Happy Year's Eve to us

Eric and I just got home from our night away. We left the kids at my Mom's house and spent the evening at the Anniversary Inn in Boise. It was great!

Yesterday, we took the kids to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua at the dollar theater. It was surprisingly cute. I was impressed that it didn't stoop to the disgusting dog jokes. The kids really liked it. Then we went out to dinner at McDonald's because they have 1/2 price Happy Meal night on Tuesdays here in Nampa. We put the kids to bed and ran away.

The vacation has been nice. The kids have really enjoyed the time with their cousins. I will post some pictures when I get them from my sister, since I forgot my camera.

Happy Year's Eve to you all!

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas (yes, a date late) and a Happy New Year!

The rest of the story

I blogged earlier today about Jon, then I heard water running. I ran upstairs to see Adam and Jon playing in the sink. Adam was drinking out of Emma's little teacup and Jon was drinking out of the bowl of the training potty. *sigh*

Makes it All worthwhile

When he falls asleep in our arms, it makes it ALL worthwhile. Now, gotta go and get him out of the sink.

Events of the Past Week

Last week was very busy. Emma had a choir concert and Braden had the Wax Museum project. In 5th grade, the student at his school are required to do a project on a famous dead American. Braden chose Alan Shepard, the astronaut. They have to do a 2 page report, create a poster, and come to school dressed as their person. (Braden took the picture of Emma's concert, she's the head at the top in the center, I think)

I just found some other cute pictures from my camera, so here goes the pictures of the kids with Santa.

At the edge of a breakdown

I went to the airport to pick up Eric and the kids. Since we got there early, we stopped at the Park & Wait lot. The sign said to turn off your engine so I did. Twenty minutes later, I tried to start the engine, but nothing.. just clicking. The kids thought this was funny at first but it wasn't long before Jon was screaming and Adam was getting really upset. Eric was trying to figure out where I was, and I was on the cell phone trying to figure out how to fix the solution. Eric's Dad mentioned that the airport security has a truck that goes around helping people. So Eric finally found them and they came and jumped the battery and we were off. Adam was so relieved that he said "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you" to the security guy. I can't even describe the relief in his voice.

Today, I am exhausted from all of the adventures of the last week.

Weekend in Review

On Friday, Eric took Braden and Emma to Arizona for the Willyerd Grandchildren Christmas Dinner. Jon and Adam stayed home with me. We watched Kung Fu Panda, until Jon and Adam started the karate chopping thing on Mom. Adam had a field trip to BYU to see a Christmas tree display. Karen invited to go with her to a living nativity in Alpine that night where we got to pet camels, sheep, goats and a donkey. Adam says that the best part was the real Baby Jesus. Karen got some really cute pictures which I will post as soon as she emails them to me.

Saturday, Rachel watched the kids and I went to the baptism of my friend's daughter. The three of us Ferrins went to McDonald's for dinner. After that we went home for baths and a round of Dr.Seuss DVDs. Karen then came over after the kids were in bed so we could watch "The Slipper and The Rose." We ate nachos and M&Ms and had a great time.

Church today was a little hectic... OK, I take that back. It was a lot hectic. The copier machine at the church didn't work so I had to run home after Primary started to make copies for my sharing time. Primary just seemed to be a little crazy. Now we are home and the two boys are playing downstairs while I have a time out. We leave for the airport soon to pick up Eric and the big kids.

The weekend turned out better than I supposed it would. Jon recovered so quickly, only the mornings were rough. He seemed to be in more pain first thing in the morning, but by today he wasn't complaining about "Owie Mouth" anymore. It will be nice to be together as a family again. I miss Eric, Braden and Emma.

Thanks

I do want to say thanks to everyone who helped out during the ER trip. Thanks especially to Mom and Dad Ferrin and Aunt Rachel for helping get the other children calmed down and in bed. Rachel was a dear to stay with them until we got home.

Jon's Latest Adventure

We spent Tuesday night at the ER. Jon had put a stick (the stick of his brother's Chinese Yo-Yo) in his mouth and ran into the wall. I heard the scream and turned around to see the blood start to well up on his lip. I ran him to the sink where the blood gushed out of his mouth. I called 911 when I saw the gaping hole in the back of his mouth. The ambulance came and took him to the hospital because they were really concerned about the location of the hole; it was too close to the base of the spinal cord. They had to put him in a baby backboard with head restraints and all. At the hospital we fought the battle of trying to get him calmed down. He would scream for an hour and then fall asleep just in time for another procedure.

Jon fell asleep on the ambulance, screamed for an hour after ER doctor examed him, fell asleep, then woke up when they put an IV in and screamed for another 40 minutes. He fell asleep right before they had to transport him to a CT scan, he screamed until they sedated him and he fell asleep for 15 minutes for the scan, then woke up screaming again. Thirty minutes later he was asleep again when the specialist came to check him for surgery. Screams echoed down the hall to Pre-Op where they gave him a relaxant. (he's screaming and the drug starts working and you can hear the pitch drop as the drug goes into effect.) On the way out of Post-Op, he waved goodnaturedly and said "goodbye" to all of the nurses, who all think he's the cutest thing ever.

He went into surgery and Mom and Dad have to sit in the Surgery Waiting room. An hour later the Doctor came in and told us that it went great. The hole was an inch deep and an inch wide. He was amazed at how big the hole was.

Then Jon was wheeled to Pediatrics unit for observation. He has to have an breathing treatment because the tube down his throat during the surgery has caused inflammation in his throat and he's struggling with stridor. Then of course, we have to wake him up and get him to drink something so that he can be discharged. About an hour later, they decide to take the IV out. He is so happy to be unplugged that he reaches for the bed. He stops crying when we lie him down on the hospital bed. He grabs the blanket and pulls it up and says with relief in his scratchy voice, "bed" and proceeds to go to sleep. Of course, he's not very happy when we are released from the hospital at 2:30 in the morning and we take him home.

By last night, he was running around the house, climbed shelves and driving Mom and Dad crazy. He woke up a little cranky this morning, but is doing GREAT today.

My favorite memories of this event were:
1. The EMT telling me how impressed she was with my calmness.
2. Jon waving and saying "goodbye" to the surgery staff.
3. Realizing again, what a great husband I have. He was stalwart.
4. Being grateful that we live where we can get great medical treatment.

My least favorite parts were:
1. Walking into the ER and having EVERYONE stop and watch the gurney with Jon on it go by.
2. The screaming.
3. Watching Jon's eyes close after they administer the sedative for the CT scan and then watching them spring wide open again. That was just disturbing.

Braden's News

I guess I didn't tell you that Braden got glasses. We got a note home from school and we went to the eye doctor, and surprise, Braden had 20/400 vision. *sigh*

So he is now sporting a fantastic pair of blue framed glasses. He looks great. He also spent the next week pointing out of the details he had been missing, such as trees have leaves and grass is formed of individual blades.

Saturday Greatness

Today was a great day. We spent the morning relaxing. We cleaned house and played with the kids. During the afternoon, we walked downtown to the library. After the library, we went to the park, to the grocery store for bread, and to Burger King for dinner from the $1 menu. We walked home, stopping at Funfinity to see the toys.

We love Funfinity!

Now the kids are showering and we are going to watch the old version of Annie.

It was delightful to spend quality time with the kids. I am so grateful to live in a small community where we can walk so many places. We are so excited for our new city library to be built.

Hope your Saturday was as wonderful as ours.

Leaves!!!!

I raked the leaves in the backyard today and Adam and Jon-Jon played.

My Life

I'm sorry that I haven't written anything substantial for weeks. I tried to post a really funny email, but I just noticed that it isn't working. I will try and fix it.

I guess my excuse is that I just got called as Primary President. (For those of you who don't know what that means, I'm the person in charge of all the children in our church group from 18 months to 12 years old. In total about 100 children.) Life has taken on a hazy quality the last couple of weeks, where I am frantically trying to get my life together or I have given up and buried myself in books. Neither option means much blogging.

Halloween Pictures

Hope you had a great Halloween!

The Great Adventures of Jon-Jon

The following is a true story.


I had just finished bringing in the groceries and I was about to close the garage door. Jon-Jon was playing on the scooters in the garage. I pushed the button and noticed that Jon ran over to the door to check it out. I called to him to stop since I was worried that he would get squished by the door or at least get a finger pinched. I didn't expect the reality. He grabbed the bottom lip of the door when it was about to touch bottom. The sensor stopped. I breathed a sigh of relief. Then the garage door started reversing. Jon kept hold of the door. I was too astonished to do anything while the door lifted my two year old up to the ceiling. I thought surely the door would stop (it didn't), then I thought surely the boy would let go (he didn't), then I worried that he would let go and fall. I ran over and grabbed him. He looked a little wide eyed, but during the whole experience, he only called out, "Mom, Mom" in a tone that implied that he was a little unsure of the situation, but not at all in a panic. *sigh*

Halloween Preparation

We had our traditional "Get Ready for Halloween" night last night. Karen came over for dinner and Family Home Evening. We had a lesson on service, with a follow-up on Karen's humanitarian trip to Mexico. The kids LOVED the pictures she brought back of the kids who received our care packages. We also used Google Earth to find out where in Mexico they were. After the lesson, we did a scavenger hunt that Karen brought and set-up. The kids solved clues to find pieces of a skeletong named Dead Fred. It was cute, especially Braden's answer to one of the riddles. It rhymed... "It's Dead Fred.... you get up in the morning and make your......." Braden's answer was Breakfast. We then carved pumpkins. I will have to get pictures up soon. Emma did Charlie Brown and Braden did Snoopy. I was working on Bert and Ernie. Adam and Karen did a classic pumpkin.

The Left Hand of God

I was driving with my Mom and the kids this afternoon when the following discussion occurred. My mom was telling me about an experience that my brother's little boy had a couple of weeks ago. Gardner got in trouble with another 5 year old. She told him that he had to stop doing something because otherwise "he would be on the left hand of God."
Emma: "What does being on the left hand of God mean?"
Braden: "It means that you are the second counselor."

Since I'm the second counselor in the Primary, I guess that means that I'm on the left hand of God. *grin*

Fall Break Vacation Collage

Fall break is this week and we are in Idaho visiting my parents. Yesterday we took our kids and most of my nieces and nephews to Zoo Boise and the Discovery Center. The kids had a great time. Then we came home and ate pizza. After scriptures and prayers, Braden, Emma and Adam were invited for a sleep-over in my parents' new camping trailer. They thought that was amazing.

Today, we went to the mall in Boise and got some amazing bargains. We went to a little girls dress shop and found one dress that was on clearance because of a little stain. When Mom and I went to buy it, the shop lady mentioned how they had just sold a whole bunch of fancy dresses for $1. She also mentioned that she had a bunch of fancy dresses in the back that she couldn't sell because of flaws. I mentioned that my Mom was a seamstress so she brought them all out and we ended up buying 6 fancy dresses for $1 each and the yellow satin dress with a stain that will sponge right out for $13. Each of the $1 dresses is completely fixable with about 15 minutes of work. We figured that we saved $600 off of the original tag price. We went to The Children's Place where the clearance was all 50% off plus a 15% off coupon. I bought Emma the cutest boots for $7. Then we went to Sears where the clearance stuff was all on clearance for more than 75% off. YEAH. I love clearance shopping.

After shopping, we came home and got ready for swimming. Braden went to the Rec Center and got oriented on The Zone, which is a weight/resistance training center for youth 10-15. They work carefully on strength building not muscle bulking. We all went swimming at the Rec Center after Braden's orientation. Now we are getting ready for dinner. Braden and Emma went fishing with my Dad this morning so that Braden could earn the Fishing Belt Loop for Webelos. We are having the fish for dinner much to Braden's consternation. I told him that if he want to go fishing or hunting that he would have to be willing to eat anything he caught because I wasn't going to let him go out just to "kill".

Finally, Eric and I are going with my sister, Heidi, and her husband, Justin, to a 50s dance they are having in their stake. FUN!

GoodReads

One of my new favorite websites is GoodReads. I love being able to look up what my friends are reading, and I love being able to review books and get ideas for other things to read. Check it out!

Weight Loss Update

Well, we didn't do so good last week. We were both up two pounds. *Sigh* Recommitting is harder than I thought. Yesterday and today, I took Jon for a walk in the baby backpack. He is getting a bit large for the thing, and it's difficult to walk straight when he keeps throwing his weight from side to side and up and down. You might think I was slightly drunk because toward the end of the walk he's really getting bored and moves around a lot.

I've discovered that it's getting harder to find time to exercise during the afternoon because Adam's bus schedule is different and Jon takes a shorter nap. So I'm hoping the walks with 30+ pounds of weight might do some good. Of course, now the weather is supposed to be changing. Snow is coming. I'll figure something out

Jon-Jon and sleeping update

Jon was very cranky last night, but I put him in bed and warned him about the time out chair. Eric brought up one of the stools for emphasis. I left the room to check on the others kids and I came back and he was lying off the edge of the bed. I warned him again, and he pulled his legs up and went to sleep.

OK, so I thought it might have been because he was so tired. This afternoon, I put him down for a nap a little early. I warned him about the time out chair and left the room to read my scriptures. I sat on the stairs in the hallway to read just in case. In the time it took to read two chapters of the Book of Mormon, he was asleep, with no attempts to get out of bed.

HURRAY! This is so much better than having to sit there beside him, repeatedly putting him back in bed.

Jon-Jon and sleeping

We are working on getting Jon to bed at night. When we moved him out of the crib, we thought that it would 0nly take a couple of weeks for him to get the idea that he still needs to stay in bed even thought the bed doesn't have bars to keep him in anymore. Well, it's been 6 months and we are still having to sit on the floor beside the bed to keep him from destroying the house.

Jon is probably the most inquisitive of all of the children. He can also make a mess faster than any child I've ever seen. The other problem is that he responds different to discipline than the others. Nothing that worked with the others works with him. Restraining him on our laps doesn't work. Spanking REALLY doesn't work. (I spanked him once and he turned around and hit me back. Since we were also working on the "no hitting" idea, I didn't feel like I could tell him "no hitting" if I had just swatted his bottom.) So I have discovered that the Time Out Stool (it has to be one of the tall kitchen stools, the lower chairs don't work) is the way to go. I simply place him on the stool after the offensive behavior and then ignore him for a couple of minutes. Then I come back and reinforce the correct behavior. This has worked wonderfully well, as for some reason, he doesn't just climb off the stool, which he is capable of. So I decided to try that with his afternoon nap since I am tired of maintaining my post by the bedside. I brought up the tall computer stool and after about 3 or 4 times of getting out of bed, he finally figured out that I was serious and stayed in bed. I was able to leave the room and read my scriptures. I came back in and he had fallen asleep.

I will have to update you as to how this works tonight.

Women's Conference

Somehow, I keep forgetting to mention some of the most important items of my life. Our stake was invited to attend the Relief Society General Meeting at the Conference Center. It was amazing. It makes me wonder why I didn't pay more attention to this meeting in the past. President Uchtdorf's talk was wonderful. On the commute, I had a great time visiting with friends from my ward. We talked about people, our kids and mostly books. It was a spiritually and socially uplifting time.

General Conference

On Saturday, my friend Karen and I took Emma to the Conference Center in Salt Lake to attend her first live session of General Conference. It was a wonderful experience. She loved the children's choir and she had such warm feelings when the Prophet came into the room. There is something thrilling about standing in a room with thousands of people and realizing that God does have a living prophet who directs us today. I was also touched by the Spirit of God that afternoon and was so grateful to share the experience with my only daughter. After the intermediate hymn, the lady sitting in front of us turned around and commented that Emma sounded like an angel. She is my little angel.

Jon- Jon (not for the queasy of stomach)

Maybe you have read my entry a couple of days ago about Jon's exciting adventures. Well, today is the sequel. He comes into me saying, "Mommy, nose. Nose." I look at his nose and he has rammed a Cheerio up his left nostril. I try but cannot get the cereal out with my tweezers. So I dropped Adam off at the neighbor's house and drive to Orem to the doctor's office. I pull in, get Jon out of his car seat and he rubs his nose again. Then he sneezes a big cereal booger out. He's been running a slight clear runny nose the last few weeks, which I think is allergies. So the combination of moist insides with the porous texture of the cereal combined to save me a $100 trip to the doctor. The doctor's office was kind enough to cancel the appointment. The most expensive part was the fact that I had to drive 20 minutes each way to the doctor's office. The best comment was "Wow. He's giving you a run for your money lately."

Weight Loss Program

Just for those interested, Eric and I have re-committed to the weight goals we set at the beginning of the year. The summer was rough, but at weigh in this morning, I have lost 29 lbs and Eric is down 15.

Reading List

I stole the following from a friend's blog, because I found it really interesting. I'd love to see people's reaction to this list. I've read 47 of the following, but need to read more..

The Big Read is a National Endowment for the Arts program designed to encourage community reading initiatives and of their top 100 books, they estimate the average adult has read only six (can you believe that?). I've bolded the ones I've read...

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles -
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (OK, only part due to language)
19 The Time Traveler's Wife-
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot-
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald -
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma -- Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden -
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown –
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding-
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen –
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville-
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker –
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt-
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White-
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

The Death of Me

Jon-Jon will be the death of me today. I heard noise in the garage and discovered that he finally figured out how to undo the deadbolt and was in the garage playing. He had taken an old broomstick and was using it to push the button on the garage door opener. *sigh*

I was making dinner this afternoon, when I noticed him outside playing by himself. I looked out and noticed that he was playing with a live wasp, picking it up and putting in underneath a soccer cone. I got him away and inside and got rid of the wasp to find him with the huge knife that I had left on the counter when I noticed the wasp-playing. He was stabbing the new loaf of bread that just came out of the oven. Miracle of miracles, he has walked away unscathed. Mom, however, needs to be admitted to the cardiac unit.. I swear I've had multiple heart attacks.

Funny School Spirit Ideas

Today is "wear your hair like an exotic bird" day at school. We came up with the following:

Adam's Wisdom

Adam has started speaking so much more fluently lately. I have to record two of my favorite sayings.

1. I was trying to get him to come from the neighbors house with promise of being my helper at the grocery (which normally works, by the way). His response was, "I not a helper, I a gentleman."

2. We were leaving Braden's soccer game and Adam was trying to carry a camp chair by himself. I asked if I could help him and got this in reply. " I can do it myself. You not strong enough."

So cute.

Lake Tahoe Trip - a sample of many pictures

Emma Baptism pictures

My final opinion

Much to my dismay, I really disliked Breaking Dawn. Enough said.

Returning from the dead

Wow. Well to say that the last couple of months have been hectic would be an understatement. The summer went by so quickly.

May/June -

We went to Idaho, then drove down to Lake Tahoe. The week we got back, Eric had a business conference. The week after that, Eric went to Helaman's camp with the scouts as assistant cook. He came home and we celebrated Emma's 8th birthday and Eric was off to Yearbook Camp in Logan for a week.

July -

We celebrated the 4th of July with my family, who had come into town for Emma's baptism, which was on the 5th. Adam's birthday was the 7th. On the 7th, I packed up and left for Girl's Camp. I came home from Girl's Camp and spent the weekend at a variety of medical facilities trying to figure out what the horrible pain in my stomach was. Unfortunately, it was never figured out in spite of thousands of dollars in tests. We had a week or two at home to finish up the month. I geared up for the new school year with my PTA responsibilties and School Registration.

August-

The first week of the month I had Youth Conference. We went to Idaho to for Braden and my birthdays. We came home after about a week and a half, for Eric to start school again. Tada!

So you have had the fast version of our summer. I was released from the Young Women's program and put into the Primary Presidency, where I am reviving a Cub Scout program and the Nursery class. Yes. I am exhausted. I will post some pictures of our summer later.

The other great news is that Adam started Transitional Kindergarten at Art City. I'm excited about this for two reasons. One is that he will be at the same school with Braden and Emma. The second reason is that I LOVE the support staff for TK at Art City. I really struggled with the people at Adam's last school, but I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Miss Joan and her staff.

Well, I need to get going.

Happy Birthday to EMMA!

Emma is 8 years old today. To celebrate we went to the dollar kids movies and ate at McDonald's with our Hansen friends. We also visited Great Grandma Willyerd. One other great highlight of the day was the visit to the hospital to see Rachel's new baby. Eric's sister Rachel had her baby yesterday. Brinna Alice Rogers weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 19.5 inches long. She's a doll.

Happy Birthday Emma!

PS.. Eric is in Logan, UT all week at a yearbook camp and we will be joining him tomorrow.

The silence is broken

I didn't mean to drop off the face of the planet, but we have been traveling and doing a lot the last week that we've been home.. I'll update soon.

Twilight Guy Update

If you didn't understand my reference to Twilightguy.com, you need to look at:

Twilight Guy

The site has provided Eric and I with a lot of laughter.

Last Day of School!

Today is the last day of school! Braden and Emma will be home at noon, with Eric to follow soon after.

In other news, Eric got his story posted on Twilightguy.com, which is a very funny site.

Have a great day! I know we will.

Wednesday update

Yes, it is another Wednesday. Eric somehow gained 2 pounds, and I was down 1. So we are both on a teeter-totter of weight right now. The future is looking hazy with our trips out of town...

Wednesday update

The update for Wednesday is:

Eric is down 1 pound (finally) for a loss of 19 lbs.
I am up one pound (*sigh*) for a total loss of 25 lbs.

I'm surprised that it was only up one, last week was sluggish. But we will improve this week.

Preschool Graduation

Today was Adam's Preschool Graduation program. It was adorable and they had little caps and gowns. I tried to take video and pictures, but Jon was being cranky and my recorder ran out of tape. Fortunately, his class is doing it again for the Tues/Thurs kids tomorrow, so I can try again.

Saturday

Saturday renewed my faith in the book signing experience. I spent the morning setting a bridal shower with my friend Cyndi. (Thanks for the great morning!) I then left the kids again with Eric and I went to the Provo Library where they were having a book signing for the very funny Shannon Hale. I had really enjoyed her talk at the PTA convention and I was really excited when somebody at the Stephenie Meyer book signing mentioned that Shannon Hale was signing on Saturday in Provo.

So I went to the Provo Library and was first in line to meet Shannon Hale! She was very funny. She signed two books, one to me and one to Eric. The inscription on "Austenland" was..

"To Eric, You are much cooler than Colin Firth."

If you haven't read anything by Shannon Hale, I highly recommend her. I would also recommend another author that I was chatting with while we waited for Shannon Hale to arrive. His name is Brandon Sanderson and he wrote a delightful children's book called "Alcatraz verses the Evil Librarians". Both of these authors were so friendly and considerate that I felt much better. I had been pretty let down by the signing the night before.

Friday night

To continue the previous post-

Friday night, Eric and I went to the Stephenie Meyer books signing. It was insane. Eric and I got to the venue at 5 pm. It was scheduled to start at 7 pm. Of the 24 rows in the auditorium, we were in the 16th row. *sigh* The audience consisted mostly of women my age and older. Some of them were even dressed in costumes. They were screaming and chanting. Poor Eric. I think that he was one of 20 men in the throng of surging estrogen. Stephenie Meyer spoke for 20 minutes and then started the book signing. Each row of the audience was called up one at a time to have the books signed. I am absolutely serious when I say that after almost 2 hours, only 5 rows were cleared. We were going to have to sit there for another 5 HOURS! The funny part is that Rachel was sitting with us. She had been having contractions off and on, so the ladies behind us told the usher that she was contracting and we got to go to the front of the line. Stephenie Meyer pleaded with her NOT to have the baby there. Rachel said that she would name the baby Bella, and Stephenie replied, "NO, name her Alice. Alice is a great name and deserves a come back." Those of you who have read Twilight will understand this. So we all got out of there much earlier than expected. Stephenie Meyer in person was much different than I had imagined her... much heavier.

So although I had been really excited about the event, it was pretty much a disappointment. Oh well.

Update on the Past Week

Here's the news from the past week.

I forgot to sign in for the weight loss. I had lost another 2 pounds, putting me at a 26 pound loss, and Eric dropped one more pound, putting him at 18 pounds.

On Thursday and Friday, I attended the Utah State PTA convention. The best parts were the Keynote speaker on Thursday (Shannon Hale) and the vendor/fundraiser exhibit. On Friday, Eric took the day off to watch the boys so I could go. He went over to campus with me. They walked around for a while while I went to the 50% off book sales. Two book companies have exhibits and on Friday they discount all of their books 50%. That was fun. Adam also thought the vendor fair was fun because he got a hoard of stuff.... toys, books, and especially cookies and chocolate. However, the most exciting part for him was the following:

Mother's Day

I had a lovely Mother's Day. Eric and I did our best to stimulate the economy with our refund. We paid off some debt and then with some of it we bought a Wii. The kids were soo excited. I was excited about my other gifts. Eric bought me a copies of the Masterpiece Theatre versions of Jane Eyre (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE) and Sense and Sensibility (just released in April). YEAH!!!

Read more about it here:
Jane Eyre
Sense and Sensibility

Excitement

I have one more post to mention. You might have noticed my obsession with all things "Twilight". Rachel got up on the 6th at 4 in the morning to get both of us tickets to Stephenie Meyer's book signing on Friday the 16th. I'm SO excited.

For those of you who haven't seen the official teaser trailer...

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.fullscreen&videoid=33429578

Grandma comes and Emma's Simulation

On the 30th, my mom came into town to go to BYU's Women's Conference. We had a great time. The talks were amazing. We went to so many different classes and they were all about different subjects. I think that the best part was that the prophet spoke at the last session. It was amazing to feel the Spirit in the room with about 20,000 women who all know that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. Here's a picture.


Thursday night, Emma had her RADkid simulation. I've discussed this with you so now I'm just going to share some pictures and video.

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After a couple of great days with Grandma, we had to take her back to the airport. We spent the day in Salt Lake City. We went to the new IKEA store, to lunch at our favorite buffet called Sweet Tomatoes, and then ended up on Temple Square. Mom hadn't seen the Conference Center yet, but I think it was amazing to sit inside and realize how big the auditorium really is.

Last picture of the kids....

Parties, Boats and Books

I thought I should update from the past few weeks.

For adorable pictures from the Ferrin Family Princess & Pirate party on April 25th, go here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/EFerrinPA/April2008FerrinBirthdayParty

On April 29th, Braden had the Raingutter Regatta for Cub Scouts. In the video clip, Braden is the boy on the right hand side.







Now to backtrack a little, Braden and I went to a book signing for an author named Brandon Sanderson. We have enjoyed his new book called "Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians." Braden loved the book and I thought it was amusing as well. It's a good read for boys in the 9-12 year range.

Wednesday update

Tada! I lost 2 pounds last week. Eric is hanging on to the same weight. 24 pounds for me and 16 for him.

Have a great day!

The Host

I haven't posted in a while although I have a backlog of things to put on here. Another day perhaps. I spent today reading The Host, by Stephenie Meyer. It's not at all like Twilight, but I enjoyed it. Yes, it came out today, and yes, it is 600+ pages long. :)

Wednesday update

Well.. April hasn't been a great month for weight loss. Eric and I didn't lose any this last week, but we didn't gain any either. Holding steady. *sigh*

Wednesday update

Well.. April hasn't been a great month for weight loss. Eric and I didn't lose any this last week, but we didn't gain any either. Holding steady. *sigh*

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Saturday, April 26th was our 12th wedding anniversary. We have great plans for the day, but the plans were railroaded by Jon's throwing up most of the day. *sigh* Rachel did come and babysit after he had gone to bed, so I am praying that they don't get whatever laid him low. We went to dinner at Chili's and did some shopping at Waldenbooks and Wal-Mart .(yes, I know, very very romantic)

Nobility of Motherhood

I was talking with Rachel this morning and she mentioned that they are "out" of diapers for another month until the baby is born. Abi is finally potty-trained. I realized at that moment that I haven't been "out" of diapers for the last 9 years and 8 months. I have always had someone in diapers, and sometimes two in diapers at the same time.. Here's a rough estimate, counting at least 5 diapers a day, which should average out the newborn stage and the potty training stage a little.

Braden in diapers 3 years - approximately 5475
Emma in diapers 3 years 5475
Adam in diapers 4 years 7300
Jon still in diapers 2 years 1 month 3800

So we have used at least 22,050 diapers in the last 9 years and 8 months. I think that it's probably closer to 25,000.

Yes, I'm feeling distressed because Jon has a stomach thing going on right now and I have changed his diaper at least 10 times already this morning. *sigh* I have also discovered a worrying trend in the length of time in diapers of each child. ARGH!

Hershey Track Meet

Today is the Hershey Track Meet for Braden's grade at Art City Elementary. All the 4th graders in the district go to the High School to compete in a mini track meet. He competed in the 400 meter race, the 200 meter race and the softball throw.

The video is Braden coming in 3rd in his heat of the 200 meter race.

Visit to Grandma's house

We spent Spring Break at my parent's house in Nampa, Idaho. Both of my brothers and my sister were there, which made for an exciting week of cousins and play. The adults spent the evenings practicing our hot dance moves with Dance Dance Revolution. (darn, no pictures) We also celebrated three birthdays. Enjoy reviewing the week with me.




These are pictures from the Princess Tea Party, where handsome princes are invited to attend. The tea features pink princess bread and pink princess hot cocoa with mini marshmallows.

This is Grandpa with some of his girls.

We went to the Discovery Center of Idaho, which is an interactive children's science museum. The kids LOVED it!




These are pictures from my niece Lauren's 2nd birthday. We had a breakfast party, with pink pancakes and strawberries instead of dessert cake. :)

We also spent a lot of time at the Rec Center where the younger children played at the Play Center and the older kids played basketball while Eric and I exercised. We also went swimming there almost everyday. http://www.nampaparksandrecreation.org/reccenter/index.aspx

We had family portraits taken. By the end, we were all acting so goofy that we decided to buy the rights to the pictures, just to make sure that they didn't get out to the public.

Another event was the appearance a stray dog who adopted the family. We named her "Lady". The kids loved her.

We had a great time, and the children are really looking forward to Grandma Davis' visit to our house next week for BYU's Women's Conference.

Just cute pictures

You may have noticed that I am catching up from the last four weeks or so.. Here's something cute to look at..

Back to the 80's

Every year, Eric participates in his Junior High's Spring Musical. He plays in the orchestra and is the Assistant Orchestra Leader. This year, the musical was "Back to the 80's", which I found very amusing and so did Braden and Emma. (Even though they had no idea why the adults were laughing so much) Here is evidence of Eric playing in the orchestra.. yeah the football jerseys are... amazing.

Science Fair

Here is the information I promised much earlier about Braden's science fair project. He choose to do a project on paper airplane wing span. He had a great time doing it, and that enthusiasm was evident in the 100% he got on the project.

Wednesday update

Today is the weigh-in day, after missing a week due to our trip to Idaho. We have discovered that traveling isn't conducive to good weight loss. I managed to stay the same weight, but Eric was up two pounds. I really think that Eric's gain is due to the muscle that he put on working out at the Nampa Rec Center. He was there every day of our vacation, and he really worked hard. We'll see what happens next week. So I'm down 22 pounds and Eric's down 16.

Silence is Golden

We are currently at my parent's house in Idaho having an amazing busy time. I'll post more later.

Twilight update

OK.. Entertainment Tonight did this blurb on Twilight..

Here's the link to a YouTube site..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8q3l6L1ZDA

Wednesday Update

Today was a great day. After the weigh in last week where I was up a pound, I am pleased today. I am 4 pounds down from last week. Hurray! I have lost 22 pounds in 14 weeks. Eric was down 3 pounds which puts him at 18 pounds down. He is now wearing a 34 pant. YEAH!

Jon-Jon's Birthday

We celebrated Jon-Jon's 2nd birthday on Sunday, March 30th. Rachel, Brandon and Abi came, as well as our friend Karen.

Here's video of the candle blowing. Yes, he sounds like an elephant. No, he couldn't actually blow the candles out. I had to help him there.





I had to add this video clip as well.. He's so cute when he says "YUCK"!