Does it ever end?

Before I jump into some of the heavier details of our life, I must note that we read Harry Potter 7. Wow! What a great book! But it's so strange to think of it as being over... no more books to look forward to and speculate about in a few summers.

Ok, now for the rest. This is all rather difficult to talk about, and I hope I don't sound too depressing.

Thursday was the worst day ever. Late in the afternoon, the Department of Health and Welfare dropped by unannounced at our house. They invited themselves in and asked me if I knew why they were there. I told them no. They said that they had received a report that we are neglecting our kids by not feeding them or taking them to doctor appointments. This is absolutely ludicrous. Of course we feed our kids! They're just small. And if the doctor isn't worried, they shouldn't be either. As for not taking them to doctor appointments, that's just stupid. We've been taking Emily to the doctor more often than regular because of her health issues, so who knows where that came from. Health and Welfare is notorious for twisting things though. I'm sure someone called them and told them that we needed help financially because we can't afford baby food and have no medical insurance. But naturally, that MUST mean that we're neglecting and abusing our kids. I was so furious. They sat in my living room with a tape recorder for about an hour interviewing me. They took pictures of my house, my kids, even my cat. They checked our cat to see if she was diseased or abused. They wanted a closer look at Hyrum, but I insisted they leave him alone since he was napping. They told me they had to at least "Lay eyes on him" to confirm that he was ok. I was so infuriated. Of course, I kept my cool while they were there, but the second they left, I went to pieces. Why anyone would think that I wouldn't take care of my kids, I don't know. They're very happy and healthy. They're just small. These people at Health and Welfare have a chart that tells them how big a kid should be at a specific age but have no medical training. My kids are too small by the charts. Well, big deal! Their pediatrician says they're ok, and I'm gonna take his word for it. After all, he has a PHD and an MD. That's a heck of a lot better than a chart. They came back again the next morning when Hyrum was awake, and they could see him and Emily playing and smiling and giving us hugs and kisses. I think they were a little disappointed that they couldn't find any reason to take our kids away. Guess they'll have to fill their torn family quota on someone else.

As if this wasn't already stressful enough, Mike got a call while on his way to an Elder's Quarm meeting (he's the Elder's Quarm secretary now). It was our landlord who has a habit of bugging us constantly. She's at the house about 2-3 times a week and gives us absolutely no privacy. So it wasn't a big shock when she told Mike that she wanted to sell the house and we had until Saturday afternoon (not quite 2 days) to have the house ready for a walk through with her. Mike told her that that wasn't enough time to have it ready since he's working two jobs and I'm dealing with two kids. Cleaning up, sure, we could handle that. But things like cleaning the carpet, washing walls, washing windows, fixing dings in the walls.. there was no way. But no, she wouldn't give us an extension. She doesn't seem at all bothered by the fact that we're in a lease until November. She expects us out of the house whenever it sells. On top of that, she also wants us to vacate the house whenever a potential buyer wants to come look at it. This is so ridiculous. What am I supposed to do? Pick up my two kids and wander around on the street until they're done? I don't have a car or a place to go. Mike and I decided that we'd try to find another place ASAP. Although this is really maddening and inconvenient, it'll be good to be out from under her thumb. She's expecting us to stay in the house until it sells. But if she feels that she can break lease, then why can't we? She can't really complain if we move out early, although I'm sure she will. She needs us to keep paying rent so that she can make the payments on the house herself. Maybe she'll realize that she's asking too much when we move out and she can't find a buyer for 6 months! Sorry, that's my mean side talking a bit there. She won't even buy us out of our lease though. So I have no idea how we're going to find first month's rent and a deposit for a new place. But for now, we've started packing and looking for somewhere else. It's a little hard to do since Mike took on another job and is never home. I'm having to do all the packing myself, and who knows when we'll find time to look at a new place. It'll be hard to move again, but maybe we can find a cheaper place. That would certainly help a lot.

Eat Fresh!

I've finally secured my 2nd job. I wanted something that I could work part time nights and weekend, but also that wouldn't stress me out or tire me so much. Lucky for me, there is a Subway right around the corner!

Funny how I got hired: I had filled out a Subway and an Arctic Circle application. I was leaning towards wanting to work at AC since their customer service is so good -- I knew that their management would be good to work with. Subway was first on my way home, so I stopped in there. I met up with the manager to drop off the questionnaire while leaving an impression. She asked me if I had a few minutes to talk to her now. I did, so we sat down and asked me a few questions. She barely looked at my resume and asked me about my current job when she said, "Well, I'm ready to hire you if you're ready to accept!" Yeah, I wasn't going to turn something down when it gets laid in your lap like that -- consider it a blessing.

It feels good working there. They changed the management in the past month so it's running a lot smoother than it had before (we witnessed pretty bad service at this Subway before as customers). They put me in charge of the till on the 2nd day even though my first shift was only 2 hours long. After only 4 shifts, I'm closing the store solo tonight.

I asked the manager if there was anything she could critique me on or recommend I improve on. She said, "Nothing at all;" she was just glad that I was adult and mature as opposed to some other employees. She also told me that I could become a manager with ease if I wanted to. I let her know that was not my interest. See, I would work for them for a good long time -- about a year or more -- but I don't want to be full time restaurant unless I own one. The reasoning I have for even working at Subway as opposing to a higher paying job waiting tables is the stress factor. I don't have to be burdened with complex decisions and a stressful night. I want to be able to go home and be able to focus on my family, not whine about how hard the day was when I first get home.

Eleven!!

In Herbie Goes Banana's we learned that 53 is 8(ocho). Well, as that is the case, as of July 14th, I am now eleven. This is fantastic news except for the fact that next year I will be 3... :'(

My birthday's have never been all that fan-dangled. They've usually been overshadowed by other things like Bastille Day or Scout camp. Not that I'm complaining. I've never found much reason to celebrate me on any one day. I've found it greater reason to celebrate me every day of the year other than December 7th -- the day Pearl Harbour (if such a place is a proper noun, can I change the spelling from Harbor to Harbour?) was bombed.

I still have some very memorable moments on the few July 14th's I've encountered. Jeni's pie-in-the face ranks amongst the top several for sure. I can still taste it in my nasal passages today! I also remember my birthday last year as the year we made that going to eat as Whitewater Pizza & Pasta as yearly tradition. We skipped this year, however.

I'd have to say that this year was a great one, too. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I remember it everytime I read this blog entry.

I woke up early to enjoy the full length of this day -- also because myson woke me up and wanted breakfast. Since it was a special day, I treated him and myself to some waffles. I was going to make waffles in bed for {wife} as well, but i thought that she may enjoy sleep better than morning dough-in-a-toaster.

After that I treated myself to some alone time as I mowed our lawn. Throughout the day some people said that i shouldn't have had to do that on my Birthday. I agreed with them -- Mowing the lawn should always be done on Mondays!!

The funnest part of the day was going to the splash pad with the family! It was just like last time but this time we were in get-wet clothes; so dad got to get wet w/ Hyrum too :D It was a blast. Myson was very cautious around the water as any 3yr old would be, but he was very cute trying to stop the water from spouting out of the nozzles. He also got to be on Dad's shoulders for a bit as we both got dunked by the dunking bucaneer. Oo!! And we also go to go on the swings! Ang was right -- swings are life's natural high! I got to push hyrum first, then we got to sit down together. he liked it, but didn't think much of it. Then I let him sit alone and tried to teach him how to pump by swinging on the swing next to him. After a few "Forward. Back'"s i decided to just go real high since it have been awhile. That got Hyrum cracking up! I'm still writing this w/ a huge smile -- HE SO CUTE! ... Ok, barring the whole this-parent-loves-his-son point of view, he really was cute. Then Spencer (my supervisor from work was there too w/ his family) reminded me to do the spider-thingy on the swings w/ Hyrum by doing it w/ his daughter. ... *sigh* It was just a fun day to spend w/ the fam. Must do that more often.

We went home after the park in search for food. It was about 3pm and i had just realized -- the Elder's Quorum was meeting at 11am for a party/BBQ/swimming at Brother Walker's house >< /sigh. Missing free food is not one of my favorite things to do ;_;

After that we called around searching for a free babysitter so we could go watch a movie. We found one too, but we found out the day after that they were available. For the rest of the night we just bummed around the house watching Enterprise episodes we had recorded on the DVR. Jaypea did make this "deliciouso! Yum-yum-yum!" Apple-Rhubarb pie (can you tell we watch kids shows?). My boss had a rhubarb tree and it had grown like crazy. So he gave me ssome to take home and experiment with it. Since the pie, Jay has also made Rhubarb Muffins too. Not as delicious as the pie -- but nothing is bad if it has rhubarb in it!

The next day after church Kit said since she missed watching the kids last night, she'd watch them that night for us! We took up on the offer cause 1- we still had free movie tickets, 2- never deny a free babysitter, & 3- never mind... I didn't know how many points I'd be outlining and ran out of ideas. It was a good thing we went, too. I got to find out that i still loved my wife. Wait-- (turns to ask Jessica) right? Ok. (returned to blog) Yeah, she said I still do. We chose to watch Harry Potter 5 -- a very good choice, too. The movie was done very well -- for the 5th book being the largest or the saga, it was a shorter movie than the 4th (I believe); but they touched on the most important elements that would roll into movies 6 and 7.

We got home about Midnight:30... felt really bad about have kit w/ the kids for so long. The kids were still awake and that was actually a good thing since myson had not been going to bed peacefully recently. I didn't want to have Kit deal w/ that plus he looooooooves her so much, i knew it wouldn't be a problem for him to stay up. What i eventually felt worse about was that Kit succumbed to watching Blues Clues all night long w/ him! o_o Next time i'll let her know she has a bit more license on what she wants to watch of TV.

All in all, it was a great birthday. I still have plans to go eat at Whitewater when we get the gil to do so; but barring that, it was a great day!

P.S. We also did Dynamis-Buburimu w/ the DP ls. Man, was that a blast. It was going all so well until the evil head-honcho NM pummeled the linkshell. Regardless, it was not only a great learning experience, but was so fun to spend some time w/ my dear friends online. Can't wait until we give Apocalyptic Beast another try! :D

Emily Update

We took Emily back for another appointment and to have her weighed again. She gained 6oz in 2 weeks. Dr. Rand says this is a good amount of gain, but he would still like to see her doing some catching up since she now weighs 10lbs 11oz. I'm just glad that she's gaining instead of losing. We're supposed to keep bringing her back for regular weighings until we're sure she's growing again. But for now, scare over!

Quick Update

There's not much to tell yet, but I thought the blog needed an update since Mike updated the look of the page. My mom sent out an email to my family about Emily recently, so I thought I'd explain in my own words. Last Friday, I took Emily to the doctor for her 6 month checkup. The doctor says that she looks really healthy, except for one tiny little thing... Emily has lost weight since her 3 month appointment and is now down to only 10 pounds. The doctor asked a lot of questions like what she eats, how often she eats, how much she eats, if she likes to eat, had she been sick, had I been sick, even what her poop looks like (yes, I know.. yuck!). He couldn't find a single thing wrong with any of that information. We're assuming that even though she nurses often enough that she may not be getting enough milk in her feeding sessions, so he's having me try some things. In two weeks, we're supposed to take her back to be weighed again, and if there's no change they'll have to run some tests to make sure everything is alright with her digestive system. However, the doctor is confident that she is just fine since those types of problems usually present themselves at birth and she has been fine up until now. I'm sure that everything will turn out to be just fine since she is basically a very healthy baby aside from being terribly skinny.

In other Emily news, she has started rolling over and is so proud of herself! She even tries to get her knees under her, but she's still just a bit too wobbly to manage that for very long. She loves her brother and is crazy about the cat. Despise her small size, Emily has a deep hearty belly laugh. Not the tiny little giggle you'd expect from such a little girl. It always cracks us up to hear her laugh, and we all have a lot of fun trying to get her to do it.

Hyrum is talking a bit more, but he's still not speaking in sentences and doesn't use clear words like other kids his age. He is very smart, however, and has a great memory. His current favorite game is pointing out colors around the house. Red is his favorite color. He loves having a nice back yard to play in and spends hours running around, loading his dump truck with rocks, picking strawberries, and taking his stuffed kitty down the slide with him. Every night, he begs to run through the sprinklers. I cannot stress what a great brother Hyrum is! Whenever Emily cries, he runs to her and talks to her or tickles her belly with her stuffed cat until she calms down. It's a little silly, but he even loves to brush her hair and put barrettes in it after she has a bath. I bet he can't wait till she's old enough to play with him. He misses his Grandmas and Grandpas too. The other day, we were driving around town and pulled up alongside another car at a stoplight where he saw a man who he must have thought looked like his Grandpa Crooks wearing a baseball cap. He got so excited and started shouting, "Grandpa! Grandpa!" When the light turned green and the car started pulling away, he got a little bit upset saying, "No! No!!... Bye.." It makes me wish we lived closer both to my parents and Mike's.

Mike got a lawnmower for Father's Day this year. Our old hand-me-down one which worked just fine cutting down thick weeds at our house in Ammon finally gave up the ghost. It mowed the front yard and half of the back yard before it quit and wouldn't start again. We got tired of always having to borrow a mower from James or from our landlady. We were able to find a used refurbished mower with a full warranty at Home Depot. It really is great to have a nice yard to enjoy. Now what we really need is hedge clippers... Kind of makes me wish we had just agreed to pay the extra $25 a month to have all the yard work taken care of for us!

Settlers Park

Mike is still loving his new job. The company Mike works for sells playground equipment to parks and schools. It's his job to talk to installers, maintenance crews, and equipment buyers and sellers. On Wednesday, a maintenance crew had to be sent out to Settlers Park here in Meridian and Mike had to be there to represent the company. He was so impressed with the park that we decided to take the kids the next day. We invited Hyrum's friend Emily from his Sunbeams class and her mom to come along with us. I had never seen the park before and was amazed at how large and how nice it was. The park isn't quite finished yet and has several coming attractions such as climbing rocks, a fishing pond, splash pad, sand pit, 23 acres for 8 youth baseball fields, and a bunch of other plans I don't remember in the making. I mean, this park is HUGE!! They even put up a large screen and show movies one night a week.

The kids had a lot of fun! We started at the regular playground which they call Adventure Island. It's basically several yards worth of jungle gym equipment. Hyrum and Emily especially enjoyed the slides. Hyrum liked the bigger slides, but Emily got a little scared. We hit the swings afterwards, but again, Emily was afraid to swing, so she just pushed her mom and Hyrum.

Before too long, we ditched the standard playground equipment for the main attraction and the biggest reason we had come. Water Odyssey! It's like running through the sprinklers, but better!! They had all sorts of different types of sprayer including water cannons you can aim at your friends and a pirate ship's mast that fills up with water and tips to dump sheets of water on those standing beneath it. Here are a bunch of pictures.

An unsuspecting Hyrum pokes his finger in a pressure release sprayer...

... and gets his first drenching of the day!

Mike apparantly thought that Hyrum wasn't already wet enough. He wanted to really soak him, but decided that the "Dumping Buccaneer" was a bit too much water for such a little boy.

So he lined him up under a smaller version... Miss!

After watching all that water splash down, I was surprised that Hyrum was gullible enough to let his dad reposition him once more for a direct hit. It scared him pretty badly at first, but after a few seconds of panic and a hug from his dad, he decided it was pretty funny.

After getting hit with that final bucket full, Hyrum was cold and wet and tired and we headed home. But we had a lot of fun and it was all free! We'll definitely be going back!