Rebel

I am entitling this rebel because of Landon and the attitude he had this morning. He came down from upstairs where I was getting Lauren ready for church and announced, " I don't want to go to church, I want to go do something fun." Now for some unknown reason I thought the whole "not going to church" thing started around age 13, 14, 15 but apparently it can occur around the age of three. I tried to think about all the articles I had read in the Ensign about how to handle this and settled on telling him, " You can just stay home alone then." He actually seemed OK with it. He kept going with his declarations of, "I'm never, ever going to church again, just to preschool." " Just quit bugging me, I don't want to go to church." Lauren took it upon herself to try and reprimand him and these were some of the responses she got. I just kept getting ready. Then he said, "Can you stay home and make me a sandwich?" I said, "No, I have to go to church." He said, "But then I will be home all alone!" I said, " That's why you should get ready and go to church!." Well, I had to write about this just because I think he will laugh about it when he is older but after I left to play the organ (about 25 minutes early) Jerry said he just went and got his clothes and got dressed. He seemed very happy at church and I think he may be done with this phase. We will see how next week goes. He is a funny kid. Jerry actually didn't think he was very funny yesterday when the toilet upstairs flooded over and he went and hid because he didn't want to tell Jerry. I wasn't here but apparently, "Daddy got really mad and freaked out!" (sources, Landon and Lauren) I can only imagine. Jerry noticed when water started coming through the vent in the downstairs bathroom. I only saw a large pile of towels used to clean up and some wet carpet as the aftermath. A quick recap on the week. I spent Monday still sick. I think the kids and I all had a bit of the stomach flu but I am happy to report we are all doing better. Landon had preschool again which he loved. I got to go to Costco with my wonderful friend, Mary Jane. Her daughter attends preschool with Landon so we get to see each other a few times a week now. We had fun. Lauren and I had a library date on Thursday and she thrived at Toddler Time. She loves to sing and can be heard singing her favorite songs at various times throughout the day. She is getting so grown up. She copies everything Landon says and does and it is amazing to see how quick she has developed with him as her mentor. Landon is working on memorizing the articles of faith and is teaching Lauren, "word by word." Last night he insisted on reading her a story but wanted her to sit on his lap. I really wanted to take a picture but realized I left my camera in the car. They love these word bird books from the library and both of them try to memorize them and read them to each other. I am glad they have a love for books. My parents did a great job at instilling this love in us and I am attempting to pass it on to my children. Jerry has been very busy at work because they are in the closing part of a phase of the project. He will be this way for the next few weeks. He did take time to play softball and officiate. He keeps himself super busy. He knows so many people and wherever he goes, he finds a friend. It is a trait I admire in him. I worked yesterday and when Jerry came to get me, a parade was starting so the kids went to their first official parade. They had a great time. They got lots of candy and saw the horses and fire engines. There was a rodeo in town which Jerry really wanted to attend but he decided not to go. We got some pizza, came home and put the kids to bed. We spent the rest of the night watching college football and trying to find out the score of the BYU game. Unfortunately, this search went on until after 11pm. Not quite the result we had hoped for but maybe next week.

Labor Day and Preschool

I think Jerry really gets the award for actual "labor" on Labor Day. I gently persuaded him to paint Lauren's room and he graciously accepted. We switched her and Landon rooms so we could make Landon's room into a guest room as well. We are hoping to get ourselves a new bed and give him our queen bed so when we have company they will have a place to stay. We spent Sunday night looking through magazines and decided how we wanted to paint. Then Monday morning we took a trip to Lowe's. My job was to occupy the children and help mask while they were sleeping. I really didn't do that much but the kids and I took a trip to McDonald's playland, came home and had naps and then went to the grocery store so Jerry would have the time he needed to paint without "help" from the kids. Landon really wants to help his Dad but it was a bit too stressful for Jerry to have him involved. I think Landon was happy with McDonald's. The room turned out really good and we want to do Landon's room next. Somehow, we always end up painting when I am expecting a baby which means Jerry ends up doing the work. I am grateful he enjoys it and is willing to do it. Lucky me! The other big news of the week was Landon starting preschool. He started Tuesday morning and I had signed up to be the parent helper. I had my friend watch Lauren. Landon said he wasn't feeling good and I thought maybe he was just nervous. He also said he wanted to throw up in the car on the way there but I had just thrown up so I thought maybe he was just saying that because I was sick. So when we got there he was not his usual self. We made it to lunch time before he finally threw up........needless to say, we got to leave early. I felt bad because it was his first day and he actually felt much better after puking but we opted to leave. He ended up getting a fever and I think he just had a stomach bug. Thursday was a much better day for him. He loves getting his lunch box ready for school. Speaking of lunch boxes, Lauren lost her baby on the weekend and it had been a rough week for us. This is her precious baby given to her by Mimi and Poppy when we lived in Texas. She carries this baby everywhere and we have considered buying multiples of the baby for a time like this when she goes missing. After almost a week of no baby, Lauren pulled out her Dora lunch box and asked me to open it. Much to my surprise, I found baby. I think our whole household has benefited greatly from this find. I think we will actually order a new baby now after enduring a week without her. It wasn't that fun. I am attempting to start my food storage....I am way behind on this but hopefully I can get started this week. I had a friend over who showed me where I need to start. It is such an overwhelming task but I know we will be blessed if I just put some effort into it. Jerry had two games this weekend so he got his workout and football fix. I have been sick so he has been taking care of the kids. They had a birthday party last night which he took them to. They had a bounce house which was definitely the highlight. I watched the BYU game and was throughly disappointed when they lost but I hope to be resilient and recover. Jerry took the kids to church which gave me three hours to lay on the couch, sleep and watch BYU devotionals. I am actually feeling much better today. We have much to be grateful for and continue to count our blessings.

Another Week

On Thursday, Jerry officiated two games......needless to say, he was exhausted. We shuttled him to his games and went to Landon's open house for his pre-school. He was so cute with his teacher. He kept calling her by name, "Mrs. Shakspear" and talking about all the things he would do. Lauren was well behaved and we stayed for a while filling out papers and learning about the cirriculum. Then we went shopping for lunch boxes. Landon picked a Spiderman lunch box and Lauren a Dora lunch box. It was quite the Wal-mart adventure. We picked Jerry up and headed home. One important detail about the day I forgot to mention was the period of time when Lauren locked Landon and I out of the house. It was really exciting....actually Lauren had a great time. She looked through the window and laughed every time we asked her to let us in. After she got tired of laughing, she began to meow like a kitten. It was great. Luckily, my friend Kendra was just leaving and I was able to call Jerry on her cell phone to come and rescue us. He had been doing interviews with the CEO of Jacobsen and luckily, they were on a lunch break. They are hiring a new project superintendent. When Jerry gave Lauren the lecture about not locking the door she just said, "Right." Like she knew all along it was the wrong thing to do. We spent Friday getting ready for company to come. We had a visit from Uncle Rod and his friend Jamie. During the preparation, I fell on the stairs and sprained my toe while trying to put Lauren in time out. We have now decided the timeout spot will have to be downstairs to protect my feet and anything else that may break or be sprained. Shortly after the fall, Lauren decided to drink bubble bath. I called poison control and they said she just needed to be monitored. She spit in a bowl for a while but that was it. She was really excited when they called back and wanted to talk to them. She is such a character. So Rod came on Friday and stayed until Saturday. We tried to convince him to stay longer but he did not cooperate. We had fun visiting with him. He and Jerry had a meeting on Friday night and we had Brad and Liz over for dinner as well. We left on Saturday and went to Las Vegas. Of course our first stop was In and Out for a healthy lunch and then to Dave and Rebecca's. They blessed their new baby Evelyn on Sunday. We had a nice time visiting with them and their family. Dave and Jerry were able to attend the temple together which I know they enjoyed. We came back on Sunday night ready to be home and grateful Jerry had Monday off of work.

Highlights

This was a good but fast week. Jerry has started officiating high school football which means he has meetings on Wednesday nights but also had his first game this week on Thursday. He really enjoyed it. He got an awesome workout and also had fun. He says some of the officials are pretty intense but I think he will like doing it. He was so dehydrated he had to get up through out the night to drink water. I ended up going to the girls night in our ward when he got home and enjoyed chatting with the girls in the ward. I always tell Jerry I will be home early......I am usually very tired on Friday. I had to work on Friday afternoon. Jerry usually comes home early but called about one and announced he was taking the kids to work with him. I quickly found the portable DVD player and put some movies in it. I had to go do a match with one of the people I work with. I work for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentoring agency and we went to a home to pair a little sister with a big sister. I called Jerry before he left work but was unable to reach him and ended up at the temple visitors center for a few hours. I actually had an awesome experience. I ended up finding a sister missionary whose ward I had served in back when I was on my mission. It was so fun to catch up with her and I am hoping to regain contact with some of the people who were in that ward through her. We also talked to another couple who were in St George from Freiburg, Germany. They were going to suprise their daughter who is serving as a missionary on temple square the next day. I had a great time. All the while, Jerry was doing errands with the kids and he didn't have a phone so I couldn't reach him. I am not sure if the grocery shopping experience was quite as pleasant for him. On Saturday we went to the What Kids Want Expo at the Dixie Center. Jerry whipped up a french toast breakfast which was amazing....he loves the food network website so that gave the day a great start. The kids ate lots of candy at the expo. I was able to get tickets through work. I have been more aware of the community activities which has really livened up our Saturdays. One more funny experience from church today.....I was very naseous in Sacrament meeting (this is very normal for me with pregnancy...I throw up with no warning which is so baffling to Jerry) so I left the meeting to go in the hall. The problem I have is I play the organ so I was running in and out to play the songs. Well, on my way back in to play the closing song, Jerry opens the door of the men's bathroom and I see Lauren standing on the counter in a diaper. Jerry says," She had a blowout you have to take her home right now!" He was a bit panicked because he teaches Sunday School and wanted to get in the room to prepare his lesson. I was a bit panicked because the speaker was winding down. So I inform him I can't do anything until I play the closing song. I ran in and played some version of a song I have never heard, ran into Jerry (who had placed Lauren in the car) and ran Lauren home to get a new dress. It was quite the Sunday.

Family Day in the Park

We went to the family day in the park on Saturday. It was really fun. They had a bounce house and other little play things for the kids. They also got to see a fire engine and other large city machines which Landon was really happy about. They went on one slide that had water at the bottom which bothered Landon. He didn't like being wet and touching other things. We also had snow cones and Landon was very angry because an ant ate some of his snow cone. It fell on the ground and then the ant just came and ate it without asking permission. I am not sure what to teach my kids about ants because when I see them, I usually just step on them but I don't know if that is the best strategy as far as killing things goes. I am working on this. We took the kids grocery shopping which was also fun. I don't mind taking them when Dad is there because I just have him push the cart and if things go awry, I can just run off and grab something in another aisle. It's pretty awesome. That night we went to a BBQ with Jerry's new officiating friends. He is officiating high school football and committed to baseball as well. He has been warned if he takes on anymore activities he is in big trouble. We now have something every night of the week plus he got me a "part-time" job so I have that to do in my off time. So we swam and ate a a club house of a housing development. The kids had a really good time. Jerry made an awesome German dinner yesterday. He made schneitzel, cucumber salad and baked potatoes. I love it when he cooks. He makes so much we have leftovers so I didn't have to cook tonight. He is the best.

County Fair

Wow. What can I say about the county fair? There is lots of grease, tons of opportunity for people watching, animals, sweet rides and lots of whining children. We had a good time. I actually had to work at the fair for several hours. I have taken a part-time job with the Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentoring agency and volunteered to sit at our booth at the fair. Jerry dropped me off and took the kids home for naps. When he came back, we let the kids go on a few rides. They were so excited. They chose two train rides.....obviously because they love TRAINS and a car ride. We ate some food.....a baked Idaho potato and some corn on the cob. It was very tasty. The kids also had fun at the other booths and rides which were available. I think they may have been experiencing some over stimulation issues or maybe it was me, but we didn't last that long. We saw the Rogers there which was fun and also ran into another missionary from my mission who had just moved here from Las Vegas who I had not seen since the mission. Besides the extreme heat I think we can consider it a successful family outing. The kids can't wait until next year!

Raise

One of the biggest events of the year happened on Thursday. Jerry had his annual review. We have been praying he would get a raise because the cost of living here is high and we are still recovering from our no income college days. Well, our prayers were answered. He ask for a raise and they doubled his offer. I am so proud of him. He has worked really hard and deserves all the praise and recognition he was given. Let's see....this week we have been busy. We went to Cedar City so Jerry could do his training for football officiating. The kids and I drove around for hours trying to find a Wal-mart. We finally found it and had time to purchase three items, use the "potty" and make it back to pick him up. Last night Jerry had his 14-15 year old Sunday School class over for pizza. I think they had a great time. We also received a gift back from them in the form of toilet papering. The funny thing is we yelled up to Landon to go to bed because he was leaning over the rail (which has a perfect view out front) and he said, "I can't because they are putting paper all over everywhere!" So we peeked out the window and Jerry was able to video his kids doing the dirty deed. He then opened the door (while filming) and suprised them. Landon also came down to tell them "That is a big No-N0 and what you did was very naughty!" I wonder where he learned those phrases? Well, it made for an interesting night anyway. The kids and I got to clean up this morning which we really enjoyed.

Blue Bunny

We were finally able to take a trip to Blue Bunny and get ice cream as a family. Lauren and Landon were able to fill up their sticker charts based on good behavior, using the potty and responding to things Mom and Dad say. We were proud of them. We didn't realize until we actually ordered the ice cream that the portions were rather large. The kids had a great time licking their purple bubble gum ice cream cones and also bringing them home to finish tomorrow. We had our friends over last night, the Bingham's and the Tollefson's. Jerry made his strawberry shortcake his Dad made growing up. We had a great time visiting with them and catching up. Things have been so crazy the past few months we have not spent much time with them. We ended up planning a date night for this weekend which should be really fun. We don't go on dates alone much but we never go out with anyone so this should be a real treat. Landon and Lauren are working on memorizing the family mission statement...a portion of the proclamation on the family. Their Dad has picked a short segment and is repeating it with the kids each night. It is amazing how quickly they catch on. They are wonderful kids and we are so blessed to have them.