Breathin'

The other day Jeff and I were out delivering contractor gifts and we decided to bring Pieper along with us. Pieper is a very loud breather (is that even a word?) and at one point Jeff said to Pieper, "Is that you back there breathin'?" Pieper said, "My name's not Breathin' it's Pieper." Jeff has made a joke about it a couple more times since then and Pieper always argues with Jeff that her name isn't Breathin'.

Pieper's Pants

A couple nights ago I was putting Pieper to bed and she kept getting one drink after another. After about her fifth drink I told her that she couldn't have anymore because she was going to wet her pants. She said, "No I won't," to which I replied, "Yes, if you drink too much water and then go to bed you will wet your pants." Once again she said, "No I won't...because I'm not wearing pants. I have on pajamas."

Madison Crawling

Madison has finally started crawling. I was a little worried that she might never do it but she surprised me last Tuesday because I set her on the floor in my room to play with her toys and then I left the room for a minute and when I came back she was in the hall. I thought she just rolled there but when I sat her back down she got on all fours and started to crawl. She is getting faster everyday. She is so much more content since she has learned how to crawl. I think she was so bored just sitting in one spot.

The Alphabet Pieper Style

Pieper came up to me yesterday and said, "Mom I know my letters so listen to me." She went on to tell me her version of the alphabet, which was "H.H.H.H.how you are S.T.U." Not too bad for a two year old.

Yesterday morning Pieper woke up before I did and she came in to my room and wanted to carry on a conversation with me but I guess I wasn't doing too well because she said, "Mom, use words not sounds. I can't understand what you're saying." I guess she didn't like the fact that I answered her by saying, "uh huh."

Tooth Troubles

Last Friday Parker's tooth fell out and for some reason he decided to save it for the tooth fairy on Monday. Parker had his tooth sitting on the counter upstairs (because the tooth fairy seems to remember better when it's in plain sight) and when he went to check on it before he went to bed to make sure it was still there it was gone. He asked everybody where it was and nobody had any idea. I told him to leave a note letting the tooth fairy know that he had accidentally lost it so she would still leave him some money, which is what he did. Later that night Adriana woke up came into our room and said she couldn't sleep so I went and laid on the bed with her. I thought since she had already been asleep that it would be a quick thing but it turned out to be longer than I thought because she wouldn't fall back asleep. She kept peeking to see if I was closing my eyes and then every time I moved she would look over to see if I was leaving. At one point she even sat up and said, "Do you think the tooth fairy is going to give Parker money?" After 45 minutes she still wasn't asleep so I gave up and told her to bring her pillow and blanket into my room, which she gladly did. The next morning Parker was so excited because the tooth fairy had indeed left him money. Adriana quickly piped up and said, "I know where your tooth is...it's under my pillow. I wanted to see if the tooth fairy would leave me money instead of you." Parker responded by saying, "Adriana the tooth fairy wouldn't leave you money because she knew it was my tooth." Adriana asked how she knew and Parker said, "Because she's just like Heavenly Father and she can see everything you do." That satisfied her curiosity and then she went on to say, "But everybody in my class has lost a tooth except me." So I guess she thought she could trick everybody in her class into believing that she had lost a tooth. Parker quickly squashed her idea by telling her that everybody would look in her mouth and see that she had all her teeth and they would know she was lying.

HELP

I just got Madison's pictures taken last week and I need help deciding which ones are the cutest...will somebody please help me.

The link is www.angieclaysonphoto.com. Click on "clients" in the bottom right hand corner. Enter in my password "steduv30" and then let me know which one you think is the best.

Fashion Sense of a Three Year Old

Today while I was getting Pieper dressed she kept arguing with me that her clothes did not match. I tried to tell her that I had been getting dressed a lot longer than she had and I knew what I was doing but she wouldn't listen. To put things in to perspective a little bit let me explain that Pieper's sense of fashion is wearing around her pajamas or dance outfit. Most of the time her pajama top and bottom are mismatched and her shoes don't match. She was mad because I made her wear a pair of jeans with a pink shirt and brown flip flops. She felt like she needed to wear a pink pair of shoes to match the shirt or she wanted to change into a brown shirt. Most of the time I give in to her because it's usually easier but today I did not give in so for the greater part of the morning she cried and cried and cried.

Crazy Kid

All day Friday and Saturday Parker complained about his stomach hurting but I didn't think a whole lot about it because he would say it and then act normal five minutes later. While we were at the luncheon after Grandma Pieper's funeral Parker came up to me and said, "Mom I don't feel good I think I'm going to..." I think he meant to say throw up because that's exactly what he did. I quickly grabbed a plate off the table and he threw up into that. I am amazed at how much that plate could hold (I'm going to have to find out the brand because it was one hefty plate. Maybe we could re-enact the whole thing and make a commercial out of it). I felt bad for all the people that were still eating while it happened because I am sure their appetite was ruined after that. Not even two minutes later Parker said, "Mom can I have a brownie?" I thought he was kidding but he was dead serious. He could not understand why I would not let him have one. He kept arguing that his stomach felt better and it would be fine. Needless to say, Parker never got his brownie.

Mom Knows Best

On Thursday the 17th we left for Idaho to go to Grandma Pieper's funeral. About two hours before we left Adriana began to complain that her stomach hurt. I told her to eat a few saltine crackers and see if it calmed her stomach down. She ate two crackers and about five minutes later she threw up. Luckily she had grabbed a bowl so we didn't have a mess everywhere. I figured she must have had one to many fruit roll-ups and that she would be fine but about two minutes before we were planning on leaving Adriana threw up again but this time she didn't get it into the bowl. We quickly got her in the bath and then I told her to take some nausea medicine to calm her stomach down. She knew that it tasted yucky but she trusted me because I'm the mom and we know everything! We thought that the medicine would do the trick but we decided to bring the bowl just in case. We had been in the car about five minutes when Adriana threw up the medicine that we had just given her. So we stopped at the store to get some 7-up. I told Adriana that my mom would always buy us 7-up when our stomach hurt and it always made us feel better. So once again she trusted me and drank some. Five minutes later she threw up the 7-up. This continued until we got to Tremonton where we decided to spend the night. When we got in the hotel room I told Adriana to get in the bath tub. I explained to her that it always made me feel better to get in a warm tub and relax. She just stared at me like she didn't hear what I said so I repeated it again. She looked at me and said, "I don't want to." I thought she was just being difficult but then she said, "Everything that you do to make you feel better doesn't work for me it just makes me worse. So I'm not going to get in the tub because it will probably make me throw up again." I couldn't disagree with her because all my methods had failed. So instead she went to bed and the next morning she was better.

Grandma Pieper is with Jesus

Jeff's Grandma Pieper this week and when I told Pieper that she had died and that Grandma had gone to live with Jesus she said, "Oh mom can I go and live with him too?" I don't like it when my kids ask me questions like that because I don't even like to think of them leaving me so I told her, "No, not for a long time. I need you to stay here with me. Grandma Pieper is with her husband and brothers in Heaven." Then Pieper said, "Okay, will you call him for me then." I tried to explain to her about prayer and that's how we talk to Jesus but she didn't really understand what I was saying. As soon as the other kids woke up she immediately told them that Grandma Pieper had died and is now living with Jesus.

Deodorant

The other day while I was taking Harrison and Parker to their friend's house we somehow got on the subject of deodorant. Harrison told me that his friend Bryson wears deodorant but earlier that day they found out that Bryson had forgotten to put it on because he stunk after playing football. So I said, "Oh how did he decide when to start wearing it? Did he start because he's in 6th grade?" Harrison said, "No, he's already had the maturation program." When he said it he acted as if I had just asked the dumbest question in the world and that I should have already known why he started wearing it." Then Harrison went on to say that he thought he needed to wear deodorant because he stinks as well after he plays football. Parker quickly chimed in and said that he needed some as well. In unison they said that they wanted Old Spice deodorant, but not the original kind because it smells like soap. They want the kind that smells like you have cologne on. It was very obvious to me that they had put quite a bit of thought into the whole "deodorant" thing so I told them that I would have to think about it. So a couple days later while Jeff and I were grocery shopping we decided to pick up some deodorant for Harrison and Parker. We left it sitting on the counter so they would see it when they got home from the football game. Harrison immediately saw it and asked what it was for. I played dumb and told him to go ask his dad. So he went in and asked him and Jeff told him that we had gotten it for them so they wouldn't smell bad anymore. Harrison acted so nonchalant about it and said, "Oh okay," and then he turned around and had the biggest grin on his face. So if you are around my boys you'll have to comment on their cologne, oops...I mean deodorant.

Amelia Bedelia's twin

Lately Pieper has been taking things that I say quite literally, which reminds me of the Amelia Bedelia stories. I use to read them all the time when I was younger and I loved how she took everything literally. Today while we were eating pizza at the park (fat free of course) I told Pieper that she needed to finish her food before she could have a sucker. So she asked me, "How much?" I thought she was asking me how much of it she needed to eat so I said, "The whole thing!" So she tried to stuff the whole thing in her mouth in one bite. I guess she was asking me how many bites she needed to take and I basically told her one.

A couple nights ago Pieper woke up around 2:30 AM because she was all stuffed up and could barely breath so I told her that I was going to give her some medicine that would make her nose feel better. When I got back into the room with the Benadryl tablet she said, "Which nose?" I thought she meant which side would it help so I said, "Both of them." So she put the tablet up to her left nostril and tried to push it inside. I quickly realized that she wanted to know which side she was supposed to put the medicine up since I told her it was for her nose. I laughed so hard but she didn't seem to think it was very funny and she just put her down on the pillow and she was asleep within seconds.

Why I have Girls

I was outside a minute ago looking at the flowers in my yard and Adriana and Pieper walked out with me. After a few minutes Adriana said, "I know why you had me." I asked her why and she said, "Because you needed someone to talk to when your boys were gone to the football games and that's what me and Pieper do."

Great Brother

Harrison is such a sweet boy. Adriana has been wanting to eat "breakfast" (really lunch) in the lunchroom at school but she is afraid to go by herself so for about three days now Harrison has been taking Adriana into the lunchroom to eat her "breakfast" and then he walks her to her classroom after she is done. On Friday the school had a breakfast pizza that they were serving so Harrison decided to get it because it had sausages on it, which are Adriana's favorite, and he knew that so he let her pick them off and eat them. It was such a small act of kindness but so sweet at the same time.

Math Homework

Parker is great at math and his teacher even told me that she would like to move him up a level to 4th grade math because he has really caught on (but it probably won't happen because there isn't room in the 4th grade class). But what his teacher doesn't know is that he takes forever to do his homework at home. It's like pulling teeth to get him to do it. He will literally throw himself on the ground and start complaining each time I tell him he needs to do his math homework. The math homework that he has started to do this year requires that he explain how he got the answer that he did, which is where Parker gets hung up. He does not like writing and would rather just skip over it but unfortunately for him (and me) he can't. Once he sits down to do the homework he is pretty okay it's just a matter of getting him to do it. The other day I threatened to tell his teacher how he acts when I ask him to do his homework and he took me seriously because he has done a little bit better since then.

The Library

A couple days ago I took Pieper to the library for the first time this year. She had such a great time! I think she would have taken home very book in the library if I would have let her but being the mean mom that I am I only let her check out five books. She especially liked getting a stamp on each hand after we checked the books out.

While we were at the library we also had to make a bathroom stop because Pieper had to go "really bad and she couldn't wait anymore." She thought the bathroom was pretty neat as well because she was tall enough to reach the sink and the soap by herself.

Pieper also enjoyed the fact that the library has an elevator. She loves to push the buttons herself, which she usually doesn't get to do if Parker is around because he is afraid she is going to push the alarm (which she has done on more than one occasion).

When we got home from the library Pieper carried the books into the house by herself and immediately sat down and began to look at them. She spent about two hours looking at books and making up stories. Later that night she had to sleep with the books as well so they wouldn't get lost and she could find them first thing the following morning.

The next day when she got up she found her back pack and put all her books in their for easier carrying. She took her back pack every where with her. Later in the day we made another trip to the library and exchanged her books for new ones. This time we took Adriana with us and she got some of her own books (she was rather jealous of Pieper the day before).

When I was younger I loved to go to the library! My dream was to be a librarian and be able to read every book that came in the door so I would know what to recommend to the patrons. It hasn't happened yet but maybe when my kids are all grown up and moved away I will fulfill my dream.

Brotherly Love

While I was on my home from picking up the kids from school Harrison told me about what had happened at lunch recess. Harrison and Parker have recess and lunch together because they are both in the multi-age program, which is a lot of fun for them because they get to be with each other a lot throughout the day. Harrison began by telling me that Parker had cried at lunch recess because their "friend" had said a mean comment about Parker. The comment was "Don't pass the ball to Parker he'll just fumble it. He sucks at playing football." So Harrison went up to their "friend" and pushed him and then said, "Don't ever say anything mean about my brother again. He is a better football than you will ever be," and then he walked off. I guess the football game continued on much as it had before after that. Then Harrison said, "You know what the best thing about it was?"

At this point I was thinking, "Something good came from this? Did any teachers see Harrison pushing his 'friend'? Is Harrison going to get kicked out of school?"

"On the next play Parker intercepted the ball and made a touchdown."

And then I came back to reality and realized that my two boys are best friends, despite the fact that they fight A LOT and they scream at each other more than I would like, they are truly best friends and would do anything for one another. I am so happy that Harrison and Parker can be friends and experience things together. I hope they will continue to be friends in the future and be able to share some really fun, exciting experiences.

Another Ear Infection

For the past couple of days Madison has been a bear, which is not like her at all because she is usually such a happy baby. Around 3:00-4:00 PM on Monday and yesterday she started to get really fussy and wouldn't stop crying unless she was being held (by me). I love to hold her but it gets a little tricky when I am trying to cook dinner or get some work done. I debated whether I should take her to the doctor or not because she had an ear infection a couple weeks ago and the antibiotic just ended last Thursday and when I took her to the doctor last Friday for her 6 month immunizations he said her ears looked great. But I decided that I would rather be safe than sorry and I took her in to the clinic. As soon as we got into the room she perked up and was so happy. She kept smiling and laughing for no reason, which always seems to happen when I take one of my kids to the doctor. The miraculously get feeling a lot better. But when the doctor checked her right ear he said it was infected again. So we have to start up another round of antibiotics and hope that it will clear it up. If it doesn't I think I am going to check into getting tubes in her ears because we haven't even hit the cold season yet and we are already having problems.

Why?

Pieper is into asking questions lately and at times it drives me crazy because everything is always followed with the question "why". Not every why question can be answered. There comes a point where you just run out of answers and that is not good enough for Pieper. It's not like she is trying to be difficult she is just curious (and probably wants to prolong whatever it is that I am asking her to do). The other day we had such a conversation and it went like this:

Me: "Eat all your food Pieper."
Pieper: "Why?"
Me: "Because it's yummy."
Pieper: "Why?"
Me: "Because I made it."
Pieper: "Why?"
Me: "Because you said you were hungry."
Pieper: "Why?"
Me: "Because you haven't eaten since breakfast."
Pieper: "Why?"
Me: "Because I didn't get you anything and it's lunch time and we don't eat all day long."
Pieper: "Why?"

So at this point am I supposed to answer why I didn't get her anything or why it is lunchtime or why we don't eat all day long? Can you see my frustration. It just gets a little confusing for me and I can't think up enough reasons for everything. Sometimes I'll just tell her "because I said" which is promptly followed by a "why" from Pieper. Hopefully we can soon grow out of this stage and start having meaningful conversations that don't involve "why."

Stubborn Girl

Adriana started attending a new dance class last week, which she was so excited about. She goes to dance every Tuesday for an hour. This week she was very uncooperative and wouldn't really do what her teacher said. I was a little surprised when I talked to her teacher because Adriana loves to dance. So when I asked Adriana about it she said, "You told me that they were going to let us make up our own dances but the teacher was making us do her stuff so I didn't want to do it. I just decided to make up my own stuff." I tried to explain to her that the teacher needed to show her new dance moves so she could include them in her dance the she made up but that wasn't what she wanted to hear. I told her that she needed to learn how to dance when she is little so she can be a good dancer when she is older. So then she asked me, "Will it help me dance good at my wedding?" I told her it would so hopefully that will be enough to convince her to listen to her teacher. I guess we'll see.

Breakfast at school

Adriana told came to me this morning and said, "I think I'm going to eat breakfast at school in the lunchroom because if you don't have enough time to eat it at home they have it at school but I want to take my own breakfast." So she packed up her "breakfast" which consisted of a salami sandwich, BBQ chips, a fruit roll up, and a cookie (seems more like lunch to me but whatever). She was dressed and ready to go by 8:00 AM and we don't usually leave until 8:30 AM so she sat and waited with her "breakfast" in her lap. She was so excited to get out of the car when we pulled up to the school, which is very unusual for her. The past few days she has been very tentative about going to school. She loves it while she is there but getting there in the morning is a little rough and I have to bribe her with all sorts of crazy things just so she will stay. She didn't seem to care a whole lot when I told her that it was the law for her to go to school and if I didn't make her go I would get put in jail. Her response was, "Then I'll just go and live with Kaye (my neighbor)." I asked Harrison to walk her to the lunchroom and stay with her while she ate and then walk her back to her classroom. I hope she enjoyed her "breakfast" and made it back to her classroom on time.

The other day I told Pieper that we were going to go to her nursery teacher's house and she said, "What? She has a house? Does she live at the church?" At first I didn't understand what she was talking about but then I realized that the only time she sees Kirsten, her teacher, is at church.

I love how innocent kids are!

Paver Pool Project

This is a pool deck that we were working on a few weeks ago, which was in the Provo Riverbottoms. It turned out to be a great project and looked beautiful when it was all finished.

Parker had a great time playing in the unfinished pool area.

I have not had a chance to take any pictures of the completed project but will do that in the next day or two.

Graham Crackers

Madison does not like baby food. I'm not even sure that she doesn't like it as much as she doesn't understand how to swallow it. She just spits it back out. My mom gave me the idea to try graham crackers. She actually liked them and didn't get that little shiver that kids get when they don't like how something tastes. Obviously she got more of it on her belly and clothes but she sure had a good time attempting to eat it.

Notice all the slobber that is running down her belly. Add that to the graham crackers and we had a good old fashioned mess going on. Jeff volunteered to load the dishwasher that night and I quickly realized that it was his way of getting out of cleaning up her mess.

Slobber, Slobber, and more Slobber

I have never had a baby slobber as much as Madison. When I get her dressed in the morning it only takes about five minutes before her shirt is drenched in the front. I seriously doubt that she is teething since all my other kids took forever to get their teeth (about one year). She pretty much has a constant flow of water streaming from her mouth.

Another breathing treatment

A couple weeks ago I took Madison in to the doctor again because she was not getting better and she was rather ornery so I knew that something was wrong. The doctor said that she had another ear infection (I am not sure if the previous ear infection never went away or it did and she just got another one). She was also weezing once again so we had to do another round of steriods and breathing treatments once again. I tried to distract her with some toys while I did the breathing treatment but it didn't work. She was still angry and upset the whole time.

Behind Again

Once again I am behind on my journaling. I am going to try and catch up a little bit so some of it might be out of order.

Pieper to the Rescue

Pieper is such a crazy little girl. She is sort of like a tomboy but at the same time she loves to dress up in princess dresses and play with dolls and make-up. She also has a fascination with bugs, especially "rolly pollys" or potato bugs. A few weeks ago I was outside cleaning out the garage and Pieper says, "Look what I found mom." It was a grasshopper that she was holding between her two fingers. I screamed so loud it scared her and she dropped it. She just sat there staring at me with a confused look on her face. I explained to her that I didn't like bugs and spiders so it made me afraid and I screamed. She still just sat there and stared at me like I was so dumb.

Last Friday I had my niece Laura Ann sleep over and she was afraid of a rather large fly that was crawling around on the floor. Pieper quickly ran over and began to pick the fly up but I quickly caught up to her and told her to leave it alone because it was dirty. I told her that we (meaning Jeff) needed to pick it up with some toilet paper and throw it away. Pieper met Jeff half way into the bathroom and said, "I'll do it Dad," and she did just that. She picked up the fly with the toilet paper and then flushed it down the toilet.

Earlier today Jennifer was downstairs and she started screaming because there was a huge spider. Janet and I thought she was probably overreacting a little bit and figured it was probably some small house spider. Well when we got downstairs we realized that Jennifer was not joking and there really was a huge spider. Pieper said, "I'll got get some toilet paper." I quickly put that idea out of her head because it really was a huge spider that seemed to resemble a hobo spider a little bit and it seemed to be rather aggressive and I didn't want it to jump on her or bite her. I ran upstairs and got a glass bowl and put it on top of it so it wouldn't get away. I figured it would require some more assistance so we called my dad to come up and help us. He claimed that he took care of it but we never did see the spider. Jennifer's pretty sure it crawled away.

Ab Workout

For a couple months now Madison has been trying to sit up. If you lay her down on her back she will lift her head and legs up at the same time and try and sit up. It's pretty funny to watch because she gets so frustrated. You would think she would get a good ab workout but her stomach seems to be getting larger not smaller.

Pieper's Funky Outfits

Pieper loves to dress herself and lately she has come up with some pretty crazy outfits. Lately pajamas have been her theme (and usually she likes to wear Adriana's). I had to move her pajamas onto a higher shelf in her closet so she wouldn't be able to reach them because it was getting a little ridiculous.

So Pieper decided to bag the pajamas and get into her socks. This is one of her "special" pajama shirts that she found in the laundry.

This is another great outfit that Pieper picked out. It's a cute top and bottom but not that great mixed together.

Madison's New Toy

I pulled out this toy a couple months ago because I thought Madison might enjoy it but she was a little too short so it hurt her arms to sit there so she would just cry and cry. About three weeks ago I put Madison in it and low and behold she had grown a few inches so her feet could touch the bottom.

She liked it for the most part but every once in a while she would get upset because the toy would get away from her so she couldn't chew on it anymore. She would scream at the top of her lungs at the toys because she was mad at them.

One day Harrison decided to tease Madison and he raised up the legs so she couldn't reach the bottom anymore. She was so upset with him and she cried until he lowered it back down.

Sometimes my kids get in these weird moods where they actually like to help me clean and they do it without complaining. Needless to say, when that happens I have to take advantage of it because those times are rare. Parker would finish once project and come ask me what else he could do. It was a great day and we got a lot done. I LOVE it when I have help cleaning the house. Parker's only stipulation was that he didn't want to do the toilets (neither did I).

I realize that I have not written anything for a while but life has been so crazy that I haven't even had a chance to do much of anything lately (or so it seems). I just wanted to write about something that happened the other day.

I was on the computer the other night and Pieper came in to the office and stuck her butt out and said, "Mom will you do these up?" I looked over and she had her pants on backwards and needed me to zip and snap them up. Pieper is famous for putting her clothes on backwards and inside out so it was not big deal to her. The funny thing was that she knew it was backwards but she didn't care.

Later that night I was getting ready for bed and Jeff started laughing so hard. He called me over to where he was sitting and pulled on the back of the shorts that I had on. I guess I had put my shorts on backwards so the tie was in the back. Jeff thought it was pretty funny, mostly because it wasn't the first time I had done it. It usually happens at least once a week.

I guess I know where Pieper gets her bad habit of putting her clothes on backwards.

Haircuts

I asked my mom to cut my kid's hair before school started so they wouldn't look like orphans without a mom that loved them or took care of them. Harrison didn't really want his hair cut but being the mean mom that I am I made him.

I guess getting a hair cut must relax Pieper because she could barely keep her eyes open. Before my mom started Pieper said that she wanted her haircut like Harrison's.

Adriana likes to get her hair cut because she thinks it will make her hair grow longer.

Parker got his hair cut a couple days previous by a neighbor so he didn't get to participate in the fun.

Hospital Stay

On the 12th of August I went in for a hysterectomy. I didn't really think it was a big deal but Jeff was sure nervous the entire time. Everything went well but they wanted me to stay a couple nights in the hospital just to watch me. While I was in hospital my family and Jeff's family were such a great help by taking care of the kids and making sure that they were fed. While I was in the hospital my hematocrit was low so they decided to give me a couple pints of blood. I wasn't too concerned about it because I am anemic and it's always low but the nurses sure were stressed about it. So I got the blood and everything seemed to be fine. I was released on Thursday afternoon and went home feeling pretty dang good. Jeff had everything arranged so that the kids could spend a couple days with a couple of my sisters so I wouldn't have to worry about them and could just focus on getting better. My doctor told me that I needed to be on bed rest for three weeks (which is impossible with five kids and a business to run) but I knew that wasn't going to happen so in my mind I figured that one week would probably be good enough. Everything went well on Thursday night and I just stayed in bed while my husband waited on me all night. I have to admit that it was actually quite nice to just lay there and relax. The next morning Jeff sent the kids to Jennifer's house so that I could rest some more and he headed off to work (after countless times of asking me if I was going to be okay on my own). Everything was fine the first half of the day and things seemed to be going well. Around noon I started feeling more pain in my abdomen and my back so I took some pain medicine. For some reason it didn't work but I didn't really think too much about it and just figured that the morphine block that they had given me was probably just barely wearing off. So I stayed in bed and just watched TV. As the day wore on the pain got worse and I suddenly developed a fever that just kept getting higher and higher. When it reached 103.5 and I could barely move because I was in so much pain I decided to call the doctor. They told me that I needed to immediately go in to their office. I called Jeff and told him what they said and he came home as soon as he could. He didn't seem to be too stressed until they did an ultrasound and saw that I had some sort of liquid floating around inside. They immediately sent me over to the hospital to have a CAT scan and have some blood work done up. At the same time they decided to admit me and get some fluid in me because I was dehydrated. I normally don't mind having my blood drawn or an IV put in but for some DUMB reason my veins would not cooperate. My veins kept blowing out or rolling so the nurse would hit a nerve. I was almost in more pain from them trying to get the IV in than I was from my stomach. After five tries and five huge bruises they got a pediatric butterfly IV into my arm. I was so relieved! Once they got some fluid into me they took me down for a CAT scan, which showed that I had some internal bleeding so I was immediately taken in to the operating room for another surgery. This time they had to make three small holes in my abdomen for the scope and laser to go in. They were able to get rid of all the blood but they never found the source of the bleeding and figured that it must have clotted itself off. Later that night I was in quite a bit more pain but not as much as I was before the surgery. Jeff and I were so relieved that they were able to fix the problem without any complications. I had to stay at the hospital until Sunday afternoon. Once again my family and Jeff's family helped out with meals and the kids. Several members of my ward also brought meals in, which was such a stress reliever.
I had to take it easy for another week and could not drive during that time either, which just about killed me. I also had to rely on other people to help me out with my kids so I could take a nap or just rest during the day.
It was a rather crazy ordeal and I am still not back to normal but I am so glad that I got it done! As I have thought about the whole thing I had the thought that maybe Heavenly Father was trying to teach me a lesson about taking it easy and accepting help from other people, which are two things that I have such a hard time with but because of the surgery I was forced to do both. It is so much easier to serve other people than it is to receive service from others (at least for me). I also realized how precious life is and that things can drastically change in such a short time.
Pieper still asks me if my stomach hurts and if I need to go back to the hospital. Yesterday she said, "My stomach hurts, I think I need to go to the hospital like you. Maybe my stomach is bleeding (bweeding) too."

I feel bad that I don't have any pictures but it's hard to take pictures of yourself and since I am the only one in my family that ever thinks about it they just didn't get taken.

Madison decided to start sitting up while we were in Washington. Before that she could do it for a couple seconds but now she is doing it for longer and she loves it when we sit her up. She is to the point that she gets mad if we lay her down.

She got pretty upset when she fell over.

Last Friday we were at a party and Pieper was sitting on my lap. All of a sudden she asked me, "Do you have nipples on your arm?" She caught me so off guard I just sat there and stared at her. Then she said, "I have nipples on my nose." Then I realized that she meant freckles. I quickly corrected her and a couple times since then I have reminded her of what they are called so she doesn't make the same mistake again and embarrass me or someone else.

Madison has finally decided that she can hold her own bottle but the funny thing is that she will let go of it if I put her blanket by her. She lets go because sometimes I prop her bottle up with her blanket so she must figure that if the blanket is there she doesn't need to hold it. She thinks she is pretty hot stuff because she will pull it in and out of her mouth and she gets the biggest grin when she does it.

While we were in Washington we decided to try and feed Madison some baby food. Needless to say, she didn't like it at all. We tried sweet potatoes and green beans. I don't really like them either so I don't blame her at all.

Washington Trip

On the 24th of July we flew out of Salt Lake and headed for Washington state to visit Jeff's Grandma Duvall. Our flight didn't leave until late on Thursday so we flew into Spokane and spent the night. The following morning we got up and drove to Moses Lake, which is only about an hour away. Once we got there we were greeted by Grandma and Dawn and Dan (Jeff's uncle and aunt). We had a great time visiting with everybody and catching up on what we had missed out on.

The following morning we got up and began working on Grandma's yard. We concentrated on one particular flower bed that needed to be weeded and spruced up a bit. We pulled weeds, put down plastic and bark, and added a couple more plants to Grandma's flower garden. With everyone working on it we got it done in a couple hours. A couple of the guys trimmed some branches from a tree so it wouldn't hit the power line, which Grandma had been worrying about for quite some time.

This is the flower bed that we fixed up for her. She was so happy by the time it was all done!

While we were there Jeff had his birthday so we got a cake and some ice cream to celebrate.

This was the first time that Grandma Duvall had seen Madison.

This is Jeff's dad, Scott, with his brother, sisters, and mom.

This is Jeff's Aunt Dawn. She was so nice and watched Madison for us while we ran to the store.

This is Kathleen, Jeff's aunt. She is such a happy, fun person.

This is Jeff's dad holding Madison.

This is Jeff's Uncle Craig. He is a lot of fun and so easy-going.

This is Jeff's Aunt Kay. She lives by Grandma Duvall and she takes such great care of her.

I am so glad that we had the chance to go visit with Grandma Duvall. We had a great time visiting with them. Grandma Duvall is such a fun person. She is almost 89 years old and she is so healthy and full of spunk.

Madison laughing

I started to record Madison laughing and as soon as I got the camera out she stopped. But I was able to get her doing it for a little bit.

One of our traditions for the 24th of July is to go to the parade. We stopped at Macey's and got donuts and milk and then headed over to watch the parade. We usually sit in front of my Uncle's shop but this year we decided to sit by Janet and Todd's house. We had a great time watching all the entries and the kids especially loved getting all the candy that was thrown out.

After the parade everybody went to Janet and Todd's house to visit for a little bit. It was nice to have some nice cold water waiting for us at their house.

Madison had a fun time playing with a balloon. I was a little worried that it was going to pop in her face but it never did.

After the parade we just sort of hung out and relaxed a little bit and then at 5:00 pm Joseph and McKell came and picked up Harrison, Parker, Adriana, and Pieper so they could go to my grandparent's house for a BBQ. We had a flight to catch that night for Washington so we had to leave and head to the airport.

My sister and her kids were involved in a pageant about the handcart companies that came across the plains. We decided to go and watch them on the 23rd since we were going to be gone to Washington from the 24th to the 27th. The pageant was amazing. It was put on at the fairgrounds and they did a fantastic job. I would definitely recommend it!

Creed did pretty good but he wasn't really interested in watching the pageant he was more into throwing wrappers, candy, etc. (pretty much anything he could get his hands on) through the railing and onto the dirt. It was pretty entertaining to watch him.

We lucked out and got a seat on the lower concourse so we could fit Madison's car seat and the kids had a lot more room to play and stretch out.

Jennifer got a little rowdy and kept wanting to run up and down the stairs but Dustin made her sit down and watch the pageant.

Adriana and Jeff

Kynli

I was surprised at how well Pieper did. She didn't really pay attention at all but she didn't try and run off, which I really thought she would.

The pageant was a lot of fun and I think we will definitely make it a tradition to attend it from now on.

On Tuesday, July 22nd my family got together to celebrate Janean, Jeff, and Dustin's birthdays. We met at my house and had banana splits and rootbeer floats. Everyone had a great time and they got some great presents.

The cousins always have a great time playing whether it's on the trampoline, the bikes, the swingset, or just running around. They all get along great and have fun playing together. It's so nice to live so close to my family and be able to get together with them all the time.

Life has been so crazy lately so I haven't had a chance to write about anything but hopefully things will calm down in a couple days and I can catch up. In the mean time I wanted to write about a couple things that the kids said before I forget.

Harrison found out that his teacher this year is Mrs. Beyal, which he is excited about for the most part. He is a little nervous because she loves art and he can't stand it. So we'll have to see how that all works out. Harrison is in the multi-age class, which means he has third, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders in his class. It's a great way for kids to learn and move ahead if they are advanced. I found out that a couple of my friends signed their kids up for multi-age and they are both going to be in Harrison's class. Both of their kids are girls and they are both in third grade so Harrison wasn't as excited about having them in his class as I thought he would be. His only comment was, "Great it looks like I'm going to be babysitting this year." Anyway...I was talking to Harrison about it again this morning and I made the comment that he would have to show them "the ropes" referring to Isabel and Addison (the two little girls). He sat there for a second and then he said, "What ropes?" I thought he was just kidding but he was dead serious. So for the next five minutes I had to explain what I meant by "showing them the ropes."

Tonight it was Adriana's turn to say the family prayer and she caught me a little of guard when she said, "God our strength will be press forward ever," and that was it and then she ended the prayer. I sat there for a second afterwards to make sure I heard her right and then she began to sing the rest of the song, which they had practiced today in primary. It was the cutest thing.

On Monday night we decided to go to the carnival and take advantage of "family night" since the rides were only $1.00 each. The kids had a great time going on the rides with their cousins. I was amazed at how many people were there. We did the same thing last year and we didn't really have to wait in any lines but this year was a different story. Some of the lines took twenty minutes, which makes it rough when you have little kids that are so excited to get on the ride.

Harrison and Alex loved this ride so much. They went on it three times in a row.

We spent $20.00 on tickets and because of the long lines it took us three hours to use them up. Even though it was crowded it was fun to run into people from school, the neighborhood, and past acquaintances.