La Goon's

Why do I feel like I need a vacation to recover from a vacation?

Probably because I wrestled the kids without Byron.

He stayed home while I took the crew to Utah for the weekend.

First stop?  Lagoon Amusement Park.

 The girls took off and hit some of the "bigger kid" rides

while Kean and I hit a bunch of the small fry options.

Reese was a good sport and joined up with us to ride with

Kean on many of the rides I could barely get my long legs in to!

 And then, bless their sweet souls, were my nieces, Morgan and Lindsey.

They rode with Kean on several rides that would have had me barfing- like this one-

a ride that spins and lifts up.  

It was, hands down, Kean's favorite.  Get this, he rode

it EIGHT times with Morgan and Lindsey.

 My favorite was the ol' Rattlesnake Rapids-- a rafting trip

down a river and through a waterfall.  Because of Kean, we

got to ride every ride twice before getting off.

And on this one, boy, did we get soaked.

 Our tickets to Lagoon were free-- part of our parting gift

from our Make A Wish trip we took to Florida back in

November.

 We didn't get the rock star treatment like we did on our

Make A Wish trip, but we did have a blast cramming in

as much as we could.  The lines weren't bad and Kean

surprised us with his stamina.  As long as we kept him

on rides, he was happy.

The girls were just crazy.

 We topped the night off with a stop for dinner

at In and Out.  

Kean wolfed down his own milkshake.

You can see someone's hands in the pic- all

ready to grab the shake.

That would be because he has a habit of

tossing things when he's done.

For example, a near full cup of root beer

in the car (make that, all over the car we had just cleaned 

from top to bottom)!

 Notice, the girls are all responsible drinkers.

 The other big highlight of our trip was visiting my

grandmother at her new assisted living center.

Of course, Kean waltzed right in, found her bed

and pretended to take a nap (snores and all).

 Her new place is lovely.

Seriously, I'm tempted to sell off my kids

and move in there with her.

It is that nice!

 We got a tour of her new digs...

 look at how cute the area is just outside her door.

 We even had lunch with her in the dining room.

We actually were there to help celebrate and honor her

on her 98th birthday.

We gathered in a room upstairs and many of her children,

grandchildren (there are 86 of us) and great grandchildren (she has over 300)

took turns performing for her and sharing their talents.

Greer was one of the first to go-- she sang a solo.

 I thought you'd like to see my darling Grandma

and her children.  I love every one of these people

more than I can ever express.

I count myself pretty blessed to come from such goodness.

Now if I can just figure out how my grandmother seems

to have much more energy at 98 than I do at .........

Downs and Ups

No dull moments

should be our mantra.

Lucky us.  Kean and I got to spend

much of Thanksgiving Day in the E.R.

After poking, prodding, X-rays (I refused to let

them catheter him for a urine sample)-- they determined

he has Strep and a virus.

Poor little guy.

 By the time we got to my parents, dinner was done

but leftovers still tasted heavenly.

 My Aunt and Uncle joined us-- along with lots of cousins.

And Kean perked right up once he got away from the hospital

torture chamber.

 The day after Thanksgiving, we have a tradition with all of

my cousins- we head up to the mountains, sled, snow mobile, play

in the snow and cut down Christmas trees.

My parents kept Kean so the rest of the family could go.

And Reese scored on finding the best tree.

No Charlie Brown Christmas tree for the Barker's this year.

Plus, we are thrilled to have a live one again.

We weren't able to have a live tree for the past three

years because of Kean's health.

Things are slowly getting back to normal.

So Not Dullsville

I don't think we know how to have dull moments around here.

The past few days, we've had the cousins in town from Texas.

So it's been lots of games...

 and giggles crammed into a short amount of time.

 The older girls all got up and went to the temple

early Friday... and did swimming and sliding 

in the afternoon.

Kean has kept us on our toes.

As usual.

He's been on heavy antibiotics for that sore throat

but still won't eat.

And he's got a lovely rash on his face that has kept me worrying.

 Tonight we finally figured out that it looks like he has Thrush in his mouth--

a side effect from the antibiotics.  So now he's on another

new drug to clear up the problem from the old drug.

Can't wait for our home pharmacy to be closed

or at least pared way down!!!

Oh and just to keep things interesting, I got stung by a yellow jacket

on Thursday.  Tonight, Saturday night, the swelling, redness

and heat in my arm is finally settling down.

I guess I can't double for Quasimodo anymore.

As I said, we don't do dull.

Flags, Flowers and Blue Teeth

You know what I loved about today?

The fact that it was packed at the cemetery.

Everywhere we walked there were flags and fresh flowers.

We specifically went to clean off the gravestone and take

flowers to my nephew's grave.

He only lived a day and his parents now live in Texas,

so we have the yearly tradition of taking the kids

to visit Isaac's grave (and my cousin's children's graves).

 My parents and my brother and his family met us there.

 Kean was marginally into repeating the colors of the flowers

and really into eating jelly beans (especially blue ones)

he pawned off of Grandpa.

Happy Memorial Day everyone.

The Night Before the Big One

Ahhh, hyperness reigns at our house.

Luckily, we had plenty to keep the girls busy and hopefully 

wear them all out.

Tonight was our traditional family Christmas Eve party--

where we feast on all hors d'oeuvres and desserts.

Yum.

 We also attempt to re-enact the Christmas story from the Bible.

Attempt being the important word here.

My mom always tells the story...

 and this year, my niece Morgan was Joseph,

while Holland got to be Mary.

Byron (as always) serves as the donkey.

Notice I used the word donkey instead of that

other, more colorful one that is also found in the Bible!

 I think this will likely be our last year using Kean as

Baby Jesus. He's not the most cooperative.

That's his foot sticking up in the air.

 We were a bit short when it comes to covering all the cast, so Reese

wanted to be a sheep.  She got one of her dolls to fill in

as a shepherd.

 Katie was the perfect angel...

 while Lindsey, Greer and a teddy bear filled in for the 

Three Wise men.

 It's not ever a very spiritual re-enactment.

Hopefully, the Lord has a good sense of humor.

We always follow up the pageant with some music.

Greer played The First Noel,

and then the three girls sang for us.

 Finally, we capped off the evening with the opening of

the Christmas pajamas from Grammy.

The picture seems funny without my nephew Derek who

just left to serve a mission for our church.

So we've cleaned up, watched Tangled with Kean, played the games Uncle Marc and Aunt

Rachel sent us for Christmas from Texas and have tucked

all the children in bed.

Hoping they run out of gas before mom and dad!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

So Long, Farewell

A pretty emotional Sunday for us around here.

My nephew (the oldest of the Leavitt grandchildren)

had his missionary farewell today.

He will be leaving Wednesday morning for Mexico City

for training for six weeks, then heading to serve in the

Cleveland, Ohio Spanish speaking mission.

  Tonight was our big goodbyes.

And he got some good hugs in with each of the girls.

 Holland was even fighting back tears.

 Okay, I admit, so was I.

We won't see him for two years.

 And a lot can happen in two years.

These girls will all be so changed-- as will he.

Derek will be a fantastic missionary--

and very missed.

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?

It is still painfully cold here-- but that hasn't

stopped the boy from wanting a snow cycle ride

every minute of every day.

His dad did have better luck at getting him to keep his mittens on

(at least for a little while).

 Reese entertained us tonight by putting on Kean's boots,

mittens, coat and helmet and riding his Harley around the house.

Let me tell you- Kean didn't like it one bit!

 What we did all like is Byron's brother's son, Kyle

stopped by and stayed for dinner.

It was so fun to have him  "in da house".

p.s. Kean has heavy Chemo tomorrow.

Jeez, seems like it was just last week

instead of a month ago.

Bring on the bacon.

He starts Steroids again tomorrow too.

Watch Out World!

I am running so late tonight... we've just gotten home

from my brother's house.

My nephew Derek opened his mission call tonight.

He found out when and where he will be serving for our church

for the next two years.

Drum roll please.....

On the day before Thanksgiving, he will report 

to the Mexico City Missionary Training Center to learn Spanish.

He then will be serving in the Cleveland, Ohio Spanish Speaking Mission.

So exciting!

 And if you read my blog last night, you'll understand why my

dear friend Lisa sent me a picture of this rock she keeps 

in her guest room.

I love what it says.

And I love how it is fitting for everyone everywhere...

my nephew Derek ought to commit this to memory.

I'm certain the next two years will be a time of much, much growth.

Home Sweet Home

We just got home tonight from our big summer vacation.

I couldn't broadcast where we were going or where we were

since I didn't want the whole world to know our house was sitting empty!

But we are home from a 9 day trip to Telluride, Colorado

and wowza, what a fun trip it was!

 Telluride is breathtaking.

My parents figured we were overdue for a family reunion

so they rented a house about halfway between our homes in Idaho

and my younger brother's house in Texas.

 And boy, oh boy, did we ever score on the house.

My mom rented one we'd all fit in-- but about a month before

the trip and after she had already paid, the rental agency called

to say the owners of the house were pulling the contract and putting

the home on the market.

For our trouble, the agency would upgrade us to a much nicer home--

and man, did they.

 The house was incredible--- with everything you can imagine to keep

all 20 of us entertained and more than comfortable.

 Of course, the hot tub was a favorite

and we adults even got some time-- without the kids.

 The views were amazing... especially the herd of deer

that greeted us most mornings just off our porch.

 We had a grand time in a gorgeous part of the country.

I'll post a few more pictures in the next few days of our adventures.

But now it is off to bed.

The girls leave for Camp Rainbow Gold

(cancer siblings camp) early in the morning.

Talk about a crazy turnaround!