When it rains it pours!

I have found this to be a true statement for our family! Our camping season has just started and so we decided to go camping last Monday. We packed up and went out in to the desert. Lots of dirt, stink beetles, sage brush...you know....desert. We dug our toilet hole (and found out that the dog would ONLY go to the bathroom in that area and no where else!) and then took the kids fishing. I know, you would not imagine that there would be any place to go fishing, but we were fairly close the the Highline canal. While we were fishing I noticed that the sky had gotten cloudy. Not a norm for the El Centro area. We did all of the normal things, campfire, tin foil dinners (I forgot to bring marshmallow and Starburst! dang!), scary stories, hot chocolate, a million and one trips to go to the bathroom. When we were all finally in bed and had just gotten to sleep I heard, drip, drip, drip....yep! It is raining! It never rains here and we go camping so it rains! Now, along the roads in the desert there are areas that it slopes down so that when it does rain and flood the water will get off of the road. That is all that I could think about! What if it rained so much it flooded?! We are definitely not on the road and I could picture us being washed down stream! Fortunately it was just a little rain. We ended up getting up at 6:30...some of us couldn't hold it any longer and had to go to the bathroom. Everyone decided to get up. We ate breakfast and packed up to go home. James had to leave for work at 3:00 and we decided to just clean up. We loaded up the car and started to drive out. The sand was really deep, so James got out to let out some of the air in our tires to make it easier to drive. He got out and made this horrible face. He is always trying to get me to think that something bad has happened. I told him that I didn't think that was funny and he said "Neither do I!". I got out not quite sure if I wanted him to be kidding (I would kill him for scaring me) or not kidding (then he wouldn't be in trouble but we would be). I walked around to the front of the car and almost started crying! There was so much red liquid everywhere! What were we to do? We are out in the middle of no where and our cell phones are pretty much dead! I really don't know what I would have done without James there! Fortunately we had a car phone charger. We plugged it in and he called his office to get the name of a tow truck company. He called them and they told him he had to get the name of the dirt road we were off of. The road sign was at least a good 3 miles away. We noticed that there was a trailer about 1/3 of a mile off so James ran over there to see if they knew the name of the road. Fortunately for me James went because this guy answered the door in just a short shirt. Yep! You guessed it, he was wearing NOTHING else! James said he (the man) was not phased at all that James could see every part of his body. YUCK!!!! So, James comes back, calls the tow truck and we found out we had to drive the car out on to the road. We said a prayer (thankfully it was answered) that we would be able to get the car out and not have any additional damage done in doing so. While we were waiting for the tow truck, it started to rain again! HELLO!!!!!! It never rains, what is the deal?! We finally got towed home and James was able to make it to work on time. Good thing we got up so darn early or he would not have made it! We had to pay $150 for the tow and then another $250 to fix the car. One good thing about this is that I was wanting to go home for Thanksgiving. If I had we figured that the car would have broken down about 1 hour after I left and I would have been in the middle of the Chocolate mountains where there is absolutely no phone reception. I never thought that I would be grateful to have not been able to go home! I was also trying to get back to Salt Lake on December 5th to go shopping with my mom and sisters. James was not able to arrange his schedule and so I can't go. This was all before the $400 car issue. As much as I want to go, it is probably better (financially) that I was not able to go. If James had been able to work it out I would have already have bought my tickets and then what?! I know that the Lord definitely watches out for and over us.

Kearney is trying with all of her might to clean her face and keep clean. It was definitely a loosing battle!

The girls and Parker and I (mostly I) did this fire pit....pretty good if I do say so myself

Unbelievably the girls found sea shells. Out in the middle of the desert?!

Kylee is helping Ireland get down the hill. So sweet!

James and Parker fishing. They didn't catch anything!

Lighting the campfire

Look at that flame! He was so excited!!!

Sitting around the campfire.

Ireland found the best place to sleep!

Ireland, Kearney and me.

This is the second pile of transmission fluid. This is what happened after we moved the car to the dirt road. The first pool was A LOT bigger!

Look at Chancho in the window. He was so confused!!!

Our poor car!!!!!

The wonderful Dr. Dries

Esotropia is a neurological disorder that affects the eyes. They don't have the muscle control (among other things) that they should, so they go cross-eyed. It is also a genetic disorder. My brother Josh was in the 1st grade (I think) when he started having problems seeing. He was seeing double. He went to see Dr. David Dreis and we found out he had this problem. He wore glasses and eventually had surgery. Esotropia comes at three different times. You can be born with it, it can start at the age of 2 or it could start showing around 6 years of age. Obviously Josh was the 6 years. So, knowing that it was genetic we kept an eye (no pun intended) on our kids. One day right after the twins had turned 2 I walked in the room and Kearney freaked me out. Her right eye was nestled in the corner but her left eye was looking right at me! For those of you who have not seen it trust me, it can be very freaky! So, we made an appointment with the said Dr. Dries. He is one of the best opthamologists in the United States. She did indeed have esotropia. We started out her treatment with an eye patch. She wore it for 3 hours a day. It was to help develop her muscles to try and pull it back in to place. She also received glasses. This was one easy way to tell the twins apart! Her nursery leaders loved it! The glasses seemed to work for a little bit, but after a couple of months she would not wear them and she was going cross-eyed with them on. We took her back in to the Dr and he decided that she needed surgery. The weird thing is that because Josh was 6 when he the symptoms started showing he had seen long enough that his eyes would try to fix it, thus the double vision. Kearney had only been seeing for 2 years and that is not a long enough time for the eyes to have been working so they did not try to compensate. She just stopped seeing in her right eye. If she had not had the surgery she would have gone blind! So scary!!!!! The thing with the surgery was that it did not always work, in fact Josh is going to have to have surgery again and has gone back to wearing glasses as of right now. He said that more than 50% of kids had to have the surgery again right afterwards to have it be effective. So, in January of 2007 we went up to Primary Children's hospital for her surgery. She was excited to be able to spend time with just mm and dad. Once they gave her the medicine she became so lethargic. I had to hold her or she would fall down. They wheeled her in to the surgery in a wagon! It was so cute. She was in there for about 90 minutes. It was, without a doubt the longest 90 minutes of my life! Dr. Dries came out to meet with us and let us know that the surgery went well. I started to cry and told him how thankful we were for all of his work and expertise. He then informed us that it was not him that had done it but that God had given him the knowledge and talent to be able to help other people. Now, I don't know about you, but most surgeons tend to think that they are a god and all of their knowledge and works is so great because of them! It was so nice and refreshing to listen to him. It made me like and appreciate him more! So, Kearney had her check ups and she was doing really well. It came time for us to have to move to California and I asked him about a Dr. here for her. He said that he did not know of anyone in El Centro (big shock!) but one of the countries best opthamologists was in La Jolla and that if he had to take his son to someone it would be Dr. Granet (pronounced granite). So, 9 months ago we drove over to see him and he was very please with Kearney's eyes and could not stop talking about the great work that Dr. Dries had done. We went in again yesterday to visit with Dr. Granet. He examined Kearney again and then informed me that if he did not know for certain that she had had the surgery he would not believe me that it had been done. She has absolutely no scaring (not normal) and had perfect eyes. He then talked about how this is what every surgeon wanted for their patients. He informed me that if his daughter ever need surgery he would be taking her to Dr. Dries. I always knew that Dr. Dries was wonderful, but it just reminded me of the blessing he has been in our families lives. First Josh and now Kearney. I am truly grateful to the Lord for helping to give Dr. Dries his knowledge and talents. I am grateful that we went to him and that he did such an excellent job on Kearney. She loves him (talks about him and Dr. Granet frequently) and he has given her a great gift. Thank you so much Dr. Dries!!!!!

This is the wonderful Dr. David C. Dries from the John Moran Eye Center!

Isn't that a freaky look? Even with the glasses on!

Can you guess who is who?

Every time I gave her a bath it would freak me out!

My sweet baby!

Having her blood pressure taken before surgery.

Open up and say 'ahhhhh'

Playing before surgery

In the wagon on the way to surgery!

In the recovery room after her surgery. They wanted us to bring something with her for comfort. She stole her sister's kitty and then Kylee ended up just giving it to her.

Not quite awake yet. The medicines that she took made her skin pink.

She hurt so bad and they had to put her arms in splints so that she couldn't rub her eyes. Poor thing!

We had to put creme in to her eyes. She is laying her patiently waiting.

She didn't want to open her eyes at all (it hurt) so if she knew there was food coming (in this case a fruit snack from dad) she would just open her mouth and root around....kind of like a baby bird!After a while she would feed herself, but notice her eyes are still closed!

After being in the bath for a while the warm water would wash away all of the gunk and she would eventually open them.

I love San Diego...plus our primary program...

I LOVE San Diego! When we do end up leaving California I am really going to miss San Diego so much! On Monday we talked to the kids about temples and all things that go with that discussion and we decided to take them to see the San Diego temple. So yesterday morning we loaded up the car and locked the dog in the kitchen (it was going to be a long day, please no accidents!) and off we went. I drive when we go there. Because of several near-accidents I am a TERRIBLE passenger and James and I found it more enjoyable for both of us if I drive. Seeing as how James only received a few hours of sleep he slept through the whole windy drive, but he woke up for the best part. I love driving over the last bit of 'mountain' before descending in to San Diego. The traffic picks up (we move in to three lanes on each side of the 8), there are a lot of 'real' stores and it just has such a terrific 'big city' feel to it! I love it!!!!! We went to the temple first. It is in La Jolla (another great city) and we knew that there were supposed to be protests against the church yesterday so we tried to warn the kids. Luckily they were not protesting there and we were able to have such a nice visit. The San Diego temple, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful temples. We walked around it, took pictures and the kids asked a million questions about the people there i.e. are they getting married today?, why can that kid go inside and not me?, why are they on the grass?....



After we went to the temple we decided to take the kids to the beach for a while. We went to mission beach and the kids played in the water. Parker got soaking (good thing we brought more clothes) and the girls looked for shells and drew in the sand. I could live at the beach. I love it there so much!!!!! We had lunch and then headed off to Sea World. We bought year tickets at the beginning of this year and it has been such a good investment. This was our 5th time going and the kids just love being there. They love to watch Shamu and touch the star fish. There is a new 4d Seseme Street movie that they absolutely loved, but their favorite thing hands down is the roller coaster! That is all we heard all day, we want the roller coaster, over and over! Kearney loves it and hates it all at once. When it is over if you ask her if she liked it she usually says 'yo' yes and not combined. She is excited until you get up to the top and right before you go over shestarts saying 'no, I don' t want to do it!' and then she loves it until it is over and then she has to wait about 5 minutes before she forgets how scary it is and then she will go on it again. It is hilarious! We saw a new show (new for us). At 7:00 p.m. they have a night show called Shamu Rocks. And let me tell you, Shamu does rock! Those animals are absolutely amazing! In the afternoon I told Kylee that watching them made me cry and she insisted that I wasn't crying and was shocked when I took my sunglasses off and she saw that I was. Well, on the night one they play a lot of rock music and they have colored lights etc. It was so fun to watch and while we were all freezing it was totally worth it! I always thought it would be so fun to work with whales and dolphins. The biggest whale that they have is Korky and she is 40 years old and weighs over 8,ooo lbs! HUGE!!! We took the kids to get pizza after we left (two pizzas was cheaper than just 2 meals in Sea World) and do a potty run before we went home. The gas station we got gas at didn't have public restrooms so we went to Denny's. While I took the girls in to do their business James witnesses a gang related drug sale. Too scary for me! We will be sure not to stop off in El Cajon for gas anymore! We got home around 11:00 and went to check on our dog. Do you think after 15 hours in the kitchen that he had an accident? Nope! He was so great! Whenever he gets locked in there he does not eat or drink until we get home. That is one smart dog!



So, today was our primary program. One of my favorite Sundays! No children on my bench! yipee!!! The kids did great. My girls sang the loudest. I am not kidding. I had a lot of people come up and say 'we could totally hear your girls'. We don't do anything quietly! Half way through a little girl took off Kearney's shoe, so she would not go up anymore! She ended up singing three songs and that was it. They tried to get my attention to come up and help (I didn't know they were talking to me-and that was not an excuse to keep my bench child-free) and then they just kept her on a teacher's lap and she was fine. It was great! The gave each of the kids 3 HUGE chocolate chip cookies for doing so well. I think that they should have passed them out to the parents to snack on during the program!

Southern California Shakeout

I hate earthquakes! Since we have been here there have been quite a few earthquakes (thankfully not for a while). When we have had them I become a crazy freak. Really. The first one we had I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off. I didn't even know what to do! When the second one hit that same night I ran in and woke up James and then promptly ran to the window. (you all didn't know I was that smart, did you?) Well, after the next 10 or so I finally got so that I was not scaring my kids to death and became somewhat of a pro....at not running around terrified. The biggest earthquake that we have had while I have been here is a 5.5. So, yesterday all of Southern California and other places up north had one big earthquake drill. It was supposed to be for a 7.8 magnitude earthquake (that just makes my stomach hurt!). I happened to be in Parker's class at the time of the drill. The principle came over the speaker and announced that it was starting. All people had to stop, drop and cover. The kids were all under their desks holding on to the legs for dear life. After 2 minutes the earthquake was over, we had to line up and march out to the designated areas. The teachers were then supposed to count their kids and report them in. I have to say several things about this. 1. We better not have an earthquake while Parker is in the present class that he is in! His teacher was so unorganized and ditsy that who knows what would happen if it were a real earthquake! 2. It terrified me to death seeing the kids under the tables and then all lined up. I had goosebumps thinking about a real one. I had to force myself not to cry watching all of those little rugrats! 3. If it does happen while we are here I am so glad that Kylee has the teacher that she does. I could see her class and they were so organized and calm....sigh.... 4. WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF CALIFORNIA!!!!!!! I know it is irrational. There could be an earthquake in Salt Lake too, but I have not felt one there before and I have here...too many times!

I watched the news last night, and saw all of the work that people put in to this drill. It was amazing. They had people acting out different scenarios so that the police, fire dept.s etc could run through how prepared they were. It was supposed to be the worlds largest earthquake drill. It was neat to be a part of it and to see it happen, but I think I would like to just be part of the drill and not the real thing.

Seriously! It is 3:30 in the morning!!!!!!

So, last night at 2:30 (yes, a.m.!) I was startled awake by a bunch of people yelling out in the courtyard. I could hear people outside the gate yelling to people inside the gate. They were just carrying on a conversation as if they were standing right next to each other. Hello! I looked at my clock and did a huge sigh that I am known for and kept tossing and turning thinking that they might eventually go away. Well, an hour later they were still there and still as noisy as can be. Then all of a sudden I hear one of the bar-b-ques being turned (which makes this horrible screechy sound). I HAD HAD ENOUGH!!!!! I jumped out of bed, threw my robe on (knowing that my hair was sticking in all directions and not caring one bit!) and marched outside. I went up to some of them and said 'Can you please keep it down?' and she said 'Oh! Are we being too noisy?'. This was said in a true manner of extreme astonishment. I looked at her like she was an idiot or maybe crazy (I think that she has to be both) and said 'It is 3:30 in the morning!!!!'. She then told me that she would tell the rest of them to keep it down. 5 minutes later I hear the car radio 'bummmmmbummmmmmbummmmmmm'....you know, the sound that makes the inside of your stomach vibrate. They did that for 15 minutes and as I was getting ready to seriously consider calling the police they FINALLY went home! Seriously people! It is 3:30 in the morning and it is not a weekend and we don't live in a fraternity or a sorority! Get a grip!!!!! And yes, I did complain to the office this morning! :)

U.S. Veterans

Seeing as how today is Veteran's day I thought that I would pay a tribute to all of my family members who have served in the armed services. If I accidentally leave anyone out I am sorry and please post it on my comments. First of all, my husband. While James has not had to go to war, he is a Marine. I am very proud of him and the time that he put in to serving our country. He would have been willing to go if he needed to and he was very proud to serve (especially in that particular branch! Anyone who knows James knows what I mean). I am also proud of my brother-in-law, Jeff and his wife Marren. He has been deployed twice in this war and I am grateful to their sacrifice (the wives make them too) and also that he came home safe and sound...well safe anyway! haha I have another brother-in-law, Wes, who served in the Marines with both Jeff and James, a brother-in-law, Zack who is in the Air Force (Shara was also in the Air Force for a bit! That counts, right Shara?). I have an uncle Kevin who served in the Navy and I think that I have a grandpa (grandpa Higbee) who served in a war. Not so sure about that one, but I think so! James' grandpa (grandpa Copeland) served in a war with the Marines...they kind of seem to run in that family! I am very proud of all of them for their sacrifice and service and also of all of the other soldiers out there. Thank you and I love you!

Shoes

My three girls each have two pair of shoes for church, one of which are black sparkly shoes (like the ones Dorothy wore, only black). Yesterday we got to church and Kearney decided to climb out my door. As she was getting out I said 'Kearney, you have your shoes on the wrong feet.'. I took them off and went to switch them and realized only one of them was on the wrong foot! So I told Ireland she must have hers on wrong too and to climb up to the front seat so I could fix them. Well, she climbed up and had the 'other' pair of church shoes on! No switching there! I had to put Kearney's shoes on the way that she had them. She looked like she had two left feet! I figured that nobody would notice seeing as how I didn't notice for the 1st hour that she had them on. WRONG!!!! I had people telling me to switch her shoes around since she had them on wrong! hahaha!!!! She didn't care one bit so I am not sure that I really should have cared. One thing is certain....I will be checking out shoes as we leave for church next Sunday!

Differences

I have been thinking a lot about things that are happening in the world today and the differences of individuals. I am definitely a strong, religious conservative. I know and love people who think completely opposite of how I do on many different topics. This does not change how I feel about them one bit, and I would hope that my differences don't make them love me any less. I accept them for who they are, but it does not change my view on how things should be. Thankfully we live in a country where we are able to express ourselves. However, I am saddened by some of the events happening. I hear all of the time on t.v. and the Internet about 'acceptance, tolerance, etc'. It seems to me that a lot of times this is only expected to go one way. I can love you and accept you without changing my beliefs (or try to do what i think is best for me, my family and country), but I deserve the same thing in return. Those words do not mean 'change how you feel and what you believe or you are a bigot'. I saw on t.v. that yesterday there was a huge march at the L.A. temple and that there will be another one in Salt Lake tonight. Yesterday they had to shut the temple down. Where is the respect in that? I have seen people shouting at brides on temple square through bull-horns about the bride going to hell. Where is the respect in that? I have read about people on both sides of the abortion issue screaming and giving death threats. Respect? I remember my dad and our family receiving death threats when he voted to have no clubs in the schools to keep inappropriate clubs from being there. You may not agree with me, but I deserve the same respect that you do. I believe that God loves all of us and expects us to treat each other with dignity and respect. It needs to go both ways. Love me for who I am and I will love you for who you are. We may not change each other's beliefs but we can still love one another.

Halloween Stuff!

Okay, so Halloween is over. While I must say it was nice to put my decorations away (I have had them up since early September) I am sad to have Halloween over. I feel this way for several reason. 1. I love all of the 'spooky' stuff! I love to see houses decorated, hear the Halloween music, see scary movies on t.v., etc. 2. This is the most important reason, it brings us closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas and I don't want to be in California for those, and I will be.....sob....

Okay, so we had a great Halloween season. on the 24th two of our wards had a 'trunk-or-treat'. We have two big blowup bouncies, a d.j., LOTS of Mexican food (and hot dogs), games and of course trick-or-treating! This year Parker and Kylee's gymnastics were having a slumber party on the same night. We gave them the option of choosing which one to go to. Parker was very concerned that he would not be getting to go trick-or-treating if he went to the slumber party. Once he was assured that we would be going out on Halloween for the candy he was quick to go to the gym. This made it nice for me. James is now on swings so he was not going to be there for the party, so with the two older ones going to the gym I only had to worry about and keep and eye on the twins. Two is MUCH easier than four! The twins had a great time! They didn't want to have anything to do with the games or dinner. All they wanted to do was jump on the bouncies and then get the candy! lol As I was getting ready to go home that night I started talking to a lady that had just moved here (3 months ago) and we stayed for 2 hours after everyone left. Our kids ate most of their candy and we developed a friendship. It is so nice and strange how you can connect with someone so quickly. I love it when that happens! Parker and Kylee had a blast at the slumber party. The ladies at the gym said that Parker did not sleep all night. Once they finally laid down (well after 1:00 a.m.) he just kept looking around at everyone. Needless to say, Parker and Kylee were both VERY GRUMPY the next day. I thought seriously about sending them back to the gym until bedtime!

At the kid's school they had 'wacky hair day'. This was our version of wacky.

This is Kylee's hair after we took it out. More wacky than the original.

The girls wanted their hair done too. You should have seen the bathtub that night!

Kearney really was happy, regardless of how she is looking!

Do I have to eat my hot dog?

Standing in line for the slide.

What goes up.....

must come down!!

We also made Halloween sugar cookies. I LOVE a good sugar cookie and it is so fun to see the kids working on them. Kylee decided that she was just going to go and play with the kids outside, so she didn't help make them, but she sure helped to eat them! One thing that we didn't do this year was carve pumpkins! I know! For someone who loves Halloween you would think that would not have gone by the wayside, and yet it did. Next year we will have to do double!

Cookie, anyone?

Now, on to Halloween! Parker dressed up as the killer from the movie Scream (he doesn't even know that movie exists!) with blood that runs down the face. He also had a butcher knife that screamed. Kylee was Belle and the twins were Sleeping Beauty. We went to the kids Halloween parade that morning. It was not even 8:30 a.m. and we were all sweating! Not fun! One of the twins said 'mommy, did you just finish exercising?', huh! So much for my shower! That afternoon Kylee received Student of the Month. They had a big assembly for the school. She was so excited and surprised. Too Fun. That afternoon my neighbor asked me what I was going to do on Halloween (James had to work) so I told her where I was going and when. She asked if she could come, which was totally fine with me. We were supposed to leave a 6:00 p.m. She was 25 minutes late, then she told me that we were not going where I had planned, we were going where she wanted to. She then proceeded to tell my children what to do the whole time we were trick-or-treating. Hello! I am right there and am fully capable of taking care of my kids, thank you very much. She then proceeded to make fun of a body part of mine for about 10 minutes. When I got home I called James and said 'I will do trick-or-treating on my own next year!' Sheez! The thing that mattered was that my kids had a good time and got their loot!

'Please get that hot sun out of my face!'

Halloween parade. Kylee as Belle.

Who is under that bloody mask? Oh, yeah, Parker!

The girls watching Parker. No, they are not dressed up for Halloween. They LIVE in their dress-ups!

Ireland and Kearney. On our way home from the parade. They were so glad to leave!

Kylee right before she received her Student of the Month award.

Where's the love?

Getting her award from Mr. Wavara (the principle).

She was so excited!

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating. Parker's mask only lasted about 15 minutes.

Scary! He terrified the twins in the morning with this!

'We are so pretty!'

Our decorations.

My mom has a life size version of a skeleton that is named Old Joe. Well, when we put him here to guard our door the kids named him Old Joe in memory of the real on. We also had a door mat that would scream and say things like 'Welcome to the haunted house' or 'Enter at your own risk'. All of the neighborhood kids loved it!

The next day my nephew, Chris, got baptized in Bountiful. I was so sad to not be there, but I am so thrilled for him. He was baptized by his dad and almost everyone was there. Congratulations Chris, Jayci and Dann!