OtterPops: In other news

Last week Jared and his brother were commuting home together (which is very rare, but they were letting their parent's use one of their cars while they were in town) and they were rear-ended in the carpool lane during stop and go traffic. They both pulled over to the shoulder and the other driver (a female in her early 20s, also with one passenger) got out to talk to Jared. They both came to look at Jared's rear bumper and the girl said "oh, let me go get my info." and proceeded to RUN back to her car and drive off. Luckily, Greg caught her license plate # and they called it in to the cops. The damage isn't even that bad and Jared said if she had just been honest he probably wouldn't have even gotten the car fixed because that car is so old. But after she basically did a "hit and run" he decided to call it in. A CHP officer looked up her records and the description fit so he called her. The "go girl" hung up on the officer too!! He was not happy with that happening so he came over to the house and got all the details from Greg and Jared so they can track this chick down. We'll see how it all turns out but I am just glad they weren't injured and that he can still drive his car! What a scare!

Angela and I this summer at the beach

A couple weeks ago I hosted a baby shower for my friend Angela here at our house. It was so cute, thanks to a couple friends that were helping me throw the party and I, of course, didn't even get one picture because I was busy hostessing...So here's a picture of us together this summer when we took our kids to the beach. One of these days I will be able to pull off both hosting and picture taking! The food was great, about 20-30 ladies came and we all chatted and visited until almost 11 pm. I was so glad to be able to host for her since she is a dear friend and pregnant with her 5th boy (after a 6 year break). She has hosted countless baby showers for other women in the ward (including me) and I was glad to give back. Luckily, my parents came into town that day to help hold down the fort while I ran a bunch of errands taking kids to all their activities.

So this summer on our trip back from Utah we had what forevermore will be known as the "car top carrier catastrophe of 2014." I was driving just the kids and I from Utah up to Idaho and heard a funny noise that I quickly realized was the car top carrier. I snuck a peak through the sun roof and sure enough, one side of the car top carrier had opened up. I pulled over to the right lane, slowed way down and put my hazard lights on until I got to the next exit. At that point I had four kids in a car and couldn't do anything but secure the car top carrier and lock it up and make it the rest of the way. I didn't fuss with it basically until we arrived home to CA a couple days later.

When we were unpacking I realized with dread that we were missing quite a few items that had been "secured" in the car top carrier. The more unpacking we did the more I realized I was ready to swear. I don't have a potty mouth in general, but this brought me to it!! I had matching easter dresses for the girls that I had sewn embellishments on, brand new school backpacks for all the kids, camping pillows that my parents gave us last Christmas with the kids "colors" sewn on to personalize them, sleeping bags, my favorite top to wear for church, ALL GONE. Why hadn't anyone honked at me on the freeway to let me know that half of my luggage was flying out the top of my car?!? Jared's parents called the highway patrol for us but came up with nothing. All of it GONE! Jared's sister tried to put it into perspective telling me that maybe the timing of everything helped us avoid a terrible car accident and at least all of the kids were safe on our journey. This was a good reality check for me. It is all just STUFF! Of course the "stuff" that I would have loved to have fly out of there didn't budge an inch! Take for instance Jared's doc martin shoes that I have been begging him to get rid of for 10 years? Nope, still there. Jared's hideous duster jacket that I can't stand? Stayed put. Jared's friend defended him telling me "they were weighted down with LOVE! New backpacks had no love in them, no wonder they flew out!!"

Jocelyn cried over the lost backpack because we had specifically found it to match her lunch box and luggage perfectly. Then my in-laws proved again that they are the best ever: They rallied together and went to the stores where I had found the backpacks to begin with (they are pottery barn backpacks at extremely reduced prices-$5 to $10 and you have to DIG to find ones without tears, rips, etc.) They shipped them out to us and even helped us pick out the old names that were embroidered on them. Then a lady from church helped me embroider my kid's names to get the finished product. I know it is silly and a lot of effort to go through, but the kids love them and look pretty darn cute in them to boot! Even little emma gets her backpack down and says "Emma's pack-pack!!" and wants to wear it when the other kids are headed out to school.

We also received some sad news this month...My parent's dog Luke passed away at age 12. He was having some respiratory issues that were getting worse and worse. He had a vet appointment one day and my Dad knew he probably needed to be put down. I actually got my Dad's text informing me of the news while we were at the apple fieldtrip and I immediately started crying. I didn't mean to, it just caught me off guard and I guess I really will miss Lukie. I had a couple friends sitting right next to me and helped me pull it together so we could have fun the rest of the day. But when I told the kids Jocelyn immediately started crying. She lived with Luke the first couple years of her life and she had a special place in her heart for Lukie. Jocelyn and I had a good cry together then at family prayer we all shared some of the things we loved about Luke. The next time we head up to my parent's house we will have a memorial service for him place his commemorative statue over his grave.
Emma "I love doggies" (with help from the older kids)
Jonas: I liked that he did what you told him to do and didn't jump in my face
Lillian: I liked when I would come downstairs in the morning he would sniff me and I could pet him
Jocelyn: I loved that he let us walk him and pet him and he wasn't mean
Caitlyn: I loved that he was my walking partner when I needed to lose all the weight after I had Jocelyn. He was willing to go no matter the time of day and he wasn't a burden with the other dogs at the park-I knew I could trust him to behave (even though he did get attacked a couple times by other dogs). He was always very patient with my kids even when they were learning their limits with dogs
Jared: "Luke was so cute as a puppy!" just to tease me because kelsey and I would always say that

Jared's health has still not been very good in regards to his ulcerative colitis (UC). He had a short respite this summer while he was on steroids but it seems now that he is off of those, his symptoms are returning more and more every week. He has tried to really focus on his diet to see if there are items that are helping or hurting his condition. Right now he is trying to follow the Wheat Belly diet in addition to avoiding foods that aggravate his UC. When you take those combined with things that he just doesn't like the taste of there are very few things to feed him. Especially when we are trying to feed a family of 6 on a budget, and try out these gluten free meals it is pretty consuming and difficult. We will survive though! Due to his health decline we also requested a calling change at church as he just physically can't be the scoutmaster and 2nd counselor in Young Men's anymore. He was called in to team-teach the sunbeams with me. So we are co-teaching Jonas's little primary class. It's been good so far for me, but Jared said he feels a little awkward sitting in the primary surrounded my all the kids and moms when he's been in some pretty intense callings over the past several years. I'm sure it will be an adjustment. On another note, he made this headboard for the guest room (at my request) in preparation for his parent's visit. yay for having a husband who knows his way around a saw and paint! and how to re-purpose old things like this door that we had sitting around!

The head board close up

Recently at the girl's school a 5th grade teacher was arrested for sexually abusing a student (or two) in his class. It has been a lot to process on many levels. It seems like it is always "someone else's school" but this really hit home. We've had parent meetings at the school, we've had to explain to our kids on a 2nd grade level what is going on at the school (because a lot of kids are trying to talk about it at recess), extra volunteering to bring distraction and fun activities to recess time, etc. When I think about it, it makes me sick to think that could have been Jocelyn in only 3 years. My heart aches for the victims, for the other male teachers who are now being judged when they have done nothing wrong, for the innocence of kids going down the drain, etc. A fellow mom at the school who has a son in Lillian's grade wrote this article for the washington post that really hit home. Don't worry, it doesn't have any of the gruesome details of the harassment which were horrible but it does talk about what we can do as a community to pull together.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2014/10/15/a-breach-of-trust-when-a-teacher-abuses-a-student-it-affects-the-whole-community/

We had General Conference for our church last weekend and did our traditional food and bingo games to keep kids occupied and happy. And we didn't set up a tent because Jared said it was still dirty from his scout campouts but we let the kids get out every pillow and blanket in the house to build a fort (also known as the taj mahal!) They had fun we were able to listen to at least some of conference in between the tent building ;) We also went to brunch at a friend's house in between sessions so it was fun to get to know them better.