Getting Even

Police officer: Ma'am, can you provide us details of what happened last night?

Kathryn: Well, I...uhm....oh, boy...you'll have to excuse me, it is so fresh in my mind, sir...

[Clears her throat] I remember I had just put my pajamas on to go to bed when I heard him come up the stairs.

Officer: Go on.

Kathryn: Uh...then I heard a noise at the kitchen sink. It sounded like water running.

Officer: What time did you say it was?

Kathryn: I didn't. I think it was about 10:30 P.M.

Officer: [As he jots down something in his notebook] Go on.

Kathryn: I heard footsteps coming down the hall so I hid myself by the door of our bedroom like this. [She makes herself flat up against the door]

Officer: Then what happened [continues to write]?

Kathryn: I saw this dark shadow in the doorframe...and then I jumped out screaming, "Gotcha!"

Officer: So you hid to scare him, ma'am?

Kathryn: Well, yes, officer. You don't know what it's like trying to live with a man like that. He's constantly right, teases me whenever no one is around...I had to do something!

Officer: Okay, so then what happened?

Kathryn: Next thing I know I am drenched with some liquid substance. You see, I saw him jump and then there was a delay. I felt a cool sensation all over my front. He purposefully threw the water on me!

Officer: Okay. Could you provide a detailed description of the suspect, ma'am?

Kathryn: Yes, yes of course. He was about 6 feet. Dark hair. These gorgeous brown eyes, with broad jetty dark eyebrows with a decisive nose. Large muscular shoulders...Uh...uhm....Yes, well anyway, that should help you find him.

Officer: Well, ma'am, that should help us out. Thank you for your time. We will keep you updated on what we find out. In the meantime, I suggest you refrain from trying alarm anyone who comes into your room.

Victim with the suspect.

Crime weapon

Crime Scene

February 2012 Update

The most important thing that happened this last month is Emily turned 1 year old. She is doing well and is healthy. Still has her milk allergy, but has been able to tolerate most other foods.

At her doctor's checkup her stats were:

Length 29.6 inches
Weight 21 lbs. 3 oz.
Head Circ. 46 cm

So, she is about the 50th percentile and is now one of the smaller kids. Caleb has always been in the 90th or higher. Jacob and Michaela were around the 75th I think.

Over the last few months we have enjoyed getting to see her personality more. For example, she is very sensitive to pain, but is so quick to giggle. She loves to move! She has been walking since about 10 months and has been on the go ever since. Being confined is her least favorite thing. In fact, she does not like to snuggle anymore, ever. She likes to give kisses and high fives and loves to be chased. Another thing she loves to do is blow raspberries. Her two words she speaks are "Nigh Nigh" which usually means her blankie and "Ma Ma." We are not sure if that means "Mommy" or she wants something to eat. Silly, I know! But she seems to use them for both.

Emily continues to be the sunshine in our household. It is such fun to watch all the other children shower her with love.

On to other news. Mike injured his back working out about two weeks ago and has been off work. He has tried to be really good and not doing anything to aggravate it. The doctor prescribed physical therapy and that seemed to really help. An xray was taken, and nothing out of the ordinary was apparent--wich the doctor thinks it's a muscle sprain of sorts. Mike is off for the next week to give it a little more time to heal and he hopes to return to work. I have LOVED having him around. It's nice to have an extra set of hands (not to lift) but to help with homework and just supervising kids. Besides the extra help, it's always nice to just be together. Mike makes me laugh more than anyone I know. It's been nice to wake up next to him every morning. Sigh...I will miss that when he goes back to work. But I shall enjoy it for one more week at least.

Caleb's second trimester just came to a close and he is doing well. We are so very proud of how hard he has worked this year with this new Spanish program. Both teachers have said he's a great student and well behaved. He has made good friends and has settled in nicely to the increased academic rigor.

Jacob has started preschool. And loves it. We love his teacher, too. She is a licensed teacher and used to teach elementary school. Her curriculum is geared towards preparing them for kindergarten.

Michaela is growing into such a little lady. She's a tough nut--lots of sass and lots of personality. But she is learning more and more how to control her emotions and use her words instead of her hands and feet to get what she wants. Jacob still gets beat up by her every now and then, but this is happening less and less! :-)

I am enjoying my calling teaching the 15 and 16 year olds in Sunday School. They are such great kids--so strong and want to do what is right and make good decisions.

Laundry

Today I tried to do the laundry all in one day--like 10 or more loads. It's been piling up 'cause I was sick for two days with some kind of stomach thing. I needed to do it two days ago, but I could hardly get off the couch. Then bam, I felt better and it was time to tackle all the catchup housework. First thing, LAUNDRY.

Trying to sort and match socks and fold clothes with a needy golden retriever, an 11-month old and a 4 year old who hates being alone in a room by herself, makes an interesting day. (Jake was playing Legos and was lost in his world.) At one point Chewy had to lay his head in my lap, Michaela was pretending to be the sock monster and socks balls were airborne, all my neat little clothes piles were being toppled over by Emily Godzilla. At first I tried to stop it all. Push Chewy away and tell him to go lay elsewhere. Tell Michaela we could play later and then just try to corral Emily into a corner with toys. But then I just had to smile. These days will be gone soon. And I am sure I will miss them when the house is too quiet and Chewy is too old to care where he rests his head. We got out the camera, and Michaela wanted to snap photos. Some days I hate my job and wonder why I ever dreamed that all I ever really wanted to be was a wife and mother, and then most other days are like today--my kids warm my heart, the thought of kissing my husband when he walks in the door curls my toes and Chewy's ever unconditional love boosts my spirits. And then I remember, I am living my dream. I pray I never forget that for too long.

Michaela using the camera.

She didn't do too bad with this one.

Michaela the sock monster!

Where Chewy had to be while I folded clothes.

Fall 2011 AND now Christmas!

This autumn we have had two birthdays, two major holidays, stitches, doctor checkups, school beginning and what else? Jacob turned five and Michaela turned four. Oh, and Emily turned 9 months. Halloween came and went and so did Thanksgiving! We now find ourselves a few days before Christmas. I should probably post some pictures, especially of Emily because she is now walking!

Caleb started the Spanish Immersion program at Harvest Elementary. By the time he is in 6th grade he should be speaking Spanish pretty well. He had a difficult time adjusting at first, emotionally. But he seems to have settled in now and is flourishing academically. He also has started the first phase of his orthodontic treatment.

Last week, Jake was playing with a friend in his room and fell on a table. He suffered a 2-3 inch gash on his scalp that required three staples. He was very brave. Poor Mike had to take care of all of it while I was at a hair appointment. But both dad and son fared rather well, I'm proud to say!

Em Em is getting into everything...everything! But she is just too cute. All the kids just pour a ton of love onto her and she is still the highlight of our world. She recently began walking. And it makes me excited and sad. I hoped I could watch her cute chubby bum waddle in her crawl across the floor a little longer. She is just growing up too fast for me. I need a time machine to freeze time a little. We've learned she has a hefty temper, but is easily assuaged.
She began eating finger foods. Oh, my. I think I might cry. I better stop writing about how much she is growing up.

In September, Mike went for 12 days back to D.C. No, that is not a typo, T-W-E-L-V-E days. He attended an arson investigation class at the National Fire Academy. The kids enjoyed skyping with him every night. And just when I was on the brink of begging the mental hospital to admit me, he was back.

Most of my brothers were able to come to our house for Thanksgiving. The best part was seeing my brother Jon who moved to New Mexico before Jake was born. We haven't seen him since then. My dad drove the lonely drive from Boise. We just had a lovely time being together. The turkey turned out, phew! And nobody got food poisoning. We reminisced and laughed over old pictures I forgot I had. Did I mention we had a swell time?

And now here it is seven days before Christmas. We are anxiously awaiting for Mike's family to arrive. Always fun to see them all. We don't have snow on the ground, but are hoping for a white Christmas. Without snow, it's been kind of nice for me because I have kept running with Chewy about three days a week. I have taken him up in the farm fields behind our subdivision where I can let him off his leash while I jog. He loves scaring the birds up out from under sage brush and sniffing for all sorts of treasures. He is just a plain good dog. Does not wander off and comes usually at a whistle. It's a welcome break for me to get outdoors to the peace and quite and I enjoy having him along.

UPDATE: Here it is January 8th and I really should finish this. The Christmas tree is down. Mike's family came and we had a grand time. Sad to see them go. We all went bowling--it's amazing how much fun that is with little kids. Here are some pictures from the last few months:

This is Chewy's favorite spot during dinner time.

Michaela doing yoga with Mommy.

This was our solution to the kids fighting over who got to ride in the jeep.
It works great!

Emily at 6 months

Yesterday Emily saw Dr. Edwards (our pediatrician) for her six month checkup. And not to our surprise her weight, length and head circumference are all in the 90-95th percentile. It continues to amaze us that she has food allergies because she is certainly getting enough nutrients! She has rolls of fat on her legs. Her cheeks are so kissable and you just want to hold her dimply hands and arms all the time!

Emily's latest achievements include rolling every which way and getting up on her hands and knees and rocking. Soon she will be crawling, maybe...maybe....because she can roll to anywhere she wants to go and she's fast. She has also started eating solids. This has been kind of fun because I have to make sure everything she eats has no additives. Instead of eating the store bought baby cereal I have learned how to make my own--grind up brown rice in the wheat grinder and cook it like Cream of Wheat. So far she has eaten applesauce, bananas and tonight she ate asparagus for the first time. She was a great example to her older siblings since they are kind of picky about vegetables.

The stats:

Age: 6 months

Date: August 11, 2011

Length: 27.5 inches

Weight: 18 lbs. 5 oz.

Head Circumference: 43.75 cm

We love you so much baby Emily! And feel so blessed to have you in our family.

Stewart Falls

I've been in a hiking mood lately. It seems to hit me every year around July. Two days ago, Mike and I climbed Bells Canyon in Sandy City for our anniversary. The kids were jealous we went hiking so I talked with some people and did some research for family friendly AND dog friendly hikes. Stewart Falls up Provo Canyon seemed to be a top pick for a lot of folks. It's not hard to see why.





We saw this mushroom or toadstool. I should google it to find out which it is. But too tired after carrying our 20 pound chunky baby up and back on the hike. (Mike carried the backpack AND Michaela part of the way, so I can't really complain. Oh, AND he held on to Chewy's leash.)

Michaela says the mushroom is Tinker Bell's house.

Here's what a lot of the hike looks like. So gorgeous.





At the top we plopped down to eat our gourmet dinner of peanut butter sandwiches, carrots and apples.

The kids were saying they were still hungry, so Grandma pulled out her homemade trail mix. The kids ordered up. Jake didn't want pistachios, but Michaela did. He wanted the Brazil nuts. Caleb only wanted cashews, but not the dried fruit. Chewy just looked on wondering what all the fuss was about.

The waterfall.

P.S. Mike did come along. He took all the pictures with his handy dandy smart phone that takes really good picts. I'm still not seeing how a smart phone improves his firefighting job performance, but hey, it takes good pictures.

Havasu July 2011

Sigh…I’m writing this as we drive away from Lake Havasu, Arizona after spending 5 fun-filled, sunny days with Mike’s family. We swam, wake boarded, innertubed, swam some more, slept in, ate, swam and ate some more. Thanks to Mike’s Aunt Kathy, we got to stay in her waterfront lake mobile home. Thanks to Mike’s parents and his other aunt, Sherrill, we ate delicious food.

Here are some trip highlights:

Caleb kneeboarded for the first time (see video in Smilebox slideshow below)! Kathryn kicked Mike off the innertubed when he pretended to balance the tube when he was really trying to make his wife fall off. During this vacation, they also settled the debate that the term “cookies in the parking lot” is indeed an Idaho regional colloquialism and not a phrase Kathryn made up as much as her husband tries to say it is. And this debate was only settled after Mike used his trusty little “gotta have” smartphone to research the phrase. (Someone still needs to convince me how a smartphone helps a firefighter improve his job performance, so therefore, it is worth the extra monthly expense. Just sayin’.)

Emily did great, such an easy going infant. Cooed and smiled at everyone. Jake and Michaela enjoyed tubing, driving the boat with Grandpa and playing in the water with Aunt Sherrill. Kids got to play with Uncle Joey and Uncle Brandon and Brandy (Brandon’s girlfriend). Chewy nearly drowned going after a duck 100 yards out on the lake. Okay not really drowned, but scared us a little when we couldn’t find him for a few minutes and then saw him trying to get back to shore when he heard us calling for him. Dog is part fish, methinks.

On the way home to Utah, we stopped and visited with Uncle Matt, Aunt Buffy and kids in St. George. The only thing that could have made the trip better would be having Grandma and Grandpa Hasert at the lake. Fortunately, they were able to stop and see us a few days after we got back to Utah on their way home from Minnesota.

We are now getting back into a regular routine, dreaming of the next time we get to go again. Love to all!

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