WEEK of July 9, 2012

Wow, another week has flown by.  Yesterday was super fun and pure bedlam with the grandkids.  The food was great and the company was even better!  I think we were all exhausted when all was said and done.

Great Aunt Margaret with baby Vona

Bryn

Daddy Russ and Jackson playing computer with Berniece looking on

Emmett playing with his shoes

Auntie Bea with baby Vona

Berniece is never far as she watches over 'her' baby!

Uncle Ivan taking a turn holding baby Vona

The apple of Daddy's eye!

                                                                  Cousin play time! Then yesterday evening Briana took me to the Curtain Club to watch Justin, Vicki and Rob's show with their band Rude King. This morning I met Margaret at her ward for Relief Society.  She was teaching the lesson and she did an outstanding job.  She had to combine two lessons into one, a daunting task!  Her lesson was wonderful.  It was about missionary work.  She shared the experience of the youth this past Wednesday with their tracting 'Prepare the Way' experience and had the ward missionaries come talk about the results and what we can do to help in the missionary effort.  The youth's results were tremendous and the missionaries indicated that in that one hour or so that the youth went door to door they had more referrals to work with than if they'd been tracting themselves door to door for about 3 months!  I think this would be a wonderful program for our youth, so Margaret shared her information with me and the names and phone numbers of their full time missionaries so that our ward can contact them if we decided to do it. I went home to Johnson's for about an hour and then returned to the church for Sacrament meeting. When I got home to Ashley's Bethany was here visiting.  It was sure nice to see her again and to have the chance to visit.  Tomorrow I'll be out house hunting with Erin's realtor Avril Anderson and Margaret and Bethany will be joining me. Baby Vona has a follow up appointment at the doctor tomorrow afternoon.  I'm sure enjoying having the opportunity to help with another sweet grandbaby! SATURDAY - JULY 14, 2012 It should be a fun family day today.  Pascual's and Chatwin's are coming over to the Rush's for lunch and games.

 Then we may all head over to Pascual's to go swimming.  I forgot to bring my swimsuit with me so Ashley and I went to Walmart last night and I bought one and she bought new swim shorts.  It's about time I bought a new one anyway as I've probably had my previous one for 10 years at least and it was getting pretty threadbare! I'm making Darvin's cousin Rohn's Pistolette recipe with baked potatoes and a Dirty Rice recipe we had found on the internet when Lance and his family visited.  Briana's bringing chicken nuggets or something like that for the kiddos and Erin's bringing something for dessert. FRIDAY - JULY 13, 2012 Today I am reminded that each day of our life is a gift from God.  One of our high school friends, Matt Clonts was diagnosed with cancer last year.  His wife has been keeping a blog of their experiences and today as I checked her updates Matt is 'stable' no progression and no regression of the cancer.  She noted in her blog that they still have the normal family stuff, sibling fighting, cranky Mom when the house is dirty, etc, but that this cancer journey that they've been placed on has helped them all to realize that each day together is a precious gift from God.  I need to remember that WITHOUT having to have someone in the family with a life threatening illness!

I got Vona 'duty' this morning.  Ashley's taking a nap and Justin went with Rob to the hardware store to get some supplies to work on the van that their band will be taking on tour.  Justin fed Vona this morning and then let me burp her.  She was wiggly like she was trying to keep herself awake, so I finally wrapped her up in her baby burrito swaddle and she went to sleep.  She's been wiggling around the last few minutes like she's trying to wake up.  She was fed 2 1/2 hours ago, so it's about time for her next feeding.  They've been trying to get her to go 3 hours between feedings in anticipation of her night time sleep training which will start when she reaches 9 pounds. THURSDAY - JULY 12, 2012

Baby Houdini works her way out of her Swaddle Me!

Hey, can a I get a little privacy here, I'm trying to take a bath!

Somebody likes her baths!

Aw, so refreshing!

I made it safely to Dallas yesterday evening.  Ashley, Justin and Vona picked me up from the airport.  What a sweet little peanut!  She has a lot of her Mommy's newborn mannerisms.  I can hear Great Grandma Clement saying, "Why is that baby so serious, what could she be thinking about?"  Vona's a little scowler!  But she has already cracked a smile or two for her Nana!  She's got 3 dimples!  On either cheek and on her chin!

Mommy Ashley with baby Vona

Daddy Justin feeding baby Vona

Big 'sister' Berniece always watching out for Vona

Nana gets some Vona time!

Disaster averted this evening.  Alex had been looking forward to seeing Nana all day long.  We didn't get over earlier enough in the afternoon so he had a big meltdown when Briana put him down for a nap late in the afternoon. She texted me when he woke up this evening and I went over and we played.  He's developed quite the imagination.  He had me set up the tent with the connecting tunnel.

Come on Nana let's play!

 And he drove me around in monster trucks and planes and trains and Nana's race car and Pops's monster truck, etc!  He was thoroughly delighted when I left the tent by squeezing through the tunnel after him!  We played and played and played and he was very happy to have Nana's undivided attention.  We put jewels on his king's crown from Burger King and he told me all about Monster Jam and the Wiggles and.....!!!  Finally read him half a dozen books, sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star a couple of times and got him in to bed for the night! WEDNESDAY - JULY 11, 2012 I had a very enjoyable afternoon at the Pacific Science Center yesterday afternoon with Aidan, Lance and Donna.  In true Aidan style, the boy refused to take a nap before I arrived, so he was exhausted by the time we got to the Science Center.  He was still a trooper.  He enjoyed the 'petting' tide pool

and the 'wet floor' sign in the Butterfly house,

Aidan, the newest Pacific Science Center Butterfly House employee!

Beautiful butterflies AND flowers in the Butterfly House

but his favorite part of the museum was the kids play area!

Silly boy. We then headed to meet Mike, Erin and Hadley at Red Robin in Southcenter.  Unfortunately my stupid TomTom GPS took us on a detour north on the I-5 Expressway instead of south on I-5...in rush hour traffic...Thankfully Lance saw that south Hwy 99 was moving along parallel to the stop and go traffic on I-5 so we backtracked via 99.  We finally arrived close to an hour late.  They'd ordered a kids meal for Hadley in the mean time, which she refused to eat until we arrived.  As soon as we got there she started munching away.  What a little doll!  She had 3 chicken pieces on skewers and a cup of broccoli with ranch dressing.  She ate one of the pieces of chicken and proceeded to share the other two with Aidan!  She was a great diversion for Mr. Sleepyhead!  When Aidan's dinner of mac n cheese and broccoli arrived he devoured THAT too!  AND Donna and Lance had been feeding him snacks on the way to dinner.  That boy can put down his groceries!  I'll sure miss the little guy! Mike was kind enough to be our taxi service.  He followed us to the hotel, helped us unpack and then followed me to Darvin's cousin Candace Boelter's house where I parked the car for my 3 weeks away.  Then we headed to Mike's to get Molly and they took me back to the hotel.  It was a very enjoyable evening all the way around.  I felt bad though because we kept Mike up so late, he was working at 4 a.m. today!  Was so good to see him again and catch up on visiting.

I extended invitations to Mike and Erin to come visit Yakima with Hadley once I get back.  I think Hadley and Alex would get along marvelously! Got my Biggest Loser DVD workout in late last night.  I'm going to try to be creative today and walk the airport in Denver during my 1 1/2 hour layover so I don't need to worry about 45 minutes of exercise when I arrive tonight in Dallas.  If I didn't have carry on bags I'd jog the airport!  But I guess walking will have to do!

TUESDAY - JULY 10, 2012
May the travels begin...again!  Today I'll head to Seattle after I take Grandpa Clement to his doctor's appointment.  I got all of the cherries dehydrated yesterday.  The Rainiers were ready to come off the dehydrator this morning.  The Bings are still a little too moist.  Hopefully they'll be ready before I have to leave.  I feel a little sad that I dehydrated all of them since we hope to be moved to Texas by this time next year I won't have access to .50/pound u-pick cherries!  I had some people mention that they freeze theirs so I put a couple of pitted Bings in the freezer.  Darvin and I tried them this morning and they were quite tasty.  If I had a little more time, I'd go out and pick some more as Darvin said he'd pit them and freeze them.  But since I don't, if he really wanted to give me a nice surprise he would go out and pick them, pit them and freeze them!  Time to get on with my day!

 I arrived and Lance and Donna's hotel about 2:15 p.m.  Lance and Aidan could see me from their window when I drove up.  Aidan was pretty excited to see me and the feeling was mutual.  We waved back and forth at each other!  When I came around to their hotel room the first thing out of his mouth was "bee-kee".  He wanted me to get out my cell phone so he could look at the picture of his beloved cousin baby Brooklyn.  Cutest thing EVER!!

MONDAY - JULY 9, 2012
Today didn't start out so well for me!  I took Abby out running with me this morning (upon Darvin's suggestion), when we arrived home hot and sweaty (temperatures have been reaching the high 90's to 100's) Darvin had locked us out and went to work.  Previously it would have been no big deal because we had a key hid in the back garage.  After we had a theft in the garage recently we got a lock for the garage door and Darvin removed the hidden key.  So I went to our neighbors and borrowed Laurie Matthew's cell phone.  I tried to get ahold of Christie Afualo first because they have a key to the house and live nearby.  No answer, I left a message in the hopes that she was in the shower or something and would see the message soon.  Then I tried to remember Darvin's cell phone number to ask him to come let us in.  Now, I am the woman that can remember my social security number, Darvin's and parts of the girls, I know Christie's number by heart, but do you think I could come up with Darvin's number?  Not even if my life had depended on it.  I called his old BiMart work number (where he hasn't worked for 6 or 7 years!) somehow I could remember that one!  But Darvin is #2 on my speed dial, who needs more than that, right?!

Well, in frustration I left and of course as I was stepping off the Matthew's porch, Darvin's number came to me.  So I rang the doorbell again and borrowed the phone again, all the time sweating all over poor Laurie's cell phone!  No answer of course!  So I left again, then thought that although Darvin usually can't get a phone call on his cell phone because he works in the basement of the hospital, sometimes a text will get through.  So once again, I ring Laurie's doorbell and ask to borrow her phone (how embarrassing!).

Then Abby and I meandered home where I checked to see if by some slim chance Darvin had left any of the windows open.  No such luck!  Abby got a drink from the dish in the back yard and then we wandered up to the front porch and sat down in the shade.  As I was sitting there it occurred to me that I could be waiting for quite a long time if neither of my messages went through and I had a visiting teaching appointment at Erin Jones' around 10 or 10:30.  I couldn't bring myself to ring Laurie's doorbell one more time, so I walked down to Nic and Clara Rasmussen's.  Clara answered the door and let me in where I looked up the hospital phone number in the phone book and proceeded to borrow HER phone to call.  When the pharmacy answered they indicated that Darvin had just left.

The rest of the day kind of went the same way!  But, when all was said and done I did get a lot done and I'm pretty well packed and ready to head to Seattle tomorrow after I take Darvin's dad to his doctor's appointment.

Ending of the Pascual 'dynasty' at the Clement's!

Each day Pops and I mourn a little more as it gets closer to the time that our little Pascual brothers move to Texas. After all, little Emmett has lived more of his life WITH us than without us! And Alex has melted his Pops' heart. Case in point: It was NOT all right for Abby to dig in the dirt in the backyard where Pops was trying to grow grass, but it WAS all right for Alex to dig in the dirt to make monster truck ramps and tracks in the exact same location where Pops was trying to grow grass! ;^) There are nothing like grandkids to soften our hearts! I remember seeing that in my own Dad. Things that we would have NEVER gotten away with when we were growing up were perfectly FINE if done by his grandchildren!

Some of the Alex-isms that we never want to forget: Pops' "Monster Truck"-the red ford ranger pickup truck, and Nana's "Race Car"-the baby blue Subaru Legacy. Alex's version of mashed potato, "mash-a tomato". Alex telling his Pops: "Open the tongue...more open the tongue" as he opens his mouth so that Pops can spray whipped cream from the can directly into his mouth. Another one: Us: "Alex, what's your name?" Alex: "Alex Pawc-lows" (unfortunately now he actually says Pascual!). And then there's his good friend Enur (better know to the rest of the world as Ernie on Sesame Street). This kid can be obstinate, but fortunately reverse psychology works very well. When you want a hug and a kiss from him sometimes he'll say, "No tank you". But if you REALLY want a hug and kiss when he does that then you have to play the "I DON'T want a hug and a kiss from Alex oh no, nO, No, NO, NO Nana does NOT want a hug and kiss from Alex". Invariably this will make him feel sad until you give him a great big hug and kiss! Crazy boy!! And just so you know that he really is a very good and sweet boy, when I ask him before we eat if we need to say a prayer, he always responds by telling WHO he wants to offer the prayer at that meal. I especially like it when HE wants to give the prayer. He starts off himself and without intervention we get something like this, "Dear Heavenly Father, name of Jesus Christ, AHHH-MEN!" But when we provide assistance he's very willing to bless the food AND his family AND thank Heavenly Father for all the blessings in his life.

Alex has become best friends forever with his good friend Mason Middleton. He and Mason were MEANT to be buddies. These two little guys are two peas in a pod, they both LOVE playing with monster trucks and rough housing and playing in the dirt and sand, etc. I worry how they will both do once they're separated. I worry about Alex, but he'll be blessed to live within about 30 minutes of his cousin Jackson. When we were all together for Pops' surprise birthday party Alex and Jackson had a DANDY time together, so I think Alex will have his cousin as a new buddy. But poor little Mason doesn't have any such replacement. Hopefully we can help him find a new buddy too. And hopefully Alex and Mason can enjoy Skype 'play dates'...

And then there's sweet little Emmett. It's interesting how God blesses us with children with different personalities. I'm absolutely SURE it's so that we'll be willing to have more! Where Alex is full of CRAZY, all boy energy, Emmett is the serious,calm, smiley, laid back little man. He has these huge blue eyes that just light up when he smiles his great big, two tooth smile! He's the one that loves to lay on the love seat snuggling with his Pops. He's happy to enjoy the company of anyone and everyone. Funny how Alex and Mason are buddies, and their little brothers Emmett and Evan are also buddies. It amazes me that babies under a year old can bond with each other and become friends, but there's no doubt in my mind that these two ARE friends. They'll hold hands and eat each other's faces and look at each other, etc. Sweet, sweet little boys...







The following pictures represent some of our fun times with the boys!Nothing like watching youtube Monster Truck races on Pops' Ipod!








He was actually playing some kind of monster truck game in the dog kennel! And no, he's not locked in, he just got mad because I was taking pictures!!














Story time with Nana!














Playing in the snow behind Grandpa Clement's house.

Our Carhart boys!










This kid is without a doubt HILARIOUS!!