Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Isaiah!

Yesterday was Isaiah's 4th birthday. We celebrated with a campfire and birthday cake. I'll blog more about the celebration later, but for now just wanted to post some pictures of Isaiah.

With Isaiah's big, blue, innocent eyes, and his round, apple cheeks, he has always reminded me of a cherub or angel. He still looks sweet as can be, despite losing his baby curls long ago. Even as he grins that mischievious smile, he will always be "My Angel Baby".

Baby Isaiah

My Sweet Angel

About 2 1/2

Happy Birthday!!!

Welcome Home

I haven't been blogging much, but I did want to take a moment to welcome home Christy, Aaron's sister. She has been on a mission in the Oklahoma City (?) mission for the last 18 months. We are very proud of her and happy she is home safe and sound. We can't wait to see her (and the rest of the family) next week.

So, welcome home and on to the next stage in life...I know a great guy I can hook you up with. :-) Just kidding.

A mistake?

Cassandra has gone a little crazy now that she has all 5 kids again, a car full of wet clothes and broken glass, and no man to take care of her right now. I am actually 27 today. At least now I have an excuse if I forget a birthday or an anniversary. Still won't be enough to keep from getting in trouble though.

Ah well. This is going to be an interesting b-day. I'm gonna stay home, all alone, all day and clean as much of the house as I can. Fun, huh? Even more fun is that I gotta get the toilet in our bathroom cleaned and pulled out so that I can fix the plumbing. Life is good at 27.

A Birthday

Happy Birthday Aaron!!!!! Aaron is now 28 years old. I would include a baby picture, but I don't have one with me.

Happy Birthday!

The Tornado

Now, I am not quite sure of the order of events since everything seemed to happen so fast. And I am not sure what the national weather service said, since I was not at home to follow up. And I think that the area had been hit for a few days by storms so I am not sure where my "tornado" played into everything, but here is my story...

I had been on the road, driving on 287 to be exact, a couple of hours and was past Wichita Falls, TX, but not yet to Vernon, TX. I noticed how much dust was in the air everywhere and thought it was kind of cool. Everything looked very surreal. I had heard about dust storms and it was kind of windy, so I didn't think too much of it. I just enjoyed the drive, at one point I even drove into a big cloud of dust on the ground. It was like driving into fog. As I said, very surreal. I hadn't seen anything like it before.

Then a little before Vernon I noticed that a storm was gathering to the northwest of us. It looked far away so I enjoyed watching the clouds gather and the lightening strike. A mile or two east of Vernon I called Aaron to make sure it was going to stay to the north of us and that it wasn't anything serious. He said that he didn't see any warnings in the area and that everything looked by the border so we should be fine. He thought we might get a hard rain, but nothing worse and that it would be over with quickly.

There were only 16 miles until Chillicothe. After maybe 8-10 miles, the winds started to pick up and we hit the first rain. I realized that we were going to be hit harder than thought, so I called Aaron again to ask if anything new was there and if he was sure this wasn't a tornado or anything. He still didn't see anything. The wind was blowing harder and the rain was getting thicker. I was getting really scared. He kept trying to calm me down and reassure me. Then the hail hit. I'm not talking small hail. This stuff was golf ball to baseball sized hail. I told Aaron I had to go and hung up.

The hail was hitting the van, the wind was blowing the rain making it hard to drive. I felt a change of air pressure in the car, looked back, and the window next to Isaiah had shattered. It looked like the rear window had shattered as well. Then a semi, 2 cars in front of us, had the trailer start to blow off the road. Some where in there the windshield had been hit and was cracked. I had been planning on driving through the storm, but this was obviously too bad.

I was still scared wondering how I was going to protect the kids and stay safe. The semi pulled off the road and I could see that a hundred yards or so further was a line of semis and cars had pulled in along side of them so they were sheltered. I joined this line. As soon as I put the van into park I turned to the back seat, pulled the kids out of their seats and pushed them to the floor, covering them with pillows and blankets. Then I just sat there. Looking back, I should have taken video with my camera, but I was too scared to do that. I did get one picture of a hail stone that had come into the van.

The hail stone in the car, compared to a quarter. This was not the smallest that I could see falling outside.

I was scared and just wanted to get out of the storm, but knew I couldn't go yet. As soon as it let up enough I immediately started driving. I stopped in Chillicothe not more than 3 miles away. That's when I got out to assess the damage to the van. There were dents and dings all over the van, some of the fins on the air intake under the windshield had broken. The side window had shattered. The brake light lens was broken. The windshield was smashed up. The one good thing was that the rear window had not been broken. When the wind came in it had caused enough pressure to blow the rear hatch open. Unfortunately I didn't realize this as I was driving and we lost 4 of our sleeping bags and 2 lifejackets. At least our suitcases didn't come out. However, everything was soaked.

Some of the dents in our van. Pictures do not

do justice.

The big dent. Again, pictures do not do justice.

The air intake vents

The side window all taped up

The brake light

The windshield

I saw that the wind was still blowing and the rain was still coming down so I continued on. I wanted as far away from the storm as possible. As I drove through Chillicothe I could see tree branches and tin from sheds or roofs everywhere on the road. There was also one building that had the top section of bricks torn off and those were laying along the bottom of it. I didn't look around much or video the damage or anything. Like I said, I just wanted to get away from there. I found out later that they had had storms the day before and again that night, so I'm not sure what exactly the damage was that was caused by the storm I was caught in. Here is a link to a story about the storms...http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2008/jun/18/assessing-damage/

In Quanah, down the road from Chillicothe, I stopped to assess the damage again, tape up the window, and check on the kids to make sure they weren't bleeding. They had been telling me no they weren't, but I just couldn't believe Isaiah had a window shatter next to him without injury or that no hail had hit them. Some nice people at the gas station taped up my window while the kids and I calmed down. Carissa didn't seem phased. Joseph was fine. Jacob was shaking like a leaf, he was so scared, and had a tiny cut on his hand. Isaiah was soaked and shivering and he had cut his foot. It bled a lot, but it wasn't deep enough to warrant stitches.

After we were all set and had said our thank yous, we were once again on our way. After we left the gas station we went across the street to talk to the storm chasers who had also been caught up in the mess to make sure we were safe to go on. After finding out we would be safe if we kept heading North, we continued on.

The storm chaser van

I stopped in Childress to fix the window since the tape and plastic had blown off. I pulled under the first light I saw. A vehicle pulled in behind me. Their lights were on bright and I couldn't see the vehicle. My only thought was "Great, I'm going to get mugged or something." Then I realized it was a sheriff's vehicle and felt better. Until they started giving me the third degree. "Who are you? Where are you from? Where are you going? What are you doing?" Blah, blah, blah. They both asked the same questions over and over. The whole time I was getting the window taken care of. I guess I should give them some slack, they were probably just doing their job and preventing looting or something from the storms the night before. But, the least they could have done was offer to help instead of just driving off when they were satisfied there was nothing to worry about.

My next stop was Amarillo where I stopped at a Wal-Mart to buy stronger plastic and duct tape. I noticed Isaiah had some stuff in the corner of his eye so I went to wipe it and a tiny glass chip was in it. So of course I started to worry that there was more glass in his eye or that his eye was cut and I decided to take him to the emergency room. This was very late, like 1:00 am. We were there until around 4:30 am or later. I hate emergency rooms! His eye was fine, it had done its job and gotten the glass out. And on we went. Yes, I did finally rest a little bit before Dumas, TX.

So, that's my tornado story. Accordong to Aaron, the National Weather Service never did declare a tornado. They referred to it as a "Rotating storm mass". It seems it was rotating in the air and on the ground, but never connected. Frankly, I don't care about technicalities...If it quacks like a duck, it's a duck. If it causes destruction like a tornado, it's a tornado. And I really don't think I want to repeat the experience anytime soon.

We did a cost-benefit analysis when planning this trip and thought it would be cheaper to drive...I think that after this, I'm not going to care...we're flying next time around!

What a Nightmare

Well, this is me blogging from Wyoming, and let me tell you, this trip has been one to leave me with nightmares. Before I start, I have to relate a conversation I had with Carissa as we were leaving. We were talking about how we would be in the car a very long time and how it was a very long trip. She says "but, she doesn't want to be in the car for a long time. She wants to go quick." I responded by telling her that that's just the way it is. Her response: "But flying is quick. David flew to Wyoming. Why can't we?" Yes folks, I drove to Wyoming. Just me with 4 little kids. And after this, I may just decide that flying is actually worth the cost. When people ask me how the trip was or if I had a good trip, I'm going to have to tell them to be specific. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly...

THE GOOD:
1)The kids were AMAZING! I could not believe how well-behaved and quiet they were, especially since we did not have our DVD player. (More about that later). I suppose travelling mostly at night helped, but who really cares. They were good and that's all that matters.

2)We found a really kid-friendly rest stop when we stopped in Trinidad, CO. They had white board desks and some toys for the kids to play with. They also give free trolley rides, but we'll save that for when Aaron and David are with us.

3)We are in the mountains again.

4)The van got GREAT gas mileage, at least for a van. We only put gas in it 3 times the whole trip, not including when we first started.

5)I made good time, I think. At any rate, it went faster than I thought it would, all things considering. I left Monday at about 1 or 2 pm (Central time) and got to Byron at around 9:30 am (Mountain time) on Wednesday. That's 1300 miles. I thought it was pretty good.

6)We made it here, all alive. I'd say safe and sound, but that's not completely accurate. So I'll just say, no permanant damage done.

THE BAD:
1)We got off to a late start. Not a big deal, I felt good still, only a minor set-back. Except when you consider that had I been 15 minutes further down the road, much could have been avoided.

2)The DVD player wouldn't work. Now I had tested it out when I set it up, as I was packing up the car. It worked. But when I started the car to back out of the drive, it wouldn't turn on. I think a fuse is busted. I know we did the trip without a DVD player as kids, but, I was really hoping for this form of entertainment...

3)We stopped in town (about 10 miles from our house) before we left. Jacob threw up. Both he and I spilled milk shakes. Yucky and sticky.

4)The tornado...No I am not kidding. I did go through a tornado, well, in my opinion it was a tornado whether the national weather service declared it or not. And really, it deserves a post in itself, so I'll just leave it at that for now.

5)Losing some stuff (See above post)

6)Losing some windows (See above post)

7)Everything getting wet (See above post)

8)Getting the 3rd degree in Childress (See above post)

9)Jacob throwing up again...the car seat can only be covered in a towel so many times...Finally I gave up, decided to wash it at my parents' house, and did some switching around.

10)A side trip to the ER in Amarillo. This is related to the above post.

11)I forgot to turn off the lights the one time I stopped to rest and the battery died. Lucky I was in Wyoming so some nice person helped.

So, that's the gist of my trip in a nutshell. I'll blog about all tornado related information another day.

Oh yeah....The Ugly:
1)The way we all felt, hot, sticky, messed up clothes and hair, and smelly after the trip. Thank goodness for a bath waiting.

Ready...Set...

Off we go to Wyoming where we will be for three weeks.

Aaron, we'll miss you, but can't wait until we meet you in Spokane. See you in three weeks!!!

PS Look at the books by the bed. :-) Maybe now you'll be able to pass the time a little easier.

Father's Day

I forgot to post this last night. (Yes, Aaron, go ahead and laugh). But I do love and appreciate the Fathers in my life. Happy Father's Day to all of you!

Joseph Update

Well, you all might be wondering how Joseph is doing. He's much better since starting the antibiotics. He has his appetite back, bigger than ever, and he's his old energetic self again. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. :-) Just kidding. I can never stand it when they are sick even though they are much more calm and well-behaved. But he is now into everything! He isn't quite really crawling yet, but he is pulling himself around in this pulling/lunging way, and he puts everything into his mouth! We've had to keep reminding the kids to keep their toys put up out of his reach so he doesn't choke.

I took him to the doctor's on Friday so I could make sure everything was ok before we leave on our trip. I'm glad I did. He's up a whole pound since his 4 month check-up a couple weeks ago. The doctor prescribed him some cream to take care of the diaper rash caused by the antibiotics and a low-dose antibiotic just to make sure his infection doesn't come back. He'll be on that until we rule out some things that may have caused the infection. We'll be taking those tests when we get back. One is an ultrasound to make sure there is no swelling. The other is a test where they fill his bladder? or kidneys? I can't remember...anyway, they fill it with fluid and the fluid shows up on an x-ray and they watch it contract and stuff to make sure everything is working right and nothing is backing up. At least I get to put it off for awhile. I just hope it doesn't keep us from being able to switch his insurance.

Anyway, I will be traveling over the next few days and so I probably won't be blogging. I'll be back when I get to Wyoming.

Jacob

Jacob was funny today, so I just had to blog about him.

This is him in his Sunday clothes. We laugh every time we put him in them because even though the shirt is large and goes down to his knees, he manages to have it untucked by the end of church, showing everyone just how far down it goes. It is cute though.

Today during church I wasa holding Jacob on my lap. I had found a monkey picture/cutout thing and he kept making it "climb" up my hair, where he'd tuck it into the strands to "hide" and either he'd "find" it or let it slide down and then he'd do it all again. He was giggling like crazy and I had to keep reminding him to be quiet in church. I hope the people behind us got a kick out of it, too.

After we got home he must have been bored because he was putting on my dress shoes. When he could only find one, he decided to put on Carissa's.

He's a cutie. I love him to death.

Friday Night - Date Night

Well, Aaron and I actually went on a date last night. The last time we went out was towards the end of February, and we had Joseph with us then. We went out to dinner and a movie. It didn't go as well as I would've liked.

Origionally I wanted to go to Olive Garden. Believe it or not, I have never been there. Much to my disapointment, it was very crowded so we decided to go to the Cotten Patch Cafe. The food was not the best. Not the worst, but not the best either.

Then we went to the theater. The internet was incorrect in telling me that the movie I wanted to see was playing at that time so I called the baby-sitter to see if she could stay later so we could go to a different theater that was showing it later. That's what we did. This second theater was not the greatest I have been to by far. When we went in there were only a few other people for our show. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that the theater looked as if it hadn't been cleaned all night. There were soda cups and garbage all over. Aaron said the floor in front of him was sticky. And it smelled funny. Like mold or mildew or cat. Then, a little before the movie was supposed to start, during the previews, the lights all come on and half a dozen or so employees came in and started cleaning. I wonder if they heard my comments or something. The screen was also torn? scratched? Something. All I know was there was something minor wrong with the screen.

Then when we got home I couldn't find the checkbook for the poor, tired babysitter. So I told her I'd pay her on Sunday. (I found it this morning under the couch). Then, I was very tired coming home (20+ minute drive) so I pulled over to rest my eyes for a few minutes. I ended up asleep out on a country road for an hour. Poor Aaron was worried and had called me. Lucky for me, he was tired to and fell asleep before he could call the police or somebody.

So, all in all, we had fun being out alone without the kids. The movie was good, we got to drive the truck just the two of us for the first time, and we just had fun. But it makes me wonder if sometimes date night just isn't worth the trouble. Ah well. I suppose we'll find out the next time we go out...in another 4 months or more. :-)

My Award

Well, that clinches it....I win the award, the bad mommy award that is. First I send poor David off to Wyoming without a coat. Let me share a portion of his nomination e-mail: "and bring my coat if youare not in a hurry..." Then yesterday I didn't think to put sinscreen on the kids and Isaiah and Jacob got burned. Bad, bad, mommy....

Splash Factory

So yesterday we went to the Splash Factory, a water/sprinkler playground up in Grand Prairie. I couldn't help but think how nuts kids are to enjoy just running around through the water. Maybe it would've been fun when I was a kid, I don't know. I was just scared the kids were bored to death, but they must have fun because they were asking to go back today. Here are some pictures of the fun.

Stupid Wyoming Weather...

Well, I got done talking to David and my mom for the day and now I'm worried about this trip...it's not what you think. The gas prices, well, I don't like it but I can handle it. Going by myself with the kids, I can handle that too. It's the packing and weather switch I'm not sure I'll be able to handle.

The first warning sign came the other day when I was talking with David and he talked about their trip up the mountain and playing in 5 foot snow banks...Then today my mom was talking about how she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and perfectly comfortable. Nervously I checked the weather at the national weather website....tomorrow the high is supposed to be in the 50's...Hello! it hasn't been that low in weeks! I just packed up the kids warmer clothes and do not want to get them out just for the trip. Besides...I DON'T HAVE ROOM IN THE VAN FOR COATS!!! Grr....It had just better warm up or I am not going to have a happy vacation. Don't they know it's summer! Ah well. I guess that's why sweatshirts were invented. Hopefully that will be enough.

About Me

Well, I blogged about Aaron. Now, I guess since I don't have much else to say lately, I'll blog about me...

Me as a baby...Wasn't I cute! I think Joseph looks a bit like me.

I was born September 10, 1980 in Powell, Wyoming to Gilbert and Cindy Cordova. I am the oldest of 4. My sister, Cora, is 2 1/2 years younger than me. My brother, Charlie, is 3 1/2 years younger, and then comes Clinton, the baby of the family, 9 1/2 years younger than me.

This family picture was taken of us in 1999 or 2000. Don't let the picture fool you...Cora's hair is actually very blond. She just had fun dying it.

We moved from Powell to Byron, 20 minutes away, not too long before Charlie was born. My parents are still there today. It is essentially the only home I have known.

Me as a toddler...Look how blond my hair was.

There isn't much exciting about when I was growing up. Byron is a boring town. :-) I was the only girl in my class for a few years in elementary school, so I didn't have many close friends. The school was part of a consolidated district so my parents sent me to the other elementary school in Cowley for the 5th grade. That's where I made some more friends and met my best friend. I still keep in touch with her family some when I go back home.

I thought about putting some pictures of me and my friends here...but I think I'll save us all the embarrassment. It was fun to look at the pictures and bring back the memories though!

Politics in a small town can be brutal and so middle school and high school had their ups and downs, but this also helped me to meet people from a neighboring town/school district, some who would become like second families and who I try to keep up with still.

Here I am at graduation. I was so nervous giving that speech!

I got good grades throughout school and graduated valedictorian of the class of 1999. I went to college at the University of Wyoming. A lot of people were surprised and maybe even a little disappointed because I had some scholarships to Michigan State University, and had even flown out to see the campus (a story all of it's own), but I'm glad I made that decision thought because that's where I met Aaron. Besides, it was still different from most the kids in that area who went to the community college in Powell or to Rexburg (now BYU-Idaho) or to BYU, and it was far enough I could say I went away. But, it was nice that I could still come home on the weekends if I wanted. Ironically, the only other classmate who went to UW with me lived 2 doors down from me in the dorms.

My senior picture...I can only wish I still looked like this!

So that's me. You pretty much know the rest of the story. I met and married Aaron, ended up down here in Texas with 5 kids. I am still working on my degree and hope to graduate next May. In my spare time....wait, scratch that. I don't have spare time. :-) But I do like to read and play on the computer when I can.

A few pictures

Here are some pictures taken throughout the past couple of weeks...

Jacob crashed after returning home. He
was only half-way on the couch.

Aaron and Carissa during one of our

windy days last week. They're flying

kites.

Carissa in her new dress. She's

declared it her "favorite" and

wore it three days straight.

Jacob proud of

himself for

carrying the

peanut butter.

Aaron and Jacob changing the oil of the car.

Daily Gem

"The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This includes faith in His divine birth and heavenly heritage and faith that, under His Father's direction, He created the earth and all thingsthat dwell therein (see John 1:10; Mosiah 3:8). At the very heart of our faith in Christ is the assurance that through His atoning sacrifice, though our sins may be as scarlet, they can become as white as snow (see Isaiah 1:18)."

Spencer J. Condie, "Claim the Exceeding Great and Precious Promises," Ensign, Nov. 2007, 16

Sunday Stories

Today was a pretty good day for just relaxing, working, and spending time as a family.

My deay started early. I woke up around 6 or so and since I had nothing better to do, I went outside and put the van up on the blocks or ramps, or whatever they're called, so that Aaron could change the oil before church. When I went to position them under the tires, I saw a mouse trapped half-way under one. It was a big mouse, too. So I called our cat down from the roof where he was doing who knows what, probably chasing birds, and he came over to get the mouse. Hopefully he finished it off, otherwise it may have gotten into our garage...

When we got home from church I told Isaiah to eat his sandwich and he says that there's a fly on his sandwich. Aaron didn't understand what he said, so he just said, "Oh". I then interpreted, and he being silly, said "well, then eat the fly". Isaiah said "Yuck, me no like flies." It was just kind of cute to see them teasing each other.

After the kids went to bed, Aaron and I watched the season premiere of Army Wives on Lifetime. So sad. I love that show though. Even more then their last big hit, Strong Medicine. They announced at the end that season one is now on DVD. I guess I know what I'm going to ask Aaron for on my birthday. Maybe sooner. We'll see.

Anyway, that's life here. Hope you all had a great weekend and I hope there will be many more stories this week.

Joseph and a Birthday Greeting

Well, I got a call from the doctor's office yesterday. Jacob's urine culture came back and apparently he has a urinary tract infection. That explains things I guess...his fever, mood swings, altered energy level and personality, and so much more. They have him on antibiotics, which seem to be giving him a diaper rash and I will have to call the doctor again if it gets too much worse, but hopefully he'll get better soon. Now I just have to paranoid and worry about how he got it in the first place. Ah well, childhood illnesses. You would think that after 5 kids I would have seen everything and be capable of being a pediatrician myself...no way. Each one has brought something new and worrisome to the table. Maybe by the time I have stopped having kids I will really have seen it all and nothing will be new, but for now I just have to wait for the next illness or injury to strike.

On a happier note...Happy Birthday! to Mike, Aaron's dad and my father-in-law. I won't reveal his age, mostly because I could only take a ball-park estimate, and I'm sorry it's a couple of days late, but happy birthday anyway! We can't wait to see you next month!

No Deal!

I thought Marvin was cute yesterday so thought I'd share. Click on it to make it larger.

My thoughts were 1) I'm glad 2-3 year olds can't read comics. And 2) I sure am glad I never had to make that deal. My kids would still be sucking their pacifiers!

So today was a busy day. It started off fairly normal. Then we went shopping at Wal-Mart for some containers for the garage. Then we went to a lunch for a sister in our ward who is moving. The kids had fun playing outside. No big surprise, the boys got wet. Normally I wouldn't have cared, but shortly after we got there I noticed Joseph wasn't being his usual self so I picked him up and he was hot. I gave him some medicine and then, after thinking about it, decided to call the doctor since he'd had kind of a raspy sounding "voice". Turns out the doctor could get us in at 2:15. So, I had to leave earlier than I wanted and the boys clothes were too wet to wear. So I stopped at the store and bought them each a change of clothes and then went to the doctor's. He couldn't see any reason for a fever and thought it was probably just a virus, but on a baby as young as Joseph he doesn't like to take chances, so we had to do some lab-work. First they put a urine collection bag on him then we went across the hall where he got some blood drawn. It seemed like an aweful lot of blood to me, but I'm sure it was normal. After the blood was drawn, it was back across the hall to collect the urine. We had to wait forever for him to give a sample though. I guess he can't go on command either. After that they gave him a shot of antibiotics and off to the grocery store we went. We did some of our shopping (I have to do the rest at Sam's Club tomorrow) and then got home in time to make dinner. Joseph slept some, but his fever was back up, so more medicine before bed. And tomorrow we'll start all over again.

Baby Samuel

Here are some pictures of little Samuel David. Doesn't he look cute! I think he looks more like Michelle at this point. Sorry Charlie. Better luck next time. He doesn't have any hair though, which surprises me. And Michelle doesn't even look like she just delivered. I bet she feels much better to have it over with though. Congrats again you two, can't wait to meet the little guy!