Fringe, cleaning and Violette

Have you heard of the new Fox show called "Fringe"? You can watch it on Fox on Demand (we don't have cable, so we only watch shows you can watch online!) For those of you who thought Heroes was too violent and gory, this one is a little less of both (well, so far) We watched the first episode on Saturday night and the second episode aired last night, so I think we have a date to watch it tonight.

This morning when I came in from sleeping outside I realized our house really stunk! Every week or so I walk into the house from running an errand or something, and realize it stinks. Usually it's just the trash can or something, but this morning it seemed like everything was so behind on being cleaned! Roy took out the trash and that helped the smell and I've spent the rest of the morning catching up on everything else. Sometimes it nice to get a little behind because it feels so good to get caught up! Roy took the van to school this morning, so I'm forced to stay home and deal with the chores here. The kids are being reasonable and actually playing nicely together, so it's been a nice morning so far!

Violette is adjusting nicely to our family. I let Rae hold her yesterday during Blaise's nap and they did just fine together. She doesn't jump every single time we walk past and she's getting used to the loud kids. Whenever we get her out to pet her we offer her some sort of fresh fruit or veggie. She usually won't take it directly from us, so we put it in her cage when we put her back in, so now she associates being held with getting yummy food. She did eat hay from Roy's hands this morning. We went to the pet store in town to see what sort of supplies they have (NONE!) and they had some full grown guinea pigs - yikes, I didn't realize how big they got! She might need a bigger cage eventually. Actually, we'd like to have two guinea pigs someday, but probably not till we get settled somewhere permanently.


A close up of Violette


We had a birthday cake for Violette (hey, any excuse to eat cake, right?) Yum, candy corn! The best part of Halloween! (and those peanut butter "mary janes")

Another campout

We slept out in the tent again last night. This time Blaise joined us. Why the heck does anyone camp? We settled down for the night around 8 or so and Rae fell asleep pretty easily by 8:30, but Blaise was awake for a long time - probably till about 9. He's not used to having to block out noises and light so he had a harder time falling asleep. Plus, he took a long nap late in the afternoon. Roy had to stay up and write a test for his class tomorrow and it ended up taking him till 2 in the morning! He came out at 2 and got Rae to go potty. After that I couldn't get back to sleep for another hour or so and then Blaise woke up and realized he was outside and wanted to cuddle with me, so I spent the rest of the morning with his head on my shoulder. It got pretty darn cold last night, so I also kept waking up to make sure the kids were covered and that they weren't pressed up against the sides because there was a lot of moisture on the tent and it would get you wet if you pressed against the sides.

Sigh, what a night. Blaise woke up at 6:30 and I took him in the house and woke Roy up and then went back outside to be with Rae. Luckily she slept till 7:45, so I got a little more sleep. Poor Roy is going to be exhausted today, and Blaise is already showing signs of lack of sleep. My back and shoulders hurt and to top it all off we are all getting colds. Fun stuff. Moral of the story is: if things go well the first time, don't do them again!

Happy Birthday MOM!

I don't know if you'll get a chance to check this today, but I hope you have a great day and get a little relaxation. Love you!

New pet!

We've been talking for a while about getting a pet for Rae. We were considering a frog but they are pretty boring. We thought some easy fish, but those are boring too. We went to Columbia yesterday and hit up Petco. The first animal we wanted to consider was a ferret! Turns out they cost like 130 bucks and their cages cost another 130! And they are a lot more maintenance than I'm ready for right now. But Roy has always wanted a ferret, so it's something we'll consider in the future.

We spent SO long at Petco trying to decide. The kids were super hyper from chocolate shakes and it was after 7, so they were fighting off sleepiness too. We looked at frogs, fish, hamsters, mice, etc,etc and finally decided on a guinea pig! Well, we decided that if we were going to get a pet we would get a guinea pig, but we hadn't decided whether we were ready for the start-up cost involved. But we decided just about every pet is going to involve some start-up cost, so if we wanted a pet we might as well do it now. The kids are at a good age for a new pet and life is pretty calm and easy right now. And guinea pigs are supposed to be super friendly and easy to take care of.

So, introducing....Violette: (named after the building where Roy works, and purple!)




Not very good pictures, but she's pretty scared and timid right now, so it's gonna take some getting used to before she comes out for a photo-shoot :) She's only a few weeks old. Last night she let me hold her quite a bit, but this morning she's super jumpy and doesn't want anything to do with me. We'll give her some alone time in a while when we go to the store, so hopefully she'll be able to relax a bit.

Anyway, pretty big excitement in the Wright home! Guinea pigs can live like 4-8 years, so this may be a really long commitment. I'm already worried about finding someone to watch her during Christmas break, but as long as I start looking early I'm sure I'll be able to find someone.

McDonalds and Redbox

On Tuesdays our McDonalds has Happy Meals for $1.50. With every Happy Meal you buy you get a code for a free movie from Redbox. Woot woot! We've done Tuesdays at McDonald's twice now and last time there was this old guy there that was getting Happy Meals and he gave us his toys and codes. (Nothing like a playroom full of junky toys!)

I love Redbox. We have 4 of them here in Kirksville, so you can almost always find the movie you want. And I hardly ever have to pay for them! I also get a text every Monday with a free code. If you haven't tried it yet, give it a shot! They also have some good kid movies. The only problem is having to return them the next day, which isn't convenient if you don't plan on being out. But ours are so close that it's worth it. Our other movie-renting option is a place called "Movie Gallery" which is like Blockbuster but cheaper. You can rent new releases there for 2 bucks for a one night rental (it's like 4 bucks for a week rental) and they have a big selection of kid movies that are only a buck for a week rental! I like the options like Netflix and Blockbuster, and have used both, but I always felt like I HAD to watch movies to make it worth my money. Now, when we have a holiday break we can watch a bunch of movies and when we are busy we can just watch one or two.

I watched Baby Mama the other day. Good stuff if you have nothing better to do!

Lame-o

I can't believe I didn't post anything for a whole week! I'm so fail.

Not much going on lately. We had a lot of rain this week. I went to the gym several times. Me and the kids went to Columbia for some "big city" action. Fun stuff.

Sometimes I get in a blogging rut. I'm sure I'll come out of it in a couple of days and get back to business! I've got some pictures from our lake trip last week, so I'll try to post those soon. Until then - umm....stay tuned. :)

Houseflipping?

We've got our eye on a nice little property down the street from us:

Link!

...or maybe we'll just move in ourselves!

We just finished off the last of my homemade pancake mix and the kids loved them! Time for a new batch - this time with a little more whole wheat flour and a little less white flour.

I finally made it to the rec center yesterday! It was great! There's so much to do there. As Roy's "designated guest" I only get to go between 6:30am-2pm. So, I pretty much have to go as soon as it opens or there won't be time for Roy to get to school on time. I can't believe I have access to all this stuff for free! I'm trying to make it part of my routine so that when it's cold and dark outside I still get up and go. On Saturdays I can use it anytime of day, so I plan to have nice long workout today, and hopefully every Saturday. I should ride my bike to the school, but then I might be too tired to do anything else!

WOWZA!

I missed the two-year anniversary of starting my blog!! I did my first post on August 13, 2006! You see, I was "hip" before blogs were so popular. :) I think my friend "Bluebell" over at Degenerate Subspace was the one who made me really want to start a blog. Hers is very honest and fun to read. And I like that it's changed tones over time to reflect things that have gone on in her life - proof that she's not trying to please any audience. Her early posts always made me crack up and feel relieved that I wasn't the only one who thought that way (but I'm usually too afraid to admit!) Some of favorite posts: Santa Rant
and Moo

Anyway, Happy Birthday/Anniversary/Whatever to me! Thanks for reading!

Randomness (edited to include pictures) Updated: "After the storm"

I'm officially a Missourian. I got my driver's license on Tuesday. Whoop whoop! I went today and registered our van. (We had to get it inspected first, which ended up costing a bunch of money because there were a few things to fix - ergh!)
I love the "DMV" here. It's just a little tiny office with 3 or 4 employees and they are all super nice. And the two times I went there were only a few other customers. Way better than in CA!

Our oven doesn't cook very evenly. I burned some muffins the other day, my oatmeal cookies didn't cook right today and I just took some rolls out of the oven and the bottoms almost burnt!! Ergh! I never burn things! Seriously - I hardly even leave the kitchen when something is baking because I'm constantly checking it!

Our kitchen has such little counter space that we are forced to do the dishes constantly or we won't even have room to butter a slice of bread. Seriously, no counter space, especially since there's only one drawer in the kitchen, so all of our knives and spatulas are in little "carousels" on the counter top. My BIL Chad would have a heart attack if he came into our kitchen since the counter tops are so covered! (He's got all the counter space in the world, yet he insists on putting the paper towels in the pantry!) :) Good news is: the dishes are ALWAYS done!

Butter and margarine are sold in long skinny bars here. In CA they were a little shorter and thicker. Weird.

Check out the size of the praying mantis we found! We actually found three this size. Creepy!



Went to a thrift store the other day and I got a really cute pair of pjs for myself, a Halloween vest for Rae and a Tigger costume - all for $1.25. Awesome.

The other day Roy was being neglectful in the morning, so Rae got out leftover eggs (green eggs to be exact) and two plates from the dishwasher and served up breakfast! She's been super helpful lately. She gets herself dressed for bed every night and even gets out PJs for Blaise! Notice the fly on the table. We have a lot of flies here. Gross.



Rae can't decide what to be for Halloween. She wanted to be a little old lady, and then she got that tigger costume, which is cute, but not super exciting. She wants Blaise to be a cat. Weird that Blaise doesn't even know what Halloween is! I know he'll LOVE it though!

We've had some nice cool weather lately, but it was pretty warm today, I even considered going to the pool but we just didn't have enough time. We picked Roy up from school at about 4:45 and it was hot and sunny. I wish I had more of a notice of rain..check it out... by 5:45 it looked like this:



After the wind settled down a little we let the kids go out and play in the sandbox, which was now a pool!






Okay, here is a picture from 7:30 tonight...the storm is completely over and it looks as if nothing ever happened!



Yup, total randomness. I've been meaning to blog about most of these things for a few days now, so here it is - all in one post!

Good ol' Blythe

I grew up in Blythe,CA (in case anyone out there didn't know) My friend sent me a link to a video from "pvtv" with my daddy in it! My dad is the principal at the high school there - and his name is Jeppson, not Jessop.

A few things I must point out:

-How unprofessional does that "news anchor" look?? Nice tattoo.

-The football stadium took a really long time to remodel (I dunno how long - but something like 4 years!) and it look exactly the same! :) Okay, it does look nice, but not that much different.

-All the other principals had a few short sentences to say, but my dad had a whole speech prepared! I think he's probably the only principal that has anything prepared for the school year as well.

-The last principal they showed - Jeremy James - was a teacher at the HS when I was there and I had a huge crush on him.

-How pathetic is our band?! Some things never change.

He's finally here!

My sister Katie finally had her baby boy today! (5 days late) I'm so glad he came safely and without any complications! Congrats Katie!

Toys toys everywhere

I've been thinking lately about starting a Christmas list because there are certain people in my family that like to shop super early (ahem, Baerbel!) but I haven't really come up with anything the kids need. Here are a few things they do NOT need:

Cars - Blaise loves to play with them but he has about 30 or so!

Dolls - We are overrun with dolls. We have talking ones, swimming ones, and cuddly ones

Doll clothes/accessories - We have blankets, towels, bottles, toys, beds, swing, etc

Puzzles - I think we have plenty, although maybe some more complicated ones for Rae

It's amazing how many toys you realize you have when you have to pack them and then unpack them. We got rid of lot of junk but we still have enough to fill the playroom. I do want to get a kitchen for them, but I'm not sure where it would go.
Anyway, just some random thoughts I had while I was cleaning up the playroom tonight.

Oh, I stumbled upon this video on You Tube today, and it pretty much sums up Kirksville! Well, it's focused on the medical school here, but that's pretty much the center of the community. It gets a little boring, but the beginning is funny.

One more post today

Here are a few random pictures from the past few days:

Several parks here have these "wading pools" and are open various times of the week. They are free and there's a lifeguard there. It goes from about 1 foot deep to about 2, maybe 2 1/2 feet deep. We've only been to this one a few times because the weather has been so unpredictable, but it's a great free activity and you don't have to fill up your own wading pool! (And yes, they empty them every day)



Burger King playground rules - look closely...







Ummm, okay...like this?

Should have looked outside

I got up, got dressed, put on my socks, grabbed my shoes (I like to sit on the porch and put them on or else Blaise will ask for his shoes on too) and went outside to go walking only to discover that it is raining! Ugh. I don't know how I didn't notice it was raining, or think to check (it was about to rain when we went to bed). I have a pass to go to the Student Rec center on campus now, but it's too late in the morning to attempt that. Bummer. Oh well, maybe I can go tonight.

When it's rainy outside I like to have creamy soups and hot chocolate. Or, at least I did when I lived in southern California. When I moved to Davis it was rainy from Dec to Feb so I got a little used to it. But my first two weeks here I found myself craving hot chocolate and soup when it rains, because one day it will be hot and yucky outside and then 10 minutes later it will be cloudy and rainy and chilly! But I better get used to it, because I will get really fat if I eat creamy soup every time it rains!
(Especially if I can't go walking!)

Happy Birthday Christie!

Today is my oldest sister's birthday! Hope you have had a good day so far and maybe even get to do something fun or relaxing for yourself!

BTW

Blaise is all better. Just a little bug I guess. He still breathes a little funny when he's sleeping, but overall he's all better! Thanks for all of the suggestions and well-wishes! :)

And we decided to go with Geico. Their rates were way lower than what we were currently paying and a bonus is that you can do it all online and don't have to call anyone, which I avoid as much as possible! (which is why we were using Esurance!)

Umm, I think I was going to update about something else, but I can't remember now. And it's way past my bedtime!

Another question

Have you seen Premonition with Sandra Bullock? What'd you think?

Quick question

What kind of car insurance do you have? We've been with Esurance for a few years and now that we've moved we have to cancel our current policy and do a new one, so I'm shopping around making sure we have the best deal. So, what company do you use and have you had any problems or really good experiences with them?

No pictures, but lots of fun

I'm teaching a lesson at church tomorrow in Relief Society. I honestly can't focus on assignments like this until it gets a little closer to the deadline. I read the lesson several times throughout the week and figured I'd work on it Friday night and today. But I started my day by getting up with the kids for a while and then waking Roy up and going back to bed till 10am - ah, lovely! Then Rae and I went to Walmart during Blaise's nap and as soon as we got home he woke up. He was feeling better today, so we all went to the State Park to swim in the lake. It was a nice, warm day, but not too hot. The water was cold, but Rae was willing to go out to the deep area on my back. We built some sand castles, ate lunch and finally towards the end I sat down in the shallow part of the water and got Blaise to play with me. He got really into it and was throwing himself into the water and had a lot of fun. Roy and Rae built a huge tower but it fell when Rae tried to put a window in it. We brought the camera with us, but we left it in the van. :( We'll have to go back sometime soon and do it all again!

Anyway, I worked on the lesson a little more after dinner and started to work on it some more after the kids went to bed but I decided I better go for a walk while it was still light out. Well, my walk turned into a bike ride, which turned into an exploration of the city, which turned into me getting a little lost. :) I'm home now, should be working on the lesson, but blogging instead. I am now officially out of excuses and I will go finish that lesson now!

Oh, and Blaise's fever went away this afternoon (which is why we decided to go to the lake) but he's worse now. We really shouldn't have gone to the lake. :( (We've just been waiting for a nice sunny day and were so excited that the weather was perfect!)
Now he's more congested and he's back to having a fever. :( Poor little guy. At least he had fun at the lake!

Any ideas?

Blaise has had a fever for about 24 hours now. I just took his temperature and it was about 101.8 :( He hasn't shown any other symptoms yet. He's been acting really achy and tired but tries to have fun too. He tossed and turned all night last night even after giving him Tylenol. He ate a decent breakfast and was energetic this morning, but around 11 he was ready for a nap and could hardly walk. Ever since his nap all he's had to eat are some grapes and a pear. He tries to do something and just gives up and lies down or crawls into your lap. His poop is normal, no throwing up, I guess one other symptom he does have is that he's a little bit stuffy. We don't have any insurance yet (doesn't start till Sept) so I'm not taking him to a doctor unless it gets more serious. Besides, even if we had insurance I wouldn't take him, there's nothing they could do at this point. Any ideas of what it could be? I'm counting on all you moms with experience to have some insight into something I haven't thought of, so maybe I can either be prepared or know what to watch for. Most likely it will all just go away tomorrow and I'll never know what his fever was trying to fight off.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any ideas you might have!

Sleep-out

Rae is always asking to go camping. We were going to go this week at the State park near by, but we don't really have much camping equipment. We had to leave our ice chest in Charlotte because we couldn't fit it into our van. Our tent is big enough for all four of us, but we only have two sleeping bags. We have no equipment to cook food, etc,etc. So, anyway, yesterday Blaise didn't take a nap so we got him to bed super early and then set our tent up outside and Rae and I slept out there. She was an angel all night getting ready for bed and was giddy with delight when we settled down for the night. She fell asleep pretty easily even though our porch light is pretty bright. Our new neighbors arrived last night after Rae had fallen asleep, so I spent the next hour or so talking to them. I went to bed around 11 and sometime during the night it started raining. The roof cover wasn't on the tent so I felt the sprinkling and got out and put the cover on just in time. It started pouring and was pouring all night. Rae woke up around 7:15 and was so excited that she had slept in the tent all night and that it was raining and thundering. We had to run inside in the rain. It was so much fun to do that with her and I'm sure she'll ask to do it again soon! Sleeping out like that just made me want to go real camping. But camping in the rain isn't very fun when you don't have a house to run to if your tent leaks!

On a side note, we ran out of pull-ups for her the other day, so I told her it was time to start wearing underwear to bed. She was going most nights without peeing in her pull-up, so I figured she was ready and things are finally calmed down around here. She peed in her underwear the first night but since then she's been dry! I usually wake her up when I go to bed and make her go potty. But last night I forgot to even have her pee before bed! And she slept out in the cold with it raining, I'm very impressed that she didn't have an accident. I told her this morning that I was proud of her and she said "I didn't want to get the tent wet." I'm very very glad, because sleeping bags are a pain to wash!

Pathetic

Is it sad when you can plug in your vacuum in the kitchen and it reaches throughout the whole apartment? And is it even more sad that this apartment is considered "big" compared to your last one? I love vacuuming. Mainly because it means your floor is completely clear. I love to vacuum right before the kids go to bed and sit on the couch with something yummy to eat and watch a movie, which I am about to do!

A few more things I'm loving:

Garbage disposal. I have a bad habit of letting things rot in my fridge (I blame my mom - sorry mom, but I think I got that from you!) and now I don't have to dump it in the trash can and then either empty it immediately or deal with the smell. I can just put it in the garbage disposal! It doesn't take much to make me happy!

Dishwasher. I've never been much of a fan of dishwashers because they always seem to leave a few things dirty. But now I realize a few items not getting all the way clean is worth a bunch of items getting super clean. And since we have barely any counter space it's nice to not waste any on a dish rack. This is our first apartment with a dishwasher and garbage disposal.

Cool weather in August. We got a bunch of rain today and have had the windows open all day. Feels so good and saves on the bills!

Water filter. Ever since we moved here we've been trying to figure out what to do about drinking water. We drank the tap water the first few days and it literally made us sick. It smells like mold and has a really thick feel to it. We aren't even that picky about tap water but this stuff is really bad. We bought a couple of jugs at Walmart, planning to refill them with one of those water machines, but apparently those machines don't exist here. We looked everywhere and couldn't find one. So today we bought a Pur water filter and we love it! Ahhh, water, yummy.

Off I go to watch a movie instead of doing things on my huge "to-do" list! Yay!

Pictures

Two sets:

• before the move
  
• during and shortly after the move

Also, go see the big picture of the BK playground if you haven't.

Do you scroll?

Sometimes I get crazy and post a lot in just a couple of days, so you might need to scroll down to see all of my newest posts.

We had pancakes for dinner tonight and they turned out really good (see post below)

Went to the swimming pool again today and Roy watched the kids while I checked out a water aerobic class. It was fun and just challenging enough to make me feel like I could do it but still feel like I was getting exercise.

Happy Birthday to my little niece Lily! It's her first birthday today. I take all credit for her being born early. I went to visit Lindsey in Visalia and brought her a bunch of baby essentials and Lily was born just a few days later. You're welcome :) Oh, and her daddy's birthday was on the first of the month so happy birthday to you too :)

And my sweet sister-in-law's birthday was on the 3rd -Happy Belated birthday to you too! Sorry, I guess I was a little busy at the beginning of the month. :)

And one more random topic: Rae has an invisible friend. She talks about him nonstop and even got Blaise talking about him. She says that he used to live in Davis and just moved to Kirksville too. Apparently his family drives a convertible because when we saw one in town Rae said "Oh, my friend has one of those cars that roof comes off". His name is Ckeiee. That's how she spells it. It's pronounced "kyhaki". She used to just talk about him and about how she goes to sleep-outs at his house a lot. But today he was actually here and playing a game with her. Kids, fun stuff.

More shutterfly pictures coming tonight.

I don't want to grow up

I've been getting a lot of gray hairs lately. They make me very sad. They wouldn't be that big of deal except that they are really noticeable when I pull my hair back at all and they are so coarse that they don't lie flat like the rest of the hairs, they stick out and call attention to themselves. This is the first summer in a long time that I haven't chopped my hair off when it gets hot. But with the humidity here I at least needed to get an inch or so cut off so it wouldn't feel so heavy on my neck. Anyway, after getting the trim I decided I should dye it too! I did it this morning and I don't see much of a difference except that it did seem to cover up the grays.

I don't actually mind getting older, it's just looking older that I mind. When I was a teenager people always thought I looked older than I was, so does that mean I still do? I just don't think it's fair to have zits and gray hair - come on!

And in case anyone thinks I'm totally shallow and appearance-obsessed, I really don't think I am. I spent like 8 bucks on the hair dye and it's only something I do when I'm feeling particularly depressed about my looks and dying my hair is the easiest, most convenient change to make (easier than clearing up zits and losing weight!) And yes, the gray hairs do bother me, judge all you want! I'll let my hair go gray when I'm a grandma, but until then I'll probably keep pulling them out or coloring them.

But I really should work on the losing weight thing too. Sigh.

Resourceful

I've been trying to make a switch to whole wheat products. I do most baking with half white flour and half whole wheat flour and I'm starting to slowly make it completely whole wheat. We've switched to whole wheat pasta and we've always used wheat bread. (Some day we'll use a healthier, whole wheat bread when it gets a little cheaper or I start making my own) We'll probably never switch to whole wheat tortillas unless they find a way to make them tastier!

At my sister Katie's house they had whole wheat pancake mix and I decided that when we moved I'd make that switch. Well, I've looked all over the place in all the grocery stores and can only find one brand of whole wheat pancake mix and I've tried it before and didn't like it. Then I realized that I could make pancakes from scratch. But first thing in the morning is not a good time to try to measure flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, etc. So I looked up a "homemade pancake/waffle mix" and found one I'm going to try out. I just mixed up and I will try it tomorrow morning. I did a 60/40 mix of whole wheat flour and white flour to try to get Rae a little more used to the change. (She kind of balked at Katie's pancakes) If this works out I'll be so glad! No more buying pancake mixes!

Here's the recipe:

HOMEMADE PANCAKE MIX
10 c. all-purpose flour (3 lbs.) (I used 6 cups whole wheat, 4 cups white)
2 1/2 c. instant nonfat dry milk
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. baking powder
2 tbsp. salt

TO MAKE PANCAKES OR WAFFLES:
2 c. homemade pancake mix
1 c. water
1 egg
2 tbsp. oil (waffles - 3 tbsp.)


I'll give it a try for breakfast and let ya know how it turned out. (Hopefully they are good because I just make 13 cups of it!)

Random tourism: Burger King in Columbia, MO

On our way here from Charlotte, we just had to stop in Columbia to see the largest indoor Burger King playground in the world. This is a composite of 15 photos, which is why it's slightly distorted near the ceiling, but it gives you an idea of the size of the structure and the room that houses it. That's Blaise there on the right.

Trying to catch up

I just cannot figure out where to pick up from. So I'm not going to catch up, at least night right now, maybe later.

As for this week, we spent most of it unpacking, buying dressers and bookshelves, almost getting the toy room all set up and we even had a little fun. :)

Monday we went and checked out the city pool. It's really great. They have a little pool all by itself with a few little fountains. It's enclosed by a 2 foot wall, so it's a little harder for your kid to just run off. The kids spent most of their time in there, because there's a big bucket of toys to play with. And then there's another pool that slopes down like a beach and gets about 3 maybe 4 feet deep. That one has a floating frog slide and log boat to play on and a couple more fountains. Then they have a bigger pool with a slide and a diving board. They also have an indoor pool, but it's mainly for lap swimming and exercise classes (which I really want to check out one of these days) We had a lot of fun there, and are definitely considering getting a year pass.

On Thursday we went to Nauvoo,IL for the pageant that they put on there. On our way we realized that Carthage was really close, so we were going to head there too. Well, we got a little lost on the way and ended up in Carthage! That was great because it saved us on some extra travelling. We toured the Carthage Jail (the kids weren't very reverent, but they weren't too bad). It was a really neat experience. Seriously people, come visit us, there are so many cool things up here!

Then we headed into Nauvoo and planned to go on a covered wagon ride, but it was closed for the day by the time we got there. We walked around a little and saw a few cool buildings and then tried to find something to eat for dinner. Man, Nauvoo doesn't have much! We finally found a buffet restaurant, and although it cost a lot more than we had planned to spend, it was really tasty.

We got back to the pageant site just as the "pre-show" activities were starting up. The kids got to do some crafts, play games, watch a puppet show, and walk on stilts. It was way less crowded than I thought it would be (I was picturing the kind of crowds that are at the Mesa pageant). We were parked really close, so we went back to the van and put PJs on the kids and got our blankets and went and found a spot to watch. They had chairs set up and then they had one hill where people could sit on blankets. We got a nice spot and settled in. We borrowed some bug spray from a nearby person and got some popcorn from the snack shack. We thought the kids might go to sleep but they were too excited. They were really good though and Rae actually watched most of the play. Blaise fell asleep at about 9:30 and Rae fell asleep a little bit after that, but I woke her up towards the end because she wanted to see the "temple" be built (and I wanted her to walk back to the van instead of carrying her!). We left Nauvoo around 10:30 and the drive home was a little tricky. Blaise kept waking up and screaming and then would go back to sleep. And the rode is really curvy and there are a bunch of one car bridges, which is all a lot trickier in the pitch black darkness! We were pretty much the only car on the road. I made a mental note to never go to the temple at night when I'm driving!

Anyway, it was a really great trip and I hope we are around to do it again sometime. And I'd love to be able to volunteer to do something next year! And I'm looking forward to going to the temple sometime (we didn't even actually go up close to the temple) and seeing more things on my own. And if anyone wants to come next summer and see it all, you are welcome to! (if we are here)

Our goal tomorrow is to get all of the recent pictures (I'm sure there are hundreds of them) on Shutterfly and we'll send that out instead of trying to post them here. I'll post the link to that here. Or maybe we'll start using Photobucket, since my sister wants all of the reunion pics pooled together on there. Anyway, pictures to come soon!

INTERNET!

Woo hoo! We have internet! (Ugh, internet we actually have to pay for) Being without internet and cable the past week has been good for us. We got the dishes done every night and got a ton of stuff unpacked. At this time of the morning I would usually be unpacking and taking advantage of the kiddos not being bored yet, but instead I'm on the computer. It's hard to blog after getting so far behind on everything. I don't even know where to begin. Plus, our keyboard cord isn't long enough for the keyboard to fit onto the desk (we got a new desk from our neighbors) so we have to have the keyboard on our lap until we get an extension for it. It's really annoying to type on your lap. And now Blaise is being really annoying, so I better go.

We are thinking about going to Nauvoo today since the pageant is still going on till tomorrow. It's a lot of work to go, and I don't know how well the kids will do and whether they will sleep during the actual show, but this might be our only chance to go and I'd hate to miss out on that. But then again, there is a chance that we could be here next summer, so maybe we should just take that chance. I have to decide in the next hour or so. We could always go tomorrow too, but it's closing night, so it might be more crowded. Anyway, I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

Bloggin' from McDonalds

We don't get internet until Wednesday and we needed to pay a bill online, so we are using the internet at McDonalds. I thought I'd give a quick update. Most of the house is unpacked and we are adjusting nicely. Although our apartment is overall bigger, there's not as much cupboard space in the kitchen or storage space elsewhere, so unpacking has been kind of tricky. We are headed to walmart right now to buy a dresser and hopefully some shelves. I'll blog more on Wednesday or Thursday when we get internet.

Alive and well....

....just busy! We got to our apartment here in Kirksville! We arrived this afternoon and are trying to settle in but our stuff won't be here till Thursday. We made a run to Walmart and got a ton of necessities and I think we'll be okay the next two days using our air mattress and paper plates. :) We like our apartment - nice, clean, newer than our last one, washer and dryer, dishwasher,central air, garbage disposal, mormon neighbors...what more could a girl ask for? We got a little bit of rain this evening and Roy was delighted to discover fireflies outside our door! He was really hoping there'd be some here.

Tomorrow we'll run a few errands around town and start shopping for a couch and dining room table (we left them behind) and maybe even hit a park, since they do wading pools during the summer. Poor Rae, we'll be unloading the truck on her birthday! It's okay though, because we've celebrated it twice already! We are using a neighbor's wireless right now and we'll hopefully get our own, legitimate internet set up this week. And maybe someday I'll have time to write all the stuff I want to write about!!

Family picture

Just the original Jeppsons:

Talent Show

YouTube limits videos to 10 minutes, so I had to split it into 3 parts and do some slight editing. Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:


PS: Those of you who aren't Jeppsons may want to skip to our part of the show, at 2:00 in Part 3.

We're almost done!

So our whole moving ordeal is halfway over. :) Our apartment was cleaned quickly on Saturday morning thanks to a lot of help from friends from church (thanks again everyone!) and we turned in our keys around 1:30 in the afternoon. We stopped at a couple of friend's houses to say goodbye and then headed to the hotel.

**As a side note, at the last minute we realized it probably wasn't a good idea to put all of our important CDs in the trailer since it was going to sit in the heat for a couple of weeks, so we put them all in our van. Well, I hadn't counted on that much stuff and I spent Saturday morning competely stressed out trying to get everything to fit into our van. Eventually it all fit, but not very well and now we have a lot of stuff that we have to store at my sister's house while we are here. And I didn't have things as organized as I would have liked, so there are a few boxes with just completely random stuff - ugh, stuff like that really bothers me. **

The hotel was nice and the kids enjoyed swimming at the pool. Roy and the kids went to bed around 8, but I took myself shopping because I felt like I needed to do something besides moving stuff! I didn't get home till 9 or so and then I couldn't get to sleep till 10. We got up at 3 and the kids were surprisingly well behaved and reasonably happy. We made it to the airpot and checked in without any problem.

We were getting ready to board (going potty, changing diapers) when I realized that I did not have a SINGLE diaper! Oh my heck - I am never this disorganized or forgetful! So I just started saying a lot of prayers and looking for moms with a kid Blaise's size. No luck. So I got on the plane and hoped for the best. Rae had a window seat and I had the center seat with Blaise on my lap and a nice man sat next to us and before the flight started he noticed that there was an empty seat in the back so he moved there so that I could have more space (probably did it more for his sake than mine!) The extra room was a huge help! The kids were really good. Blaise pooped halfway through the flight and I asked one of the attendants if there happened to be any diapers on board. He checked really throughly for me, which I appreciated, but there weren't any. So I changed Blaise's diaper and lined his onesie with paper towels and just hoped for the best.

Our plane landed in Denver and we had about an hour before our next flight. So we walked around checking every gift shop for diapers and stalking mothers with young children. I even tried to get Blaise to pee on the potty! He peed in his paper towels so I changed him immediately but it had already soaked through to his onesie, so I had to take that off. I put a pantyliner into his shorts and once again hoped for the best. We were just about to board the plane when I saw a mom with a boy Blaise's age so I went up to her and asked if I could buy a diaper off of her. She was super nice and gave me one (no charge) and I quickly put Blaise on the floor and diapered him right there in the middle of the airport! Whew!

The man who sat next to us on the second flight was really nice too. Blaise fell asleep right after we took off and slept for about an hour and a half. Rae was really good. We bought a "mini-meal" snack box in the middle of the flight and the man next to us bought us an extra one for Blaise to have when he woke up. And he also gave Rae his applesauce from his box. Rae had to pee during this flight and she is terrified of the airplane bathroom, so I had to promise that I wouldn't flush the toliet while she was in there, and I had to threaten that we wouldn't go to Colin's house if she didn't go. Luckily that worked. Blaise pooped a few minutes before landing, luckily not any sooner! Chad was waiting for us at the baggage area and everything else went great!

We were so glad to get settled into Katie (my sister) and Chad's house and since the kids woke up at 3am Pacific time they were already ready for Eastern time and they went to bed around 8 without any problems. Yay! Everyone (my brothers and their families) came over for dinner and we had a lot of fun.

Yesterday we just hung around the house and then went to dinner at my brother Bobby's house. Afterwards we went to the airport to watch planes. All of the kids like that a lot. But we got home too late and got to bed way too late. And the kids didn't sleep in to make up for it.

The best thing about today was that Roy got here early! His trip went really well and since he didn't have anything to do but drive he just kept driving and driving. We weren't expecting him till late tonight, but he got here around 11 this morning. Woohoo! He and Blaise are napping now and then we are going to go swimming. My oldest sister arrives tomorrow afternoon with her husband two little girls and then my parents and little brother arrive early Thursday morning and my other younger brother and his wife arrive late Thursday night. And then my little sister and her little girl and husband get here Saturday and then the family reunion officially begins! It's going to be super crazy and super fun, I'm just glad I get a few days of peace beforehand to prepare and get to stay a few days afterwards to recover!

Oh, and I've been tracking our ABF trailer and it's already in Missouri and is ready to be stored till we are ready for it. That was fast! Hopefully they will get it to us really quickly when we are ready for it. I'm anxious to be finished with this move, but I'm glad I have a break in between to catch up on some sleep and tv. :)

BTW, this blog has turned into more of a journal for me so that's why there are so many random, un-important details that most of you are probably not interested in. I like to write these kinds of things down and if I don't do it within a week of it happening then I never will. So, I'll still try to write other stuff and post pictures more often, but there will be a lot of these long, boring posts with way too many details! I hope you are still willing to read it!

Making progress

Let me start out by saying that I am using Roy's new laptop to write this and I am not used to the layout, so there may be typos that I don't notice.

Anyway, things are going really smoothly here. Our ABF trailer was delivered yesterday at 2 and after taking a look at it and deciding how were going to load it we ran a quick errand to get some rope, a padlock and some new shoes for Blaise. Then our friend brought over dinner (it was SO GOOD Paola!! Thanks again!) and we were able to sit down and have a nice hot dinner with real food. Then our neighbor took the kids downstairs to her apartment and we started loading up the truck. A friend from church came and was a huge help. He took all of the boxes down to the truck and Roy started stacking them. When all the boxes were out we decided to call it a night. The kids had a lot of fun at the neighbor's house (thanks again Linnea!!) and even got pjs on at her house, so when we came inside it was bedtime. Roy and I stayed up and got all of the furniture ready to be taken to the truck in the morning and loaded up the rest of random boxes. We managed to be asleep by 11.

Blaise actually slept in this morning (he always does that when we have something we need to be doing!) so we didn't get up till 7 and we had people coming to help at 8. Rae didn't get out of bed till about 8:15 and I actually had to force her out of her bed so I could put it in the trailer! We had 4 guys come and load stuff up this morning and we were done by 9! I took the kids to another friend's house and by the time I got home Roy and one of the guys had completely finished the trailer and were closing it up. Woo hoo! Since the kids were gone we got a lot done around here. We took out the carpet (except for our bedroom because that's where we are sleeping tonight) and took down the mini-blinds, cleaned up all the random stuff that had been put in random places and showered. It was so nice! Then we went to pick them up (thanks again Diana!!) and got some pizza for lunch and went to Walmart for a few random things. We just got home and all we have here is the laptop, clothes, a few blankets, the air mattress, a few toys and the dining room table (since we are leaving it behind). The kids are supposed to go over to another friend's house in a couple of hours to play, so that will be nice. In the mean time I'll let Rae watch a movie on the portable DVD player and try to get Blaise down for a nap.

We are so blessed to have such great friends and such a great ward! Tomorrow morning we'll load everything up into the van and then some gals from Relief Society will come and help me clean. Tomorrow night we are staying in a hotel and I'm looking forward to relaxing!

This will probably be my last post for a while, just wanted to let everyone know that things are going pretty good and we're getting through this! Can't wait to see the family at our reunion in just a week! Yay!

Found!

I knew we would find it when we moved! Roy just pulled out the computer desk in living room and my wedding ring was under there. I finally broke down a few months ago and bought a new ring but it looks like I should have waited!! I really like both of my rings though, and my new one is a little loose, so maybe it will be my ring for when I'm pregnant and chubby-handed. Roy lost his ring and watch a month or so ago, maybe it will turn up under the dresser or something. :)

Love in a can

Hardcore snacking at the Wright house:



Blaise is so torn -- his tongue says "yes" but the rest of his face says "no no no!"

Early Birthday Celebration *Edited*

Since we will have just moved to Kirksville on Rae's birthday (the 31st) we decided to have a birthday party for her before leaving. It was all very last minute, but turned out great. We had it in the apartment complex community center, so I didn't have to worry about cleaning my house or anything, which was great. I've gone to lots of parties in the community center, but this was my first time reserving it. Wish I had done it more often!

When the girls (all girls, btw, no boys allowed at the princess party - besides, she doesn't have many boy friends and Abe moved) arrived I had princess crown door hangers (thank you Dollar Tree) out to decorate with glitter and stickers. They all seemed to enjoy that.



Roy whipped up a cute "pin the kiss on the frog" game, so we played that next and the girls got a kick out of it.





Then we had birthday cake. I'm not very creative with cake decorating, so I just used whatever I had in my "decoration collection" and left it up to Roy, and he did an awesome job.







After that we opened presents. Rae got a lot of good travel type gifts, I think everyone had that in mind when picking what to give her. I really appreciate all the great gifts and Rae is already having a blast with them!




After that we did the pinata (which cost WAY too much money, btw, and was NOT EVEN worth it!) And then the girls all ran around crazy and played with balloons and ate candy!



It was pretty fun, and very un-stressful for me, which is really the most important part! (Seriously, what is the point of stressing yourself out for a 4-year old's party. And I get easily stressed with things like this...okay, I just get easily stressed!)

Anyway, here are some picture for your enjoyment.

**I forgot to mention that Roy and I got Rae a digital camera for her birthday. It's one of those basic, 20 buck ones. She always wants to use ours, so now she has her very own. I'm a little disappointed in the quality of the "view screen" because it's a little blurry and Rae can't see what she's taking a picture of, but I think she'll get used to it, and she's still very excited. Her words: "Now I have a camera of my very own". We wanted to give it to her before our trip so she could take pictures along the way.

Happy 4th

Our family looked really cute this morning in our matching patriotic shirts, but we didn't get a picture and now we all have various food items on our clothes from our ward's pancake breakfast this morning.

I'm on the Activities Committee at church, so I had to be there at 7 this morning to help set up. We cooked pancakes and sausage, and also had some muffins,fruit and donuts. It was great and everything went really well and was cleaned up by 10. This was my last activity and I just hope that when we move I can finally have a break from the activities committee! (I've been doing it for 3 years now, along with other various callings at the same time)

I don't think we are going to go see any fireworks tonight. Rae doesn't even know that there are going to be fireworks and it's so just late at night before they even start. I'm not sure it's worth having them tired and cranky. Plus, in Davis it's hard to even get any parking at the park where the fireworks are, and I'm sure it takes an hour to just get out of there, so I think we'll just stay home and enjoy an early bedtime. :) Plus, Rae's party is tomorrow and I don't want her to be too tired.

Anyway, Happy Fourth Of July to everyone! Have fun doing whatever you do today!

One week later

My wisdom teeth were removed one week ago (in case you missed the post). One week later and I'm FINALLY feeling normal again! Apparently the surgeon left behind some tooth! I noticed on Sunday or Monday and it just felt like a wiggly tooth like when you were younger and would wiggle your tooth with your tongue. But I wasn't quite sure if it was tooth material or just some skin that was supposed to be there. So I wasn't sure if I should mess with it. Tuesday night it was really driving me crazy and last night it started bugging me a lot and I decided to try to wiggle it a little everyday and see if it would come out. Well, this morning I was getting up with Blaise (at the crack of dawn) and it just fell out! I caught it and put it in a little zip lock bag and I'm going to take it to my follow-up appointment on Saturday. After that fell out the pain in my mouth reduced drastically! Seriously, last night I still couldn't open my mouth wide enough to eat normally and this morning I can open my mouth all the way with hardly any discomfort. I am so happy and relieved. I can't believe how much tooth was left in there - crazy!

In other news, we finally settled on a moving company and actually have our truck reserved. Whew. We are going with ABF U-Pack. They drop an empty 28ft trailer off at your house and you fill it with how ever much space you need (we have 10ft listed in our quote) and then they pick it up the next day. They fill the rest of the truck with freight material. They are going to store it for us (big chunk of money for them to do that for us, but we don't have a choice) and then deliver it to our house in Kirksville. This is what I wanted to do from the very beginning but I didn't think I could fit a 28ft trailer into the parking lot here. Well, the other day a neighbor was moving in and they did it with ABF, so I now know it can be done. And I got in contact with the City Manager in Kirksville and got permission to park it on the street in front of our new place. So glad that is all taken care of!

The other hold-up we had with deciding how to move our stuff was that we didn't have an answer from our landlord about when we could move in. Our lease says the 29th but he said that we might be able to get in earlier than that because the people living there now were thinking about leaving early. Well, apparently their plans changed, so we have to stick with the original date of the 29th. Which means we get to hangout with family in Charlotte for extra long and try to be good guests. Unfortunately it also means that we had to pay ABF 500 bucks to store our stuff. Oh well, moving sucks and it's so expensive and there's not much you can do about it. The other option was Roy driving a uhaul and towing our van behind it, getting to Kirksville, unloading our stuff into a storage unit, drop off the uhaul, and then drive to Charlotte for the reunion. It would been a little bit cheaper, but a lot more hassle and effort and stress, all of which I decided are worth a few hundred dollars to eliminate.

Anyway, I'm sure you all were dying to hear all of those details. :) Packing is going pretty good here. Roy takes the kids out in the morning and I get a ton done while he is gone. I realized that although I like making lists of what needs done, I work a lot better if I can just randomly walk around the house and pack whatever it is that I feel like packing and can work on several projects at once. Like, if I'm in the middle of packing their stuffed animals and find a puzzle piece, it's okay to drop everything and start packing the puzzles. I can do anything in whatever order I want, just as long as it's all done and organized before the kids get home. I've known this about me before with things like cleaning. (I'll often be cleaning the kitchen and stop to use the bathroom and then start cleaning the bathroom) Maybe that's why I don't clean very well with other people around. Hmmm.

Okay, time to get packing. We are having a late start this morning!

Nummers

This post is mainly for my siblings, who will understand.

Know what I ate for dinner? A hot dog and cheese burrito. :) Roy was making quesadillas for dinner and I was making hot dogs for the kids, and first I thought of making a classic Jeppson pizza with a tortilla, ketchup (seasoned with Italian seasoning) cheese and cut up hot dog. But then I remembered my absolute favorite ghetto meal. You take a hot dog, heat it up. Then you put cheese on a tortilla and heat that up. Then you slap it together and roll it up. Totally unhealthy, but oh so good. Roy threatened to leave, but it's worth it even then. :)

Maybe tomorrow morning I'll make spaghetti eggs.

Me, me, me

I started blogging in August 2006. I didn't do much at first, but almost two years later I'm getting the hang of it. :) I was the first person in my family to start blogging and I don't take all the credit, but I do hope I had something to do with the amount of family members blogging now. My sisters all started blogs about a year after me and then my brother's wife and then my other brother and his wife. I have a few cousins that have blogs, an uncle, an aunt and the newest additions are my mom and her sister! I'm so excited. We don't get to see each other very often so reading each other's blogs helps us all stay in touch and I really enjoy it.

Just remember that I was ahead of you all in the trend! (although behind most people in the trend) I'm just glad we all got with the trend and I hope that when the trend wears off that we'll all keep going strong!

Other special occasions

I started this post last week and I'm gonna go ahead and publish it now...it's not really finished, but oh well.


This was a busy week for us! Last Wednesday my in-laws and mom arrived. We went to the Farmer's Market that evening, where the kids got to ride the ponies (twice!).






Thursday morning we went bowling and then Roy's graduation was that afternoon. We left the kiddos with some great friends (thanks again!) and got to "enjoy" the super long ordeal! Boring! But it was great to see Roy get hooded and all that stuff. And it got done earlier than expected, so that was nice.


Friday was our 6-year anniversary. We went to Vacaville, did a little shopping and went to Olive Garden for lunch. Not exactly a romantic night-out, but the inlaws picked up the tab, so that was nice! :) Then we went to the pool and had a lot of fun there.

Saturday morning we went to Ikea to pick up some things that you can only get at Ikea, which they don't have in Missouri! Then the in-laws left and we just lounged around the rest of the day. Sunday we were all sick (except for my mom, lucky!) so we stayed home from church and Roy didn't get much of a special day, but he's great and totally didn't care. Yesterday and today we've been trying to get a bit of packing done while we have an extra adult around (who just happens to be great at packing and cleaning - she even pulled out the stove and cleaned behind it- so awesome!) Tomorrow my mom leaves in the morning and I'm taking the day off from packing and just hanging out with the kiddos and trying to get completely better from my cold.

Oh, and if anyone has advice about moving companies, let me know! We're considering using ABF U-Pack. Oh, and did I mention that we found somewhere to live? We found a great 3 bedroom,1 bath duplex (well, 8-plex) for $550 a month. The price is a little above average for the area, but it's a really nice, new property that a couple of members of the church live in (I called someone there and she told me all about it) and it has a washer and dryer included and I really like the layout. And, everything for rent was filling up really fast and we had to just grab whatever we could get. And, this is one of the only properties that could let us in July instead of the 2nd week of August.

Two things today

First of all, Happy Birthday to my nephew Nolan! He turned 6 today! Hope you had a fun day. He's the oldest biological grandchild in our family. His parents just adopted 2 kids older than him and one younger than him, so he no longer holds the "oldest grandchild" title. But he'll always be my first nephew!

Secondly, I did something horrible today. I had my wisdom teeth removed. Ugh. Our dental insurance options when we move won't be very good so I decided I better get it done while it's free. (Thank you tax payers) I called yesterday to make an appointment and they had a free slot today, which was a good thing because I didn't have enough time to talk myself out of it. (Although this morning I was back and forth about whether I was going to do it) I thought my teeth were fine and had decided to just get it done after the next pregnancy, but this week one of them started hurting again, so I just bit the bullet and did it.

The only dental work I've ever had done are x-rays, cleanings, and one small cavity filled (without any kind of numbing). This was a big deal for me. They just used local anesthesia and that was the worst part of it all. The shots hurt a lot. The numbing drove me crazy. The actual removal of the teeth was super quick and painless. It was very frustrating to not be able to talk with the gauze in my mouth, especially since we went grocery shopping immediately after and I couldn't communicate with my family! And then Roy and the kids got a pizza on the way home and it was torture to smell and see it and not be able to eat it!!

I finally stopped bleeding about an hour and a half afterwards and I felt a lot better with the gauze out of my mouth. But then the numbing started to slowly wear off and the pain was so intense! Roy got home with my Vicodin prescription just in time. I only took one and it didn't help, so an hour later I took another and now I feel fantastic! I'm definitely going to have to stay on top of the painkillers!

So far I've had a can of Slim Fast and some tomato soup. It feels fine to drink but I don't really feel hungry so I'm hoping this will be a good chance for some rapid weight loss! (Slim Fast and tomato soup are super Weight Watchers friendly)

I was going to post a picture of my cheeks, but they really aren't very big. My face just looks the way it looked before I lost weight. Maybe tomorrow they will be bigger.

Oh, and the dentist office was 20 miles away in our favorite town (Vacaville) so Roy and the kids dropped me off and went to Nut Tree and rode some rides and had fun while I got tortured. :) Then we all went shopping at our favorite store that we are going to miss so much: WinCo. By the way, have I mentioned how fantastic it is to have a husband home full time?? Well, most of the time it's great, sometimes I wish we could have more of a regular schedule, but on days like this I'm thrilled. He's been taking such good care of the kids and me today and will continue to until I'm all healed. Perfect timing, really, to get this done...I have time to heal before the serious moving stuff starts.

Anyway, just thought you'd all love to hear about my day. :) Hopefully if I stay on the pain medicine I'll keep feeling as good as I feel right now, because earlier in the day I felt like I was going to die! (I seriously felt as horrible as being in labor - in a different way, of course)

Oh, and I looked into Medicaid in Missouri and it looks like we might qualify. (Me at least for pregnancy when it comes along) I've also been looking at other forms of insurance too (thanks for the tip Andrea) and don't feel quite as stressed about it.

I guess that's all for now. I have a couple of draft posts that I've been working on for a while that I'm gonna try to get to this week before all the major packing has to begin. I gave myself this week to relax and hang out with the kids and stop stressing about packing and then I'm going to start back up next week.

Sigh

So, I'm not trying to be a baby with this whole thing, trying to get someone to hold my hand and help me make a decision, but I do feel like the purpose of me blogging is to get some advice and input from people who have more experience than me and can give some insight to my decisions. (Man, what a run-on sentence!) It's been a long time since we've had to do the whole health insurance thing and I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around each plan and the benefits and drawbacks of both. I appreciate the comments everyone has left, and I was wondering if I could get more input if I put some of the specific numbers. (You know that commercial where the girl talks to everyone she comes across about her car insurance? Sorry, I'm going to be like that for a bit here)

Medical Rates

Plan A

Plan B

A few things to keep in mind. Besides well-child visits, so far Rae and Blaise have been to the doctor maybe 10 times. They've only ever had 3 prescriptions and no hospital stays. Rae went to the emergency room once, but not for a true emergency. All of this could change in the next year, so I don't want to have my hopes up.

As for me, I plan to be pregnant while on this insurance. Both plans have the same maternity coverage. I'm leaning towards Plan A, since they have the "co-pay" type plan. (except not for maternity if I'm reading it correctly) Roy would like to be able to go to the doctor a few times for checkups, since he hasn't been to one in like 5 years. Anyway, any input is helpful. Thanks.

Bleh

Trying to figure out health insurance is the pits. Roy will have decent insurance through the school and they have a dependent plan, but I don't know what type to choose. All I know is that my kids go to the doctor for well-child visits and not much else. They hardly ever need any medication and we have only been to the ER once (just because we were in Blythe and couldn't go anywhere else) But then what if something serious happens to them and I'm stuck paying some big ol' deductible the ONE time they actually need medical attention. And with me, man, I never go to the doctor, mainly because I hate making appointments. :) But I do know I want to have another kid soon and I don't want to have to pay a bunch of money every month for insurance and STILL have to pay my deductible AND my co-pay. I never realized how easy we had it on state provided insurance. Man oh man, the good ol' days of stealing other people's taxes! :)

Seriously though, any advice out there? High deductible, low monthly payment? Vice-versa? One thing I will mention is that with whatever plan we go with, the well-child visits and immunizations are completely covered, so that's nice (even though I guess now that Blaise is older he doesn't need them nearly as often, so it doesn't really matter) Anyway, what do ya'll think?

Family Reunion

Hey all you Blythe Jeppsons, I have a question for you! When are you coming to the family reunion, and when are you leaving? We are trying to plan a trip to see Roy's dad while we are there and want to figure out when the best time is.

I'll start: I decided to fly to Charlotte with the kiddos and Roy will be driving our van and meeting us there. I'll arrive Sunday the 13th in the evening and then Roy will probably get there anytime Tuesday-Thursday (not sure yet when he'll be leaving Davis) We'll most likely be leaving Tuesday the 22nd. And how about you Christie? And Lindsey? And Aaron? And mom and dad? Your answers are appreciated!

Gross

I woke up to a lovely sight this morning. Thousands of ants in two trails from my balcony to my kitchen. I'm talking trails that were 3 or 4 ants wide, not just a small trail. One trail was focusing on the fruit near the trash can and the other trail was focused on the washing machine. Now, I know, you are probably thinking "hey, you should clean your house". Yes, I should. But it isn't even that messy. Yesterday I never got around to sweeping the kitchen like I usually do several times a day. And I didn't get around to vacuuming the living room, but it's not like it was that dirty. And yesterday was the first day in a week that we didn't do the dishes or wipe down the counters before bed. And this is the FIRST time this has EVER happened while living here. We often get a handful of ants in the bathroom, looking for water, but never in the kitchen! Ugh, so gross. Now my house reeks of bug spray (which it's lucky we even had - I hate to use it and I don't even remember when I bought it) which I wouldn't usually use, but how else do you kill a ton of ants before your son gets eaten by them??

We didn't even go to bed till midnight last night and Blaise woke up at 6 this morning - those ants are really fast!

And, if you are wondering, we spent the day doing far more important things than cleaning. For instance, I grumped around the house till noon and finally got dressed when Blaise went down for a nap and then we went to the river and came home that exhausted and dirty and fairly miserable. And after the kids went to bed I spent 3 hours packing and planning stuff. See, far too busy to clean. :)

Out of respect for my mother-in-law...

...I will respond to a tag, just this once.

5 things I did 10 years ago
1. Graduated high school.
2. Started college at Cal State Fullerton (mathematics major).
3. Almost got arrested for misuse of a laser pointer and a Geo Metro.
4. Went to my first LAN party.
5. Bred rodents.


5 things on my list for tomorrow (Ashley is dictating this to me)
1. Clean out my office (at school).
2. Take out the trash.
3. Bathe the kids, as usual.
4. Dishes.
5. Pack (maybe).


5 favorite snacks/food
1. Oatmeal
Instant oatmeal blended to a fine powder, then mixed with cold milk, peanut butter, cinnamon, and Splenda. This is also Blaise's favorite.
2. Quesadillas
Canned refried beans pureed to a fine mush, then mixed with Taco Bell hot sauce and shredded cheese between two tortillas, baked. Or sour cream instead of the beans.
3. Buffalo Chicken Strips with Bleu Cheese Dressing
Chicken breast meat processed to a fine pulp, then... just kidding.
4. Mushroom Pizza
Or, more specifically, Papa John's pizza with chicken and mushrooms, if I could afford it.
5. Olive Garden
Just about anything from Olive Garden.


5 things I would do if I were a billionaire
1. Papa John's!
2. Free up enough time to write several books.
3. Get a proper bathroom with a bidet!
4. Have more kids.
5. I don't know, mostly donate it away, but very strategically.


5 bad habits
1. Reading blogs.
2. Getting behind on dishes.
3. Obsessing over things.
4. See #3.
5. See #3.


5 places I have lived
1. Flint, MI.
2. Anaheim, CA.
3. Argentina.
4. Fullerton, CA.
5. Irvine, CA.


People I tag
I abstain.

Happy Father's Day

Since I feel like I was a total slacker for Father's Day this year, I thought I should at least write a bit about some of the fathers in my life.



My pops always works so hard for his family and still finds time to be a great dad and grandpa! My mom has been here for a few days for Roy's graduation (oh yeah, I should post about that) but my dad wasn't able to come and we sure miss him!
Some of my favorite memories of my dad:

It always made me feel so good to know that he was such a good member of the church. He was in the bishopric most of my childhood, and having him on the stand being an example to everyone else always made me feel good. And it was comforting to know that he could give me priestood blessings when I needed them, and he often gave us "back to school" blessings.

He worked in the summer in the melon sheds (he was a HS teacher and with 8 kids we needed extra income in the summer) and he'd come home smelling like melons. Whenever I smell a cantaloupe I think of my dad!

He's supportive of decisions that I've made as an adult, but he also gives advice when he can see that it is needed.

If he lays down for more than 2 minutes he'll fall asleep....usually with the tv on. But if you try to take the remote control from him he'll wake up and say "hey, I'm awake".





And, my other favorite dad, the father of my kiddos! When Rae was born Roy wasn't quite sure what to do, but he was very willing to learn! He was even the one who changed her first poopy diaper! And now he's a diaper changing, getting kids baths and bed, kid chasing, wrestling dad that is so much fun!



By the time Blaise came along Roy had a pretty good idea of what he was doing, and he was much more willing to get Blaise down for naps and to sleep at night so that I wouldn't have to be a human pacifier. He makes Blaise's favorite food (oatmeal) better than I can and is quick to get him in the tub after he's smeared it all over his hair. Man oh man, I love this father and how much effort he puts into making our life happy!

Roy's dad hasn't really been part of his life but we've recently started talking to him and visited him last fall. We'll see him again in a few weeks and it's nice to know that he's there for us when we need him and is making an effort into trying to make up for lost years.

Roy's mom married a great guy a few years ago, and he's a fun grandpa and the kids really like him. When we got married I didn't have a father-in-law, so it's been fun to have this role filled!

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

La la la...

Zion, Zion, Beautiful Zion

Here it is...the moment you all have been waiting for! We are moving to:

Kirksville, Missouri!


View Larger Map

Roy will be starting in August as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Mathematics at Truman State University. It is a one year position but might be renewable for a few more years. It will be quite a change, but we are excited! More details to come, when we get everything figured out! :)

Okay, one more...Papababy!

This one is my favorite!

Omababy

Cute picture

I found this picture the other day when I was going through boxes. These are most of my cousins on my dad's side of the family. I thought my family would enjoy seeing it! Anyone know what year this is? I'm guessing 97 or so?