So I haven't been blogging much lately because I have to admit I have gotten a sour taste in my mouth for emailing, texting, and blogging. There have been a couple of instances in the past month where things have been taken the wrong way and bad things have happened. In my opinion texting is slowly ruining communication and relationships in the country. People are more willing to text things that they would never say in person. I have seen relationships destroyed over texting because of harsh things which never would have been said otherwise. People need to learn to talk to each other again. Josh had a patient in his office the other day who is a high school English teacher and she said we don't even realize how bad it is. She receives papers from students where the first paragraph is good but then the writing turns into texting lingo. Students will put l8r for later and 2 for to or too, etc. I mean I don't have perfect grammar, but that is disgusting. What are these kids going to do when they enter the workforce and they don't know how to make a complete sentence? My mom said she was behind a couple of boys in line at the store or something and instead of talking to each other they were all texting. What has happened to our society? My sister has friends where in a relationship they say I love you for the first time over texting and they will break up over texting.

On to a happier topic, as was mentioned earlier we went and had our ultrasound on Wed and what the heck!!! I am having a BOY!!!!!!!!!! I was in absolute shock when we saw the ultrasound. I still don't really know what to think, which is one reason I haven't blogged about it until now. I mean I have pink and purple bedrooms, where does a boy fit? Don't get me wrong we are excited, I just never really planned on having a boy so it was quite a surprise. I don't know if I will really believe it until I see my little boy in the hospital.

Doctor's visit

Well Wednesday was a big day for us, we went and had our ultrasound. We're so excited to know what we're having!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!

As the title states, I love Halloween!!! This year was a lot of fun. As you can tell from the picture, Alexis was Dorothy, Camryn was a Southern Belle (she even used an accent), and Marina was a witch. We went trick-or-treating on Main Street (small town version of mall trick-or-treating) and of course the kids loved it. Then Josh took the kids around our neighborhood. I thought I would get some rest staying home and handing out treats, but alas, I didn't get to sit down for more then two minutes for almost two hours. It was crazy!! We eventually ran out of candy and just had to turn out the porch light. Then later that night we got toilet-papered. Josh is over the teachers in young men and we believe (know) it was his boys that did it. We only have one tiny tree so it really wasn't bad.

Last week I was in a play with a bunch of other moms at the local library. I was originally asked to fill in one day, one part for one of the other moms who could not do the play for two days. So I practiced that part for three weeks and then the day before the play the lady in charge called me and told me that our friend who played one of the other pumpkins had gone into early labor and could not do her part, so could I take her place and do two days instead of one? So I agreed and ended having to memorize a whole new part in one day. It worked out fine, though, and I had a lot of fun. So much fun that I agreed to be in the Christmas play in December. I didn't think a lot of kids would come and see it, but we ended up putting the play on for over 1,000 people in two days. In the picture I am the pumpkin with the Wendy's wig.

We also had a Halloween Party at our house. It was crazy, but fun. I actually dressed up for the first time since I was a kid, I was an Egyptian mummy. Surprise Josh was a mechanic! One more thing, since I have been pregnant I have been having heart palpitations and I really don't like it. My heart will beat really hard once and then normal again, at first it was only once a week or so but lately it has been happening almost everyday. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it common? Should I be worried? Comments would be appreciated.

Quick Update

Marina on a climbing wall at an indoor kids playplace in Boise. Okay she had a little help from Josh.

You know I always say I will post more often and yet it does not happen. What can I say, life gets busy. Last week we went on a short vacation to visit Josh's brother and his family in Boise. It was a lot of fun. They have four kids so my kids had a blast running around and playing with their kids nonstop for three days. Thanks for letting your kids stay home from school!! We went to the zoo and then a kids Discovery Center, which Alexis loved. I also had a great time, I enjoyed getting to know Josh's brother and his wife better. I think our families are a lot more alike then I ever thought before. So the trip went great and then we started to look at the weather for our drive home on Sat and realized that a massive snowstorm was going to hit Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, all the places we had to drive through. So in an effort to miss the storm we left late Friday night, instead of Saturday morning, and drove to my parents in Utah. We woke up Saturday morning to the news that South Pass (the road we take home) was closed. So we ended up in Utah until Monday. We did have a nice surprise visit with my family, but what the heck, snow the first week of October?!?!?!?! At least it is all melted now. I'm not saying I don't enjoy the occasional snowfall, I do, at Christmas! While we were in Utah I went to see the doctor and so far the baby is growing and doing good, and I am also starting to feel better.

We went to the pumpkin patch with some friends a couple of weeks ago. The girls had a lot of fun, and we found a lot of great pumpkins. The best part was wandering through the corn maze, which was next to the pumpkin patch. The girls screamed almost the whole time, even though the only ones scaring them were the people with us.Marina at the pumpkin patch. She is too cute for her own good.

Update

Like I said in a previous post, we went camping a couple of weeks ago with some friends. Personally, I love camping so I had a great time, I was just sad we only stayed one night. I would have liked to stay at least two. Anyways, we had five families and 13 kids. My kids had a blast and slept so well!!! Marina went right to sleep and did not wake up at all the whole night. One thing I did not like was the wind. It started in the middle of the night and a couple of times I thought our tent would fall down or we would be carried off like in the Wizard of Oz. But we survived the night and on Sat. the kids all ran around having a great time and I knew it was only a matter of time before one of them was hurt. The one who got hurt was not the one who I thought would. Brandon James, a 13 year old boy, fell down and broke his arm. It was so sad. Kids had been falling down left and right and he falls once and breaks his arm. Well, his dad took him to the hospital, while everyone else went on a short hike and then took down camp. We ended the trip a couple of hours earlier then planned due to the accident, but sometimes that is what you have to do. Poor Brandon James had to have surgery on his arm the next Tuesday. Hope he is doing okay now. Next year we will go camping again, except we will go in July when it is warmer and we will go for an entire weekend instead of one night.

Marina is 2!!! I can't believe it. The past two years have just flown by. She has such a sweet spirit. She is always so concerned if anybody is sad or hurt, even people on tv. She is such a goofball. She is talking nonstop, especially since the older two girls have gone to school. She calls her cousin Peyton, "Pey, Pey" and the cat "Sammie" she says Grandma and Grandpa, but she will not say Alexis or Camryn. She calls Alexis "SeeSee," and Camryn "SeeSaw" I think she got it from sister, but who really knows. So she had a great birthday, we celebrated last weekend with my family in Utah (it was my sister's birthday on the 8th), and we celebrated with just our family on her actual birthday the 11th, and on Sunday we will have yet another celebration with Josh's family. Marina will think it is her birthday everyday.

Well, I guess I should post that I am pregnant. I am eleven weeks and boy howdy have I been nauseous and tired. I went to the doctor while we were in Utah and everything seems to be okay. Yes I went to the doctor in Utah and I live in Wyoming. I decided to go to the doctor (Dr. Marriott) that delivered Alexis and Camryn for a couple of reasons. First, I have to have a C-section and he is one of the best C-section doctors in Utah and when you are having someone cut you open and stitch you back up you don't want someone with questionable skills. Second, he does an ultrasound at every visit. Obviously, if there is something wrong then he can tell early on. I have often thought that if my doctor in Kentucky did an ultrasound everytime he would have seen that Marina was breech earlier and we could have tried to turn her, and perhaps I would not have had to have a C-section. I remember going to the dr in KY and he would feel my stomach and then just say, so how do you feel? How can he tell if everything is okay if that is all he does???? But alas, that is how it was. Another reason I am going to Utah is because the hospital here is teeny, tiny. One of my friends had a baby here and her room was so small. The rooms at Ogden Regional Hospital are beautiful and very large and there are fold out beds for spouses. I have a friend here that told me, "if you can schedule your baby and have it somewhere else do it." So I am taking her advice. Yes it is a long drive for a doctors appointment, but I know it will be worth it.

The Dreaded Subject: Politics

I usually make it a policy to not discuss politics with friends, family, or just about anyone but lately the subject seems to come up again and again. We were with some friends last weekend camping (lots of fun, more on that later), when the the presidential election came up. There was a lot of discussing and people trying to figure out how to find out the truth about the candidates and what they say. After we got home, I couldn't help but wonder how do we find the truth? Well, I am reading the biography of President Hinckley, Go Forward With Faith, and I actually recalled a quote by President Hinckley which answered my question. He was on an airplane talking with someone about the church and the man admitted to President Hinckley that he had received all his information about our church from his own church. President Hinckley asked what company the man worked for and he said IBM. So President Hinckley replied, "How would you feel if your customers learned about your products from a Xerox representative?" So I applied that thought to the election. If I want to find out what Obama and McCain really stand for why not hear it from them? I listened to both of their acceptance speeches and have been reading their views and plans for the country on their own websites. Of course, it is hard to trust politicians so I found a non-partisan website called factcheck.org. It is a great website and states the truth about what each politician says. Check it out for yourself. Anyways, I feel it is important to vote, but we should not vote based on the rumors, lies, and slander plastered across the television and email. Our country needs a good, strong president and we need to vote for the person not the R or the D behind the name. That is just my opinion.

I just had to take a second to let those of you who are following my little sister Staci's love life know the latest news. She went to visit her boyfriend, Blake, a couple weeks ago up in Washington and came back engaged! (Needless to say I was not surprised) They are planning on getting married in Jan in the Bountiful Temple. So congrats to you Staci!!!!!!

School is Here Once Again

Okay I decided I should probably update my blog. My computer was acting funny last week so I wasn't able to get on, stupid windows vista. Anyway, yesterday was the first day of school. Alexis started second grade and Camryn started full day Kindergarten. Sometimes it is hard to believe I have kids that old. It was kind of weird to only have Marina and me and home, it was also oddly quiet. But at 3:00 we went and picked up the girls and life was crazy and noisy once again. After driving my girls to two separate schools everyday for two straight years, I have to admit it is pretty nice to only have to go to one school. Another benefit this year is that they changed the school starting time from 8:15 to 8:00 so some days Josh can drop the girls off on his way to work. How sweet is that?

Here are some pictures of the first day of school.

I went to my ten year high school reunion a couple of weeks ago. They had a lunch at the park for the families and then a dinner at night. At the lunch I was able to see a couple of good friends so I am glad I went. Then at the dinner I saw my best friend from high school Kelley Walker and her husband Scott. It was great to see her. It was just the same as 10 years ago. She was just as sarcastic and cynical as I remember, unlike me of course. Okay maybe I was a little bit sarcastic and cynical as well. We really need to stay in touch better. I also saw my good friend Jay and his wife Ginger. Jay is still Jay and I was really glad I got to see them.

I have to make a couple of comments on the Olympics. I have always been a fan of watching the Olympics, but this year I struggled with a few sports. The gymnastics were difficult to watch because the judging was so obviously off. More then once did a Chinese girl get way more points then she deserved. Also what is up with the lip-syncing seven year old? The girl who really sang at the opening ceremonies wasn't cute enough so they had a different girl stand in and lip-sync. That really irritated me. And some of the fireworks on the tv were computerized in. So I did enjoy the Olympics, especially Michael Phelps, but come on Chinese government lets not destroy the Olympics, okay?

While we were down in Utah we went to the dinosaur park with my sister, her son, and my parents. It was a lot of fun. For being girlie girls Alexis and Camryn sure love dinosaurs.

I thought this was pretty picture. It is at Rock Creek.

Josh got to go on the pioneer trek with the youth a couple of weeks ago. I don't think I have written about this yet, but I don't know. It ended up being about 30 miles in two days. Josh had to quit a couple of hours early because he got huge blisters on his feet. The trek ended at Rock Creek where the Willie Company spent the first night after they were "rescued." A lot of people died that night and were buried there. Now there are monuments for the pioneers and the graves are marked.
Josh and Ron together again. They had a blast playing guitar hero. It was so great to see the Ronco's.

The stake put on a short program at Rock Creek when the trekkers came back. The girls are singing some pioneer songs with the Primary. The kids had the option of wearing pioneer clothes, but alas we did not have any, I don't sew, and I did not want to buy clothes for five minutes of singing.

I finally have a picture up of the girls in their dance costumes. They danced at the county fair last Saturday. I have to say they are pretty cute.

Marina is such a ham. She loves to have her picture taken anytime, anywhere.

I have to add a few extra comments to add to my previous post. I do enjoy some fiction. I really liked Harry Potter and I hate to admit that I am addicted to the Twilight series, although I also have to admit that I found myself thinking more then once that the books are rather cheesy. But it makes a quick, fun, easy read in between my heavy history books.

I did a few new things this summer which I had to write about. I tried wakeboarding for the first time. I actually did okay and I really liked it! Josh really liked to hear that, he has been trying to get me to wakeboard since we got married. I also learned to drive a boat. It was kinda scary at first, but I at least I can drive well enough for Josh to wakeboard behind me.

I haven't posted in awhile so I just thought I would take a minute to write down some thoughts. I am kinda tired so this won't be long. I would like to blog more, but by the time the kids get to bed I don't really feel like sitting at the computer. So anyways, the other day I realized once again that I am not like a lot of my friends. I am in certain ways, but definitely not in hobbies. I am the only person I know that does not like to scrapbook. I just don't enjoy it. I started scrapbooking our marriage pictures right after we got married and realized that I really didn't enjoy it that much. My wedding photos are still not finished and I have been married for almost nine years. I just don't have the time and if I did I would rather research, read, or write history. I know I'm crazy. I have realized I miss out on a lot of time my friends spend together because they get together and scrapbook. But what can I say, I don't like it and I can't force myself to do it. I'm not saying scrapbooking is bad, it is just not for me. Another area I differ is in reading material. People always ask me, "so what are you reading?" and recently I have said, a book about Abraham Lincoln. I then get looked at like I am crazy. I have a hard time with fiction. I can read fiction and I enjoy some of it, but reading about real people with real stories far surpasses any made up story. In fact, I have never been able to finish Little Women and I have tried twice. I just can't stand it. I am okay being different, I mean nobody wants to be the same, but sometimes it would be nice to sit and talk with somebody about historical issues.

More pictures

Here are some more pictures from our vacation. This one is all of us at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It was slightly different from a zoo. A lot of the animals were all together in a huge area to better simulate what life would be like in Africa. The girls had a great time even though it was hot.
This is Alexis and Camryn at the beach. As you can tell they totally got knocked over by a wave.
Marina is helping Staci by putting sand on her back. When Staci stood up it went straight down her shorts. I had to laugh.
At first Marina hated the beach. She would not let me put her down on the sand. So we put her on a towel and she started sticking her finger in the sand, then her toes, and eventually she was rolling around in it.

This is at the Sea World kids play area.
Also, Sea World. Josh doesn't like the spinning rides so I took all the girls.
This dolphin came right up to the glass to look at Josh. It sat there for about a minute and just looked and him and chirped a couple of times. I love dolphins.
Here are the crazy animals at the Wild Animal Park.

As most of you know, I am an avid fan of history, especially Civil War history. I really love reading about Abraham Lincoln and currently I am reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. In it she has a Lincoln quote that I really like so I thought I would share, "No man resolved to make the most of himself, can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper, and the loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog, than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite." It reminds me that sometimes it is best to just let things go then dwell on them and bring myself down.

Disneyland

Once again it has been a long time since I have posted a blog. But we have been really busy with the end of the school year and then we went on vacation and I did not have reliable internet at the place we stayed. Anyways, at the end of May the girls had their dance recital. It was a lot of fun to finally see the girls dance. They both love it and do pretty good, I will post of pictures later. On June 18th, we left to go to California with my family. Well it was supposed to be with my family. My sister and her husband ended up not being able to go because of work and some other issues. My parents went, but left after just a couple of days because my grandpa was on the verge of death. He did die on June 26th which made the vacation not as fun, but he was ready to go. My grandpa was a great guy and I will miss him, but at least he is in a place where he is no longer sick. Therefore, the family trip ended up being my little family, my little sister Staci and her boyfriend. He also had to leave early for work. But thanks once again to Staci for being there and helping us so much!! You are AWESOME!! Back to the happy stuff. We went to Las Vegas for a couple of days, then on to Disneyland!! The girls loved it, of course. And I have always loved Disneyland. I thought it would be so busy and hot, but it really wasn't too bad. We went on everything we wanted to and then some extra. We also went to Sea World and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. I will post some more pictures over the next week, I just wanted to get a few up. I took a ton of pictures and I will post my favorites. One thing I have learned over the past years is that I love to travel, even with three kids. It is so fun to go new places, or old places, and play and have fun. It is worth the hassle of packing, repacking, unpacking, etc. Just a few more comments. As I mentioned my grandpa (my mother's dad) passed away while we were gone so we came back Sat and on Sun went to the viewing and then the funeral on Monday. It was hard to see someone close to me die, but I was blessed to see him one last time. We had planned to leave for vacation after Josh got off work on Wed the 18th, but I knew my grandpa wasn't doing well and I was prompted again and again to try and leave early. So Josh changed his schedule so we could leave at 1:00 in the afternoon. We drove straight to grandpa's and saw and talked with him. We were able to say goodbye. I am grateful for that.


Here are the girls on the tea cup ride. They loved it!!

More pictures soon!!

This month has been crazy. We are getting ready for the girls dance recital on Saturday. I am excited to see them dance. They had their dance pictures taken yesterday. The costumes are so cute, I will post some pictures later. Camryn had her end of the year play last Friday. She was Droopy the Bunny and her best friend, Aubrey, was Fluffy the Rabbit. They were quite the pair. The performance was two hours long, I have to admit that it was kinda long, especially for little kids, but they did a really good job. The first half was a singing program and then the second half was the play. My parents were able to come up to see it, I'm glad they are close enough that they can come up for the weekend for things like that. I don't really have much to say (I usually don't) but here are some pictures that I have taken recently.

Here is Alexis at the track at Riverton High School. Her school had an activity day there with lots of different activities for the kids. One neat thing about her school is they really emphasize the importance of physical activity and eating healthy. (which is the opposite of the schools in Kentucky)This is Camryn and Aubrey. They are so alike. If they could they would play together all day, everyday.

Here are a couple of pictures of Camryn at her program. In the first one she is introducing herself. She said, "I'm Camryn Fowler and when I grow up I want to be a paleontologist!" In the second one she is in her bunny outfit. Camryn is so full of happiness, joy, and excitement. She brings a lot of laughter and joy to our family. I can't believe she is going to be in Kindergarten next year.

Weekend Fun

Josh's parents took the kids Friday night for a sleepover at their house. Of course, the kids were so excited and they had a lot of fun. So while the kids were gone we decided to have a get together at our house with some friends. Well, a couple of days before a lady in our ward called and asked if we would host a couple of the Orem Institute singers that night. So I said yes and we ended up having two college boys with us that night. Then, a neighbor friend (who was also hosting two boys) agreed to feed the boys we were hosting and then after that they all came over to our house. We ended up having about 23 people here. Everybody left at about 12:00 and then we ended staying up until 2:00 a.m. talking to the boys who were staying with us. What made that night kinda interesting was the fact that one of the boys staying at my neighbors was Donny Osmond's son. So he came over and hung out here and played guitar hero with Josh. What is also interesting is when he saw Josh he said, "you look familiar, do I know you?" Josh, who did not even know what Donny Osmond looked like or any of the Osmond songs, said, "I don't think so." Turns out he had served in the same mission as Josh's little brother Ben and Josh and Ben look a lot alike. Small world. So here are some pictures from this past weekend. Enjoy!!

Friends

You know, I've been thinking lately about my life and how it is not at all how I pictured it would be. And yet I wouldn't change anything. When I got married I pictured Josh and I living in Utah for our entire lives and always being close to my parents. We would go visit them on Sundays and they would be close for all the kids school stuff. Of course that is not at all what happened. When Josh mentioned to me the idea of going to dental school I completely dismissed the idea. I could never live in Kentucky, that's where hillbillies live. I know I have family there!! But we did go to school and it was such a growing experience for me. I met the best people there. We made really good friends and I have to say those friends became my family. When I had Marina my family was across the country. My mom and dad, and my mother-in-law, did come and help for a couple days, but they had to go back home (I don't know why ;) ). Anyways, I had such great friends to help me and I don't know if I ever said thank you. So thank you to all my Kentucky family. Thanks Deanna and Jessica for taking my kids to school and picking them up. Thanks for just being there for me. And now here I am in a small town. For those of you who knew me in Kentucky know I am not a small town person so this has been an adjustment. My family is closer and I do see them a lot more which I am grateful for and Josh's family is here so that is nice. But last summer I found myself bored quite a lot. Then we met a bunch of great people who are now our good friends. And I have to say my friends here have made living in this small town fun. So thank you to my friends here for being my friends and helping us to adjust to life here. Friends are great, they just help in so many ways. So thanks again to all my wonderful friends!!!!
On a different note, I just had to post this, last night we had a guy here installing new fire alarms and he was probably in his 20's and I will admit he wasn't ugly. Anyways, he was talking to me about some paperwork and Camryn came up to me and tried to whisper (she doesn't really understand what it means to whisper) "He is so HANDSOME!!" I couldn't help but laugh and he turned bright red. Then Camryn turns to Alexis and says "I'm going to marry him!" He went even redder and I just laughed. Camryn provides lots of comedy for our home. In fact the other day I was going to exercise and Camryn asked me why so I said because I wanted to stay in shape. She then asked "What shape do you want to be? A triangle or maybe a diamond?" I just laughed. Now every time I exercise or talk about being healthy Camryn says "That's because you don't want to change your shape." So again I just smile.

So here we are in St. Louis. Not a place I imagined myself at this time of year. But my paper got accepted at a graduate history conference so we had to go so I could present it. My kids stayed with my parents for the weekend. We had a lot of fun, although it was cold the entire time. While we lived in Kentucky we drove through St. Louis many times, but we never stopped because it was either raining or the wrong time of day. That and we had a long drive ahead so we didn't want to prolong it more. Anyways, this time we went and saw the arch and went to the museum underneath. Then we went and saw Ulysses S. Grant's house. Unfortunately, it was closed and we could only look through the fence, but still I had the opportunity to stand on Grant's property, so awesome. For those of you who know me well, know I love Grant. He was one of America's greatest generals. It was a great experience and I'm glad I went, even though I was terrified to present my paper. It went well, and I was reminded once again how much I enjoy history.

Yes, I have finally taken a moment to blog. So not too much has been going on with us, just the same old stuff of living life.

Guess who came to Riverton???? I know it is hard to see in the picture, but that is former president Bill Clinton. I know all you die hard Republicans are like--what?! I would never go see him!! But I like Bill Clinton and I always have. You have to admit life was pretty good when he was president. Anyways even if you don't like him it's not everyday a former president comes to Riverton, okay it's pretty much never. So I had to take the opportunity to go and see him. He spoke well, like he always does, and I'm glad I went.
Here I am in Utah with my sisters. We went and saw the Blue Man Group at the beginning of Feb and finally got our pictures with our shirts. The concert was a lot of fun. I haven't had matching clothes with my sisters since like 1985.
When we went down to Utah we took the girls to see Disney Princesses on Ice. They loved it. There really wasn't a story line, it was just all the princess stories summarized which was kind of lame. But alas I went because I knew how much my girls would enjoy it and they did. In fact I remember going to Disney on Ice when I was a kid and I always really loved it so I wanted to take my own kids. And I will admit it, I also enjoyed the show.
Here is Easter morning at our house. We hid candy and eggs and the girls found it all. Of course, we had an Easter lesson about what Easter is about and why we celebrate it. When I was a kid we always hunted for candy and eggs and I still knew and understood the real reason behind Easter so we have continued the tradition with our kids.
Pretty girls!! The girls loved their new Easter dresses. Marina picked out her dress. I held up two different ones at the store and she keep pointing to this one saying "oooooh, pretty!" Even though they look like springtime it does not feel like it outside. In fact, yesterday it snowed. I have never been more ready for springtime than I am this year. After living in Kentucky, where by this by of year it was warm and the trees were blooming, this Wyoming winter is killing me!! Everything here is still brown and it has been so cold this past week. Oh well, guess I'll survive.