Passing the Time

Just to warn you, this is a crazy long post.

Kimball's been gone for about three weeks now (but whose counting) and I am surviving! The kids have actually been really great so far. Kaden misses Kimball and asks where he is almost everyday, and Jocilyn... well, she doesn't mention it much. Luckily I have enough help and no major disasters have happened so I don't get too stressed out having the kids by myself. I mostly miss Kimball when the kids are being really cute and I know he's missing out, and I definitely hate going to bed alone.

We have been having some fun despite all this though. Kaden started soccer last week and I think he will love it in a couple weeks. The first practice was rough; Kaden's very shy around little kids and has a hard time with organized activity. As a result, I spent most of the time running after him as he ran away from his team. The first game went much better though. Aunt Mo came, and she really helped Kaden feel comfortable and he even played a little. Of course when the ball came to him he bent over to pick it up and got trampled be the other kids, he then came running back to me crying. But I was so proud to just see him try and actually have fun with the other kids. Don't worry pictures will be coming soon.

Kaden also learned to ride his bike this week (with training wheels). It took him sooo long to understand the pedal motion. But after 4 months of mom pedaling for him with my hands he can finally do it by himself! He LOVES it! Yesterday he woke up and said "I'm happy today! I'm going to go ride my bike now". Another bonus is it keeps him busy for a long time so I can give Jo a little one on one time without feeling guilty.


I'm also surprised how much extra time I have, not that I wouldn't trade it all to have Kimball back early, but I get a lot done. Last week I learned how to make a marshmallow fondant cake so I figured why not! Amber, my sister-in-law was having a group birthday party for a few people so I made my first one. I'm sure her brother Spencer really loved the pink with flowers, but that's what I wanted to do.


My sister and I also went to a Women's expo where I got my toes painted with "glitter toes". It was a ton of fun and I almost never paint my toes, so it was a fun treat.

Happy Easter

After this post I will finally be caught up. Yippee!! Easter was lots of fun. We went to my aunt's house for dinner and played with cousins. I loved the kids clothes this year, especially Kaden's (thanks grandma).




Its a lot more fun having Kaden actually care about the different things we do. Dying eggs for instance was way more fun than it was last year.



I also got to teach the lesson for the Sunbeam class at church. I love this calling! Preparing the lesson and giving it to these little 3 year olds made me sit down and really think about Christ and the miracle of his resurrection. Telling the story to these kids reminded me of how amazing it is. I understand so little of his sacrifice for us, but I am grateful for the blessings it offers me and my family.

Jocilyn's Birthday

Happy Birthday Jo!!

Because Jo's birthday was the same day as Scott's surgery and Daddy would be gone by then, we opted to celebrate a little early. (That doesn't help explain why this post is a week late though, oh well.) We didn't do anything fancy; just family food and ice cream, but it was a blast. We took a ton of pictures so beware or what lies ahead.





Thanks to everyone who came and helped celebrate. Its great being close to so much family. I love being able to share these things with everyone.

Bye Kimball, See You Soon

The ball is finally rolling. I dropped Kimball off at his hotel on Monday and he flew out to South Carolina for bootcamp Wednesday. Here's a rundown of our last few days together:

Monday was a little busy. Running around getting the right paper work and stuff, but we went to McDonald's for lunch and let Kaden play, and then dropped him off at the hotel. I should have known I'd need a better goodbye than that. The next day I woke up so sad and felt awful all day. Luckily, Kimball finished whatever they needed him to do early and had the evening to play before his plane left in the morning. The kids and I got to have dinner at the hotel, played in the hot tub, and watched movies and cuddled with Kimball in his room (I don't think we were supposed to go to his room, but oh well.) That was a much better goodbye. Things have been absolutely crazy busy since then, so maybe the sadness hasn't set in yet. But I am feeling way better than before.

We talked today for about a minute. I think he snuck in the call with his cellphone or something because all he said was that he loved me, its been a lot harder than he expected, but its still kind of fun, and he hopes to call me tomorrow. After that he hung up without a goodbye, so i'm thinking he had to go do push-ups or something.


I'm about halfway through the first week and doing good. That's got to be hopeful for the next 9 and a half weeks, right?

Scotty

So much has been going on to report. Jocilyn's birthday is today and Kimball flew out to bootcamp this morning. I'll fill you in on all that soon, but first I needed to tell you about my brother Scott.

Three years ago he had a benign tumor removed from his toe and a few weeks ago he found that it had grown back. When they removed it this time they found that it was cancerous. I can't remember the name of the cancer but, it doesn't respond to chemo or anything and so the first plan was to remove his big toe. After they looked at it further they decided that at least the whole front of the foot had to go. But the way prosthetics work he would be much better off removing the whole lower leg.

So that's where he is this morning, in surgery having his lower leg amputated. Its amazing how fast so many big changes can happen. Scotty's life will never be the same again, but he is being so brave. He has a ton of support from his friends and family, but still.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I love my brother, I admire him for his positive attitude and bravery through all this, and pray that he will recover quickly and if this must change him let it only be for the better.