Vegas, President Hinckley, & Tyson

1/25/08 This is the most recent family picture that we had Susie take real quick last Sunday as Adam's uncle was wanting family pictures for some project he was doing. This weekend we traveled to Vegas with some furniture in our white covered trailer for Adam’s sister Hailey, who is going to restore it, and then to pick up some couches and a very large TV from Tarek, who is going to be moving. We spent a relaxing evening with Adam’s sister and her family (after rescuing Adam’s niece who happened to be in Vegas and was dealing with a flat tire). Saturday morning Adam and Joe went over to Tarek’s to load up the furniture from there while I shelled some pecans for Hailey and watched her make her yummy homemade bread. My hopes are to have better success my second time around. We made our way home, so it was a quick trip, but Adam had other tasks to attend to and one of them being helping Stuart take the motor out of the backhoe. They loosened everything they needed to and moved the backhoe into the shop with a forklift and then called it a night. We went to JB’s as Doug and Monica were in town and of course once again I experienced my stomach pains that always seem to arise whenever we try to go out to eat. Biscuits and gravy were all that sounded good so after finishing that I held baby Jacob for Doug while him and Monica ate.

1/27/08 We were out at the flat as news spread of the Prophet and President of the church, President Gordon B. Hinckley had passed away. It didn’t really hit then and still doesn’t seem that real right now because as long as I have known he has always been alive. A great example of many Christlike attributes will be greatly missed, but I am glad to know that he is with his wife and won’t have to be without his eternal companion again.

1/28/08 The picture here is of Tyson eating his morning mush (aka oatmeal) as my mother reminds me time and time again that it is the cure for any illness. So I guess you could say I took this for her to see how much her grandson loves it. This afternoon Adam met up with me in town to take Tyson to an Allergy and Asthma specialist. I didn’t quite come away having answers to what my concerns/questions were because the doctor said that Tyson had a little bit of some bronchitis and so he wanted us to treat that before going any further. He did say that he would prefer Tyson to be at least 2 yrs old even better 3 yrs. before performing the allergy testing. He explained a few other things to us and then of course we paid for a nice big bill for just a doctor visit. Saving money is so difficult when it always seems to be sucked into medical bills. As we were going into the building for the appt. there was a warning in the area for severe thunderstorms and lighting and when we came out, it had snowed, so everyone can rest assured that Southern Utah did receive its mere portion of snow for the year and of course it melted by noon the next day.

Sunday Funny & Photo Shoot

It is absolutely amazing that I have found at least 20 minutes to sit down and update our blog. Pretty sad. We'll see how far I get. I have done well at typing a few things here and there on a Word document so that I wouldn't forget to note them on the blog, so I'm not too far off, plus I can just copy and paste what I've already written, so it is like blogging in steps. The first thing I had wanted to write about was 1/13/08- a Sunday funny that involved Adam. It was great as after I made some cookies we were heading over to Adam’s brother’s house for Josh’s family birthday party and as we headed out from our driveway I asked Adam to run a plate of cookies to the neighbors that live in front of us. They had a new baby boy a couple of weeks ago and I hadn’t done anything for them yet, but wanted them to know that I was thinking of them. Anyways just as quick as Adam had run up to the door he was back huffing and puffing. I asked him if they were home and he said he didn’t know. I asked who he gave the cookies to and he said that he had rang the doorbell and ran. I just couldn’t help but laugh as somehow Adam got the impression that we were just anonymously delivering cookies. If it hadn’t been for the neighbors coming home a couple of hours later than they probably would not have found the cookies until the next morning as the mother-in-law that was there said she had come to the door but didn’t find anyone there and left it at that. I informed Adam that it was not Christmas time or my intent to anonymously give those cookies. I actually wanted them to know that they were from us so that they would know we were thinking of them, however Adam's idea was cute and he thought of it all on his own. The next event that is very important to note is a photo shoot. I'm sure anyone reading this may be thinking that it is of me, but I'm not that photogenic so I can't help but show off Tyson in all his cuteness (and fitting into a 6 month sailor outfit at 19 months- it was pretty tight in the crotch for him though). Anyways Susie did a photo shoot today of Tyson in her bathroom. That was the only place we could find a dark background (the shower curtain) that we stuck a stool in front of. I helped for a little bit to try and make Tyson smile and laugh but most of it was all Susie’s efforts and I think they turned out really well. I wish I took more pictures of this cute kid.

Cloth Diapers and McDonalds

This post will mostly be about Tyson as that is what everyday of the week has consisted of. Two Saturdays ago he woke up throwing up, spent the day through Thursday with diarrhea and occasional throw up sessions and after advice from a very knowledgable and experienced aunt was able to have most of a normal day Friday and Saturday. Basically I pulled out the cloth diapers that I had used for burping him and such when he was a baby and turned them into actual cloth diapers. This all came about as I found myself not only being sick of what I was constantly changing (I'll spare everyone of pictures of that), but watching diaper after diaper being thrown away and thinking of the expense this was going to be, so when you banish yourself to your house all week then the cloth diapers can be managable, but not my choice of preference. Just when I thought it was getting better and switched back to normal, convenient diapers, I found myself going back to the dreadful cloth diapers as Tyson was not improving. I really can say that it was quite miserable, probably more for him than me. I was advised over the phone by those at his pediatrician's office to only give him pedialyte, which only caused him to have that come out as diarrhea and to be starving for food, so when I called Aunt Beth on Friday morning to get a second opinion she said, "That boy needs food. Take him to McDonalds and get him some greasy french fries." Of course that would be after we eased him back into eating with slices of banana and pieces of buttered toast. Tyson was so excited for those that his hands just shook with delight when Susie brought him his plate of food and of course when he scarfed it down (as I tried to have him eat it slowly), he took off to find Susie and give her his plate and signal for more food. It was a sad but funny site. Sad, because he was starving so bad. After going to bed that night and waking up around 11:30 p.m. he threw everything up again that he had just eaten that day, but we did have great progress in the frequency of changing diapers and with much joy went back to the normal diapers. Saturday morning I consulted with Aunt Beth again and then tried the same routine of easing him back into eating and letting his stomach adjust to eating again. It was quite successful and I have great hope that he will be back to normal soon. He spent Saturday evening dancing with g-ma Stout, eating her food, and enjoying her touch of rubbing his belly. When she would stop he would lift his shirt back up, grab her hand, and put it back on his belly. Pretty entertaining.

We switched to 9 a.m. for church this new year and are really enjoying it. We came home from church, put dinner in the oven and while everyone else is napping, I'm catching up on posting. Adam was funny after church as I found him bringing me all sorts of bottles of natural herbs that he could find in the cupboard along with a peeled orange, ordering me to take them. He had a "healthy" conversation with his sister Monterray and later on with Lolly about nutrition and although we both know that I do need to eat better and probably purchase some other vitamins and herbs to try to replace what I am lacking, his quick Sunday solution was pretty funny. But now that I am seriously thinking about it, it is not so funny that it is close to 3 p.m. and I have had half of a Nature Valley granola bar and that orange that Adam comically forced on me today to eat. Signs that I really do need to eat better or actually eat. So after a a quick snack, short nap, and then a yummy Oregon potato dinner (Thanks to the Petersons), we'll probably head out to the flat to make sure that Wynn hasn't gone inactive after having to switch to the 1 p.m. church meeting time.

Recap on Preparations for Christmas and Christmas

So I didn't take too many pictures over the Christmas holiday, but I think I snapped some shots of some of the main events that took place around here before Christmas day came. On the 15th we did manage to take the time early in the morning to go up to Smith's Mesa and hunt for a better tree than what we had. It was the kind of tree that you just giggled and laughed at every time you sat down in front of it, all because you just couldn't help it when you saw it. Anyway the hunt was kind of fun as I don't think I have ever been on a Christmas tree hunt before. It is not exactly as I would have imagined it to be though. I would have thought us to have to get bundled up in snow gear and trudge through feet of snow to find one. This hunt consisted of driving in the warm truck (no complaints there) and looking out the window as we drove up the winding dirt road, noticing a tree that could be a possibility but then driving by it and realizing the gaping hole on the other side of it or that it was two trees forming the perfect tree. After arriving up on top of the Mesa on to the Stout family property and driving back in a ways, then getting out and walking around through sage brush and a few patches of snow, then we pulled out the DeWalt saw, not those old fashioned saws, and cut it down. It took about 2 hours for the excursion and we were able to get it back to the house and set it up, then head out to the flat for the next event of helping to cut up a cow.

As you can see from our tree hunt and the cow experience, Tarek was visiting for the weekend and joined in on the fun. This picture was the only one I could find to post that hopefully wouldn't disgust anyone as I still cannot stomach the scene that takes place in the beginning process and had to send Crystal down to get a few pictures of the guys during their bonding time. I am improving as I actually helped wrap and label the meat, but during the Tyson pregnancy I exchanged some babysitting for Heidi's twins while she did my part. There's just something about the scene and the smell while being pregnant that is pretty much unbearable.

As for Christmas eve we gathered out at the flat with all the family that were in town and joined together for the traditional dinner meal, that was really yummy, attempted the chimes to Christmas songs and did improve by the end, and this year Phyllis had the returned missionaries share any experiences they could remember during Christmas time on the missions that testified of Jesus Christ. Of course we had to pull out the donkey head used for the manger scene in memory of Ben, as he was the donkey every year and is spending his last Christmas serving a faithful mission in Eugene, Oregon. So I took out the camera just to take this picture for you Ben.

Christmas morning was cold, but as usual it was not a white Christmas here. We woke up early and headed out to the flat with our gifts for each other and those we had for Christmas this year in the family. These pictures are of Tyson in his "Where's Waldo" pajamas and Adam after eating breakfast. Even though it was a pretty mellow morning due to the youngest being Tyson and Marshall not really knowing what we were doing and the next youngest from them being Jared, who is now a chilled Young Man, it was still very nice and we all were able to sit on couches. The little things we are grateful for. It was fun to see what everyone gave to each other and to have the time to relate the gift giving and joy to the most precious and best gift of all in our lives, the birth and life of Jesus Christ. What a blessing!

The rest of the week posed some challenges with working on roofs, especially those in the mountains, so Adam had an extended vacation, which I tried to let him enjoy in doing whatever he wanted. This last picture is one that I came upon while checking on Tyson "Where's Waldo" and just when I thought I was going to have to make the rounds again to locate him, I found him safely secure holding Adam's head in his lap and as you can tell from the picture it was like a search for "Waldo" in Phyllis and Wynn's room as there were many people gathered watching a country western. And of course it's always good when brothers get together. How Stuart, Adam, and Sheldon managed to squeeze onto that bed with Sara Ann about to fall off the other side is a wonder, but still a good picture moment.