December 9

I've caught up on a few pictures from the past that might be fun to look at like riding a train, Thanksgiving 2012, tie dying, and our front door.

Both boys have finished their music lessons this year. They each had a "performance" of sorts at their teacher's home with their class. Underfoot's fingers are growing and not very strong yet. When he does finger strengthening exercises, he gets a penny per "run." He racked up quite the amount of money and then lost the motivation. Hurricane loves to sing and mimic everything that Underfoot does on the piano. They loved the little angel given to them from their teacher.

Hurricane has struggled this week with a cold. He shared it with me later this week. I've been eating vitamin C and drinking water. It is really hard to rest when little boys like to use my bed as a trampoline. As Hurricane has started to feel better, I've felt worse. This coming week I'm to have my tonsils removed. I called the doctor's office and the doctor's assistant said that as long as I don't have a fever and am hacking up a lung they will proceed with the surgery. I'm hoping to feel better and not more sick by Thursday.

The Joy School did a presentation tonight for Christmas. Hurricane was slotted to be Joseph but decided at the last second to be the start of Bethlehem. Underfoot stepped into the role of Joseph for Hurricane. Hurricane sang some of the songs and then was done. Underfoot sang every song with the class. Hurricane decided to go to the bathroom in the middle of the whole thing. He missed singing Jingle Bells- one of his favorites. He came back and asked the adults in the room to sing with him.

I passed the site coordination volunteering for Bountiful Baskets to someone else. So the news is that I will be a back up to run the site every once in a while and not every other weekend.

Sweetheart participated in a training call Trainer's EDGE (explain, demonstrate, guide, enable). It is a way to teach someone how to do a new task. Right after he left, I went to the car to go help with Bountiful Baskets. The car didn't start because a son was looking for glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth in the car the day before. He climbed in the car and turned on the interior lights and left a door ajar. After 18 hours, the battery was dead. A neighbor helped me out and loaned me a car for the day. He wrote the following:

"In what many scholars see as the final sign before the apocalypse, Mama drove a minivan on Sat Dec 8 2012.  The photo clearly shows the glory that is to be as Mama flinched from the beauty that is driving a minivan. Commentators are confused as to whether this was predicted by Nostradamus,  John the Apostle, or unknown ancient Mayan Calendarists. But all agree that this cannot be a good sign."

Be well.

December 6

Let me tell you about last week:

We've been trying to decide where to go for Christmas and how to have the presents show up. Currently we are planning to drive to Idaho and stay for a few days and then drive to Utah and stay for a few days. When asking our children if they thought the Three Kings (instead of Santa) would come early to our house or if they would show up in Idaho, Underfoot said, "The Three Kings found Jesus in Bethlehem. They can find us in Idaho." So thankfully we haven't communicated with the Three Kings on what to bring yet and will be taking care of that this week.

In fulfilling my civil duty, I participated in jury duty. On the form asking if you can serve, it asks if you can get childcare for 1 day. I can do that and did. I was called to sit in the jury box and answer questions about how I feel about guns, kidnapping, and child abuse. As the day wore on and I saw multiple other jurors dismissed, I started to think who I would ask to watch and care for my children the next few days. Part of the questioning process, the court asks some biography questions like where do you live, what do/did you do for a career, what is your education, what organizations do you support, etc.. I answered for my current profession that I was a Domestic Goddess which the judge even chuckled at and that I have a counseling degree in marriage and family. I was thanked for my service and dismissed from jury service.

Sweetheart held scouts at our house while I hosted a Jesse Tree Advent exchange. It causes for some chaos around the house. The Jesse Tree advent talks about the prophesies and prophets of the Old Testament proclaiming the coming of Jesus Christ and that Christ is the same God in the Old Testament as in the New Testament. We began on December 1st. Hurricane woke up that morning and said, "It's Christmas!" and has every day since. It is fun for the boys to open a present each day of an ornament and to talk about the love our Heavenly Father has for each of us.

Sweetheart, in supporting me in continuing to exercising, ran with our boys and me in a race, the Color Vibe. The point of the race is to come in a clean white t-shirt and then run with people throwing colored cornstarch at you, and you walk away completely bright and vibrant. The boys ran and rode in the stroller. Hurricane wants to do it again next year. Lucky for him there is one in January that we are considering doing.

There are some of the highlights! Hope your week continues to be wonderful!

Be Well.

November 25

Two weeks ago we held the 8th annual Locey Pie Party. We're sorry some of you weren't able to make it. After all the excitement, we didn't get around to sending out an email last week. Some of the highlights of the party were:

- Sweetheart's parents came from CA.
-Friends helped with the kitchen, which greatly improved the pie 'throughput' - more pie consumed by the masses, less left overs to give away
-Estimated attendance somewhere above 100
-Kitchen cleaned and everyone asleep before 10 p.m. (a first!)

One of Hurricane's adventures... He was taking a bath unsupervised. He came out of the tub and announced that there were 'bunnies' in the tub. We went to investigate... brand new 600 ct. package of q tips = lots of bunnies in tub.

Underfoot and Hurricane loved having their grandma and grandpa in town. They went to the air museum, read books, and had a wonderful time. I introduced my mom to Louis L'Amour. I think she read The Lonesome Gods in 48 hours or something. He He He...

This week we celebrated Thanksgiving by getting a Groupon (read economical) hotel in Scottsdale, AZ for two nights. On Thanksgiving Day Mama participated in a 5k race. For dinner we went to a fancy golf course restaurant where the food was expensive but not particularly tasty. On Friday we headed north to Williams, AZ to ride the Polar Express. We kept  Underfoot and Hurricane in the dark until we got to the Depot. The boys had a wonderful time. It was great to see their reaction when they finally understood that we were going for a ride on a 'real' train, and it was THE Polar Express. (Mama made arrangements for the boys to see the movie earlier in the week & we read the book to  them several times to get them ready.)

After the Polar Express we headed to our favorite thrift store in Flagstaff, AZ. Savers is on the route from Tucson to Places North (Utah & Idaho) and it makes for a great get out and run stop. This time around we decided to stock up on some cold weather clothes for our upcoming trip north. (It is hard to find snow pants for a 3 year old when it is 85 degrees outside...) Mama tried on upwards of 125 articles of clothing and our total haul was somewhere around 70 items. All clothing was 50% off. What a deal! As a treat for doing such a great job in the store, both boys were able to pick 1 plastic weapon. Hurricane chose a double barreled shotgun,  Underfoot picked a Nerf gun. We left the store about 2 1/2 hours after we arrived. The boys devoured their supper.

On our way down the mountain (Flagstaff is at an elevation of around 7000 feet, Phoenix is somewhere around 2000) Hurricane announced his immediate need to pee. We are ecstatic that Hurricane wants to pee like a big boy, and want to encourage that behavior whenever possible. Mama pulled over and Hurricane peed on the tire. He still hasn't quite learned that it is not a good idea to pee into the wind, nor is it a good idea to pee 'up', but he's learning... About 15 minutes later  Underfoot had to go too, so Mama stopped a second time. 15 minutes after stop number 2, Hurricane announced that he needed to pee again. Mama immediately started looking for a place to pull off the road and missed the speed limit change from 75 down to 65, as there were construction signs all over the place.

She mumbled an 'oh crap' under her breath. I noticed the telltale lights of the AZ highway patrol. The officer asked if she was aware that she was doing 76 in a 65 construction zone? No. Where are you coming from? Flagstaff. Where are you going? Tucson? Ok, I'm going to run your license and registration... The officer comes back. Hurricane pipes up (he's got his shotgun on his lap) " My grandpa K is going to teach me how to shoot a real gun. He is going to teach me so I can be safe." ... I'm going to give you a warning, Ma'm. At that point I asked the officer if my three year old could pee on the side of the road? Yes, that is okay....

So we don't know if the officer was being nice or if he was charmed by Hurricane's funny story and cute grin. Either way, we are grateful that Mama didn't get a ticket.

We topped off our adventures with a stop at Costco in Tucson. We'd been in the car for some time and both boys needed to pee (again!) I got Hurricane out of the car and immediately went to get a cart to put him. To my horror, I turned around to find him peeing on the same back tire, in the middle of the parking lot, before Mama even had a chance to park the car. Frustrated, I helped him zip up his business, only to find  Underfoot doing the exact same thing. A story my father told me once came to mind, of my two older brothers doing something similar in a Safeway parking lot in Alamo, CA, some 30+ years ago... The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Be well.

November 11

Underfoot went to piano acting completely normal. Just before I went to pick him up, the piano teacher's son called to ask me to bring new clothes for Underfoot because he threw up in the last few minutes of piano. Needless to say, the parent meeting was canceled so I'm not sure what he learned during class. He didn't throw up on the keyboard - thankfully! As we walked home from piano, he asked me to call EVERYONE we know to let them know that he had thrown up. He came home, crawled in bed, and eventually got better.

Last Saturday, Sweetheart and I told Hurricane he couldn't wear pull-ups anymore. He was to wear underwear all the time and did for the week. He had only one accident a day for the week. We are all excited that he can do it all the time!!!

I went to a Memory Conference to keep my license current. The conference was interesting because a lot of the research points to keeping physically health to keep the mind healthy and to remember things. The presenter said to have good heart health, exercise, and to keep learning new things (juggling was the study he showed to learning in the brain for 60 years old people).

Sweetheart took care of all the errands and most of the pie party shopping because Underfoot shared his cold with me. I didn't follow suit and throw up but felt lousy.

Be Well.

November 4

Pictures

The big news for the week was Mama's Triathlon. She did great. She finished 15 minutes under her goal. Way to go Mama! I explained to the boys that Mama was competing against herself, and that she won by finishing the race. After the race, they went to her and said "Mama, you won!" It was a special moment for her. She is already scheming up her next race. I'm excited for her to make a life change. The fact that she has completed a triathlon is a great thing for her and for our family. (A fringe benefit is that certain clothing items are now a bit loose!)

We celebrated my birthday. Mama made me a pineapple cake, a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing, and chili. All the things I asked for.

On Halloween, Hurricane had multiple costume changes. He was a Thomas on the way to school and ended the day as a clown. The clown outfit he wore was the same one his Mama and Underfoot wore when they were 3 years old. Underfoot was a pirate. The principal of the school said they could wear their costumes. He wore the outfit ALL day long. On Thursday morning, he wanted to wear it again but alas school said you could wear the costume only 1 day. They enjoyed trick or treating. Hurricane was so tired he came home and put himself to bed. 

On Saturday night we decided to have a family movie night. Mama got Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. It was fun to remember the lines from the movie. Underfoot and Hurricane enjoyed the movie too.

Hurricane is working on potty skills. Tonight he came into the kitchen and announced, with all the pride of a confident three year old, " I peed!" "Where?" Mama asked. "On the Rocks!" (in the front yard!) Hurricane flirts with the idea of using the big boy potty, so we've decided not to buy any more disposable diapers. Another funny story for the week: Mama couldn't find her keys anywhere. She looked all over the house for them. She went outside and found them 'plugged in' to Hurricane's plastic play car.

Underfoot decided he wanted a new class today at church. There was a change in teachers, and for whatever reason he didn't want to go back. Mama told Underfoot that he'd have to ask to be changed to the other class. He went right up to the woman in charge and asked to sit with his friend in the other class. She agreed, and that was that.

On Friday morning I over seeded our new lawn with winter rye grass. Hopefully, the new grass will take root in time for the pie party. I'm worried that I may have waited too late. 2 weeks may not be enough. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Be Well.

October 28

Hurricane is at the age when he has a choice of Halloween costumes. I'm sure before this Halloween is over he will have been 3 or more different characters. At his Joy School Halloween party, he was Thomas. At the church Trunk or Treat, he was a tiger and would growl upon demand. He still is trying to decide what he wants to be for Halloween day.

Pictures

Underfoot has been enjoying school and happy to attend. He likes especially when he gets to go to a friend's house to play. This week a friend came to our house and he was thrilled! They used their imaginations to make the early afternoon special for Underfoot and hopefully his friend. Hurricane jumps right into the middle of the play some times to his benefit and some times to his detriment.

We decided to not cut pumpkins this year but to put on stickers. Less mess. Easy clean up. Mama can still use the pumpkins after they've been displayed.

As always, we had a busy week. Mama had meetings several times during the week in the evening. One night was a seminar of sorts about marriage and communication. I had scouts on Wednesday. 

The big news this week was the Spooky Run. It is a 5k run put on by the PTA of Underfoot's school. We 'ran' the run as a family. This mainly consisted of Hurricane being pushed in a stroller while Underfoot alternately ran and walked the course. At one point I caught up to Mama and relieved her of prodding Underfoot to run. Underfoot climbed on board the one man running stroller (Hurricane was already in place) and down the hill the three of us went. Mama was able to run the last mile or so by herself.

After the run we stopped at an estate sale and picked up a few new treasures. We are suckers for a good deal. Later that night we attended our church's Trunk or Treat. The boys went around 2x to get treats of all kinds. Hurricane went as a tiger and growled at a lot of people on demand. Underfoot was a firefighter.

Be Well,

October 21

Picture Update

After the last few weeks we have returned to some what a normal life. The big things for this week were that Sweetheart ordered 10 tons of sand, and we all helped to move the sand and got it all done in one day. I thought to take a picture for Auntie Lyn but didn't get the chance between the boys moving ice cream buckets of sand and the wheel barrows of sand.

We also took family pictures to update the ones we did 3 years ago. A few things happened 3 years ago this past weekend. We took family pictures. We started Bountiful Baskets. It seems like a life time ago that we started baskets.

We got Underfoot's passport updated this week. On our way, Hurricane and Underfoot were talking about MacGyver. Hurricane said, "MacGyver gets all the girls." He does end up kissing a lot of different girls.

In two weeks (November 3), I'm going to do a triathlon even after having surgery. Lots of happy thoughts my way would be appreciated. Also if you plan to come to our pie party, it is November 17 at our house from 4 pm - 8 pm. Please make your travel arrangements. Any and all are welcome to come and stay. :)

Be Well.

October 14

For the last week of Underfoot's fall break from school, we took it easy - mostly because I couldn't do a whole lot.

MacGyver was watched a lot along with a few other movies. Hurricane and Underfoot believe that, "MacGvyer can fix anything." And so did I growing up. A little bit of duct tape and a Swiss army knife, magic can happen with huge explosions.

We went on Wednesday to talk to the doctor about what the results are from the surgery. Basically, he cut me open and remove some cysts that may or may not have been causing a problem but everything else was perfect. He gave us 3 options:

1. "Thank you." - You've gathered information. It may or may not work on your own. You may or may not have another miscarriage. You found out a lot of information.
2. Baby Aspirin
3. IVF

We haven't made a decision as to what we are going to do.

Sweetheart worked for 3 days and then finished the Wood Badge course the other 3 days. He worked long hour days so he wouldn't need to take a lot of time off and ended up only using a few hours. Sweetheart enjoys his work very much and the people that he gets to associate with. As a surprise to Sweetheart, I bought him a new scout shirt to replace the one from his youth. He now has an adult shirt. The council patch is a commemorative patch for the U.S.S. Arizona. He really enjoys WWII, and the patch meant a lot to him. He spent his time finishing the course and will now come home to complete his tickets (or goals) to finish the Wood Badge experience. Check in with him every so often to see how he is doing. He has 18 months to finish his tickets.

We were all VERY HAPPY to see him come in the door. It was like a great finish to a 3 week marathon for him. I think his stress melted away when his boys came running to him yelling, "Daddy!" He has been very content to be home, and we like him here.

Be Well.

7 October

Mama is recovering slowly from her surgery. It is hard for her to admit that she needs drugs and help of any kind. The surgery was successful in the sense that the doctor removed a cyst by her left ovary. However, a previous test indicated that her right tube was blocked (not the left tube.) The doctor inspected both tubes and they are perfect. This leaves us with more questions. We will meet with the doctor on Wednesday morning to come up with a plan to move forward.

Underfoot loves to read and write. He is learning more each day and enjoys practicing his letters. He is curious about everything. Today Mama observed that he is learning far more than we realize. She asked Underfoot about Jesus. He responded that Jesus is our Savior. Mama then asked him what a Savior does. He replied that a Savior helps us.

Hurricane is a combination of ferocious energy and a gentle touch. He is happy to play by himself after getting some attention from mom or dad. This morning he woke up early (before Underfoot and Mama.) We started playing a game with balls. We would toss the balls into a net. Each time all the balls were 'in', Hurricane would raise his arms and shout 'I win!'

A lot of people have gone out of their way to help us. It is interesting to see how everything has worked out. Mama is sleeping now.  She expected to be better sooner, but her recovery is taking time.

Yesterday we learned that a Temple will be built in Tucson. This is exciting for us because the closest Temple is about 2 1/2 hours away. There is lots of speculation as to what part of town will get the temple. (It takes about an hour to get from the north side of Tucson to the south side of Tucson.)

Thank you to everyone for you love and support.

September 30

Hurricane says, "Dear Good Friends. We played at Aunt Merris' house. I got to eat some nuts. I went swimming. In nursery today at church we played outside and picked up pine cones. I didn't get to bring the pine cones home." Hurricane also decided that he likes to wear pull-ups instead of underwear because going to the bathroom cuts into play time. It takes too much time to stop and use the bathroom. Two steps forward with the potty and one HUGE step back. His cousin, C, patted Hurricane's belly while we were visiting and said, "You are a cute little man." He is a little man in many ways. He has crossed the threshold from being a baby to being a big boy. He doesn't fit in our laps any more.

Underfoot said, "Dear Family and Friends, I love you. You are fun to play with. I like you. I am on fall break. For fall break you cannot go to school. We went to Aunt M's house and had a good time there. I swam. I came home. I went to the Desert Museum. I went and helped my Mom at baskets and I'm super strong." Since we are on a modified school calendar we have a 3 week fall break. We went on vacation see Aunt Merris after having a birthday lunch with a friend. The boys played and played and played and didn't want to go to sleep.

As mentioned above, we went to M's house (Sweetheat's sister) to help do some family history.On the way, I sold my old bike. While in Phoenix area we went to lunch, shopped a little, went to an Institute class, and swam. We liked having a swimming pool. We returned home to see Sweetheart before he went to a BSA Wood Badge course. Sweetheart stayed home and worked many, many hours to guard his precious time off. We helped him pack. A comedy of errors happened when Sweetheart couldn't find his Class A Scout shirt that he had used the weekend before on a camp out. It turns out that we still haven't found the shirt and he borrowed another shirt from someone else. He spent 3 days learning between an outdoor and class room settings. He came home exhausted with a quite the beard stubble.

We truly enjoyed going to the Desert Museum on Friday. I finished a few more details on the bathroom that I painted last weekend. Saturday evening I attended the General Relief Society broadcast. I hope to have a lot of things done before this coming Thursday's surgery.

Be well

September 16

Hurricane:
Hurricane has taken to using the word 'poopy' in every phrase that comes out of his mouth. At first it was funny. Then it became annoying. Finally, he got to enjoy a little soap. He has agreed not to say 'poopy' any more.

Underfoot:
Underfoot loves to write. He practices whenever he can.  Mama got a bunch of little note books, and Underfoot writes in his 'book' nearly every day. Today in Church was the annual children's presentation. Underfoot recited a poem that was dear to his Great Grandpa K called "A Bag of Tools". Underfoot loves to go to school.

Mama:
This week  Mama got in a fight with her mountain bike over a flat tire. After an hour of great struggle, the mountain bike lost. It was replaced by a new bike. (The old bike will be listed on Craig's list in the very near future... anyone want a bike?)  Mama is not accustomed to getting new toys very often. The new bike is light enough that Mama can pick it up and lift it up over her head.

Sweetheart:
I like being able to open the windows at night again. The daytime highs right now are in the low 90's, but it is getting down to about 65 degrees at night, which is plenty cool enough to cool down the house. Tonight we enjoyed supper outside on our patio for the first time in months. It is really nice to eat outside. The grass is not quite ready to be walked on, but it is getting close. The lawn mower arrived this week. I haven't put it together yet, but will sometime in the next couple days. It is an old school reel type mower. I hope it is the only lawn mower I ever have to buy (at least as long as we live in the Southwest!)

I've been assigned a new task at work which is extremely challenging. It is the task that no one on the team wants to do. Wendy can tell when I'm stressed out at work by my inability to compartmentalize when I get home. I hope to be better about leaving work at work. (I'm not very good at it yet... )

Family:
On Saturday night we headed north to attend Sweetheart's nephew's baptism. It was a quick trip but we are glad that we went. Earlier in the day we took down the rickety old swing set in preparation for the new arrival. This afternoon I took some time to review the 70 page instruction manual. Hurricane was sitting next to me, looking at the computer monitor, and casually instructed me to buy the swing set. He was convinced that it was a good choice.

Be Well.

September 5

Here are the highlights from last week:

Family:

• We decided to put in a lawn. With REAL grass. That may not seem like a big deal for those who have water come out of the sky and in the air all the time but it is a HUGE deal for us! It means less dirt, weeds, and a play area for us.
• Underfoot, Hurricane, and I went to 1/2 day at Underfoot's school and participated in art, music, Spanish, and P.E. In art, they mixed the primary colors to make secondary colors by blowing the water colors around with straws. They learned colors in Spanish, bounced balls in P.E., and threw bean bags in music. Hurricane loved being with Underfoot, and Underfoot would ask each team if his brother could participate.

Sweetheart

• He started on Thursday night with a jack hammer to break up the soil to sift it through a sifter to get out the rocks. He worked on it Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and finished today around 11 am with all the hammering, digging, and sifting. He had help on all but 2 days. We were all VERY GRATEFUL for the help. He is exhausted.
• Sweetheart is very excited about the grass.
• Sweetheart is SUPER supportive about my training for the triathlon. He says I'm happier, kinder, and more productive. He must like me that way instead of grouchy and frazzled which happens.

Underfoot

• Underfoot has been quite a good helper with our family project. He has tried to shovel dirt, carry rocks, and be supportive of his Dad. My Dad said to me once if you play with the big boys you need to take what the big boys dish out. Underfoot tried so hard to keep up with the big boys, but they didn't want him to get hurt. So it all came to an end when he came outside and asked, "Dad could I be helpful to you and not interrupt your work and stay inside?" We found it darling with his eagerness to work.
• Underfoot is learning to read. He is sounding out more and more words. We are so happy for him. It is still very hard, and he likes the encouragement.
• I observed Underfoot being very helpful in his class. He wanted to help Hurricane in everything that happened there, help other children when they couldn't open their snacks, and watch out for others on the play ground. He has a tender heart and wants everyone to be happy.
• Underfoot learned to dive to the bottom of the pool. He tried to teach another child how to do it later in the week.
  

Hurricane

• Hurricane continues to be a Hurricane. He has learned how to draw his own bubble bath. If we can't find him, he is in the tub some times. He LOVES the water and loves to be wet. He doesn't like wet clothes.
• He has used the potty on his own often. If he is encouraged to use the potty, all progress ceases. He is going to do this at his own pace and in his own time. I think I just need to take away all the pull ups and tell him there is only underwear and he needs to use the potty. He did it for one day and only had 2 accidents. That's amazing for a boy who wouldn't use the potty once the day before. He is the captain of that ship.

I keep busy with training, cleaning house, cooking delicious food, and being the organizer general around here. We have 3 jobs to do after school each day. The earlier they get done the happier all 3 of us at home are.

 Be well in all the good you do.

August 12

On Saturday we decided to recreate with some friends. We went on a 6 mile hike at Mt. Lemmon, which is about an hour from our home. We were happy to get out of the heat. (The temperature differential was 30 degrees!) Underfoot and Hurricane did a great job. We were really surprised at how well they handled the hike. At one point Hurricane fell asleep on Mama's back. We laid him down on the dirt and he slept blissfully.

Mama and I both sore today!

Hurricane and Underfoot started music lessons this week.

Hurricane is testing boundaries. Hurricane started Joy School last week. This week Mama hosted Joy School for Hurricane at our home. Before Joy School started while Mama was in the shower, Hurricane took frosting from the fridge and worked it into the carpet. The boy is exceedingly talented at pushing his Mother's buttons!

When Underfoot started school, Hurricane figured out that after dropping Underfoot off at school Mama would take a shower. The five minutes of unsupervised time was ample for him to get out the bucket of ice cream and have a treat. His routine has progressed. Now, instead of getting out the bucket and eating directly from it, he gets out a bowl and the ice cream scoop. On more than one occasion, Mama has found the melted bucket of ice cream on floor, either in front of the freezer or in the living room.

I had a long board meeting. The problems that the HOA deals with don't ever seem to change... people are petty, don't get along with each other, and often forget that when they purchased their home, they agreed to live by certain rules.

Mama had a meeting with some friends about participating in a triathlon. She is excited about having a goal. She will compete in her first triathlon in November.

We also celebrated our wedding anniversary or our "family birthday" this last week. Instead of Lance and I going out on a super romantic date for our anniversary, we had a family birthday party. We made egg roll, stir fry, and carrot cake. We sang happy birthday to us and enjoyed an evening together. 

Be well.

August 19

This week... with pictures for our family birthday and cherry pie. Project pictures to come as soon as it is more done.

Hurricane has upgraded his subversion tactics. He now makes sure to put the ice cream back into the freezer, so that no one knows he's had some. (He hasn't quite learned that ice cream on his upper lip is a dead give away.) Hurricane has made it a habit that he won't eat a lot of breakfast so that when he returns from walking Underfoot to school he can help himself to ice cream while  Mama showers. The other day  Mama and Hurricane were running late and needed to hurry out the door for Joy School. Hurricane started to cry and said, "I haven't had my ice cream yet."

On Saturday I made changes to the irrigation system in preparation for grass in the back yard. With the help of a strong teenager, we got the next portion of the back yard ready for rocks. The plan is to move the rocks this coming weekend.

Underfoot loves Legos. He must get that from his father. He loves to build space ships for Luke Skywalker. Underfoot had a great week at school participating in the school's specials which are the extras that all-day children participate in. They are Spanish, music, P. E., and one more.

Hurricane continues to demonstrate strong will and expansive curiosity. Often I must ask him lots of questions to find out why he doesn't want to do something. Once we've established what it is that he doesn't want to do, there is usually some compromise that will work.

Mama continues in her triathlon training. This week she pulled her calf muscle after a run and has been dealing with this small setback. She over estimated her bike ride on Monday and went 7 miles instead of the 5 she planned on. Her determination is enthusiastic.

Be well.

July 22

Underfoot started kindergarten on Monday last! He was so excited that he got up on his own early throughout the week. By Friday, he was tired and went to bed around 5 pm and got up the next morning around 7 am. He got to the play ground and never looked back.
Hurricane, on the other hand, is missing Underfoot desperately. Since we walk Underfoot to school, Hurricane and I have to walk home. I do it for exercise and take the long way home. We walked in the door about 35 minutes after dropping Underfoot off at school and Hurricane asked if we could go get Underfoot right then. He asked every 15 minutes until we got Underfoot.

As for Sweetheart and myself, we don't have much to report. Lance worked. I did household stuff and downloaded the 1100+ pictures from our trip. I've been working on putting the pictures on our blog. We were all exhausted by week's end with the transition to going to school and the schedule changes with that.

Just wanted a quick check in for last week.

July 15

On Monday I flew from California to Idaho. Mama packed us up, we said good bye to family and headed to Salt Lake for the night. On Tuesday morning we got up early and had breakfast with K F, one of my college roommates, and his family. It was fun to spend some time with them, as the last time we were together was when we lived back East. We then started south. Oh it is a long drive! We decided to have supper at my sister's house in Phoenix. This added another hour to the drive, but it gave us all a chance to stretch our legs, get some good food, and spend a little bit of time with two of my sisters - the one who lives in Phoenix and my other sister and her family who live in Bountiful, Utah. (They had not yet returned home after all their summer travels!) We finally got to bed early morning Wednesday.

Wednesday was a difficult day at work. Mama began the process of getting our lives back in order after being away from home for almost 3 weeks. We were pleased to see that most of our grapes survived (more about that later!) Our young ladies were considerably larger too (a.k.a. chickens). Wednesday night was a special evening as it was our first 'Back to School Night' - Underfoot is so excited to attend kindergarten starting tomorrow.

On Friday I came home from work a little early. I spent the afternoon and evening harvesting our grapes. It was fun to go searching for the grapes. Our two Thompson Seedless vines produced the most grapes, but they have also been in the ground the longest. Mama did a heroic run of shopping and other school prep errands so we wouldn't have to go into town on Saturday. We got two heavy thunderstorms, so the ground was soggy.

Saturday is a special day. It is the day we work our guts out. Mama got up early and went off Bountiful Baskets. The truck was late, so instead of returning home around 7:30, she didn't get back until closer to 9. We started steaming our grapes right when we got up. I weeded the front yard and part of the back yard. (It is so much easier to pull weeds when the ground is wet!) The boys helped out some.

The grape juice was done by about 2 p.m. We canned just over 2 gallons- a half gallon of purple grape juice and the rest a pink color. After that we pitted and froze about 18 pounds of cherries for pies and other delicious treats. We collapsed into bed that night.

Sunday is the Lord's day where we spent it at church and came home for a rest. I fell so sound asleep that Mama told me that Underfoot would come and pinch me without waking me. I must have been tired.

Be Well.

July 9

After leaving Arizona, we traveled to Utah. On Saturday, Mama's family met together in Salt Lake and used the City Pass to visit multiple locations for one price. We went to the Gateway Children's Museum, the Lion House Pantry (for lunch - SO YUMMY!), and the Leonardo. It was so good to see each other. The children played and played. The funny part was that we walked from the Children's Museum to the Lion House. Afterward we rode Trax because we learned that it was free to ride within certain blocks. We were SO TIRED from walking. We did ride Trax back and were happy to do it! We went and swam at my Grandpa H's house then to supper.

On Sunday we attended the Mormon Tabernacle Broadcast for the 4th of July. To attend the broadcast you need to be 8 years old. My Mom made arrangements for our boys and niece to be babysat. The babysitter was great! Sweetheart and I enjoyed the broadcast. Grandpa H invited us to his new apartment which is beautiful. We returned to Grandpa H's condo and helped pack up. 

Monday: We didn't have one of our finer moments, and after breakfast traveled to Idaho. We all ended up at the family cabin with a good supper. 

Tuesday: Games were played with nieces. Guns were shot with big boys. Tours were done with 4-wheelers.

Wednesday: The 4th of July was an eventful day. We attended the parade, and the ISU mascot, Benny, picked us out of the crowd to have his picture taken with our family! After the parade, we went to the car museum, ate lunch, and rode on the Jeep and old fire engine. In the evening we had a BBQ and watched fireworks at my sister's in-laws home. They were beautiful.

Thursday: We cleaned up because I only packed 5 outfits for each of the boys. I, on the other hand, always over pack for myself. This time though I wore everything at least once. That's an accomplishment because sometimes I pack clothes I never wear. :) We were given the assignment to go back to the cabin and put the linens in plastic bins to protect them from rodents. We drove to the cabin and all promptly took naps. I guess we've been going really hard.

My Dad and his siblings are going through the belongings of their parents. They spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday together. In the evening when he would come home, we would listen to him share stories of the day which was fun to remember my Grandparents and what they valued.

Friday: Sweetheart went to California to help his parents move. We drove him to Idaho Falls and returned to Pocatello to see my sister and our niece. They are moving to Missouri for her husband to attend medical school. We helped finish packing their home and then went to supper together with my siblings and their families and my parents.

Saturday: We got up early to see S (K's husband) and A, my brother, off to Missouri. Tears were shed, and they left. We were lucky to have S, our niece/cousin, for the day. Hurricane and Underfoot wanted to sit by her, get her food and especially candy, and to take care of her when she cried. As sisters and parents we spent the evening together. I enjoyed it very much.

Sunday was church. After church, we ate lunch with my Dad's siblings and one of my cousins and his wife and their friend from Chicago. It was good to have a family dinner because my Grandma K loved to get her family together. In the evening, I went and saw my college roommate from Ricks. We talked and talked. Ann has a darling family of 5 warm, kind children. Her husband is finishing Pharmacy school, and they are very optimistic for their future. It has been 17 years since we met. I think that we've gotten better with age.

Today we will pick Sweetheart up from the airport and return to Arizona. We hope you are well.

Be well.

July 1

We spent our first week of vacation with the Locey family for our annual family reunion in Arizona. M and M, Sweetheart's sister and brother-in-law, offered their home to shelter, entertain, and feed us all. M did a marvelous job planning and carrying out a reunion.

Monday: We spent the day playing in the pool with water toys and squirt guns. Hurricane and Underfoot were thrilled to be with their cousins all day long. 

Tuesday: Canyon Lake was the destination for the day with ski-doos, blow up toys, and talking on the beach. We recently put a hitch on our Pilot and pulled the ski-doos. We all slept very well after being in the sun and water all day. 

Wednesday: Sweetheart stayed home with the boys while I went to Last Chance. Last Chance is the rejects from Nordstroms. I got a darling pair of shoes and some shirts. Later that day we played family games. We were going to go to a Rawhide but it looked like a monsoon was going to come into the area with a lot of wind. We got all ready to go but then decided to go and swim. Hurricane took off on swimming. He wanted to swim anywhere we would go. Hurricane even jumped off the diving board over and over and over again. He LOVED the pool. 

Thursday: In the morning the adults went to the temple. After the temple, Grandpa L took everyone to dinner at Costco for pizza. Then the whole crew went to a water park. The boys loved the slides and wanted to go over and over and over again. Hurricane loved the speed. Underfoot loved being together. Uncle A celebrated his birthday with cheesecake and a tuxedo cake after the water park. 

Friday: We left to go to Utah. We love the drive and to be together.

We were so glad to spend time with family. The boys loved to play with their cousins. When we weren't in the water, they were playing with their imaginations or watching a movie. Underfoot loved his cousins, A and M. He stayed by their side at all times. When A went to leave  Underfoot  was brave and gave her a big hug and then went to the bedroom and cried hard. He didn't understand why A was leaving and not staying with him. When A walked back in the door, he got the biggest smile on his face and asked if he could write her letters. We are grateful for all the care given to ours boys. A BIG THANK YOU to M and family for their hospitality and kindness. 

Be well.

June 24

We started our family vacation and will be adventuring for the next little while. We prepared this last week by packing, cleaning, washing, and putting in work hours.

A few cute stories:

When we say family prayers, Hurricane is always excited when praying is his turn. He will point to each one of us and say, "It's not your turn. It's not your turn. It's not your turn. It's my turn." He then smiles broadly and prays. He usually prays for trains and tractors. Lots of times.

Underfoot got a letter in the mail announcing his teacher and when he will attend 1/2 day kindergarten. He was very thrilled to be in morning class with a teacher named Mrs. T. He will start school on July 16 at 7:45 am by walking to school. We don't live close enough to merit the bus, and the walking will do us all good.

We attempted to put our old ladies together with the new ladies. The ladies are the chickens. The old ladies established their pecking order and for a whole day wouldn't let the young ladies drink water. The old ladies have been free ranging in our backyard. We are hoping by the time we get home that either a neighbor has adopted them or the young ladies will be big enough to integrate the old ladies into the coop. We are too tender hearted to end the old ladies lives. I guess we are chicken.

We hope this summer to make great memories. We hope you make great memories too.

Be well.

June 18

We've done it again - missed writing for one week and then didn't do it again yesterday. Our letters to you are to keep you informed about us, but the letter is our journal of sorts. We don't write all the struggles, tears, or heartaches we feel. I think some times it is because we (the collective we) don't want to remember the hurt. I guess I'm sharing just to let you know life around here isn't always a bowl of cherries. We have our roller coaster moments with parenting, marriage, and personal challenges, and lately we say at the end of each week - "It was a hard week" and then we list to each other what made it hard. We don't want to compare with anyone else our hard times because we believe each of us has them - emotionally, socially, physically, and spiritually at time. In true sincerity we hope that our letter finds you well and you can feel of our love for you.

And on that note, we'll share about our week - again through bullet points:

Hurricane

• When we went our family trip, Hurricane decided to swim in u-turns with no breathe instead of going to the side of the pool, steps, or pole for the steps. So we went back for a swimming refresher. He regained his confidence after 3 days. On the fourth day, he swam like he loved it again with breathing. Breathing is critical when anyone swims.  On Friday we went swimming again at the local pool. He swam like a champ with no hesitation! We really want him to be as safe as possible.
• Laughing is one of Hurricane's talents. When he tells a funny joke and wants us to laugh, he provides his own laugh track with a deep hee hee hee. There are always 3 hees. When he laughs out of pure pleasure, he giggles that will even make the grouchiest moments melt away.

Underfoot

• The other night at dinner we were talking about a friend who stole home during a Little League playoff game. As we continued to talk Underfoot asked how our friend stole the house. It provided a good chuckle for us. After explaining what home plate was both boys said they were going to grow up and play baseball just like their friend and his brother because our boys think they are good boys. It is amazing how powerful the example of others is.
• We continue to work on reading. Underfoot has started to sound out words and write them by how they sound. For example the word done is dun. I'm glad he is taking interest in reading.
• We attended a staycation with a neighbor for the past 3 weeks. A staycation is staying home but with activities. J, the lady who has organized it all, has done a marvelous job! Our boys look forward to going each time. She has planned each week with a theme and then created activities for each day. We have called the weeks camps instead of staycations. The first week was dinosaurs, followed by stars, and last week was Father's day. I've been very grateful J invited us to come.

There isn't much to report for Sweetheart and myself. We have done the usual with HOA, Bountiful Baskets, church, and keeping a head on laundry and keeping a clean house.  The challenge with not writing weekly is we forget the special precious moments of the days. It gets lost in our memories.
We hope you enjoyed your Father's day. We did by spending a quiet day together.

Grilling steaks and hot dogs and mowing grass

Be well.

June 3

The last 2 weeks have been a lot of go. We'll do it by units. Pictures I'll be posting various pictures over the next few days if you would like to look at other pictures.

Family

• We went on a vacation with just our own family. We usually vacation with Sweetheart's or my family when we use Sweetheart's vacation time. We took almost 72 hours and went to Phoenix. We stayed in a hotel, swam in the pool, watched television, ate out, and shopped. We quite enjoyed ourselves and will be looking for more opportunities to do it again.
• Miniature golf is a lot of fun with the boys. Underfoot really tried to learn how to golf. Hurricane just got super excited about getting everyone's ball in the hole and would take over on getting the balls in the hole. Once the ball was in the hole, he would belly flop on the ground and get each of the balls out. After we were done golfing we rode bumper boats. We each got wet.
• Joy School Graduation happened 2 Fridays ago. Underfoot was happy to swim and enjoy himself in the hosting family's pool. We had a potluck and enjoyed a quiet evening. The evening got a lot more exciting later. You will need to read Hurricane's doings to see what happened.
• We attended the temple in Gila Valley because the ward provided babysitting. It was great to get to go and be together.
• We celebrated Memorial Day with a BBQ and friends.

Sweetheart

• Sweetheart works to keep us fed, clothed, and happy. He worked extra hours so we could go on our vacation and get off work a little earlier than normal.
• As a champion food taste tester, he tells me what recipes work and don't. He called from work and asked that I build a cake for his boss. One of his co-worker gave him the feedback that the cake wasn't out of a box. He even helped me make blackberry curd as a filling. I think it was super yummy because not one piece came home.

Mama

• Sweetheart called Sally from Bountiful Baskets and asked for me to take a break as a volunteer area coordinator. He felt the pressure and stress and wanted to eliminate one thing in our lives. The last 2 Saturdays have been rather quiet with no phone calls or route changes. I'm not sure if it is a permanent decision or temporary one.
• Since the miscarriage, I've been in a melancholy funk. Not super animated about life or what was going on around me or my family. Hurricane helped me get out of the funk after the Joy School graduation. More to come...
• I attended a continuing education class about drugs. More appropriately pharmacology drugs. The presenter was a trained pharmacist and counselor. He gave great insights on what how to use drugs with counseling and making sure that people are taking the appropriate drug and to not mix drugs for side effects. I found it fascinating. It was also the clearest explanation of how serotonin, adrenaline, and dopamine work. 
• I saw a new doctor that we hope will help us stay pregnant the next time I get pregnant. 
• I cut my hair.

Underfoot

• Our Joy School Graduate is looking forward to starting kindergarten. He will start July 16. The school system we are going into is a modified year round system. 
• He caught the vision of how fun swimming can be on our family vacation. He would swim and swim and finally jumped off the side of the pool. He swam all through the deep end. We are so proud and happy for him. It is a huge relief that he now knows how to swim.

Hurricane

• After returning home from Joy School graduation, the boys went to brush their teeth. We sent them in about 8:15 pm. Sweetheart discovered around 9 pm that Hurricane had turned on a faucet and spun the neck toward the mirror. The water ran down the counter into the drawers and onto the floor. With one inch of water on the floor, he effectively flooded the bathroom. We did laundry and shop vacuumed the floor and pulled out a fan. It took me out of my funk. It frustrated Sweetheart. Hurricane was tickled with his accomplishment. Underfoot didn't know if he was in trouble or not.
• Hurricane had a birthday. He is now 3. And very PROUD of it.

May 21

Pictures

Each week we try to communication our challenges, joys, and highlights. This week has been pretty mellow.

Hurricane continues to develop his own sense of self. As a family we attended the musical Mary Poppins on Saturday. Hurricane struggled at the start to stay awake. Once he got into the music, he was hooked. At one part he went into the aisle and was dancing to the music. He would clap with such enthusiasm that his whole body would shake. It was thrilling (and very rewarding) for us to observe his reaction.

Underfoot is nearing the end of his tenure in Joy School. He loves to learn and interact with his peers. He is cheerful (for the most part) and loves to play games. A current like is to play hide and seek. Only he wants to be 'found' so that he can be the one to do the seeking. He told us that Mary Poppins was with real people (as opposed to fake ones that we watch on the computer.) Perhaps he meant we were going to a live show, rather than watching the show on the computer.

Wendy has had a rough week. Some misunderstandings caused her a lot of grief. I am always amazed at how much she gets done every day. She has worked her guts out to get our house clean and orderly.

As for myself, I worked outside on Saturday and cleaned our backyard. We took all the odds and ends from completed projects and will be taking them to the dump. We threw away broken bikes and cleaned up a bunch of garbage.

Tonight we watched the solar eclipse. The spot where we watched had a man taking pictures with a super nice hydrogen telescope. We would look at it through welding goggles. Mama's favorite part was that the heat went away for a time. It has been record temperatures for us.

Be well.

May 6

Thank you for your comments and support over the past week. We have been touched by your experiences, found hope as we have felt your support, and grateful that we can heal and move forward. We have had some highlights this week:

• JOY SCHOOL: This was our last week to host Joy School at our house. Underfoot's favorite thing is to be the snack helper and to have sharing day. He changed the job chart around so he could be the snack helper one day. Both days were sharing days because it is the first Underfoot will ask when it is a Joy School day. He has taken to arguing with me and insisting we call the Mom who is teaching to make sure it isn't a sharing day. Joy School has been a wonderful experience for our family.
• FATHER AND SONS CAMP OUT: Each year the church sponsors a camp out to commemorate the Aaronric priesthood. Sweetheart and the boys left early Friday afternoon and returned on Saturday morning. Underfoot and Hurricane couldn't stop talking about it throughout the week. They played with friends, ate hot dogs, and got to sleep in a tent. Underfoot was very sad when Sweetheart started to take down the tent because he wanted to stay for a week.
• GIRLS NIGHT OUT & SHOPPING: Another lady invited me to go for a GNO. We went and had a deep conditioning done at a beauty school and then had a dinner. It was good get out. The next day I went with shopping with another friend. I bought a dress that I like so much I want to buy another one.
  
• TIME OUT: Sweetheart and I have taken some time out to discuss what we want for our future and our family's future. It has been good to just be together. On Saturday night we went out and had pie. Before the night was over we ended up having a "water" fight at the table. We laughed. Laughing felt good.

We hope this finds you happy or at least searching for happy. Be well.

May 14

Underfoot and Hurricane had a visitor for the week. Their cousin, C, came and stayed while her parents traveled. They played and played. She would laugh and help. She liked her hair done in many different ways and sat while it was braided, pony tailed in lots of ponytails, and always said she looked beautiful after her hair was done. While she was here our family tried a new soup- borscht. They played cowboy and princess and many different variation on that game.

Sweetheart worked. His Dad brought C to our house so one day Sweetheart stay home until his Dad left. We had a nice visit with him as Sweetheart showed him the different things happening at our house. On Saturday Dad Locey showed us the work he had done for Sweetheart 's sister family. He installed a gas line and an electrical outlet in their new home.

I went to a continuing education class on Ethics. If you ever want to know about HIPPA, working with licensing boards, or just staying squeaky clean in your counseling practices, ask me and I'll give you the reference to this course. We went to the library and got books plus a few movies, an extra Relief Society meeting about preparedness with food, housing, and other emergency items, and a little first aid to a friend who burnt herself canning strawberry jam. (Steam burns really hurt by the way. Aloe grows like mad here so we went natural.)

Underfoot really struggled all week. He got a canker sore on his tongue last Sunday that spread to the rest of his mouth, nose, and lips. After we went to the dentist on Friday, we found out he had cold sores. It hopefully will be better by this coming Friday.

On Saturday morning, we went to Phoenix and spent the day with Sweetheart 's Dad at his sister's home. On our way home, we went shopping for Mother's Day but walked away empty handed. I suggested something and was not direct enough to have Sweetheart buy it.

We spent a quiet Mother's Day. Sweetheart and I both taught lessons at church to respectively the women and men separately. We feel that our lessons went well. We had dessert with some friends. I took a three hour nap. It was a good day.

We hope that this finds you in good health and happy.

April 29

Funny for the week- One evening Hurricane started to cry out in a panic. It was not his typical, common whining. There was true fear in his voice. I came in to our bedroom to find him clinging to the side of the dresser. He was about 3 feet off the ground, one hand clutching a bag of chocolates, the other clinging to the drawer. He couldn't hold on for much longer, and he wasn't about to let go of his prize.

Underfoot and Hurricane have been very kind and tender to us. They have not fought much and when apart they constantly ask when we will go get their brother. Hurricane would crawl on the couch and say, "Hold me. Just hold me."  Underfoot has been thrilled about going to Joy School and having his LAST music class. He was so excited to share what he had learned at music class. He sees it as one step closer to kindergarten.

On Thursday,  Underfoot had a talent show at Joy School and wanted to read Marvin Mouse, an oral family story made into a book. He tried to read the book like a librarian would with showing the pictures but would get confused about which way to turn the pages and turn them the wrong direction. The children started to crowd around him to see the pictures. When there was something funny, he would add his own "laughing" because he thought it was funny. I was so happy to see him read. He loved to add his own dramatic voice to the story.

Our chicks have started to grow. We parceled out the other chicks to their new owners. We only have 11 now.

Author switch. Sweetheart writing now.

This week has tested our faith and pulled at our heart strings. We learned several weeks ago that Mama was pregnant. This would be the sixth time since Hurricane was born. At the start of the week she knew that something wasn't right. On Tuesday morning she had an unscheduled ultrasound. I met her at the doctor's office. The doctor could not find a heartbeat and indicated that the pregnancy would not go to full term. I took the rest of the day off. That evening we took the boys to the county fair, as we had promised. It was hard day.

It is hard to know what to say when something like this happens. We trust that we will have more children, but we don't know when or how more children will come to our family. We have talked about adoption and foster care. We don't feel comfortable with either option at this stage.

I worked on Wednesday. A friend spent the day with Mama. I took Thursday off. I worked on Friday. On Saturday I took the boys to the Titan Missile Museum so Mama could have a few hours to herself. A friend invited us to go swimming late that afternoon, and the boys and I went swimming. Mama spent most of the day reading a book. We enjoyed food that people brought to us.

Miscarriage isn't something that people talk about in casual conversation. It is something that we have quietly dealt with for several years now. Mama isn't looking for sympathy. I'm tired of not being able to tell people what is really going on. It has been hard. It is hard. There are no good words to make it any better. But, we believe that God will hear our prayers and send us more children. (Hurricane frequently prays for 5 babies and counts them "1, 2, 3, 4, 5- 5 babies.")  How he makes that happen, and when, are up to Him, but we trust that it will happen. A few years ago, we heard a message about dealing with adversity that has been helpful. The title of the message is "Hope Ya know, We had a Hard Time."

There was a time when we felt very alone in our community. We realized tonight that those feelings of loneliness have been replaced with genuine friendships. Mama and I both feel like there are people here who care about us like family. Perhaps the silver lining in this difficult experience is the realization that we are not alone.

Be Well.

April 22

On Friday I prepared for a Scout camp out all day. We went to Mount Lemmon. It was a lot of fun. I didn't sleep well. (I've never really slept well while camping.) We as the leaders are trying to do what is asked to have a boy led program.

Hurricane had swimming lessons all week. On Friday (just before I headed to the camp out) I was able to watch Hurricane have his lesson. Before Hurricane's lesson, the instructor went through a lesson with Underfoot (even though he is done with lessons) as part of her re-certification. The lesson was recorded and will be available for download (if you're interested.) It was fun to watch both Underfoot and Hurricane swim. Underfoot stayed in the water while Hurricane practiced his skills at floating and swimming. I had fun picking up and throwing Underfoot. He enjoyed it too.

I got home from the camp out in the late afternoon on Saturday. I scurried around to put away gear, get cleaned up, and prepare for a date with Wendy. She'd made arrangements for a babysitter. We headed out for a quick supper and went to a high school play entitled The Drowsy Chaperone.

Our laptop computer died this week (or was it last week?) We purchased it shortly after we married. We've hauled it all over the world. The monitor was going bad. The battery was completely dead (even after I 'replaced' it with a cheap one from Amazon that died after only a couple months...) Fortunately, I'm slated to get a surplus one from work this week.

Wendy has been taking each day at a time. It is hard sometimes for her because there are so many things she'd like to do, and just not enough time in the day to do them all. Wendy had a training on Thursday night.

In closing, today we received a special package. 31 baby chicks. We got together with some friends and ordered a bunch. They will spend the night in our living room (in a large plastic tub) and the new owners will pick them up tomorrow. Underfoot and Hurricane love to look at the baby chicks. Hurricane has only broken 2 light bulbs so far for their heating. Amazing how much they are loved.

Be well.

April 18 - Late

Pictures

We hope you are well on this Wednesday. We hope you are well most days. We're late and so it will done in a bullet form. I'm sure it will end up being just as long.

• Underfoot became a swimming champion. He has not really cared to swim much until this last year. He finished his swim lesson and has no desire to get out of the water (much to my delight.) He now has better coordination with his arms. It was suggested that we join a swim team. We need to consider if that would be the best thing for Hurricane. The time in the car and such...decisions decisions.
• Hurricane is our car aficionado. He loves cars, tractors, trains, and the vision of driving all of them. His prayers are filled with protecting the tractors and trains. Sunday he decided that he needed to drive.Sweetheart  and I were saying goodbyes with a family in their driveway while the boys had gone to get into the car. The husband said, "They're rolling away." Sweetheart has been exercising more lately good thing because he caught the car, opened the door, jumped in and stopped the car. Sweetheart was panicked. Hurricane was quite pleased with himself. He had climbed in the front seat, taken off the emergency brake, and pulled the stick shift out of gear. Hurricane had also locked the doors expect the driver's door. There was nothing behind them for at least 300 feet. Then it was a house. I laughed because if I thought about it too much I would have been terrified that my sons were rolling down a hit in a car.
• We went to a home show. The most interesting thing to Sweetheart was a start-up company that is building cement walls and then storing water inside the wall. We entered contests but most likely won't win one thing. It was interesting and not sure if we would return.
• The HOA had their annual meeting. A few people came to it. Also they had a big enough voting forum to pass a proposal about using only one sanitation company and reduce the number of trucks on our roads. Apparently garbage and recycling trucks weight a lot and wear down roads quickly. The wear and tear has had the water company in front our own house for busted water lines at least 4 times. Sweetheart was happy about that. Our HOA owns our roads so it is up to the home owners to maintain and eventually replace the roads.

Have a wonderful day!
Be well.

April 8 - Happy Easter

The boys started their refresher course with swimming lessons. Hurricane screams the whole time. He is not a fan at all! Underfoot really likes the lessons and thrives with new challenges. He is working on opening his eyes while swimming. The instructor holds up several fingers under water and Underfoot has to report how many she was holding out for him to see.

Early in the week I decided to try an experiment. I took a 1 gallon plastic bucket (the kind you get when you buy cheap ice cream in bulk) and wrote on the lid ''Save the Planet- Recycle used coffee grounds and filter'' I then left the bucket at the coffee station at work. Each evening I swapped out the filled bucket with a fresh, clean, (empty!) bucket. I've come home with three buckets full of wonderful coffee grounds. They have promptly been assimilated into my compost pile. The result is a noticeable difference in the smell of the compost- it is not nearly as potent as it was just a few days ago. It is also growing much faster (because of all the grounds...)
Mama picked me up with the boys on Thursday evening after work. We headed up the Phoenix for the Mesa Temple Pageant. After the pageant we spent the night at my sister's house. Friday morning we left our boys with their cousins and headed to the temple. We were able to take some extra time at the temple because our boys were with my sister.

We came back to Tucson for swimming lessons and then to the house. We celebrated Passover with the traditional meal. Wendy invited two families from our congregation to join us. It was a lot of fun.

On Saturday we did all sorts of chores. Grocery shopping, Bountiful Baskets, cleaning house, budgeting, laundry, etc. We enjoyed a pot luck supper at a friends house. They put on an annual Easter Egg Hunt. It was lots of fun. The boys had a wonderful time. It was nice to visit with some friends we hadn't see in a while. We learned that one of our cherry trees is dead. It was likely dead when I planted it, as it had no growth on it whatsoever. It is unfortunate, but at least the other two are doing well. Hopefully I'll be able to get another planted either this fall or next year.

Mama got me a book entitled ''Hobby Farming''. It is very interesting. Hopefully someday we'll be able to have a little farm.

Be well.

April 1

Underfoot tried to be mature and helpful by cutting his own watermelon. The downside was he also tried to cut his finger off. Sweetheart and I retired to check our email correspondence and were startled by the screams of a little boy in panic. He held his finger out in front of him and dripped blood from the kitchen to our library (approximately 7 yards). We found drops of blood on the wall and floor when we cleaned up. First aid skills kicked in as pressure was applied to the oozing finger. Panic causes that more blood comes out. When Underfoot stopped crying, the blood stopped flowing. When he started to cry again, the blood started to flow. The irony was while both parents were helping Underfoot, Hurricane decided to mimic Underfoot's example and cut the same finger about 1/4 of an inch higher. Except Hurricane didn't panic. He just asked for a band aid. Underfoot has not touched a knife since. Hurricane on the other hand must be watched like a hawk.

Underfoot registered for kindergarten on Wednesday. The school did a presentation with a video, teachers, and time in the classroom. The PTA (or PTO) gave each in-coming student a t-shirt. Underfoot didn't take the shirt off for 2 days. He has only talked about going since. We will start school July 16th. I filled in the paperwork during the parent orientation meeting. Afterwards I gave Underfoot all the legal and registration paperwork to register himself. Hurricane spent time with a friend so it was a Underfoot-Mama event. He talked and talked about it.

Sweetheart did his usual going to work and getting up almost as early as the sun. He did try something new this week - yoga. The jury is still out if he will do it again. On Friday night Sweetheart bought a new vacuum because we learned after he took the other vacuum apart the power switch had gone bad. I really didn't want the vacuum any more so Sweetheart broke it in his taking it apart for me.Or something like that.

I did normal things like clean house, run errands, prepare for General Conference, and tried to be a good Mom. We had a potluck on Saturday night for families so the men could carpool to priesthood meeting and the women and children could talk and play.

We enjoyed General Conference talks (summary with the link) with our treats and the learning. We learned that happiness comes from service, forgiveness, and work. Two of our favorite quotes were:

• A bumper sticker that said: "Don't judge me because I sin differently than you." (Uchtdorf)
  
• In reference to the parable of the laborers of the vineyard in Matthew, the question asked to the labors who began at the beginning of the day from the master of the vineyard "Why are you jealous when I choose to be kind?" (Holland)

We hope you are well.

March 25

Picture link

This week has been a blur. The big news is that Mama has been sick most of the week. She has a sore throat. We have taken it easy all weekend long. No major projects.

We found a new doctor this week for the boys. Mama didn't like the fact that the old doctor's office would not answer the phone. When they did call back it was usually 2-4 hours later and then wouldn't have appointments.

A funny for the week: Mama spent Monday and Tuesday getting ready for a friend to come in from out of town. She had the house all clean and ready for our guests to arrive. She made a fancy dinner of ribs, baked beans from scratch, and other delicious items- not to mention TWO cakes (because she didn't like how the first one turned out- my coworkers were so happy about the cake that they called her about it on Wednesday!) So that afternoon she sent a text message to her friend, asking when they'd arrive. Her friend replied that they were still in Oklahoma and weren't coming until next week! We shared our feast with some neighbors down the street.

Thursday Mama and the boys went to a local butterfly exhibit. They enjoyed themselves. After Thursday afternoon Mama has been done for the count. She is really hard to pin down so she will get better. Especially when the boys are active and busy. After attempting to keep the boys busy and doing a few household tasks, I was exhausted. I said to Mama that I didn't know how she does it every day.

Be well.

April 1

Underfoot tried to be mature and helpful by cutting his own watermelon. The downside was he also tried to cut his finger off. Sweetheart and I retired to check our email correspondence and were startled by the screams of a little boy in panic. He held his finger out in front of him and dripped blood from the kitchen to our library (approximately 7 yards). We found drops of blood on the wall and floor when we cleaned up. First aid skills kicked in as pressure was applied to the oozing finger. Panic causes that more blood comes out. When Underfoot stopped crying, the blood stopped flowing. When he started to cry again, the blood started to flow. The irony was while both parents were helping Underfoot, Hurricane decided to mimic Underfoot's example and cut the same finger about 1/4 of an inch higher. Except Hurricane didn't panic. He just asked for a band aid. Underfoot has not touched a knife since. Hurricane on the other hand must be watched like a hawk.

Underfoot registered for kindergarten on Wednesday. The school did a presentation with a video, teachers, and time in the classroom. The PTA (or PTO) gave each in-coming student a t-shirt. Underfoot didn't take the shirt off for 2 days. He has only talked about going since. We will start school July 16th. I filled in the paperwork during the parent orientation meeting. Afterwards I gave Underfoot all the legal and registration paperwork to register himself. Hurricane spent time with a friend so it was a Underfoot-Mama event. He talked and talked about it.

Sweetheart did his usual going to work and getting up almost as early as the sun. He did try something new this week - yoga. The jury is still out if he will do it again. On Friday night Sweetheart bought a new vacuum because we learned after he took the other vacuum apart the power switch had gone bad. I really didn't want the vacuum any more so Sweetheart broke it in his taking it apart for me.Or something like that.

I did normal things like clean house, run errands, prepare for General Conference, and tried to be a good Mom. We had a potluck on Saturday night for families so the men could carpool to priesthood meeting and the women and children could talk and play.

We enjoyed General Conference talks (summary with the link) with our treats and the learning. We learned that happiness comes from service, forgiveness, and work. Two of our favorite quotes were:

• A bumper sticker that said: "Don't judge me because I sin differently than you." (Uchtdorf)
  
• In reference to the parable of the laborers of the vineyard in Matthew, the question asked to the labors who began at the beginning of the day from the master of the vineyard "Why are you jealous when I choose to be kind?" (Holland)

We hope you are well.

March 18

This week has been a blur. The big news is that Mama has been sick most of the week. She has a sore throat. We have taken it easy all weekend long. No major projects.

We found a new doctor this week for the boys. Mama didn't like the fact that the old doctor's office would not answer the phone. When they did call back it was usually 2-4 hours later and then wouldn't have appointments.

A funny for the week: Mama spent Monday and Tuesday getting ready for a friend to come in from out of town. She had the house all clean and ready for our guests to arrive. She made a fancy dinner of ribs, baked beans from scratch, and other delicious items- not to mention TWO cakes (because she didn't like how the first one turned out- my coworkers were so happy about the cake that they called her about it on Wednesday!) So that afternoon she sent a text message to her friend, asking when they'd arrive. Her friend replied that they were still in Oklahoma and weren't coming until next week! We shared our feast with some neighbors down the street.

Thursday Mama and the boys went to a local butterfly exhibit. They enjoyed themselves.

After Thursday afternoon Mama has been done for the count. She is really hard to pin down so she will get better. Especially when the boys are active and busy. After attempting to keep the boys busy and doing a few household tasks, I was exhausted. I said to Mama that I didn't know how she does it every day.

Be Well.

Picture link

March 11

We didn't write last week. We had a run here. The week was  filled with teaching Joy School at our house, church, and family stuff.

On Monday night, we had family home evening and talked about the prophesies of the birth and death of Jesus Christ. We talked about how the people would try to kill the prophets. The boys got to throw marshmallows at each other in an attempt to "quiet the Underfoot turned 5." The night before his birthday he went to the front door,  opened it wide, and shouted to the world that he would be 5. He has told everyone that he knows that he is 5. He and I sat at the computer and picked out a cake to make. He wanted to have a purple light saber. Later he associated it with Mace Windu from Star Wars. We made a purple light saber.

 He opened a gift of a karaoke machine and his own copy of a family book titled Marvin Mouse. Hurricane and Underfoot have sang and sang with the microphone over and over again. Primary songs are so much fun at full volume.

Hurricane is sleeping a lot and eating a lot. We hope and believe he is growing. He only crawled in bed with us 5 nights this past week. We got to sleep alone for 2 nights!!! Now that's improvement!

Friday and Saturday Sweetheart (with the help of a strong 18 year old) dug 7 holes and planted 3 low-chill cherry trees, 1 almond, 1 peach, 1 apricot, and 1 pomegranate tree. They worked and worked. The boys and I picked the trees and brought them home. Sweetheart also worked really hard on cleaning up the yard with doing a new poop slide for the chicken poop, transplanting aloe plants, and removing old irrigation hosing in our front yard. It looks much better. Pictures to follow.....

This other part of this week has been a sad one for us. My cousin, Eldy, passed away. We were very shocked to learn about his death. Eldy was always kind and had a smile for anyone he met. It was said that he never knew a stranger. He was honest and very entrepreneurial with buying and selling bikes and cars.

Sweetheart and I tried to make arrangements for me to attend his services yesterday, but after looking at our resources, I wasn't able to attend. I was able to listen to part of the services via Skype and cell phone. My Auntie and Uncle stood by each other and shared memories about their son. They gave strength to those at the services and shared stories of his attributes and his life. My Uncle shared that Eldy and my Grandpa were trumpet players, and he looks forward to the resurrection "for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible" (1 Corinthians 15.52). He said he will be looking in the trumpet section for Eldy and Grandpa. We hope that we will be more kind like Eldy.

Be Kind.

February 12

In my haste to get on the road, I didn't post.

We are writing early this morning before we head out on an adventure. This past week my Grandpa Dale Kirkham passed away rather suddenly. Since Wednesday evening, I've been in a sort of fog to think that he has died and returned to live with God. There have been moments when I have been listening to a WWII memory about the Doolittle raid over Tokyo and thought how fortunate I was to have learned about that event and to talk with him before he passed. We will be going to Idaho and joining my family in celebrating my Grandpa's life.

Hurricane has struggled this week with a rather nasty cough. He has passed his cough to Underfoot who has started to struggle with it. Hopefully we have learned how to cure him better than we did with Hurricane.

My brother and I celebrated our birthday this week. I'm lucky to share a birthday with such a great man. We both share our birthday with our Grandma Kirkham who passed in 2005. I was in awe about how many people remembered and shared my birthday with me. I am also in awe about all the people that have expressed and done so much for us as we have prepared to go North.

Sweetheart has worked and worked so he can go with us. I am married to a wonderful man who supports and loves our family.

We hope you are happy and well in your families.

Be well.

February 26

We left Idaho last Sunday.

Returned to Tucson Monday. Cleaned up Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.... Friday night we took off for Phoenix. Spent Saturday in Phoenix returning home to go again today.

Sweetheart

• We drove into Tucson mid-Monday afternoon and dropped Sweetheart off at work. He worked for about 4 hours and then came home. We fetched him and grocery shopped returning home for a late supper and bed.
  
• Tuesday night he attended a court honor for his 11 year-old boys with the other scouts.
• He worked really hard this week and got most of his hours in at work.
• Sweetheart got to play RockBand for the first time. He liked it a lot! He's quite the singer.
  

Mama

• I did laundry, cleaned up house, and played with boys.
• I enjoyed talking with Sweetheart's Dad learning about him, his parents, and his grandparents. It was wonderful to learn the family history of his boys.
• I played RockBand for the first time. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be.
  

Underfoot

• Underfoot went to Joy School one day, but the teacher's son got sick. He was happy to go because his Dad took him. He came in to me before he left and said to Hurricane, "Daddy and I are going to work now. You take care of Mommy. Don't cry too much."
• Underfoot got to play with his Princess Chloe. They made a movie of Romeo and Juliet cowboy style with the help of Chloe's older sister. We still haven't seen the end version, but I don't think either one of them dies.

Hurricane

• Hurricane tried to die on us this week. The boys were playing, and Underfoot hit Hurricane with a light saber. Hurricane got a vitamin lodged in the back of his throat. I walked in the room to see Hurricane's lips turn purple/bluish. I hit him on the back and made a sweeping motion at the back of his mouth. He gasped for air. Hurricane knows he can't play with food in his mouth, and Underfoot is learning to not hit as he is growing up. I learned I need to stay closer to my boys. It scared me. A Lot.
  
• Hurricane loves his Dad and stays close to him when Sweetheart is home. He will come to me if hurt but Dad is his number one man!

We have learned lately that God gives us what we can do. Sweetheart's Auntie said it best, "You don't have to like it, you just need to go through it."


Pictures

Be well!