Fun with aunt Madison

Joe's youngest sister Madison came and spend the week with us last week. I hope she had fun while she was here, I know that the kids did. They love it when they get to see her!


Monday night we went to Freeman Park to fly kites and then to Artic Circle to have Ice Cream.



Tuesday we went to , the zoo, and then we came home and played in the water.






Wednesday we just stayed home and had fun.















Thursday we went to Rigby Lake, (and the water was freezing). The other kids were to busy playing in the water for me to take pictures of them. This was Jena's first time swimming and she seemed to like it. She really liked trying to eat rocks and sand! On Thursday we also had Pack Meeting and we went to the Drive In to see Transformers and Star Trek.


Friday we stayed home and played. We also had a huge rain and hail storm on Friday evening!


Saturday we headed down to Indian Springs for the Fisher Family reunion, we were able to see family that we haven't seen for a while. We ate wonderful food, the kids made walking sticks, painted rocks, and we also went swimming in 90 degree water. There was also bingo which the kids really love playing because of all of the fun prizes, and the highlight of the reunion, the RAFFLE!!! This year I won the most delicious chocolate cake I have ever tasted!





I think the kids had a great time and we sure hope that Maddie did too!

Good Job Josh

Josh received His Bear in Cub Scouts on Thursday Night. Congratulations Josh on completing all of your requirements. He doesn't turn 10 until the 21st of August so he will hopefully be earning some arrow points to add until he turns 10 and can move on to the Weblos!

Please Help if you can

My sister Rachel asked me to post this, these people are in her ward and are her really good friends. If you can help they would really appreciate it!

___________________________________________

***FEDERAL EMPLOYEES PLEASE DONATE LEAVE TO RYAN HESS***

My name is Margie Hess, my husband Ryan was diagnosed on June 12, 2009 with a rare and aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Since this is an aggressive form of T-Cell Lymphoma, his doctor has put him on an aggressive chemo regimen that will result in him being unable to work for the next 4-6 months and possibly longer. At the time of diagnosis he was finishing up his 1st year as a Podiatry Resident at the V.A. in Tuscon AZ. Ryan is a devoted husband and father of two children, Hallie (5) and Max (2). By the end of this month (June 2009), Ryan will use up the last of his vacation and sick leave and will have to go on unpaid leave. Ryan is the sole provider for our family; I stay at home with both the kids. Without him working we have no income. I need to stay home to help care for him, so I cannot get a job right now, either. As difficult as it is for our family to have to ask for help, we have realized that we must do so at this time. We were told that any federal employee (i.e: military, Border Patrol, DEA, FBI, Dept of Justice, EPA ect. EXCEPT Post Office Employees) can donate vacation time to be used as sick leave for another Federal employee. We would be so thankful for any number of extra paid days we can accumulate. Thank you so much.
Go to your HR department and request to donate leave to Ryan Hess who works for the VA. (Your HR person will know the form that needs to be filled out- each Federal agency has their own form to donate leave) Once filled out and signed, the HR person will need to fax or e-mail the form to: OLIVIA McCLURE-Benefits Specialist (TUCSON V.A.)
Phone # (520) 792-1450 x 6076
Fax # (520) 629-1849
E-Mail: Olivia.Mcclure@va.gov

ALSO, for those who are federal employees, please print out this message and post it in break/lunch rooms to help get the word out as well as emailing it to co-workers!

How to help if you are NOT a Federal Employee:
PASS this along to ANYONE and EVERYONE that you know and then ask them to pass the message along. Post it on blogs, Facebook....whatever you can think of.
Thanks again everyone- this will help so much!
GO TEAM RYAN HESS!
(E-mail teamryanhess@gmail.com to receive updates or to send a message!)

Utah

We had a long enjoyable weekend in Utah, at least I enjoyed myself. Joe was flying out of Salt Lake on Thursday morning to go to his uncle's funeral in St. Louis, so I decided that since he was driving to Utah to the airport, that the kids and I would go spend the rest of the week and weekend at my moms. On Wednesday night we all went out to my brother's house for my nephew Levi's birthday party. The kids all loved that because they got to play with their cousins that they don't get to see very often. Thursday I had to drop Joe off at his parents at 6:30 a.m. so they could head to the airport. The kids spent the afternoon at Grandma Burger's house to play with their aunt Madison, and I spent the day with my mom. Friday the kids got to play for a while with their cousins Nic and Sammy, and also my brother Rex's kids. We spent most of the day at my brother's getting haircuts and playing. Then on Saturday we went to Hogle zoo we were all really excited to go to the zoo, the only problem was it was raining! We had to go to Walmart an buy umbrellas, and then we ended up buying poncho's for the kids when we got to the zoo. The only good thing about going to the zoo in the rain is that it isn't crowded. Sunday we went to church with my parents, and we were able to see my oldest sister, who we haven't seen in a long time. We headed home about 6:30 last night along with Joe's little sister Madison. All in all I think we had a good time. Now to keep all the kids and Madison entertained for the week! The only draw back to being gone 4 days is all the laundry that I get to spend today doing!

Joe had a nice visit in St. Louis other than it was a sad occasion, he was able to see his Grandma Burger along with aunts, uncles, and cousins who he hasn't see for years. I'm a Little jealous I have only been in the airport in St Louis.

9 months old

Jena has been 9 months old for a couple of weeks now, I am just slow at getting a picture taken of her so that I could do her 9 month post!

The Doctor wasn't really very happy with her weight when I took her in for her 9 month check up. At 6 months old she weighed 14 pounds 1 ounce and when I took her in the other day she weighed 14 pounds 12 ounces, so she has only gained 11 ounces in 3 months. The doctor says she needs to be drinking at least 30 ounces of milk a day, so now I have to mix her formula with less waters so that she will get more calories. Does she really look like she is starving to death? He says that babies at this age would rather eat food than have milk, but milk is more important than the solid foods. I haven't taken the food away because why should we all be able to eat and not let her? I have been mixing her formula the way he wants me to even though I don't think she needs the extra calories, and I can't make her drink more than she wants too! He is still really impressed with her other developments, he says that she is doing things that most babies do at a year old.

We had to buy a gate for our stairs because she thinks it is fun to climb the stairs, I wouldn't worry too much except that we have tile at the bottom of the stairs and I would hate for her to fall down and crack her head open! (The other two sets of stairs have doors) The other day I was sitting in the family room and she was crawling over by the computer trying to get to her brothers when all of a sudden she started crying. I kept telling the boys to get her, but no one was listening to me. I got up and found that the boys had gone upstairs and the reason she was crying was because she had followed them up the stairs and couldn't figure out how to open the door to get to them or she didn't know how to get back down the stairs.

She walks around the furniture, and the other day she stood in the middle of the room for about 10 seconds before she realized that she wasn't holding on to anything and then she sat down.

I must say we never have a dull moment at this house with her around! We have to keep an eye on her constantly, but we love her to death and wouldn't change her!

Dog Bite

Jakob got bit by our neighbors dog (Gordon B Hinckley Gordy for short )yesterday. I am not kidding that is really the dogs name. Anyway back to the bite. My neighbors grand kids are visiting her this week and she had called and asked if our kids would come down and play. When the boys got to her house her dogs were tied up in her front yard and barking, so Jake bent down to try to calm the dog down and it bit him. My neighbor was really upset about the whole thing and called me like 4 times yesterday to make sure Jake was OK. She also had to make sure that I knew the dog was current on all of it's shots and if I wanted to report it that she was alright with it. I wasn't worried about it because it didn't seem that bad.
I guess the kid that lives next door likes to throw rocks at the dog and point his toy guns at it, and he just happened to ride up on his bike just as Jake bent down to pet the dog. I am sure that was why the dog bit him.
Today when Joe looked at the bite he thought that it looked infected, so off to the doctor's office we went. We didn't see our regular doctor, and the doctor we did see had the rudest nurse that I have ever encountered at a pediatricians office. I don't know if she was having a bad day, or was mad that I didn't want to report the bite or what but she was down right rude! first she told Jake to get up on the exam table, and instead of him using the step stool, he tried to use the rolling stool that the doctor sits on and sent it rolling off , she said to him "use the step stool for crying out loud." Then she sets a bowl of water next to Jakob and tells him to put his hand in it,and starts to walk out of the room, and Jake says "what hand?" which was a dumb thing to ask I know but he is only 11, so I tell him the hand that has the bite. The I said "that was rude of her to say." When she walks back in the room she looks at him and says "which hand? are you serious." I could have decked her right then. How dare she talk to a child that way! After that she was a little nicer but not much. I did tell them at the front desk when we were checking out that she wasn't my favorite nurse, but I guess I should have explained why because the more I think about it the more angry I get.
He did end having to get a tetanus shot and is on an antibiotic 2 times a day for the next 10 days.

I would post a picture, but it looks too gross and I might throw up if I have to look at it long enough to take a picture!

I thought I would add to this post. After I typed this all up I decided to call the doctor's office and complain about the nurse, because the more I thought about it the angrier it was making me. I don't know if it helped but it did make me feel better.

Having Fun with Family

Joe's Sister Melissa came to visit us for a few days this week, so we came up with some fun things to do while she was here. On Wednesday we took her disc golfing at Freeman Park. Thursday we went to the zoo and the the Idaho Falls temple visitors center. We were really lucky, because the visitors center had the original Arnold Friberg paintings on display. They are the pictures that are inside the Book Of Mormon and in the gospel art kit. It was a really awesome display and I am glad we were able to see it. The display leaves for New York on June 1st so we are lucky we went the day we did or we would have missed it! I didn't take any pictures on Thursday because we already have a bunch from the zoo, and I wasn't sure if you could take pictures inside the visitors center (you can lucky for us Melissa had her camera with her so I will try and remember to post the picture from there after she emails it to me).

Friday after the boys got out of school we went to hike Cave Falls. This was a really beautiful hike. Joe's parents and his other little sister Madison and her friend Shawnee came up Friday evening, so Saturdays adventure was Craters of the Moon. This is one of our favorite places to take people when the come to visit. We had a really good time, and we hope that Melissa did too!

This picture was taken inside of the Indian tunnel, which is a lava tube at Craters of the Moon.

Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

Joe has the CD Flood by They Might Be Giants. The boys love the song Istanbul (Not Constantinople). This is a video clip of them trying to sing it. Enjoy!

Free and Fun

Joe has been home from work for the last week using up some personal time so that he won't loose it, so I wanted to do something fun over the weekend that wouldn't cost a lot of money. I got on the Internet and searched out things to do in south east Idaho and found a National Landmark that we have never been to. Hell's Half Acre National Landmark. It is at the rest stop between Blackfoot and Idaho Falls. (You can do the hike at either the northbound or the southbound rest stop) It was a really easy hike (More of a walk than a hike) and the kids had a good time. The best part of all was that it was free! We did end up spending a little money but that was because we decided to stop at subway on the way and have a picnic when we got there.

We also stopped in Blackfoot to take a picture of the kids in front of the giant potato at the potato museum!

Joe is off the rest of this week so stay tuned, we may have more exciting adventures this weekend!

A Fantastic DI Find!!!

On Friday Joe and I went to the DI in search of a hiking back pack that we could put Jena in when we are hiking, we didn't find one but, Joe did make a fantastic find. He found a ping pong table top for our pool table for $6! We looked at getting one at Christmas last year but found that they were way out of our price range. When we got home we looked it up online to see how much it would have cost new and they run about $400. We were very excited about this find! Now if we could find that back pack that we are looking for!

Weekend in Utah

We went down to Utah over the weekend for Samantha and Nick's baptisms. (They are Joe's Niece and Nephew). We were also able to attend my brother Rex's ward on Sunday, he was made the Elders Quorum president in his ward.
The one bad thing about going down to Utah is we always come home with twice as much stuff as we take with us. Sammy decided that she is tired of her Barbie's and her Polly pockets so she gave them to Jacey. This included 2 barbie houses, a couple barbie cars, about 20 barbies a bag full of barbie clothes, some doll clothes and a whole bunch of Polly pocket dolls, clothes and other Polly pocket stuff. As you can guess Jacey is in barbie heaven! Joe did tell her yesterday as he was loading it all in the car that she better not ask for any toys whenever we go to the store because she has all she is going to get until she is twelve (because it would have taken that many birthdays & Christmases or more for us to buy what she was given).
All in all we had a fun weekend!

Hi

Jena has discovered her voice this week, she has also learned how to wave. Here is a video of these two new accomplishments!

Still feeling the effects of our flood

I decided today that I would go through all of the baby clothes, (because I can't find any shorts or Capri's that fit Jena.) and while going through them I found a box of clothes that were wet from when the kitchen and basement flooded. I guess I'm glad I found them today because at this point they only stink and aren't growing mold yet. There was one pair of pink cowboy boots that were growing mold, I guess I will probably have to throw them away which makes me kind of sad because they are so cute. Unless someone knows a way that they can be saved! Needless to say because I was feeling so ambitious today I now have twice as much laundry to do!
I did find a couple pair of shorts and some dresses that should fit her! I guess I did have some success in that regard.

8 Months Old

I can't believe that my baby is already 8 months old. I think the lady at church is so right, the time go's by so much faster when your baby is on the outside compared to when they are on the inside!

I must say that Jena is pretty dang smart. She has been crawling all over the place for about a month, she has even tried to climb the stairs, and she is pulling her self up on the furniture , she tries to climb up the wall, she will even take a few steps if you are holding her hands. I know she will be walking in no time, and I'm not sure that I like that idea at all. She gets into everything she can get her hands on, we are constantly taking things out of her mouth that she has found on the floor. I could vacuum 100 times a day and I think she would still be able to find something to put in her mouth. She is quite the chatter box when she wants to be. She can say mama (which she says a lot) and I have been trying to teach her to say dada. Most of the time when I ask her to say dada she just looks at Joe and smiles! She is totally in love with Jacey and the boys her face lights up whenever she sees them, and I know they feel the same way about her.

I Love Spring!

These are some of the daffodils that are growing in my front yard.

I love the spring time, when everything is fresh and new, the sun shines, the weather turns warmer (So the kids can play outside) and the flowers bloom! This time of year reminds me of the Love of our Heavenly Father and all that he has created for us to enjoy!