Aunt Laura's house

Our Internet has been sick and I am sick of it! What did I do with my evenings/nights with no Internet? Well, last night I watched a movie and the 2 or 3 previous nights I actually went to bed before 1 am! It was amazing! I am glad to back online though!
Friday the girls and I headed to Nephi for the Ute Stampede. Well, we didn't actually go to the Ute Stampede, we went to Aunt Laura's house and played hard. Mindy rented a fun water slide and we had a blast. We ate good food, jumped on the tramp, played in the water, and went to the parade. It was a fun fun day.

The one in blue is Kelsey, the one with the grocery bag on her broken arm is Alysen, and the blondie with her mouth wide open is April. What a super fun time we all had.

Kendal went down the slide once, got out of the landing pool, walked straight to her Grandma Ellen, grabbed her hand and said "Mon" which meant "C'mon Grandma, this is so fun you will love it." Grandma declined the invitation.


For some evil and hideous reason, I loved the dominoes wipe outs that would occur when someone was climbing the 'stairs' up to the top, lost their footing and would fall down the 'ladder' and wipe out everyone else standing in line. It made me laugh right out loud, until I did it. Then I nearly peed my pants from laughing so hard. This picture was a weak wipe out, there were some REALLY good ones when everyone was either left horizontal or slammed back into the landing pool.

This is Adri and Alissa, and baby Lilly. Those 2 girls love their little cousin Lilly and I think they love to play the mom too. Lilly was such a happy baby all day, she was wonderful.

Kendal liked to hang out at the top of the water slide. I think she liked the challenge of climbing up part but not necessarily the sliding down into a pool of cold water part.

A nice shot of my mouth wide open. Yes, even the moms played on the water slide. We had a great time. We, the mothers, even raced the kids. We had a timed event and we timed how fast we could climb up, go down, and then come back around to our beginning spot. We old ladies showed those kids up! It was great. I think 10 seconds was the record.

The parade was nice and long with A TON of princesses to wave to and candy to fight over. Here is Kendal, Aunt Amanda, and Lainee. Kendal loves Lainee. When she saw this picture today she said "YAINEE, YAINEE" very excitedly.

And here are my two little gooses, well, I guess geese. We had a super time playing with all our Crane cousins.

Today is another great day in Heber City!

What is the first Thursday of the month? QUILT GUILD, say it with me everyone, QUILT GUILD!! Hooray! This is seriously the best day of the month for me and I really look forward to my evening with the ladies. Here are a few projects I had to finish up before our meeting.

The Utah Quilt Guild does a fundraiser for the Susan G Komen Cancer Foundation. They sell pink fat quarters (a piece of fabric that is 18 by 22 inches) for $5.oo and then when you buy one, you make a 12 inch block using that fabric. All the blocks go together and make quilts that are auctioned off. Our guild is making flip flop blocks with the pink fabric this year. Look how cute it turned out!

This is another round robin I am participating in. One lady made the center basket block, another lady added the triangle border, and I added the skinny white one, the red one, and the outside green one. There will be one more border added when I take it to guild meeting and pass it to another lady before it goes back the the original owner of the center basket.

I quilted this honey today in the basement on Debbie's big machine. I have been putting this off for 2 months! I had to have it done for tonight and can you believe it took me less than an hour to do? Why do I procrastinate things so much? I have been dwelling on this project for weeks and when I finally broke down and did it, it was so quick! Why can't I just do something early for once? We made these blocks last year as a guild, Debbie put them all together a few months ago, I quilted it, and someone else will bind it and then it will go to a dialysis center in SLC. It's a little wild and random, but not too bad for some crazy blocks with no home until now I guess.

I was getting ready to go to guild meeting and I needed to get a little something for Kendal to eat. I poured her a bowl of cereal (no comment please, this NEVER happens, she doesn't even get cereal for breakfast usually - major treat!) any way, I poured her a bowl, left the milk jug on the table because I knew Kelsey would want some too when she saw that Kendal was having cereal for dinner! I ran outside to turn off the hoses, my sweet neighbor needed me to move a few heavy things for her and when I came back in the house this is what I found. Kendal had overflowed her bowl with the jug of milk and it was dripping onto the floor. Now for some of you, this may have occurred a few times at your house, but it has NEVER happened at mine! I couldn't be too angry like I should have been because my sweet Kendal actually poured the milk INTO the bowl and not onto the floor! This my friends is a major milestone for us. Kendal is learning and trying to be self sufficient and I am grateful.

The bad part was that the babysitter rang the doorbell while I was cleaning this up, Kendal was naked sitting in the corner (punishment at our house) because her clothes were soaked (she was ON the table in the middle of the milk when I came in), and Kelsey was trying to be helpful but very much in the way. Kelsey let her in, I yelled from the kitchen "Hi Mary, come in. Could you please put those clean clothes on Kendal for me?" before I even saw her. She is a good girl that Mary!

By the way, Matt and I went on a date last night, the first in at least 3 1/2 years, probably longer! It was so great, no food fights at dinner!

What a weekend!

It all started Friday morning in Salina with 33 cannon booms, okay, only 10 or so but it seemed like 50 at 6:00 am after a short night of rest! We went to 'the races' Friday morning in Salina and the kids got to play all sorts of fun little carnival games and also race. Unfortunately, the girls weren't very interested in their races, they wanted to just play. Here is Kendal digging for worms.

Here is Kelsey shooting for something, I can't remember!

We of course went to the parade, and here are most of the Crane offspring getting ready for the big parade.

I had to include a picture of myself just to prove that I was there, even if it is a horrible one.

The kids came home with oodles of candy! Matt was quite the candy coach, but they didn't need coaching for too long, they had it down!

On our way over the mountain from Salina to Lyman. The girls played so hard with cousins they had a little nap. And yes, my kids are in orange for the 4th of July. I did that on purpose. I wanted to be able to see them among all the red, white, and blue children.

Saturday morning the guys, my dad, Matt, Jared, and our neighbor, had some footings to pour before we headed to Torrey for the Torrey Apple Days Celebration. My dad is building what he calls a timeshare. That is his teasing way to say a fun cabin for us all to stay in when we come and visit!

The Torrey parade was great too, the girls got a ton more candy!

My new nephew Brogan and Jared watching the parade.

Kendal and my dad in their 'tent.'

The cheerleaders gave Kelsey a Wayne High Badgers megaphone, well, miniphone, that the girls loved!

GO BADGERS!

We went to my Grandma Elaine's after the parade and spent the afternoon there. We had a delicious lunch and enjoyed the nice, overcast weather. This is Presley, Kendal, and Kelsey.

We also did fireworks in Lyman. This is the first year Kendal as enjoyed them, and she sure did! Thanks Jared for the good times!

Sunday afternoon was spent fishing. My mom, dad, Jared, Tori, baby Brogan, and our little family went and had a great time. Kelsey turned into quite the little fishergirl. She was the only one to pull a fish out of the water.

Matt was so great with showing Kelsey how to cast and making sure Kendal didn't drown!

Kendal and my dad were fighting over the bug spray and I am pretty sure Kendal won. It was such a good weekend. We love spending time with our families and playing with cousins.

Have a great Fourth of July

The first shots of the Revolutionary War in Lexington and Concord were on April 19 1775. The colonists took the prestigious British Army by surprise with their untrained militiamen fighting against tyranny. Things went well for the colonists for awhile, but the huge, professional British army with the help of the German Hessian troups, soon outnumbered and outmaneuvered General Washington's army.
In the winter of 1776 General Washington's army was in terrible shape. Many of the soldiers enlisted in the army during the summer, thinking they would beat the British and they would be back to their homes in time for the fall harvest. They were wrong and ill prepared for the winter, in their summer clothes and shoes. During the winter of 1776, the colonists lost battle after battle and had to keep retreating from one fort to another, until there were no longer any American forts to defend. It was then, the first part of December that General Washington's frozen, beaten, sick, starved, continental army retreated across the state of New Jersey with the British and Hessians close behind, across the freezing Delaware River into Pennsylvania. They were safe from the British army on the other side of the river since every boat within 35 miles upstream and 35 miles downstream had been destroyed or used to take the Continental army across, and cannon and musket fire could not reach them.
The army rested in the snow on the Pennsylvania side of the river for the first time in months. One recent enlistee of General Washington's Continental Army that made the drive across New Jersey was a writer by the name of Thomas Paine. He had written a pamphlet earlier in the war called Common Sense that got many patriots riled up and ready to fight the British for the freedom every man deserves. He joined the army to fight against tyranny, but also to witness first hand the sacrifices and hardships the Continental Army soldiers were facing in the the fight for freedom from England. Many of the men had no shoes, they tied ragged strips of blankets around their bleeding and frostbitten feet, they used old blankets for coats and pants, they ate cabbage soup or a greasy gruel for their meals, they slept in the snow with a blanket and their musket, and many fought with the knowledge that they were doing the Almighty's work by killing other men in war.
In the snow beside one of many campfires, Thomas Paine wrote another article on the top of a drum, called The American Crisis I long into the night. He was touched by the loyalty and the bravery of the men making up the Continental Army. After spending a short time with General Washington's army, Thomas Paine went to Philadelphia and had The American Crisis I printed in the Philadelphia Journal on December 19th 1776. He had some copies expressed by horseback to General Washington along the Delaware River the same day. Washington was touched by the words he read, and had the newspapers distributed to the officers of his army.
General Washington was planning on a brave move to retake the town of Trenton, with much needed stores for his army, on the New Jersey side of the river presently being held by German Hessian troups. Paines article gave him the courage and resolution he needed to go through with the plan for his broken army. General Washington had the article read to his troups before they successfully retook Trenton in an amazing Christmas battle. It was the first major American victory in over a year and a half.

When I read Thomas Paine's words they touched me also, just as they did General George Washington and his patriot soldiers. Here is just a little snippet of The American Crisis I.

"These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman ... we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: - 'Tis dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to set a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."

I love to think about the part that says "the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly." How very true that is, with everything in our lives. Think about that for me. Think about that concerning our lives every single day and also about how true it is with this great country we live in. How very blessed we are that the forefathers of this nation had the courage to sign that Declaration of Independence those many years ago on July 4th 1776. They and all the early patriots battled and sacrificed so much for us and we should not forget that. They do deserve our thanks. We are still battling today as a nation and we need to be patriotic and love this great country and those that defend it. They deserve our thanks also.

Today is a monumental day

Today is July 2nd 2008 and it is a monumental day! Kendal's last seizure was a year ago today. Her neurologist told us that if we can go one year without recurring seizures, then she should do just fine in life with her epilepsy. He said that if infants can go one year without more infantile spasms, then they should progress mentally and physically about normal. So today is a super day at our house! I think we will have ourselves a little party!

These two pictures are from yesterday, July 1st at Scera pool in Orem.

These last three pictures are from July 4th last year, while she was on that nasty ACTH medicine. I had forgotten that we spent the 4th of July in Heber City. Kendal was sick and we couldn't take her out with our twice daily visits to the ER for blood pressure checks, the twice daily injections of meds, the heat, and her compromised immune system. You can't see it really well, but that ACTH puffed her up really well. She was miserable and so were we. This 4th of July is going to be great though!

I found a picture of the Torrey Apple Days Celebration last year. We are at the parade on June 30th. We stayed a few days at my mom's house and that is where Kendal had her last seizure. We had just upped her dose of ACTH and she was puffy and onery and hot! We didn't stay too long!

The Pahvant Range

Saturday after we got that darn pipe put back together at the farm, Mike and our little family headed up to what Matt calls the West Mountain. It is the mountains just south of Scipio, which are really called the Pahvants. Matt has been up there a few times but I never have. Matt told me that are steeper than a cows face and now I know that he is telling the truth. Mace and his family rode up also. Mace hiked up another hill and was able to watch a fawn being born. He is a wildlife biologist and that must have been a great experience for him.

Here we are looking over the town of Fillmore and all of Millard County. It was amazing how far you could see from that peak. Matt and Mike were looking for deer so they spent their time "glassing the hills."

Kendal needed a little peek too.

Kendal, Paige, and Kelsey found a lady bug and were very interested in it. They were so cute and Paige was so nice to my little Kendal. Kelsey looses her patience with her sister very quickly but Paige was nice and sweet.

Kendal tromping up the hill back to the truck that Matt said was "just over this hill." Yeah right!

Matt and Mike wanted to go see another part of the mountain but we ran into a few obstacles. The first one Mike just put the truck in 4 wheel drive and went around it, but this one was a little too big for that. The guys were bummed because they really wanted to go look in a certain drainage for their big bucks.

This picture above shows a really big cirque made by a glacier long ago that is lined with a ring of snow. It was so great to see snow at the end of June! It was so steep on every side, it was a little scary actually.

I was going to tease Matt that this was the only wildlife we saw, but we did see a couple of bucks on our way down off the mountain.

I wish you could see how steep this really is. I thought Kendal was going to go down the hill and NEVER come back. One little slip and she would be gone. I didn't let her stay there for very long.

I like this picture of Matt and Mike looking across the valley to the other hillside looking for antlers.

They call this formation 'The Beehive.' I thought it looked so pretty with the evening sun on it. We had a super evening up in the mountains, even if the entire mountain range is either straight up and down or a jagged peak. Thanks Mike, Mace, and Amanda!