Conference and Cupcakes

            I did not get much out of conference this year as there seemed to be more distractions even though I thought the kids seemed to show more respect during conference as a whole.  We had the TV on just before one of the sessions started and six-year-old Gary came in and said, "Oh, it's just conference.  I have seen this already."

            I am happy that there are recordings that I may go back to what I missed - and not just this year.  There are other years to review as well.  The year that my father died and was in the hospital over conference weekend - his last upon earth.  The year I was pregnant with Jenna - even though I was into my second trimester - I was still throwing up - practically my entire pregnancy.  And then she was born on conference weekend.

            After Easter's morning session, Roland took the kids into the kitchen to make cupcakes.  Each was able to add an ingredient and watch as he poured the batter into prepared cups.  After the afternoon session, the cakes had cooled and the kids each had five cakes to decorate.  Gary used the dinosaur decors for all five of his cupcakes.  BJ and Anna used mostly coconut and sugar sprinkles.  Jenna used a variety.  All four enjoyed the cupcake decorating and eating activity.

Green sprinkles are shaped like dinosaurs

Jenna's masterpieces

number dwindled a bit . . . actually a lot

Life Is a Trampoline to a Three-year-old

            Love my three-year-old nephew.  He reminds me of Jenna with his sophisticated vocabulary and knowledge.  His parents said he is currently into volcanoes - claiming that they saw 18 on the way her and four since they arrived.  Jenna may have used the word "volcano" to mean hill or mountain, but volcano is much cooler to say as there are more syllables.

            BJ also likes to jump and suck his thumb.  I wonder if he jumps over volcanic lava the way that Jenna used to - well still does at times.  What a great imagination!

            Thumb sucking is hard to break.  We had used a food substitute called imitation butter to get Kayla to stop sucking her thumb as it was the only non-harmful thing we could find to put on her thumb that she didn't enjoy sucking.  I don't think I ever succeeded in finding anything that Jenna liked.

            The six-year-old seems to have a persnickety manner.  His way or no way.  It appears that he may run Kayla ragged - though not as much as Bill will (or already has).  Bill has a sense of humor and can laugh things off.  Gary does have a sense of humor - not one that I am able to relate to. However, he is unable to laugh off uncontrollable situations.  I think he is the opposite of his dad in handling (or mishandling) situations that seem to be out of his control.  Unbelievably, he is an even pickier eater than Jenna.

           I think Gary would rather drink juice or punch than milk or water.  Of course, chocolate milk is acceptable, but I think it is given as a reward.  We keep cases of bottled water, which interested him.  Jenna had referred to the bottled water as "ice juice" as it sounded better than water.  Gary seemed to be okay with ice juice and had actually requested some on his own.

            My niece seems easy going for the most part.  Jenna took her aside to teach her pop songs.  They really do have fun together.

Bill's April Fool's Joke

          Bill and Jenna both share a similar personality.  They enjoy pranks even when it is not April Fools - so I really don't know what makes it different from every other day.  At least Bill separated the two events that occurred on April 1st.          

                  

                  

retrieved from Facebook.  I thought it was hilarious

 

          I remember having learned that the Julian calendar had originally started with April as the first month of the year but the other months were added.  History channel says "Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582 when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar."  Either way, the start of New Years supposedly once fell upon April 1st.  People who forgot about not being a new year were pranked.  Or else Bill and Jenna among others made certain their ancestors found a way to create the tradition of "April Fool"

          Bill and Kayla have a tradition of doing the Easter eggs and "gifts" on Saturday.  So the kids had already dug through their baskets buckets of treasures, experience the hunt for plastic eggs and decorated  (or attempted to anyway) almost two dozen eggs the day before Easter.

          After the children were asleep, Bill made some Jell-O and put it in cups.  On Sunday he brought them out and told the kids that he had made a special drink for them and that they should drink their "punch" as quickly as possible.  They enjoyed his little "trick".  But none bothered to eat the Jell-O.  

Bill's weren't filled quite as high

Spoke Too Soon

          It really was cold outside on Monday and most of yesterday.  By the time Roland got off work, however, I started getting hot.  I opened both doors that lead outside, and had even stepped onto the back porch to breathe in the cool air.  Surely it's too soon to think about putting up the A/Cs - but I did sleep with two windows open last night.  Roland didn't seem to mind.  I noticed he wasn't coughing as hard this morning.

         

          When Jenna left for school, it was raining.  Not a hard rain as I have seen before.  And it actually didn't last.  Why do I always seem to get hot when it's raining outside? 

Ham, Potato Salad and Other Memories

            When I was growing up, Ham and Potato Salad were on the menu during the Easter holiday.  I remember my mom saying she had made (or was making) a big batch shortly after Jenna was born (though she arrived eight days earlier than her due date - which was on Easter that year).  I was still in the hospital and mom had made arrangement for our oldest son (Ooki had lived with our family for his senior year but was living with another family when Jenna was born) to bring her the car seat and she fed him and everybody else in the family who had come for Jenna's birth.  What a rip-off!  I had to stay in the hospital with my newborn and would have rather had mom's potato salad than hospital food.

 

            Mom packed some potato salad in a container and brought it with her the next day. 

            This year Kayla made deviled egg sandwiches for lunch on Easter Sunday.

Ooki with his one day old American sister

1 day old Jenna with dad and brothers

Jenna's first birthday

 Jenna turned 14 yesterday.  Oh the memories!

Jenna's 14th

Why Is It SO DRY?

            I don't recall it ever having been as cold in Oregon as it has been this past March.  We haven't had near the amount of rain as last year.  Except for the dew on the grass, I really haven't seen or felt a lot of moisture.  And yet the hills are a golf course green.  There have been times they've been capped with snow.  It has always been less than a foot, but in this part of Oregon, those few inches are enough to keep buses off the back roads.  Some of Jenna's classmates have missed a few weeks because of it.
 
            I had told Kayla NOT to bring the trailer tent because the weather had been too cold.  They did leave the trailer in Utah - but not because of the weather. She said she was happy about having left it behind.  Apparently, the wind had blown for most of their travel here.  That was how it had been for us last June when we had gone back to Utah for Jeanie's funeral. A constant cold and comatosing wind.

            It's not as if I've always had complaints about the air quality in Utah.  I don't think I started complaining about it until after we moved to West Valley - though there were some tough years when I had still been single, it didn't seem to be quite as often as West Valley.  I realize it may have just been an age thing - but I also realized that the ventilation of that house was not the greatest in addition to having the lowest ceilings of any house I had ever lived in.  I need at least four feet of space between me and the ceiling (I don't know if that is accurate - I'm just estimating).  I've never lived in a house with skylights until we moved to our house in Oregon - two years ago this month.

            I also noticed that I was always tired whenever the wind blew - but apparently, the wind/coma thing was only in Utah.  The wind never had the same effect on me in Oregon except for twice now.  I can no longer remember when I was affected the first time, but I remember being tired last Thursday when my sister and her family were due to arrive.  I was tired for most of the time they were here - but it wasn't because of the wind. 
        During the time that my sister and here were here, the weather had been really nice for most of their stay - not at all what I had expected.  Roland and I actually had our windows open while we slept - but it's gotten cold again. And we put the heat back on.

            He's still got that stupid cough, and I have been waking up trying to clear my throat from all the dryness.  Last year's rainfall seemed to last for four months.  We haven't had near as much rain and I find my breathing now feels similar to my normal breathing in Salt Lake.  I don't like that.  Perhaps we'll have to move closer to the ocean.

Three Mods in a Row - Are You Kidding Me?

          I don't know how many courses my current instructor is teaching, but this is the third mod that I've had her.  At least the lecture is on Tuesday now instead of Wednesday, so that will be better.  But the subject is still accounting.  I actually slept through today's lecture.  She was late getting started and didn't sound almost done when I finally turned her off.  I still have to create my discussion post - but then again, so does the rest of the class.

          Today starts a new mod.  My instructor kept referring to the things that had been discussed in the class last week - which I suppose is fine and good for those who actually took ACC322 last mod, but what about the members of the class who may have not even had an accounting class last mod?  She did say there were several names of students that she has been assigned to previously.  Lucky us.  In addition, she has been doing taxes for clients outside of the school.  It sounds as if her plate may be overflowing.

          And yet I keep returning to the lesson I had given about "Divine Design" and wonder if my being in her class three times in a row now may not be more than a coincidence and wonder . . .  why?

Four Hours With Sick Car: NOT The Greatest Souvenir

            Bill and Kayla had planned on spending spring break with Bill's parents who live in St. George.  Their house gets quite packed with visitors when the entire family comes to visit.  They have five children and I think at least 5X that amount in grandchildren.  Bill had planned on getting the family a trailer tent to add to their comfort of an overly squished house.  But, evidently, Bill's parents either forgot or found another opportunity and booked for a cruise - that same weekend!

          I don't know how long before spring break Kayla had contacted me to see if they could make their spring break getaway with us in Oregon.  What a fantastic birthday gift for Jenna!  I decided to keep it a secret - knowing they would have to leave before her actual birthday but would be spending time with us close enough (Jenna turns 14 today; the family had to leave yesterday)

          Before they come, I have always suggested site-seeing options and cost and so forth.  This time I mentioned the Wild Life Safari - about a ten-minute drive and Enchanted Forest which we had never been to ourselves but had seen signs during our travels.  About two and a half hours north of us.  Didn't think they'd be interested in more driving, but thought it might be fun.

          They did not wish to drive the distance - which turned out to be a huge blessing for all of us.  I don't know if Bill took a picture of their back window after it had blown out - not even the entire window - just a large hole giving the appearance that it had been broken into - which hadn't been the case.  None in the car understood what had happened, but the glass had shattered as they were driving less than ten-miles an hour.

This, of course, is only a rough crop combining to demonstrate

          There hadn't been room for all eight of us in the van, and so Roland and Kayla and I were in our car; all five of our children (Bill is included in that number. He is the only one of the five who can legally drive) were in the van.  I decided I should go to Roseburg with Bill and sent Jenna and Kayla's oldest two with Roland and Kayla and I went with Bill to Roseburg to see if we could get the glass repaired, but there was not the right size in stock and so an appointment had to be made for Monday morning.

          Yesterday was their last day, and I gave Jenna the option of staying home, but she did not wish to break her record of perfect attendance, plus I think she was getting frustrated with some of the behavior that the children had displayed over the last four days.  Maybe not . . . Roland had said she had wanted to participate in more sophisticated activities that had been above their social levels.

          So Jenna returned to school and Roland returned to work.  Jenna talked Bill into taking her to school and he learned his car battery had died.  Because the back window covered only by cardboard boxes flattened out registered the van door was open, the overhead light had remained on until the battery needed to be recharged.  By then Jenna had missed the bus and so Bill borrowed our car to take her and then got lost on his return.

          As Jenna was at school, I decided that we would have enough room in our car for 5 people and so  I had planned on keeping the level of noise down by taking Kayla and children to the park and library for story time and then another park for a picnic.  Bill would be spending his day at the auto glass and then the mechanics.  But he truly does have the most positive attitude when things go awry.  He took his cell phone to keep himself entertained and seemed to be okay with it.

          Kayla was cold.  It appeared to me that Anna felt cold also - though the playground was definitely more inviting and therefore more important than staying warm.  I took the three-year-old to the library where he not only put together a few puzzles but talked about each piece as he put it in.  I think he's really an old man in a little person's body.  Gosh, he is smart!

          After story time we left Myrtle Creek and I took them to the park in Riddle - which they really seemed to enjoy, but poor Kayla was still freezing and actually I was too.  We were out a shorter time than I had anticipated, but fortunately for Roland, he had done the majority of what work was required of him, but still had hours left on the clock.

          Bill had returned from the glass repair and visited with Roland a bit before going to our mechanic's to get a service - only temporary at that.  Once again, parts would have to be special ordered and would not arrive until this Thursday but the kids return to school on Wednesday.  So they are now driving on a temporary repair job.  They made it to Burns, Oregon last night but still have the longest leg of their trip ahead of them still.  I pray they arrive in Utah safe and sound and that their car's problems have been left behind in Oregon.

Spring Break is Near Its End

            Spring break is over for Jenna.  Her cousins don't need to return to school until Wednesday.  I gave Jenna the option of staying home today, but she doesn't wish to ruin her perfect attendance.  Plus I think she is wanting a break for the chaotic noise level that has been a part of our house for the last four-going-on-five days.  That's right, Bill and Kayla brought their three children for a spring break visit.  I didn't even tell Jenna - which I'm glad, as I had my dates wrong and had expected Kayla a lot sooner thinking her children had the same amount of spring break that Jenna did.

            Funny thing, Jenna had asked if I would take her to the library on Thursday - which actually happened to be a part of my agenda - thinking that her cousins would be here already - but they were actually due to arrive that very day.

            I drove Jenna to the library so that she could paint a flower pot and hoped that Bill and Kayla would be able to meet us there.  We pulled up to the library at exactly 12:34.  Upon seeing the numbers lined up in order, Jenna told me to make a wish.  I said I wished some family member could be with us.  Our wish came true after 3:00.  I have much to post about and seven titles saved in drafts.  Only one class this mod, so hopefully I will be able to make the time to add details to the titles and post them.

showing off her flower pot creation

seeing Kayla and family in our driveway

            Roland is now back at work.  Bill has to go to Roseburg for an unexpected expense involving the car (another post) and my plan is to take Kayla and the kids to the library for story time and then we will have a picnic and drive around.  I'm tired.  I need to get dressed.  See that Jenna gets off to school.  She has talked Bill into taking her.

Happy Easter, Everyone!