Happy 40th Suzette and Georgette!

Tonight my sister Teresa and I went to a party for our friends Suzette and Georgette (maiden name was McKinney) who just turned 40. Suzette and Georgette were in my ward (our religious congregation) my second year at BYU. Later Georgette served a mission to Michigan (Lansing Mission) and was companions with my sister Teresa. Georgette lived at my parents for a little while before she got married, I was already married and Teresa was just home from her mission. So our whole family got to know her pretty well then. Tim's twin sisters were in the twin study BYU did with Georgette and Suzette and other twins. It's a small world! I love these ladies, they are so fun and kind. They are funny and genuine. It was great to see them and reminded me of how blessed I have been to know so many awesome people!

Emily & Gwen in the scaredy cat shirt

We bought Emily this shirt 9 years ago and I remembered I had this photo of her. Tim convinced Gwen to wear it with jeans the other day and I thought I'd better get a photo of it while I can! If you haven't read any of my older blogs Gwen will only wear dresses now. Gwen and Emily look more a like than I realize even though one is blond and one brunette. Our cutie girls!

Short update on kids . . .

Since I don't write a weekly family letter anymore I am more random than usual--it may also be the meds! Anyway, we have had our parent teacher conferences the last 3 weeks. I was holding my breath with all of them since Taran is now in high school and in honors classes but they are all doing very well. I wouldn't say they are perfect, we have things we need to improve--I say we because I am not doing a couple of things I should be like listening to kids read and asking them questions to inspire comprehension. The problem is that most of them that I am suppose to do this with regurgitate the whole story instead of summarizing, anyway, I ramble. My mom actually went to the high school one for me since I was just out of the hospital. Tim and I went to the Junior High. And last week was the elementary school and I went all by myself, Tim dropped me off and picked me up. He was at a soccer practice at the school.
Soccer season is finished except for Taran who has 3 more games! Hopefully this cold front that came in will leave and go back to nice cool, fall weather instead of FREEZING wind! Izak's team has struggled, half the kids have never played before and some are highly distracted but they won today, yeah!
Taran, Timo and Izak are in flag football and they are really enjoying it. I enjoy watching it so I hope I can go to a game now that I am doing better.
I am excited for the fall break next week. It is also Gwen and Emily's birthdays. I wish I could say we are going somewhere fun. But it's good we couldn't afford to go since I probably would not have wanted to go in my condition--I don't know maybe I would! Last year we were in sunny San Diego--a nice change from here!
Today Tim took Taran, Timo and 2 of Timo's friends (Tyler and John) to the BYU vs. New Mexico football game. Our friends the Thomases gave us 3 tickets, because of the weather Tim thought it best not to take the little kids. They had fun and it wasn't too cold. Everyone's got BYU football fever, it's fun that they have done so well--they have looked sloppy lately. That's it for now!

Kids pictures . . .

I stopped buying the school pictures a few years ago after almost all my kids needed retakes for strange things like being diagonal in the photo! So we buy the class photo and Tim and I try our hand with our old digital, nothing fancy camera. It works, most of the time! I actually did a little more cropping and I turned them black and white when I made prints.

I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike . . .

This is Zane's theme song! He borrowed a bike from little girl down the street his age. And taught himself to ride that day--in a couple of hours! He picked up scooters really fast so we knew he had a good sense of balance. So we bought him an inexpensive bike from Wal-Mart. He was wobbly the first day but now he is a maniac and wants to ride his bike every day all day! It's very cute.

Rachelle update II

So I have gone down to 1/2 a Percocet and the pain is manageable or almost obsolete, I still take ibuprofen and gabapentine (a nerve painkiller, non narcotic). Physical Therapy is good, I love the electrod stuff and massage they do. I don't like the exercises they have me doing at home since some hurt to do but the PT says to do what I can. I am enjoying my elliptical again and I have no pain when I use it, yeah! I have an appointment with the back doctor who did Tim's dad's surgery, on the 24th. I feel I will not be able to get off the narcotics until that bone or piece of the membrane, whatever of the two it is, is removed or moves so I am looking into surgery. It is not as evasive as other surgeries so I am hopeful that if I choose that route I can have a good chance of a positive outcome. We'll see how I feel after the visit! Thanks for all your prayers, they have made a difference in many ways. Please continue to pray that I will know what I should do. Thanks!

Gwen's birthday dress, nightgowns and her new bed!

I know this isn't super exciting but it gives a little update on our happenings. Tim's mom made Gwen this darling panda jumper and shirt for her birthday--she made me take her other dress off immediately.
She is so obsessed with dresses that we had to buy her some nightgowns--she wanted to wear dresses to bed and she would kick and scream when we got her dressed in normal jammies. Here she is wearing the princess nightgown, she barely knows who they are but she thinks they are pretty so she is okay with them. We also bought a Tinkerbell nightgown but she screamed when we tried to put it on. She will wear it now, Emily and Timo told her that Tink is pretty. So here is proof that I have mellowed out, I never would have bought Emily those. But Emily was more laid back. I figure if it's not immodest or obscene I can give a little. When Taran was just starting kindergarten he came home and said, "I want shirts with pictures on them." I asked him what he meant and he said something like Power Rangers--which he never had watched. He did have some t-shirt with pictures but I was pickier then about it!
So we bought the bed from Ikea (it can expand into a twin) since it would help me with naps and bedtime when Tim is not here to lift her. She really likes it but hasn't slept well since the change so it's been the hardest on Tim since he doesn't have med induced sleep all the time like me!