A trip to the audiologist

Taylor had her annual hearing test on Friday. Good news! No changes in her hearing :) Of course, to ask her, she would say it is bad news, she thinks she can hear just fine. The rest of us have some other ideas about her ability to hear. Especially when she is told to clean her room or put away her clothes. She can however, hear the sound of candy being unwrapped from the other side of the house!

This check up consisted of her going into the sound-proof room with the earphones on to listen for the sounds. She got to push a great big button to signal that she heard the sound. Wow! You would have thought it was the button for the space shuttle launch, she was so excited. Her new hearing aids are pretty cool since they don't fill so much of her ear anymore.

We have been waiting a few weeks for one of the aids since a certain little white dog chewed up the last one... Bad Dog, No Biscuit! It was especially irritating because it had just been replaced a couple of months ago after the old ones had worn out. I wouldn't mind so much except that they have to be sent to Switzerland for repair/replacement, then shipped back, reprogrammed at the office, and finally I have to make an appointment to come in and have them fitted. It can take weeks. Not to mention, they are REALLY expensive. Thousands of dollars expensive. Fortunately, our insurance covered them originally. I thought we would have to pay to replace them when they wore out, but the hearing aid company replaced them at a small (few hundred) dollar fee. So far the insurance has not returned that bill. I figured the severely mangled, chewed up, drooled on pile of plastic that I returned would be charged at full price but the hearing aid company charged an "abuse fee" of $125. Shocker! I am going to see if the insurance will pay that one.

A little funny note: I was talking to someone about how much the hearing aids cost and the fact that they had to go to Switzerland to get repaired. I said that they must be made out of some kind of "clear gold" to cost so much. Taylor later told everyone that her new hearing aids were made out of "PURE GOLD"! She was a little disappointed to see they were still clear plastic :)

Taylor wanted me to put up better pictures of her flower and butterfly projects because her hair was all "weird" in the curlers. So here they are:

Spring?

I guess mother nature was just teasing us with the nice warm weather last week! It has been snowy and blowy and cold! What happened to the 70's? My tulips were poking up out of the ground, now they are buried in snow.... We have tried to not let this cold snap dampen our enthusiasm for spring. The girls and I made garden decorations for when we get to start planting. They were so excited to paint! Taylor did hers all by her self, no help wanted, thank you. Kaylee did most of hers with a little finishing touches my me. Hopefully, we will get them "planted" soon.

Grand Lake Snowmobile Trip

Here are pictures from Chris' snowmobile trip to beautiful Grand Lake, Colorado.
The pictures really don't do the area justice!

Click HERE for more pictures on Hale's blog.

Although it was gorgeous, and a ton of fun to be in such big country, Chris is really grateful to live where he can be on the hill and having a good time in less than an hour from load to playtime! In Colorado, it takes several hours to get to the hill, then a WHILE to trail ride into where the real sledding starts. We are blessed!

What a weekend!

This weekend Chris went snowmobiling in Colorado with some of his brothers and a few of his friends. The area they were in is just beautiful! They stayed at our long-time friend's family cabin in Grand Lake. Thank you, Sam and Roger! Sadly, Chris did not take a single picture himself while there, so I will post some as soon as I am able to get a hold of some ;) In the meantime, here is a snapshot I took the last time we were out that way.




While Chris was away, the girls and I visited the dentist. I am not sure how Chris managed to weasel his way out of going with us to go spend time on the mountain.... But good news all around, no cavities and an A+ for good tooth care, YEAH! I really hate having to hold my girls down for dental work, usually it involves complete anesthesia for Kaylee to have anything done : )



We all left with goodie bags of new toothbrushes, floss, a little tube of tooth paste and tokens to use in the toy dispenser! He is the best dentist, too. Very gentle and just downright friendly. His hygienists are excellent and very thorough, my girls actually love going and getting their teeth "brushed with the tickley thing".


Kiera finally graduated from the PetsMart puppy class that we have been attending. Actually, we had to restart the class from missing too many of them so I am surprised that she passed all of her commands off : ) Sometimes she can be such a stinker about doing what I TELL her to do instead of what she THINKS she should do!


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On Friday, we went to the season final hockey game. At one of the period breaks, the peewee team that Josh plays on scrimmaged. They were SO CUTE out on the ice! Josh even hit the puck a few times. He is a pretty good skater and one of the biggest kids on the team since he is one of the oldest kids :)




During the other break, a group of new Army recruits took their oath to stand for the country and behind our president. It was heart warming to see so many YOUNG! kids willing to risk their lives for our freedom. Especially during a war. I think everyone in the stands was touched when they all saluted at the end. They got the standing ovation they deserved!







Taylor was having so much fun, chatting and yelling along with the crowd, then just Zonk, she was out! She is an angel when she is asleep!



What a weekend! As much fun as all that was, I am looking forward to resting a little with good, old work.

Morgan the Intern!

Morgan came this week to visit and do an internship at the vet hospital this last week. It was so much fun working up cases together and reminiscing about old times. I loved having my "little" shadow ;) I can't believe she is in her third year already.

The Day the Earthquake Hit

Kaylee's 2nd grade class wrote and performed this original opera. The plot is there is a terrible earthquake where all the jars in the science class get mixed up causing all sorts of weird weather. It rains real cats and dogs, food (including hot dogs and bacon), and treats. They try to fix things up by filling up the cracks in the earth with pop-corn. They work together to solve the problem with a magic potion. It was hilarious and really, very well performed. They have been working on it all year.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Kiera's First Show

A couple of weeks ago I took Kiera to Scottsdale, AZ for her first dog show. It was so beautiful and warm there. 80 plus degrees... I even got a sunburn! Wearing black may have been unwise, but boy does she look white against it. The things I suffer through for her :)

Kiera thought she was queen of the world, pranced around the ring and even made some top handlers turn their heads :) Watch out! Here she comes!







Here is the video link for Kiera's first show on the Ikon Kennels blog.
She did great! I think she had a ton of fun with all the big dogs.

Tools of the Trade Career Fair

Today I was invited to the annual career fair at the middle school. This is an opportunity to show off the equipment that each career would use on a regular basis. I love going to schools and showing kids what I get to do each day! They are always so excited to get to touch and a see all the interesting things a veterinarian gets to work with. There are lots of ohs and ahs, some wows and usually a few yucks! They are such characters at this age, and it is really nice to get to talk to them and see what they think is cool.

This year we had quite a few careers represented: fashion merchandising, nursing, seamstress, arborist (with a HUGE chain saw), baker, YUM, makeup artist (who has done movies), machinist, meteorologists, the chief of police--he brought a taser! I probably like going around to the different booths as much as the kids do :)

My favorite part is the thank-you gift! A chocolate wrench!

Happy Birthday Everyone!

Lordy, lordy, look who's twenty four again!


We attended a "wake" for our awesome friend Kelley. It was the most fun I have had at an adult birthday party in a long time. Everyone was asked to wear black to mourn the passing of her youth :) We had a eulogy, given by her Dad and many people reminisced about her younger years.

We LOVE you, Kelley!


We also celebrated birthdays for Jason..... who is a little more than 24, and Josh who is now *8*.


Jason is yet another awesome friend of ours that we love and appreciate! He always brings a good time with him wherever he goes. He gets to share a birthday weekend with his son, Josh.
Josh and his friends celebrated by going rollerblading at the indoor park. They had so much fun! Kaylee and Taylor were so exhausted afterwards.

Preparedness

I just got back from an emergency preparedness presentation. We did it as our monthly extended family home evening. My family, and a few friends we consider family, came over for dinner at our house then over to the church where Tim Woolf spoke to us for a couple of hours on being physically prepared for disasters.

He said (and I don't recall who he was quoting) "We have two choices, we can be afraid, or we can be prepared." "Self-sufficiency does not mean being able to drive ourselves to the store."

He really made some excellent points about the ability to care for ourselves and our family in the event of a disaster, particularly earthquakes. We happen to live on a fault line... In fact, Kaylee just performed an opera at her school about what would happen in an earthquake. I'll put that in another post for your entertainment.

I have made some small goals to increase my food storage over the next few months to get to the recommended 1 year supply. First goal is to inventory what I have and go from there.

SuperMom to the Rescue!

I have sewn together many a stuffed animal and many a live animal too :)

I get called a "SuperMom" occasionally, but what is a SuperMom anyway?
I don't consider myself to be mild-mannered housewife! Keeping busy has always been part of who I am, and I like it that way.

This comic in today's paper reminded me of when I was quite young (maybe kindergarten). My cat had been hit and killed in the road in front of our house. However, I was not worried because "My dad can fix it, he can fix anything!" He was a SuperDad to me. I hope my kids can look up to me the same way.

I do my best to keep up with family, church, work and friends. So, here are some peeks into my life-- Enjoy!