Balloons over our house!

This past weekend was Plano's annual Balloon Festival. It is held in a park near our house, but usually, the wind seems to blow the balloons away from us.

Sunday morning, as we got ready to go to church, balloons were flying over our house. And not only were they flying over it, they were landing all around it! One even landed in front of our house! Rachel was so excited! She had been wanting to see the balloons all weekend, and so far hadn't seen any.

Needless to say, she and Craig were late getting to Stake Conference! (Elaine, Lynette, and I were already there since we were singing in the choir, so we missed all the balloon excitement!)

Here's a photo of Lynette and her new piano!

Lynette's Birthday present

Lynette puts so much time and effort into her piano practicing that we decided she really needed a real piano. So, we found an inexpensive used Baldwin Acrosonic from the 50's that looks like it sat in someone's front room and was rarely played. We had it delivered while she was out of the house, so it was a surprise for her. I'll have to try to upload a photo later. Right now the computer isn't letting me do that.

She has been playing a lot since we got it. Even Craig and I have pulled out some old music and played a bit. It certainly sounds better than the keyboard!

Can you believe she is 12? She goes to Young Women this week!

Another Hatch Patch post

Well, yesterday (Saturday the 19th) I went with some of my mom's family up to the property in the canyon for a few hours, and had a good time. Here's some pictures! The two little boys I'm holding are neighbors of my mom's family. The one giving me bunny ears is my cousin.

In other news, I'm really busy this semester, which is why I only stayed with them for a few hours. My computer science classes, math class, and civilization class between them take most of my time, and then I work three hours a day, so I don't have much time for anything except later in the evenings.

Oh, and I do have two other people in my room this semester. Andrew, that I mentioned earlier, and then Michael, who's the one in the bunk above me.

Another dead animal

Thanks, LaDawn, for the preceding post. I had all my kids and grandkids show up for my birthday dinner so it was very nice.

Thursday Creed, Jake and I met in Wyoming for three days of antelope hunting. Unfortunately, I got a little trigger happy and it ended after one day with a pretty nice antelope. We all agreed it was fun--perhaps even more fun than if we had to camp and stay the rest of the time. Creed said he likes my hunt better than Jake's because they do not involve first hiking to the top of an 11,000 foot mountain.

It was kind of nice because when I applied for this hunt we thought Creed would be gone by now. So this is probably the last hunt we'll have together for three years.

During the hunt we saw a golden eagle bathing itself in a puddle of water next to the road. His wings were so wet it took him a few minutes to be able to fly.

Happy Birthday yesterday, Flint!

Last night as I was getting into bed, I realized it was Flint's birthday and I hadn't sent you a card! Then I thought, Hey, he usually sends me one, and I didn't get one, so I don't have to feel so bad.
Then, today, it came in the mail. So, I am, once again, a loser of a sister! :-)

All right, I may have some excuse. After taking Rachel to the doctor on Friday and having her test negative for swine flu, Lynette got sick that night, Elaine got sick the next day, and James on Sunday. Last night, James and Lynette both started in with the breathing problems, so I took them in to the dr today, meanwhile, having woken up not feeling well myself. He said there have been a lot of false negatives on the flu tests and that we all have the flu.

Fortunately, Rachel is pretty much better, and Elaine is feeling better even though she is still running a slight fever. Lynette's fever is down, too. James and I are taking tamiflu, and Craig isn't sick—yet.

Lynette just wants to be well for her birthday. I told her not to count on it. :-)

Anyway, I hope you had a good birthday, Flint. Maybe I'll remember Newel's in time to send him a card!

Another September birthday

Jenine and Brandon had a baby girl today. That is five grandchildren for me, in case anyone is having trouble keeping track. She is named Laila and she weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces. She has dark hair and looks like Brandon. I guess he did not get the memo about all my grandchildren having to look like me.

Jenine spent the whole day trying to have the baby--quite appropriate for Labor Day. She was finally born about 4:30.

We have a busy week. I get to spend tomorrow night in the hospital doing a sleep study. Wednesday Lindsay and her children are coming for a few days. Thursday evening we are supposed to be driving to St. George for a wedding Friday morning for Anette's niece.

Who knows how much we will actually get done. I better quit writing now because I still have to lock up my chickens and move some water.

Update on Verlin

Verlin spent 3 weeks in the hospital and a month at chancellor Gardens and came home on August 19th. He still struggles to walk but has been getting a bit stronger. When he could walk the length of the hall at Chancellor Gardens with his walker they let him come home. He has had a Physical Therapist coming 3 times a week, an Occupational Therapist that has been coming 3 times a week and a Speech Therapist that came about 4 times. They are all finished with him now except the Physical Therapist that will come once next week and once the following week.

He can't remember how to take his blood sugar or use the TV remote any more and several other routine things that he did before. It is especially upsetting to him (an me) that he can't remember how to use the TV remote. He tries and the TV goes out of whack and I'm not really sure which buttons he has pushed so don't readily know how to fix it again. I keep telling him to just push the up or down buttons but he forgets and pushes the first button that is handy--but I never know which one that is. However, some of the things have started coming back so maybe he will recover some of what he lost.

Dad Stephens

Life goes on!

This is a photo of Lynette during her "Jumpstart for Arts" program that the City of Plano puts on every year.


Well, we have survived one week of school and seminary and are into the next! Elaine is adjusting to public school, but it is hard for her to wake up for seminary and keep going all day. She doesn't get home until 5:00, and then two times a week, she has ballet soon after. Last week, she didn't go to one ballet class because she was too tired and had too much homework. I hope she gets used to it soon—ballet class is too expensive to miss all the time!

If I had to guess, I'd say her favorite classes are ASL and art, and her least favorite is Algebra! She is also taking a drill team class that will fulfill her PE requirements, but she doesn't want to audition for Drill Team. She did go to the first football game of the season and had a great time.

Lynette and Rachel sort of started school last week. I was sick with the flu all week, so I didn't do a lot of active teaching, but I did have Lynette's all planned out, so she was able to do most of it on her own. Rachel and I started yesterday. She is anxious to learn this year, however, she still has a very short attention span. We were reading some history stories yesterday, and she kept asking me if there wasn't an activity to do instead of read! :-)

James' schedule is rather long this semester. He goes straight from seminary to the train station in order to get to his 8:00 class, and he doesn't get home until about 5:00. He seems to be enjoying his classes, for the most part. He really likes his calculus teacher.

It seems strange to me to only have two kids home all day. And my built-in babysitter is gone now, so I am back to taking them with me if I have to go somewhere! Technically, I could leave Lynette home, but she doesn't like to be left.