My Man

I don't write much about Brian so today I am dedicating this post to the wonderful man that he is. I don't know if he will read this, but at least the world will know how magnificent he is and why he is the man for me.

The man is so good to me. While I was gone last week a friend of mine was using my house for a party. I tried really hard to get everything cleaned before I left, but when it came time to leave I still had vacuuming left to do. So guess who took care of that for me. While on my trip I gave him a honey do list over the phone. I didn't think anything of it until my sister's boyfriend made fun of me and told me to give the guy a break. But guess what. He did everything on the list. The day I came home he went above and beyond. He made sure the house was spotless, he trimmed the trunk of the palm trees, mowed the lawn, weeded the front yard, raked up some grass that I had killed the day before I left, washed my car inside and out (we had traded cars for the week), and had dinner ready for me when I came. To do all this stuff he had to give up something he really wanted to do, look at a boat that is for sale. He also did this in the hot weather. Last night I went to Relief Society for an hour and came home and he had completely cleaned up the kitchen. What a guy!

This man is also my motivator to get out of bed in the morning to workout with him. He lifts me when I need it and always thinks I am beautiful. He always beats me at Ticket to Ride, but I must be challenging enough because he will still play with me. He makes me laugh and hugs me when I cry. He is strong physically, spiritually and mentally. I know he can help me do anything.

All this and more makes him the man of my dreams. I love you Brian! Oh and his good looks make the dream even better.

My Baby Can Swim

So with the heat we have been spending some time in the water even though there have been excessive heat warnings. The kids and I seem to be doing fine.

Anyways the girls have really become little fish. Macy is overcoming her fear and swims all over as long as I am in the water. Her favorite thing is to do a silly dance and then jump in. She also has me stand back to the far edge of the pool and she jumps and swims to me (about 10 feet is the distance). Well little miss copycat has decided she can do this to. Kelsey did take swim lessons in April, but she was no where near proficient. She stands on the edge of the pool and tells me to go all the way back by the rocks. The first time I was uneasy with this plan and stepped closer after she had jumped. I was unsure on how long she could hold her breathe. Well then I got brave too. The next time I stayed by the wall. She jumped and swam all the way to me. She had her legs kicking and her arms alternating. She finally got everything coordinated and she can swim! She isn't really fast and definitely could use some more practice, but my little 2 1/2 year old can swim!

I wish there was a way I could get video of their jumping/ diving without ruining my camera. The expressions of pure joy on their faces is so fun to see. Kelsey jumps with a smile and she comes up with the biggest grin and such happiness in her eyes. Swimming this year has been so much more pleasurable.

Doctors appointment

Brian said I needed to write about Kelsey's visit to the cardiologist today and her wasted $25 co-pay. Both of my girls have heart murmurs, but neither one of them are serious (both should eventually go away). Kelsey's doctor just wanted to do a follow-up this year to be sure that she didn't need any more follow-up visits. So that visit was today. Macy went to a friend's house for the appointment so I didn't have to deal with 2 small children. That was a mistake. Kelsey can't stand to be separated from her sister. Last time I left Macy with a friend and took Kelsey, Kelsey cried for a half an hour. Of course Macy mentioned that she got to go to a friend's house and Kelsey had to go to the doctors. Kelsey replied with a "I NOT GOING TO DOCTORS!" She has been repeating this ever since she found out that an appointment was in the near future. I am not sure if she was traumatized by Macy's last shots or what. Anyways it took a fruit-by-the-foot and some time to calm her down.

We made it to the doctors office happy and played with the train set there. Then the nurse called us back and she refused to go. I had to coax her out of the waiting room. She walked very slowly with her arms folded glaring angrily at the nurse. Then she shouted with hatred "I NOT GOING TO DOCTORS AGAIN!" Now the nurse didn't seem to be having the best day, but she had done nothing to warrant that response. We had to give her 5 princess stickers to get her weight (27.6 lbs) and height (35 inches). Then it was back to the room. She seemed to be a little more content until I had to take off her shirt. This was a task but finally managed to do this with no tears. However, she would not lie down on the table. So the nurse had her sit in my lap. The nurse needed to stick many electrodes to her torso, but Kelsey would not have it. She screamed and screamed more bloody murder. She tried to pull them off. As a I held her arms from failing and pulling she began to kick with her legs and got the nurse several times. I had to try to hold her legs with mine but she wiggled out of that continued to kick the nurse. Extremely frustrated and not any happier the nurse finally gave up and said they would do it if the doctor insisted. The nurse suggested taking her blood pressure, but the look Kelsey threw made her decide against that.

Well I got her calmed down and semi-happy when the doctor came in. She immediately hid from him even though he was extremely nice, happy and very kid friendly. Then came time for the stethoscope. He tried to listen to her heart began the murder scream began and she kept pulling at the instrument and failing around. We tried and tried some more. I even tried to put it on her chest so the doctor could listen. Nothing worked and he couldn't hear anything. I could see the frustration mounting in his voice and face (he still did a good job of managing it). He too had to finally give up. That is when Kelsey yelled "I HATE YOU BUTTHEAD!" I was mortified and covered her mouth and sternly told her we don't say those things (I thought we had overcome this word in her vocabulary). When I finished scolding she looked at the doctor with complete hatred and shouted again "I HATE YOU BUTTHEAD!" I couldn't believe it and was even more embarrassed. Not only has my child frustrated him and been absolutely a beast, but now she insults him to his face. I wonder if he thought that she just had a strong personality or if he thought she was a spoiled rotten child that was used to saying whatever she pleased. I hope it was the first.

When we left the office she was just fine and there were no more incidents of extreme anger. Cross your fingers that at her 3 year check-up the pediatrician doesn't hear the heart murmur any more. If he does, I hope she will have grown up a little more so I don't have to waste another co-pay and an hour of my life.

catching up

It is hot so we are hanging out inside. When I say hot I mean it. At 8:30 this morning the temp. was already 92 degrees (according to the news). At 9 AM my car read 99. We would hit the pool but I believe Macy is feeling a little under the weather. Yesterday she was acting her normal self off and on and had a slight fever. Last night she woke up several but this morning she seemed fine so off she went to a friend's house. Well at lunch she wanted the air conditioner off because it was cold, a bad sign if you look at my second sentence. She has now put herself down for a nap and is asleep AT 12:30! I don't think she is extremely ill but feeling a little off. At least it has happened between vacations.

Speaking of vacations, the kids and I got back on Saturday from a couple of days in St. George. Despite gas prices my parents hauled the boat down so they could finally do some water skiing. It has stayed cold in Salt Lake longer than usual so they were antsy. While there Kelsey was introduced to my families new puppies. She tortured the poor things and loved every minute. She can't say her "f"s very well so she calls the one Sosee (for Sophie). My little brother is also called Uncle Jess (for Jeff). Macy hated the dogs and would hop from chair to chair so they couldn't lick her. She would holler from the bedroom to see if the dogs were loose and to have someone carry her. She is still not an animal lover. I guess that means I lucked out and won't have to be getting a pet any time soon. During this trip Macy had a first. She went on her first tube ride behind the boat. She had a great time and wanted to go "five more minutes". She had 2 turns behind the boat and was sad because we didn't go the next day. Getting her into the tube was a big surprise for Brian and I. Macy has proved to be very cautious and hesitant about many adventurous activities, but I guess this shows how much she loves boating. My big event of the trip was my first run on the wakeboard. I was just getting comfortable when I belly flopped. I hurt so bad. I either broke a rib or did something to the area surrounding a particular rib. I don't know because I didn't go see a doctor because there isn't much that could be done besides heal. I am not sure it is broken because I feel like I am healing faster than I did with my wrist and the pain wasn't as bad initially. All I know is that I didn't do much more water skiing/wakeboarding because of it.

We Made It

Don't we look lovely? Well we survived TREK. We came home dirty, sweaty, stinky and tired but overall we felt good, had a great experience, and burned enough calories to justify a stop at Dairy Queen on the way home. We pulled 25 miles in 3 days. The Willie and Martin Handcart pioneers definitely exemplified amazing faith. They kept going and they didn't even know what the Salt Lake Valley looked like. They just knew they had to follow the prophet and the Lord helped them.


This youth conference consisted of about 375 kids and with all the support staff the numbers were about 500. We had an excellent food committee that took care of our famished stomachs each day. They had a 3 person medical staff that consisted of at least one nurse and one doctor. This medical staff walked with the handcarts taking care of injuries and illnesses. Many were greatful to have them nearby. The handcarts were divided into 4 companies with about 10 handcarts to each company. Our ward contributed 6 handcarts to the C company and our bishop was the Company Master for C group.


In our family we had 5 boys and 3 girls: Steele, Jacob, Connor, Mitchell, Jared, Rachel, Amber, and Lizzie. They are great kids with tons of strength. We kept running into the company in front of us because our ward's pace was so fast. We did have an advantage in that the boys out number the girls in our ward. Almost every family had 5 boys and 3 girls. Not to say the girls did not contribute. That is far from the truth. Rachel, Amber and Lizzie showed remarkable strength. Someone teased Amber about a boy and she pulled like mad for a bit. I think she was pulling the whole cart by herself. It was amazing.

The first day was nice and cool. It made the 10 mile hike much more bareable. We also started later in the day and walked into the evening. This first day was also when we did something called Testimony Hill. It was a 45 degree incline that we had to get our carts up. This wasn't so bad because everyone from other carts pitched in so there were at least 10 to 15 boys running/pushing this cart up the hill. There were also ropes tied to the front and men pulling from the top of the hill. When we reached camp and got set-up (girls in tents, boys on tarps) dinner was served. Luckily our stake president didn't want to starve the kids so we had some of the best tasting stew. Some didn't like it but I was so hungry that it tasted marvelous. Because it was nice weather during the day, it got really cold that night. 31 degrees to be exact. One kid woke up with ice on his sleeping bag because it had gotten a little wet. Needless to say because of chatting in my tent and because the ground was so hard and it was so cold I did not get much sleep.

The next morning we arose early and packed up the hand cart. We started off with the woman's pull. All the men were taken to the Mormon Battalion. Before we left a beautiful talk was given by the Stake YWs president. Of course I didn't take notes and now it has been a week since so I have forgotten most of it except the spirit of the message. It was during this time that the most exciting adventure took place for our handcart and one other handcart. I was the lead handcart for our company (There was one other company in front of us) and at one point there was a line up in front so my girls went back to help others. Well we took so long helping that we slowed the show down and when we started to move again the other company was no where in sight and I took us the wrong direction. This was a very difficult non-path I chose. Luckily only one other handcart followed us. By the end of our alternate route my friend who was the other handcart's ma started yelling at the Mormon Battalion men to start helping because this was ridiculous. What I learned from this experience is that I should always look to serve, but I need to make sure that I can continue to move forward as I serve otherwise I might get lost or hold up others that might be following me. If I do get lost, however, I can always make it back.

After the woman's pull, we walked uphill, we walked some more, we walked uphill some more, and we walked and walked and more hills were thrown in. This was by far harder than the steep testimony hill and the first day. We were told that the first day would be the toughest. By the end the kids didn't trust us (the mileage we thought we were walking had been changed without the Ma's and Pa's knowing) and I wasn't sure I could take another step, but we kept moving. I think we totalled 13 miles that day because the trek staff couldn't get their vehicles and equipment into the original campsite. We were all so happy when we could see fellow ward members walking towards us saying just another 5 minutes. They were like angels. We became really excited when we could see and hear the camp cheering. The best part of this day was because it was warmer than the the day before, the night was also warmer (17 degrees warmer). I slept a lot better.

The next day we were blessed by our endurance of the previous day. We only had to walk another 3 miles to get to the cars and this was the hottest day of the trip. It would have been miserable if we had to walk the original amount. I guess I learned my lesson on enduring and not complaining because I never know what the future holds.

Overall this was a great experience. There were many more things I witnessed such as the examples of obedience and testimonies of the youth, but this entry has gone on long enough. Hopefully I have enough here to remember items that will be useful to me in the future.