Feeling Neglected

Maggie was talking to Jenna the other day and they asked when I was going to be through with the Jamboree. They were feeling neglected and wanted to know where their mother is. Other than my kids, church, and scrapping this is the thing I do for me. I try to jump through hoops when my kids need something. I try to fulfill my church callings. I scrapbook to keep a history for my kids and the jamboree my one selfish "me" thing.

Anybody else noticed that our weather has a definite "fall" feeling to it this past week? I do love our falls here but my favorite is summer. The sun rises early and sets late. I feel better when it is warmer and seem to have more energy.

Did take a couple of hours on Friday and scrapped with Bonnie and Terry. I got Trentin's newborn album done and from that point on the other albums I do of the kids and grandkids will be theirs probably when I die. That's their inheritance -

The Jamboree starts on Tuesday but I will be working the Eagar Precinct Primary Election. I have been doing that for 12 years and do enjoy working the elections. I have learned a lot and it feels good to serve in that capacity. Pay isn't anything for the hours put in so it is service. I have a good crew I like to work with. Again, I have made some new friends in this capacity, too. My circle of friends grew after I took my leave of absence from work. With work, my family, church, and any service every minute of every day was taken. Now that I have a little more time, I enjoy my lunch dates with the girls from work, birthday lunches with my circle of friends and just visiting when I see people around town.

There are so many positive things about living in a small town, a few negatives...like limited shopping, but I couldn't imagine raising my kids anywhere else. I am sad that there aren't more work opportunities here for some of our kids that have to live in the valley to make a living. But, that does make coming home special.

I haven't had time to even blog stock hope all of you are well. Miss checking in on you and seeing what is going on in your lives. I do care - have a good weekend.

This Life Has Been Temporarily Interrupted...

Oh yah...JAMBOREE time! I know, I know...some of my family and friends think I am nuts. I love riding my quad and have met some really nice people and made new friendships through the ATV Club. This is crunch time and for the next three weeks it will be a zoo around here, but I love it. You had to be there in 2004 when Ed won the first quad we raffled off. He gave it to me and the rest is history. You had to be there in 2007 when Weston won the quad... they way I screamed and jumped up and down you would have thought that I won it. Hank even said to me, they didn't call your name...I said, he's my son-in-law! This year we are raffling off another polaris like the one Weston won.

We went for a ride up by Oscar Schultz' grave on the mountain Saturday and it was beautiful. The grass is about a foot tall and the wild flowers are breath taking. There has been lots of rain and there is water running in some of the little streams. 80+ miles and we might go again this weekend.

On Saturday during the jamboree they run an obstacle course that is really fun to watch. Lots of competition and good fun. Want a week chock full of fun? Join us!

One Popular Blog...

Cord & Whitney's blog has a picture of Cord with welts and it is one blog that Gunnar and Kamryn are obsessed with. They want to see the "owiee". I think I have created a monster. I started looking at blogs one day for entertainment for Gunnar and he is hooked. Kamryn is too. I always take pictures and I always put them on a slide show on my computer. Those two will sit on my lap and look at pictures for hours. Gunnar's "girlfriend", Taylor Swuft (no that's not a typo, that's how he says it) had a video showing her toes - he was obsessed with her toes. I guess his new favorite song is by Sugarland. Everytime you get in the car with him the first thing you hear is "one, two, three like a bird I sing..." by Tim McGraw. Both Gunnar and Kamryn like music. Kamryn loves to dance. Gunnar is more into listening than dancing.

It is amazing how smart those two little toots are. They know their family and then most of their extended family members through pictures. See...my hobby of photograph/scrapbooking will pay off in the end. Who knows, maybe they will be photographers. Anyway, they will grow up knowing family and friends through pictures and memories.

Lessons Learned (from a 2 Year Old)

Well, here are a couple of things that I have learned with Gunnar this past weekend. 1) Sadie will NOT die of thirst in three days without water no matter what Mo Mo Sadie tells me...

2) I will NOT eat berries off of Mo Mo's Virginia Creeper vine and tell my mama "popples" = apples (and yes they are yucky), because you wind up in the Emergency Room and you become POPULAR right away...

Dang kid runs the water hose 24/7 while he is here and empties Sadie's water bucket within minutes of me filling it. At least for the most part he is past the part where he puts the dry dog food in the water and makes it look like floating poop. I can't stay ahead of him so that Sadie has water and sometimes food. But that's ok, I guess. Sadie loves to play chase with Gunnar and Kamryn and for the most part stays out of their way. Jenna says he's going to be a fireman when he grows up and he will be able to save lots of lives and it is because of all of the training he had at Mo Mo Sadie's house when he was little.

Now for the ER story...I was out early Friday morning with the weed eater getting the last of my weeds knocked down when Jenna comes and asks me what kind of berries are on the bush. I'm thinking "berries...bush..." then she asks me again and I finally realize she is talking about the Virginia Creeper that grows up my chimney. She told me that Gunnar ate a berry. I told her to look it up on the internet... and it says "Highly toxic and can be fatal to humans"...I run through the shower while she calls Poison Control who tells her to get him to the ER. On the way down the road I call ahead to the ER and tell them we are bringing in a 2 year old and that Poison Control said to get him to the ER. We get there in 2 minutes and they are online researching the Virginia Creeper. I had no clue that dang thing could be poisonous, of course until Friday, I'd never had anyone go out and eat the berries either. Misti Eagar was the RN who was online and said that they might have some good news for us. Not ALL Virginia Creepers are toxic and I looked at one that looks identical to mine and it isn't supposed to be.

Once they started working with Gunnar (who up to this point is completely normal) he starts having a fit and wants to go home, wants to go find "Pamryn", etc. They check is temp, his blood pressure and then want to draw blood. His mama leaves the room in tears and I am left to help make him into a human burrito with one arm out and hold him down. It was so hard - I wanted to cry, but I needed to keep calm for him. Then they put a urine collection contraption on him because they needed to make sure his urine was clear, not cloudy and no crystals. (Question...why do when you want someone to pee they won't and when you don't want them to, they will?) Finally, after about 2 hours we found pee in the baggie and they had to send it to the lab before we could be released. We finally were released at 12:30 and Gunnar and his mama were a little worse for wear. We went and collected Bailey who had been rescued by Aunt Maggie and went to lunch at Booga's. Gunnar who has a history of not eating, scarfed down his cheese crisp. I have NEVER seen him eat that much.

His daddy was a nervous wreck in the valley until we were able to report an "all clear". Needless to say, our Friday was NOTHING like we thought it might be.

Jenna has been making tutu's for Bailey for dress up. Yes, I know she is only 6 months old, but she does look cute in them. Jenna brought some tulle for Maggie to make a tutu for Kamryn and it turned out cute, too.

Weston and his two brothers, Max and Spencer came up Friday night and camped on Terry Flat. Jenna and I went out Saturday night and took chicken to bbq. Max and Spencer had made this huge bonfire for Gunnarwho really just wanted to put a stick in the fire and go home. The bonfire was awesome...but Gunnar wanted to go home. I guess he was a little unsure being out at night like that.

This morning I made biscuits and gravy for everyone and then Weston and Jenna loaded up and went home. It was a busy weekend, a traumatic weekend and I am sad to see them go. The good news is I am going down the end of this week for my dr. appt. so I will spend time with those two babies again.

On a really traumatic note...Sarah's son Ethan was riding his quad and had a serious wreck. They flew him out on Friday night and he had surgery this a.m. he broke the (femor??) above his knee, two bones below his knee, tore up both ankles, and has a cracked pelvis. He was given a priesthood blessing and with all of the trauma to his body, he has NO internal injuries, no head injuries, just what I mentioned above plus scrapes and bruises. He has a couple of hard days ahead of him and when he can get up and get around on his own, he will be released. When we think of how serious it is and how much worse it could have been, we KNOW that he was blessed.