Changes

In December I was released from Primary and I now serve in the nursery and as the Wolf den leader in cub scouts. This has been a big change for me. I sure miss Primary, but I'm also really enjoying these new spots. I had thought that losing the responsibilites I had as Primary President would free up my schedule. However, that has not been the case. I am constantly amazed at how busy life can be. I think it just comes with having older children. We hosted Spencer's family for 3 weeks while they waited out the radiation in Japan--they live on the naval base there. It was very fun to have them--but the house always seemed to be shaking with the 9 children we had running around. My sister-in-law was a great help and seemed to be amused by all of our comings and goings. Now that summer vacation starts tomorrow, we're ready for another change. Hopefully, a nice relaxing one!

0-5dB

Last Wednesday we took Alex to the audiologist for a mapping appointment. He was very helpful this time in completing the listening tasks. Six more months of maturity went a long way! At the end of the session, we went into the sound booth for a speech recognition test. My little baby (2 1/2 years old) could repeat back words that were 0-5dB. Now, 15dB is the threshold for normal hearing. I was amazed that my little man could repeat back words that were so incredibly soft. Wow! Life is good.

What The Heck?

Alex came to me last week with some ripped up crepe paper and said, "What the heck?" I laughed and wondered who was using that phrase around the house. It also warmed my heart-not that my goal is to teach my children slang--but that he learned from overhearing. We were warned when he was an infant that deaf children have language delays because they are not able to learn from overhearing. Well, it seems that Alex overhears quite a lot, especially if someone says the magic "treat" word. I also caught him singing Jingle Bells two days ago. Aren't cochlear implants great?

Thanksgiving

I convinced the family that Moab at the end of November would be THE PERFECT TIME to visit. We had tried a brief stop in July on our way back from Texas, but we all thought we were going to die from the heat when we got out at Hole 'n the Rock. So, this Thanksgiving we packed bikes, fruit roll-ups, and coats and headed to the picture-perfect Arches National Park. It turns out that this was very brave of our family because there was a man-hunt and record cold temperatures. We bundled up and never ran into a guy with a bullet hole in his leg. We had a great time. The weather, of course, warmed up right after our trip. In fact, if this keeps up, we're going to have to do some yard work!

Texas Trip

Our Texas adventure is over--the laundry is done, the chigger bites are disappearing and now we just need to remember to develop our photos! We took 12 days on our road trip which included Carlsbad Caverns, a family reunion, the American Girl Doll store, visits with two sets of grandparents and a visit to our old ward in Bryan. We had a wonderful visit and we were actually not in a hurry to get home (usually I get homesick after a week or so.) Here are a few photos from our trip.
1) Carlsbad Caverns--nice to feel a little cool in July! Very exciting to see all of the stalactites, stalagmites, popcorn, columns, etc.
2)Mile High Strawberry Pie with Sandi!
3) Wilson Arch --a quick hike off the highway to a beautiful arch. Note--flip flops not recommended!
4) American Girl Doll Store--Note how nice Kaya looks after her $20 hair do! The girls saved and saved for this event. We topped it off with dessert at the bistro. Very fun day--too expensive to do again anytime soon!

My dear friend

About 3 years ago, I found out that one of my best friends, Karen, had cancer. It was scary and we just hoped and prayed that the worst would not happen, but it did. She died June 18, 2010. I've been missing her this past month, and I know that will continue. I have found that it's easy to make casual friends, but true bosom friends are harder to come by. Karen and I met in Texas at church. We quickly hit it off and shared a lot of late nights laughing as we worked on projects for church. After we moved, she and I called each other every few weeks--mostly on Sundays --to catch up. I miss her a lot on Sunday afternoons now, and I'm missing her tonight. Karen loved me and my family and we all loved her back. Here's a photo of me and my buddy from last summer. Love you Karen!

The tonsil pictures you've been dying to see!

Warning: These pictures are a little gross!
We have learned that getting tonsils out is PAINFUL! Anna is very brave, but earaches that last for 10 days are hard to deal with!
Note the before and after pictures!