Dec.

Alan's home!

Alan got home on Dec. 15th after having served an honorable, 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in the Pocatello, Idaho mission. We are very proud of him and his accomplishment. He has definitely grown up, while still maintaining his "uniqueness". It was mainly just family at the airport, along with Alycia Fike, due to an unexpected change in arrival times. The kids and Vanessa made signs and they were adorable. Surprisingly all of the kids seem to just love him on the spot, especially Phebe. It was surprising given their ages, I only expected Victor and maybe Naomi to actually have a memory of him, the others were too young. Alan had only seen Phebe once, the day she was born, at the hospital on the way to the airport. He is still the zombie obsessed, gamer, Swedish fish loving, pyromaniac we all love.

Christmas was a busy time with all the family. Christmas Eve was celebrated at the in-laws, after a wonderful dinner, and a funny attempt to have the kids act out the Christmas story. Joseph(Mark) pushed one of the shepherds out of the stable, Lyssa had a meltdown and wanted nothing to do with it, Seth wandered around, and Ari stood on the stool as the angel arms spread with a wonderful look at me thing going on. Kira was the only normal one. After the opening of stockings and some excellent gifts( a new scentsy burner, gift cards for Home depot, baby cakes maker,ammo,etc), Ethan and Anthony surprised us with fireworks in the backyard.

Sara and gang are still living with us, so we did Christmas morning with them. I made up a sausage egg casserole the night before so all we had to do was pop it in the oven. Ethan surprised me immensely this year with getting us all fishing poles and camping gear. He went all out with a new tent, dishes, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, etc. We had been talking about doing a fishing trip up to Erie for Father's Day and doing the Palmyra pageant in July and doing camping for all of it. But we have no camping gear whatsoever. I am really psyched to use it this summer. He also promised a getaway weekend just for the two of us. I not sure when that will happen with the baby due in May. We are hoping for a dry weekend in April and will probably just go to Moraine. Ethan had gotten his present back on Black Friday, with a gun store having a sale. The kids got miscellaneous toys and such from us. Overall, I thought Christmas went off without a hitch and am very pleased with the results.

We got ready for church and went. That was a bit of a disaster for the kids. It was only 1 hour Sacrament, but Lyssa started it off by scratching a scab on her face which wouldn't stop bleeding, so Ethan took her out, and Mark wouldn't and I mean wouldn't stop talking. Had I had duct tape, it would have been used.

After saying goodbyes to people we headed over to my Mom's house and proceeded with my family's Christmas. First we made up Chinese food, Nessa did Shrimp fried rice, I did Sweet and Sour Chicken, and I don't know who did the egg drop soup, but it was delicious and I hope this becomes a tradition for us. Mom and Aunt Shiela had been sewing up a storm for all the grand kids. All the boys got new sleeping bags, which have hippos on them, I will post pictures later, something that she had made for us kids when we were younger. I don't remember what happened to mine, I probably wore it out. Victor's was a dark blue with a red hippo, Caleb's was Green with a light blue? hippo, and Mark's was red with black and blue hippo with insect prints. They were adorable and a hit with the boys. The girls got quillows, a blanket that folds into a pillow. Lyssa hasn't quite figured out how to fold the blanket back up, but she still loves hers. Ethan got a framed picture of The Signs of the Times of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It is his favorite picture of Christ and we have been on the hunt for one for our home. It is the same picture as the mural in the Washington D.C. Temple after you have walked through the Annex. I received another storage bin and a promise for a maternity clothes shopping trip from Mom. Nessa and Ethan gave us a cast iron frying pan, something I had been wanting.

Christmas still was going, after we left Mom's as we headed back to the Fike's for dinner with Gma and Gpa Fike. We hadn't gone to their house the previous night so they brought gifts down with them. Lyssa got a new doll, the boys got Steeler apparel, which they have worn today for the game, and I received a more cooking gear, stuff that I could use for camping. We had a great time visiting everyone and celebrating, but by this time the kids had had it, and were being extremely cranky, so we went home and went to bed.

Other news for this week was an ultrasound of the baby. I love getting ultrasounds, it just cool being able to see the baby. It is a boy this time! I was very surprised by that announcement. This pregnancy mimicked Lyssa's not Mark's, and I had always thought I would end up with one boy, two girls. Do not think that I am disappointed, I am actually very excited. I don't think I could handle two girls being as girly as Lyssa is. However, the main reason I chose to find out the sex of the baby was because it was a boy, I need to go shopping for the boy stuff. I had given most of the younger stuff away to Aubby for Seth, and gave most of the older stuff away just last August, while cleaning out the attic. I also purposely got some very specific pictures so Ethan could guess the result when I got home. Every one's reaction has been funny to watch when they realize it is a boy. The only person who really guessed it was a boy, was Alan. He did an "I told you so" dance in response. Baby boy is doing well and everything looks pretty good. Now we just need to come up with a name. We had a girl's name picked out, Emily, but agreeing upon Mark's name last time was pulling teeth for us. Who knows what will happen this time. I really don't like going through baby name books because they have way too many names to go through. Baby Boy is due May 19.

I am currently in my ninth week of pregnancy. This was planned and expected. We wanted to wait until Lyssa had her 2nd birthday, which was in Sept. and the test came back positive the following Monday. Very excited about a new addition, pretty sure it will be a girl. The same symptoms with Lyssa's pregnancy are happening with this one. Sensitivities to dairy products, but overall very little issues in the way of morning sickness. Some nausea, but I have yet to have to puke. Anyone that knows me, is well aware that puking is something I avoid like the plague. The only thing that ever succeeds is the flu.

According to the internet, I am due May 19th. Anyone reading this and who writes to Alan, please do not inform him. It would be a nice welcome home surprise.

Since Mark, I have been able to figure out that I was pregnant pretty much the second a person can. Because of that, I found out while I was only 4 weeks along, and that is just way too to be announcing to anyone really besides Ethan. Over the next 5 weeks, we told a few family members, but had every intention of keeping quiet until about 12 weeks.

Then came Ethan's cousin's wedding. After going through with Amber's Endowment we were waiting in the hall for everyone else and Ethan was talking to Grandma and a bunch of others family members, about some cousin that was finally able to get pregnant after 13 years of marriage and pregnancy issues. Ethan, not thinking, blurts out," We just celebrated our 5th year last week and have 2 and a 3rd on the way." Grandma was surprise says,"Oh, you haven't announce that yet.", to which I said," You're right, I hadn't." With a glare to him, that everyone else just laughed at. At that point, it was just to complicated thinking about who knew, who didn't. We are excited, and I can't wait to have a spring baby.

More details later, but for now, I am announcing my third pregnancy. I will be due in May.

8 years

It has been 8 years today since my Dad passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack. I was 17 years old and at what should have been my last Youth Conference.

There were about 7 of us girls, Kate and Patti, two of my closest friends at the Cloud's cabin for the night. I woke up later than intended that morning and was surprise that S. Cloud hadn't woken me up earlier. She knew my preference to being one of the first awake. After I stirring, I was told to shower quickly because there was a family emergency, and Dad was at the hospital. That was the fastest shower I have ever taken, I swear it took 30 sec. Knowing Dad's physical health, I had already surmised that he had had a heart attack. No one had told me. Everyone else in the Cabin already knew and weren't making eye contact with me. I didn't notice it at the time. S. Cloud still needed to get something together before she could take me to the hospital, so Kate, Patti, and I were waiting outside by the car. I was bawling my eyes out. S. Cloud came out and asked me why I was crying, and in hindsight, I realize she thought that Kate and Patti had told me. I told S. Cloud," Dad has had a heart attack and I don't know how bad it is." She just stood there for a minute before finally telling me that he had passed away. I lost it.

After they loaded up the car, I asked to go to camp, where I had been working all summer. There were some dear friends I had made there and I had this compulsion to go there before going to hospital. Luckily for me the camp was only a couple miles away. S. Cloud obliged me and with Kate and Patti in the car with me, we drove to camp. I ran in and told my roommate, Michelle what had happen and then ran to the guy's campsite and told them. And I mean I ran, Kate and Patti chased me down, since they didn't know where I was going. S. Cloud called Mom at the time and was told that they were about ready to leave the hospital so it would be better to just bring me home.

We got home and Vanessa and Alan were there. Roger, also at Youth Conference, they had had a hard time finding which house he was at, I think he had switched which home he was supposed to have been at. He showed up an hour later. We found out more details as to what had happened. Dad had always had chronic insomnia, and Mom woke up to him coming back to bed around 5 ish. She asked if he was feeling better, he said yes, got back into bed, then proceeded to roll out of bed about 30 seconds later. It was instant. Mom called 911 and started doing CPR, but it was already too late. Alan was the only other person at home. He was 13. Vanessa was already married and out of the house.

A lot of things happened that day, a lot I don't remember, so I won't forget. Vanessa and I went with Mom to the cemetary to pick a plot. I remember S. Manley came with us and told us afterwards that the funeral director was good looking. He was. We also all got in the car to drive to Pap's house because Mom knew he wouldn't be able to handle the news over the phone. Ethan, Vanessa's husband drove us there. Once we got there, I think he knew something was up, but didn't know what was going on. To this day, watching Mom tell Pap that his only son had died that morning was the hardest thing I have ever dealt with. Pap isn't a member of the Church, so he didn't have the knowledge of life after death and that families can be together forever. He just kept saying," I going to 90 this year, why him? He wasn't suppose to go before me.". It was excruciating to watch. Mom called Aunt Grace, Dad's sister while we were still there and told her.

We went back home and frankly I was exhausted. I was tired of being at home around everything. S. Cloud was going to take Kate and Patti back to Y. Conference in time for the dance. Roger and I decided we needed the distraction, so we went. It was what we needed. I went to the testimony meeting they had the next day as well. On the way home, S. Cloud and I were discussing a bunch of different thing and Roger's birthday came up. His birthday was in three days and he was turning 16. We had the Funeral viewing scheduled that day. S. Cloud had been in this situation herself. Her older brother had died just before her 16th?(not a 100% sure) birthday, and they rescheduled the funeral so it wasn't on her birthday. We decided to throw him a surprise birthday party. It wasn't fair that his birthday should ignored. We called two of his friends, found a place, and let them contact everyone else.

I don't remember who came with me to church that Sunday, I do remember only staying for Sacrament. Monday was a blur getting ready for everything and family coming in. Tuesday was the two different viewings. Most of my co-workers from camp came. They were surprised at how much fun a "Mormon" funeral can be. They felt bad for laughing, but it amused me. That night, Ethan and Vanessa grabbed Roger and told him we were going to take him out to get some ice cream for his birthday. We drove over to where the party was, which isn't near any ice cream place in town, and when Roger saw his friends out on the lawn, he was asking what they were doing here. He was pleasantly surprised and we all had a break from a very long depressing day.


By the way, standing in the receiving line SUCKS. I refused to do it Wednesday morning at the viewing right before the funeral. I ended up standing off to the side with friends and family, near the line, but not where I was expected to hug everyone else. I don't remember much about the funeral except that much to Mom's chagrin, and old neighbor sang," Amazing Grace", a song that Mom hates because everyone sings it too slow. The neighbor did a decent job, it just didn't seem to fit into everything else. There were mentioning of things that Dad did with us, like he loved amusement parks and we went to one every year, he would take one of us out eat for breakfast every Saturday morning, stuff like that.

There was a luncheon afterwards, and Mom grabbed us kids and we went to the cemetary for the burial. It was just a few of us. There was going to be a bigger gathering after the luncheon, but this was just for us. Mom and Dad had had a 5th child, a little girl, named Natalie that had died at birth (this was not a surprising death), and as per agreement with the cemetary, her grave had been moved over to Dad's. We could see her coffin being buried with Dad's. After we said our good-byes we went back to the luncheon. The guys I worked with at Camp were chowing down the food, amazed at how much there was and how good it was. They provided some much comedic relief for us.

We had a close friends and family gather go back to the cemetary afterwards. There was prayer said, but I don't recall any of it.

Dad was very much a plain vanilla guy, who loved the scouting program. That is actually what introduced him to the church. He was drafted into the army during Vietnam and was serving at a supply unit in Germany where he helped out with a Scouting troop there where he met some members. He joined over there. He loved Roller Coasters, couldn't sit still to save his life. Our books and movies would be cataloged on his days off. He like to surprise treat us to ice cream occasionally and was the Bishop of our ward for 7 years.

I miss him.

So the computer decided that it need to go kaput last month. We thought it was the processor, so Ethan finds a new one and orders it. It comes and Ethan installs it. It wouldn't go through. Then he started to think, maybe it is the mother board. The new processor was more powerful, so maybe the old mother board can't handle it. Ordered new mother board. Nope, now he is onto the power supply. After checking finances, we decided to hold off before we go blowing $150 on a new power supply. Yes, we know there are cheaper ones, but when it comes to the computer, it is Ethan's baby, so I let him choose. Plus he has been pulling 2 suicide weeks in a row. (Suicide week is when he works 8am-9pm for 5 days straight.) It kind of stinks that he is gone that much, I mean last week instead of making the hour trip to and from, he just stayed at Gma's house which is 20 minutes away. This week he is getting rides with other people so I could actually have the car.

Ever have a doctor that you really like, he is excellent at his job, and you would recommend him to anyone? Dr. Yost, an ENT in Butler is that way. The only downside to him is a lot of other people feel the same way. That means setting up appts. can mean months of waiting to get into him. Well after having a physical for the first time since high school that wasn't pregnancy related, I was "officially" referred to him. I had been asking to get tubes put in after my ear drums ruptured multiple time this last winter. Once the physical was over, I immediately called and as luck would have it, they had just had a cancellation and an opening available within the next week. YEAH! I went into see him yesterday and have it all set up. Dr. Yost also wanted to run some other test to see why I was have so many sinus issues, which were leading to the ear infections. It is nice to have a doctor who actually was trying to find out the root cause of the problem instead of just giving me something to deal with the symptoms.

We have finally finished, with the exception of baseboards, the remodel on our computer/front room, kitchen, and dining room. Blogger isn't being nice and letting me upload pictures right now, so some other day. The front room was originally, pretty much a man cave. Wood paneling, drop ceiling, awful light fixtures, and I think it was a blue and green carpet. Carpet came out, as well as the light fixtures and drop ceiling. The room had been a porch that had been enclosed so one of the walls was this decorative rock wall that was torn down. Put up drywall over all of it. Carpet was replaced with a rubberized flooring called Allure, and is a rosewood ebony color (really dark). The ceiling was drywalled too, painted white and given three different light fixtures that are adjustable for the library part of the room. We painted it sky blue and I love how it has turned out. Dining room was simply repainted. Kids had brought a permanent marker and it needed to be repainted anyways so we went with a really light pink. I am not in love with the result, but it looks better than the way it did. The kitchen also got new flooring, a white marble look and the walls painted a dark foresty/emerald green. I am not a huge fan of dark colored rooms but there are only three walls and very few spaces where there isn't a cupboard, counter, appliances, or doors.

After serious consideration, we also got another puppy. Same breed, just female this time. Named her Night Shade, I call her Shady most of the time. Her coloring is a lot darker than Titan's and she chews more than he did. The only shoes that have been safe are my sunday shoes and Ethan's canvas ones. She doesn't like the canvas and my sunday shoes are put up. Lost 4 pairs of mine, 2 of Lyssa's and 1 of Mark's. Shady is all alpha, but she loves Titan, and they get along great. The timing of her was because Ethan and I want to have another baby, and I don't want to deal with young puppy until next baby is at least a year old. So it came down to wait two years or get her now. We choose now, and I love it. Titan has a much better playmate than my lightweight children who get knocked over as easily as a blow up punching bag.

Mark and Lyssa are doing well and are learning to talk better and better everyday. Lyssa is showing a devious streak. We have been working on Mark's potty training, and as long as he is naked, he does wonderfully. I am trying something new to get him to train with his clothes on, by having him teach Lyssa how to use the potty. I'll let you know how it goes.

With the warm weather comes the beginning of Garage/Yard/Moving Sales. After becoming a serious sale-er 3 years ago, there are some common courtesies or realizations that need to be made.

• Don't have a sale expecting to make back what you spent. I don't go to a sale to help you make money, I go to save me money that I would have had otherwise spent at the store. Have a sale to get rid of things, and if you make money in the process, congrats!


• Unless they are kid clothes, clothes don't sell well. Even with kid clothes, they need to be stain-free and in good condition. $ .50 an item is a reasonable price. Coats, up to $5. Church clothes, such as really nice dresses, or suits, no more than $5. I am still talking kid clothing. There are a few exceptions. I have gotten a bag of 3t jeans that had holes in the knees for free. They are perfect for play clothes.


• I don't care how much you were dumb enough to spend on name brand clothes, I am not paying the same price. Would I be shopping at yard sales, if I were?


• Don't try to sell intimate apparel or swimwear.


• Shoes are iffy.


• Books should be never be more than $.50 for a paperback or $1 for a hardback. Harlequin romance books, $ .10


• DVDs really shouldn't be more than $3. VHS, a quarter. Cds $2.


• Don't bother trying to sell broken electronics. Make sure that you have an outlet available for people to test it out on.


• Signs for sale should be up at least 4ft, and brightly colored with house number and times. Balloons are great. Do not put them up before the sale, then get mad at people who show up because they saw a sign. When the sale is over, remove sign immediately.


• If selling furniture, please be reasonable. If it is made of particle board, no more than $10, and only if it is in good condition. Preferably less.


• Filing cabinets, if they are rusty, throw them away.


• Glassware, or fragile items should be up a little higher, people can't always avoid bringing their children.


• If you are a smoker, don't be upset or disappointed if people don't buy because it smells.


• If you have an item that you intend on asking a large amount of money for (newer treadmills, generators, riding lawn mowers, etc.), let people know ahead of time in the ad, or list it on Craiglist. I had a guy trying to sell a treadmill for $800. No one carries that much money around.


• You would be better off to just put valuable things on Craiglist.


• Be willing to negoiate.


• Talk to your neighbors a couple of days before the sale and let them know. This will give them time to set up a sale themselves or put up parking barriers for their yard. The more houses having sales, the bigger the crowd you have.


• If you are in a neighborhood that does an annual sale, don't decide that day to have your son clean out the garage. It is awkward and embarrassing to walk to someone's house that isn't actually having a sale.


• Have plenty of cash for change.


• If someone comes and sees something that is out of their cash range, don't accept check, tell them you will hold onto the item long enough for them to run to the nearest ATM.


• If early birds really annoy you, set the time an hour later than you would really like to start.


• Don't tell me it is a huge sale, if it can fit onto 4 or less tables.


• Be prepared for weather conditions.


• If you have a pet, put it inside, or out of reach of people.


• Selling donuts, baked goods, and drinks are wonderful ideas. Put up a sign if whatever the item is, if it has nuts.

My brother went to school for sound engineering. ( And learned some other stuff on the way.) On a whim he and his friends decided to put together some videos to put in a competition for Jones Soda's new energy drink. It would be a nice resume builder to come in 15th or so in a national competition. They put in two entries. They won 2nd and 4th. He is very excited. He also won a bonus award called the "Darth Bader Award." (Ryan Bader is a MMA fighter- mixed martial arts. Apparently he likes to just pick his favorite video and give them his own award.) Since Bader liked my brothers commercial so much, he will pay for Roger to go to Texas to attend the South by Southwest Festival. No, that doesn't mean much to me, just that my brother is awesome and won a free trip. Here is the clip that got 2nd prize.

http://zooppa.com/ads/whoopass/videos/insta-beard

He is the one that actually grows the beard.
You can go to http://zooppa.com/contests/whoopass#/awards if you want to see his 4th place one, also very entertaining, or any of the other entries. Go Roger!!!!!


On a side note, my sister actually wrote this, and I just copied it.