Boerne Adventure.

We went up to Boerne to renew Isabelle's driver's license. We haven't been there much so the kids aren't too familiar with the town.

Abby - "Mommy, are we lost?"
Me - "No."
Abby - "Are we in the future?!?"

And then on the way home...

Abby - "When we get home can I play with Haley?"
Me - "No, she's not home right now."
Abby - "Can I play with Alice?"
Me - "No, she's not home either."
Abby - "Aren't there any humans I can play with?!?"

How am I supposed to drive safely when I'm laughing so hard I'm crying???

More Daniel to English Dictionary entries

Ifway - this way
Daffway - that way
Ep - yes (yep)

Also, Abby asked for crumdums last night - I was stumped. Apparently they are croutons. Later she said "what are those things called again, curmudgeons?" Yes, she really said curmudgeons!

Okay, Okay, Okay...

Well, I think Fred has gently prodded (nagged) me enough now, I'm finally getting on to post something on here. I can't believe it's been since June that I've written! I guess summer got away with me and I thought when school started I'd have more time but looks like I was wrong.

Jacob started kindergarten in August and Abigail has been bored without him around. Daniel isn't enough entertainment, apparently. She's in a co-op preschool a few moms have decided to do but it wasn't enough so I put her in gymnastics - which she LOVES! But that's only once a week so I found another preschool that she'll be attending starting on her birthday. This one is on Monday and Friday, the home-school version is Tuesday and Thursday and gymnastics is on Wednesday. If she's still bored after this I have no creativity nor money left to fix it! I put Daniel on the waiting list for his age-group class but I doubt he'll get in until next Autumn which is fine, I don't think he's ready yet anyway.

As soon as I figure it out, I'm going to post all Mikkel's pictures so far. I know I've done it before but alot of time and forgetting has happened since then! Speaking of him, he's doing great. He's been in Mexico for 6 1/2 months, been in two different places and had three different companions. He figures it's probably about time to go to a new city in the next week or so. He started out in Cosoleacaque, Veracruz and got transferred to Temescal, Oaxaca in late July. Apparently Temescal translates directly into English as "steam bath" and it sounds like it lives up to it's name. He loves it though and is working hard. He says he's working like a dog and hasn't seen much success but I remind him that sometimes the results come much later - just like raising children!

I'm working on a Daniel to English dictionary. So far I have:

Seesa - pizza or Lise (a good friend of Mikkel and Isabelle and probably the best at keeping Mikkel in letters these days!). Usually I can tell which one he's talking about, unless she's at our house and we're all eating pizza...

Bup - cup, drink or bus (again, usually easy enough to figure out although there are times...)

Bye Bye - car (I guess this is because that's what we do in a car.)

Meemo - Elmo or Nemo (his two favorite shows right now - Sesame Street and Finding Nemo)

Elmo - Daniel (this is funny because that was one of the names I thought about for his middle name. He's named for my grandfather whose middle name was Elmo, Fred said he didn't want his son to have a muppet name so we chose John [my grandfather's first name] instead. Now, he calls himself Elmo - I love it!)

Nope - milk (I guess he just can't figure out how to say milk because he LOVES it, just calls it nope.)

That's all I can think of at this late hour. I'll try to be better at adding to it.

What??

Abby - "Mommy, I like your head, when I grow up I want to have a big head too like yours."

WHAT??? Is that a compliment or is she telling me I'm somehow deformed? Or, is she telling me I'm conceited? Hmmm, I'll have to dig deeper for the answer to this one.

Continued

Elder Cunningham (one of the missionaries assigned to our ward) spoke last Sunday. He said the San Antonio Mission decided they would name May the "Month of Miracles". They were asked to pray every day for miracles to happen. How could they know they were helping with our little miracle???

Sooo much to say.

Everyone who reads this already knows about this but since I'm using my blog as a sort of journal I'll write anyway.

May 8, Jacob went to preschool and then stayed after for a birthday party. When he got there his teacher asked if he was allowed to swim and I told her that he's not a real strong swimmer yet so he needed either a life vest or someone to help out. She has life vests so she promised to make him wear one. I felt fine with that so I said he could swim.

About 3:00 that afternoon, I got a call. "Nanette, there's been an accident. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" at this point, I'm just thinking he's hurt himself and I'll have to go pick him up early (a little annoyed that I'll have to wake Daniel up early from his nap). "Jacob was just pulled from the bottom of the pool and he's not breathing. He has a pulse but Shawn (Varney) is giving him rescue breaths and the EMTs are on their way. You need to speak to the police officer right now." (this was not what I expected nor ever wanted to hear on the other end of the phone). The police officer told me again what happened and then asked how long before I could SAFELY get to the house. I would have to wait a few minutes for my neighbor to get home from picking up her daughter at school (so she could watch Daniel and Abigail) and then I could leave so I told him 20 minutes. He then said that the EMTs would have come and taken him to the hospital by then so I should wait at home and he would call to let me know which hospital to meet them at.

I didn't want to do that but even more I didn't want Daniel and Abigail to see the scene at the pool so I decided to wait at home. I, of course called Fred immediately and told him what happened so now we both felt helpless and in total limbo. I tried calling my dad but kept getting bumped straight to his voicemail so finally I left a message (I really didn't want to have to do that). I called Cristi at least 2 more times just to get an update on things. Jacob wasn't breathing but still had a pulse, Jacob was breathing and screaming as the emts worked on him, Jacob will be going to the hospital soon but still no info on where... I saw that Angie Pruitt was home so I ran across the street and told her what happened and asked her to watch the kids. Still waiting for the call - where to go to see my baby... talked to Fred on the phone several times with no news... call my home teacher -Ryan Hooley (who just happens to work half days on Fridays) to meet Fred at the hospital to give Jacob a blessing...

Finally, around 4:00 the police officer calls and says they've just landed the life-flight helicopter and will be taking him to University Hospital. I immediately call Fred - he works about a mile away from there and could make it before me of course. He flies out of the office and I leave, asking Angie to please let the Relief Society president know so she can check on Cristi. I call the school and tell them I'm picking up Isabelle early then we get on the road. It's after four o'clock on a friday afternoon so traffic is not so great... On my way I call my sisters to tell them the news. One is home and I tell her, the other isn't so I give a basic message to her daughter, "Jacob's had an accident and is in the hospital". I get there and it's packed! University Hospital is the county hospital so it serves the poor, indigent, uninsured and prisoners. It also is the medical school's teaching hospital. Fred, Ryan & Melissa Hooley and Jeremy Pruitt have all beaten me there, they've already given him a blessing and the hospital staff takes me back immediately.

Jacob is lying there unconscious with his arms tied down and a breathing tube down his throat. He looks so small and fragile. At some point, he had been breathing on his own but isn't anymore so the machine is doing it for him. It looks so surreal. I feel like someone punched me in the stomach. I almost can't walk. The doctors and nurses keep telling me things about his condition, asking questions about his health history, etc. I don't really remember all they said and at this point I don't think it matters! He keeps waking up, trying to cry and take the tube out. He looks so scared and yet not really all the way there. It kills me to see it. I go out to get Isabelle because they only allow two visitors at a time and notice that our Elder's quorum president (David Kimball) has shown up. This is pretty amazing because he's a vice-president at a bank and going through alot of difficult stuff that keeps him at work around 15 hours a day (usually more). At this point all I can think of (besides Jacob) is how Cristi is doing. He says that people are trying to contact her but she's not answering her phone so they're sending someone over to check on her.

The ER, as I said earlier, is the county hospital so there are police everywhere and prisoners handcuffed to railings on the wall. There are people with open wounds in their heads and sick people littering the hallways so I'm thrilled when around 6:30 they take us up to the PICU. They get us settled and the doctor talks to us again (stuff I still don't remember!) then ask us to step out so they can do an assessment on Jacob (I guess it can be upsetting to parents to watch some of the stuff they do?). We do and just at that moment, walking in to check on us is the Relief Society presidency (Tracy Gudmundson, Sara Kimball and Suzanne Bergen). Three women who are busy with career and family brought us blankets, snacks, a toy for Jacob and a book to write in. I know that I would drop everything to help someone in need but it means so much to me that so many would do it for us.

We're able to go back in within just a few minutes and the nurse, again starts asking all kinds of questions which actually gives us a missionary opportunity when she asks about our religion. I don't know if it will ever go farther but at least we hopefully planted a seed. We decide I'll stay the night and Fred will sleep at home to hopefully give the kids some little bit of stability so the nurse shows the way to the parents sleeping room. Then Fred and I just sit and wait. We watch all the machines - checking blood oxygen levels, breathing for him, monitoring his heart, you name it. He even has a tube in his stomach because he's vomited several times (he was at a party = lots of food!) and they want to get out as much that's left as possible so he doesn't keep doing that. Apparently when he vomited, he aspirated some of it and that's not a good thing. I learn later that because of that they were really worried he'd get pneumonia.

I keep trying to call my Dad and AnneMarie without much luck. I leave a message on her cell phone but nothing more on his. Fred calls Carl and we talk for a while. I mention that I can't reach my dad and Carl gets an idea "He's been writing updates on facebook throughout their ride so I'll check it out". I thank Carl and we hang up and go back to our watch and wait positions.

Finally around 11:00 Fred decides to go home and I'll go to sleep. Of course, I just lay there worrying. Then I get a text from AnneMarie, she's in Hawaii and didn't get her messages because they have spotty cell service out there so she's trying to figure out what's going on. We spend the next hour or so texting back and forth about the situation. I'm actually grateful for the distraction and by the time we're done I'm actually tired.

I sleep about 4 hours, which is way more than I expected, so I figure that's pretty good. I go in to see Jacob and it's all the same as before. Machine breathing for him almost 100% of the time. The doctors are concerned because they can't get him to respond to simple commands. I remember the nurse saying they were giving him different meds to keep him sedated and out of pain so I ask about that but they say he should still be able to respond to commands such as "squeeze my hand" etc.

Fred calls and tells me that he and Carl did research based on facebook & blog comments Dad & Georgia made and they've located him. Fred already called Georgia and told her but I need to talk to Dad so I call the number he gives me. Turns out that there is no cell service in the town they were staying so we had to call the hotel to contact him. I tell him all I know and we sit on the phone and cry. I promise to keep him updated and get off the phone so I can call others.

Fred comes in around 10:00 and I go home to help Isabelle - it's prom and she wants to go still. Melissa comes over to do her hair and I keep working on last minute details with her dress. Two different families brought us dinner last night so we're good on food (if nothing else, we Mormons know how to feed people!). The day flies by and suddenly it's time to take Isabelle and Adam to the dance. I drop them off and then back to the hospital. During the day Jacob has gone from completely unconscious to awake and responding to commands. Not only that but he is breathing 100% on his own and has had the breathing tube removed. Fred and I are elated but cautioned that there is a long road ahead.

It's Angie and Jeremy's anniversary and they've been out to eat so they come by with some pie and get to visit for just a minute with Jacob. He's pretty out of it still and just wants me to hold him alot. Fred leaves at the same time they do since it's pretty late and we've been having Melissa watch kids for a while.

Since he's not on the machines anymore, I get to sleep in the room with Jacob. It's so uncomfortable but I get to be right there and hold his hand all night so there's no place else I'd be. He wakes up a few times during the night and I'm glad I'm there so he's not as afraid.

Sunday morning, Fred comes in around 9:30. before I go home to shower and maybe take a little nap, we talk to the doctors. They tell us that MAYBE they can get him into a transitional room that afternoon but that he would have to stay at the hospital at least 48 hours after he goes into one. He has to stay in the transitional room (not as high maintenance as ICU but more than a regular room) for at least 24 hours, then he has to be transferred to a regular room for at least another 24 hours.

I figure I'll drop Isabelle, Abigail and Daniel off at church and then go home to rest. At the last minute, I decide I'll go to church since I probably won't sleep anyway so (unshowered) I throw on some clothes and we go. We get there well into Sacrament Meeting so we just stand up in back. Afterwards, of course it's a barrage of questions and all I can tell them is he's doing okay but no promises as to long term effects, etc. I finally see Cristi and get to talk to her where she clears up alot of questions for me. They announce his accident in Relief Society and send around a food/babysitting sign up sheet.

At about 1:30 I get a text from Fred "Jacob's well enough to go home, they can't keep him here any longer he's doing so well. Come get us." Wow! a few hours ago they're saying BEST case scenario he'd go home Tuesday afternoon and now they can't do anything more for him! I let Sara know about it and she announces at the end of RS that he's coming home. I send Abby & Daniel home with the Bergen's then Isabelle and I get in the car and rush over to the hospital. By the time we get there, they're ready to go. We pick up his stuff and leave. Jacob wants to see the helicopter so they all go over and I get the van so he doesn't have to walk so far when they're done. We come home and Jacob falls asleep along with the rest of us. Later, around 6:00 there's a few kids outside playing and Jacob asks to go out with them. So we go, and I'm thinking "is this the child who had little chance for survival just three days ago???"

Monday, Mikkel calls. He's on his way to Mexico and has a calling card so while on his layover in Dallas he calls. We hadn't called him yet because 1) he was so far away and unable to do anything so we didn't want him to be too upset until we had more information and 2) we knew he was calling Monday and we could give him whatever we knew then. So, I have to retell the whole story and Mikkel is pretty blown away. He's glad though that we decided to wait to tell him. We talk for about 30 minutes and he has to go get food and get on his plane to Mexico. Man, I miss him!

Since then, he's had a follow up appointment where the doctor, who's known him for nearly five years says that if I hadn't told her the story, she would never be able to tell anything had ever happened. He was real quiet and introspective for a few days but he's definitely my Jacob now.

Speaking to the various people involved, I've learned this much: Jacob was wearing his life-vest and swimming. The Varney's were in town house hunting and felt like they should stop by and see how Cristi was doing that day. While they were there, Cristi went inside to frost cupcakes and left the Varney's to watch the swimmers. Suddenly, Emma Cooper says "Jacob's been holding his breath too long!" CJ Elder went over and started pulling Jacob out of the water, meanwhile, Shawn was there pulling him out at the same time. He had a pulse but wasn't breathing so Shawn started giving him rescue breaths. (a side note here, Emma and CJ are six years old, how did they know what it looks like to be under too long? How is it that they even noticed? Also, Shawn is an ER doctor for the Army. He not only is an ER doctor but one of the best in the world, they send him all over to teach and train ER staff. How is it he just happened to be there where he would be needed so badly?). It's estimated that Jacob was underwater around 2 minutes. The EMT's have a scoring system they give for each patient they have to treat that ranges from 3 to 16. Three is the worst... they gave him a four at the time they brought him in.

I've been trying very hard not to talk about this around him so Jacob won't "recover" memories he never had but willing to listen to him when he wants to tell me something he really does remember. He tells me things every so often, the hardest thing to hear was that when he fell in, he says he started calling my name. He kept calling for me to come help him and I wasn't there. I'm so grateful somebody was.

Abigail

We went to Costco today and in the parking lot we saw a man. He wasn't just your average man... he was totally buffed - huge! Like he could squish me with two fingers big! He was wearing a tank top and walking into the liquor store (in Texas they can only sell wine and beer in regular stores so even Costco has it's own liquor store). He was also covered in tattoos. So Abigail looks at him and says "you colored all over yourself, you shouldn't do that."

I was mortified!

He just smiled and laughed and kept walking.

Mexico - Part 3

Here is the latest from Mikkel:

"The Brethren made the decision to halt travel to and from Mexico. They will not even think about reversing this decision until at least the 12th. If they give us the green light then, we'll be out of here between the 14th and 16th I assume. If things really are that bad though they might just keep us here even longer than that. If worst comes to worst, we might get shipped somewhere state side until we can resume travel to Mexico. I'm pretty bummed about it but I have faith that the Lord knew what he was doing when he called me to Veracruz, I'll be okay. I'm not going to tell you to fast for us, but the missionaries coming from and going to Mexico could sure use a miracle.

I bought hand sanitizer that works for 4 hours without re-application. So my hands will be fine. I'm absolutely not buying a surgical mask, sorry, but that will look stupid and there's no proof it keeps out swine flu. You need to not worry, I am a missionary. Do you remember the blessing Presidentg Freckleton gave me before I came out here? He specifically said that I would be surrounded by disease and that I would not be subject to it."

Although I'm glad he's not going to Mexico right now, I am bummed that I most likely won't get a call for Mother's day :( It makes sense, they don't really have the capacity for all 1500+ missionaries to make phone calls in one day but it does make me sad, I've been looking forward to that since March 4th! Now I guess I have to wait all the way until Christmas, man I'm really bummed now.

Mexico Update

Okay, I finally got my nerve up and called the LDS travel office. They aren't sending anyone to Mexico until at least May 6 (that's only two days later than orginally planned) because some haven't received their visas yet and because they wanted to keep an eye on the flu problem. There's only one mission in Mexico that has halted all activity so all the rest are still working although possibly not at full speed.

I've written Mikkel probably 5 letters this week telling him to get tons of hand sanitizer and surgical masks. He's probably tired of me nagging him long distance, I keep apologizing for it and then reminding him it's my job... I'm the Mom!

Part of my concern is that healthcare down there isn't as good as here and many providers are just turning sick people away so they don't get sick. Isn't it their job to treat the sick??? I hope there are some members who are doctors/nurses down there who'll take good care of him.

I will be happy for him to leave only because that means he can call me from the airport! I'm going to have my cell phone permanently attached to me all day that day. I told him on mother's day he shouldn't worry about the time, just call when he can. Even if we're in the middle of church I'll answer!

Mexico

I've had a few people ask if Mikkel is still going to Mexico next week. The answer is, I don't know yet. The U.S. government is recommending all non-essential travel to Mexico be postponed but that's just a recommendation and I'm not sure I want to call the LDS travel office to ask. I don't want to be known as a pest there and since I've actually called a few other times, I might be at risk for that title!

I'm sending him a package and I'm so tempted to add hand sanitizer and face masks to it! If I have space I probably will. He'll think I'm being way over-protective but that's my job, I'm a mom!

I'll update Mikkel's info as I get it!

Sick Again!!

Daniel woke up Thursday morning with a 103 temperature and Abby was coughing a ton still so we spent the morning at the doctors office. Isabelle was still not feeling well after several weeks so I took her in on Friday (it was a day off school - something about the battle of flowers blah, blah, blah... I never really listen when people talk about Fiesta. It just seems like a reason to drink and eat too much. But I digress). So the list of illnesses goes like this - 4 ear infections (A&D), 4 cases of pink eye (A&D), 2 cases of bronchitis (I&D), 2 sinus infections (I&A). Isabelle and Daniel are each on 4 different medications and the Abigail is on 3. Oh, and now Fred has pink eye too, I swear my house is like a petri dish right now! Of course, this means I missed church AGAIN today. At least I made it last week and I'm told I won't be considered inactive until I've been away for 3 months so I have a whole two months to go before then.

Mikkel is set to leave for Mexico a week from tomorrow and he is so happy to get out of the MTC! I'm totally nervous because he has a layover in Mexico City and the swine flu is really bad there right now. He also has a layover in Dallas so I told Fred I thought we should take a road trip to Dallas because I've always wanted to see the airport there. He just shakes his head smiles.

When I was worrying out loud about the swine flu, Fred said "Don't worry, he'll be fine" to which I replied "it's my job to worry, I'm the mom" to which he replied "I know and it's my job as the dad to tell you not to worry" and I said "well, it's not working" then he says "it's my job to tell you not to worry, not to be effective". Well, I guess he has me there!

Abigail was counting the pictures of the kids on the wall and then came to me and asked "Mommy, why do you have too many kids?" How do I answer that one??? (Isabelle was in the background laughing and saying, "I wonder too sometimes!")

Gardening

Well, we finally got our garden planted. We're growing jalapenos, cucumbers, peas, sweet yellow peppers, cilantro, Italian parsley, basil, tomatoes (roma and grape), sunflowers and miniature sweet red/orange/yellow pepper mix. We'll have everything we need to make my favorite foods - Mexican and Italian - YUM! This year we decided to grow our tomatoes upside-down so my handyman (aka hubby) quickly built me a trellis. Yes, it's the "topsy-turvy" version of tomatoes! Actually, I bought a more stout one from my favorite gardening catalog but it's the same idea as the tv infomercial.

Mikkel is leaving for Mexico in 22 days and can't wait to get started. He told us the other day that he found out that he'll get to baptize in the ocean, rivers or ponds (that would have crocodiles in them.) Not the information a mom needs to hear! He also said he'd be bathing and doing laundry in 50 gallon drums (maybe at the same time even!) which I actually knew about but he didn't I guess. He's so excited and just doing great. In the MTC they take the calls from people who see the commercials and want to know more about our church. He took one from someone last week and started teaching her about prophets and our core beliefs, then he committed her to attend church today. He gets to call her back Tuesday to see if she went and what she thought about it. He also taught his first all Spanish lesson Friday so I'm excited to see how he did. The only time they don't hear exclusively Spanish is at mealtime so it's pretty much immersion. Speaking of mealtime, he ran into a couple from Arizona who are on their way to Germany. They started talking to him and told him to remember to write his mother and suddenly he realized he was talking to the Despains (from the old 9th ward). They see each other practically every day at the cafeteria... kinda cool.

Last night Abigail came into our room screaming that she was going to "spill" (that's the kids' word for throw-up). She promptly did and went straight to bed. This morning though, I was feeling horrible so she and I ended up staying home from church. That wouldn't have been so bad but I've missed church (due to the kids and my own illnesses) three out of the past four weeks (and the other week was conference)! Fred mentioned that we never expected to be inactive from following the counsel to have more children but that seems like the case when you have everyone getting sick all the time! Well, maybe we'll all be better next week. If not, maybe I won't be sick and since it's not the 4th Sunday, Fred can stay home.

Me - "What should we plant in our garden?"
Abigail - "How about chickies?!?" (chicken nuggets)
Jacob - "How about bunnies?!?"
Abigail - "I want to plant dirt too!!"
(At this point I almost drove off the road I was laughing so hard!)

Age Definitions

Jacob's definitions of age;

-Baby - self explanatory
-Children or Kids - someone who is his age (or around his age). Abigail and Daniel would also be children.
-Brothers or Sisters - someone older (teenager). Mikkel and Isabelle are in this category.
- Bigger like Mom or Dad - again, self-explanatory.
- Way older like Grandpa or Papa - well, he said it.

Out of the mouths of babes!

Tooth Fairy

About 6 weeks ago, Jacob had a loose tooth and asked Lola to pull it out for him. He put it under his pillow and the next morning the tooth fairy had come and left him $1 and bubble gum (sugarless of course!). He was able to pay tithing for the first time since that's the first money he's "made" so I taught him how to do it and that he should give it to the Bishop, etc. Fast forward to the other day when he discovered another loose tooth...

"Mom, do you know what happens when Lola pulls this tooth out for me? I put it under my pillow and the tooth fairy brings me bubble gum and Tithing!"

Abigail's Song

Abigail was singing this song today...
"Jesus wants me for a sun-beep!"

Also, yesterday on the way to the airport I hear her say this...
"Jacob, give your arm to me and I'll pinch you."
To which Jacob replies - "Okay" (he does and she pinches him)
Then they decide it's her turn to be pinched and she says...
"Ouch!"
"Do it again."
"Ouch!"
"Do it again."
"Ouch!"
"Do it again"
Then they were done.

Abigail - ism

Abby was trying to get my attention.
"Mommy, mommy, mommy...
Mommy Johanna listen to me!"
(that's her middle name, not mine!)

Our Trip - So Far

These are in backwards chronological order. If you want to see them from the beginning you'll have to start from the bottom... sorry, I'm still figuring this blog stuff out!




More snowballs - after the kids pooped out.











He decided he didn't like getting snow in the face.








Catching snowflakes on our tongues.














He didn't like the snow much.








Putting Mikkel's nametag on for the first time.










.


Outside the MTC.








Look at that proud father!














Jacob and Mikkel outside the MTC - Jacob got a quarter for wearing his "Future Missionary" tag that Maren gave him for Christmas.



Mikkel and the little ones.

We decided to fly to Utah instead of drive and I couldn't be more happy about that! I mean, I still hate to fly (I'm always convinced that plane's goin'down!) but I'd rather fly for 8 hours (not really but with getting there early and layovers, it adds up to about that) than drive for 22! Anyway, we got here Saturday afternoon.

On Monday Mikkel, Jacob, Abigail, Fred, Aubrey, Nick and I all went tubing at Soldier Hollow (where the biathlon and cross country skiing events were held in the 2002 Olympics) and had a great time. That night we went to JCW's (a yummy hamburger place) for dinner and tried to go bowling but the wait was too long so we came home and ate ice cream instead.

Tuesday we picked up Mikkel's suit and pants he was having hemmed and went to visit the Starks in Salt Lake. We also went to La Frontera and had smothered burritos for lunch. I know what you're thinking - You live in Texas, why would you get Mexican food in Utah?!? Well, the answer is - 1. This is Sonoran style, we can't get that style in Texas and no one in San Antonio even knows what we're talking about when we try to describe it 2. We used to go to that restaurant when we lived in Salt Lake and it was a trip down memory lane. That night we packed up Mikkel's stuff and tried to sleep.

Wednesday was d-day. We got up early so Mikkel could say goodby to his cousins (also because we couldn't sleep - too nervous I guess) and got the final stuff packed and in the car. At about 10am we took pictures of Mikkel, Abigail and Daniel since they weren't going to the MTC and of course I started to cry. Then we hopped in the car (Mikkel, Fred, Jacob and I) went to Einstein's for bagels (Mikkel's "last meal" request) and then to the MTC. From that point on, I was a basket case so I really don't like any of my pictures but I'll post them anyway because I know you'll all want to see them. When it was time to say goodbye I lost it! Fred and Mikkel even had a few leaks. The MTC president said it was like taking off a bandaid - fast is best, but it was soo hard to do! Even when we got back to the car I sobbed for a few minutes longer. I know he'll have a great time and be a total spiritual giant from this whole thing but I'm still going to miss him! Afterwards, AnneMarie took me out for lunch (more Mexican food - yum!) and then Fred, Gary and I watched Errand of Angels.

Last night I talked to Susie and Dad who each called to see how I was doing. Dad said that taking his missionary to the MTC was in the top three worst days of his life along with taking his first child to college for the first time and losing Mom. Man, I have to feel this way again? I'm not sure I can do it any more times!

This morning we woke up to snow on the ground and the kids were so excited! We drove up to Park City and walked around a little then played in the snow. Jacob and I had a snowball fight but when I accidentally hit him in the face he decided he was done and they all sat in the car while I threw snowballs at Fred and made snow angels (they were missing all the fun and Fred was documenting it all on "film"). We had told Jacob that Mikkel won't be home until he's 7 years old and today on the way up to Park City he asked "Am I seven yet?". That just about broke my heart, it's going to seem like forever to these kids that Mikkel's gone!

If you're wondering why I'm not including Isabelle in any of this it's because she ended up having to stay home so she wouldn't miss any more school (she missed a whole week when she had the flu). We're sad she's not here with us but she is having a great time staying with her friend Celina.

Tomorrow we're going to try and go to a gallery in Provo that sells some amazing prints we would love to buy for our living room. I say try because I don't know if we can actually do it with three kids five and younger... we'll see!

Jacob in his prayers last night - "Thank you that our plane didn't get shot down or catch on fire" (and I thought I had flying issues!)

Nothing Much...

So, I'm not getting to this blog very often these days. I always wonder how some people can find time to do this every day! I was speaking to a friend at church whose youngest started Kindergarten this year and she said she's waiting for the morning when she wakes up and realizes that she has nothing to do that day. She thought it would've happened by now... guess I'll be busy til I die!

We're on the countdown for Mikkel to report to the MTC. He went to the temple last week, gave his two-week notice at work, got his typhoid shot and started his packing check list. We were going to drive up to take him but decided it's worth it to fly. This gives us more time there and WAY less on the road stress! We're waiting to buy his suits until we get up there since Provo has way more inventory to choose from and he's so thin that he needs a suit that has to be special ordered if we bought it here. Also, there's a place where we can get tons of stuff and they have a two-year wear out warranty on it all! Sounds like the place for a missionary to buy his gear.

We sold the goat and Isabelle didn't even shed a tear which completely surprised me. This cements in my mind her ability to go into an animal - related field. She seems to have the right mind-set with all this, she loves the animal but realizes his fate and is willing to let him go when it's time. I'm not sure I could have done that at her age, in fact, I KNOW I couldn't have done that then. I couldn't take care of an animal as much as she has and then just let him go like that... I get too emotionally attached.

Abigail-ism - "Mommy, I like to read my scrippers!" (scriptures)
Jacob-ism - "Cade doesn't live here anymore. He moved to Hannah Montana." (well, he actually moved to Montana)

I'm Baaack!

My sister informed me that she didn't know I even had a blog, to which I replied "Yes you do, you've replied to posts several times!" After thinking about it for a minute she said "Oh yeah, I remember now, I guess I forgot because IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE YOU POSTED ANYTHING!!" She's right, I've been a blogger loser... sorry!

Life's been fun and busy since I last posted. We've been trying to get things ready for Mikkel to leave on his mission for one thing. He reports on March fourth so we haven't had to rush like crazy but there's quite a lot to do. My current project is to find somewhere for Mikkel to get the typhoid shot and then figure it around his schedule so if he gets sick from the shot he won't miss too much work. He's been working a lot lately (38 hours this week!) which means he'll be able to pay for a larger portion of his mission but it also means that I have to do a lot of the scheduling and running around for him.

Christmas and New Year were wonderful. Santa brought us a "jumperline" (trampoline) and a puppy. Mikkel got mission stuff - of course! Jacob got a golf set (little tikes, not a real one!), Abigail - a kitchen, Daniel - a little tikes cozy coupe and Isabelle - clothes. We didn't go anywhere so it was nice and relaxing. I really wanted to spend Christmas with just our little family, I think this will have been our last (all together) for a while so I was being all sentimental. New Year's Eve was spent playing games and eating a ton of food at our friends home. We also went out to dinner with another couple and I tried sushi for the first time. It was alot of fun to go out with just adults and then spend the rest of the night with all of us together. Again, all sentimental!

We also celebrated Jacob's and Abigail's birthdays with a donut party, it was fun and totally easy... the kids played outside on the swingset and then came in to eat donuts and open presents, then they went home! I loved it! Mikkel had his 19th birthday just the other day but we haven't had a party yet... maybe we could just have all the big kids play on the swingset and eat doughnuts?!?

Isabelle was in the city swim meet where she dropped three seconds on her breast stroke, yippee! She showed her goat in the county livestock show and had a good time with that even though they didn't place.

I had surgery on January 8th so that has slowed me down a ton! I was told no activity whatsoever for two weeks (yeah, right!) and a total recovery time of six weeks, so AnneMarie came to help out last week. It was so nice to have her here, I was able to get a lot of rest knowing she was taking care of the kids and house. She left yesterday and already the house is a wreck! We took her out to lunch on Saturday to a place we've never been and it was pretty good. If you watch Throwdown with Bobby Flay, it was the place where he had the puffy taco challenge. Isabelle had cabrito and we each had a puffy taco with our meal. I can see why they were on Bobby Flay's show, they were pretty tasty! Cabrito is slow roasted goat kid and it was YUMMY!

Our next adventure is the FFA/4H livestock show next week where Felix (the goat) will actually be sold and we'll be goat free until this summer. Isabelle is also in her last meet next weekend and then she'll start water polo... the reason she's been slogging through swimming all season! She loves playing water polo and wants to join a league but they're all too far away (30 minute drive) so she has to settle for school water polo. Finally, we're going to drive to Utah to take Mikkel to the missionary training center where he'll learn Spanish and practice teaching so that when he gets to Mexico he'll be (slightly) more effective than if he just went straight there. He'll still have a lot to learn of course but nine weeks in training will certainly help!