Old McHyrum Had a Birthday

E-I-E-I-seven years Old

The purrfect cake for our cat lover.

Dinner was a good ole' country spread

No Bake Cow Pies
Rice Krispie Hay Bales
Rabbit Food
Pringles from the Potato Field
Pigs in their Blankets
Nuggets from the Chicken Coop
Garden and Orchard Pickings

After our bellies were filled we mooved outside for chores.

Milking cows was udderly fun!

The duck races had us quacking up.
(How fitting to have a dog "helping" and the field of horses in the background)

Horse roping had us hoopin' and hollering.

Once the farm animals were taken care of we wrangled up the crew for a little gift givin' which turned into an hour of
building with Hyrum's new Mag Formers.

To wrap up the day, Hyrum tackled Levi with the inflatable punching fists that Levi gave him.

"Picking a wedgie out is impossible with Hulk hands!"

St. Patrick's Day

The morning started with leprechaun kisses.

In the bathroom they found little leprechaun footprints on the toilet seat and discovered that leprechaun pee is green.

"I'm gettin' out of here!"
Hyrum was disgusted that they didn't flush the toilet.

After school the boys found a clue on the mailbox which led them on a chase for green treasure.

Their enthusiasm is what keeps this tradition alive.

Their baskets of food and fun entertained them for hours. Though Justin got home later and didn't do a treasure hunt
to find his green loot, he happily munched on his snack before heading off to work.

Brock is over at our house almost every day after school so I had a basket for him as well. The three boys spent the remainder of the afternoon building puzzles and filling in their travel Light Brites while snacking on their goodies. The pantry became their dark room where they crowded behind a closed door to see their pegged creations light up.

February

Justin's Birthday

His only birthday request was to not have a party and he didn't want cake and absolutely no pictures.
He's not a birthday rebel, just sixteen.

We had to have something to put the candles on so I combined his two favorites and made fudge brownies with German chocolate frosting (he only likes the frosting, not the cake).  As he prepared to blow out the candles he thought about and decided on a birthday wish, carefully aimed his air power to one candle and made sure that he still had one candle burning for the girlfriend test.

I was respectful of his non-party wish and instead took him to IJump.

Everyone attempts to be as technically tricky as Justin but our belly flops and face plants don't even land into the same
category as his well trained skill.



CSI Museum

You know those movie trailers that show all the best parts of the upcoming movie and when you go to see the movie you realize that the three minute trailer was better than the two hour movie.  That pretty much sums up the museum display right now.  The fliers looks so intriguing and the boys thought they would get to solve a mystery and the pictures looked so death filled and gruesome.  Trust me, unless you want to have a full science textbook kind of day reading all about bugs, just look at the website and read the flier.  It's free!

Though I did read a few interesting facts about decaying bodies and the part bugs play in the evidence, the boys looked at a couple of vials and called it good. The only saving grace of the display was the outline of dead bodies that the boys attempted to fill and the opportunity to be the bad guy.

Beyond putting wigs on and dressing up as perps getting a mug shot the only way we could get our moneys worth out of the trip was to go to the permanent, hands on kids section that we visit every time we go.

Daymia hadn't ever seen this section so the boys gave her a full tour of the eagle nest in the tree, the beaver homes under the water, the family sized teepee that they beg to take home every year, and the log cabin complete with dress up clothes and a frontier style kitchen set up to play with.



Schtuff

Justin still requests fruit snacks.  "They're not just for little kids, everyone needs fruit."

***

Thanks a lot, Diary of a Wimpy Kid!  Now Nathan thinks he knows all about puberty.

***

Hyrum had a week of "where do things come from" curiosity.  After answering all of his questions he revealed to me his new view of nature: cows pee milk, hens poop eggs, bees spit honey, trees cry syrup.

***

Bret's nickname for Charlie is Crisis since he represents my mid-life crisis.

***

Sarah gifted me a onesie.  This one to be exact:


Onesie, not body.
I've never stood that way in mine (though maybe now that I've realized that I'll try it) and I have yet to leave the zipper down in the valley.
Comfort level though is exactly as it appears.  It is really hard to make myself wear pants after a day in waist band free bliss.

One night I tucked Hyrum into bed while wearing my onesie and the next morning he begged, "Mom, will you pleeeease get me a onesie?  I've been dreaming about it!"

Myringotomy

A big word meaning to cut a hole in the eardrum for the purpose of sucking fluid out of the eustachian tube.
It is not pleasant.
But the process has been good for me.
Spiritually strengthening, actually.


New Era April 2015 Mormonad

I sent an email to my mom and sisters sharing the details of that learning process and received even greater strength as they responded with their own personal experiences and insights.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I haven't shared this with anyone but LeRoy because well, I evidently love to suffer in silence, but for the last 4 weeks I have had fluid behind my ear.  Doesn't sound too bad, and it wasn't for the first week but by the 2nd week (after trying every homeopathic trick I knew) I went to the doctor (PA actually) and he (of course!) prescribed antibiotics.  I did the 10 day run of that and it wasn't any better.  In fact, it was worse.  I was losing my hearing and the echoing in my head was getting louder, not to mention annoying.  The PA suggested I try another antibiotic and I just bypassed that and called a friend of ours who is an ENT specialist.

He took one look at it and said I did not have an infection but rather, fluid behind the ear drum that was pushing the ear drum out and affecting my hearing.  He gave me 2 shots (1 slow release steroid, 1 quick steroid) and nasal steroid spray to hopefully open up the eustachian tube enough to drain the fluid....but I had to wait another 7 days to see if that would work.  It didn't.

I went back again after going nearly batty and losing every ounce of patience I had for my silly kids and their loud noises and had a myringotomy where the doctor numbed my ear drum, made an incision and sucked the thick fluid out.  It has taken the pressure out of my head and it did take the echo away and I can hear again.  Now I feel air going through my ear drum every time I breathe in and out....cold air in and body temp air out. I can breathe through my ear! Such an easy trade off and it should close up again in a couple of weeks.

   

*Update: my eardrum did not heal as quickly as expected and it took another round of hearing and tube tests to try to figure out why I was still hearing in echoes and mumbles.  Ultimately, I just had to wait it out and after another 5 weeks everything has finally healed and my hearing is normal again.

So, what does this have to do with the March Ensign?  Kudos for reading this far....it gets better.

Over the weekend I was really losing it. I had tried so hard for the last month to keep my patience when the world sounded like a mumbling, echoing mess of noise.  As I explained to the ENT, I felt like I had a snot nosed kid sitting on my shoulder (because I could hear the fluid moving) and I had an relentless monster snoring in my forehead (my own breathing, which occasionally I would hold just so it I could have a moment of silence!).  Sounds like doors shutting, kids jumping, balls bouncing, general noise of children all reverberated through my head in full pressure volume.  LeRoy was frustrated because he could no longer holler from anywhere in the house and I would respond. I was frustrated because I couldn't hear phone calls well and public places were impossible to hear in (I guess I can relate to overstimulated kids in loud public places). I couldn't take it anymore. It was very reminiscent of that last week of a pregnancy when I would just pray for the pains of labor to come on so that it would be over.  I was praying for the pain of a ruptured eardrum so that this part would be over.

Sunday afternoon I had to go to the guestroom and distance myself.  I put my earphones in and turned up Mozart piano as loud as I could stand it so that I couldn't hear my own breathing, heartbeat and blood flow or the sounds of a house full of energetic kids.  The only thing I took with me was my book, the new Ensign, and a water bottle.

Now, to the point :D  There were a couple of articles that were very strengthening and helped me at that last moment when I felt I couldn't go on like this any longer. Have you ever wanted to stick a toothpick in your ear to relief the pressure?  I have! Reading through the Ensign (followed up with prayer and a good cry) gave me that last little dose of comfort that I needed to get to Monday at 3:00. 

I'll just leave the page and quotes:

pg 7 -  Visiting Teaching message, President Uchtdorf.

Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well! Patience means accepting that which cannot be changed and face it with courage, grace, and faith.  

pg 50 - The Savior's Respect For Women (the whole article is wonderful!)

Of Mary and turning the water to wine for the wedding:

"Woman," or, rather, "lady," is in Greek a title of respect, used even in addressing queens.  It was as though He {Jesus} said to his mother, "My lady, whatsoever you ask of me in faith, I will grant it unto you."  This account shows that the Savior was interested in the routine pressures that women faced.

I cried at this point! The thought of him saying that to me as I had requested a priesthood blessing and was pleading for relief was a little overwhelming.  When it takes a week to get in with the ENT, they got me in that afternoon when I called Monday morning. Such a blessing!

What a beautiful lesson we learn from Mary: when in need, seek after and trust in Jesus Christ, who has all power.  Like Mary, Latter-day Saint women today can rely on Jesus Christ in faith when they are feeling overwhelmed with their responsibilities. (pg 51)

Of the Woman from Samaria:

Because of her faith, the Samaritan woman received a witness from the Spirit and desired to testify that Jesus was the Christ.  By featuring this experience, John shows that the Savior is aware of women and knows the details of their lives.  This account shows that Jesus Christ knows each woman's challenges and can accept and lift her.

Pg 14 - David A. Bednar

Because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice, the Savior has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy.  He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do relying only upon our own power...  The unique burdens in each of our lives help us to rely upon the merits, mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah.

My "unique burden" has reminded me to rely on Christ.  When medicine, doctors, strange yoga poses, weird breathing techniques, or any other thing on this earth could not lighten my burden, He did!  I am so grateful!

I hope you too feel the love of our Savior!

Love You All

Kimber

Valentine's Day

We began our month of love celebration on February 1st with a scripture each morning leading up to the 14th.

It prompted Hyrum and Nathan to secretly cut out and write heart valentines for LeRoy and I and they even included Justin in their thoughtful gift and had him sign them as well.

I offered to simply give the boys their Valentine surprise without strings this year and they were appalled that I would even suggest it! With the holiday falling on Saturday the "surprise" of it was missing (it really isn't a surprise anymore but they like to come home and it's done without watching me do it).  So, Justin took the boys to drop off the recycling and go to the library while I strung up their valentines.  I was afraid I wouldn't have enough time but with only three strings this year it went rather fast.

This year I tied a treat into the string at random points, thinking they would stop, eat and take a break before continuing.  Wrong.  It simply added an element of surprise back into our tradition without slowing them down at all.

It's fun for me to see that no matter how simple I do their boxes they love them.  The true fun is in the string and making it to the final destination. However, those candy pooping monsters were pretty darn fun!


Vivien's Valentine's Day
For Valentine's day with Gabor we bought for each other a 'voucher' - trip to Venice. Means that we bought it for ourselves but haha lets pretend it was a gift :D My friend Réka also came with her mom. We headed off Friday night and got there Saturday morning. Spent the day in Venice and headed back in the evening.They were mostly young people on the bus so some of them were FREAKING LOUD! But I got some sleep and the ride was like 7 hours plus the stops so it wasn't too long.

Venice was okay. The sun was shining and it was warmer then here but being outside all day long after few hours of sleep we were freezing, tired, broken oh :D I would not want to live there. Its like a town on a water. Nothing there :D except for super expensive luxury stores as Gucci, Prada, Chanel etc.Its pretty funny tho that they have no cars. And seeing a boat AMBULANCE was hilarious. I mean yeah sad but seriously a boat ? :D In February its carnival time there so people were dressed up and were wandering around.

We also went to see 2 other islands - Burano and Murano. Yea that tower is leaning! Most of them were :D In Murano we went to a factory I guess were we watched a man making all kinds off stuff from glass. He had like a minute to form it. It was pretty interesting. He had some skills. I liked the other island. The houses were colorful and they had some grass there too! Then we got back to the main island I guess and went for dinner with Gábor. Oh Italian pizza, it was delicious! And freaking expensive so thanks Gábor :D


Love to Elder Grandpa and Sister Grandma

Erika Jo brought me a monkey balloon with a Fishy Valentine note attached to a bag of Swedish Fish Her note grew my heart just a little more. She is such a blessing in my life!  She senses my needs sometimes better than I do.

She is my Sunshine!

When I sent packages to Levi and Derek a couple of months ago she mentioned that the only reason she was okay with moving to Denver was that she would get packages from me.  I realized that I had never sent her one because she has always lived right here and I see her so frequently.  During a difficult mental/emotional February for me she truly was a ray of sunshine so I packaged up a box of sunshine for her, took it to Melaleuca and had them deliver it to her desk.

January

Annual Pinewood Derby Race

The new computer system that was used for the races shuffled cars around so that they raced against cars of similar speed. After getting 4th place for every race he did last year, he was thrilled to get a 1st place race this year.



Lego Expressions of Kindness

Nathan and Hyrum are great to watch over Jensen when he is here.  He can't walk or play without us close enough to catch him when he has absence seizures so we try to find activities that are still full of fun without quite so much risk.  They love to play cars on the car mats, build Lego guns and creatures, or shoot Nerf guns at targets. Jensen's special diet for epilepsy means that the usual little boy favorites like fruit snacks, popcorn, crackers, cheese sticks and popsicles are off limits but they have never complained.  Their listening skills are better with Jensen here because he talks a little slower trying to get his mouth to express what's on his mind. Initially, they would try to fill in words or complete sentences for him but he would get frustrated.  Now we all understand that the same spunky, witty Jensen is playing with us, we just need to take life at a slower pace while he is here.  I love putting all other things aside and simply focusing on playtime with the boys.


If the shirt fits . . . it doesn't!

Daymia was wearing a nice sweater with an undershirt which looked beautiful on her but did not offer the level of laziness that our afternoon was headed for. After a bit of coercing, Levi swapped shirts with her; giving her his long, comfy, flannel shirt while he turned in his man card to flaunt his muscles in her shirt. Or, maybe he gained a special I'll-do-anything-for-my-girl man card.


It's a Ribboning!

This is it!  It was a blast!

The beginning is all formal. We line up with our partners. The principal, class teacher, one parent, and some classmates have a speech and we girls just stand there almost crying cause its awful in high heels :D then we get our ribbons, we give a rose to our moms and ask a parent to dance with us. My dad is a really good ballroom dancer. Who would have thought :D Then some of us dance with teachers who came (fortunately I wasn't the one haha) then we dance with our classmates. everything is still formal. Then we have dinner and after, our program! 

We sang, had some funne scenes, dances and stuff like that. Then some informal dancing then we got our cakes and sing more songs. During free time our parents, teachers and us too could buy tickets then win something. So the last thing was the number drawing. My mom won a picture and my dad a stuffed animal our something like that :D Then it was like 1.30am and the official part was over. Half of the parents left and we were just dancing and dancing and dancing. Of course its Europe so there was a lot of drinking and drunk classmates. Which wasnt that fun to watch. It ended at 5am. It was fun. I had fun. Some of my classmates are actually cool :D  I get along with them better this year and I will atually miss some of them haha

This weekend is our afterparty in a cabin. I wanted to go but then decided not to. Its just drinking and drinking and drinking and classmates making out. Nah I'd rather spend some time with my boyfriend :D

San Diego

January 15th - 18th

LeRoy was planning on attending a Legal Shield Conference in San Diego but since this one was during school we weren't going to go with him.  Then gloomy January came and LeRoy started bragging about seventy degree weather in San Diego.  All it took was a phone call to upgrade his resort single bed room to a family suite and we were on a family trip.  It was a much needed vacation for me after missing out on the entire Christmas holiday because of a headache.

One thing our family does well is long road trips.

This time around was so different though because we only had three kids traveling with us and they each had plenty of room.  The last time we took a trip with only three kids was when Derek was a baby and we drove to Texas in a car full of car seats and no DVD player - heck, DVDs hadn't even been invented yet and having movies in the car was unheard of. Now we have had a cramped trip with the oldest three and a comfy trip with the youngest three.

On the way there we took a travel break at the M&M factory in Las Vegas.

The boys enjoyed the water at the hotel . . .

and the beach . . .

and the beach again . . .

and the beach at sunset.

San Diego may be known for its consistent warm weather and beautiful beaches but to Justin it is known for it's fancy cars;
or in his words, "Siiiiiick" cars.

The weather was perfect for me!  I dipped my toes in the waves, settled them deep in the sand and soaked up as much
sunshine as I could in three days.

We took a break from the beach long enough to tour the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier.

It was so impressive in size, purpose and history.

The claustrophobic feel of the sleeping quarters and the lack of privacy for any personal cleanliness left me in awe of
those who spend months at a time on these ships.

The flight deck was massive!  Planes on a ship?  I had the same questions the kids did: How do they have enough room to take off and land?  How do you not get your head cut off with a blade?  How do they not slide off the ship if the water gets rough?  We could have spent a whole day wandering, reading about and studying the flight deck.

It would take weeks to count all the knobs and buttons and bells and whistles on this battleship.

In the engine room a former officer gave us a tour of the boiler rooms, turbines, and showed how they communicated with the captain and steered the entire ship. Those who worked in the engine room didn't see the sun for weeks at a time, were constantly covered in sweat from the heat that the turbines and boilers put off and when they did leave the engine room they would still hear the hum of the equipment for hours after leaving and would talk by yelling because they had to while working in the engine room.

We would have spent more time touring the ship but they were closing early for a big convention on board the ship with Mitt Romney as their speaker.  Two minutes before closing we caught a ride on the flight simulator. I thought Hyrum would be thrown around too much for his liking but he walked away determined that he would someday "fly just like that".

After touring the battleship we again headed to the beach until it was time to meet up with Heaven, LeRoy's niece.  We met up at an Italian restaurant where she and LeRoy reminisced about Texas and the quirks of the Edwards family.  She is such a smart, caring, young lady and we had a wonderful time visiting with her and Frank.

The time to head back to Idaho came up much sooner than we wanted it to. To break up the trip on the way home we stopped to see a few temples, beginning with the San Diego temple. Its castle looking features prompted the boys to defend it as we walked around the grounds.

We then made a straight shot to the Las Vegas temple.  It was quite the contrast coming from the castle of San Diego to see the roof of Las Vegas.  However, walking around the grounds brought the same familiar feeling of peace.

Our next goal was to get to the St. George Temple before dark.  We didn't even stop to eat dinner so that we could see it before the sun was completely gone and it was worth every tummy growl.

Nathan noticed that it was missing Moroni on top but again, the spiritual welcome we felt while walking the grounds confirmed to us that the peace we were feeling was not the building or Moroni or even the magical appearance the temple took on as the night time lights came on around us.  We had a brief testimony sharing moment as we talked about making covenants and the promise of eternal families when we make the temple our goal.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect trip . . . after another eight hours of driving.

As we drove through Utah we pointed out each temple visible from the highway including the temple LeRoy and I were married in (West Jordan) and as we drove the last few miles to home we could see the Rexburg temple lit up on the hill.  Again, that welcoming feeling of home came over me.  Then, as we pulled into our garage and filed our way into the mudroom, kitchen, and living room dragging our travel stuff behind us I felt a glimpse of that same feeling.  God is in our home, he welcomed us back and here we will work on those covenants we have made and strive for the eternal family that is our goal.

Levi's 23rd Birthday

Daymia had big plans.

The day before his birthday she spent six full hours in the kitchen, on her feet, without any breaks,  making her
first fondant cake.  She did every bit of it herself right down to the tiniest details.

She had a full afternoon planned in several different locations to give him gifts for his five senses. In our garage he opened his sense of touch gift which was a new Nerf Gun. He laughed and they walked into the mudroom where Daymia had put a sign.

As soon as he saw the sign he went running back out to the garage and those of us in the house ready to attack and hidden in our strategic place assumed he was running to the front door to throw us off. I was crouched down between the dishwasher and the island and thought I would be one of the last ones to see him if he came through the front door.  None of us even considered that he would run around to the back of the house in the dark and come in through the kitchen.  Without any warning I had a dart to the head.  He slid open the back door and had a straight head shot.

The war was on and we had Nerf darts and silly string flying everywhere!  I had just finished the food for his birthday dinner and didn't realize that the silly string would be in the house so I was draping my body over the freshly made hot meal trying to protect it from colorful flying chemicals, which happens to taste quite a bit like hairspray.

It took us a while to settle down from all the laughter and even more time to clean silly string off of the cabinets, appliances, lights and ceiling.  After dinner he was presented his cake.



Daymia did such an amazing job!

The evening finale was a video that Daymia had put together with clips from all of us.  We went downstairs for his sense of sight gift and watched the short version first and the the fifteen minute long version of each of our messages.




His sense of sight gift also brought on his sense of emotions as he sat with tears gently sliding down his cheeks as his listened to all of us share our love and admiration for him.

Our favorite clip was from Brooke.  She included many other short videos of Levi that the rest of us hadn't seen and had all of us laughing with tears...which helped mask Levi's tears just a little.




Daymia's dad was another favorite.  His power tool threat is quite original!