Ten Years in the Making

Ten years ago we looked forward to 2000 with anticipation, fear & wonder few alive had experienced. Now a decade has past and what did we do with our lives?

One went on a mission & one was baptized.
Two graduated from high school & two colons removed.
Three of you bought homes, three sold homes & three became parents.
Four of you married, four kids started school & 4 broken bones.
Five graduated from college & five kids were potty trained.
Six adults plus 6 kids now live out of state & six adults live in state.
Seven children were born & seven of you turned 30.
Eight combined surgeries were done.
Nine bought a car or truck.
Ten changed or got jobs.

Wow! I'd say we did alot in the last ten years. Did I leave anything out?
Tell us what great things you did this decade. Include photos.

Mike's Surgery

Mike had his surgery on Tuesday the 15th. It was suppossed to be a quick in & out gallbladder removal with three little incisions the size of the tip of a pen. It did not turn out that way.

The 1 hour surgery turned into 2 1/2 hours and a large 15" incision down the center of his chest, another 3" under his belly button and two the size of a pen tip in other places on his tummy. All are up & down - very painful. His gallbladder was "very diseased" they kept saying & had a large gallstone - dark maroon with gnarly markings and two tips, the whole thing was the size of a marble.

After two nights in the hospital they let him come home today, Thursday. He almost passed out when he saw the incisions for the first time. He still has a bulb to help with drainage that I get to empty a few times a day.

He still has today of clear liquid diet. He had to go 36 hours without anything to eat or drink, anything - he felt like he would die over that one. Tomorrow he can have only very soft foods until Monday when they remove the drain & has a follow up visit. The list of what not to eat is 1 1/2 pages and the what you can eat is rather short.

It Had the Gall to Go Out

Mike had his gall bladder removed yesterday. It had the gall to go out on him this fall, resulting in excruciating pain. Being extremely enlarged & diseased, it's been giving him trouble for some time. Due it's severity & size, a laproscopic surgery was not an option. After almost three hours in the operating room & a nice size incision, he's on the road to recovery.

Here's what our gall bladder does for us:
The adult human gallbladder stores about 1.7 fluid ounces of bile, which is released when food containing fat enters the digestive tract, stimulating the secretion of cholecystokinin (CCK). The bile, produced in the liver, emulsifies fats in partly digested food. After being stored in the gallbladder, the bile becomes more concentrated than when it left the liver, increasing its potency and intensifying its effect on fats.

Sounds like our gall bladder works hard at breaking down the FATS we eat. I'd say this is a wake up call to all of us. Let's reduce eating greasy foods right now especially, if they're a large part of your diet. No one is invincible & eventually our intake will catch up to us.

Mike is convalescing in the Othello Hospital & hopes to be released on Thursday or Friday, depending on how well his body responds to all he's endured. Fifteen pounds have been lost in the ordeal (yeah!) & we pray he'll get well soon.

Pretty Princess Here We Come

Emma has her first princess dress as you can see her posing here in all her finery. The soft pink furry cape and sheer tulle with ribbon encircling number was given to her by Jenn's Visiting Teacher at a shower. Wow! What a great gift for this little gal's coming out party. I couldn't resist posting it, after waiting one week for her mom to do it.

Photos of Emma - this time for real!

Jacob & Emma at home

Boys at hospital - entertaining themselves

Baby Emma - only a few hours old

Kade holding Emma at hospital

Noah holding Emma

Mom & Emma - in pink no less!

Meet Dexter Fisher Schmidt

Born November 7, 1999 Dexter was a healthy red-eared slider weighing 0 pounds 7 ounces. Born on an island in southern Tahiti he found his way to the main island where he was obtained by a boy named Fisher. Fisher lived with his family raising sliders on his own to send to this great nation as infants. Fisher only raised pure bread show sliders with hearts like champions. Before sending this fascinating fresh water cooter to the big island he fed him nothing but greens and proteins.

Dexter's parents Maximus and Cleopatra were champion guppy hunters. Only bearing one child they put all their eggs in one basket. After losing their son in a strong current they had an overwhelming feeling that he would end up in a good home.

Upon arrival in the United States D. Fisher wound up in Miami along with many other hardbacks. He soon showed his superiority in the mandatory athletic testing in the annual Terrapin games of Southern Florida.

For Dexter's seventh birthday he won a trip to Salt Lake City, Utah where he found his permanent home. He was adopted by an older couple for several years opening their home to him where he picked up many talents and a few bad habits. Eventually the old couple was past the point of being able to care for dexter so he was sent to the Animal Ark in Orem, Utah.

On Dex's tenth birthday Jory and Sarah Schmidt can into the Ark and fell in love with him at first sight. They knew that he would be a perfect match and a great baby sub for a few years until they are ready for a real one. Although Dexer cost them a whopping $16.99 other supplies for his tank was where he hit their pocket books. The tank was borrowed from the Sargents but they purchased: a filter, water heater, tank background, turtle resting blocks, cover, UV light, small tank for feeder fish, tank stand, etc. More and more was purchased in order to create the optimal home for Dexter.

Now that Dexer has settled in we love to watch him enjoy his tank. It took us a few days to figure out how to feed him. After many studies of of this interesting reptile we learned that he needs to eat in the water. Now that his stress levels have dropped he is really starting to come alive and enjoy his surroundings. Dexter loves swimming into the corner of the tank. He also spends much of his time climbing onto his rocks and diving furiously into the water. Dex is growing up to be a strong adult snapper that has a good 25-30 years of life left.

Finally - more photos of Emma & hospital

I am finally getting to it - more photos downloaded. Hopefully not so slow this time. - OK spoke to soon. Will try again this weekend at Mike's work. I already saved them to CD while waiting to download.

Dealing with sleep deprevation. I occationally have my moments of lucidity, but mostly a zombie. I fall asleep when I sit for more than 5 min somewhere - on the couch watching TV, eating dinner, almost always when nursing, sometimes even when carring on a conversation. Mike is also falling alseep the moment he sits down at home. He will sleep from 5 ish to 8 or so, then wake up, bathe the boys, watch some TV, sometimes crash doing that or stay up until 1 or 2, then come to bed. Our bodies are just to old for this!

Loving every minute, when we can stay awake enough to realize how precious & tender she is.

People often ask me what the biggest difference is. Pink! & diapers. Emma often wears blue at home & only pink when we go out since there is not much pink or girl colored clothes yet. It shocks me a little to put her in pink - such a new color to me. When I change her diapers is also a shock. All those folds to clean & nothing protruding - very odd. A friend who finally had a boy after all girls said she is afraid to clean her little guy because she is afraid it will fall off! We laughed in the mother's room at church about the differences between having a boy & girl after many of the opposite gender.

Emma With the Boys

These are the photos we took of Emma with pink clothes we gave her. The bright, colorful blanket was made by Marion. The one outfit is a watermelon Halloween costume, but she didn't like it.

Noah is the best tender, willing to take her when Mom is busy. Jacob wants to hold her often. Kade never asked until the day we left. They are all very good with her.

Baby Emma is HERe!

I tried to post photos but my eternally slow dial-up is very slow on Sundays. I will try photos again tomorrow.

Emma Delight Stevenson was born October 26th at 11:01 AM. She was 8 lbs 11 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. Labor was only about 3 1/2 hours & I only pushed for 5 min. Thankfully since I was not allowed drugs of ANY kind!
Jacob wants to hold her constantly and helps to put in her binki whether she wants it or not. Kade is mostly oblivious to her. Noah thinks he should be paid for "babysitting" her if he sits on the couch and holds her for 2 min while watching TV.
Emma shares her birthday with her big sister MaKayla who turned 15. MaKayla was not excited about sharing "her day."
The boys are all very excited and are being very "helpful."

When I went to the Dr. on Friday & he still wouldn't induce me I was very angry! So I decided I needed to do things to induce myself. So I decided to strip all the wallpaper off in the only working bathroom & repaint. While Mike was taking down the 2 huge mirrors he asked if he could rip off the pink & blue tile backsplash. I said the only project was to repaint but let him try to take off just 1. It popped right off & I said take it all down! It took 3 min to take down & load in the garbage. So it was almost all painted when Mom & Dad came.
After a few days of Mom & Dad here I asked Dad to take down the panelling in just the hallway to see how the walls looked. There was only a few minor patches & asked if he (& Mike) was willing to do the entry also. The entry had a major wall that had no sheetrock at all! Most of the space had orange peel & Dad skim coated the entire thing to make it look nice. So with drywall dust coating everything from the hall to every surface in the house we are trying to survive. We will paint after they leave on Tuesday. Finally we are starting to make this house ours after 4 1/2 years!

Halloween Is HERE!!

I found these pictures from a few years ago & thought you might like to see, that never a time occurs that taking pictures is easy, but oh so fun to look at the results for many years to come.

Emma Delight Has Arrived

The baby girl has 'landed'. Emma Delight was born today, October 26th. It's her sister Makayla's 15th birthday. She's 8lb 11 oz. Mom & dad are happy to have her here & all is going smoothly. We'll add pictures when we get them.

And the Mystery Couple Is!

On a dark new moon night someone knocked on our door & asked us to take their picture. They were headed to a masquerade party. After spending all day custom designing masks, they couldn't wait to be crowned the most elusive couple at the party. I give them a 10. Tell us what you think.

Hang Your Halloween NOW!!

Last year I couldn't find my harvest wall hanging. By the time I thought about it, the season was days away from take down. Halloween is such a fun no pressure holiday. Get your kids searching for your decorations & let them put those crafty things out.

'It's a good thing' as Martha would say. This way you can continue doing all the stuff you have to & your house is all ready to go. So what, if they are hanging weird or from the ceiling fan, it's okay. May a little guidance is good. What's most important, a plain Jane house or happy kids from helping with the task?

Happy 'Get it into Gear' Halloween!!

From RS Pres to N Leader

Since being release as the Relief Society President, I've jested about being called to the nursery with Dad. My wishes were heard coming true this week, when the Bishopric counselor called for a visit.

Dad said, 'Don't call him back,' when we listened to the phone message. Obediently I invited him over. We found out that the Lord & the Primary president tuned into my thoughts, then put them into action. The Nursery will be great since we don't have our own grand children very often.

Now I am a full fledged Nursery leader over seven children. Five other leaders also share the calling, so it won't be every week. Jory & Sarah are leaders over the senior nursery, which are the children going into Primary, January 1st.

An Elk in the Freezer is Better Than One in the Bush

Aaron & Dad's week long elk hunt near Vernal was pared down to three days. Very few sitings of the stately beast was a big factor. Snowy weather made the choice even easier.

On Monday morning when they saw the same buck, that had crossed their path on Saturday, Dad decided it was now or maybe never. When this decent sized animal failed to run beyond the gun's range, Dad took aim & downed him after three shots. The young 185 pound, three pointer is now at the meat packers, but posed nicely for his photo shoot. We didn't need the largest, just a tasty hunk of meat.

The dense mountain brush made packing the elk out somewhat difficult. Two miles took two hours carrying the quartered pieces back to the truck. Good exercise for the men, I'd say. The snow continued most of Monday, which helped them decide it was time to load up & come home, instead of trying their hand at fishing.

Elk anyone?

Concepcion Longs to See the Temple

You may have already heard the announcement that a temple will be built in Concepcion, Chile, Yeah!! Double Yeah!! Here are some great pictures of that lovely city & your brother was happy to have served there. He remembers how visiting general authorities often talked of a temple being built there, if the people would be faithful. The missionaries encouraged the people to stay active and fellowship their friends, family & neighbors. Years of obedience has made this new temple possible.

jenn's new contact info

Since today is my last day at work before maternity leave I have to return my cell phone. I do have mixed feelings about this - yea, no attachment & boo hoo, no attachment.

Here is our home phone#: 509-488-5982
Here is Mike's cell#: 509-750-8306

Since I would often call you during the day on my work cell I now have to go back to waiting for Mike to come home to use his for long distance.

The River Children

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Zach & Sarah's Got Talent

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The Olympiad 2010

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So You Think You Can Dance?

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Boot Scootin' Boogie! YeeHaww!

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Shake Your Groove Thang!

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Meshing Together Like Chips and Salsita

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Christmas Gifts

Alicia & I figured out who is giving to whom for Christmas. This year we just rotate down one to give to. Next year we will rotate down two, and so on. Hopefully with posting this here everyone will see it and we can also refer to it for next year.

Adults:
Jenn & Mike give to Mauri & Aaron
Mauri & Aaron give to Alicia & Dave
Alicia & Dave give to Breann & Jed
Breann & Jed give to Jory & Sarah
Jory & Sarah give to Jenn & Mike


Grandkids:
Brayle & Noah give to each other
Hunter & Kade give to each other

Sara & baby Emma give to each other
Zach & Jacob give to each other

All clear as mud?

remember...?

• whoppers
• fritos and bean dip
• hauling rocks
• cookie crisp cereal
• no bears are out tonight
• cheesies
• summers spent playing cards
• onion dip
• cereal candy
• caramel candy
• smurfs
• ramen noodles with vegetables
• pork and bean stew
• annie-I-over...or was it andy-I-over
• red light, green light
• the yellow candy bucket
• 4-H tuna melt sandwiches
• buns up
  

Fear

"Mom, what are you afraid of?" Noah asked me a few days ago.
"Um," long pause by me. I know he was looking for an answer like; sharks, spiders, ghosts, or something of the like.
"I don't think I am afraid of anything Noah," I said still having to think. The questions they ask usually don't stump me. I can usually explain any question they have for me. After all of my animal & zoology classes I know that most animals attack out of fear or defense, not maliciousness. I don't fear animals or know what to do when attacked - not that I have ever had to put those into practice.

Noah is afraid of bad dreams.
Kade if afraid of ghosts and has a night light next to his bed that he calls his "ghost light." Even when he is scared and has to come and sleep with us he brings it and has to plug it in.

"I guess I am afraid of one of you boys getting hurt." I had to answer after alot of thought. What a scary thought that is. It almost sucks the wind out of me to even think about it. Not a fall out of a tree hurt, or a broken bone, but something that I can't fix or kiss better - like cancer, assault of some kind, or other things of the sort.

What are you afraid of?

Miracle at Stevenson Home

I had a dentist appt yesterday. Mike had to come home so we could all drive together, he watch the boys & shop while I got my teeth cleaned. The dentist is a 30 min drive. We were gone for about two hours.

We came home to a smoke filled house. I was the last one in the door since:
Mike had to drive fast to get home in time use use the restroom,
Noah had to go next door to play,
Kade had to follow Noah,
Jacob was being difficult to get in the house &
I had to carry him in.

I had to figure out what the problem was. I had bottled peaches all morning before we left but all was still fine with those things - even with leaving the pot with hot water in it but the stove was off.

After touching every surface & playing hot/cold with appliances - I found the toaster oven was really warm. I use this for everything - toast, chicken nuggets, french fries, sometimes even cookies (not so advisable though). The odd thing was the towel with peach bottles was almost wrapped around the toaster oven but not burned.

I realized what happened was I often use the top of the toaster oven as extra counter space. I had put hamberger to thaw on a plate on top of it. Well, while gone the blood dripped into the toaster oven, shorted it out, caught fire (there were flames & fire damage inside), and put itself out - all while we were gone to Moses Lake. There was no other damage other than the little bit of smoke.

Mike is a volunteer firefighter. :) That would have been a fun one to explain. Luckily the Lord was looking out for us in so many ways!

Picking Peaches part 2

These peaches were huge & ripe. We picked our fill. Noah fell out of the tree. We blew dandelions while waiting for the peach pick up.

We got there to start picking at 9 or so & left at over 100 degrees. I was melting & exhausted!

We arrived home & I took a nap. After a few days of boxes of peaches on the counter I had to begin to bottle! I had to cut them into 1/4 just to fit them trough the lid!