I had my first mammogram last Friday. Dr. Walker suggested that now is a good time to start and get a baseline for comparison as I age. I hadn’t thought too much about it since then, just wanted to get it done before Chris left. I took the girls in to town yesterday to run errands and then to play at the mall and had a message on the answering machine from Dr. Walker when we arrived home. Basically she said that my mammogram showed a “benign change on my right side” which she said is nothing to worry about at this point. I have to go back in next Tuesday for another mammogram that will magnify the spot they are concerned with and then have an ultrasound as well. I am having a bad day, to say the least. I called Mom and Dad this morning because mostly I needed someone to talk to and Chris was at work already and IMing him didn’t really help. I wanted to know if there was a history of breast cancer in our family and to get a little support. They will be fasting for me this weekend along with the rest of my family. I am so grateful for the strong support of my brothers and sister. Susan, Brad and Dallin have either called or IMed to say they are thinking and praying for me.
All this in the midst of poopy accidents with Misha. She went to the potty and I asked her what she was doing. She came running out saying, “I sorry mommy”. I started cleaning up the mess calling for her to come back to bathroom so I could wipe her bottom. She wasn’t obeying and by the time I got to her she had wiped poop on the couch. Thank heavens for leather. I started crying, and I know they have no idea why mommy is having a hard time today. This being alone thing really stinks–just over three more weeks to go.
In conversing with Dallin, I asked him to please pray for my girls too, they don't understand why I am upset and I am not being as patient as I should. His response was: “I can do that. You know I watch my children and know that Donna has days that are better than others but I really think that they are naturally blessed and that a lot of times they are playing with angels.” I have felt very strongly the presence of angels this past week as I have been with the girls non-stop. Most evenings, I am more than ready for Chris to come home and give me a break.
Today has been hard on me, and I know that I shouldn’t let this get to me so much because the real likelihood is that it is just an abnormality and nothing more.
Update: I had a second mammogram and then an ultrasound scheduled for November 18th at 8:30 am. I dropped the girls off at Melissa Glover’s to play with Ellie and headed into Longmont. The mammogram was centralized on the specific area of concern and then immediately following that I went across the street to the hospital and had an ultrasound done. The ultrasound showed that I have a growth as well as a much smaller cyst but both are benign. Whew. I called Chris after I left the hospital and asked him to pass the information on to my family on the instant messenger on the computer as I wasn’t going to be home for awhile. I took the opportunity to go shopping on my own and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I will go back in six months for a follow up mammogram and ultrasound just to check and make sure nothing has changed or grown
Tuesday, 11 November, 2003
Yesterday, I was sewing curtain rings onto the dining room curtains. The rings had previously been attached with curtain clips. Amy was playing with the rings with clips in the office, but suddenly walked back into the living room and dumped them all in my lap. She looked as though she were going to cry, but I couldn’t see that there was anything wrong until she dumped the rings and one lone ring continued to dangle from her tongue. She didn’t say anything to me but opened her mouth for me to remove the clip. I tried not to laugh so that she would see, but it was pretty funny and still makes me laugh.
This morning Misha woke up earlier than usual. Normally, Chris is here to get up with her but with him gone, she started downstairs. As I was coming up to meet her, she said, “No Daddy. I lost him.” Poor thing.
Whew. The wind is blowing so hard here today. It tore the bbq cover right off the bbq and up, up and away. I grabbed my shoes and jacket and tore after it before it blew beyond the fence two house down. My ears were full of dirt, and I was almost attacked by a tumble weed. The water in the toilet is moving and the window sills almost have enough dirt for the girls to play in the dirt inside.
This morning Misha woke up earlier than usual. Normally, Chris is here to get up with her but with him gone, she started downstairs. As I was coming up to meet her, she said, “No Daddy. I lost him.” Poor thing.
Whew. The wind is blowing so hard here today. It tore the bbq cover right off the bbq and up, up and away. I grabbed my shoes and jacket and tore after it before it blew beyond the fence two house down. My ears were full of dirt, and I was almost attacked by a tumble weed. The water in the toilet is moving and the window sills almost have enough dirt for the girls to play in the dirt inside.
Sunday, 9 November, 2003
We took Christopher to the airport yesterday for a very teary goodbye. None of us were looking forward to the month-long separation. Chris will be staying in Austin, Texas and will commute a short distance to the IBM Texas facility. Since today is his first day, we don’t know too much about what he will be doing..we just know that we miss him lots already. It is possible that he will be able to come home this weekend or next and that would be wonderful. A month is a looooong time.
All of my brothers are planning on coming for Thanksgiving. Brad and Dallin have an appointment in Colorado Springs at the Air Force Academy to meet with people in their sports medicine optometry facility. They will have to be up and out of here fairly early on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to make it to their 8:30 am appointment. Colorado Springs is about two hours from here.
Misha got into a package of gum yesterday and hid in the coat closet to eat it. I saw her sitting in there, but I just thought she was playing. Amy, my little monitor, alerted me to the gum-eating activities. Misha is getting to be quite a stinker. If she does something wrong, she automatically puts her hands on her heiny. She has a nasty habit of spilling water on the floor whenever she gets a hold of some. She never learns, which is frustrating. She spills crackers, cheerios, whatever all over the floor and will not pick them up. I am not sure how to get through to her because spanks don’t make a difference, she won’t stay sitting on the stairs in time-out. We had to pretty much start over on reinforcing the potty training that Misha had learned before we moved. She has got the peeing mostly down again, but doesn’t like to go if she is upstairs or outside or if other people are here. Poop is another story. She was so good about telling me, and rarely had accidents and now she won’t tell me at all and poops in her panties everyday.
Amy is excited about her birthday coming up and most especially for the presents she plans to get. She is really into dress up clothes right now. I was hoping to find some outfits for her after Halloween, but they were pretty picked over by the time I looked and that was Saturday morning right after Halloween on Friday. I’ll have to see what else I can find at Goodwill. Too bad there isn’t a Deseret Industries close by. Amy is very much into arts and crafts. When Misha has her nap in the afternoon, Amy spends a lot of that time drawing, coloring, gluing, painting, taping. One of her presents this year is going to be tape and other art supplies. She goes through my tape in no time at all.
All of my brothers are planning on coming for Thanksgiving. Brad and Dallin have an appointment in Colorado Springs at the Air Force Academy to meet with people in their sports medicine optometry facility. They will have to be up and out of here fairly early on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to make it to their 8:30 am appointment. Colorado Springs is about two hours from here.
Misha got into a package of gum yesterday and hid in the coat closet to eat it. I saw her sitting in there, but I just thought she was playing. Amy, my little monitor, alerted me to the gum-eating activities. Misha is getting to be quite a stinker. If she does something wrong, she automatically puts her hands on her heiny. She has a nasty habit of spilling water on the floor whenever she gets a hold of some. She never learns, which is frustrating. She spills crackers, cheerios, whatever all over the floor and will not pick them up. I am not sure how to get through to her because spanks don’t make a difference, she won’t stay sitting on the stairs in time-out. We had to pretty much start over on reinforcing the potty training that Misha had learned before we moved. She has got the peeing mostly down again, but doesn’t like to go if she is upstairs or outside or if other people are here. Poop is another story. She was so good about telling me, and rarely had accidents and now she won’t tell me at all and poops in her panties everyday.
Amy is excited about her birthday coming up and most especially for the presents she plans to get. She is really into dress up clothes right now. I was hoping to find some outfits for her after Halloween, but they were pretty picked over by the time I looked and that was Saturday morning right after Halloween on Friday. I’ll have to see what else I can find at Goodwill. Too bad there isn’t a Deseret Industries close by. Amy is very much into arts and crafts. When Misha has her nap in the afternoon, Amy spends a lot of that time drawing, coloring, gluing, painting, taping. One of her presents this year is going to be tape and other art supplies. She goes through my tape in no time at all.
Sunday, 26 October, 2003
We set our clocks back last night and it was getting dark already as we walked out of church this afternoon. Kind of depressing. On the other hand, I am excited to have my girls going to bed at 8 pm again and to have a little time to myself in the evenings.
Today was the Primary program and Amy got to sit up at the front with her class. She was so excited and looked so cute with a red ribbon in her hair to match her red jumper. She got to sing “I Am A Child of God” with her class. We wondered if she would be there for her song as she left to go to the bathroom just before it was her turn. She made it back, but her teacher afterward said she was just hoping Amy would get back in time because Amy had the loudest voice and carried the others. She sang her song and then gave us two thumbs up. She was so proud of herself. Last Monday night for home evening, we talked about being reverent in church and what she should do when she was sitting up on the stand. Even today she remembered as I said, “and if I touch my nose?”, she promptly finished “I need to fold my arms and sit quietly.” Such a big girl she is becoming.
Misha’s vocabulary and sentence structure abilities are growing by leaps and bounds. 'Course that includes being sassy. She has started answering “Never!” when she is asked to do something. She likes to say, “Know what mom, I lub you”. I have said that to both Amy and Misha since they were babies, and it touched my heart in only the way my daughters can the first time she took the initiative and said it to me.
Chris was accepted as faculty for the University of Phoenix a month or so ago and has been attending training classes on Thursday evenings from 6 to 10 down by the Denver Tech Center. We don’t usually see him at all on Thursday since he takes the opportunity to go Denver to work on an account for IBM on those days. He is not sure when he will start teaching but life should get profoundly busier then.
Chris is leaving November 9 for an IBM internship in Texas. They usually last three weeks, but because of the Thanksgiving holiday the time was extended another week. Ask me how happy that makes me? I hate being alone in the evenings when he is gone for the long days, so a month is not going to be enjoyable in the least. He assumed that we would come for the Thanksgiving holiday, but I ...you know, I am still pretty ticked about the whole thing and I can’t say much nice about it right now. So, enough said.
The good news, though, is that Dallin and Donna might come for Thanksgiving, and maybe even Brad. I am sure that I will be lonely enough by then that I will welcome any visitors.
Today was the Primary program and Amy got to sit up at the front with her class. She was so excited and looked so cute with a red ribbon in her hair to match her red jumper. She got to sing “I Am A Child of God” with her class. We wondered if she would be there for her song as she left to go to the bathroom just before it was her turn. She made it back, but her teacher afterward said she was just hoping Amy would get back in time because Amy had the loudest voice and carried the others. She sang her song and then gave us two thumbs up. She was so proud of herself. Last Monday night for home evening, we talked about being reverent in church and what she should do when she was sitting up on the stand. Even today she remembered as I said, “and if I touch my nose?”, she promptly finished “I need to fold my arms and sit quietly.” Such a big girl she is becoming.
Misha’s vocabulary and sentence structure abilities are growing by leaps and bounds. 'Course that includes being sassy. She has started answering “Never!” when she is asked to do something. She likes to say, “Know what mom, I lub you”. I have said that to both Amy and Misha since they were babies, and it touched my heart in only the way my daughters can the first time she took the initiative and said it to me.
Chris was accepted as faculty for the University of Phoenix a month or so ago and has been attending training classes on Thursday evenings from 6 to 10 down by the Denver Tech Center. We don’t usually see him at all on Thursday since he takes the opportunity to go Denver to work on an account for IBM on those days. He is not sure when he will start teaching but life should get profoundly busier then.
Chris is leaving November 9 for an IBM internship in Texas. They usually last three weeks, but because of the Thanksgiving holiday the time was extended another week. Ask me how happy that makes me? I hate being alone in the evenings when he is gone for the long days, so a month is not going to be enjoyable in the least. He assumed that we would come for the Thanksgiving holiday, but I ...you know, I am still pretty ticked about the whole thing and I can’t say much nice about it right now. So, enough said.
The good news, though, is that Dallin and Donna might come for Thanksgiving, and maybe even Brad. I am sure that I will be lonely enough by then that I will welcome any visitors.
Sunday, 5 October, 2003
We just finished a weekend of General Conference. It is always a nice change of pace to watch church on tv and to not wrestle with children through Sacrament Meeting.
It has been a month now since I last added to this journal and three weeks since we moved and it has been a very busy month. The following is an excerpt from a letter Chris sent to his family:
“We moved (again) last weekend. We closed on our new home on Friday first thing and I immediately went to work sealing and painting the garage floor before ‘stuff’ was put on it. I had to etch it first, which is to take Muriatic Acid and scrub the floor so it's rough and make the paint stick. Then I had to let it dry before putting the sealer on. It wound up taking me much longer than I had anticipated. By that evening I was already wasted. But we brought over most of the items Jo had boxed for the kitchen anyway so that it would be done before the major move the next day.
On Saturday, we started early, and with the help of a couple friends from work, a couple from church, and a new neighbor, we worked for about 7 hours to get everything moved over. We used a small 4x8 trailer that I purchased from a friend several months ago in anticipation of the move (go minivan!). My new neighbor, Mike, also has a trailer that we used. In all, we made 5-6 trips between the two houses, but since it's only less than 2 miles to make the drive, it was no big deal. We saved quite a bit by not needing the UHaul.
Now for a bit about our new neighbors. We have a delightful family who moved in about 6 weeks ago and who lives right behind us on the cul de sac. Their names are Mike and Kathy Krause. They have a little girl named Lexi who is 3yrs old and Amy's instant new best friend. Jo has made good friends with Kathy already, which is nice. Mike and I get along well, too. When they moved in, I did the good Mormon thing and went to help them move. They were absolutely amazed that someone they hardly knew would do that. When I found out, my response was that they obviously didn't know too many Mormons, cuz that's just the weekend thing to do (at least in our ward, where someone moves in or out at least every third week). Anyway, it made an impression, and Mike wanted to come help us to return the favor. His trailer made a nice difference in getting things done.
One thing we really hoped for in this move was to get some neighbors we could be good friends with. Our last place had nice enough neighbors, but they really kept to themselves and we didn't converse much. Now, we have three houses immediately around us. One is an inventory home that is not yet sold (and because of the crummy floor plan, probably won't sell for a long time). On the west side, we have a Cambodian couple who apparently own a restaurant and are rarely home. Behind us (to the north), we have Mike and Kathy. Since we'll share a large part of our fence with them, we're already making plans on putting a door/gate in so the kids can come and go without needing to walk around the street side.
Back to the move. We have been SUPER busy. By Monday, Jolayne had managed to get virtually all the moving boxes out of the house, which was incredible. We have a few boxes leftover still, but by and large we are done with that part. Sunday was a nice break because it gave us a chance to slow down a bit after a few very busy days. Monday, I took a day off work and ran some errands, hooked up appliances, and installed the garage door opener (a multi-hour job). Good news is it runs great! The rest of the week brought the hanging of ceiling fans (since we had no lights in any rooms) and the beginnings of window coverings. Jolayne has been working very hard over the last few weeks to sew curtains and drapes for all our new windows. We decided to do that this time instead of your basic blinds because it will provide a more comfortable look with more character. Hopefully we'll save a few bucks, as well. Many of our windows are so big that normal 2" blinds would not have worked without splitting into multiple sections or getting something done custom. Both options were expensive.
Yesterday (Saturday) I spent most of the day working in the garage. Before setting up my workshop, I wanted to get insulation on the walls (the third bay is not finished at all). So I put that up and covered it in sheet rock. I wanted to use wood (like OSB) but was amazed to see that the price for lumber has tripled in the last 6-8 months. I wasn't about to pay $19 for a 4x8 sheet of wood (since I needed at least 10 to cover the walls!). Sheetrock was not my first choice, but at $5 each was much more affordable. So that job took me much of the day yesterday. I also finished applying a second coat of sealer to the floor. Another project that took way more effort than I had planned. But, by the end of the day, I had the shelving up, the floor painted, and pegboard hung, on top of (mostly) finished walls. It should be a nice work area and maybe now I can find all the tools I need to do the other jobs.
Jolayne says my garage gets undue priority in projects. My only response is "of course". Why should it be any different for the most important room in the house? :-)
Last night we hung drapes in our bedroom after going back to our old place and patching/painting all the holes from our pictures and stuff. I think we're finally done there now. It's too bad we weren't able to sell it normally, but the buyout deal (selling to a broker) has worked out ok for us. At least we got it done. It was a great home to live in, and it's with a bit of angst that I left there for the last time last night. However, our new place is taking shape very well now and we're excited (and very grateful) to have finally gotten through all the hard parts. Note to self, never move again! Another reason not to move is the gorgeous views we have now. The sunsets for some reason are SO much prettier here. Perhaps it's because we can see so much of the mountains now. Anyway, it helps to make all that moving worth it.
Upcoming projects include the hanging of window coverings in the great room (which will require me to rent a large 15' ladder). We still have lots of little things to take care of, such as small hangers for keys, paper towels, etc. Also need to hang pictures. This winter we will likely begin painting various rooms. Spring will bring a fence, air conditioning, and as much of the back yard as we can afford to finish (we will likely need to terrace part of it). Needless to say, it's lots of work. But it's quite rewarding as well. I enjoy those types of projects, and I'm learning lots about how to do many of them.
In addition to the move, I'm also taking a night class remotely for IBM. It's done via phone and Internet and is IBM's solution to travel costs. I'm also in the process of applying to the University of Phoenix to be a part-time instructor (I'm about half-way through the process now). I am receiving a new calling today at church. I've really enjoyed being a Sunday School teacher for the youth, and it's with a bit of remorse that I move on to a councilor in the Elder's Quorum. Work is much of the same, although we recently reorganized and I'm part of a new team now. It's not my favorite people in the department to work with, but on the upside, the afterhours work will be less than it has been in the past. I'm getting some opportunities to work on some up-and-coming new software products for connecting various applications and businesses together, so it's good to get more experience there. I'm still hoping to switch to a new job sometime in the next 6 months, but we'll see if that happens. So far, my boss has not agreed to let me go. On the upside, my tools package that I've written and shared (the one the patents have been applied for) won a competition of inventions at Boulder in August and I have a 50/50 shot of being sent to IBM headquarters in New York now to present the same stuff. I don't care either way, but it's nice to have a chance to meet some of the more important people at the site and in the company. It beats the "just do your job" mentality that I might otherwise be stuck with.
At home, Misha is pretty well potty trained now. What a blessing it has been to have that come so easily for her! The girls are sharing a room together now and although it was a struggle for the first night or two, they seem to have taken to it very well. The move upset their lives lots, and they had challenges with it for a few days, but I think we're over the worst of it now. Misha is still VERY two and likes to argue with me whenever I ask her to do anything, but hopefully that will change. Amy is doing well, learning more each day.
I have to tell you the funniest story from church with her the other week. She'll hate me someday for sharing it, but I'll do it anyway. It's slightly "colorful", but once you have kids, I've learned that few subjects are really taboo. Jo stayed home with Misha who was sick, so I took Amy to church by myself. We arrived late and sat in the very back. Shortly into the meeting, Amy told me she had to go to the bathroom and so she went by herself. She came back shortly. Not long after that, I found that she had an accident and had pooped a bit in her pants, so off we went to clean up the messes. I was pretty upset at her because she's big enough to not do that now, and so we had a talk about things, blah blah blah. Once we got back into the meeting, she told me shortly that she had to go again. Well, not being the dumbest daddy in church, I was smart enough to know that this was her way of making the meeting more exciting (not that she really had to go), so I resisted. But she persisted, so I (luckily) told her she could go. She came back shortly and told me (quite loudly) as she often does, "Daddy, I went poop!" She was so happy. So were the other 10 people sitting around us who heard her exclamation! :-) Then she proceeded to tell me that I still needed to wipe her bottom. At that point, I made haste getting her out of that meeting before she could say anything else incriminating. We went into the men's room and took care of business, but she was upset because she had gone poop in the "dresses room" (as she calls the ladies' room because of the picture on the door--she will only use the ladies' room when she is wearing a dress) she told me she had to go back in there and flush the potty. She did, and when she came out, she was quite upset. I asked her what was wrong and got the reply I was least expecting but will forever remember: "Daddy, it's not fair, that girl flushed my poop!" Poor kid. Who was "that girl" to take Amy's gleeful opportunity away so thoughtlessly? :-) She didn't understand the principles of a shared bathroom since she's used to being at home. Sure made me laugh though. As you can see, her personality blossoms a bit more each day.
Our internet is still down. Being without it for a week has been more difficult than we would have guessed. I'm only dialed up right now at 21k. Hopefully we'll have service restored in the next week and then I'll be more available.”
It is not often that Chris writes such a discourse, so I have to take advantage of it when he does. With Lori, his sister, on a mission now, perhaps he will be writing to her more often.
We are certainly enjoying our new home, and I am amazed that three weeks have passed by so quickly. We did work hard, as Chris said, getting things unpacked and finding places to put everything. I had a lot of time to think about where I wanted things and had labeled boxes pretty well when moving, so putting everything away wasn’t too hard. Things in the kitchen have changed around a bit from their original locations, but that is pretty normal for me. Though, this time, Chris even asked me to changed the silverware to another drawer, and he is usually the one who makes fun of me for moving things.
The girls are back into storytime at the library for the fall and winter. We have been going on Tuesday morning since Monday was always such a rush to get there on time. On Wednesday we have play group. It was at our house last week and it was just a bit crazy. We don’t have a back yard for the kids to play in at this point and it was fairly cool outside to go to a park. The people in our play group are: Melissa Glover with Ellie and Savannah; Jen Bailey with Noah and Lauryn; Elizabeth Lowry with Nathan and Matthew; Kristina Miller with Britton; Tasha Wasden with Audrey and Jonah; Heather Harmon with Rylee and Tate.
Amy has played with Audrey a couple of times and they are like two peas in a pod dressing up and being so girly. Misha dresses up too, but I am not sure that it would be her first choice if given an option.
It has been a month now since I last added to this journal and three weeks since we moved and it has been a very busy month. The following is an excerpt from a letter Chris sent to his family:
“We moved (again) last weekend. We closed on our new home on Friday first thing and I immediately went to work sealing and painting the garage floor before ‘stuff’ was put on it. I had to etch it first, which is to take Muriatic Acid and scrub the floor so it's rough and make the paint stick. Then I had to let it dry before putting the sealer on. It wound up taking me much longer than I had anticipated. By that evening I was already wasted. But we brought over most of the items Jo had boxed for the kitchen anyway so that it would be done before the major move the next day.
On Saturday, we started early, and with the help of a couple friends from work, a couple from church, and a new neighbor, we worked for about 7 hours to get everything moved over. We used a small 4x8 trailer that I purchased from a friend several months ago in anticipation of the move (go minivan!). My new neighbor, Mike, also has a trailer that we used. In all, we made 5-6 trips between the two houses, but since it's only less than 2 miles to make the drive, it was no big deal. We saved quite a bit by not needing the UHaul.
Now for a bit about our new neighbors. We have a delightful family who moved in about 6 weeks ago and who lives right behind us on the cul de sac. Their names are Mike and Kathy Krause. They have a little girl named Lexi who is 3yrs old and Amy's instant new best friend. Jo has made good friends with Kathy already, which is nice. Mike and I get along well, too. When they moved in, I did the good Mormon thing and went to help them move. They were absolutely amazed that someone they hardly knew would do that. When I found out, my response was that they obviously didn't know too many Mormons, cuz that's just the weekend thing to do (at least in our ward, where someone moves in or out at least every third week). Anyway, it made an impression, and Mike wanted to come help us to return the favor. His trailer made a nice difference in getting things done.
One thing we really hoped for in this move was to get some neighbors we could be good friends with. Our last place had nice enough neighbors, but they really kept to themselves and we didn't converse much. Now, we have three houses immediately around us. One is an inventory home that is not yet sold (and because of the crummy floor plan, probably won't sell for a long time). On the west side, we have a Cambodian couple who apparently own a restaurant and are rarely home. Behind us (to the north), we have Mike and Kathy. Since we'll share a large part of our fence with them, we're already making plans on putting a door/gate in so the kids can come and go without needing to walk around the street side.
Back to the move. We have been SUPER busy. By Monday, Jolayne had managed to get virtually all the moving boxes out of the house, which was incredible. We have a few boxes leftover still, but by and large we are done with that part. Sunday was a nice break because it gave us a chance to slow down a bit after a few very busy days. Monday, I took a day off work and ran some errands, hooked up appliances, and installed the garage door opener (a multi-hour job). Good news is it runs great! The rest of the week brought the hanging of ceiling fans (since we had no lights in any rooms) and the beginnings of window coverings. Jolayne has been working very hard over the last few weeks to sew curtains and drapes for all our new windows. We decided to do that this time instead of your basic blinds because it will provide a more comfortable look with more character. Hopefully we'll save a few bucks, as well. Many of our windows are so big that normal 2" blinds would not have worked without splitting into multiple sections or getting something done custom. Both options were expensive.
Yesterday (Saturday) I spent most of the day working in the garage. Before setting up my workshop, I wanted to get insulation on the walls (the third bay is not finished at all). So I put that up and covered it in sheet rock. I wanted to use wood (like OSB) but was amazed to see that the price for lumber has tripled in the last 6-8 months. I wasn't about to pay $19 for a 4x8 sheet of wood (since I needed at least 10 to cover the walls!). Sheetrock was not my first choice, but at $5 each was much more affordable. So that job took me much of the day yesterday. I also finished applying a second coat of sealer to the floor. Another project that took way more effort than I had planned. But, by the end of the day, I had the shelving up, the floor painted, and pegboard hung, on top of (mostly) finished walls. It should be a nice work area and maybe now I can find all the tools I need to do the other jobs.
Jolayne says my garage gets undue priority in projects. My only response is "of course". Why should it be any different for the most important room in the house? :-)
Last night we hung drapes in our bedroom after going back to our old place and patching/painting all the holes from our pictures and stuff. I think we're finally done there now. It's too bad we weren't able to sell it normally, but the buyout deal (selling to a broker) has worked out ok for us. At least we got it done. It was a great home to live in, and it's with a bit of angst that I left there for the last time last night. However, our new place is taking shape very well now and we're excited (and very grateful) to have finally gotten through all the hard parts. Note to self, never move again! Another reason not to move is the gorgeous views we have now. The sunsets for some reason are SO much prettier here. Perhaps it's because we can see so much of the mountains now. Anyway, it helps to make all that moving worth it.
Upcoming projects include the hanging of window coverings in the great room (which will require me to rent a large 15' ladder). We still have lots of little things to take care of, such as small hangers for keys, paper towels, etc. Also need to hang pictures. This winter we will likely begin painting various rooms. Spring will bring a fence, air conditioning, and as much of the back yard as we can afford to finish (we will likely need to terrace part of it). Needless to say, it's lots of work. But it's quite rewarding as well. I enjoy those types of projects, and I'm learning lots about how to do many of them.
In addition to the move, I'm also taking a night class remotely for IBM. It's done via phone and Internet and is IBM's solution to travel costs. I'm also in the process of applying to the University of Phoenix to be a part-time instructor (I'm about half-way through the process now). I am receiving a new calling today at church. I've really enjoyed being a Sunday School teacher for the youth, and it's with a bit of remorse that I move on to a councilor in the Elder's Quorum. Work is much of the same, although we recently reorganized and I'm part of a new team now. It's not my favorite people in the department to work with, but on the upside, the afterhours work will be less than it has been in the past. I'm getting some opportunities to work on some up-and-coming new software products for connecting various applications and businesses together, so it's good to get more experience there. I'm still hoping to switch to a new job sometime in the next 6 months, but we'll see if that happens. So far, my boss has not agreed to let me go. On the upside, my tools package that I've written and shared (the one the patents have been applied for) won a competition of inventions at Boulder in August and I have a 50/50 shot of being sent to IBM headquarters in New York now to present the same stuff. I don't care either way, but it's nice to have a chance to meet some of the more important people at the site and in the company. It beats the "just do your job" mentality that I might otherwise be stuck with.
At home, Misha is pretty well potty trained now. What a blessing it has been to have that come so easily for her! The girls are sharing a room together now and although it was a struggle for the first night or two, they seem to have taken to it very well. The move upset their lives lots, and they had challenges with it for a few days, but I think we're over the worst of it now. Misha is still VERY two and likes to argue with me whenever I ask her to do anything, but hopefully that will change. Amy is doing well, learning more each day.
I have to tell you the funniest story from church with her the other week. She'll hate me someday for sharing it, but I'll do it anyway. It's slightly "colorful", but once you have kids, I've learned that few subjects are really taboo. Jo stayed home with Misha who was sick, so I took Amy to church by myself. We arrived late and sat in the very back. Shortly into the meeting, Amy told me she had to go to the bathroom and so she went by herself. She came back shortly. Not long after that, I found that she had an accident and had pooped a bit in her pants, so off we went to clean up the messes. I was pretty upset at her because she's big enough to not do that now, and so we had a talk about things, blah blah blah. Once we got back into the meeting, she told me shortly that she had to go again. Well, not being the dumbest daddy in church, I was smart enough to know that this was her way of making the meeting more exciting (not that she really had to go), so I resisted. But she persisted, so I (luckily) told her she could go. She came back shortly and told me (quite loudly) as she often does, "Daddy, I went poop!" She was so happy. So were the other 10 people sitting around us who heard her exclamation! :-) Then she proceeded to tell me that I still needed to wipe her bottom. At that point, I made haste getting her out of that meeting before she could say anything else incriminating. We went into the men's room and took care of business, but she was upset because she had gone poop in the "dresses room" (as she calls the ladies' room because of the picture on the door--she will only use the ladies' room when she is wearing a dress) she told me she had to go back in there and flush the potty. She did, and when she came out, she was quite upset. I asked her what was wrong and got the reply I was least expecting but will forever remember: "Daddy, it's not fair, that girl flushed my poop!" Poor kid. Who was "that girl" to take Amy's gleeful opportunity away so thoughtlessly? :-) She didn't understand the principles of a shared bathroom since she's used to being at home. Sure made me laugh though. As you can see, her personality blossoms a bit more each day.
Our internet is still down. Being without it for a week has been more difficult than we would have guessed. I'm only dialed up right now at 21k. Hopefully we'll have service restored in the next week and then I'll be more available.”
It is not often that Chris writes such a discourse, so I have to take advantage of it when he does. With Lori, his sister, on a mission now, perhaps he will be writing to her more often.
We are certainly enjoying our new home, and I am amazed that three weeks have passed by so quickly. We did work hard, as Chris said, getting things unpacked and finding places to put everything. I had a lot of time to think about where I wanted things and had labeled boxes pretty well when moving, so putting everything away wasn’t too hard. Things in the kitchen have changed around a bit from their original locations, but that is pretty normal for me. Though, this time, Chris even asked me to changed the silverware to another drawer, and he is usually the one who makes fun of me for moving things.
The girls are back into storytime at the library for the fall and winter. We have been going on Tuesday morning since Monday was always such a rush to get there on time. On Wednesday we have play group. It was at our house last week and it was just a bit crazy. We don’t have a back yard for the kids to play in at this point and it was fairly cool outside to go to a park. The people in our play group are: Melissa Glover with Ellie and Savannah; Jen Bailey with Noah and Lauryn; Elizabeth Lowry with Nathan and Matthew; Kristina Miller with Britton; Tasha Wasden with Audrey and Jonah; Heather Harmon with Rylee and Tate.
Amy has played with Audrey a couple of times and they are like two peas in a pod dressing up and being so girly. Misha dresses up too, but I am not sure that it would be her first choice if given an option.
7 September, 2003
So much has been happening in the past month and things won’t be slowing down anytime soon. We close on our house on Friday and are fairly excited. We have a walk though scheduled for Tuesday at 3:00 and then an early morning appointment on Friday to close. We want to get some projects done on Friday before we actually start the heavy moving on Saturday, ie., seal the garage floor, install ceiling fans and curtains, seal grout, etc.
Both the girls got haircuts in August. Misha’s hair was pretty long in the back but I wanted to even it up with the sides which were a couple inches shorter. I think I cut about three inches off the back but it grows so quickly that it should be back to what it was in no time. Amy got a hair cut as well just to even things up. With her curly hair you can’t really tell if it is uneven but it gets pretty snarly.
The girls have been “freezie” fanatics this summer. They usually get one in the morning and one in the afternoon, though Misha’s portion is a half size. It is not often that Amy forgets that her freezie should be forthcoming.
Misha is doing fantastic with potty training. In the past week she has been dry three times during the night. Some days she doesn’t have a single accident and even tells me when she needs to poop. She still has her moments but her progression and acquiring of this skill has been amazing. She wears panties all day long and most places that we go. I have found that that is the key. If you can endure the accidents that happen in the beginning, they have to know what it feels like to wear panties and to know what it feels like to have the urge to pee. It is nice being out of diapers. One day when Misha had an accident, Amy sweetly said, “Don’t give up Misha”. Because we tell Misha that we are proud of her when she uses the potty, she has taken to telling us that she is proud of us when we use the potty as well.
One morning, Misha had a little bowl of raisins while sitting on the potty. It was quiet for a time and then she suddenly came running to me, “I went poop!” I ran and looked and she had dumped the raisins into the potty. I thought it was so funny that I took a picture and woke up Chris to show him. Not so funny as the moments when she was learning about going poop in the potty and pooped on the floor a couple of times before it sank in.
Not all of her moments are pleasant though. She thought she was helping me get her milk one night and grabbed an unopened gallon of milk off the counter. It dropped onto the floor out of the grasp of her little hands and splattered all over the floor. I wasn’t happy at all and frankly it was one of those days when I had just had enough. And truly, I did feel like crying over spilt milk.
Shane passed through on his way to Salt Lake last weekend. He had been working in Detroit all summer installing alarm systems in homes. He drove all night Saturday and most of Sunday by himself with very little sleep. Crazy guy. Since Monday was the Labor Day holiday, he stayed and spent the day. We took the girls to the Denver zoo. They both enjoyed, though Amy probably did moreso. Misha wasn’t feeling well and we drug her around all day long.
We took Misha to the doctor early Tuesday morning and found out that she had “foot and mouth” disease. She had canker sores in her mouth, on her lips, and on her cheek as well as a rash on her body. Sadly, there wasn’t much we could do for her and had to let the disease run its course. She is feeling much better this week but had some pretty rough days. They are hard for me as well because Misha likes to be held all the time when she is sick whereas Amy is content to lay on the couch. I don’t get much done.
I have been working feverishly on curtains for our new house. I haven’t had many patterns to go off of so it has been a lot of trial and error and finally on Saturday I got a seam ripper to assist in picking out seams. I had been using a pin. Picking out seams is one of my least favorite parts of sewing. I finally found some instructions on the internet for lining curtains so that has made it a bit easier, but I am thinking right now, "two done and too many more to go."
I have finished the curtain for the laundry, and partially finished one for the powder room. The girls’ room is mostly done but still needs some finish work.
Both the girls got haircuts in August. Misha’s hair was pretty long in the back but I wanted to even it up with the sides which were a couple inches shorter. I think I cut about three inches off the back but it grows so quickly that it should be back to what it was in no time. Amy got a hair cut as well just to even things up. With her curly hair you can’t really tell if it is uneven but it gets pretty snarly.
The girls have been “freezie” fanatics this summer. They usually get one in the morning and one in the afternoon, though Misha’s portion is a half size. It is not often that Amy forgets that her freezie should be forthcoming.
Misha is doing fantastic with potty training. In the past week she has been dry three times during the night. Some days she doesn’t have a single accident and even tells me when she needs to poop. She still has her moments but her progression and acquiring of this skill has been amazing. She wears panties all day long and most places that we go. I have found that that is the key. If you can endure the accidents that happen in the beginning, they have to know what it feels like to wear panties and to know what it feels like to have the urge to pee. It is nice being out of diapers. One day when Misha had an accident, Amy sweetly said, “Don’t give up Misha”. Because we tell Misha that we are proud of her when she uses the potty, she has taken to telling us that she is proud of us when we use the potty as well.
One morning, Misha had a little bowl of raisins while sitting on the potty. It was quiet for a time and then she suddenly came running to me, “I went poop!” I ran and looked and she had dumped the raisins into the potty. I thought it was so funny that I took a picture and woke up Chris to show him. Not so funny as the moments when she was learning about going poop in the potty and pooped on the floor a couple of times before it sank in.
Not all of her moments are pleasant though. She thought she was helping me get her milk one night and grabbed an unopened gallon of milk off the counter. It dropped onto the floor out of the grasp of her little hands and splattered all over the floor. I wasn’t happy at all and frankly it was one of those days when I had just had enough. And truly, I did feel like crying over spilt milk.
Shane passed through on his way to Salt Lake last weekend. He had been working in Detroit all summer installing alarm systems in homes. He drove all night Saturday and most of Sunday by himself with very little sleep. Crazy guy. Since Monday was the Labor Day holiday, he stayed and spent the day. We took the girls to the Denver zoo. They both enjoyed, though Amy probably did moreso. Misha wasn’t feeling well and we drug her around all day long.
We took Misha to the doctor early Tuesday morning and found out that she had “foot and mouth” disease. She had canker sores in her mouth, on her lips, and on her cheek as well as a rash on her body. Sadly, there wasn’t much we could do for her and had to let the disease run its course. She is feeling much better this week but had some pretty rough days. They are hard for me as well because Misha likes to be held all the time when she is sick whereas Amy is content to lay on the couch. I don’t get much done.
I have been working feverishly on curtains for our new house. I haven’t had many patterns to go off of so it has been a lot of trial and error and finally on Saturday I got a seam ripper to assist in picking out seams. I had been using a pin. Picking out seams is one of my least favorite parts of sewing. I finally found some instructions on the internet for lining curtains so that has made it a bit easier, but I am thinking right now, "two done and too many more to go."
I have finished the curtain for the laundry, and partially finished one for the powder room. The girls’ room is mostly done but still needs some finish work.
Monday, 11 August, 2003
Last week, the four of us were driving home from Walmart and Chris was asking Amy when her birthday was. She said she couldn’t remember and so Chris tried prompting her by saying “It is close to...?” She thought for a couple seconds and then said, “Mexico!” I didn’t even know she knew the word.
Misha doesn’t seem to have any aversion to bugs, in fact, she likes to squish them with her fingers. Once they are sufficiently squished, she hands them to me to take care of. I don’t quite know what I am supposed to do with them.
Chris’ Grandma Greve died on Wednesday July 30. It was a sad moment for his mom and family to have her leave, but a relief that she would no longer have such suffering and pain in her life. For the past couple of months, she has been falling quite often and breaking bones. I guess she was in some serious accidents when she was younger and never really recovered from those and had pain that lingered until now.
Chris flew out on Friday the 8th to attend a memorial service. She had been cremated about a week previous, shortly after her death, and both she and her husband were inurned at a military cemetery in Portland. Chris said that it was quite touching and was grateful that he was able to be there. (I am not sure where Grandpa Greve’s ashes were kept for the past seven or eight years.)
On Saturday morning, all endowed members in Chris’ family went to the temple with Lori as she received her endowments in preparation for her mission in a month.
Chris attended church with his parents and then flew home Sunday afternoon and arrived home shortly after we came home from church. Amy was sooooo disappointed that he wasn’t already here when we arrived but Chris’ drive home took a little longer than usual.
Misha is starting to the use the potty. On the 30th she peed a few drops in the little potty, and then did some more the next day. Last night as I was getting the girls ready for bed, I took off Misha’s diaper and she wanted to go potty before I put her nighttime diaper on. She was in the bathroom playing with the nightlight while I helped Amy get her jammies on when I suddenly heard her peeing in the potty. She had sat down and gone all by herself. We were all thrilled and surprised. Then again this morning, she peed a little bit in her little potty and from past experience, I knew there was plenty more to come. I put her on the big potty while I started laundry and all of a sudden I heard her peeing again. We try to make a big deal of it and give her treats every time she pees. It would be so wonderful to have both of them potty trained. She seems to be ready and once you take her diaper off, she doesn’t want to have anything to do with it going back on.
The girls just finished their swimming lessons for the summer. The pool closes next week until January for a complete overhaul so they won’t have as many opportunities to practice what they learned. They both did quite well. Misha learned a few of the skills but wasn’t about to put her face in the water and blow bubbles. Her confidence in the pool has grown tremendously and with her floatie swimming suit, she just motors around on her own. Amy loved the lessons and learned many of the skills. She floats on her back on her own, puts her face in the water and even jumps off the diving board if someone is close by. When she is not in swim lessons, she wears a life jacket and is pretty confident about swimming and jumping in on her own. I am glad that we signed them up. For the fall, I am looking for a dance or gymnastics class to get them into.
Misha doesn’t seem to have any aversion to bugs, in fact, she likes to squish them with her fingers. Once they are sufficiently squished, she hands them to me to take care of. I don’t quite know what I am supposed to do with them.
Chris’ Grandma Greve died on Wednesday July 30. It was a sad moment for his mom and family to have her leave, but a relief that she would no longer have such suffering and pain in her life. For the past couple of months, she has been falling quite often and breaking bones. I guess she was in some serious accidents when she was younger and never really recovered from those and had pain that lingered until now.
Chris flew out on Friday the 8th to attend a memorial service. She had been cremated about a week previous, shortly after her death, and both she and her husband were inurned at a military cemetery in Portland. Chris said that it was quite touching and was grateful that he was able to be there. (I am not sure where Grandpa Greve’s ashes were kept for the past seven or eight years.)
On Saturday morning, all endowed members in Chris’ family went to the temple with Lori as she received her endowments in preparation for her mission in a month.
Chris attended church with his parents and then flew home Sunday afternoon and arrived home shortly after we came home from church. Amy was sooooo disappointed that he wasn’t already here when we arrived but Chris’ drive home took a little longer than usual.
Misha is starting to the use the potty. On the 30th she peed a few drops in the little potty, and then did some more the next day. Last night as I was getting the girls ready for bed, I took off Misha’s diaper and she wanted to go potty before I put her nighttime diaper on. She was in the bathroom playing with the nightlight while I helped Amy get her jammies on when I suddenly heard her peeing in the potty. She had sat down and gone all by herself. We were all thrilled and surprised. Then again this morning, she peed a little bit in her little potty and from past experience, I knew there was plenty more to come. I put her on the big potty while I started laundry and all of a sudden I heard her peeing again. We try to make a big deal of it and give her treats every time she pees. It would be so wonderful to have both of them potty trained. She seems to be ready and once you take her diaper off, she doesn’t want to have anything to do with it going back on.
The girls just finished their swimming lessons for the summer. The pool closes next week until January for a complete overhaul so they won’t have as many opportunities to practice what they learned. They both did quite well. Misha learned a few of the skills but wasn’t about to put her face in the water and blow bubbles. Her confidence in the pool has grown tremendously and with her floatie swimming suit, she just motors around on her own. Amy loved the lessons and learned many of the skills. She floats on her back on her own, puts her face in the water and even jumps off the diving board if someone is close by. When she is not in swim lessons, she wears a life jacket and is pretty confident about swimming and jumping in on her own. I am glad that we signed them up. For the fall, I am looking for a dance or gymnastics class to get them into.
Wednesday, 30 July, 2003
Chris’ grandmother, “Nama” died early this morning. She has been in so much pain for the past 12 to 15 years of her life and more the past couple of years specifically, that it really was a blessing for her. We are not sure about the plans for a funeral, and if we could even afford to go, but should find out details later today.
A couple of weekends ago, we went camping in Rocky Mountain National Park with some friends from our ward. I am not much of a fan of camping so it was a big deal that I would even agree to go–the things you do though, when you think your children might have fun. Amy did. It was her favorite thing EVER! (She has a lot of them). Poor Misha though. We thought she was getting her last four molars and she was pretty miserable. She started crying as we headed up the mountain and only wanted to be held once we got to the campsite. She fell asleep for an hour in the tent and only wanted to held more after that.
Amy loved camping and roasting marshmallows and playing in the dirt–everything. We only stayed the one night, but I will admit it wasn’t quite so bad as I would have thought.
Misha was pretty sick, though we still thought it was her teeth. She laid on the couch all day Saturday after we got home and we didn’t take her to church on Sunday. Monday I took her into the doctor and found she had a sinus infection. Poor thing. I can imagine the pressure of being in the mountains at a higher altitude must have felt awful. I had the doctor give her an antibiotic shot in her leg. That was certainly not appreciated by Misha. She was feeling better from the infection and the pain in her leg lingered on.
After we got back from vacation in May, Misha was pretty messed up in her bedtime routine. Now she is back to her normal angel self. Today she asked me if she could go “night night”. She climbs up on her bed and lays down. She had this thing about laying on the floor in front of the door for awhile, but she is just now gradually getting away from doing that. She still only has the attention span of a gnat when she is awake, but putting her to sleep is wonderful.
Amy has such a bedtime routine, that if you try to skip just one thing, she gets upset. Usually that happens when we are out late and she needs to go right to sleep when we get home. She still wants a bunch of stories and cries if she doesn’t get them. Sometimes she will force herself to stay awake for hours.
We have had no luck getting people in to see our house. We had to lower the price to $250,000 and still no showings. We are pretty discouraged. Our new house could be finished by the end of the month if we had to, but as it is, they are going pretty slowly on it to drag it out. Partly because they foreman doesn’t get a bonus if it is finished in August because he has met his quota for the quarter, but he will get one if we close in September.
The other day Amy succumbed to a nap during the day. When that happens, she is up later at night. She was still awake when I went to bed and wanted to get out of bed. I told her she needed to stay in bed and that she could “talk to her baby” to occupy her time. She quickly responded, “But she doesn’t talk!”
Grandpa Kline came for a visit on Saturday morning this last weekend. He stayed until Monday morning. We drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park with him since we hadn’t done it before. The weather wasn’t too cooperative though with rain and winds. We did a short hike at the top of “Trail Ridge Road” and after becoming sufficiently chilled and wet, drove back down to Estes Park for dinner. It was delightful. We went to an Italian Restaurant “Mama Rosa’s” hidden back in by the river and had some great dinner music with a small group playing next to the patio. Grandpa took the girls out to play before our meal was served and Amy immediately started into her dancing. She was quite a hit too and attracted a lot of attention.
A couple of weekends ago, we went camping in Rocky Mountain National Park with some friends from our ward. I am not much of a fan of camping so it was a big deal that I would even agree to go–the things you do though, when you think your children might have fun. Amy did. It was her favorite thing EVER! (She has a lot of them). Poor Misha though. We thought she was getting her last four molars and she was pretty miserable. She started crying as we headed up the mountain and only wanted to be held once we got to the campsite. She fell asleep for an hour in the tent and only wanted to held more after that.
Amy loved camping and roasting marshmallows and playing in the dirt–everything. We only stayed the one night, but I will admit it wasn’t quite so bad as I would have thought.
Misha was pretty sick, though we still thought it was her teeth. She laid on the couch all day Saturday after we got home and we didn’t take her to church on Sunday. Monday I took her into the doctor and found she had a sinus infection. Poor thing. I can imagine the pressure of being in the mountains at a higher altitude must have felt awful. I had the doctor give her an antibiotic shot in her leg. That was certainly not appreciated by Misha. She was feeling better from the infection and the pain in her leg lingered on.
After we got back from vacation in May, Misha was pretty messed up in her bedtime routine. Now she is back to her normal angel self. Today she asked me if she could go “night night”. She climbs up on her bed and lays down. She had this thing about laying on the floor in front of the door for awhile, but she is just now gradually getting away from doing that. She still only has the attention span of a gnat when she is awake, but putting her to sleep is wonderful.
Amy has such a bedtime routine, that if you try to skip just one thing, she gets upset. Usually that happens when we are out late and she needs to go right to sleep when we get home. She still wants a bunch of stories and cries if she doesn’t get them. Sometimes she will force herself to stay awake for hours.
We have had no luck getting people in to see our house. We had to lower the price to $250,000 and still no showings. We are pretty discouraged. Our new house could be finished by the end of the month if we had to, but as it is, they are going pretty slowly on it to drag it out. Partly because they foreman doesn’t get a bonus if it is finished in August because he has met his quota for the quarter, but he will get one if we close in September.
The other day Amy succumbed to a nap during the day. When that happens, she is up later at night. She was still awake when I went to bed and wanted to get out of bed. I told her she needed to stay in bed and that she could “talk to her baby” to occupy her time. She quickly responded, “But she doesn’t talk!”
Grandpa Kline came for a visit on Saturday morning this last weekend. He stayed until Monday morning. We drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park with him since we hadn’t done it before. The weather wasn’t too cooperative though with rain and winds. We did a short hike at the top of “Trail Ridge Road” and after becoming sufficiently chilled and wet, drove back down to Estes Park for dinner. It was delightful. We went to an Italian Restaurant “Mama Rosa’s” hidden back in by the river and had some great dinner music with a small group playing next to the patio. Grandpa took the girls out to play before our meal was served and Amy immediately started into her dancing. She was quite a hit too and attracted a lot of attention.
Sunday, 6 July, 2003
A couple of weeks ago, I had a “Welcome to the Family” meeting for new US Home buyers. Misha, for the past month, has not been so pleasant to put to bed and Chris had the wonderful task that night. She cried and cried and he went in once to try to console her but she starting crying again when he put her back in bed. She was sleeping finally when I got home and checked on her, but surprised me immensely. I pulled back the covers to reposition her on the pillow and found her completely naked–no diaper even. I called Chris upstairs to check her out, too. He said she was pretty upset when he left her. Obviously. She stayed asleep as I got her dressed again, thankfully. Since then though she has taken to sleeping on the floor right by her bedroom door. She wakes up with carpet marks on her face and arms. I even go in to check on her in the middle of the night to find her sleeping on the floor. She finds her way back there by morning.
Our house has still not sold, and since today was fast Sunday, we had a special fast that it will. The upside is that we likely won’t have to move twice. The downside is that we will likely have to lower our price to $250,000. Since we are doing a buyout with our realtor, the price has to be at the buyout price for 60 days before closing. We are pretty bummed about it but still feel as though we are to move forward. We’ll have to sell some stocks and maybe cash-in some of Chris’ 401K just to cover the down payment on the new house. Money will be pretty tight. Chris’ raise was effective as of July 1st so that should help somewhat.
Our house has still not sold, and since today was fast Sunday, we had a special fast that it will. The upside is that we likely won’t have to move twice. The downside is that we will likely have to lower our price to $250,000. Since we are doing a buyout with our realtor, the price has to be at the buyout price for 60 days before closing. We are pretty bummed about it but still feel as though we are to move forward. We’ll have to sell some stocks and maybe cash-in some of Chris’ 401K just to cover the down payment on the new house. Money will be pretty tight. Chris’ raise was effective as of July 1st so that should help somewhat.
Friday, July 4, 2003
We watched the parade in downtown Frederick. Typical of July, it was a rather hot day. Following the parade we decided to drive over and check out the progress on our new house. We noticed that someone's irrigation water was running throughout the new neighborhood. The water was surprisingly warm. The girls asked if they could play in it, and being the good parents that we are, we relented. They had a blast.
Monday, 23 June, 2003
The girls have started their summer library program. Amy always sits front and center, unfortunately for other kids there, she doesn’t have any problem squeezing around them or between them to get the spot she wants. We had started the program with Misha enrolled in the Monday class for 2 to 3 year olds and Amy in the Tuesday class for 4 to 6 year olds. Misha’s attention span lasts for no more than seven minutes, so she is up and down wandering for most of the time. I try to get her to sit just a little bit longer every time. When it was Misha’s class, Amy would still be front and center and participate. So, I decided to minimize our library time and only go for the 2 to 3 year old class on Monday morning.
The other exciting thing for both of them is swimming lessons. We signed them up for lessons at the Rec Center in Frederick for an eight-week course that meets once a week. Their teacher is Heidi. Amy is doing really well and Misha so-so. There are six students in their class and they learn skills one at a time and Misha’s attention lasts only so long. Heidi works with Misha at her skill level which is helpful. Amy is so excited and proud of herself.
About one month ago, we went for a bike ride in the evening. The girls ride in the stroller behind Christopher’s bike and usually have a good time with no complaining. Sometimes they begin to get on each others' nerves in the cramped space they are in. One night we were nearing the end of our ride when Chris started riding fast and kind of crazy. He turned a corner and spun out, and I followed only to watch in horror as he flew off his seat and rolled a couple times and then the girls in the stroller rolled. It was kind of like watching slow motion video. I raced to where they were and helped Chris as he pulled the girls out of the stroller. Luckily they were well buckled, but were still screaming and crying. I think Misha mostly was scared to pieces; she only had a small bruise on her shoulder. Because she is so much shorted than Amy, the seatbelts kept her from any serious injury. Amy on the other hand had a goose egg on her forehead the size of a chicken’s egg! She had scraped the skin off her forehead in the pattern of the fabric on the stroller. Chris was a bit scraped, very bruised and sore. His left shoulder took the brunt of the impact with the road. We were just so grateful that nobody was hurt any worse. Now Chris, Amy, and I wear bike helmets when we ride. We bought one for Misha, but the smallest we could find was still too big for her little head.
As a joke, when I would change the girls or get them out of the shower, I would say, “Oooh baby” and pinch their bottoms. Amy picked up on it and started saying it to me when I would get in the shower or once when we didn’t change the channel quite quickly enough on tv and a lady’s heiney was shown. She said, “That was oooh baby.” Somehow it has morphed into “boo baby” with other variations being “boo babylicious”.
Our new house is progressing. A week and a half ago, they started with the main floor and by last Saturday they had finished framing and putting the roof on. I went by today but I couldn’t really tell that much was being done. The stairs to the basement and to the second floor are not in yet, so we don’t go as often so as to keep the girls from injuring themselves.
We aren’t having much luck selling or even having people come look at our house. It is rather discouraging. We had an open house on the 14th of June and only one couple came during the three-hour time. We are praying and have fasted and have family members doing the same. We try to have faith that everything will work out all right.
The other exciting thing for both of them is swimming lessons. We signed them up for lessons at the Rec Center in Frederick for an eight-week course that meets once a week. Their teacher is Heidi. Amy is doing really well and Misha so-so. There are six students in their class and they learn skills one at a time and Misha’s attention lasts only so long. Heidi works with Misha at her skill level which is helpful. Amy is so excited and proud of herself.
About one month ago, we went for a bike ride in the evening. The girls ride in the stroller behind Christopher’s bike and usually have a good time with no complaining. Sometimes they begin to get on each others' nerves in the cramped space they are in. One night we were nearing the end of our ride when Chris started riding fast and kind of crazy. He turned a corner and spun out, and I followed only to watch in horror as he flew off his seat and rolled a couple times and then the girls in the stroller rolled. It was kind of like watching slow motion video. I raced to where they were and helped Chris as he pulled the girls out of the stroller. Luckily they were well buckled, but were still screaming and crying. I think Misha mostly was scared to pieces; she only had a small bruise on her shoulder. Because she is so much shorted than Amy, the seatbelts kept her from any serious injury. Amy on the other hand had a goose egg on her forehead the size of a chicken’s egg! She had scraped the skin off her forehead in the pattern of the fabric on the stroller. Chris was a bit scraped, very bruised and sore. His left shoulder took the brunt of the impact with the road. We were just so grateful that nobody was hurt any worse. Now Chris, Amy, and I wear bike helmets when we ride. We bought one for Misha, but the smallest we could find was still too big for her little head.
As a joke, when I would change the girls or get them out of the shower, I would say, “Oooh baby” and pinch their bottoms. Amy picked up on it and started saying it to me when I would get in the shower or once when we didn’t change the channel quite quickly enough on tv and a lady’s heiney was shown. She said, “That was oooh baby.” Somehow it has morphed into “boo baby” with other variations being “boo babylicious”.
Our new house is progressing. A week and a half ago, they started with the main floor and by last Saturday they had finished framing and putting the roof on. I went by today but I couldn’t really tell that much was being done. The stairs to the basement and to the second floor are not in yet, so we don’t go as often so as to keep the girls from injuring themselves.
We aren’t having much luck selling or even having people come look at our house. It is rather discouraging. We had an open house on the 14th of June and only one couple came during the three-hour time. We are praying and have fasted and have family members doing the same. We try to have faith that everything will work out all right.
Thursday, 5 June, 2003
Donna had her baby on Tuesday the 3rd. Isaac Wolfe Rice. He weighed 8 lbs 10 oz and arrived in quite a timely manner.
It took a few weeks to get the girls back onto our time schedule and to get Misha back to where she was going to sleep without any problems. Now when I take her up to bed, she lays down, and I cover her up, and she goes to sleep. She has been waking up early though, often before six. We put her in bed with us, but that didn’t always help. We had to just let her cry it out. The first morning she cried at her door for an hour, the next morning a half hour, the next morning five minutes, and the next morning she slept right through.
It took a few weeks to get the girls back onto our time schedule and to get Misha back to where she was going to sleep without any problems. Now when I take her up to bed, she lays down, and I cover her up, and she goes to sleep. She has been waking up early though, often before six. We put her in bed with us, but that didn’t always help. We had to just let her cry it out. The first morning she cried at her door for an hour, the next morning a half hour, the next morning five minutes, and the next morning she slept right through.
Sunday, 25 May, 2003
I am going to recap our vacation and try to get all of the dates and events in the right place. We left for Utah on Saturday, May 3. The weather was perfect for a nice driving day–about 70 degrees. We stopped in a small town called Idaho Springs to visit a cemetery. Kevin has been doing a lot of genealogy lately and tracked the information for Max Kline–Grandpa Kline’s Grandpa-to Colorado. His grave site was at a small cemetery in Idaho Springs. Kevin really, really, really wanted us to stop and get the picture for him. We asked directions to the cemetery (never would have found it on our own) and found it “over the river and through the woods” with a tiny rutted road circling it. Chris attempted to follow the road–not a good idea-and ending up scratching the van. He wasn’t too happy about that. Since there were no marking at the cemetery to indicate where a grave might be, we decided to just get out and look. The only information that Kevin gave that was really helpful was that Max was buried in the newer section of the cemetery. Right!
I started looking as Chris parked the car and thought this could take all day. All of a sudden after looking for maybe five minutes, I looked down and saw a familiar name, or so I thought. I shouted to Chris “I found it! Nope, I guess not. Yes, it is.” Needed a double take to really sink in that it was actually the site we were looking for. It was simply a metal name plate set atop the site that was sinking in a bit. We were excited to find it, and Chris took some pictures. We were on our way again.
We stopped a few times throughout the day for potty stops. Amy did pretty well about not having any accidents. We were happy because it was her first long trip after being potty trained. We also stopped for lunch and at a park later in the day so the girls could get out and play. We had picnic lunch at a rest area next to a river. The girls didn’t eat much but preferred to be climbing around or throwing things in to the river.
We continued on with an eight hour trip turning into almost twelve hours after stopping for breaks, lunch, dinner, and play time. We finally arrived in Provo around 9 pm and drove directly to Kevin’s apartment where we would stay. He was in Vancouver visiting family so we had free reign of their apartment. The girls took some time to wind down; Amy was pretty good about going to bed in a strange place but Misha was having nothing to do with going to sleep on her own. And so began the saga of sleeping next to her or with her to get her to sleep each night, well that and driving her around until she fell asleep. We tried her in Jonathan’s bed and she climbed right out. We tried his play pen and she was out in a flash. We tried putting her in Kevin and Candace’s bed and she wouldn’t stay put. Then she would wake up in the middle of the night crying because she was somewhere new and would have to spend the rest of the night in bed with us. Chris usually moved somewhere else to sleep and that is how most of our nights went.
On Sunday morning (May 4), we decided to drive around and see if Misha would fall asleep for her nap. Didn’t happen. But we did stop at King’s house to visit a bit before church. The kids took a few minutes to warm up and then had fun playing in the park. Since it had been raining, “the park” in the backyard was wet and Amy had to stay in the house which was disappointing for her. We left around noon to go back to Kevin’s to get ready and church began at 1 pm. Amy sat with Grandma Rice and was as quiet as could be the entire time. Misha, on the other hand, was pretty noisy. Chris tried taking her out and rocking her to sleep, but no luck. He finally drove around with her during Sunday School, and she finally slept then.
Carson blessed Melissa Brooklyn in Sacrament Meeting and it was nice to see so much of his and our family in attendance. We had a dinner after the meetings and then went back to Susan’s for awhile to visit more with family.
Chris worked most of Monday (May 5). He had a telephone meeting with a patent lawyer concerning a product that he has developed for IBM called MQTools. It is possible that they will apply for up to seven patents for this product. He was thrilled, but also kept busy for most of the day. He had originally planned only to work a half day on Monday and Tuesday. He ended up working full days for both days and part of Wednesday and could have still worked more. As it was, he worked at King’s house for part of the day so the girls were able to play and enjoy themselves. Donna brought Angie and Wade over as well, and Mom and Dad even came later in the afternoon.
We had to pull the girls away from “the park” to go to dinner in Eagle Valley at the home of some of Chris’ Novell friends. Eagle Valley is on the other side of Utah Lake and is growing tremendously. Home prices are pretty good, but you have to balance that with the long commute anywhere you go.
Tuesday was another play day at Kings while Chris worked. The girls were having a great time. Susan brought out popsicles so all of Amy’s memories of last summer were complete. Donna met Susan and I at the mall with all of our kids and mostly we let the kids play and then had lunch in the food court. After Chris finished working, we left the girls at Kings with Jenna in charge and Chris and I got away for a little while. Driving in Provo is so scary. I passed three accidents on State Street one afternoon and the next day narrowly missed being in one.
We went back to Kings and then out to dinner with them at Brick Oven-one of my favorite restaurants. Kings had never taken their kids there, so it was a special treat for them.
Chris had an eye exam at the Practice on Wednesday midmorning. Susan decided to come up to Draper with us though we did leave Amy and Nathan at Donna’s to play with her kids. We took Misha and Melissa with us because I didn’t want Donna to have to deal with Misha’s crankiness. (Donna was eight months pregnant!) We dropped Chris off and Susan and I went down to the factory stores. We were both disappointed to discover that the Carter’s outlet store had closed. They have clothes for kids. At least there is still one in Loveland close to me. It rained most of the morning so we were poured on when leaving the mall to go back and get Chris.
We had planned to go to a Mexican restaurant for lunch, but it was packed so we went over to Carl’s Jr. instead. That was my first time eating there. Misha loved it because they had a great play land and barely ate anything. We usually only get a few french fries and maybe a chicken nugget into her though. After that we walked over to Cold Stone Ice Creamery for dessert.
Chris and I wanted to look at some luggage at the factory stores, so we went back. By this point, Misha was way past her nap time and very crabby. After a half hour of fighting with her, she finally fell asleep in the stroller. Hallelujah! After purchasing some new luggage, we dropped Chris back at the practice so he could work on their computers a bit and Susan and I drove back to Donna’s in a downpour. It was pretty bad, but we finally made it. Mom and Dad and Brad were there as well when we arrived and Donna had to go to a dance recital practice for the evening. We stayed there with Wade and Donna took Angie. Chris and Dallin got there after we had finished eating and were cleaning up. Luckily, the girls fell asleep on the way home and we didn’t have to struggle with Misha to get her to sleep.
Both girls slept late the next morning (Thursday May 8) and we had to rush to pack up and get to the airport before 9 am. We parked at the Thrifty Park and Ride in SLC and made it to the airport with a little time to spare. Because we have kids, we got to pre-board and Chris picked a spot of front with a little more room for Misha and Amy to move around in. Washington is one hour behind and we arrived there at 11:15 their time.
Grandpa Ball was in the vicinity of the airport to pick us up and we loaded up and were off. The landscape was so beautiful with the abundance of green trees, flowering trees of fuchsia, orange, pink and white. After dropping us off, Chris immediately headed back to the airport to pick up Grandma Andrews. The girls took some time getting acquainted with the house, the backyard, the trampoline and cousins. Didn’t take them long. Chris and I took Misha for a drive with Grandma Andrews to try and get Misha to sleep that afternoon. We were finally successful so both Chris and Grandma went to visit Grandma Ball at work while I stayed in the car and rested.
Grandma Ball didn’t get home from work until about 6:30 their time. We had to feed the kids early since all the cousins were used to eating on an earlier schedule. Everyone was home for this big weekend. And since it was Mother’s Day, Grandma Ball had requested (strongly) that all of her kids be around for church on Sunday. Kevin and Candace and Jonathan were staying at Candace’s parent’s home but spent most all of every day at the Ball’s home. Becky and Kyle and Drew and Katie had moved from Utah and were now living in the basement. Lori was home for the summer, fall and maybe winter trying to decide what to do with her life. She had originally planned to go to China to teach English in the fall, but because of the SARS epidemic, the program had been cancelled. I think she was thinking of a mission at some point. Jenni flew home for the weekend from BYU. So the house was full, and we all shared one bathroom in the basement.
It wasn’t quite so bad as it might have been since Lori and Jenni and often Kyle and Becky slept quite late. Grandma Andrews stayed next door at the Reynold’s house and enjoyed a private room and bath.
We had dinner quite late but it was quite tasty. The kids had a little tiny table to sit at and fought over who was stealing whose plate, fork, food, etc. The dad’s got to referee that night. After dinner the kids got to swim in the hot tub. It wasn’t quite as hot as usual and they had a ball. Misha had on her new swimming suit with floaties built in and Amy wore some of Grandma’s floaties on her arms.
The sad part was when we took them out to put them to bed. No one was happy about that. I was hoping that all of the excitement of the day would wipe Misha out and she would fall asleep quickly, but not so. I think I fell asleep beside her. Sadly she woke up in the middle of the night. Lori and Jenni were still awake and they found Misha trying to open their door about 2 am. They weren’t quite sure what to do about her but finally something woke me up so I went out to get Misha. Chris and I got to sleep in the lovely trundle beds–basically two twin beds on different levels. I put Misha in bed with Chris while I went to the bathroom. He didn’t sleep all that well from that point on.
Friday was a day for much of nothing. The girls played on the trampoline, in the fort and watched movies. I finally got Misha to sleep for a nap which she truly needed. After the nap, we took the kids to the playground for a change of pace. Grandma Andrews came with us and enjoyed being able to spend time with her Great Grandkids.
We had kind of a late dinner again followed by another trip to the hot tub for the girls. After finally getting them to bed, Chris and I enjoyed a little time to ourselves in the hot tub. Because they had turned the heat down for the kids, it wasn’t quite as hot as I would have liked, but enjoyable still. In a house full of so many people, finding a few moments of quiet was a challenge.
Saturday, May 10, was a big day. We had a family photo scheduled for 11:30. Right at nap time! I don’t think the girls, especially Misha, smiled in a single picture. The family picture was kind of a hodge podge of people with Grandma Andrews (an ex-mother-in-law for Linda), Larry and Linda, Aunt Lori (Linda’s sister) and her new husband, Keith, Uncle Roger (Larry’s brother), Kevin, Candace and Jonathan, Becky, Kyle, Drew and Katie, Chris and I, Amy and Misha, Lori, Jenni, and Grandma Greve (Linda’s mom).
Pictures were completed with only a few mishaps and we were on our way. We stopped to pick up stuff at Burger King and headed back to the house to get ready to go to Saturday market in downtown Portland. That was one thing that I wanted to do so we went with our family, Kevin’s family, Linda and Gr. Andrews. It was fun though I didn’t find anything this year.
We got back to the house around 4:30 or so and Grandpa Kline arrived shortly after. Dinner was another big affair and if you thought about letting others go first, you missed out. I was helping get the girls fed, and by the time I was ready to eat, most of the food was devoured.
The kids headed for the hot tub again. It was hotter than before so they were coming out nearly cooked with rosy cheeks. Keith and Lori were staying at a hotel and had booked a room for Zoe (Lori’s daughter) who didn’t arrive until the next day. Since it had already been paid for, they offered it to us for the night. We worried about leaving the girls since Misha was up in the middle of the night every night. We hadn’t ever both left them. You’d think we would jump at the chance to get away by ourselves since it has been well over three years since it has happened, but after Jenni said she would listen for Misha in the middle of the night, we convinced ourselves to go.
We had a wonderful night together and returned the next morning to a flurry of activity. Church was at 9 and Grandpa Kline had taken over breakfast in his usual style and was making french toast, hash browns and bacon. I fed the girls and myself Cheerios and tried to get us all out the door for church. I think he felt a little slighted that we didn’t eat his breakfas,t but it was crazy to even think people were going to sit down and enjoy it. I think they inhaled it more than anything and then rushed out the door. (Sadly, all the dishes were still there when we got home from church, and Candace and I cleaned up the kitchen).
Since it was Mother’s Day, Linda proudly sat with ALL of her kids and their families on the front row. Amy was pretty quiet and Misha, miracle of all miracles, fell asleep on my shoulder! We had given her motrin before church because she was so crabby and seemed to be teething and it pretty much knocked her out. She slept for a couple hours even through the car ride home. Grandma Andrews and Grandpa Kline left around noon for home so we only stayed for Sacrament Meeting so we could go say goodbye.
Chris, Kevin, Lori, and Jenni made dinner so that mothers could have a break– especially since these mothers had been doing most of the cooking. Amazing how some of the men and daughters in this family are so lazy. I won’t name names. Zoe arrived in time for dinner–and left for home later that night. Short trip but fun.
As we were sitting around talking later that afternoon around 5 pm, Amy came and sat on my lap. Less than a minute later she was breathing deeply and was fast asleep. I held her for awhile and then laid her down on the couch as everyone was going their separate ways. I tried to wake her up an hour later and she wouldn’t budge. Her eyes opened for a minute or two and then she was out again. Finally, Chris and I carried her downstairs, put jammies and a pull-up on and covered her for the night. She slept until about 8 the next morning. She was pooped to say the least.
We took Misha to visit Renee and Allen Rhyasen. Renee is Dad’s cousin and amazingly enough their family and Chris’ family have been good friends over the years. The men at their house were making dinner so we sat and talked with Renee for an hour. We figured we could get Misha to bed better if we drove around after leaving. Took about a half an hour, but finally she drifted off to sleep while leaning against my shoulder.
We left for the beach on Monday morning (May 12). It felt wonderful to be just the four of us again. We had all been enjoying our time with family, but I think we had finally reached our limit. We took Grandpa Ball’s Taurus wagon (Yahoooo) and stopped first at Seaside in Oregon. Amy was absolutely amazed to see the ocean. We had been talking about all these wonderful things and finally she was fulfilling her dreams. We ate fish n’ chips at a little café, bought salt water taffy at a candy shop and then walked down to the beach. Amy was excited to put her feet in the water but as soon as Misha stepped off the sidewalk onto the sand, she was captivated. She didn’t care that the beach and sand went on for miles, she was so focused on enjoying that sand right there. She literally reminded me of a pig in mud. She rolled in the sand, ate the sand, let it run through her fingers, shoved her feet in deep...she loved it. We played on the swings for a little bit, but even those couldn’t keep her away from the sand for long.
Since we still had a couple of hours to go before reaching our hotel for the night, we decided to keep driving. Fortunately we stopped at the Tillamook cheese factory and got to watch them cut and package cheese AND have ice cream. The girls were excited to be anywhere we stopped. But it was getting late, so we kept going. We finally arrived at Gleneden about 6ish (7 our time) and the girls were starving. We didn’t know where many things were so we stopped at the first pizza place and picked up a pizza that we had to cook at the hotel. No problem, it was a resort that Chris’ parents pay into and have access to all their accommodations world-wide for very minimal prices.
The room came with a separate bedroom, a murphy bed, a washer and dryer, full kitchen with some supplies, tv, vcr...plenty of things to make our stay wonderful. Sadly we were only able to get one night there. I immediately put the pizza in the oven and started a load of laundry (ended up doing three loads). The pool at this resort was closed for maintenance, so we were able to visit the pool at a nearby pool (also a WorldMark Resort). It was indoor and outdoor, but mostly the pool was cold. I sat in the hot tub, while Chris and the girls ran from the regular pool to the hot tub to get warm.
By the time we got back to our room, the girls were ready for bed, and I laid down with both of them. Didn’t take them too long to fall asleep, not sure though, since I promptly fell asleep as well and didn’t wake up until 11:30. Chris was fast asleep as well. Misha woke up in the middle of the night as she had been doing the entire vacation. I put her in bed with Chris, but the bed was so small that I got in bed with Amy for the rest of the night.
Tuesday morning dawned warm and sunny–unusual for the coast. We made the best of it though. We packed up our stuff and drove closer to the beach. We pulled the beach toys out of the back of the wagon and headed to the sand. It didn’t take Misha long to be completed covered by it. Amy was satisfied with walking in the surf on Monday, and both girls settled down to making sand castles and playing. We played a bit of frisbee and Chris tried to figure out how to fly one of the kites his mom sent with us but was wholly unsuccessful. Amazingly, it wasn’t quite windy enough.
Around lunch time, we went to turn in our room key and get some lunch. Sadly, just as we were arriving at the resort, Amy asked Chris to roll up her window. She didn’t realize that she would need to remove her hand and it was pinched quite badly. No bleeding, but it sure did hurt.
After driving around a bit, we found a nice little spot next to a lake to eat our lunch of leftover pizza. The girls were more interested in playing than eating, but that has been the way the entire vacation.
Amy has taken up saying “Yessiree, Bob” and someone in the family usually responds “I’m not Bob!” Even Misha has taken to saying something that ends with “Bob”. Other funny thing that Amy says is “dummersault” for sommersault and “roller toaster” for roller coaster.
We drove around for awhile after lunch and both girls fell asleep. They both actually had pretty good naps. We drove up the coast a bit and finally on our return decided to stay the next two days in Lincoln City. We ate dinner at “Sambo’s” and found that most restaurants are pretty spendy. Finding a place to stay was the next item on our list. We stopped at a number of places and finally chose an older hotel, the Coho Inn, right on the beach with a spectacular sunset view. The room was older but did have a separate room for the girls to sleep in. I can’t remember if Misha fell asleep with me laying beside her or if Chris had to drive around with her. The nights of putting her to sleep have blurred.
Wednesday was not near as nice as Tuesday had been. It was overcast and much cooler and we even got a bit of rain. In the morning we went shopping at some outlet malls. We found some fun things and would have liked to spend more time there, but both girls were getting hungry and crabby around lunch time. By this time, they have successfully moved their schedule an hour behind to match Oregon time. We got lunch at Burger King and then drove until they fell asleep. We went back to the hotel and let them sleep there while we rested as well. That afternoon, since it was raining we decided to take them bowling. They hadn’t been before and we found this older place that was empty except for us. They had bumpers in the lanes so that the girls couldn’t throw gutter balls.
Amy was excited and once she caught onto the idea would stand at the end of the lane jumping up and down shouting, “Go, Go”. Once she even ran back to the bench and said “Oh, I can’t watch.” Of course, Amy and Misha’s balls traveled down the lane reaaaalllllyyy slowly so we had a lot of time to see if they would get a strike or not. I won with a score of 108 or something close to that and the rest of them were between 80 and 95–even Chris. Good thing he had the bumpers too!
We found a place for supper after that and were glad to finally get the girls home to bed. Misha ate mostly ice and didn’t want anything else. I wrack my brains trying to come up with things that they will even eat. They are both sooooo picky.
Thursday we headed for home. Amy had soaked through her pull-up and wet the bed. Misha came out early saying “Wet, wet.” Guess she didn’t appreciate it too much. Chris was still tired so he found a dry spot on Amy’s bed and went back to sleep.
We left for Grandma Balls after breakfast, and I must say I was happy to be starting for home. Our flight to Utah didn’t leave until about 5 pm so we had plenty of time to drive home, get some lunch, and leave the girls with Lori while Chris and I went to the mall. We stopped first to vacuum out the lovely Taurus wagon (we will never have one) and then went to look at the pictures we had taken on the Saturday previous. They weren’t spectacular or anything but we got a few, figuring this group would probably never be together again.
Lori drove us to the airport, and we were finally on our way back to Utah. Hooray. By this point, I was more than ready to go home. We landed around 8 pm, picked up some tacos and headed to Brad’s. So many changes, and Misha was in no mood to go to sleep in a new location and bed. Chris finally had to drive around with her again to get her to sleep. She seems to be catching on to the idea and stays awake longer and longer each time.
On Friday, Chris took the girls and I to Donna’s while he planned to go back to the Practice and work on their computers. Fortunately, Misha fell asleep about two minutes before we arrived and stayed asleep for about an hour and a half. She needs all the naps she can get. While she slept, I helped Angie and Amy fly a kite–mostly Angie did. She is surely a take-charge kind of girl. After that we headed over to the play area for awhile. Donna stayed back at the house and enjoyed the break I think. The toys were designed for five and up so they were a bit of a challenge for Amy, but she still had fun.
We walked back to Donna’s for lunch and had fresh-baked bread and peanut butter and jelly. The bread was delicious. Misha woke up just before lunchtime. I heard a huge bump upstairs and when I went to check, Misha was already at the bottom of the stairs.
Chris worked at the practice for three hours and finally finished when I called him. We drove down toward Provo and decided on the way that we had had enough of our vacation and were heading home. Thus, we had to see all the family to say goodbye. Chris had made arrangements to have dinner with his old mission president and one of his companions, so our time was a bit limited. Frankly though, I was glad that we were going to be leaving and after another delightful night with Misha, we were tempted to leave at 3 am when she had already been awake for an hour or so, Chris had driven around with her for an hour and she wouldn’t go to sleep. He was putting a video on for her to watch when she grabbed my hand and took me back to my bed. She climbed in and went right to sleep. We stopped at Fred Meyer for some groceries Saturday morning and were on our way by 9:30. Wahooooo! We knew we had made the right decision in coming home because both girls were acting up. Amy had accidents all day long, and not just the wet variety, and Misha cried in the car for 30 minutes solid before we stopped for lunch. Two weeks was just too long to be away.
I started looking as Chris parked the car and thought this could take all day. All of a sudden after looking for maybe five minutes, I looked down and saw a familiar name, or so I thought. I shouted to Chris “I found it! Nope, I guess not. Yes, it is.” Needed a double take to really sink in that it was actually the site we were looking for. It was simply a metal name plate set atop the site that was sinking in a bit. We were excited to find it, and Chris took some pictures. We were on our way again.
We stopped a few times throughout the day for potty stops. Amy did pretty well about not having any accidents. We were happy because it was her first long trip after being potty trained. We also stopped for lunch and at a park later in the day so the girls could get out and play. We had picnic lunch at a rest area next to a river. The girls didn’t eat much but preferred to be climbing around or throwing things in to the river.
We continued on with an eight hour trip turning into almost twelve hours after stopping for breaks, lunch, dinner, and play time. We finally arrived in Provo around 9 pm and drove directly to Kevin’s apartment where we would stay. He was in Vancouver visiting family so we had free reign of their apartment. The girls took some time to wind down; Amy was pretty good about going to bed in a strange place but Misha was having nothing to do with going to sleep on her own. And so began the saga of sleeping next to her or with her to get her to sleep each night, well that and driving her around until she fell asleep. We tried her in Jonathan’s bed and she climbed right out. We tried his play pen and she was out in a flash. We tried putting her in Kevin and Candace’s bed and she wouldn’t stay put. Then she would wake up in the middle of the night crying because she was somewhere new and would have to spend the rest of the night in bed with us. Chris usually moved somewhere else to sleep and that is how most of our nights went.
On Sunday morning (May 4), we decided to drive around and see if Misha would fall asleep for her nap. Didn’t happen. But we did stop at King’s house to visit a bit before church. The kids took a few minutes to warm up and then had fun playing in the park. Since it had been raining, “the park” in the backyard was wet and Amy had to stay in the house which was disappointing for her. We left around noon to go back to Kevin’s to get ready and church began at 1 pm. Amy sat with Grandma Rice and was as quiet as could be the entire time. Misha, on the other hand, was pretty noisy. Chris tried taking her out and rocking her to sleep, but no luck. He finally drove around with her during Sunday School, and she finally slept then.
Carson blessed Melissa Brooklyn in Sacrament Meeting and it was nice to see so much of his and our family in attendance. We had a dinner after the meetings and then went back to Susan’s for awhile to visit more with family.
Chris worked most of Monday (May 5). He had a telephone meeting with a patent lawyer concerning a product that he has developed for IBM called MQTools. It is possible that they will apply for up to seven patents for this product. He was thrilled, but also kept busy for most of the day. He had originally planned only to work a half day on Monday and Tuesday. He ended up working full days for both days and part of Wednesday and could have still worked more. As it was, he worked at King’s house for part of the day so the girls were able to play and enjoy themselves. Donna brought Angie and Wade over as well, and Mom and Dad even came later in the afternoon.
We had to pull the girls away from “the park” to go to dinner in Eagle Valley at the home of some of Chris’ Novell friends. Eagle Valley is on the other side of Utah Lake and is growing tremendously. Home prices are pretty good, but you have to balance that with the long commute anywhere you go.
Tuesday was another play day at Kings while Chris worked. The girls were having a great time. Susan brought out popsicles so all of Amy’s memories of last summer were complete. Donna met Susan and I at the mall with all of our kids and mostly we let the kids play and then had lunch in the food court. After Chris finished working, we left the girls at Kings with Jenna in charge and Chris and I got away for a little while. Driving in Provo is so scary. I passed three accidents on State Street one afternoon and the next day narrowly missed being in one.
We went back to Kings and then out to dinner with them at Brick Oven-one of my favorite restaurants. Kings had never taken their kids there, so it was a special treat for them.
Chris had an eye exam at the Practice on Wednesday midmorning. Susan decided to come up to Draper with us though we did leave Amy and Nathan at Donna’s to play with her kids. We took Misha and Melissa with us because I didn’t want Donna to have to deal with Misha’s crankiness. (Donna was eight months pregnant!) We dropped Chris off and Susan and I went down to the factory stores. We were both disappointed to discover that the Carter’s outlet store had closed. They have clothes for kids. At least there is still one in Loveland close to me. It rained most of the morning so we were poured on when leaving the mall to go back and get Chris.
We had planned to go to a Mexican restaurant for lunch, but it was packed so we went over to Carl’s Jr. instead. That was my first time eating there. Misha loved it because they had a great play land and barely ate anything. We usually only get a few french fries and maybe a chicken nugget into her though. After that we walked over to Cold Stone Ice Creamery for dessert.
Chris and I wanted to look at some luggage at the factory stores, so we went back. By this point, Misha was way past her nap time and very crabby. After a half hour of fighting with her, she finally fell asleep in the stroller. Hallelujah! After purchasing some new luggage, we dropped Chris back at the practice so he could work on their computers a bit and Susan and I drove back to Donna’s in a downpour. It was pretty bad, but we finally made it. Mom and Dad and Brad were there as well when we arrived and Donna had to go to a dance recital practice for the evening. We stayed there with Wade and Donna took Angie. Chris and Dallin got there after we had finished eating and were cleaning up. Luckily, the girls fell asleep on the way home and we didn’t have to struggle with Misha to get her to sleep.
Both girls slept late the next morning (Thursday May 8) and we had to rush to pack up and get to the airport before 9 am. We parked at the Thrifty Park and Ride in SLC and made it to the airport with a little time to spare. Because we have kids, we got to pre-board and Chris picked a spot of front with a little more room for Misha and Amy to move around in. Washington is one hour behind and we arrived there at 11:15 their time.
Grandpa Ball was in the vicinity of the airport to pick us up and we loaded up and were off. The landscape was so beautiful with the abundance of green trees, flowering trees of fuchsia, orange, pink and white. After dropping us off, Chris immediately headed back to the airport to pick up Grandma Andrews. The girls took some time getting acquainted with the house, the backyard, the trampoline and cousins. Didn’t take them long. Chris and I took Misha for a drive with Grandma Andrews to try and get Misha to sleep that afternoon. We were finally successful so both Chris and Grandma went to visit Grandma Ball at work while I stayed in the car and rested.
Grandma Ball didn’t get home from work until about 6:30 their time. We had to feed the kids early since all the cousins were used to eating on an earlier schedule. Everyone was home for this big weekend. And since it was Mother’s Day, Grandma Ball had requested (strongly) that all of her kids be around for church on Sunday. Kevin and Candace and Jonathan were staying at Candace’s parent’s home but spent most all of every day at the Ball’s home. Becky and Kyle and Drew and Katie had moved from Utah and were now living in the basement. Lori was home for the summer, fall and maybe winter trying to decide what to do with her life. She had originally planned to go to China to teach English in the fall, but because of the SARS epidemic, the program had been cancelled. I think she was thinking of a mission at some point. Jenni flew home for the weekend from BYU. So the house was full, and we all shared one bathroom in the basement.
It wasn’t quite so bad as it might have been since Lori and Jenni and often Kyle and Becky slept quite late. Grandma Andrews stayed next door at the Reynold’s house and enjoyed a private room and bath.
We had dinner quite late but it was quite tasty. The kids had a little tiny table to sit at and fought over who was stealing whose plate, fork, food, etc. The dad’s got to referee that night. After dinner the kids got to swim in the hot tub. It wasn’t quite as hot as usual and they had a ball. Misha had on her new swimming suit with floaties built in and Amy wore some of Grandma’s floaties on her arms.
The sad part was when we took them out to put them to bed. No one was happy about that. I was hoping that all of the excitement of the day would wipe Misha out and she would fall asleep quickly, but not so. I think I fell asleep beside her. Sadly she woke up in the middle of the night. Lori and Jenni were still awake and they found Misha trying to open their door about 2 am. They weren’t quite sure what to do about her but finally something woke me up so I went out to get Misha. Chris and I got to sleep in the lovely trundle beds–basically two twin beds on different levels. I put Misha in bed with Chris while I went to the bathroom. He didn’t sleep all that well from that point on.
Friday was a day for much of nothing. The girls played on the trampoline, in the fort and watched movies. I finally got Misha to sleep for a nap which she truly needed. After the nap, we took the kids to the playground for a change of pace. Grandma Andrews came with us and enjoyed being able to spend time with her Great Grandkids.
We had kind of a late dinner again followed by another trip to the hot tub for the girls. After finally getting them to bed, Chris and I enjoyed a little time to ourselves in the hot tub. Because they had turned the heat down for the kids, it wasn’t quite as hot as I would have liked, but enjoyable still. In a house full of so many people, finding a few moments of quiet was a challenge.
Saturday, May 10, was a big day. We had a family photo scheduled for 11:30. Right at nap time! I don’t think the girls, especially Misha, smiled in a single picture. The family picture was kind of a hodge podge of people with Grandma Andrews (an ex-mother-in-law for Linda), Larry and Linda, Aunt Lori (Linda’s sister) and her new husband, Keith, Uncle Roger (Larry’s brother), Kevin, Candace and Jonathan, Becky, Kyle, Drew and Katie, Chris and I, Amy and Misha, Lori, Jenni, and Grandma Greve (Linda’s mom).
Pictures were completed with only a few mishaps and we were on our way. We stopped to pick up stuff at Burger King and headed back to the house to get ready to go to Saturday market in downtown Portland. That was one thing that I wanted to do so we went with our family, Kevin’s family, Linda and Gr. Andrews. It was fun though I didn’t find anything this year.
We got back to the house around 4:30 or so and Grandpa Kline arrived shortly after. Dinner was another big affair and if you thought about letting others go first, you missed out. I was helping get the girls fed, and by the time I was ready to eat, most of the food was devoured.
The kids headed for the hot tub again. It was hotter than before so they were coming out nearly cooked with rosy cheeks. Keith and Lori were staying at a hotel and had booked a room for Zoe (Lori’s daughter) who didn’t arrive until the next day. Since it had already been paid for, they offered it to us for the night. We worried about leaving the girls since Misha was up in the middle of the night every night. We hadn’t ever both left them. You’d think we would jump at the chance to get away by ourselves since it has been well over three years since it has happened, but after Jenni said she would listen for Misha in the middle of the night, we convinced ourselves to go.
We had a wonderful night together and returned the next morning to a flurry of activity. Church was at 9 and Grandpa Kline had taken over breakfast in his usual style and was making french toast, hash browns and bacon. I fed the girls and myself Cheerios and tried to get us all out the door for church. I think he felt a little slighted that we didn’t eat his breakfas,t but it was crazy to even think people were going to sit down and enjoy it. I think they inhaled it more than anything and then rushed out the door. (Sadly, all the dishes were still there when we got home from church, and Candace and I cleaned up the kitchen).
Since it was Mother’s Day, Linda proudly sat with ALL of her kids and their families on the front row. Amy was pretty quiet and Misha, miracle of all miracles, fell asleep on my shoulder! We had given her motrin before church because she was so crabby and seemed to be teething and it pretty much knocked her out. She slept for a couple hours even through the car ride home. Grandma Andrews and Grandpa Kline left around noon for home so we only stayed for Sacrament Meeting so we could go say goodbye.
Chris, Kevin, Lori, and Jenni made dinner so that mothers could have a break– especially since these mothers had been doing most of the cooking. Amazing how some of the men and daughters in this family are so lazy. I won’t name names. Zoe arrived in time for dinner–and left for home later that night. Short trip but fun.
As we were sitting around talking later that afternoon around 5 pm, Amy came and sat on my lap. Less than a minute later she was breathing deeply and was fast asleep. I held her for awhile and then laid her down on the couch as everyone was going their separate ways. I tried to wake her up an hour later and she wouldn’t budge. Her eyes opened for a minute or two and then she was out again. Finally, Chris and I carried her downstairs, put jammies and a pull-up on and covered her for the night. She slept until about 8 the next morning. She was pooped to say the least.
We took Misha to visit Renee and Allen Rhyasen. Renee is Dad’s cousin and amazingly enough their family and Chris’ family have been good friends over the years. The men at their house were making dinner so we sat and talked with Renee for an hour. We figured we could get Misha to bed better if we drove around after leaving. Took about a half an hour, but finally she drifted off to sleep while leaning against my shoulder.
We left for the beach on Monday morning (May 12). It felt wonderful to be just the four of us again. We had all been enjoying our time with family, but I think we had finally reached our limit. We took Grandpa Ball’s Taurus wagon (Yahoooo) and stopped first at Seaside in Oregon. Amy was absolutely amazed to see the ocean. We had been talking about all these wonderful things and finally she was fulfilling her dreams. We ate fish n’ chips at a little café, bought salt water taffy at a candy shop and then walked down to the beach. Amy was excited to put her feet in the water but as soon as Misha stepped off the sidewalk onto the sand, she was captivated. She didn’t care that the beach and sand went on for miles, she was so focused on enjoying that sand right there. She literally reminded me of a pig in mud. She rolled in the sand, ate the sand, let it run through her fingers, shoved her feet in deep...she loved it. We played on the swings for a little bit, but even those couldn’t keep her away from the sand for long.
Since we still had a couple of hours to go before reaching our hotel for the night, we decided to keep driving. Fortunately we stopped at the Tillamook cheese factory and got to watch them cut and package cheese AND have ice cream. The girls were excited to be anywhere we stopped. But it was getting late, so we kept going. We finally arrived at Gleneden about 6ish (7 our time) and the girls were starving. We didn’t know where many things were so we stopped at the first pizza place and picked up a pizza that we had to cook at the hotel. No problem, it was a resort that Chris’ parents pay into and have access to all their accommodations world-wide for very minimal prices.
The room came with a separate bedroom, a murphy bed, a washer and dryer, full kitchen with some supplies, tv, vcr...plenty of things to make our stay wonderful. Sadly we were only able to get one night there. I immediately put the pizza in the oven and started a load of laundry (ended up doing three loads). The pool at this resort was closed for maintenance, so we were able to visit the pool at a nearby pool (also a WorldMark Resort). It was indoor and outdoor, but mostly the pool was cold. I sat in the hot tub, while Chris and the girls ran from the regular pool to the hot tub to get warm.
By the time we got back to our room, the girls were ready for bed, and I laid down with both of them. Didn’t take them too long to fall asleep, not sure though, since I promptly fell asleep as well and didn’t wake up until 11:30. Chris was fast asleep as well. Misha woke up in the middle of the night as she had been doing the entire vacation. I put her in bed with Chris, but the bed was so small that I got in bed with Amy for the rest of the night.
Tuesday morning dawned warm and sunny–unusual for the coast. We made the best of it though. We packed up our stuff and drove closer to the beach. We pulled the beach toys out of the back of the wagon and headed to the sand. It didn’t take Misha long to be completed covered by it. Amy was satisfied with walking in the surf on Monday, and both girls settled down to making sand castles and playing. We played a bit of frisbee and Chris tried to figure out how to fly one of the kites his mom sent with us but was wholly unsuccessful. Amazingly, it wasn’t quite windy enough.
Around lunch time, we went to turn in our room key and get some lunch. Sadly, just as we were arriving at the resort, Amy asked Chris to roll up her window. She didn’t realize that she would need to remove her hand and it was pinched quite badly. No bleeding, but it sure did hurt.
After driving around a bit, we found a nice little spot next to a lake to eat our lunch of leftover pizza. The girls were more interested in playing than eating, but that has been the way the entire vacation.
Amy has taken up saying “Yessiree, Bob” and someone in the family usually responds “I’m not Bob!” Even Misha has taken to saying something that ends with “Bob”. Other funny thing that Amy says is “dummersault” for sommersault and “roller toaster” for roller coaster.
We drove around for awhile after lunch and both girls fell asleep. They both actually had pretty good naps. We drove up the coast a bit and finally on our return decided to stay the next two days in Lincoln City. We ate dinner at “Sambo’s” and found that most restaurants are pretty spendy. Finding a place to stay was the next item on our list. We stopped at a number of places and finally chose an older hotel, the Coho Inn, right on the beach with a spectacular sunset view. The room was older but did have a separate room for the girls to sleep in. I can’t remember if Misha fell asleep with me laying beside her or if Chris had to drive around with her. The nights of putting her to sleep have blurred.
Wednesday was not near as nice as Tuesday had been. It was overcast and much cooler and we even got a bit of rain. In the morning we went shopping at some outlet malls. We found some fun things and would have liked to spend more time there, but both girls were getting hungry and crabby around lunch time. By this time, they have successfully moved their schedule an hour behind to match Oregon time. We got lunch at Burger King and then drove until they fell asleep. We went back to the hotel and let them sleep there while we rested as well. That afternoon, since it was raining we decided to take them bowling. They hadn’t been before and we found this older place that was empty except for us. They had bumpers in the lanes so that the girls couldn’t throw gutter balls.
Amy was excited and once she caught onto the idea would stand at the end of the lane jumping up and down shouting, “Go, Go”. Once she even ran back to the bench and said “Oh, I can’t watch.” Of course, Amy and Misha’s balls traveled down the lane reaaaalllllyyy slowly so we had a lot of time to see if they would get a strike or not. I won with a score of 108 or something close to that and the rest of them were between 80 and 95–even Chris. Good thing he had the bumpers too!
We found a place for supper after that and were glad to finally get the girls home to bed. Misha ate mostly ice and didn’t want anything else. I wrack my brains trying to come up with things that they will even eat. They are both sooooo picky.
Thursday we headed for home. Amy had soaked through her pull-up and wet the bed. Misha came out early saying “Wet, wet.” Guess she didn’t appreciate it too much. Chris was still tired so he found a dry spot on Amy’s bed and went back to sleep.
We left for Grandma Balls after breakfast, and I must say I was happy to be starting for home. Our flight to Utah didn’t leave until about 5 pm so we had plenty of time to drive home, get some lunch, and leave the girls with Lori while Chris and I went to the mall. We stopped first to vacuum out the lovely Taurus wagon (we will never have one) and then went to look at the pictures we had taken on the Saturday previous. They weren’t spectacular or anything but we got a few, figuring this group would probably never be together again.
Lori drove us to the airport, and we were finally on our way back to Utah. Hooray. By this point, I was more than ready to go home. We landed around 8 pm, picked up some tacos and headed to Brad’s. So many changes, and Misha was in no mood to go to sleep in a new location and bed. Chris finally had to drive around with her again to get her to sleep. She seems to be catching on to the idea and stays awake longer and longer each time.
On Friday, Chris took the girls and I to Donna’s while he planned to go back to the Practice and work on their computers. Fortunately, Misha fell asleep about two minutes before we arrived and stayed asleep for about an hour and a half. She needs all the naps she can get. While she slept, I helped Angie and Amy fly a kite–mostly Angie did. She is surely a take-charge kind of girl. After that we headed over to the play area for awhile. Donna stayed back at the house and enjoyed the break I think. The toys were designed for five and up so they were a bit of a challenge for Amy, but she still had fun.
We walked back to Donna’s for lunch and had fresh-baked bread and peanut butter and jelly. The bread was delicious. Misha woke up just before lunchtime. I heard a huge bump upstairs and when I went to check, Misha was already at the bottom of the stairs.
Chris worked at the practice for three hours and finally finished when I called him. We drove down toward Provo and decided on the way that we had had enough of our vacation and were heading home. Thus, we had to see all the family to say goodbye. Chris had made arrangements to have dinner with his old mission president and one of his companions, so our time was a bit limited. Frankly though, I was glad that we were going to be leaving and after another delightful night with Misha, we were tempted to leave at 3 am when she had already been awake for an hour or so, Chris had driven around with her for an hour and she wouldn’t go to sleep. He was putting a video on for her to watch when she grabbed my hand and took me back to my bed. She climbed in and went right to sleep. We stopped at Fred Meyer for some groceries Saturday morning and were on our way by 9:30. Wahooooo! We knew we had made the right decision in coming home because both girls were acting up. Amy had accidents all day long, and not just the wet variety, and Misha cried in the car for 30 minutes solid before we stopped for lunch. Two weeks was just too long to be away.
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