MAYLIN2007

We live and breathe hearts, heart beats, color, dizziness etc around here. Sometimes it is overwhelming. It has been so much better the past several years, but in January Austin had some trouble. They could NOT find anything, so we moved on and chalked it up to him getting strep a few days later. Well last Wednesday Austin was sitting at his computer desk when he had two HUGE heart beats. He knew they were blocked beats, he's had them before, but these triggered a huge run of fast, VERY FAST, heart beats. He came and found Jay and I and was scared spit less. He was pale and he felt really dizzy. He said his chest felt like a 300 pound man was sitting on it and his left arm hurt. Obviously, I panicked. We hooked him up to his defibrillator machine and sent a report in. I called the hospital and they said it didn't pick up anything. They said it only records if the beat goes above 190 beats per minute and if it goes over 16 beats. Great. We really needed some answers. The doctor ...

I know you were all wondering what was going on so here it is: 1. The bird is still at it! It moved to my bedroom window mid-week. That was great, not! Really loud at 6 a.m. Last night it moved to the kitchen window. Its been banging against that all day. I don't know what to do. 2. Aus is really coming along in his organ training. He spent last Saturday at a special training and tomorrow he is going to a local University to have more formal training on the organ. He loves it so much and is really good. 3. I lost .8 pds this week. First thing I have lost since we got home from our cruise. I guess eating at Macaroni Grill isn't helping. I have 8 pounds more to go to get to my goal weight.(We ate there tonight with our bestest friends Paul and Anita.) 4. I have been doing so much genealogy. I have found and linked to our family over 400 names! It has been exciting. 5. Our business had been recession proof until Jan. Since then we have been on a steady decline. I am nervous. I am ...

How cute is this? So, she misses some of the planets? I still think it is great. She said she learned it from her teacher at preschool. :) She sang it to us over and over while we sat in the car waiting for dad to finsih his shopping at the IFA. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Kens came home today with this quote. "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present."

On Monday, we noticed a robin sitting on top of one of our chairs that are on our front porch. When we would get too close, it would fly to the tree in the middle of our yard. He or she had a friend in the tree. The robin would stay there for a while and then fly back to the chair. By Monday afternoon, we started hearing thump, thump, thump. We stood in the dining room quietly to watch what was going on. This silly little bird would sit on the back of the chair and then would fly into our window making the thump sound. It would do it OVER and OVER again. We thought it was so cute until Wednesday when it was still going on and our porch and chair was covered in bird poop. I had been adjusting my blinds and I could get the bird to stop for a few hours and then it would try it again. On Wednesday night Austin scrubbed down the porch and chair. We didn't hear much from the bird on Thursday.     On Friday at 6:00 A.M. the thumping started again and woke us all up. This time the bir...

Today is my hubby's b-day and my niece Hooli's big day. It is tough, I think, to share this day with Mr. Taxman. So, I hope they both have a great day, in spite of it all. I know my honey has had a tough day. Taxes about blew his mind. When he dropped off the checks in the mail today he said it sure sucked on your b-day to have to give so much away. I don't blame him. It was tough for me too, and it isn't even my special day. My honey turns 43, cough, cough, today. It has been a rough one, despite the taxman. He is feeling his age, as he is having trouble with his foot and ankle. Work is terribly slow and he found that he no longer wears a size 42 suit. To me, this last one was hysterical. For him, not so much. This is what happened. He needed a new suit. He hasn't had one for 15 years. His pants were thin, see-through thin and the pockets were worn through. You get the idea. So I went to buy one for him. I called and asked him what size jacket he wore. He said 42. ...

I love cake. I really love cake. Especially the edges where the frosting and the side of the cake meet! I can go long periods without cake. Luckily this week, it has been all about cake! First, Saturday we sent to Xanthe's luau party. She belongs to Circe at the blog "Party of eight." She was adopted for China too several months before we got Nini. The party was so great. My favorite part was the hula dancers by the Brown family at "The Brown Bulletin" and when the little girls joined in on the dancing. Xanthe danced! Man, she reminded us all of the Elaine dance from Seinfeld. Nini who is usually a party, just stood there....like plastic. Funny. My NEXT FAVORITE part was the coconut cake! Man that was good. This picture was taken right before the girls started to dance. Nini never changed postions the whole time. I think she may have blinked a few times, but that was it. Man, Xanthe, rocked the house. After this party, we went with the Passey's whom we trav...

I have been meaning to post this for along time, but other things just kept coming up. After the last couple of days, however, I had to put it up. These things are too funny to forget and I was afraid if I didn't write them down they would be gone. First: several months ago Nini started this "plastic" game. She would say to us, "Look I'm plastic." Then she would strike a pose and hold it with out moving for a long time. She would tell us, "Be plastic!" So of course, we would obey and we would strike a pose with her and hold it. It is hilarious. She does it anywhere and at anytime. She has been plastic at the doctors, at the store, at the swimming pool at a party, you name it she has been plastic there. I asked her where she came up with this "plastic game" and she said, "I came up with it by myself." There you go. Here is a picture of one of her "plastic" moments. The past few days, she has become the come back kid. Wh...

Tonight Austin and his friend Erik participated in the special environmental science fair they were invited to from their state appearance. Tonight they won the "Practical Solutions" award! Go boys!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating Easter! What a great holiday. Truly. I am so grateful for the opportunity to celebrate the Savior's resurrection. For the holiday, and our kids' Spring break, we went on a trek to see my parents. It was nice to have some sun and we were happy to miss the storm of all April storms that hit while we were gone! We enjoyed good food, swimming (everyday), hiking, exploring, egg hunting, chocolate eating and family. Here are some pictures of our weekend. You can click on the pictures to enlarge and YES the Easter Bunny hid Aus' basket on TOP of the car. It was actually Alex's idea. My mother is an artist. Aus got so much of her talent. Because of this we went to a local art festival. It was very cool. The girls had their hair done and their faces painted. The boys enjoyed frog hunting. No frogs WERE HARMED. They just enjoyed the catch and release. The photo of Alex with the "two frogs on top of each other" made us lau...

This week at YW we did homemaking Olympics. We taught the girls, in some cases, reviewed for the girls, basic skills like ironing, sewing on a button, grinding wheat, removing stains, and making butter. We then divided them into teams and they had a race. The judges voted on time done, how neat and whose was done the most correctly. The winning team got trophies. It was fun to have Kens with me this time. She turned 14, so is now in my group. I like having her with me.         At the end of the evening we had fondue with lots of dipping stuff, including these enormous strawberries. One girl, pictured above tried to see if she could fit the whole berry in her mouth. My wonderful, wonderful advisor and friend, Becky was in charge of this great night. It is so nice to work with people who are talented, put together and dedicated! She makes my life better!