It's Just Wrong

I'm not sure how it happened. I used to just put the blanket next to his face. Somehow it evolved into this . . .


I lay him down. Put a blanket over his feet. The whole time he is just waiting for the end moment . . . for me to put his birdie blanket over his face. Often he has hands up there to grab it. Other times he immediately rolls over. Occasionally he is so conked out that he just leaves it there. Tom came in and saw this and told me, "Rachel, that's just wrong."

Never Knew Manure Could Be So Exciting

Last year Cyn and Jeremy decided to turn their basement into a walk-out basement. This meant a lot of digging to expose the basement wall and in the end the backyard was destroyed. With the basement renovations, they were unable to fix up the backyard. In the hopes of fixing it up this summer, Jeremy had been bringing home a pile of horse manure from work each week. The reason for the manure is that their backyard is clay, which is not very good for growing grass. You have to mix manure in with the clay to create good top soil that is good for growing grass. They had hoped to be further along by the time we got there, but unfortunately those horses at work just weren't pooping fast enough.

Well a local farmer and friend in the ward saw they were in need and brought a whole backyard of manure. Jeremy borrowed a tractor and spent the afternoon moving around manure and tilling it in.



We were all excited to have a yard full of manure and to see things moving along. We can't wait to finally see the end product. It'll be nice and definitely worth all the effort . . . and all the poo.

A Bead Fair and Some Fun

Friday morning Tom, Cynthia, Angie, Tyson, Travis, Megan (Trav's girlfriend), Declan, and I headed out to the annual bead fair. There were a lot of beads. With empty pockets, we mainly just looked and followed the expert shoppers, Cynthia and Angie, around. Soon Tom and I realized we really needed to get some lunch; in fact, I was getting dizzy, which is really unusual for me.

We couldn't find much, but did find a Joe's Crabshack across the street. I've been wanting seafood for along time, so Joe's sounded great. I got a yummy shrimp dish with shrimp done 3 different ways, and Tom got a big pail full of stuff, including crawfish.

While Tom was finishing up . . . because it takes FOREVER to eat crawfish, I grabbed one of the crawfish heads and put it on my finger and started growling at Declan. As you can see . . .



he absolutely loved it!!! He was having a blast!

After filling ourselves, we headed back to the fair to finish off shopping with Cyn and Angie. With their bags full and their shopping complete, we headed home with a quick stop to Costco, where Declan got some bonding time with his cousins Travis and Tyson. They were really cute with him and fed him ice cream, so he really enjoyed them.

We enjoyed the day out with family and really appreciated Madison and Ryan for babysitting the girls so we could do this. Thanks y'all!

Enjoying the View

I have always loved looking at nature. One of my favorite things are mountains. I have missed the mountains since we moved from here 10 years ago. I remember as kid, imagining the billowing clouds to be distant mountains.

Now that we are back, I love that I get to see the mountains every day. They are awe-inspiring. They bring me peace. They remind me of beauty that God has created for us.

We came outside one morning and the clouds were so low, and I loved the look of them against the backdrop of the mountains.


I am really glad to be back enjoying the view!!

Gardening at Grandma Johnson's

We've been to my Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house a couple of times. She loves to garden and has filled up most of her backyard with her garden. The girls enjoy going out back and looking at everything. The first time we were there we discovered strawberries that were ready for picking, so, being the strawberry-picking experts that they are, the girls picked all the ripe ones they could find and just loved it.

This time we went to another part of the garden. We discovered some tomatoes growing.


The real treat was discovering snap peas ready to pick. The girls had never tried any before, so I was excited to see what they thought.


As you can see, someone discovered she did like them a lot and stayed outside with me to pick a bowlful.


It makes me excited to have a garden one day and to be able to go outside and make fun discoveries of things ready to be picked. I can't wait!!

Thanks Grandma for letting us pick some of your food. We had fun doing it!

Fun Times

Since being here, the girls have made a few new friends. Madison decided to snap a few pictures one day of the kids and the friends who they play with, and I love the ones that she took.




Behind Shelby is Carson. He's Taylor's age, and Cynthia babysits him a couple of times a week. The girls have especially enjoyed playing prisoner with him. This usually ends up with Payden and Macey, Carson's sister who's Payden's age, being locked up in a room with Shelby, Taylor, and Carson standing outside as guards.


Here's Macey. Payden has really enjoyed playing with her and having a buddy her own age. Besides being locked up as prisoners, they have also enjoyed playing with the girls' collection of Littlest Pet Shops.


Here's the group. You'll notice Cade, the big brother of Carson and Macey, as well as wise-guy Gage, our next-door neighbor who thought it'd be funny to cover up Ryan's face. The girls have really enjoyed Gage and Ryan as they will play hide-n-go-seek with them.


Here's Madison, the photographer, with her fun 4th of July braces.

The one person who the girls would LOVE to be their friend, who still isn't, is Francis. Unfortunately, most of her days are filled with her hiding . . . especially from the girls. Hopefully one day she'll warm up to the girls.


The girls have been having such a fun time and have enough friends, cousins included, that they have transitioned to living here in Utah without any problems. It looks like it'll definitely be a good summer.

Dinner with Adam and Carlee

Adam and Carlee invited us over for dinner one Sunday, so we headed out after church and some naps. They'd decided to make us Carlee's pizza. Let me just say . . . it was delicious and we've found a new way to make pizza.

After filling our tummies with many yummy varieties of pizza, we sat down to talk and let the kids play. They had a fun time wrestling and jumping and playing with the pillows. Jack was really excited to join in with the girls. Hopefully they didn't teach him anything too naughty.



At one point, he came over to me, and I flipped him over my knee. He decided it was fun and came back for more.


Here was our head chef for the evening. It was all so delicious that we have requested the recipe, so we can have it again when they're not around to make it for us.


We had a fun time with them and are glad to be able to see them a few times before they move to Connecticut. Thanks again Adam and Carlee!!! It was a fun . . . and delicious . . . evening!

Night Out

Anytime we come to Utah, we always have to make a trip to our favorite restaurant - Brick Oven. Yummm!!! On Saturday afternoon, we headed out for an early dinner with everyone. As usual, the food was delicious.




Since we were down by BYU already, we decided to head to their museum to see the Walter Wick exhibit. He's the creator of the I Spy and Do You See What I See books, which our girls LOVE.


Unfortunately, they were closed by the time we got there, so we took the opportunity to walk around campus for a bit. The girls enjoyed hearing the bell tower play.


Declan really enjoyed being on Jeremy's shoulders and kept peaking down to look into Jeremy's face. It was cute!




Can you see what Ryan's mimicking?

We enjoyed visiting BYU. In fact, when we got there, Taylor wanted to know which class was hers. We had to explain that it wouldn't be today, but definitely one day she would have a class there!! We definitely had a good night out!

Healthy Dose of Bum

Well we ended up packing up the girls swimsuits in some unknown box, so we had to buy some new ones for the summer. The trend this summer is for the suits to have cut-outs in the back. As Shelby was trying on her swimsuit, she kinda got stuck a little . . .


Funny!!! What a cute bum!

Rockin' Out

We went to see Night at the Museum 2 and afterwards the girls were drawn to this . . .


Even though we have Rock Band and not Guitar Hero, they were excited to rock out. They love Rock Band. In fact, during the movie previews, one of the previews used Eye of the Tiger, one of the songs we have for Rock Band, and Payden started yelling, "Rock Band. It's Rock Band." It was so cute and funny.

Taylor + Eating =

It didn't take Cyn, Jeremy, Madison, and Ryan too long to discover that sitting next to Taylor at meal times is not the best ideas. Even though she has been feeding herself since she was about 9 months old and even though we have told her numerous times how to eat, most times she ends up looking like this . . . one big mess. And when you're cleaning up afterwards . . . you can always tell where she's been sitting. We just hope that some day she'll figure this whole thing out. Until then, be warned!

Wanted: Home for Family of 6

I remember the day very well. It was sometime in April, and Tom and I were headed to the movies. The kids were tucked in bed while 2 of our favorite babysitters sat downstairs watching tv and eating snacks. We were almost to the theater when a thought hit me. I turned to Tom and asked if he'd call his sister Cynthia and see if we could live with them this summer just in case. Hahaha. I should know better by now. If there's anything we've learned through this dental school process, it's that life almost never goes as we plan. I knew what her response would be, but I wanted to make sure. Sure enough, her answer, "Did you even need to ask?"

Well, May 20 came and we found out Tom's WREB results . . . he had failed one section and would need to retake it. That would put off him getting a job for at least another month and a half and suddenly plans had changed. We would need somewhere to live while Tom retook the WREB, waited to get a license, and found a job.

Fortunately, we have these wonderful people in our lives who were willing to take a family of 6 into their home.

Jeremy and Cynthia


Madison


Ryan


Francis . . . okay so she wasn't so willing. She's not a fan of kids, and we brought 4, but she's slowly adjusting to the fact that we're here for a bit and is actually tolerating the kids quite well. Especially the numerous petting and hiding her in pillows and placing Littlest Pet Shop objects all over her and the occasional yanks and pulls.


So with our prayers answered by 4 wonderful people, we moved in on June 1. Here is our new home for now:


Here's the street we live on:


When we take walks, we go around the corner to cross by these fields and look down at the mountains by Orem and Provo.


We also get a good look at the entrance to the Alpine Loop, which winds itself through the mountains to Sundance and Provo Canyon.


We also can see the mountains that head towards the Salt Lake area.


Around the corner is the farm that we drive by quite frequently.


This is the stable on the farm that we drive by quite frequently.


These are the cows that live in the stable on the farm that we drive by quite frequently (and occasionally walk by).


About 2 houses away from where we live is our church, so we get to enjoy a nice walk to and from church each Sunday.


In the backyard is a nice huge deck where we enjoy eating dinner in the cool Utah evenings.


Although at the time the backyard is just dirt and manure (it's being prepared to be seeded), we do get a beautiful view of the mountains.


So I'm sure their lives have been disrupted. The days are noisier. The house is a bit messier. Their is a lot more chaos. The nights aren't as quiet. They get to watch more kids TV then they care to. We're sorry for the disruption, but hope Cynthia and Jeremy and Madison and Ryan know how grateful we are, how much they mean to us, and how much their kindness means to us. We love y'all!!!

Leaving San Antonio

Leaving was difficult, much like our time there in San Antonio. When we'd gone to bed the night before, everything was ready. The house empty and cleaned. Our bags were packed. We'd slept in a hotel so that we could get up and go. All we needed to do was drop off our keys, and we'd be done.

When we woke up, I had a feeling we weren't going to be able to leave that easily. Declan had had a cold for over a week. That morning he seemed to have moved on to something else. I had thought maybe an ear infection, but wasn't quite sure. I did know that he was sick enough to see a doctor and that I wanted some medications for him before we started our LONG journey to Utah. Sick babies and long car drives definitely don't go together.

Well our pediatrician isn't open on the weekends. We hunted around and finally found an after hours clinic that we could go to, but it wouldn't open until 11. It was so frustrating. Usually when we leave to go somewhere, we're never ready to leave on time. This was the first time we were actually ready, so I had been excited that we'd be able to leave as planned. Ha! That's what I get. We got ready and left to go take him to the doctor. Since we had lots of time to wait, we went and dropped off our keys to our landlord and then headed back to the clinic to wait in line for them to open.

About an hour later we were on our way back to the hotel with a diagnosis - sinus infection - and an antibiotic. Amen! The girls and my parents and siblings were at the parking lot when we got to the hotel, so we said our goodbyes and got on the road. Since it was lunchtime, we decided to get some lunch and gas in Boerne (a city outside of San Antonio), so we wouldn't have to stop for a bit. Again, San Antonio did not want to let go, and another problem popped up. As we were driving into Boerne, the check engine light came on, and our car started revving low. I looked up in the manual what we should do it, and it was one of those "Go see a mechanic immediately" warning. AHHHHHH!!!! I was dying. I just couldn't believe it. The light had briefly come on a few weeks earlier, but we'd been busy with errands and graduation and stuff and it had gone away, so we hadn't done anything about it. We headed to an auto parts store to get a free check-up. They told us our fuel injectors were dirty and needed to be cleaned. They told us a quick mechanic shop we could go to. At the shop, they said the injectors were so dirty that it'd require a deep cleaning by a mechanic, something they didn't do at their quick shop. We couldn't believe it. Fortunately, Tom's dad is a mechanic, so we gave him a call. He told us what to do so that we'd get to Utah, and then we could get things checked out there. We bought a few bottles of fuel injector cleaner that gets put in your gas tank when you fill up, put a bottle in, and FINALLY headed out of town.

I think it was around 1:30 or 2 at that point. I had already reserved a hotel in Albuquerque, and it was supposed to be no cancellations, so we had to get to Albuquerque that night. Since it's a 12 hour drive I was worried. Plus I was bummed because I'd found a hotel room with 2 closed off bedrooms and an outer area that would have been perfect for the 8 of us. Again, there went our well laid plans.

By the time we in the middle of nowhere in west Texas, I realized there was not way we'd make it to Albuquerque unless we drove until 2 am, which I did not want to do. I made a call to our hotel, told them our situation (it helps to explain things . . . everything), and got a phone number for the same hotel in El Paso. I was still worried that we'd get charged for both hotels because I had made the reservation online and was told no cancellations, but knew we just couldn't make it to Albuquerque. We made it to our hotel in El Paso about 11 that night.

We were so tired that we didn't get up quite as early as I would have liked, but did get on the road about 9:30. Since we had a shorter trip the day before, we had a much longer ride ahead of us. Plus the moving van maxxed out at 65 mph and had to refill about every 200 miles, which slowed us up a lot.

(This is Payden in our hotel in Moab.)

By the time we hit Cortez, CO, I knew I didn't want to drive late into the night just to get there. We decided to stop in Moab, so we could get a good night's sleep and then head out in the morning. Since it would be around a 3-4 hour drive, Karin and I ditched Tom, the Boy, and the moving van on Monday morning and got to Cynthia's house as quickly as possible. About 2 hours after us, Tom and David finally arrived.

Despite the major delays, it was a good trip. The kids did really well. They watched a lot of movies, colored, played with stickers (and dumped them all over the back of the car . . . ahem, Taylor), and honestly did a good job. Declan did really well, especially considering he was a sick baby. We stayed on top of his antibiotic and pain medications and that seemed to make it okay. Karin did ended up moving from the front seat to the middle seat and back about a billion times to help out with the kids. Near the end of our trip, I joked that we should have counted the number of times she had to go back there because it was a lot. The other surprising thing was that west Texas was actually green. I have driven this road many times, and I don't ever remember it being green. Plus there were a lot of rain clouds along the way. It did rain some, but mostly we just got cloudy skies and were protected from having the sun beating down on us. By the second day, the check engine light went off and everything seemed normal with the car.

We were grateful to make it to Cynthia's house with out many problems. Tom and I are especially grateful to Karin and David for being willing to sit in a car/van for many many hours to help us move. We couldn't have done it without them. Thank you!