Who Took My Baby?

                                                                     We have entered into a new (what I am praying is just a) phase.                

My sweet baby Kean has turned into a terrorist.

Almost overnight.

He has fast become a master at pulling hair, biting, spitting food, pulling out his hearing aids

and throwing everything-- and I mean everything.

Oy.

I know, it's hard to believe with that cute little face.

But I have witnesses.

Just ask his dad (with the two bloody scratches on his face) or his sisters-- you know

the ones missing clumps of hair.

The other day at his hearing test, he up and refused to participate.

His very frustrated mom and doctor have agreed to try again in

two weeks.

Any chances this "terrible twos" phase might only last two weeks?

No Black Hairy Tongue-- yet!

Sad but true... here Kean is only weeks away from his 2nd birthday

and tonight for the first time ever....

he had a lollipop.

I think it was nirvana for him.

He's healthy and happy.

We're keeping our fingers crossed.

He's currently on antibiotics for his third bout with Strep Throat.

He'd go off his meds and the very next day he'd get sick again.

So last week, his pediatrician tested our entire family

for Strep.

Surprise, surprise... I tested positive and so did Reese.

And yet, neither of us have any symptoms.

So we are both on antibiotics.

And here's the best part:

under the side effects for my medication it says--

"although this effect is uncommon, you may develop a black, "hairy" tongue

while taking this medication.  This side effect is harmless and usually

goes away after treatment."

Groovy.

So far, so good.  No signs of hair on the ol' tongue.

HaPpY bIrThWeEk!

She's F.I.V.E.

And she's telling EVERYONE who will listen.

 Here she is eatin' up a Happy Birthday call from her cousins.

 We started out the week with her favorite dinner with Grandpa and Grandma Bodily over...

 Then here's the kicker, halfway through the week Reese told our

good friends the Angus' that she didn't want to go out to dinner for

her birthday, she wanted to have dinner at their house.

She even told them what to cook and who to invite (my parents).

Sure wish I had pictures of that....

It was great.

Finally, on Friday, we had her big party--

with friends, swimming

 lots of presents and kid food.

Since she couldn't decide if she wanted to go camping or swimming for her birthday--

we went swimming and then roasted hot dogs and had s'mores.

Done.

Phew!

Service Saturday

Hey... the Idaho Business Review published another one of my columns on-line instead of just in the paper.
Here's the link...
http://idahobusinessreview.com/2011/07/21/foothills-footsoldiers-repair-fire-damage-to-hillside-and-to-morale/

Butterin' Up

If you didn't know, you must not be within earshot.

Reese's birthday is tomorrow and boy is she workin' everyone to get her a present.

The other night she told me she "had" to go down to Grandpa Bodily's but she wouldn't tell me why.

I finally coaxed it out of her... she needed to remind them about getting her some bee day presents.

Grandpa  Bodily (our neighbor if you don't read this regularly) told me she had already come

down earlier in the day and was looking in just about every closet and behind every piece of furniture.

She is serious about this birthday stuff.

I took this pic of her the other morning.  I was sending the kids out to pick

raspberries first thing.  And this is how she came down dressed and ready to go:  with her snowboots.

It is July, you know.

Pouty Face

First things first, Kean's Strep Throat is all better.

And his "Stress" throat too.

That's what the girls told everyone at church he had.

And we finally captured his new little, um, what do I call it, perhaps, trick?

 We've had a bugger of a time getting him to stop pulling hair and scratching.

So now, anytime he gets a firm NO, this is what we get back.

The lips start to quiver, then it moves down to the chin

and oftentimes, he erupts in to full blown tears.

But when he starts with this face stuff, I have to leave the room.

It's either that or bust out laughing and undermine all my stern no's.

So Golden

My oh-so-young looking parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary the other day.

That just seems so crazy they have been together that long, 'cause that makes us all old!

We threw a great party for them, though...

Here's a few highlights.

My photography is seriously lacking-- but we made centerpieces out of

cake platters with my dad's favorites: mixed nuts.

 This was the "memory" table... lots of old photos, yearbooks and mementos.

 I put together a scrapbook and had extra pages for the guests to sign at this table...

I'm totally bummed I didn't get better pictures of the food table in the center of the room.

It was beautiful-- you'll have to look around the kids.

 That's my cute nephew Derek making sure the table was stocked.

 This had the potential to be ultra cheesy but I think it turned out okay.

Lot's of hilarious pictures of our family growing up and my folks in their younger years.

And finally, Byron and I put together a dvd of old photos set to old standards.

Reese really wanted me to take her picture standing here...

 This is my Uncle Rod and Aunt RoEen, my mom's younger sister.

She is the genius that made us all look good. 

For years, she used to decorate the Governor's mansion in Utah for the holidays...

and she worked her magic on helping up make this look pretty amazing.

I shudder to think what Dana (my sis-in-law) and I would have pulled together

without my Aunt!

 Here's my dad with his little sister, my dear Aunt Tauna who drove up from St. George for the shin dig.

 I love this picture of my mom with her brothers... these guys are amazing!

 And since I've already admitted to my lack of talents as a photographer,

you'll have to forgive me for failing to get a picture of my parents together on their big night.

You'll have to settle for this booby prize-- me and my honey with Reese peeking out from behind.

If we live to make it to our 50th... oh man, I can't even write how old we will be!

This Is Killing Me

I have a problem.

I have a new nephew but he is in Texas

and I am here.

Ug.

We all think he's pretty yummy.

His name:  Dane Lorenzo Leavitt.

Welcome to the world, Dane!

Exotic Camping

The Texas cousins are in town (plus Grandpa Bodily's grandchildren in this picture)

so Super Byron offered to "camp" out with the girls last night.

 We roasted "dawgs" and of course, had s'mores.

 And you can't have a camp out without ghost stories...

 Or in our case, Byron's bear stories.

 I want you to know, I slept like a baby-- inside the house, with Kean.

And actually, the girls (and Byron) slept great and slept in...

Now it's breakfast time!

Deja Vu

I swear I have good reason for being out of commission with this blog.

Kean has been up all night the past three nights.

Every hour, like clockwork.

Now we know why...

the dreaded Strep.

Again.  (Been there, done that-- last month)!

I'm hoping the antibiotics will let him (and us) sleep tonight.

 We had an action packed fourth before Kean got sick...

We did fireworks at my brother's place (since we can't

even light a single sparkler on our hill)!

 Somehow, (probably because he didn't have his hearing aids on) Kean

slept through the snap, crackles and pops.

He did wake up at the end, though, for the grand finale.

It was the funniest thing... he was mesmerized by the fireworks

and the minute they were out, he'd giggle and laugh.

So very, very cute.