Candyland and Service

Joyanne woke up this morning bouncing around.

She's had to stay on the couch for one more day in case she still contagious.

At least today she's not writhing in pain.

 

Once in a while I sit with the kids and play the game "Candyland" with REAL candy.

They love it when they land on "Candy Cane Lane" or "Lollipop Lane".

We play it twice so everyone gets the chance to get candy.

At the end of the game, they win a candy bar.

 

Church is always nice and refreshing to attend.

I love the Spirit there and the wonderful lessons to learn.

I don't know very many people yet, but attending church isn't about the friends you have or don't have, it's about what you learn there and having a chance to go and worship and renew and make covenants.

We learned in Sunday School that like Job, when we are overwhelmed with adversity or other overwhelming trials, some times serving really blesses us and helps us.

I just watch this Mormon Message which talks about "now is the time to serve."

I am praying for opportunities to serve and help others.



Emergency Room

Did you know the city of Tremonton has no Urgent Care or InstaCare? :(

 

Joyanne woke up at 5 something this morning with a tummy ache and headache.

She was moaning and complaining.

I got up and helped her to the bathroom and on the way, she threw up in a bucket.

This began a LONG day of pain for her and patience for me.

 

In the New Testament we read in James 1:2-3 "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into many afflictions.  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience."

My patience was definitely worked today.

Joyanne moaned throughout the day and vomited every 2 hours or so.

 

When she vomited black liquid with a little blood inside, I panicked.

She had just had a bloody nose, but I was still concerned.

She wasn't feeling any better, in fact, worse.

I looked up online about vomiting black liquid and everything I read said to take her to a doctor.

So, wondering if she maybe had "West Nile Virus" or something else, I was ready to take her in.

Except being new to the area, I didn't know where to go.

The closest Urgent Care was a half hour away in Logan.

Knowing Joyanne couldn't handle that long in the car, we went to the Hospital to the Emergency room.

After a little blood work was done, the doctor determined it was probably just the flu.

She was feeling better after the hospital visit and getting some medicine and fluids in her.

 

Well, I hope no one else gets this.

Having Daddy working 4 hours away in Vernal this week sure can be challenging for both of us.

But the Lord makes everything right.

My awesome neighbor was doing my dishes and cleaning the kitchen when I returned home.

Thank you, April!

Big Surprise!

Daddy had to go back to Vernal for another week of work.

We found out today that he will have to continue to work through some of October in Vernal.

We anxiously await the time when he can be out here in Tremonton with us.

 

We bought a surprise for the kids in Logan today.

We got a $599 trampoline for $266 from Propel Trampoline's warehouse.

They were so excited to have a trampoline.

I don't know what parents of 5 or more boys do WITHOUT a trampoline.

My boys have a great place to "bounce" out their energy now.

 

I took James and Grant to the Willow Park Zoo in Logan while Daddy played a little disc golf.

They loved seeing the reindeer.

The park was fun for James and Grant to play on after.

Grant went down the tall slide maybe 10 or so times in a row.

 

Joyanne started piano lessons from her amazing Aunt Carol.

It's nice to have her with a teacher who teaches her well.

My Day

My day begins at 6:30a.m. as I wake and pray.

I make breakfast for Joyanne so she can eat at 6:45a.m.

Then I wake up all the boys: Noah, Hiram and Jaden.

We have family scripture and prayer at 7p.m.

Joyanne leaves for school at 7:15a.m.

Breakfast for the boys is at 7:15a.m.

I take the boys to Elementary School at 7:45a.m.

After getting Grant dressed, I do school time with James and Grant.

For school time, we do a couple workbook pages, review colors, shapes, letters and numbers.

Then we read.

Today I worked hard for an hour unpacking the remainder of the stuff in the house and organizing.

I took the boys and our dog, Possum on a walk.

Lunch followed.

After more cleaning, sorting and organizing, we had a quiet time where Grant played in his room, James played downstairs and I read my scriptures, checked e-mail, read blogs and facebook. 

I got my huge kitchen, dining room and hallway floors swept and mopped.

I picked up the boys from school at 3:45p.m.

So glad to have gotten so much done today.

 

The highlight of the day was to have my brother and his family join us for dinner on their way to Washington.

Hawaiian Haystacks was a great meal for such a big group.

Big Bumps, Buckets of Water

Poor Grant fell off the tailgate of the truck.

He got a nice, big bump on his head.

We put on lavender, gave him Motrin, but the bump swelled pretty big.

The ice helped it go down a little, but Grant still was not feeling well.

Daddy put on some "Deep Blue" and then Grant was bouncing around all over the place.

He kept doing summersaults and saying "Watch this" while he summersaulted on the couch.

That "Deep Blue" did something good for him. 

Jaden and Noah both did the Ice Bucket challenge.

Good times!!!

 

 

First Day of School 2014

We had a great 1st day of school at our house.

The kids were so excited.

When Jaden was woken up to get ready, he bounded out of bed in excitement.

 

Grant finished off his BIG long sucker from Sis. Bestenlehner.

Thank you, Tami, the kids LOVED them!!! 

Daddy's Home!!!

Daddy came home last night.

He's only been gone a week, but it was a LONG week.

Grant was so excited to see Daddy as he screamed "Daaaaaaaddy!"

Then he jumped in his arms.

He tagged along with Daddy all day and would only be consoled from sadness if Daddy held him.

This is why it's good to have Daddy home. ;)

 

Daddy worked so hard today.

He got everything done TODAY that I wanted done IN A WEEK.

What a man!

 



Francom Family Reunion

This 18th family reunion is on my father's, mother's side (my paternal grandmother).

I come from Ernest and Prudence Francom.

 

My favorite part is hearing this man play the guitar.

I think he is my 2nd cousin or something like that.

He plays every year and my favorite songs to hear are "The Auctioneer" and "I'm My Own Grandpa".

 

A lot of people just enjoyed talking to each other.

Susan and Linda had much to talk about.

They connect well with each other. 

 

My Aunt Becky and brother, Bob, were able to visit.

My mom and John also held deep conversations. 

 

Joyanne and Brenden had fun dancing around and duking it out with each other. 

 

Here's everyone waiting to watch the annual auction that is held to raise money for next year's reunion. 

 

My dad did a superb job at being the auctioneer. 

 

I love reunions and the chance we get to share talents, build relationships and eat yummy food.

It was a beautiful day for it all.

 

I ended the day with a 5 mile walk/run.

It feels great to exercise!!!

Zucchini

What do you do when you have TONS of zucchini with kids who don't really like it raw or cooked?

You make zucchinie bread and zucchini cookies.

I know, zucchini cookies???

That sounds gross.

But all of my kids really liked them.

Who wouldn't when there's 3 cups of sugar and white milk chips in them.

I spent all morning in the kitchen.

We were glad to leave this afternoon for Aunt Susan's house.

Now that we are so much closer to family, it's fun to come and visit them.

 

Have any of you heard of TrueHope or Empower Plus?

I will be spending some time researching Autism and Asperger's Syndrome.

Also, I'm looking into Borderline Personality and Bypolar.

Happy Helpers

With awesome help from these 6 children, I was able to bring in boxes from the garage, unpack and break down the boxes.

They worked so well and we accomplished a lot.

They enjoyed being able to FINALLY eat lunch at the counter.

It's taken me all week to get it cleaned off with all the boxes and things to unpack and put away.

 

We went back to the County Fair this afternoon to see the animals.

But the kids just wanted to ride more rides.

 

Joyanne made a delicious dinner of homemade Fetticini.

It was scrumptious.

 

I miss my Prince Charming!

It's lonely to be in a new place with 6 kids.

I can't wait until Sunday Evening when I get to see him again.

Tremonton County Fair

The Tremonton Parade turned out better than we expected.

There were lots of floats and LOTS of candy.

Yay for the pioneers!

 

The kids were so excited and anxious to ride the rides.

Every ride was only 1 ticket.

 

Joyanne, Noah and Hiram sure loved the Fireball. 

 

We had to ride the Carousel for Grant.

It's his favorite! 

 

Storm clouds gathered in and nearly rained us out. 

 

But we stuck through the rain and waited.

While we waited for the rain to stop we ate our snacks.

Joyanne and Noah were so excited to be able to ride the Spin Top before we left. 

 

We sure miss Daddy, who's back in Vernal working.

We had fun enjoying the biggest event of the year in Tremonton.



Raking A Lot

There's so much to do to get a new home up and running.

The kids were great in getting chores done today.

Our home looked a bit better.

I made one more shopping trip into Brigham City and finally got a washing machine pan so I could finally do some much needed laundry.

 

The kids finished raking the backyard.

I can't wait to mow it and get this dead grass some water!

So they earned a movie ("Tarzan") and popcorn with M&M's.

What a treat!

It was nice and relaxing for me too.



Getting It All Done

Today I was wishing there was more than one of me.

With a garage full of boxes, a house littered with boxes and stuff, and a yard in need of dire attention, I struggled to get it all done.

I took a deep breath and dug in.

Not one box got unpacked, but the front yard got raked with help from all the kids.

Instead of unpacking, we got the kids registered for school, visited the library and did some shopping.

Days like this make snuggling down in bed luxurious. :)

First Sunday

We went to church in our new ward.

Everyone was so friendly.

As I exited church, I literally got stopped by everyone I saw as they introduced themselves.

We loved having Wanita, Marissa and Jasmine visit us in our new home.
They were able to experience our 2nd night in the house with us.

 

Our entertainment for the day was hiding and playing in the empty boxes.

 

Finding the board games and card games was fun too.

Unpacking is so much easier and fun than packing.

Every time we open a box, it's like Christmas or a Birthday with a present inside. :)

Kitchen Done

I woke up this morning and dug through the over 20 boxes and bins of kitchen supplies.

I put away food, dishes, and cleaners.

It took me all morning and a bit into the afternoon, but I made it.

My poor kids were bored after a couple of hours, but they hung in there while I worked.

 

The nice thing about renting is we found a few things that need fixing and work, but we don't have to pay for it.

The bad thing is we have to wait until someone does come and fix it.

 

We like our home.

The neighbors are nice and before we had even opened the U-Haul truck, we had neighbors introducing themselves and asking how they could help.

With a teenage boy, a young father, and an elder gentleman and his wife we unloaded the U-Haul 20 foot truck, a 6 foot trailer, a 13 foot trailer and the back of the truck in just over 2 hours.

They even rounded up a piano dolly to get our 1911 piano safely into the house.

 

Daddy-O returned to our Vernal home and picked up the remainder of our stuff.

He was on the road for about 9 hours.

He unloaded the trailer and truck and then immediately got to work on beds, setting up TV's, and helping where things needed to get done.

 

Tonight our next door neighbors helped us return the U-Haul and showed us around town a bit.

My sister-in-law and her 2 kids showed up to help out.

My kitchen was in such decent order that I made a Spaghetti dinner.

Quite an adventure to try to seek out the bed sheets, towels, toothbrushes and other things we need to survive and live. :)



We Made It!

We made it to Tremonton.

The trailer I was pulling got a flat tire on it, but prayers made it all work out.

 

I'll update tomorrow.

I'm so exhausted tonight.

Moving is hard work.