What!?!

Today I saw something that has me a bit disturbed, but I'm not really sure what to do with the information, so I thought what else- Blog About It!
Ethan's school has a summer program so that the kids will keep on track throughout the break, and not have to do a lot of catch up once school starts again. For five random weeks (I can't find any reason behind the weeks that were chosen. There is no pattern or purpose that I can see.) the bus comes by and picks him up for a short, half-day school. The bus driver seems slightly crazy (he reminds me a little of that guy back home who had a breakdown and took the elementary school kids hostage as he drove all over the county running people off the road a few years ago.) and has said and done a few things that have made me wonder how safe he really is - he takes off the second Ethan steps on the bus, before he has a chance to sit down, or before the door is closed, he drives seriously about 40 MPH down our street, and then SLAMS on the brake right in front of our house-really, I'm sure there are light skid marks on the street, he calls the kids names like "dumb-bum" and "nerd bucket" and though it seems to be said in fun I'm not sure how I feel about a name calling adult on a bus full of special needs kids. Anyway, I have had my moments of disbelief all summer, but have held my tongue. There is an apartment complex behind our house that the bus drives through before he comes to our house. The parking lot is set up so that even though you drive parallel to the street for a while there is a median so you can't actually get onto the street except for in one specific space about a quarter mile from our house. All school year when we heard the bus pass through the parking lot we knew that we had about five minutes before the bus would make it to our stop, enough time to put on Ethan's back pack, give kisses, talk about the "rules of being in public", and walk out to the street before the bus came. This summer however, it didn't take nearly as long for the bus to come, and I kept wondering how on earth he could make it to our house so fast. Well today I got my answer. I was up stairs when the bus drove through the parking lot, so I could see over the fence and see the bus as it drove. Instead of driving around the divider, he jumped right over the curb, maneuvering around a tree, and hedge, and several parked cars, to end up on the street, and right near our house. WHAT THE...!?! Keep in mind that Ethan is one of the last stops, so the bus is already PACKED with small children, who are buckled in (hopefully), but still... I guess that's why Ethan thinks this bus ride is "so much fun like a roller coaster". It probably is quite a trip. I still can't really believe what I saw. Today is the last day of the summer program, so the next time Ethan rides the bus it will be under the care of our sweet, loving, CAREFUL, RESPONSIBLE, LAW ABIDING, Mrs. Bus-Driver-Carol. I guess I should be thankful for that, and that we made it through the summer alive!

The flu and other news...

Okay, I haven't written in over a week, and let me tell you why... the disgusting, explosive, hangover-like, wish you were dead to get out of the misery stomach flu hit our household. And we weren't lucky enough to all get it at the same time so that we could have it done and over with. Nope, we got it one right after another. Adia was the first to get it. Our friends, the Skinners were visiting, and as they were getting ready to leave the dad was talking to Adia. She wouldn't say anything to him, which I thought was weird because she LOVES men with deep voices, but I didn't think about it much. As soon as they left Adia was coming up the stairs, and sure enough, dinner went sliding all the way to the bottom. She was so sick for the rest of the night. Then the next day was Saturday, and nothing, we caught up on sleep, and the boys messed around outside. Then Sunday Adia came down with a high fever of 103.8 Scary! Just as we were getting the fever to come down, Ethan started throwing up, although, he was exploding from both ends, and that added to his deviated septum made for an exciting night. Without going into much detail let me just say that in the bathroom we were literally knee deep... Then Monday Ethan slept it off, Troy went to work, and came down with it. Tuesday Ethan had the fever and Troy got over the crud, Wednesday Troy had the fever, and in the evening I got the crud, and because of being without sleep for nearly a week, and the one who cleaned up everyone else's crud, I had it clear until Friday! Yuck! I have now sanitized every inch of our home, shampooed the carpets (even the stairs...twice!) and we are getting put back together.

Now on to more fun, less disgusting topics... In our town there is a tabernacle. It was built by the early pioneers who settled the place, then it burned down in the early 1900s and was rebuilt. It is beautiful, and ever since we moved here it has been one of my favorite things. I make our family take pictures there, whenever anyone comes to visit, I take them to see it, I just love it. Well, during the summer they give tours of the tabernacle, and I always thought it was a type of mission or calling that you had to be called to in order to work there. Well, a few weeks ago we found out that wasn't true. In our ward they sent a sign up sheet around asking for volunteers to work there, and we jumped at the chance. So that's where we spent last Saturday. It was so much fun to learn about the building. We had TONS of people come through, and we got to tell them about it. They encourage people to play the beautiful organ, and I was impressed at how many people knew how. During Peach Days, (September) we had taken a tour and our tour guide showed us something neat. Because they didn't have sufficient hard wood they built the inside of the tabernacle with pine. Pine isn't a very beautiful wood, so they painted the wood to look like oak. They painted every last inch of wood that covers the entire inside of the building, and the pews with a beautiful, very real looking wood grain. That's neat, but the cool part is that in every real knot in the wood someone wrote their name, and the date, and their position in the building team. It's pretty cool, we spent all of our "down time" looking, and we have found 13 different names. Another fun fact relating to our visit during Peach Days deals with Adia. We walked to main street for the parade so that we wouldn't have to fight with parking, and on the walk back is when we stopped at the tabernacle for our tour. During the short informative movie, Adia fell asleep, and Troy carried her around the rest of the tour, and then the rest of the way home. When we finally made it home we noticed that Adia was missing a shoe. (They were these darling little blue crocs my mom had bought her.) We retraced our steps a little, but never found it, and finally gave up. Well on Saturday, nearly a year later, guess what is still sitting in the lost and found! You got it, a tiny darling blue croc!
Now, on to my last bit of "news" It has come to my attention, (and no, not just from Bobbi) that in my previous 100 things post I made my sister sound very mean. I didn't mean to make her sound bad, those are just the memories that I hold dear. We did fight a lot as kids, but now we are very good friends, and I really admire her for everything she does and who she is. I love her like crazy, and I am so lucky to have her as a sister!

Memories...

This is a fun thing that a LOT of my blogging friends are doing, and I thought, "Hey, I'm a follower, why not?" :)
So here's how it works...
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.
So there you have it! Post away!Oh,and if you don't "know" me well enough to have a memory, feel free to use anything you've read here. A favorite post you've read, etc. that way everyone can play!

100 things

In honor of my 100th post I have been told that the "thing to do" is to post 100 things about yourself. I'm not sure I am that interesting, however, I am up for the challenge. If you don't want to know quite that much about me, or if you are bored to tears before you get to the end, you don't have to read it all. It won't offend me at all:) Here goes...

1. My maiden name is Katie Marie Fuller, (not named after anyone except the Fuller part, that comes from my dad:)

2. I was born in Moab, Utah, the same place my Mom was born.

3. I grew up in a TINY town of about 300 people.

4. While I was growing up there I wasn't so sure, but now looking back, I had the best childhood EVER! I really love the area, the values that I was taught there, and all of the things I was able to learn and experience that people from the city never do.

5. It might sound lame, but two of my very best friends are my parents, and they always have been, even in those awkward teenage years.

This is my parents with my kids. I love that my mom and Ethan have the same smile. Aren't they all good looking?


6. I have one sister, Bobbi. (and a brother who passed away before I was born) I was born the day before her 5th birthday, and growing up I think she hated me for that. She used to do all kinds of mean things to me, but I always secretly looked up to her. It wasn't until she graduated and moved away that we actually became friends. Now we get along really well, and I still look up to her.

7. I always wanted a big family, and remember begging my parents to have another baby. When they refused, I would watch "Wednesday's Child" every week, and beg my parents to adopt each of those kids. I would dream of having lots of little brothers and sisters, and being the best big sister in the world. They never agreed, and it is still just my sister and I. To compensate for that I just knew that I would marry someone who had the huge family I had always wanted. Nope, I married Troy, and he only has two brothers, one of which I have never met, and probably never will. So after we got married I dreamed of having TONS of kids, but we were faced with infertility, and ended up adopting two kids. It looks like that is all we will have, and I'm alright with that now. I don't really need a big family. Sometimes the one I've got seems a little bigger than I can handle :)

8. One of my best friends in the whole world is Levi. We have known each other since I was in 8th grade. He is more like a brother to me than just a friend. He is the one who introduced Troy and I, and the first one to predict that we would get married, and a key ringleader in us actually getting married, and in reality, he is one of the biggest reasons that we made it through our first year of marriage, and are still married to this day. His older brother Jeremy was one of Troy's good friends, and he and his wife and kids are like our family now too. Then Levi got married to a wonderful girl that we instantly fell in love with, and they have a little boy, and that just added to our family. We have so much fun with all of them. They are the people who stood by us through all of the hard times. They pray for us when things get tough. They are the ones we call when we need help. They are the ones we want to share our successes with. Our kids think they are cousins, and we all let them think that. It's mostly true anyway. I guess I have my big family now, after all. It just didn't come in any of the ways I thought it would.
My two best guys all packed up and ready to go.




9. Adoption is something that is VERY near to my heart. I love it so much that I talk about it all the time. (In fact, I might even be a little annoying about it:) I love the way that it changes lives. I have huge respect for people who adopt, but I have equal respect for people who, knowing that they can't give their baby the life they deserve, selflessly give him/her a better life. I think that takes a lot of courage, faith and love. I give those people a lot of respect, and wish that everyone did. I think adoption is a beautiful gift from God. If you ever have any questions about adoption please ask me, I would love to answer them for you.


This is my kids with their bio-grandparents. They are such wonderful people. I am so blessed that they are a part of our lives.


10. My son Ethan was three when we adopted him. He was born four months before I was married (though I knew nothing about him at the time). That is not uncommon in today's world, however in my religion, it is uncommon, and in the place I was married it is almost unheard of. Believe it or not, a lot of people who don't know the story of my family have judged me very harshly for that.





11. My kids are biological brother and sister. My daughter, Adia, was a surprise to us, and we didn't know about her at all until she was already born, and a social worker called us up and asked if we wanted to make the adoption we were working on a two for one deal. I agreed right on the spot, and as the very words were leaving my mouth, my head was screaming "Troy is going to KILL you!" He was happy with the idea, and a few months of limbo later we were a almost family.





12. The kids were meant to be together. Even though there is a three year (to the day) difference, because of some special need that Ethan has they have taught each other how to do most things, walk, talk, socialize, trust, even counting, and pre-reading skills. One would not be where they are today without the other. They fight just like brothers and sisters do, but at the end of the day, they are very best friends, and there is no one else they love more.

13. Sometimes I think about how lucky I am, and it makes me cry.

14. I believe in miracles. I see them every single day.

15. I love cold cereal. If I could I would eat it every day for every meal. (at least for a while) I can not get enough of the stuff.

16. I have this weird ear thing that no one understands. If someone puts their hand near my ears it causes me actual pain. (If they touch my ear, or if my hair is between my ear and them it is fine) Bobbi used to sit on top of me so that I couldn't move, and wiggle her hands next to my ears for what seemed like hours at a time. She really didn't like me much- see #6. Now, even though I am grown up I still have mean friends (like Levi, my husband, and my dad) who do it just to get a reaction out of me, and it works every time.

17. I am a scent snob (thanks Stacy, for making a term for the condition) I have a superhuman sense of smell. Seriously, I should get a job as a bloodhound or drug dog or something. I can smell when the baby sitting six rows in front of me at church wets his pants. Sometimes I can smell what people ate for breakfast when I pass them on the street. I can stand next to the fridge and tell you if anything is going bad. It comes in handy pretty often. Just as often, it is a curse.

18. I HATE ANIMALS!-All animals.

19. Once my sister and I had a pet turtle. We weren't supposed to have it, but we sneaked it into our room. We had it in there for like, two months before my dad even knew about it. (he is obviously NOT a scent snob) When he found out he made us put it in a cage outside. Sometimes we would let it go in the irrigation ditch in our back yard, and let it float down the stream for a while. One day it "ran" away, and we never found it again. I wasn't sad.

20. When I was little there was a cat making funny sounds on our front porch. (it was in heat, but I didn't know that at the time) I went outside to shake a broom at it to chase it away. It bit me on the back of my thigh, and broke the skin. I still have a scar from it. It was really bad, and my sister told me I probably had rabies, and my dad was going to have to shoot me like the kid in Old Yeller had to shoot his dog. The next day the cat came back, and my dad shot it. I wasn't sad about that either.

21. When I was little we went to a horse show, and there was an Indian lady who had a baby goat. My sister and I played with the goat for a long time. I had thick, long, white hair, and the lady kept touching it. My sister asked her if she would trade the goat for me. The lady said yes. I ran away before they could shake on it. Every time we went to a horse show that summer I was worried that the lady was going to be there, and that she would scalp me.

22. I love photography a lot. I always have really liked it, but I didn't know that I had a talent for it until I was in college and took a photography class. I LOVED that class. We had a bunch of different assignments to take different kinds of shots. We had lab time where we would go in and develop our own pictures. I loved it, and some day I dream of having my own dark room. For now I am really happy with digital photography, and I could spend hours (If I had hours to spend on anything) just editing photos, changing things about them, and having fun experimenting.

23. I am left handed. When I was in elementary school we had "handicapped week" (I grew up in a hick town. No one was worried about being politically correct, or offending anyone. There were 23 kids in my entire school, Kindergarten through fourth grade) We learned about all different kinds of handicaps and got the opportunity to "try it out" by spending the day in a wheelchair, or with a blindfold on, or one arm tied behind our back, etc. In one of the assembly's one of the teachers told everyone that being left handed is a handicap. Everyone knew I was left handed, and people called me "Retard" for a long time after that. Kids are cruel. I'm still bitter about that almost 20 years later.

24. I hate the word "retard", and not just because of #23. I also hate the words stupid, barf, puce and Uranus. It also really annoys me when people say. "I was waiting on line for..." It's IN line, not ON line. The line is the people and you aren't ON them, you are IN THE MIDST of them. See-IN line. I know that this is subject to debate, but don't try to change my mind, you won't do it.

25. It really irritates me when I hear people use incorrect grammar, and it takes a lot of restraint not to correct them. That doesn't mean I am perfect, but I try to follow the rules I was taught.

26. I make friends really easily, and once I have made them I keep them FOREVER! I still keep in contact with all of my close friends from high school (some of them I have even known since I was in diapers) and most of my college friends and roommates.

27. I turned 26 this year, and it was actually a pretty hard one for me. I know it's not that old, but it just seems like the cut off, and I'm not "young" anymore.

28. Troy is five years older than I am, and even though he isn't old, I tease him about being old all the time. Sometimes he tries to tease me about getting older, but no matter what he says I always have the argument that I'm still five years younger than him.

29. Troy thinks the town I grew up in is pretty redneck, and likes to make up "you might be a redneck if..." jokes about my real life. Some of them are actually true.

30. We have been married for six years now, and in that time we have only had one romantic anniversary. It was our first one. We went back to the Manti Temple where we were married, and stayed in a cute little inn. It was very romantic. The second year we spent the night watching bad movies with my depressed grandmother who's husband had just died. (we started watching one movie that turned out to be really filthy and we turned it off before the opening credits were finished. Troy jokes that we spent our anniversary watching dirty movies with Grandma. See #29) Our third anniversary we had just picked up our kids and had gone from a couple to a family of four just a few days earlier, and we were so preoccupied with that we didn't even remember until the day after when Troy's mom called to wish us a happy anniversary. The year after that we had just been told (for the millionth time) that there was a problem with our adoption paperwork, and we would not be aloud to finalize the adoption, and our kids were going back to their biological parents, so we forgot again. Last year we had just moved a few days before, and while we didn't forget, we didn't have the time, energy, or money to do anything very special. Then this year it was on a Sunday, so we spent most of the day in church, and I spent the entire evening at a Girls Camp meeting. We have big plans for next year... Someone call us and remind us a couple of days before:)

31. For four years in high school I worked at a little place called the Hole N The Rock. It is a 5000 square foot house that was carved into a giant rock. I was a tour guide, and showed people through the house complete with a "rock" bath tub, 14 rooms, two (very poorly) stuffed wild mustangs, and a Harry, the hairless donkey, whose face was beginning to cave in. Aside from the tour of the house, there is a gift shop, a "trading post" a convenience store, and a lot of sculptures and gardens to see outside. It sounds like a real tourist trap, and it totally is, but honestly people come from all over the world to see it. My mom worked there when she was in high school, and so did my sister, kind of like a crazy family tradition. Sometimes I hated working there, but other times it was pretty fun. I did meet a lot of interesting people, and I have TONS of hilarious stories about it.

32. I once owned my own day care. It was actually pretty successful, I even had a waiting list of people who wanted to get in. I absolutely loved doing it. I made good money, had tons of fun, and made friends that will last a lifetime. (that means you Melissa, and Krista, and Becky:) I loved watching the kids grow up, I loved teaching them new things, and having them teach me. I loved that I got to roll around on the floor all day, and finger paint, and sing (off key) and I got paid for it. We moved back to my hometown just before I got my kids, so I had to close the business. Now that I have kids of my own I don't think I could ever have my own daycare again. I still like kids, I just don't have any desire to take care of kids who aren't my own day after day.

33. In high school I lived about an hour away from the school, and I had to ride a bus. I had to get on the bus around 6:30 every morning to make it to school on time. For the most part the high school kids would sleep in the back, and the elementary school kids would be (somewhat) quiet in the front. Sometimes the bus was so cold that ice would form on the inside of the windows. One morning a little boy licked the metal between the bus windows and his tongue stuck. He started yelling, and wouldn't stop. One of the older kids on our bus stood up, walked to the front of the bus and ripped the boys head from the window. Some of his taste buds stuck to the bar, and stayed there for the rest of the year. One time we had a mouse on the bus. It ran to the front and started climbing the bus drivers leg. She swerved all over the highway, and we almost had a head on collision with a semi-truck. One time the bus driver pulled over and was literally beating one of her sons for misbehaving. Someone drove past and called to turn her in. Some people had to interview each of us to see if she beat all of us. Once they found out it was just her own kids, they dropped it.

34. My favorite drink is hot water.

35 I also love hot flat soda. It is my favorite when you forget your drink inside the car all day, especially in the summer, and when you remember, it has just about reached it's boiling point. You drink it, and it is flat and hot...YUM! Back when I used to drink soda I would buy it and keep it in the cupboard instead of the fridge. Troy hated it.

36. In the town where I grew up there is one tiny grocery store where they just sell the necessities. It used to be kinda poor quality, and sometimes things would get really old before they would sell. You could buy gum there that was so old it would crumble when you would bite into it. I kid you not, I was in college before I finally realized that gum wasn't supposed to be crunchy. I bought a pack of gum, and thought "YUCK! What is wrong with this gum? It's soft and squishy!" It took me a while to start liking gum again, and still I would prefer a mint most of the time.

37. When I started blogging I didn't think I would have anything to say. I thought I would have two or three posts a month. I was really surprised when I started doing it. It was a really nice way to vent about what was going on in my life, almost like a sort of therapy. (Maybe if I had this while I was trying to have kids I wouldn't have gained, like, forty pounds!) Now I write almost every day.

38. I love writing. It is also a great way for me to vent. In college I took several different writing courses. I did really well in them, and one of my professors nearly had me convinced to change my major to literary arts. I finally decided against it, but I remain in contact with that Professor, and every once in a while she writes to me and tells me to write a book. Maybe some day I will...

39. I love to read. I love that my kids love it too.

40. I love to camp. I used to really love it when I was young. As I am growing older, and have to worry about packing and unpacking for a family instead of just myself I don't love it quite as much. I was thrilled when Troy's grandpa asked if we wanted to buy thier motor home from him. I can finally pack all of our stuff in one place, and I don't have to load and unload it every time we go. It is such a blessing that we can make fun memories with our kids. So far because it only gets 7 miles to the gallon and with the price of gas we usually stay in our back yard, but even that is fun. We have big plans for maybe next summer.:)


41. One of my very favorite people in the whole world was my Great Grandma Harvey. I was lucky to get to know her very well as a girl. In college I did one of my expository writing projects on her and wrote a 40 page paper spotlighting her life. I actually won an award for it, and (back when I went there) you could check out a copy of it in the campus library. One of my dreams had always been to have a five generation picture taken with her. I seriously couldn't wait to have kids so I could do that. One December two of my cousins had babies, and at thier blessings after they got thier five genreation pictures taken, Grandma Harvey was talking to Troy and I asking when we were going to have kids. We told her that we were trying to adopt Ethan, but we were having a hard time with the adoption. She took my hand and said that she would do anything in her power to bring our family to us. She died shortly after that. As I was grieving from the loss of my dear grandma, I got the call telling us about Adia. I think Grandma Harvey got up there and started setting things strait. In the end, after a long battle, the final reason that we were aloud to adopt Ethan is because he had a sister, Adia, and they needed to stay together. So I didn't get my five generation picture, and I am still sad about that, but I have a constant living breathing reminder of how much Grandma loved me, and that's even better.

42. Sometimes my dreams come true. And sometimes my dreams are answers to questions I have, or guide me to the things I should do.

43. I love The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is a joy and a guide in my life. It makes me who I am.

44. I have a really bad voice, but I LOVE to sing, so sometimes I just belt out songs at the top of my voice. Sometimes I even use my hairbrush or something as a microphone and act like a total rock star. I am so greatful to my husband and children for loving me anyway.

45. For my whole life I dreamed of living in LaSal, where I grew up, right next to my parents, and raising my family there. When we first had kids we did live there, and I loved a lot of things about it. Unfortunatly it didn't offer everything that my family needed, so about a year ago we moved six hours away from LaSal, and left our family and a lot of friends, and that dream of mine behind. It was hard to live so far away from anything familliar. I really missed my Mommy and Daddy. They really missed my kids:) I still miss them, and wish that they lived closer, but I love the place we live now too. It is a great town with a lot of character, traditions, and love. It has been perfect for my little family, and it has taught me that I am strong and I can do hard things.

46. We know a lot about judgement, prejudice, and discrimination. We learned a lot about how hurtful that can be, but also that we are stronger and that we can rise above that. Life isn't always beautiful, but the journey is worth it.

47. I have monkey feet. I can pick things up with my feet, and can even write my name with my toes if I try hard. Adia has the exact same "talent".


48. I love technology, but I struggle to keep up with it sometimes.

49. I love to learn about history. It has been fun to live in a new place that has so much history. It makes me so excited to learn all of these new stories I have never heard before.

50. I am not a very good cook, but I love to do it. I can't follow a recipe to save my life, and I never measure anything out. If you ask me for a recipe it is filled with things like "about a cup of this", and "yea much of that". I do make the very best chocolate chip cookies and the very best meatloaf ever.

51. I love to have a clean house. It is such a joy for me. I love cleaning supplies too. It gets me really excited when I buy a new cleaning supply to try out, like, really excited-sometimes I giggle. I might even boarderline on the "clean freak" spectrum, though I have mellowed considerably in the last few years. For about two years starting around the time we were trying to get our kids, I was really depressed, and then really overwhelmed. I stopped cleaning, and I'm sorry to say that my house wasn't always as clean as it should have been. Now things are under control again, and, and I am back to my old ways. That doesn't mean that my house is always spotless, I have two kids, but I do try hard, and it is the source of a lot of happiness for me.

52. When I was in high school in the yearbook one year my class theme was "famous outlaws" I was assigned to be "Big Nose Kate" because of the name, not the nose. But it gave me a complex, and that was only hightened by the fact that when my grandma saw it she said "Your nose isn't THAAAAT big, it's just pleasantly pudgy!" I was always obsessed with the size of my nose after that. I found makeup techniques that would make my nose look smaller. I was careful not to wear my hair in a way that accentuated my nose, I wouldn't wear clothes that were a color that might accentuate my nose, I was really a little crazy about it. It was only this last year that I took a real look at myself and realized that my nose really isn't that big. It isn't tiny, but it's not like I have a giant SCHNOZE or anything.

53. I am finally growing up enough to start to like myself. I'm not perfect, and I am very aware of that, but it mostly doesn't bother me. I like a lot of the person I am, and I am becomming someone that I am pretty happy with.

54. When I was younger I was riding four-wheelers with Levi, and I was going WAY too fast. I went around a corner, and the road had washed out. I didn't have time to stop, so I ended up hitting the wash out, jumping my fourwheeler, rolling it, and getting a stick rammed through my toe. I thought my parents would get mad at me, so I made Levi pull the stick out for me and promise that he wouldn't tell. (What a good friend huh?) It hurt really bad, and when I was around my parents I had to pretend like everything was fine. It bled and bled, and ruined a lot of socks. It got really infected and I had to keep dumping peroxide on it and squeezing puss out of it until it healed up about two months later. That toe is still a little deformed. I never told my parents about that,(Surprise Mom!:) but now that seems so silly to me, I doubt they would have been mad.

55. Oh, another bus story. The bus was so cold in the winter. My driveway was really long, and when it would snow my shoes would fill with snow and get my feet wet. When I would get on the bus it wouldn't warm up, and often, my socks would freeze. Now I can't feel my toes, and I can barely feel the bottom of my feet. Really, you could step on my toes and jump around on them, I can walk barefooted anywhere, and I don't really notice. Once I even got a chunk of glass stuck in my heel and didn't notice for an entire day.

56. Other people's feet, dirty socks, and boogers really gross me out. I can't even handle it. I have to love the person very much to touch any of those things. I even have some tonges designated as the laundy tonges so I don't have to touch the dirty socks as I sort the laundry.

57. It gives me the dry heaves when I see a kid with thier nose running down thier face, and thier mom wipes it with thier shirt.

58. I knew I was going to marry Troy before we even started officially dating the second time. My mom told me.

59. We have a Fuller Family Reunion every year. We have an auction where people donate things and it raises money for the next year's reunion. My Grandpa is the auctioneer, and it is my favorite part of the whole reunion. He can't hear AT ALL, so you can be yelling out a bid and if he doesn't see you, he won't take your bid. Even if he does see you, he can't really hear what you are bidding, so he just hollers out a number, and you better hope it is what you wanted to bid. You also have to be really careful because if you move he might say that you are bidding something, or, if no one else is bidding but he thinks you might like it he bids on it for you, and you might just walk away spending six dollars on an annoying used kazoo that you are the one who brought to the auction, and you originally paid .85 for when you bought it brand new. (I speak from experience.) He also can't remember anyone's real name, so he has made up nicnames for everyone. It's like a right of passage. You aren't really in the family until you have a nicname, and if you have one, even if you aren't technically a part of the family, you are automatically sucked in. Myself, and several of my cousins experienced this with thier now-spouses. We were still making up our minds about the person, but Grandpa already had. Anyway, the whole thing just cracks me up, and it is something I look forward to each and every year.

60. I really like to fish, and have since I was a little girl. My dad and I used to fish together every summer. It was a cool time when we could talk, and have fun together. Now my parents take my kids fishing, and they love it.

61. I can't swim. I could probably doggy paddle enough to save myself from drowning, but other than that I've got nothing.

62. I do not have a green thumb. I kill plants like crazy. When we bought our first house a lady in our ward gave me a plant. She joked with me that it was a test, and if I could keep it alive for a while, I should go ahead and have kids. I killed it right away. I didn't think much about it until a few years later when we were driving to California to pick up our kids. Around two in the morning as we were frantically trying to get there as fast as we could, that thought popped into my mind. For just a moment, I FREAKED out! What if it was true, and I wasn't responsible enough to have kids? The moment quickly passed, and I was fine, but even now when we are having a really bad day I think about that and wonder if I should have tried another plant or two first.

63. If you had asked me ten years ago I would have sworn that phrases like "Please don't sit on your sister's head" or " Get your finger out of your brother's nose" or "take that ABC gum out of your mouth and put it back on the sidwalk where you found it!" would never come out of my mouth. Sadly they are nearly an every day occurance now.

64. I find cell phones very useful, but I hate the way they have taken over our lives.

65. I really believe that there are days when you just need to let everything else go, and spend all day hugging the people you love.

66. I am really blessed that I have the opportunity to be a stay at home mom, so every so often when we need it we can do #65.

67. I am almost never afraid of scary movies. It doesn't seem very likely that it will happen.

68. One of my secret guilty pleasures is Reality TV. I can't explain it, I just like it.

69. One thing that I get really excited about is a new toothbrush. I love knowing that it has never touched anything yucky before. It makes my mouth feel so clean. I love the hard bristle kind of toothbrush. Sometimes when I have a new toothbrush I will brush several times a day.

70.This spring when I went to the dentist he told me that I brush too hard. I have to lighten up, and use a soft bristle brush, and if I don't get better at it he is going to recommend that I only brush once a day. I'm not kidding.

71. I would rather be hot than cold.

72. I am usually cold.

73. My feet are always cold. I can't really feel it, so it doesn't bother me. In bed at night out of habit I put my cold feet on Troy's legs. I tell him that's the reason I married him, so he can warm up my feet. He is very nice, and almost never complains about it.

74. When I am sick I like my head to be rubbed. It's the only thing that makes me feel better.

75. I don't sleep much. Even before I had kids when I had no excuse to be awake all night I still couldn't sleep. I get it from my dad. I have a rule that if I wake up in the night, and still haven't gone back to sleep after ten minutes I have to get up and do something productive (dishes, sweep the floor, do laundry, etc.) Sometimes, the fact that I don't want to do those things is enough for me to will myself back to sleep. Sometimes not, and then I usually get a lot done.

76. I have been pulled over while driving several times, however I have only gotten two tickets in my life. Both were for speeding, and both were within a week of each other.

77. Troy has a lifesized plastic dog that he has had since he was little. When we got married he made me get rid of all of my stolen road signs because they were tacky, but the dog stayed-what? That's not tacky?- We call him Killer, and he lives in our living room. He scares small children. When we moved the last time Troy was so worried that I was going to throw him out somewhere along the way, he kept Killer on the front seat of the moving van with him. I don't think he really likes the dog anymore, he just knows that it bugs me, so he keeps him to tease me.

78. I don't like to fight, but I love a good debate. Sometimes I will tell Troy that I disagree with him, even if I actually agree, just so that we can talk it out. It makes me excited to see who will win. It drives Troy nuts, and I love that about it too. It makes me smile, and it is kind of pay back for #77.

79. It sounds like Troy and I fight a lot. Really, we hardly ever do. We are really good at talking things through and working it out before it becomes a fight. Most of the time when we argue it is done in fun, not anger.

80. I am a HUGE teaser. I love to see the reactions I can get out of people.

81. April Fools Day is my favorite holiday. I LOVE it. Sometimes I plan for weeks to pull off the perfect prank. I don't do anything mean, I just do crazy things to make people smile. Some of our traditions are that I make Green Eggs and Ham for breakfast, I make crazy hats to wear, I turn the toilet water red, I make the milk blue, and I make Kitty Litter Cake for dessert every year.

82. I am big on traditions. Some of them Troy brought, some of them I brought, and a lot of them we started on our own. I just love that there is something familiar all the time. It doesn't matter where you are, or what has changed in your life, a tradition is something that you can count on.

83. I have always loved to play around with makeup, so working for Mary Kay Cosmetics is just an excuse to do something I already loved.

84. When we moved to Northern Utah I was terrified to drive in the Salt Lake area. Whenever we would go there I would get headaches, and get sick to my stomach, and get dizzy. Several weeks after we moved here I finally realized what the problem was-I was holding my breath while I drove. I am much better now, but sometimes I still have to remind myself to breath.

85. Troy used to think I was a really good driver, but after #84 he doesn't. He is super stressed out every time I drive somewhere.

86. I used to HATE schedules. Those people who would live thier lives according to thier day planers drove me NUTS! I was a total fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants girl. Now I have Ethan, and we HAVE to follow a schedule, or it throws him out of control. It was really hard for me to start doing that, but things actually run so much more smoothly when I know what "the plan" is. I don't know if I could ever go back to the craziness now.

87. I LOVE to have clean sheets on my bed.

88. I LOVE, LOVE clean laundry just out of the dryer, especially whites. I just love that clean soap/bleach smell. It makes me really happy.

89. I am a total list maker. I make lists for everything. I am really big on pro/con lists. It is a part of every big decision I make. Troy teases me about it all the time. Any little thing that I can't decide on, like what shoes to wear, or what to make for dinner, he suggests I make a list.

90. I really like to decorate my house. I like to start with a color scheme, and then add more and more to it until it becomes the perfect room. In this house I am really happy with my bedroom, and Adia's room. I am also a painting fool. I love trying out new paint colors on the wall, and I am very brave with color.

91. I love to take old things and make them into something new. I have an eye for things that could serve a different purpose than the one it was made for.

92. I have this problem with public restrooms. I really don't like to use a bathroom that isn't my own, but if I really need to go, and it is clean I can do it. I am big on the "hover". But if the bathroom is dirty I physically CAN'T use it. I have learned to hold it, and honestly have the ability to hold it for days if necessary.

93. Troy and I have moved six times in our six years of marraige.

94. I love moving because it is a perfect opportunity to go through everything and throw a lot of things away, and clean everything really well.

95. This spring Troy finally told me that you can do all of the things mentioned in #94 without actually having to move. I tried it, and it was true.

96. For my whole life I have wanted to own an OLD house, like hundreds of years old. I have a dream of owning a house like that, and one day I will find a secret passage way, or a mystery hidden inside that I can solve, or something like that. When we were trying to find a house here we looked at a lot of 100 year old homes, and I fell in love with one. It has so much character, and I could feel a mystery there, just waiting for me. We actually bid on the house, and they acceped our offer, but they wouldn't warrenty the plumbing, and with a house that old it was a red flag, so we retracted our offer. I was crushed, but the house still hasn't sold over a year later, so it was probably for the best.

97. I love to make jewlery. I am pretty good at it, and have even sold some of my pieces.

98. I am a hugger. I hug all the time. I know that it makes some people uncomfortable, but I can't stop myself, I just love the hug. I am, however very turned off by the casual kiss.

99. I am a little afraid of talking on the phone, especially to people I don't know. If I can possibly e-mail, leave a messege, or take care of it online by myself, I totally will.

100. Life has totally exceeded all of my expectations.

Workin' hard

We are getting things ready to build a patio outside sometime soon. (Work in progress) So we are shoveling and leveling and compacting. It is a family job, though from these pictures it seems like Troy's job is supervisor, and mine is documenter, and the kids are the only ones who are doing any work. I just thought it was cute that they are actually putting real effort into the job, and I am impressed by how much work they actually got done:)

*There is a way cute video that I really wanted to post, butfor some reason I can't get it to upload, so maybe I will try again later.

Summer Hair

Well, as you may have noticed in my last few posts, my kids got hair cuts. I have been meaning to post about it since I did it, but I have never gotten a good picture of them showing off the new hair. Finally I realized that If I wanted to post about it I would just have to do it and no worry about the pictures turning out. Last week I was pulling Adia's hair back to keep her cool. (Last week was a scorcher!) Ethan came in and asked if I could pull his hair back so he would be cooler. Well, we are not a boys-wear-ponytails kind of family, and so his hair while needing to be cut for sure was no where near long enough to pull back. So I started thinking about what we could do to cool him off. Suddenly it hit me- No Hair! (I'm sure Bobbi, my sister and our regular "hair cutter" is groaning in agony as she reads this. Sorry Bobbi.) So, while I am not good at cutting hair, I have given a few cuts in my day, and I figure that shaving it doesn't take too much skill right? Nope, not right! As I was just about to get started a though occurred to me. Ethan's head is shaped a little funny, so NO hair might not be a good solution for us. So I put on a guard and got going. Holy crap, it takes longer than you think. And asking Ethan to hold still for a long time is not a smart move. By the time we were finished both of us and the entire bathroom was COVERED in hair. Oh well, it turned out pretty good, all things considered, and he loves it. It certainly isn't a look we are going to sport all the time, but for the summer, when he doesn't really have to see many people, it is perfect. It makes me giggle a little every time I look at him, and I'm not sure why. Maybe because now the only thing I notice when I look at him are his huge eyes, and giant smile. How can that not make you happy? When we were finishing up with Ethan, Adia decided that it was her turn. In order to avoid the cutting her own hair situation we had earlier in the year, I decided it wouldn't hurt anything to cut hers too. Even though that one should have been a little harder, it was actually much easier. I cut it just below her chin, and it is SO CUTE! At first, it hit her that she didn't have long hair, so she didn't look like Cinderella anymore. It was almost a heart break until she realized that now she look like Dora! Oh, good save! The funny thing is when she wears shorts and tennis shoes she kind of does look like a Caucasian Dora. Anyway, the kids and I are all very happy with the new do's. The pictures really don't do them justice, (especially Ethan, you have no idea how many pictures I took, and this is the best one:) but that's the best I've got:)

Good from the Garden

Last night we ate our first meal of the summer (almost) all from the garden. We had a yummy stir fry, and a green salad. The only things that didn't come from from the garden were the noodles, and the chicken we put in it. It was so fun to be able to know that we had really "made" all of our food. And it was so much fun to listen to the kids as we were eating. They couldn't stop talking about each individual piece of food that they had either planted, picked, sliced, cooked, or whatever. They were so excited about it! I just hope that the stay as excited as the garden and fruit trees start producing more and it is time for canning...

Book Review

As the mother of a child with special needs, I get a lot of "advice" on how to "deal with my situation". I also get a LOT of book recommendations. Most of them I read, a few of them I like, a lot of them I don't, but I take the suggestions as their way of caring about me. (Most of the time that's true, some of the time it's not, but if I let myself dwell on that it would drive me crazy, so I take the "ignorance is bliss" route, and think of it as a kind gesture)
I have a kind neighbor who I have developed a wonderful friendship with. She is quite older than I, she has kids my age and older. She has a daughter who is my age who has special needs, and that became a bond for us, though now we talk about much more than just that. A while ago she brought me a book. She didn't pressure me into reading it. She just said that she had just finished it, and LOVED it, and thought I would be able to relate to it, so she bought me a copy. I have been really busy, and kind of put off reading it, but this week I finished up the "for fun" book I was reading, and for lack of a better alternative I picked up this book and started to read it. WOW! I couldn't put it down! It is a fictional book, but based of the life of the author. She is the mother of an autistic daughter. In story form she talks about how that changed things in her life, and the struggles and triumphs she experienced in the first year after the diagnosis. As I was reading I was amazed at the way I related to everything she said. The way she found out was much different as she was faced with a child first, autism second, and my situation was the other way around, also, autism is the main problem with her, and one of the least of our struggles, so that part I didn't relate to, but the way she felt, and the way it effected her life was very similar to mine. It was almost as if she had written the very thoughts from my head. Though I have changed and grown a lot since then, I could still remember those feelings and trials, and was comforted by the fact that I wasn't the only person who has ever felt that way, as I was often ashamed by the way I felt, and have hidden it away from nearly everyone. (One of my friends recently did a post on "getting real" and I guess this is my get real post, admitting things I normally wouldn't have) Anyway, the more I read the more I wanted to share this with people I love. I have had a lot of people who have asked me to explain autism and this book is perfect for that. It gives you a taste of what it is like and why and how it effects even the most simple every day things without getting too in-depth and scary. But more than that, it talks a lot about trials (In the book she has many more trials than just autism) and how to get through them, how God can heal your broken heart, and how faith can get you through anything. It teaches great lessons on forgiveness and tolerance, and relationships. If any of these things are something you are interested in I highly recommend this book. Anyway, I guess that's it, I just wanted to share this thing that has touched my life so deeply.

Emergency!?!

Last night I got home from my Young Women's Post Camp Party, Still in my Camp "Uniform" (Crazy hair, makeup, and clothes, from reenacting our military based wacky camp skit) to find the door to our house wide open. The screen was closed, so I figured the family must all be outside playing. I checked the backyard, no one, then I looked down the street to see if they might be visiting neighbors. I looked down stairs where I could hear the TV blaring- no one. I was starting to panic! As I headed upstairs, calling for someone to answer me, I looked out the window and noticed that the truck was gone. I also noticed that the stairs, living room and kitchen looked like a bomb blew off. I was beginning to wonder if we might have been burglarized, and then my thoughts running away with me, wondering if the burglars might still be in the house somewhere. I was running the headlines in my head, about a woman thought to be mentally deranged judging by her appearance found dead in her home. Police suspected foul play, (or a busy irresponsible father of two) because of the state of the home when found. Then I noticed our white board. Hastily sprawled across it was this: "took Adia to hospital. Come ASAP!" As I rushed out of the house, wacked-out side ponytail, and dog tags, jangling as I ran, I tried calling Troy - no answer. Luckily for me the hospital is about a half mile away, so it only took me a few minutes to get there. I Rushed in and asked where my baby was. The nurse at the desk did her best to keep from laughing as she escorted me to the small curtained off room. Adia had been stung by a bee near the eye, and it has swollen closed. Troy couldn't get a hold of me (the party was up the canyon, and I didn't have cell service. ("Can you hear me now?"-my fat eye...) Not knowing what else to do he rushed her to the hospital. From the moment I walked in I could tell she was going to be fine. She was sitting up eating a Popsicle (That no doubt will cost us five hundred dollars-it better have been good!) and telling the nurse about her four-wheeling adventure the last time she visited her Grandma Helen. She was talking and talking and she had every nurse and doctor wrapped around her finger. They kept coming in to check on her and give her and Ethan suckers and stickers. They were very nice, but I couldn't help wondering if we really needed four nurses at a time sitting in our room listening to Adia talk about EVERYTHING under the sun. We had to stay there for about an hour before the Benadryl started working, the swelling started to go down, and they decided she was safe to go home. Here is a picture of her taken this morning. ( I tried to take one last night when we got home but she "Wasn't up for pictures at the moment" Who taught her to talk? I aught to strangle them...) By this morning after a good sleep and a couple of doses of Benadryl the swelling is way down and she doesn't even look much different. She is giving a sad face for effect, but she is really doing fine. All I can say is thank goodness she is fine, and thank goodness for insurance!

Red Koolaid

I am NOT a fan of Kool-aid. Especially the red kind. I don't know if it is the MOUNDS of sugar you have to put in it, or the fact that I can't really make it correctly (I just can't force myself to add that much sugar, so I skimp, and it always tastes terrible) or the fact that every time I drink it I worry about having a huge colored mustache that won't wash off. At any rate, we hardly ever have kool-aid, and I am just fine with that. However, when we were shopping for the weekend, because it was a holiday weekend we picked up a few special treats, and that was one of them. Boy were the kids happy! They LOVE the stuff!(Troy made it, so I couldn't screw it up) This morning Ethan finished up the last of it, and gave me a HUGE satisfied smile. With a face as happy as this one, maybe I could break down and buy it more often.

Cats are for cooking!

So, it really isn't a secret that I don't like animals. I do like some people who like animals, but it's the people, not the pets that I enjoy. (If you are a cat person, please don't take offence to this post. I really don't have anything against people who like cats, or any other animal, they just aren't my preference. This is meant to be funny, not vicious or cruel.) (You know it's going to be bad when I have to preface the post with a disclaimer:) I don't know what it is about animals, but I REALLY don't like any of them, in fact, there are several that I... *(hate)* (I had to whisper that part because that is a naughty H word at our house.) It's true. And one of the tops animals on my list (Right under seagulls:) are cats. In fact, a long time ago, I started making jokes about cooking cats in the microwave. That being said, I want to put on the record that I have never cooked any animal at all, microwave, or any other way. It is just a silly thing that I started saying in high school, and never stopped. I know, grow up already... Anyway, we have friends who have pet cats, and so our kids, especially Adia ask every so often if they can have a cat. I (mostly) Jokingly tell them, "cats are for cooking, not for pets." It has never even occurred to me that this might not be the best thing to say to children until this past week at the park. We were sitting on a blanket having a picnic, when we got a visitor. I had never met this woman before, so I don't know why she picked us, but all of a sudden she came over and plopped right down on the blanket and started visiting. Immediately I could tell she was a "cat person" by the smell. That's not to say that everyone who likes cats smell bad, but I have this superhuman sense of smell, and I could totally smell "multiple cat owner" all over this lady! She introduced herself, and started talking to me about random things, as her son and my kids ran back and forth from the playground to the blankets, playing and eating. She had been sitting there for about ten minutes when she started talking about her cats. (did I mention that she seemed a few eggs short of an omelet) She has 22 cats. She told me their names, what kinds they are, how they had each "found their way" to her and what they liked to do. Some of them are very talented, and one can even "sing" Mary had a little lamb. She is thinking of entering him into the fair. (Talent contest portion?...Not really sure, she didn't specify) The entire time I was still trying to wrap my head around someone having 22 house cats. the conversation in my head was going something like this... "22 cats, what the...! how can you have that many cats. Think of the hairballs, think of the enormous amounts of poop that must create. How bad must her house smell? How bad must her neighbors want to move? Oh, I hope she lives in a LARGE house, and not an apartment or something. How the... do you end up with that many cats?...) In reality I painted a huge smile on my face, and acted interested, (My momma taught me manners:) all the while fighting the urge to dry heave. Through all of this I didn't notice that Adia had come back to the blanket, and was listening intently. All of a sudden she spoke the famous (in our house) words, "Cats are for cooking." I tried to shush her, as the lady asked "what was that?" I nearly dove across the blanket to clap my hands over her mouth before she could repeat herself, but I wasn't fast enough. "My mom says cats are for cooking in the microwave until they are crunchy, and serving them with ketchup" In an outrage my new "friend" told me what she thought of that, gathered up her son, and stormed away. She didn't let me explain, or anything- quite uncalled for, I think:)
Now on to other topics. Why do you think I don't have any friends?...:)

Independance Day

Our town has a great fireworks show every year at one of the parks, and last night we went to it. We had so much fun! They set the show to music, and you really get into it. It was a great adventure for the kids. We took blankets and drinks and laid on the grass. The kids played on the playground with about a hundred other kids until it got dark, and then the show began. When it was over and we had hiked back home (it wasn't too far, and it was easier than fighting the traffic once the whole thing was over) we set off fireworks in our yard. Two other families were doing the same thing, so we each took turns setting them off and all the kids got to enjoy three times the show. It is so fun to live in such a fun little neighborhood! After that was all over (around 12:30am) we went back into the motor home and continued our "staycation" with a movie, popcorn, and ice cream. ( the "staycation" trend really isn't so bad. You get the "away from it all" feeling, and don't actually have to be away from it all. Spoken like a true home-body, I know.:)It was about 2:30 before we got to bed, but the kids slept in until 9 this morning, so it was totally worth it! Anyway, it was a pretty fun holiday, and I thought I would share a few pictures.

Blogger is doing something strange to the layout today that I can't figure out, so just pretend that the craziness is an artistic expression:) The young lady you might not recognize is our new friend K*. We inherited her from the playground before the show started, and she stayed with us for the rest of the evening. She shared our snacks and blankets, and insisted on being in every picture. She sure brought out the silliness in our kids! She was a sweet little girl, but we aren't sure where she came from, or who she belongs to. (or where she got those mighty bows in her hair!) We just know that her mom came out of no where and picked her up after the show, like we were old friends, and they both disappeared into the night. Who knows? Also, the picture of Adia next to our fridge was taken to show off the "outfit" she put together for her night out. She was pretty proud of herself, and wanted a picture. What a little fashionista!

Brave and Short...

All day Adia has been singing a little song she made up. It is a long song, and often changes, so I can't tell you the entire thing, but the line that is ever repeating is "I am Adia the brave and the short..." and then whatever the verse talks about what she did to prove that she is one or both of those things. I just found it funny, that she would put those two things together, and that those are the things she is most proud of. Good for her, she really is brave, and she REALLY is short! She may as well embrace it now, because I don't think either of those things are going to change much:)

Getting out of trouble...

I realize that I have not blogged in a long time. I also realize that this is the longest I have ever gone without blogging, and I am sorry for that. However, the rush of emails that have been sent to me concerning this fact has been overwhelming. I know that usually I have no life, therefor nothing better to do than blog every few days or so, but the past few weeks have been very busy, and I just haven't had a chance to do it. So, I'm sorry, but the threatening angry hate mail has got to stop!!! Just kidding, there were only a couple of threats:) Anyway, I have so much to say, but I know that most of it won't be interesting to you, so I won't waste your time in the reading, or mine in the writing, as it is already in my journal. In the past few weeks I had Laurel Light camp, which I didn't go to much of, but was somewhat involved in the behind the scenes action, then Troy's cousin had a graduation party and his other cousin got married, both of which were large affairs that brought TONS of drama to my poor little family, even though we really played no actual role in either of them. Just as things were winding up from that, my in-laws did a HUGE favor for me and drove my kids down to my parent's house to stay for the week while I took care of girls camp prep and girls camp itself. I had the house to my self for a couple of days prior to camp, and even though I was busy, busy, busy getting everything ready, I was so lonely for my kids. The house was so quiet, and I missed the fun things they say and do all the time. By the second day I was nearly ready to go pick them up. Luckily, girls camp came, and I no longer had any time to miss them. Girls camp was amazing! I don't know if I have mentioned this on this blog or not, but almost two months ago our stake presidency asked us to combine our ward youth with another ward. (all of these things pertain to the youth program in our church. It is really a wonderful program, that I know is led by God, and there to help create a solid future for the world. I am sorry for those of you who don't understand the terminology that I will be using in this post, but if you are interested in knowing more about the program, or the church, please let me know in the comment section) The other ward has a lot of girls, but only three boys in the whole program, and in order for them to function in group activities, they needed more people. There are a few other reasons too, but this is the main one, and what we will stick to for now. Anyway, this sent our whole program into a tipsy-turvey mess. It was a huge blessing in some ways, but also a HUGE undertaking as everything doubled, the number of girls, leaders, things that were already planned, traditions, etc. Even though the girls are from nearby neighborhoods, and go to the same schools they didn't seem to know each other or even want to get to know each other very much. No one was actually mean to anyone else, but neither were they friendly. When we would get together they would all stay in their own groups, and rarely even talked to someone from the other ward. If they had a question they would pass by five other leaders before asking one of "their own" leaders. We just had a really hard time getting them together. We tried everything we knew to do, but nothing seemed to be working. In the mash-together, we chose to keep the other ward's girls camp date, and theme, as they were farther ahead with the preparations than we were. The theme was BOOT camp (Building Our Own Testimonies) but after the changes we were going through we also chose to make it Be Of One Troop camp, and had many things planned to focus on unity. As the camp date kept getting closer, we were more and more nervous that things were not going to work. But with a prayer in our hearts we set off for Lava Hot springs in Idaho. And, boy did we see miracles! They all really seemed to bond with each other, and also learned that all of the leaders where there for them whether we "belonged" to them or not. We had SO much FUN! The things we did were great, but I also think we accomplished our two big goals. It was a great experience. Then we went to my Family Reunion. It was a ton of fun as always, even though we had a few hitches in the plans, we were able to have a great time, and visit with our family. One funny thing (Not for Ethan) that happened was that we were staying at a park. At night we played night games like hide & seek, and lazor tag. We were in the middle of a killer game of mission when Ethan let out a howl. I'm ashamed to say that for a split second I wondered if he was really hurt bad enough to give up my safe status and check him out:) I finally decided to go see what the problem was. In his mad dash around the field in the dark he got a little disoriented and ended up in the playground where he ran nose first into a metal pole. We took him to the pavilion and got him all checked out, but there was nothing to do for the massive goose egg that was already forming on the bridge of his nose. The next day he had a good sized bump and two semi-black eyes. I have pictures (of course) but I'm too lazy to upload, so maybe I will post them later.
We got home just in time to go to church where they re organized our ward. We just got a new bishopric in the last six months or so, so the change was a pretty big surprise. (We have known about it for a few weeks now, but it still wasn't what we were expecting) Both Troy and I still have our same callings, but we have been assured that there are big changes in the works, so it will be a while before the dust settles, and people feel safe answering their phones again:) This week has been mainly catch up, weed the garden that seemed to shoot up in the last few weeks, clean the house that somehow managed to get filthy even though no one was here, run errands, do grocery shopping, pay bills, you know, the stuff that I usually do every day and haven't had a chance to do for a while. Well, that is the short version of a REALLY LONG few weeks. This weekend is the 4th of July, and we are thinking about taking the motor home on a little trip somewhere. All of the areas nearby are already booked, so it may just be another "Stay-cation" in the back yard. I'll keep you posted...