (Allison and Jessica's mommy)

Audrey, Lindsay and Maddie

Bill (Maddie's Dad) and Joe

Jennie and Jennifer

Audrey, Lindsay and Alex (daughters of Chris & Ginger, except Lindsay of course)  :)

A slew of kiddos...to think we've been friends since before any of them were born...

Our home fellowship group- the greatest friends ever!

Michael & Joanna, Joe & Jennie, CR & Amy, Chris & Ginger

Kaylee's BFF Lily (Chris & Ginger's youngest)

Joanna & Jennie (here we go with the random underlining)

Ginger and Jennie (underlining all done, I guess)

Jessica and Lindsay (nope, there's the underlining again)

Jessica is Michael & Joanna's oldest child.  She has makeup on from the choir camp dress rehearsal.  :)

Brad, Seth (Jennifer's oldest), James (Joanna's middle) and Nathan

Eat your hearts out, Rockettes!

Brad as "Herald," the assistant to the Pharoah

Josiah as Pharoah

Kaylee after the performance

Chris and Ginger...the girls' surrogate parents  :)  

Kaylee and Hannah smothering Lily with kisses

Brad, James and Nathan (Brad had to wear makeup too, eek!)

At the airport- it was 6:30 a.m.

Enjoying some chocolate milk from Starbucks

Kaylee's first time flying (well, she flew once in utero and once when she was one, but those don't count)

As we were waiting, she asked,

"When are we going to blast off?"

That's all for now.  I have lots more pics but my kids are clamoring to use the computer and the laundry is calling.  Also, I can't stand this crazy underlining!  :)