Quick Update

The new washer is here and works wonderfully.
I am still pregnant. Any day now........

Grandpa Byron came to visit us yesterday. He totally spoiled the kids rotten and they LOVED it! We went to the Nature Center first. It was pretty cool. Robyn saw a snake in the path; it scared her quite a bit. She was surprised that snakes don't all live in cages. It was funny. We also saw a frog on a lily pad that was cool.
Grandpa took us to Wendy's for lunch and bought Kid's Meals for the kids. Grace got a puzzle for her prize and she loves it. This morning she did "the puzzle Grandpa gave her" right after breakfast.
After lunch we went to the zoo, where we were totally spoiled with sno cones and a ride on the Merry Go Round. Very fun! The zoo currently has a butterfly exhibit that was very cool. On the way in, the "butterfly attendant" gave us the rules. One of them was no picking up the butterflies because if you touch their wings, they would get damaged. We followed the rules but still got to hold the butterflies. I had a bottle of water that I used to pour water into the kids hands. They would then very carefully hold so still near a butterfly until the butterfly would climb onto their hand for a drink. It was very cool. I left the camera in the car at the zoo - too bad! The butterflies on their hands would have made very good pictures. It is very nice to have kids who can obey enough to get to hold the butterflies.
By the time we got home, everyone was very dirty and tired. (It's hard to have fun and stay clean you know.) It was a wonderful day.
We all want Grandpa to come back to visit again soon!

Bad News - The washer will cost more to fix than to buy a new one. Grrr.
Not exactly what I wanted to hear but such is life. The kids and I went to Sears and spent every last penny on a new machine that they can't deliver until Monday. I was really hoping to have a working machine today. Oh well, this too shall pass. All will be well. I am hoping that the washer is delivered before the baby is delivered.
Luckily we saved enough money last month for our "three month reserve" to buy a washing machine. That is what it is for right? Its back to zero for now, but zero is better than negative. Good thing we started last month instead of next month. :)

Ugg!


The weather is very cold and windy today and I want to go out to play. Drat! It is amazing that it can go from 97 degrees to 50 degrees in only a day or two.
We planned on swimming every day until the baby comes, but haven't made it the last two days due to windy weather. I love swimming, it is really great to get the weight off for a minute. We have been four times since the pool opened. The kids are doing really well this year. It is fun to take everyone swimming and actually get to swim myself instead of hanging on everyone constantly. I like having big kids.
On Monday we made more jam. We got 35 more cups of freezer jam - half way there! We decided we need 104 cups to have jam 2 times a week for a year. Think we will make it before the baby comes??
I guess I should be grateful to have a windy day and get my jobs all done. Problem is that my washing machine has been broken since Saturday and I have no more clean rags (and no desire) to clean. The neighbors just got home and they said I could borrow their washing machine today so I will now try to find some ambition. The repair man should be here tomorrow. Washing machines are such a blessing. I am very grateful for mine and I miss it terribly.

More Pictures of the back yard.


Here are some more pictures of the backyard. The first one is Robyn and Grace standing in front of the peas. They were really tall until they went behind them and knocked them over. Turkeys!

Colin is still camera crazy. He took most of the pictures that I posted today. I don't really know who took the pictures that he is in. Probably Robyn or our cousin Brandon. I took the last two with the strawberry jam. Colin has been experimenting with sepia and black and white. Some of his pictures are pretty cool.

We finally finished the backyard! (Well, almost.) Randy worked really hard this weekend and hauled a bunch of soil aid, sand, and pea gravel in to finish the yard. (We are still a bit short of pea gravel, but I can't see that part of the yard from any windows so I am happy.) We finished just in time to have a picnic in our backyard with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Shelly, Uncle Arthur, Katie, Brandon and Jacob to celebrate Memorial Day. It was very fun!

After the picnic we went to Great Grandpa Reeder's grave to place some roses before ending up at Grandma's for another picnic with more people. Monday was a busy day!

On the way home from Grandma's house, I got pulled over my a cop for speeding. (I missed the sign. What can I say?) It is the first time I have been pulled over in 13 years and only the 3rd time in my whole life. I got my first ticket. It was for failure to provide proof of insurance. I faxed in proof of insurance this morning and the ticket was dismissed. Whew!

Strawberries!!

The kids and I made jam this morning from our very own strawberry patch. It was so fun to have real help this year. I love it!
We picked enough strawberries for 17 8oz jars of freezer jam with enough left over to top our angel food cake for desert tonight. YUM!

What has Colin been up too?? Oh, my!


He has been camera crazy lately. He loves to take pictures. He loves to upload pictures to the computer. He loves to burn the pictures to picture CDs. He loves to watch his pictures on the TV.

His latest is this adventure in Adobe Photoshop. He took this picture of himself.

Then used photoshop to change the picture on his shirt to be an image he found on the web.

Very impressive. I asked Randy when he taught Colin to use Photoshop and Randy said that he hasn't taught Colin Photoshop.

Colin said, as I was posting this, that Randy taught him to use the eraser in Photoshop when they were programming their game with Phrogram (Kids Programming Language V 2.2). They used a picture of one of our fish and used the eraser to erase the tank from around it. He said he just figured out how to use layers himself.

Being the mother of highly intelligent, wonderful children whom one loves dearly, is not an easy task. It challenges me daily to be a better person than I otherwise would.

A few weeks ago (I know it has been forever since I last posted - my boys just can't leave the operating system alone!!), we were reading the about The Passover in the Old Testament Stories book for family scripture study. As most of you know, the last plague was that the oldest child in every Egyptian family would die. The Israelites were to put lamb's blood on their doors to keep the destroying angel from visiting their homes. As the oldest child, Colin was very interested in that. We talked about it for a minute and, of course, I assured him that we would certainly have followed the Prophet and painted our door so the sickness would pass over us because we loved him so much.

After the kids went to bed, I pondered that for a time - was I really "painting the door" of our home to keep the destroying angel away??

A few days later, I was studying my scriptures and happened to reread the Word of Wisdom from section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants. I have read it many times, however, this time I read it, I was struck by the very last verse which reads "And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them , as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen." Wow, how powerful is that! I have spent a lot of time pondering that for the past few weeks and I realize that I do have a testimony of that truth!

Randy and I discussed it shortly after I read it. We have different views of the Word of Wisdom. He focuses on the don'ts and I focus on the do's. It was an interesting discussion. I have never had a problem with the don'ts, so I don't think about them too much. Randy has not ever had a problem with them either, but has been more exposed to those that do. The week I was reading this, he attended the funeral of a cousin who had shot and killed a bail bondsman and then was shot and killed himself by police. Randy pointed out that if Tony had been obeying the Word of Wisdom and avoiding the alcohol and drugs, two men would still be alive. That is pretty dramatic. We read the newspaper that week and noticed that most crimes are a result of not following the Word of Wisdom. Interesting.
We talked about how most frequently the destroying angel comes as heart attacks or illness and is not always a sudden as being killed quickly. Many news stories are about diet related illnesses that could be prevented by following the Word of Wisdom.
I had Chronic Fatigue from 1996 until 2001. Colin's birth in 2000 was what forced me to face the fact that traditional medicine did not have the answers and if I wanted to be the mother that this child needed, I would have to figure it out myself. Turns out that following the Word of Wisdom was key to turning away that "destroying angel." As long as I stick to it, I feel great.
Colin has been my motivation to do better and be more obedient from the beginning of my quest to follow this law. He has had food sensitivities since he was six months old and has challenged my abilities ever since. At six months old, he developed a rash on his toes. I took him to the doctor and he gave me steriod cream to put on them. I didn't like that option very much. I had an appointment with an ND for my chronic fatigue about that time and I took Colin with me. He told me that we both had dairy allergies and I had Candida. I quit drinking milk and went on a "Candida Diet." It was amazing the difference. The toes cleared right up and I felt sooo much better.
As Colin got older and was eating more and more foods, we discovered more and more sensitivities - wheat, corn, dairy, food dye, peanuts..... I had to completely change my menu planning. The really great news is that I have since learned a lot more about food and cooking and he can now eat the foods he is sensitive too in moderation without breaking out in a rash. I certainly have a long way to go, but it is good to look back and see where I came from.
I have been slacking quite a bit lately, but I am now re motivated to keep trying.

Just yesterday I read an article about autism. Autism is a very complex disease that no one really knows the cause of, but many people have raised very good questions. This last article I read talked about how autism is a genetic defeat that needs an enviromental trigger to manifest itself. No one is exactly sure what that trigger is, but it is very possible that it is related to food sensitivities in certain individuals. It made me wonder if all my early efforts helped prevent my son from developing autism. What would have happened if I had just applied the steriod cream and kept doing what I was doing?? I guess I will never know.

I think it would be easier to paint the door with lamb's blood and see the immediate results of your efforts the next day. It is not easy to endure to the end. :)

My current goals toward "painting my door" are:

Work on the do's of the Word of Wisdom through more prudent research and proper menu planning.

Follow the council to have three months of financial reserves by staying in my budget.

Keep working at daily scripture study focusing on:
Personal Study: Reading and studying my lesson guides for Sunday School and Relief Society, and using the topical guide to research personal questions that I want answers to. This to be done in the afternoon before I start my other studies.

Couple Study: Read Understanding Isaiah in the mornings before Randy leaves for work or school, so we can get through 2 Nephi with some insight.

Family Study: Currently Old Testament Stories to be read as a family before bed.


Okay, there it is in writing. Now I have to do it right?

Puzzle Masters!





I knew Grace was good at puzzles, but I wondered if some of it was that she had all our puzzles, and all the nursery puzzles, memorized. It's not, she's just good.
On Monday, I bought her a brand new 24 piece Dora puzzle at Walmart and she had the whole thing put together within minutes of opening it without so much as a hint from anyone. Wow!



Some of the credit must go to her puzzle mentor - Robyn! I got Robyn a new 100 piece puzzle at the same time. She worked on her puzzle through the afternoon and the next morning between other jobs and projects and finally finished the whole thing all by herself!