Tooth Holdout!!!

So Bryan finally lost his 1st tooth!!! He was so very excited it was cute. Cassie was the first to lose a tooth and has lost 2 now. Jayson and Nathan came next, and they both have lost five. So for my little Bryan this day could not come soon enough. Now for Me, this day means my baby is truly growing up to be a big boy. Makes me a little sad actually. This will be the last time that I get the chance to lose that 1st tooth.

I promise to get Christmas slide shows up soon. Having the kids home for now the 3rd week...... is taking its toll on me and I have no free time. :> Sleep well my friends.

P.S. Thanks to all for the prayers for our friend Sarah. In case you have not read her blog recently she is home and doing well. Keep up the good work Girl!!!

PRAYERS FOR SARAH!!!

Friends, family and loved ones. I am posting today asking for prayers for a very dear friend of ours. I am posting a link to her blog so you can see what is going on and keep up to date on her progress. She is a fantastic friend and fighting today for her life. Pray for her and her gorgeous little family.

www.jimiandsarah.blogspot.com

Please my friends be safe and I will update more later. I am still trying to post video from our 1st Christmas program. It was awesome.

Logic of a Child

This week Jay is out of town. For many of you that know me, this will not surprise you at all......... I love to rearrange my furniture. It seems that when I am the most stressed out , or life just seems so overwhelming, and there is nothing I can do but ride the wave, I realize I can move my furniture. HAHAHAHAH. Well Jay on the other hand, hates it. He was not real pleased that I had him help me turn all the boys beds into bunkbeds over the weekend. So I knew if I waited until he came home to hear my idea and see the work that lay ahead he would roll his eyes and drag his feet, or even make little paper models of it for me to move around before I actually moved the furniture. ( He really did that once, to scale, with the trash cans included)

Since he is in Fort Worth this week and I have to get the Christmas stuff out anyway...... it was the perfect opportunity. We are trying to decide on what colors to paint the rooms and I really wanted Bryan to be a part of Jayson and Nathan's blue room and airplanes. So how to make it all work.....

Not too bad if I do say so. This oak TV entertainment center is VERY HEAVY and hard to move. But I did it. I reminded the kids that they are not to climb on it because if they do and it falls down on them it will crush them and anyone else that is in the way. They all nod in agreement and promise they will not do it again. And I say again because I caught them doing it a week ago.

Well this morning we are rushing to get out the door for school and I hear on the intercom that Jayson is climbing on the entertainment center. I run up the stairs to catch him "in the act" and sure enough he is coming down off of it. I use the angry mom voice and once again tell him that this cannot happen and swat his butt. (sorry to anyone who does not believe in swatting, but sometimes it is necessary!!!) And what does he do? With his cute, sad, little eyes full of tears he looks up at me and says........ "it is the best place to play Humpty Dumpty."

Well he has certainly got a good point, and I find myself a little stumped on where to go with this conversation. (I admit, I did not see this one coming. :>) So quick thinking (which is amazing since it is only 6:45 am) I ask him if he remembers what happens to Humpty Dumpty? I then point out that they could not put him back together and I would be so very sad if we could had the same problem and could not fix Jayson. He sees my point and then proceeds to ask me, "Mom, if I am in heaven would you cry all day?" I assure him I would and please don't do it again because I do not want to have to cry all day. He tells me, "mom, when you go to heaven I will cry all day too and miss you every minute." Ah, he does like me after all. :> Have a great night my friends!!!!

Halloween Memories

Make a Smilebox slideshow I am only a couple of weeks behind. Enjoy my friends!!

My Girly Girl!!

Growing up I always wanted a daughter. I wanted to have a relationship with my daughter that I have with my mother, best friends. I wanted to dress her in dresses with pink and lace. But I ended up with two boys. That did not stop me though. I still wanted and longed for that little girl.
Well I finally got my little girl...... we just did not know that she would bring three more boys with her. :> However, being busy with boys and trying to keep up with them she was not very girly. I must admit, I was a little sad. She did not want anything to do with dresses, don't touch her hair, and unles the boys were getting their nails painted too she wanted nothing to do with it. I have to give it to her though, before she could even speak English, she was speaking "quadish" and all of her brothers would follow her orders.
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However, in the last two years (preschool and now kindergarten) she has decided that she has to have curly hair everyday. She has stick straight hair. You are familiar with it. If you have it you loath it.... if you don't..... well then you pay big bucks to get it. So each night we take the straight hair and put curlers in it. Sometimes we will even braid it and then add curlers. These are the new curlers which create more ringlet type curls. She loves them.

But for the record, just because she has curls, it does not mean that she will not put on the pretty dress and still take the boys down in the mud!!! Now that is my girl!! Have a great night my friends.

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween 2009!!! We tried to get a picture of them all looking at the camera with a happy face, but trick or treating has taken ALL DAY TO GET HERE MOM!!!

Maybe next year. Where are our photographers, Lauren and Phil when you need them?!?!?!!?

1st Impressions!!!

When you look at this little face sleeping so peacefully, your 1st impression would be that he is such a little angel. And before I go any further..... I will tell you that my identicals (aka the terrible twosome) are the sweetest little boys and have the biggest hearts, HOWEVER, they can be so mischieveous and create a lot of trouble.

Now these two faces are what I am used to seeing just before or after some sort of havic has been created. Today I finally found the ward we are supposed to attend. I decided it was finally time to get back to church. Since we were actually around this weekend it was the perfect timing.

I will admit that we skipped sacrament meeting as I have to ease myself and the ward into the "Kearl fun." Things went relatively smoothly. We found our classes and no one ran away when they saw us. I call that success!

Now after church, well that is a different story. We were headed to the van. Naturally the children dart out the door and straight into the parking lot at 100 mph. Of course ,this is not how we do things. We usually have partners and do not go out any door without holding hands and staying together. But they know that we are coming out of church and mom is not going to yell. And since she is in a dress with heals she can only run so fast. (How is it kids can figure this out, I don't wear dresses often and never heals... running shoes!)

Into the van go Cassie and Bryan. Good job. Hunter gets in the van but decides it would be much more fun to see what Tanner, Nathan and Jayson are doing. And..... as I keep getting told by people..... boys will be boys. (Come on this excuse can only go on for so long before even I don't believe it anymore.) Picture this.......a little brick wall that leads to a hill of tree leaves that have fallen to the ground. They are jumping in them, throwing them around and running from mom as fast as those legs will carry them. I am trying to count to ten as calmly as possible and scurry them back to the van. When all of the sudden I see Jayson and Nathan jumping on an old water drain cover. Okay, not bad one might think. (We now have an audience as people are checking out the "quads" and to see what all the commotion is about. ) Then what to my wondering eyes might appear......... Hundreds of very mad bees coming out of the drain as fast as they can. The boys start screaming like little girls, I am trying to grab the kids over the fence and into the van as fast as I can..... I have bees all over . I am trying to swat them off, get kids in the van and not swear in front of all the church people.

I managed to get the kids in the van and none of them got stung. However, we now have bees in the van that I am trying to shoo out the window and at the same time not let any more in! The kids are screaming at me that there is one in my hair, on my arm, stuck to my neck. Needless to say I did not fair as well and the children. Five stings to the neck later, the van is bee free. It is true what they say about a mother's love. But for the record, bee stings to the neck hurt!!!!!

So there you have it my friends, that is how we make a 1st impression. So tonight as I sit here with tyelnol, benedryl and pennies stuck to the neck........ I am trying to figure out what I did in my previous life to be blessed with five little boys that will...... as they say........ be boys. :>

Worn Out!!!

This would be Bryan. School here starts at 7:30 for the elementary. Which means that we start our day at about 6:15 each morning. It is a crazy time to start our days, but in order to get the six kids dressed, beds made, lunches finished, breakfast, teeth brushed and make it out the door no later than 7:07, we have to get up and get going. And yes, my kids are on a pretty tight schedule. In order to survive these mornings ,we have to be in bed asleep no later than 7:15. But by about Wednesday, the kids are tired and worn out, and how is the best way to show Mom how tired we are....... Yep, you guessed it..... plain old grouchiness. So on this particular day I decided time out was not going to work for me and I sent him into the guest bedroom to "melt down" out of sight. This is what I found five minutes later. Poor kid, just exhausted.

And yet for the record, I have to wake them up Monday through Friday but on Saturday morning they are wide awake. Are you kidding me?!?!?!?!?

However, since pictures speak a thousand words, I just thought I would share a couple of dinner time pictures with you!!! Clearly we have our second wind! Mom is counting to ten (at least ten times) and looking forward to the kids finishing their chores, bath time, story time, and finally bedtime!!!

I don't know about anyone else, but I am looking forward to the weekend!!! I need to sleep in, even if it is only for ten extra minutes. Have a great night my friends!!!

Yes, they did turn 6!!!

So the rumor is true. The quads did in fact turn 6 years old. It was also about a month ago that it happened. The week before their big birthday they lost their great Grandfather. What a lucky group of kids to be able to know and appreciate several great grandparents. Unfortunately, along with knowing them comes losing them. In the last two years they have lost three. I do think this was the hardest one yet because they are old enough to be aware and ask many questions. But the good news is that we were able to make it to Utah for the funeral and be back in time for our big Disneyland trip.

As you may know, each year around the quads birthday, Jay has a Test Pilot conference at Disneyland. Since it would be completely unreasonable to think that he should go alone we go with him to keep him in line. Each year we also solicit some new unsuspecting loved ones to go and "celebrate" birthdays. The truth is......... I cannot do Disneyland alone with six kids. :> This year Lauren and Phil joined us for the trip. (Thanks guys, we love you and are so glad that you made it!!!!! ) We loved having them come and join in the fun. Not sure they will ever come back though .........


Here are just a few pictures of the big day. I am working on a slide show that will show all the fun. (currently cannot get the picture disk to work, and cannot work on it when I am sitting around eating bon bons, come on) Since Lauren and Phil joined us (they love to take pictures) we have plenty of memories captured. And I have to say that this year was the most fun yet........ The kids are finally old enough that we did not have to worry so much and they loved the rides. Waiting in line is still a challenge but it is getting better. We also decided to purchase season passes as it was the better deal so we will be able to go back many times and have more fun.

Well friends, I will update soon with pictures and more tales of the adventure. In the meantime, have a great night!!!

Happy Birthday My Little Sweet Pea!!!

Who can believe that little Hunter is now 8 Years old. It seems like just yesterday we were living in North Carolina and I was ready to pop. And out popped this handsome little man. He is all grown up and loving life and school. His cake is Indiana Jones and the thinks it is the "bomb' in his words. I think that smile tells everything. He has a shark tooth necklace from Grandma Nese and Grandpa Bruce and they win good points.

And the best gift ever, came from ........... drum roll please......... not mommie, (I just knew I was going to win big points with the basketball standard since he has wanted one and begged....... nope the roller coaster from Lauren and Phil beat me out. Way to go you two!!! Wish you had been here to watch the joy and help him set it up. He loved it. Still just checked on him and he has perma grin. Way to to guys!!! The only thing better would have been to have you here to eat cake. Maybe next time. Love to you, Sleep well.

Out of the Darkness!!!

As you may remember almost a year ago we lost my dear brother in law to suicide. It has been a horrific year to try to deal with and understand why his young life was cut so short. If only we had known more...... I had never been so close to someone who had committed suicide and all of the sudden it was truly "rocking" our world. My heart still aches each time I stop and think about it all. My dear sister and her gorgeous little girls have picked up the pieces and honor their father everyday. She is doing a suicide walk in his honor this month and I hope that anyone that can find it in their heart will go to the following link and help to sponsor her team. Here is some more information about suicide and their walk. Please just take a moment and read the information you might help to save a life.

WALK TO SAVE LIVES... In the United States, a person dies by suicide every 16 minutes, claiming more than 32,000 lives each year. It is estimated that an attempt is made every minute; with close to one million people attempting suicide annually.By walking in the Out of the Darkness Community Walks to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), you will be walking with thousands of people nationwide to raise money for AFSP's vital research and education programs to prevent suicide and save lives, increase national awareness about depression and suicide, and assist survivors of suicide loss.WALK TO HONOR A LOVED ONE...Many of our participants walk in memory of a loved one lost to suicide. AFSP provides opportunities for survivors of suicide loss to get involved through a wide variety of educational, outreach, awareness, advocacy and fundraising programs. Each walk site has its own unique remembrance activity in which you can participate to honor a loved one.WALK TO RAISE AWARENESS... AFSP funds research aimed at improving our understanding of suicide and ways to prevent it as well as educational activities to increase awareness about prevention, warning signs and the psychiatric illnesses that can lead to suicide.

If you click on the following link it will take you right to her page (Elizabeth Shaw) and you can help support her walk. Elizabeth, Shelby, and Shaylee, we are so proud of you and would walk with you if we could. You make us all proud and we know this day will be bittersweet. Know that your guardian angels will be with you to keep you strong. We love you all very much!!!

http://afsp.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&eventID=844&participantID=52664

1st day of School!!

Okay, so I am only about a month behind. I really do not think that is bad if you look at all that has happened . :> So here you have it. My little monkey's all ready to start school. I hope that Sundown Elementary will survive. Tanner- 3rd grade, Hunter- 2nd grade, Cassie, Bryan, Nathan and Jayson- kindergarten. Not bad.

I know it is hard to tell in this picture but it was 6:15 am. We were residing on base because there were complications with the house. We were not able to close because it had not passed inspections yet. We had been homeless for about 10 days at this point, we only had 1 more night on base because they did not have room any longer. We had not figured we would need reservations longer because we were scheduled to close on the house on the 4th of August. With school starting on the 10th that would have given us plenty of time. But that is not the Kearl way..... Ever since marrying into the Kearl family, I have learned what the Kearl Factor is..... For those of you unfamiliar with it, as I catch up on our CA move you will see just exactly what I mean. Here is one story. Enjoy! Jay and left, he had to be back in AZ for a week, it was a 50 minute commute to school and the van battery died. I had to frantically search for someone to jump start the van at this ridiculous hour of the morning, I finally found some poor unsuspecting non English speaking workers. I begged them to help me. Finally we are on our way. Luckily we had started a little early so we were not horribly later. When I dropped the kids off Bryan was having a very hard time. As I have stated before this move was not the most smooth. He was so afraid that the van was not going to start and that I would not be at the bus stop to pick them up. He was afraid that once I drove away he would never see me again. It was killing me. Bryan's eyes do not hide anything. And when those little things filled with tears it was enough to break my heart. But he put on his brave little face and off he went. And yes, I was there early at the bus to pick them up.

Only 1 week into school 3 of the kids had detention. Now that is fun. I think that the school is just trying to make sure that the kids know the rules and abide by them. (or at least that is what I am telling myself to make me feel better about it :>) But if you are trying to guess which ones had detention, I would be willing to bet you are right. Hunter..... fiddling around during story time with his neighbor and fighting over a pencil, (double detention). Nathan and Jayson..... picking up and throwing wood chips on the playground. What can I say..... boys will be boys? Does that work?!?!!?

This is for Lauren and Phil!!!

I am so very far behind on blogging!!! This has been the craziest and most unorganized move we have had. For the record, Jay and I have been married for 12 years and this is our 11th move. I am just about done with this fun. :> Anyway, I will try to catch everyone up with our "adventure" as the days progress. For now..... This is the day we drove out of Tucson, AZ. Because of our continous breakdowns in the desert with over 100 degrees, Lauren and Phil thought it was fitting for the kids to be well equipped with their own little fans for the journey. So here is a picture of them with their great surprise. It was a hit and when we did break down we were actually able to use them. Now that is another story all together.

Sleep well our friends. We are going to. :>

Animal Love is equal to the love of a child.

Meet a baby bird. We found him on our back porch last weekend. Unfortunately, he had a brother or sister that did not make it. We had to bury him. The kids were heart broken. A baby bird had died on thier watch. So I did what every other mother would do out there.......... Loaded everyone up in the van with the tiny little bird, some grass, and some seed and headed to the vets office in hopes of a "good "outcome. We drove the 20 minutes to the closest vet open on Saturday morning only to find out that they do not do anything with birds. I beggged........ I could not tell my little ones that we lost another bird, not now not in the middle of a move from AZ to CA. They were already so confused, and sad about losing their house, their friends, their schools, and now a bird. It was very traumatic. Luckily, they headed me in the right direction to a bird rescue. So another 20 minutes in we finally found her. She had a finch mother that would take it and teach it to fly and all would be happy. The kids were thrilled and happy. We were the heros. :> Now we got nothing done at the the house that we should have been doing. Packing, cleaning, etc...... but we did save a baby bird. Feels pretty good. If I do say so myself. :>

Next meet Sammy. She is our rabbit. We have had her for about a year. She was Tanner's pet but he was a little rough for her (tying her legs together and throwing her off the bunk beds), so she lived in the laundry room. I felt so bad for her living there and not getting interacation so I moved her to the front family room. Here she has free run of the downstairs. She likes to tease our guinea pig, Bolt, but she does love to be out of her cage. She is litter trained so it works out nicely. Yes, I have a bunny, that lounges in my house. What have a I turned into to, dog, guinea pig, and rabbi. Besides the six ......oops make that seven kids if jay is around. :> What do you do? We love them all. I have to say about the pets, they are easy to clean up and feed. They never talk back and they love unconditionally. Very forgiving, no matter what. You can snip at them and they just look at you like you have lost your mind but next minute they are right there in your lap looking for affection. So they never hold it against you. Interesting. Well my friends, it is well past my bed time and I do have a lot to do tomorrow. Have a great night!!!!!

Staying Cool!!

With all the heat here in Arizona, living in Rancho Sahuarita does have some benefits. It is a very family friendly community. At the clubhouse they have a water park. I am not a swimmer, nor do I actually enjoy the water.( I really don't know how to swim.) But, as the kids are getting older, and a little more manageable, we have discovered the water park is a great place for the kids. It allows them to burn off some of that pent up energy. We have been there several times and they love it. It also works as a great motivator to keep them in check during the day.

This crazy bucket dumps water on them about every 7 minutes. As weird as it sounds, they love it. A bell will ring to let them know when it is getting ready to dump and no matter where they are they will run to be under that very large bucket. And yet, it knocks them on their cute little butts every time. We have even been known to almost lose our shorts completely. Cute little plumbers crack!!! :> I just shake my head and laugh.

The best part for me or the added bonus is..... when we get home they head right to the shower and as soon as their little heads hit their pillows they are out. Not too bad, if I do say so myself. Sleep well, my friends, the kids are!!!!!

My little Rock Band!!!

Jay and I love to play rock band. I never thought I would say that. Very out of character I know.( it is a great way to relieve stress) But a year ago when I was in Utah , Adam convinced to me to try. He is amazing on the drums!!!! We played one night for what I thought was a mere hour or so and as it turns out it five hours had passed and it was nearly 1:00 in the morning. LOL. So for my birthday I got Rock Band. I try (and try is the key word there) to play the drums and Jay plays the guitar.

Well ...... now the kids have decided that they like to play too. They just rotate around and sing, play guitars or the drums. It is so funny to watch and see how much they get into it. Eye of the Tiger seems to be the favorite song. We have heard rumor that coming out this Christmas will be Lego Rock Band , so it will be a little more appropriate for the kids. I think this will make a great gift.

As for now, we are doing anything we can to help make this move and transition as easy as possible. And for a few minutes while they are playing Rock Band they forget that all of their toys, beds, and everything else around them are packed. They even seem to forget that they are living with boxes all around!!!

Kids are the best. They may be loud and messy but they have so much resiliency and courage. Sleep well our friends and play a little Rock Band!!!

Summer Monsoon Fun.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

For those of you not familiar with AZ summer, one of the highlights is the monsoon. Once the temperatures hit the triple digits we can get a lot of storms. We will get a lot of thunder and lightning but some days a lot of rain. The kids love the rain and sometimes we will let them play in it. This was one of those days. I was impressed because Daddy let them play in the pond as well. Which he had just cleaned out. But he reminded us that , "you are only kids once."

Here are a couple of pictures of the monsoon at night. The storms can be fun to watch and they do create some gorgeous sunsets. Enjoy and have a fabulous day, our friends.

Happy Birthday Lauren!!!

So we learned that Lauren was having a birthday. Of course, we never want to miss an opportunity to have cake and celebrate with our favorite people!!! We put up some birthday signs, got some cake and waited. The van was in the shop (AGAIN) and Lauren and Phil were going to pick up the boys from Karate and come over. Cassie, Nathan, Jayson and Bryan had been hiding for what seemed like hours for little people, but it had only been minutes. I was watching at the door and finally announced their arrival. They jumped and and "surprised" Lauren for her 24th birthday and we had a party. I remember 24, wow, how time flies when you get old. :> LOL.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We hope you had a great surprise!!! The kids were so sweet. All day long they went around and found their favorite toys and gave them to her when she came in because they all wanted to give her something special. That was one of those ah- ha moments. Good kids who really love you!!! Thanks for all you do.

Sleep well our friends. I have a lot more to share, hopefully over the next couple of nights. Life is crazy at the Kearl household but not boring!! Sleep well.

Sleepover with Lauren and Phil!!!

I just love this picture!!! Some of you may not have heard the news yet........ we are moving again!!! Jay is going to be the new DO for the Joint Strike Fighter for the Air Force at Edwards AFB. It is a very exciting opportunity, however it does mean that we will be moving. They wanted us there yesterday, but we will not actually get moved until August.

Jay was actually in California all of last week and we needed to join him to do some house hunting since the time to move is very rapidly approaching. The market in California is crazy and houses are moving very quickly, some are not even on the market for more than 36 hours. I needed to get there fast. Our surrogate parents for the kids (Lauren and Phil) jumped right in to watch the kids. Poor Lauren, (after working 12 hours all night long) showed up Friday morning so Tanner, Hunter and I could hit the road. Phil showed up after work and they had a sleep over with the quads. I am not even sure the kids really knew I was gone.... they love Lauren and Phil so much that they had a great time. They played games, went to the park, went to the ice cream store, made cookies, and did crafts. What more could a kid ask for?!?!?!?!!?

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The rest of us house hunted until there was no more hunting to do and then drove back Saturday night. We pulled in at 2:00 am. Not bad. Did we find a house? Well....... we left Califorina with a bunch of confusion and frustration. Everything was very over-priced and in very bad condition. We did make an offer on a new build that should be perfect. Great location, good schools, great view and best of all a Lauren and Phil suite. However, we have not been able to convince them they want to leave AZ yet. :>

We will keep you posted on the move and the house status. It is going to be a crazy month and we pray that things will go smoothly and we can make this transition as easy as possible for the kids. It has been interesting to watch them and to see how much insecurity they are currently feeling. I know it is hard for me, as I had gotten into a very good groove. Great friends, great comfort zone, with schools, extra curricular activities, and doctors all in order. I guess I was just getting too comfortable. But we are off to another adventure and I know that we are lucky to have so many great friends that will always be friends no matter where we go!!! And how awesome is that to have friends all over. Thanks again Lauren and Phil for all your help this weekend!!!!!

Another Broken Arm!!!

Yes, it is true. It is poor little Nathan's turn this time. He actually broke the arm in Utah while we were on our short lived vacation. He had been playing hard and having a great day. Everyone else was in the tub and it was his turn. As he was jumping off the trampoline his long legs got twisted with each other and down he went. It was like it was happening in slow motion, I could see it happening but nothing I could do about it.

I knew it was broken when he landed. So off we went to the emergency room. It was interesting how it all worked out though. We had no wait time in the waiting room, and there was an ortho doctor that just happened to be there consulting about a different patient. He looked at the x-rays and said that the arm was broken and it had to be set. The ER doc did not want to have to set it, and the ortho doc on call was in surgery. It could have been hours for us to wait. Luckily, the other doc said he would set it for us. He was also a little concerned that Nathan was not complaining of pain in the elbow because he thought there might be something. However, decided not to pursue it at this point.

If you have never had to watch a child have an arm set you are very lucky. It is horrible for the parents. They put Nathan out and you can hear the crack as they reset it. Your baby will scream out in sheer pain and agony, but they promise they will never remember any of it. However, I promise you, as a mother you will never forget it!!!! This was my second time to experience this. (Hunter was my first.) I must say...... I am always so impressed with the pain tolerance of my kids. The doctors also cannot believe that their bones are broken because they are so calm and good.

Anyway, we had to see a different ortho and get a cast put on before heading back to AZ since they did not want it to get bumped and moved out of place. By this point, he had started complaining of elbow pain. So I insisted on more x-rays and a full cast. I was not impressed with the doctor we saw on Friday because he did not seem very interested in us. (I think because he knew we were leaving.) He did agree to cast it all the way up but did not really examine the x-rays. He did call me back later in the day and tell me that there was a hairline fracture in the elbow as well.

Well we finally saw our ortho last week and he did more x-rays. Sure enough it was a good thing that I insisted on the full length cast. Nathan broke three bones, both in the arm and boy, did he do a number on the elbow. Not a hairline fracture, it was worse. The good news is that they really would not have treated it any differently. Which is great news and means that we are not behind in the healing. He will be in the cast for three more weeks and then they will relook at it. It will be a long summer for him. Thank heavens for water proof casts!!! Have a great night my friends!!

Felonies and Fun!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This has been a strange summer for us. I like to spend a month back in Utah with family. It is great for me because it helps to re-energize me and the kids love getting out of the AZ heat. We are usually gone in July as it is so very hot here and then I can be in Utah for Joseph's birthday and my birthday.

However, this year it just was not going to happen because Joseph was graduating and I knew I did not want to miss that. So we planned the trip for June. My sister in law, Amy, offered to come and help me get home. Road trips are not something that I can do myself yet. So she came a week before we left and offered a tremendous amount of help. It is hard for me to ask for help so I tend to not to that. What was so great about having her around was I never had to ask her to do anything. She saw what needed to be done and just jumped in and did it. The kids loved having her here. We went to the park, the pool, and the movie. The kids thought they were in heaven.

As for the road trip home, well this is where the felonies come in. I love to leave very early so we can drive all the way. 15 hours of fun. This time was no different. We pulled out at 4:03 am. Only three minutes late. I was very proud. After three hours driving, I see a cop behind me. I make sure I am not speeding and just keep on going. I had just complained to Amy that he was pacing traffic and it was going to slow us down. Next thing I know he has his lights on.

Hmmmmmm. He slowly approached the van on the passenger side, peering into the windows. Of course, the kids think this is great because it has never happened before and they are jumping out of their car seats to see the police officer. He wants to know if I am running a day school. I explain , no they are all my children. So then he starts comparing me to Jon and Kate plus 8. Are you serious?!?!?!? You pulled me over at 7:00 in the morning for this? So he then proceeds to ask me if I know why he pulled me over. No....... (seriously, if I knew that it could have saved us all some time )

Well I am driving on an expired registration. No way....... We are always on top of this, how did this happen to me? It had been expired for three days. So he then wants proof of insurance. I hand that to him too. Uh-oh.... Yes, expired too. (four days on that one) Finally he wants my drivers license. I carry a Utah drivers license so I do not have to change it each time we move. Well, according to him if I have lived in AZ for two years I have to change it to the state I am actually residing in.

Well there you have it 3 felonies. He asks Amy what he should do with me. The insurance fee alone is $1,810.00 and he can impound the van. At this point, I am thinking..... do it then. (I am seriously getting irritated at this point) It would be a nice vacation........ and I don't have to hear, "how much farther until we see Grandma Neice". I swear it has not changed that much in the last 30 seconds!!!

So the police officer heads back to his car. I would love to be mad at Jay for allowing this to happen to me, but with the job stress and trying to figure out what is best for us he has not been thinking anymore clearly than I was. So we wait, for what seemed like hours. I am sure it was only minutes. He comes back to the window with a very snide look on his face. His back up is just arriving (are you kidding me?!?!!?). He lets me know he is just warning me but I should get to the nearest library and have my insurance company fax me up to date proof (luckily I had more than one expired one in the van so he knew I usually kept it up to date), he also warned me that I should not get pulled over again because the next cop would probably not be nearly as kind and understanding as he was.( I also have five days to get it all taken care of and send them proof for there will be a warrant out for my immediate arrest!!!)

Okay, so no stress, 12 hours to go with six kids, three felonies, not enough sleep and I cannot even speed. I swear it was the longest drive EVER!!!! But I will also say my kids are the best. How many kids will sit in car seats in a van for 15 hours and still be laughing when we arrive at our destination? They are the best!!! So this is the beginning fun of our summer. I will update again later, with yet another chapter to our endless adventures. Sleep well, my friends!!