RILEY IS 14!

"Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday dear RILLLEEEEEYYYYYYY...Happy Birthday to You! I can't believe that my only son is now 14 years old. He is such a great kid and so much fun to have around. He is full of questions, energy, has such a great sense of humor. This is a kids who has always had a mind that has been churning and churning, and I just dont think it stops, even when he is asleep. When he was two he could give you directions to almost any destination in the Provo, Orem area. He would take is toys in the front yard and sell them all by himself. He hooked up my computer when he was still VERY young.

One day the principal of the elementary called me down to the school when he was in first or second grade and told me that he had two 5th grade girls in his office who were scared to death of Riley as he had been bullying them because they were giveing his older sister Jacey a hard time on the playground. I was sitting in the office with these girls and the principal and Jac and they called Riley down to talk to him. These were BIG girls, and they were not very nice either...pretty much bullies themselves. When Riley walked in, he was barely as tall as the principal's desk and he laughed out loud and said " This is who you girls are scared of?" (go Riley!)

Riley has a shoe shining kit and made big plans to shine all the shoes in front of the MTC, he went down to my office when I was out of town and sold all of the ladies in my office coupons with out me even knowing. He signed up for a bugler's registry where there are only 35 buglers on the list to call when they need them to play taps for Veteran's funerals. These are all things he has done on his own.

When he decided to get the priesthood, he went and made the appointment himself, went to sacrament, made his own appointment with the Bishop, came home to get his tithing, went to choir practice AND passed out the ward journal all on the same day. When he does something, he does it ALL the way.

Riley has spent many months in a wheel chair and with casts on his legs and I don" think I ever heard him complain. H just learned how to do wheelies, took kids on rides on the back of the wheelchair down a big grass hill on the playground during recess (much to the dismay of teachers and the principal) and learned how to go off bike ramps. He would "race" grandpa in his wheelchair:)

When anyone is sick in the family, Riley is always there to nurture and take care of them. He would go spend the whole day with grandpa Rex when he lived at Hearthstone, playing with him, pushing him in his wheelchair and even helping him get ready for a fashion show grandpa was in.

When we were on our "Family moon" cruise, people would walk by our table and say " Hi Riley" or "Can we get a picture with you Riley?" We would ask him how in the world he knew these people and he would tell us that he had breakfast with them one morning. He told us one morning that he sat with a table full of people who only spoke spanish and he said they were nice, they just smiled at him.

I love his approach to life, his thirst for learning and his outgoing personality.

I love you buddy!! I am so lucky to have you as my boy.....or rather MAN now!

Which Team Jac.........

Jacey had a call from a coach at Timpanogos High School call to ask her to come to a practice for their softball team. She told them she played for Orem High and she actually GOES to Orem High. He jokingly told her that he was going to try to find a rule to get her back to Timp as we actually live in the boundaries for that school. He then found out that there are no rules stating you cant play on BOTH teams, so... GUESS WHO THOUGHT THAT SOUNDED LIKE A GREAT IDEA??

I asked Jacey what she was going to do when the two teams played each other..."Are you going to play the whole game Jacey? Offense, Defense, pitch to yourself?" I don't think that she thinks I am very funny:)

I do LOVE to watch her play, and I had a great time Moday watching the Timpanogos team, and Wednesday watching the Orem team...GO BOTH HIGH SCHOOLS!!

SCHOOL STARTS ...So Soon?

Clean floors, new clothes, excited people...do you know where we are? You guessed it folks! Back to SCHOOL. This is how I started an excerpt to one of my journals from Jr. high that my children found and they make fun of that entry quite a bit:)

Jacey starts HIGH SCHOOL his year!! She is going to Orem High School even though we are in the Timpanogos boundaries...She played softball for Orem last year, and is playing again this year. She is taking a lot of science classes and Anatomy to prepare for becoming a surgeon.

Riley is in 8th grade!! He is at Canyon View Jr. High. He enjoys the "social" aspect of school and has many friends. He is still playing the trumpet with Mr. Halverson who is an INCREDIBLE teacher.

Jocelyn is the oldest class now in 6th grade at Orchard elementary. She has one of our FAVORITE teachers there...Mrs. Pike. She is a vivacious, fun and quite strict teacher that Jacey had for 6th grade. She really prepares the kids for Jr. High, and Jacey is still using many things she learned from her. Jocelyn LOVES school, and was so excited to start. She will really to well this year.

I am excited to have the kids start school again, as I really enjoy learning along with them. I love the structure of our days when school starts again too! And I am gearing up for some great softball games and band concerts...woo hoo!!

CREATE THE MAGIC

Every Friday in our office, we have what we affectionately call "Create the Magic".. This is a little time when our whole office spends about a 1/2 hour giving out awards, having a medical minute from our wonderful nurse auditor Cathy Tooke-Miller where we learn about what we bill for, and to share some fun trivia, or raffle, or get to know one another. This week, Cathy brought over a special new chair for my team... I head a team called the "Customer Service Specialty team." We answer the phones for 8 hospitals and have to know everything from Medicare, to Medicaid, to the phone # for the Pet Meds company, because their toll free number is one digit off our toll free number. I cant tell you how many times I have had someone call and bawl me out for not getting their Heartworm meds. You know how tempted I am to say...."Oh man, you have heartworms??? NASSSSTYYYY". To make a long story short. We are VERY busy on the phone and have a hard time getting a chance to run to the bathroom. For those who know me well, they know THAT IS A PROBLEM FOR KATH!!

Cathy Tooke-Miller had a solution. Here are pictures of the new office chair she designed for us. Look hos lovely it looks in the office:)

I love my job.....

Memorial Day 2008

We had some exceptionally pretty flowers this year in our yard. This year for Memorial Day, we decided to pick flowers from our yard to take up for Grandpa Rex and Grandma Bev. Every year the kids and I would go with Grandma, pick flowers from the yard, cut milk cartons in 1/2 and cover with tin foil and decorate the graves with Grandma and Grandpa would always be sitting in the car. We have fond memories of this. We decided instead of putting our flowers in a beautiful vase, to use the 1/2 of the milk carton with tin foil because somehow, that seemed right. Look at the beautiful Pink rose in the center of the arrangement. Jeff got me a beautiful new rose bush for our first anniversary which was May 24, the that is the first rose I cut from that plant...just because I love and miss you momma and daddy and wanted to share. Jeff was great to come up with us and sit and share stories with us. Jacey, Riley and Jocelyn were great to come up and share with us too. There were bunny rabbits all over the beautiful grounds...I have some wonderful memories of sharing time with Momma up there.

San Francisco

Jeff went to the Java Developers conference this summer, and I got to go with him this time:).  We had Jenica meet us there for the first couple of days.  What a FUN TREAT!!  Jenica has a WONDERFUL lady named Crea that she lives with and nanny's for her darling little boys Mosie and Theo.  Crea's sister lives in San Fran, so she drove down from Oregon with Jenica and visited her sister, and we got to spent some wonderful time with Jen.  It was fun to finally meet Crea and the cute little guys.  Those poor kids were SO tired when we met them, Theo plopped down on Jen's duffle bag.  He drew me a GREAT picture.  Mosie had a shiner from kissing his aunt's coffee table.  I got a cute smile from him.

The first night we went to a wonderful restaurant and really enjoyed a chance to catch up with Jenica.  She seems to really enjoy Oregon, and i am pretty proud of the beautiful woman she has become.  She works at the cafe at the Hell Gate Resort and is quite the little baker now.  You should see the incredible designs she does on the coffee they sell there.  I will put a picture on here.  

The next day  Jenica and I walked down to this incredible place called the Ferry Building.  There were incredible chocolate shops, organic fruit stands, Olive oil's, fresh foods and cool antique kitchen ware.  Spices, rubs and incredible book stores.  Wow, what a FUN PLACE!  You walk out the back deck and see the Golden Gate Bridge.  We spent some time in the art  galleries, checked out the schools and enjoyed shopping.  What a fun and wonderful time we had with Jenica.  We went one day and met Jeff for lunch (at Blondie's for the vegie and whole wheat pizza...YUM).  She bought her daddy a red rose...CUTE.  We went down to fishermans wharf in the evening and rode the trolley car down.  FREEZING!!  Jenica was sooo funny when she was barking and talking to the big sea lions down on pier 33.  We went to a cool surf shop for dinner down there.

After a sad departure with Jenica on Tuesday, I decided to walk down to the Ferry building myself and do some shopping.  I enjoyed spending time in that wonderful city.  It seems to have an energy of it's own.  I would stop and listen to the street musicians, avoid the pan handlers the best I could, and would wander through the street art.  I was walking back up the block to the St Francis hotel where we were staying, and there was quite a crowd gathering.  Two police cars and a fire truck came whizzing up and they jumped out of their vehicles and started yellow taping the block shut.  I looked up at what the crowd was looking at and there was a young man on the window ledge of the top floor of the building right across the street.  POOR kid....In the movies, the cops just go on the roof and talk them down.  Well, the cop was on the roof talking to him, but it didn't work.  He jumped and landed on his back then head:(  It really affected me pretty bad.  The cops just scooped him up and put him in the back of the ambulance, cleared the tape, and let people walk on by while they were squirting the side walk off.  It really made me think about life in general, and how precious it really is.  I cried and went back in my hotel room and called Jeff just to hear his voice.  I also talked to the kids, just to make sure I felt some grounding.  I finally got my guts up to go back out and do some more shopping.  I was at a stop light waiting for it to turn so I could cross the street and a homeless lady who looked like she had not showered in a few weeks came up to me in a big trench coat, and asked me if I could give her some change.  I said "No thanks".  I know that doesn't make sense, but that is what Jeff says to them, so I started saying that.  She reached in her pocket of her trench coat and pulled out A RAT!!.....Not a ONE HANDED RAT, BUT A TWO-HANDED RAT!! For those of you who don't know me, you have NO IDEA the phobia I have about mice and rats.. oh man oh man oh man. She put it up to MY FACE and said "Then it will eat your face off."  I don't remember much else, but the running and getting to the hotel FAST through the crowded side walks.  I called Jeff and really was not uttering anything legible at that point.  I am sure he was so glad that he had not one, but TWO interruptions in his conference that day from his wife.  He did ask me what the lady did when I screamed and ran, and I told him honestly that I had NO IDEA.  I did  not take the time to, nor did I CARE what she did.  I spent some time in the room at this point mellowing out....deep breaths in through the nose, out through the mouth.  

I DID end up walking down to meed Jeff that evening (all by myself) to watch the Smashmouth concert in the park.  That was actually fun.  Jeff took me to the coolest little Jazz Club that night and erased away the crazy day.  It was dark, cozy and there was great food, and such good musicians on a piano, bass fiddle, singing and saxophone and trombone.  We relaxed, chatted and enjoyed.  Man, I am lucky to have such a great husband.  

All in all, San Francisco was a wonderful experience, and one I will not forget for a long time!

Happy Birthday Jordan Ashlee!

Wow, I can't believe our Jordan is 19 years old today.  It seems like just yesterday that I she was born.  

She was SUCH a beautiful baby, with dark hair, and almond shaped eyes.  She came into the world so aware, looking at everything and really taking it all in.  She has not changed.  

Jordan has always thirsted for learning and knowledge, has always been so bright and learns ANYTHING so quickly.  She learned to read at an early age, always exceeded expectations and has always made us very proud.  Jordan is a girl who knows what she wants and has never bent to others tastes, hers have been strong and her very own from a very early age.  I have actually learned a lot from Jordan.  She has always been quite responsible.  I remember coming home from the grocery store one day with Jenica and we were putting away the groceries.  It was usually Jordan's job to go to the store with me.  She looked at what we bought and said "Jenica, did you really let mom buy some of this stuff?"  I LOVE that.

Jord, I want you to know that your Dad and I are VERY proud of you and the wonderful woman you have become.  You brighten up a room when you enter it, and your siblings really look up to you.  WE LOVE YOU 19 year old...HAPPY BIRTHDAY:)

Wow, 

Summer is almost over, and we just went school shopping and registered our kids for school.  Where did that go?  We are busy trying to get ready for the school year.  

I cant believe Jacey is going to be in high school this year.  She is going to go to Orem High.  She already played on their softball team, so she is a bit familiar. She is so much fun to watch on the field!  Man, I love when she pitches or plays first as her reflexes are faster than I can even think. She is going to play her trombone in the band their too, and she has really got into writing lately, so that will be fun for her to be in English again.  Jacey is such a fun girl to have around the house with her quick whit and her fun personality.

Riley is starting Eighth grade.  I cant believe he is that old...he will be 14 this month!  He is so outgoing, and fun, and has quite a sense of humor.  You cant walk anywhere without him having someone say "Hi Riley"!  He just got back from his week long scout camp where he took his trumpet to get his bugling merit badge.  He is going to register to play

Jocelyn is going to rule the school in the 6th grade this year.  Sixth grade is the last year of elementary around here...wow, my last child in grade school!  She is also VERY excited to start school.  She loves it and that makes me happy.  She is sure getting good at softball too...she was the power hitter on her team this summer:)

Jeff is going to Canada for work next week:(.  I am excited for him, but we will all miss him so much.  He is working at DTI in Springville.  They put out software for large newspapers to lay out their paper with.  He is sure a good dad, and he is a great husband.  I am pretty lucky to have him in my life.

Jenica is in Grant's Pass Oregon.  She works at a cafe at a resort on the Rogue river.  They have speed or power boats?  Something cool like that.  She is really getting in to hiking and biking in the beautiful country up here.  We sure miss her though.  She is my nature girl, and is thinking of teaching yoga.  We are HOPING she is moving back in October to spend some time with us and to go to school.

Jordan is busy as ever working up at Sundance in Provo Canyon, and still at Outback.  She moved out and lives with a great friend Katie near Utah Valley State College, where she is going to go to school this fall.  She is a fun, active girl who is fun to be around WHEN WE SEE HER!  She is SO busy.  She surprised Jeff and I by calling last night and meeting us for dinner at Mi Ranchito...it was so nice to catch up.  Can you believe she is turning 19 tomorrow?

I am working at UVRMC as the head of the Customer Service Team in the Patient Accounts Department.  I love working with people and I love my team.  I have new hours which are 10:30 am to 7:00 pm M-F and those are kind of crazy hours.  I am enjoying the time in the morning to get things done, and Jeff works until at least 7 every night, so I think it will work out.

Aspen Grove

8/5/2008

Welcome to our blog! We have had a fun and crazy summer that is JUST ABOUT OVER! We had a great time camping up at Aspen grove with Jacey, Riley and Jocelyn. Grandma and Grandpa McDonald came up to enjoy and evening with us. Troy, Pam and little Michael joined us as well. We hiked, played with Riley's sling shot, played football and spent time at the "castle".