Happy Birthday Kelsie

Happy 8th Birthday to our Kelsie! Kelsie's day was very eventful this year as she celebrated the last day of 2nd grade and turning eight all in one busy day.

Kelsie woke up really early and came in to get us before she went out into the family room. I thought it was pretty funny since we really only do that on Christmas and Easter but I was glad she did--I think she knows how much I love seeing their reactions to everything on their birthday. She loved her balloons and cake we had gotten ready the night before. She had a present waiting for her from Grandma and Grandpa Durrant that she got to open first thing. It was a metallic pink laptop computer and she couldn't have been more thrilled. It is a very realistic looking laptop and she thinks it's the coolest thing ever. The best part was how surprised she was when she opened it--it totally made her day.

Then Kelsie headed off to school for a couple of hours to finish off second grade. She said it was the funnest day of school ever and the best day to have a birthday. The bus drivers all make a big deal of the last day honking on their horns as they leave the school and as they drop the kids off for the last time in the neighborhood. It is really fun and Kelsie said it was like the bus driver was wishing her a happy birthday too. :)

That evening we had my family over for her birthday party. She got spoiled with lots of fun new girly things.

Her big surprise was a new bike from mom and dad. She was really surprised and hugged us both before she even went to look at it. She is a sweetie. She is excited that she has a bike with handle breaks that really work.

She blew out the candles on her birthday cake and it's official--she is really eight! We love you Kelsie and are so proud of you. You have grown up so much in the last few months and I find myself wanting to stop time and keep you my little girl, but I also love the beautiful girl you are growing into. You have a funny little sense of humor and enjoy hanging out and chatting with me and dad and going on shopping outings with me. Your favorite things are playing the piano, singing and listening to Taylor Swift songs, putting on shows with friends, reading American Girl books, jumping on the trampoline, jumping rope, and hanging out with your friends. You are very talented musically and dad and I never tire of hearing you play the piano or singing your Taylor Swift songs with the country twang you have mastered. We love you Kelsie and hope your 8th year is a great one!

Preschool Graduation...Take Two

The great thing about going to two preschools is you get two preschool graduations. We finished off preschool on Tuesday with our graduation program. Grandma came to see Emily and Ethan graduate and brought them little graduation gifts. They loved having her there. It's been really fun having teaching Emily and Ethan the last two years and Emily has loved having her cousin in preschool with her. It's pretty special they were able to have that experience together.

I will miss my cute little preschool class. They were a really smart, well behaved little class and made things really easy on me--which turned out to be a great blessing as I got through the early parts of this pregnancy. Now I'm glad to have a little break so I can get my house organized and get ready for the baby.

Apparently Emily was not ready for a break. On Wednesday morning she woke up and informed me she was ready to go to kindergarten today! She had graduated from both preschools and she really thought she was heading off on the bus with Kelsie now. I guess that explains why she'd been reminding me every day that she needed to hurry and go get her kindergarten shots so she could go to school. She was so upset when I told her she had to wait until after summer vacation before she could go to school. She was really shocked. I'm sad it's been such a long, long wait for her. But I'm thrilled she is so ready and SO excited to go to kindergarten!

Good-Bye Saturn

Tonight we sold the first car I ever owned. We said good-bye to my little black Saturn that I bought when I graduated from BYU so I'd have a way to get to my teaching job. I didn't even realize until tonight that my dad's name was still on the title with mine since he cosigned to help me get a better rate. John claims my dad and I bought it, and he paid for it. That's not quite how I remember it.

We posted it today and were thrilled someone actually wanted to come and take it off our hands for a whopping 400 dollars. We really just wanted it out of our driveway. As the buyers drove it away I started reminiscing of all the memories in that little car and I was sad to see it go. So here's my trip down memory lane in tribute to my little black Saturn that was a part of our family for the last 10 years.

I remember....

Going with all my sisters to the Saturn lot in Orem to pick it out.

Cleaning and shining the car every Saturday morning in hopes that John would come out of his house and hang out with me while I cleaned it.

Running over the curb between The Annex and Pescado House and popping off the hubcab--it's still missing 10 years later.

Listening to the news of 9-11 on the radio as I pulled into the school parking lot.

Sitting in the backseat holding up my baby girl's head as John drove Kelsie and I home from the hospital. That memory was the one that really got to me. It was exactly eight years ago today, but the memory is clear as day of me squishing into the backseat to keep careful watch of our baby girl and holding up her head on every turn as John drove more slowly and more carefully than he ever had before. That was the day that the Saturn suddenly seemed too small and too bumpy to carry such precious cargo.

Good-bye to my Saturn. I never thought I'd say this, but I will miss you.

Our Graduate

Here is our little preschool graduate. Today she graduated from Children's University. She has loved preschool and adores her teacher. She is officially off to kindergarten.

One of the mom's had made these graduation hat cookies for the graduation. Emily was completely delighted when she saw them. They were super cute. They were a reeces peanut butter up with a graham cookie on top and frosting for the tassel.

A Teacher

Today at preschool I was asking all the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up--in preparation for our program next week. Emily said, "a teacher." That was the first time I'd ever heard her say that and I was so happy and proud. I would love to pass my love for teaching down to one of my girls and see them become a teacher too (and I would LOVE to get to help them in their class one day). I was enjoying this thought.

After preschool I asked her if she wanted to be a teacher just like mom when she grows up. She smiled at me like I was crazy and said, "actually Laura and Mary both want to be teachers when they grow up." And so the truth comes out. She doesn't really want to be like her mom. She wants to be like Laura and Mary Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie--her true idols. Oh well, I still enjoyed my little moment of pride.

Bus Station

At the last minute Carter and I decided to with Emily and her preschool class on a field trip to the bus station. We toured the station, saw the mechanics fixing the buses, took our first ride on the bus, and even took the bus through the car wash! Here's her class and her teacher, Ms. Stacie at the end of our tour.

I was so glad that we were able to go. Carter loved the trip more than the preschoolers. He thought it was so cool to go on "Kelsie's bus" (that's what he calls all school buses he sees). He is still talking about his trip. He tells us, "yeah I got to ride on a bus and the bus ride got me a sticker and my teacher came (referring to his nursery teacher) and Emily came on the bus."
Emily was so excited about her first ride on the real school bus. She came home and asked how many more days left of preschool before she could go to kindergarten? She seems to think as soon as she's graduates preschool she's off to kindergarten with the big kids. She can hardly wait. She is so excited and so ready, but I'm sad that she'll be gone. :(

Water

It takes emergencies for me to realize how unprepared I am in the case of a major emergency, and to prompt me to get a little more serious about being "ready". The sad part is that when we went into emergency water mode we really weren't ready, but we were a lot more ready than when our pipes froze....twice.

For almost a week we'd been hearing about this horrible flu that was striking many families in our neighborhood (like 1/2 our ward was missing last Sunday). We were trying to avoid this dreaded flu when John came down with it on Wed. night. The following evening we found out that the dreaded flu was much more. Our water supply was contaminated with bacteria that was causing severe illness and we were put on boil orders for 2 days.

So we began using the half case of bottled drinking water that we had at home. Really impressive, I know. Meanwhile John was deathly ill with a 104 degree fever, severe gastrointestinal illness, and was so weak he was unable to even lift his head for three full days. It was the sickest I'd ever seen anyone for that long of a period. Really horrible.

The kids and I made trips to the store for more water so we could drink, brush our teeth, wash our hands, etc.... I remembered again why I was born in this time and not the pioneer times because boiling water to drink and wash dishes in is really not my cup of tea (major understatement).

Today our emergency is over. We have usable water again (not that we intend do drink it for some time) and life feels a little more peaceful. John is doing a lot better today but is extremely tired and weak (which we've heard lasts many days.)

We are grateful that the kids and I somehow managed to escape the sickness from the bad water. We are grateful that we were more lucky than most in that we found out the reason for John's horrible sickness and we able to get antibiotics on day 3 of his sickness to help shorten it a bit (we think). And we had a bit of a wake up call to become better prepared while we still had options like running to grandma's for washing dishes and taking bathes, and running to the store for more drinking water.

We've learned a lot and are glad that little nightmare is mostly over. The only thing John had to say on the whole experience came yesterday on his deathbed. He said to tell his mom and then he said tell everyone that NO ONE should ever drink their city water. A few words for the wise.