hummm :)

So we have had a busy, but not as busy as last week, week. I'm working hard at getting back on my diet this week. I'm going to take it a day at a time this week. It has been fun though to look at the changes in the last few years, I didn't realize how much a difference it had made until I put the pictures side by side. I'm going to post the one from Nathan's graduation, and then the one took today. I'll I can say is WOW. Made me feel really good, and is my inspiration to keep going. I'm at my half way point and am excited to get the other half gone.

Makes me feel like a new person, and more to go:)

this week I managed to work on my goals, writing in my journal while the boys were in Scouts, and several other times. Which made me smile, and think I read my scriptures 5 days this week, I'm determine to make it 7 this week.

Zach got to go to Boy Scouts with the 11 year olds for the first time this week. they were planning things for the next 6 months, it was a new thing for him, but I think he enjoyed it. He and Christian spent the weekend with their mom, and I missed them. Just didn't seem like the weekend without them here.

I was so proud of Christian, I had sent him a word during the week and asked him to figure out how to use it in a sentence. Wednesday while we were driving to Scouts he broke it down into parts and figured out the meaning that way, instead of using the Internet or dictionary.

Last night was Justin's work party, it was fun. We got to visit with a lot of the people that he works with. Then we did some dancing, it was fun to be able to have sometime together. I so enjoyed the time with him. I always find it interesting to spend time with them and get to know them better.

Alice went back to work this week. This made her so happy to be back with her cows. Alice works at the local dairy farm, I'm posting some pictures with her heifer, Sandy, that she is trying to get ready to show at a dairy competition this spring and then a different one at the fair in Aug. Alice was accepted to her dream college a few months ago, Texas A&M. But she has been thinking about going to either Whatcom Community College, or Skagit Valley College instead. She is thinking that it might be the best for several reasons, money, (definitely more in our price range for sure), closer to family (Adair's will be here even if we do move to AZ this fall), smaller classes (I think the smaller classes will make it easier for her to make the transition from a small high school to college a lot easier). We will wait to see what the final decision is.

Brittinay and Nathan are still working on figuring out what they will be doing, it is hard to watch them and they struggle with where they are and trying to make decisions. Struggling with trust and trying to grow up long before either one of them ever wanted to. It is hard trying to push them froward, but to encourage them to make decisions on their own, and not make them for them.

Justin has pulled a muscle in his back, along his ribs, and is hurting badly. He did it sneezing really hard. I was going to give him a bad time about it, but then realized I couldn't as I had sneezed so hard my water broke when I was due with Alice.

Liz-flies home, Zach- Arrow of Light

Wow what a busy week we have had. Monday EARLY 12:30 AM I was up and on my way to take Liz to Sea Tac. We were going to have her take the shuttle down, but was afraid that she would miss her plane if there was a long line at security, so Nathan rode down with us and we got her there. She was early and got through everything rather quickly. We got back up here just in time for me to drive Alice to seminary and get ready and go to work. It made for a rather long day for me, I was in bed by 8 PM :)

Tuesday evening Brittinay and I went to a RS meeting on a book called Love and Logic. It is about a parenting technique. I would be interested in reading the book, as what I got out of the class I didn't agree with all of. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't like the information in the book. I was glad I got to take Brittinay and she was able to meet some more of the ladies from RS. I'm thinking the Relief Society Pres., Kelly, was probably in shock when I got there. She knows I don't like to go to the meetings in the middle of the week because of when I get off work and am usually very tired. I am going to try really hard to go at least for a while to help get Brittinay so she knows more people, and is comfortable with them. Next week there is another one where they will be working on unfinished projects, we are suppose to bring something we are working on to work on and visit, or just come and they are making cards to donate to the Ronald McDonald house. I'm thinking I will go and take some crocheting. I was thinking of taking the book I keep trying to read, but that may defeat the purpose of having some time to just visit with the other ladies.

Wednesday was MEGA exciting. Zach received his Arrow of Light in cub scouts and bridged over to the 11 year old Boy Scout program. I was so cool and I was so proud of all the hard work he has put in to getting his things passed off. Now he and Christian can work on merit badges together if they choose to. I thought it was neat that when he crossed the bridge and received his Boy Scout neckerchief Christian was the one to put it on him and shake his had. I will have pictures next week of this. I did something to my camera so I could take very good pictures. A friend of mine took some for me though and I am hoping to get them this week.

Saturday was a full and busy day. We went over to the Hackwell's for a Birthday lunch. We were celebrating Zach's 11th and Tesher's 2 birthday. We had tried to do this in December, but could never find a day that would work for everyone, so we ended up doing in it now. It was so fun Tina spagetti with a delious salad, and we brought bread sticks, one of Alice's famous cakes, and ice cream. We were there for several hours, the boys all went out and threw/kicked a football around for a while. Zach and Tesher have been buddies at church from the time Tesher was moving around. When ever I needed Zach for something I just go find Tesher. Tesher likes to come to our house and play with Zach and Chloe, and go across the street and see the cows.

When we got home Justin went out with the missionaries for a while and then he and the boys went and cleaned the church house. I was so glad that they did that as some weeks it looks pretty bad. When they finally got home they had a snack and went to bed. Alice went to the farm and then bowling with some friends. I'm glad that she is able to go and do things with her friends again, but worry about her pushing herself to hard and having more seizure like activity.

My fibromyalgia started up on Wednesday and by Thursday evening I was in tears when it was time to go to bed as I hurt so bad. It is frustrating because right now I hurt so badly that it is hard to walk Chloe. She pulls hard on her leash sometimes and it feels as though she is going to pull my arm off. I have been retaining a lot of water this week also, talking to my friend who also has fibro, she says that she retains a lot of water before she starts hurting really bad to. I'm hoping to loose the water soon as none of my rings fit right now and I am tired of hurting so much. I keep telling myself that this too will pass. Justin gave me a blessing last night that I would be able to handle the pain, get back on my diet exercise plan, and have paticene with the children, and find time to rest. I do need all of these things and am grateful for the fact that he honors his priesthood and can give us blessings when we need them

Catching up on things :)

The holidays are over and they have been fun. All of the children were home, which was a just wonderful. It was fun to catch up with Liz while she was here. She also got to go visit family and friends down in Sedro-Woolley and I think that she really enjoyed that. It is still hard for me to think about the fact that she is in college. She just finished her first quarter and did quiet well, GPA 3.8, I'm so proud of her.

Nathan and his fiance' Brittinay are living with us right now. They are saving up to get into a place of their own. While it has been nice having them here, I"m sure they will be glad to get out on their own. Brittinay is expecting and is due on June 11. They are suppose to be having a girl. It had taken me a while to get use to the idea that I will be a grandma at the beginning of the summer. Nathan has been working very hard at quitting smoking. It has been very hard for him, but he just keeps working on it. He and Brittinany have been taking the missionary discussions. Nathan feels that it is helping him a lot, and I feel that it has helped Brittinay learn more about what we believe. The missionaries challenged her to be baptized in Feb. I am hoping that she will take the challenge, but because she believes what they are teaching and not because the rest of the family is a member.

Alice is working hard at school, she has been suffering from seizures, that we found out are caused by emotions. We are setting up appointments for her to see a psychologist and help her get through this. She is having a rough time because she can't work on the farm until she is 2 weeks no seizures. On the upside she was accepted into Texas A&M, her dream college. So it is important that we help her learn to deal with her emotions in a healthier way, or she will need to be staying closer to home to go to college.

I was released from the Primary Presidency last week. I've been in for almost 3 years, it was a bitter/sweet. It was kind of different going to relief society this week. I am determine to read my lessons and be prepared each week. I have also been working on reading my scriptures everyday, and encouraging the family to have family prayer. I wanted to start writing in my journal, so I found it interesting when they encouraged us to start writing in our journals. They are even going to give us topics to write on each week, along with journals. I'm grateful for this as I had tried to start one on the computer, but every time I tried to save it I couldn't open it. I was thinking of starting a hand written one but needed something to write it in. Now I have it:) I will write every other day for now and then perhaps go to everyday. Other goals I have made are to loose 60 lbs by June, write Grandma Mecham and Jonathan a letter each week, and several things to help with my weight loss.

Justin is such a wonderful man. I don' t know how I would make it without him. He encourages me to do my best at everything, while helping me realize that everything the kids do that is not right is not my fault. That I can teach them the things they should do, but can't force it upon them, it's that free agency thing. Justin is hoping to move to AZ the end of the summer. I'm not sure I really want to go as I really love it up here. But he has wanted to go as long as I have known him, so I will do everything I can to make it happen. We are both hoping to find second jobs and start saving up money for the move and to pay off our debts.

Justin Actually said it was hot this week

I'm going to include a few more pictures from our vacation, as I couldn't get them all in last post. One of my favorites is Celeste looking like she was already sleeping at dinner. I think it was 4th of July, but it may have been after our trip to the zoo. Both were exhausting days. The other is about us all just hanging out in the family room chatting. Where I was informed that I was old, and realized that mom still had the airplane that Michael played with. No one but Michael and I remembered it with the door on it. As Michael wasn't there, I was designated as old. I just think they are all still babies :) And of course I wanted to tell them all what to do, and dang over half of them are bigger than I am, made me wish that I lived closer to them so I could get to know them again, but then I'm torn, as I so do love the NW and my life here.

It has been a very HOT week. We had 3 days around 100. I thought it was hot but then on the news one night they said it was 113 in North Bend so I decided not to complain. I was grateful for the A/C at work, made me want to stay at work. But was off early this week as Dr. Claypool was at a conference. I spent the time catching up and making the patients mad as I couldn't do what they wanted done. Monday is going to be a busy day. I don't expect to get home before 7pm most nigts this week. We are working all 5 days.

As many of you know Justin is always talking about moving to someplace warmer. I enjoy our weather up here, but he is not a fan of our winters. One day when we were having our daily lunch visit, he did mention that it was hot and he was wishing for A/C. I reminded that he was not allowed to complain about the heat:)

I'm once again working on my waist line. Chole is being a great help. we take a walk to Canada at least once a day. All but 1 we made it twice!! Considering the heat that was a big deal the morning walk is at 5:30 AM on work days, and 7 AM on non work days. I prefer to do the evening around 8:30 PM, but this week it was 9 or 9:30 PM as we were just waiting for it to cool off. I thought it was funny that one night it was 90 at 9:15 and I felt that it was cool enough that we should go for the walk. I think we are both glad that it seems to have cooled of some. I heard it is going to rain later this coming week possibly, I'm wondering how Chole feels about walking in the rain.

Alice has been working hard, she said that on one of the hot days it was 105 in the barn. By day 2 of our heat wave she was getting home from work early, the cows don't give as much milk when they are hot. Now that it is cooling off they are starting to give more milk!! Alice cracks me up she loves coming home smelling like cow poop and covered in it. Today as she was getting ready for church, she was putting on her make up and picking out a dress. She said she just wanted to look like a girl. I laughed thinking dear, you will always look like a girl:)

It has been a hard few weeks in primary, the stake took my secretary:( and then I was asked to reorganize most of primary:( Most of the sisters I just moved around, but the RS took my counselor and she will also be missed by all. I am excited about the two new counselors I got and teachers. I kept waiting for them just to tell me I was going to be released also. But nope, actually I glad as the thought of being in YW or RS is scary. Besides I still have so much to learn in primary.

Well Alice just called and I have to go pick her up and then finish cooking dinner so I'll end now. :)

Trip to Utah

hello :)

its alice

we haven't blogged in a while so i have so many things to talk about. lets see where to start....well i have two jobs. i work at the doctors office with mama, but i work for the other doctor dr thompson. i also work on r&d dairy. both jobs are great, however the dairy is my favorite. we actually had to get rid of my cow cheesy, who i called mr. cheese, because her numbers were to high. we had what seemed like a million cows come fresh in the same day. the last four calves born have been bulls. two of them were huge because they were bread to alexander who is the biggest holstien bull EVER! haha.

as many of you know the family recently took a trip to utah, however i had to stay back for work. i was sad that i had to stay home because i was really looking forword to seeing uncle johnathan and his family.

i got a dog last weekend, her name is chloe; she is a lab/setter mix, she is black. chloe is probably the best dog ever. we immidiately bonded and now its like i've had her for forever. we have a good time playing fetch and going for walks. i have taken her out to the farm with me and she loves the cows, at first she was afraid of them but she watched how i handled them and now she always wants to go play with the ones around our house.

i want to go to college at either washington state university or texas a&m. i want to go to major in animal science and i hope to own my own farm one day.

anyways, that is pretty much everything that has been going on. oh and i went and visited my daddy and it was freakin fantastic :) but other than that nothing is new

We have had a very busy summer so far. Towards the end of June Zach had Twilight Camp with Cub Scouts. I went with him as the secretary. It was a lot of fun. This year the theme was pirates so around 2 in the afternoon, I would dress up like a pirate at work and leave with Zach for camp. It was quicker for Justin to bring him to me and for us to leave from my work. I think some of the patients were surprised as they are use to seeing me in skirts and I was all decked out in my pirate garb, even hand stripped socks, HUGE hoop earrings, and a bandanna on my head. It was a fun to time to spend with Zach and I am pretty sure he had a good time.

The last day of camp was Thurs. on Friday morning at 4:05 am we headed for Utah. It was a long drive as we did it all in one day but it was worth it. the only thing that would have made it better would have been to have Lizzy and Alice with us. We got there around 9:45 PM. Saturday was the 4th of July and it was a good time. Jonathan and Celeste were there with their girls. We went with Grandma and Grandpa to the parade, that we saw twice it went by and then turned around and came back. The kids got a very nice bag of candy. Then we walked over to the park for lots of things to do. Lisa and Christina got to jump in a GIANT blow up castle, and see all kinds of great things. Zach, Christian, Jonathan and Justin went and did some paint balling, Jonathan of course was the best. There were fun booths to look at magic shows to watch, and snakes to touch. then back to Grandma and Grandpa's for a BBQ. As dark was getting close we headed to Morgan HS, Justin, Christian, Zach, Jonathan, Celeste, Lisa, and Christina to see the fireworks. Christina wasn't sure about doing sparklers, so she helped Aunt Melanie do sparklers, as we became brave sparkler buddies. On the walk in the dark back to Grandma's house, Christina taught me Spanish. :) Some of the best parts of the days were the older cousins helping the younger ones, as they all became fast friends, with shoulder rides, teasing, and watching over them to make sure they were safe.

Sunday was a special day. Justin, and I took Christian and Zach to the Conference Center, and saw Music and the Spoken Word life. It was incredible. Afterwards we walked over to temple square, Justin had said that every time he had been to Temple Square the tabernacle had been closed, it was opened so we went in. We also went through the visitor's center, and the assembly hall. It was so nice to be able to take the boys there and be there with Justin. We then went back to the Conference Center and took a tour, seeing the hall of the prophets, which had busts of all of the prophets, along with pictures of all of the apostles. It was awe inspiring to see them all. We also went and did the gardens on the top of the center. I am hoping that this will be something that the boys will remember for a long time

Sunday evening two of my friends from high school came to visit, I hadn't seen them since the day we graduated. Was was fun to walk to the park and catch up on what Mindi and Geri had done in the last 20+ years. On a similar note, on Monday I got to go see the Gibbs, Don and Jenna and all the family. It was so wonderful to see them. I hadn't realized how much I had missed Jenna until I saw her. We were room mates in college, and got to learn so many things together.

Monday was also zoo day, we went to Hoogle Zoo, which is the same zoo I went to as a child. I was excited to take Christian and Zach as they had never been to a zoo before. It was a little disappointing as the tigers and lions were hiding but at least there were some bears and elephants hanging out where we could see them. It was a lot of fun though as all of my nieces and nephews on my side of the family were there.All of them but the really old ones got face, or in Christian's case, arm painting. After which it was back to Grandma's where all of my siblings but Bruce joined us. It was fun to see everyone. I was informed that I was "old", and still acted like their "mom". I guess somethings never change. I loved seeing everyone and am hoping to figure out how to get back to Utah more often as I miss having a better relationship with my brothers and sisters.

Tuesday we were up early heading back to Washington back to jobs and other responsibilities.

Thought I would start catching everyone up, buy talking about Elizabeth's Graduation!! Alice and I had a whirl win trip, flying out on Saturday. Flying all day, oh did I mention that we thought it would be fun to hang out in the Atlanta airport for 5 hours. It was SOO much fun. Shea, Liz, WayJay, Curtis, and Jack picked us up at the airport. We got in right before Lizzy's friend flew in. Liz zipped back to the airport to pick her up, but took the long way home. By a special detour only known to her :) Luckily, Wayne and Shea were able to help her figure out the rest of the detour so she could return to us. My favorite part of her adventure was when she called to see if it was okay if she could stop and put gas in the car. I must defend Liz, she had been told not to put gas in the car after dark for safety reasons. She got the okay to get gas so she could make it home. The plot thickened as she was in a convertible, and the thunder storms were moving in. She did however beat them home and get the top up before it got wet:)

Sunday was a fun day, there was a yummy BBQ before graduation. Shea made the cutest cake for her. I didn't get picture :( Then off to graduation. This was the BIGGEST graduation I'd ever been to. I think Liz said there were around 500 kids in her class. She was one of the first ones out and across to get her diploma, I was so proud. I was thinking of when she was little and how hard she had to work to learn to read and all the cool things she had done. She has definitely done an incredible job. Back at the Adair's we took some fun pictures, one of my favorites was when Alice put on Liz's grad stuff, it was a glance into the future, a year.

Liz, Alice, and Connie drove me to the airport on Monday for a long flight home. I got back to my house at 2 AM on Tuesday. I got home and slept most of the day. Then back to work on Wednesday to start my week with no boys...but that story is to be saved for my next addition, coming soon.

Spring is in the air

Spring is in the air. I can tell as the cows across the street are frolicking. It has been so fun to watch GIANT milk cows dancing around. It started with a few cows, and they kept going back to the barn and getting more friends. Pretty soon the herd was across the street, dancing around:) Got to love it

We also have a pair of bald eagles that hang around. I see them almost daily. They are incredible. The other day I saw one of them on my way down our road on my way home there was a blue herring standing by the edge of the ditch. I love where we live. Of course we are still under the threat of low land snow which makes us nervous but it hasn't stayed around for long so it's okay.

I have been busy the last few weeks doing some medical transcription work after work, which has made for some long days and weekends, but it is done and dr. has his computer program fixed so we are getting back into the swing of things.

Last night we went to a friends wedding. It was fun, I got to dance with three of my boys, Justin, Christian and Zachary. It was also fun to see a lot of my friends form the Ferndale 1st ward. Our good friends the Walkers are worried about family in Fargo ND, and all the flooding that is going on there. Their family has farms on the shores of the Red River. The Walkers have always been there to help my when I need it. It was nice to say that my parents were in Fargo helping the flood victims there, even if they never meet face to face, it was a comfort to Janet.

My friend, and 2nd counselor in the primary has moved to Connecticut. I am sad to see her and her family leave. We were just getting to know them and now they are gone. I hope that all is well with them, I all ready miss them a lot.

Alice and I have butted heads a couple of times lately. But we keep ironing out our problems and going on. We have had our challenges. But we have so far been able to sit down and talk about what is going on. I can't say that we always come to an agreement but we have at least listened to each other and now understand where the other person is coming from.

I am working on getting myself back on track with my diet/exercise program. Along with working on being a better wife and mother. I have had to also start putting myself first once in a while which is always hard for me. I'm suppose to be slowing down and getting some of the stress out of my life. It is definitely not as easy as it sounds. I'm hoping I'm taking the right approach to this. I am making myself exercise. I also making sure that I get the scriptures in every one of my days. I know that by doing these two things I will be able to be a better mom and wife.

Spring break is here in a few weeks and we are starting to get plans. Alice is planning a party with a bunch of friends coming over for a bon fire, smores, and roasted dogs. It will be a good time. Christian and Zachary are also going to be here and we are working on plans for something furn for them to do also.

We just bought a mini van. It is a new addition to our cars. We did keep the other two cars figuring that Alice is going to be driving at the end of the summer. It also gives us 2 front wheel drive vehicles for the winter next year. We are also planning a couple road trips this summer and there is not enough room in the Stratus for all of us, so we are queit happy, it even makes going to church a lot nicer.