Sheared!

Goldilocks knew it was coming....someday, he would get sheared!
Bye, Bye Curls, Mommy almost cried this morning when she realized what she had done.

We may need to have his hair fixed by a professional. But Dad is Happy.

Fear of Water

How did this boy get so wet? He loves to take baths, but hates when water gets anywhere near his face. So how in the world did he get so soaked from head to toe?
Simple answer.........a sprinkler that looks like an whale.

Eventually, he stuck his face into the stream- was he trying to take a drink or is he finally over his fear of water?

Fun with Cousins

On Monday we went out to Breakfast and then the whole family, all 13 of us, 6 adults, and 7 kids (4 of which are 4 years old or younger) went to see "Night at the Museum 2". It was a good movie, Baby J slept for the first hour and then he discovered that down at the bottom of the movie theater there is a great place to run around and play.

As you can see, Baby J loves his cousins.
After the movie we had some fun in the back yard. I have known for a while that my son loves to jump up and down in his crib, so it makes complete sense that he would LOVE the Trampoline.

On Wednesday morning Baby J started knocking on my bedroom door. I thought, what a silly boy, he thinks I am in my bedroom- but I was in our living room. I called to him as I came around the corner, expecting him to turn to me and run into my arms. But he didn't, he kept right on knocking on the door. So I opened it, he ran in and started to try to climb up onto the bed, which is much to high for him to climb and so I assisted. Once on the bed he started to Jump, Jump, Jump. Does he think my bed is a Trampoline too. we have no room in our yard for a Tramp, but I remember my Sister L saying that they were going to get one, and if they do, we will be over to play, or really, just to Jump.

Break Down!

For months now we have been planning a long weekend in Idaho. Ken's Brother J and his family have lived in Meridian Idaho for years and his younger Sister E and her family have moved near there too. Ken spread the news of our trip and his younger Brother S and his wife came up for the weekend as well.

Friday went great, Ken worked that day and so I packed the car and Baby J and I picked Ken up when the work day was over and we drove happily north to Idaho. We stayed in Oakley with some great friends, the Nelsons. I don't know why they like us, but we sure like them. After a fun evening of chatting and a really bad night of sleep- thanks to the fact that Baby J woke up screaming every hour (I think he was scared of the different surroundings and possibly the lack of white noise)- we set off for the Boise area.

Things went great until we got off the freeway. We were about to turn left onto the street that lead to J&T's house when the engine stopped. I discovered that "Kate+Baby J+packed Car" was really hard for Ken to Push, so I jumped out and discovered that I could push and steer at the same time- I felt so good about my abilities, soon a young man came to help Ken push and we were able to get the car safely off to the side of the road.

Lots of people stopped to help and tell us what they thought, most of them were pretty sure it had to do with the fuel pump/filter/coil. We decided pretty quickly that we better get a tow truck. As we were the last to arrive at the Mini Reunion everyone we were coming to see were off having fun hiking to a waterfall- we were able to get a hold of them and they gave us the name of a Mechanic that they heard was reputable.
Baby J wasn't worried at all, he thought this was just another stop to stretch our legs and he quickly became friends with the plants and dirt that were so plentiful around him.

A kind helper drove the Baby and I to J&T's house, he was not an axe murderer as you can tell, because I am still alive. The Tow Truck came and took our car to the Auto Shop that we had been told about- but it was now 5:30pm on the Saturday before Memorial Day. The shop had closed at 5, Ken left the keys and a note in the drop box, and his Brother picked him up and brought him back to his house. And the waiting began.

Now I have to tell you about a Tender Mercy. Ken had actually taken Tuesday off, and our plan had always been to stay until Tuesday, so as long as the car could be fixed on Tuesday. we would be fine, no schedule workdays would be missed. I thought about this a few times over the weekend and was always amazed at how that had worked out.

We had tons of Fun, I won't detail it all here. But do not fear there will be posts with video and pictures coming soon.

Tuesday morning the Mechanics pulled the car into the shop and found that the fuel pump, filter and just about everything else looked fine. The problem- A Fuse- the #5 Master fuse to be exact. $8 part. $85 of labor. We were off and running. That is until I convinced Ken that we needed to stop in Burley at the Wal-Mart (for chocolate) and McDonald (for fat filled Hamburgers). Within a minute of resuming or trip the Check Engine light came on.

What do we do now? ARRGGHH. So we pull of at the Rupert Exit, and call my Uncle R (Owner and Operator of our normal Auto Shop). We were told that we would be fine driving the 300 miles home, and that we should not worry unless the light started to flash or we started to lose power. And we were fine. I took the Car into the shop Yesterday and the reason for the blown fuse and the check engine light were both discovered and fixed, we also got an oil change! YEAH!

So what does baby J think of all this?

"You should have let me drive, Mom! I love to drive and my car doesn't have an engine or fuses to worry about." Maybe next time, Baby J.

Did Somebody Yell FIRE!!!!

Hi, It's me, Fireman J! Today I am going to tell you all about the Lehi Fire House.
OK, so I am not old enough to be a firefighter, but I did go the the Fire House today and I had a great time. I learned lots and lots, the first thing I learned is that the newest firefighters have to give the tours. These are our tour guides, they are all Firefighters and Intermediate EMT's. They told me that they actually go to more medical emergencies than fires, does that mean that Lehi is Fireproof?

The next thing I learned is that Fire Engines have BIG TIRES! I love tires. The Firefighters told us the difference between a Fire Truck and a Fire Engine. My Mom didn't even know that there was a difference, but they told us that Fire Trucks have ladders and hold less water, 400 gallons less, than Fire Engines which hold between 750 and 1000 gallons of water.

Fire Engines are also Very Shinny. Lehi has Yellow Fire Engines, but they just bought a new Red Fire Truck and someday they will only have Red Fire Engines too, because Red is better, I guess.

My Cousin C came with me to the Fire House and he helped me climb around inside the Fire Engine. We had lots of fun with the Fire Fighters and at the end of our tour they gave us all Hats, Suckers and Stickers, the stickers say "Junior Fire Fighter, Lehi Fire Dept." so I guess I am a real fire fighter!

Beauty and the Yeast

I took Baby J to the doctor today, because he had a diaper rash that wouldn't go away. I made the decision to seek medical help after the bath water turned pink yesterday. I am a little hard headed, but when there is blood in the water from all the scratching, that is where I draw the line. Good thing there were no sharks in the tub at the time.

(Baby J, show us what it feels like to have a bad rash on your bum)
So anyway, I sheepishly told the doctor that I had no Idea what to do, Baby J has not had a ton of diaper rashes in his life, mostly just redness that would clear up easily if we put ointment on. This rash is different, it responds well to desitin, but within a couple days of being cleared up, it's back again. I was ready for him to say, just keep doing what your doing, you just have a really rashy, really itchy kid. (He is also having an amazing eczema flare)

But no, to my surprise, even though I didn't see anything that looked like Yeast to me, the Doctor did. I love Doctors. So now we have even more Ointments, Yeast Killing Ointments. And we also have a new way to use the Hair Dryer. This was the most surprising part to me. I truthfully expected to be told to let him go without a diaper or something like that, but the Doc told me to clean him up really good and then take the blow dryer and dry him out!!!! I almost laughed, I still want to laugh, it just seems funny. I have never ever ever even thought in the back of my mind to use a blow dryer to dry my child's bum. But it makes sense. I just hope he isn't afraid of it, and I am also glad I have a cool air button on my hair dryer, wouldn't the regular hot air be a little hot?

(Baby J, now show us how good it feels to "Kill the Yeast")
So, any of you ever tried this?

The Miracle of Women’s Conference

I had the chance of a lifetime a couple of weeks ago. A woman who lives near by was asked to lead a “Hospitality Team” at BYU’s Women’s Conference and I got to be part of that team. I was able to volunteer the first day of the conference and then I got to go the second day for free.

Around 20,000 women descended on BYU on Thursday April 30th and Friday May 1st.

Our team was in charge of a room that seated 750 people. It was our job to make sure that everything to do with that room ran smoothly. I was in charge of the “Bathroom Passes” and boy could I tell you stories. Sometimes Women are sneaky, which is exactly why grown women need “Bathroom Passes”. We didn’t think that the topic of the speakers in our room would be very popular. But I ran out of those bathroom passes pretty quickly during the 2nd and 3rd classes. I was amazed at how some women understood immediately that they would need to wait, and wait in line no less, for someone to come back from the bathroom (or where ever they had chosen to go), and I felt even more amazement that there were women who would walk right past the line and truly expect that I would either give them the next pass or allow them to leave and come back without one. I know it is not a huge thing, but really, what makes people believe that they don’t need to follow the rules. I also found it interesting that people who don’t want to follow rules try their best to convince everyone involved that the rules are wrong or just plain dumb. Thank you to all the people in the world, who follow the rules, and help keep the order, even when they think the rules are dumb!!!! I hope that I would have been the type of person who waited in line. But enough about bathroom passes. I had a wonderful time at the conference, on both days. Being part of the Hospitality team the first day gave me a real appreciation of the teams that kept the conference running the next day when I got to attend the classes I had chosen. Or did the classes choose me?

At the beginning and end of each day there was a large group meeting with all 20,000+ of the Conference Attendee’s. I loved all three of those meetings that I was able to attend, but I am not going to tell you much about them. I will tell you about the 3 classes I attended during the middle of the day.

The first class I chose to attend was called “A college degree, is it too late for me?” I really thought that I would be the only person attending this class, I even felt a little scared to attend it (as if the three people who were speaking would look at me, their only attendee and say “You, yes, you Kate, it is too late for you!). Well they didn’t, and I wasn’t the only one there, in fact around 200 or more women were there. I cried a little because one of the speakers was someone who could have been me, 25 years older, but me. Like me, She had been to two different State Universities, and like me She had studied Music both times. And even more like me, she left school both times without finishing. I cried because it was like God picked her to show me that I could go back to school, like her. She is currently a full time student studying Marriage and Family Therapy, which oddly enough I have been interested in studying (the counseling field is very interesting to me).

As I approached the building that held the second class I wanted to attend “Becoming Financially Savvy” I saw a line that wound around the building and through a very very very large courtyard. I was scared. But then I discovered that it was for a completely different class (“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;…Lean not unto Thine own understanding.” I guess a lot of people felt like that would be good for them to hear about, not me, I wanted to be financially savvy!) So I found my line and saw a Friend that I hadn’t seen in 2 years or more, I yelled her name and she remembered me and gave me a hug, once inside I forced my way on to her row and met her Mother and Grandmother. I don’t think I cried during this class, if I did it was because we were told that if we saved $1045 per month and were able to get a 7% return on it (the average for money invested on the stock market over 25 years) after 25 years we would have a million dollars, which is a good start for a retirement savings…I don’t know about you, but we don’t have $1045 to spare each month. $200 a month is actually our goal, if you include 401k contributions I think we do a bit better than $200, but still it is nowhere near $1045, so that made me want to cry, I am pretty sure that I am not the only one who felt that way. All in all it was an amazingly good class (and I wondered if I should go back to school to study Accounting). I learned that Ken and I have a good start on a family budget, and if we continue on the budget path we have started, we will be fine.

So as we were in the second class, I discovered that my Friend and her family were planning on attending the same 3rd class that I had been planning on going to. “The Word of Wisdom is for our day” was actually the first class that caught my attention and I had requested to volunteer the first day of the Conference so that I could go to this class. I once again felt like God had intervened in my day and given me a friend (really more than one because her Mom is really amazingly fun to talk too, even though she couldn’t believe that her daughter and I were too poor to save $1045 per month). So I attached myself to my friend and her family and we learned more about the Word of Wisdom. I was glad I attended this class, because they talked about the same things that I had read about in “Eat to Live” and so I felt like my decision to change the way my family eats was not such a crazy decision after all. One tidbit from that class- Meat consumption, a serving of meat should really be no more than 2 ½ oz. Dr Fuhrman had said 2 oz per day or no more than 12 oz per week, pretty darn close. I was also able to tell my surrogate family about the Food Co-Op and hopefully that will help them as much as I hope it will help me.


So that was my day, it was amazing, I felt so good as I drove home, and I still feel good now just thinking about it. For those of you who made it all the way through this post, Good Job! Do you want to go to Women’s Conference next year? I do, and if I don’t have a nursing baby I plan on going, so Sisters, Friends, Romans, Countryman, Do you want to go with me? Out of Towners, I hope to have beds for at least 4 visitors by then and I have plenty of floor space if you like to sleep on the floor. Does anyone want to go with me? We could wear matching shirts!!!

It's Cute, but is it too much?

So, I finally did it. I looked at the Cutest Blog on the Block site and I gave it a try. I really liked this background, but I am not so sure I like it on my blog.
Tell me what you think. Please.

Do the little scrolls make it hard to read the text?

If so, do you think that changing the font size or color would help or should I just say goodbye the the back ground?

Do you find that you notice the backgrounds of people blogs? I.E. is it worth it for me to try to find another cute background or should I just go back to polka dots? I liked the dots. I like the scrolls too, but the dots didn't try to invade the posts spaces.

Music and the Babbled Word

Baby J doesn’t say too many words. He has been saying “Ba Ba” for a couple of months now and he is very specific with that word. He uses the milk sign at the same time as saying it, or he says it ever so lovingly when he sees the sippy cup full of milk coming his way. We have heard “Da Da” a lot, but it has only been this past week that it was actually directed at his Dad.

Baby J is always excited when Daddy comes home, he stops whatever he is doing and does a little dance of joy, then he turns and runs in the opposite direction, knowing that he is about to get chased, hugged and tickled by his Dad. Well, one day last week a friend had her son drop a cookie of on our doorstep, the glass door giggled, just like when Daddy comes home. Baby J stood up in anticipation of the door opening, and said “Dada”. The door didn’t open; he looked at me and questioned “Dada?” I went to the door, and discovered the cookie. Daddy really came home 30 minutes later and was delighted to hear the news that Baby J knows his name and expects him to walk through the door anytime it giggles. (here is a picture of the happy babbler)

I have yet to hear the words my heart longs to hear… “I will never do anything bad, and I will love you forever and ever and ever” oh wait, I think that is only heard in dreams, I just want to hear “Mama” or anything close to it, anything that started with an M would be good form me. I sit down with him everyday and read the “Mom Mine” book that Grandma Wheeler gave him for his birthday. I point to myself and to pictures of me and say “Mommy, Mama” but so far he isn’t catching on.

Something amazing has started to happen though. Baby J sings! I have been trying to get video of it, but he actually seems a little shy when he is singing, and if the camera clicks on, he stops. He will sing little songs while we eat breakfast, and while he plays with his toys. I even heard him singing himself to sleep at nap time a few days ago.

By far my favorite singing moment was in the car last Saturday. We were traveling down to Spanish Fork for dinner with our friends the Petersons. Ken and I were listening to “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” and suddenly from the back seat I heard what can only be called a “Baby Aria”, with long flowing notes and what seemed to be a pretty nice melody. I will keep trying to get some video. Until then you will just have to believe me.

The Whiz

The past few days and weeks, and really months, just seem to have whizzed by. Everyday there is something that I think would be fun to tell the world about, but everyday I look at my house and say "I really should clean this" or " I really should wash and fold those" but I never do it. (Well to be truth full, the house gets cleaned at least once a week, usually Saturday so that I can at least go to church knowing that my house is clean), but I have been tired enough lately that I just put up with the mess for the other 6 days a week. Chasing after this little guy and dealing with his antics have kept me plenty busy lately. Here are some of his new tricks.

Climbing up onto the piano, it sounds so good when you play it with your feet. Also when you stand on the piano it is much easier to get to the trashcans. Once you have reached the trashcans it is apparently very fun to throw them on the floor and then laugh at your mother while she tries to pick all the trash back up. FYI- he is currently standing on the piano, rearranging the pictures on the pictures shelves.


This new talent of climbing about gave me a heart attack this last week. Baby J and I had been outside to get the mail and upon returning home I suddenly needed to get to a bathroom fast. Our front room is blocked off 95% of the time and that is where baby J was supposed to stay, safe and sound. Well I realized pretty quickly that something was wrong, I must have left his Bedroom Door open, I could hear him in there. Why, you ask, should he not be allowed in his bedroom by himself? Well it could be because he has recently discovered how to climb the 8 foot ladder that leads to the loft in his room. I ran to his room and saw him, sitting on the 5th rung of the ladder- about 5 feet in the air. He was annoyed because he had somehow managed to sit down but couldn't get back up. I approached him with caution, not wanting to startle him......he was fine, and I made sure the door was closed tight on our way back to the front room. I told Ken about it and Ken told his boss, who said that I have "First Child Syndrome". I guess I do, I happen to think that if a 1 year old falls 5 feet he could get hurt. I guess it is all my fault that he climbs, if I am close by I don't stop him.......I bring it all on myself.

I thought this next one was hilarious, I was in the kitchen, getting dinner ready and Baby J was wandering around exploring. I hadn't noticed the silence, but Ken did. The silence fell because of what Baby J had found in the trash......the remains of half a mini watermelon. He didn't waste much time showing us how much more of the watermelon was edible. Another moment which made me feel like a good mother.

I was talking with some friends yesterday and we agreed that even if your house is messy, if your kids are happy then you must be doing OK, and my Kid is pretty happy. His happiness is pretty much equal to the messiness of our home, they go hand in hand. But enough of that.

Check back in next week, I hope to find some time Tomorrow or Monday to tell you all about the Miracle of Women's Conference and our trip to the Gardens.

The Community Food Co-Op of Utah

Our friends the Shumways told us about "The Community Food Co-Op of Utah". Here is their website. foodco-op.net/index.html Seriously, you need to check it out.

This is what they say about themselves "We are a volunteer-powered, nonprofit food buying network, bringing people together for food, community & savings of up to 50% on high-quality fresh foods" We have only participated for one month but I think that this food co-op is a blessing that is going to help my family afford eating healthy foods.

This month we bought a Harvest share and this is what we got (for $14)-
1 5-lb. Bag Red Potatoes
8 Oranges
1 Head of Broccoli
4 Cucumbers
1 Head Red Leaf Lettuce
1 Head Cauliflower
10 Bananas
6 Tomatoes
2 lb. Strawberries
Stone Ground's Artisan Wheat Loaf
16 oz. Brown Rice

I had planned to do a little test to see how fresh the food really was, I was going to set aside a few pieces of fruit and a tomato to see how long they last. It seems to me that most of the food I buy at the store is starting to go bad before the week is up. I wasn't able to do my test as I had planned, because I was hungry, and so I ate the fruit. But I can say this, The Bananas were the perfect stage of greenness for me! I don't like my bananas too yellow, and especially not with brown spots. Baby J and I ate the last banana over a week after they were picked up from the co-op and it was still pretty perfect. Strawberries! I love good cheap strawberries, I don't love that they start going bad just a few days after you bring them home. I picked up one more pound of strawberries at the store 4 days after we got our co-op strawberries, the store bought ones started to go bad before the co-op strawberries did. I still have a few tomatoes almost a week and a half later and they look pretty much like I bought them yesterday, so I think the food is pretty fresh, and will last a little longer and thus feed my family well for a few more days.

We will probably start getting two Harvest Shares per month, I have hope that this will mean I can cut out at least one weeks worth of shopping, maybe two, and that will save my family gas!

Every few months we are going to buy Standard Share, this is what that share included this month.
1 4-lb. Whole Roasting Chicken
1 Pckg. Lean Salisbury Steaks
1 Pckg. Lean Pork Cubes
1 Pckg. Lean Ground Beef
1 5-lb. Bag Red Potatoes
5 Oranges
1 Head of Broccoli
3 Cucumbers
1 Red Leaf Lettuce
7 Bananas
4 Tomatoes
1 lb. Strawberries
Stone Ground's Artisan Wheat Loaf
16 oz. Rice

You don't get to pick what you get, but you can see, they don't really give you anything weird or unpronounceable. You also have the option of adding on some extra items like a second loaf of bread or extra meat products. And if you have ever heard of the Nutty Guys, you can often buy 4 pounds of their nuts too.

So- if you are looking for a way to cut cost on good food, check them out, sign up, do some volunteering around your neighborhood (church service counts) or go up and volunteer at the crossroads center itself, and make the world, and your tummy, a better place.

Happy Feet!

These are my toes, well 7 of my 10 toes at least. All 10 of them are sporting blue polish and as you can see the Big Toes have pretty flowers on them. This is because I had my Mothers Day Pedicure today. It was great, made even more great by the fact that I got to share the pedicure time with two of my Sisters, A & L.

Thanks Ken and Baby J- I feel very loved and very cared for!