You Gotta Love Spring!!!!!

You know Spring is here when.......

Yup, it's aerating time again! Kevin and the boys have done this for I don't know how many years but Zach is the only one available to do it now so he gets all of the cash! They work very hard for most of Saturday, get paid and then Kevin hobbles around for most of Sunday. It's been difficult for teens to get jobs right now - jobs are going to grown-ups with families etc. so it's good for Zach to get some spending money. Again, not the most fun but he doesn't complain at all. I'm so proud of my boys!

Storing Up!

During Spring Break last week, my dear son Zach went with me to the Garden City Cannery. I've felt such a great need to finally get more food storage. I haven't been to the cannery for almost 10 years and another 10 years before that. I'm so grateful for the new guidelines that have shown properly stored products are now good for 30+ years so that all of the old stuff I have is still good! That means I have a ton of wheat (which I don't know what to do with) that is still good and can be used for trading! (haha)

Anyway, Zach wasn't too excited but he didn't complain - not even once! We did dry packing - flour and sugar. The nice part is that after you do some work, you are able to by anything else that is on the shelves. So we purchased flour, sugar, oats, spaghetti, rice, apricots, pears, peaches and apple slices. I think Zach enjoyed running the can sealer....it is kind of fun. He was also able to help a couple of other older ladies with their dry packing. Thanks Zach for being such a great help!

Kevin has also helped me in purchasing other things that we currently eat - like soup, canned veggies, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, tuna, canned chicken and other things.

It does take some money to get a large initial start but if you did a little each week, you wouldn't notice the cost at all. The hard part will be rotating everything and paying attention to which things are only good for a year or so. I'll have to work on that - but, I feel so much better knowing that I've made a start in doing what the Prophets have asked us to do and it's comforting to know we won't starve in the event of a catastrophe!

Kevin's Birthday!

This weekend we celebrated Kevin's birthday! He did absolutely no work this weekend which is very rare. We went to see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" but Kevin was asleep within the first 10 minutes. I think he woke up now and then and got the majority of the story. It was long!!! Sunday we had a BBQ with the family and he cooked steak and chicken (for me). We had cake and ice cream and played cards. It was nice and relaxing. I hope he had a nice weekend. Happy Birthday Kevin...you old fart (too bad I'm right behind him......)
Kevin's helicopter ride over Maui

Kevin tubing in the freezing waters of Bear Lake
Kevin on the catamaran going snorkeling

My Baby's Birthday!

Today is Zach's birthday. I always tell them their birth story but in my old age, I become forgetful. So Zach, here's your story:

Dad and I dropped the boys off at Shawn and Wendy's on the way to the hospital. We got to the hospital and I was immediately hooked up to an IV to get my labor started. Pam came up right away. We laughed, talked, laughed some more. When the labor began to get really hard, I was given my epideral. It was a piece of cake after that. I was starving but couldn't eat anything. Dad and Pam went out for lunch and brought it back in the room!!! Soon, I knew you were coming. I couldn't feel any pain but I could feel the pressure of you trying to get out. When the nurses checked me, they called Dr. Johnson right away saying you were ready to pop out. He came in, began to wash up, taking his sweet time, talking a hundred miles a minute while I had to squeeze to keep you from popping out. I remember so much laughter.

Finally the doctor was ready and I think I pushed once and you were out. Dad was video taping and Pam was taking pictures. It was a party atmosphere and such a joyous occasion. You were so beautiful and perfect in every way. You were wrapped up and put in my arms and I still couldn't believe this miracle that was given to us. There is such a peace that surrounds a newborn baby. You'd just come from our Heavenly Father and I wished you could tell us your memories of heaven. Everyone loved you and came to see you. You were a fabulous baby - slept early on, never fussed and were soooo happy all the time. The only sad part was when we discovered the camera didn't work and we missed all of those pictures of you in the hospital. It was devastating to me but I reminded myself that I had my beautiful baby boy forever!! We are so proud of you and we love you so much. I cherish the "outings" we go on and your sense of humor. We love you! Happy Birthday!

Late Night Visitor

We were surprised with a visit from our dear friend Madison Flake! He used to be one of Kevin's Priests at the same time as Michael and he is the greatest! They talked about the old days (not quite so long ago) and we laughed and laughed. What a great guy! He left with Valentine's cookies and a recipe so he could make cookies with a date soon. Thanks for the visit!!

Family Health

What's going on? A question I've asked recently a lot. This all started a few weeks ago when I took Zach to the dr. to look at a suspicious mole. He noticed it and thought it didn't look right. Well, the dr. scraped it off to be sent to a lab. The results were "pre-cancerous" meaning if we left it alone, it would soon turn to cancer. So, we had to go to a dermatologist to have more of the area removed and he also found a mole on his back that looked bad too so he also removed that area. Zach was left with two scars about 1 1/2 inches each. Kevin watched the surgery.....I just tried to concentrate so I wouldn't pass out. Just listening to them describe the surgery made me want to vomit.

The Sunday following Zach's surgery, I found him passed out in his bathroom. I felt prompted to check on him and when he didn't respond, I had to break into the bathroom. It scared the crap out of me. He was awake but very pale, groggy and not too responsive. We tested his blood (remembering back a year ago to a scare with my niece) but that was fine. We took him to the ER and they ran all kinds of tests on him including an EKG. All tests came back fine. He looked much better. They ordered an EEG which we had done on Tues. The tech said he had beautiful brain waves and I watched the process. It was interesting and looked a bit like a lie detector test with a lot more lines running across it. I feel it will be fine but we have to wait for the results. The results came back on the second mole and it was benign.

Well, Kevin also went in to have his mole checked - family members know which mole that is but the dr. said it looked fine. Something he's had his whole life. He did say two spots on his hands (red, itchy) were definitely turning to cancer. He froze them off and we are waiting to see if they disappear. If not, he has to go back to have them removed.

Well......Kyle went in. For awhile, he did a lot of tanning and had a couple of strange looking moles. He now has to have three removed which are pre-cancerous also. Pre-cancerous means that there are cancerous cells starting to grow so even the area around the mole must be removed.

The dr. said moles and skin cancer can be hereditary so now all three of them will have to go back for yearly visits. Kevin twice a year. It's so good to get them caught at this stage and I'm glad we didn't just overlook them and not worry about them.

I encourage any of you who might read this to check your skin....anything that looks strange, get it checked. It's so worth it!

By the way, I wanted pictures but Zach wouldn't let me...hahaha.