Lemonade Stands...a Summer Must!

Summertime Swimming

We finally hit the pool over the weekend. Temperatures got up into the high 90's so it was a perfect day to go enjoy the water. Even though we lathered with Sunscreen we all got sunburned. The kids had so much fun and it was nice to be out of the house.

Happy Fourth of July 2009!

We went over to Janet's for the 4th this year and it was really nice. The neighbors ended up doing quite a few illegal fireworks, so we pretty much got to see the park fireworks but from the comfort of Janet's front yard. The kids had a blast bobbing for water balloons and Mckelsie and Jayden especially were drenched. We brought Hurley too to play with Winn Dixie and they really wore themselves out playing and wrestling around.

All Worth It Comments:

I amazingly coaxed/lovingly threatened Mckelsie and Jayden to help me get in groceries to the house. (Why does it always seem like such a torturous request to kids???) Smiths had their soda on sale so I had about 10 bottles to take in the house and downstairs. Jayden was there preparing to scoup up the bottles two at a time. I took one by one and gathered them into my arms. I topped the 5th one into my arms and turned to walk in the house.
Jayden looked at me and said... "You're going to take five bottles at once?!?"
I said, "Yeah...then I don't have to take so many trips back and forth".
He replied, "Show-off!".

My Scrapblogging on Scrapblog.com

Photo Shoot

While on our trip to Melissa's parents cabin, I found this spot on the side of the road. I couldn't resist getting some pictures. I love doing this and would love to learn more about how to do it correctly. I think I got some pretty cute ones with my regular old camera. Without being bias...I have beautiful children.

Weekend Cabin Fun

We were invited to go up to my good friend Melissa's parents cabin near Panguitch, Utah for the weekend. It was so incredibly beautiful and the weather was perfect. I am in awe at the beauty that is around us and yet we don't see much of it. What a wonderful place to build long lasting memories, love family and enjoy our piece of our world. Thanks Melissa for allowing us to go.... we had a blast and truly enjoyed it. Melissa's parents also just recently purchased a Polaris ATV which we were able to take the kids out for a spin. So fun! We also got in a campfire, roasted marshmellos and had our favorite campfire treat..."Smacko's" (chocolate chips, mini marshmellos melted inside a tortilla). We couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

Rebecca.... with helmet hair!
Mckelsie and Rebecca riding the Polaris ATV.


Mckelsie and Rebecca

Jayden and Rebecca....that ATV was SO much FUN!

The views were just amazing and indescribably peaceful. This is one of the roads that we took the ATV out on. I couldn't resist a picture.

Jayden and Rebecca

Carter and Melissa getting ready for their ride.

Jayden was teaching Carter how to shoot the bow and arrow. So cute!

Melissa and Miles were ready for their spin!

Beautiful Mckelsie

Jayden

Jayden, Miles and Carter. What kid can resist throwing rocks into the creek?

Mckelsie and Jayden

Rebecca and Melissa. I'm so grateful for GOOD friends!!

We went to a little carnival in Panguitch for a few hours. The kids had a lot of fun playing on the blow up gyms, food, cotton candy and face paintings.

Miles (spider) and Jayden (dog).

VELCRO. I think Melissa and I are going to invest the $8,000 to get one of these. One the kids are stuck up on there....they can't get off. PERFECT babysitter.

Mckelsie was hilarious!

There's Carter!

Miles!

Miles....such a cute look and pose for the camera.

Jayden

Jayden

Miles

Carter

Here's the view from the cabins porch.... It was so beautiful up there we didn't want to leave. God does create wonderful things!

The boys! Carter, Miles and Jayden

As much as Melissa most likely hated taking the picture it turned out so good!

Carter and Mckelsie. Mckelsie did so good all weekend until I made her go to church, then all hell broke loose! Not a great way to end the weekend but thank goodness Melissa was so understanding!

Hurley

Hurley has made himself right at home.
Hurley rarely leaves Mckelsie's side...

Jayden is so glad to have a friend.

Hurley

Yep... he sleeps on the bed with Mckelsie...and she loves it! Hard to believe that she thought he was going to "kill" her when we picked him up.

Here are more pictures of our new addition, Hurley. We are really loving him and it's been so good for the kids. He follows Mckelsie around everywhere and sleeps with her too. It's so cute to listen to her talk "baby talk" to him and call him a "good little doggy".... Jayden has been doing a great job of giving him baths, brushing him and cleaning up after him. This was a perfect match. Don't get me wrong, there are a few things that we have to work on with him...barking and biting but overall he's a really good dog and we love having him apart of our family! The kids want to take him everywhere and can't understand that stores/restaurants do not allow animals inside. In fact, while I work the kids go over to Grandpa Steve's for the day and have been taking Hurley along. So not only does Grandpa take care of Mckelsie and Jayden, now he's taking care of Hurley too. I love you Dad!

If you knew me....

If you knew me you'd know that I love to go to the movies with a huge bucket of popcorn, a good snowball fight, a water fight (of course in the summer) and spending as much time with my kids making memories! If you knew me you'd know that I work really hard at my career and feel very blessed to be there. If you knew me you'd know that I love my family to the ends of the earth and beyond. I would do anything for them. I have the most amazing parents you could ever hope for. If you knew me you'd know that I enjoy running, going to the park to play around, yard-work and learning to use my new snow-blower. If you knew me you'd know that I love to laugh and do so when I get a bit nervous. If you knew me you'd know that I love to listen to music, wrapping up in a blanket, taking a nap and COKE. If you knew me you'd know that I love to tease..and get carried away sometimes. If you knew me you'd know that I love to sing with my kids in the car. If you knew me you'd know that I love to hear my children pray and to watch them take care of each other. If you knew me you'd know what I think of the huge responsibility that I feel to raise my children right. If you knew me you'd know that I truly value my friendships and am grateful for people that genuinely care. If you knew me you'd see that I'm just an ordinary girl, no frills, a bit crazy sometimes. If you knew me you'd know that honesty is a core value of mine and I care deeply what my friends and family think of me.

If only you knew me....

Top 10ish....

I made a list of the things that I want in a man but I'll skip down because the first 7 are body parts.....

You are handsome, kind, patient, careful with hearts, serious about the mind, always a good friend and can make me laugh. You believe in the dream and most of all never stop trying.

Notes: Email to Dr. Carbone

Dr. Carbone,

Hope you're doing well and ready for the 4th of July!

I just wanted to give you an update for Mckelsie. With the increase to the Klonopin that we have done in the last few weeks it actually seems to be helping a bit to stabilize her moods and help with anxiety. I don't think that we're out of the woods but I think we may be headed in the right direction. Perhaps just a little higher dose in future might prove to further helpful... I don't know. We do need a refill for this prescription due to the increased dose. Would you be able to have your office call in a prescription to the Pharmacy or perhaps I can just call your offices and ask them to do so. Let me know what works the best for you.

As far as other aspects of working with her and her behaviors I've been trying a few different things at home. She does well with routines and if they are consistent. I've tried to help engage in more activities with kids her age that are progressing normally and I believe that will help in her moods as well. We just got a dog and after much obvious dislike from Mckelsie she seems to be warming up quite nicely to him. I'm hoping that this will give Mckelsie an outlet in having something to take care of and provide self esteem in being able to take care of him. Plus he's really taken a liking to Mckelsie and even sleeps with her at night with which Mckelsie has amazingly welcomed. I'm hoping that this will be a really good tool for Mckelsie.

On a bad note, I received word from your offices that my insurance is not going to cover your visits. I even tried going to the mental health plan that I have through my employer, Wells Fargo and they said that your are not on their authorized persons/doctors listing. We have seen you in November and then again in May. We have an appointment on July 7th as well. The bill for each visit without insurance is quite high and I cannot afford it being a single mom with the full financial responsibilities of our household. Would you have any suggestions as to what I can do? I have really been grateful for your help and feel very lucky to have you have the ability to correspond with Dr Fillioux directly as well. I really don't want to have to start over with another doctor and wouldn't even know where to go.

I have still not had any luck with the SSI. I'll continue trying as it would be beneficial for us if we qualify.

I have talked to the School Psychologist for Salt Lake City School District and am not hopeful of their help. He wasn't too anxious to help nor did he think that Mckelsie was having issue's at school that really warranted this assessment for Autism. He did say that they would start the testing at the beginning of school. I explained to him that there was behavioral issues at school as well as at home and that she exhibits Autism behaviors. I told him that my goal was to be able to have the "label" so that she would be eligible to additional therapies while at school and his reply was that it didn't really matter her 'label" that she would still most likely be receiving the same resources. I mentioned a few therapies such as Occupational Therapy and he did concede that they do have that kind of therapy available... I'm planning on just staying on them about it and hopefully any additional help would be appreciated and warranted. Frustrating though...

Thanks again for all your help!
Rebecca

Welcome to the Family....Hurley!

After a long search and lot of bugging from Jayden we finally found a dog. His name is Hurley and is a year old Shih Tzu. He has lots of energy but most of the time is not overly energized. It was really fun when I surprised the kids with him. We got him from a family that lives out in Syracuse and on a Wednesday evening we went out to get him. I didn't tell the kids where we were going or what for but gave them hints during the drive.

Hint #1: Brave (for Mckelsie's sake)
Hint #2: Soft
Hint #3: Responsibility
Hint #4: White
Hint #5: Friend

Jayden guessed a dog about hint #3 but I didn't let him know he was right until we pulled up to the house to look at Hurley. Jayden was obviously very excited but true to Mckelsie she was not very happy. She kept saying... "The dog is going to kill me. The dog is going to bite me. I'm going to kick the dog." I felt bad for the previous owners.... I'm sure they thought, "oh no... I hope they're good to Hurley!". On the drive back home Jayden tried to get Mckelsie to admit that atleast Hurley was cute... she didn't quite give in however she was calling everyone she knew a number to to tell them that we had just gotten Hurley. Now, Hurley prefers to be around Mckelsie, follows her around everywhere and even sleeps with her. Mckelsie just adores him. She still gets irritated with him when he barks but really loves him. Jayden has taken the responsibility of training him with the help of our newly bought DVD on how to train dogs. He's doing a great job and will have him trained in no time. I'm truly more excited and happy with him than I thought I would be. I think that it's going to be really good for our family to have Hurley.

For the summer, Grandpa Steve has agreed to allow Hurley to come over to their house with the kids and I personally think that Grandpa Steve really doesn't mind it so much although he wouldn't say so. The kids get to play with him all day which they have loved!

Welcome to the Family Hurley!

PS. The previous owners of Hurley named him after one of the characters in the TV series "Lost". At first I didn't really care for the name but it has grown on me and so we've decided to keep the name.