Oh, Ryan

Today Ryan came out of her room after bedtime saying she had been thinking a scary thought. She was crying and said Cameron had told her a really mean thing. I asked what. "He told me I am going to go in the garbage!" I busted up laughing but she did not think it was funny, she was worried she would die in the trash. We had a long talk about how she would be fine. I sidetracked her and got her talking about what she wanted for Christmas.
(BTW there is no way Cam thought of telling Ryan she was going in the garbage, I am sure she had a hand in him coming up with that idea)
Oh the things they think of to stay awake at night.
The other day I told Ryan to come away from the road because she was by herself, she yelled from the end of the driveway that she was fine, "It's ok mom, I know karate!" I asked her later where she learned karate and she told me she didn't know all of it, she just taught herself the kicking and punching stuff.

W is for when

Bev did not want to wait for Ryan to finish, ah well, at least I got to be there

J is for Jones

Ryan's Thanksgiving program at school. She did awesome! She worked really hard and memorized her lines, so proud!

Cam loves trains

Cameron will play this all day long. The boy is obsessed.
While we are at it, here is a little more about Cam.
He loves his daddy and gets so excited when he gets home from work. He says "wet's westle" (lets wrestle) and if he does not get his wrestle time, we have a rough night.
Cameron is always asking What dat? or where daddy (or who-ever) go? He loves fire trucks and ambulances (pronounced why-yuck an ambince). Every time we pass the fire station he asks me repeatedly where they went if they are not in the station. We have a trip to the station planned for next week, that will only make the questions worse, but thats ok.
He loves his Puggy (aka plug, aka pacifier). We have lost the one that does not have a hole in it and he still religiously hangs on to the two with big holes in them. One day we will get rid of them. Ryan started crying the other day when I was telling Cam that he would be saying goodbye to his puggy soon.
We are nowhere near potty training. He is simply not interested and I don't want to push it.
Cameron has lots of teeth, and loves to brush them. The downside is that when he is using his finger to shove every bit of food he can fit into his mouth, he accidentally bites his finger. This is a daily occurance. You would think he would learn.
Cam loves his sisters and is learning to be a tease. But they just think he is so cute, they can't stay mad at him.
I am madly in love with this sweet boy! I am so glad our father in Heaven let him come to our family!

Report card

I have been graded and apparently I am doing better than I thought!

Thank you Ryan, you made my week!

Bev Update

2 weeks ago Beverly came home with us and has turned our world upside down. She is so sweet and happy. She laughes like a little chipmunk when she is being silly. She always has a smile for us, even if she was screaming a few seconds before. She is a good little eater and always cleans her plate. her eating schedule is wake up have a huge breakfast (oatmeal, eggs, a banana and lactose free milk) then 2 hours later she NEEDS a snack, and then a couple hours later it is lunch time. After nap she NEEDS another snack and then by 5 pm she is just STARVING. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking. When I am in there she will wander in and hug the back of my legs as hard as she can. I squeeze her back with my legs and she just giggles and does it again.
Bev loves to play outside and pushes a little walker toy all over. She can only push it in a straight line, then will yell at me and point to the toy because she wants me to turn it around. She rides her bike down the hill on the driveway with the boys and thinks she is so cool.

Bev sleeps in her own bed all night. She loves to have daddy put her to bed. She waves goodbye to everyone and says na-na as she is on the way to bed.

We love Beverly! She really brightens everything up

Meet Beverly

Short version...................................

A girl walks into the hospital, says she can't care for her 1 year old, and the ER nurse there says, I'll take her. After 2 months and a lot of drama the baby is now living in the ER nurse's house and will hopefully be adopted in the next 6 months or so.

If you have a minute read the long version, it really is a great story and if you look real close you will see the Hand of God all over the place in this story.

So it all started with Kelly's near death experience. You can read that post if you don't know that story. A couple of weeks later I found out I was pregnant, and by "found out" I mean I got very nauseated. So we went to our first visit and the baby was not big enough to see yet and we scheduled an appointment for 2 weeks later. 2 pukey weeks later I went in and the baby had not changed in size and there was no heartbeat. That sucked. We scheduled the D&C the next day. I woke up from that no longer sick, but an emotional wreck. Kelly and Amber took good care of me and I got better. This does pertain to Beverly I swear.

I started to freak out about how many hospital bills we had, so I went back to work full force and worked 9 shifts in 10 days. I NEVER work that much. I rarely work nine shifts a month. Luckily, I was there on a night when an amazing 19 year old young woman brought her baby in. She said that she could not care for her child like she knew she should. She had no place to stay, and wanted to start her life over without a baby. I know a lot of you are saying "how could you leave your child?" but this girl was doing what she knew was best. She said that she had intended on giving the baby up for adoption when she was born, but her mom had talked her out of it. This sweet girl was so loving with her daughter, but kept saying that she had been thinking about it for a while and knew this was right.

Before I even saw the baby, I had this giant burning ball start in my chest, like when you know you should bear your testimony, but you are too nervous. We had to wait for the child services to get there and after about an hour I went to another nurse and said, "I really feel like that baby needs to come home with me." She was very supportive and so I called Kelly and told him the story. I love that man! He said sure, after the shortest of pauses and then asked if he needed to come right up. How awesome is he!

So, I went to the room and told the mom I would be more than happy to take her baby home. I told her all about my family and she thought it would be a great idea. The bad news is that Child Services (DCFS) had made it there and said I could not take the baby because I was not family. The girl was very firm that her family was awful, and that she did not want her child raised by them. DCFS said she needed to find help from her family and that she could not leave the baby at the hospital or she could be charged with abandonment. The poor girl was so scared she called her 33 year old mother (33-19=13!), the mom came and we worked out a plan that I would pick the baby up the next day. I texted the baby's mom a few times that night and finished my shift.

The next day I called the grandma and she said I could pick the baby up around 2. I asked for the address and she "couldn't remember" and would call me back. I did not hear back at all. BUMMER!

I texted both mom and grandma the next day and still never heard back. About 7 I got a text from grandma that said, thanks for your concern, but we have this taken care of. Well, BUMMER!

Fast forward to General Conference. Kelly and I were listening to elder Neil L. Anderson speak on how great kids were and I told Kelly I had really thought we were supposed to get Beverly (the baby). We started to talk about foster care but left it at that. Two days later I was out on a date with Jac on out way to see Wicked when I got a call from Kelly saying the hospital called with a message for me. I called the hospital and the secretary said some lady had called looking for me about an adoption. I WAS SHOCKED! I got the lady's number and called. She didn't answer so I left a message and waited for a call back. It came 10 minutes later and a friend who Beverly's mom was living with told me : Beverly's mom had taken Beverly to New Jersey because she was told by them she had to. She did not want Beverly there, and she wanted our family to have Beverly. The big problem was that the family would not give Beverly back to her mom.

I said that we would be more than happy to take her, but that we would have to talk the next day. Jac and I went to Wicked (it was wicked!) and then I came home and started with my first of many sleepless nights.

I called the next day and the friend told me that Beverly's mom did not have a phone, and she asked if I could head over to the house and talk to Bev's mom. So off I went.

We made a plan for the next day to file for temporary guardianship for Kelly and I ( we had to go to Atlanta and get birth certificates then head to Fayetteville to get the court papers filed.) We let the DCFS in New Jersey know what we were doing and she told us that would be fine we could come get Beverly whenever. Bev's mom and I headed for NJ on Friday and got in that night. The aunt (who had Beverly) told us that if we came to the house we should come with a gun.(Because she wasn't letting us take Bev.) So we stopped at the police department near the Aunt's house. (Bev's mom told me to be sure to park where we could see the car, so we could see if someone tried to break in. Great.) The police said that without a court order they would not help us, to come back when we had the order for guardianship. Their body language said, silly fools, get out and don't come back! We called the DCFS lady while we were there and she was shocked that we could get no help, but said that Beverly was not a NJ resident so she couldn't help us either. All the while Bev's mom was getting calls from her family telling her what a bad person she was, asking why she would do this, telling her she was selling her baby. We just turned off the phone, got her some dinner and I took her to the hotel while I slept at the Lorenzana's house. Our plan was to go back to the house the next day and just have Bev's mom say she would be keeping Bev, but she wanted her in Georgia. When I got to Lorenzana's, Erick was able to give me a blessing and I got some much needed rest. In the morning Bev's mom and I talked and we both felt like it was a horrible idea to go to the house for Bev. So, we headed back home dejected and sad.

In the 3 weeks that it took to get the temporary guardianship papers, I got very discouraged. Kelly and I did not think they would be enough. We thought Bev's mom had lost interest and we felt like we were just stuck. In that time Bev's mom found out she had never lost custody, the DCFS told her that she could go get Beverly at any time. We tried to file a "writ of habeus" which says "She has my stuff make her give it back." But you can't do it without a lawyer, and lawyers are expensive!

So I thought Bev's mom was done and one Thursday I went to pick her up to make her call all these lawyers and stuff to help solve our problems. When I picked her up, she had already called the police station to find out exactly what we needed. When we go to my house she did a bunch of research and called 25 lawyers in GA and NJ. By the end she had spoken to someone in family court, they told her she could come for Beverly whenever but just in case, we were supposed to bring the court order for the guardianship. He also said to go to him if we needed help when we got there.

She was so awesome, and she really did care what was going on!

So now we waited for the legal guardian court order to come through and made a plan to go get Beverly.

The second of November the order came in the mail and Kelly, Bev's mom and I left for NJ the next day.

The plan was that we would take the court order to the police department and have them come with us to get Beverly. When we got there we had to explain everything to the officer, he looked at our order and then dispatched someone to the house, we were supposed to meet him there. Wahoo!

When we got to the house where Beverly was supposed to be that day, it looked like Sesame Street gone ghetto. The apartment looked like Gordon's apartment, but really shabby and instead of Elmo on Big Bird outside it was a bunch of guys with nothing better to do than sit outside on the front steps smoking. Kelly and I were the only white people and in our bright blue shiny car parked in front of these guys, we kind of stuck out like a sore thumb. We waited about 15 minutes and then we got a call from an officer saying that the police could not help us, we would have to go to the sheriff.

Dang it! but ok, we went to the Sheriff's office. A very nice officer there listened to our story, took our paperwork and went and talked to his boss. We waited, then he came out and told us he would be happy to come if we had a NJ court order. CRAP. He told us to go to the court house and talk to a judge. We went to the court house floor 10 and gave a lady our papers and story. Then we waited an hour and a half. The lady came back and said we had to go to the eighth floor. So we went there and an intern there got our story again, took our papers and talked to a judge for us. We waited 20 minutes and she came back to tell us that she was sorry but the child was not under NJ jurisdiction and the judge said there was nothing he could do. She gave us the name of the bar association and legal aid. FREAKIN A!

We left totally dejected. We did not have money for a lawyer in NJ. We had done everything everyone had said and nothing was working! Bev's mom said she wanted to go to the babysitter's house to get Bev, and she would just take her. She said she would fight her way out if she had to.

We went back to "sesame street" and she went in, no one was home so we waited for someone to come home. ( we saw a drug deal and a prostitute walk off with a guy) As we waited we got a call from the DCFS worker. She was calling randomly to find out how Beverly was. We told her we couldn't get the aunt to give her up and the lady was shocked. She kept saying, "but she is yours." She could not figure out why no one would help us. The call ended with her telling us that this could possibly be considered kidnapping on the aunt's part, she said good luck and that was it.

At this point Bev's mom said she we should go to the aunt's house. She would just go get Beverly and if she needed back up she would call us to come in. We also planned that if the aunt hit her we would call 911. We pulled up to the house and Bev's mom went in and my phone rang. It was the DCFS lady telling me that she had called the aunt (without us asking) and told her she had no choice but to give Beverly to us. Bev's mom came back out while we were on the phone and said that the aunt said Bev was not going anywhere until the DCFS got there. I told the DCFS lady that and she yelled "I am not coming, I told her that! I am calling that lady. I can't give you advice on what to do legally, but I told you before that this could be considered kidnapping." I asked her to let the aunt know about the kidnapping part, she said she would and Bev's mom went back in. 15 minutes later she came back out with clothes and 30 minutes after that she came out with Beverly! She took a 45 minute tongue lashing about what a horrible person she was and was still kind enough to say thank you and leave with her head held high.

We raced to airport to make our flight. Beverly was happy to be back with her mom, but she also warmed right up to Kelly. That guy can charm any kid.

We told Bev's mom that she did not have to give us Beverly if she had changed her mind or that Bev could go home with her that night or Bev's mom could come home with us. She thought about it for a minute and said that She wanted us to meet her best friend and then to take her home. She wanted Beverly to come with us so that she could know that we were her mom and dad.

So we got home at 1130pm Thursday and started our new life with 4 kids.

Beverly is adjusting really well. She looks for Kelly or me when she gets scared or nervous. She thinks the girls are wonderful and she is learning that Cameron is not going to steal everything from her.

Ryan....

Ryan: "I am gonna write my boyfriend's name, I know it starts with T. What comes next? Wait, what is his name again?"
Me: "Trevor"
Ryan: "Oh, yeah."

Then today I told Jac to make two batches of cookies.
Ryan pipes up " yes, make one patch with nuts and one patch without."

Cameron on Zip Line Swing in Nicaragua

The zip line guides talked me into going across the Tarzan swing first and then as I am on another platform far away from my baby, I see them hooking the kid up to this rope. I was FREAKING OUT! They sent him flying across and then, of course, the kid gets stuck in the middle. But all ended well, Cam was happy he got to do the zipper (zip line) like Diego and no one died.

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Wendy's $1 Menu Challenge

You may remember that some time ago I took the Taco Bell $1 Menu Challenge. Well, I have now done the Wendy's $1 menu challenge. I went to lunch yesterday and I was challenged. And so what can I do at that point. So Mike, Marty, and I all ordered the complete $1 menu and finished it. Marty had a hard time at the end and he looked like he was going to be sick, but he made it. Here is a picture of the meal. Before and After.

More Things I Have to Tell My Children

Ryan, Don't drink the bath water. Cameron pees in that.

You can lick yourself, but you can't lick mommy.

Don't pee on your sister.

Things I've had to tell my 2 year old

So, for sometime now, I keep saying that I need to sit down and write down the odd things that I have had to tell my 2 year old son. So, I'm going to do it here. And there will be many very small posts. Here are a few to start off with. More to come as I have to say them to Cameron.

Do not lick my head.

Don't suck on the exhaust pipe.

We do not touch our friends wieners.

It's Scary

So I usually read Cameron several books every night. He loves to listen and see the books. He could do it for hours. So a few nights ago he stopped going over to the book shelf to get new books. He would only stick to the books that we already read right around the chair. He seemed to be avoiding the bookshelf like he was scared of it. Well tonight he saw a dog book on the book shelf that he really wanted and get pointing to it and saying "dog". I told him to go get it and he would not approach it. So I finally got up off the chair (it is so comfortable) and I made him go over to the book with me. He started screaming and pulling back and said he was scared. I looked at the floor and there was a book a picture of the Grinch. He had been scared of this book for two days and would not go to the bookshelf because of the Grinch. I felt a little bad and hid the book. He is now back to being happy and grabbing all the books. Funny little guy.

Chillin with Kelly

So as I sit here in the hospital with Kelly waiting for his body to heal I have decided to chronicle this insane event. Here goes.....

Thursday night we were visiting the Curlee's and were chasing Cam around outside. I was with Cam but heard Sister Curlee say to Kelly "did ya get bit or something?" He must have, but just ignored it. 10 minutes later Kelly was on the porch with Brother Curlee while I was in the back with Cam and Sister Curlee. Apparently he started rubbing his leg where he got stung or bit and told Bro. Curlee he was sick, that he felt "empty" and he went looking for me. I came around the front of the house and Bro. Curlee said something was wrong with Kelly.
Just then Kelly came from the other side of the house, pale, sweaty and slurring his speech a little, he said he didn't feel well and he looked scared. I asked him if we needed the hospital, he said yes and headed for the van. Sis. Curlee kept Cam and I was off to the van with Kelly. He laid the front seat back and I asked what was wrong. He said he didn't know, but he felt really weak and dizzy. At the stop sign half a mile down the road he said his vision was getting blurry, he was getting worse and I called 911 and headed for the fire department 3 minutes away. While I was on the phone Kelly said "now I can't see anything" his voice was weak and his speech was very slurred.

I flew to the fire department as fast as I could, and ran inside for help. By the time I got back to the van 30 seconds later, Kelly was barely conscious, moaning only when I yelled at him and struggling to breathe. I was able to open his airway and the medic behind me tried to get Kelly to respond. He went for a stretcher and equipment and help. By the time they got back, Kelly was completely unconscious. The ER nurse in me began shouting orders such as, "he needs to be intubated now!" "get him out of this car!" "do you need me to start a line?" all the while holding his chin forward so his airway stayed open. His breathing had stopped and in 10 seconds they had him out of the car and onto the stretcher in the parking lot (those medics are so strong! one guy grabbed him around the chest and threw him on that stretcher) they started breathing for him with a bag and mask and I kept his airway open. I could feel him slipping away and just kept praying that he would live. It is so awful to know that you are doing everything you can and it doesn't seem to be working. All this time the inner nurse stayed strong and I was not freaking out. (He had not been breathing on his own for about 5 minutes)
I had mentioned the possible allergic reaction (there was no swelling or bug bite on his leg) and one medic got an IV started while another gave Kelly some Epinephrine. As they were preparing to intubate (put a tube in his lungs to keep his airway open and breathe for him) they checked for a gag reflex, Kelly had one, and then he started to moan again a little. That meant we did not need to intubate, we could just assist his breathing like we had been. He had a blood pressure of 80/30 so the medics got fluids going through the IV. His oxygen level stayed great and his heart rate was okay. The county paramedics showed up and loaded him onto the ambulance and Kelly began breathing on his own and was able to say "it is really hard to breathe". I told him I was there and I loved him and then I opted to follow the ambulance. I called Amber, scared the crap out of her, I just told her Kelly was on the way to the hospital, I couldn't explain at that time and could she go get Cameron from the Curlee's. Of course I was trying not to cry at this point and totally freaked her out. But Amber is a girl like me and in stressful situations she acts first, does what needs to be done and asks questions later.

(As a side note, Cameron was in heaven with the Curlee's and Brother Curlee informed me that Cam became familiar with the electric fence.....if I want to keep him out of things just get one. Poor kid, but totally expected from my curious little monkey.)

On the way to the hospital I called Matt Denison, one of our awesome friends, and he said he would meet me at the hospital to give Kelly a blessing. He was so calm and willing to help, it really helped to put me at ease. Then I called my mom and had her start praying and asked her to call Kelly's parents. Then I prayed the rest of the way there that he would pull out of this.

Back to Kelly, on the way to the hospital the medics gave him a steroid to help with the reaction and he was able to to tell them his name, where he was and that he no longer felt like he was going to die. (Awesome!) I called ahead and, luckily, old friends and colleagues were working. They let me in the back door and I met Kelly as he was being put in the room. He smiled at me but still looked like crap. When they sat him up his blood pressure dropped and his heart rate dropped, so we laid his head down and put his feet up and I bit my lip so as not to give any more orders. Kelly stayed conscious, but his voice sounded muffled and he slurred his speech a little still. They gave him more medicine, a second dose of epinephrine (still no freaking bug bite or swelling on his leg!) and his BP came up, but his heart rate stayed in the 40's and 50's (we want a minimum of 60). After the doctor had finished and they were just watching to see if his heart rate would come up, I went and got Matt and Stan Johnson (another amazing friend) out of the waiting room to give a blessing.


Now, I am generally one who likes to keep blessings private, but I asked Matt and Stan if they cared if anyone was in the room, they said "of course not" and looked at me like I was stupid. I marched them into that ER room and waited until there were only three people left other than us. (There had been around ten people in there) They chatted with Kelly for a minute and then administered to him. I could barely hear them over the people that came back into the room talking loud, discussing treatments and I was so busy watching the heart monitor that I don't know what was said in the blessing. But I watched the monitor throughout the blessing and saw the heart rate steadily climb from 48 to 70 by the time they finished. What an awesome thing the power of the priesthood is!
After that things calmed down, Kelly was able to sit up a little, he kept a good blood pressure and heart rate and it was time to wait for blood work results. Kelly did get a long breathing treatment to help open up his lungs a little and make breathing easier. They had constricted as part of the allergic reaction.

When we first came in the doctor had been saying that Kelly would need to be watched for at least 3 hours and then go home with an epi pen. I was a TOUCH nervous about that idea. I quietly mentioned to the physician's assistant (an old friend) that I really wanted him admitted because of how quickly he had deteriorated. He was awesome and let the doctor know, but she did not need my prompting, that "gut instinct" we are all blessed with told her to keep him over night for observation at least.

I called Amber's mom, Marilee to come sit with Kelly while I ran home and changed clothes and got a bite to eat. (I was about ready to pass out, I wanted to puke and cry, and I needed a time out). I called her because I knew she would be a vigilant watch woman, and not worry about getting help if something was wrong. I totally trust the nurses and docs in the ER, but every second counts and I did not want Kelly to be alone. So she came, watched the monitor, listened when the doctor came in and gave me a good report when I got back.

Meanwhile I went home, freaked for a second, packed some stuff and had a couple Otter Pops. I knew they wouldn't make me sick, and then headed back.

While I was gone, Kelly's lab results had come back and he had a very low potassium level. Potassium is an electrolyte in your blood that helps to keep your heart beating. It is easy to correct a low potassium level, it just takes a while. They had also decided to admit him at that point and they told me his blood sugar and kidney function markers were elevated. Your blood sugar can be high when you get steroids (Kelly got them for the reaction) but the potassium and kidney markers have nothing to do with allergic reactions.

Kelly was moved to room 573 (which is nicer than a birthing suite, it had a bench for me to sleep on, and a recliner!) which is on the unit that is the next level down from ICU so they could monitor him closely. Incidentally when we got upstairs a TINY bump had formed on Kelly's leg. So something for sure did bite or sting him, most likely a yellow jacket.

We finally got to sleep about one AM, then he had labs at 3 AM and a history and physical at 5AM and then the doctor made rounds at 73oAM. (I love how well rested you get when you are sick in the hospital). The doctor let us know that Kelly's phosphate level was dangerously low (a negative result of that is the heart not beating), and that he would have to stay while he got an infusion over 6 hours and then a recheck of the blood. So after 9 more hours the results were in and while his levels were coming up, he was still too low to be sent home and he needed another infusion.

So here I sit with a husband high on benadryl, listening to his pumps work their magic.
Jac is with her mom and grandma in Utah, Ryan is with my mom and sister in Idaho and Cam is with his other mom and brother from another mother (Amber and Rexlee).

As I sit here and go over things again and again, I see so many blessings! I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and my family. No matter what had happened I knew it would work out. I am so thankful that I have been given the sight to see the blessings first and the trial as a way for those blessings to be delivered.

I am so thankful for our family and ward family and co-workers who have rallied around us and offered so much support.

This is a very stressful time, but I am feeling so much peace. I am worried, but under it all, I know it will work out.

Thanks to everyone for all you have done to help!
Jaimee

The NCL Jade

I had forgotten that I love cruise ships. I was all prepared for cheesy entertainment, dark tiny rooms, uncomfortable beds and food that was kinda good.

It was so nice to get on the ship, not wait in any lines, head up to out room and find an awesome balcony, big room and comfy beds.

We sat on the balcony as we sailed away from Venice, getting a great view of the city. We met our neighbors, some Brits on their 50th wedding anniversary. They were great, they thought we were newly-weds. I loved them. Kelly and the guy visited all week when they hung out on the balcony.

The Food

NCL has all of these dining options that you can choose from, some you pay extra for and then the complimentary food. Kelly and I are cheapskates so we never opted for the pay extra restaurants. I don't feel like we missed out though. We had great food every day, Breakfast was fresh fruits, omelets, breads, whatever. Lunch and dinner were great too and I always like the chance to try new food and not feel bad if I only take one bite. My new favorite food that I thought I hated is Bread Pudding. They had a different kind every night and I could not get enough.

The Entertainment

The entertainment was pretty great. There was a creepy magician, I mean, Really Creepy, and a Horrible lounge singer from Italy who apparently sang a Pavarotti's wedding (Maybe as a joke or something) but otherwise I was really impressed. I usually feel like it is a total waste of time to go to shows but not this go round.

They also had basketball tournaments, salsa dancing classes, a show tunes night, and a big band night. There was always tons to do. The pool was a great temperature and the hot tubs were rarely crowded.

One of the best things was at the end of the cruise Kelly and I walked off with our bags while we passed tons of people disputing their bills at the front desk. I guess they were shocked that they drank so much alcohol!

I LOVE to cruise!

Cruisin' with Kelly

Kelly has been dying to go on a Mediterranean cruise for a while now and we finally had one that worked. It was very last minute, very cheap and everything fell into place.

Amber (the kids' second mommy) was able to come stay at the house and babysit, Jac went to her mom's and that left Kelly and I to enjoy a 7 night cruise.

We left out of Venice on Norwegian Cruise Lines.

Venice is a great one day visit. We landed, went to the ship, dropped our stuff and headed out on a water shuttle bus to Piazza San Marco. It it a huge square where all of the tourists mill around feeding the pigeons, looking at the beautiful cathedral and other old buildings and eating at the little cafes that line the square.

The cafes all have string quartets playing classical music. You really can't beat the ambiance. But this is not my favorite part of Venice, this is.......

The little bridges that cross the small winding canals and looking up at the people's laundry hanging out the windows and the winding streets that are pedestrian only. The gelato rocks too, but my life does not revolve around food....I swear.

So we wandered around Venice, got cherries at the produce market on the grand canal and sat and watched boats go up and down The Grand Canal. After our refreshing break, we meandered back to the ship peeking in store windows, and trying to catch glimpses of peoples gardens.

Day one started out great, and the trip just got better from here.

Today

Today I am grateful for.......
1. Cameron who, through his special artistic Sharpie skills, has opened the door for me to reacquaint myself with Mr Clean and all of his magical erasing. Mr Clean is amazing and bald+really good at getting marker off=sexy.
2. Ryan who reminds me of me when I was little which reminds me of what a good mom I had, which reminds me that I should be as good to her as my mom was to me.
3. Jannica who is so independent and so good at getting herself up and ready in the morning and never complains about it.
4. Kelly who always makes sure I get a special garden ornament every Mother's Day. "The kids were so excited to get this for you, they just kept putting it in the basket!" Right.

Sweet girls

Jannica has been working on her Faith in God book for church and has to work through some goals and activities. One of the challenges is that the girl is supposed to give the prayer in Sacrament meeting or FHE and then talk to a leader or parent about it. So, Jac, who is never shy about praying in public had no problem with the first part. She is not a big sharer of private info (or maybe I am not and so we don't talk enough). So, I asked her about prayer and how she felt about it and how praying makes her feel. She told me that she knows when she prays, Heavenly Father is listening. I asked her how she knew and she told me that on days when she is feeling lonely or wondering why she is here with us, she says a prayer in her heart and can feel a warm happy feeling all over her body, like she is being hugged and she knows this is where she is supposed to be.
MY JAC ROCKS!
Ryan and I were planting the garden and we were talking about how seeds grow. She was planting them and talking to them like they were her babies. She was quiet for a minute and then asked if Heavenly Father put her in my tummy. I said "no, he sent your spirit to earth and gave you a big hug and said good luck sweet heart, kissed you on the forhead and sent you to me." She smiled and then said, "Mom, I feel like he is doing that to me right now."
MY RYAN ROCKS!
Man, my girls are so sweet! I am so lucky to have girls that love each other and love their Father in Heaven so much. I know he loves them too, cause his spirit is with them so often.

Just not when they are freaking out over getting in trouble or telling each other they are going to "punch you in the face".

But that is rare, I got it pretty good.

And then came Cameron.......

Redneck Sledding

Living in the South, we really don't have a sled waiting around for us to use. But there are a few days every once in a while where it would be very useful. So we grabbed a slim piece of wood, added two laundry baskets, piled the kids in, and threw it down the driveway. Pretty? No. But it worked. That was until Cameron decided to get out and face planted into the ice. After two stitches, he was fine and back sledding again.

Taco Bell $1 Menu Challenge

Yesterday, Mike (a guy I work with) and I decided to take the Taco Bell $1 Menu Challenge. It consists of everything on the $1 menu including, Cheesy Nachos (280 calories), Cinnamon Twists (180) , a Soft Taco (210), a Hard Taco (170), a Crispy Potato Soft Taco (280), a Cheese Roll-Up (200), a Caramel Apple Empanada (310), a Grilled Chicken Burrito (430), and a 20 ounce Mountain Dew (280). 2400 calories of pure Taco Bell goodness.
I'm happy to say, that I took it down no problem. Now, was it a smart idea? Probably not. Especially if you are a co-worker.