Monday, June 29, 2009

Back in Class

Just wanted to let all of you know that thanks to the many prayers that were said Paul is doing well enough to be back in class today. Hurray! Now hopefully he didn't miss anything too important for the test this week. Thursday is the day I think. Thank you all so very much. We needed him to stay and finish so we can move on.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Prayers requested for Paul

Paul has a really bad case of bronchitis, which wouldn't be too bad but because of it he has had to miss class yesterday and today. He has to be well enough for them to release him to go to class on Monday or he will be dropped from the program. This will mean a return to Anchorage for him and then at a later date going back to Georgia and starting all over again. Which is not exactly ideal. So we would appreciate any prayers for him this weekend. Thanks!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

My clean up kid-


Reagan pleasantly suprised me today by picking up a lot of the duplo blocks by herself without being asked. I had to take a picture just to show you how much she did. What a little thing that made me so happy. She really is a sweet little girl.

3 more tests and 6 weeks left!

Paul passed his 5th test yesterday with 88%. He has 3 more left and 6 more weeks. We're on the home stretch!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

What do you do with...

A three year old and high cholesterol? During Daniel's routine 3 year old check up they drew blood and checked his cholesterol. It came back as 207. So the doctor had the lab retake it with him fasting and he called back with results of 232 which means that my 3 year old has high cholesterol. The doctor further informed me that there is no Lipitor for 3 yearolds and that all we can do at this point is cut basically all fat out of his diet. He is already on high fiber due to his constipation problems and that is supposed to help bring the cholesterol levels down. It appears that high cholesterol runs in my family and with Paul's family's history of heart disease and stroke, it looks like he didn't get the best genes in that department. We are supposed to meet with a dietitian and try and come up with a plan of how to eat. (This should be fun, no more lusciously rich desserts (I have high cholesterol too)- For someone who loves to bake this is so not fun! So if you have any recipes of any kind which are non-fat, please let me know.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Life's Lessons

I must admit that I loved our ward in VA. Maybe it was unique in that the members of the ward really tried to make an effort to make everyone feel welcome and the leaders made sure that within the first month you had a calling, visiting and home teachers and that they tried to help you in whatever way they could, be it arranging for the temple committee to babysit so everyone could go to the temple on ward temple day, or making sure that temporal and spiritual needs were met. They were just very good at what they needed and should have been doing. Perhaps part of it was due to the number of transient people in the ward (at least 1/3) they learned such a valuable skill of making others feel welcome I don't know, but I really appreciated it and appreciate it more now.
Fast forward to current day- I have lived in my current ward for 3 months. No home teacher, visiting teacher, or callings. As a matter of fact other than the R.S. president (who is related to me through marriage or otherwise I'm not sure she would) the R.S. presidency doesn't even know my name. For the most part not one person ever talks to me at church. The reason keeps being told to me that all this is because I'm not staying here. Well, 5 months is half a year. But people I guess don't want to be bothered to find out who I am, what I might need, how I can help and contribute to the ward. In fairness the Bishop has been welcoming and accommodating. It just doesn't seem to extend to the rest of the ward.
I've thought a lot about this as I have compared and contrasted the wards. I'm not bitter, although it would be nice to have a friend. I'm blogging about this as this has become my makeshift diary/journal of sorts and I want to remember this. I want to remember how I felt here and how I felt in VA and take that memory with me to the wards, people and places I will encounter in the future. I want to try to do a better job myself of doing what I would wish people would do here for me. So, you really didn't have to read this post it was mainly just for me, but if it helps you help open your ward up to be a little friendlier, and a little more open so much the better.

Book Recomendation-

Looking for a book to cheer you up? Or perhaps just a great summer read? I have the book for you. The writing isn't great, but the author has a great imagination and you will laugh so hard I promise you. The book is called "Minding Mama" by Marilyn Arnold.
The main character lives in GA and her mother dies and she can't afford to have her shipped to UT to be buried so she puts her in the front seat of her truck next to her dressed in her best pair of PJ's and drives her there. She knows that she has 48 hours until Mama will start to stink and must get her there in time. The things and people she encounters on her way are incredible but lots of fun. I don't really care for the ending but it is still worth the experience.
Enjoy!

The Aquarium

On every other Thursday a lady comes to clean my mother in law's house and to facilitate her cleaning we usually go on an adventure somewhere with Grandma. This week we went to the Aquarium and it was a HUGE hit.





Their favorite was the frogs of all shapes, sizes and colors (who would have ever thought that there were electric blue frogs?). They also liked the sting ray pool, but you won't catch them touching one any time soon. Both of them would climb up you so fast if the sting rays came close enough that they thought they would end up touching them. The rays would climb up the sides of the pool so that they could get more petting.









Mom's least favorite part of the Aquarium- probably the boa constrictor and and anaconda. I still want to jump out of my seat just thinking about them.










Daniel with the Jelly Fish






Right in front of Daniel's face you can see an eel. Something else Mom didn't really care for.

Monday, June 15, 2009

New Nickname- Jane















So, Miss Reagan walked up to me today and said "tree," pointed to it and seemed to want up. So I put her in the tree. She didn't want to come down. Then she decided that tree bark would be a good lunch. She pulled some off, put it in her mouth and then promptly spit it out. After about doing this ten times I think that she finally decided that it didn't taste very good and quit, but she still didn't want to come down. So her new nickname is Jane- Tarzan's Jane.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Happy Birthday to Daniel

Daniel's birthday was a quiet but busy day. He was very excited about it. He loved the gigantic cupcakes that Grandma found for him.



















Of course what child doesn't love presents... Grandma Lois got him a bunch of cars from the movie cars- big hit of course. Grandma and Grandpa Lyman got him a beautiful collection of James Herriot stories. (For those of you who aren't familiar with James Herriot he is an English author who's main employment was a veterinarian. He wrote stories about his experiences both for children and adults. The adult books are entitled "All Things Bright and Beautiful", "All Creatures Great and Small" and etc. They are great books.) Aunt April sent him a silver piggy bank filled with chocolate bars. Which Daniel promptly wanted all of them out for consumption.
















Grandma took us to "Toad's" where we had been promising Daniel that he could ride in a "race car" (gocart) which he was so excited about and for which I don't have a picture. Then we went inside and played miniature golf (it was raining so we chose the indoor course) Daniel had never played and being 3 wasn't very good (but then Mom is 31 and not very good either). So we played the best we could. They also rode the carousel and played a few arcade games (it's similar to Chucky Cheese)
The day ended with a babysitter as Mom wanted to go to Stake conference and hear Elder Holland speak. But the babysitter had to bring her younger brother with her so that meant more fun for Daniel. Exhausting but fun day.







Friday, June 12, 2009

More tests passed-

Paul passed another written tests yesterday. Hurray! The scores wasn't quite as high as the other ones but it was supposed to be the hardest test in the course and he still passed it with plenty high marks (I just can't remember what it was.)
Today they had weapons qualifications and he shot 299 out of 300. He was really upset he didn't get a perfect 300, but it placed him at the top of his class in shooting which he doesn't seem to mind too much. I had every confidence he would do well in this department. They'd have to blindfold him for him not to do well. Less than two months to go- (Okay so it is 55 days and counting, you wouldn't guess we want him home would you?)

Daniel's Teddy Bear

Daniel has never been one for stuffed animals. So one day before we left Virginia when Paul came home from taking Daniel on an errand and said that he had bought Daniel a teddy bear that Daniel really wanted, I wasn't really pleased as I figured that it would join the other stuffed animals in the toy box and never come out. Well, this teddy bear was a little different. This teddy bear is wearing a soldiers uniform just like Daddy does. Daniel sleeps with it and cuddles with it. This morning while he was in bed cuddling with me he asked me, "is it a soldier bear Mom?" I replied that it was and added that it was a soldier like Daddy was a soldier and asked, "is Daddy a soldier?" His response was, "No he's a teddy bear!"

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Daniel and the Violin

Daniel has a Lightning McQueen tent and that is generally in a state of craziness and is generally used for other things than a tent. The tent poles are generally found to be his "tent pole guns". (Yes, in case you were wondering, he is his fathers child.) Well today he found a new use for them. They can become a violin! Daniel has always had a deep love for the violin. So watch the video and enjoy. He even makes his own violin sounds!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Something to Blog About

For all of you who aren't Mom's and are male and reading this I will give you fair warning- You may not want to continue reading this post.
I have been working with Daniel on potty training for months, probably the last 6 if you want to know the truth. I haven't pushed it too much until lately. He has been doing really well, but would not have a bowel movement anywhere but in his diaper. Last night there was a break through! Hurray! Finally! Twice in about 30 minutes he had a bowel movement in the toilet. I was ready to offer him all the candy he could want, but he gave it all back to me except for one Hershey's Kiss. Then of course we had to make the round of phone calls, one to Daddy, one to Aunt April, and one to Grandpa Lyman. I think he talked to my Dad for the longest he has ever talked to anyone on the phone. He must have realized the greatness of what he had done.
Anyway, I thought he deserved a post for that.