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I've gotta admit, I love when I get pictures from my Mother-in-Law. She ALWAYS has tons of pictures that I didn't even know she took! Lots of them are very special ones too. Anyway, she thought she had given me the pictures she took at Shaylyn's birthday party in January, but she never had.
So a couple weeks ago, we were trying to figure out which pictures I had and which ones I didn't. There were other pictures taken in January as well and some from April, but my favorite one from all that she just gave me is the one above. It is a picture of my dad and Eric's dad. I think it is just an awesome picture to have! Now, I've gotta get a picture of my mom and Eric's mom together! It is on my to-do list.
For school, Tanis & Shaylyn each have to read or be read to for a certain amount of time each night. For awhile we were reading Harry Potter - and we will go back to it, but Tanis ran across a book of poems by Shel Silverstein called "A Light in the Attic." Tanis wanted me to read this book of poems to him, so for the past few nights we've been reading them.
Two nights ago I ran across 2 poems I just absolutely loved! The first one I thought would be perfect to use on a scrapbook page of a kid just hanging out in the summer sun. The second one just really made me think of how the world treats people. Here you go...

TIRED

I've been working so hard you just wouldn't believe,

And I'm tired!

There's so little time and so much to achieve,

And I'm tired!

I've been lying here holding the gras in its place,

Pressing a leaf with the side of my face,

Tasting the apples to see if they're sweet,

Counting the toes on a centipede's feet.

I've been memorizing the shape of that cloud,

Warning the robins to not chirp so loud,

Shooing the butterflies off the tomatoes,

Keeping an eye out for floods and tornadoes.

I've been supervising the work of the ants

And thinking of pruning the cantaloupe plants,

Timing the sun to see what time it sets,

Callint the fish to swim into my nets,

And I've taken twelve thousand and forty-one breaths,

And I'm TIRED!

- Shel Silverstein

THE LITTLE BOY AND THE OLD MAN

Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon."

Said the little old man, "I do that too."

The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants."

"I do that too," laughed the little old man.

Said the little boy, "I often cry."

The old man nodded, "So do I."

"But worst of all," said the boy, "it seems

Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."

And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.

"I know what you mean," said the little old man.

- Shel Silverstein

I have always loved this book and every couple of years when I read it again, I find new poems that I fall in love with.

We also got the kids' fall pictures back, but I have to wait until tomorrow to post them because our scanner/printer is broken and Eric left our camera at his parents house. So tonight when I head to the doctor, we will stop by and get the camera and I will then take a picture of each of the kids' pictures and post them.

Hope everyone is doing well.

What Happens Next...

More News...

Now that life has settled down from the crazy week we had a couple weeks ago, I feel like I can say some more about what happened in that week.

Luckily, this is good news though and nothing as tragic as everything else that happened during that week.

Ready for the news...Drum roll please...

We are pregnant with #4. The same Wednesday of my cousin's death, was the day that the doctor confirmed the pregnancy. We even got an ultrasound done that day. It is pictured below.

I didn't think that the week we found out was the best time for us to tell anyone because of everything that had happened. But now, I feel more relaxed and at peace about everything and I can't really hide the fact for a lot longer.
We are due on about April 24, which puts me into about my 9th week right now. We are excited and nervous all at the same time. I'm scared of the transition between 3 kids to 4. And the fact that we haven't had a baby for 2 years is pretty scary as well. Overall though, we are all happy and the kids are all excited.
The doctor asked us if we were wanting a girl this time around to make the numbers even. I told him Daddy didn't want another girl, but I don't care either way. So after the ultrasound the doctor said, "It looks like a girl (pause) or a boy." This was said just to tease Eric, but I think the kids thought he was serious. Because we stopped at my parents afterwards and Shaylyn told them it was a girl.
Anyway, Tanis and Shaylyn both think this baby is a girl and Lex wants a brother, so we shall see who ends up right.
The weather has cooled off a bit, enough that for a couple days the kids needed to wear long sleeves and long pants. Eric's parents found the cutest outfit for Shaylyn one day that she hasn't been able to wear. Yesterday she was, so I had to take a picture of it. When my mother-in-law saw this outfit she immediately thought of Shaylyn. The way she put it was that it had Shaylyn written all over it. This is because Shaylyn has a tremendous love of butterflies. Anyway, here is the picture.

Hope everything is well with all of you. :D

What Happens Next...

Greg's Obituary

I am not sure who wrote Greg's obituary, but they got it just so right. Below I share with you his obituary...

Gregory Dale Kehl

Gregory Dale Kehl "The Entertainer" A fantastic father, husband, brother, friend and son has returned home to our Heavenly Father on Sept. 12, 2007, where he can rest in peace.Greg, you are the light of our life. Our room will be empty without you there. You touched all those who knew and treasured you as a friend, brother, father and husband. Greg served in many church callings for the LDS Church. He was a terrific and respected member of the Eagle Mountain community. He sat on the City Council and volunteered his time and money whenever possible. Greg enjoyed the outdoors, all kinds of music and his beautiful yard and home. No one had more pride in his community and family than Greg Kehl. He enjoyed riding his Harley, snowmobiling and spending time with his devoted wife and sons. Greg is greatly loved by his mother, father, sisters and their families. He is a fantastic uncle, brother-in-law and person. Of all of Greg's accomplishments, and there were many, his family, his sons and wife, are what he is most proud of. Greg's family takes comfort in knowing he has returned home to a loving Father in Heaven and grandfather (Alma Kehl) who passed before him. No one's life will ever be the same without Greg's point of view or the special way he brought laughter into any situation. Greg is survived by his loving wife, Becky; sons, Dexter and Dallin; his dog, Moose; parents, Dale and Sharron Kehl of Taylorsville; grandmother, Bernina Kehl of Salt Lake City; sisters, Tammy (Calvin) Carrell of Murray; Tonya (Merlin) Huff of Taylorsville; and Tresa (Shayne) Ahlin of Santaquin. Greg is also survived by his second family who loved and respect him (the dreaded in-laws, he would have said), Shirl R and Shari Black of Taylorsville; brother-in-law, Matthew (Annette) Black of Stansbury; sister-in-law, Jennifer (Terry) Word of Riverton. Greg has many nieces and nephews that love and adored him. You will be missed Unkie Greg. Soar high rocket man! Greg was an entrepreneur at heart, there was no job too challenging for him to accomplish. Funeral services will be Monday, September 17, 2007, 12:00 noon at the Cedar Pass Stake Center, 2977 East Pony Express Parkway. There will be a viewing on Sunday from 6-8 p.m. at McDougal Funeral Home, 4330 S. Redwood Road, Taylorsville and on Monday from 10-11:30 a.m. at the Church prior to services. Interment, Valley View Memorial Park. Published in the Deseret News from 9/15/2007 - 9/16/2007.

What Happens Next...

It Continues...

This is a difficult post for me to make. But I am just hoping that writing about it will make me feel a little bit better.

As most of you in Utah may have heard or read, on Wednesday night an Eagle Mountain Man, named Greg Kehl (pictured above the Christmas of 1994), took off in his paraglider and committed suicide. The news at first got a few things wrong, but I think since then have all gotten their facts mostly correct.

I still don't know everything and I probably never will, but this man was a cousin of mine. He was a guy you wouldn't suspect of having issues and who would even think of killing himself, so it took the family by surprise. His intermediate family is really having a hard time dealing with this, as is the extended family. He leaves behind 2 teenage boys who I am sure are having a very difficult time with their father gone.

We had another cousin in this same extended family who got married yesterday. I feel so bad. There was this cloud over the whole day that our cousin had killed himself. Luckily though most of us were able to celebrate for the cousin who got married.

My poor grandma was feeling so out of sorts. She was happy for the one cousin, but was having a really hard time dealing with the other cousin. She wanted to make sure people knew that he DID NOT shoot at his wife. My mom is very sad as well. She was only 9 when Greg was born so she had lots of fun watching him grow up and raise his family. It really hurts to see your family suffer so much.

We haven't even seen the immediate family members who are dealing with this on a losing their son, brother, uncle, father and husband aspect. When we do run into them it will be very hard for all.

It's so sad to see someone give up so much hope when life comes crashing down all around them. I feel so bad for his sweet, sweet wife and young boys. I hope they will all be able to come through this as best as they can under the circumstances.

So, let me remind you of the week we have had...Monday night, my brother in law gets into a car accident - comes out pretty much okay. Tuesday, my little sister tells me she just passed my uncle on the road and guess what, my uncle was in a car accident - luckily he too seemed pretty much unscathed. Wednesday night, my cousin kills himself, although I don't find out until Thursday morning. Thursday night, we celebrate the other cousin who got married as best we can and it is a beautiful reception.

This morning, I get an email from my sister in law telling me to open it up today. I read the email to find out that my older brother was in a car accident this morning on his way to work. Some lady apparently did a u-turn on the freeway and crashed into the passenger side of his NEW car. Thankfully, my brother was unharmed and was even heading back into work when he called his wife.

I am sure the Lord is trying to teach this family something, probably about being Thankful for Life. I know it's been an eye opening week for me. And I am so very thankful to still have my family around.

Please keep Greg's little family in your prayers though as they struggle through this most difficult time.

Love you all!

What Happens Next...

It Makes You Grateful...

Friday Night we spent the night with my family at a park. We were celebrating some family birthdays.

We had a nice night of enjoying each other's company and just hanging out. The kids enjoyed playing on the playground and the older boys enjoyed throwing a football around and even ended up playing a game of "Jackpot". We've also found a family sport in playing what we call "Noodle Ball" which is pretty fun as well.

At one point in the night I had to take my 1 year old nephew back to his mom after he was done playing on the playground. I had taken my camera to the playground with me and left it with my older sister and brother while I took my nephew back. I came back to find my sister and brother kind of laughing - so I asked them if they had found any good pictures. They said they just picked up the camera.

So, today as I am adding the pictures from the memory card to my computer, I come across the above picture and one other one. The three of them (L-R) Our "adopted" sister, Heather, My Sister, Kami and Brother, Corby had taken 2 pictures of the three of them. Clever, clever, but who has the last laugh now?

Anyway, after we had dinner and were done with the games we headed to my mom's for an ice cream treat. For some reason, I wasn't that interested in the ice cream. (odd, I know) We hung out some more and gave my little brother (turned 22) his gift.

This brother is difficult to shop for and I never quite know what to get for him. Usually it ends up just being money or a gift card (which he doesn't like getting), this year however, I wanted to get him a real gift.

After looking around at the store for awhile I ran across a game I thought he might enjoying playing with his friends. It is called iList by Hasbro. It is a game played with up to 4 mp3 players. I know that my little brother and his friends all have some sort of iPod so I figured what the heck and bought it. I included a gift receipt if he decided to take it back.

I was a little surprised when he actually kept it AND opened it. So, of course, I had to play with him. I had a lot of fun and it is fun to see what songs people have on their mp3 players. I had so much fun with the game that I actually went to try and find it at a store near us on Saturday. I found one and then made Eric play with me. He was at a bit of a disadvantage as he has the ipod that holds thousands of songs...Too bad for him. ;)

So that was the weekend.

Last night around 8:30 I get a phone call from my mom telling me that my brother-in-law, Cody, was in a car accident on his way home from work. He couldn't remember what happened, but as far as what others could figure was that he had to swerve to miss hitting a car and ended up crashing into a pole. The car was totaled and he seemed to be alright.

He didn't want to go to the ER as he hasn't been at his job quite long enough to get the insurance, however, his Mom took him to the ER just to be safe. He had a catscan just to make sure brain activity was all normal.

He got a clean bill of health and left the hospital. They stayed the night at his parents home and he is recovering well. I called my sister today to ask how he was doing and she said that he is pretty bruised and his eyes are pretty swollen, but for all intents and purposes he is fine. He was even talking about going to school tonight and back into work tomorrow. He is a strong guy!

Anyway, when things like this happen it makes you reflect and think about lots of things. You are thankful that nothing worse happened and that the person is still alive and well. It makes you thankful for all of the people in your life and you want to hold them and keep them that much closer to you. I am thankful for all of you who are in my life.

I will leave this post on a happier note however. Eric has been getting into Tai Kwon Do lately with one of his friends who is a black belt as the "teacher." Eric purchased some protective gear to use in sparring with his other friends. Anyway, it arrived today while Eric was at work. Eric wanted pictures of it, so I had the bright idea to put the stuff on Lex and take pictures of it. I took the pictures, emailed them to Eric, then he wanted to see Lex with all the stuff on at one time. So, Lex (bless his heart) agreed and let me put all of the stuff on at once... I leave you with a picture of our little trooper.

Love you all! BE SAFE!

What Happens Next...

Back in Session...

So, school started for Tanis on Tuesday, August 21 and Shaylyn started on Tuesday, August 28th.

Tanis is in 2nd grade and has a teacher that is new to the school. She seems really nice and almost as nervous as the kids were that first week of school. He is really enjoying his teacher and there are a few kids that were in his class last year that have the same class as him again this year. Sadly though, his "girlfriend" is in a different class. He says that he still sees her at recess though and he seems okay with that.

Shaylyn had an assessment with her teacher on the Friday before she started school. I was filling out paperwork for the teacher while she worked with Shaylyn, so I didn't catch everything that they were going over.

I did catch a few things that made me proud of my daughter, and also a few things that made me not so proud. First of all, Shaylyn had to figure out patterns. The teacher had some teddy bear erasers and made one pattern and then told Shaylyn to make a different pattern, she did so with ease. Then Shaylyn was given some story problems (I personally HATE story problems, they confuse me too easily) however, she had no problems with this. One question was an addition question saying we have x amount of boys in our class and x amount of girls in our class, how many children are in our class? Shaylyn answered correctly. Then she was asked a subtraction question - something to the effect of, if so and so has 6 apples and eats 2 apples, how many apples are left? Shaylyn quickly said 5 and then hurried and said no, 4. The teacher seemed a little surprised at how quickly she answered this question and I was a little surprised too. When the teacher then asked her how she knew that she replied, "If you have 6 and then you take away 5 and 6, you are left with 4." I think she's going to have a brain like her dad and aunt.

What didn't make me so proud of her was that she was constantly chattering to her teacher and asking questions when her teacher was trying to do the assessment. This is a "problem" we know she has and are worried about. I did tell the teacher that her constant talking is one of the things I am worried about with her. Oh well.

Shaylyn is enjoying Kindergarten and she goes from 12:45 - 3:30, which is when Tanis gets out so they walk home together. Shaylyn has made a couple new friends - both boys. (Sounds just like me when I was her age)

Lex and I are enjoying this quiet time together. He usually wants to watch a movie and so we sit on my bed and just hang out. I love having this quiet time and time to just be. It's been so relaxing.

Dance started up for Shaylyn again yesterday. She was more excited and more cooperative than she was for almost the whole of the spring session. I am not complaining though - maybe it's a sign she is growing up. We also have Tanis doing singing with this dance teacher, she does singing groups as well. Though now I am a bit worried. I just watched the DVD from the recital in the Spring and there were NO BOYS in the singing group AND they did a few dance moves. Hopefully though, because she is aware there is a boy in the group this year, she will make the proper adjustments. I am just hoping that if Tanis is the only boy, he will be okay.

In other news, I quit my job at Smith's. I just couldn't handle the unpredictability of it all. And with the kids getting homework and with the dance and singing lessons, it was just going to be too hectic. This is putting more stress on Eric, however as he is trying to find a part-time job. I feel bad about this, but he is convinced that if he can get a job at a game store he won't get that stressed. Here's to hoping...

I am also messing around with a new blog site - I am trying to figure out if I can personalize it a little easier than this current one. As of now though, I haven't figured it out so we will see.

Hope all is well with everyone!

What Happens Next...

Donut Break Anyone?

So Sunday night, August 12th, we head to my grandma's house for her 88th birthday party. We enjoy all the visiting with all the family and my little brother who lives in Wyoming even made a surprise appearance. He even took the nice picture of me that is to the left....
Anyhow, because Eric wasn't feeling very well, I drove home. We are 2 minutes away from home and guess what I see...Flashing lights behind me. I start getting really ticked off not thinking that I was speeding and knowing that we couldn't really afford a speeding ticket at this moment in time. Eric keeps telling me to calm down and that I shouldn't get that frustrated and overworked when I get pulled over. Easy for him to say.
So the officer comes to the window and asks for all the stuff...License, Registration, Proof of Insurance and then walks away. He is back in only a matter of minutes and then tells me the reason he pulled me over is because our Registration wasn't up to date...OOPS! So he lets us go telling us that we need to get it taken care of because after 3 months your car can get impounded.
I was so relieved. No ticket and just a "friendly" reminder to get the registration renewed or whatever. So first thing Eric did Monday morning - take care of the registration and also got the brake pads fixed for my car. He only ended up working a total of 4 hours on Monday.
Anyway, so having the Registration complete and everything I had totally forgotten about being pulled over. Until, last night at 12:30. I worked until midnight and when I got off I was talking to one of the baggers for a few minutes.
Driving home on a 65 speed limit road I was doing good to not go above 70. Next thing I know I pass a cop hiding in an area off the road. Once again I check my speed and I am about 67 or so. Then I see the flashing lights AGAIN! At first I wasn't sure if he was coming for me, but he was.
Once again, I was ticked off! This time I knew for certain I wasn't speeding enough to warrant a ticket. But, I pulled over again...Same old routine. License, Registration, Proof of Insurance. The officer goes back to his car and takes longer than officer #1 did, so I was worried about a ticket.
He comes back after like 5 minutes and tells me the reason he pulled me over is because my taillights aren't on! He said when I put my foot on the brake pedal, the lights are on, but just driving they weren't. He asked if the car had been in the shop recently and I told him about the brake pads. I am not sure why that would screw up the taillights or whatever, but oh well.
He sent me on my way and I was really freaked out. Having no taillights driving around at midnight is pretty scary. Especially in one area of where we live where there are no street lights for whatever reason. Thankfully, I got home safely.
Told Eric about the event and so today he is going to have to take me to work and pick me up. Crazy things.
Good thing is - no tickets...Bad thing is now I feel like it's Karma or something...So weird. I'll be happy if I don't get pulled over for a VERY LONG TIME!

Hope everyone is doing well.

What Happens Next...