JVK Squad in Corvallis (not Utah)

I Love to See the Temple

2011-09-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

The prophet asked that we have a picture of the temple in each of our bedrooms. It may have taken me six months, but I now have pictures of my girls at the temple, thanks to my dad. I love them. I am glad that I was able to take my girls there. The temple is such a special place and Katarina could tell. I love that her favorite song right now is "I love to see the temple". I am grateful for the counsel of the prophet and that we can follow such counsel. I am also grateful for the wonderful blessings of the temple and the impact they have on my family. I am grateful that I get to have my precious little girls forever. I can't imagine life without them.

Katarina Loves to Sing

2011-09-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

Here she is singing her favorite right now "I Love to See the Temple"

Last night she called up her Grandma and sang it to her over the phone. What a sweetie. Hard to believe she'll be 3 in less than a month!

Portofino's in LA

2011-06-17T07:12:00.000-07:00

I was going to try and do our whole trip in one big post, but I have decided to do it in a few small(ish) segments. This is our time at Portofino's, my grandma's favorite restaurant. She eats there every Monday with all the family members that want to join her. It was fun to be with everyone and enjoy the good food and good company. We sure love family traditions.

Her first taste of lemon. (Long Story)

Ice cream toast.

Daddy juggling both girls. Look at him go!

Katarina dipping her bread.

Around the Table.

Playing with an ice cube.

Around the Table.

Saying Good Bye.

Look, no double chin. I love you mom. :)

Four Generations

Four Generations of Virginia

(Katarina's middle name is Virginia)

Dancing Skirts

2011-05-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

Zoo Trip

2011-04-21T19:55:00.001-07:00

We got to go to the zoo today with our cousins Kayden and Kyler and with Grandma Peggy. We had a lot of fun a couple of rain showers mixed with hail.

Katarina got to go to the zoo last December with Grandma Mo. Every time that we pass the RiteAid in town she says, "Look, a waterfall, just like at the zoo." Well, since Jayme had never been to the Portland Zoo, and I hadn't been there since I was a young child, neither of us knew what she was talking about, until today. Behold the waterfall at the zoo.

They were training the otters.

We got to ride the train. This was a very big deal for Katarina.

Gifts from Hawaii

2011-04-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Reed just got back from their trip to Hawaii. They brought us all some gifts. Katarina loves her new "Hawaii Dress", and had a great time modeling it with her sister. Along with the dresses came the flower hair clips and some necklaces.

Daddy taught her how to pose doing the hula dance.

Katarina and Elyssa also got a quiet book about the ocean. They both enjoy looking at it.

Hives

2011-04-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

Katarina got pink eye. We took her to the doctor and he said it was viral, but he gave us some medication anyway, just to make sure that she didn't get a secondary bacterial infection. The next day we noticed a big growth on her eye. The doctor said that it was either a reaction to the medication or to the infection, and since he didn't know which, we should stop the medication. The next day we noticed spots on her body. It turns out that sulfa drugs give her hives. We gave her benadryl to combat the hives, but that make her very excitable, which is somewhat normal in young children. After five days of hives, I have stopped giving her medication because she only has one or two little spots left. I hope they have run their cycle and we are done with the pink eye adventure.

Elyssa, Three Months Old

2011-04-14T13:20:00.000-07:00

Carrick Grandkids

2011-04-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

It was great to have Ali and Brian in town with Liam, Tim, and Ty. I was sad that we get sick and weren't able to spend much time with them but at least we got a few pictures of all of the grandkids together. (Even if we did have to bribe Liam with a cookie.) Good luck in Colorado guys!

Lesson Learned

2011-04-14T13:04:00.000-07:00

Katarina tried to pour her own milk today. After a half hour of cleaning and a change of clothes, I hope she learned that she isn't quiet big enough yet.

February

2011-02-27T16:05:00.000-08:00

Wait, the month is almost over? When did it start? This month has been a bit of a blur for me as I have struggled to get back on my feet, learn how to have two children, and then learn how to accomplish anything else as I care for two children. I feel like I am finally able to do the things that need to get done and not rely on Jayme so much. He has been very busy taking care of all of us and everything else the last month and a half. I am so grateful that I can start carrying some of that load.

My favorite thing about being a mother of two is just watching the interaction of my two little girls. Katarina is such a great big sister. She is kind and thoughtful, patient and helpful. She is very gentle. She is also pretty good at playing on her own. Her one shortcoming is that of situational awareness. When she is not directly interacting with Elyssa she is not aware that her feet might be touching her, or that Elyssa might be affected by some of the things that she does, but I don't think it is very fair to expect that of any two year old. I just have to remind her not to be so close to her sister if she is not playing with her. She even gets excited about Elyssa's small victories, such as lifting up her head, though I am careful to let Katarina know that she is also very good at lifting up her head.

One of the sweetest moments that we have had was when Katarina was holding Baby Elyssa and singing her, "I am a Child of God". It was a very precious moment for me. Every time that Katarina holds Baby Elyssa she asks me to take pictures. I love being able to do that. She has also started asking me to take video but then will sit for the video and pose like for a camera. I try to tell her that she should do something for the camera but she just sits there and smiles. It is pretty cute.

We had a lot of fun on Thursday. We got about four inches of snow that actually stuck. Jayme called his dad to let him know that he wasn't going out to work and then he made waffles for us. Elyssa slept while Jayme and Katarina made a Frosty the Snowman and then Katarina's friend came over and they played for a while.

Elyssa is growing like crazy. I have had to rotate though clothes sizes about every week and a half since she was born. I just washed all of the 3-6 month clothes on Friday for her to start wearing. The biggest challenge is to have the clothes fit the length of her arms. She has an amazing arm span. My concern right now is that we don't have a whole lot of 3-6 month clothes and most of the 6 month clothes that we have are summer clothes. I think I will be shopping for baby clothes very soon. I weighed Elyssa about a week ago and she was 11 lbs 3 oz. Last night I had an amazing night. Elyssa went to bed at 8:00 and I woke her up at 3:00 for her to eat. She went back to sleep and didn't wake up until almost 7:00. It was so great. Unfortunately Katarina was up a lot last night. Someday we will all sleep though the night. For now I will take the sleep I can get and enjoy all of the precious moments that I have.

The middle picture is Katarina ready for school. She has her "jacket" and everything.

Check out the arm span.

Bathtime Together

CHEESE

Katarina flying. If you look close you will see that she is wearing a cape.

Katarina wanting me to take pictures of her holding her sister.

Our Family of Four

2011-01-29T10:02:00.000-08:00

Baby Elyssa Marie Glasmann was born at 19.19 on January 10th, 2011. She was 9 lbs. 12 oz. and was 23 inches long. She was diagnosed with strep B a short while later and was in the hospital for a week on an IV antibiotic. Virginia had placenta acreta, strep B, and later a bladder infection, and was released after six days in the hospital, to be moved to a different room in order to stay with Elyssa. We were all very happy when they were finally able to come home, one hour before Elyssa would have been in the hospital for a week.

Katarina has loved being a big sister so far. She is very gentle with Elyssa and loves to hold her, for about thirty seconds at a time. She has now learned that when she is done holding her she needs to let mommy or daddy know, and then wait for mommy or daddy to take Baby Elyssa, before just letting go. She is very attentive to Baby Elyssa and loves to help however she can. She has also become a very good mommy to her dolly. She likes to unzip her pjs and feed her dolly. We have also gone though a few burp cloths for dolly, she seems to spit up quite a lot. This morning dolly woke up with very wet pjs and had to be changed right away. Katarina was very careful to make sure dolly got cream, and even put the imaginary diaper in the trash. Last night we had a hard time making it through family prayer. Baby Elyssa was hungry but Katarina wanted to hold her for prayer. Katarina got a big "kiss" from Elyssa on the cheek as Elyssa was desperately searching for food. Elyssa then discovered Katarina's finger and Katarina was delighted that Elyssa kept sucking on it. Katarina kept sticking her finger further and further in her mouth. Elyssa gagged a few times but Katarina soon figured out how to do it right.

I love watching Katarina hold her little sister and give her kisses. So far, that is my favorite part.

Baby Elyssa, welcome to our family. We are so happy you are here and we love you very much!

Family Pictures

2010-12-02T19:20:00.000-08:00

We had a great time taking pictures and they turned out great. No need to say more.

Katarina's New Bed

2010-09-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

We decided not to buy a toddler bed but to just go straight for the bunk beds. The bed showed up yesterday and we rearranged the furniture last night. Katarina was very disappointed when she learned that daddy wasn't going to assemble her new bed right then. She kept pointing to the empty part of her room and saying, "new bed goes there". The first thing she said to me this morning was, "Daddy make new bed now?" A short while later Daddy was woken up so that he could start working on it. He was very happy to find out that the desk section and the drawer section were completely preassembled so all he needed to do was put the beds together and attach the top bunk. Katarina has been so excited all day. She was sad when she learned that she couldn't take her nap in it because there were no mattress yet. They are supposed to show up tomorrow (hopefully). She was also very happy to move all of her clothes into the drawers on her new bed (which happen to be lined with cedar, and smell wonderfully). She said that she would share her old drawers (the changing table) with the baby. It is funny to me that we could now have three children in that bedroom. Maybe we should have some sleep-over.

Our Trip to L.A.

2010-07-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

Katarina and I flew down to LA to visit my grandma and most of my aunts and uncles. It was great to be down there and see everyone and especially get to spend time with "great grandma". I had a hard time narrowing down the pictures to share, so be warned, there are a bunch of them. Thanks to all of those that fed us, gave us soft beds to sleep on, drove us around (or lent us a car), and most of all, shared their love for us. We love you all.

We flew right over Crater Lake on the way down and on the way back. It was a beautiful sight. Katarina did really well on the plane (it was her first time on a plane) and we both loved looking out the window.

We first stayed with my Auntie Bonnie, whom Katarina quickly started calling Grandma Bonnie. Grandma Bonnie played the part very well. Our first day in LA we went to KidsSpace. This is the hallway to get in. Katarina was instantly hooked. We spend most of the morning there and then went back after her nap.
This is the Toddler Room. Everyone had to take off their shoes and most of the room was padded. There were lots of toys and puzzles and some big things to play with too. I think one of Katarina's favorite parts was just being able to watch all the other kids. My favorite part was the AC (it got to 102 that day).
Katarinal loved standing on these padded stools and attempting to jump off of them. She fell almost every time, but tried at least twenty times.

Auntie Bonnie being Grandma Bonnie.

Notice the white linnen pants. Those came in really handy when Aunt Bonnie video recoreded and hour and a half from her pocket. You can actually see quite a bit from the inside of her pocket. I guess the Flip isn't as easy to use as I thought. :)

This is one of the coolest water fountains I have ever seen. It only shot up a large droplet of water at a time and the droplets made patterns up and down the strip of the fountain. Katarina had a great time playing in it and getting soaked. Good thing it was 102.

Katarina got a flower painted on her cheek. I thought that she would freak out over the whole process but she loved it and she still enjoys seeing the pictures of it.

This was great fun for Katarina, though she insisted on dumping most of her water on the ground instead of the different holes and bowls.

This was her favorite part of the whole place. There were a variety of water colors that could be painted onto the large leaf. Every minute or so the leaf would flush with water washing the colors away and allowing you to start all over again. Katarina insisted on using only the yellow and standing on the near side of the leaf, though I tried to show her that she could actually reach from the far side and use other colors. She spend about 45 minutes painting this leaf and waiting for it to "dry, dry, dry", so she could do it again.

This is her signing spider as we looked a big spider. It was only later that I learned that Grandman Bonnie doesn't like spiders at all. Sorry I had you take the pictures here. :)

At the end of our time at KidsSpace Grandma Bonnie treated us all to some ice cream.

Katarina also got a balloon kitty cat from a clown at KidsSpace. We managed to keep it alive the whole trip.

The next part of our trip took us to Aunt Betty and Uncle George and Colleen. During one of our many trips in the car Katarina became very concerned that her feet were dirty. This is a picture of her with a wet wipe cleaning her feet.

We got to watch Colleen during one of her softball tournaments. We just barly missed watching her hit a home run. We also had lunch there and Katarina loved eating the chips.

This is one of the only pictures of the three of us that I got (not sure how that happened). That is the only reason I am using it. Grandma said it was one of her off days. You will see how great she looks in some of the other pictures. This is Virginia Weaver Reed, Virginia Lee Glasmann, and Katarina Virginia Glasmann. We are only missing my mom, Virginia Clareese Carrick.

It wouldn't be a trip to grandma's house without the youngest generation getting treats from grandma's treat drawer. Katarina didn't mind at all.

One day while we were at Betty's, Dolly had a hard time, she ended up in time-out at least three times.

All was forgiven later.

My little girl is a dipper. She likes to eat anything that can be dipped in ranch, ketchup, mustard, jam, salsa, or anything else she can get her hands on. (Though she wasn't sure what to make of the Tabasco sause that Uncle Dave introduced her to, she didn't understand that it was a rite of passage into the Reed family and that her mommy got the same induction at her age.) Well, I introduced her to Great Grandma's favorite dipping, olive oil and vinager, and it was an instant hit. This is a picture of both of them dipping at the same time.

Katarina showing off some of her sign language.

Betty, Colleen, and Katarina taking Coda for a walk. I got a lot of down time at Betty's because Katarina loved hanging out with Colleen. It was a wonderful break for me.

Breakfast full of fresh fruits and avocados on toast. The orange and the greatfruit were picked from the backyard. They tasted sooo yummy. I brought a couple of greatfruits home with me.

We aren't really sure what kind of animal this is, though I am sure that it is not the kitty that Katarina called it. The important thing is that it sang and danced and Katarina loved to dance with it. (Be careful Aunt Jackie, I think she might be stealing some of your moves.) I took about ten clips of her dancing but I will have to post those later.

Alas, even Kitty ended up in time-out once. (And in a suitcase twice, as Katarina tried to pack it to take it with us.)

I am not a girly girl. So where does the need for a necklace, headband and purse come from?(We ended up taking two necklaces home with us, thanks Aunt Betty.)

Katarina enjoyed driving in LA much more than I did. Thanks Uncle Buddy for letting me drive your car. Next time I just need to learn how to use the navigation system :)

Katarina got to eat a lot of strawberries at Uncle Buddy and Aunt Nancy's house. I had to start limiting her fruit intake becuase I was worried about the plane trip home.

Uncle Buddy let her have the controller for the fan and she thought she had control of the world. You can't really tell in the picture, but the fan is blowing her hair like crazy here.

We got to go to a park and watch some ducks, and some miniutre sail boats with Aunt Nancy.

One of the many play structures that Katarina played on. She loves the slides and swings.

Here is the other picture of the three of us. We spent time with Great Grandma four days in a row and managed to get two pictures of the three of us. We will have to do better next time.

This is a pictue of Katarina chasing rainbows that moved across the carpet. Unfortunately, you can't actually see the rainbows in the picture. Let me asure you that Katarina had fun, and it wasn't just in her head.

After I weighed all of our luggage for the return flight, Katarina wanted to weigh hers.

The toy that kept her busy at Buddy and Nancy's, and helped her start singing her ABC's again.

The drive home after a long day of traveling.

Monday Montage

2010-06-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

My Brown Belt Test

2010-05-04T13:38:00.000-07:00

I started really preparing for my test in January and for the months of March and April I was at the karate school in class or practicing four time a week (an hour and a half on Saturdays). The test was April 16th. We were told that it was supposed to start at 7:30 pm but that it might go late, because the juniors were testing before us, and that it would get over when it was done. (When the panel of black belts were satisfied with what they had seen.) Well, the test didn't start until a bit after 8:00. There were eight of us testing for 3rd brown, the lowest level of brown, three testing for 2nd brown, one testing for 1st brown, one testing for 2nd black, and one testing for 3rd black. We tested in front of a panel of black belts that included two ninth degree black belts (the highest rank there is), our instructor, a 4th degree black belt, and multiple 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree black belts. We started with a bit of a warm-up and some basic combinations with some bags. We then presented our forms, about ten of them, four people at a time, and then moved into self defense. I was prepared with 60 different self defense techniques, but was only tested on about 25 of them. We were separated into four different lines and took turns attacking and defending ourselves with techniques that were called out. We finished our test with sparing and then waited while the panel discussed our performances individually. That took about 30-45 minutes. They then presented us with our belts. Each of those that tested were promoted, which doesn't always happen. In fact, the last adult brown and black belt test, all four of the people failed. The presentation of the belts didn't occur until around midnight. I was really glad that I managed to take a nap that afternoon. I felt really good about my performance overall and I was really grateful for those that were able to come and support me, Jayme, Peggy and Reed, and my dad, who took over 500 pictures of the event (I will post some of them at some point.) And thanks to my mom for not coming (she had strep). I also wanted to thank all those that have babysat Katarina over the past year so that I could continue to go to karate. I couldn't have done it without the help of so many people, especially Jayme, who was patient with my after hard workouts and picked up the slack when it was needed. Karate is one of my passions and I am so glad that I am able to continue learning and developing myself in that area. Just two more belts before I get my black belt!

Cousins

2010-02-08T12:19:00.000-08:00

Katarina loves her cousins on both sides of the family. She loves playing with them, looking at their pictures and she loves trying to say their names. We got to go up to Portland yesterday for Kyler's baby blessing. Katarina traveled so well and was so excited to see her cousins. It was fun spending the day with the family.

I have been working hard to get ready for my brown-belt (re)test. I earned my kenpo brown-belt the month before I got married, but then got mono, moved to Utah, and then, five years later, moved back to Corvallis. I started going back almost immediately but my attendance has been sporadic due to pregnancy, child-birth, and now, raising a young child. I have managed to stay in it and slowly progress. My belt test is in April and I will be tested on 60 self-defense moves, 10 forms, 11 sparing combinations, and general stamina, as I have to make it through the test. February is family month too, which means that family members can participate for free. Jayme has been able to take extended lunch breaks and is joining me out on the mat. I love having him there. Now we just need to get baby-sitting stabilized so that we can both be out on the mat at the same time.

Growing Up!

2010-01-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

Virginia claims that one of the defining moments in any young girl's life is the first time she gets to have pigtails...

So...my girl has started to grow up I guess. We had a wonderful Christmas. Now we just have to get back to a schedule of naps and sleeping through the night! Hope everyone had a great holiday season and is excited for this new year!

Birthday Party

2009-11-22T16:03:00.001-08:00

Katarina turned one on October 10th. We had her birthday party one week later. She loved the tiger cake that Grandma made for her. She is such a happy child and she loves learning new things. We love having her in our family. I look forward to celebrating more birthdays with her, though I think she is growing up too fast as it is.

2009-11-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

Every Girl Needs A Meerkat

2009-10-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

About a month ago my Katarina was looking at a Calvin and Hobbes book with my mom and she became fascinated with tigers. She would point them out in pictures and on cereal boxes and wherever else they happened to pop up. She soon learned how to growl like a tiger and that growl became the universal sound for every animal. It was all very cute. So, you may ask, what does that have to do with meerkats? Well, Jayme decided that Katarina needed a tiger and ordered her one online. When we opened the box we were a bit surprised to find a meerkat instead of a tiger. The company eventually sent a tiger and let us keep the meerkat for our troubles. During the intervening period we had a little trip to Astoria and a wild adventure on a little bridge:) Try and follow the little mind of a little girl as you look at the picture procession. We love our little Katarina!

I didn't add words cause I thought each of you could invent your own story about this that would bring a smile to your faces. We hope you enjoyed the story:)

I AM A MACHINE

2009-09-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

Ya, I like peas. Don't ask why. It's just the way it is.

Wild Adventures at Grandma's House!

2009-08-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

So...we never post. Until we do. Now we're crashing at Grandpa and Grandma Glasmann's house while they party on the East coast and get squished by big waves. Not much to say but here are some interesting pictures of the adventure.

Checking out the front and back of a cop car..front was better...

Tomatoes are on....I looooove Tomatoes

Ya..I'm choking...and Mom was taking a picture thinking it was a funny face...(huuughghghgaaa)

What do you mean it's all gone?

Then these animals with big horns showed up around dinner...

Oh...and Grandma and Grandpa got new couches...And they are perfect for climbing on...I'm halfway up the back here...Thanks for the new jungle gym guys!

Pit of Despair???

2009-07-15T17:06:00.000-07:00

Once there was a semi-barren field that wanted to be something more... So after consulting the great source of knowledge that is the Internet...rules for the construction of a horseshoe pit were discovered and the field found a future!

So we visited the local hardware stores after doing some rough math to determine our needs and began to rototill the soil to make the process easier.

Then the two Glasmann men got to work with scraping out the pit and cutting up the lumber to make the frame...good thing we measure twice!After completing the frame it was time to core out a hole for our horseshoe pin...lets see...need 14 inches to be out of the ground and the post is how long? 4 feet??!!?? Keep turning!

The last part of the day was cementing the pole in place...cause all those ringers might make it loose otherwise, right??

Day two: We visited the local rock store for some sand and started filling after making sure the frame was level and in the right place.

After filling the pits, we bolted on the back stop to protect people from those who may be a little less accurate.

Then, we let Mom and Dad throw the ceremonial first shoes! Dad landed a ringer on the first throw! Guess all that work on the pit gave him some inside pointers...

What form!! Can you see the horseshoes in these pictures? The first part of the Glasmann amusement park is now in buisiness! When do we start on the mini golf??

We're Back

2009-06-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

So a month has gone by... You really haven't missed much. The three of us got a viral infection. Katarina and I got over it pretty quickly. It hit Jayme pretty hard. Katarina has had a hard time sleeping. She takes 30 minute naps throughout the day, which has been hard for me because 30 minutes isn't enough time to get anything done. Last night we started something new. I put her down around 8:00, like normal, then woke her up at 10:30 to feed her. She then woke up at 4:00, wanting to eat, but I just rocked her and put her back to sleep. Then she didn't get back up 'til 7:30. I am hopeful that we have started to eliminate her late night feedings and that we will all start to sleep through the night.

We got to spend time with Josh, Jayme's brother, before he left on his mission. He left last week and will be serving in Oklahoma for the next two years. Katarnia loved playing with uncle Josh while he was here. It is crazy to think that she will be almost three the next time she gets to see him. We are excited for him and can't wait to hear of his adventures.

We also celebrated our 4 year anniversary. What a long strange trip that has been. Since we have gotten married I have had mono twice, Jayme's thyroid went out, I had preeclampsia followed by major blood loss and a D&C, and Jayme has been sick for the last six months with multiple viral infections and bronchitics which induced asthma like symptoms and made it difficult for him to do anything. I am hoping that some day we will learn what we need to learn from all of these illnesses and maybe have a full year of health.

Jayme is starting to feel better. He is starting to see all of the things around the house that need to be done, but just haven't been done because I can only do so much by myself. He has come up with lists of things that need to be done and I just sit back and wonder how I am going add anything else to my schedule. Then he does most of the things on the list and leaves me with one or two. It is nice to have him back.

Here are some pictures from the last month:

Sunny Days

2009-04-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

The First Six Months

2009-04-19T20:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T02:47:00.000-07:00

We got to have Easter over two weekends. Last Sunday we went over to the Glasmanns for an Easter egg hunt with Keegan and Kaden. Katarina sure loves her cousins. Then today Katarina and I went back over there and had leg of lamb for dinner and played with grandma and grandpa. She looked so cute in her Easter dress. She also got to sample a cucumber, which was a big hit. Then we went over to my moms and had our traditional Easter hunt followed by birthday cake for my mom. Jayme wasn't able to be there becasue he relapsed and is coughing again whenever he does anything. We miss having him around. Katarina had a WIC check-up last week. She is 15 pounds 11 ounces right now. She can sit up independently for a few minutes at a time. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is really happy most of the time and everyone is drawn to her smile.

Four Generations

2009-04-04T17:08:00.000-07:00

Somebody make it Stop!

2009-03-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

Once again I return to the blogosphere, a domain I usually leave to my wife. Today she is feeling quite exhausted and overwhelmed, due in part to a little girl who just refuses to take any naps which results in abject crankiness, and because I CAN'T GET HEALTHY. For those of you who read my previous post on my story of sickness, allow me to add a sequel. I would call it a post-script, but this has too many chapters to qualify. When last I left you I was taking meds to reduce inflammation in my bronchial tubes so that I could stop coughing. I was also held to voice rest in an effort to one day speak normally again. Progress was good, after two weeks the coughing was mostly gone and I was starting to fully regain my voice- with brief interludes of hoarse whispers.
Enter Saturday. For some discouraging reason I began to cough with more regularity and force on Saturday. While this frustrated me I did not believe it was anything out of the ordinary. Then came the headache, the sore neck and back, and finally, the fever. By Sat. night I was shivering uncontrollably for about an hour and my fever spiked up to 102.5. YEA! Good thing I'm going back to the doctor on Monday. Of course, that was supposed to be a final check-up and clean bill of health. But nooooo. Anyway, got a blessing, lots of tylenol for the fever, spoke with an on call doctor, his guess is I have a new virus and it is reactivating all my old symptoms. More info tomorrow.
Needless to say I am frustrated. I also feel horrible that Virginia is once again responsible full time for our little Katy and me. Poor woman hardly gets any sleep and I'm not allowed to help because I'm probably contagious and have been cast out into our little office.
Katarina is now five months old. She has an appointment on Tuesday when we should be able to update with height, weight, etc. We are also hoping to be able to start her on some real food soon. She sure likes watching us eat and just loves the little tastes we give her. She is still full of smiles. This week she got to spend a lot of time outdoors, playing in the grass and enjoying the feel of wet grass and dirt in her toes. She would be happy for hours outside. Hurry up spring!! She has also started to roll over and sit up by herself for short periods of time. The rolling over is cute, she gets real excited and then realizes she is on her tummy and doesn't like it anymore.
Anyway. Since I'm the post writer...no pictures. But when Virginia doesn't feel so overwhelmed she might get around to it. Feel free to call and talk to her, she would love some interaction since I'm sick. Love you all.

New Things

2009-03-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

As Katarina gets older and more aware of the world around her I find myself more and more excited to introduce her to new things. She is quick to explore new things and happy to meet new people. She has had a lot of new experiences this week including grass, great aunts, pickle juice (I put a little on my finger and she loved it), second cousins, a johny jump up, great great aunts, better sitting, avocado, and the biggest of them all, teeth. Besides the incoming teeth, she has enjoyed her new experiences. She has loved all of the attention that she has gotten from her extended family and was thrilled with grass. It is a lot of fun to watch her in her johny jump up. She hasn't figured out that she can jump in it yet but she likes to sway and spin, and chew on it.

As for the teeth, we are all adjusting to them. She has two that are barely starting to pop up, one on the top right and one on the bottom right. She has a really hard time falling asleep and her naps are averaging 15 to 30 minutes, sometimes she'll sleep for up to an hour in the morning but very little in the afternoon. Thankfully she still sleeps pretty well at night, waking up only once to eat. She is a little more fussy than normal and all she wants to do is eat (which is making me really sore) but she is still pretty happy most of the time and she is so cute I just have to smile. I hope you have a great week (and I hope I survive mine).

Favorite Things

2009-03-02T07:33:00.000-08:00

Katarina has a few favorite things. Her most favorite thing is her daddy. Whenever he is around she is captivated by him. When he is in the kitchen she loves to watch him. Sometimes I see her gazing at the kitchen and I think she is looking for him. She will also watch a doorway that he has just left, hoping that he will come back. Other things that she loves are extended family, attention, music, people, standing up, putting things in her mouth, sleeping on someone and two new ones we discovered yesterday, her toes and stake conference. (Stake conference was great because it had so many other things that she loves, her grandma, lots of people, music, her toes and she got to take a nap on grandma.) We all got to spend time with extended family this week. Zach and Jackie came down with the boys. We had a lot of fun with all of them. We took over the Wii fit and Keegan loved it. He probably ran a couple of miles with that thing. Jayme is still sick. His medication has made it difficult for him to sleep, as if it wasn't hard enough already with the coughing. Katarina and I have gotten into some bad habits because of it. The worst one is that I've been so tired I have just let her sleep on me during the day. Yesterday I decided that I had enough energy that it was time to break that habit. Keep in mind that the only nap she had in the morning was a 15 minute cat nap on grandma. I fed her at 1:00 and she fell asleep. I took her up stairs and but her in her bed. She woke up as soon as she hit the mattress. I let her cry for five minutes and then got her out. She was wide awake. I tried again at 3:00 with the same result. At 4:00 she actually slept for about a half hour but then was up screaming. She finally went to bed at 8:30. Needless to say, I followed in her footsteps shortly thereafter. As for putting things in her mouth, it seems like she has a process for it, and I have the pictures to prove it, enjoy.

1. Maneuver into Position

2. Test it Out

3. Go All In

4. Pose for the Camera

My Continuing Saga of Illness

2009-02-25T15:34:00.000-08:00

So...in case people have been following this blog and care to some degree about my health, allow me to enlighten you on the state of my well being on this, the one month anniversary of my never ending cough. It all began as a little sore throat, soon becoming the traditional early year flu/cold/who knows. After patiently waiting a week for symptoms to improve with home remedies I was finally pressured into visiting a doctor. Diagnosis: Bronchitis. Remedy? Common antibiotics and some cough syrup with a special dose of codine. Result? Back at the doctors 4 days later with additional symptoms of fever and pain in chest. This time I got a different doctor who looked at my throat and said, "Ya, that looks pretty bad." Still told my diagnosis was bronchitis. New drugs though were offered. Now I got to take the ever potent zythromax, to be accompanied by mucinex and advair. Two weeks later, I am still coughing, pain has returned to chest, and multiple other symptoms. But no fever and I wasn't feeling crummy except for the inescapable cough. So undaunted I returned to the doctors office to see yet a third doctor (only three more to go! including my primary doctor who I haven't seen yet, so can he really be my primary doctor?). After taking chest x-rays to ensure I didn't have pneumonia (I don't) I was told that due to the severity of my previous infection, my bronchial tubes (and now I provide my own words) are being cranky and don't want to stop complaining about being sick. They remain inflamed and irritated, so that when I take deep breaths or do much in the way of activity, they want to cough. So once again I am given advair, along with some prednisone to reduce inflamation, and some inhaled albuterol to help with breathing. I was also told to take 'voice rest' so that I might one day be able to speak again louder than a horse whisper.
Congratulations, you have succeeded in reading the saga. Now we wait to see if this darned cough will ever stop.

A Great Day for a Walk

2009-02-22T15:15:00.000-08:00

We have had a few beautiful days here this last week. Katarina and I were able to walk along the river front with Jayme's parents twice this week. Katarina enjoyed her stroller rides, most of the time. When she wasn't enjoying her stroller she was enjoying grandpa's shoulder. Jayme is still sick. Mid-week he was starting to feel better but Friday and Saturday were not very good. He assures me that he is getting better again. We'll see how long it lasts. On Thursday, when he was feeling decent, he was able to do a two hour sub job for a librarian. It is the first job that he has had since October. Like I said, it was only two hours, but at least it was something. Katarina has fallen in love with her pink blanket. She likes the texture of it. Sometimes it even helps calm her down or put her to sleep. She is just like her mom. When I was growing up I had a "slinky", a piece of material that I liked and it calmed me down. I think that Katarina is going to be very tactile like I am. We spent a lot of time with Jayme's parents this week. They were very gracious in feeding us to offset some of the burden of Jayme being sick. They fed us very well. We had leg of lamb, bbq salmon, and sweet pork tacos.

If they keep this up I may have to convince Jayme to get sick more often. I only had to clean the kitchen twice this week. We also got to see my dad this week.. He came down for Ross's last home game. Ross played well, his team won and it was fun to see everyone. Finally, we went to my mom's yesterday to celebrate birthdays, Jayme's and my 3 year old nephew, Ethan. We are so glad that we live so close to so much family. They are so much support and it is so fun to watch Katarina interact with them all. It is time for me to finish, Katarina is trying to help me type and it just isn't working out too well.

P.S. Here is our tag picture, the fourth picture in our fourth picture file. Our files are alphabetically organized and February is the fourth file, so this picture is less than a month old but is me blowing out the candles of my birthday cake at my mom's house.
P.P.S. I tried to edit a few pictures and arrangement for Virginia, but some pictures were sideways and some got accidentally removed. Deal with it.

I'm on Time!

2009-02-15T13:27:00.000-08:00

Katarina went on her first walk in the stroller the other day. She is finally big enough that she can sit up and see what is going on during our walks. She loves it. She is so alert and likes knowing what is going on and seeing everything there is to see. I love watching her explore her world and introducing her to new things. Yesterday she was sitting in her walker while I was reading. After a few minutes her whole tone changed, she became much happier and talkative. I looked over and saw that she had found herself in the mirror on her walker. She would smile and see herself smile back and smile even bigger. It lasted a good two minutes. It is one of the cutest things she has done yet. She got a frog outfit from her uncle Bruce and aunt Annette before she was born. She is big enough now to ware it and I think she is really cute in it. On Valentines day we went over to Jayme's parents for breakfast. We had Belgian waffles with strawberries. It was so tasty. Jayme is still feeling pretty lousy. He has energy to do about one thing a day. He normally chooses the kitchen, which is a big help to me. I hope you all have a great week. Tomorrow is Jayme's birthday, the big 3-0. I hope he is feeling well enough to celebrate a little bit. :)

Better Late than Never

2009-02-13T07:13:00.000-08:00

The sickness continues. It settled into Jayme's lungs and developed into advanced bronchitis. Jayme went back to the doctor after three days of being on medication. The doctor took one look at him and said, "yep, the medication isn't working." Like we hadn't figured that one out. Jayme got put on some stronger stuff and he is finally starting to feel a difference. He feels like there is a light at the end of the tunnel at last. Katarina went in for her four month check-up on Wednesday. I can't believe she is four months. The doctor says that she looks healthy and strong. He let her stand up for him and was very impressed with her strength. He said that she will be an early walker. He also said that she has very good looking ear drum so not to expect too many ear infections. That was really nice to hear. She is still struggling with her cold. She has mucus coming out both ends. Then she got her shots on top of that. She has spent most of the last two days sleeping, poor girl. She is very happy when she is awake though. That was another thing that the doctor was impressed with, her disposition, that she was so smiley and alert and aware of what was going on around. She is now in the 58th percentile for weight at 13 lbs 15 oz. and the 90th percentile for height, at over 25 inches. She is a growing girl. It is kind of funny though, she is in between sizes right now. She is too long for the clothes that she has been wearing and too skinny for the next size up. She will probably struggle with that for a good portion of her growing up years. I did, until I had her. We hope that everyone has a wonderful Valentines day.

Welcome to Sickville

2009-02-04T09:54:00.000-08:00

I know that I'm three days late in posting this. We have all been sick with the nasty cold that is going around. We've been focusing on the necessities and the blog didn't make the cut. Jayme still has it pretty bad. Katarina is still congested and absolutely hates it when I suction out her nose. She has been doing a lot of extra sleeping but she is still pretty happy when she is awake, all things considered. She and I have spent most of the week in her room with a humidifier. The 25th was my birthday. We went over to my mom's to celebrate. We let Katarina try out the walker that was there. She loved it and we brought it home for her. She loves being up and seeing what is going on. Her favorite thing to do is watch the fire. She still enjoys the gym a lot, but she likes to lay sideways under it. She is getting good at grabbing the ears on the monkey that hangs down. Jayme and I are keeping things low key and trying to get better.

Getting too Big

2009-01-25T15:40:00.000-08:00

We knew that these pj's were getting a little small. It was the last night that she was going to ware them. When we got here out of bed we saw that she has burst out of them sometime during the night. She just keeps growing and growing. In fact, I fed her about an hour and a half ago. About a half hour ago I noticed that she was opening her mouth anytime anything got near it. I wondered if she might be hungry and decided to make her a little bottle. (This is not an uncommon thing, I am still working to increase my milk supply.) It took her about fifteen minutes to drink that bottle, and the two others that daddy made for her, totalling 5 and a half ounces. I don't know where she puts it all. She is really starting to chunk out though.

Katarina comes to karate with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Normally the instructor's wife is there and loves to watch her. Sometimes she is not there. On those days Katarina does karate with me. It normally puts her to sleep.

One day she was making a lot of noise after a nap and then quieted down before I got up to her room. This is how I found her. She is finding her thumb more and more often.

Katarina tried out her rocking chair. I think she is still a little small for it. :)

Katarina loves exploring things with her mouth. She still isn't very good at getting things to her mouth but whenever she does she takes advantage of it. I love watching her explore and discover.

This is the outfit that Sister French got for her at her baby shower. She looks really cute in it.

I thought the "deer in the head lights" look was very fitting for this outfit. I finally found the cord to the camera so that I could down load all of the pictures that I have been taking. I hope you have enjoyed them. Have a great week.

Kaboom go the Giggles!

2009-01-23T23:11:00.000-08:00

We've been trying to capture Katarina giggling for a week or so now. Finally got the camera out in time. Isn't she adorable? We love our little girl soooooo much. Hope this brings a smile to everyone's day.

2009-01-18T16:27:00.000-08:00

I still don't have my cord to connect the camera to the computer so I can't post any pictures from this week but I got the pictures of Katarina's baby blessing that my dad took. I had a very hard time picking my favorites. I love taking pictures of and looking at pictures of Katarina, I must be a mom or something. We had a pretty relaxing week. I got to go to karate on Tuesday and Thursday. The woman that normally watches Katarina during class wasn't there on Tuesday so she got to join me on the floor. She actually fell asleep as I did front kicks up and down the mat. It must have brought back memories of before she was born. Katarina has been very social this week. Friday evening my dad stopped by when he was in town for a few minutes. My mom stopped by after work on Saturday and played for a little while. She also talked with Jayme's parents multiple times on Skype. The most recent time that she talked with grandma she looked right at the screen and smiled and smiled. We are very excited, after almost a month without an oven we should be getting ours fixed. We are happy to be able to have more variety in our diet. We had Megan over for dinner on Thursday. We all had a fun time on the Wii and both Megan and Jayme logged a least thirty minutes on the wii fit. It was very amusing. Katarina has started two new things this week. She started giggling. It is the best thing in the world. She hasn't done it very much, and mostly for her dad, but I love it! She still plays with her gym on a daily basis. Her new thing there is that she will hit the things with one hand while she sucks her other thumb. It is great to watch. She really enriches our lives.

2009-01-12T09:47:00.001-08:00

I forgot to thank all of you that have created mii characters on our wii. We got the wii fit with our Christmas money and have been working out diligently since we got it. The reason that I thank you guys is because when I am doing my morning run a few of you are bound to show up to cheer me on, and occasionally show me up, and there is nothing like doing aerobics with all your smiling faces up on stage with me. I would show you pictures but we look pretty ridiculous.
You will have to visit so you can try it out.

2009-01-11T16:27:00.000-08:00

Peggy wanted me to post this picture so that she can get it. I think that she just wanted everyone to see how cute all of her grand children are. Yes Peggy, we love the picture. :)

2009-01-11T16:25:00.000-08:00

The beginning of this week was busy. We said good bye to Ali on Monday. We made homemade spaghetti at my mom's house and took lots of pictures of all of the grand kids. We will miss being able to see Ali and Liam but I am sure they are excited to get back to Hawaii to see Brian, who has been on tour with the Navy since October. The next day we met up with them again so that we could all watch Ross's basketball game. The game didn't look so good at the start but Philomath pulled it together and won a good game. Katarina also started sleeping at night this week. She doesn't sleep through the night but she sleeps at night. Her sleeping during the day is still very sporadic but getting sleep at night makes most things worth it. She is three months old now. Sometimes it feels like time is going so fast. Other times it doesn't. She is very photogenic and I have way too much fun taking pictures of her. I think that I left the cord to down load new pictures at my mom's so I don't have any pictures from the last half of the week. You will just have to wait until next week. We hope you have a great week.

2009-01-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

That didn't work. I'll try and fix it later.

2009-01-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

Jayme said I needed to do slide show instead. I hope he is happy :)

2009-01-05T11:53:00.000-08:00

After about a half hour of work I finally made a collage of the pictures that my dad took the day after Thanksgiving. They weren't aligned as nicely as the collage that Jackie made but it worked. Then I couldn't figure out how to save it and I lost all of it. Finally I found the function that automatically creates a collage. Five minutes later I had this one finished. Most of the pictures are the ones that I posted yesterday but they are a little easier to quantify in this form. I will try and make some collages of the other pictures.

2009-01-05T11:46:00.000-08:00

After about a half hour of work I had a beautiful collage of pictures my dad took the day after Thanksgiving. Then I couldn't figure out how to save it. Then I found a function that automatically places the pictures. Five minutes later I have created this collage. Many of the pictures are ones that I posted yesterday but these are easier to look at quickly. I will try to make a couple of more to replace the other pictures I posted.

2009-01-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

So, I was talking to Beki on the East Coast yesterday and she wanted to see pictures of Katarina. I still haven't figured out how to do a slide show or a collage so I went ahead and just posted all of them. It is a little unrefined but it works. Enjoy!

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Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

My New Year's resolution is to update our blog every Sunday. Hopefully that will satisfy all of those who have been getting on our case as of late. I know Halloween was a long time ago (the last post doesn't count, Jayme's sister Jackie posted that for us) but a lot of things have been going on and our blog just wasn't a priority. I'll try to quickly catch you up and then I'll keep things updated weekly. We spent Thanksgiving up in Astoria with my dad. We had a very nice time and my dad took lots of wonderful pictures of Katarina. On our way home I started bleeding. I bled for two hours so when we got home we went straight to the ER. I had an emergency D&C in which there were a few complications and I ended up with a blood transfusion of four units. We spent the next couple of weeks recovering. We are very grateful that we live so close to family. We received a lot of help from them. Then came Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with my mom and family and Christmas day with Jayme's family. It was really nice to be with family. From Jayme's parents we got a new camera, partially in an effort to encourage us to take pictures for the blog. I have already put it to good use. I am enjoying being able to take good pictures. Last week we spent a lot of time with Jayme's family, including New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. On the 28th Katarina had her baby blessing at home. Most of our immediate family was able to attend including Jayme's grandfather and his wife. It was a beautiful experience. We love having Katarina as part of our family. She is a happy and healthy child. During our two month check up, the doctor said that she couldn't be any healthier and he was also very impressed with her muscle tone. She is a strong little girl. Now we just need to work on her sleeping skills. For the past little while she she has slept during the day and has been up most of the night. In an effort to have her sleep during the night we have forced her up during the day. It helped for a day or two and now she doesn't sleep at all, except for a cat nap here or there or when she is in some one's arms. Every day is a new adventure.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-29T21:11:00.000-08:00

(click to enlarge)

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T10:38:00.000-07:00

Today was my due date, but instead of being in the hospital, or being at home wondering when I would be ready to go to the hospital, and all of the other questions that go with delivery, like, is everything going to be ok? How long will it take? How bad is it going to be? How much weight am I going to loose? Instead of questions like these, Katie, Jayme and I get to hang out at home and pass out candy. This is much better than the alternative.
As a side note, that fateful Tuesday that I got admitted to the hospital with a serious illness, the first thing that the nurses did, before they checked my vitals, or explained what was going on, or even before we were settled into our room, was to give us a little Halloween tee-shirt and a hat. I have to admit, I wasn't really thinking baby at the time, I still had three weeks to go, and I wasn't sure what to think of the gesture, other than the nurses were really excited about babies. Now that three weeks have passed, my child and I are at home and mostly healthy (the cold is still hanging on a little) it is fun to put on the shirt and wish you all a happy Halloween.
P.S. I tried to get a cute one, but it just woundn't be.

Katarina is Here!

2008-10-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

Katie was born on October 10th a little after 5:00 pm. She weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz. and was 21 in. long. She also was three weeks early. Virginia went in for her weekly check-up in Stayton on that Tuesday and was admitted to the hospital for preeclampsia. Mom and baby were monitored for a couple of days and Virginia was induced on Thursday evening. Clareese, Virginia's mom, and Peggy and Reed, Jayme's parents, were there to welcome their granddaughter into the world. We were not planning on giving birth in Stayton, but we had problems with our insurance. It was at least an hour drive for everyone that came to visit and help out. We got home on Sunday. Peggy and Reed had been busy at our place bringing over baby stuff because we were not quiet ready for Katie to come, in fact, all we really had was a crib, thanks to my grandma, and a car seat/stroller, which Jayme had quickly ordered on line, and had to pay a bunch extra for a speedy delivery. Katie spent her first week on a billie blanket. She was a bit orange and the blanket helped her body gt rid of old blood cells. Last Friday Katie came down with a little cold. Mommy and Daddy soon got it. We have spent this week and home doing very little, trying to adjust to our new sleep pattern, which really doesn't have much of a pattern at all yet, and trying to get healthy. Katarina is a very pleasant baby. She enjoys being held, eating, having her hands at her face, and visiting with grandparents. She does not like having her temperature taken. We are very happy to have her in our family.

Do you smell burning feathers?

2008-05-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

So we had an exciting evening today. Over the course of an hour I had noticed a smell of burnt eggs or wires starting to come over the apartment, but since we weren't cooking I tried to ignore it. Especially since an outdoor bbq place is in the neighborhood. The smell continued to get worse and upon investigating the kitchen I found it very hazy. Of course, I couldn't get the managers to answer any of their 'emergency' numbers so after a quick consultation with the father figure, I gave the Orem police a call and filled them in on our situation. Just minutes later a cop and a fire truck arrived to sniff in my kitchen. Here's a pic for Keegan. Anyways, long story short, after the fire guys left, the manager showed and started checking out the connecting apartments and found that our lower next door neighbors had left a pot of eggs boiling on high and forgotten them. The pan was glowing red and smoking and there was a roll of paper towels right next to the stove. So I'm not crazy and its a good thing I called! What a night. We look forward to moving out and coming back to Oregon. Oh, and here are some pictures from when we were back over my birthday break.

Joining the Crowd

2008-03-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Ummmmm.....Oct 31, 2008. Here are some pictures:). Can we say potential devil child? Thanks for your support. We love you all and are very excited to become parents. The first 'Glasmann' child. Jackie...Keegan and Kayden are gonna have to play second fiddle now:P. So Virginia isn't always feeling well, I'm still learning to deal with my genetic disorder (read Thyroid problem), and we make quite the pair. Don't have energy to do anything...nothing sounds good to eat. Oh well...life's little challenges. Love you all.

(editor's note: next post...might be another month. deal with it)

Christmas Memories!

2007-12-25T20:14:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone! Virginia and I had our first Christmas by ourselves and had an enjoyable time trying out some new ideas for traditions and unwrapping our gifts. Virginia still gets excited and has a hard time sleeping on Christmas Eve. Our Grandpa Jay provided us with a wonderful Bread Maker that we look forward to trying out. We got some new Munchkin games and some great new clothes. Thanks so much for all we received! You are all wonderful. Virginia is off to California on Wed. to meet up with her family and visit with her Grandmother for her 90th birthday. I'm headed back to work...it never ends. Here are some fun pictures. We love you all!

A Thanksgiving Surprise

2007-11-27T18:08:00.000-08:00

Virginia and I did a little surprise vacation this last week. The Friday before Thanksgiving I arrived at work and found that my schedule would unexpectedly grant me a four day weekend. So V and I quickly plotted to use that time to make surprise visit home to see the fam's. I managed to switch to an earlier shift on Wed. and we left from the Lowe's parking lot at 3pm. We drove through the night, only stopping for gas and a short one hour break at Deadman's Pass (see blanket pic). We didn't want to arrive too early...but the pass had snow and after about 45 min the car was so cold we had to start moving again.
We arrived around 6 at the Glasmann's and asked if we were early for breakfast. After some confusion from the old parents in bed (brain matter is foggy) the confirmed excitment to see us and a few hours later we enjoyed a hearty Glasmann breakfast of bacon, sausage, cheese eggs, and coffee cake. Delicious. We then made our way over to

V's place and managed so surprise her mother too. Isn't that a classic face? The morning was beautiful.
We got to see my sprouting nephews, Kay2 was sick but still amusing. Keegan is the cutest thing.

We did the Family dinner in Salem, then spent the next day with V's Mom and Mike and Ross, played some fun card games too. Munchkin will be the family favorite before long. Saturday we headed up to V's Dad's and enjoyed an amazing lunch in a little cafe. The food was great. We'll be back for that again! We enjoyed some card games in Astoria and then had a tasty warm dinner with the fam. Sara showed up an brought Cadence and Ethan...My how they have grown. Sunday we drove back to Utah so I could open the next morning and V could get back to teaching. 2200 miles and a lot of fun! We were so glad to get back...since we are missing Christmas this just really helped us take a break and not miss everyone so much! Thanks for the great time...feel free to visit us on short notice too:)

Inventory!

2007-11-09T07:26:00.000-08:00

So this week my Lowe's store has been doing a storewide inventory. We got five days (Sunday though Thursday) to count and recount every item in the store and then resolve discrepancies. For a large part of the actual selling floor, we had an outside inventory service come in to count things. We just didn't want to count bulk hardware and repair plumbing pieces. We had 18 people on the inventory crew and we were all scheduled for 6am-3pm shifts for the five days. Needless to say that was optimistic. Sunday I started at 6 and finished around 6:30. Quickly went home to eat and then crashed. Monday was a repeat- 6 to 6. Eat and crash. Tuesday was more 6 to 6:30, picked up Virginia and voted, ate, and crashed. But I got Wed off because we were supposed to avoid overtime and I already had 33.5 hours in three days. Enter thursday. We had to finish today- no questions about overtime. I started at 6am again...and left the store at 9:45 pm. having only had one lunch break and one 15min break. I was tired. And my legs and back were stiff as a board this morning. But I got almot 8 hours of overtime!!! yea. Virginia is just glad that I will be home and we can eat normal meals again. Anyway...there was my fun update of the week. I'll relax today and return to 4 closing shifts starting saturday.

Pumpkin Surgery

2007-10-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

Jayme started working on our blog tonight but then lost everything right before he had to go home teaching. I figured that it was about time that my side of our story got told. In the past I have really enjoyed carving pumpkins, cut a hole in the top, get most of the guts out, chop out a few shapes that oddly resembles a face and put a candle in it. That is all I thought there was to it...until I got married. My first "real" pumpkin carving experience almost left me in tears. I tried to find the joy in making dots all over my pumpkin and then trying desperately to cut on those dots to make some sort of "cool" picture. Well, in my inexperience I had to redo my entire project because I cut too much of a angle and there were only slits on the inside of my pumpkin. The next year I got so frustrated (and so many blisters) that Jayme finished my pumpkin for me. This year I decided to go back to the old way of doing things but then gave into the peer pressure and tried a "real" design once more. I don't know if it was because it was an easier design, or if the pumpkin was thinner, or because I was more experienced, but I actually managed to finish a pumpkin all by myself. Jayme had a bit harder of a time. His pumpkin was really thick and his wizard design, while much cooler than mine, was also much more difficult. In the end we both finished and I have survived another pumpkin carving experience.

Weekend Snow

2007-10-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

Well, the illness is finally going away, with just a nagging cough left for the time being. Where is that cough syrup of mom's when you need it? We had a little storm blow in friday night and saturday. Saturday was cold and wet and as you can see, left a little lingering precipitation. It's officially Winter/October in Utah. Have a great Sunday everybody.

Virus Update...

2007-10-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

So the doctor says I have a virus with flu like symptoms. This was determined after two visits in three days with a fever never long staying below 100. It was also determined after a second strep test (gag) a blood drawing mono test (poke) and a flu test. The last test involve a narrow piece of plastic with a small sponge on the end being inserted 5 or so inches up you nose. This was not a pleasant experience. I recommend everyone trying it at least once. All except for Dad, he can already relate in more detail than I hope to ever have. So I will remain at home and drink fluids and hope to eat someday. Yea!

Demanding Family

2007-10-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

It doesn't matter if your sick or overworked, when the family wants something they can get darn pushy about it. We are not picture happy people, all we do is work, but whine whine, the family wants us to post a blog so they can know what we are doing. Here's the rundown, Virginia teaches class and goes to class. I go to work. At various intervals, we get sick. Sound interesting? Hope you're happy. We don't even have a picture of us in the computer. So we'll give you Virginia's school picture. Which grade do you think it's from?