Garnerblog

Sum-sum-summertime!

2011-07-03T11:06:00.002-05:00

I can't believe June is over! It just flew by. Granted, we have been very busy with summer activities. Mostly the weather has been nice, quite a bit of rain, but enough dry days that we've been able to enjoy parks and swimming.

Ethan kicked off the summer with Especially For Youth in Minnesota. Meredith and I drove him up (8 hours) and then I drove by myself to pick him up. The drive to get him was easier without Meredith (it's a bit long for her!) and I listened to an Agatha Christie to keep from getting bored. I missed Ethan while he was gone, but he had a great time and made some good friends. I hope he's able to do EFY again next year.

Ethan spent last week at scout camp. He and three other boys from our troop were the only ones there to do the "iron-man," a 20 mile hike with 30-40 lb. backpacks, a mile swim, and a survival night outside without a tent! What a tough kid! Scott and Meredith drove up to camp Friday night and slept in the car, then they and Ethan drove home yesterday. Ethan had time to take a long shower and rest for a little while, and then he and Scott left for a trip to Italy. Scott and I would have liked to go together, but it's just too hard to find someone to watch both Meredith and Noah for a whole week. So instead Ethan is going. I'm a little jealous, but I know my two men will have a great time.

Poor little Meredith came back from her "camping trip" completely covered with mosquito bites. They slept with the car windows open, the the skeeters apparently loved her soft baby skin. I feel so bad for her! She has about 40 bites on her arms, legs and face. Other than that she is doing great! We're so excited for her birthday in a week. Actually we gave her a big present yesterday - - a giant teddy bear about 5 times bigger than she is! (Gotta love Costco!) She was so excited she was screaming with happiness.

We're going to church in a few minutes, and she is so excited for nursery. She has never shown the least bit of reluctance to go in, in fact she's usually pretty anxious for sacrament meeting to be over so she can go in and play. She loves the songs, and at night she likes to sing "Twinkle Twinkle," "Eensie Spider," and "Wheels on the Bus." Speaking of nighttime, she and Noah both have slept in their beds every night for the past couple of weeks. This is a huge accomplishment!!!! Also, she counted to 10 the other day with no prompting. I wish I could take credit for that, but I think it's mostly because of Sesame Street . . .

Noah had a week off of school and then started summer camp. He loves it and has settled into the routine nicely. This is his 3rd or 4th year. It's 4 days a week from 9:15 to 3:15. They swim twice a week, walk to the library on Mondays, and walk to McDonalds and order their own lunches on Wednesdays. I am so grateful for the wonderful staff that work with him. I was feeling a little down recently because of all the frankly horrible things that are happening in the world, and then I thought about the dedicated angels that work with kids with special needs and it made me feel a lot better.

We have a fun guest in our home right now: Beanie! She flew out all by herself a week ago and it is so nice having her here! She is quite the helper, and I don't know what I'd do without her, especially with Scott and Ethan gone. She is doing a wonderful job of watering the plants, and is a great babysitter. She loves to swim and we've gone a couple of times and are planning many more. We've gone shopping and had movie night and are hoping for a day at a museum next week. It's so good for Meredith to have an older girl role model around! Thanks, Barkers, for lending me your little Bean!

I have been picking up some extra hours at work, filling in for vacationing co-workers. Also busy with my church calling, stuff for the Down syndrome group, and trying to keep the house and yard presentable. Sometimes it feels like one step forward and two steps back, but that's life!

Scott had a scary experience driving to scout camp with Meredith - - there was a head-on collision right in front of him. This is the third accident he's been on the scene for (I was with him for the first 2). It was a pretty bad accident involving 4 people with multiple injuries, but fortunately none of them fatal. Pretty scary for Scott, but he's a great person in an emergency. I'm just so grateful that he and Meredith weren't hurt!

I'm thankful that the Lord watches over us and helps us every day. Blessings and love to you all!

It's Summer!

2011-06-11T14:49:00.003-05:00

Well, not technically, but almost. The weather has been crazy here. One day last week it was over 95 and terribly humid, the next day it was 55! I prefer cool weather, but maybe not quite that cool! The good thing is that we've had plenty of rain and (not to brag) my yard looks great! I have plants in about 30 or 40 pots all over the front and the back 2 patios. I did a bunch of different color schemes and I really like how they turned out. I bought almost everything from the nursery down the road - - they are so nice and knowledgeable there, and although you might pay a little more, the selection is wonderful. I have so much fun deciding what flowers look nice together. Meredith has helped a lot, she loves following me around and saying "helper?" when she wants to take part. Ethan is my plant waterer, he loves when it's raining because it lets him off the hook!

Ethan will be leaving for EFY tomorrow. I'm driving him to Minnesota. It's about 7 hours away, so it will be a 2 day trip for me and Meredith, who is coming along for the ride. Because Ethan's summer is so full of scout stuff it was hard to find an EFY that worked, but I'm so glad we did. I think it will be a wonderful experience for him. He finished up 8th grade and graduated with high honors, having been on the high honor roll every semester of middle school. I'm so proud of his hard work! He's been taking it easy this week, but next week he'll start his summer schedule and stay pretty busy all the way through. He's getting prepared for seminary as well. Oh how I took released time for granted - - he's going to be getting up pretty early to make it to his 6 a.m. class!

Ethan also has been running - - over Memorial Day weekend we went downtown and he and Scott ran the Soldier Field 10-miler. Ethan kept up a great pace, especially considering the farthest he'd run previously was only about 3 miles. He told me he likes to watch movies about people going through war and stuff like that, and then he thinks about it when he's running and it makes it seem less painful. Whatever works, right?

While we were downtown I took Noah to "Peter Pan." It was the original J.M. Barrie production, extremely well done, in a theater-in-the-round format. Noah loved it. This has been a big month for him because he's finished up with elementary school. Fortunately the teachers worked hard to help him with the transition, and he's very excited to be attending Bernotas. He starts summer camp on Monday, which will be great. He's looking forward to seeing his friends and doing the activities.

Meredith got her first big "owie" last week, she fell and hit her head on the corner of a coffee table. It didn't bleed all that much, and wasn't a big cut, but was a little deep, so I took her to a doctor and she glued it shut! It's the best way to avoid leaving a scar for wounds like that. She was very brave and the doctor and nurse just loved her. She is growing up so fast! A little bit of the 2 year old attitude - - Noah (unfortunately) taught her to blow raspberries, which she does, extremely impudently, when she is upset. She's also added the phrase, "Go out of my room!" which she also got from Noah. Sigh . . .

Scott is still travelling a lot for work, but he has signed some very big deals and is enjoying his job a lot. I've been trying to go to the gym with him more often, although we don't play tennis together - - he tried once to teach me and it was not so great for our relationship.

I'm done with my classes and enjoying the break, I'll start up again in the fall. I'm enjoying time with the kids at home, and looking forward to a fun summer. A visit from family or friends would make it even more fun :)

Ethan's Tale of Mount Taranaki

2011-06-10T20:53:00.001-05:00

CLIMBING MOUNT TARANAKI
On spring vacation this year I went to New Zealand to visit my grandparents. Of course, I did more than just visit them. I explored the cities and saw museums. But the best and most exciting thing that I did was to climb Mount Taranaki.
I learned some geological facts about Mount Taranaki. It is the most symmetrical mountain in the world. It is 8,261 feet high. It is also technically an active volcano, millions of years overdue for an eruption. But it’s very unlikely to erupt for a couple more million years.
When my dad and I got to the lodge at the base of the mountain, we found a “fatality list” dating back to the late 1800s. There were about 63 fatalities, and most of them involved slipping on ice and exposure. Because we visited during New Zealand’s late summer, we didn’t have to worry about that kind of thing. However, some of the fatalities were things like, “being crushed by a boulder,” or “fell off of a bluff,” or even “got lost.” Seeing the fatalities list right before we climbed didn’t help our morale much, but it didn’t stop us from going. After all, this wasn’t the first mountain I’ve climbed. I also climbed Wanu Picchu in Peru.
Mount Taranaki is about nine miles up and down and takes eight to ten hours to hike. At the start of the hike my dad and I were making great time. All we were doing was walking up a slightly sloped trail across the side of the mountain. We were averaging 30 minutes per mile, but the hike got more difficult with every mile. The path got more sloped as we walked, and soon enough we got to a different path that was at a 40 degree angle. That path was about a mile long, but at the end of it was a lodge where we could eat and rest.
When we got to the lodge my dad and I both ate a granola bar and then got back on the trail, but the trail was pretty much gone. Instead, there was a path of rocks that led to some old wooden stairs. Climbing the rocks took about 20 minutes, and it was actually pretty easy, compared to the stairs we had to climb. There was about a mile of stairs, and each stair was about twelve inches tall and six inches wide. The high altitude made it even harder. And the climb got even more difficult after we cleared the stairs.
Past the stairs we had to climb up a 45 degree angle of really loose gravel. We would take two steps and then fall back one step. That went on for another mile and then we got very close to the top (The top was the mouth of the volcano) .The view was pretty sweet, but my dad and I didn’t stay long.
After six grueling hours of climbing up, we started down. We slid down the gravel, ran down the rocks, and made it back to the lodge. We spent about 20 minutes eating at the lodge and then we left. My dad and I talked about politics for the last three hours of the hike. We talked about the economy, and the conflicts in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya.
When we got back to the base lodge we got in our car and drove back to the hotel and slept. I was literally asleep before my head hit the pillow. Overall it was a fun hike and a great experience. I had fun talking to my dad, and the bragging rights are great.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T19:59:00.001-05:00

April flew by so fast I can barely remember what happened! Ethan started track, which kept us both running. He didn’t like it as much as cross-country. He does enjoy running for fun though, and he and Scott have been running, swimming, and lifting weights at the gym on Saturdays. Ethan wrote a research paper for school on “Nuclear Deterrence Theory.” I had no idea what that even was until I typed the paper for him. He did a great job researching and writing it, and I was impressed by the way the teacher taught his class how to do it. Boy is research different now that we have the internet!

Ethan also got something new last month - - an electric guitar! He has been taking lessons on an acoustic guitar for about 3 years now, and he was ready for something different. He really likes it (he is, thankfully, not a rocker, and it isn’t any louder than the acoustic). His teacher commented on how well he was doing at his lesson last week. I’m proud of him. I wish he’d stuck with piano lessons (and someday he’ll wish it too,) but I’m so glad he’s playing an instrument. He still likes the Beatles, and is starting to get interested in the Big Band Era sound.

Noah gave a talk in Primary today. He did a very nice job. He struggles to be reverent in church sometimes, but he is a great helper to the primary leaders. He puts lots of things away and is always excited when he gets an assignment. He’s enjoying school very much. They had a field trip to a high school a few weeks ago. Some of the high school kids took Noah’s class around the school - - they’d prepared some fun activities for them. It was really fun.

Noah also got to go to the first ever Down syndrome luau dance party. We had it at the church and the young women were mostly in charge. One of them did a lot of work on it as a project for her Young Womanhood Recognition. We had great decorations, snacks and music, and everyone had loads of fun. The young women were wonderful ambassadors of the church. Noah especially had a good time dancing and hanging out with his friends Leah and Vanessa.

Meredith has hit the “terrible twos” a little early. She is still just as sweet as can be and so much fun, but she also has learned “no!” and says it frequently. Maybe it’s because she’s had to hold her own against her two big brothers, but she can be a little aggressive. She’s just as smart as can be, and knows almost all of her upper-case letters. She is talking more and more. Today I gave her a lollipop and she said, “I like it!” She especially had fun when Mom and Dad and Hilary were out here. I’m glad she’s such a friendly little bug, not shy at all!

The family visit was lots of fun, but it was way too short! Because of car trouble, Mom and Dad and Hil got here much later than planned and were only here about 3 days. They may have been glad to leave though, because our hot water heater broke and we had to shower at the gym! Also I had to work one of the days, and I had to take a test for one of my classes. Everyone was so helpful, watching Meredith and Noah for me while I worked and studied.

One of my classes is over. For my last assignment I had to refute something in our text, a book by Martha Nussbaum. In her last chapter she compared Notre Dame to BYU, with BYU coming in a very distant second. She was almost ridiculously biased, completely discounting BYU’s awesome language programs and study abroad programs. It wasn’t hard finding plenty of evidence to refute her arguments. And I got an A+ on the paper. So yay for me! I still have one test to take in my other class and then I am done. I’m not going to take a class this summer because Scott is just traveling way too much and I don’t have the time. But I’ll start up again in the fall. I love learning!

Scott is finally going to be home all week, after 2 months of being gone every single week for at least 2 nights, sometimes more. He had his 15 year business school reunion a couple of weeks ago in Virginia, and he took Meredith with him! I enjoyed a little break, and he had a great time with her. What a wonderful dad he is!

And what a wonderful mom and dad I have. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I am so excited about your mission! We will sure miss you, but we’ll be able to stay in close touch through skype and email. Good luck these last couple of weeks!!

Marching On

2011-03-29T13:46:00.005-05:00

You have to admire that I'm writing this post from New Zealand, where we're visiting Scott's parents. They've been here for about a year on a mission, and wow were they excited to have some family come to see them! We Skype with them regularly, and Meredith had no problem at all recognizing them - - she calls them by name and has given them a million hugs and kisses. And she has cried when we've left their home to go back to our condo.

A word about other March happenings before I go on talking about our trip. At the beginning of the month our friends Todd and Carrie Brotherson came to Chicago for a visit. We knew them when Scott was in business school. They are wonderful people! Right now they both work at SVU - - Todd is the head of the business department and Carrie works on setting up travel for students. Anyway, we hadn't seen them for quite a few years and it was so fun to catch up! We stayed downtown with the kids (Ethan babysat while we went out to dinner). We ate at Morton's Steakhouse. You do not go there with dieting in mind. I had the best shrimp of my life, colossally sized, and lightly coated in bread crumbs with a cream sauce. Awesome!

Ethan is preparing for Philmont and went on a 7 mile hike with the scouts a couple of Saturdays ago. We're getting all his stuff gathered - - good shoes, good backback, first aid kit, etc. Also, Ethan received his Life Scout in March. He's been working hard to get those merit badges done and we're hoping to have his Eagle earned in 6 months. Once high school starts he's going to be so busy, and it will be nice to have his Eagle all done with.

Well we left on our trip on March 23rd. The boys had to miss a few days of school, but I don't think they minded all that much. Packing is getting more and more of a pain with all these people to pack for! But we've pretty much got it down to a science. Anyway we had a 4 hour flight to L.A. and then a 16 hour flight to Auckland. Both flights were delayed, but at least we didn't have to rush. The Admiral's club at LAX was amazing, with a great little play area for the kids. Good for them to work of some energy before having to sit for so many hours.

All the kids were good on the flights, and the one to NZ was quite pleasant. We flew Qantas, and even in coach it was fairly comfortable (in contrast with Iberian Air, which we flew last year. That was awful!) Anyway, we got to the airport in Auckland and it took forever to get through customs. They're very careful about anyone bringing in any outside fruit, etc. They even checked our shoes to make sure they didn't have any dirt on them. Once we were through we had a 5 hour drive to get to New Plymouth, where we're staying. We met Del and Carol and then together we went to our hotel. It's not really a hotel though, just several condos set up kind of like duplexes. Ours is very spacious, with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and dining room. The view is just unreal. Outside there is a hill going down and then a stream, and then another hill just covered with every color of green vegetation. It is, as Carol said, therapeutic. Just lovely. And very laid back - - the place is run by a couple of brothers who seem to do all the work themselves. The grounds are immaculate and gorgeous, and there are sheep here too!

I forgot to say that although our 5 hour drive was long and we were so tired and grimy, it was beautiful. This is such a green country! And we saw about a million sheep and cows and even some alpacas. It's fall here, so most of the flowers are done blooming, but there are a few left. Oleanders and hibiscus and the most amazing pampas grass I've ever seen just growing wild on the roadside. Carol and Del have really enjoyed being here.

We all had dinner at our condo, which Carol had thoughtfully prepared, and then we took much needed showers and went to bed. We have had no jet lag at all, which is amazing. We'll see if we're that lucky going back!

Saturday it rained most of the day, but we had fun anyway. After breakfast at Del and Carol's we went to a nice museum in Puke Ariki (pronounced poo-key, but Ethan and I had a good snicker about visiting the puke museum!) Anyway there were lots of interesting historical artifacts about the Maori people and then the first Europeans to come. We had lunch at an Indian place in the mall near the museum, and then we drove to a lovely park. It stopped raining long enough for us to take a nice walk and let the kids play on the playground. We met a man who had a 14-year old son with Down syndrome and had a good chat.

On Sunday we went to church, and Del spoke in sacrament meeting. He gave a great talk about the 4 cornerstones of a successful family - - prayer, scripture study, f.h.e., and temple attendance. Everyone was very friendly and we had fun visiting with another couple who had a daughter Meredith's age. After church we had a relaxing afternoon at Del and Carol's home. They have a nice back yard, and Meredith loved playing outside. She is definitely an outdoor girl!

Monday we went for a boat ride in the Tasmin Sea around some very small islands. Our captain, Captain Chaddy, is very well known in these parts. He was so sweet to Noah and let him steer the ship when it was calm. But it wasn't very calm most of the time - - it was one of the roughest boat rides I've ever been on! I'm so glad none of us got seasick! We did get soaked, however, and boy does that salt water do a number on your hair and skin! But the views were beautiful and the water was beautiful, and it was pretty exciting to be tipping all over like that. And we saw some seals on the rocks and a stingray near the shore. The captain takes care of blue penguins that get orphaned, but they've all left for the winter, unfortunately. That would have been fun to see!

Tuesday we got an earlier start, had breakfast with Carol and Del, and then drove to the base of Mount Taranake (also known as Mount Egmont). It is a dormant Volcano, and looks a lot like Mount Fuji. It's a very important part of the culture of the area, and there was a lovely visitor's center. Ethan and Scott had gotten their backpacks all ready and set off on a long hike. While they were exerting themselves with the hike, Carol and Del and I exerted ourselves watching Noah and Meredith. Not easy, because Meredith was tired and a little cranky. We were going to go to a small zoo, but it was closed. So we went for a nice walk in the park, and then set off in search of another zoo that some people told us about. It was a bit of a drive, but we found it at last. It was such a funny zoo - - very small, you could have walked it from end to end in 10 minutes. They had goats and emus (or rheas, not sure) and sheep you could feed, and there were ducks and chickens and pigeons just running around wild. Meredith and Noah just loved that. Then there were a couple of monkeys and apes, some very smelly pigs, and some beautiful white birds that said "hello." And then, of all things, 3 white royal bengal tigers! They were amazing! There were also 3 lions, sitting right up against the fence so we could get a very close looks at them. We really had a nice time.

Ethan and Scott didn't climb all the way to the top of the mountain, but they did get pretty close. I'm glad they didn't go any further, because it's very gravelly and dangerous up there. They hiked for almost 6 hours. Ethan is getting ready to start track as soon as he gets back in school, and he'll be in great shape! He and Scott have gone jogging several times here as well.

We are so so excited for Mom and Dad's mission call, especially because it's such an easy flight to go there to visit! I know you will be awesome missionaries!

We love you all!

2011-03-02T12:29:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,
Ok, Mom, here’s the family letter, so I expect to see you on video-skype thanking me for it!
I usually end up being grateful that February is a short month. We started out with a huge blizzard (now called “the Blizzard of ’11). It was actually kind of fun - - Scott was out of town but he had helped to stock up on all the necessities, so we really had no need to go anywhere. The storm struck at night, and in the morning, wow! What a lot of snow! The wind had blown it right up against the front of our house in drifts as high as 5 feet. Obviously school was cancelled, for 2 days, actually, while people dug themselves out. I got the snow shovel and cleared a path from the front door to the driveway - - it took about an hour and a half. Ethan did some work on the driveway too, but then a snowplow guy came along and offered to do the rest of the driveway for $50. We jumped at the chance - - it would have taken us the rest of the day.
So we enjoyed our cozy time in the house together, and cabin fever only set in by late Friday. Fortunately Scott got home then and I was able to turn the kids over to him and have some much needed alone time!
The last 2 weeks of the month were marred by everyone in the house being sick with something or other. Meredith had the worst of it - - she was fussy and feverish and congested for several days so I took her to the doctor, and it turned out she had a double ear infection and one of her eardrums had ruptured! I felt so bad, I had no way of knowing her ears were involved! (This is the first time she’s had an ear infection.) She’s much better now, although still pretty moody and clingy. But she is absolutely wonderful about taking her medicine, unlike some other kids I could name!
Other than being sick, Mer-bear is doing great! She loves nothing more than to sit and read books with me, and she now knows (and constantly points out) the letter “o.” She has also learned all of her colors, and now we’re working on shapes. She’s saying quite a few words, although they’re mostly not so easy to understand. I recently bought her a couple of new shirts with butterflies and an elephant on them and she loves them! She is such a darling girl, truly the light of our lives!
Noah is doing great too. He found a long advertisement for “Shrek Live (the Musical)” on his Shrek 4 DVD and has watched it about a thousand times. That’s the new big bribe - - if he isn’t behaving we just ask if he wants to go see Shrek and he shapes up very quickly. He’s been drawing some wonderful pictures lately, many of them from Shrek, with lots of detail. It’s so fun! What a sweet little boy he is!
Onto my sweet big boy - - Ethan. Wow does he look grown up lately. He got a very nice haircut and is so handsome! I took him shopping for some clothes at Kohl’s recently, and I’m happy to say he has very nice taste - - just plain t-shirts with no writing on them, and plain button-down church shirts. He always looks very clean-cut. (I have to say, though, that he hated shopping, and I didn’t enjoy it much either - - next time he can go with Scott!)
We’re busy planning out our summer, and it is going to be crazy! Ethan has a week of scout camp, 2 weeks at Philmont (a scout camp in New Mexico) and a week of EFY. In between that all he’s somehow got to learn to type, and start gearing up for the start of both high school and seminary in the fall. Noah will have his summer day camp for 6 weeks, as well as a week-long overnight camp especially for kids with special needs. And if we can swing it he’ll do the weekend at Camp River Run in Idaho.
Scott and I are busy planning out the summer as well. We really hope to be able to go to Idaho at the very beginning of August to see those of you who live out that way. Scott continues to travel quite a bit for work, and play tennis here at home. He’s planning a trip for us for next Christmas - - he just loves the intricacies of finding the best and cheapest flights!
I’m busy with my calling in Primary - - boy do I love those kids! It is so fun working with them and coming up with creative ways to keep them singing. A couple of Sundays ago I let them pick animals for the song “Do as I’m Doing.” The best was when one kid picked the monkey. So we all sang and scratched like monkeys. You really have to be pretty uninhibited and unembarrassed to do what I do!!
On a completely different note, I’m studying Descartes and Hume in my online classes, and I’ve written several papers. Sometimes I feel like my head can wrap itself around all the information, but I do enjoy it, and so far I am doing well. I’m so glad I’m doing this, it’s nice to be able to do something completely different once in a while.
We love you all! Have a happy March and look forward to Spring!!!

Snow!

2011-02-03T17:31:00.002-06:00

Wow! January went by so fast! We got home from our Christmas trip and just dived right back into school and work. Keeping busy distracts us from the grim weather. We’ve just experienced the “Blizzard of ‘11” - - about 2 feet of snow with heavy winds. The snow blew right up against the front of our house and it took me over an hour just to shovel a little pathway from the front door to the driveway. The snow was 4 ft. high in areas. Luckily we have not had to go anywhere and the power has stayed on, so we’re warm and happy. The kids haven’t had school for 2 days, but they will go back tomorrow (the blizzard was followed by sub-zero temps, which is what kept them home today). Scott is out of town and was concerned about us but we’ve been fine!

Scott has been traveling extensively, 3 or 4 nights almost every week. It’s stressful, but hopefully things will ease up in a couple more months. At least he enjoys what he is doing. The travel isn’t always fun for him though; I got an email from him yesterday bemoaning the fact that he was stuck on an airplane between 2 aggressive gum chewers. His worst nightmare!

I’m taking 2 classes this semester. One of them is just one credit: introduction to liberal studies. It’s pretty easy, just information about logic and arguments and how to write a convincing paper. The other class is much more time consuming. It’s called “Ways of Knowing,” and is about the scientific method, philosophy, etc. I’ve had some very challenging assignments. So far I’m doing ok, but I definitely have felt my brain working!

Meredith is such a cutie-pie! She is talking more and more. The other day she was carrying around a big bag over her shoulder like a purse. She would bring me a domino and set it down, then say “bye,” and go back to Noah’s room for another domino. She did it for about 30 minutes, over and over. So funny! She just loves to read and be read to, and we have about a million books, so I spend a good part of my day reading. She also loves Elmo and gets very excited when we watch and Elmo video together. She’s in nursery now and loves it. She plays very well with the other kids, although she finds it difficult to stay in her seat when I come in for singing time!

I love my calling as primary chorister and I am having so much fun coming up with ways to teach new songs to the kids. It’s a great calling because I’m only busy on Sundays, and I can do the prep whenever I have time during the week. I never pictured myself as a chorister, because I’m not much of a singer, for sure! But I really am enjoying myself.

(Meredith just came in the room and bit the end off of a crayon.) She loves to draw, but for some reason she keeps biting the crayons. Colored pencils are a better bet for her.

Noah has been doing a lot of drawing himself, and his pictures have become more detailed and recognizable. He likes to draw the family, the seasons (they’ve been discussing them in school), and animals. He drew a great lion the other day. He also has a little crush on a girl at school named “Hannah W.” He talks about her all the time. He’s been wearing his Sunday suit to school fairly frequently lately, maybe to impress her?

Ethan is working hard at school, especially on his math, which has become much more challenging. He will be registering for his high school classes in February, which is scary! He’s been accepted into several honors courses, which is great, but I don’t want him to get burned out. He went to the Klondike Derby last weekend and he and his fellow scouts worked very well together. He has fun hanging out with his friend Adam on the weekends. I’m proud of what a fine young man he is becoming!

Happy winter!

Merry Christmas

2011-01-09T09:07:00.000-06:00

December was a crazy month for us, filled with lots of travel and family fun. We started out by celebrating Noah’s 11th birthday. Can you believe he’s that old? We’d given Noah “Toy Story 3” a little early so he could watch it on our Thanksgiving trip, and he just loved it. When we asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said he wanted a Toy Story 3 birthday cake. Even though Noah doesn’t like cake, he knows you can’t have a birthday without it! So I bought a Cosco cake and decorated it with little TS3 figurines. I took it to pack meeting so that Noah could celebrate with his church friends, and it was a big hit! Noah also wanted a computer for his b-day, and we found a cute play laptop. It’s fun to watch him use it - - he tries so hard to look just like his dad.

The next big event was the FINDS Christmas party. I’d been involved by making the invitations, which turned out really nicely. We had a lot of people come, almost 200. Just like every year, we had a big brunch and fun door prizes. The entertainment was a lady who danced with the kids, always a surefire hit. It was hilarious to watch Noah dancing with his little friends Leah and Vanessa. Meredith danced too, and everyone said how cute she was and how much she has grown. It was a great party.

As usual, I had to have all the Christmas stuff ready a week early, because we celebrated before we left on our trip. There was no way to take our presents or even our stocking stuff to Florida, our car was just too full (more on that later). So we celebrated Christmas one week early. As I told the young sons of a friend of ours (after his mom gave me a panicked look), we asked Santa to come a week early so we could celebrate before we left on our trip. (The son said, “I didn’t know you could do that!” and I replied that it was for special occasions only and required a lot of paperwork.)

We had planned to leave by noon, but after opening our presents and stockings we were just exhausted and the kids wanted to play with their stuff. Ethan got an “air-soft gun,” which is a rifle that shoots tiny bee bees, using compressed air. His friends all have them and enjoy playing together. It was a big deal for me to finally say yes to one, but Scott and Ethan wore me down. He has to always wear the safety gear and only play in certain areas outside. Ethan actually is a great shot, he did really well in target shooting at camp last summer. So he took his gun and played for a while at a friend’s house.

Noah got a zoo, it’s by Fisher-Price, and has 26 animals, one for each letter. It’s really cute. He was pretty excited when he got it. It is so fun to watch Noah open up his presents because he’s always so overjoyed with whatever he gets, even socks.

Meredith was so fun to buy for this year! She got some cute puzzles, some stuffed animals, and an Elmo doll. She loves Elmo. The doll she got says, “I love you” when you push on his hand. She was excited about the toys and wrapping paper. She also got a “feel” book about animals with fur or scales on the pages. In the picture she is feeling the fuzz with her face. She is so cute!

I gave Scott a framed picture of him with Ethan at Machu Picchu (thanks for the photo-editing, Mom!) He got me some cute matryoshka measuring cups from Signals. And Santa got us AT&T Uverse for the house (like Tivo but better). We’re sick of our internet/cable provider, too many glitches.

So after all the gift opening and playing and packing we didn’t leave until about 7 p.m. We’d discussed renting a minivan so we’d have a little more room, but once we got the car all packed we couldn’t bear the thought of unpacking and repacking everything, so we just said, “let’s go!” And we did. Scott is amazing at powering through and we drove all the way to Louisville, Kentucky. We got in around 2 a.m. and slept well. We left around 10 the next morning and drove straight through to Orlando, arriving again at about 2 a.m. We were packed in the car like sardines, but we made it work. Noah was in the far back, surrounded by suitcases, with his toys and pens and paper. He did wonderfully well. Ethan and Meredith were in the middle seat, with snacks and the diaper bag stacked in between them (so everyone had their own little space.) Meredith was a great little traveler too, and of course Ethan had his gameboy and DVD player, so he was loving life. We had the overhead DVD going too - - way too much Barney, but it kept Mer and Noah happy.

We stayed in a 2 bedroom condo in Orlando, which was great because we had space and a kitchen and laundry facilities. That is the way to do it if you’re staying for a while! The first day we were there we didn’t do much besides recover from the long drive. The resort had a kids’ club, so I took the kids over there and hung out for quite a while. There was a climbing thing and Meredith did a great job climbing up and going down the slide. It was so fun to watch her! That night we had dinner with one of our adoption agents that we had worked with the whole way through but had never met. It was wonderful to spend time with her, and she was so happy to be with one of her "success stories." Meredith was her usual darling self and the other kids were well-behaved. We had a great time.

The next 5 days we did 5 parks. Not the way I’d recommend it, because it’s very tiring, but there was a lot we wanted to see. Disney World is Noah’s favorite place on earth, so he was in heaven. The first day we went to Animal Kingdom, which was fun for Noah and Meredith. They got to see a lot of cool animals. Animal Kingdom is usually the least busy of the parks, but it was still pretty crowded.

The next day we went to Universal Studios and met up with our friends the Worthams. Their son Adam is one of Ethan’s best friends, and the 2 of them had a great time together. I was so glad they could hang out together, because my one worry about going to Disney was that Ethan would get bored with all the little kid stuff. It was good for Adam, too, because I don’t think he would have gone on the roller coasters without Ethan to egg him on. So we all had a lot of fun together. Universal opened up a Harry Potter section of their park in June, and we were looking forward to seeing it. I have to say I think the creators grossly underestimated how many people would be interested in it - - we had to get a ticket for what time we could enter that section of the park (and it wasn’t until about 6:00). It was so crowded! There was a line to get into the section, even though we had tickets. There were lines for all the rides. And, good grief, there were lines to get into the shops! Talk about a money maker. I did stand in line with Amy Wortham and her daughter Amanda to go into one shop (Honeydukes/Zonkos). It was fun, there were some cute candies and tricks, but it wasn’t amazing. What was amazing was the price - - $8 for a chocolate bar’s worth of chocolate in the shape of a wand. I was tempted by the “U-no-poo” candies, but even I could tell they were just m&ms in a fancy jar. I did buy some butter-beer for everyone though, after a 15 minute wait, and it was quite good - - like a very rich cream soda with a marshmallow-cream head on it. I would have regretted not tasting it. I wish they’d served it hot (they only served it cold or frozen). It was pretty chilly by then. Anyway I wouldn’t recommend going to Harry Potter land unless you’re a maniac (and there were a few people there in full wizarding robes!) until it gets a little less crowded!

The next day Ethan hung out with Adam at his family’s condo and Scott and Noah and Meredith and I went to the Magic Kingdom. This was the most fun for Noah because he got to go on the Peter Pan ride, his very favorite. Noah is a great person to go to Disney with because he gets a special needs pass and can go to the front of the lines. It is very helpful, especially when the lines are over an hour long! It was really fun taking Meredith on the little kid rides like Dumbo.

We went to Disney Hollywood Studios the next day, and then Epcot Center on Christmas. It was kind of weird already having had our Christmas, but we had a fun day. We really lucked out with the weather, it was cool but not bad and it only rained on the day that we left.

We drove to South Carolina and spent the night with some friends (Scott and Michelle) who have a beach house there. We’d known them for several years, and Michelle’s mom is our attorney (she specializes in special needs trusts). They have such a cute house, all the houses in the area are painted bright pastels, like the color of sherbet. Scott and Michelle have 2 cute boys, and the younger one was so enchanted by Meredith. He was 8, and he followed her around and wanted to help her and play with her, it was so cute! They also have a dog, a really old one, who is more like a rug than a dog, and Meredith fell in love with it and climbed all over it. Amazingly patient animal!

In the morning we walked on the beach and saw 2 dolphins less than 50 yards away. It was such a fun surprise! We walked around the cute little town a little, but it was really really cold. We left around noon and drove straight through to DC.

The next day Scott took Ethan and Meredith to Charlottesville, Virginia, to visit the UVA campus, and then they went to Buena Vista, where Southern Virginia University is located. They visited some friends of ours there as well. Noah and I hung out at the hotel and slept and then had dinner with Kim and Val and their kids that night. We went over to their house and hung out - - Noah and Spencer really bonded! It was so great to see them!

The next day Val and Ellie and I went shopping together. It will be so fun when Meredith is old enough to enjoy shopping (right now she kind of hates it!) Ellie is such a cutie and I was stunned by her bravery in getting her ears pierced without even a wince. We went to some cute stores and had hot chocolate and soft pretzels. So much fun! I wish we lived closer together!!!
We stayed in a hotel downtown the next 3 nights, a really nice one with a wonderful breakfast (yes, I pigged out). On Thursday Scott went to the Holocaust museum with Ethan and Meredith and then we met Kyle and Linzi and Evy for lunch at a Lebanese place. So great to see them, and I’m excited that they’re having a girl! Ethan went back to the hotel, but Scott and Noah and Meredith and I spent the afternoon at the National Zoo and had a blast seeing the animals. I love zoos.

The next day we visited some other friends that live in DC, Dave and Andrea and their son Jacob. Jacob has autism, so his mom and I had a lot in common to talk about. They used to live out here but we hadn’t seen them for quite a while. Andrea is a doctor (general practice). It was interesting to talk to another parent of a child with special needs. Autism is so difficult, and Jacob has some tough behavioral issues. He played nicely with us, but when our time was up he was very anxious for us to go! We made plans to see Dave and Andrea again sometime, without the kids, so we can have an uninterrupted conversation.

Then we went to Kim and Val’s house for New Year’s Eve. Kimball and Kyle were working in the basement and Scott went down to lend them moral support. He felt bad that he couldn’t help out but they were grouting tile, which you have to do on your knees, and Scott can’t kneel. Also he knows nothing about grouting. Val and I and Kimball did some cooking - - Ethan helped to make a delicious chicken salad. The kids had fun playing together - - although Taylor was a little wary of Meredith and she was fascinated by him and wouldn’t leave him alone! Noah and Spencer played Wii most of the time and got along great. It was fun to watch Ellie and Evy play with Meredith too. I was amazed at Val’s cooking skills, she made Betiza (spelling?) and it was amazing. We had lots of delicious food when we finally got the men to come upstairs and join us.

Then we went to the living room and had a long, involved discussion about . . . well, bathroom issues. I don’t know why we always end up talking about poopy accidents and hemorrhoids, but somehow we do. I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt. It was so fun! Oh I hope Kim and Val and Kyle and Linzi and the kids can all come and visit us in Chicago sometime!!! The best part of the whole trip was spending time with family!

The next morning we visited Katie and Dan, who had been stuck in NYC in the snowstorm. I wish we could have visited them for longer, but we had fun talking anyway. Then we hit the road and drove straight through to home. I don’t know how Scott does it, but he sure can drive for long periods of time!!!

We will be sending out individual thank yous, but we do appreciate the wonderful Christmas gifts from you all. I wish we all could have been together over the holidays, but I’m glad we could at least be with the East coasters. We wish you all a wonderful 2011!!!!

Thanksgiving Trip

2010-12-06T06:56:00.003-06:00

Happy Holidays! This is what I like to call the crazy season. As Christmas nears I get more and more nuts. This year I’m trying to step back and just enjoy the spirit of Christmas. And if everything doesn’t get done perfectly that’s ok, right? (Mom, why did you raise me to be such a perfectionist?)

We had a fun and eventful November. The big thing was our Thanksgiving trip. It is difficult to get good, cheap flights within the US this time of year so, as usual, we went somewhere else. (It’s a good thing we didn’t try Idaho, because we probably would have been held up by the snow, always a risk out there in winter. One night in the Malad middle school is enough for me!) Anyway Scott had a trip to Spain all planned out for us. Remember how he said travel would slow down after our flight benefits ran out? Ha! He’s traveling so much for work that he has a ton of frequent flyer miles and hotel points, so we can still get around and satisfy his wanderlust.

The flight to Madrid was fine until we were landing and Meredith threw up all over Scott. It was awful, and he couldn’t take her to the bathroom because the seatbelt sign was on and we were about to touch down. Very messy and smelly. Otherwise it was ok and Noah did quite well. We had a long layover and then a flight to Malaga (only an hour) and about an hour’s drive to Marbella, where we stayed. We stayed in a 2 bedroom condo - - it was so nice to have a kitchen and laundry! It was late so we went to bed, trying to stave off jet lag. It worked pretty well, and the kids slept soundly. Meredith really did great sleeping-wise.

The next day we kind of had a lazy day recovering from the flying. It was nice to just hang out together. We’d given Noah “Toy Story 3” as an early birthday present and he watched it about a million times. He just loved it, and it was fun to see him enjoying it. Noah is very active when he watches movies, he uses his toys to act out the scenes and sings along with the music - - it’s really cute.

For dinner we went into Marbella and ate at a delicious Lebanese restaurant. Wonderful food! I’m so glad my kids are adventurous about eating! I hope Meredith grows up to be as good an eater as her brothers. After dinner we wandered around the town and looked in the shops. Marbella is right on the coast and is a very popular place with wealthy Europeans, especially those from England. The shops were very expensive, but I was still tempted by the darling baby clothes (I resisted).

In the morning we went to a little town called Ronda, which is famous because it is built around a very deep ravine. Pretty amazing views! The places we visited on this trip were a fair distance away, one to two hours, but we didn’t mind the drive. We’d rented a mini-van, and Noah had the back seat to himself, where he quietly played with his stuffed animals and drew. Meredith and Ethan had the middle seat, and Ethan’s ipod kept him happy. And Scott had his GPS, which made us both happy.

The next morning we went to the Alhambra. I’d read about it but really didn’t know what to expect. It was amazing! The tilework was beautiful. We spent a good amount of time wandering around the gardens. We got to take a tour inside, but we had to make it kind of quick because Mer got fussy. The ceilings were pretty spectacular. We also met a nice young man from England (Leeds) who took a cute picture of Noah and Meredith and later emailed it to us. We always meet such nice people when we travel!

One thing you can easily get in Spain is good pizza, pasta, and gelato, so that’s what we had for dinner. When we eat out with Noah and Meredith it is usually a pretty fast meal. We have to be able to make a quick getaway in case of an outburst. One of the things we do when we travel is take along Trivial Pursuit cards and ask questions during the meal. We make up animal questions for Noah, and he loves to answer them.

The next day was Wednesday, and we didn’t do a lot until the afternoon. We’d brought games and we had internet access. Scott and Ethan went swimming with Meredith and Noah went to the kids’ club, which gave me some time to work on my paper for my class. (I’m still working on it, it’s due December 17th.) This was the first trip where I brought along my Kindle, and it was wonderful! No heavy backpack full of paperback books! I really enjoy it for travel, although I like regular books when I’m at home. One problem with the Kindle is a lot of the books you download have typos - - one of them was entirely unreadable. Anyway in the afternoon we went to the town Mijas, which was very cute, and had a nice dinner. It was fun walking around together.

On our trip I got a little owie, Meredith bonked the back of her head into my eyebrow bone, leaving me with quite a shiner. It looks like I’ve got very vibrant green and purple eyeshadow on. And it’s still there, almost 2 weeks later! When Noah sees it he says, “yook!”

Thursday was Thanksgiving. We’ve had some unusual Thanksgivings, and this was no different. We got up early-ish and went to Gibraltar. It is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. Its isthmus connects to the north with Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region and about 40,000 people live there. The Rock itself is pretty amazing, it is huge! It ended up being most cost effective to hire a tour guide to drive us (we didn’t take our car there, we parked it in Spain. You have to go through customs to get into Gibraltar.) Our guide was very nice and knowledgeable. We first went to some neat caves with lots of stalactites and stalagmites. Then we went to an area where we saw the famous apes of Gibraltar (they are Barbary apes). They were very friendly and we had to hold the little kids back a little. I was nervous, having been menaced by monkeys twice before, but this time they left me alone. We got some great pictures.
Next we visited another set of caves which were used during WWI and WWII. The whole area had been made into a museum, which was quite interesting. Our guide took us back to the main square where we had lunch and then spent some time shopping. Everything was very expensive, but it was fun to look! When it came time to go back we had to cross an active runway. This was Scott’s favorite part of the trip. There is only one runway at the airport there, and only a few flights a day go in and out. So a large street crosses the runway and they shut it down when a plane is landing or taking off. Pretty cool!

After a long day we were too tired to go out to eat (and I doubt the kids would have made it). The hotel had a Thanksgiving dinner special, but it was very expensive, and we’d had breakfast at the restaurant there and it wasn’t all that great. So instead we went to the grocery store and bought bread and crackers and cheese and salami and fruit and cookies and ice cream. Ultrafeast! A non-traditional but very fun Thanksgiving dinner, and we counted our blessings. We truly are so thankful for our family and for the gospel.

Our visit to Morocco was the best day. We had to drive to Terife, Spain, where there was a ferry that took us across the Strait of Gibraltar to Tangier. Morocco is part of Africa, and we were able to take pictures at the northernmost point of the continent. Our guide met us when we got off the very, a very nice man named Aziz. He also was the guide for Rick Steves, who has a travel show, and we actually saw an episode they did about Spain and Morocco and Aziz was in it! He really bonded with Noah and later sent us a couple of very sweet emails, including one to Noah for his birthday.

Ethan’s favorite place was Morocco, because the movie “The Bourne Ultimatum” had several scenes filmed there. Aziz and our driver (Mohammad) had both worked on the set of the movie, so they took us to all the spots, including a café, a place where a car bomb exploded, and the scene of a rooftop chase (Ethan and Scott actually got to go up to the rooftop!) It was very exciting for him!

Morocco is a very interesting country. It is a mixture of many cultures and religions. Officially it is an Islamic country, but Aziz pointed out a Catholic church and a Jewish synagogue before we came to our first mosque. The official language is Arabic, second is French (there is a lot of French influence there, and the street signs are in both Arabic and French). The third most common language is Spanish, and the fourth is English. The people there were all very friendly, and they were entranced by Meredith and her blond hair. One little girl came right up to her and kissed her on the cheek! And people were very friendly to Noah as well.

Aziz drove us through some of the wealthy areas, past where the king of Morocco has a palace (the capital is Rabat, which is where the main palace is.) For many years Tangier didn’t have a great reputation, but over the past 10 years, since the king came into power, it has undergone great changes, a big clean-up and more new construction than I’ve ever seen anywhere. There is a lot to recommend it as a tourist destination, including beautiful preserved land and pristine beaches.

On the side of the road was a “camel stand” for tourists - - you paid a few euros and got to ride a camel. There were 3 big ones and a baby (cute!) So of course we stopped, and Scott and Meredith, Noah and I, and Ethan all rode the 3 big camels. We got some great pictures and it was very fun. Afterwards Aziz said he’d take us to the best restrooms in Tangier to freshen up. Turns out he knew the owner of a gorgeous small hotel, and we got to go in and use the facilities (which were as lovely as promised.) Aziz seemed to know just about everybody; he was a wonderful guide. Ethan was happy because it was the same hotel where Matt Damon stayed during the filming of the Bourne movie.

We visited some very interesting ancient caves next. They are called the Hercules caves, and the outermost part was formed naturally. But the inner rooms were made by early people carving out huge flat circular stones to grind grains. You could see where some partially carved out stones were. It was fascinating.

We had lunch at a very typical Moroccan restaurant - - the most delicious couscous with a topping of vegetables and raisins, of all things. They were boiled and very sweet and tasty. We also had chicken and lamb kabobs. Then to work off our feast we walked around the downtown, including a neat outdoor market (there were plucked, headless chickens hanging up, causing Noah to ask, “What happened?”) Really cool displays of many different types of olives. The climate there is very temperate and they can grow all kinds of fruits and veggies.

Our last stop was a rug shop. It was kind of a hard sell, but we enjoyed it anyway. Meredith just roamed around on the carpets, while we learned about the different types and styles. Scott was a great haggler and we bought a small rug for a very good price, a nice souvenir of our trip that is now in the music room. We really enjoyed ourselves, especially Noah, who pretended he was selling rugs too. We were sorry to say goodbye, it was such a fun day!

We were so lucky, weatherwise, on this trip. Almost every day rain was forecast, but we didn’t get rained on at all. On the day we went to Morocco it rained as we were driving to Terife, then stopped the whole time we were out. About 5 minutes after we got back into our car to go back to the hotel it started pouring. It did rain all day the next day, but we’d planned on having a lazy day and just hanging out at the hotel anyway, so it was fine.

So our Saturday was a lazy day and then the next day we flew home. Our flights were uneventful - - but here’s a tip: never fly Iberian airlines. The food was inedible and the service was poor. Both Meredith and Noah behaved themselves, although Mer only slept about 30 minutes on the 9-hour flight. Wow, were we beat when we got home! Now we’re on reverse jet lag, where we fall asleep early and wake up at 4 or 5:00. I get so much done in the mornings, but I’m pretty useless after about 7:00 p.m. We’re finally unpacked and getting into the swing of the holiday season. We wish you all joy as you prepare for Christmas. Remember the reason we celebrate this holiday!

Thank Goodness it's nearly November

2010-10-31T20:04:00.003-05:00

Parts of October were great, but the last 3 weeks have been pretty incredibly stressful. The first 10 days Scott and Ethan went to Peru. Yeah, I know. Amazing! Really they did have a fantastic time as you can see from the pictures. I was a little bit jealous, but I also had fun because Omi came out to visit me! She brought out lots and lots of fabric and put together some really cute quilt kits for the hume room. I had projects too. I was recently called as the new primary chorister and Omi helped me (actually she did most of it)make a really fun poster of a thumbs up/thumbs down (for when the kids are singing well, or not so well.) I made a couple of other posters too. We got a babysitter a couple of times and went shopping sans kids, which was a real treat. Amazing how many stores you can visit when you aren't dragging the kids around. But the most fun we had was with the kids. Noah was thrilled to see his Omi, even though it kind of upset the even tenor of his way. Noah likes his little routines, and I think he associated Omi coming with Scott and Ethan going, because a couple of times he told her to pack her suitcase. Maybe he thought that would bring his dad home sooner. But he really did enjoy having her visit and they had some nice talks. The one who really bonded with Omi for the first time was Meredith. They hadn't been able to spend much time together prior to this and I don't think I'm wrong in saying that Omi totally fell in love. Meredith is such a friendly little sweetheart and she gave Omi lots of hugs and loves. She is at the most fun age, learning new words, toddling around, and being so interested in everything and everyone. Her first word was hi, and she says it to everyone, including people in stores, parking lots, she just loves the world. She loves the animal kingdom too, especially dogs. Our neighbors have a very large dalmation and Mer has become very fond of it. She says "dog" and "woof woof" a lot. She also has expressed a preference for "Clifford" on PBS. I kind of hate Clifford but I let her watch it anyway, she loves the dog so much.

This morning before church I was in the primary room and Meredith pointed to the big picture of Jesus and said, "Jesus" just as clearly as could be. She did it several times, and later pointed to another picture and said it again. She also folds her arms for prayer, she just started doing that on her own. So cute! She gives high fives and fist bumps (the scouts taught her that) and everyone loves her. Ian and Brandon, the sons of my friend Darla (who babysits for me on Mondays) just adore her and want to play with her all the time. She is the joy of my life! And boy did Omi and I have some great fun shopping for clothes for her and looking at fancy little girl dresses. I recently bought a toddler bed and cute owl bedding from Target but we don't have the bed put together yet. So many things on the to-do list.

A little more about my new calling - - I love it! I was sad to say goodbye to the young women after 3 years, they are wonderful and we have had some great times together. But being the primary chorister is a lot of fun! I was kind of thrown into the deep end because the annual program was just 3 weeks after I got called (and one of those weeks was conference!) But the kids sang beautifully. Oh and Noah did such an amazing job with his part. I wrote it out for him, "Jesus said, 'if you love me, keep my commandments'" and we practiced it over and over. But you never know with Noah if he's going to do something silly. Well not this time - - he got up and said every word perfectly and clearly. He did as well as any other kid there. I was bursting with pride, and I guess he was too, because on his way back to his seat he raised up both his arms and said, "yeah!" What a doll! He works so hard and it is beautiful to see his progress. Omi mentioned to me how much clearer his speech has become.

Well Scott and Ethan got back on Monday, October 11th, but Scott had to leave again the very next day. He has been gone every week for at least 3 days. It is not easy being a single parent. The worst was week before last. Noah was sick, throwing up, all Sunday night. Ethan and I both got sick Monday night, and Scott left Tuesday morning. This was a yucky flu, lots of barfing (Ethan set the record with 27 upchucks) and terrible body aches. We were miserable, but I was better by Wednesday night. Ethan was not. He came into my room that night just doubled over in pain. He had been so stoic during his illness that I knew he was really sick. I was scared and grabbed the other kids and raced to the hospital. My wonderful friend Darla met me there and took Noah and Mer back to her house to spend the night. Ethan and I spent 5 hours in the emergency room. Fortunately his pain subsided somewhat. I was worried that his appendix had ruptured or something. He was dehydrated from so much vomiting so they gave him a lot of IV fluids, then he had to drink this yucky contrast stuff and have a cat scan. His appendix was fine but there was fluid around his liver and his liver enzymes were elevated. I had to take him to the dr. the next day, but he was quite a bit better by then. I think it was mostly caused by dehydration and not eating. Poor kid! He's fine now, but still hasn't gained back all the weight he lost. Sadly, I have.

Another busy thing we had was houseguest for a few days, our dear friends the Felsteds were moving to North Carolina. They're stuff had already shipped so we invited them to stay with us and we had a going away party for them. They have 3 kids, and their youngest, Henry, is just a few weeks older than Meredith. It was fun to watch them together. The party was a big his and we had about 40 people here and lots of good food. It went on a little longer than we'd planned, but once things get going they're hard to stop (ha ha). Mostly it was just difficult to round up all the kids! We're going to miss the Felsteds, they are really fun people.

We had 2 other parties this month - - 2 Saturdays ago was our annual Down syndrome Halloween party. I was in charge of some of it, and as in the past couple of years we had it at the church. This was the best party we've had yet, a big turnout (60 people) and lots of fun. Noah had a great time with his "girlfriends" Leah and Vanessa. He dressed up as a cowboy, and wore the awesome hat Scott brought back for him from Peru. Last night was our ward party, and it was packed with people. They had a chili and cornbread cookoff - - yummy, as well as cake and pumpkin decorating contests. The pumpkin winner had carved his so it looked like it was barfing out its own seeds and guts. Disgusting, but so hilarious! Meredith looked absolutely adorable in a little zebra costume and won 2nd place in the girls' age 0 to 6 category. She and Noah had fun trick-or-treating tonight at our neighbors' houses. I love the cute little kids who come to our door, but I hate the teenagers who don't even bother to dress up, they just show up and demand candy. I'd say no, but I don't want my house to get egged. Sometimes they're a little scary.

I'm not crazy about Halloween as a holiday, but I do love that it's Mom's birthday and we all wish her a very happy one!

It's Autumn Time!

2010-10-23T15:01:00.002-05:00

I am so glad it's finally Fall! This was a long hot summer and I'm grateful for the cool, crisp weather. September was really a beautiful month. The kids got settled back into school and are enjoying their new classes. Ethan is doing well in his last year of middle school. He decided to do cross-country this year, since a couple of his buddies were doing it. It was not easy, he had practice almost every day after school and one to two meets per week. But he did great! I was so proud of him sticking to it. He turned out to be a great runner, continually bettering his times for the two-mile. He especially was good at pouring on the steam during the last 50 or so yards. He enjoyed it so much that he plans to do track in the Spring. Yay Ethan! Ethan is also working hard on merit badges for scouts, and continues to learn about World War II in his free time.

Noah is also loving school. He had to miss a few days in the middle of the month to go to the hospital for a "colon cleanse." It's even worse than it sounds. He had to have a naso-gastric tube (through his nose and into his stomach). He was fed gallons of solution through the tube until his entire digestive tract was empty. It took 3 days. Noah was really tough. He pulled out the tube onece, but after we stuck it back in he realized we meant business and after that he wouldn't let anyone touch it. Even though he felt sick at times he was a great patient. Thank goodness for his DVD player and Barney and Elmo DVDs.

Noah continues to study hard and his speech has become quite clear. He loves to write numbers and letters and draw pictures. It's pretty unusual for him not to have a pen and paper in hand.

Meredith is such a little doll! She is walking very well now and can go up and down the stairs. Her first word was, "hi," which is typical of her extremely friendly nature. She can also say "Mama" and "Daddy" and "nose." She loves books and has finally stopped chewing on them and started looking at the pages! She is such a sweetheart and we are all just crazy about her. She smiles constantly and likes to give high fives and fist bumps (the scouts taught her that.) She also, on her own, folds her arms for prayer. It's so cute!

Scott is traveling a lot for work, 2 or 3 days every week, usually. When home he loves to take Noah and Meredith to the gym so he can play tennis. We've also gone out to eat with friends a few times, which is always fun.

I am enjoying my graduate class (Information Literacy) more than I thought I would. I have learned so much and it's great to feel like I'm putting my brain to work. I am learning about researching, especially academic journals, and I've started work on a 20 page paper about the benefits of signing to individuals with Down syndrome (my choice of topic, obviously.) I also recently was called to be the primary chorister and have been busy getting ready for the primary program. And the Down syndrome group keeps me occupied with various activities and the bi-monthly newsletter.

It was great to take a break from all that stuff and go out to Utah for Kyle and Linzi's sealing! How wonderful to see them after so long, and it was great to see Linzi's family again (they're so much fun!) I stayed with Beebs and she and Heidi and I stayed up late talking and laughing like crazy. We also enjoyed an all-girl shopping spree that lasted most of Friday. Fun! Beebs is always such a great host and it was great to hang out with family. I was pretty bummed when I had to leave, but glad to see Scott and the kids again. Wow do I wish we lived closer together sometimes!

Love and miss you all so much!
Ali

Back to School

2010-09-01T19:25:00.002-05:00

August was a busy month for us and a lot of things happened. The biggest happening was the return to school for Ethan and Noah. Ethan is in 8th grade and seems to be enjoying himself. He wrote a funny paper telling about himself for his language arts class - - some phrases were, "here are a few fun Ethan Garner facts," and "my brother Noah has Down syndrome with a side of alopecia," and "my family is equipped with the standard issue mom and dad." Not sure how I feel about being called "standard issue," but it was pretty funny anyway.

Ethan is doing cross-country this year, his first school sport. It requires a certain amount of effort on my part, because Noah's bus comes at the same time that Ethan finishes running, so I have to pick them both up from school every day. It's worth it though, and I'm very proud of Ethan for running, even when it's so humid and hot outside. I'm also proud of Ethan's work in scouts; he has earned enough merit badges to become a "star" scout (next is "life" and then "eagle.") He wants to get his eagle by the end of next summer, which would be great, because he'll only be busier once he gets into high school.

Noah is a big fifth-grader now. Somehow over the summer he grew taller and looks skinnier. I'm relieved he's so fit, because a lot of kids (and adults) with Down syndrome struggle with their weight. Luckily he has pretty healthy eating habits - - I don't know any other kid who likes V-8 as much as he does!

We recently took Noah in for an MRI (under anesthesia) of his lower spine. We go back to the doctor tomorrow to discuss the results. We're trying to discover the reason for his lack of sensation in his . . . bowels. Just another step in the long long road to continence.

Noah did 2 weeks of extended swim/play camp at the beginning of the month. He is really fearless about getting in the water, and I hope we can continue to work on his swimming skills. He was really excited about our annual DS picnic, but on the day it was held he got a high fever and Scott had to take him home. Ethan and I stayed and had a great time. I'm still writing the bi-monthly newsletter for our group - - I really enjoy my association with the good people that volunteer.

Scott has been traveling like crazy, he's gone this week from Monday to Friday. When I told him I missed him he said, "do you miss me or my help with the kids?" I had to admit it was a little of both. I don't know how single mothers do it! But Scott is very helpful when he is home and allows me some "me" time. He loves taking the kids swimming at the gym and they love to go with him!

Meredith is getting so big (literally - - she is off the charts for height!) She is at such a fun stage, learning new things all the time, toddling around everywhere, and babbling in her sweet little voice. She loves to sing along with music in the car and she has a funny little dance she does, too. She points at everything and says babble-words in an inquiring voice. I'm enjoying reading books to her and playing with her. She's also into everything, makes giant messes, and squawks when she doesn't get what she wants. But she's so cute that I just have to smile and give her even more hugs and kisses. Her bangs got so long that we finally trimmed them, she was looking like a sheepdog! Now her hair is a little more "styled." I love buying new clothes for her, still haven't gotten over the novelty of having my own little dolly to dress.

My own big news is that I've started a graduate program. I found an online one that I really liked - - it's a Master's in Liberal Studies with a focus on the Humanities at Fort Hays University. I have a lot of freedom and can take just one class a semester, which is perfect. I started my class on Monday and I'm enjoying it, even if I feel a little stressed out. I haven't done critical thinking and writing like this for a very long time. I'm also still learning how to use the online discussion board. But the topics are fascinating (the class is "Information Literacy: Applied Research for the Digital Age".) I have 2 exams, a 20 page paper, and weekly discussion questions. So it's a little overwhelming right now, but this is really something I've wanted to do for a long time, and in 5 years I'll be 5 years older whether I do it or not, so why not just do it?!

I'm super excited to go to Kyle and Linzi's sealing next weekend - - Scott is going to be watching the kids so I'll be free to hang out - - yay! Not that I don't love my little ones, but everyone needs a break now and then, right?

Love and miss you!

Turning 40

2010-08-01T16:56:00.002-05:00

See my dedication?! I'm writing my family letter, even though I should be curled up into a ball weeping about turning 40. I guess I'll have to put that off until tomorrow.

Actually this has been a very nice birthday so far, and Scott is taking me out to dinner tonight, so that will be even better. The best present was picking Ethan up from camp, where he had been for almost 2 weeks. I missed him so much! It was a "Christian Youth" camp up at Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. The first week was spent at the huge campground there. The boys stayed in cabins (there were over a hundred boys Ethan's age) and did all kinds of activities: paintball, rock climbing, banana boating, swimming, archery, etc. Ethan said the food was great and he had a good time. I asked him about the church aspect of it and he said, "it made me so glad I was a Mormon because I went to chapel and I couldn't really feel the spirit." He said he was so excited to come home and go to church. One of his cabin mates had a good friend who was Mormon, and he and Ethan had some good talks about the church. Ethan said he did appreciate very much that there was no swearing or taking of the Lord's name in vain.

The second week was spent with 18 other boys hiking and canoeing all over Wisconsin. On the Tuesday Ethan crashed his bike into a tree and sprained his wrist pretty badly and got scraped up. (Of course when I saw him today with his wrist brace and scratches I felt terrible that I hadn't been there for him - - my poor baby!) He recovered ok, but had to miss out on the rock climbing, which was a bummer. The counselors were very nice and took him to the nurse so he was well taken care of. He made some great friends, and helped out a couple of boys that had special needs. I'm so proud of him, 2 weeks is a long time to be away from home, and the last week was pretty strenuous, but he toughed it out.

Noah has been going around today telling me, "Happy birthday . . . forty!" Well it is true, I am forty. Yikes! But what a great life I have, with a wonderful husband, 3 fantastic children that I adore, and great friends and family. I certainly don't feel 40!

Having a 1 year old is either aging me rapidly or keeping me young. Meredith is on the verge of walking well (she takes lots of steps, but also falls down a lot). And she is into everything! I just bought a gate for the basement so she can play without me constantly dragging her away from the stairs or other no-nos. She is a very happy girl, with an infectious laugh. Her hair is getting long, in fact her bangs hang into her eyes, but I don't want to cut them (I'm afraid I'll do a terrible job - - how on earth would I get her to hold still?) I put in barrettes, but she often pulls them out and then tries to eat them. She has suddenly gotten very picky about food, so we're trying to creatively cram fruits and veggies into her. She is a little bundle of fun and it's so great to listen to her babble. Still waiting on an official first word, but I have a feeling it will be "DAD" - - she sure loves her pop!

Noah finished up his day camp, but he has 2 weeks of extended camp coming up. Yesterday he went on a field trip to the zoo, his favorite place ever. He has become very helpful around the house - - when I ask him to pick something up or help me in some way he always replies, "okay!" or "of course!" and it is so sweet! While we were out in Idaho Noah spent 3 days and nights at "Camp River Run," a special camp for children with medical problems or special needs (most of the kids didn't have developmental delays, but they are expanding their camp to include more of them). Scott actually met the guy that runs the camp on an airplane and that's how Noah was invited to attend. It's a free camp and run by all volunteers. They did lots of fun things like fishing and horseback riding. They said Noah was great and not too homesick. He came back with two new phrases: Camp River Run and Wild, Wild West! I'm so grateful for the wonderful people who choose to work with individuals with special needs. Noah has been so blessed with wonderful teachers and helpers, who continue to inspire me with their patience and love.

While Noah was at camp, Scott and Meredith and I flew up to Spokanne, Washington, and then drove to Sand Point, Idaho, where our friends John and Cynthia have a beautiful summer home. It's right on Lake Pend Oreille, and it is truly lovely. They are such generous people, and it was so restful to be there. We ate out a couple of times, put together a fun puzzle, played Trivial Pursuit, and Cynthia and I made a fantastic pie to enter into the summer pie making contest. They were very accommodating of Meredith too, which was lovely. I wish we could have stayed for a month!

The rest of our Idaho trip was much too short, but lots of fun. I actually had to fly out a few days late because of a bad sinus/ear infection (I have learned my lesson about flying with a stuffed head - - I have had times where I truly feared it would explode in some way!) So Scott, amazing man that he is, flew out earlier with all 3 kids! They attended the Garner family reunion, as well as the mission farewell of Scott's nephew Nate. I'm so grateful for Ethan's wonderful Garner cousins and their good examples to him!

I flew into Idaho Falls on a Sunday, the same day Scott and the kids drove to Sugar City (and also Meredith's 1st birthday!) She got 2 parties and cakes! I can't believe my precious baby is already one! Wow has the past year flown by. She is so darling, taking little wobbly steps and babbling so sweetly. She claps her hands and pats me on the arm when I'm holding her. Everyone comments on her constant smile and cheery disposition. She is such an angel! I can't believe how lucky we are to have her in our lives.

We had a great time visiting in Sugar City. Dad took the cousins to Craters of the Moon, which was great. He also tried to take Ethan and Milena to cave falls, but unfortunately the cave was closed. But Ethan and Beanie had a great time anyway. Heidi and I took all the kids swimming for several hours. It was wonderful to see everyone and hang out and talk. Thanks so much for the hospitality and the birthday gifts for Meredith! I wish so much we could have stayed longer!

Ethan stayed with Scott's brother Mike and his family while we were in Sand Point. He had a lot of fun swimming and hanging out, and maybe even learned to do a little bit of manual labor by digging holes for irrigation lines. It's awesome to have family on a farm (and with animals) because it gives the kids such a different experience when they get to visit.

I'm writing the rest of this post the day after my birthday, so I can tell you how wonderful it was. Scott had arranged to take me out to dinner, but I didn't know he'd also arranged a surprise party for me at the restaurant! When we got there I saw a big table full of people, all with their menus covering their faces, and I knew something was up! It was so much fun and I felt so loved! There were thoughtful gifts and a beautiful cake, decorated by my talented friend Michelle, and best of all such a nice feeling of love and friendship. It was one of the best nights I have had in a long time. It was great! And Scott also got me a Kindle (electronic reader), which I have tried out and really love! It can hold thousands of books, and will certainly change travel for me, since I will no longer have to carry and extra suitcase just for reading material. What a great and thoughtful husband! So turning 40 wasn't bad at all - - thanks to my sweet brothers and sisters for their happy wishes. I'll return to favor when you all turn 40 (it's coming sooner than you think!!!!!)

June

2010-06-30T19:38:00.002-05:00

I can't believe the month is over! It's been busy and fun and full of mosquitos. We have had a lot of rain here, including some violent thunderstorms, and the mosquitos are worse than I ever remember them being. I've been spending a lot of time outside, too, because I've been working in the yard. There was a great sale on perennials at Lowe's and I went a little crazy buying plants. It took forever to get them all in the ground, but they look very nice! I think this is the best our yard has ever looked. Now I just have to keep it weeded . . .

Ethan finished up the school year with a bang, and stayed on the high honor roll. He had a couple of lazy weeks (although he'll tell you I badgered him to work most of the time) and now he's off at scout camp. I really miss him! Ethan is great company and we enjoy chatting and having "megafeasts" and watching Seinfeld or the Office. But I know he's having a fun time. The camp is a full week, and Ethan planned to earn several merit badges, including swimming, archery, tracking, and rifle shooting (!) At home we've been working on merit badges as well: medicine, dentistry, music, disability awareness, reading, and family life. Ethan is continuing with guitar lessons over the summer, and is volunteering as a "book buddy" at the library (he listens to a younger boy read and helps him out). He's had fun hanging out with friends and is looking forward to enjoying the rest of the summer.

Noah had one week off (during which he missed school very much!) and then started NISRA summer camp (Norther Illinois Special Recreation Association). It's 4 days a week from 9:15 to 3:15. Twice a week he goes swimming, on Mondays he visits the library, and on Wednesdays he gets to go to McDonald's and order a meal. He loves camp! On Friday's he's signed up for some fun field trips. Last week he went with a group to a children's museum in Milwaukee. Noah is Mr. Social, so the camps are awesome for him. Today he didn't go to camp so he could attend the ward cub scout day camp instead. It was a really beautiful day, sunny but not too hot, and he swam and played soccer. We have great kids in our ward who really go out of their way to include Noah in the activities. It was so sweet to watch them let Noah kick the ball in soccer.

Noah is so funny, when he's at home he likes to set up a little work table for himself. He goes through reams of paper, writing numbers and letters and drawing funny little pictures. He has a little magnifying glass shaped like a megaphone that he uses as an inkwell - - it's a hoot watching him pretend dip his pen in it. Last week he set up his table with paper, pens, a magic wand, his plastic briefcase . . . and a nasal aspirator. Guess he wanted to be ready for anything!

Little Meredith is getting bigger and bigger (she'll be one in 11 days!) Her hair is long enough now that I can put a barrette in it! She has such a sweet temperment, and is always willing to give hugs to our friends. She's "cruising" (walking around holding on to things) and I'm sure she'll be walking very soon. She loves to get into things, open cupboards, and make messes. And everything goes in her mouth. I have a missing library book, and I'm beginning to think that she might have eaten it.

One of the adoption caseworkers has parents in our neighborhood (what a coincidence, right?!) and was in town this week. She's the one that was there when Meredith was born and watched her all day. She got to come over and visit and it was wonderful to see her and show her how big our baby has gotten. Hard to believe it's been almost a year, and yet I can't even imagine our life without her!

Scott is such a great dad. We honored him with some fancy chocolate and a nice father's day dinner (kabobs on the new grill). He's been travelling a lot for work and we sure miss him when he is gone! He went up with Ethan for a couple of days at scout camp and will be picking him up on Saturday. He's still playing tennis, and even gets free lessons from one of the pros at the health club.

I got to spend a night up at girl's camp last week (well actually they didn't have room at the cabin, so the yw pres. (Sarah Felsted) and I shared a hotel room, which was awesome!) It's a beautiful camp, more like a resort really, and if it's at the same place next year I'll go for the week! Sarah and I had lots of fun talking during the 3 hour drive up and back. We really have awesome young women in our ward, and it was beautiful to see how well they were all getting along. The theme this year was "superheroes" and our girls were the "wilderness adventurers" from the movie Up. They came up with some really cute things!

I'm staying busy driving kids to various activities and working in the yard. But I still make time to read and play word bubbles on lumosity.com (check it out, it's awesome!) And I'm working on applying to a graduate program in the humanities. Got to keep my brain from turning to mush. I should probably try to keep my body from turning to mush as well. I only have one more month of my 30s left, better make the most of it!

We're really looking forward to seeing everyone this summer in Idaho/Utah!

May Flowers

2010-05-31T13:10:00.003-05:00

It's hard to believe it's the last day of May! We're planning on having a picnic with some friends from the ward, as long as it's not raining. It really stormed this morning, but it's dry now, we'll see if it stays that way!

Scott is off playing squash with a friend, and the kids and I are having an enjoyable afternoon. Meredith is napping, Noah is coloring, and Ethan is playing a video game. I just love my kids! Here's what they've been up to lately:

Ethan turned 13 on May 16th. I can't believe I have a teenager! And so far it isn't as hard as I thought it would be! Truly, Ethan is a great kid. He has done so well in school this year, and is very self motivated. He wants to be a doctor when he grows up (specifically a "hospitalist," which is a g.p. who works in a hospital setting.) He has his college all planned out, and recently expressed his goal of getting straight As in high school so he can get good scholarships.

Ethan and I have started working on some of his merit badges. This summer is a good time to do them, because he'll only be busier once he starts high school. We're working on reading, dentistry, medicine, family life, music, and disability awareness. He's also got scout camp coming up next month, and he'll get a lot done there.

Ethan has done a lot of running in gym, and is getting pretty good! Maybe he'll take after Scott and do marathons someday. I hope he can be in cross-country in the fall, we'll see.

Noah is finishing off his 4th grade year with a bang. He has learned so much and done so well this year, I am really proud of him! He just brought a cute little "note" into me, with a picture of him and me and a spaceship. He's learning to write more, and speaks much more clearly. He and his friend Leah and I went to the movie "Shrek Ever After" and had a great time. He's signed up for summer camp and is really looking forward to it. We've worked very hard on potty-training during the last month, but unfortunately with little success. We're planning to take him to a specialist again, because there is definitely a physiological problem there! So wish us luck.

Meredith continues to grow into the most darling little girl ever! Her hair has gotten much longer and thicker. It no longer sticks up, which is kind of sad, but pretty soon I'll be able to put barrettes in it! I love dressing her up, although it's challenging, because she is a very wiggly little thing! She crawls very fast all over and get into everything (and puts everything into her mouth!) So I have to watch her very carefully. Scott loves taking pictures of her and we've got some really cute ones. The boys are so loving to their little sister! And she makes the sweetest little sounds all the time, I just love listening to her!

I recently read "Devil in the White City," about the Chicago World's Fair (and a serial killer who lived at the same time, in the late 1800s). Fascinating! I hosted book club and made devil's food cake in honor of the book. I really enjoy our book group. I also read "The Book Thief" and loved it - - Ethan is reading it now.

The mosquitos are out in full force, but it hasn't stopped me from planting my "garden" (three earth boxes with tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers that I grew from seed). I've also filled some of my flower pots and have several more to fill. Ethan is my helper with watering, and I sure appreciate it. I'm hoping to get a porch swing for the back patio so I can sit out there with Meredith and enjoy the sunshine!

Love you all!

April Showers

2010-05-09T16:48:00.003-05:00

Scott has been a real traveling man lately. He is now working for a company called Open Mind, based in San Francisco. His job entails forming marketing partnerships with (mostly) travel based companies. Or something like that. Anyway it has kept him out of town quite a bit. And then he had the wonderful opportunity to go on a "Spiritual Retreat" to Israel with our friend John and some other men (2 of whom were ministers). He was gone for about 11 days and had a wonderful time. So that I wouldn't be too lonely while he was gone, we invited Heidi and her 3 kids to come and visit. 2 adults + 6 kids = one crazy household! But it was loads of fun. Although Rowan and Meredith are a little too young to play together, they did seem quite interested in each other. Meredith kept stealing Rowan's binkie and chewing on it. Meredith is quite a bit larger than Rowan, she really is tall for her age. Beanie was a huge help taking care of the babies and allowed Heidi and me to have some enjoyable "down time." Ethan had a great time teaching Beanie how to play ping pong, she got so good she almost beat me! The cousins played a lot of board games and Tallis and Milena enjoyed playing the Wii while my kids were at school. Noah was thrilled to have Tallis around to play with. He was so excited to see his beloved cousins!

On the Saturday Heidi was here we girded up our loins and hit the road for Milwaukee (minus Ethan, who had to do mulching to earn money for scout camp.) Thank goodness for my GPS, we had no problem getting there (it's about 2 hours away). First we went to the zoo, which was very nice, if a bit overpriced. The weather was just beautiful, and the babies behaved themselves very well. Noah was a bit difficult, but he does love zoos.

We had lunch at a nice greek place, good food and it was very quiet (which was good, because we were pretty noisy!) Then we went to the art museum. I'd never been there before, it was great! We saw a beautiful tryptich, some lovely paintings, and the highlight, "Woman with Veil" by Rafael, a response to the Mona Lisa. The exhibit was extremely well done. There was a very nice children's section as well, with information about 3-D imaging. The kids got to dress up and have their picture taken, very cute! It was a long and tiring day, but I'm so glad we did it! I love having so many wonderful museums, zoos, etc. so close to where we live!

The best part was having Heidi to hang out with and talk to and watch tv with and eat food with. I'm impressed with the amount of work she puts into her home-schooling - - I don't think I'd have the patience! But the program is an excellent one. I wish Heidi and I had been able to do some shopping together, but taking all of the kids was just not a great option. Maybe another time.

While Heidi was here I went through all of Meredith's clothes so she could take the outgrown ones to Beebs. It left me with very few clothes that fit! Meredith is just growing like a weed! She is such a sweet happy baby, and we're so glad to have her in our family. She has become quite noisy, making cute and funny squawks all the time.

Noah is undergoing intensive potty-training. His teachers are really working with me on this, which is super. I spent an inordinate amount of money on special training underwear (although they are worth it, I have to say) and a device called "Flippee the toilet protector" (don't ask.) He is doing a great job staying dry, but still has trouble with #2. Your prayers on his (and our) behalf are requested. Noah is a sweetheart, he came home from church today just filled with excitement because he had candy for me for Mother's Day. He's such a loving boy!

Ethan wrote a funny Mother's Day card for me - - "You have the hardest job with the worst pay, but the best perks." I agree. One of Ethan's teachers told Scott at parents' night that Ethan has a very sophisticated sense of humor. Sophisticated for a 7th grader anyway. Ethan does have a great sense of humor and I love chatting with him. I try to read all the books he reads so we can talk about them together. I can't believe he'll be a teenager in a week!

Our Trip

2010-04-09T10:42:00.002-05:00

I posted my pictures of this trip on facebook, so I'm not going to repost them here. This was our spring break trip to Europe.

Day 1

Sunday. After church we came home, frantically finished packing, and then took a late afternoon flight to Munich. Ethan and Noah and I sat together, and Scott sat with Meredith. She was the best traveler of us all - - not a peep out of her. She is such a happy little girl! We slept pretty well on the flight and arrived the following morning. Somehow all her diapers got packed with

Day 2

Monday. Usually after a long flight we like to head straight for a hotel, but today was a little different. The flight was the last one we took as non-revenue passengers, because our benefits expired April 1st. We wanted to leave earlier, but the flights were too full. So we had to shorten our trip just a bit. It worked out fine, but we were pretty tired and gross feeling by the end of the day! We got our luggage and picked up our rental car and then headed to Neueschwanstein Castle, about a 2 hour drive. The weather was great, sunny and cool (I don’t like it too hot, especially when we’re hiking around). Scott got a great little mini-van for us and we were able to fit everything in (amazing!) Noah sat in the far back with his backpack full of random toys. Ethan and Meredith sat in the middle row, and Ethan did a great job of looking after his baby sister. He was so helpful throughout the trip, I don’t know what we would have done without him. Scott and I sat in the front and used his Garmin (GPS) and the car’s navigation system and did a pretty good job of not getting lost. Even with the GPS I would have been terrified of driving all over (7 countries!) but Scott did great. Even on the autobahn, where cars were passing at incredible speeds. I did pound the imaginary brake a little bit, but Scott was patient with my back-seat driving, and I did help out a little bit looking for signs and things.

What a beautiful drive we had! In some ways I wish it had been later in spring, the grass was green and a few flowers were up, but not many. On the other hand there were much fewer tourists and the weather didn’t get too hot. I would love to go back sometime in late spring, though, to see the blossoms.

We parked at the bottom of a steep hill and then hiked up to see the castle. Our incentive for Noah was the possibility of seeing “the Beast” - - he just saw the Broadway show and was very excited about the enchanted castle. The views from the top were beautiful, and it felt great to stretch our legs after so many hours of sitting. We did a guided tour of the castle, which was built by “Mad” King Ludwig in the late 1800s. I was amazed at what great shape it was in. The murals on the walls were gorgeous. Ludwig was obsessed with Wagner and had several of the rooms painted to represent different operas, like Tristan and Isolde, Lohengrin, and Parsifal. Everything was quite ornate. King Ludwig may have been crazy, but he did build a very beautiful castle - - it was one of 3 he had built, and I would have liked to see the others. I was interested in learning about his life!

We got back in the car and drove on to Dornbirn, Austria.

Day 3

Tuesday. We got up, ate at the hote,l and drove to Appenzel, Switzerland. We were hoping to be able to see Sonja Elkuch, but she didn’t respond to our email. We loved the town though. We went to a couple of the most amazing florist shops I’ve ever seen (and you all know how much I’ve always wanted to be a florist). Easter is really big in Europe and the decorations were wonderful. In Switzerland, especially, the displays were so elegant and beautiful. We had a mediocre lunch (the Swiss aren’t known for their food, except for specialty items like chocolate and cheese, and everything is so expensive!) But we finished up with delicious gelato, a family favorite. And then Scott discovered a shop devoted entirely to cheese. It smelled so bad inside! Just like an old, forgotten baby bottle. But the cheese was very good and we all enjoyed our little snack, especially the boys.

We drove through Liechtenstein and took a few pictures, but really didn’t have time to stop and see much. I wish we could have seen the Elkuchs or Rudisuhlis, but maybe another time.

Day 4

Wednesday. Got up and checked out after breakfast. We first drove to Innsbruck, Austria, specifically to see the alpine zoo. Again, we had a lovely day. It rained just a little bit, but not enough to spoil our fun. Thanks to our portable DVD players, the kids were awesome in the car. Scott made some fun CDs to listen to as well. Anyway, the alpine zoo was pretty neat. It probably qualifies as the world’s steepest zoo, since it is basically built right into the mountainside. The specialty, of course, was alpine animals. They did have some farm animals too, and I took pictures of the goats, and a really ratty looking sheep. While I was doing that a cow mooed very loudly and scared Noah. He screamed and ran down the hill hollering and waving his arms. It was pretty funny. He has ridden elephants and a camel and not been fazed, but the cow freaked him out.

We saw some other fun animals, including a lovely brown bear. Noah just loves zoos, and it was a big bribe to keep him happy on the plane. We had lunch there in Innsbruck, and would have liked to spend more time there, it’s a cute little town. Our pizza was wonderful, best I’ve had in a long time. And of course we had to have some more gelato. A day without gelato in Europe is a wasted day, in my opinion.

We had to leave quickly in order to get to Balzano, Italy, before it’s natural history museum closed. There they have an exhibit of the world’s oldest man, Otzi. Ethan had learned all about him in school last year so it was very interesting to see him in real life (so to speak). He was found on the border of Italy and Austria (just barely on the Italy side). Extensive scientific tests have been done on him to show how he lived, what he ate, and what his life and death were like. Along with the mummy itself they have all of the clothing and tools found with him, as well as a fount of information about him. It was very well done, and only a little creepy.

We drove on into Italy and stayed in Padua (Padova). It took us longer than we expected to get there. We drove through miles and miles of tunnels, right through the mountains (the Dolomites). It was beautiful watching the sun set, but we were pretty tired by the time we finally got to our hotel!

The next day we went to Venice. Scott and I went 6 years ago and it was so romantic. Not so much with kids. It took forever to find the train station and park, and we’d decided to take the stroller, which was probably a mistake, since the streets are all cobblestone and there are a million stairs. It did help with Noah though, he got pretty tired of all the walking. Scott carried Meredith in our little baby bjorn and she did well. It wasn’t that fun though, because it was very crowded and I’d forgotten how much Italians smoke. And then it started to rain pretty hard. So it wasn’t the most fun day of the trip, but at least Ethan got to see Venice, and we did get some pretty great pictures. And of course we had gelato again.

more tomorrow . . .

Marching Forth

2010-04-08T15:06:00.002-05:00

I’m writing this from Dornbirn, Austria. I wanted to get it done before we left on our spring break trip, but we were just too busy. We’re having a lazy evening in our hotel, so it’s a perfect time to write. I’m sitting here in my room with Noah and Meredith (Ethan is in the other room). The rooms aren’t very big, but one whole wall is windows and the view is beautiful. Tree covered hills, green grass, and lots of white houses with red roofs. It’s lovely.

March started out wonderfully with a trip to Utah to visit Beebs. This was one of the few trips I’ve taken all by myself. It felt weird to just pack one tiny little suitcase. I missed Scott and the kids, but it was sure nice to fly solo! I had to check in 2 big bags (Mom and Dad’s old red luggage) filled with hand-me-downs from Meredith to Elise and a bunch of cute stuff I got on a huge sale at Children’s Place for Beebs and Heidi. Also a lot of the boys’ old clothes which fit Weston and Aidan.

I don’t know how Beebs juggles 4 kids, but she does it well! It was so much fun to see her! We went shopping and I bought Meredith an Easter dress. Beebs made about a thousand pancake balls for me - - she is such a great cook (also yummy Café Rio salad!) And we had fun just talking and watching “The Office.” Heidi came down on Friday night and the two of us and Milena went to the OneHeart concert in Provo. I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting much, music-wise, but it was fantastic! And thanks to Heidi’s celeb-status we had great seats. I had a blast and was also very touched by the pictures of orphanages. I feel honored to be peripherally involved in such a worthwhile organization! I’m in awe of all that Dushku does, and all that she and Heidi did to start OneHeart up. Great job guys!

Saturday was shopping day for Heidi, Milena, Rowan, Beebs, Elise and I. Boy are those babies sweet! Elise is such a little dolly, and Rowan is so good-tempered. Elise looked so tiny compared to Rowan and I missed how tiny Meredith once was. It was fun to watch Rowan’s progress because he’s so close in age to Meredith.

We had a fun lunch at Chik-fil-A, one of my all time favorites. Great food and wonderful service, and I love that they’re closed on Sundays! We don’t have them in Chicago, so it’s a tradition to go there when I’m in Utah. Then we shopped at several different places, including Target, where we wore bunny ears all around the store. Very mature. And our trip wouldn’t be complete without a trek to Costco. By the way, they now carry a type of almond snack called Mrs. May’s and they are so delicious!

Mom and Dad and Hilary and Uncle Adam came over for a while to Beebs’ house and it was enjoyable to talk to them. And Heidi and Beebs and I had so much fun playing cards and eating snacks and laughing (mostly at each other).

I was bummed that I had to leave Sunday morning before church, because I wanted to see Elise get blessed and visit more with family, but it was a good thing I did, because I had to fly through San Francisco and it took me all day to finally get home. I was so happy to see my boys and my baby! And I think Scott had a renewed appreciation for all the housework I do (I won’t mention the state of the house when I got there . . .)

The next week was my turn to play single parent, Scott had meetings in Arizona and St. Louis and then went to Paris (for fun) with our friend John. I would have been fine, except I caught a terrible cold (I think I got it from Dad!) After about 10 days of suffering I finally went to the doctor. He said my ears, throat, sinuses and 1 eye were all infected. If I’d waited to go in any longer they would have had to amputate my head! Ha ha. Poor Meredith and Ethan also were sick during the month. I’m so glad spring is finally here and we’ll hopefully all stay healthy for a while!

Scott’s parents recently were called to be leadership missionaries for 18 months in New Zealand! They are really excited to go, and we’re excited to visit them at some point. They came for a quick weekend visit in March and it was so nice to see them! We had an early Easter while they were there, just little fun baskets of goodies for the kids. It was especially nice to have Meredith’s first Easter - - we bought her some really cute little bunny ears! It was also the Pinewood Derby that weekend, so we got Noah’s car ready and went. As is traditional (for the past 5 years, anyway) I made the certificates, and also frosted cookies for the boys. Noah came in 2nd place (actually he tied) and we all had a great time.

Noah is doing well. He took a month of swimming lessons through NISRA and recently started Special Olympics track. In school they’ve been studying animals and where they live, which is right up his alley, since he loves animals so much. A recent favorite phrase is, “no way!” He says it when he thinks something is really cool. We all think Noah is really cool himself. Scott took him to Beauty and the Beast downtown and he said Noah couldn’t have been better-behaved. He was just perfect, and enjoyed every minute of it.

Ethan recently read a book about World War II and became very interested in that era. He also read a book that highlighted both world wars, and is now reading “The Pianist,” which is about a Jewish man who lived in German-occupied Poland. Ethan is a very thoughtful young man. He’s been really trying to show his maturity lately (because he wants a new video game) - - but it has been so nice! He is so willing to help out around the house and with Meredith.

Last Sunday Meredith fell halfway down the stairs before Scott caught her. So scary! It was especially traumatic for Ethan, and now he has appointed himself Meredith’s bodyguard. He sure loves his little sister!

And who wouldn’t love her. She is seriously the best-natured baby in the world. She is so cute, quite tall for her age and with less of a baby face now. She started creeping for about a week and then graduated to crawling. She loves to be active and aware of what is going on around her. Scott thinks she should be in the book of world records for best baby traveler. On our 8 hour flight to Munich she didn’t even fuss once. Somehow the diapers got packed in the checked bags and she had to use Noah’s pull-ups, but it didn’t faze her. She smiles continuously! We are so crazy about our little sweetheart!

February

2010-02-28T19:31:00.002-06:00

Here I am, writing my family letter on the last day of the month, just like Mom asked. I'm such a good girl! We hope you all had a pleasant February. We had a fair amount of snow, but nothing like the Virginia Browns, so we won't complain. I'm getting excited for spring though! Anyone interested in going in on seeds with me? I'm planning to start my flowers/veggies indoors this year. I've never done that before, but I think our basement gets enough sun that it would work out. We'll see. I'm also hoping to get the boys involved in the garden planning.

Speaking of the boys, they are doing well. Noah had his annual field trip to "Pump it Up," a fun play-place with bouncy houses and slides. It's probably his second favorite place in the world (the first being Disney World). Noah is continuing to do well in school. Right now they are studying animals. I was asking Noah if Walruses lived in cold or warm areas, and he said, "cold, in the polar region." Wow! Noah had a great Valentine's party with the kids in his class, and brought home lots of treats that he generously shared. It's so great that he doesn't have a sweet tooth!

This past weekend Ethan went on a winter campout with Scott. I'm afraid that neither one is an avid camper, especially in the snow. They had to fill the whole car (SUV) with supplies, just for one night. I felt sorry for Scott until I realized, at an inopportune moment, that he had taken the toilet paper from the bathroom with him and hadn't replaced it. When I mentioned this to him he said that I should be glad I didn't have to put on boots and go outside to go potty. I guess he had a point. Anyway they came home the next morning, exhausted and reeking of smoke. Wow did I have a lot of laundry to do! But Ethan did have fun playing in the snow with his buddies.

A couple of weeks ago I hosted a baby shower for a friend in the ward (I visit teach her). It's her 7th baby, so she deserved a little party! It was fun, and everything looked so nice. I had yellow tulips and branches with little yellow flowers as decoration, and wonderful food: hummus, shrimp salad, crab dip, various crackers, cheese, veggies, fresh pineapple, grapes, chocolate cookies, and phyllo dough cookies. I wasn't sure how many people would come, so I overdid the food a little and we had a lot of leftovers, but that was nice too!

Right after the party I started feeling yucky - - I had gotten the flu. I was only sick for about 4 days, but it wasn't much fun, and even worse, Meredith got it too. She had a terrible cough and had to have antibiotics. My poor baby! She is much better now, thank goodness. I would much rather be sick myself than have sick kids. Thank heavens Scott was around most of the time and could take over. He has been traveling a ton lately.

Meredith is almost 8 months old now, hard to believe how fast the time has gone! She is very tall for her age, and I think I may have an athlete on my hands (I'm not quite sure how to handle that!) She is sitting up very well and is getting ready to start creeping. She is also babbling a lot, and it is so much fun to hear the sweet little noises she makes! She's doing great eating "people food" and loves crackers. Wow, I had forgotten how incredibly messy babies are when they start eating solids. I do a lot of mopping up.

So we're all doing well and hope you are too. Our flight benefits run out in April, but we do have a trip to Idaho planned for this summer. And of course you're all welcome to come here for a visit!

Art

2010-02-23T18:55:00.002-06:00

I've become addicted to freerice.com - - they now have several kinds of quizzes, including art. It reminded me of one of my favorite paintings, "The Good Mother," by Fragonard. Isn't it sweet?

The Many Faces of Meredith

2010-02-06T16:54:00.002-06:00

Stuff

2010-02-06T16:36:00.002-06:00

Last night I hosted a Young Women sleepover at my house. We had about 25 girls/women. It was an estrogen-fest. Ethan hid up in his room almost the whole time. I don't blame him. This was the second annual YW conference (the first was held at my house too). And it was a great success. I love the girls in our ward, and the way they love eachother and look out for eachother. One of the girls made big decorated posterboard hearts for everyone with their names on the front and a little pocket in the back with more hearts and sweet attributes that those girls have. Everyone brought snacks and sleeping bags. We decorated fabric hearts, and then the girls and leaders took a quick trip to another friend's house and sang happy birthday to her (I think it made her day). After they all came back we had nice spiritual talks from 2 girls and 2 leaders, and then just hung out and talked and snacked. I went to bed around 1:30. There was a little noise from the basement, but it died down around 2. Last year people stayed up all night. This was better. In the morning I got up and took a shower. When I got out I discovered that Noah had woken up and gone downstairs. He was in "his" tv room, very upset with the 4 girls in sleeping bags on the floor. He calmed down after a bit and started watching "Polar Express." We had yummy tater tot casserole and fruit and OJ for breakfast. The girls looked cute and fresh, the leaders not so much. I still look older and tireder! But it was an awesome event, so glad we did it, and I think everyone had a good time. Seriously wonderful young women with beautiful personalities. I love working with them. And the leaders I work with constantly amaze me with their dedication.

Scott took Meredith to Idaho Friday afternoon. Our friends Fred and Emy lost one of their little girls (5 of their 6 children have a progressive degenerative illness for which there is no cure. 2 of them passed away a few years ago. Their story is tragic, but they are a constant inspiration to me.) I miss my baby and my hubby! Scott called this morning and said that several people were stunned to see a dad flying alone with a baby. He got all sorts of advice and help. I wasn't a bit worried, he's a wonderful father to Meredith and I know she's in good hands. I'm glad they'll both have a chance to see Grandma and Grandpa Garner and some of the cousins. Wish I could have been 2 places at once!

Trials

2010-01-21T20:03:00.002-06:00

The missionaries came over to dinner the other night (yummy fresh basil and mozzarella and tomato pasta) and they gave a little thought at the end of the evening. They talked about the Nephites in the Book of Mormon, when they were captives of the Lamanites and we're being very harshly treated. They prayed, and the Lord said he would lift their burdens, would make them lighter. We talked about how the Lord helps us through our trials, and how trials can make us stronger and better people. How true that is! Two of the "trials" of my life were my pregnancy with Noah, and then not being able to get pregnant again and going through the ups and downs of adoption. But I can't now even call them trials! I was so uplifted and sustained through all of my pregnancy with Noah, and he is one of the greatest blessings of my life. Sure, his Down syndrome has been challenging, but I wouldn't change things. He is such a joy, a wonderful, happy kid who gets the most out of life. Because of him I have met wonderful people, learned enormous amounts of information, and become a better, more patient person. And if I hadn't gone through infertility and a long adoption process, I wouldn't now have the most perfect precious baby in the world right now.

I look at what the people in Haiti are going through, and I know that I have no grounds for any kind of complaint. I have a wonderful family and a great life. I've been following the blogs of people who have experienced trials (one is a woman who was burned severely following a plane crash, and the other is a woman whose husband had a stroke at a young age). The attitudes these women have is amazing - - so much faith! They turned to the Lord in their time of need and as a result they are stronger and better people. Great examples for me! So a good resolution for me is "no whining" because things are awesome!

More Catching Up

2010-01-18T08:32:00.001-06:00

It was sad to see Mom and Dad and Kyle and Linzi and Evy go, but great to welcome Scott and Ethan back home. I sure did miss them! Scott has recently moved his office to a place only a couple of miles away. It's so great to have him closer, and he loves not worrying about a long commute. Scott uses some of his extra time playing tennis at the gym. He has several friends he plays with regularly and he loves the friendly competition. It's also a great way for him to stay in shape.

Ethan got a wonderful report card for his first trimester. He's now taking Spanish, and liking it. He's been playing basketball with the scouts and soccer in P.E. and getting a lot of good exercise. He's also started wearing contact lenses, mostly for sports. He helps me a lot with Meredith, especially on Mondays when I work. He watches her by himself for about an hour until the babysitter arrives. Ethan is doing great with his priesthood responsibilites. Recently a new member told me how impressed she was with his helpfulness and maturity when he came to collect fast offerings. What a great kid!

Noah also had a very good report card. I'm so proud of how far he has come in school! We had his IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting last week. All of his many teachers said how much they enjoyed working with him and how well he is doing. He loves to help his classmates and especially encourages them to get involved in P.E. Noah is a very active kid, and physically is doing exceptionally well. He would be in the regular P.E. class if he were taller, but the teachers are afraid of him getting hurt because he is so much smaller than his typically developing peers. We just signed Noah up for swimming lessons and special olympics track. I think he's really going to do well!

The month of December was busy but fun. We had several parties to go to, including the annual Down syndrome group party. It was nice to not be in charge this year!! The kids had a great time. I'm back to writing the newsletter for our group and I love it. That's definitely more where my talents lie. I'm also once again the secretary for the young women. I love putting together handouts and invitations. Recently the church revamped the Personal Progress program and the new books are great. I'm actually going to do the program myself again, and I'm looking forward to it.

I also had a work party at a nearby German restaurant. The food was fantastic, and very filling! I sure love my job and the people I work with. All of the ladies had a special baby shower for Meredith and me and it was a blast. I am so lucky to have a job I love and only have to work at once a week. It's perfect. There were many times during dental hygiene school that I wondered if I'd made the right decision, but I know that I did. It's not glamorous, but it's perfect for me. Well, I'm not glamorous, right?!

November Family Letter

2010-01-16T12:36:00.002-06:00

Those of you who read this who aren't family members may not know that we do a semi-monthly family letter in my family. My mom has betting putting one together at least 10 times a year ever since Scott and I got married (over 16 years now!) Anyway, since I started this blog my mom has just taken my family letter from it, and guess what - - I am way behind! So here's the catch up.

The highlight of November (and of the whole year, really) was going to the temple so that Meredith could be sealed to us. We went to the Twin Falls temple (my first time there) because Scott's dad is a sealer there and could perform the ceremony. Mom got to be the person who dressed in white and held Meredith, and Dad and Scott's brother Blair were witnesses. So everyone in the family was involved, it was very special. Meredith looked so beautiful in her long white dress, and she was a perfect angel. In fact, during the ceremony itself she held perfectly still and seemed very intent on what was happening. Ethan and Noah got to attend as well, which is a pretty unusual occurrence and was very special for them. I was especially glad for Ethan because he's old enough to remember, and to plan for attending the temple himself and being sealed there someday. We spent a lot of time talking to Noah about proper temple behavior beforehand. We had family prayer before we left the house and Noah asked to say it. It was so funny - - in the prayer he said, "running, no no, talking no no" - - he knew how he should act. And he was very reverent. He loved the end best of all when everyone got to hug everyone else.

After the temple we went to a nearby restaurant for lunch. It was so fun to have so much family there, Heidi and Devan and their kids (and we finally got to meet Rowan!) and Beebs and Scott, and lots of Scott's family. Also cousin LeeAnn, who watched Heidi's kids while she was at the temple. We especially appreciated those who had traveled long distances just to come. We went back to Scott's folks' house and talked for several hours before people had to leave. And then we left the next morning. It was a short trip, but oh, how wonderful! We are so grateful for the sealing power of the priesthood! And for adoption, which made this possible for us. (Amazing, by the way, how much there is about adoption in the scriptures!)

Only a week after we got back to Chicago Scott and Ethan left on a "trip around the world" with Scott's friend Gary. I'll let them post about their adventures. Scott knew that he couldn't just leave me here with Noah and Meredith and no company, so Mom and Dad and Kyle and Linzi and Evy all came for Thanksgiving! Mom and Dad stayed a whole week, and it was so fun to see them! We went shopping and hung out and talked and of course read books. Noah and Meredith were thrilled to have their Omi and Opa all to themselves. (Noah sometimes calls Dad "Poopa".) Kyle and his family came later and it was awesome! We played games and made sketches of eachother and laughed and laughed. I enjoyed getting to know Linzi better (we went shopping with Mom on black Friday!) and it was fun for Noah to get to know Evy. Evy seemed very taken with Meredith and was very sweet to her. We had a very nice Thanksgiving Dinner with all the trimmings. I made way too many brussel sprouts (they're good cooked with bacon, but I over-steamed them a little). Also my jello just would not set, so we ended up with tasty strawberry soup :) Anyway it was lots of fun, and though we missed Ethan and Scott, they had a good time too.

Whine Flu

2009-11-08T14:34:00.005-06:00

Ugh - - this has been a sick month so far. Actually it started in October with colds for both Ethan and Noah. Then Ethan was sick several days last week, and Noah got sick too. They were both sick a day and then fine a day and then sick a couple of days. I took Noah to the dr. and he got a prescription for Tamiflu and an antibiotic. I do think it was the piggy flu, because he had all of the requisite symptoms, including throwing up. Fun! Poor Noah is such a snuggle-bug when he's sick that I do enjoy it. He doesn't get grumpy, just a little clingy. Anyway we kept him home from church today because he still had a pretty gnarly sounding cough, but he hasn't had a fever for over 24 hours, so that's great. He is sitting in the TV room watching the finale to "Much Ado" over and over and over. What a funny kid!

Ethan had an interesting project for school - - a model of a plant cell. It took a lot of ingenuity, but we used plastic eggs, clay, fun-foam, paint, bubble wrap, push-pins, bouncy balls, toothpicks, a hollow spherical thing from a bowl of potpourri and lots and lots of hot glue, and I think we came up with a pretty darn good replica. If he doesn't get an A I'll be ticked. Teachers should realize that parents have to get heavily involved in these projects! I wasn't about to let Ethan get his hands on the glue gun, I had a hard enough time with it myself!

Ethan continues to work hard in school and play hard with his friends. He's got some buddies that live near enough for him to ride his bike to their houses, now we just have to get him a bigger bike! He is doing bowling in gym, and plays football with friends. He's reading Don Quixote now and writing a "dark" story about the Italian Mafia. A lot of his friends have "air soft" guns, which shoot little rubber balls (tiny ones) - - a cannister of compressed CO2 makes them shoot. He really wanted one and I said "no way no how." Fortunately there are some great nerf guns out there. I'm ok with that. I hate guns, but I remember when Ethan was about 2 and bit his sandwich into the shape of a gun and was playing with it. I don't know how he ever even saw a gun, all he watched was Barney, but I guess the shooting thing is just a part of male DNA.

More later . . .

Happy Fall!

2009-10-04T20:07:00.002-05:00

I love this time of year, especially the cooler weather and the changing colors. I got to examine the trees up close and personally with Ethan recently. He had a school project - - he had to get leaves from at least 10 of 13 specific trees (maples and oaks). We looked in our neighborhood and got some maples, but no oaks. Then looked in another neighborhood. Then went to a big park. Finally we went to a nursery and I surreptitiously sneaked leaves off of trees that I knew were correct (it sounds worse than it is, the leaves were about to fall off anyway.) It was kind of a stupid assignment, but Ethan came to me this morning and said, "Mom, I'm glad we did that project together, because I think our hard work brought us closer together." So it was all worth it after all.

Ethan continues to sprout up like a weed. He is within a few milimeters of as tall as I am, and his voice has somehow deepened. He is really enjoying 7th grade, and is doing well so far. His favorite class is life skills, because he gets to cook food (and then eat it.) He is like a bottomless pit when it comes to food! Ethan recently read "Les Miserables" - - the unabridged, 1200 page version. He started it at the beginning of the summer. I honestly didn't think he'd make it through, but he sure proved me wrong! And I am so proud of him! One thing that really helped him was seeing the movie (it's his favorite) so he knew the story line. I took him and his friend Adam out to lunch and then to a movie yesterday to celebrate.

Today was conference. After the first session we went to Scott's cousin Cheryl's house in Antioch (about 45 minutes away). Cheryl and her husband, Dan, are a great couple. Their kids are in college, and their daughter was adopted, so we had a lot to talk about. While we were there Noah's pull-up overflowed (wet) onto their recliner. I apologized profusely, cleaned him up, and put a new pull-up on him. Sadly I didn't have another pair of pants, and this proved deadly a few minutes later when he had another accident, this one stinky, on their couch. I was mortified! Luckily Cheryl was a great sport. I told her that if Ethan vomited on her loveseat than we would have covered all her furniture. I think I'll send her a nice gift . . .

Other than that Noah is doing great. He really is doing well in school this year, and is reading at a first grade level. We tried spelling, and his first test came back as follows:
(rat) rtq
(sat) lmpg
(cat) aanollqt
(at) alsieonsljiowsjfow

His teacher wrote a little note: "I think we'll hold off on spelling for now." Well he is still doing great in reading and math, and his behavior has been wonderful. He and Ethan both continue to be loving and helpful big brothers.

Little sister Meredith is growing up fast! She is almost 3 months old, and just as cute as can be. I love love love to hear her little squeals and coos! She is so happy and smiling all the time, it is wonderful. She's sleeping 6 to 8 hours at night, which is also wonderful! We are so very happy to have her in our lives!

Scott recently moved his office to a space about 3 minutes from our house. We are all very excited about the short commute! Now if I have something come up it will be so easy for him to come home. On the other hand he has been traveling a ton, and is usually gone 1 to 2 nights every week. So it kind of evens out. He plays a lot of tennis and has some good friends to compete with. Our United flight benefits run out in the springtime, so he is working hard to take advantage of these last few months of ultra cheap travel.

I love being at home with my little baby, although shopping is more of a chore. Meredith had her first "playdate" - - a lady in our ward has a baby boy just a few weeks older than she is. The babies didn't really connect, but my friend and I had a great time chatting!

We wish you all a happy autumn!

End of Summer, Start of School

2009-09-05T09:16:00.004-05:00

Catching up! We enjoyed the end of our summer. It was a fairly cool and somewhat rainy summer here in Chicagoland, which was fine with me, because I don't like the heat and I didn't have to water the grass (although I have to admit my yard has really gone to pot, I just don't have the time to work outside - - keeping up with the inside is about all I can do right now!)

Anyway Noah finished up his NISRA summer camp and did another week-long camp at the Light Center, where they have animals and it's run specifically for people with special needs. He also got to do a lot of swimming. Noah is so sweet with Meredith. I do have to watch him pretty carefully, because he wants to hold and hug her, but he does try so hard to be gentle, and he has not shown any aggression toward her whatsoever. I worried about his reaction to no longer being the baby of the family, but he has adjusted beautifully and I'm so proud of him. He really does love his little sister!

Ethan also had a week-long camp, through the McHenry County conservation society. The only problem was that it took about 90 minutes to get there, it was way out in Johnsburg. So I spent many hours in the car that week. But it was worth it, a wonderful experience for him. He made lots of friends, including a boy who has a brother with Down syndrome (they're in our group.) It was quite a coincidence! He got to go canooing and learn about fur traders and pioneers and all kinds of historical things.

We also had our annual Down syndrome picnic. It was a bit rainy, but lots of people came anyway and we had a great time. Noah especially had fun seeing his good friends. What a great group of people! I'm writing the newsletter again, and though it's a lot of work it is definitely worth it.

I forgot to mention in my last post that while Scott and the boys were in Idaho for the Garner reunion they had a little baby shower for us. Since I couldn't be there they put me on speaker phone and Scott took pictures of all the gifts and emailed them to me. It was so much fun! And then in August my friends Michelle and Dwinell and Katie had a baby shower for me. I just love my friends. I had a great time and got so many cute things for Meredith. And 2 of my friends who have adopted were there, they have been so supportive of us.

Meredith is 8 weeks old today. She is growing so fast I can hardly believe it. She is filling out, but is still petite. Her hair is getting even thicker and longer. It is curly when wet, but as soon as it dries it puffs out like a little dandelion. She has started to smile, which is so wonderful. She usually has a very pleasant expression, but her smiles are just adorable. She loves it when Ethan wiggles her legs or arms. Both of the boys are so sweet with her! As soon as Ethan gets home from school he goes straight to her and holds her. He is getting quite good at feeding and burping her. Noah has been wonderful too. I was a little worried about him being jealous or aggressive, but he has been nothing but gentle. He sings lullabies to her sometimes. It's so cute!

Ethan has started 7th grade (can you believe it?) He is really enjoying it, and is making new friends. He is up to about page 800 in Les Miserables (only 400 more pages to go!) And he is as tall as I am and his voice is changing. Pretty scary, huh?!

Noah is so happy to be back in school. His teachers said his math and reading skills improved over the summer, so I must have done something right! The other day I asked him not to be a baby (about going potty or something) and he said, "I'm not a baby, I'm a fourth grader!"

What a wonderful life, what a wonderful family!

More About Meredith

2009-08-12T18:29:00.006-05:00

I never really finished telling Meredith's story (somehow I've been busier than usual lately!) We'd met with Amy, the birth mother, and her friend and also the caseworker on Sunday at breakfast. Afterwards we took the boys over to the hospital to meet their little sister for the first time. They were so adorable with her! Noah's first words when he saw her were, "oh cute!" They both held her so tenderly, and were so sweet and protective of her. I think the pictures of them with her are worth a thousand words.

Scott took my mom and the boys back to our rental house and I spent most of the rest of the day there. He came back in the evening and we all spent some time together, and then had to go home and get a little bit caught up on sleep.

The next day, Monday, was almost as stressful as Saturday had been. The Illinois agency we were working with had a bunch of paperwork that hadn't yet been finished. We knew Meredith was going to be released from the hospital that day, and unless the paperwork was finished she wouldn't be able to be released to us. She would have to go to a foster family, which would be terrible for us and for the birth mother as well. Scott had a business meeting in Phoenix, and he spent the entire drive there and back on the phone trying to make sure everything got done. Our Gladney caseworkers really worked hard for us and, thank goodness, everything fell into place. I left the hospital with Meredith and Scott and I both ended up arriving at the rental house within just a few minutes of eachother. So we got to bring Meredith "home" together.

She spent her first night there with us, and did quite well. The next morning (Tuesday) the birth mother signed the relinquishment papers. Afterward we met our caseworker, Vanessa, at a Starbucks and signed all of our papers (even more signatures than when we bought our first house.) Finally we were all done. I didn't realize how stressed I'd felt until it was all over and a huge weight rolled off of my shoulders. Vanessa gave us a teddy bear for Meredith, and she'd given a matching one to Amy. We then went to Amy's house so that her children could meet Meredith. It wasn't something you'd do in most adoptions, but we felt very good about doing it. 2 of her kids were there, an 11 and a 12 year old. They were so sweet, and had written a note for us, thanking us for taking care of Meredith. Amy got to have "closure" - - we talked for about 45 minutes and she got to hold Meredith one last time. It was somewhat emotional right at the end, but Amy said over and over that she knew she was doing the right thing. What a wonderful lady she is, to make such a sacrifice for us. We were so happy!

The next day Meredith had her first doctor's appointment (a requirement before we left the state). Then we drove to Phoenix to wait for clearance to leave. We stayed in a nice condo/hotel with a kitchen and laundry, very convenient. There was also a swimming pool, but it was so hot that I didn't even venture out. Scott did swim with the kids though. Speaking of hot, I left my cell phone in the car and the heat ruined the screen. Yikes! It got up to about 115 while we were there. I don't know how people manage to survive those kinds of temperatures!

That weekend was the Garner family reunion, and Scott decided to go and take the boys, leaving Meredith and my mom and me there in AZ. It was kind of a nice break. We spent several hours at the mall, just to keep from going stir crazy. Lots of people commented on Meredith, saying what a beautiful baby she is. A couple of people said how great I looked after just having had a baby, and I had to admit that I hadn't actually given birth. It was nice though! And at least no one said, "wow, you only have about 10 pounds left to lose!"

Scott left Ethan in Idaho with his parents, to "work on the farm" for a few days. He and Noah came back and Omi left. Oh it was so nice to have my mom there for me! She was so helpful, watching Meredith so I could nap, and we had a lot of fun talking and reading and watching tv and eating (Mom is a great cook, and always puts me to shame). Anyway it was a huge help and support to have her there, I don't know how we could have done it without her!

Scott and I had a couple of nice days together with Noah and Meredith. We had Sunday dinner at the home of our friends the Woodwards, who moved from Illinois a few years ago. It was so nice to see some familiar faces, and great to chat with them. We were really hoping to get clearance to travel on Monday, because Scott had business in Illinois on Tuesday, and sure enough, it came through. I was a little bit nervous about traveling with Noah and Meredith, but they both did great! It was wonderful to finally be home with our little angel.

Ethan flew back home along with Grandma Garner, who stayed for several days. That was wonderful too, because it took a lot to keep the boys entertained and take care of a baby at the same time. She also watched them while Scott and I took Meredith downtown to do some legal stuff. We had to go to the Daley Courthouse and meet with our attorney and present her at the sherrif's office where she was "served" with papers (the guy had to literally touch her with the papers!) Then we had to go before a judge, who asked us a few questions about work and our living arrangements. Meredith was perfect throughout. It looks like the adoption will be complete sometime in January. Could be sooner, but we're not counting on that. But barring a felony on Scott's or my part, she's ours!!!

103 Reasons I Love Being a Mom

2009-08-10T08:32:00.007-05:00

This is for me to read over on the days I'm not as grateful as I should be . . .

1. That new baby smell! I'd forgotten how wonderfully intoxicating it is
2. Watching Ethan become such a fine young man
3. The way Ethan's hair is has become a little bit curly (although he definitely needs a trim!)
4. Kissing Noah on his little bald head
5. The way Meredith scrunches up against me
6. Noah's excitement when he sees me, even after just a short time away (like at church)
7. Little baby sighs
8. Little baby sizes :)
9. Personal jokes and Simpsons trivia with Ethan
10. Watching Ethan experience books I loved when I was growing up. And watching him read books I haven't read yet (he's 600 pages into the 1200 page unabridged edition of Les Miserables!)
11. Noah's pages and pages of numbers. He sometimes writes letters too, and makes people that have hair sticking out all over like amoebas
12. The way Noah spells some words, like "zoo" so that we can understand what he is saying
13. Watching Ethan play with his little buddy Noah so sweetly
14. Hearing Ethan say how cute Noah is
15. Meredith's big blue eyes
16. Ethan's famous french toast
17. Noah's lists of things to eat, always including chicken and honey nut cheerios
18. Teeny-tiny diapers
19. Buying school supplies
20. Watching sleeping babies and sleeping big boys
21. Experiencing school again, this time through them. I didn't realize how much I'd forgotten (or never learned)
22. Decorating Meredith's room (so much pink!)
23. The fact that Ethan loves classical music
24. The fact that Ethan opted for classical guitar, not electric (whew!)
25. Ethan's laugh
26. Noah's laugh
27. Meredith's little sleeping baby smiles
28. The way the boys look in their cute jeans
29. Ethan's first real suit
30. Noah's penchant for wearing ties - - with everything
31. How soft Meredith's skin is
32. Noah's first words when he saw Meredith, "oh cute!"
33. My always increasing gratitude for my parents
34. The kids' relationship with their cousins
35. The kids' relationship with their grandparents
36. When Noah says, "of course!" when I ask him to do something
37. Anytime Ethan does something nice without being asked
38. Reading Ethan's school essays
39. Ethan's quirky sense of humor
40. Noah's goofiness
41. How great the boys are on airplanes
42. Noah's love of elephants
43. Ethan's love of penguins
44. How much I've learned about elephants and penguins
45. Family traditions, like fresh guacamole
46. Family words and sayings, like "spelunking," meaning eating all the m&ms out of trail mix, or picking the cookie dough chunks out of ice cream
47. Watching Scott play with the boys
48. Seeing how sweet Scott is with Meredith
49. Knowing I couldn't possibly have chosen a more wonderful father for my children
50. Bragging about my kids
51. Reading stories and going to the library
52. Looking forward to all the girly things I'll get to do with Meredith, like dollhouses, painting fingernails, and reading the Laura Ingalls and Anne of Green Gables books
53. Talking to Noah on the phone
54. Meredith's yawns
55. The perfect quiet of the house at 3 a.m. when I'm feeding my baby girl
56. All of Noah's hard-won accomplishments
57. The fact that Noah's Down syndrome has opened so many wonderful doors for me
58. Seeing all the positive reactions to Noah when we travel (we've had some negative responses, but the smiles far outweigh the frowns)
59. How protective Ethan is of Noah
60. How gentle Noah tries to be with Meredith
61. Looking at baby pictures
62. The incredible kindness people showed to us after Noah was born
63. The way people have celebrated Meredith's adoption with us in such a loving way
64. Ethan's testimony of the gospel and enthusiasm about being a member of the church
65. Listening to Noah pray
66. Listening to Noah sing
67. Listening to Ethan play the piano or guitar
68. Learning to use sign language with Noah
69. The truly awesome people I've met because of Noah
70. Being a member of the "parent of a child with Down syndrome" club
71. The fact that Ethan and Noah seem to have forgiven my first fumbling attempts at parenthood
72. The fact that I get another chance to try to get it right
73. The fact that Ethan still isn't too embarrased to be seen with me in public (unless I start singing)
74. Watching Noah try to be brave when he gets an owie by taking a deep breath and showing us his muscles
75. The fact that the kids aren't very picky eaters, a plus for someone like me who doesn't like to cook
76. All the things I've learned about people with special needs
77. All the things I've learned about adoption
78. Going through infertility, because it made me more thankful than ever that I could give birth to my first two children
79. Waiting 9 years for Meredith because I treasure her all the more now that she's finally here
80. Learning to depend more on my Heavenly Father for help in raising the spirits he has entrusted to Scott and me
81. Learning to really, really pray
82. The buff biceps I'm getting from carrying Meredith's carseat around (man that thing is heavy!)
83. Passing along baby boy clothes to my sister and remembering how cute my little guys looked in them
84. Footed pajamas
85. Onesies
86. First haircuts
87. Not having to get Noah's hair cut :)
88. The two-second rule
89. Learning to relax about keeping the house spotlessly clean
90. Sitting and watching TV or reading and not feeling guilty about it because I'm holding a baby
91. Having a good excuse for not breastfeeding Meredith after feeling so guilty about giving on on nursing the boys after 2 weeks/one month
92. The wonderful, amazing birth mother who gave us the most precious gift in the world - - we will love her forever
93. Knowing that we're a forever family
94. Knowing that someday I'll be able to stop changing diapers (please, oh please)
95. Learning to trust my gut when it comes to figuring out what is best for my kids
96. Working together with the most wonderful husband in the world
97. All our crazy memories and adventures, like the time we had to spend the night in the Malad middle school because of a blizzard
98. How fast Noah can run, except it's not so great when I'm chasing him through Wal-mart
99. How even total strangers have helped out when Noah has gotten lost in stores because he has outrun me
100. Jumping to the front of the line at Disneyland
101. Seeing Ethan and Noah become more independent
102. Knowing that Meredith is, for now, completely dependent on me
103. Knowing that nothing in the world is more important or more precious than the job I'm doing raising these three fantastic, wonderful, amazing children

(Note to all my friends who are mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, or teachers - - this was really a wonderful exercise for me, I've been in a great mood thinking up all the things I love about my life, and I could come up with a million more!)

Meredith Leigh

2009-08-02T16:38:00.005-05:00

Our little angel is finally here. Baby Meredith arrived at 2:43 a.m. on Saturday, July 11th, 2009. We got the call late Friday afternoon that Amy, the birth mother, was in labor. We really weren't expecting that - - she wasn't due until August 4th, and the doctors were planning to induce labor on the 28th of July. We'd had everything planned out, we were going to go down a couple of days early and we had a house rented and everything. But Meredith decided to change our plans, and although it got a little hairy for a while there, everything worked out.

Our biggest concerns were getting to Tucson and finishing up our home study. Our IL agency was scheduled to come the very next morning. We tried our best to get them to come Friday night but we couldn't get in touch. So we spent the night running around packing and making phone calls to cancel everything we'd had planned for the next couple of weeks. I'm so glad it's summer and we didn't have to deal with the kids missing school or anything (Noah missed some summer camp, but that was not a big deal).

Saturday morning we got up at 4 a.m. to finish packing and clean the house up (usually at a home visit they go through your house with a fine toothed comb). Our caseworker came at 7 a.m., and spent about 15 minutes asking us questions that could have easily been answered on the phone. She didn't even ask to see the house (although I did show her the nursery). There was a form they hadn't given us that needed to be notarized so we had to stop at a bank on the way to the airport to get that done, and then stick it in the mail. We arrived at the office park where we leave the car and were just in time for the 10:00 shuttle. Unfortunately it didn't leave for 15 minutes, causing us to miss our flight. It was so frustrating! We were flying standby, but that first flight had seats on it and we probably would have made it on with no problems. As it was we weren't able to get on another flight to Phoenix or Denver, although we tried desperately. We were running from one end of the airport to the other for about 3 hours with no luck. Finally we sat down to regroup. In the meantime we learned that Meredith had been born, and we even got to see a picture of her (and her adorable sticky-up hair). Well it was just killing me to know that my baby was there and I wasn't!!! To make matters worse, Amy wanted to check out of the hospital, but didn't want to leave until we got there. We knew that she wanted us to be there for the birth and we felt bad that it wasn't possible. She told Vanessa, her caseworker, that she would stay there at the hospital until we got there. Well this posed a bit of a problem for us because we didn't want her to become too attached to Meredith. I told Scott that one of us had to get out there. Plus my mom was going to be arriving in Phoenix. Well Scott worked his magic and found a Northwest flight leaving about 30 minutes from them. I grabbed my stuff and ran to the other terminal. I can't even explain the stress I was feeling - - it was emanating from me like stink lines in a comic strip. When I reached the gate I realized that Scott still had my ID from going through security. I think the gate agent realized that I was on the verge of tears because she let me use my Costco card to board the plane. The flight went to Milwaukee, and then I had to get on another flight to Phoenix. But I still needed my ID so that I could pick up a rental car and get into the nursery at the hospital. Well I arrived in Milwaukee and Scott and the boys had managed to get on a flight through there as well. Their flight was delayed coming in, but mine was delayed leaving, so we were able to meet there and I got my driver's license. Whew!

I was exhausted by this time, but way too wired to sleep. My flight arrived in Phoenix - - I was in one terminal, my luggage was in another, and Mom was in a third. We finally all got together and picked up the rental car. Fortunately for me the drive to the hospital in Tucson was very easy. Mom and I chatted the whole way, which made the time fly by. We got there at about 9:30 at night. Vanessa had told us that Amy had checked herself out of the hospital, but was planning on coming back so she'd be there when I got there. Oh the emotions as I walked into that hospital room. The first thing I did was go straight up to Amy and say "thank you" and give her a big hug. I'm so glad I did that, because it meant a lot to her. She also said that the look on my face made the whole 9 months worthwhile. She'd never known she could make anyone that happy.

Then I saw my little baby for the first time. She was all wrapped up like a little burrito, lying in the bassinet. Red round face, with soft brown hair sticking up in a mohawk. She was absolutely beautiful, and I knew she was the precious little spirit that Heavenly Father intended for Scott and Ethan and Noah and me to have as part of our family. She didn't make a peep the whole time I was there, just snuggled up in my arms and slept. Amy and Vanessa and Amy's cousin chatted with Mom and me for a while and then they left. Vanessa (who lives in Phoenix) had been there for the birth and stayed all day with Meredith. I was so grateful for her dedication! Throughout the whole experience she and the other people at Gladney really went the second mile for us.

Mom and I just sat there and stared in adoration at our little angel until Scott got there. He had quite an experience himself. He and the boys made it to Denver just fine. There were 2 flights leaving within 10 minutes of eachother, one to Phoenix and one to Tucson. He was near the Phoenix flight so he checked in and they cleared him to board, but said to not get on quite yet. When the flight was getting close to leaving they announced that it had checked in full. Scott asked about his seats, and sure enough, they'd been given away. The gate agent hadn't even bothered to tell him. And the other flight to Tucson was way at the other end of the terminal. Well Scott had Noah ride on the suitcase, and he and Ethan ran to the other flight. As they got there the door was closing and the jetway had pulled away. Scott explained the situation to the gate agent but he said "too bad" and that the flight only had one seat left. Scott could see on the monitor that there were 10 seats, and the flight was leaving a bit early. He could also see the pilot, since the nose of the plane was right near the window. So he made a praying sign with his hands, and pointed to the boys. It's amazing, but the pilot called the gate agent (who said, "they're only non-revs!") The pilot had them open the door and put back the jetway. Let me tell you, that never happens. It was one of those little miracles that made up for all the bad luck we'd had that day! So he and the boys made it to the hospital at about 11:30. Scott came in and met his daughter, while Mom went and stayed with the sound-asleep boys in the car. He was so sweet with her!

The people we were planning on renting the house from were very understanding about our situation and allowed us to change the dates (they only had it open for 4 days though). The house was in Oro Valley, which took us about 45 minutes to get to. We didn't get to sleep until after 2 a.m. But I was wide awake at 5 a.m., probably from the adrenaline that was still coursing through my system. We got everyone ready and met Amy and Vanessa and Amy's friend Leslie at a restaurant called The Good Egg. It was a nice opportunity for Amy to meet Ethan and Noah (who behaved themselves quite well!) and for us all to talk some more. I'd put together a gift basket for Amy with a bathrobe and slippers, along with some nice toiletries. I'd also written a long letter to her, trying to express how incredibly grateful we were for her sacrifice. We had a very pleasant time together. Not once did Amy express any doubts about her decision, only that she knew she was doing the right thing and that we were the right family.

Summer Camps

2009-07-08T11:31:00.002-05:00

I'm always trying to find things to keep the boys busy during the summer - - we've done several fun camps over the years. This year is the first time we've had Noah in the NISRA (Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association) 6-week camp, although we've done several week-long camps in the past. The counselors are awesome, and many of them remember Noah from last year. Several of Noah's friends are in the camp as well, so it makes it so much fun for him. It's held at a middle school, which is within walking distance of a community pool, a library, and McDonald's. So twice a week the kids go swimming, and one day they go to the library and one day they go to McDonald's. Noah loves going. It's 4 days a week, from 9:15 to 3:15. Anything to keep him active and socializing.

Ethan had scout camp a couple of weeks ago. It was from Saturday to Saturday, so a long camp-out. It was the longest he'd ever been away from home (other than visits with family). He had a great time. The camp was in Wisconsin, about 5 hours away. Scott drove him down, spent the night, and then drove down again to pick him up and spent the night again. Kudos to Scott, because he really does not like camping. Ethan did the wilderness survival merit badge, and the conservation one. He started working on the swimming badge - - it's a pretty tough one. He had a lot of fun with his buddies and came home sunburned, filthy, and covered with mosquito bites. Oh the laundry I had to do! I had to take some of the clothes outside and shake them off before I could even put them in the washer. I ended up just throwing most of his socks away - - much too nasty.

This week Ethan has camp with the McHenry County Conservation Society. He did it last year and it was a great experience, as well as costing very little. The theme this year is "time travelers" and each day they learn about a different time period in the area. Monday was the ice age, and they did an archaeological dig. Yesterday the followed the French fur traders by spending the whole day boating on the river. The mosquitoes were so bad, but otherwise he had a lot of fun. The only problem with the camp is that it's in Ringwood, which is a good 45 minutes away. Add to that Noah's camp, which is 15 minutes in the opposite direction, and I'm spending about 4 hours in the car every day this week.

I'm also keeping Ethan busy doing a math review (we do a workbook every summer, and it really keeps him sharp for the coming year) and reading. He recently started Les Miserables, the unabridged version, which is about 1200 pages. That boy just loves a challenge. He also has guitar lessons, so we're keeping him active. He'd like to spend every day just playing his Wii, but I'm not going to let that happen.

Our little girl will be coming in less than 3 weeks. We got a call today saying that she's back in the breech position, which stinks. The poor birth mom really doesn't want to go through a c-section, and I don't blame her one bit. She is very anxious to get this over with, and of course we are anxious to bring our baby home! We've had a pile of last minute paperwork to do, and we have a final home visit coming up on Saturday (I should be cleaning house right now!) I also have to recertify for CPR, but thankfully Scott and I got permission to skip the baby care class. We also had to get fingerprinted again. So much stuff! But we're coming down to the wire now, and it will all be worth it. I've had a lot of fun decorating the nursery, and it's almost ready now. It's very cute and pink :)

The Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand

2009-06-23T17:23:00.005-05:00

We got up very early this morning and went down to the swimming pool. No one else was anywhere around, and it was gorgeous. The birds just go crazy singing in the morning, although they're hard to see, because they stay in the dense trees. The hotel here is gorgeously landscaped, with huge, exotic flowers and plants all over. Because of the rains everything is extremely lush and green.

A word about the time of year: Thailand has 3 seasons, winter, summer, and the rainy season. Winter is the time most people come. We're here at the end of summer and beginning of the rainy season, so it's very hot and humid. On the plus side, there are hardly any other tourists. Our hotel is practically empty, and we were able to get an amazing rate. It's also a beautiful time of year, very green. And the fruits are all in season, so we can have delicious fresh mango for breakfast every day. It has rained every afternoon, but we haven't been caught out in it, and it's actually quite nice to see the storms. It cools things off slightly. We're in the "mountains" (hills, really) so it cools off somewhat in the evenings and the mornings are lovely.

Meena the elephant came to breakfast again, much to the delight of the boys. We met Jermsak at 9 for another adventurous day. Tomorrow will be our first "lazy day" of the whole trip (we don't have a lot of time, and there is so much to see!)

This time I brought a pen and paper to take notes on what we did. We planned to visit the hill tribes of Northern Thailand. First, though, we went to a hot spring. We bought a little basket of quail eggs and it only took 5 minutes to boil them in the water. It had the distinctive sulfur smell, just like in Yellowstone. There was a little packet of soy sauce to go along with the eggs, and Ethan ate most of them. They were tiny, about 3 or 4 would equal one chicken egg.

The first village we visited was the Lisu tribe. The people are originally from the Himalayas. All of the tribes are made up of refugees from different regions. Although they live in fairly close proximity to each other, they maintain very different cultures, dress, and languages. Life is very hard for them, because they don't have Thai citizenship. They used to be very nomadic, practicing "slash and burn" farming, mostly of opium. The government has worked to help them grow other crops, like rice (Thailand is the largest exporter of rice in the world), tea, corn, and other vegetables. Many of the fields are terraced and the harvesting all has to be done by hand. In all of the villages we visited we saw mostly older women and children, the men and women were out working in the fields.

The government is also slowly trying to improve the lifestyle of these people, partly so they will stay in one place. Homes we saw were extremely primitive. Chickens, dogs and cats wandered freely around. Many people had small gardens for their own use, as well as farmland.

This was a much easier day than yesterday, because in between visits to the villages we got to cool off in the car. We next went to a Yao village. The people there are originally Chinese, and known for their gorgeous embroidery. We bought a couple of items from some beautiful and friendly women. Lovely smiles, and very friendly. They were able to speak a little Thai, and Jermsak knows some Chinese, so he helped us with translation. The women wore red boa-like scarves and interesting hats. The clothing looked terribly hot, but the women were as cool as cucumbers. Jermsak as well. We were the sweaty ones. The Yao are very industrious people and learn to do embroidery from a very early age. We saw a very old woman sitting and doing the finest embroidery I've ever seen. The stitches looked like they were done with a machine. She said it's getting harder for her to work because here eyesight is getting worse, and she was wearing very thick glasses. This is a tough time of year for the villagers because there are so few tourists (in every village we were the only visitors we saw).

We passed many little huts on stilts, used to store the corn and other crops and keep the mice from getting at them. The homes we saw were made of a combination of cement, wood and bamboo. Few, if any, had power or air-conditioning - - they were very open with lots of windows.

The next tribe we visited were the Akha. They are originally from Tibet, and according to Jermsak, have the biggest problem with opium addiction and most primitive beliefs. Twins and triplets are considered bad luck (as well, I'm sure, as any baby born with a genetic defect). The parents are encouraged to kill the "imperfect" babies. The government has carefully stepped in to provide foster care for them. The parents also have the option of leaving the tribes. The hill tribe people have the highest concentration of Christians in the country. Jermsak said that they want to leave the former beliefs completely behind. There is a lot of missionary work done here, as well as drug rehab programs, and work to educate the children so that they can have a better life. It's in the government's best interest to do this, because they can teach conservation along with reading and writing. But they have to tread carefully so as not to disparage the beliefs of the tribes. It's a very complicated situation - - how can you maintain cultural identity, but also give up practices that most people consider harmful. The rampant poverty certainly doesn't help. There's little medical and no dental care, instead the people go to a type of witch doctor. Scott bought a carved wooden frog from a women with completely black teeth.

The next three villages were in extremely close proximity to each other. The tribes are so distinct, but remain peaceful with each other. They are all from Tibet. They are the Lahu, the Long-ear Karen, and the Long-neck Karen. To get to their villages we had to pay $20 and hike down a very long, steep path through the jungle. The people there have such an interesting life. They all sell handicrafts and live behind their shops. And they sit there and wait for tourists to come through and take pictures of them. The women were all quite pretty and extremely poised, like models.

The Long-ear Karen wear progressively larger and heavier earrings, until the hole in their ears is as big around as a lemon and hangs down almost to their shoulders. They wear huge silver earrings and very distinctive clothing. One woman took off her earring so that we could see the hole. It was kind of disturbing looking to me, but at least it wasn't physically harmful. The Long-neck tribe is a different story. These are the people you see wearing coils around their necks on the National Geographic channel. There are very few of these people left in the world. They originated in Tibet and then migrated to Burma. Because of the terrible poverty there, many of the women were forced to sell their neck coils, which left them quite handicapped (they were handicapped with the neck coils. too). At about age 5 the coils are placed on the girls' necks. They are a symbol of beauty and prestige, and very important to the culture. They used to be made of gold, but are now bronze. Gold was much easier to work with - - the bronze coils must be heated to curve them, but they use lemon juice to cool the metal. They are extremely heavy, and don't actually lengthen the neck, but instead push the shoulders and ribs down. Additional coils are added with age. They are not taken off ever (unless the women are forced to sell them to survive.) They looked so hot and uncomfortable, but the women seemed very content. One beautiful little girl was obviously used to having her picture taken, and sat there, perfectly composed and dignified. The girls and women also wear makeup, along with the yellow powder used by the Burmese. This may be the last generation of neck coils, because it is falling out of favor with the younger people. But Jermsak said he saw one little girl crying because she wanted neck coils (she was only about 3) and later he came back and there she was with the coils on. It's a very difficult situation. Again, how do you maintain an important cultural identity but give up superstitious and potentially harmful practices?

The women were extremely friendly. They do exquisite weaving with silk (they make their own silk with silkworms on the mulberry trees). We bought one of the silk scarves. They also play an instrument similar to the guitar - - very beautiful. Noah got a lot of attention from the women. We only saw one or two men. Unlike their counterparts in the animal kingdom, they were dressed very drably. It's the women who wear the fancy clothes.

What a wonderful opportunity to see such different and amazing people and cultures. I'm so glad Ethan is old enough to understand that people all over the world have different lifestyles, and that we should respect them even if we don't agree with or even understand them. I also hope he's become a little more grateful for air conditioning and flush toilets.

We went to a large Chinese refugee camp next. About 10,000 people live there, and mainly grow oolong tea. It all has to be harvested by hand and is very expensive. I think Jermsak was a little disappointed when we wouldn't try it, but he was understanding of our religious beliefs. We then drove very high up in the mountains to see a tea plantation, but as soon as we got there it started pouring rain. This was the first time the rain interfered at all with our plans, and since it was our last stop it was no big deal. We stayed in the car and looked at the fields, and on the way up we'd been able to stop and take pictures of the beautiful view.

We got back to the hotel in the late afternoon and said goodbye to Jermsak. We'll be sure to give him a good write-up on Tripadvisor.com. He was so wonderful, a fountain of knowledge, and very friendly and helpful. Noah gave him a big hug. I'm so glad such a great guide!

We rested in our room for a couple of hours, and the kids went swimming. We ate dinner in the Thai restaurant tonight, and partway through Noah fell asleep. We were all pretty beat. But what an amazing day!

The next morning it was raining when we got up, but soon cleared up. Another delicious breakfast (we ordered fried rice, and it was great!) and a visit from Meena. Then Scott and the boys went on an elephant trek. I would have gone as well, but it's expensive and you pay per elephant - - the three of them were able to use just one elephant. Besides, I've ridden an elephant 3 times before (although the one at the San Diego Zoo really doesn't count). When they got back I asked Ethan how it was and he said, "Fun but painful." He was wearing shorts, and the elephant's hair is very long and sharp, almost like spines.

Elephants for Breakfast?

2009-06-23T17:17:00.006-05:00

This was an amazing day! I think we've pretty much conquered jet lag, we all woke up after 5:00. The breakfast here at the hotel is in a very open area, and toward the end of our meal we got a big surprise - - a mahout and his elephant joined us! The elephant was a 3 year old female named Meena. The kids got to touch it, feed it, and even ride on it! Noah was a little wary at first, but he had a great time. We spent a good 45 minutes interacting with Meena. It was so cool!

The hotel here runs an elephant camp, made up of rescued elephants. The mahouts (elephant trainers) work with the elephants, feed them, ride them, etc. There are about 30 elephants in the camp here. They are let out into the jungle in the late afternoon, and are brought back to camp in the morning. It's one of the most highly regarded elephant conservation camps in the country. The hotel guests can go and feed/see the elephants, which we did after breakfast. There were several full grown ones, and one mother with her 10-month old baby (the youngest in the camp.) It was so fun seeing, touching, and feeding her! She didn't yet have very good trunk control, so we had to put the food right in her mouth. One thing about elephants, they're not particularly clean - - our hands were pretty muddy and gross after our encounters!

Through the hotel you can actually do "mahout training" - - you basically work with the mahouts all day, helping to gather, bathe and feed the elephants, and learning to ride them by yourself. There are about 70 verbal commands and other physical commands that they understand. But the cost to be a mahout is quite expensive, so we decided to pass on that. The hotel also sets up tours into the countryside and into Laos and Burma, but again, it's extremely pricey. Fortunately Scott had found a great guide for us along with a driver. For a seven hour day of driving around in a nice large van along with a very knowledgeable guide, the cost was only about $100. And well worth it!

Jermsak, our guide, met us at 8:30 and we started off. He knows an incredible amount about the region - - I wish I'd had a tape recorder so I could remember all the things he told us. We first drove to the border of Burma (Myanmar is the official name now, but everyone calls it Burma). There's a bridge to cross into Burma. Here in Thailand they drive on the left side of the road, but in Burma they drive on the right, so halfway across the bridge everyone switches sides. Also there's a 30 minute time difference (which seems so confusing! Why not make it an hour?) We had to go through immigration and surrender our passports - - they do that so you won't go too far into the country. We were on foot, so we couldn't have gotten too far.

We walked through a typical touristy market at first, lots of Chinese imports, mostly junk. The vendors crowded around us (we were the only non-Asian people I saw there). They were selling lots of playing cards, lighters, cigarettes, and other stuff like that. But further into the market was the "real Burma." It was mostly a food market - - and you've never seen such food! All different kinds of fruit (and Thailand is one of the best places in the world for fruit!) There were live eels in a bucket and live lizards in a cage (plus a really gross dead and disemboweled one.) Also a disgusting beehive things with bee larvae (they looked like maggots) wriggling around in it. One woman had bags and bags of all different spices, another had piles of vegetables.

One woman was selling cakes of the yellow powder that women in Burma use to put on their faces - - they don't rub it in, but just smear it on their cheeks. Jermsak said it helps prevent sunburn and gives them smooth clear skin. And the people we saw did have beautiful skin. I'm sorry I can't say the same about their teeth. Many people in Burma chew betel nuts. It's a bit like chewing tobacco. The betel nut stains their teeth very dark, and combine that with a lack of dental care or good oral hygiene and you end up with some scary mouths. I was sad to see many children with rampant tooth decay.

By the end of our hike through the large market we were exhausted and hot. We headed back over the bridge into Thailand. Jermsak had bought us a bag of mangosteen fruits. They're weird red fruits with white sweet insides (considered by Thais to be the queen of fruit). They were delicious. I've had mangosteen juice in health drinks in the US, but never tasted the fruit itself.

Our next stop was a place where macau monkeys come down from the mountains to eat. I have not had great experiences with wild monkeys, but we went anyway. They're fascinating creatures - - I could have watched them play all day. There were a couple of moms with tiny babies clinging to their tummies. You could walk right among them, but we were careful not to get too close. We bought some tiny bananas to feed to them - - it was fun to see their nimble little fingers peel them. Noah and Ethan especially enjoyed our time there.

We also stopped at a really old Buddhist temple (built about 700 years ago.) This was in the ancient city of Chiang Sen. Jermask (such a fountain of information) explained some of the Buddhist tenets to us. His tribe (Hmong) are animists, which he said is full of superstitious beliefs in spirits. While at the temple we saw a funeral procession (at first we thought it was a parade) for a monk that had died. We also used a very scary bathroom. I hate the "squatty potties." But it wasn't the worst I've used, by far, and I know by now to always carry my own toilet paper on these excursions. Ethan and I also went to an opium museum. Of course this area used to be well known for the opium trade. The Thai government has worked very hard to combat the drug problem here. There are many rehab centers, as well as numerous police drug checks along the road (they leave the tourists alone though, because they want them to return. Jermsak said they know that checks will be done at the airport, so that should prevent some of the drug trafficking.) The museum was very interesting, showed the different stages of the opium plant, lots of weights (opium was used as currency for years) and the distinctive opium pipes. For the previous generations opium was considered to be a medicine, and many people got hooked without meaning to. Opium is a depressant, and makes the people who take it want to do nothing but sleep, which obviously leads to major problems. And morphine and heroin are derived from opium. Jermsak said some people still try to grow it up on the hillsides, but when the plants bloom it's impossible to hide the bright colors from police helicopters.

Next we drove to the banks of the Mekong river, which forms the border between Thailand and Laos. We put on life jackets and took a speedboat across the river. It was blazingly sunny and hot, but at least the breeze on the boat cooled us off some. On the Thai side of the river is a huge casino. There is a 3 ton Buddha there, made for the birthday of the queen a few years ago. The whole thing is covered in gold leaf. Very imposing. We went to a small Laotian market. It wasn't what you'd consider the real Laos, but it was as close as we were able to come. We had to climb some very rickety stairs to get up the bank of the river. The people were friendly, but it was sad to see all the little children holding out their hands saying "5 baht, 10 baht" (34 baht equals about a dollar). There was an old lady sitting and smoking near a couple of kids who were playing. As we approached she said something to the kids and they immediately held out their hands to beg. It's a very hard life over there. We bought a couple of souvenirs, I got a pretty stone bowl and Noah got an elephant carving. He was very excited about it. We chose to pass on the whiskey bottles with snakes in them. Yikes!

We had a short ride back to the hotel and got there around 4:00. We'd been reduced to little puddles of sweat by the time we got there. We immediately took cool showers and got ready to go down to dinner. We've been eating big breakfasts, but it's so hot that we just have a little fruit for lunch. And we haven't been able to finish any of our dinners. The hotel has a very nice Thai restaurant, and an Italian one. They also have a kids menu, so everyone is happy. We ate as much as we could and went to sleep by about 8:00 p.m.

Two Nights in Bangkok

2009-06-12T06:31:00.006-05:00

We're here in Thailand on our summer vacation. Scott only has about a year of United pass travel left, so we're taking advantage of that (also in a couple of months we'll have a new baby and that might slow us down some, although it hasn't slowed us down much in the past!) Flying standby can be hazardous, and we have our share of horror stories, but this time everything went perfectly. We had a 12 hour flight to Tokyo, a 3 hour layover, and then 6 more hours to Bangkok. Other than a seatmate with bad BO on the last flight, it was fine. The kids did so well. We've learned to come well prepared with snacks, DVDs and gameboys. We also packed light so we could carry on all our luggage and avoid lost bags. All in all it went extremely smoothly.

Our hotel is nice - - we got 2 rooms, and it's so smart - - they're at the end of the hall and a door in front of them closes, so we can leave our room doors open and it's just like a very spacious suite. The view is beautiful. We had a wonderful breakfast - - all the fresh mangoes you could eat. After Ethan finished his second one he leaned back and said, "This is the life." These are the yellow mangoes, the sweetest ones anywhere. There were other unusual fruits, and smoothies, and chicken satay (for breakfast?) - - we couldn't pass that up. After we had stuffed ourselves to bursting we went back to the room for a bit and then went out.

We're here at the rainy season (also the height of mango season), but we didn't get any rain until afternoon. It was hot and extremely humid. The sky train (a clean but crowded elevated metro) was near our hotel so we walked over and took it. Taxis here are incredibly cheap, but Scott always likes to try out the transportation in foreign places. It ended up taking us a lot less time than a taxi would have because of traffic. Twice people got up to give Noah their seat. I really love the Thai people, they are so friendly and beautiful. The service at our hotel is great.

Noah, by the way, has gotten a lot of positive attention here. He gets his share of stares wherever we go, and some aren't friendly, just rude. But here a lot of people stopped to say hi to him. I wondered at first if it was like in the Philippines - - people with Down syndrome are considered lucky. But then I realized that he also bears a striking resemblance to the Buddha. Anyway people were very sweet.

We took the train to the Chao Phraya river and took a flatboat from there. It was also very crowded. There was a special section for the monks. We saw them everywhere, men and boys of all ages with shaved heads and bright orange robes. We got off near the Grand Palace, one of the main tourist (and religious) sites in the city. Actually we had a pretty good walk to get there. The sidewalk was completely lined with vendors selling all sorts of stuff, most of it junk. It was like a giant flea market. There were a lot of food carts as well, but we decided to avoid the possibility of dysentery :)

The Grand Palace has, according to the guidebook, more decorations per square foot than any other place like it. We got some beautiful pictures. Most of it was outside, so we were very hot, but there was a breeze blowing. One of the rules there is that you have to be dressed modestly, no shorts or tank tops or anything, so we were all in long pants. There is a place where you can rent clothes to wear - - it was funny to see so many people wearing the same style shirt and baggy pants.

The Grand Palace houses the famous (though I hadn't heard of it :) Emerald Buddha. It is in an enclosed room, highly decorated, with murals all over. We passed several artists touching up the murals - - the place is in beautiful repair because they're constantly refurbishing it. Gold is the predominant color of the decorations and they use a lot of gold paint on the murals. The Buddha is only a couple of feet tall, on top of a large stand, and carved entirely of Jade. You can't get a very good view and there were no pictures (or shoes) allowed inside. We're trying to help the kids be respectful of other cultures and religions, so this was a good chance to teach them to be reverent, even though they didn't understand the religion.

The kids were getting pretty tired and hot, so we left and took a blessedly air-conditioned taxi back to the hotel. Ethan and Noah fell asleep almost immediately. It took a long time to get back because of traffic (taxi driver in Thailand is now on my list of jobs I'm glad I don't have!) The drivers were pretty crazy, although I've seen worse. Scott once got hit by a motorcycle in Bangkok, but luckily it wasn't going very fast. You have to be careful when walking along the streets because the drivers are on the opposite side of the road and you can forget to look both ways before you cross.

Catching Up

2009-06-08T11:52:00.002-05:00

I was going to wait to do some of this posting because I don't have the pictures, but Mom threatened me so here goes.

While Heidi and Tallis and Milena were here we decided to go to Nauvoo, since Heidi had never been. Scott's niece Jaycee was getting married that weekend, so he went and took Noah. They had a great time. Scott's dad recently became a sealer at the Twin Falls Temple, so he performed the ceremony. I wish I could have been in 2 places at once!

It's about a 5 hour drive to Nauvoo, so we left Saturday around 10 and got to Nauvoo at 3 in the afternoon. We went to the main visitors center, and were just in time for a horse and buggy ride around the area. Then we spent some time in the women's sculpture garden. Heidi took some cute pictures (Scott had our camera). We stayed at a little hotel in Keokuk, Iowa, just across the Mississippi River. We stopped for pizza and then turned in.

The next day we first went to Carthage. Ethan had been there before, but he's old enough now to really "get it." It's so beautiful and spiritual there, and there's a good movie that highlights quotes from people about Joseph Smith. The landscaping is pretty as well. We were lucky to go over Memorial Day weekend because the weather was nice and not too hot (Nauvoo can get brutally hot and humid.)

We had lunch and spent the afternoon in Nauvoo, visiting the various homes, shops, etc. I think the kids enjoyed the family living center the best. You learn how to make rope, bread, how to card wool and make thread and yarn, and how to make pottery. The kids received several little souvenirs to treasure. Each time I go to Nauvoo I'm amazed at the perseverance of the early saints. Just providing food, clothing and shelter was a full time job. We're studying the D&C and church history in Sunday school this year, so it was good timing.

Our hotel had a little pool, so the kids got to spend some quality swimming time. Ethan has become a pretty good swimmer! I'm glad, because he's going to be working on some water sports at various scout activities this summer. Tallis and Milena had a good time splashing around, and Heidi and I just sat and talked. Heidi is dealing with her pregnancy very well - - she has amazing stamina. We had some pretty full days while she was visiting, and she outdid me on a few occasions.

Monday morning we were going to go spend some more time in Nauvoo, but it was pouring rain so we just drove home. We'd seen the main things, anyway. The kids played Nintendo and watched movies on the way. Ethan's favorite movies right now are Les Miserables and Henry V. Noah has been watching his "signing time" videos a lot lately. I'm so glad he signs, because it has made communicating with him so much easier. Sometimes if I can't figure out what he's saying he will sign the first letter of the word! He's really made some great strides with reading and writing this year.

I didn't write yet about Ethan turning 12. His birthday was May 16th, and we went out to dinner that night (Ethan brought his friend Adam along). We went to a fun Japanese place where they cook at your table and do tricks with knives, fire, etc. (kids, don't try this at home!) Scott and Ethan chose some stocks to buy, and he got some money that he's putting in his "Italy Fund." Ethan's big dream is to live in Ravello, Italy someday. He really wants to learn Italian, too.

Ethan was ordained to be a deacon 2 Sundays ago. He got to pass the sacrament that very day. At first he was nervous, but he told me later that because he felt the spirit the nervous feeling went away. He's expressed several times how much he enjoys passing the sacrament. Yesterday was his first time collecting fast offerings. On Tuesday he'll be attending the temple to do baptisms for the dead. It seems like all of a sudden he's just grown up so much! I've really seen a change in the past couple of weeks. We've got some really fun things planned for Ethan (and for Noah) this summer!

Yesterday I taught Scott's Sunday school class. Scott had to be in Arizona on business (he has been traveling a lot lately!!) After church Ethan had a piano recital. He did very well, he had the hardest songs of all the kids. I'm so proud of him for keeping up with piano (and I'm proud of me for not letting him quit, despite occasional pleas). I've never known anyone that was glad they quit piano lessons! I told Ethan when he can play 10 hymns perfectly then he can quit. But by now he's playing harder songs and enjoying it more. He's also doing well in guitar, learning one song that he has on his Christopher Parkening CD.

After the recital we collected fast offerings, and then went to our friends the Allreds' house for dinner. It was Dave's birthday, and there were several families from the ward there. We had so much fun talking together. One of Ethan's buddies came, so the 2 of them hung out. Tami recently got a new kitten, and Noah was obsessed with it. I had to keep a constant eye on him so he wouldn't be too rough. I wish I wasn't so allergic to cats, this one was really cute and Noah loved it so much. But after 10 minutes I was losing my voice and sneezing, so I don't think that's an option.

We've had a lot of rain here, but some beautiful days as well. I've enjoyed working in the yard - - my peonies are blooming and they're beautiful. I've done 3 yardwork service projects in the last month (for scouts, young women and relief society!), so it's a good thing I enjoy it. Late spring here in Illinois is gorgeous!

Adoption, part 1,000,000

2009-06-03T20:14:00.002-05:00

Argh. I tell you, if people had to go through what we've gone through adopting, just to be able to have a kid, the entire human race would have become extinct years ago. We've already had to do 2 addendums to our home study since September (costing $325). Now we find out that we have to do basically a whole new study, with a home visit and everything. It will cost at least $1,000. I've already spent 2 hours filling out just one of the forms (questions: how has adoption affected your marriage? How have your thoughts on parenting changed? How do you feel about your adoption agency?) I'm just so grateful that we have a match, and so far everything with that looks really good. I just can't believe we have to go through the whole home study again. Last time I spent about 50 hours deep cleaning my house - - they look everywhere, including behind the shower curtains! It turns out you need a renewed home study within 6 months of the adoption, which means that unless you apply and are immediately matched with an at least 3 months pregnant birth mom you're going to have to do it twice. We also have to get new FBI and state criminal clearances and new medical okays.
I just keep telling myself that it will all be worth it when we bring our baby home, and I know that it will. But it's not going to be easy getting through the next 2 months!

Honestly!

2009-06-03T20:10:00.002-05:00

Actually the title should be "Honesty." The other day I got caught in a big rainstorm after grocery shopping - - I was soaked by the time I got my bags loaded into the car. The next morning I realized that I couldn't find my wallet. I turned my house and car inside out looking for it and decided I must have left it in the shopping cart. I held out very little hope of ever seeing it again, and I was dreading having to renew all the credit cards, get a new license, all that stuff. But I called Meijer, and guess what?! Some honest soul had turned it in. (I wonder why Meijer didn't just look at my driver's license and get my phone number to call me - - it would have saved me a lot of stress and searching!) Anyway the wallet was completely intact, and my faith in humanity is restored. I wish great blessings upon the head of whoever turned it in!

Noah at Mary Poppins

2009-05-31T09:39:00.001-05:00

Friday night Scott took Noah to the Broadway show, "Mary Poppins." It's Noah's favorite movie - - he was so excited to be there! Scott said he didn't move a muscle the whole time, he was just entranced. I wish we all could have gone, but the tickets were fairly pricey. I'm just glad Noah could go. He hasn't stopped talking about it yet! He can't wait to tell all his friends, and he really wants to go again.

Candy's Party

2009-05-11T19:05:00.002-05:00

We had a fun weekend. Friday morning we flew to DC (left the house at 6:30) - - of course our first flight was cancelled and our 2nd one was delayed an hour. We finally made it - - we were there for my brother's wedding, I'll post about it later, when I get the pictures.

Anyway, Sunday morning we flew from DC to La Guardia (NYC) to go to our friend Candy's annual Mother's Day party. Scott worked for Candy when she was a consultant for United many years ago. She is a fascinating person, used to be the CEO of Harlequin and is now the VP of marketing for the Washington Post. Her husband Joe is the wine editor for Conde Nast magazine. They know all kinds of interesting people and are very fun to talk to. Candy is a huge reader and bought me a huge stack of books when we first got to know eachother and introduced me to several of my now favorite authors. She is a real sweet person. We went to one of her parties several years ago and it was lots of fun, and since it was kind of on our way home (not really) we were excited to attend this one.

We got in several hours before the party started, so we stopped at the Bronx Zoo. We'd never been before - - they have several really great exhibits, especially the apes and gorillas. It was the most beautiful day, perfect for walking around outside. We had a great time.

Then we drove to Candy's beautiful home (she and Joe live in New Jersey). Just like last time, the party was full of great food and insteresting people. Lots of people in publishing, a CEO of a huge company, an ACLU lawyer, a woman who had been a lawyer and went back to school to become a teacher, a humor columnist, and his wife, who just wrote her first book, which I'm planning to read (I'll let you know how it is). The kids got bored after a couple of hours, so they sat in the car and watched movies on the DVD player. We flew out of Newark, but of course our flight was cancelled again so we didn't get home until midnight (that's 4 airports in one day, if you're counting). So now I have all this laundry to do, house to clean, etc. Also I took Noah to the orthodontist today and he needs a "dweedle" - - braces on 2 teeth in the back, because one is coming in way too far forward. The same thing happened to Ethan! He was really good with the x-rays today, but I don't know how well he'll deal with the impression on Thursday.

More on the wedding later . . .

Smile!

2009-05-07T18:37:00.002-05:00

Just a little hint from a tooth professional. If a tooth (baby or permanent) gets knocked completely out (with the root still attached) the best thing to do is not rinse it off but to put it right back in the tooth socket (if it is muddy or something you can rinse it with contact lens solution). If the socket is too swollen or painful to put it back in then keep it in a little cup with contact lens solution (if that's not available I think milk is an ok second choice, but not water). Then head straight to the dentist. A lot of times the tooth will be ok, they can splint it to adjacent teeth and the bone will grow around it and hold it back in place. This happened today to my neighbor's little boy (a front baby tooth was completely knocked out). I was so glad I was home and could tell her what to do (and watch her other kids while she went to the dentist.)
If the tooth is broken off then there's really no point in taking special care of the broken off piece, you can't glue it back on. (This happened to Ethan last year, chipped a big piece of his front tooth off - - the school nurse saved it in milk, but there's no way to fix that!)

Holding Our Breath

2009-04-22T19:04:00.004-05:00

Things on the adoption front are looking good! We had our second call with "A" yesterday and it went well. We told her that we'd like to use her middle name, "Leigh," for our baby's middle name (doesn't Meredith Leigh Garner sound wonderful?). She was very touched by that. She expressed again that she feels that she is doing the right thing, and she told her case worker that she feels very comfortable with us. At first her mother wasn't too excited about the adoption, but she was in the car when A spoke with us yesterday and afterwards told her that she thinks she is doing the right thing as well. So everything is on track for now. She is due August 4th, and we've already started looking into accommodations in AZ for that time. I've told a lot of people and of course everyone has been incredibly supportive and excited for us.

For the last couple of years I've avoided the baby section in stores for the most part. Now I can finally look and shop (well, I'm holding off on buying most things for now, but it is sure fun to plan!) I did order some bedding for the nursery and I've started going through all my old baby clothes (an enormous task!!) Some of them are gender neutral and I'll keep them. The boy stuff will go to my sister Heidi, who is due in September. And some of the stuff is too grungy to keep. There are also a couple of little outfits I have to hold onto because they were such a part of the boys (Ethan's "tough tanks" sweatshirt, for instance). It was really quite enjoyable looking at the little clothes and remembering when my big boys were that tiny.

So I'm keeping plenty busy getting ready for this new arrival, along with all the other stuff that I keep busy with (yard work, house work, laundry, homework, getting the car's emissions checked, planning for summer camps, my church callings, blah blah blah I could go on all day, and I usually do :)

Jon Schmidt's Love Story Meets Viva la Vida

2009-04-18T17:29:00.003-05:00

Reverence Cards

2009-04-15T18:17:00.002-05:00

My darling sister Brittany has put together some beautiful reverence card at Heritage Makers. She has cards with the Articles of Faith, Proclamation on the Family, Latter-day Prophets, and scriptures about Christ. The finished products turn out beautifully. If you're interested go to her website, www.dawlings.blogspot.com and check them out.

I love you Beebs!

Diamonds in the Rough

2009-04-15T18:14:00.004-05:00

Just a quick note - - if you want to smile today go to http://www.youtube.com/ and look at singers Paul Potts and Susan Boyle (just put their names into the search engine). They're singers from "Britain's Got Talent" and they're pretty amazing. Both are not terribly attractive on the outside, but what gorgeous voices. The reaction of the audience is priceless. Enjoy!

Happy Easter

2009-04-11T17:30:00.002-05:00

A couple of years ago the young women at church made a cute activity for an Easter family night. You need 12 plastic eggs, write the numbers on them. Then print out the following:

1. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. Matthew 26:39
(sacrament cup)

2. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. Matthew 26:14-15, see also Zechariah 11:12-14
(three silver coins)

3. When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had found him, they led him and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Matthew 27:1-2
(knotted twine)

4. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: See ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be upon us, and on our children. The released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Matthew 27:24-26
(piece of hand soap)

5. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. Matthew 27:28-30
(square of red cloth)

6. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put on his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; him they compelled to bear his cross. Matthew 27:31-32
(small nail)

7. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him there. Matthew 27:35-36
(small dice)

8. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; . . . Now when the Centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly, this was the Son of God. Matthew 27:50-51, 54
(crushed rock)

9. There came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' desciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock. Matthew 27:57-60
(strip of white cloth)

10. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. Pilate said unto them [the chief priest and pharisees], Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch. Matthew 27:60, 65-66
(small stone)

11. And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, had brought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Mark 16:1
(whole cloves)

12. HE IS NOT HERE; FOR HE IS RISEN. Matthew 28:6

Roll up each numbered strip of paper and put it, along with the appropriate items, in the numbered eggs. I had all of the items just around the house, except for the sacrament cup, which I'll get at church tomorrow. When we did this with the boys a year or two ago it was really special. Even just now, typing up the scriptures, I'm reminded of how much our Savior did for us and how much I love Him.

Happy Easter!

At Last, a Match

2009-04-08T17:45:00.003-05:00

I was hesitant about posting this, because with adoption there's so much uncertainty, but it looks like we might be "expecting." A birth mother, "A," has chosen us. We got the first call on Friday, from our caseworker. She said that A had seen our profile and had expressed interest in us. Over the weekend the whole family prayed. We didn't tell many people because it seemed like a long shot. But Monday our caseworker called back. She said that A had thought about it all weekend and didn't want to see any more profiles because we were the family she wanted to adopt her baby. It's a girl, by the way, and she's due the first week in August. When I got off the phone with Erica (caseworker) I just cried. This has been such a long process with so many disappointments and I couldn't believe it was really maybe happening at last. And the fact that we were praying so much (and listening to conference) over the weekend and that's when she decided - - well I knew we were being blessed.

We set up to have a telephone conference with A and her caseworker Tuesday afternoon. I was a zombie at work Monday night - - just subconsciously thinking non-stop about the "maybe baby" and wondering how everything was going to turn out. Scott and I did a lot of talking and felt good about things. Tuesday my friend Gretchen, who I hadn't seen for years, came to visit with her 3 darling boys (so cute! so well behaved!) and she had to sit and wait while Scott and I chatted on the phone for about 30 minutes. It was a great call overall, though the connection wasn't good and there was a lot of talking over eachother. A is an amazing person, I cannot imagine making the difficult sacrifice she is making. She said that one of the things that made her choose us was the fact that we had a son with special needs, because she has a daughter with special needs. She asked if I was going to be working when the baby was born, and it was great to be able to say, "well, I only work 4 hours a week, and I can take any time off that I need." I am so grateful that I can stay home and be a mom full time! She also asked if we would be there for the birth. I wasn't sure what to say, of course we wanted to be, but we didn't know if that would invade her privacy or if she'd feel comfortable with that, so we told her we'd go along with her wishes. Turns out she really wants us there so that we can immediately bond with the baby (she even said, "your baby" to us). All of this fills me with hope that everything will work out. I have known other people whose adoption plans had not worked out, so I'm trying not to be too excited, but I can't help it. A is being induced, so we should be able to be there in plenty of time for the baby to be born. Thank goodness we've still got flight benefits, that will make things a lot easier.

A lot of things still have to happen before we can relax, but we are so happy. I went up to the nursery today and looked at some of the baby girl clothes I've been hanging onto for about 6 years and thought about little Meredith (that's the name we've had picked out since before Ethan was born.) Now to get through the next 4 months of waiting!

Books

2009-04-05T18:19:00.003-05:00

I just finished Anna Karenina and Ethan is (gasp!) 125 pages into it. I really enjoyed it, found it much easier going than War and Peace (though I fell confident about tackling that now). I started rereading Wuthering Heights but it's kind of depressing, so instead I picked up Don Quixote. I love it! I didn't realize that it was written close to the same time as Shakespeare's plays. It's very funny so far. I've also read my share of pulp, a couple of Grishams and the new Maeve Binchy. But I am trying to elevate my literary pursuits a little bit. :)

Conference

2009-04-05T18:11:00.002-05:00

I just finished watching the last session of conference. What a blessing to be able to meet with members of the church all over the world every 6 months and listen to the prophet and apostles and other leaders of the church. And what a blessing to do it at home, using the internet. I finished crocheting my 4th leper bandage and started on number 5 (that's over 16 feet!). I also filed a bunch of papers. I do this every time I listen to conference, and it's great because I feel like I'm getting my life in order in more ways than one!

Scott has been in Idaho, meeting with a friend about work. The kids and I missed him, but he'll be home tonight (and I have a surprise for him - - I cleaned his closet!) I enjoyed the time with Ethan and Noah - - Ethan is learning to crochet and made some good progress. And Noah amazingly cleaned up his toyroom all by himself! (Well, he put most of the stuff on the couches, but still!) We had artichokes for lunch as a special treat, and we have fresh strawberries for dessert tonight.

Thursday I had a big meeting here for our DS group. I'm going to start doing the newsletter again, thank goodness, because I enjoy that much more than being president (and I'm better at it). We divided up the responsibilities in a way that will help people not feel so overwhelmed, and we have a great guy in charge of community outreach, an area that needs work.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Spring Break!

2009-03-28T19:36:00.002-05:00

We're winding up a fun family spring break. Last Saturday we flew into Jackson Hole, WY (I love flying in there, especially the steep descent!) We drove to Sugar City and spent the night with my parents and sister. They have quite a menagerie - - dog, cat, goats, guinea pigs and a tarantula. The goats are my favorite. I went out with my mom to help milk - - little did I know how hard it is! Well, not hard exactly, but you do have to get the technique right. I finally figured it out, but I was too slow, so my mom (who is a pro) took over. I also dared to drink the goat milk, and guess what, I couldn't even tell the difference between it and regular milk. Heidi made french toast with goat milk and fresh eggs from the chickens and it was fantastic!

Saturday night we had pizza and then the kids all had a music concert. Ethan played two piano pieces and also one on the guitar. He's learning the theme from "The Godfather," his first finger-picking song. He's very excited about it and has done a lot of practicing. Heidi announced that she would accompany Tallis and Beanie on the recorder on a song called, "To be a Master." I was expecting a churchy song. Imagine my surprise when I heard, "To be a master . . . Pokemon Master!"

Sunday we went to church - - Noah didn't make it through, but Ethan enjoyed meeting up with old friends in primary. The relief society lesson about eternal marriage was very well done. We came home and had a wonderful turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Uncle Dan and cousin Zazzy came too, and we had a fun dinner table conversation and another concert. Zazzy joined in - - she's a great singer!

Scott and I left Monday morning. I'm so grateful to Mom and Dad and Heidi and Devan for taking good care of the kids while we were gone. We very rarely get to go away on our own, partly because Noah is hard to leave with people. But apparently he did just fine, and Ethan was a good helper. Both the kids were so excited to see their cousins and play "sesames" with them. They also got the game Uno Attack and had a 3 hour long marathon game. I wish we'd had more time to spend with Heidi and Mom and Dad - - we always have so much fun talking and laughing together. I'm so impressed with the service that Mom and Dad do - - one day a week at the temple and one or two days doing humanitarian work. That plus all their household responsibilities equals a whole lot of busy-ness! They also help with OneHeart and are always on hand to help neighbors in need. What a great example they are - - they don't just talke about making a difference, they actually do it.

Heidi and the kids are coming to stay for a couple of weeks after Kyle's wedding in May and I'm really looking forward to it. Heidi always has fun ideas of things to do, especially with regards to teaching our children. She bought a spanish teaching program for her kids and I'm looking forward to using it with Ethan as well.

Well Scott and I had a great deal - - a friend he knew from Carnival Cruise lines arranged for us to go on a "Cruise to Nowhere" - - when they launch a new ship they take it on a couple of inaugural sailings to both work the bugs out and to spread positive buzz, so they invite travel agents to go for free. The ship just goes out into the ocean and back without stopping anywhere (it's 2 nights). So we flew to Orange County, CA, spent the night, and then boarded the ship the next morning. Our hotel had a deal that if you were driving a hybrid you got free parking, so we rented a Prius. We put quite a few miles on it, and it only cost about 46 cents to fill the tank back up.

The ship, the Splendor, was very nice. Our room was small, but fine (except for the fact that we were right above the bar and had to listen to very loud music until the wee hours.) The first night we ate in the specialty restaurant with 2 other travel agents from Chicago. I wasn't sure how fun that would be, but we had a great time, chatted away like old friends. The food was superlative - - I had lobster and filet mignon with bearnaise sauce. I think I put on a couple of pounds while we were away.

The second night our dinner table companions were quieter, but we still enjoyed the food. Mostly it was just so nice to have some alone time with Scott. I really got lucky when I married such a great guy. He's a wonderful dad to Ethan and Noah, and he's just so much fun to be with. And it would be hard to find anyone that gets better deals!

We left the ship Thursday morning, flew through San Francisco into SLC, and drove to Sugar City. We quickly gathered up all (most) of the kids' scattered belongings, said thank you and goodbye (and see you in 6 weeks) and drove to Pocatello to spend the night with Scott's sister Cindy and her husband Tony. They have a lovely new home which I hadn't yet seen. Their daughter Amy, her husband and little girl, and Scott's parents all came for a wonderful breakfast in the morning. Cindy is an amazing cook and we had the best pancakes with currant syrup. Yum!

We drove to SLC and spent the night at the Grand America, where we still are. The Phoenix Suns are staying here as well (they're playing the Jazz tonight) and Scott and Brittany both saw Shaq. I'm bummed I missed that, he's one of the few pro b-ball players I could identify! Beebs and her Scott and kids met us this morning and we went to Hogle Zoo. I'd forgotten what a nice zoo it is! The kids had a great time, it wasn't too crowded, and it was beautiful weather, chilly but sunny. We had lunch at a fun Polynesian place and then came back to the hotel and the older kids went swimming. Beebs and I stayed in the room and chatted and watched Noah and Brennan play. I love Beebs, she's always so fun to be with and is so patient (her kids spilled 3 drinks at lunch and she barely flinched).

We're going home tomorrow, but it has been a very nice trip, so good to see family and spend good quality time together.

Stiffnecked

2009-03-21T18:52:00.002-05:00

I've gained a new appreciation for the term "stiffnecked" this week. I took Ethan and Noah bowling with my friend Amy and her son Adam last Friday. It was the first time I'd bowled since college, and I wasn't very good. The next day my neck was sore on one side, and the day after that I could barely turn my head. I've been popping ibuprofen, using ice and heat, and I had a somewhat painful massage yesterday. Still sore. Maybe I should try humbling myself a little . . .

Not Funny

2009-03-21T05:34:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd post a comment sent me by a special needs advocacy group:

I am the very proud mother of a Special Olympic athlete. Anyone who knows me as a friend, family member or even acquaintance is aware of my daughter's recent participation in the Illinois Regional Special Olympic Swim Meet. The day was one of the most memorable of my life. For days on end, I gushed about it to anyone who would listen.

I will never forget the emotions of the day. The pride I felt was unlike anything I had ever experienced. As my daughter prepared to compete in her first event, I was overwhelmed with bittersweet thoughts and memories of her first ten years of life.

I remembered the day we saw her have her first of what would be many epileptic seizures.

I recalled the terror I initially felt in letting my daughter with epilepsy even enter a body of water, fearing she would have a seizure and drown.

I thought of the doctor who claimed that "based on the data," she would never be able to swim.

I thought of the countless hours my daughter spent in a pool, working to master freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly in spite of her learning disabilities.

I also recalled her subsequently having to re-learn each of those strokes, because a seizure episode "erased" the strokes from her memory.

I thought of the private Swim Club that - upon learning of her epilepsy - protested her participation and made me sign specially-drafted liability waivers in order to let her participate.

I thought of her little legs shaking on the starting block before her very first race.

I thought of her mouth filling with water as she swam, because of the bright, wide smile that spread across her face.

I thought of the neighborhood Swim Team teammate who told her she swam too slow.

And I thought of her friend who valiantly defended her!

I thought about how she has worked harder to learn simple things, than most people have to work to master the most complex things. I marveled at her strength, determination, and grit.

I felt honored to KNOW her, let alone be her mother.

Just participating in the events is a tremendous accomplishment. All of the athletes are winners. I spent the day awestruck at my good fortune to be a spectator at this very special event.

On that particular day, my daughter earned two gold medals. I wept, overwhelmed by the joy, pride and emotions involved.

That afternoon, I sent hundreds of emails to friends, neighbors, family members, colleagues and acquaintences, recounting the joy, excitement and pride of the day. I immediately posted a photo album on my Facebook page. I wore my Special Olympics t-shirt for several consecutive days! I have never bragged so much in my life, as I did in the days that followed that meet. I jokingly told my friends to refer to me from then on as "Mrs. Phelps."

That day was a day of validation for my daughter and her fellow athletes. In a world where people with disabilities often have to struggle daily, the Special Olympics provided the athletes with an opportunity to share their abilities proudly! And the athletes shined brighter than any gold medal.

My daughter and I are not alone. We are merely two among the countless people who believe that people who know just how hard people with disabilities - Special Olympics atheletes or not - work each and every day. And we are merely two among the countless people who believe that ALL people are worthy of respect and dignity.

The message I convey today is one of love and respect. Here it is:

We must discourage the use of comments, jokes and "insults" that mock or disparage people with disabilities. We must encourage others to value and respect individuals with special needs.

We all know that some individuals with disabilities are very effective advocates for themselves and their rights.

We also know that many individuals with disabilities - by virtue of those very disabilities - are unable to speak up for themselves.

When this is the case, I believe that it becomes OUR responsibility to do it for them. We - the parents, siblings, relatives, neighbors, and educators of people with disabilities - are the voice for the voiceless. Safeguarding their honor is our responsibility. More importantly, it is our PRIVILEGE.

Please - help me reach out to everyone who may think that it is "okay" to make fun of people with disabilities. While I certainly do not share Jay Leno's access to millions of viewers, I do have faith in humanity. I am a hopeful person. I believe that - through you - we can certainly make a positive impact upon the public perception and treatment of people with disabilities.

I sent out this request about a year ago, and I am repeating the request now.

First, please email everyone in your address book, asking them to refrain from using the "R" word and other disparaging comments and "jokes" about people with disabilities.

Second, if you overhear someone making a comment that criticizes people with disabilities, please educate them on the offensiveness of such language. It takes a few moments - and some guts - but you can make a positive impact upon the world. At the end of the day, you will know that you have been the voice for the voiceless.

Thank you very much for reading this message.

And thank you in advance for spreading this message.

Peace to you and those you love.

On the Same Team
Maureen Lowry-Fritz, J.D., M.A.
www.onthesameteam.org

That says it pretty well.

Standard of Truth

2009-03-10T19:58:00.002-05:00

This morning I was a little down, thinking about all of the awful things that are happening in the world. I heard about the tv show "Big Love" belittling the temple ceremony and it just made me sick. Then I read the response of the church:
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-publicity-dilemma
And I also thought of the "Standard of Truth," which we memorized on my mission, and it made me feel a lot better. Here it is:

The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.

So as scary as things get, we just need to hold on tight to the iron rod, live worthily of the Holy Ghost, and pray always. We'll be ok!

Dad and Noah Weekend

2009-03-04T20:11:00.002-06:00

Last weekend Scott and Noah went to Idaho together. It was (I think) the first time they'd taken a trip, just the two of them. Noah was so excited! Scott had a water board meeting in Albion (we own a little bit of farmland there) and so this was a good excuse to go. They flew into Boise and visited Jeff and Marla, then spent time in Pocatello with Scott's sister Cindy and her family (including granddaughter Abby - - she's 3). Scott's parents were there as well and they went to church there. Scott's parents have been working in the Twin Falls temple since it opened, and Scott's dad is now a sealer. They keep very busy! Noah had a very fun time playing with Abby and took about a thousand pictures (Scott weeded through them and picked a few good ones, see www.gallery.mac.com/scottegarner) They finally got back Tuesday afternoon. Noah was so excited to be home and to see Ethan and me. We really missed him and Scott. Ethan and I just had a quiet weekend at home, doing some furniture rearranging and hanging out with friends.

Tuesday night I was in charge of homemade face masks for YW beauty night. We used up some of my food storage oatmeal. Recipe: 1/4 cup oatmeal, 2 tbsp egg white, 1 tbsp orange juice. The girls were so fun, we took fun of their leprous looking faces and had a great time. The scouts did a huge food drive for the pantry here in Crystal Lake. And Noah had a good time with the cubs, getting ready for this weekend's Blue & Gold Banquet.

Today Ethan and Noah had dental appointments. Arby's was the bribe, and it worked. Ethan went first and was a great example, and Noah followed and was wonderful. Whew! I was a real cheerleader through the whole process, glad that's over with for 6 months. Now I just have to keep up the nagging to brush and floss . . .

Weekend at Beebsie's

2009-02-26T16:53:00.003-06:00

Last weekend I got to visit family in Salt Lake. Scott stayed here in Chicago and watched the kids, bless his heart! I flew out Thursday morning. United has new planes they're flying into Denver (they'll be international planes soon) - - they have a new configuration, and the business class seats not only lie flat, but they have large tv screens (as big as a computer screen, and a bit wider). Everything is digital and you get a remote so you can choose from among about 30 movies, 30 tv shows, and a bunch of games for kids or adults. I watched the movie, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." Not a great airplane movie, but then I only watch movies on airplanes. It was a wonderful show, but incredibly sad. I recommend it to anyone that's not too sensitive (Heidi, you shouldn't watch it). I'm surprised it didn't get more press, because the acting is truly stupendous. But it did have a dampening effect on my spirits.

I got to Salt Lake at noon and Beebs (my sis) picked me up. We went home and just hung out for a while. I hadn't seen her or her kids since the fall, and it was fun to see how they'd grown (the kids, not Beebs - - she's as skinny as ever). She and her hubby went to the temple Friday night so I got to spend some time with W and A and B (ages 5, 3 and 1). I was a little concerned, because they're somewhat wary around strangers, and I hadn't spent much time with them before, but we had a great time! Friday morning I watched them while Beebs went to a dr. apt. We had most of the rest of the day to hang out. We played a bunch of card games (Phase 10, so fun) and talked and laughed and ate. Even though she's 6 years younger than I am, Beebs and I get along so well and have so much in common. She's in an interesting phase of life, with 3 little boys running around, but she does great. She's so patient. And what a cute house they have. Every time I go I think, "if I ever build a house again I'm going to do that and that and that . . ." Also her hubby is very hand around the house and actually put in a wooden floor while I was there. Scott and I don't even like to change light bulbs :)

Friday night my sister Heidi and my mom drove down from Idaho. I hadn't seen them for a while, and it was especially great to see Heidi, who is pregnant, and so fun despite her constant nausea! We stayed up late talking that night, and then got up to go shopping on Saturday. We spent quite a bit of time at Ikea. There's an Ikea here where we live, but I never go there. They have some really cool things. We ended up not buying anything, but we got a lot of good ideas. We had a yummy lunch, Mexican food, which made my stomach hurt the rest of the day. That evening Beebs and hubby went to stake conference and Heidi and Mom and I played with the kids and cleaned the fridge (note: isn't it interesting that it's so much more fun to clean when it isn't your house and when your friends are there with you?)

Sunday was stake conference, and I was really impressed by the boys' good behavior. It's not easy to sit for 2 hours, but they did well. Then we went home and had delicious lasagna and monkey bread for dessert. Monkey bread is Ethan's latest recipe from his life skills class - - I'll post the recipe on cousin's chronicles (or better yet, I'll have him post it). Mom and Heidi had to leave after dinner, and I was sad to see them go. But we'll be going out to Idaho for spring break, and I'm certainly looking forward to it.

Monday Beebs and I went shopping before she took me to the airport. I was so excited to go to Deseret Book (because of course there isn't one here) - - I got a couple of books for the boys and Beebs bought me some scripture marking paraphernalia and another book. We also went to Borders, and then to Chick-fil-a for lunch (I always have to get a chicken salad sandwich when I go there).

All in all it was a wonderful visit, even though I missed Scott and the kids. I love being with Beebs because we laugh so much (also with Heidi and Mom). I wish we lived closer to family!!! But we'll be seeing everyone in May when my little bro get married. I can't wait.

Thanks Beebs!

Noah

2009-02-15T17:54:00.002-06:00

Had to post a pic of my cutie. He had a great Valentine's Day, loved the cards from his friends and teachers and gave me all the candy - - you can't beat that!

Young Women's Sleepover

2009-02-14T15:57:00.004-06:00

Call me brave (or foolhardy), but I volunteered my house for the first annual Crystal Lake 2nd Ward Young Women's Conference/Sleepover. The boys get to do scout camp-outs, but the girls just get camp in the summer, so we thought this would be fun. Our stake theme for the year is "Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (1 Timothy 4:12) So the theme for our conference was the word and conversation part. We had talks about virtue (the new word in the yw theme), gossip, standing up for your religion, etc. We played getting to know you games and had all kinds of sugary/salty snacks. The first picture shows our fireplace mantel. Going along with our theme, we are giving the girls candles each month or so, with the colors representing the different yw values. Gold is the color for our new value, virtue, so we found some beautiful gold candles with pretty holders (Ikea). We lit them all and then had a testimony meeting. They looked so pretty up on the mantle that I may buy some myself and make it a permanent decoration. The only drawback was when we blew them all out it set off the fire alarm and woke Scott up (it was about midnight). It is a very loud alarm, not just a siren sound but a scary voice that says, "fire in the house!" Anyway I went up to bed (ah, my own bed) soon after that, Katie and Jen (other leaders) slept in the basement along with the 13 girls that came. There was plenty of room, everyone brought blankets, sleeping bags, pillows, etc. Most of the girls stayed up all night. I wish I had that kind of energy! I went back to bed after everyone left this morning and stayed there for several hours.

Anyway in the morning we had a wonderful breakfast. Jen had made these awesome casseroles (1 bag of tater tots, thawed and mashed up, 2 cups milk, 2 eggs, and 2 cups cheese, with a little chopped up ham, cook at 350 for 50 minutes - - delicious!) and we also had fruit, OJ, hot chocolate, muffins, and cinnamon rolls. Cleanup was quick and easy, and I really think the girls had a nice time. I sure did. These young women live at a challenging time, and there are very few LDS kids at the schools here. It can't be easy facing the peer pressure that they do, but they are remarkably strong. They all get along well, and I am so glad, because they need eachother. One of my friends told me that as Ethan gets older, make sure he goes to activities, parties, etc., with his church friends, because they can be his greatest support. It was so different for me growing up because my church and school friends were the same. But living in the missionfield is not like that. Ethan has great school friends, and so far hasn't had problems with peer pressure, but I know that will come, and I'm so glad he has a bunch of great church buddies to hang out with as well.

Anyway I feel privileged to work with such wonderful women as leaders, and such valiant, beautiful young women. I love getting to know them and seeing their beautiful spirits shine through. Each is an example to me, and I just hope I can help them as much as they inspire me!

Happy Valentine's Day! (This is a real potato!)

2009-02-14T15:52:00.002-06:00

Cute Free Stuff to Print

2009-02-03T12:47:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite sites, stealsdeals.blogspot.com, directed me to another site with cute things you can print for free, like notes for your kids' lunch boxes, gift tags, cards, etc. The site is www.gingerbreadnook.com/shtml .

Also, Noah won the Pinewood Derby! Big surprise, we certainly weren't expecting that. This year all of the Achievement Day girls participated as well. Huge turnout, and great fun for everyone. Noah was very excited.

Catching Up

2009-01-31T11:01:00.003-06:00

You wouldn't believe how I've spent my morning. This afternoon is the Pinewood Derby, and I'd said I'd bring treats for the kids. I ended up buying those Nilla Cakesters (like the soft Oreo Cakesters except yellow with white filling). Then I used sparkle gel frosting in a tube to draw a big red circle on the top, and blue to write a #1 in the middle of the circle. They actually turned out ok, except the first four, which I kind of messed up. So I'll save them for Scott and Ethan.

Poor Scott and Ethan, by the way, they're spending their day at the Klondike Derby. It started at 8:30 (they left the house at 7) and the scouts spend the whole time outdoors doing knots, fire-building, first aid, etc. Sounds a little like torture to me. It's only 26 degrees out right now, and it was much colder this morning. But my boys were well bundled up, and Ethan was pretty excited about it. It's a big area event and lots of different troops are involved. Makes my involvement in the Pinewood Derby seem extremely mild by comparison!

Noah is in watching a movie and singing along. Musicals are his all-time favorites. He just loves to sing and dance. Once I found him watching Mary Poppins, the scene where she tucks the kids into bed and sings to them. He'd tucked all of his little stuffed animals under a blanket and was singing to them. Too cute!

He's doing better with the behavior as well. We made a "Disney Chart." Disneyland (or world) is his favorite place in the world and he talks about it a lot. So every day that he gets a good report from school (all smiley faces on his daily schedule) he gets a sticker on the Disney Chart. It's a great motivation! When he fills the chart in he gets a trip to Disneyland. It's a pretty big chart, hopefully it will be full by the summertime!

Last weekend Ethan had a guitar recital. It was his teacher's idea, to get Ethan motivated to pass off "Minuet in G," which he'd been working on for too long. Well it worked, or should I say Ethan worked. He did great on the song, I'll try to post it here if I can, but it's on our gallery.mac.com/scottegarner site. I'm so proud of him! Now he's finished his first guitar book, after less than a year, and he's really excited to learn "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," which is in the second book. I'm also so glad he likes classical music and didn't want to learn the electric guitar!!!!!

I've been busy with stuff for my church calling as secretary of the Young Women's organization. I spent much of last Saturday at a volleyball tournament. I really love working with these great girls and seeing them get along so well together. Now I'm going to be teaching the 14-15 year olds. I'm still doing the secretary thing until they get someone to replace me. I'm also helping with teaching crocheting to the women's group, and I'm in charge of the "Lunch Bunch," a monthly get together (I'm going to be making it a service group as well, he he he). And don't even get me started about the Down syndrome group stuff, because it is drowning me. So a nice Saturday like this is a great time to try to do a little catching up, in more ways than one!

New Year, New Post

2009-01-18T19:09:00.002-06:00

I can't believe half of January is over and I haven't posted a darn thing. Not that much has been going on, just getting back into the swing of school and work. Scott has been doing some traveling, to New York and London. He also has been playing a whole lot of tennis at the gym, which he loves. He's such a good example for me, and I so need to get my lazy self back into exercise mode. One of the many resolutions . . .

We have had one of the coldest winters ever. The kids had no school last Thursday or Friday because temps with the windchill were 40 below zero. So we hung out in the house and Ethan played with his buddies. Of all the Christmas presents the biggest hit has turned out to be the nerf blasters and nerf bow/arrow. The entire basement has become a war zone, and I'm always a little bit on my guard.

We recently had Noah's IEP meeting (almost 2 hours with all his teachers/therapists during which we discussed his progress to date and plans for the future.) How thankful we are for devoted teachers, people who felt called to work with kids with special needs. Noah is so blessed to be alive at a time when there are so many opportunites for kids like him. And he just loves school and his school friends.

Hope everyone out there is doing well!

Christmas Video

2008-12-28T18:47:00.002-06:00

Scott put together and posted a video of the kids opening some of their presents, including those from family members. It's at gallery.mac.com/scottegarner, if you want to see it. We're enjoying a very relaxing break. The weather has been awful so we haven't been out much, but we've been playing foosball, ping-pong, uno attack, and dodging nerf darts. Also working on the puzzle that Beanie and Tallis gave us (it's hard!) I've already put most of the Christmas stuff away, kind of early, but good to get it done. I'm trying to organize as I go, including vacuuming up all the dead bugs (eww!) in the storage room.

Thank You Very Much!!!

2008-12-25T17:02:00.002-06:00

Here's a big thank you to family for our wonderful presents. I have to say, the one I've enjoyed the most today is the Ogden Nash book of poems by Kim and Val. Who knew he was so prolific, or erudite (a little interjection of scholarly commentary). He's got a great one, "Allergy in a Country Churchyard." I foresee lots of Findelmeyer Proposition posts in the future. Fun!!!! We're also looking forward to digging into the Girl Scout Cookies.

Beebs and Scott, we are still figuring out the bean game (I'm a little slow) but it looks really fun. And the kids love Corduroy, Ethan had a copy when he was a little boy and he ripped it.

Mom and Dad, we're excited to use the veggie chopper, Ethan is going to have some fun reading ahead, and the kids loved the hot chocolate and new spoons in their stockings. I personally can't wait to see the cousins book and the calendars. Thanks to Hilary for the pretty container and the licorice (we have had so much sugar today you can't believe it!)

We've already used Heidi's early present, the "green bags." I've been working on the penguin puzzle off and on all day. I have all the easy parts done, and now I'm pulling my hair out working on the hard parts. And thanks to Kyle for the Amazon gift card, I'm really looking forward to using it!

Grandma and Grandpa Garner gave the kids "Wall-E" and "Prince Caspian," as well as some video games - - they're so excited! The only thing better would be if you could have been here yourselves!

It looks like we won't be making it out to Idaho, the weather there is too bad to risk the roads. So we'll hunker down in the bad weather here. This has been such a fun, lazy day, the perfect Christmas. We miss you all and love you so much!

Family Christmas Letter

2008-12-25T08:41:00.000-06:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM ALI, SCOTT, ETHAN, AND NOAH

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . one annual Christmas letter from the Garners!

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . two front teeth. Noah's baby ones were knocked out in a sledding accident in February and his new ones have finally poked through!

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . three new appliances. Our dryer, refrigerator and sump pump all bit the dust this year and had to be replaced. We're taking bets on which goes next, the washing machine or the dishwasher.

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . four hours a week, that's how much Ali continues to work at the dental office. She's also president of the county Down syndrome organization and secretary in her church young women's group.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . five fun family outings. We went downtown to see "Peter and the Wolf," and also a performance by the pianist Lang Lang. Over spring break we took a little road trip and visited the Virginia Zoo and Hershey, Pennsylvania. And during Thanksgiving we went on a cruise.

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . one student in 6th grade. Yes, Ethan turned 11 and graduated from elementary school. He loves middle school and has made a lot of new friends. He keeps busy with scouts, as well as piano and guitar lessons. And he spends a fair amount of time playing his nintendo.

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . seven times a hundred approximate hours of paperwork for our adoption. First our country (Vietnam) closed, so we changed to domestic. Then our agency went out of business. We're with a new agency now and have high hopes for a new baby sometime next year!

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . eight family visits, some here, and some in Utah, Idaho, Canada and Virginia. Also a great family trip to Disneyland with Ali's sister's family. Fun!

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . one nine-year-old Noah! Noah has made great progress over the past year, especially with speech and writing. He loves to carry a little notebook around with him and write down random numbers. He's always happy and smiling, and entertains us every day.

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . ten family favorites: Monk (tv show), fresh guacamole, a snowblower that works, traveling, Costco, guitar music by Christopher Parkening, pirates (Noah especially), Yahtzee, the Simpsons, and french toast (Ethan has become very good at making it).

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . a new job with the 11-year old scouts for Scott! He's not super excited about the camping part, but enjoys spending time with Ethan and his buddies every Wednesday night. Scott also has been playing a lot of tennis with his friends at the new gym near our house.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . twelve months of happiness, and hopes for a wonderful holiday season and new year to our dear friends and family!

Random Stuff

2008-12-11T17:39:00.002-06:00

I had to pass along a great website my friend Julie told me about - - stealsdeals.blogspot.com. I love it, every day they post great deals/coupons, etc.

Also - - the scrubbing bubbles toilet cleaner (it's a gel you stick on the inside of your toilet bowl) is cheap, easy, and very effective. A pack costs a little over $4, contains 6 applications, and each application lasts 2 weeks or more (mine lasted 3). It smells nice, too.

Lastly, I'm recommending 2 books. The first is "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery. It's translated from French, about a concierge at an expensive apartment building in Paris and a little girl who lives in the building. I checked it out from the library based solely on the unusual title, and ended up really enjoying it. I also recently read "Ghost Map" by Steven Johnson, about the cholera epidemic in London in the 1850s. Extremely interesting and very well written (the author is a genius, I'm sure.) It also made me so very, very grateful for indoor plumbing.

Hope you all are enjoying the pre-holiday rush!

Trip Pictures from Italy

2008-12-06T16:56:00.000-06:00

Stained Glass in Rome Ethan and Mom by the Trevi Fountain

Scott and the boys on the Spanish Steps

By the Colliseum

More Pictures

2008-12-06T16:46:00.003-06:00

Mmmm . . . Slanty

The gorgeous coastline in Villefranche, France

From the Chagall Museum

Noah, our little ham

Some Pictures from our Trip

2008-12-06T07:03:00.002-06:00

Here's the church in Nice

Noah in Villefranche

The interesting statue in Frankfurt

Ethan with the penguins at the Natural History Museum

Best Buddies in Frankfurt

Back Home

2008-12-02T12:08:00.002-06:00

We arrived last night (this morning) at 1:00 and all crawled into bed immediately. We'd flown from Barcelona to Frankfort, then to Washington D.C. and finally here to Chicago (and add to that the shuttles and taxis and car rides). It was about a 24 hour trip. And yippee, Noah stayed dry the whole time. Boy can he hold it! Lots of progress in that arena. Still more progress to be made. And it's about time because today is his 9th birthday! We're saving the celebration until tomorrow night when Omi comes. I didn't even get treats to take to his class today, I'll have to do it tomorrow. But he was just so happy to be home that he didn't care. The last 3 days of the trip he kept saying, "go home?" and that was the bribe we used to keep him happy on the way. Also the bribe of Omi coming to visit - - he's very excited!

Since it's his birthday, a little update on Noah. His fine motor control has improved exponentially this school year. He often carries a little notebook around with him and writes little scribbles. But he also draws recognizable faces (sometimes they look like paramecia because of the hair all the way around the head). He also makes wonderful rocket ships, and he loves to draw numbers. His ones, twos, threes, fours and sixes are great. His nines look like lollipops. He makes letters sometimes as well, but right now he's really into the numbers. He filled an entire 100 page notebook while we were travelling. Cute stuff!

Noah is also becoming much more articulate. We're working with him on saying each word in a sentence, and sometimes signing the words as well. A couple of my favorite phrases: "of course," when I ask him to do something, and "I know," when I tell him that I love him. He loves to sing, too, and his favorite song is "Follow the Prophet." I can't believe my little guy is 9! I've been thinking back to the day he was born, and how thrilled we were with him. We've had challenges, but he has brought us joy every day of his life and we love him with all our hearts.

I've been up since 4:30 this morning (Europe jet-lag, I get up early and feel great, but by 6 p.m. I'm wiped out). I've unpacked everything and have about half the laundry done (there were no laundry facilities on the ship so we have loads and loads.) Wow, do I have a lot going on this month! And my house is a big hairy mess!

Thanksgiving Trip

2008-11-27T08:07:00.000-06:00

(note - - I’ll upload pics after we get home).

As usual, we are spending our Thanksgiving far away from home. The kids have the entire week off school so it is often a good time to travel. Also we’d had our eye on a cruise in Europe, and thanks to the tanking economy, the price just kept dropping, until it seemed silly to not go.

Scott had to go to San Francisco on business on Monday morning, so he got as much done as possible before he left. I still had time for my usual pre-trip freakout before the kids and I left Wednesday after school. There was a lot to pack and do! We met Scott at the airport, but before he got there I’d already spent 30 minutes in the bathroom drying Noah’s pants. What a relief to get on the plane!

We arrived in Frankfurt Thursday morning, and after showers and naps we ventured out into the city. There is a very interesting statue there, some kind of man smashing something (communism?) with a hammer. Not sure what the significance was. We visited the natural history museum - - dinosaurs, plants, and so many animals! (As Scott put it, like a zoo, but all the animals were stuffed). We had dinner in a little German restaurant - - we had wiener schnitzel. The older couple sitting next to us kept smiling and telling us what a great place we’d chosen to eat. They didn’t speak much English, but they radiated good will. We always meet such nice people when we travel.

The next morning we took a flight to Barcelona. Ethan and I were hoping to practice some Spanish, and we did see a lot of familiar words on the signs, but everything was also in Catalan, so it was a little confusing. And we spent our entire time stuck in traffic in a taxi - - we barely made it on the ship!

We’re on the Celebrity Century, nice ship, about 1800 passengers and 900 crew. Everyone is always so sweet to Noah, the waiters especially. We’ve been eating extremely well - - dinner at 6 every night. Our room is small, but with a large balcony and plenty of space to store our stuff.

Our first port was Marseilles, France. We got off the ship, felt the freezing weather and bitter cold wind, and decided that we’d have more fun on board. I got a massage, the kids played in the kids’ club, and we all got over our jet lag. It’s a good thing, too, because it’s been non-stop ever since!

Isn’t it Nice?

Our next stop (Sunday) was Villefranche, France, and we went to nearby Nice. We got off the ship and took a taxi to church. It was in a nice little building and everyone was very friendly. Even though they couldn’t understand anything, the kids were good. I was glad we were able to make there - - it’s always fun to go to church in a foreign country.

Afterwards we walked to the nearby Matisse museum. I hadn’t realized he was so prolific - - he kept creating into his eighties. Scott and I kind of took turns looking at the exhibits with Ethan - - Noah didn’t last too long.

Then we had a long walk to the Chagall museum. This was our favorite - - huge paintings and many many studies for each of them. Also some gorgeous stained glass. I love Chagall - - I think it’s time we visited the Chicago Art Institute and saw the stained glass there again. The kids were good, Ethan especially. Then we took the train back to Villefranche but missed our stop (still not sure why but one of the challenges when traveling with kids in foreign places is getting distracted). We weren’t that far from the ship so we started walking back to where we thought the ship was. After about 2 hours we realized that we were lost. I dusted off my bad college French and we asked a friendly couple which way to go. They took one look at our bedraggled selves and said they were going there, and would we like a ride. They were so sweet! We had a very nice conversation on the way back to the boat, and it left us with very happy memories of friendly people.

The Leaning Tower

After walking our legs off yesterday, we decided to take it easy today. We slept in and then finally ate and went to Pisa to see its famous mistake. How’d you like to be known for something like that? It was actually very impressive, although in bad repair. I read that they have a special cleaning method for removing all the chewing gum. How sad! I was also depressed to see the amount of graffiti everywhere - - I’ve never seen it so bad. It was a disturbing juxtaposition - - the beautiful art and architecture and the ugly scrawls everywhere. I’d also forgotten that almost everyone in Italy smokes! I think I’ve inhaled half a pack so far. It’s disgusting. Fortunately the people are so friendly it makes up for the stench. We took the obligatory “slanty” picture. Today we took a shuttle, a bus and a train today. Lots of transportation! It was chilly and a little wet, but better than the day before.

I Heart Roma

We got up early this morning and left the ship a little after 8:00. The port was Civitavecchia, not too far from Rome. We took a shuttle and then a train (Noah pulled the emergency cord on the train and made a big noise. We pretended not to know what had happened.) First we saw the coliseum and Noah fed the pigeons his fishy crackers. Then we took the subway to the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps. Finally we went to Vatican City. It takes forever to get to the Sistine Chapel because there’s only one way to go and that is through the museum. It’s a great museum, but with Noah we sometimes need to rush a bit to keep him from getting bored and difficult. Ethan was pretty tired by the time we finally got to the chapel, but he liked it. In some ways I wish he were a little bit older so he could appreciate it more. But he (and Noah) had no problem appreciating the very authentic pizza we had for lunch or the gelato we had yesterday!

So that was Rome at a run. Ethan and I also saw the Pieta by Michelangelo. Both the kids were real troopers with all the walking we did and stairs we climbed. We hurried back to the train station and barely made it on the 4:00 train. So did everyone else, there wasn’t even room to sit down, so it was a less than comfortable hour-long ride. It was great to get back to the ship and enjoy our lovely dinner.

The Amalfi Coast

Today, Wednesday, we stopped in Naples. Scott and I went on our honeymoon to Naples (Florida) 15 years ago. This time we got to see the real thing! It was the warmest, most beautiful day so far, with sun almost the whole time. We shared a cab with a couple we met on the ship, Kim and Paul from Vancouver. It was so fun to spend the day with someone new - - we really enjoyed getting to know them. Our driver first took us to Ravello, a charming town on the Amalfi coast. Scott and I had fallen in love with it when we were here 4 years ago. The architecture and landscape was stunning. Even just driving and looking out of the car windows was lovely. We stopped and did some sightseeing in Amalfi and had gelato (a must). We also stopped in Positano and Sorrento. Our cab driver was very pleasant and friendly. We did some shopping and had pizza in Sorrento and then drove to Pompeii. We didn’t have a whole lot of time there, but it was close to closing and there were very few other tourists, which was nice.

New Fridge

2008-11-17T12:32:00.002-06:00

This has been the year of dying appliances. Our sump pump and our dryer both broke in the spring (leading to a big wet mess and no way to dry it!) The dishwasher has been unsatisfactory for quite some time, the washing machine is leaking, and recently the refrigerator has been making a funny noise. We decided the fridge was a top priority - - we didn't want to come back from a 2 week vacation to a lot of spoiled food. So last week we bought a new one. We put the old one in the garage for now (Scott is planning on fixing it! But I'm not holding my breath!) and Ethan helped me transfer all the food. It's a beautiful fridge - - silver and smudgeproof. But somehow it just didn't look right. Then I figured out what was missing. Noah's magnet letters, our family calendar, school papers, coupons, receipts, etc. Now it's perfect!

Lang Lang

2008-11-15T16:32:00.002-06:00

We went to a concert downtown at the CSO today. Lang Lang is a marvelous pianist - - we saw him once before, 5 years ago. He was just starting to become world famous, and Scott had recently read an article about him in Time or Newsweek. We were on our 10 year anniversary trip to Italy, and lo and behold, there he was on our airplane! We introduced ourselves and he said he was performing in Milan and Florence. We were lucky enough to get tickets to one of his concerts, and it was amazing. The performance today was for families, only about 80 minutes. First was a beautiful piece by Schubert for 4 hands, he played with a 14-year-old prodigy. She was great, so graceful! Then a few solo pieces, and then the last few were with 3 other musicians. One played the double bass (which is huge!) and the other 2 played the ehru and the pipa. I'd never heard of them before either. They're stringed instruments, from China, and with that distinctive Chinese sound. It was so fun to watch them all play together - - they were just so obviously having a great time!

It's always great to cram a little culture down the kids' throats.

Down Syndrome Halloween Party

2008-11-07T11:27:00.003-06:00

Here are the pics from our Halloween party. The girls with Noah are his best buds in the world, Leah and Vanessa. They're in his class at school, and they are all like the 3 musketeers. I didn't have a good picture of Ethan, but he was a big help with setting up, cleaning up, and running the fog machine.

Finally, Some Pictures

2008-11-06T17:14:00.005-06:00

Here are some pictures of the 11 year old scout camp-out. Ethan is with his buddies Luke, Kirk and Hyrum - - they had so much fun! And they got so muddy and stinky!

Crazy Busy

2008-11-05T11:46:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was one of my busier days. The kids had no school (not sure why, maybe security since they use the schools as polling places) so that made it all the more hectic. I got up at 6, wen't to vote at 6:20, then to the gym. Back home, shower, and clean house until 10, when Ethan's friend Eric came over. Worked on projects until 12, then took Ethan and Eric to Eric's house. Then errands - - grocery store, office supply store and 2 craft stores. Got home, fed the kids, and took off for the church (Scott and the kids came too). I was in charge of getting supplies for the yw activity (making temple ornaments) so I helped get that set up, then went with the ym to give a presentation on disability awareness (one of their merit badges). Noah had pack meeting, although he didn't last long (there was a hair pulling incident and he had to be forcibly ejected - - I'll say no more). Scott is the new 11-year-old scout leader, so he worked on 1st aid kits with Ethan and his friends. Once we all finished we went home and helped Ethan with homework and got the kids to bed. Whew!

Blog Book

2008-11-02T17:05:00.001-06:00

A friend sent me a link to this site - - you can make your blog into a book (blook?) and the prices aren't bad. For those of us whose scrapbook collections are collecting nothing but dust it's a viable alternative. The site is www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook. What do you think?

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T08:07:00.002-05:00

I hope you all had a happy day. We had amazing weather, in the seventies. The kids were actually able to trick-or-treat without heavy coats! This morning I packed up Noah's pirate costume (including his batman cape, which is part of the costume) so he could take it to school. I had a red and white striped shirt for him to wear, would've looked great. But he wanted to wear a button down, tie, and his sport coat (which is way too big). Why argue? When I went to his little class party he was wearing his pirate vest and cape over the sport coat. Quite the look! His class is so cute, I enjoyed seeing the kids in their costumes and chatting with the parents (there are only 6 kids in the class, so it's nice and small).

I spent most of the day in the car, ran errands, had lunch with friends (fun!), shopped, went to Noah's school, went home and picked up Ethan, went to the other side of Crystal Lake to pick up Ethan's buddy Adam (who spent the night), and raced back home to get Noah off the bus (didn't make it, I had to call my neighbor Bob and ask him to watch Noah while I fought traffic.) Thank goodness for good neighbors!

Scott came home early and we all took turns handing out candy. I love the little kids the best, I'm not so crazy about the scary teenagers roaming in packs, demanding candy. I'd tell them to just go buy some, but I'm afraid I'd get egged! Actually they were all very polite and looked like they were having a lot of fun. And we have an 8:00 curfew, so we weren't up late answering the door. We had at least 150 people come. Noah did a little trick-or-treating, he doesn't care for candy so he wasn't too motivated. Adam and Ethan stayed out a little longer. Then they stayed up late playing the wii, and slept in sleeping bags in the basement. Scott is taking them golfing this morning.

So nice family day! I hope everyone else had a lot of fun!

My Fashion Sense (or lack thereof)

2008-10-20T06:32:00.004-05:00

Scott just doesn't trust my ability to pick out clothes for myself. Not that I am a fashionista in any sense of the word, but several times when I've brought new clothes home he's given me "the look" - - a mix of befuddlement and horror. The first time was when I was pregnant. I'd bought a pair of maternity jeans at Target, liked them, and asked him to pick up another pair for me on the way home. He called me from the store to ask, was I really sure this was what I wanted? Yes. Really really sure? Yes! I was a little impatient. He described the jeans and I assured him that those were the ones I wanted, with the jean material legs and the nice soft stretchy tummy. When he got home and presented them to me he gave me the look and said, "Ali, those are going to look awfully weird when you tuck your shirts in." Poor guy, didn't realize that when you're pregnant you just don't tuck!
Another time I bought a pair of bright pink scrubs for work. I came out of my room and Scott gave me "the look" and said, "that's a nice outfit, very . . . pink." Later I discovered that he didn't realize I was going to work, he thought the outfit was just a regular going out on the town outfit. See what I mean?
And last week I came home with a new pair of jeans. They had a big cloth sticker on the front, a red star (which, if you looked closely, bore the words, "can you cinch an inch?"). Scott gave the jeans the look and said, "are those your Hannah Montana jeans?" Once again doubting my ability to shop for myself, he thought the sticker was part of the jeans. Good grief!

Continued

2008-10-17T18:24:00.002-05:00

I stink at the technical part of this, could only upload a few pics with that post. So here are a few more.

Disneyland

2008-10-17T18:04:00.003-05:00

We spent last weekend in Disneyland with my sister Brittany (fondly known as Beebs) and her husband Scott, and boys Weston, Aidan, and Brennan. We had a great time! We spent the first day at the main park and the second at "California Adventure." Both have fun rides. Noah was so happy - - Disney is his favorite place on earth. We waited in line for almost an hour to go on the Toy Story 2 ride, which was pretty cool (although the wait with 4 little boys was pretty brutal!) Disney has some nice restaurants too, and I ate the best fries of my life - - seasoned with parsely, garlic, and parmesan cheese, with a thousand island dip. Amazing. My pants seemed a little snugger when I got home, I can't imagine why . . .

We also went to church and visited the LA Temple. We ate in a cute little diner nearby, and the hostess was born in Pocatello! Small world. I had so much fun visiting with Beebs, who I rarely get to see. She is darling, so patient and so fun (she didn't even lose it when Weston threw up chocolate donut all over the back seat of the car). I wish we could have spent more time together. We had to leave Sunday night, didn't get on the 6:00 flight so ended up taking a red-eye to Baltimore and then a morning flight to Chicago. Noah got a fever and didn't feel well part of the time, but he's fine now.

I'm also posting some gorgeous pictures of Lake Louise (when Scott took the boys to Canada). I told him that next fall we're going, just the 2 of us!

You Never Know . . .

2008-10-09T06:56:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I was sitting in the TV room watching Ethan play his Wii game (Mario Party 8?). He was really doing well, as far as I could tell, and I told him what an awesome player he was. Later he came upstairs (after I'd hollered at him several times to quit playing and do his homework) and said, "Mom, when you complimented me on my video game skills that really got to me." I tell him I love him about 50 times a day, and constantly try to build him up, saying what a good brother he is, how nice he looks, making specific mention of nice things he's done or good schoolwork. But what made a difference to him was knowing I thought he was a good video game player. Isn't that funny?!

Canada

2008-10-03T16:49:00.002-05:00

Scott took the kids to Canada this morning. I really wanted to go, but I've been recovering from a 2 week cold and was so buried in paperwork that I didn't feel I could do it. Plus next weekend we're going to Disneyland with Beebs and Scott and their kids. Now of course I'm missing the Scott and Ethan and Noah like crazy. They were all so sweet this morning. But I'm attacking the mess in my office and hopefully over the weekend I'll be able to get everything so organized that I won't be a stressed mess next week. Amazing how paper just piles up, coupons, schoolwork, mail, junk mail, adoption stuff, church stuff, FINDS (Down syndrome group) stuff, etc. So I'm making about a hundred little piles and trying to throw out as much as possible. The weather is great, cool and crisp, and tomorrow I'm going to attempt to clean the rest of the garage and do some yardwork. Scott's parents are going to be in Canada too, so he and the kids will have a great time. They're staying in a beautiful hotel on the shores of Lake Louise. I wish I could be with them! But I was really suffocating in backed up to-dos. So I'll unbury myself and be a better wife and mother when they get back.

Updates

2008-10-01T15:54:00.002-05:00

Life is going on, busy and chaotic as usual. We're working on new adoption paperwork, which is a huge pain in the neck. Trying to coordinate between our new agency, our old agency, and our homestudy agency is not easy. Our profile is being showed around though, so at some point we may actually have a baby.

Ethan is doing very well in school, and recently ran for class president. He didn't win, but that's mostly due to the fact that there were 4 boys and only 2 girls in the running. What 6th grade girl would vote for a boy? But Ethan did a great job with his speech, misquoting Patrick Henry ("give me lunch or give me death") and JFK ("ask not what your school can do for you . . .). He started out, "In this time of political turmoil, vote for a candidate who cares more about having fun than about the issues." He got a lot of laughs and his teacher loved it. I'm really proud of him, he did it all on his own and it was a good experience for him.

Noah is doing well in school. Every day he gets a paper with smiley faces or thumbs down stamps for each of his classes. Thumbs down is for disruptive behavior, not listening, etc. Monday he got all smiles! Now the goal is a whole week of smiles. He does love school, and he's working hard.

I'm putting together our Down syndrome Halloween party. The kids love it, we do a pinata and it's always a big hit. I love seeing the costumes. I'm really looking forward to it. We also have the National Association for Down Syndrome conference in Chicago in November. They always have great workshops. Needless to say, I'll be attending the potty-training one. Still working on that.

Scott is busy with work and planning lots of trips for us. That's his stress reliever. I just curl up with a good book. I've been getting through an awful lot of pages lately . . .

Potty Training Update

2008-09-18T11:01:00.002-05:00

NOTE: Contains material that may be unsuitable for adults with weak stomachs! So we took Noah to the dr. a couple of weeks ago and talked about his seeming inability to feel the need to poop and to control when he pees. He suggested a specialist, a pediatric gastroenterologist. So off we went, and when he did the exam on Noah he said Noah was chronically constipated. I never would have guessed, because believe me, he poops every day. But it turns out that he's not pushing out the poo (low muscle tone) and it's just kind of leaking out (sorry this is so gross). Anyway, he's got a (please excuse the pun) backlog in there. So this past weekend was the colon cleanse, he took large doses of Miralax and Senecot. And for the next month he takes a low dose at night. And guess what. Yesterday on his own he twice stood up and peed in the potty! He has almost never done that before. And he doesn't seem to need warm water to make him go anymore! All that fullness in his belly was interfering with his ability to make himself go. He peed again the "big boy way" this morning! Hallelujah, maybe after 5 years of potty training we are finally getting somewhere!

Happy Anniversary to me (and to Scott)

2008-09-16T10:05:00.002-05:00

Believe it or not, it's been fifteen years since we tied the knot. My gift to Scott was very unromantic, but much needed, I started cleaning the garage out (I would have liked to have finished but it's about a 3 day job, at least!) I found that more and more stinky shoes were collecting on our small shelf in the back hall, so I bought a large shelf and put it in the garage and now most of the shoes are there. I also de-cobwebbed about 1/4 of the walls and ceilings and completely swept/cleaned the area closest to the door. And I put away a bunch of stuff from the FINDS group. Now I just have to clean the tool shelves, gardening supplies, sports equipment, and the rest of the walls and floor. Thankfully it's cooled off quite a bit here so at least it's not as sweaty a job as it could be.

Scott's much more romantic gift to me was a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a gift card for Borders (I can't wait to go buy some books!) We're planning on going out to dinner as soon as we get a free night! With scouts and young women and piano and guitar and work for both of us, we're pretty packed.

One more thing, you may have heard of a lot of flooding in Chicagoland, but we escaped any problems, thanks to our new sump pump and back-up sump pump. (It only takes one good basement flood to make you buy a back-up!) This has been the wettest September in about 200 years, but this week things are supposed to dry out a bit.

Back to School!

2008-08-28T07:54:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was the first (half) day of school. Ethan is now in middle school and his bus leaves at 7 a.m. so it was an early morning for us. Fortunately Ethan is a cheerful morning person. He was very excited about his new school, and his day went well, except for a bloody nose. But he said people were nice to him about it so it wasn't too bad (at least he didn't throw up!) Anyway he has a nice homeroom teacher and said his other teachers seemed fine as well. None of his close friends are in his classes, but there are kids he knows, and he makes new friends pretty easily. Also one of his friends is on his bus, so that's great.
Noah was so excited about school that he ran out the door 45 minutes before his bus came and I had to drag him back inside. He also wore a jacket, even though it was plenty warm outside. He wanted to wear gloves as well, but I put my foot down. He was so happy to see his bus driver and when he got home he said he'd had a great day. I'll be going in to talk to his teacher later and make sure we're all on the same page. There are only 7 kids in his class, and his best friends Jacob and Vanessa and Leah are all in it, so Noah just couldn't be more thrilled to be at school!
And I'm pretty happy about it too!

Nice Weekend

2008-08-17T16:24:00.002-05:00

Kyle flew in to visit this weekend! Actually we asked him to come and babysit for us on Saturday, there was a High Priest Group party that we had to go to, and since there was a stake dance that night there were no available babysitters. Great excuse to have one of my favorite brothers come to stay. He got here Friday afternoon and we immediately pulled out some board games and started playing. Noah was so excited to see his "Unky." Noah had camp all last week, going to farms in the morning and swimming in the afternoon. His buddy Vanessa was at the same camp, so he loved it. Anyway on Saturday morning Scott and Kyle and the boys went swimming at the gym, and then in the afternoon Kyle watched the kids while Scott and I went to our party. A member of the ward has a huge, beautiful house on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin and every year we have our HP activity there, dinner at the house and then dessert on a boat as we cruise around the lake. It was so fun!
This morning we had a special fast for Aidan. I was so proud of Ethan, he didn't even hesitate about joining in. We've been praying for the Daws ever since we learned of Aidan's problem. Instead of regular church we had a special stake meeting with Richard G. Scott as the main speaker. The stake center was just crammed with people, all of the big classrooms were full, as well as the chapel and cultural hall. We ended up sitting on the stage. Ethan's favorite part was advice from Elder Scott: "If you want to wake up with a smile, go to sleep with a coat hanger in your mouth!"
After the meeting we had a brief picnic lunch and then took Kyle to the airport. I wish he could have stayed longer, but it sure was fun to see him!

Sign the Petition

2008-08-16T06:25:00.002-05:00

Many of you might be aware of the controversy surrounding the movie "Tropic Thunder." In the movie the characters make fun of people with special needs and use the "r word." Since no one I know would go see the movie I hadn't really thought about getting involved, but then I heard that they're selling shirts on e-bay with lines from the movie that use the r word. That did it. There's a petition you can sign, by going to ipetitions.com and clicking on the Tropic Thunder petition. The text for the petition is a letter written by the mother of a child with Down syndrome, very moving. I hate the thought of Noah someday understanding how cruel people can be.

Dancing Videos

2008-08-09T13:05:00.005-05:00

Here are a couple of videos of Noah dancing. You can see why the kids love Miss Lisa! Check out Noah hitching up his shorts!

The F.I.N.D.S. Picnic

2008-08-09T09:32:00.004-05:00

Last night was the annual summer picnic for the Family Ideas Network for Down Syndrome group (of which I've been president since December). So this was the first big event I was in charge of. It wasn't too bad, all I had to do was follow what we'd done in the past, and everyone had a great time! We had about 100 people there, half adults and half kids. We started out with games and face painting. A couple of young women from my ward helped out with the games. They were simple, like beanbag throws and a duck pond. I also had the kids pick up ten pieces of garbage to get a prize (in the past we've had scavenger hunts, but this was easier and more earth-friendly). The face painters were great, Noah had a zebra on one arm, and an elephant on his other arm, his head, and his tummy! Noah's two best buddies, Leah and Vanessa, were there and the three of them played together all night. They haven't seen eachother much over the summer, so it was a joyful reunion for them! We had a huge buffet dinner with sub sandwiches and then appetizers and desserts that everyone brought. After dinner we had door prizes (we won a croquet set, I'm excited to try it out!) and then dancing and music. Our DJ was Lisa Gomez, she's done parties for us several times in the past and the kids just love her. She plays fun songs like "the Silly Dance Contest" and the chicken dance and the kids just go nuts. Noah danced the entire hour. I wish I had a better camera but I did get a few good pictures and I'll try to load the video as well.

They're Back!

2008-08-05T19:58:00.002-05:00

Ethan and Scott are back from a fun trip out West to visit our friends John and Cynthia Fulmer. The Fulmers are building a house in Sand Point, Idaho, which is near Coeur D'Alene (above the "spud line"). Noah and I were invited as well, but Noah has not been easy to travel with lately, and we decided to not risk it. So he and I stayed here and he went to camp (his 3rd year doing day camp with the Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association), and I cleaned the basement. Not as much fun as Scott and Ethan had tubing and boating and eating pie in Idaho. They did get stuck out there for an extra day, due to some fierce thunderstorms here in Chicago, and didn't get home until this afternoon. Boy was I glad to see them! When we picked Noah up from camp he said, "Ethan, you back! Oh, so much," which I think meant Oh I love you so much. It was really sweet. And when Scott got home from work tonight Noah was practically doing backflips from excitement. I sure do love my boys!

Adoption Woes

2008-08-04T19:28:00.002-05:00

We've been working on adopting a baby for about a year and a half now. We tried China first, then Taiwan, and settled on Vietnam. About 6 months ago Vietnam closed and we decided to stick with our same agency and do a domestic adoption. We just got word today that our agency is closing down and filing for bankruptcy. Those who have gone through the adoption process know the hours and hours of paperwork, home studies, doctor's appointments, fingerprinting, etc. that we've had to go through. Now another bump in the road. Our caseworker said she'd do her best to help us to transition to another agency, but of course there is going to be new paperwork and we are going to end up shelling out a lot more money (and the several thousand dollars we put into our old agency is gone for good.) Sigh . . . Well we know this is the right thing for us to do, and anything too easy wouldn't be worth it, right? We'll keep you all updated. I'm sure at some point things will work out.

I Love My Calling!

2008-08-03T16:26:00.002-05:00

For those of you who might not know, I'm the secretary for the Young Women at church. I have really enjoyed getting to know the girls, it's been a long time since I worked with them. I also have a great presidency I work with, we have a lot of fun at our meetings. Well this morning one of the little beehives brought me a birthday present, a bag of candy and some lotion, along with a sweet card thanking me for the monthly calendars I make and wishing me a happy day. Earlier that week I'd gotten a card from her mother, so the apple didn't fall far from that tree! Oh I hope I can teach being that thoughtful and kind to my children. I was moved almost to tears from that sweet girl's gift. I love the new Beehives (12 year olds) because they are so enthusiastic. The older girls get a little bored sometimes, but never the young ones. A couple of the girls are helping out with the Down syndrome picnic which is next week. I know that not only will they be a big help, but they'll also be great representatives of the church. Anyway I hope I can be as much of a help to these girls as they are to me!!

Scout Camp

2008-07-20T16:15:00.002-05:00

Ethan had 11 year old scout camp this week. On Friday I went up as a chaperone. The camp was in Wilmot, Wisconsin, and was put on by the stake. There were only about 15 boys there, and several great leaders. The days before Ethan had passed off swimming and knot tying and hiking requirements. The day I went we learned knife and fire safety. Ethan can now "legally" use his boy scout knife. The boys all made their own fires - - it was the first time Ethan had even lit a match! But he built a great fire. In the evening the boys in my group (3 of them) had to make another fire and cook dinner. We had that great taco soup (even better when cooked in a dutch oven!) and our boys were the first ones to finish. We had moved to an area with more trees and the mosquitos started to really attack us. Scott came to trade places with me and spend the night with Ethan in a tent (I had to go back and chaperone a pool party for the YW/YM). Anyway when Ethan came home the next morning the poor boy was absolutely covered with mosquito bites, hundreds on his legs, face, arms and back. He's been dealing with it pretty well, but he's not what you'd call a happy camper!

Long, long ago . . .

2008-07-19T17:25:00.002-05:00

Following my friend Stacey's example (and inviting anyone else to do so) I'm writing about what I was doing 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago. If I can remember back that far. Five years ago Ethan was 6 and Noah was 3. Ethan had just finished kindergarten, and with both kids home all day during the summer I was probably going a little nuts. I think that was the year Scott was working in San Francisco for United - - he spent more time there than he did at home. I don't remember much more about that time, I think I've blocked it out.

Ten years ago I wasn't yet 30, and Ethan was just a baby. I was halfway through dental hygiene school, in the middle of summer semester. That was crazy, taking care of a baby and trying to learn about teeth, I don't know how I made it. Going back to school was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but it was sure worth it, I love my job. Also during this time Scott was working on a business deal on the side that took a lot of extra time and energy but it also eventually paid off.

15 years ago was the best summer of my life, I was engaged to Scott and getting ready to be married. I'd been home from my mission about 5 months and I was working in Salt Lake City for a discount LDS bookstore (Seagull Book and Tape). I was living with Lears, having so much fun with Katie and I'm sure talking her ear off about my fiance. Scott was in DC but he came out and visited several times and I went twice to visit him. Because we saw each other so rarely we always had a wonderful time whenever we were together.

20 years ago I had finished my first year at Ricks and was taking summer classes and working in the reading lab. Hadn't dated much, but was having fun in college. I still lived at home and I think I drove my parents a little crazy. But it was great having my dad working on campus, we used to sometimes have lunch together and we drove in together most days.

OK, that was therapeutic. It was fun to look back and think about those times, good and bad, and to see that I could get through the hard stuff.

Scott and Ali in Spain

2008-07-17T20:26:00.003-05:00

We just got this picture from our friends we visited in Barcelona. The boy with us is Jimmy Carlucci, the son of our friend Kras. As you can see, we're having a great time!

Boys' Bedroom

2008-07-12T14:09:00.002-05:00

These pictures are of Ethan and Noah's bedroom. The bottom picture shows the beautiful bedspread Omi (with help from all the girls) made (Ethan has a matching one). A cute print Beebs gave us is above the bed. The pictures of the elephant and penguin we bought in Bali at Christmas time. A man had a little gallery at the Bali Bird Park and these were just perfect. They really brighten up the room!

Minerva Teichert Painting

2008-07-12T13:59:00.002-05:00

Scott and I finally got our Minerva Teichert print framed, it's the one of the Angels ministering to the Nephite children. I love it, and I love the way it looks in the dining room. We have her print of Christ with Mary and Martha in the kitchen.

Ethan in Utah

2008-07-10T17:54:00.002-05:00

A few weekends ago Scott and Ethan went to a mini Garner reunion in Utah, they had a great time!

Ethan in Chicago

2008-07-10T17:03:00.003-05:00

Ethan has spent the week downtown attending a day camp at the Shedd Aquarium. He and Scott stayed in a hotel and Scott worked from his downtown office. Noah and I have missed them, but I think they're having a great time. They'll be going to an airshow before they come home Friday night.