I am going to be a mother-in-law!!!

Well, it is official. Stephanie is engaged to Aaron Lanoy of Rogers, AR. Don't have a date yet...just know it will be sometime in the fall. Sure I will know shortly. He seems like a wonderful man. We are very excited to meet him this coming weekend when they come up.

Melanie's Graduation Open House

Please join us to celebrate Melanie's High School Graduation. Event will be held in the Discovery Den, located on the 4th floor of the Kirby Science Discovery Center in the Washington Pavilion. Entertainment and refreshments will be provided. May 13, 2010. 5:30-7:30pm

Updates

I know...I know...it is a miracle that I am updating this! Just sitting here waiting for dinner to be done. Paul went to pick up the missionaries so that we can feed them and I had a few minutes of peaceful quiet. (Ben is outside playing basketball, Nate is on the computer, Shirley is in her room and Melanie and Sam are both at work), or else it wouldn't be quiet at all. So much has happened since the last time I wrote I wouldn't even know where to begin but most of you are on facebook anyhow and know what is going on. I will just put a few updates in here. Paul is having eye surgery on April 20 and May 18. He has glaucoma and they need to release the pressure. He just finished going through two weekend trainings for Wood Badge. Stephanie should be home in less that 10 days but she is flying out to Arkansas for a job interview and then going to Las Vegas with my brother so we will see her for a few days here and there. Melanie got accepted to BYU Provo and is going on a school trip to Chicago next week. Sam is going to the national leadership training and then to scout camp along with a handcart trek and an outdoor youth camp in the Rockies this summer so he will be busy. He is getting started on his Eagle...finally. Nate is working on his Eagle and should be done with his project in June. He has a big competition tomorrow for a physics challenge. Ben is starting softball next week and is loving scouts. He took 5th at the Pinewood Derby. Shirley will be leaving on May 25th. We will really miss her. Last weekend she took another oil painting class with me. She is going out to the Black Hills this month. I am busy at work. My boss is out until July but I really love my job! I lost my uncle this month and my sister got married. Unfortunately I couldn't go to either. I turn 40 next month and I am going to climb Mt. Washburn in Yellowstone as my present to myself. Steph graduated in December and Mel graduates next month. Life seems to by flying by but mostly it is a good flight to be on. Oh, and Melanie cut off 14 inches of her hair.

More Shirley Fun

Shirley told me she felt like she might have a pig cold...we finally figured out she was trying to tell us she was scared she had Swine Flu. At dinner we were discussing Sam being grounded...Shirley looked at Mel and said "Sam is a granddad?" We made monkey bread for dinner and I asked Mel and Shirley to help. She thought it was bread for the monkeys to eat. I told her we would eat it not monkeys...she thought that it was called monkey bread because it is the color of monkeys. I said no and then she thought maybe because it looks like a monkeys tail?!? She thinks the word goofball is fun so she is always calling people a goofball...tonight we were watching football and she got the two confused and called her friend a football on facebook. It is a riot around here!

New Exchange Student

We have an exchange student from China this year. She is adorable. Funny, respectful, helpful and just a delight. She speaks very good English but some things have been so cute as she figures out the correct usage. For example, we were having baked potatoes with ranch dressing. She wanted some ranch so she asked someone to pass her the potato jam. Then she was taking the skin off the potato and Melanie asked her what she was doing...she said she was taking off its clothes. She is loving seminary. We got her a Chinese Book of Mormon since that is what they are studying. She came home yesterday and was telling me about Lehi taking his family camping...we took her camping over Paul's birthday. She thought that it was very cold. We took her to the Renaissance Fair in Minnesota. That was quite an experience. She asked us to teach her to pray and has been offering prayers ever since. We are glad to have her here.

Ben's hospital stay

I am writing this while I am in need of a very long nap so if there are errors...please forgive me! Sunday night, Paul's parents were here visiting and about 4pm Ben had a seizure while he was awake. This is highly unusual as his seizures always happen when he is sleeping. He had two more within the next two hours and then had 9 while he was sleeping. I kept him home the next morning and he slept until 10 am and then went to school. He did great all day. I had put in a call to his doctor and was waiting for a call back. Tuesday, I still hadn't heard from the doctor and I picked him up early from the school to go to the dentist. He had a seizure in the waiting room and then two in the dentist chair so they cut his visit short. He had two more while we waited for Nate to get done with his appt. He continued to have them every 4-5 minutes...to make a very long story shorter...we ended up in the emergency room and by the time we got him sedated he had had 47 seizures. He was admitted to the pediatric ICU and they stopped the seizures and have started him on a new medication. His CT came back good but of course the EEG was abnormal but they feel we can control everything with medication. They also gave us a medication for PRN situations and for traveling. We came home about an hour ago and Ben is already sleeping and I am heading that way too.

Winterfeast part 2

Here are our pictures from Winterfeast.