Carol Ann

Hello everyone!

Things are busy and boring, so I have not had time or information to blog about! We have been working on the house still and are REALLY in the final stages. All of our carpet has been replaced. The only thing left is to do the tiling in the front part of the house and trivial things like, baseboards, windowsills, decorating and DECLUTTERING! I feel like I will be decluttering forever.

One fun event that recently happened, was that Carol Ann, my mother-in-law, came home for fall break and put on a recital at Boise State. There was a very good turn out and she did wonderfully!

Christian still was not up to going and seeing tons of people, so my sister and I went. Our favorite pieces (written my Liszt) were performed in the second half of her recital. As some of you may know, Carol Ann is somewhat of an aficionado when it comes to List, and she performed those pieces perfectly.

It was a highly enjoyable night, and brought back many memories of being a music major at BSU, sitting in the recital hall.

GREAT JOB CAROL ANN!

Christian Stuff

I have been asked a few times when the new study drug, I previously blogged about, would start. We just got a packet of information in the mail and read the 23 page information on the study. Unfortunately, it looks like we (meaning Christian) won't be taking part in this study.


It would be more in depth clinic visits that could last anywhere from 8-10 hours. Plus the study goes on for 48 weeks which included EKG's and blood draws etc.


Of course, that's not really the reason. The main reason is that it is a random, double-blind, placebo study. There is only a 50% chance that he will get the study drug. A computer would assign if he gets the placebo or not. We decided that it would not be worth his time to go through a two year study when he doesn't know if he would actually get the study drug.

Lavender!

This last weekend was the Lavender Festival here in Nampa. My mom and sister and I have been wanting to go in the past years, but haven't had the chance. This year we finally went. I had fun spending time with fam and picking lavender.

He had some yummy lavender lemonade and lavender tea cookies. We got there about 12:30 and the lavender lunch that was for sale had sold out along with the lavender ice cream. We had to opt for Jack-in-the-Box...but we still had fun! Here are some pictures.

The Daniel Boone Cabin

My parent's cabin is basically finished. They are trying to sell it and are renting it out until then. I am so proud of their hard work that I had to post some pictures!

We have nicknamed it the Daniel Boone cabin because it's made the old fashioned way, using logs and a pulley system etc. Plus my mom put a quote on the wall from Daniel Boone that says, "We continued not in a state of indolence, but hunted every day, and prepared a little cottage to defend us from the winter storms."

After I took these pictures, they staged it differently and brought in beds etc...but get the picture!

Downstairs guest room

Master bedroom downstairs

Main floor bathroom

Upstairs bathroom

Jenay getting ready upstairs

Dad on the back deck

View into front room and entry from the loft.

View of entry and stairway from the loft

Animals and Christian

WARNING: I do not claim that this is an exciting post!!

Here are some pictures of Hope and I hanging out while Christian and D were on a business trip.


Here's some cool pictures of our rooster.


Here's some pictures of Christian with a sparkling cider bottle. We were trying to make it look like he passed out like a drunk. He's pretty convincing!

Catch up pictres

So I haven't been able to play catch up like I should. I will attempt to do so with pictures. I'm sorry if you hate looking at pictures, but I love it so too bad!

SPECIAL OLYMPICS

This last winter, my parents were able to be the host family for some of the athletes from the Jamaican floor hockey team who came to compete in the Special Olympics. They were three young men in their 20's who were deaf. They were so sweet and nice and one of them had a crush on my single sister!

We were able to go and have a BB-Q and a hoedown with all the athletes from Jamaica and Gibraltar. It was jun to have them teach us how to dance and then they learned how to line dance.

I didn't realize how poor of a country Jamaica was until we got to know these people. They had never played a video game before and so we brought over our Wii for them to try to bowl...which they also don't do in Jamaica! They had a lot of fun with that.

One of the benefits of the special Olympics is that they got to go to doctors over here. They got hearing aids and glasses which would not be possible where they lived. Not only that, but the Jamaican floor hockey team came got the silver! We are so proud to have had this opportunity.

Because my parent's were hosts, we got free tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies. It was so neat to be there and was probably one of the most touching experiences I had. It really made you feel excited to be alive.

This little blond girl ran from the line to where a team of athletes were. She stood in front of the team waiving her little American Flag. I don't know if you can tell, but a lot of the team members were taking pictures of this cutie!


They had these lighted stars hanging from the ceiling all over the Idaho Center.

The room was full of these special people, from all over the world, who knew they were doing something wonderful and exciting and they felt great. Everyone there clapped and cheered as the athletes paraded onto the floor. It was a big party full of dancing and cheering. If you ever have the opportunity to go, I would definitely suggest it.

The Jamaicans marching in.

The Olympic Flame. Each team brought in a glass ball which they put on the poles of the tee pee. Towards the end of the ceremony, they all lit up and the flame was lit and everyone cheered!

More Cute Nieces and Nephew

I didn't want people to think that I only had two nieces and one nephew. I actually have five nieces and two nephews. Here are some cute pictures of my brother's kids. (Even if they are a year or two old!) We sure do love them and miss them. We don't get to see them too often since they moved away from Idaho.

We think about you all and hope sweet Emily gets the help she needs. We will keep her in our prayers.

Fun with the Kiddos!

My sister went out of town last weekend to visit her husband. My mom volunteered to take care of the kids for a few days. Since mom gets tired out easily, Jenay and I took the kids on all sorts of fun trips on Saturday.

The Meridian Dairy Days was going on and so we decided to take them there. They got to ride some rides and have their face painted, watch the FFA kids show their cute little calves, eat ice cream and play a few carnival games.

I was touched with how wonderful the people were who ran the carnival rides. My nieces and nephew all have special needs and they allowed us to ride on the Merry-go-round with them to make sure they were okay. I saw them helping more severely handicapped kids on and off rides.

The kids got to play a few games. We paid for them each to throw one dart and try to pop a balloon. The man who ran the game let each kid throw as many darts as it took for them to pop a balloon. Then, he gave EACH of them a prize. They were so excited!

The next game was a "fishing booth." They had little plastic fish floating in water. The nose of the fish had a magnet and the "hook" on the fishing pole had another magnet. The kids fished until they could catch a fish.

The woman let them upgrade their toys to the next level. Of course the girls were excited because they had cute, stuffed unicorns and my nephew was happy because he upgraded to a sword! My one niece is autistic and really wanted the unicorn and her other toy. Her Aunt 'Nay was going to buy it for her, but the lady just gave both toys to her.

There was a free face painting booth. Marcia had two butterflies painted on her face and Sammy had the Batman logo painted on his face. Angel decided that she wanted her had painted. Angel wanted a unicorn on her hand, but when she came up to us to show us, she had a brown blob instead. Jenay asked what it was and Angel gave her a weird look and said, "it's an acorn!" Jenay took her back to the lady to see if Angel could get a unicorn on the other hand.

The girl said, "Oh UNIcorn, I thought she said Acorn. I was thinking that was creative!"

So Angel had an acorn and an unicorn painted on her hands. We are still laughing over that one!

We ended with going to Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D. The kids loved it! (As well as their two aunts) What a cute movie, I will definitely see it again. Marcia and Angel didn't like wearing the glasses, but they sure looked cute!

I'm attaching some of the pictures we took. We forgot the camera and so we had to use our cell phones and these are some that were in focus as well as some from little 'Cia's birthday. We didn't get much of Angel and Sammy because they were running all around and we couldn't get pictures of them! You will just have to visualize.

Enjoy!

Catch-up!

Hello Friends and Family!

I have to apologize for neglecting the updates on our glamorous lifestyle! Finals were last week and so I'm trying to catch up on a lot of things that I had neglected. I am going to try to update everyone to the best of my ability, but I don't have pictures so those who just look at pictures and don't read, I'm sorry!

As I previously stated, school is out! No more teachers, no more books, no more of Christian's dirty looks! (Just kidding, that only happened if I wasn't doing homework.) I was going to take summer school, but decided not to. We are hoping to get the house put back together in about a month. We shall see!

Christian's business is flourishing. He has lost a lot of his out of area work, but has also gained a lot of local work. Needless to say, we are very busy.

Not much else has happened. The TV room remodel is coming along. We have it textured and primed. Then I realized that there were areas where the texture needs "touched up," so the room is still not finished. The paint is picked and purchased and the carpet is picked out...not we just have finishing touches! When I get the chance I will upload some pictures for you all.

Christian's health hasn't been too grand for the last few months. About a month ago the doctor wanted to put him in the hospital, but Christian refused to go. (MEN!) Luckily, he stayed home and didn't go to work and did his breathing treatments etc. and his pulmonary function tests went up. He's doing better, but not quite 100% yet.

To make a short update longer, we are doing well, the house is coming along, I'm not in school, and the sun is shining. Life is pretty okay right now!

Another House Update

Here's what the room is looking like now. We are almost done with everything. Basically all that is needed is taping, texturing, painting, siding and carpet. Note: We are not doing the last two ourselves as it would NEVER GET DONE! :) We are excited.