spider

The other day Brianna was in the shower. All of a sudden she lets out this blood curdling scream! It sounded serious enough that I was making my way to her from the kitchen. Quickly she yells out, "I'm OK" so I head back to my cleaning. Then she yells out again in a much calmer voice, "Mom?" so I turn around to go check things out. She opened the door of the bathroom. Standing there in a towel with shampoo in her hair she points out that there is something on the inside of the shower curtain. I open it to find a HUGE spider with the body the size of a quarter. I calmly decide that this is a job for dad (who happened to be studying downstairs). So in comes daddy to save the day. This has become one of our family stories. We all like to laugh about how Brianna handled it with such grace. I would have totally freaked out!

More things that I love

Here's another thing I love about this house. There is a large room downstairs with all the toys. Mason and Cord can be down there for hours and the only sound I hear is them laughing and sifting through legos. But the best thing is that I can just turn out the light, close the door, and I don't have to look at it.

I also love my goofy baby. He is always finding new ways to make us laugh. He found Mason's hat and gun and was walking around saying "bam, bam". I hope this doesn't mean he is going to grow up to be a ganster!

There is music in my soul

We have some budding musicians at our house these days. Chelsea is continuing to play the violin in Orchestra and takes lessons from a new violin teacher, but has also expressed an interest in learning to play the guitar. So we found a used guitar on craigslist and invested $50 so she could explore this interest. One of the strings was broke, but luckily one of the missionaries knows all about guitars. Mike bought Chelsea a new set of strings and Elder Korper restrung it for her. He also said we got a steal of a deal on the guitar :). She is teaching herself and likes to play around with it. She also tried out for a singing group at school this week that meets before school. We'll find out next week whether or not she made it. It's nice to see her getting involved with school activities.
Brianna wanted to take up piano again. She has lessons for a short time in kindergarten but wasn't to interested then. We found her a teacher in our ward and we moved the keyboard into her room so she can practice without the help of her little brother. I often hear her plucking away at her songs. She is progressing quite quickly. We also found a dance studio for her. She is taking ballet and jazz with a friend from school. She is a busy little girl.
In Longmeadow, the fourth graders get the opportunity to learn a musical instrument in band or orchestra. I was surprised when Mason came home and was all excited about learning the violin. I tried to steer him toward a band instrument but he was quite adamant. He was so excited the first day he brought home his violin. They get out of their class once a week to meet and learn their instrument. I hope it sticks! He even likes to practice. We have heard "Hot Cross Buns" too many times to count this week.
So Thursdays are our busy musical day. Mason has to remember to take his violin to school. Then right after school we head over to Chelsea's violin lesson. I drop her off and head over to Brianna's piano lesson 10 minutes away. After I drop Brianna off I go back to pick up Chelsea. Then it's back to get Brianna. This whole process takes about 2 hours from the point of pick up at school until we get home. Today we put a movie in the car for the boys because they have to tag along. Last week I tried to do homework with Mason in the car but that didn't work out to well. Cord is pretty good to sit in the car seat during all this traveling.

The lawn guy

One of the wonderful things about this house, is that the college takes care of all the yard maintence and snow removal. So every week this guy on his riding mower just shows up in my backyard. When Mike heard about this deal, he said he didn't even need to see the house. That was enough for him. But it's nice that Mike doesn't have to worry about it at all and the yard always looks nice. He won't have to break his back this winter shoveling the snow (in Longmeadow you have to have it cleared from the walks in 24 hours or you get a fine). I just have to figure out how I can get that deal back at home. If we can get someone to mow our lawn, then we can take care of the snow removal ourselves (hahaha). This is not a great pic. I was trying to be sneaky. I mean - who wants to take a picture of a guy mowing the lawn? I didn't want him to think I'm a wierdo!

Da Bus

Do you remember when I was doing day shifts for orientation and I was talking about having to catch a bus to the hospital? Well, they are tearing down part of the old hospital to build up a new cardiac tower and long story made short, they gave our covered parking terrace to the doctors and now all day shift and night shift get to park a mile away and catch a bus to the hospital. (The above pic is the bus in the parking lot, the below one is where they drop us off).

Now I guess that doesn't sound too terrible, but what does it really mean?
1) I get to leave an extra 20 minutes early so I can make sure I get a spot and catch a bus that will get me there on time (that cuts into my family dinner time). It also means I don't get home until after 8:00 so hopefully the kids are ready for school because we have to leave the house at 8:15.
2) It will be even more fun when it starts snowing and it will take me an extra 1/2 hour to dig my car out of the snow before I can even leave work.
3) The parking lot is right next to a Meth clinic and a women's prison. I can't leave anything of value in the car and I try to park to a nice car so that if a thief is looking to break into something, my little mini van won't be so appealing.
4) The other day I was walking up to the CICU and couldn't remember if I had locked my car or not. It wasn't like I could hurry and run back to the parking lot and check. So I had to get my patients squared away, got someone to watch them for me, got back on the bus to go to the lot, my car wasn't locked (good thing I checked) so I locked it and got back on the bus, then got to work. What a pain!!

Now I do have to give some credit to the hospital. They do make sure there are a lot of buses running around shift changes and the drivers are super friendly. One even offered to drive me anywhere I wanted to go but I don't think he was expecting me to say UTAH.

Where's Cord?

My goodness, what a silly baby I have!!!

A great loss

On Friday Sept 5th, I got the call from my parents that I had been waiting for. The wonderful man that I called Grandpa had left this moral existence. Even though I know he is in a better place and is finally free from pain and suffering, he will be greatly missed. He kept telling us that he was ready to go and he finally gave up the day before he turned 90. Thursday night the family got together and gave him a priesthood blessing releasing him from this moral life. That night I had to work but I kept thinking about him and wishing I could be there. In my job I have had several opportunities to help patients be comfortable in their dying process and supporting their families. It was hard to be so far away and not able to do that for my own family. At 3:50 AM, I was in my unconscious patients room and I had an overwhelming spiritual feeling. I could see grandpa's body with my grandma at his side. Then I could see a much younger version of grandpa entering a brilliant bright place, surrounded by familiar faces. They were all so happy. The feeling was so strong that I started to cry (good thing my patient was unconscious). That was not the time that my grandpa actually passed on, but that experience gave me great peace.

I was so grateful that we were able to spend some time with him when we were back home. My parents bought me a plane ticket so I could come home for the funeral. Even though my children were very disappointed that they couldn't come too, I knew it was important for me to be there. Thankfully I have a wonderful, supportive husband who told me to go and he would take care of things here. So I caught a plane the following morning to start my journey home to bury my grandpa. I wasn't sure whether or not I should post this picture, but it is important to me so I thought I'd take a chance. I took it so my kids could be a part of what they missed.
The funeral was beautiful. Each of the 8 children spent 5-10 min sharing their memories and thoughts. I was asked to be part of a group that sang the song "No Empty Chairs". It was one of grandpa's favorites but it's really hard to sing if you really think about the words. I knew I would get up there and just cry, but my dad said if I didn't sing then I would have to find my own way home. (j/k). So we got up there and made it through by just looking at the music instead of the audience and not thinking about what you were really singing. One highlight at the funeral was being able to hear the testimony of my grandpa, in his own voice. My aunt Darlene taped both my grandparents bearing their testimonies and played them for us. It was powerful to hear his voice testifying to us one more time. Almost every time we saw him he would tell us to live the commandments, follow the prophet, and stay out of debt. Then he would ask us if we had gained weight because we were looking a little fat. :)
The handsome man on the end with the sun glasses is my daddy. He is the oldest brother and really seemed to take charge of pulling the large family together. Out of the 8 children there are 52 grandchildren and 107 great grandchildren. We filled up most of the church with just family. What was an unexpected surprise was that most of my cousins did the same things that I did, came without their families. I got to sit and visit with cousins that I haven't seen or been able to sit and talk with for quite awhile. I almost felt like a kid at thanksgiving, running around with my cousins. Even though I really missed having my children with me, it was nice not to have to worry about where they were or chasing Cord around.
My grandpa grew up on the Arizona strip and truly loved that area. He would have love to have been buried there, but instead he was buried in St. George where they had already purchased a space. To try and make up for it, my Aunt Darlene brought a bucket of dirt from the strip. We all got to take turns shoveling the special dirt in the space under the casket. That way grandpa will at least get to rest on the part of the land that was so special to him. Grandma got to lay down the first spoonful. Kennedy was kind enough to drip a spoonful of dirt for each of my kids. She is so thoughtful.
Even though my time in St. George was short, I loved getting to spend it with my two beautiful sisters. Maria (on left) had just moved to San Diego and brought her family up for the occasion. Amber (right) is lucky enough to be there in St. George and keeps my parents from going completely crazy with the family spreading out. When I look at the relationship that we all share now, I have hope that my girls will one day be best friends. Things weren't so rosy when we were growing up, but we all love being together now. I'm sorry that I didn't have time to connect with my friends and I hope that you'll forgive me if I didn't stop and see you. I only had 2 days and most of that was time spent with family.
I truly love my grandma and my heart goes out to her. It's really hard to see her without grandpa by her side. They have been together for 68 years. You just don't see love like what they shared much anymore. They were always together at every family function that they could get to. She is a strong lady but I know things will be hard without her beloved companion.

If you want to know more about my fantastic grandpa, here's the link to his obituary.
http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080908/OBITUARIES/809080327/1023/NEWS17

My thoughts on flying

Because my dad worked for Skywest, I grew up on an airplane. I had grandparents in SLC. Every summer we would each get our own special week with them. My parents would put us on the plane in St. George, and they would be there in SLC to pick us up. My love for flying continued with almost 4 years flying fixed wing with Life Flight.

Last night on my final flight from Philadelphia to Hartford, I took the chance to stare out the window and appreciate the sights. We popped up above the clouds to witness a beautiful sunset. Above us were light, fluffy clouds that looked like cotton candy. Below us was a sea of white clouds that looked like a white cotton batting placed down to make a quilt. It was beautiful. I remember flying through clouds as a child and wishing I could open the window and catch a few in a plastic baggy.

I love the view from the airplane. It's almost like having an eternal perspective. You can see your way so much clearer that we do here on the ground. It's easier to see what's up ahead and can understand why we need to go a certain way. There are so many things in life that just don't make sense, until later on down the road.

Cord goes back to MaryPat's

So Cord and I have been able to hang out the last couple of days. We have had fun together and the house has been so quiet. I have to turn on the radio just for some background noise. But I have got a lot done. Now it's Cord's first day back to MaryPat's house since I worked last night. He just loves it over there. He went straight in and started playing with the toys and kids. I didn't even get a good-bye hug. It's nice to know he's happy there and it makes it easier to leave. Now I know I'm addicted to blogging because I had to post this before I go to bed. How pathetic is that?

The report from the other kids on their first day of school goes as follows:

Mason "It was a great day! I made friends with my whole class".
Brianna..... I can't remember what she said, but she said it for almost an hour straight. She was so excited about all her classes and seeing her friends that she just jabbered on and on.
Chelsea "Well, it wasn't completely horrible" I'll take that!

Back to School (finally)

It's with mixed emotions that the kids got ready to head off to school this morning. There was both excitement and anxiety. Mason started 4th grade at a new elementary. We knew who his teacher was but we had no idea where classroom was or how things work at Center. Even though he doesn't know anyone there, I'm not too worried about him, he makes friends easily. Brianna started 6th grade at Williams middle school. Luckily most of the kids she went to school with last year will also be at her school and she has at least 1 friend in her classroom. We also didn't know where her classroom was or how they come in. She didn't want me to get out of the car and help her find it. I guess that would be to embarrassing (when did she get old enough for parent involvement to be "embarrassing"?) Chelsea is not excited to be starting 8th grade at the same middle school. I don't remember middle school being so difficult, but it's been an "interesting" experience for her here. Luckily she does have 1 good friend, but they are not in the same homeroom class. She doesn't even know her schedule yet. They meet at their homeroom and that's where they get their schedules. She still isn't sure about continuing on with Orchestra. We'll see how she feels at the end of the week.

On a good note, they all got up without a problem and got their new clothes on, hair curled, packed lunches, and made sure all their supplies were in their backpacks. I was able to drop off Chelsea and Brianna at their school (I was a good mom and didn't even get out of the car, take pictures, or kiss them good-bye). I drove Mason over to his school where we parked and walked over to the playground where everyone was gathering. Instead of going straight to their classrooms, they just looked for their sign and lined up with their class. I introduced him to his teacher and then he was off making new friends with the kids in his class. Hopefully they will all have a good report for me when I pick them up.

So now it's just momma and Cord time. I'm not quite sure what to do with a quiet house. We ran errands this morning and now I get to clean the house. Maybe I'll even work on my scrapbook room. I don't really have an excuse not to scrap now.
This is Williams Middle School where both the girls are attending.
Center Elementary is actually in 2 buildings with a walkway between them. It's pretty old but updated inside. While we were walking the bells on the top were ringing. It felt very "New England".