Another missionary farewell

Now Jace is leaving. They are just heading out right and left. I'm gong to miss those boys.

AJ and his brother from another mother

Sean has taken to throwing everything he can find in the bathtub. He finds it tremendously entertaining. He wanted to put AJ in there but he couldn't lift him.

AJ is busy this week. He's taking my CNA class so he can help me at the classroom and he is finishing up his pharmacy tech program.

David went to his hockey tournament last weekend. They lost both games 7 to 1 but he scored one of the points which means he scored half of all their points. He is still not doing great in school. We don't understand him. I think he was abducted by aliens and replaced with a morose, uncommunicative adolescent. I only hope that someday the aliens return the real David! We will wait and see. I hope he comes back soon because his replacement is not nearly as fun to be around as the old David.

Sean and I went to Steph and Dan's new place today. It is really cute and very open. It's a happy little apartment. Sean and I also went to his parents new apt. LDS social services is paying for an apt for them until the baby is born and placed for adoption. It's really close to Steph's apt and has the potential to be cute or totally ghetto. I told Jenny I was going to make her a cleaning chart. I took her some blankets and towels today and the clothes I had taken from their last apt. When they moved out they just left everything. They left all their dishes and stuff "cause they were dirty." I told Jenny she had to quit living a disposable life. Good Grief. Brie is with Heather the past few days. Heather is the one who is adopting the new baby. I guess Holland, Heathers' two year old said "Brie isn't my friend, she's my sister." Cute, maybe someday it will be true.

Haircuts and not much else

Alika is down to 500 hours of beauty school. She figures she'll be done in about two and a half months. She has worked really hard. It still amazes me that cosmetology school is 2000 hours. That's a lot of time. She came over tonight to give Gma a cut.

Sean spent the night with Jenny and Ryan which is a trip when they are homeless. I asked where he was going to sleep and they said on the floor. The next morning Jenny called and said that he missed us and had a night "from hell." When I brought him home he had this total vacant look in his eyes. It lasted until after a nap, dinner and a bath. It wasn't until he had his bath and I put him on the bed to put his pajamas on that he smiled. It's sad. I don't know what happens to him there. I know they don't beat him but he sure is unhappy.

Don and David are going to Vernal for a hockey game tomorrow.

February 15

Don and baby Nate. Nate came to visit. He likes his new house. He gets to crawl and there are no stairs to fall down.

Sitting around the table eating pork sandwiches.

The big girl cousins. Jaclyn, Catherine and Stephanie.

Jaclyn says those two aren't identical but I'll be doggone if I can tell them apart. I believe that is Laila in the middle. I know it's Emma on the right so that means Sonia is on the left.

Who don't you see in these pictures? David. He took off to his mom's when he heard that many little kids were coming. AJ was here. He set up the games for the kids in the game room and then went upstairs until they all left.

It's a post valentine party

Jameson and Laila playing cars.

Dan playing with the troops. This toy is magic you draw lines on it with a water pen and there is a little car that follows the water rode. Isn't technology great.

The big boys hang out in the game room while the little ones play in the game room. Jackson is jumping in the air his feet aren't even touching the floor.

This party was impromptu, planned on Friday night. I had to work all day today so I put two pork roast in the crock pot and we had shredded pork sandwiches and hushpuppies. It was so fast and easy and everyone liked them. Even the kids ate them. Catherine made deviled eggs. She brought in half a plate of them. The other half she left in the street. Oops, you can't carry deviled eggs and baby at the same time, something is going to slip. Good thing it was the eggs. Jaclyn brought chocolate covered strawberries. Even Peter was here.

Tyson and Nate looking big!

Wisdom of the homeless

I checked in a guy today who had lost 20 pounds in the last two weeks. I asked him how he'd done it and he said "living at the Road Home." I told him that wasn't a diet I wanted to try. He said he had a degree in English but wasn't teacher and had been working at American Expres but had been laid off. (That's where Lynn's wife Wendy's mom has worked for 25 years and she got laid off too). He said "only one paycheck and a job away." and I said "from being homeless." He looked at me confused and said, "no, from not being homeless." I was like, wow...depends which side of the shelter you're on. I was thinking about how easy it would be to end up there and he was thinking how close he was to getting out of there.

condos and life

Aghh, Our 2 BR cedar springs condo is a pain in the bum. We cannot keep good renters in there. I had checked references on some new renters who wanted to rent. References were good and they said they would pay their deposit today and planned to move in today. They called Sat and asked if they could get into paint. I let them in and they painted the corners. (Mind you it was just painted and didn't need painted, they just wanted to change the color) Today while I was teaching he came dropped off the key and said he was going back to Texas. So now I have no renters and the corners painted. This means we (Don) has to repaint and I have to re advertise etc... Oh well, we will survive.

Update Jenny saga. She has tended Sean three days for me while I've worked. Ryan got drunk again Fri and she told me she was dumping him. I said. Yes your dumping him until he says he is sorry. Today he was back. Unbelievable. They are couch surfing and bumming off people and he is out getting drunk. Don dropped Sean off today at the place their staying. He had to take diapers, milk and food for him. It's kind of like leaving your baby with a baby sitter that you don't trust. It's sad because when we leave him he gives us a confused "what did I do to make you leave me here" look. He was happy when I picked him up tonight. I set him down for a second and he screamed. He's in bed now. Very happy to be home.

It's quiet around here without Steph, Dan and the baby. AJ has been sick for a couple of days. He had a nose bleed last night! Bummer. David has been good this week. Playing soccer and doing his homework. CNA business is good. The bad economy is making everyone want a job in health care. Hope health care can make it through the recession. If no one has insurance or money, hospitals aren't going to have any money. I hope Obama is as good as we all think he is.

Good grief

I talked to Jenny last night and she said she was really missing Sean. I told her I was going to leave Sean with a sitter today but instead I could bring him to where she was staying and she could spend five hours with him. She seemed excited about the idea. I told her I would call her this morning at 8:30 to get the address of where she is staying. I start calling at 8:30 and called until 9:45 but no answer. I left Sean with Steph and AJ and went to work. At 10;15 Jenny called and said she had forgotten to turn her phone on and had overslept. I just can't imagine not seeing my baby for a week and then oversleeping and not seeing him. We're going to try again tomorrow. I've got the address of her friend's house and I am going to drop Sean off at 7:45. Hopefully she answers the door.

David is coming with me to the clinic tomorrow. He has a doctors appointment at 10:15 and Don is going to pick him up from the clinic and take him to his appointment and then bring him back. It's a short day at school tomorrow. David can work off a few hours of his community service filing and shredding papers at the clinic.

Hmm, I'm watching the news. It certainly isn't reassuring.

Baby Blue Eyes

Baby Blue Eyes is moving out and he's taking his parents with him. Steph and Dan got a job managing an apt complex in SLC. It's right by Salt Lake Regional Medical Center. That means it's near the trax and downtown. They get free rent plus a small paycheck and bonuses if they keep the place full (with paying residents). They are excited and we're happy for them. It will be fun for Steph to be in a big complex and have lots of people to visit with. We will sure miss baby Nate. Sean won't know what to do without his little buddy. Our house will be quiet without them!

Happy February

A and his friends are over playing scrabble which is funny because none of them can spell. They've been playing for two hours and have yet to win a game. They spend all their time looking up words. They are looking for words like, jup, wip..... Last heard they were looking to see if jiz was a word. Silliness. Note Syler at the head of the table with the dictionary in hand.

Sean got some new cowboy boots and he thinks he's pretty cool. So cool in fact he doesn't need to wear anything else. There's been drama at Sean's parents house this week. I guess the drama doesn't involve a house because they are homeless again. Ryan is staying at his dads and the girls and Jenny are couch surfing. I'm going to take Sean over to where Jenny is staying tomorrow for a couple of hours while I'm working so she can see him. I don't know where they're going to go next. No job, no money doesn't make for a very easy life.

Now Sean is so cool he doesn't even need his boots. He is helping Don fix my computer. Sean has been sick all week. He's had a combination of bronchitis and croup. His nose is running like crazy. Snot city!

I don't know why I can't keep the house clean.........