Rachel is still alive, barely

It has been a long time since I posted, summer is WILD around here!

It is too overwhelming to play catch-up, plus, you probably don't want to hear all about it. But I will give you a few happenings of the last 2 weeks.

Kendal had another EEG at Primary Children's Hospital. It needed to be a sleeping EEG, so she had to be sleep deprived so she would fall asleep while she was hooked up to all the electrodes. That means that Matt kept her up until 11:45 pm and I got her up at 5:45 am. She was sleep deprived and so was I! Anyway, after a knock-down-drag-out with her dad in the sleeping room, she finally crashed. But not before she was yelling at the top of her lungs "Daddy, yet me go!" He was holding the poor girl down so she wouldn't rip the wires off of her head! Luckily, the rooms are sound proof so only Matt and the nurses watching the live cam got to hear it.

The whole reason for the EEG was to check her brain waves to see if they have normalized enough to reduce her anti-seizure medication. Bad news - the neurologist called and he said "we need to continue treatment as her EEG has not normalized enough and there is still quite a tendency for seizures." DANG IT!! Oh well, she is doing better, much much better. But still, DANG IT ALL!!

My Kelsey has been so busy working on a quilt for the fair (this week) and making blankets to send to an orphanage in China. She loves sewing and is getting so much better. I can give her directions and actually leave the room and do other things now! Hooray!!

We went camping with the Crane Clan for the 24th of July. For those of you non-Utahans, this is a state holiday and a great time to party with the family. Our friend Joe who lives in Oregon once said "You Mormons have to make up your own holidays to get out of work" one time when he called Matt on the 24th of July and he was home!

The Crane kids found a creek (pronounced crick) to play in and passed the afternoons splashing away.

Emmit had his first rice cereal the other day. He loved it. He wanted more and more and more. He just turned 4 months old and all you by-the-book-mothers, don't get angry with me for feeding it to him early. The boy loved it and he was starving!

We have also had a few marshmallow and hot dog roasts. We love summer and it is crazy that July is on its way out. You can see how the summer is getting away from me, look at all that morning glory that needs to be sprayed! I have been too busy making apricot jam and canning peaches. My beets are ready in the garden and the peas need to be picked. Is it all ever done? No, but thats the best part of summer!

Another Kendal Story

Today was hot. We hit 100 degrees today. The girls were outside in the little blow up pool for awhile and then the heat chased them in. They ended up playing 'make the house a mess by using every couch pillow and cushion to make paths in the hot lava' game. I can't complain, I used to love that game too. Anyway, they were also playing dress ups while playing the cushion game. They took turns being the monster and the princess. You know how the game goes, the monster chases the princess and you have to stay on the pillows and cushions.

Okay, 2 hours later. The girls venture out in the heat again for a bit and come back in. I get out the coloring books and crayons and pray for a little quiet time while Emmitt naps and I can get something else done. They color great and then they are hungry. I get them a cheese stick, Kelsey says she is still hungry. Then a fruit snack, and they are still hungry. I get them some pudding. I was also doing 13 other things at the time so I came back in to see how things were. They were still coloring and their pudding was gone. Kendal said to me "Monster ate my pudding, I need more." I just about fell down laughing. She really has come a long way with her speech lately, but to see that she has this hilarious sense of humor coming out is just fun. I am calling it a sense of humor instead of a chronic liar. You know, leaky gifts from Heavenly Father and hungry monsters. We will see what she comes up with next.

another Tuesday

Around 6:00 pm we headed out of town for the mountains. He stopped at KFC and got some dinner and got out of town. We did this alot last summer when it was so hot in the valley to escape to the hills. Today was not hot and the mountains were actually freezing! The girls wore jackets that happened to be in the truck that belong to Matt and me. Yes, that is snow in the background.

Our chicken, corn on the cob, biscuits, and macaroni and cheese was seriously great. We were all so very hungry, plus EASY clean up! After we ate, Matt shot his bow while the girls and I played a killer game of wiffle ball. Kelsey has got quite a nice slugger stance to go with her home run hits. Poor Emmitt sat in his car seat and watched while his feet got cold.

Matt was looking for some deer and Kendal had to have a look too. She is so dang cute.

Emmitt had enough of the car seat and wanted to join us. He is such a good little boy. He is definitely mom's boy though.

The green mountain sides almost look fake. It was so pretty up there. With all the rain we have been getting and the cooler weather, it is pretty lush.

We need to do this more often, but I think it will be much warmer next time! I am not complaining though, I love the cooler summer days. Now my kids are all in bed, so is Matt, and I am headed to the midnight Harry Potter movie in about 1/2 hour! YIPEE!!

the best excuse yet

This one beats them all . . .

For those of you that know of Kendal's issue with potty training, you will love this one.

We had a few errands to run today and then when we were finished with them we were supposed to go to the library. The girls love going to the library. It is a fun treat for them. Well, on one of our errands I smelled the distinct odor of urine in the car. I thought to myself "Dang, I didn't clean Kendal's booster seat as well as I thought yesterday if it still smells like that." Yesterday on our way to swimming lessons I told Kendal that she couldn't pee or poop in the pool so she better try to go before she got in. Well, she took that all very seriously and peed in her swim diaper on our short 2 1/2 minute drive to the pool. Apparently swim diapers don't perform that well when actually DRY because it leaked ALL over the place. Her suit was wet, her terry cloth cover up was soaking and the booster seat was wet!
I cleaned the car seat pretty well so I was surprised to smell urine in the car today. We got out at the Forest Service office (one of our errands to get a firewood permit) and her shorts are wet. I said "Kendal, did you pee? Your shorts are wet. Did you leak?" She averts her eyes and says "NO." We then had a large argument about why we couldn't go to the library with wet shorts because she peed and it leaked out of her pull ups and all over her shorts. She was very disturbed by this - she really wanted to go to the library.
So, later in the day I saw that she had on different shorts. I asked Matt if he had changed her and he said no. Kelsey also said that she didn't help her. I looked in the garbage and there was a soggy pull up right on top. She had peed, leaked, changed into a clean pull up, and then put on clean shorts. The wet shorts were even in the laundry! Here is our conversation:

me: Kendal, why do you have on new shorts?

her: betause

me: Did you leak?

her: um, no

me: Kendal, did your shorts get wet from your soggy diaper?

her: (eyes averted again) um no

me: Kendal, look at me, did you leak and then change your shorts?

her: (smile) yes, I des so
translation: I guess so

me: Goosey, why do you keep leaking? Why can't you just pee in the toilet?

her: why not? (that is her annoying answer to everything right now)

me: Tell me why your shorts got wet?

her: I des I leak

me: Oh goosey, I wish you would pee in the toilet instead of leaking

actually I am cutting this conversation much shorter than the actual one

her: (total smile on her face) heada fada div me leak
translation: Heavenly Father give me leak

me: (Laughing my butt off, along with Matt and Kelsey, actually Kelsey was almost crying she was laughing so hard) What? Heavenly Father did that to you?

her: (cheese eating grin) yep, I des so

That girl, she is killing me!

Good Times in Nephi

Yesterday we went to Nephi, the kids and I anyway. Sweet Matt went to work so we could play. I love him for that. Anyway, it is somewhat of a tradition to go to Aunt Laura's house in Nephi over the Ute Stampede weekend. We have done this for a few years now and always seem to have a super time. We don't even go to the actual Ute Stampede Rodeo, we just play at the house.


Matt's cousin Alynn has this fun fun pool that the kids played in most of the day. We did get them out to go to the parade, but as soon as we got home they got back in the water.


We also got them out long enough to feed them some dinner, but they were soon back in again. These pictures are of Mindy's (Matt's sister) and my girls. They got along very well and it is always so fun to play with cousins!

It was a super day and my girls slept so well last night. Matt woke them up a little after 5 this morning though to head to Salina and go to the ranch. They rode horses, irrigated, doctored cows, and played their little hearts out again. They will sleep well again tonight! Thanks to Mindy, Ellen, and Aunt Laura for a super day in Nephi.

Kelsey said to me tonight as she was getting ready for bed,"I heard lots of swear words from the adults today. Well, mostly from Grandpa, Dad, and Uncle Mark. I didn't hear ANY bad words from Grandma Ellen or Aunt Laura." Matt denies these accusations. He said it was a "great day" but you know how farmers/cowboys talk sometimes!

No more sneaking out

I went to my beloved quilt guild meeting last night. Once again it was very inspiring. A lady named Kaye Evans came with TONS of her quilts and talked a little about how to take a pattern you like and make it your own. I loved seeing her quilts, here are a few.

This one here is my mystery quilt I made at our retreat in June. For a mystery quilt we are told how much fabric to purchase (3 yards light fabric and 1 1/2 yards dark fabric) and how to cut some of the fabric before we get to the retreat. Then we are given instruction #1. When we are done with that step, then we get #2 and so on until it is 3:00 am and you are finally finished. That wasn't the case this year - it took us all quite a bit longer. Anyway, mystery quilts are so fun because you have no idea what you are making until it is finished. If you want to see the same mystery quilt made by other ladies, check out our guild blog link on the left.

Oh, so the very best part about guild meeting - I had to have a babysitter come for about an hour because Matt doesn't get home in time for me to go. Usually I have to get the babysitter to take Kendal in the bedroom and then I sneak out and go. Well, last night Kendal said to me "Goodbye mom, I love you." I gave her a kiss and told her to be a good girl and went out to the garage and got in the car. She came to the back door and waved me off saying "I love you mom, bye bye"as she blew me kisses. It was wonderful.

What summer is all about

Matt had his usual Tuesday off today and neither of us had to go anywhere this evening. It was wonderful, and it represented what summer is all about to me:

smores and going to bed with the smell of smoke in your hair

(I make my kids wash their disgusting feet or else they will have nightmares. The rest of their body has to wait until morning because 9:30 is too late to get in the tub!)

perfect evening weather for a walk or just chilling in the yard

bare feet and maybe a mosquito

getting your appendages buried in cool sand

enjoying your family and the perfect evening weather

of course the tramp and the feeling of youth, for those of us older, the feeling of a horrible headache and the need to run to the bathroom

being with family and watching your kids run like wild children

It was a perfect summer evening.

Small Town Quilt Show at Zermatt

I attended a pretty fun quilt show last week right here in my very own Heber Valley. It was at Zermatt Resort in Midway and was a great success, I think. It is only the 2nd year and there were ALOT of quilts entered. Here are a few of my favorites. You quilting folks, keep an eye out for next year's show. I imagine it will be around the 4th of July again.

Made by my friend Natalia, check out her site, http://www.piecenquilt.com/.

Made by Patsy Shelton.

Made by Cindy somebody.

This one was made by Jan Martin, not sure who she is either.

Another one by Natalia.

This was my favorite one of the entire show. I just love it for some reason. It appeals to me, even though my friend Kandy said "Those flowers are just way to big for that house." She completely cracks me up. It was made by Karen Jackson, I have no idea who that is.

And I entered one also. This one is made by me. When I got home I was showing Kelsey some of the pictures I had taken. She said to me "mom, they are all flowery quilts." She is right, I love quilts with flowers I guess.

Persistence

Have you ever played one of these puzzles? There are 9 tiles and you have to match them up just perfectly to solve it. It is fun to play, but hard to solve. We bought this one at Fossil Butte National Monument in Wyoming last weekend. Kendal got a dinosaur book. Kelsey worked SO hard on this thing.

Kelsey played with this puzzle in the truck the entire way to Jackson Hole from the monument, 3 hours. She played with it in the truck on our way to Jenny Lake and every chance she could get. She played with it almost the ENTIRE way home - a 6 hour trip. I did make her put it away while she ate her chicken drumstick for lunch! She kept getting all but one piece right. When we got home from Jackson Hole, she was so happy to spread it out on the table and really get to work. She worked on it for at least another hour and finally got it!

Matt was so proud of her persistence and so was I. Actually, so was she. She is amazing. I helped her work on for a little while and all I have to say is that she has patience coming out of her ears!

Yummy

I ran to Smith's this morning to grab a couple of things. I did the whole self checkout thing and the screen said something like "There is an important message on your receipt." I thought to myself, "Score, another $10 off baby rewards coupon!" I made sure I grabbed my receipt and left. I got home and read my receipt. This is what is says:

IMPORTANT RECALL NOTICE
VALUED CUSTOMER: YOU MAY HAVE PURCHASED THE PRODUCT LISTED BELOW WHICH WAS NOW BEEN RECALLED. YOU MAY RETURN THE PRODUCT FOR A FULL REFUND AT ANY OF OUR STORES OR YOU MAY CONTACT THE COMPANY AT 1-800-632-6900.

Beef Grind 85/15 2#'s or more
Sell by date: 4/27 to 6/1/2009
The product may be contaminated with E.coli 0157:H7 which can cause serious health risks.

Well folks, those 85% lean hamburger patties were finished off on Tuesday night. I suppose we are all gonna make it. Don't worry about us. Matt has been dragging his left leg for the past 2 days, has a chronic drooling problem, and can't feel his pinky finger on his left hand. I seem to have an eye twitch that Claritin won't take care of, not to mention the hives on my hind end. Kendal, well, I don't really want to go there. Kelsey had a hot dog on Tuesday night instead of a burger. She ate "beef lips and bum holes" and seems to be doing great.

Health risks?? Health risks!! I thought E. coli killed you by pooping yourself to death!

Surprise Weekend at Jackson Hole

Matt called me when he was driving home from work on Thursday and said to me "Do you want to go see the Bar J Wranglers Saturday night?" He knew that was the right question to ask me. Not "Do you want to travel with the kids for 6 hours?" or "How about you forget all the plans you made for the weekend and lets go to Jackson Hole, what do you say dear?" No, he knew the Bar J Wranglers was the correct bait for me.

Friday night we headed out. We drove to Kemmerer, WY and stayed the night. The next morning we went to Fossil Butte National Monument. I loved it. I am not sure if the girls were that impressed, but I absolutely loved it.


50 million years ago there was a lake in Wyoming that was 50 miles long and 20 miles wide. It looked like Florida, so lush and pretty. They have found thousands and thousands of fish fossils, crocodiles, turtles, plants, insects, bats, mini horses, bla bla bla. Here are the girls with one of the croc fossils found there.

This palm frond was my favorite so I made them smile for this one. What an amazing fossil! Like I said, I loved this place.

Imagine this sagebrush place a teeming sea! Amazing! They made fossil rubbings, Kendal loved that part.

Salt River Pass - between Cokeville and Star Valley.

We spent some time Saturday afternoon at the Jackson Hole Visitor's Center. The girls charmed the rangers into bird watching with a scope from the balcony. Kelsey truly was interested. Kendal just wanted to feel the wind in her hair I think!

Here they found a few tadpoles and watched the ducks.

What is a trip to Jackson without a visit to the antler arches? Isn't my family so dang cute?

Kendal and I found Bigfoot. This is as close as she would get to him. I wanted her to stand next to him so I could get a good picture and she kept saying "but i don't yike it, i don't yike it." She was not impressed with Bigfoot.

Now the best part of the trip - a visit to the Bar J Chuckwagon. We met up with Matt's parents earlier in the day and went out there for dinner and of course, some 4 part harmony. We hung around about an hour before dinner and enjoyed the coolness of the shade and of the pretty valley. Dinner was wonderful, so was the singing, and so was Bryan Humphrey. Matt knows of my little crush on him, so I suppose I can express it here. They were great.

Little Emmitt, he wasn't as impressed with the Bar J Wranglers as I was. He must have had a tummy ache and I think they were a little loud for him. We spent most of the time right outside the door - cool air, a pacifier, and still a nice view of Bryan Humphrey. Oh yeah, and I could still hear that good ol' cowboy singing! Plus, Kendal was a little restless after dinner, so Matt and I took turns keeping an eye on her running outside the place like a wild child.

Matt, Larry, and Emmitt - right after dinner.

I had to change Emmitt's diaper so I went out where we could be alone and out of the way. Look at the swarm of little girls that came to see my Emmitt! It was so funny. They truly did swarm, but they must of have known something was a little different with him because they didn't come close until the diaper was snapped shut and his pants where up! Then they all oohed and awed over the "tute baby boy." Notice Kendal in the purple shirt staking her claim and telling all the girls how it is - he is her's!

Sunday we attended the Jenny Lake Bridge Ward for church and had a super time. I hadn't ever been to Jenny Lake. It was so pretty. It reminded me of our trip to McCall, Idaho and Payette Lake last summer. There is something about those high mountain lakes and the crisp air!

We had a super weekend. The girls and baby were pretty good travelers (thank goodness for the library and books on CD!), the weather was perfect, the company was great (thanks Larry and Ellen for a fun time), and it was just great to get out of town with my family. Thanks Matty.

Quirks

Matt tells me I have issues. I do, but doesn't everyone have their own little quirks? I like to have a few certain things my way in my house. Some people label that OCD. Why can't we call it CHS - clean housekeeper syndrome or something? Anyway, I will not rattle off my list of particulars - thank goodness. But I do want to share something a little weird. I am a little interested in numbers, but more importantly how long things last in my house.

When I get our electric bill, I look at how many kilowatt hours of electricity I use and divide it by 30 days because I like to know that number - how many kilowatt hours we use in a day and how much $$ we spend a day on electricity. (last bill about $1.52/day) The gas bill already comes with that number for me - how much gas we use in an average day. I know in my mind how much money per day our house costs us to live in - our house payment (every 2 weeks) divided by 14 days.

It isn't that I am majorly pinching pennies, I just like to know what that per day number is. That is one of my quirks, not necessarily CHS, but a definite quirk.

So here is one I did for the past few months:
I wanted to know how many loads of laundry I do. Plain and simple. I was interested in that number. So when I opened a new package of fabric softener dryer sheets on January 19th, I wrote that date on the box with a sharpie. I use a sheet in every single batch of laundry I do, so I know that it is an accurate number. Well, on June 13th I finished off the box. 120 dryer sheets and 145 days. Interesting . . . I do 120 batches of laundry in about 5 months. Or just to make it fun, .823 loads of laundry everyday. Not sure how that could happen, but that is the number I wanted.