First Christmas in Ivins

Festivities began on Christmas Eve with our Gingerbread House, reading the Nativity Story from the scriptures, reviewing what we are grateful for and watching "It's a Wonderful Life". The night ended perfect...with snow! Christmas Day was full of fun surprises from Grandma & Grandpa Freeman, the Lay family...and Santa! The movie room will be complete with the fun bean bags. The fooseball table was a hit too. We are so blessed and will cherish the memories forever.

Christmas Eve Baby

We love you, Andrea - Happy Birthday!

Sunday Morning Pancakes

It's tradition! Things are starting to get back to normal when you can have a leisurely Sunday morning breakfast with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the background doing Music and The Spoken Word. Ryan makes a great chef (he's got TWO pans going!) Eric made eggs too. They were all smiles this morning. Andrea slept in, we saved her a few.

Snow Day - No School!

The kids had the best time yesterday. The snow just kept coming down, the roads were slick and school was cancelled! They made snowmen and played in the park. Pretty cool to have snow three days in a row...not a usual scene for our "neck of the woods". Christmas Break begins tomorrow!

Snow in St. George!

The boys had a great time after school today - snowball fight!

Trucks and Muscle

Calling all of you with trucks and/or muscle...We are moving out to Ivins on Saturday. If anyone has the ability to squeeze us into your busy schedule, we would love your help. If you are better at packing, we are doing that on Friday. If you can't come, no problem. We know it's a busy time of the year. Stay warm!

Check out the dancing elves!

Exciting news...we are moving for Christmas! Packing, packing, packing. Thanksgiving was a blast, we really enjoyed our visit from Bruce, Kerry and the kids. Four wheeling, shooting, eating, Temple lighting ceremony, eating, Tuacahn nativity show, eating...oh, and of course we had to go see Twilight again! (All the pictures are on Andrea's blog...) If anybody has boxes, we need them TODAY. :-)

Good News

Or should we say, news we can live with. The Neurologist in Salt Lake said that everything he sees looks like MS. So no extras...and that's the good news. He's going to have a radiologist look at it to be sure, but he was pretty confident in his conclusion. We had a discussion about meds and we opened the door for him to criticize our "New York Approach" of using the LDN and he said nothing negative about it. He said, "I don't know why it helps people with MS." An honest answer...a doctor admitting he doesn't know! Wow.

New York Approach

Eric and I get to go to Salt Lake tomorrow for a romantic trip to the Neurologist's office! I am betting on good news. I found a doctor from New York, Dr. Bihari, that suggests a great approach:

1. LDN (my new medicine)
2. Acupuncture (not sure abt this one)
3. Exercise (I've been rebounding every day!)
4. Chocolate (perfect!)

Halloween Fun

The best looking boys on the block! They were pretty proud of their pumpkin...it looks like they took it shooting. The trunk R treat was especially exciting with the TALL SKELETON. Andrea and the girls had fun watching scarey movies and the rest of us watched "Ghostbusters" with friends. Ryan...ate too much candy! He wants to wrestle at a higher weight class this year. haha.

It's Official

I get to go up north to get my second opinion the week before Thanksgiving. Today was so beautiful, I went for a drive with the top down on the car. The fresh air, gorgeous sunshine...it was good for the soul. A shout out to Eric: He learned how to coupon/case lot shop over the last few weeks. He seems to really enjoy the challenge of saving a boatload of money during his trips to the grocery store. We are now well stocked! He even installed a can rotator shelf. He's my hero!

Fall Concerts

Andrea sang and danced with her special Vocal Essence group at the Fall Folk Festival, it was lots of fun...

Ryan had the opportunity to sing with High School Concert Choir and the Madrigals in the historic St. George Tabernacle, it was breathtaking...

Michael and Daniel performed dances from countries around the world at the Dance Festival. I managed to get to all of these, despite the current relapse. We can count our many blessings! I did see my neurologist yesterday. There is an active lesion in my left optic nerve...this is causing the fatigue, etc. It looks as though they want to send me to get a second opinion due to some abnormalities on my MRI scan. It could be MS related, but they are not sure. We will need to go up north to the University of Utah MS Clinic to see a neurologist that specializes in MS. Fun, fun, fun! The things I will do to get a little "vacation" up to Salt Lake City...

Driving Again

I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is to me. Being home "resting" is getting really old! I am still woozy, tired and get a little bit dizzy, but not enough to impair my driving. I will DRIVE MYSELF today to go see my neurologist. The optic nerve is looking good, according to my opthalmologist. I think we have seen the worst of this relapse. Each day is a little bit better, as long as I pace myself. I have started my 2008 family album and glad to have something to do when I'm "resting". Ryan is getting excited for Homecoming this weekend.

New Album

The bright side of being grounded physically, is that it has allowed me time to finish my Family Photo Album for 2007. It's all done if you want to take a peek! (just click on the link under my photo albums to the right) I can't wait for it to arrive in the mail. Time to get 2008 going. Thank you for all of your well wishes and prayers. I'm sure we have seen the worst of it. I get to see an opthalmologist today to check out how the optic nerve is doing. Guess that means I have to get dressed!

Poked and Prodded

I've spent the last few days getting steroid IV infusions to try to stop the Optic Nerve in my left eye from going bad (one of the side effects of the MS that I try to ignore). The bright part in the hospital is the nice ladies in the Infusion Therapy room. They have to poke and prod people all day long and they still smile at you. At least they wrapped my arm and the tube that they left in my vein (eeewwww!)...with pink tape. I can still be fashionable and smile too. We have been so excited to have company this weekend. 16 people in the house! We sent the teenage boys out to the camp trailer, they love it. Everyone has been so good about making sure I don't have to do anything. Eric washed my hair, Andrea did my hair and makeup. I'm not going anywhere, but it makes me feel better. Our company is helping make the food and with the clean up. What a great family!

FIVE

FIVE

10 years ago I...
1- only had three kids
2- was in the Stake YW Presidency
3- was on another diet
4- was selling our first home
5- was as happy as I am now


5 things on today's "to do" list...
1- wake my happy butt up (you and me both, Hope)
2- Andrea's doctor appointment
3- get a solar cover for the pool
4- MS Dinner at the Abby Inn
5- get a nap? Oh yeah, I mean work.

5 snacks I enjoy...
1- popcorn anytime
2- anything chocolate and caramel
3- licorice, it must be Twizzlers
4– crackers
5- fresh fruit

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire...
1- pay off ALL obligations
2- get a good financial advisor
3- take a vacation to Cancun
4- purchase property in Marysvale
5- pay $100,000 in tithing for the million

5 places I have lived...
1- Denver, CO
2- Fresno, CA
3- Portland, OR
4- Vancouver, WA
5- St. George, UT

5 jobs that I have had
1- Landa
2- Fresno Poultry
3- Wilbur-Ellis
4- Mary Kay Sales Director
5- Isagenix Cleansing Coach

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.

I Tag:
1- Kristal
2- Kerry
3- Andrea
4- Bart
5- Molly

Mom to Teenagers

Remember the days of rolling your eyes at your parents? Remember when you believed they knew absolutely NOTHING and that they didn't understand you? It dawned on me today that though I may think I'm pretty hip, fair, understanding and fun while striking a great balance with being the Mom, teacher and disciplinarian...My teens might not think that. After being bummed about that for a few minutes, I made a big decision...SO WHAT! That's my job and one day they will thank me for loving them enough to be the parent that caused the eye rolling. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

For Tyler

Song of the day...#2 Dang, Fetch, Oh my Heck! You gotta love 11 year olds. We love you Tyler!

Congratulations, Andrea!

We put together a blog for Andrea today, she is so excited. You'll have to check her out under my "Blogging Buddies". Leave her a comment...it will make her day.

Happy September!

The kids are in school, we are doing routines again. Eric is even back to work after staying off of his infected leg for the last two weeks. Ahhh...I have the house to myself again. I'm almost done with my 2007 Family Scrapbook! I'm so excited about it. I'm still getting the hang of how all of this blogging stuff works, but I'm having fun learning.

Ok...added some more "stuff". This is kind of fun. I even made a blog for Eric's business...You can click on the link here to get to it. You should check out the gorgeous home he did for the Parade of Homes! As soon as I figure out how to get my completed family photo albums on here, I will add them too. Thanks for stopping by...

All my friends are blogging. I decided to check out what all the fuss is about. I better figure out how to add stuff to this page quick!