Womens Conference 2009

It is always a great day when you can sneak away from the home front, with a group of friends, to be spiritually (and physically) feed! Womens conference is always a great time to celebrate our roles as women. I choose not to be discouraged, as I hear about how great sooo many women in the church are. Instead, I try to focus on one or two things that I can improve. I also enjoy the opportunity to people watch, fight for a seat, and eat good food. I gorged myself at the Pizza Factory in Lindon, on the way home. We all discovered a yummy oatmeal cookie dough dessert buried in ice cream and toppings, YUMMY! Thanks gals, for a great day.

Grown Ups for a Day

One of the highlights in the 5th grade is to attend Biz Town. It is a mini-city that has been created at the Discovery Gateway Museum. Students spend several weeks preparing for this experience. They learn about different job types, bank accounts, paychecks, taxes, etc. It is a great experience. I was able to attend, as a volunteer. The students get the experience of being a consumer, spending the money they earn; as well as the opportunity to hold a job, thus earning money.




Abby spending her hard earned dollars

Zach working as the CFO of Rocky Mtn Power

Seth as the CFO of Smiths Grocery Store

Dressed to Impress

Jeremy's Day

Jeremy loves to party! We try to celebrate his birthday for a week. We gathered with his family, which is always fun. We bbq'd, played cards, and enjoyed each others company.

A fishing class?

They seriously teach a fishing class? Draper City has finally begun their own recreation program. We have always had to go through the county or Sandy City for sports programs. It will take Draper a while to get it all running, but they offered a fishing class. I have never heard of such a class, but my kids were elated. They go once a week for 1.5 hours, at a local pond in Draper. The class runs for 6 weeks, and it cost $10. What a deal! They stocked the pond with 2500 fish (thats creepy, I hate fish). Brayden Witt caught 3 fish during his first class. They are allowed to keep 4 fish, and release the rest.

I am excited, because it is another activity to add to the list, during a long summer. Plus it is close by and relatively inexpensive.

Boys being boys

Jeremy, Zach and Seth are having some serious boy time! Jeremy is coaching their flag football team! They ALL love it. Jeremy coached one of their basketball teams a few years ago, and came away feeling terrible. They didn't win a single game. He took it personal.

Last fall, as he watched the boys play flag football, he continually 'freaked' out at the coaching.

I convinced him, (which was not easy), to coach flag football. I told him he could not complain about the coaching, unless he was willing to do it himself. He finally agreed. He is so happy that he did. They had their first game on Thursday. They won, so now the burden is off of his shoulders. "He won't be the coach of another lossing team".

Girls are complicated!

So...... The test results came back negative. She doesn't have a well-known bacteria, but she could have some type that isn't detectable with a simple lab test. She was treated as though she had some crazy bacteria. The stomach aches continue, but not as severe. The non-dairy diet continues through this weekend.

But....... We must add a little more drama to the situation. She missed at least 10 days of school, thus she was intimidated to go back. ANXIETY appears to be a factor in the whole picture. She finally talked to me about somethings going on at school that were bothering her. Girls are so complicated! We worked through the issues, and after two mornings of battling the need to go to school (I won), she has finally begun to go to school without a fight. I have no doubt that she has a legitimate stomach aches, but I think , as a kid, we have to test our limits!

Giardia, E-coli, or what??

So poor little Abby has had chronic tummy aches for the last month. It began with a nasty case of the flu. She got sick in a cab, on the way to the airport, following our cruise. She threw up the entire way home. She was traveling with my parents, and my poor mother had to beg the flight crew to let them on the plane, after a layover, in Las Vegas. They were going to make them stay overnight, because they didn't want them to infect the whole flight. At this point, we truly thought it was motion sickness (coming off the ship, she often gets sick in the car, etc), and my mom convinced them to let them fly. Unfortunately, it was the flu, because two days later Zach got the flu, and two days after that Seth got the flu, and then the next day Abby got the flu again! (Sorry to all those people on the airplane)

The stomach aches have continued, no vomiting or other flu like symptoms have presisted. She will have a few good days and then a few bad days. I am not an overly sympathetic mom, if I don't see throw up, then you probably should go to school. We have been battling this for a few weeks. I finally laid down the rule that if you don't go to school, you stay in bed and no TV. I thought this would for sure push her to want to go to school. I had to be 'hard nosed' so that I could assess the severity of the stomach ache. (All my kids have taken a few unnecessary 'sick'days, feeling great by 10am). She stayed in bed all day, no tv. I guess she must really have a bad tummy ache.

She felt better for a few days, then the stomach aches reappeared on Easter Morning. We were out of town, attending sacrament meeting, and she choose to sit in the car because she felt so crummy.

What do you do?

I decided it was time to visit the Dr. I talked to the nurse who advised me to try a 'dairy free' diet for a few weeks. I told her we would try that, but I still felt like we need to see the Dr. (I am not the type who runs to the dr for everything). I was just trying to follow my "motherly intuition". Meet with our pediatrician, had a nice conversation, discussed what we had been doing recently. I told her we had been on a cruise. She asked where the cruise had gone, I told her Hondorus and Mexico, and her first reaction was that Abby probably has Giardia, E-coli, or some other freakin bacteria. LOVELY!

It took me 24 hours to coax a 'stool' sample from her, I then got to dissect it into three vials for testing (the joys of motherhood). We are waiting for the results, 2-3 days! I hope this is the problem, otherwise we will have to do some other fun tests. We are treating her with medication for these bacteria's, rather then waiting for the results, may as well. Plus, we are on a no-dairy diet to help the stomach recover.

Quality Time with the Family

Chris, Seth and Zach

Danielle and Abby

Our Easter Holiday began with our annual egg hunt at Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Tom's. We had a nice visit, and the kids enjoyed finding their eggs, and eating Grandma's yummy snacks.

We snuck away to St. George for Spring Break. We went with Jeremy's brother Tony, Elisa, and kids. The weather wasn't fabulous, but we found plenty to do to keep us happy. We love eating at the Pizza Factory, having treats at Nelsons Custard, and this time we enjoyed a visit to the new 'In and Out' Burger. The kids enjoyed spending time with their cousins. The adults enjoyed some late night gaming. We LOVE St. George! It is always nice to go away, with the sole purpose of relaxing. Mission Accomplished.

We are thankful for this Easter holiday, and everything that it represents. We know that God lives, that He atoned for each one of us, and that we can all have eternal life. We enjoyed church services in St. George before we began our journey back to winter in Salt Lake.

A new set of skills

Pantry Secrets Rocks! Check out their blog. A friend of mine told me about this great enrichment class that she had attended. The class is taught by a mother/daughter team. They teach you how to make bread from start to finish in one hour!! Yes, this includes the cooking. They also teach you 50 other things you can make with the bread dough. It really is amazing. I can say that because I came home and made the dough, and created the items pictured above. It was a success on the first try. I learned a few things that I will modify next time, but overall I was really impressed. The family loved it! You can make a loaf of bread for $.28.

I tried to sign up for one of the classes that they teach in their home, but had no luck. I found out where they were teaching another enrichment (thanks to a friend), and attended it. If you can get into one of their classes, it is well worth the $20. I tried to schedule them for an enrichment in our ward, and she said they are booked through September, and probably won't be doing many more enrichments. They are teaching other people how to be consultants, so more classes can be taught. They also have a DVD for $20 that teaches their method. I am sure that it is great.

*The other huge bonus, is that it is a recipe that is food storage friendly. It has ingredients that have a great shelf life, plus you can use your wheat!!!! (it only has 6 ingredients)

I am so excited that I can finally make a decent loaf of bread (white or wheat), and other bread type meals (pizza, bread bowls, scones, hot dog buns, hoagie bread, kiaser rolls, bread sticks, cinnamon rolls, danish braids, etc).