Brianna

indoor camp out

While John was out camping with the scouts the kids and I had our own sleepover in the tent. Well kinda the boys slept in the tent and me and the girls slept in our own beds. They had a lot of fun playing in the tent before bedtime though.

We will Miss you Spanish Branch!

We were officially released from our callings in the Spanish branch today. We were called to the Branch 5 years ago. At that time they told us we would be there for 1 1/2 maybe 2 years. Then John was in the Scouts and I was a primary teacher. But not for long. John was called to the Branch Pres. and we were told we would probably be in the Branch for longer. Since we have been in the branch John has held many positions including Elders Quorm Pres. and more recently Young men's Presidency. When we first entered the Branch we were part of a big group of Gringos called to help the Spanish Branch to function by itself, that lasted for about a year and a half or so and then the Gringo's were called back to there own wards. Then we combined the youth and primary with the 4th ward. Which was a huge help. While we were with their ward we grew so much. There were several weeks we had multiple baptisms and One week that 7 people were baptised most of which were PRIESTHOOD! A year later 8 of those people went through the temple!! IT has been so awesome to see them grow. Most of them now how major jobs in the branch including Branch President who has only been a member for a couple of years now!!
We have grown to love the people of the branch so much and are truly going to miss them!!! They have taught me so much about love they have always been so welcoming and loving to me and my family. We have added 3 kids to our family in the 5 years we have been in the branch and everyone has been so loving and supportive! I know we can be quite disruptive in sacrament meeting and instead of judging me they would come over and help especially when John had to set on the stand and I was by myself. One of the other things I am really going to miss is all the new converts. They bring such a new perspective on things and remind me what I have and not to take it for granted.
I won't lie the Branch has not been all easy!!! It has brought many challenges to our family. John has had many callings that have really pushed him to grown and learn. And I will have to say even with every one's help it was not easy always getting all of us ready for church by myself and John being gone so much. I think the hardest thing for me was not being able to socialize with the sisters because of the language barrier. I had a wonderful relationship with these wonderful sisters and I always felt their love for me and my family but it was so difficult to not be able to communicate!! OH How I wish I could speak Spanish!!! It was also hard to not be able to understand sacrament meeting. I hope I will never take advantage of being able to hear the messages each week. I know that with my little family I don't get to actually hear much but at least I will have the chance. That is not to say that I couldn't feel the spirit in the branch. quite the Contrary, I have often felt the spirit and anytime that I would pray specifically for a chance to feel the spirit I would and not only feel the spirit but something would touch my heart and I would know what Heavenly Father needed me to do.
Well I guess Heavenly Father has new challenges for us and knew things for us to learn. I will really miss the Branch and it's Members.

Centipede

The centipede John found in our back yard.

It's Over!

Shane did awesome with his surgery yesterday! He was so Brave! Of coarse we really hadn't clued him in on what was going to happen. I HAD told him he was going to get tubes in his ears. the end that is all. So we ( I had John take a day off of work to help, and Geraldine was so nice to take all 3 little ones for me so I could go and not be so worried!) get there and they had him change into a gown. He was doing really good until EVERY ONE who walked by said What a Brave Boy he was. I wanted to give them THE look, you know the one, Don't say a word or I will kill you he is doing just fine!!! After about 5 different people commenting on the brave boy and some mentioning he was getting his adenoids taken out ( which I thought I would leave a secret until he was done. I figured it is one thing to tell someone they are going to have something put into their body like tubes but it is a whole new ball game when you tell them they are going to cut something out!!!) Anyway he looks over at me and says I want to go home. I told him all that was going to happen was they were going to have him breathe something in to make him sleepy, he would go to sleep and when he woke up we could go home. He did great with that I looked a little nervous when he left but did great. He was not even combative when he woke up which I guess is pretty normal.

Well we got him home and after about an hour of kinda tired sleepiness and then getting him some food he was as good as gold! Holy cow you should have seen him running around and playing like nothing had happened. I decided I would go ahead and we would take the car to the park because they say not to have them ride their bikes after the anaesthesia he had. So we drive to the park and he is off running through the sprinklers ( I hope the water didn't get down in his ears) and going across the monkey bars.

Well needless to say he is at school today and doing Great!

Brother and sister look alike

Bri's hair is too perfect for a mow-hawk to not try it.

Fish'n For the Wind

John bought some kites for the kids the other day and they have been taking advantage of the March winds! I think John loves it just as much if not more than the kids. He ended up hooking the kite to a fishing pole so you can reel it in rather than having to wind it up. I tell you what we have already got more than our moneys worth out of those dollar kites!!!

Brilliant

Bri's P.J.'s were a little bit too big for her so she kept walking up into the legs. John asks me for some tape and he wrapped some around her ankles. Then he took a good look at his work and said, "Brilliant". (Of coarse he is not the one who has to cut her out of her pajamas in the morning)

What will they come up with next!

Connor comes up to me the other day and says, " I know that girls don't have muscles" I tried to show him mine but he was not impressed. I can't say that I blame him but I was hoping for a little bit of a break since he is only 3! I asked him who told him that and he said, "Shane" I guess I really need to hit the weights to show him it just isn't true! Just because moms a wimp doesn't mean all girls are!
Connor was playing guess which hand with John but he put it in one and then put that hand behind his back and says pick THIS one dad.
Connor wanted to play paper rock scissors with me but told me that I should choose paper. Then he whips out his scissor fingers with a smart little grin on his face!
I gave Brooke a bath in the sink the other day after a major explosion of her diaper. You know the kind that ends up all over there back and arms and hair as you pull off there poopy onesie! Anyway after I gave her a bath Connor was explaining to Bri that Brooke had a bath in the sink but that she didn't sink!

Roley Poley

OK so not pictures are her rolling but they are so cute when they are asleep and when they are naked! I had to post them. She is rolling now! both from her back to her front, which she did first and now from her front to her back! You can kind of distract her at times with a toy! She loves looking at her self in the mirror! She is just growing up!

Ear tubes, and Adenoids

Shane has been struggling with ear infections forever!! He had his first one when he was about 3 1/3 months old and stills struggles with them. I thought that as he got older we wouldn't have to worry about them as much but since school has started he has had about 4 ear infections. About 3 weeks ago the nurse at the school called and said both his ears where bright red. I knew they had been kinda hurting him but I thought I would give it another day since they now recommend not rushing in for anti-biotic every time. Well I got him into the Dr. that day and got him on some anti-biotic so we went for the full coarse of 10 days of the stuff. About 2 weeks later the nurse calls again from the school saying his ear is really red!! OK at this point I am feeling like a terrible Mom!!! I decided to take him to an Ear Nose and Throat Dr. to see if we needed to do something different than just keep feeding him the anti-biotic!
I got him in yesterday and the Dr. suggested getting tubes in his ears and having his adenoids removed. So I went ahead and scheduled an appoint for next week. Now that I have had a little more time to think about the whole thing I have to say I am nervous!!! More about how Shane will react than whether or not it is the right decision. I mean this is SHANE we are talking about the one who screams bloody murder when I try and cut his finger nails and thinks he will drown when I wash his hair!!! A little sliver is a major ordeal for him. So you can probably understand my reservations at this point!! I think I am going to have John take the day off and go with him. He always responds much better to John than me and I am not sure how I am going to do it with all the kids especially Brooke who will not take a bottle! I am sure we will make it through I just hope all will go well! Wish us Luck!!

SHHHHHHHHHHHH!

One of Bri's new words is SHhhhhhh! She puts her finger up to her mouth and says shhh!! she does this if anyone is asleep it is really cute. She also can say two. I noticed when I said 1 the other day she followed up with 2. I think it might have something to do with me counting to get the boys to do what I want them to.

This is Bri playing with my hair she has always loved to play with my hair since she was old enough to get a hold of it. I am hoping when she gets some of her own she won't pull mine so much!

THE TWO NEWEST MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY BROOKE AND THE 4-WHEELER

John has been saving up for a new 4-wheeler for some time now and got one this week, a Suzuki kingquad. We went to "test drive" some of the models that John was considering and I should have known better than to let him go in a place like that! Well needless to say they were having some smoke'n deal and the 4-wheelers were going fast and he just had to get it right NOW. Might I mention this is how we got our last 4-wheeler!

So we took them out on a couple of short rides. Now we can all go together. We had completely grown out of just one 4-wheeler. As much as I complain about spending the money it really was fun! We even took Brookey for a little ride and she did good. The boys and Bri absolutely love going for rides and Bri will not let John leave without her! We all had a great time and look forward to the days we can go for a longer ride!

(JOHN titled this Post)