MY BROTHER'S KEEPER

I'm not sure why I keep having to learn this lesson over in my life but I do. I just got off the phone with a dear friend of mine, the kind of friend you can go a long time in between seeing and catch up right where you left off. The lesson I keep having to learn, though, is that it's not good to do that. You need to call and go see the people you love now, not put it off. You need to tell them you love them now, not wait until tomorrow or wait until it's convenient for you because there just may not be a tomorrow. When you think about someone, it's not enough just to say a prayer for them. You need to check on them and see what you can do for them. (I am, of course, lecturing me--not you.) Though you are welcome to pick up any tidbits you want from my rant.

I have been thinking of this friend off and on for some time now but our schedules don't seem to mesh very well. I left her a message a month or so ago to call me but had not heard back from her yet. I thought of her today, decided to call and actually caught her. It had been more than a year since we talked and so much had gone on in her life--and not much that was pleasant. She had lost close loved ones, been diagnosed with cancer herself(I refuse to dignify cancer with a capital "c"), been through life-altering surgery and to add insult to injury just as she was about to return to work came down with another painful illness. I feel saddened and frankly, ashamed not to have been there for her through any of this.

Through all of this, I could hear in my friend an amazing attitude about what she has been through and what she has yet to go through--as there is more surgery on the horizon for her due to the cancer. She is someone I have always looked up to and admired.

I am determined once again to get this right, to show the Lord the gratitude I have for the good friends He has blessed me with by being good to them, by being "My Brother's Keeper" and keeping watch over those he has seen fit to bless me with in my life. The next time a concern for someone comes into my mind, I am going to reach for the phone . . .

SUNDAY AT OUR HOUSE

It was one of my Sunday's to stay home with Jono. We pretty much just hung out, read books, watched some TV, had a few time-outs (Jono, not me, Lol!) and got dinner started.

Jono and I made Lasagne. Okay, well we cheated. It was one of our freezer meals, but we did make it from scratch a month or two ago. It was sure yummy tonight and we were glad we were industrious a month or two ago! We also made some homemade bread a little bit later. Big sister Megan came over later in the afternoon and made the little ones happy. She's been working a ton of hours so they haven't seen her for quite awhile. She stayed for dinner and played with them for awhile after. They adore her.

Grandpa and Grandma are doing okay. I guess I should say hanging in there. Grandpa is having a few struggles but doing his best to stay on top of them.

Well, that's about all that's going on here. Take care, N.

BUSY DAY

It's been a busy day here. Rob and I went shooting with his brother and his girlfriend this morning. That was fun but I'm not sure I'll ever hear again. Lol! I forgot how loud shooting ranges can be--and that was with ear plugs in!

After that we went to lunch and then Julie and the kids and I went to a campaign celebration for our favorite Senate candidate Dan Liljenquist. We had a good time there as well. We are helping on his campaign and it was fun to see the large number of volunteers he has.

Finally, we came home and Rob had mowed the yard and had a fire going out back so we roasted hotdogs and marshmallows and just vegged for the rest of the night. Seems like we had been running all day long.

Grandpa and Grandma are doing okay. Grandpa had been up at his desk working too long so he was hurting a little bit and had gone to bed a bit early. Other than that, things are good with them.

Well, other than the October weather we've had the last few days there really isn't anything new to report. Night all.

THANKS!

It was a VERY HAPPY day here! Right after getting Dad's good news we, of course, went right out to EAT to celebrate! Haha! Afterwards, we were all exhausted, mostly from the emotion of it all so we pretty much came home and dropped for the rest of the day. I'm sure we will recover ourselves tomorrow but for today we are happy, full and sleepy! Thanks again everyone for your love, support and prayers. We love you!

GREAT NEWS!

Thank you SO MUCH everyone for your prayers for my Dad. He just went for his follow up test and we just learned that he passed it! Whew! Our Father in Heaven is amazing! He hears and answers our prayers. I appreciate so much all of you who joined us in prayer. Love you so much!

GIANT PIZZAS--YUMMY

I actually started exercising again the last couple of days. Hopefully, it is a new trend. I walked 5 miles yesterday and today. I know I won't be able to do that everyday but I hope I can at least get back to where I can exercise a little every day.

Then, of course, tonight Rob's company sponsored a dinner at one of our favorite pizza places. They make huge 23" pieces with thick crust. They are the biggest pizza's I've ever seen. Yummy. Sure didn't do much for my new eating plan but tasted great!

Tomorrow is Dad's test. We are all praying really hard he can pass it. Please remember him in your prayers too. I will post a report on here as soon as we know something. Thanks all.

MY DAD

I think we are all feeling a bit more positive today. We started out the day with a call from Rev. Paul Taylor, Mom and Dad's minister from Brick Chapel. They have him on the job now praying for Dad. Next Rob and his brother Steve gave Dad a blessing. All in all, I think we feel more hopeful today that things will be okay than we did yesterday. Things seemed a little frightening and bleak yesterday, maybe because it all came on so sudden--and out of the blue. Today, it felt more like the sun was poking around the corner.

I know one thing and that is when there has been a battle to win in my Dad's life no one could out think him or out strategize him. He was going to figure out a way to win that battle -- and he always has. My Dad is a fighter and he will lick this thing. You can do this Dad, I know you can and will. I love you!

AN APPLE A DAY . . . REALLY . . . IF IT WERE ONLY THAT SIMPLE!

Lots of doctors today; not so much good news. Rob went to a urologist and found out that he did, indeed, have kidney stones. It looked like he had passed the worst one but he still has two stones inside, a one and two millimeter stone--one of each. The doc thinks the one millimeter one will pass on its own and the two millimeter one might pass on its own. If not, it will have to be taken out or blasted. Yay! Not.

The urologist told Rob the number one culprit of his stones is most likely the Tums and he takes for antacid. Oh my. I guess it's partly the calcium in them. I'm not sure what else but he can't take them at all anymore. The second big contributor is diet soda. Oops. I'm afraid I got him started on those. Well, there went his whole day.

After that appointment, Rob headed to his family doctor for a quick checkup and everything else seems to be okay. At least that's something.

Grandpa had some tests today and is having some more on Thursday. Seems like he's overproducing saliva and it makes it difficult for him to swallow at times. With Parkinson's and Post Polio it seems like it's always something! We would love to have your prayers for him as he goes through these tests and probably some therapy to help strengthen his throat or trachea muscles.

Well, that's pretty much the news for the day. I will keep you posted on things. Thanks all. Night.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY SISTER!

Today was my baby sister's 50th birthday. Happy Birthday Sarah! Mom and Dad went up yesterday (Saturday) to celebrate with her and then stayed through part of today and headed back home. They all had a fun time and enjoyed themselves. I'm glad they were able to go and it was nice for Sarah to have them there.

Yesterday Rob and I went and worked the State Republican Caucus for one of the candidates for State Senate, Dan Liljenquist who is an amazing man. He managed to eek out an opportunity to run in the primary against Senator Orrin Hatch. Our caucus system is strange here. If a candidate gets 60 percent in caucus then he gets to run unopposed in the general. Senator Hatch got 59.19 % and Dan got 49.79 % so there is going to be a primary. This is something Senator Hatch was hoping not to have as many of the voters are tired of him. You see he could legally pay the delegates to vote for him; the voters--not so much. :)

Anyway, we are excited for a new week. Jono has his 10 day check-up this week to see how he is doing. Rob had another bout yesterday and today with kidney stones so he will be in checking those out and the rest of us will hopefully just be laying low and not causing any problems at all. Lol!

MIGRAINE MAMA

Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. I had a bad migraine which continued into this morning. Thank goodness for an understanding husband and teenage daughter who helped out a ton with the little ones. I was able to get some good rest last night and today that helped my head feel better.

Tonight I went to Relief Society meeting (church women's organization)with a friend that was really good. We listened to a couple of speakers and then had refreshments. The speakers were really wonderful. They spoke about how important our roles as mother's are and what an influence we can make on society by what we do in our homes and families. It's so true. I've always loved the quote; "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." I look around at where our society and country is falling apart and I think you really can trace it back to where "family" became less of a focus.
People would have you believe it doesn't matter who raises a child or what the environment is like--but it matters a lot for the well-being of that child.

I came away from that meeting knowing I have a lot more to do to be the Mom I want and need to be. I also came away determined to become that Mom. :)

AN EVENING OUT! YAY!

Rob and I went on a double date tonight with his brother and his girlfriend. We went to dinner and really enjoyed ourselves. I'm not sure if it was the company or just getting out of the house but it was a really nice evening. Although, we came home to find Julie, who had been babysitting for us, looking a lot like I do at the end of each day--hair torn out, eyes bouncing up and down, barely able to form words into a sentence. I call it "Two Toddler Syndrome"--and she only had them for two hours! Lol!

CAN MOMMY HAVE A TIME OUT PLEASE?

I started out my day today with four toddlers at 8:00 a.m.--and may I say--that is just wrong on the face of it! The decibel level was off the charts! At one point I went down into Grandma and Grandpa's bedroom, shut the door and said, "I need a timeout!" Grandpa just looked at me and said, "I need one too and I've been down here the whole time!" Lol!

I had my own two and my friend's two kids because she had a couple of doctor appointments. So, I had them from 8:00 a.m. until around 12:30 p.m. - I was definitely ready for a time out by the time it was just back to having my own kids. Actually, it is a great system we have. We help each other out a lot by watching each other's kids. It can be a little overwhelming some day's though since we both have young kids near the same age.

For those of you who may know him, my cousin Ned Klebusch is having his lung operated on this Friday. He has to have part of his right upper lobe removed. They found a growth on it that needs to come out and are just going to remove that part of his lung. They think it will be just fine after they take it off. Apparently, you use the lower part of your lungs to do most of your breathing with so they don't think it will affect his breathing too much. Anyway, it would be terrific if you would keep him in your prayers.

Jono is still improving. I was able to let him play outside a bit today and he did okay. He is still taking meds and having breathing treatments but his progress is coming along.

Not much else happening here. Night all.

WEEKEND REVIEW

Today was my Sunday to teach Sunday School so Rob stayed home with Jonathon. Poor little guy, he just begs to go to church--or anywhere for that matter. It's so hard to have to keep him at home when he wants to go like everyone else. He is too young to understand the why's--so trying to explain it to him does no goo. I really hope and pray he will grow out of this asthma. Any prayers you would like to donate toward this end would be so appreciated.

It started to warm back up a little today. It was in the upper fifties again and more of our tulips and daffodils were in bloom. I'm so glad they are hearty since yesterday we had hail coming down and some frigid temps! I guess the weather can't make up its mind.

We spent Saturday running errands and trying to get things done around the house and yard. Seems like there is always so much to do that I don't feel like anything really gets accomplished.

My baby sister Sarah is turning 50 at the end of this week. Mom and Dad are planning a jaunt to her house for her birthday which is a little over two hours from here. Gads, when did we all get so old? Don't answer that. Lol! Night all.

A BETTER DAY

Today was a better day. This morning Jonathon's breathing was still kind of rough but by afternoon it had settled down. He isn't completely out of the woods yet but he is doing so much better than yesterday. It was a pretty long night last night because I had to give him breathing treatments through the night and Rob was out of town. Jono didn't sleep really well because the treatments tend to pump him up and make him hyper. When I finally was able to settle him down and and we were both able to fall asleep, Carly woke up and needed some attention--that was around 4:00 in the morning. Did I mention it was a long night that was very short on sleep? I was so happy to see Rob when he walked in the door! Thankfully, he sent me to my room for a nap and took over. He is such a great husband and father. I LOVE HIM!

Grandpa and Grandma got out today to get Grandpa a haircut and run some errands. Not much else going on here.

Well, this girl is going to bed. Night all.

BUMMER OF A DAY

This has not been the best day. When Jono woke up this morning his breathing was really junky again. Poor little guy. He has gotten so much better and then out of no where this hits again. His normal treatments weren't helping much so by 1:00 I called the doctor and they had me bring him right in. I've had to keep a close eye on him all day and will have the monitor on him all night for sure. We are not sure if it's viral or a secondary infection causing his problem but regardless the doctor said I have a severely asthmatic child. That is just not the news you want to hear as a parent. We were so hoping he would grow out of this--and that doesn't make it sound like there is much hope he will.

On the positive side, at least we caught this episode early enough (I hope) to be able to take care of him here at home and not have to hospitalize him. I guess I will try to be happy with small victories for now.

I LOVE SPRING!

Another nice day today. I let the kids play outside this morning. It was actually hot! Then this afternoon I decided I would go out and mow the lawn for the first time. I didn't realize, though, how many sticks we still had in the yard from all of the wind storms. I spent over an hour just picking up sticks. Then when I finally went to start the mower, it was dead. We got a brand new battery for it last year, too. So, that doesn't make a lot of sense--but, oh well. I will let hubby worry about what to do with that.

It started to cool down not long after I came in and then we had a pretty good rain storm the rest of the night. Oh, and my tulips started coming out today. Lots of them. Peach, Pink, Purple. I love them! We have daffodils, ground phlox and a few other things starting to bloom too. So pretty! I LOVE SPRING!

OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

Wow, today was gorgeous! There was even a nice breeze blowing. When I picked Carly up from pre-school they had made kites and even though, they weren't really meant to fly hers kind of did! She loved it!

I took the kids to a friend's house for lunch and to play. As we were leaving Jono decided to be a little pill and took off running! I got some good exercise chasing him around the block! Thank goodness he turned up someone's sidewalk into their backyard and found a swingset instead of continuing on the regular sidewalk or into the road. Well, at least no need to go to the gym today. :/ lol!

The other little trick he has learned is opening doors and going out them! We are on constant alert these days. Luckily, Daddy is a great handy man and has spent the last several days installing extra door security for us and hopefully, futility for him! He is a determined little boy. Maybe I should just say -- he is a little "boy." Boys are so different to raise than girls! Wow!

Well, I am worn out. Must rest up for whatever he has planned for tomorrow. :) More later.

MY EASTER GIRLS

Julie and Carly--aren't they gorgeous? I sure think so! Love these two girls so very much!

OUR EASTER SUNDAY

Rob, Julie and Carly went to church today. Carly and Julie looked so cute all dressed up for Easter. I will put pictures on tomorrow. It was my week to be home with Jono so we hung out together.

Grandma and I cooked a meal together. We made a ham, sour cream potatoes, rolls, broccoli cheese casserole and some desserts. Dinner was yummy. Grandpa even came upstairs for it and Megan came over too.

We had a little family home evening with the kids and taught the kids about Easter--Christ's resurrection and after that we had a little Easter egg hunt for them downstairs. We didn't want the real meaning of Easter to get lost on the Easter Bunny so we decided to have our lesson first and let the Easter Bunny come last. It seemed to work out just right.

We had a nice day with everyone. Hope your Easter was good too. Take care.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

Here's wishing you all a wonderful Easter Sunday! I'm so grateful for the resurrection of my Savior and this day we have to celebrate his life, love, sacrifice and resurrection for us. I hope you have this knowledge and blessing in your life. I also hope the Easter Bunny doesn't pass you by. Happy Easter! :)

DADDY'S MIMIC

Rob got home late this afternoon after spending most of the week (on and off) in Idaho working. It was nice to see his face. It was even nicer when he said, "I'm taking you out to dinner." We had a nice evening together, just the two of us. We went to dinner and then ran a few errands. We got stuff to do our own little Easter egg hunt for the kids.

When we got home Julie and the kids were watching a movie so Rob and I sat down to watch with them. Rob put his arm around me and Jono jumped up in my lap. After a few minutes Rob got up and went downstairs to grab something. When he left, Jono climbed off my lap and sat down beside me where Rob had been sitting. Next thing I knew Jono had reached his arm up around me so he could do what Dad had been doing, only it was a much longer stretch for him. It was so cute that he wanted to mimic Daddy. It had to be really uncomfortable for him but he left his arm up around me for about 5 minutes. What a sweet little boy! (I need to remember that next time he's acting like a typical two-year old!)

I got a perm today. I look a bit like a fuzzy poodle right now. Hopefully with a few weeks and a trim or two, I will look a bit more like myself! Lol! I will wait a while to post any pictures of my new 'doo. Ha! Night all.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN!

We celebrated Megan's 25th birthday yesterday! I had so much going on I didn't manage to get a blog written. Rob ended up not getting back from Idaho and Julie ended up working so it was up to Grandma and Grandpa and the little ones and me to throw the party. One of her close friend's came too. We had pizza, cake and ice cream--and of course, presents! I can't believe she's 25! Time flies! Anyway, Happy Birthday Megs! I love you!

Today, I took Jonathon to a new pediatric allergist today. We found he does have some seasonal and animal allergies and that his peanut allergy is still really high. We are trying him on a new controller medicine for his asthma and the doc thinks it will be a better controller than the one we have had him on. I just haven't really ever felt like we truly had good control of his asthma yet, so I am hoping this new doctor can help us get things figured out. He did tell me that most of the time when kids have acute attacks it is because of respiratory infections. That has been the case with Jonathon so far at least. I really, really want to find a way to keep those infections at bay.

While I was in the office with Jono trying to keep his hands busy so he wouldn't scratch his back during the allergy testing I was letting him look at the pictures on my phone. I found this really cute picture I took of Carly the other day while she was modeling. I forgot I'd taken it but I think she looks so sweet in it.

Julie has been a big help this week. It's been so nice to have her home on Spring Break. She's also been able to get some extra work hours in which she's been glad about as it helps her college fund. Well, better get some sleep. Night all.

SO, SO, SO TRUE!

Say what you want about our President . . . but he sure can sell firearms. Lol!

C'MON SPRING - SPRING ALREADY!

Rob spent the day in Idaho working but got back this evening. Julie is on spring break this week. It's nice to have her around. We ran errands, got her a hair cut and just hung out. She had to work this evening. Grandma and Grandpa just did paperwork today and worked on the computer. Really, we were a pretty boring bunch.

It looked really warm out but when we ventured out I had to grab jackets as it was much colder than it seemed. I guess it didn't get above 50 degrees today. I have one daffodil almost in bloom and several tulips on the way. I am so hoping it doesn't frost or snow again. I want to see my spring flowers bloom! I love SPRING!

APRIL'S FIRST DAY

Had a really lazy Sunday today. Stayed home and watched General Conference. Took a nice long nap. Watched "The Help" before we went to bed. I got the movie for Christmas and it's taken this long to watch it because I knew it was going to be a hard movie to watch. I wanted to see it but I'm really sensitive to people being mistreated or hurt--especially innocent people. I liked the movie but it made me pretty emotional.

Well, gotta get to bed. Morning isn't too far off. :)