Crazy Saturday

Can I just say what a crazy day February 28th was?

Let me preface this story by stating that on Thursday, both David's car and our kitchen sink broke.  Friday was a one-car, no-sink kind of a day.  Do I need to elaborate on that?  I didn't think so.

Knowing what kind of a day we had in store, and needing to get the van back to David by 6:30 am, I went grocery shopping pre-6:00.  I busted my tail, but still took too long and had to seriously rush to get David out the door.

David went to Provo to pick up a piano.  Earlier in the week, we used some of our tax return money to purchase an older, used piano from a family in Provo.   Our fantastic brother-in-law, Evan met David there (with a truck, enclosed trailer, moving equipment, and two really cute kids) and helped him drive it all the way home.  While they were doing that, our kids were cleaning the house and I was making a couple of cream pies to say "thanks for taking up most of your day helping us!" (CHEAP labor!  Trust me - I called a piano mover!)  Once the piano was in place, we visited with Evan while the kids played with their cousins.  They were back on the road by 10:00 am, anxious to get home and work on their own Saturday projects.  

I LOVE having a real piano!  I can already tell what a HUGE difference it's going to make in our girls' piano skills and in the tone of our home!  

David, Quinton and I ran over to Home Depot for a quick minute to pick out a new faucet for our kitchen sink.  The selection and price range was overwhelming, but we eventually found one we liked.  David installed it while I made lunch for the family.  Of course, like any home project, it took twice as long and was three times as hard and he had anticipated, but David handled it just fine.  I'm so glad I married a handy man.

Ooh la la!

About the time the sink was fixed, Grandma and Grandpa Gee stopped by for a visit.  They were in Utah for a past missionary's baby blessing the following day.  Grandma played our new piano for us and caught us up on all the latest news from our family while Grandpa listened intently to Joshua, who was sitting on his lap and chatting a mile-a-minute about sharks or something like that.  I loved watching the two of them!  They only stayed for about a half hour, then they went to Spanish Fork to see Jodi.

By this time, the baby was super tired, so we put him down for a nap.  Then, we left the girls babysitting while we went looking for a car.  I won't give you the whole blow-by-blow story of used car shopping.  Let me just say a few things: 1) We HAD to buy a car THAT DAY!!!  That's a lot of pressure!  2) Buying a car from a dealership SUCKS!  and 3) David and I worked HARD, stuck to our guns, and got a pretty darned good deal on a 2009 Toyota Corolla.  Was it the best deal or the best car we could have gotten if we'd taken days or weeks to work all the dealerships in the area?  Who knows?  Probably not.  But it was a great deal on a great car in a short amount of time, and that's the best we could hope for in our situation.  As it was, I had to leave David there to sign all the paperwork (another couple of HOURS) so I could get back to the kids.

Say hello to Little Red Riding Hood.  The best part about her is that she's a manual!  I LOVE driving a stick shift!  I've missed it.  

Since it was after 4:00 pm by this time, I stopped at Little Caesar's Pizza on the way home and picked up dinner.  We ate quickly, then cleaned up as fast as we could so that we could be ready for the missionaries to come over.  We are still meeting with Nicole's friend, Jordyn and her mom every week.  David came home with the new car somewhere in the middle of the lesson.  He quickly ate some cold pizza so he could start his fast.  Then he sat down with us for the last few minutes of the lesson.  After the missionaries left, he took our kids for a spin in the new car, then he went into his office to work on the lesson he'd be teaching in church the following day.

Whew!  What a busy, tiring, expensive, but fun and productive day!

Baby Birthday Picture Overload!

I am having a hard time believing that my baby is already one year old!  Where did that year go?!?!  Here's a whole lot of pictures that we took of our cute little monkey on his birthday (February 24th, by the way).

No, this isn't Quinton.  It's a monkey.  But Quin kind of reminds me of a monkey.  When he teeters around with his funny walk, swinging his hands in the air,  he looks just like a monkey walking on two legs.  And his angry scream is identical to an excited chimp.  I say that with all the love in my heart.  I think they're both adorable.

Is that the sweetest picture you've ever seen?  Cute little birthday boy!

Opening his presents.

Trying out his new popper.  Somehow our old one didn't move to Utah with us.  Good thing, too - being the fifth child, he already HAS everything else!

Typical Quinton - stuffing his face with baby puffs while trying to play with his toys.

Ahhhhh!  Save me from the crazy baby!!!

Later in the day - "Thanks for the presents, Mom..."

"But I'd rather just take all the DVDs off the shelves....again....."

Lasagna for dinner.  Every baby should be covered in tomato sauce on their birthday!

I think he liked it.

This picture is so bad, I couldn't help but include it.

Double-arm cheer for his yummy dinner!

The train cake.  A once-per-child feat.  Bronson and I had a really fun time making it together during Quin's first nap.  Scotty and Katie came over for cake and ice cream.

I barely cleaned the lasagna off those cheeks - now there's cake!

I have no idea who even took these pictures!

Must have been Ali.  Oh well - they capture a moment, so I'll include them.

The traditional "First Bite of Ice Cream" ceremony!  Our girls were devastated that Grandpa Gee wouldn't be there to do the honors - he's fed all the other kids their first bite.  Dad had to fill in.  He did a fine job.

I think Quinton liked it.  Happy Birthday, Little Boy!

6th Grade Stomp

On February 20th, after weeks and weeks of preparations (dance lessons, decorations, long lectures, etc.) the 6th grade at Creekside Elementary had a dance. A stomp actually, not a "dance" where people have to dance with members of the opposite sex!  When Alison first learned about it, she planned on getting conveniently sick that day.   However, as the time approached, she saw that it was going to be really fun, so she decided to stay healthy.

There was an 80's theme.  Don't you think Alison looked totally radical?

There was a ton of dancing, of course.  The kids all learned several line dances in advance - Boot Scootin' Boogie. the Macarena, YMCA, even Thriller!

Nice wig, Dude!
  They also had a costume contest.  Alison didn't win, which means that some kids must have gone ALL out!! I wish I could have seen the winners.  

They had other games and tons of refreshments as well.  All-in-all, it sounds like Ali had a really fun day!  

V-Day 2015

I like feeling loved as much as the next girl, but I'm not super hung up on Valentine's Day.  I don't need expensive presents or fancy acts of love on that day.  I like feeling loved ALL the time.  And I don't like being pressured into spending a ton of money on something nobody needs,  So V-Day isn't usually a very big deal around here.

Don't get me wrong - we still celebrate!  We just don't go too overboard.  This year was a perfect blend of special and normal if you ask me.  Of course, since the holiday fell on a Saturday this year, all the school parties were on Friday.  Hooray for two day celebrations!  Grandma and Grandpa Gee sent us a family valentine with some money for a treat, so we went to Menchie's Frozen Yogurt that night.  Yum!

On Saturday morning, we gave each of the kids a small gift (mostly treats, and a toy or a cute pair of socks) and a balloon.  It's fun to watch how something so small and simple can bring so much joy to our kids.  Cute Nicki had earned a few dollars babysitting her brothers earlier in the week.  She used all her hard earned (and pretty rare) money buying little valentine gifts for each of her siblings - which they all loved.  What a sweet girl!

The rest of the day was spent doing normal Saturday things.  David took the Christmas lights down.  I worked in the yard - since Spring had already sprung around here.  The kids played and cleaned their rooms, etc.  Nicole helped me hand-dip some strawberries in fancy chocolate tuxedos.  They were so much cuter in my mind than they turned out, but they tasted great.  We gave a plate to Grandma and Grandpa Smith, along with funny sucker valentines that said, ""Read my Lips - be my Valentine" and "I mustache you to be my Valentine."  We made them try them on while we were present so that we could take a picture.

When Quinton went down for his afternoon nap, I made the girls watch "An Affair To Remember" with me.  I think everyone needs to see a classic love story like that, and Valentine's Day is the perfect time to do it.  They didn't LOVE it like I'd hoped, but they endured it well.

That evening, the kids had a heart-shaped pizza from Pappa Murphy's. They were happy.  Then, around bed time for the boys, we left the girls babysitting and went out for our Valentine's date.  We had a romantic dinner at...Chick-Fil-A.  That's right - nothing says 'Love" to me like Chick-Fil-A!  Ha Ha!  Earlier in the month, I saw that they were having a special Valentine's dinner for two, which included meals, a large shake to share, a rose, Mrs. Cavenaugh's chocolates, and two movie tickets.  It was a really great deal, so we signed up! I loved it!  David got a lot of mileage out of it.  Every time a patient asked him if he had any special Valentine's plans, he'd say, "Yeah!  I'm taking my wife to Chick-Fil-A!" and laugh as they grimaced.

My Valentine.

 After dinner, we could have used our movie tickets, but nothing we wanted to see was playing, so we decided to save them.  Instead, we went strolling down the aisles of Lowes together.  Romantic, huh?  Seriously, it was!  No kids to chase around or entertain - all the time in the world to browse and plan and imagine.  I tell you, it was dreamy!!!

Everything Changes

On Wednesday, February 11, the world pretty much stopped spinning.   At least that's what it felt like.  Our nephew, Jonathan - who is Nathan and Dawn's second child of six - was diagnosed with lymphoma.

Although we've never lived near Nathan and his family, we see them once or twice per year and keep up on each other's families through blogs, Facebook and texts, so it feels like we're close.  And we love them - they are such a cute, fun family.  Jonathan is exactly three days older than Alison.  11.  years.  old.  I still haven't forgiven Dawn for having him three days before Ali even though she wasn't due for weeks afterwards.  Just kidding.  Something about his looks and personality reminds me  little bit of our Joshua.

Here's a picture of Jonathan (the one with glasses) from when Nathan's family came to visit last July. Bron, Hailey, and Nicki are in the background.  Joshua is the one wearing black.

It really is such a blessing that they even FOUND the cancer in the first place.  Jonathan had terrible stomach pains which sent him to the doctor.  Otherwise, they still wouldn't even know about it.  Seriously, in spite of the horrible situation, there have been so many blessings!  Nathan is a radiologist.  He works at the hospital Jonathan is getting his treatments at.  Lymphoma in children is usually responsive to treatment.  The treatment will be long and hard, but we expect Jonathan to recover.

Nathan and Dawn have started a blog to document the journey they are on.  I'm sure they would let all three of you who read my blog look at it if you'd like.  It's such a great thing for them to do!  I'm grateful because I want to know all the details about how things are going and how everyone is holding up, but I don't want to bother them.  Plus, Nathan is a doctor and he does a great job of explaining some of the medical and technical sides of the treatments that I'd never known before.  The blog is located at: jrgee.blogspot.com.

I entitled this entry "Everything Changes."  Maybe that seems kind of melodramatic because he's not my child, but I truly feel like things have changed. I pretty much think about Jonathan and his family all the time. The way I look at and respond to my own kids, the way I feel for other people's struggles, the things I pray about and the things I am grateful for have all been affected.  I think that some of the sillier things in my life have been put back in perspective, and I have been reminded of the many blessings associated - in this life and the next - with eternal families.  All of my emotions - the good and the bad - seem more raw and exposed now.  Maybe that won't last forever, but it feels good to have my emotional senses heightened for a while.  (Dave may not agree that having my emotional senses heightened is a good thing.)

Our family has been praying for Jonathan ever since we learned about his sickness.  He is always on our minds and often in our conversations.  Last week, we had a special FHE lesson, learning more about the disease and it's treatments.  Then, we talked about things we could do to let Jonathan know we love him.  We ended up making a little care package full of things that our neighbor friend (who is a nurse in an oncology unit at a hospital in SLC) told us might come in handy, along with some pictures of our kids and a get well note.  It felt good to do some little thing for him.  But more importantly, and honestly, the more exciting thing for us was to be able to participate in a special family fast for him. That;s where the real power is!  It felt good knowing that so many Gee's (and his whole ward) were uniting their faith in behalf of Jonathan.  I truly believe that there is great strength in fasting and prayer.  We look forward to seeing more of God's hand manifest in Jonathan's journey.

Springtime Walk In February

This winter has been unbelievably warm.  Our flower garden is covered in Crocuses.  I've seen people mowing their lawns!  This is insane!  And a little bit wonderful - let's be honest.

One morning, my mom called and asked if I would like to go for a walk with her.  Of course, I jumped on the chance.  She took us (the two little boys were with us) to a nature trail that runs behind Lagoon.  It was lovely!

Who knew that such a pretty place was hidden behind Lagoon?

Bronson found a pretty cool throne carved out of a fallen tree.

In fact, we liked the walk so much, we took the whole family there a day or two later.  Hooray for 60 degree temps in February!

My mom says this place is pretty popular for family portraits and wedding announcements.

Dave exploring how far the trail goes.

"Give me that camera, Mom!"

Bronson on his throne being attended to by his court.

Shannon Hale

Shannon Hale is a pretty well known author from Utah.  She's written such books as The Princess Academy, Goose Girl, Ever After High, and Austenland.  She is Alison's favorite author (or at least one of them - asking Ali to choose a favorite author would be like asking me to choose a favorite ice cream flavor).  On Thursday, February 5th, Shannon Hale came to speak at the Bountiful library.  Alison was PUMPED!!!

One of my dad's new assignments in the county is being over the library system, so he wanted to attend this event as well.  So, Grandpa Smith, Alison and I all headed to the Bountiful library pretty early in the evening.  We left early enough that Nicki had to babysit her brothers for 20 minutes or so until Dad got home from work.  We thought we had left in plenty of time.  However, when we got there (45 minutes before it started) a line was wrapping around the aisles of books in the library.  After a while, they started herding us to the auditorium.  We were just about to find some seats in the very back  when the head librarian grabbed my dad's arm and said, "No, Jim.  You need to sit up front."  My dad protested, but she said, "No.  That's why we have these seats reserved up here."  Then to another librarian, "We need three seats for the Commissioner and his guests."  How cool is that, huh?  It's not what you know, it's who you know, right?  We were in the front row.  I could have tripped Shannon Hale if I wanted to. We were lucky. Many people were turned away.  About 75 waited outside the auditorium without even hearing the speech just to get her autograph afterwards.

Shannon's speech was amazing!  She is hilarious and humble and inspiring.  She had a great PowerPoint presentation complete with funny pictures of herself when she was in second grade, and pictures of "real men" reading The Princess Academy while working on their muscle cars, etc.  It was fun! Alison was literally in heaven.  And my dad and I really enjoyed it as well.  She even called on Alison to ask a question when it was question-and-answer time.

After the speech was over, Shannon Hale autographed books.  Again, being in front was a life saver!  Ali was one of the first kids in line.  She got all of her books (like NINE) signed. Shannon was no nice about it.  I'm sure she was there for a LONG time that night.

On the way home, Grandpa treated us to a frozen yogurt at Cherry Berry.  So much fun!  What a great night!

Stake Conference

Guess what I did on Sunday, January 25th.  I spoke in Stake Conference.  The Sunday session.  In a huge ol' conference center in Bountiful.  It was "weewy wheeky!" (To use Bronson's phrase.)

As part of my New Year's planning/goal making, I decided that I needed to bear my testimony more often.  So I did.  In January.  And the Stake President was there.  And he cornered me after sacrament meeting and asked me to speak in stake conference.  And I said yes.  But in my mind, I was thinking "That's the last time I bear my testimony...ever..."  Just kidding.

The conference was wonderful.  Elder Jorge T. Beccera of the seventy was there.  I sat on the stand between our Stake Patriarch and his wife and the Ogden Temple President and his wife.  It was pretty neat.  Just a few days before, I had been in the Ogden temple doing one of the middle-of-the-night cleaning assignments, so we had a nice time talking about that.

My talk was in the middle of the conference instead of the first.  I was hoping to get it over with early, but I had to suffer for a few more minutes than I had expected.  I was asked to spend five minutes telling the story of my conversion.  So I did.  It was more like a pre-written testimony than anything, but that's what my assignment was.  I don't know if it was any good, but several people told me that I looked totally calm up there.  I guess that's all that matters.  At least it's over.  I'm grateful to know that I will not be asked to do that again for a very long time.