I Hope They Call Me On A Mission

When I have grown and foot or two. I hope by then I will be ready to teach and preach and work as Missionaries do.




Provo Temple

Hiking the Y

Today we got up early to head to the Y before it got too hot. This was something we said we were going to do when we lived here before, but never did.



After one meltdown, we made it to the top of the Y in 50 minutes to enjoy the view. It was fun to point out different places in Provo that we went to when we lived here 10 years ago. Seven Peaks Waterpark was calling our name, but we didn't have the time to go there.

Ammon needs ALOT to drink and we didn't have enough for him to drink and have enough for the rest of the hike, so he had a tough time and didn't want to keep hiking. Earlier we had walked by a baby deer carcass. Ammon made himself happy by getting two rocks and hitting them together to make a spark to start a camp fire, so he could find the animal that killed the baby deer, and cook it on the fire! It worked to keep him hiking and happy, so we let him hit the rocks together for the next 30 minutes.

Heading down ended up being harder on my knee then going up was on any muscles. Every step it shook and felt as though it was going to buckle underneath me. It was a long 40 minutes to get down and I was SOOO greatful to sit in the van.

Rice-Eccles Stadium

I must start by saying the University of Utah is NOT Simeon's favorite school. Actually he wasn't so thrilled about getting his picture taken here, but we convinced him to get a picture at ALL football stadiums we could.

Salt Lake Temple

We decided since is was Sunday to head to the Salt Lake Temple and walk around. The 1st time we went up it was late morning and the sun was so bright it was hard to take many pictures with the kids not squinting. We forgot to take the flat Leopard (to show where Lemme Leopards went this summer) so we went back in the early evening. We went into the visitors center and saw the beautiful Christus Statue there. We also took a tour (condensed from 40 minutes to 20 minutes) of the conference center. We got to go on the roof as part of the tour. It's awesome up there. They have a 2 acre prairie, hundreds of trees, a beautiful etched/reflecting wall of God's children and the beginning of the water fall that goes down the side of the building.









Rebecca loved the reflecting pool. She was soaked by the time we left the pool.

Between trips to the temple we went up Little Cottonwood canyon. We had a picnic lunch and played in the stream. When we got out of the van the smell of the trees was heavenly and it made me long to live in the mountains. Ammon was filling his pockets with as many rocks as he could, thinking he could smuggle them in the van that way. He had so many rocks in his pockets that his shorts were falling down! Ammon was so cute when he found a black and white spotted rock, he called it a "cow rock". Corrine found one that she called her "couch rock". The kids had so much fun throwing rocks into the stream and Rebecca enjoyed tasting all the rocks she could get her little hands on.










I love this picture because it reminds me so much of Corrine since Rebecca has been born. She follows me around watching what I do and she is such a great little mommy.

1st day in Utah

This morning we made our customary stop in Little America, Wyoming. They have the best $1 ice cream cones and nice bathrooms. (Sorry but writing this after the fact we were so spoiled with their cleanliness, spaciousness, fresh scent and beautiful decor.)
Since the last time we were here they build a playground that the kids LOVED. Ammon was showing off how he could go all the way across the monkey bars and Rebecca discovered her absolute love and excitement over going down a slide!! She was so excited each time we put her on the slide and she'd pull herself forward and go down smiling ear to ear.




When we got to Debbie & Pauls house Grandma and Grandpa Jenson (Kari's grandparents) were waiting for us. (Debbie and Paul were in Hawaii and they let us into the house). It was so great to see them. We went and checked out their condo and we got our first glimpse of the hundreds and hundreds of orange construction cones! When we got back to the house Brea (my cousin) and her 3 girls were excitedly waiting for our kids to arrive.
The kids got along so well. They played inside, outside, in the front yard, in the back yard, you name it where ever they played they were happy and content. They sat outside at dinner (which was delicious) and laughed and talked and had such a great time.

It was Pioneer day in Utah, so the celebrating and playing with cousins went pretty late. Johann and Kenny took the kids (minus Mariah and Rebecca and 2 very tired moms) to see the fireworks. We finally made it to bed around 11:30pm. The kids loved playing with Aliegha and Brooklyn and wanted them to come back over 1st thing in the morning.

Heading Out West

This morning we headed out dark and early to start our trip. When we walked outside @ 5am it was still dark and already 80 degrees and the humidity was awful. It was going to be a scorcher of a day and we were leaving it. YAY!!!
Our goal was to get past Cheyenne and avoid the Rodeo crowd, and we did it. We made it a short 4 hours from Salt Lake.


Simeon got a kick out this cannon!


When Corrine was less then a year old and Simeon around 3 years old we drove out west. On our way we stopped at this Outpost for a break and took a picture of baby Corrine in her pj's on this horse. Rebecca is older then Corrine was, but it's the same horse and she's wearing her pj's just like Corrine was 6 years ago.


We bought our van 8 years ago with 13,000 miles on it. Today by Big Springs Nebraska we hit the 100,000 mile mark. I've hear this is the magic mile marker for transmission problems-so we've been doing lots of praying our van makes it home intact!


In Wyoming we saw LOTS of...

Trains


Oil Drillers


Wind Turbines


Along with our 1st viewing of mountains. Ammon was thrilled to see mountains and kept asking if these were the biggest we'd see, and every hill we went down he'd put his arms up like he was on a roller coaster and squeal with delight! We kept telling him to wait that we'd go up and down BIGGER mountains in a few days.



One of our stops was at the Abraham Lincoln Monument. I love how you come up the hill and round the corner and there on your right is the giant Abraham Lincoln Monument. We had a good time reading about the history of the monument and stretching our legs.


We ended the day with kids tired of being in the van, but ready to get going to finish the drive in the morning.

Swings

The only downside to our swingset is the fact that it only has room for 3 swings at one time, not 4. Since Rebecca joined the ranks of swing lovers, the 2 person swing thingy has gotten the boot and the baby swing has gotten the spot, so there are many "I want to swing now" heard from our backyard!

Rebecca LOVES her baby swing, and will stay in there as long as there is someone to push her. She'll even happily sit in it watching everyone play long after the last push was given. She holds onto the rope with both hands, unless she's got a friend to hold onto and then it's one hand holding only. She routinely wants to swing for 20-30 minutes and will tell you quite strongly if she's NOT ready to get out!

Ammon learned to pump on his own this year and waht great fun that is for him (and secretly I'm pleased with not having to push him all the time!). He wants a start up push, usually an underdog and then he's off. Tonight he was showing off and was trying to not let me get his picture. I LOVE his dimples and hope he keeps them forever and passes them onto his kids. They are just so sweet. He likes to swing high and fast and loves to tell me he's "over my head" and "touching the sky with his feet."


Corrine also likes to swing HIGH and fast. She flies through the air so fast with a huge smile on her face. She likes to jump off, but only if she's low. (She doesn't want to fall and brake her arm again.) She loves to swing next to Rebecca and also to push Rebecca. She has became an acrobat on the swings and loves the wind in her hair.

Simeon still likes to swing on the swingset, but he'd rather be swinging his bat. The swingset is usually a 'safe' place to be during a backyard baseball game as the balls rarely get hit there! So we spend alot of evenings outside, the 3 younger kids swinging and Simeon & JOhann playing baseball. When Simeon swings he also has to swing next to Rebecca and he likes to sit on his swing and push her. I find him sitting on the swings talking with his friends more often the swinging on them.

Johann and I built the swingset together years ago. It was such a labor of love and such a fun project. We'd spend each night working on it in the garage, and then we'd bring all the pieces outside to assemble it. Since we have NO level spots in our backyard big enough for it, it stands slightly leaning and likes to move when the kids swing, but they never seem to notice and go on swining and getting the wind in their hair.

It's been a week

It started Monday at Ammon's physical. I was concerned that his reflux was coming back because he was starting to have stomach aches again, and had even had a throw up sick morning. After telling her everything, she said she did't think it's his reflux coming back, she thinks it's headaches. The days he is really sick, naps, then wakes up fine by lunch-those are days he's having a migraine, which really affects his stomach. She called it stomach migraines. Everything makes since. Right now we are keeping a stomach ache/headache diary and keeping a close eye on him. If it gets bad or affects school, we'll push for some testing and find out what we can do to avoid the headaches.

Then Wedsnesday we took Corrine to a dermatologist. Last Friday Johann noticed an area about the size of a quarter on her head that was bald. It was a shock since we'd never seen it before. At the dermatologist she looked at the spot, measured it, checked her nails for pitting (another symptom). She told us we could treat with steriod shots that are injected right into the bald spot monthly. Corrine's eyes were getting bigger, until the doctor patted her knee and said "Don't worry sweetie-no shots for you today". She relaxed after that. We are trying a steriod spray that we use 2x a day for 2 months. It may help regrow the hair, but it could still take up to a year for all the hair to grow back. The doctor wrote down the diagnosis: Alopecia Areata. This was exactly what I thought it was. Corrine has a mild case with only one spot. She may have random bald spots for the rest of her life, as this can be an auto-immune disease, which means her immune system sees her hair follicles as foreign and attacks them.



Then Thursday I noticed a hard spot sticking out behind Rebecca's neck about the size of a pea. I took her to the doctor Friday to find out what was going on. We found out it's an lymph node that reacted from a mousiquto bite she had 5 days earlier behind that same ear. Since the lymph node is not infected, we are to just "watch" it. There is a chance that it could get infected and need to be drained. It could take weeks to months for it to fully good back down.



After those 3 apts I was done with doctors for a while, except Simeon has his monthly check next Weds, and NOTHING strange better come up.

Hiking in Hickory Hill Park

This afternoon we went for a hike in Hickory Hill Park. Corrine had her Girl Scout daycamp here a few weeks back so she got to lead the way and show us where she hiked.
We've had alot of rain the last few weeks including some flash flooding. You could see major eruding in the creek bed, the plants were covered with mud a good 20 feet away from the creek and a bridge over the creek was ruined. Luckily it's been dry for a few days so the trails were less muddy and the creek was back to it's normal size.

Rebecca seemed to really enjoy being in the carrier since she was able to see so well. Simeon gave her some long pieces of grass that she held onto and played with for the rest of the hike. We decided that she is too heavy to be in the front carrier, so we'll be carring her in the backpack in Yellowstone.

We saw this monarch butterfly in the thistle field.

We hiked from the North enterance to the south enterance and up to the dam.