Jeff's officially in writting

A while ago I posted that Jeff's article had been accepted for publication. Well the actual journal arrived this weekend...and Jeff's going to keep it in the protective plastic. :)

Grandpa the Photographer

                                                      

Isn't he sweet, he is always taking photos for our family and they are all amazing!

                                           

Isn't he sweet, he is always taking photos for our family and they are all amazing!

This is the picture he took of my kids! (He even made Ben's stitches disappear!)

First Day of School

                                

Ehre missed the first two days of school because our family treated us to a quick visit to UT (which was absolutely wonderful!) So she started last Thursday. This is a picture of her all ready to go! She was sooo excited....for her the rest of the day was fun, for me on the other hand, I never knew there was so much stress involved with a buss drop off.

At 3:15 I saw a bus go down our street, I ran out side ( a friend was over, and Jeff had the car) and was totally worried that I had missed meeting Ehre at her bus stop...would she remember where to get off? I stole my friends car and drove around looking for the bus, no luck. Then I stopped by a friends house just around the corner, her kids weren't home yet so the bus I saw wasn't the elementary school bus, she commented that the first two days were a little late but that most of the kinks should be worked out by now. So I went back home. I picked up Ben and we went over to Ehre's bus stop, our neighbor let us sit on his large rock in the shade and Ben enjoyed playing "King of the Rock". We had been there about 10 minutes waiting when Ben said he had to go to the bathroom, the bus wasn't here yet so I didn't feel like I could leave since I can't see the bus stop from our house. So we kept on hanging out. At a 1/2 hour I called some friends, no answer, maybe they were waiting for the late bus too....an hour later, ok now I am really worried, where is Ehre?

I called a different friend at the end of the bus route and she said that her kids had been home for a while...now I am really getting worried. Did Ehre miss the bus? Did she get on the wrong bus? I headed for home...how was I going to find her with out a car...and the school office closed?

Thankfully,  my friend who lives around the corner left me a note on my door. Her daughter had told Ehre to get off at their bus stop since the bus didn't go to her stop. They had walked over 3 separate times looking for me, but couldn't see me at the bus stop. So Ehre was playing at their house...what wonderful friends I am so thankful for them.

The next day I told Ehre to get off at their house again, just to make sure she got of in the right spot. Yesterday I went into the office to see where the confusion was, most likely it was me right! Nope, for some reason Ehre wasn't on the bus rout, so the driver (an extremely nice guy) didn't have her stop on his route. The school asked me to meet him at the designated stop for the afternoon drop off and we had a good talk. He apologized for not having her on his list, it really wasn't a big deal. He then volunteered to move the bus stop, Ehre is the only one that gets off there, and since he now will be driving directly pass our house, he is going to just drop her off at our house. :) Next year, he'll pick her up at our mail box. Isn't he nice! Won't this be nice when the baby comes?

Ehre loves her teacher Mrs. Wojtelowitcz (What-a-love-ich) and even mentions the possibility of having a "slipper day" soon. She is super excited to go to the library today and check out a book.  I really think she is going to be one of those kids that just absolutely loves going to school! I am excited to get involved with the PTA, in fact we have our first project this week. :) This new phase in our life is exciting, but really are we old enough to have a kid in school...and as Jeff would say, "Before he's even finished !" ? 

Ben is going to do Joy School, we are in the process of getting that all arranged. In the mean time we enjoy undisturbed rest time after Ehre goes to school and I really am grateful that she is in the afternoon class.

More adventures I'm sure will follow. :)

2 free audio books

audiobooks,com/hulu

8 Stitches Total

Well 2 internal stitches, 6 exterior (3 mattress stitches and 3 regular stitches)....it took Ben about 45 minutes till he was awake enough to go home. He requested chocolate shakes as his treat so Grandma picked up all the supplies. This morning, he's feeling pretty good...I have to go find some bandaids that he isn't allergic too... he's got a small rash from the ones used yesterday. We'll have the stitches removed the day after we get home to IN....hopefully this is we won't have any other problems on this trip.

Side note...traveling with Medicaid as your kids primary insurance can be a pain...(claims are often denied for out of state care..and an ER is expensive!) Two days before we left for UT we decided to go ahead and add the kids to Jeff's insurance with Purdue...what a blessing. This made our ER trip run sooo smoothly!

Stoned

ha ha ha this was funny and creepy, this is what Ben looks like with "Concious sedation".... wierd. His eyes weren't closed all the way...again it was just wierd! Totally unresponsive Ben...poor kid!

...Falling asleep...

Here we are in the ER they placed a topical ointment on the cut to numb the whole area, and then they gave him an IM shot to help him fall asleep....wow it kicked in fast! Thanks grandma for letting us watch a movie on your ipod while we waited!  (Sorry this pic is upside down, I can't figure out how to get a Mac to save or rotate the picture.)

Another Hospital trip in Utah!

Well we lasted less than 24 hours here before we were in the Er. Ben was jumping on one of Grandma's couches and fell and hit a magazine rack...lots of blood...totally gross cut (hmmm I must be pregnant). So here is a pic of Ben in the ER, we are waiting for them to get the medicine to put him under, for the stitches.

Life of a PhD Student's Family...

...no this really isn't how our life is, but there have been times where its been tempting to do just this..... Thankgoodness for free department dinners :)

New House

Ok here goes....

Living Room: Looking in from the front door.

 

This was a FREE bookcase, and I love it!

From the living room looking to the stairs going upstairs, downstairs and into the kitchen.

Bad photo, sorry! This is the kitchen.

My bare wall in the kitchen, the shelves are all small (Can only fit the height of a small Triscuit box) So we are using other shelves to store things...we will fix this....later most likely by buying shelving with doors or putting a counter top in.

Backyard....oh we mowed on Saturday...13 bags of grass later and 4 boxes....ohhh this will be a challenge to keep up!

Living Room "Library"...seriously we could fill 3-4 bookshelves..but for now it will fill up the wrap around shelving in the room. (and no, the entertainment center isn't usually pushed into the room...just another side affect of trying to get the Internet to work)

Office area in the living room...Jeff trying to get Frontier to understand that our Internet connection really stinks and doesn't always work...in the end...they were not helpful at all. 

We'll try again to fix things today. It looks pretty cluttered, this is one area I am still organizing...too many books, and school stuff to keep track of.

Looking down the hall into the downstairs bathroom and the craft/laundry room

Upstairs Bath

Master Bedroom

Ehre's room (LOVE vinyl wall stickers!)

Ben's room

Door Decor for the kids rooms...they painted these by themselves, what good artists!

Well that's it, basically its a standard split level home, and for our first home we love it. The garage door currently doesn't open, and there isn't another access into it so we are kind of stuck there. Hopefully it will get repaired soon. Its a good thing we were trying to pull in when it broke, or our van would be stuck inside. :)

Front of the house:

This was our longest and fastest move (I think) We started packing 3 weeks early....oh our other house felt like a storage unit. When we finally moved on Friday, we had a ton of help (Thanks!) and 95% of all the unpacking and organizing was done by Monday evening. We even had friends over for dinner by Tuesday night! Not bad if you consider that we still took Sunday as our day of rest.  No more moving for a little while, we'll have a small move next summer for our internship, and our next move will be the following summer when we move to Jeff's job at CRANE. :)

Back in business

I know people have been trying to reach us on the new land number but our provider never actually hooked up our phone line... :)  But that is all fixed now,  :) So pictures will be coming soon of the new house ( I can't find the camera or camera plug yet... This was an extremely busy weekend, but 95% of all the boxes are unpacked and put away, I'll hand pictures today, and then come what may. We are so grateful for the help we got from ward members and all of Jeff's research lab (including Dr. Chappell!) This made the weekend go so smoothly, even if there were allot of boxes to move!

 

More to come soon!

Ann

"Dad Life"

My friend Marent posted this and I have to pass it on!

http://vimeo.com/12714406

Ha ha


This is dad life

It's how we live

24/7, 365

Check me



Gas station glasses

Don't care what the masses

Think about me wit my sweet goatee

I'm rockin' my Dockers

With a cuff and a crease

I got that St. John's Bay

And a clip for my piece



I look nice

I got dozens of dollars

And that's right

It goes straight to my daughters and my wife

I'm a miracle dad

Makin' magic with the checkbook is a talent I have



I roll hard in the yard

With a 60-inch cut

Zero turn radius

My neighbors say what?

They be drivin' by

Peepin' my landscape

Yo, these greens got nothin' on my manscape



Hydrangeas (what), Begonias (naw)

Crape Myrtle (tight), ornamental turtle!

Hold up

Is that a weed in my fescue?

Aw naw, Round Up to the rescue



It's the dad life, it's the dad life

Take my daughty to the potty, it's the dad life

(bringin' home the bacon)

It's the dad life, it's the dad life

Shootin' vids of the kids, it's the dad life



Roll up to the splash pad, 10 AM

My whole entourage

Hops out the minivan

We splishy splashy for an hour or two

Then it's back to the house

Preppin' for the barbeque



Brats, dogs, rack of ribs, whateva (tight)

Get me on the Weber

Man, nobody does it betta

Call me lord of the grill

I'm king of the coals

Nana's secret recipe, you know how I roll



1080p, 16x9

I'm rockin' man cave status

With a screen like mine

Keep your peanut butter hands

Off my 50-inch Vizio

Pop up the corn, roll the Disney video



{ "A whole new world…" }



We got Aladdin, Jasmine

Abu, the genie (hey)

With kids like mine, everybody wants to be me

Sing a nigh-night song and then it's off to bed

This is the dad life, no more to be said



It's the dad life, it's the dad life

Hit the mall, coaching ball, it's the dad life

(bringin' home the bacon)

It's the dad life, it's the dad life

Playing rough, fixing stuff, it's the dad life

(bringin' home the bacon)

It's the dad life, it's the dad life

Yeah, you know how we do it

It's the dad life

Early Morning Scripture Study

A blog I follow ( http://perfectsyzygy.blogspot.com/2010/07/spiritual-application-of-horoscopes.html  ) Posted this tonight, and I thought that it was really insightful, so I am passing it on. I am a morning scripture reader but mostly because I am too tired to read at night, and when I say I am a morning reader, I say that lightly. I don't read as often as I should but after reading this it motivates me to make a bigger effort into putting more time into my morning scripture study... and I'm going to have to if I am going to finish the Book of Mormon before this baby arrives. :)

.................................................................................................................................

The spiritual application of horoscopes

Today at FHE, the person assigned to give the spiritual thought was stuck on a train and was unable to make it; so literally at the last minute, another member volunteered to do it. The thought was short and to the point, but as someone sitting next to me commented, it was probably the best FHE thought he had ever heard. I had to agree. And since it was quite a perfect syzygy of events and connections, I thought I'd share it here.

First, the speaker shared a scripture he had come across in his scripture reading the night before:

For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round.

-1 Nephi 10:19

Second, he recounted a discussion he had with his sister at the breakfast table this morning. Apparently she is big into horoscopes and had the paper out to read about how her day would go. The speaker admitted that he feels horoscopes are a 'load of stuff and nonsense' and said he told his sister as much. When she protested, he explained his opinion:

You read the horoscopes in the morning, so of course that's what you're going to think about during the day. You process everything that happens in reference to what you read, and so you MAKE your horoscope come true. One day try not reading your horoscope until the end of the day and then see how 'true' it is. I think you'll find that it's not really accurate at all.

And that, he said, is when the penny dropped.

So third, he remembered his scripture reading from the night before. (A miracle. For though he usually reads his scriptures at night, he often wakes up in the morning with the page still open where he began, having failed to internalize what he'd read.) He then applied his logic about the worth of horoscopes to the worth of daily scripture study:

If he were to read his scriptures in the morning, that's what he'd think about during the day. He'd process everything that happened to him in reference to what he had read, and thus he would stand a better chance of DOING what they commanded and MAKING the promises of kept covenants come true. By reading at night, there was still the possibility that some of his actions during the day might be reflected in the scriptures, but much of their power and value would be diminished.

----------





So what I got from his thought is this: As the scripture states, when we diligently seek for spiritual manifestations to strengthen our faith, answer our questions, and give us comfort, the Lord is fully prepared to bless us with what we need and even what we want.





This is the best argument I have ever heard in favor of morning reading, and as a night-reader myself, I've made a goal to switch the the morning and see if I can make myself a good horoscope or two (:

More storm pictures:

There are some more pics, its crazy but true. Telephone poles snapped in 1/2, fence posts (& the whole fence) flattened by the wind. Cinder block dugouts flat too! ....and to think Jeff missed all the action!

Last Nights Storm

Perfect weather, it was so nice we decided to go to the pool at 6.... heard a small amount of thunder no big deal pool was closed for it so we played in the sprinklers at our house with friends. Power went out at 7:15...didn't get it back till 2 am ( yes it was HORRIBLE trying to sleep in the house...I was so gratefull when the power came back on and we got our AC back!)  I didn't realize the damage of the storm till we went to church today, several families still don't have power (17+ hours) and tree's are down everywhere ...literally on some streets every house had trees damaged. Cumberland Elementary School (Ehre's school) had at least 50% of their trees broken in 1/2, one tree fell into the school damaging 3 classrooms. One of the baseball dugouts (cinder block type) looked like a giant just stepped on the whole thing.....ohh so much clean up to do!

 

Here are some pics, there is a lot of clean up to do. I went over to the new house and my heart started to race and I was really worried. As I pulled onto our street I saw the piles of limbs lining ready for pickup tomorrow, and lots of people cutting trees into firewood. But there was our little house, with the HUGE tree in the front yard, perfectly fine. There are some small branches and leaves all over the yard (we can rake them up tomorrow) but we were so lucky. I think we may be one of the only homes on the street without tree damage. :)

 

This is what the news report said,

 

"Winds reached up to 75 MPH and there was over two inches of rain in just under an hour. All of this meant lots of damage for Tippecanoe county residents.

Much of U.S. Highway 52 became hard to drive through as traffic lights were out and streets began to flood over the curb.

"We started to pull out on 52 when we saw literally the waves and the people trying to go through the intersection and so we decided to pull over and get away from it all," said Lisa Drayer.

Lafayette police department said there were three structure fires, as well as at least one case of a power line on fire.

"It wasn't too scary, We didn't realize how bad it was until we saw the smoke, so we got out of there pretty early which was good," said Marcel Garcia. Garcia's basement caught on fire.

There were multiple street closures, most due to fallen trees and tree limbs blocking the lanes of traffic. "

 

Weather blog link: http://blogs.wlfi.com/2010/07/18/july-17-2010-west-lafayettelafayette-microburst/

Quick Little Project

I have a super generous friend who gave us her couch and two Ikea chairs as they were moving to CA.  I decided that the chairs needed a. more color b. a darker cover to last longer with children.

So here is the before:

And the after:

I'm not an excellent seamstress but it works. The pictures don't do the fabric Justice, looking at it makes me happy and cheerful. Last step will be painting these chairs a different color....they will be in a room with lt colored and dk colored wood...so I am thinking of painting them a lt blue or green....just to add a little bit more color. :)

Blessing Jacket

I've never really tried making clothing other than hats, so I figured since I didn't know if this baby was a boy or girl I'd make a jacket. If it ended up a girl I could add a crochet lacy border, if it was a boy I'd add a simple border. Well...followed the pattern but in the end to me it still looked girly. So this is Version 1.0, if its a girl I will make a long white satin dress to go under it. I'll work on making a boy's  jacket (Version 2.0) in the next few weeks. Then all I'll need to add is a white onesie and white pants. I also have the beautiful white blanket from Kim and some booties that I am making to go with this...so in the end one way or another we'll have a blessing outfit. :)

Adorible Ties

Aren't these ties cute, if only I knew how to make them! Hopefully I'll win one, but if not maybe you will!
Ann

Baby Blanket

I finally finished this blanket last night, it has a cool pillow look on one side but the wrong side is flat. It was supposed to have a greet boarder, but I couldn't find a green that matched well enough. :( But thats ok, this turned out fine!

One blanket down, a few more to go.

Normal Pregnancy?

Good Morning (7 am here!)  I am putting out a blogging question. Whats normal, I'd ask my mom, but honestly as sweet as she is she's not normal when pregnant,  I'd call a sister in Bangkok but can't afford to, and its 5 am in UT  :) 

 

So, here is my question : Braxton Hicks, are theses painful? In my past pregnancies, I don't feel contractions till they are causing a problem, or in Ben's case I never really felt them, and when I did I had what the doctor termed "back labor". Last night I woke up 3 different times with a painful contraction....not normal for me. Talked to a nurse this morning, I'm sure she's  a nice lady and a good nurse, but she didn't help much saying call us back when they are 3-5 minutes apart for over an hour and drink lots of water.  So I'm putting my question out to my blogging mommies...is this normal for others? Can you leave me a comment or email me about whats normal?

 

Other than that I feel great, swim lessons are today and both kids are really excited. We had another round of severe weather last night, making it like the 3rd or 4th severe weather night in the past week. When we lived in UT everyone prayed for rain, out here I think that they pray for the lack of rain. The thunder and lightning (known as Funder and Exciting at our house) was amazing, and we even had some hail around 2 am. Hopefully all these storms will pass and we can have a sunny week.

 

That's it, hope you all have a great day!

Ann