The Hills are Alive

2011-03-15T00:05:00.002-04:00

A Denver December

2011-01-13T17:14:00.020-05:00

Recap of the last 2 months:

We were grateful Barr’s family wanted to take advantage of their Disneyland passes before they expired allowing us to see them several times. One of those trips was during Thanksgiving. It was nice having Tiffany, Jeff, and Mckenzie over for that week.

Emily celebrated her birthday at the happiest place on earth (I mean Disney, not our house!)
The closest Brooke ever got to Santa during the 3 different trips to visit him. It's definately a love/hate relationship!
The annual Christmas orchestra and choir performances.
With my round belly, I was the best candidate in our group to be made into Santa at a neighbor's Christmas party.

Brooke's school friends visiting her in the classroom during her party. We love how everyone is so good to her there.

We had to keep our tradition that started last year by going to In-N-Out on Christmas Eve. Barr was disappointed I wouldn’t agree to our Christmas morning tradition of having the missionaries over for breakfast. Right after opening presents, we were off to the airport for a fun trip to his parents’ home in Denver.

Christmas Eve
New Pajamas
The rest of us were too busy for pictures that morning.

One of the highlights of the week in Denver was skiing! Ben was adventurous enough to go off on some more challenging runs but that meant no pictures of him.

Anther fun day was spent at "Fun City".
Brooke actually had 2 hole-in-ones (with a little help from Barr).
Making cookies at the bakery with cousin Gracie.

The girls were boasting that we beat the boys at bowling; however, Ben quickly pointed out that we had 1 more player and if we took the average of the scores, they actually beat us by 4 points!

The boys spent a lot of time getting their video game fix, and we all worked up a sweat with "Just Dance". Who knew they could move like that?
Brittany spent a lot of the week down the street at Aunt Tiffany's house with "the girls".

Against my children’s pleas to keep the Christmas decorations up until next December, I was glad to get everything put away and start the new year. Brooke is still trying to understand time, months and waiting and still regularly asks when Santa is coming. My hundred’s of “Christmas is over” explanations only result in “Why?”.

Another example of her still emerging comprehension of time happened today when she woke up at 4:30 this morning, excited and wouldn’t go back to bed. She kept trying to go into Brigham’s room saying, “Wake up baby Bradley”. She was certain the baby had come last night. It’s because she was home sick yesterday from school so helped me go through some bins of old baby boy clothes, getting things ready for his arrival. Later that evening we were talking about how tomorrow was her cousin Bradley’s birthday. Since we are thinking of naming this baby Bradley, I think she got confused. She was disappointed that the crib wasn’t set up and there was no baby. “May” is such an abstract idea to her.

San Diego (and Halloween pics)

2010-11-14T11:52:00.010-05:00

I know I’ve gotten out of the habit of blogging, and the longer I put it off, the more difficult it is to start again since I feel so behind. I’ll just say we had a wonderful summer and are enjoying a great fall and leave it at that. Now I can start fresh from today. Possibly someday I’ll have the time and energy to go back and get caught up on the months I’ve missed…

We just got back from a fun week in San Diego. I’ve had many people ask why a family vacation in November? Don’t the kids have school? Between parent teacher conference days, minimum days, late starts, Veterans Day, fall recess, and then the whole week of Thanksgiving they’re off, no, they don’t have school. At least it feels that way. They did miss a few days, but over the summer we had too much fun just doing local things that Barr and I were the only ones who really went away for a vacation so I promised the kids we would do a family trip. With San Diego only being about an hour drive away, we thought that would be a good place to go.

We left Saturday evening, after Brooke and I got back from her dental procedure at the hospital. It's only taken 7 months to finally get that done! It went well though it wasn't easy. When they woke her up after anesthesia, she was pretty miserable and nauseous. Within a few hours though she was ready to hit the road. She loved our condo and getting to share a room with Brittany although I don't think Brittany appreciated her waking her up every morning at 5:00!

Brittany posed her for the picture.

Sunday after church we drove to Old Town and enjoyed the church’s new Mormon Battalion exhibit. It is so well done, like Disneyland quality complete with talking portraits, real thunderstorms, vibrating boulders and rooms that look so realistic you really believe you are camping out on the plains of the Old West. Besides the entertainment value, it’s a great story of how faith and sacrifice bring about wonderful blessings.

No more complaining about how heavy their school backpacks are!

Panning for "gold"

We then headed over to tour the USS Midway aircraft carrier. I knew it was big, but I had no idea what being the largest floating naval aviation museum meant. After over an hour of meandering through bunkers, galleys, engine rooms, jails, etc. I honestly was relieved to resurface and think we were done when Barr laughed and said that was only part of the tour. There was over half of the ship left! My pregnant body was done touring for the day, so Brooke and I rested while the others finished exploring. Thinking of all those who served aboard that ship again brought the feelings of gratitude for people willing to sacrifice to bless the lives of others.

The next 4 days we enjoyed Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park. Two great things about going in November is the weather and the crowds. We enjoyed the cool temperatures and up until Thursday, no crowds at all. We really felt fortunate that so many animals put on such a fun show for us. We all enjoyed watching the hippos swimming, the polar bears playing ball in the water, the giraffes “necking” (fighting), the baby elephants eating and the hundreds of other amazing creatures we got to experience.

Brittany's favorite part was feeding the sting rays.

Friday we hung out around the condo. The girls and I enjoyed some of the scheduled activities the resort offered like cookie decorating, games, and the pools while the boys went golfing.

Ben and Brigham got 3rd place in the water balloon toss.

That's the end of our family vacation, but since Halloween pictures are fun, here are some from last month...

Minnie Mouse, the Bride of Dracula, Napoleon Dynamite, and an army guy

Neighborhood Halloween party

"Baby's First Halloween". Some people thought it was cute, others (like Ben) thought it morbid.

The night before while watching Regis and Kelly, Will Ferrell came out dressed as a bed bug. Barr stole the idea for his costume.

The kids wanted to do something different this year for the trunk-or-treat so we did a spooky Candy Land theme. I think next year I'll just buy a smog machine!

Catch-up entry

2010-03-14T20:25:00.007-04:00

Several weeks ago I realized it had been almost 3 months since I last updated our blog, so I spent way too long getting caught up only to have it lost somewhere in cyperspace before it published. I was so upset and devastated that my hours of hard work were gone that I swore never to blog again. Enough time has past, that the painfulness of that experience has dulled. Not enough though to try and retype all the fun events, but I will post some pictures.

Our trip to LA

Walking the red carpet

Pink's hotdogs was the biggest disappointment. We can't believe we waited over an hour for gross dogs!

Lights at the LA temple
Some neighbors had us over to decorate gingerbread houses. They were too cute to eat (for the first 30 minutes anyway!).

The best Christmas miracle is when everyone's Christmas Eve pajamas fit.

Christmas morning chaos

Favorite gifts: Ben's ipod touch, Brittany's cell phone, Brigham couldn't decide, Brooke's photo books

The week after Christmas, we had a super fun family reunion in St. George with Barr's family. We used the "holidays" theme that my family had done the year before. We fit Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day, Easter, Birthdays, Halloween, and Thanksgiving all in 7 days!

Unfortunately we had to have our van towed for part of the trip home. That helped convince us to sell it last month.

Barr's family spent a few days at our home after St. George. With 14 guests, we were glad they didn't mind sleeping on the floor.

Brittany turned 11 January 26th
Brigham turned 9 January 27th

Brigham's bowling party

Drinking bear blood to join the den.

We loved having my parents visit for a week, and the kids loved that they were here for their birthdays.

Brooke loves watching Taylor Swift music videos on Brittany's laptop.

Everyone always asks how we are liking it out here and if we have adjusted. I guess the easy answer is we really like it, and yes we have adjusted. The hardest part for me has been getting used to Barr traveling so much. The kids are happy in their schools. Brigham isn't crying every morning anymore, which is good! Brooke has already been in 3 different schools, but we are confident that we finally have it right. She also graduated from nursery in December and is loving being a Sunbeam in Primary. Ben and Brittany are enjoying swim team and Brigham's baseball team won 24-4 yesterday! Since I'm out of pictures I'll stop typing since nobody reads the words anyway, right?

Until next month...who am I kidding!

There are seasons here!

2009-12-06T17:35:00.012-05:00

I wondered what the seasons would be like in southern California: does it get cold, do the leaves change, is it dark by 5:00? The answer to all of those questions is yes. It gets cold at night (meaning the high 40's, low 50's) but still in the 70's during the day. I laugh that all the department stores change their clothing just like in Ohio. Everyone is selling sweaters and winter coats although I'm not sure who is buying! I love going running in the morning and crunching on dry leaves on the sidewalks. I was able to enjoy fall in Ohio and now it looks like I get it all winter here!

After that great weather report, here's the rest of the news:

I'm happy to report that we accomplished the 3 things I ended our last blog entry hoping to do.

The Beach

It's great having a neighbor who has access to one of the nicest private beaches in the area. And since they have 7 kids, there's a friend for everyone! Plus, he remembers to bring his camera and takes pictures of our kids.

Jumping off a cliff onto the sand and since you can't see how high it is, we'll say it was 20 feet!

Brooke had the flu but still wanted to "go beach" so she and I just watched and prayed that she wouldn't throw up again. Brigham was still recovering from having it the previous week.

Disneyland

It's so fun to get to see how they decorate the theme parks for each holiday and add some special effects for Halloween. We are so happy that Brooke is overcoming her fear of dressed-up characters. She will now tolerate them at a distance. It's interesting how the tame rides like Winnie the Pooh and Snow White terrified her, but she actually did OK on the scary ones like Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain. Of course she really didn't have a choice since we just dragged her with us. She would say "all done" and "go home" during the entire wait, but luckily it wasn't crowded and the lines were short!

Even the carousel horses are a little too much for her!

I didn't want one more sword in the house anyway.

Unpacking

As far as the 3rd goal...I did clear enough room in the garage to park the van, at least for a few weeks. Then I bought a new dining room set before selling our old one. So we'll just say we can eat dinner now in the garage if we want to, but I'm parking in the driveway again!

Brittany found me like this after a long day of unpacking.

Halloween has always been one of my favorite times of year, but as I get older, I find I like it less and less. The whole coming up with costumes thing is becoming more of a challenge. This year was especially hard for me since I thought I was doing good by even finding the Halloween boxes. I could have kissed Brittany's new friends when they asked her to be a nerd with them. How easy is that? And Brigham was a good sport to just wear his costume from last year (and I think the year before that!).

Barr's Jesus wig came in handy for a quick hippie costume 5 minutes before a Halloween dance we "forced" Ben to attend.

Our neighborhood had a block party before trick-or-treating with fun activities and yummy food. Ben almost won the pumpkin seed spitting contest and Brittany helped me with the mummy wrap game.

November flew by. The kids enjoyed a week off of school for Thanksgiving break so we tried out California Adventure one of the days.

We're glad to have one of my aunts and her family living close by, and were grateful they came over for Thanksgiving. I was also grateful they didn't seem to mind the lumpy gravy and hard potatoes. Brittany was determined to have all 13 of us fit around one table (she hates having a kids table since she misses out on all of the adult conversation), and after an hour of rearranging seats, she did it. She also did such a beautiful job setting the table and I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of it until it was all cleared off! That's why I need a grandma or a sister here: to take the pictures, make the gravy, and go shopping with me on black Friday! When I told Brittany I wasn't going to go this year, she excitedly said she would go with me. For years she has watched me pour over the ads and strategically plan out our course for the much anticipated yearly ritual of madness. I couldn't disappoint her, so at 4:30 am we grabbed our bananas, chocolate and ads and headed out for what was a very fun and productive 6 hour shopping spree.

Kid update:

Ben and Brittany are adjusting well to their new schools. Brigham appreciates the concern many of you have shown for his difficult class situation. After many discussions with the principal and teacher, he has decided to stick it out and try to make the best of it. The tears are coming less frequently and he is starting to make some friends. We're trying to be optimistic about the future.

Brooke enjoyed 6 weeks in a preschool program. After Thanksgiving break, on the recommendation of the school, we switched her to a special needs kindergarten class. They want her to be with kids her own age. It's been a big adjustment for her since they follow the academic curriculum of the typical kindergarten class. It's still hard for me to say goodbye to her every morning seeing how nervous she is. I'm still not convinced this is the correct place for her. Most of the kids are reading and they have homework every day. Brooke just learned how to say "homework" but she thinks it just means Brigham crying. Her second day the teacher called me and said Brooke had an accident. I started getting nervous thinking she fell or was hurt. By "accident" the teacher meant she needed her diaper changed. I don't consider it an accident when she's not potty trained yet. The bus takes her home which is nice for me, but when I get her off, she just hugs me in the driveway for a long time. I wish I could explain to her why we're doing this...it is for her own good, right? We're doing a 45-day trial placement and then we can reevaluate our options.

Now it's December. The lights are up, the elves have arrived easing Brigham's concern that they couldn't find us, and I can't wait to write my next blog. It's the most wonderful time of the year.....

We made it!

2009-10-18T16:48:00.020-04:00

Greetings from sunny southern California. After 2 weeks, it's starting to feel like home although yesterday while swimming in the pool surrounded by palm trees I still couldn't believe we live here now. It often feels like we're on vacation.
We did have a mini vacation on our way out here. We all needed it after the emotional stress of saying goodbye to Dublin and all the wonderful friends we made there. We were very touched by all the people that stopped over to say goodbye. My sister and brother-in-law picked up the kids Thursday night since all their beds and the kitchen were packed. Barr and I met them in Cinti. late Friday night after the movers were done. We were sad my parents weren't home that weekend but were grateful to be able to crash at their place for the night.

Brooke's last sessions with her home therapists.

We started our drive across the country Saturday evening, driving straight through the night. Ben had burned me a CD appropriately titled "Songs to keep Mom awake while driving in the middle of the night through Kansas". We made it to Denver in a little over 20 hours arriving with just enough time to eat lunch and shower before church. We were so glad the packers finished early so we could spend a few days with Barr's parents before they left on a trip. The kids (and Barr and I) enjoyed being spoiled by Grandma with delicious meals, movies, and a visit to Jungle Quest. It rejuvinated us for the second half of the drive.

The boys got their Rock Band fix while the girls enjoyed Mckenzie's old Barbies.

Wednesday we made the 8-hour trip to Provo where Barr's Grandparents live. The kids loved going through their condo chosing which of the 4 guest bedrooms they wanted. I called dibs on the one with the king size memory foam mattress where I slept better than I had in weeks.

Great Grandpa and Grandma Walters

We spent Thursday morning showing the kids around Provo and Orem. This is the door where it all began 15 years ago. A desperate guy looking for a date and a nieve sophomore crazy enough to say yes!

Our first apartment as married students.

I had forgotten how beautiful Utah is!
We spent the rest of the day with Barr's sister, Emily, and her cute family. Brooke was so excited to get to see some of the cousins that she talks about everyday but doesn't remember ever meeting. The kids were all really good while we watched the movie in the Joseph Smith building and then took a tour of the conference center. It was fun to see where in just 2 days the prophet would be speaking to the church.

The Salt Lake temple and on the roof of the conference center
Our time in Utah was very chilly and we were all wishing we had packed pants and long sleeve shirts. Apparently the day before we arrived it was warm and sunny but we brought the snow in with us. We were grateful for the Vegas warmth on Friday where we spent the night. The hotel concierge directed us to a "family friendly" part of the city where we had a fun dinner complete with drunk men attempting to ride the mechanical bull and waitresses wearing less than they should. Gotta love Vegas!

Brittany was wise to pack Barbies for the 40 hours in the van.

Our first stop in California was at the much anticipated In-N-Out Burger. Since Dublin is the world headquarters of Wendy's the kids were worried they would miss the double stack until Barr told them about the best hamburgers ever. We weren't disappointed. I must admit I was a little nervous driving up to our new home. We were met by the auto shippers delivering Barr's car that had been damaged during transit and the cable guy to make sure we could watch conference the next day. Five minutes later, a nice family dropped off dinner for us: one of the benefits of buying the home of the compassionate service leader! The original plan was that the truck would be arriving that day, but they had to push it back until Monday. When the ward heard that we were camping out in our empty home for 2 nights, air mattresses, extra pillows, and cinnamon rolls showed up.

Enjoying general conference in our new family room.

Early Monday morning Barr flew to Reno for several days. Not great timing for me! By Monday night we were surrounded by boxes and feeling very overwhelmed. At least we had beds to sleep in...couldn't find the backpacks or silverware or even the floor for that matter! The kids started school the next day which in hind-sight I shouldn't have done. I thought I would get a lot more done with them gone, but ended up spending the entire day dropping off, picking up, or trying to get Brooke registered in the right program. I am really missing busing as California doesn't have school buses. We're only about a mile from both the elementary and the middle school and I'm quickly learning the little tricks of avoiding the long carpool lines. With 6 different drop off and pick-up times, early release days, and late-starts, I think I've had more of an adjustment than the kids. I am also realizing how much I need a GPS. That's what I should have requested for my birthday gift (to answer your question Heather!).

I guess for the most part we're all getting used to our new life here. Brooke is getting more comfortable with her new teachers and new surroundings(although right now she's next to me saying "go home"), Ben is learning it's kind of fun to have outside lockers and lunch, Brittany got the flu so has been on the couch for the last 4 days but before that was starting to make some good friends, and then there's Brigham. He's the one struggling. The class sizes went from 20 to 31 this year and I think his teacher is a little overwhelmed. He was kind of left on his own to learn the ropes and has had some tough learning experiences along the way. There are tears every evening and then again every morning as he dreads having to go to school. I've requested a classroom change but was told that can't be done. We're trying to work through this, but I'm not sure how it's going to turn out.

On a positive note, it feels like we're living at a resort. There are 7 neighborhood pools, 3 of which we have visited. I look at the blue skies, the 80 degree weather, and I think I could get used to this! It was funny though that last week Orange County got twice as much rain in 1 day as they did the entire month of October last year. I guess it was just so we would feel more at home.

Hopefully by the next posting I can say we've been to the beach, Disneyland, and we can park at least 1 car in the garage!

Last Ohio Blog

2009-09-16T06:39:00.009-04:00

After USC's victory over Ohio State Saturday night, we're feeling a little better about making the change from being Buckeyes to Trojans! Brittany's assured us she will remain a Buckeye fan and has been trying to collect as much Ohio State gear as possible since she's sure it will be hard to find in California.

As most of you already know, we bought a home in Orange County 2 weeks ago. I never thought I would buy a home that we had never seen, but drastic times call for drastic measures. We were getting tired of waiting on the short sale home we had on offer on for almost 2 months so started looking again online. We found this one and sent our realtor over. The next day we made an offer and agreed on a price with the sellers 1 hour before Barr's birthday. We had made the offer on the other home on my birthday so Barr told me that was my birthday present. I could now use the same cop out on him and say that this house is his birthday present. Which I think means he still owes me a gift!

Barr went out there last week for the inspection and to take some video of it so we can start to get excited. I think we will be very happy there. If we can just get through all the headache of moving!

The timing worked out very nicely as we sold our home the weekend after we bought one! We know that was an answer to a lot of prayers offered on our behalf.

As I look at the stacks of papers of things I need to do, I am thinking I may just have to post some pictures for the rest of our August and September update. Then that's one more thing I can check off my list!

Barr met his Uncle Ken in Michigan and participated in a half iron man race.

The pasta dinner the night before the big event.

Brooke turned 5 on August 13th. Her grandma and a few cousins came up to celebrate.

Brooke picked out little Kelly dolls for each person's cupcake. She did a great job matching them to how the people look.

Our annual cousin swap let us have Adam here for a week. We will miss getting to see him so much.

Enjoying our last day at Zoombeezi Bay

Barr wants me to get a tatoo like this one (Christopher is his real name if you were wondering).

I got a little emotional seeing my kids sit on the mushroom at the zoo that they have sat on every year. They are so much bigger than the first time I took their picture there.

Barr enjoyed seeing old friends at his 20-year High School reunion in Salt Lake. I guess they even wrote a song about him as part of the program. I'm mad that he stopped the video camera once he realized what they were singing. Makes me think he's hiding something!

Brigham had been asking all summer to go to a Columbus Clippers game to check out their new stadium. The other kids wanted to go for the snacks.

Frist day of school:

Ben in 7th

Brittany in 5th

Brigham in 3rd

Brooke in afternoon preschool

May, June, and July, oh my!

2009-07-31T20:24:00.037-04:00

Can you tell we recently watched The Wizard of Oz? Trying to remember 3 months worth of life can be as scary as lions, tigers, and bears! I'll do my best with the highlights I remember.

May began with a Music School concert at a local coffee house. The boys' guitar instructor thought it was a great idea to have Barr play along with the boys so "Ham and Eggs" got to have another performance minus the girls. Ben was really hoping to play All the Small Things by Blink-182 but the bass part was a little too difficult for Brigham to learn that quickly. Minutes before hitting the stage, they agreed to perform their good old Lit stand-by. It was a hit and now we're just waiting for the record company to call!

Having lived in Columbus 3 years now, it's a tradition to run in the Race for the Cure. At the time of registration, I was pregnant so opted to have us do the Family Fun Walk in lue of the run. Although I think it was fun for the kids to experience the event, I realized running 3 miles with Barr is a lot more fun than walking 1 with 4 kids and 20,000 other people. The hour of standing and waiting for the walk to begin in a crowd that big kind of ruined the excitement. Everyone was tired and hungry and wet (from rain) before we even started. I think we all look happy in this picture because it's over!

Memorial Day weekend was a lot more fun. Our old neighbors, the Fields, invited us to come stay in their beautiful new home just a few miles from where we used to live. The boys wasted no time finding the theatre room and the girls disappeared to the Barbie room. It was great to be with good friends again and relive the "good old days"! I'm sorry we didn't take more pictures of that weekend as it may be several years before we make it back to Fishers again. We did get our camera out at the Andersen's, the Arnold's and the pool.

The last week of May we had a piano recital. Because I only teach 6 kids, I invited 5 other students to join us. When I told Brittany we were going to do this she said she really wanted to play something. She hasn't taken piano lessons for several years and didn't really remember much, but she was determined to learn something that month. She found an easy version of "I am a Child of God" and after several cram sessions she pulled it off. She even volunteered to go first at the recital because she thought when she messes up it will help the other kids not be so nervous. She ended up playing it perfectly and the entire evening was a success. You can tell from the red, sweaty faces what the boys did after the performances were over. Thank goodness for cultural halls!

The Last Day of School!

Brooke saying goodbye to her student teacher. She really had great teachers and classmates. We couldn't have asked for a better program for her.

Brigham and his best friend, Luke

Brittany and her friends after performing a cheer routine for the 4th grade talent show. They had spent many recesses practicing.

Ben after 6th grade awards

The end of school marks the beginning of swim team. The boys were a little reluctant to sign up but Brittany and I convinced them to give it a try. I loved how convenient it was that they each could just ride their bikes to the pool every morning. Ben had a much better season than last year and even brought home some heat winner ribbons and a few trophies. Brittany would often stay after her 90 minute work out and help with the younger group. She was known as the coach's assistant. Swimming year-round really paid off for her as she would take first in most of her events and received the "high points" award. She was a good motivator and support to the entire team. This was Brigham's first year and he ended up loving it as well. It's amazing what just a few weeks of hard training can do. He now zooms across the pool with no problem and of course loved the 5 hour meets where he could run around with his friends. Again, I wish I had taken more pictures, but here are a few from Championships. It was a western theme in case you were wondering.

I guess being the coach's favorite has it's privileges!

We also stayed busy in June with a lot of baseball games, Scout camp, and Cubscout Day Camp. We also got to have our neice, Amie, with us for several days. They had a lot of fun building forts in different rooms every day to sleep in. Again, where was my camera for all of that?

Thankfully my mom and sister had their cameras for the 4th of July weekend. We spent a few fun days in Cincinnati with my family. Coney Island had a fireworks show on the 3rd and perfect weather to enjoy the rides and events that evening. We were all grateful we celebrated the day before because the 4th of July turned out rainy and cold.

Brittany and Amie helping with Grandma's harvest. What's up Doc?

Enough red, white, and blue? Brittany's in the middle if you can't tell from her disguise.

Two weeks before, Barr was offered a new position in Scotts helping to open up a regional office in Irvine, California. I wanted to check out the area before making the decision so on July 5th we left our kids with my parents and flew to California for several days. Once we got over the sticker shock, we agreed that it was a beautiful place and felt good about accepting the offer to move. With school starting in less than 2 months, we knew we had to act quickly. We found a home and have made an offer on it. Unfortunately it's a short sale and so we are waiting on the bank to respond. I guess it's not unusual for banks to sit on offers for several months, but we're praying for a miracle that they will act quickly. We listed our home last week and have been busy making small repairs and getting it ready to show. The kids don't like the idea of having to keep their rooms clean all the time, but have been a good help.

If we had known we would be moving near the beach, we probably wouldn't have planned a family vacation to North Carolina. It was too late to cancel, so we tried to pretend like we didn't have a million things going on and went. We first drove to Washington, D.C. to visit my brother and his family. They are just about 8 miles from "The Mall" so we enjoyed taking the metro to downtown. Grant was a great tour guide, showing us all the must sees. We packed a lot into 2 1/2 days. We saw all the monuments the first evening, did the Smithsonian museums and the founding documents in the archives on the second day (seeing Lincoln's hat was the highlight for Brigham), and the Arlington Cemetery and the White House tour on Saturday.

Ben, Jefferson, and Brigham

The kids wanted to kiss the Washington Memorial?

Looking toward the Lincoln Memorial

Anna made me a delicious fruit pizza for my birthday.

Brittany loved baby Duncan.

We drove from D.C. to North Carolina and spent a very fun and relaxing week playing on the beach, body surfing in the ocean, swimming in the pool, and just hanging out at the condo. With 4 T.V.'s we watched more movies and Disney Channel shows in a week than we have all year. The waves were great, but a little too much for Brooke. She would sit on the beach and pour the sand, but every few minutes would say, "hot tub". Because Brooke says hi to everyone and can tell them her name, she made a lot of friends. As we would pass people walking from the beach to the pool, everyone would say "Hi Brooke". Of course the rest of us didn't know any of them.

Ben's out there somewhere, probably buried under a wave!

Making sandcastles on the beach

Each room was decorated so cute with a different theme. The girls in their turtle room.

Fun at the aquarium.

We got to visit with Barr's cousin, Mike and his family a few times.

A birthday, a race, and a holiday

2009-04-22T13:26:00.016-04:00

I know it's only been a few weeks since my last post, but I need to get a more uplifting entry on the home page. I want to start this one with a huge THANK YOU. I have felt such an outpouring of love and concern from everyone. It really has helped us get through this difficult time. We are doing better. Each day I feel a little stronger and life is getting back to normal.

Since I still get out of breath just carrying the laundry basket up the stairs, it's a good thing I hadn't signed up to participate in the triathlon with Barr last Saturday at Miami University. I have been able to go with him the previous 2 years but this time he went solo. I'm not sure if he'll write a post about the particulars, but I'll brag for him and let you know that he placed first in his age group! Out of 640 participants, he was 24th overall. He has obviously gotten the hang of the transitions, has better equipment, and the daily training for a year has helped. After offering my congratulations, I honestly told him I was a little sad he was becoming so expert at these races because I know that just means he's hooked now for good. He was in Florida the week before the race for an HR conference. To keep up with his swimming schedule, he found a public pool close by and during the lunch breaks would go swim for an hour. Now that's commitment (or maybe craziness as I would much prefer to actually relax and eat lunch during a lunch break!).

Speaking of eating, it is obvious that I am now the mother of a 12-year-old boy. No more kids meals or thinking 1 large pizza is enough! Just this morning Ben said he needs new gym shoes, again. I don't like this phase of buying new shoes and pants way before they have time to get worn out. He is constantly asking to measure how much more he needs to grow to pass me in height and actually, he's almost there. It's still a little strange for me to believe that I have to listen to "youth" announcements in church now. It is exciting to watch him pass the sacrament, do baptisms at the temple, and go home teaching with Barr. He was pretty nervous about all of those things, but is getting more comfortable with experience. He still always wants to get to church early enough so that he can request the sacrament route #7 which is just passing to the side pews because all the other ones are "way too hard".

Ben has really gotten good at the electric guitar. Every day after school, I'm lucky if I get a "Hi, Mom" before he's in the basement jamming away. He talked us all into performing at the Ward chili cook-off/talent show last month. He really wanted to play My Own Worst Enemy by Lit, but the lyrics weren't appropriate for a church event. Actually they aren't appropriate for any event, so we re-wrote them and called it I Really Want Some Chili. Barr played the drums, Brigham learned the bass part, and us girls tried to sing. The audience went wild when Ben dropped to his knees for his guitar solo. He was disappointed that during the performance he broke a string causing him to miss several notes, but we tried to assure him that no one even noticed and he still sounded great.

Here's a link to a video of the inaugural performance of "Ham & Eggs"

He doesn't have a love for dancing or at least not one that he would admit. I strongly encouraged (he would say forced) him to sign up for Dance Club at the middle school. It consisted of 4 evening dance sessions and then a final luncheon and dance where you could show off your skills. He would come home from each one saying it was torture. They made them dance with girls! We tried to convince him that in a few years he would love that opportunity, but I guess I should be happy he's not into that yet. A friend of mine posted a video she took at the dance on youtube. You can check it out at
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1172608227&v=feed&story_fbid=1152404608280#/video/?of=1172608227

Unfortunately our Spring Break was really early this year so it didn't coincide with any of our out-of-town friends or family. And with Barr conducting a traing all week at work we decided to just stay around here. We took advantage of the one nice weather day and spent it at the zoo. The other days we did exciting things like eye doctor and dentist appointments. We did make it to the movies and bowling and a few friend play dates. It was good that we didn't have any really big plans because Brigham was still getting over a week-long flu and had passed it to Brooke who had a fever for 5 straight days. At least Brigham had that week to do all of his make-up work from the school week before and I had Brittany home to help me with Brooke. I needed it with her screaming constantly. It's hard to be sick, but sometimes I think it's harder on those who aren't sick! The only time she wasn't yelling was when she was watching her favorite home video she calls "John" after her Uncle John. Too bad the part she likes is only about 12 minutes so our relief was always brief. All day long she would say "more John". (She is actually standing beside me right now whining "more John" over and over again. Although now she adds "Why?" to it when I don't respond.) We still don't understand her fascination with that video taken 6 years ago, but I'm not exaggerating when I say she has watched it hundreds of times.

at the zoo with our friends, the Griffiths

We were able to go to Cincinnati for Easter and be with 3 of my sisters and their families. Brooke was in heaven seeing so many cousins she "talks" about everyday. Her favorite people are the uncles and unfortunately Uncle Colby was finishing his final BYU classes and preparing for a skills competition with his BYU ROTC team at West Point so couldn't be there. Uncle Mike wasn't flying in until Saturday night. Uncle John was visiting my brother Grant's family in Washington DC, and Uncle Rick had to work most of the weekend. We joked to Barr that this is what polygamy would be like. He said he wasn't up for that! We did the annual egg hunt on Saturday morning and then spent the afternoon at the Red's game. Barr was making fun of me when I had told him they would be playing the New England Patriots. Patriots, Pirates, what's the difference? He knew long before he married me I wasn't a sports fan. Sunday morning the bunny came leaving a scavenger hunt of clues for the kids to find their baskets. Aunt Heather did a little too good of a job hiding special eggs around the yard with money in them. Even the adults were digging through mulch, reaching in prickly bushes, and climbing trees (OK maybe we didn't go that far) hoping to spot one. Aunt Marcia was the lucky finder of the $10 egg in the wood pile. Sometimes you have to be willing to get a little dirty!

Brooke is still terrified of the Easter Bunny so is making sure he's not around!

To be fair, I should probably say something about Brigham. All that comes to mind is the image of him pretending to be shooting things. Everything becomes a gun to him and everything is a target. We were playing Guesstures last night and the rest of the evening he carried the game's timing board around blowing up the house with it. Every car ride becomes a reinactment of World War II with the constant sound of machine guns going off from the back seat. His favorite gift from the Easter bunny was a new pistol that shoots blanks. I don't think the bunny knew how loud it was!

While Brigham is busy defending us from bad guys, Brittany is helping in other ways. When I was in the hospital, she kept a list of the names of everyone that helped our family and exactly what they brought over. When I was well enough to make it to the kitchen, she handed me the list and said it was so I would know who to write thank-you notes to. Of course she also made everyone cards complete with pictures of the things they brought. What would I do without her!

Brooke is starting to put 3 words together. Some of her common sentences are "More pizza please" (you can substitute pizza with cereal, cheese, or pretzels), "Bye Daddy work", "Mamma's house yea", and "hot bath Mitmey (Brittany)". Her ability to communicate is getting better all the time. But so are her preferences and wants and probably at a faster pace! When she's feeling really confident, she will walk up the stairs unassisted just using the railing, and she's even gone down a few times walking, not scooting. She's also running and side galloping and still making people smile everywhere she goes.

A teary goodbye to Max who is now happily living and barking with a retired couple

I should have given the balloon lady a bigger tip!

Taking care of Brittany's class pets for the weekend

Planting sunflower seeds at the Scotts spring family activity

After Brittany's choir performance at school

A very hard week

2009-04-03T10:51:00.002-04:00

This normally isn't something I would put as a blog entry, but there are enough of you that I want to tell that I felt this was the easiest way to do it. Plus, I feel like I need to write about it while it's fresh in my mind. I'll try not to make it too graphic, but I do want to tell it as it was.

Tuesday afternoon I went in for my normal 12-week doctor apt. assuming everything was fine. She was unable to find the heartbeat but assured me that sometimes happens and we should just go to ultrasound and have a look. Unfortunately the ultrasound showed that the baby had died several weeks ago. Of course that was something I wasn't prepared to hear. She explained my options of continuing to wait and see if my body will recognize what happened and take care of it on it's own, getting a prescription to speed that process along, or scheduling to have a D and C. With Brooke crying for more fruit snacks and to go home and with me crying I couldn't think straight so just went home to decide. I think I really didn't believe it since I still felt and looked so pregnant. And life just continues: kids have activities, therapists still come, dinner has to be made. When something like this happens, you think life should just stop, but it doesn't.

I decided Wednesday night to take the medicine to start the cramping and the whole process along, thinking that taking care of it at home would be the easiest thing. The bleeding started about 2:00 in the morning. For the first several hours I could handle it and still felt alright. Barr is such a good sleeper that he was unaware of what was going on. He left to go swim at 5:00, but I was in the bathroom so didn't know. By 5:30 I had taken a turn for the worse. I had lost so much blood that I was getting really weak. I would break into sweats and be drenched in minutes to then get the chills. I was too dizzy to stand and making it to the bathroom and back was one of the hardest things I've done. When Ben came in I asked him to try and call Barr to come home. Sweet Ben left 11 messages on Barr's phone! Either he didn't realize it was turned off, or was just in too much of a panic to know what else to do.

The next several hours are kind of a blur. I was too weak to move, not even being able to lift my head or an arm, but knew that every 30 minutes or so I had to get to the bathroom, I was just passing way too much blood and clots. Barr would carry me there, but sitting on the toilet would make me pass out. What a trooper to hold my body up with one arm so that I wouldn't fall on the floor, and do what he had to do with the other. I won't get too gross here, but I will say I am so grateful for a strong man physically that can hold me up so well and one that loves me enough to help me through this! He would then carry me back to bed where a few minutes later I would come to. He was getting scared after about the 6th time of watching my eyes roll to the back of my head and me going into convulsions before going limp. A few times he said I stopped breathing and would be completely white. He called my doctor who said to go to the ER. He didn't know how he was going to get me down the stairs and the thought of trying to sit in a car seemed impossible to me so he called 911 for an ambulance. It's too bad the kids were at school and missed the excitement! Barr picked up Brooke early and a wonderful friend from church, Teri Robertson, came to our home to stay with her. Brooke is still very scared of going to other people's homes or being around people she's not used to, but Teri plays with her every Sunday in nursery so Brooke was fine.

When the paramedics came they took my vitals and when they said something about blood pressure being 70 something over 40, they seemed to get a little anxious. They made two unsuccessful attempts at starting an IV with me in bed (I thank my grandmother for my weak veins) so just decided to get me into the ambulance. A firetruck brought some type of chair in to get me down the steps. I wish I had had enough energy to laugh because one of the paramedics kept calling me "nice lady". He would say, "Nice lady, now we're going to move you to the stretcher. Nice lady, now you're going to feel a sting. Nice lady, can you tell me your birthday?" etc...Barr followed us to the hospital where they spent the next few hours running tests, giving me lots of fluids and a blood transfusion. They finally decided that part of the placenta was still attached to the uterus wall and would require a D and C to remove it. Once it was all clean, the uterus should start to heal and the bleeding should slow.

The surgery was the easiest part of the whole process. Looking back, I should have just had that done from the beginning, but who knew? I was just so glad that my head didn't feel like I was in a tornado anymore and I was able to move again. It wasn't until the post-op nurse took my hand and told me she was sorry for our loss that the emotional part of the experience hit me. I was finally done with the physical pain and was able to feel the emotional loss. We are home now and healing well.

On Tuesday and Wednesday Brooke kept saying, "Mommy sad Baby died" and would run her finger down her cheek. She doesn't understand that there was a baby nor does she know what "died" means, but she knows that I don't cry very often. Now she keeps repeating "Mommy sick" over and over again. I'm sure she'll soon be able to say, "Mommy happy" and in the future, "Mommy baby" again.

We feel very loved with the emails, phone call, prayers, and food that has been shared with us. Thank you for your love and support.

Birthday Bash!

2009-02-06T06:43:00.016-05:00

No better way to escape the January winter blues then with a trip to Disney World! A few months ago we got the idea to celebrate the 3 older kids' birthdays with a trip to Florida. It had been 5 years since we had done the Disney thing and they are all at a perfect age to enjoy it. Brooke, on the other hand, is terrified of any dressed up character and any type of ride so it would be more like her worst nightmare. Barr's mom was willing to come out a little early for Brigham's baptism and stay with Brooke while the rest of us went to Florida. We enjoyed 80 degree weather while they had ice storms and were snowed in for 2 days here. Brooke got more one-on-one time than I think she's had in her entire life. And Barr's mom dressed more Barbies than she has in a few lifetimes!

My parents were able to join us for the first two days which always makes it seem more like a party. Sunday was our first full day there so we thought it would be nice to walk through a nature preserve to Alligator Lake. Had we clued in after about 20 minutes of walking and not seeing any other visitors or even any animal life we might have realized we should have turned around. But after a mile and a half into it, we learned we were only half-way to the lake. None of us had bothered reading the sign at the beginning of the trail indicating it was a 3 mile hike! We decided we had gone that far so might as well finish it, hoping there would be a shorter way back to the parking lot. After trudging through sand in the heat (some of us in our church clothes) we finally reached the lake only to find it was more like a marshy swamp with no alligators and no beach and more importantly, no shortcut back. We were out of water and energy but somehow managed to hike the 3 miles back. Walking 6 miles on sandy ground in the heat is no easy task for an almost 8-year-old and we were very proud of the kids. By this time it was 1:20 and the last church service started at 2:00. Our condo was 20 minutes away and then another 10 minutes to the church. If my feet weren't as black as coal and my baseball cap wet with sweat, we would have just gone straight to church and tried to hide in the back. But I took the advice of my great, great, great grandfather who said, "I am late, but I am clean!". Miraculously we weren't late and most of us got clean. The kids were even willing to forgo their much deserved Slurpees until after church.

Saying goodbye to my parents at the condo.

That night in the hot tub we were fortunate to meet Eddie. I started talking to him and asked if there was any way to get discount tickets to the parks. He said he could hook us up with 3 tickets for $50 a piece (saving us $90!). His grandmother works for Disney World and had a few family passes left. It would be hard to pass us off as Latino and Brittany was worried we would have to say we were his second cousins. Eddie said he would meet us in the parking lot the next morning at 8:00 to make the arrangements. We were still a little skeptical, but thought it was worth a try. We were really taking a chance when we had to pay him cash for the tickets and then follow him to Magic Kingdom. The boys were memorizing his license plate in case he "accidentally" lost us! Luckily he was good for his word and got us into the park like promised.

It was a perfect 10-year birthday for Brittany who was given a birthday button to wear. Every Disney worker that we passed wished her a happy birthday. The weather was perfect and the crowds were low. We used fast passes on anything with over a 15 minutes wait, but most were even shorter than that. We were able to do everything in the park (the boys drew the line at the princess make-overs though) at least once and some of our favorites multiple times.

We were up early again the next morning for another great day. This time it was Brigham's birthday and we spent it at Hollywood Studios. Right as they opened, we followed the crowd to the new Toy Story ride and loved it so much we immediately got a fast pass to ride it again later. That was the only ride that had more than just a few minute line. Brittany was intimidated with some of the bigger rides at first. She cried all through Hollywood Tower (formerly the Tower of Terror) but then once it was over realized it wasn't that bad and ended up riding it several more times! We talked her into going on Rockin' roller coaster too, but her nerves got the better of her once it was time to get on. After the boys came off of it laughing and wanting to do it again, she agreed to give it another try. That too became a favorite.

We were pretty exhausted by Wednesday so decided just to hang around the condo, go swimming, and then spend a few hours walking around Downtown Disney to finish our souvenir shopping. It's no surprise that Brigham ended up with 2 guns, Ben, a Lego video game, and Brittany, earrings, t-shirt, hat, and souvenir pins.

It was a little shocking to return home to single digit temperatures. Barr almost lost a few fingers at the airport trying to crack off an inch and a half thick layer of ice that covered our van. The kids were a little bummed that they had missed 2 snow days, but that just meant they were ahead of everyone when they returned to school.

Saturday was another special day, Brigham's baptism. We were glad Barr's dad, my parents, Bev, and the Edwards made the trip to be here for that. We were sad to learn that my sister, Laurel's father-in-law had passed away the night before. We missed them, and are sorry for their loss. It was a very nice service with many of our friends and neighbors here in the Dublin area able to join us and help make it a special day for Brigham.

Brigham's big day

Brooke had fun smiling at everyone!

Merry Christmas 2008

2008-12-19T20:02:00.011-05:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Yes, I chose the lazy way out this year and opted for a Christmas blog instead of mailing out letters. I know it's not as much fun as opening up that envelope, but it simplified my life a little!

If you have kept up on reading our blog updates throughout the year, you probably have a good idea of what we've been up to. If you haven't, you can always go back and catch up! So as our Christmas edition, we made a crossword puzzle as a test to see how well you know the Hill's 2008.

Click here for the 2008 Hill Family Crossword Puzzle! You may need to click on output choice #3 on the left side of the page to view.

It's guaranteed to be more fun than taking down the Christmas tree.

Lots of Love,

Barr, Becky, Ben, Brittany, Brigham, Brooke

DON'T SCROSS DOWN UNLESS YOU NEED HELP ON THE CROSSWORD PUZZLE!

Answers to the Cross Word Puzzle Questions:

Across
5 Location of Barr and Becky's 13th anniversary get-away vacation CANCUN
7 City Ben traveled to with a school group this summer BOSTON
8 Most recent name of Barr's work band DEAD FIRE ANTS
11 Our family reunion centered around this pageant HILL CUMORAH
15 Brittany's favorite place to go PET STORE
16 What Brooke wants to play with Brittany every day BARBIES
17 Favorite Video Game ROCK BAND
18 Ben's new passion GUITAR

Down

1 Becky's new calling at church DEN MOTHER
2 Name of Becky's business MARKET AMERICA
3 Number of triathlons Barr competed in this year FOUR
4 Brigham's favorite thing to do at recess FOOTBALL
6 Brittany's favorite swimming stroke FREESTYLE
9 Ben's favorite merit badge earned at scout camp CLIMBING
10 Brooke's favorite word to say WHY
12 The only child still taking piano lessons BRIGHAM
13 Newest Member of the family to get glasses BROOKE
14 The item Brigham broke eight times GLASSES
15 Name of Brittany's pet guinea pig PUDDY

Catching you up on the Hill Happenings

2008-12-04T18:41:00.000-05:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year...so I've been hearing on the continuous Christmas music radio station since before Thanksgiving! I love that it's December, but that means I'm a few months behind on updating our blog. I'll just hit on a few of the high-lights.

The first weekend in October I drove back to Indiana for our annual Ya Ya get-a-way. We had a wonderful girls weekend in Brown County, shopping, hanging out in the cabin, horse back riding, talking around the camp fire. I am grateful for dear friends and a loving husband who lets me get away once in a while!

The next weekend, Barr's band had a gig at the Scotts party held at the zoo. It was a perfect night to dance around outside to the music, even if our family was the only one dancing! A few members of the audience probably mistook us for the monkey exhibit, but I don't work with these people, so I don't care if they think we are crazy! Lately the band has been working on some Christmas music to play at the Holiday party. I think the drummer may even come out from behind the drums and sing a little.

Ben went on the 6th grade Outdoor Adventure camp. I would love to tell you about it, but the only information I got out of him was "It was good", a typical 11-year-old boy answer. Something he will talk about all day long is music. It's funny how he knows more about bands in the 80's than I do. He's also really gotten into writing music. He writes a few songs a week. They are mostly just lyrics, but some he has added a guitar part. I am impressed at how serious the songs are, very well thought out. I see this passion only growing as he gets better at the guitar. Barr might soon have to add him to the band!

Brittany finally had her dream come true of being the owner of a guinea pig. We were a little nervous at how Max would react to it after hearing horror stories of dogs eating pet hamsters. Luckily, Max loves him. He gives him more attention than Brittany does! Puddy is very cute and well behaved, but poops more than I think is humanly possible...then again he's not human. Brittany is still swimming a lot. I can't imagine swimming for 90 minutes like they do at practice. I'm glad it's her and not me!

Brigham's happiest day of the year came on November 23rd when the elves arrived back from the North Pole. He has carried his elf, Holly, around with him ever since. The elves brought their baby sister, Mary, for Brooke this year.

After a few years of not wearing any corrective lenses, Brooke got glasses again. Her prescription isn't too bad, but she has a stigmatism in both eyes that need to be corrected. She's doing pretty good at keeping them on, although once in a while we see them fly across the kitchen table. We're hoping they will help with her balance. Her talking is really coming along. She is starting to say 2 words together, but only with prompting. She still stops everyone we see and greets them with a big smile and a loud "hi". It took 5 minutes at each door trick-or-treating because she would stand there waving and saying "hi" over and over again. Then as Barr would be dragging her down the driveways she would be turning around to wave and say "bye, bye". Yesterday we saw a man walking 2 dogs and I said, "Brooke, look at the dogs." She totally suprised me by saying, "two dogs". I almost started to cry! That was the first time she counted something on her own and then verbalized it. Not only that, she said both words together. I wanted to buy her a frosty!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving down in Cincinnati. Three of my siblings came with their families making 26 people in all so we had 2 house fulls! One of my favorite things to do is the early morning black Friday shopping with my sisters. This was the first year there were Thanksgiving morning sales too, so we had 2 early mornings in a row. The deals weren't that great this year, but it was still fun to be out at 4:00 with all the other crazies! By Friday afternoon I was pretty wasted, but the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular woke me up. It was a great way to start our Christmas holiday and we all enjoyed it even though Ben won't admit it! I was happy that even with all the Santa and reindeer hoopla, they also represented the birth of the Savior and the visit from the wise men. It set a nice tone for our nephew, Adam's, baptism that evening.

Saturday afternoon we drove my grandfather back to his home in Danville, Indiana. It was nice that he was willing to spend Thanksgiving with all the chaos of great-grandchildren! We took advantage of being close to Fishers so visited with our friends, the Andersen's and the Field's there that night. We had to cut our trip short because Brittany was coughing all night and feeling sick in the morning. Thankfully the throwing up didn't start until an hour after we got home. I've had someone home sick every day this week. That's why it's taken me until Thursday to get this update written!

Stay tuned for our Christmas blog edition....

Love
The Hill's

Hurricanes in Ohio?

2008-09-21T18:37:00.001-04:00

I sat down at the computer last Sunday evening to finally get our August blog written when our power went out. Who would have thought we could be affected by hurricanes here in central Ohio? The wind storm with gusts up to 80 miles per hour lasted for several hours, knocking power out for most parts of the state. Thankfully ours was back on in only 8 hours, but there were still enough places in the dark to cancel school for a few days. Monday we spent all morning cleaning up the debris around the yard. We fared better than a lot of neighbors who lost some big trees. Ours was mostly just cleaning up branches, pinecones, leaves, and a Barbie that had been stuck in a tree for several weeks finally was shaken free! The rest of the week we had beautiful weather and it almost felt like summer vacation again!

Brooke turned 4 on August 13th! Brittany had decided that we should have a Dora party for her. Because she is still nervous around other kids, we kept it to just our family and were so grateful that my parents and Bev, a friend of theirs from Cincinnati, drove over for the evening. We spent some time enjoying the pool before having pizza and cake back at our house. Brooke loved opening up her new photo albums filled with family pictures and playing with her magnet pictures of her extended family. Her siblings had bought her some new Barbies and accessories since one of her favorite things to do is to watch Brittany dress them and organize them into families. They have given all of the dolls names of family and friends that Brooke knows so it's fun to have her tell us who they all are. And I love being a Barbie!

The icing on the cake was a concert put on my Barr and Jared Halley in our family room. They were rehearsing for a recording they had the following night, but we were grateful to hear their practice performance. What made it even better was that Brooke was finally able to dance again after not being able to put any weight on her right foot for over 2 weeks. She had fallen down the stairs and must have pulled or strained something. We went in 3 different times for X-rays trying to figure out what was wrong, but never found anything. After 2 weeks of carrying her everywhere, I was pretty glad she could walk again! That was the best birthday present!

We had to get a cousin swap in before the summer was over so my parents left Adam with us and took Ben back to Cincinnati with them for the week. It worked out perfectly since we had one of Brittany's friends stay with us for 4 days as well while her parents were out of town. It's nice when everyone has a friend!

I even got to see some of my friends in Indiana last month. Barr was doing a sprint triathlon at Eagle Creek State Park with Sid Norton, a good friend from Fishers, so it was a nice excuse to take the family back for a visit. We had a great time hanging out with the Fields, our old next door neighbors, and going to the pool with the Andersens and the rest of the gang. We really felt loved, so thanks guys! Barr had a good race although he swam a little further than he had to so was a little disappointed in his time for that part of the event.

That was a fun way to end summer with school starting the next morning. Ben had told us numerous times to say goodbye to him because he was sure he was going to die on the first day of middle school! He was convinced he would get lost having to change classrooms or end up getting stuffed in a locker. No surprise to anyone but himself when he came home the first day almost smiling. I even convinced (he would say forced) him to go to the school dance/activity last Friday night. It was fun to see him worry about what to wear like he's almost starting to care about that stuff. Even though we told him most people would just be wearing what they wore to school, he really wanted to wear his pink dress shirt. His nerves were so evident in the car as he kept adjusting his sleaves and putting his colar up and down, trying to get the perfect look. It was hard for me to watch him walk up to the large mass of kids hanging outside the school waiting for the doors to open and see him trying to find a friend. I couldn't leave until I saw him find someone to talk to and of course his first question was why was Ben so dressed up! I am so glad I'm not in middle school anymore! He said he had fun but played air hockey the entire time. He didn't even make it into the gym where the dance was! We won't have to worry about him and dating for a while!

That first week of school they had a 4-day weekend so Barr's parents flew out to celebrate Labor Day and Barr's birthday with us. We took advantage of them entertaining our kids and Barr and I went out both Friday and Saturday nights. We had a few movies to get caught up on! Saturday was Ohio State's first home football game so we enjoyed short lines at the Zoombezi Bay Water Park. I had always just been with Brooke in the lazy river, the wave pool, or the kiddie area and had gotten out of riding any of the water slides all summer. With Grandma there to watch Brooke for a little while, Brittany dragged me on what she said was the calmest ride. Somehow motherhood has made me a chicken and I screamed the entire way down. Shooting down backwards in a pitch-black tunnel of terror is not my idea of fun! I haven't seen Brittany laugh that hard in a long time!

Some other things Barr's parents did with us: They got to hear his other band perform at a pool party of one of the guitarists, Mike Muczyk. We said goodbye to a fun summer at the pool by enjoying several hours there on Labor Day and then having a cook out at our neighbor's complete with a water balloon toss, which turned into a water war! They got to see Brooke get on the bus for her first day of preschool this year. I think Brooke had thought school was over for good and it took her several days to get comfortable going again. That evening we had a little birthday party for Barr and we celebrated Brooke's again too since his parents weren't there for the first one. And to celebrate the kids back in school, Barr's mom treated me to my first pedicure. Brittany was pretty sad she couldn't come along so I promised her I would give her one later. The day after the grandparents left though I tripped over Max on the stairs, smashed the bowl I was carrying against the wall and cut my hand open. It's finally now healed enough that I could give her that pedicure, but I'm hoping she has forgotten about it!

One of Barr's birthday presents was tickets to the stage production, The Lion King, so he kindly took me with him. I was surprised at how closely the Broadway show follows the movie, like almost word for word. It was funny how most of the older people there were laughing at the jokes like they were hearing them for the first time. We realized they, unlike those of us who have the movie memorized, probably were.

Now that it's fall, soccer season is in full swing. While Brigham's first two games haven't been victories, he's still having fun. He's playing football everyday at recess so wants me to sign him up for that next year instead of soccer.

We bought the boys an electric guitar and Ben has started guitar lessons. They are hoping to get good enough to start a family band. If the Jonas Brothers can do it, why not us? Maybe there is something good coming from all those hours of playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero!

Brittany started swim team this week. It looks like her love for swimming has replaced gymnastics...at least for now.

Barr is in Virginia right now participating in the Big Lick Triathlon so I'm sure he will be writing a blog entry about that soon. He enters the water in 23 minutes....go Barr!

July, 2008

2008-08-06T16:39:00.000-04:00

I'm only 6 days late getting out my July update. I think I'm like the kids and am in denial that it's really August already. None of us are ready to admit in a few weeks summer is over.

The big highlight for July was the McAllister family reunion. We spent a week up in Sodus Point, New York, on Lake Ontario. With 19 kids and 14 adults to accommodate, my parents had rented 2 houses...the "Big House" and the "Little House" aka the "Prozac House". The Big House was where you would go if you wanted all the excitement and chaos that 19 cousins can bring, and the Little House is where you would often find Grandma and Grandpa reading a book or taking a nap!

The girls got the loft and they came up with quite a punishment if any boy came up!

It was a nonstop party with everyday being a different holiday. Some of the highlights were: an Easter egg hunt, Christmas in July where everyone got to open a present from my parents, a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, a big birthday party (on my actual birthday) complete with a pinata and white elephant gift exchange, and the 4th of July celebration with water balloon games and the traditional flag waving parade. Every morning the kids would wake up and ask what holiday it was. We packed a whole year of celebrating into one week!

We also had some very neat spiritual experiences during the week. On Sunday morning we drove to Great Bend, Pennsylvania, where our nephew, James, was baptized in the Susquehanna River by his father. It was the same place where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdry baptized each other. My Uncle Brad, who was the Stake President of the area, showed us the exact spot that President Kimball said John the Baptist had appeared to them and restored the Aaronic Priesthood. It was a beautiful peaceful area and I think made a neat memory for all of us. The rain that they had forecast even held off until after our picnic lunch, but it made the 3 hour drive back a little scary.

the branch meeting house

Just wait boys, your turn is coming!

John and James (where's Peter?)

Cousin Brian, Barr, Grant, John, James, Uncle Brad, Rick, Colby, Dad

We spent one day touring the church history sites at Palmyra. They have added quite a bit to it since the last time we were there about 11 years ago. The kids were really good during the tour guides' descriptions of the Smith family homes and the Book of Mormon printing site. We were having a little too much fun though in the sacred grove so decided to divide into families to continue our walk through it. No one said a word for 15 minutes which seems like an impossible feat for our group!

Cousins in the Sacred Grove

Another day we took turns going to the Palmyra temple. Our grandfather had prepared dozens of family names for us to take. Several cousins did baptisms in the morning, and then the adults split up the other ordinances in the afternoon. There was one name in particular that Barr had a powerful witness that he was there and accepting the work. It was a neat experience for him and a wonderful testimony of temple work!

Colby, Heather, Grant, Anna, Becky, Laurel, Dad

That evening we drove back to Palmyra for the Hill Cumorah pageant. Our cousin, Megan, was in it this year, so it was fun to see her before the show. It is so well done that I was glad I was able to stay awake for the entire thing this time! Our kids didn't quite make it, but hopefully got something out of it before exhaustion took over.

Here are some other fun memories of the week:

Laurel teaching us Zumba in the front yard of the Big House. It was great because the little cousins got into it as much as us old parents. The music was pretty loud and we hoped the neighbors didn't mind, but later they commented on how much they enjoyed watching the exercise class. It reminded us all of Dan in Real Life!

Unfortunately the part of the lake we were on didn't have the nicest water. Many of the days the beach was actually closed because of high levels of E Coli! Barr didn't seem to mind though and enjoyed several early morning swims (If you look real closely at the picture, the dot in the water is him!). The girls and I would walk down with him and skip rocks or count the dead fish while he swam. Brittany wanted me to buy an air freshener to take with us!

There was a beautiful light house we could see from our front porch. There is nothing quite as serene as a lighthouse at sunrise. If we didn't know where someone was, chances were pretty good they were on a walk to the light house.

You can't have a reunion without shopping, so one evening all of the sisters and a few nieces went to the outlet mall. We were having so much fun that they had to kick us out of the stores at closing time. One store was nice enough to let us back in after knocking on the window promising that we would make it fast.

Uncle Colby was persuaded to use his army skills and have a mini boot camp for the cousins. As an expecting first time dad, being around 19 nieces and nephews for a week, we thought he would enjoy getting tough with them! And by that point, all the moms needed a little discipline exercised. He did a great job drilling them and marching them, and putting up with their whining and snide comments. I'm not sure any of them would make it in the army, but it made for a fun activity.

One day we drove down to the finger lakes and took a ferry ride. We could see why the homes there are some of the most expensive lake front properties in the country...it was beautiful. Many of us were wishing we were out on the motor boats skiing instead of on the ferry watching!

Barr was able to keep up on his triathlon training by bringing some bikes along with us. He took Ben and Bradley on a 15 miler one day...one step closer to earning the biking merit badge. And a few mornings he and I were able to go for a run and enjoy the sticky humidity of upstate New York!

On our drive home we stayed a night in Kirtland so we could tour the many sites there on Sunday. The flu bug that had hit a few of us during the week got me that morning. I felt pretty miserable but was still able to go on the tour of the Visitors' center, the temple quarry, the Newel K. Whitney store, the Whitney home, and the Sawmill and Ashery. The Church has done such a good job at building Kirtland up and restoring that historic village. We were going to do the temple tour, but we arrived at the same time as 2 tour buses of Spanish visitors. We decided to drive to the Johnson Farm instead of hearing it in Spanish. We learned that the Community of Christ's operating hours aren't quite as long as the Church's and we couldn't make it back to the temple in time for their final tour. I wasn't too disappointed because I wasn't sure I was up to anymore touring that day. I was grateful to be able to just sit and rest for the drive home.

That wraps up the family reunion update...now for the rest of July if you're up to it!

We have been fortunate enough to have a few visitors. My sister, Laurel and her family drove down for the 4th of July weekend. They arrived just in time for John to help Barr put a new grill together for dinner. Then we had perfect seats in the front yard of the church for the Dublin fireworks show. The last of the sparklers were fizzing out as the first fireworks went off.

Lining up to march in the Dublin parade. It was cold and rainy and now I appreciate the saying "Don't rain on my parade!".

The next morning she talked me into doing a cycle class and a Zoomba class at the gym. She teaches both of those in Michigan and enjoys getting new ideas. I felt a little self conscious swinging my hips around and shaking my booty, but she makes it look so natural and easy. I think I'll be sticking with Boot Camp and Body Sculpting! We then spent the afternoon at the pool getting the kids worn out so we could have a movie night.

Then last weekend our good friends, the Andersen's, from Indiana came over. We love when they visit because everyone has a buddy and they just go off and play. They even brought their new dog so Max had a friend to play with! They were good sports to try the Dublin Irish festival with us. We realized too late that it would have been better to do it without kids. After an hour everyone was ready to go back home. We had a contest to see who could count the most cups of beer on the way out. I was glad when Brigham asked me what beer looked like. I lost count after only a few minutes. I guess that's how the Irish party.

Ben was able to go to Boston with a school group for 4 days in July. There were about 35 students that took a big charter bus up to Niagara Falls the first day and then over to Boston. They did the Freedom Trail Tour, the Old North Church Tour, the Paul Revere House Tour, the Duck Tour, the Harvard Tour, the Buckman Tavern Tour, Bunker Hill, the Plimoth Plantation Tour, and the Mayflower II tour. I asked Ben what they did when he got home and all he said was, "We went to Wendy's"! I think for him the highlights were swimming at the hotel, mini golf, movies on the bus, and of course eating out for 4 days. He had been earning money for several months to have some spending cash for souvenirs. He was so excited to show us all what he had bought for us. He wouldn't let anyone open their gift until everyone was awake and that happened to be the one morning that Brigham decided to sleep in until almost 9:00! It was torture, but worth the wait.

I know this is long, but I forgot to mention Barr's big concert debut. He performed at an outdoor arena with Jared Haley, the next big musical talent just waiting to be discovered! I'll leave it at that and hope that Barr can attach some footage that I took so you can see for yourself how awesome it was. Jared even let him do a drum solo which was pretty impressive. I had never heard him practice that so I'm not sure if he just ad libbed it or what.

Until next month...
Becky

2008 Flag City Tri

2008-07-06T15:44:00.000-04:00

On June 14, 2008 I participated in the Flag City Triathlon held in Findley, Ohio. It was my second attempt at an Olympic distance race. The swim was 1.5K, the bike was a little shorter than most races at that distance at 35K (most are 40K), and the run was 10K.

My friend, Ron Thomas, participated with me. He and his wife, Heather, and I drove up to Findley the night before. As we did so, we encountered storms that were close to severe in intensity with major lightning and thunder. All during the night I could hear the storms roll through the area. The rain continued to fall as I got up early to eat breakfast and begin getting things ready for the race. By the time we left the hotel at 6 am the rain had subsided, but the roads were very wet and the sky was cloudy. Things were still overcast when the race started at 8 am.

The swim was organized differently than last year. Last year, this race was a sprint distance only and they had all the participants enter the water all at once (over 100 people). This year, they had both sprint and Olympic distances and they started by age group. I only had to enter the water with 20 or so people. It wasn't nearly as chaotic and I didn't fear for my life like last time!

The swim course was two big loops. As I was coming back on the first loop, I noticed a swimmer to my right that had been right next to me for quite some time. I was able to let him pass me slightly and then I slipped in behind him. Ron and I had been practicing drafting behind each other while swimming in a local lake, so I felt comfortable drafting behind this person for the rest of the race. When we were about 100 meters from the end I noticed that the person I was following was drifting off to the left away from the finish, so I left him and ended up beating him out of the water by about 15 seconds. He later passed me on the bike and ended up finishing in the top three overall for the race. He was a very strong cyclist and runner. I felt fortunate to be able to hang with him during the swim portion of the race.

The race organizers didn't capture transition times, unfortunately, so I don't know exactly how good my transition times were, but I felt very good about them. Everything went according to plan. When I got on my bike, I was able to begin my hydration plan and I felt the best I ever have during both the bike and run portions of the race. In the previous race I did at this distance I hit a wall during the run and had to walk a lot during the last half of the run. I was able to maintain a run pace throughout the run, albeit slower than I normally would run during a training run.

The courses for both the ride and run were very flat. My friend Ron passed me at around the 15 mile point on the bike. I felt good that I was able to maintain a lead for that long. He is a very strong cyclist and runner and ended up finishing in the top 10 overall. I had a respectable finish at 21st overall and 5th in my age group. I felt good about how I had trained and that I was able to perform on race day. I haven't decided what race I'm going to do next. I'm considering one in August in Indiana, but will definitely do the one in Virginia again in September. I need to redeem myself from last year. :P

Here's my times from Flag City:

Swim - 1.5K - 25.31 min
Bike - 35K - 1 hour 6 min (I don't believe this "official" time...I think they included the transition times in the bike time. The time from my bike computer was a couple of minutes faster)
Run - 10K - 52 .01 min

Total time: 2 hours 24 min

And some pictures from the race...

Coming out of the water and heading to T1

Not a very good shot, but the only one of my on the bike

The sun came out during the run and started to warm things up

Hanging on during the run

More shots on the run...I think I was a bit numb in the brain by this point in the race! :P

Here's my friend Ron...looking strong on the run!

June Update

2008-06-29T18:19:00.000-04:00

Brigham and I were just enjoying a nice cool rain on the screened in porch when he said, "Why has it rained every day so far this summer?" While it really hasn't rained every day, in his mind it has. We've gotten caught in it a few times at the pool or the park. And yesterday Scott's had their company picnic at Zoombezi Bay, a new water park next to the zoo, and after only going down 2 water slides the storm blew in, blowing us out! I had to remind Brigham that we still have 2 months of summer break left and it will get hot and dry...I hope.

I was worried that I made a big mistake when Ben and Brittany came home from the first day of swim team in tears saying they almost died and I was torturing them. I tried to convince them that it would get easier and once it was warmer than 60 degrees they might even enjoy it! They agreed to finish out the week and then we'd make a decision if they could quit. Honestly I wasn't sure that I could handle another day of their nonstop complaining about it so I was very relieved when Ben came home the second day almost smiling and Brittany ran in the door saying she absolutely loved it! It has been a lot of work, but it's also been a good experience for them.

You can check out their blog but it might be hard to know if it's them in some of the pictures since they all look similar in their suits! The site is: http://muirfieldmuirfins.blogspot.com/

I felt bad for Ben the first meet. He had a terrible sunburn from an end of the year 5th grade pool party; he had slept on his neck funny and couldn't move his head; and for some reason his team swimsuit hadn't come in yet even though we had ordered it back in April! So he was at a little bit of a disadvantage not being able to turn his head and having his baggy swim trunks that Barr says are like swimming while pulling a parachute (but that's from the man that shaves his legs before his swimming races!). He survived that only to miss the next 4 meets because of scout camp and an ear infection. We're hoping these last 2 weeks will be positive enough for him to want to do it again next year.

Ben wasn't planning on attending scout camp because he's not 12 yet, but when one of the boys had to back out at the last minute, and Barr had to be there the whole week since they couldn't get enough Dads to go, he said Ben could come along. Again, timing wasn't the best for him, getting an ear infection the first day and having to come home for a day. After getting on some antibiotics he was able to go back. He had fits of intense pain off and on the rest of the week, but was still able to enjoy many of the activities and complete 6 merit badges. The last night, during a special campfire program each of the directors of the camp recognized a handful of scouts that they felt best exemplified the scouting spirit. Ben was 1 of 3 scouts in the entire camp recognized by the directors of the climbing area of the camp.

The highlight of the month for Brittany and Brigham was getting eyeglasses. I had never seen anyone so excited about going to the eye doctor as Brigham was. He had been counting down the days for weeks. It was like Christmas. That should have been a clue to me that he needed glasses, but you still feel awful as a parent when your child sits down in the chair and can't read any of the letters on the wall except for the big "E"! And then the doctor turns to you and asks "And he's playing baseball?". Brittany's vision wasn't quite that bad, but they did recommend she also get glasses. She doesn't wear hers all the time...only when she's trying to make a fashion statement!

We laugh that Brooke is the only one in our family that doesn't wear glasses (unless you count from 10 months to 2 years-old). We're hoping our defective vision gene was one that got deleted on her chromosome 9! She has gotten used to the summer routine easily. She likes having more time to play Barbies with Brittany and she loves the pool. She has outgrown the baby pool and now only wants to stand in the big pool where the water is up to her chin. She still will only play with her watering can, filling it and pouring it out on her hand over and over again. I learned the hard way to never leave that home! She doesn't understand "Mommy forgot it". She also doesn't understand why she has to get out of the pool when they blow the whistle for adult swim. I am usually all for following the rules, but when I'm struggling with a 15 minute tantrum and everyone has to suffer through it, I think what harm would it do to just let her stand in the water? Hopefully I didn't offend any former lifeguards with that comment!

We're pretty excited that there is now a deletion 9q.34 website forum. There are about 30 families registered on it from all over the world. It's been good to read about the other children and compare and contrast them with Brooke. I am often reminded how lucky we are that she is so healthy! You need to get permission from the administrator to access the site, but if any of you would be interested just let me know.

I think I've written too much already so I'll have to do a Barr and Becky update next month. I'm sure you can't wait!

Love,
Becky

Ben's fifth grade award, "The Resident Professor"

Brittany as Thomas Jefferson

Brooke saying goodbye to her bus drivers

Happy Memorial Day!

2008-05-26T16:31:00.000-04:00

That's always the sign that summer's here...and that racing season is in full swing! Surprisingly I've actually participated with Barr in 2 of the 3 races in the last month. Don't get too excited; they were just the easy runs that I raced in. I was able to go and cheer him on though again this year at the triathlon at Miami University. That had been his first tri last year, and he was so much better prepared this time. Having the right equipment, a better feel for nutrition and hydration, knowing how to cut time in transitions and of course a year of training all made this race very successful and fun for him. He finished strong and smiling, and I had to laugh when the first thing he said to me was that he was sorry for enjoying it so much because that just means many more to come!

It made for a fun weekend for the kids too. My mom had brought a few cousins and met us at our hotel in Oxford where the kids enjoyed swimming before she took them all home with her for the night. We didn't think they would want to get up at 5:00 in the morning with us. Maybe when they're a little older they can help cheer on their crazy dad!

We were back in Cincinnati 2 weeks later for the Flying Pigs 10 K race. We had originally signed up for that one thinking it would be a another fun excuse to go visit our family down there. Unexpected things come up, like Barr being called into the bishopric, and plans change. His parents were so good to fly out again (after just being here the previous month) to help out with that ordination. There were enough fun things going on that they decided to stay for 10 days to get in on as much of the action as they could. They were able to take the kids to the Elementary School Festival while Barr and I drove in the pouring rain to Cincinnati. Luckily it was just a cool drizzle the next morning at the beginning of the race, and had completely stopped by the end. It was a different atmosphere running past people with pig tails (not the braids in the hair but actual curly pink tails pinned onto their shorts) and pig noses and hats then the atmosphere 2 weeks later at the Komen Race for the Cure in Columbus where we were running passed people with the names of cancer survivors and victims on their shirts.

In Barr's other spare time he has really been enjoying playing the drums in his work band. They have been the entertainment at a couple of work functions. Brooke and I snuck into the Scotts' "Sacrifice to the Weather gods" party so we could see them perform. Here's a video of their band playing. I was really impressed at how well they sounded up on stage, much better than in the basement. I think Barr's going to put some footage on this blog if you want to listen.

Kid update...

Ben is trying to earn his biking merit badge. While he likes riding his bike around the neighborhood, he hasn't really learned yet to enjoy the longer rides, especially not the 25 milers. He's dreading the big 50 mile one coming up and doesn't believe Barr when he tries to assure him that no one has ever died biking 50 miles...not yet anyway! He's still addicted to the Wii, so I'm just hoping there's a college scholarship for Guitar Hero! Ben also had his final orchestra concert for the year. What a difference a few months makes. The kids made a lot of improvement from the first concert before Christmas to their last one of the year.

Brittany is excited for summer vacation. She recently had her awards day for school. She received a "three in one" award - the "Optimism, Work Ethic, and Learning" award. Apparently her teacher felt she best exemplified all three attributes this year in school. We are very proud of Brittany.

Brigham has started baseball. We've realized that most boys begin before they are 7, so he's had a little catching up to do, but Barr's had fun helping him. I was laughing at the first practice scrimmage when he was on first base and didn't know he was supposed to run when the batter hit the ball. Everyone was running passed him and he was looking around clueless! That just reminded me how we often take for granted that kids know certain things like that you need to run to second base! He's getting it. Here's a link to a video of Brigham playing ball. At 1st grade awards he received the "Best Team Player" and wasn't sure what that meant since you don't play baseball at school. His teacher told me he's the nicest kid she's had. He's always looking out for the underdog and if there's ever someone that doesn't have a partner he always volunteers to be with them. Of course Brittany then said that he learned that from her!

Brooke is talking so well. She now tries to imitate lots of words and loves saying them. Her favorite is still people and she has an incredible memory for their names. She definitely didn't get that from me. She talks about Mia and Abbey from school ALL THE TIME! I don't know if she really likes them or just that their names are easy to say. She also loves to say Hi to everyone she sees. At a meeting with the school therapists they told us she is like a movie star at school...all the kids know her and want to say hello. That's the benefit of having 3 older siblings at the same school. It takes them 10 minutes to walk down the hall because she has to wave and smile at everyone. It's also cute how she raises her hand and says "me, me" whenever we ask who wants something or does she want to go somewhere. She's also doing stairs all by herself now!

Which superhero are you?

2008-05-04T10:00:00.000-04:00

Barr's superhero status. My sister Emily had this on her blog so I decided to try it. Here's what the site says for me.

You are The Flash
Fast, athletic and flirtatious.

The Flash 70%

Iron Man 69%

Hulk 65%
Green Lantern 55%
Batman 50%
Robin 45%

Spiderman 30%
Superman 25%

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

Springtime Fun

2008-04-16T15:15:00.000-04:00

Even though it's only the middle of April, Easter seems so long ago. Oh wait, that's because it was so long ago! I'm sure whoever came up with the calendaring system of determining Easter didn't live in central Ohio. Our community egg hunt was scheduled for the same day as the Dublin St. Patrick's Day Parade. First of all, that's not fair to squeeze 2 holidays into the same month, let alone the same weekend! And then what about decorations? Do you hang up your green WELCOME clover on the front door or your Every Bunny's Welcome sign? Anyway, the Egg Hunt was canceled of course because of the cold, wet weather (Hello, it's March!), but we didn't know that until Barr had gotten all the kids ready and over there. To help ease their disappointment, after a trip to Wendy's they came home and did an indoor egg hunt. Brittany probably enjoyed that more anyway...organizing all the candy and coins into the right eggs and coming up with all the rules. They actually had so much fun, we had several more indoor egg hunts over the next few weeks. I'm sure we'll still be finding eggs into midsummer.

That weekend I had 2 good friends from Indiana drive over for a visit. It was fun having a girl's night out and then a whole Saturday to do some shopping. They had a little better driving weather than Brittany and I had the weekend before. The business I joined was having a training in Indianapolis. It was the perfect excuse for me to see some old friends. I didn't realize that when the weather men said a winter blizzard was coming, they really meant a blizzard. Brittany and I woke up really early Saturday morning knowing it might be a little slow at first. We could barely get out of our subdivision, but I was sure the main roads would be better. Then we could barely make it to the freeway, but I was sure those would be clearer. Once we were that far, I couldn't even see any of the exits to get off, or I would have. It was a complete white out. The only way I knew where the road was was to stay behind a semi. We went about 20 miles an hour for at least the first hour or two. We couldn't even pull over at the rest stops and knock the frozen ice off the windshield wipers because they were all blocked by semi trucks. We just prayed the whole way that we wouldn't die (and that Brittany wouldn't have to use the bathroom!). Once we crossed the border into Indiana, the snow stopped and we could see the road. It took us way too long to get there as usual, but we were grateful we made it safely. Brittany had a great time playing with her best friends and I had fun after my training catching up with my best friends!

Everything in Columbus had closed down for the weekend because of the Blizzard of '08, so the boys (and Brooke) spent a lot of time honing their skills on guitar hero. Barr finally gave into their pleas to make a video of them and post it on Youtube. You can check it out at the following site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F30o-GZ5X1E

And while you're at it, you can also watch a video of Barr and his work band at the following site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-vbQNFY7J0

Barr has always regretted selling his drum set after high school, but last weekend his dream came true when he finally bought a new one. Brittany likes telling her friends that her dad is in a rock band!

Easter weekend was a fun trip down to Cincinnati to see lots of cousins. Brooke added several more name signs to her vocabulary. The township there always puts on a really big egg hunt, so we were hopeful that wouldn't be canceled too, but because of cold, wet weather again, they moved it indoors. Instead of an egg hunt it was an egg hand out! Pretty lame! Becky's mom, Marilyn, stated it was the Pike Township Socialist Egg Hunt.

That was the beginning of our Spring Break. Barr and I took advantage of his parents willingness to fly out and watch our kids for the week so we took off to Cancun where it was beautiful and 80 degrees every day! It was the most relaxing week of our lives. When we were there 8 years ago, we did a lot of the excursions, wanting to explore the islands, go snorkeling, tour the ancient ruins. This time we just wanted to lay on the beach, read, and drink Pina Coladas! And so that's what we did! We did venture down to the flea market one day where we learned how deceiving some Mexicans selling their wares can be. After bartering back and forth on several souvenir items, we went back to the hotel to find that the prices at the gift shop were even less than what they had promised was the best price in all of Mexico!

We stayed at the Omni Resort, which was all inclusive, so enjoyed a little too much food and drinks. But Barr was really good to still keep up on his triathlon training. He would be the first one in the pool in the mornings and then we would often go running on the beach. It looked a lot different than the last time we had been there because of the devastating storms several years back. The beach is much shorter and all the resorts have built up big walls. We were trying to find the place we stayed last time, and we ran by it 5 times before finally finding it! Everything is either brand new or still in construction.

The kids had a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa who did such a fantastic job. I was a little concerned with how Brooke would react to us not being home for so long, but whenever she seemed to be missing us, she would just ask for "Pa Pa" and sitting on Grandpa Hill's lap made everything better! Here, two weeks later, she still asks about him every day.

Now that Spring Break is over, it's starting to look and feel like spring. We're ready for it!

Love,Barr, Becky and kids

Happy Birthday Ben!

2008-02-23T07:22:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Ben said to me, "Every time I have a birthday it means you're getting old!" Older yes, but hopefully not too old yet! Although I think Ben is old and he turned 11 today, so I guess age is in the eyes of the beholder.

He woke up yesterday to an early birthday present...no school! The freezing rain had turned all the beautiful puffy snow into hard, crunchy ice. A good day to stay inside and play video games! I think Brittany asked me more times than the boys, "how much longer until the party?" Five o'clock finally came and she skillfully led Ben and his friends through the Harry Potter jelly bean game while we waited for Barr to arrive with the pizza. He then took the boys to see The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Luckily Brittany had been invited to a gymnastics open gym night with a friend, and Brigham had his first successful sleepover away from home. Which meant Brooke and I had the house to ourselves. We spent it watching a home video of Ben's 2nd birthday. Quite a contrast from this year's rocking out to Guitar Hero and staying up until 3:00 in the morning! It's only 6:00 now, so we'll see how long they sleep in. I have a feeling Brittany will "accidentally" wake them up.

I haven't done a Brooke update in a while. Just a reminder that this is like my journal for our kids so I probably give more details and information than the average person is interested in. Feel free to skip down to the pictures if you want! Brooke has made some amazing strides the last few months. It seems like things we have been working on for over a year are finally clicking for her. She goes up stairs now! She still prefers to hold a hand and walk up, but if pressed, she will climb them. We're still working on going down because she doesn't like being on her knees, but it's coming. She has also mastered the little step down to the family room. For 2 years she hasn't had the freedom to go in and out of there until now. I'm still surprised every time she just shows up in the kitchen on her own!

Her communication is coming along really well too. She wants to know a sign for everyone's name. She's even started making up her own if I don't tell her one. When her babysitter came, I asked Brooke how to say "Allison" and she raised her right arm up and down. So that was Allison and she did it all week! She also made one up for her speech therapist and for one of Ben's friends. At Grandma's last month we came up with signs for a lot of her cousins and aunts and uncles. Her bus driver is always saying things like, "Brooke is really hungry today because she keeps putting her hand up to her mouth". I have to tell her she's actually saying "Baby Kate" her cousin. She'll go through a list of 8 or 9 people in a row. I feel bad when I can't remember all of them or can't tell what she's trying to tell me, because I know she knows. Luckily her verbal communication is also improving. She now says "Br" for Brooke and is starting to make a lot of new sounds. Her one for this week is "uh oh". She's starting to use that when I'm trying to get her to say a 2 syllable word, like Brigham. She can tell there's more to it than just "b", but the rest won't come out yet.

She can jump now, unzip her coat half way, take off her backpack and usually get her coat off by herself. She's understanding more simple commands like: go get your boots, let's change your diaper, and it's time to go. She surprised me one day by getting out a spoon and the peanut butter all by herself and handing them to me. She's my daughter alright!

Her sense of humor is really coming out too. She's starting to see the humor in some books and loves to laugh at anything silly...which makes dinner time more like a circus act most night. She also loves to be wrestled. The problem is whenever we're all on the bed together, she thinks it's wrestle time, and we usually have scripture reading on the bed. Those two things usually don't go together very well!

Time to go start the birthday breakfast...

Ben, Conner, Jesse, and Michael seemed to have fun together at Ben's party

Ben's Mario cake

After weeks of hanging on by a thread, Brigham's front tooth finally came out. He was pretty excited!

Brooke's elephant earphones keep her quiet during our Family Night lesson

Do they have to grow up?

2008-02-01T08:26:00.000-05:00

I was just watching an old home video with Brooke, and I was trying to tell her that the little boy and girl on the TV dancing around and being so cute were Ben and Brittany. It's hard enough for me to believe it, why should I expect her to understand that!

Last weekend brought 2 of our kids 1 year closer to adolescence! Brittany turned 9 on Saturday and Brigham turned 7 on Sunday. There are times when I really wish I could freeze the clock and keep them just the way they are. And then there are other times, like at the dinner table last night, when I said, "Why can't you all just grow up?". That only brought more hysterics, but at least Barr and I were joining in this time!

It was Brigham's year to have a friend party, but he opted to have the family go to Fort Rapids, an indoor water park, instead. No invitations to send out, games to plan, party bags to get together...I was thrilled! It was so bitterly cold that weekend that it was quite a treat to be able to run around in our swim suits. Our kids are the perfect age for a place like that...until bedtime. Brooke isn't used to sharing a bed, or a room, with anyone. Brittany was so looking forward to getting to sleep with her, but there was no sleep happening. We couldn't get her to lie down or leave Brittany alone. I finally swapped places with Brittany but then spent the rest of the night struggling to get Brooke to settle down. She got about 2-3 hours of sleep and then fell asleep again just before 6:00, at which time Brittany came over reminding me how much she had wanted to sleep with Brooke. I had just fallen asleep, and if it wasn't for the fact that it was her birthday that day, I think I would have lost it! Luckily the boys were able to sleep through much of the commotion.

After breakfast we spent some time in the arcade, which to me is just like a mini Las Vegas for kids. Ben and Brittany combined some of their tickets to get Brigham a much wanted strobe light, which of course doesn't work, another reason I hate arcades! Then it was back to the water. All Brooke wanted to do was watch the babies, and I was in enough of a fog, that I didn't mind just watching her watch the babies. Brittany did take me on a few of the slides. The one we affectionately call the toilet bowl was fun, but as far as the racing slides, I don't get the thrill of shooting down a pitch black tunnel with no bearings of where you're going or how long until you get there! I guess that's why we have Dads. They seem to like it as much as the kids.

Before heading home we stopped so Brigham could get a few more birthday fish to add to their tank, and to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for crepes since that was Brittany's birthday breakfast request and they weren't on the buffet that morning. Our original plan had been to go ice skating that night for her birthday, but by the time we got home, we were all too exhausted. Instead we put Brooke to bed at 6:30 and had a quiet movie night.

The next morning (Brigham's actual birthday), Brittany tried to give me a guilt trip that we didn't do anything fun for HER on her birthday. I had to remind her that she had her special day the previous Saturday when I took her out for several hours to go shopping, get her hair cut and her ears pierced. She had been anticipating the ear piercing thing for over a year, but as it got closer and closer to the actual event, her nerves were getting the better of her. Luckily there was quite the crowd at Claire's, and it was their words of encouragement that helped dry her tears and go through with it.

Brittany is like a magnet to people. Her bus driver called me this morning to tell me how she knows she favors her too much and she should probably stop, but she can't. She just loves her! Let me explain. On Friday I drove the kids home from school since I was already there doing the whole cupcake thing. When the bus driver noticed she wasn't on, she called to tell Brittany she left something on the bus so to come down to the bus stop. She then presents her with a stuffed animal, card, and purse filled with candy and has the whole bus sing to her! Of course Brigham is standing there wondering, "What about me? It's my birthday too!". So we had tears and unkind words and Brigham not even wanting to go to the water park. I appreciate the bus driver's kindness, but she obviously doesn't have 2 children! And then Brittany was trying to find room on the fridge to display all of the birthday cards her friends from school had made her and she says, "Wow, look how many people love me!" as she scoots Brigham's one little birthday greeting from the Primary to the very corner. She does try to make things better. She offered Brigham all the candy from the bus driver and then helped me make him a heart shaped pizza Sunday night to let him know we love him. I'm not sure either mattered to him since he's going through a "life isn't fair" stage and nothing we do will change his attitude. It seems like the majority of the time he is grumpy or yelling about something. Poor Brooke is a little scared of him, which hurts his feelings even more. She'll always do the sign for "Brigham" and then make her sad, crying face. I guess I don't want to freeze time for Brigham at the moment. Having him grow up a little is just fine with me!

I guess I should mention Barr and Ben somewhere in this blog! The weekend before, they had a camp out with the scouts. As the temperatures plummeted to single digits, I kept expecting them to return home early, but no. I think their brains were too numb to realize that was an option! All Ben could say about it was "The bacon was disgusting and I was freezing". Barr said none of the boys were even functional the next morning, so just he and one other leader had to get a fire going and cook breakfast for everyone. He lost all feeling in his hands and feet. O.K. I just have to ask Why? It must be a guy thing, because if you have a nice warm bed, why would you choose to sleep outside in the frigid cold? And I know I'm going to keep asking that until all of my kids and husband are out of scouts. That's all for now.

Brooke's a little overwhelmed in 3rd grade!

Fort Rapids, you rock!

She really was having fun.

Can you see her earrings?

Brigham wanted a Holly cake. (that's his elf)

Brigham couldn't wait to use his new air soft gun Christmas morning...
"you'll shoot your eye out!"

5th grade orchestra concert

Brooke enjoying her gift from Santa.

2007 Christmas Edition

2007-12-13T18:47:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Writing this December blog has been a little more challenging than my usual monthly updates. In our Christmas cards I traditionally do something that recounts the past year's events; however, I didn't want it to be too redundant for those of you who have faithfully read our blogs throughout the year and already know what we have been up to. So in my attempt to summarize our year without rehashing what you may already know, I bring you the "Twelve Months of 2007" sung to the ever popular tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

On the first month of this year my family gave to me
The baptism of Brittany.

On the second month of this year my family gave to me
2 fun days in Chicago with my girlfriends
And a week for Barr in Oregon with grass seed.
(I wonder who had more fun!)

On the third month of this year my family gave to me
3 pine wood race heats
2 months of music therapy
And 1 new refrigerator for me!

On the fourth month of this year my family gave to me
4 hours of sleep for Ben on his overnight at COSI
3 fabulous days with the Andersens
2 hours driving to Grandmas for Easter
And Barr's first triathlon in Miami
(That's Miami, of Ohio, but I'm trying to make this rhyme)

On the fifth month of this year my family gave to me
5 hours of shoveling dirt to the backyard
4 more hours of moving stones around
3 showers before I felt clean again
2 sons to take to the Father-and-Son camp out
And 1 Race for the Cure that made us realize we're so lucky!

On the sixth month of this year my family gave to me
6 Memorial Golf Tournament tickets
5 piano students (+ our 3 kids) performing at our recital
4 days at scout camp
3 days in Denver for A Walk with Christ
2 kids taking tennis lessons
And 1 fun weekend with the Larsens at Cedar Point in Sandusky

On the seventh month of this year my family gave to me
7 sleep overs with friends
6 runs Barr made for his softball team
5 hours at Red White and Boom
4 hours each day playing at the pool
3 kids in swimming lessons
2 Clippers Baseball Games
And 1 very happy birthday (for Becky)

On the eighth month of this year my family gave to me
8 fun filled days in Denver
7 peaceful hours driving to Denver while the kids slept
6 cousins to play with
5 minutes before Ben was hooked to the Wii
4 dips in Grandma's hottub
3 days at the Cincinnati reunion
2 kids lost at Coney Island
And 1 Grandma turning 60!

On the ninth month of this year my family gave to me
9 soccer practices
8 hours drive to Big Lick Triathlon
7 times Barr told me he wished I would do it too
6 trips to the dentist
5 hours at Time Out for Women
4 different curriculum nights
3 wonderful preschool teachers
2 hours of freedom in the mornings
And 1 fun weekend back in Indy

On the tenth month of this year my family gave to me
10 hours on the Primary piano bench
9 rooms bought on Webkinz World
8 o'clock orchestra practice
7 walks to the park
6 cheeseballs Brooke can fit in her mouth
5 flat bicycle tires
4 boxes of cereal eaten after school
3 inches cut off Brittany's hair
2 inches Ben grew
And 1 ton of Halloween candy

On the eleventh month of this year my family gave to me
11 hours raking leaves
10 times singing "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" at family night
9 touch down victory at the Turkey Bowl
8 minute speech given by Ben at Dare Graduation
7 days with Grandparents
6 bruises from ice skating
5 a.m. shopping at Walmart
4 pet stains on the carpet
3 fun days in Michigan
2 girls in gymnastics
And 1 yummy Thanksgiving turkey

On the twelveth month of this year my family gave to me
12 times each night answering the question, "What was that noise? I heard something."
11 times Ben was sure there was someone hiding under his bed or in his closet
10 boxes of Kleenex
9 Christmas parties
8 dozen buckeyes eaten (it's an Ohio thing)
7 inches of rainfall
6 unsuccessful attempts to convince Brooke to sit on Santa's lap
5 new friends at playgroup (for me)
4 hours at Dave & Busters
3 Youtube Calvin and Hobbes slideshows created
2 new elves to add to the family
And remembering the special birth of one baby.

We are.very grateful for this time of year and for the gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are also thankful for your friendship and hope you are having a wonderful Christmas season.

Love,
The Hills

Christmas Greetings video

Have a Merry Christmas!

Can I put the tree up yet?

2007-11-11T11:13:00.000-05:00

Was Halloween really only a week and a half ago? It's amazing how a drop in the temperature and the appearance of lit Christmas trees really makes it feel like the holidays already! Maybe that's why I made Barr go Christmas shopping with me for our date night last night. He's a good man! He was stuck at Kohl's trying on sweaters when he could have been watching the Buckeyes throw away their chance at a National title. In fact when I went in to check on Brittany last night there were tears streaming down her face. In between sobs she told me that she was afraid everyone was going to hate her teacher's husband because they lost. (He's the defensive coach in case you skimmed our last blog too quickly!) It never fails to amaze me how sensitive and caring her little heart is.

I guess I should write about Halloween. Candy, candy, candy...need I say more? Maybe the Grandma's want a few details. Ben's costume ideas included a barrel of toxic waste or a bull to which my response was his mother is not Martha Stewart! He didn't make his final decision until breakfast the morning of Dublin's Spooktacular Event. He didn't consider that I had Brooke's field trip to a farm that morning, therapy, 3 piano students in the afternoon, and the Primary Program practice when he asked me to make him a "punk" Luigi costume that day! Thank goodness for hot glue! Luckily Brigham just wanted to be the same thing as last year, the Grim Reaper. Brittany was 3 different things depending on the temperature at the event. She was a fairy, an Ohio State Cheerleader, and then a cheerleader beat up by a Michigan fan (no offense Larsen's!). Brooke was an angel, pretty fitting for her I think! It didn't take her long to figure out Halloween. She learned to reach into the bowl, pick a piece of candy, and drop it in her bucket. Next year I'll work on teaching her to pick out the Snickers and steer away from the tootsie rolls! On the actual night of Halloween, she made it longer than I thought she would, but when she started throwing the candy back at the people that was her way of saying I prefer sleep over candy! Barr took the boys back out after bringing the girls home. They reaped the rewards of the light trick-or-treating crowd by having several homes dump all their candy into their bags just wanting to get rid of it. Ben was feeling a little guilty looking at all his candy and knowing that Charlie Brown only got rocks. He still has a hard time separating reality from fiction!

We appreciated a quick visit from my parents the weekend before. They arrived with enough time to enjoy the beautiful leaves on a nice walk through the trails. We then met up with Barr where my parents treated us to a nice dinner. Is it sad that we consider a place that lets you throw your peanut shells on the floor "nice"? The next morning my mom joined me at our ward's Super Saturday. I always love going to those, and it was even more fun having her there too. She left in time to help Barr, Grandpa, and the kids cheer on Brigham for his last soccer game. They celebrated afterwards with a pizza party complete with video of the kids in action and awards.

The next weekend we drove up to Michigan to visit my sister, Laurel, and her family. Although we didn't arrive until kind of late, the boys couldn't resist playing a little Wii and of course the girls disappeared to the Webkinz school upstairs. Aren't cousins great! We spent several hours at the Henry Ford Museum the next morning learning about much more then just cars. I just had to laugh at the Dymaxion House which was some man's solution to the need of affordable, transportable and environmentally efficient housing. To me it was living in a tin can and I thought it was the stupidest idea I had ever heard of! Barr and John begged to differ. Having little or no upkeep, not having to paint or decorate...it was a man's dream! Barr also liked the "Hike Through History", but it made me feel old seeing some of my childhood toys in a museum! Ben's favorite thing was sitting in the actual seat that Rosa Parks refused to give up. Brittany's was all of the doll houses. Brigham's was the hands-on things he could play with and create. Brooke's favorite was dancing to old MTV music videos. Who knew she loved Cindy Lauper? While Laurel and I took Tessa and Brooke home to nap, the dads enjoyed seeing The Bee Movie with the older kids. They highly recommended it, but since Ben is able to quote it almost word for word to me, I don't think I need to see it.

This weekend Barr had a camp out with the scouts. I question the logic behind choosing to sleep on the cold hard ground in 32 degree weather when you have a nice warm bed in an actual house you could sleep in. I had to go find some zero degree sleeping bags or I wasn't going to let Ben go with him. Brigham was pretty upset that I put my foot down and wouldn't let him go. He didn't see why even though he had stayed home from school sick for the last 2 days, I wouldn't let him go camping in the freezing cold. Mothers don't understand anything!

Brooke has started gymnastics. It's a parent/child class so I can help walk her through everything. Her class starts 15 minutes after Brittany's class ends so Brittany has been able to join us for some of it. We got her to crawl under a tunnel for the first time! That was huge since we have been trying to get her to crawl for 2 1/2 years! She also loves the trampolines and actually let go of my hand for a second while jumping last week. Her desire to talk is also increasing. She is trying to imitate a little more but still doing mostly vowel sounds. She answers with "Yeah" to most questions so the kids like to ask her random things like "Are aliens going to take over the world?" or "Is Santa going to bring me a bazooka?" or "Do you want world domination?" It's like she's one of those Magic 8 balls! Her favorite thing right now is watching the computer's screen saver cycle through all of our pictures. When I get her up in the morning or from her nap she heads straight for the computer. The hard thing is that some of us need to use the cumputer, and she doesn't understand that. I think the only thing she needs for Christmas is one of those digital picture frames so that I can check my email!

That's probably enough from us for now. We hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Love,
The Hills

Brigham conferring on soccer strategy with teammate Sam

Flying lessons - I'm superman!

Fun at the Ford museum

Riding the banana mobile at Leed's farm

What a motley crew! Scary!

Fall is here!

2007-09-27T20:12:00.000-04:00

The kids have exactly a month of school under their belts, and I think we're all finally adjusted to the new schedules and activities.

Ben is enjoying having a male teacher for many reasons. First, Mr. Lowe doesn't get as upset as I do when Ben can't remember where he put his homework (men just aren't as organized as women, I'm sorry!). He bought Ben sour Skittles when he had the closest guess to the Ohio State football score (that's their homework every weekend! Go Buckeyes!!). He lets Ben wear his coon-skin hat everyday at school. He bought it at the gift shop of some Indian Caverns we went to a few weekends ago and only takes it off to shower, sleep, and at church although he did put up a good argument for saying it would help him remember the pioneers. Nice try, but no. He also has started playing the viola. He gets to ride the middle school bus a few mornings a week and has orchestra before his school starts. The first few classes were fun, but now that it's getting harder, he's not as excited to go. I always wished I had played the violin, so this is probably just my dream that I'm living through my kid.

Brittany of course loves the social aspect of school and is enjoying 3rd grade. Her teacher is married to the Ohio State defensive coach so she is already excited about possibly getting some autographs later in the year! When I came home from the gym this morning she was in the kitchen going through my cookbook trying to decide what she wanted to make for breakfast. She decided on banana chocolate chip waffles and only needed a little help. She had already changed Brooke's diaper, gotten her dressed for school, let Max out, and had put the juice boxes in the freezer for lunches. Maybe I don't have to be home from the gym by 7:00 anymore!

Brigham is still getting used to the long school days of first grade. He is often tired when he gets home, but wants to stay up as long as Ben which has resulted in some tears at night. Luckily we have reached a compromise and as long as Max can sleep on his bed, he's gotten used to not having Ben in there with him. He is getting very confident in his reading and is always the first one to volunteer during family scripture time. A few nights ago though I asked Ben if he would listen to Brigham do his school reading while I helped Brittany. I had conflicting feelings as I heard them changing the words around in the story to make it comical (at least to pre-adolescent boys!). It made me happy that they were having fun and laughing together, but at the same time I don't want Brigham thinking that the word 'try' is really 'die' or that you can just insert a potty word anywhere you want in a book!

And wow, Brooke is in preschool! The first few weeks were hard. She didn't understand what was happening to her and it was a lot all at once. The bus driver came over before school started so Brooke could meet her and check out the bus. My mom described it pretty well by saying it would be like me getting on a rocket ship and going to the moon! It is big and loud and scary! I had the bus come every morning and I would carry Brooke on (with her clinging to me and pulling my hair) to help her get used to it but then we would just follow the bus to school in the van. After a few days I asked her teacher to try to have her ride the bus home. It was hard, but each day got better. Now she happily rides the bus to and from school. In fact this afternoon she did the sign for 'bus' and then 'more'. She still gets a little nervous from how loud it is, but she'll go right to the aid and as she's getting buckled, she smiles and waves to us out the window as we all stand on the driveway blowing her kisses and acting like idiots! I really like her teachers and they all tell me what a joy it is having Brooke in their class. As I'm feeding her lunch though I really wish she could tell me about her morning. I'm still getting used to not knowing everything that she's doing.

Barr's big event this month was his triathlon on Saturday. You can read his very detailed blog entry about that. Go Barr! I had originally planned on going with him but then Brittany got invited to a birthday party, Ben had a cub scout Shoot-o-ree, and Brigham had a soccer game. They would have missed school on Friday and those events, and I will admit that selfishly I didn't want to sit in the car for 8 hours to turn around and do it again the next day. My parents and nephews ended up coming Friday night so my parent's could go to the temple Saturday morning. We're always glad when they can come but always wish they could stay longer. I ended up taking the kids to an Oktoberfest in the afternoon (not sure why those are in September) and found it strange to be painting pumpkins and taking a hay ride in 89 degree weather!

We had a wonderful little weekend trip to Indiana a few weeks ago. I used the "Time Out for Women" conference as my excuse to go see my old friends. The whole family went and had a great time. The Andersen's were kind enough to host the boys and the Arnold's put the rest of us up. My sister from Cincinnati even joined us for the event. We love going back to Fishers because in a way it feels like we never left. I always have a hard time coming home though. I have struggled finding good friends here so I decided I needed to change that. I cornered a new lady at church on Sunday and told her I was starting a playgroup and would she want to come. Then I called a few other new people in the ward and we had our first get together on Friday. I'm hopeful that this will help or else Barr might have to start looking for a job in Fishers!

On our way to Time Out for Women

Visiting the Fairfields in Indiana

Brooke getting ready for her first day on the bus

Ben mowing the lawn

Dress up fun at the Andersen's

Brooke's new swing...love Ben's coon hat

Brigham's soccer picture day

First day of school for Brittany, Brigham and Ben

Big Lick Triathlon

2007-09-24T08:51:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday I participated in my first Olympic distance triathlon. It was the Big Lick Triathlon at Smith Mountain State Park in Virginia. I drove there with Ron and Heather Thomas. Ron and I had done a couple of sprint distance races earlier in the year and have done some training together. We left on Friday morning after doing a light swim, bike, run workout at Ron's gym. It was about an 8 hour drive. When we arrived we went to the race check in and picked up our race packets. Ron had done this event last year so he showed me around and we walked by where the swim would start and end and walked up to where the transition area was set up. Then we drove the course. I began to see how hilly the ride and run were going to be and started to plan out in my mind when I would try to take advantage of the downhill sections and where I would need to gear down and grind up the hills. That night we met some of Heather's family who had come to participate with her as a relay team or just to cheer us on. We had dinner at a restaurant at the condo where we stayed the night.

The next morning I got up at 5:30 am, had breakfast, and began preparing for the race. We arrived at the race start at 7:15. I got my timing chip and set up my gear in the transition area. Ron and I went out for a light ride to loosen up. I stretched a bit and then got my wet suit on and made my way over to the beach where the swim would begin. The air was pretty heavy and muggy. The sun was up and things were warming up. Ron and I went out for a light swim. I wanted to get the feel of the water in the wetsuit and to ensure my goggles wouldn't leak.

The race started at 9 am with the elite group and then the various age groups were started every 3 minutes. I was in the 3rd wave to enter the water. We were started in water about chest deep. I was in the second row of swimmers for my age group. My goal during the swim was to get into a good rhythm and try to find someone I could draft behind. I was partially able to accomplish that. There were times I was able to get behind a stronger swimmer and draft for awhile, but sometimes that person would pull ahead, or I would find they weren't swimming straight, so I would leave them. I swam more straight than I had in the past. I would check my direction every 12-18 strokes and most of the time I wouldn't need to course correct very far. There were motor boats out there around the course. This was the first race that the "help" wasn't in kayaks or canoes. I didn't like having the motor boats. At times I would try to get a gulp of air only to suck in a bunch of gas fumes. Also, there were times I was fighting boat waves. I felt good going into the last turn about 2/3 of the way through the race when someone hit my left ankle. I felt my timing chip belt slide out of my wetsuit leg and then I felt it come off. I reached down and sure enough, it was gone. I turned around and I couldn't see anything. The timing chip belt was black and with my goggles on and the dark water, I couldn't find it. I started swimming backward. I looked up and one of the boats started coming over. The driver must have thought I was in trouble or something. I called out that my timing chip belt came off. Someone in the boat saw it and helped me swim back to the area where it was floating on the water. I grabbed it, rolled over on my back and tried pulling my leg up to be able to put the belt around my ankle again. I tried to push it up into the wetsuit leg as far as I could. By this time, my heart rate had totally spiked and the nice rhythm I felt up to that point was gone. I started on the final stretch of the swim, trying to make up for lost time. I came out of the water at the exact same time as my friend Ron, even though he was in the wave after me. I saw him on my left as I was trying to unzip my wetsuit. The swim time included a run up a hill, probably 50 yards or so, to the transition area. Ron started running up the hill. I wanted to follow, but my legs just wouldn't work. I felt so exhausted. My legs felt like jello underneath me. It was all I could do to just put one foot in front of the other and walk up the hill.

In the transition area I pulled off my wetsuit and got my shoes and helmet on. I grabbed my bike and finally felt like I could jog with my bike. After leaving the transition area, there was another steep incline for about 15 yards or so. Rather than trying to mount my bike there, I jogged up the incline and then got on the bike at the top where it was flat. The first 4-5 miles were tough. The course was all rolling hills and my legs still felt like jello from after the swim. I was thinking to myself, "there is no way I am going to be able to run after the bike is over!" But then my legs started feeling better and about mile 7 or so, I finally had a bit of a lengthy downhill section and started picking up some speed. At about miles 12-14 there were some serious downhill sections and I hit my top speed of 38 miles per hour. The road was narrow and windy. It was a rush. The most difficult section of the ride was miles 15-20. This part had the steepest and lengthiest inclines. There were times when I had to go to my lowest gear and was only hitting 8-9 miles per hour - and still passed some other riders at that slow speed. Most of the inclines I could only manage 13-16 miles per hour and some seemed like they would never end. The final couple of miles are back in the state park and had some good downhill sections back to the transition area. When I got off my bike I actually felt pretty good. No cramping in my calves.

The first half of the run, I felt good. I wasn't going super fast, but my legs felt strong and I had no trouble breathing. Then at the turnaround point, my head started getting light-headed and I decided to walk for a few minutes. I was hoping the sensation of passing out would subside and I'd be able to finish strong. I think my problem was nutrition. I had planned to eat a Gu packet during the ride, but it had fallen off my bike. I was worried about drinking too much on the ride and getting cramps during the run (like what happened during the last race I did). When I checked my liquids I had on my bike after the race was over, I realized I had only drank about half of what I had planned. During the last half of the race, I walked during all of the water spots and tried to take in some water and pour some over my head. There's a really steep downhill, then uphill section for .4 miles about a mile and a half from the finish line. I had to walk most of the way up that hill too. Overall I had my worst run time ever. The temperature was probably in the mid to upper 80's during the last half of my run and I was definitely not used to running in the heat. Most of my training runs were done in the early morning before the sun was up.

When I crossed the finish line, there was a female runner laying on the ground, totally passed out and people were attending to her. I thought, at least I stayed conscious and didn't wake up on the side of the road somewhere with asphalt burns on the side of my face! After walking around and finding Ron and Heather and drinking 3 bottles of water and a bottle of soda, my body started sweating again and I started feeling light headed with the sensation of blacking out again. I had to sit and then eventually lay down for a few minutes.

After reading this you might wonder why I put myself through this. Dealing with the physical discomfort associated with the race doesn't sound like much fun. I guess it's the combination of the physical and mental challenge required to do one of these races as well as having a goal to keep me motivated to exercise and train that has influenced me to begin doing these races this year. I also enjoy the energy associated with these events with all the participants and spectators. Overall, it was a great event and I've learned a lot about what I need to do in order to have a better experience next time.

I'm hoping to have some pictures from the race from Ron and Heather that I can add later. Here's a link to the results page for the race. There's a link to the overall results for males as well as a link to the results split out by age group. I'm in the 35-39 age group and the results are under my full name.

http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_detail&eventID=596#results-text

Here's my times if you don't want to bother with the web page.

Swim (1.5K) - 29:13 min. (includes my walk up the hill to T1)
T1 - 1:29 min
Bike (40K) - 1:16:27 (19.5 miles per hour avg.)
T2 - :54 min
Run (10K) - 1:02:17

Total time - 2:50:17

Barr

Smith Mountain Lake State Park

Getting ready for the swim

Off on the bike

On the run

Almost finished!

Ron, Barr, and Dan celebrating the finish

Click here to see some photos that were taken by professional photographers at the race...

Barr

Last days of summer 2007

2007-08-22T22:22:00.000-04:00

We're down to only a few more days of summer break and it's been raining all week. I'm tempted to go see Evan Almighty just to learn how to build an ark! I should be grateful for the rain because we're not tempted to go to the pool instead of getting all our appointments in before school. Yesterday was the second of 5 dentist appointments for Brigham. I had thought he was old enough to start brushing his teeth himself, but apparently I was wrong! It's amazing the damage that can be done in 6 months. He needs a few mini-root canals and several other fillings so the dentist is breaking them up and doing one quadrant at a time. He did tell me yesterday that Brigham was the best child patient he has ever had...I guess he wasn't blessed with good teeth, but does have a great personality.

Ben, on the other hand, has never had a cavity, but the personality trait is questionable! I say that because he has the tendency to "freak out" about things a lot. Recently it's about noises at night. He comes into our bedroom 5 or 6 times after we tuck him into bed telling us he heard something which is followed by an attempt to reproduce the sound so we can assure him it's the dishwasher, or a neighbor's car, or the monster hiding in his closet! Before he goes to bed he has to check every window and door in the house to make sure they are locked and then he looks under the beds and in the closets...yes, actually moving the clothes around like someone could be hiding in between 2 shirts! We're not sure where this fear comes from. Maybe we shouldn't have let him watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (just kidding, of course)!

I'm not sure why I'm babbling about this stuff when I have a wonderful vacation to report on....

I will admit, the thought of driving from Columbus to Denver left me feeling a little nauseous, but I can honestly say it was fun. Barr came home a little early from work on August 1st, and by 4:00 we were on the road. At 4:20 Brittany had to use the bathroom, and then again at 5:00, I kid you not, but after that it was smooth sailing. We stopped around 9:00 and had the kids brush their teeth and get ready for "bed" and then they slept the next 10 hours while Barr and I traded off driving. It worked out well since Barr possesses the gene where the second you close your eyes you are asleep. Every once in a while he would wake up and ask if I was alright and then his head would fall back to the side and he was out! This was the only time I have been thankful for my insomnia. Barr bought himself an energy drink and me a Coke. The energy drink worked great for him, but I about gagged after 1 sip of the Coke. It burned going down and tasted like medicine...the only caffeine I'm used to is in the form of a Reese's Cup! Barry Manalow and an old 80's-mix CD got me through Missouri and a lot of Kansas just fine! We were at Grandma's by lunch time.

It was so fun having everyone from Barr's family there; even his grandparents made the drive from Provo for a few days. We enjoyed the pool, Fat City, a few movies, Elich's amusement park, shopping, and of course playing their new Wii. Brittany still brags about beating everyone, even tough Uncle Rob, at boxing. I was amazed at the amount of sweat and sore muscles these games could produce! It was nice that they threw a little pre-birthday party for Brooke complete with a Blue's Clues cake decorated by Emily. And Brittany loved sleeping over at Jeff and Tiffany's with Mckenzie. She still can't go to sleep without first calling Aunt Tiffany to say goodnight. I'm sorry Tiffany!

Even though we were on vacation, Barr was still able to do a little training for his upcoming race. One morning he invited me to go on a bike ride with him. Try to picture me, not having ridden a bike in 20 years following Barr who does 20-mile rides for fun. I only crashed once and it was on a sharp curve at the bottom of a little hill trying to get onto a bridge. Yeah, I'll never do that again! I don't know how Barr makes it look so easy. I'm fine to just stick with running where I know I'm not going to run over a little old lady on the sidewalk!

The week went by too fast, and before we knew it we were back in the car. We broke the drive up between 2 days which in my opinion was so much harder since the kids are awake almost the entire time. We couldn't have asked for better travelers though. Brooke didn't make a noise the entire time unless she was laughing at something one of the kids was doing. And the older ones actually got along really well.

We drove straight to Coney Island where we met up for the end of my family's reunion. The kids disappeared with cousins and Barr and I got to visit with my siblings. I think we were celebrating 8 birthdays that weekend so it was one big party! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) our families are getting too big for all of us to stay at my parent's home so they put our family up at a hotel for 2 nights. It turned out to be a good thing since Brooke got sick Saturday with a really high fever and woke up early Sunday morning throwing up. Thanks to a lot of Tylenol, she made it through a very nice family meeting that morning with like 38 of us followed by a delicious lunch (I don't know how my mom pulls things like that off effortlessly) and then our nephews ordination to the priesthood.

We couldn't pull Ben away from his cousin, Austin, after just 2 days, so we did another exchange and we took Adam in exchange for Ben. Having him here to play with Brigham made the transition of coming home easier. A few days later, my sister and her family drove up and we did a temple session, returned kids to the right families and had to say goodbye to a wonderful 2 week vacation!

Some exciting news is that Brooke learned how to stand up on her own last week. It's funny how for a year now we have been trying to get her to do it, but in the last several weeks I really haven't been working on it with her and then one day she decides she wants to do it and up she goes. She always comes up clapping with a big smile on her face. She's also understanding a few simple directions now like, "go get ....." which is wonderful since she starts preschool in 2 weeks.

Love,
Becky and the rest of the crew

Click on this link if you want to check out some pictures we had taken at Target a few weeks ago. You will need the customer name and access code:

Customer Name: Rebecca Hill
Access Code: LTTT0866107265TAR

In front of the house the McAllisters owned in Littleton, CO

Celebrating Brooke's 3rd birthday early...nice job on the cake Emily! :)

Grandpa and Grandma Hill with grandkids (Brigham, Brooke Gracie, Hayden, Jaxson, Brittany, Isac, Ben, and Logan)

Fun with the chocolate fountain! Yum!!

Bathing Beauties!! The water was too cold for Brooke at Elich Gardens

Towards the end of a fun day at Elich Gardens in Denver

Austin turns twelve and is conferred the Aaronic Priesthood and ordained a deacon. John, Barr, Gramdad Mains, Grant, Austin, Rick, Ken, and Colby participated in the ordination.

On their way to the brothers-from-another-mother golf invitational where Barr retained the golden putter award!

June Fun!

2007-07-01T09:46:00.000-04:00

June has flown by! Ben often questions why time has to go by quickly when you're having fun and slowly when you're not. June is a good example of this.

Week 1: For any golfers out there, you may have heard of the Memorial Tournament (Jack Nicklaus built a professional golf course in Muirfield, where we live, and every year they have a PGA tournament here). Barr's boss gave him some tickets so we took the kids on Friday afternoon. We only had about 2 hours which was perfect for me and the kids because by the time we had dinner in the tent and then watched a group putt on a green and then tee-off on the next hole, we were ready. I know Barr could have stayed all evening, but he and Ben got to go back the next day. They were really hoping to see Tiger play, but the weather didn't cooperate. After waiting through a 2-hour rain delay, they had to give up. Ben was more concerned about us making our movie then watching anymore golf. Obviously Barr's love of the game hasn't quite rubbed off yet.

The reason we had to head home early Friday was because we had a piano recital, and it wouldn't have been good if the teacher was late! It was just Ben, Brittany, Brigham, my other 5 students, and another boy whose mom teaches him that were performing. All of the kids had memorized 2 songs and played them very well. We are good friends with all the families so it was a lot of fun afterwards to have a little celebration in the back yard.

Week 2: School ended!

Barr participated in another triathlon. This one was in Findley, Ohio, and had an open water swim which was a very different experience then the previous race in a pool. There were over 100 people crowded together to start the race and several times Barr found himself swimming on top of someone or getting kicked himself. I'm amazed no one drowned! His transitions were a lot smoother this time, with the run being his most difficult part. You can check out the results at the following site. Barr's results are under his first name, "Christopher Hill".

http://www.fatrabbitracing.com/ResultsDetails.aspx?RESULTSETID=40

Week 3: We loved having our good friends and old neighbors, the Fields, come for a visit. It's nice to get caught up on everything going on in Fishers, Indiana and just hanging out with our best friends! It was plenty hot to enjoy the pool before having to say goodbye to them and then take off to Cincinnati. We dropped the kids off at my parents and then flew to Denver so that Barr could participate in a Youth Conference for his mom. He did such an amazing job 4 years ago when he portrayed the Savior in "A Walk with Christ" that he was asked to do a repeat performance. I was grateful that I was able to be there this time, it's just too bad that the wife of Jesus doesn't have a part! Actually I was glad I could be part of the audience to see him come over the hill for the Sermon on the Mount. And even though I knew it was Barr, it didn't look like him. He really is a good Jesus!

We got to enjoy some water skiing the next morning and had a great time visiting with Barr's sisters that weekend. I often didn't know what to do with myself not having my kids to worry about. It truly was a mini vacation, and I was very grateful that my parents and sister and brother-in-law helped our kids have such a fun time too.

Week 4: We got home late Sunday night and Barr had scout camp early Monday morning. Because he's the scout master, Ben got to go along even though he's only 10. They have camp at a very nice state park/ recreation area in West Virginia called Summersville Lake. They had a fun time, but on the day they went white water rafting, Barr didn't put enough sun screen on his legs and he got the worst sunburn I have ever seen. That night he suffered from sun poisoning with a fever and the chills and for the next week his ankles were so swollen he could have been 9 months pregnant!

Friday night we drove up to Sandusky, Ohio and met my sister and her family for a fun weekend at Cedar Point. Her kids match up with our younger 3, so we also brought another cousin, Austin, with us so that Ben would have a roller coaster buddy. The younger boys just missed the height requirement for the big rides by 1/4 of an inch, but they found that the worker on the Matterhorn didn't measure, so they rode that one 4 times! Barr got the pleasure of standing in the hour and a half lines with the big kids to do the "real" rides. I made the mistake of going on one that made me so motion sick I was done for the rest of the day. I really felt old as Brigham was saying, "this ride is so boring" while I was trying not to throw up on him!

Week 5: This last week we have just had fun hanging out around here: going swimming, to the movies, tennis lessons, the zoo, COSI science museum, staying up too late enjoying the beautiful summer nights, and the lazy mornings playing on the computer and watching cartoons. Isn't summer time great!

Yesterday I met my sister halfway between Columbus and Cincinnati at some outlet malls to do the cousin exchange. We gave her back Austin and threw Ben in with the deal. Then Brittany and I enjoyed shopping!

Ben, Brittany, and Brigham leaving for their last day of school

Brittany and Brooke playing with bubbles on the lawn

Brigham and James after riding the Matterhorn

At the conclusion of a fun day at Cedar Point

The kids got to come along for Brooke's final music class

Brittany and Brigham were finally brave enough to ride the centrifugal force ride at COSI

Beginning of the Sermon on the Mount scene

Down to the handlebar mustache stage of removing the beard...SCARY!!!

Clean-shaven face...once again!

We're all racing!

2007-05-20T09:21:00.000-04:00

Well I'm sure you've all been wondering about Barr's first triathlon, so to not keep you in suspense any longer I'll start with him...he finished! That's what his response is anyway. Since I was able to be a bystander, I'll give you a few more details. My mom came up Friday evening to watch the kids so Barr and I could drive to Oxford, Ohio. We stayed in a hotel just outside of Miami University. That night we walked through campus to check out the pool and the race course. It was the first nice Friday night of the year so all the college kids were enjoying it out on their lawns. Having attended a church school, Barr and I got our first taste of how other universities party! We saw some very interesting games going on, all involving alcohol in one form or another. It was a much different atmosphere than what we experienced at BYU. The next morning I think I had just as many butterflies as Barr as I saw how much planning and equipment you need to participate in one of these events. Barr was a little nervous about his transitions because that really wasn't something he had practiced, and unfortunately was what slowed him down. He felt good and relaxed during his swim and strong on his bike. Starting the run his legs were cramping quite a bit, but he finished strong and still standing! I admit selfishly I was hoping he would have hated it and would not want to do another, but I knew that wouldn't be the case. Of course it just gave him all the more desire to improve and do it again, and again, and again......

He had to settle for just a 5-K with me yesterday. We had perfect running weather for the Komen Race for the Cure event in Columbus. With over 37,000 participants, there was a neat excitement in the air. As we were weaving in and out of other runners I would read on their backs who they were running in memory of or in celebration of. I had wished I had my grandmother's name on my back, but also felt very grateful that my list could stop there.

We raced home with just enough time to race Brigham to his last soccer game of the season. We were a little surprised that he wasn't playing like usual and kept yelling for him to "get in there" or "go after the ball" when he finally came over and told us that this game he had decided to play defense. You hear about those crazy soccer moms who are yelling on the sidelines at their 6-year-old, well I guess now I can see why. I had to remind myself that if he didn't care if he scored a goal, then I shouldn't care either!

I need to keep this "race" theme going, so it's perfect that Ben just showed me his X-treme Racing courses he drew. He's constantly making up new race tracks, complete with names, hazards, weather conditions, etc. He just drew up 16 new ones in like 20 minutes with names like Rainbow Ribbon Path, Brick Market, Underwater Fortress and Electric Pinball. I would love to see inside his brain as these wheels are turning. It's also a race every morning to be the first one up so he can get on the computer. I've had to have several very loud talks (if you know what I mean) with him at 8:30 when he's freaking out that he's going to miss the bus because he can't find his homework or his lunch isn't packed. How do you teach a 10-year-old boy about time management? Ben also had to make a tough decision when his gifted class's production of Julius Caesar fell on the same evening as the Father and son camp out. Because he was one of several senators who had to stab Caesar, he felt that the show would go on without him, so with his teacher's blessing he was able to go camping. That turned out to be quite an adventure when they got lost in the woods trying to find the building where they were to meet for the program. After a few hours of hiking in mud and grass up to their knees, they gave up and headed back to their tent. The boys were fine with this as they really only wanted to burn marshmallows and tell jokes anyway.

Brittany tells me everyday after school how she races around the playground chasing boys or they are chasing her. With this information, I shouldn't be surprised when her friends that come over tell me that all the boys in school love her. It's only 2nd grade, so I shouldn't be worried, right? On Mother's Day she was up at 6:00 and in the kitchen. At 6:30 I finally told Barr he might want to go down there and see what was going on. They brought me a wonderful breakfast in bed, and the usual handmade treasures and cards. Brittany will be a great mother some day.

She has been such a help lately with Brooke who has discovered the trampoline. She bobs her upper body up and down for the sign for jump and does it every time she looks outside and sees and trampoline, which is a lot. She loves to be out there on it but is still very nervous if there are kids jumping and she's not secure. The kids are usually pretty good about giving her a turn, but Brooke hasn't quite learned about giving them a turn! Brooke can also tie in with this blog racing theme as her other new skill is running. She loves to run away from us giggling with delight in her new game of come and get me. It's so fun to watch her light up with joy! Her other new love is a toy one of her therapists recommended for her. It has slots for pictures with buttons for recording their names. We've started out with pictures of our family and grandparents so Brooke can press a picture of one of us and hear our name. She will play with this for hours a day, pressing the button and then doing the sign for the person's name she hears. I recently read The Story of My Life by Helen Keller and I can see the same kind of excitement Helen experienced as she learned she could communicate with others as I see in Brooke as she is able to "say" our names through this toy. I know she has the words in her head but is just not able to get them to come out of her mouth!

Another exciting thing for Brooke was her move from the crib to a toddler bed. She would only lie sideways in her crib so her legs would stick out of the slots and get stuck. She was also getting too heavy for Brittany to get her out in the morning, so we were hoping a toddler bed would help with these things. The first night she seemed scared and fell out twice, so the next day I put her bumper pads from the crib around the bed. She felt secure again and has loved it ever since.

All of our spare time has been spent tearing down the stone wall in the backyard and moving a driveway of dirt back there to try to level it out. It feels good to have that project done so we can move on to the never ending list of other home and yard improvements. Gotta love a 22-year-old home!

Barr, Becky & Kids

Barr and Ron Thomas after the tri

Brooke's first night in her new bed

An electrifying time on the tramp!

Hurrah! Soccer season is over

At Scotts' Spring Family Day activity

Is it really Spring?

2007-04-15T20:31:00.000-04:00

I had to pry 3 webkinz-happy kids off the computer to finally have a chance to type this. They are timing me, so even though it's been a few months since I've written, I think I need to be quick!

February seems like ions ago but I have to write about my fabulous girls weekend to Chicago. Seven of us met in Fishers to drive up together to the windy city...and it sure lived up to it's name! Even with the cold temperatures, we enjoyed touring the art institute, shopping on the magnificent mile, writing our names on the wall at Gino's pizza (the best pizza ever!), experiencing the musical Wicked (and what an experience it was!), and of course hanging out with some of the best friends a girl could ask for! It came to an end all too soon, but now I can start looking forward to next years trip.

I'm not the only one that got to travel, although Barr's wasn't all for pleasure. He has taken a few business trips out to Washington and Oregon as Scott's is considering purchasing two grass seed companies out there. At the end of one of the trips he was able to drive over to Moscow, Idaho to visit his brother, Trevor, and his family. That was especially nice for him since he hadn't seen his brother in a few years or met their daughter.

We all traveled down to Cincinnati for Easter and to help my dad celebrate his 67th birthday. We loved having 18 cousins together (I hope your home has recovered Mom), and it was so fun to hang out with 3 of my sisters. We were insane to do the Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning with below freezing temperatures, but it's a tradition. Brooke seemed to "get it" a little this year, wanting to drop the eggs in her basket if I handed them to her although with mittens on it wasn't easy. She scored the best finding 4 eggs with dollar bills in them. Although she really could care less about that since she discovered what a jelly bean is. She's really starting to show a preference for things...like jelly beans!

Easter morning brought more excitement than Christmas morning with all the cousins running around trying to find their baskets and then discovering the bunny had left Webkinz (thanks to Grandpa McAllister). I think I wrote earlier how Ben now re-believes in Santa because of our magical elf and now he re-believes in the Easter Bunny since we have been searching for Webkinz almost daily for a month now with no success. I have never seen anything like the Webkinz craze going on. I have tried to look at the positive, like how the kids will play together if they're playing with their webkinz and how the website is teaching them about writing to friends, earning and spending money, and taking care of someone else. It's funny how they won't remember to feed or walk their real dog, but they will spend hours earning enough money to buy their virtual pet a new bathtub for its home!

The first part of spring break we were so glad our good friends from Indiana, the Andersens, came to visit. We had such great weather that the kids spent hours wading in the stream in the backyard, getting stuck in quicksand (so they say), and gathering snails. I had to intervene as they were trying to bring a bucket of over 50 of them into the house. We also had a beautiful day at the zoo although we are realizing that once boys reach the age of 10, they think they are too old to look at animals. They were good sports though after I promised them that Barr would take them to see TMNT after dinner. Barr had to get one more good bike ride into work before the cold weather came, so he was a little late coming home that night to grill for the missionaries. I have purposefully never learned how to work the grill (maybe some of you moms can understand why!) so Margaret came to my rescue by starting the burgers for us.

Barr has been training really hard for a triathlon he will be doing next weekend in Oxford, Ohio. He's been swimming and running early in the morning and biking to work when the weather will allow. He has a buddy at church that has a little too much free time on his hands and is constantly inviting him to train with him and participate in races. They were at the gym until 11:30 last night, but that's not being extreme I guess. I kind of lost it this morning when Barr told me he invited him to do "just a bike race" the weekend after the tri. I should be glad he's addicted to exercise instead of something bad, right?

The kids keep asking if I'm done yet, and you probably are too. I should probably write something quick about each of them though...

Ben turned 10 and got an aquarium. All 6 fish died within the first week. When we took a water sample in, they told us we were over feeding. He really struggled with feeling guilty for killing his fish. We have replaced them a few times now, and got the most recent batch yesterday. We are all really praying these do better! Ben also lost 3 teeth in the last 5 days and he hasn't been in any bar fights. Maybe it's all the Easter candy. The tooth fairy always brings a little gift with a dollar (just a book or toothpaste or something small) but by the 3rd one, I was really wishing he didn't believe anymore.

Brigham also lost a tooth last month, his first one! He was at a camp out with the scouts (the perk of having a dad as the scout master) and I guess from the screaming, the other boys thought he had lost a limb or something. Thankfully he wanted to bring it home to show me so the tooth fairy didn't have to show up at the camp. Then the next night he was really struggling with giving up his tooth or not. He didn't know if a buck was worth giving away his first tooth. So after much tears and anxiety he wrote the tooth fairy a note asking her to let him keep it. Talk about using all the faith his little 6-year-old body could muster that she would be kind, and thankfully she was! After sitting through months of watching Brittany's gymnastics, Brigham decided he wanted to give it a try. He loved his class even though he was the only boy with 4 girls. He also played his first soccer game of the season yesterday in the freezing rain. Gotta love Ohio!

Brittany is loving going to Activity Days now that she's 8, and she was just asked to move up to the next level in gymnastics. I often find her in strange positions in the family room with pillows propped up all over the place practicing her back bends and splits. She's really enjoying it.

I guess that leaves Brooke who is still the heart of our home. She is walking all over the place as long as the terrain is level, so we haven't mastered the grass yet. Her new thing is opening and closing doors. If we need to keep her entertained for a while we just open up all the doors and drawers in the kitchen and let her at it! She will also pull one thing out of the dishwasher and carry it around with her until it drops and then she'll come and get something else. I have to be really quick at both loading and unloading it. The most recent signs she has learned are Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa.

The kids have been patient long enough. Stay tuned for the exciting results of Barr's race.....

Love,
The Hills

Ben's Birthday Cake of his hero "Calvin" - Happy 10th!!

Ben's volcano cake for pack meeting

Brigham's last day of gymnastics with his ribbon

The kids braving sub-freezing temperatures at the Easter egg hunt

A trap of string they made in hopes of catching the Easter bunny

What a cutie!!

Nickie, Lauren (Andersen), Brittany, and Brooke

January Birthday Fun

2007-02-07T21:49:00.000-05:00

For most people, the month after all the fun excitement of the holidays is a little depressing with cold dark days and not a lot to look forward to. Fortunately for our family, January, although bitterly cold and dark, was also filled with plenty of excitement. Brittany was planning her 8th birthday party even before all the Christmas decorations were put away. After much pleading and persuasion she convinced us to let her invite 10 girls for a sleepover. We were certain that a few wouldn't be able to come, but learned you can't count on that! It turned out to be a lot of fun and we were pleasantly surprised at how well behaved they all were. Ben only had to come in our room a few times to say, "That's it. I can't take it anymore! Those girls are being way too loud." I wanted to remind him that last year, half as many boys at his party were twice as loud as the girls were being.

We had just enough time to recover from that party to start the next celebration. Barr's parents flew in again from Denver the night before Brittany's actual birthday. They were able to help bring in the birthday treats for both Brittany's and Brigham's classes. It was an extra special time for Brigham because he had been the star student all week, so on that Friday his family is able to come in to his class. We decided to read a poem to tell him what a special person he is and how much he means to our family. Each person had a turn, including his Grandma and Grandpa Hill. It was a nice surprise for Brigham. Barr then "took us all out to lunch" at the school cafeteria. What a treat that was!

That evening Laurel (my sister) and her family drove down from Michigan and the next morning were joined by Marcia (another sister), her family, my parents, and the Fields (our previous neighbors from Indiana). We were very appreciative that so many people made the effort to come support Brittany on her baptism day, which was also Brigham's 6th birthday. We had to keep reassuring Brigham that yes, we loved him just as much as Brittany since he often felt like she was getting all the attention. It was so much fun to have a house full of people we love and Brigham decided maybe he didn't mind sharing his special day since there were so many cousins and friends to play with. Brittany will have wonderful memories of her baptism and confirmation, as will all of us. Along with the fun memories of Brigham's birthday party which we had afterwards.

The party spirit has definitely left us since for the last week we have been home with the flu/bronchitis. Fortunately the schools were closed on Monday and Tuesday because of sub zero temperatures and have had 2-hour delays Wednesday and today. It's amazing how much tylenol and tissues 4 kids can go through in a week! It's also amazing how starved a mother can get for adult conversation. I was looking forward to a book discussion group at our home, but with the bad weather, only 2 ladies showed up. But that's alright because now I am looking forward to a girl-friend trip to Chicago next week, praying that the snow and flu will stay away!

I received an email from a lady in Northern Ireland whose 13-year-old daughter was recently diagnosed with chromosome deletion 9q34.3. That was exciting for us since she is the only contact we have that it the same as Brooke. Reading her life history for her first 13 years made me both sad and grateful. We are so fortunate that Brooke is healthy and such a pleasant, loving little girl, but also realize how uncertain her future is. She is definitely making some big progress with her mobility and her communication. She is now showing she has a preference for things--not quite the terrible 2's, but it's a start! Her favorite thing is "Signing Time" videos where she sees other kids communicating through signs. She is now signing all the time, even if it's just the same 5 or 6 ones over and over again. She tells everyone she sees "nose, baby, cracker, apple, sleepy and snowman" usually in that order. She is also really enjoying a music therapy class that I take her to once a week. I can tell she really wants to sing (especially "Once there was a snowman") and wish I could help her vocalize what's going on in her mind.

We hope you are all having a great beginning to 2007, wherever you may be located. Until we see you or read from you again (or at least until the next blog posting)...

Barr, Becky, Ben, Brittany, Brigham, and Brooke

Brittany's birthday party with friends

Brittany's baptism

Brigham's birthday celebration at his kindergarten class

Brooke getting out in the freshly fallen snow

Brooke with one of her therapists, Nancy

Holiday Fun

2007-01-16T06:58:00.000-05:00

Hello there friends and family! We hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. The holidays are always such a fun time and we loved hearing from so many of you. We were grateful to have Barr's parents with us in time for the Christmas festivities. It was a little Christmas miracle as the first blizzard that hit Denver shut down the airport on the day they were to fly to see us. They were re-ticketed but not until Christmas afternoon! There was no way we were going to let them miss all the fun of Christmas Eve and morning so we started praying VERY hard! The next day they spent almost 12 hours at the airport waiting in ticketing and security lines to finally make the only flight to Columbus on the standby list. With thousands of people still stranded for days at the airport it was another confirmation that God hears and answers prayers.

We learned about some fun traditions they do here in Dublin around Christmas time. Santa personally called each of our kids to make sure they were being good. Because he knew to tell Brittany to keep taking care of Max, and that Brigham wanted a scooter, and reminded Ben to share his Gameboy more, he had Ben re-believing in him this year. The night of the phone call Ben said, "This is the best day of my life". The magic kept coming when we had an elf from the North Pole visit us during the month of December. This is a tradition that started in one of the elementary schools years ago and has snowballed like you wouldn't believe. Every family has an elf that watches them for Santa. Our elf's name was Holly and she would come alive every night, rummage through candy dishes and leave special notes for the kids. They became very attached to her. Brittany made her a special bed, and always left her plenty of food, books, and toys. As it got closer to Christmas Brigham would often break down crying because he knew Holly would have to return to the North Pole with Santa. He felt so sad for her that she would miss his birthday, and watching them grow up, so he would pray every night that Christmas would never come! Thankfully that prayer wasn't answered, but all the kids came to grips with "reality" that Holly was needed by her elf family and would return to us next December.

Residual memories of Christmas day leave impressions of fun, laughter, joy, and love...but are blurred. The time went by much too quickly. The day after Christmas Becky caught an early flight to Cincinnati with the hopes of flying standby to Salt Lake City for her sister, Heather's, wedding the next day. She ended up flying to San Francisco where the previously 3 open flights to SL were now overbooked because of other airport delays and problems. Thankfully her brother-in-law, Rick, was with her and they even considered renting a car to either drive all the way to SLC or at least to another airport to try their luck there. Luckily there were no cars available and they missed the shuttle because after over 15 hours of being in airports they miraculously caught the last flight to Salt Lake. Air travel around the holidays is always an adventure!

All that stress was so worth it though to have all 6 siblings there in the temple for Heather's wedding and to finally get to meet Colby. It was truly a vacation for Becky to not have any kids with her (even though I love my kids!). Like the rest of the country though, we all got to experience that awful 24-hour flu. It hit the bride and groom on their wedding day--how unfair is that, and just moved on to the rest of us.

Becky flew home the same day Barr's parents returned to Denver. Then we left to Cincinnati for a second wedding reception. The reception was first class fun with a fantastic dinner and dance. We even talked Ben into joining us on the dance floor (which was no small task). The only bummer was that Becky had to leave early as her round with the flu hit her with full force. On New Year's eve it was Barr's turn along with Brittany and Brooke. We know many people make a New Year's resolution to lose weight, but we wouldn't recommend the way we did it! :)

Despite the illnesses most of us experienced, it was good to be with family to celebrate the birth of our Savior and a few days later, the wedding of Heather and Colby. Now we're back in the flow of life with work, school, and preparing for birthdays later in January. Here's some pictures of experiences over the last month or so.

Ben, Brittany, and Brigham with Holly

Opening up pajamas on Christmas Eve

The traditional Christmas morning picture on the stairs...

At Heather's reception in Cincinnati

Brittany at gymnastics

We are Thankful

2006-12-03T09:17:00.000-05:00

Hi Family and Friends,

The month of November has flown by. I can't believe it's already December. One highlight in November was the Thanksgiving holiday. We were invited to spend Thanksgiving with Becky's sister's family up in Michigan. We had Thanksgiving with them a few years ago before they went on an international assignment to China. Back then, we were living in Indianapolis and it was a 5 hour drive. Now that we're in Ohio, it's only a 3 hour drive.

Becky's parents and two of her sisters were also able to be there. The kids seemed to have a great time with their cousins. Unfortunately, I was very sick. One thing I was thankful for was not passing my illness on to anyone else.

A tradition that has been established the past few years is the annual shopping spree that occurs the Friday after Thanksgiving. The preparations for the event start on Thursday afternoon as Becky and her sister's scour the ads in the newspapers looking for the best deals on the items they have on their Christmas lists. Their strategic planning would impress Michael Porter at Harvard. Then the fun really begins when they leave the house at 4:30 am to venture out to the jungles of retail America. I stay home with the kids to play games and watch football on TV.

Another highlight during Thanksgiving week was watching Brooke begin to walk more independently. She still has difficulty standing by herself, but once she is up, she is able to walk quite a distance without falling down. She's even started to master the art of changing directions, although it tends to follow the pattern of a NASCAR race - always turn left!

We are very thankful for the tremendous blessings in our lives. We have been blessed with so much and are looking forward to the Christmas season.

Love,

Barr, Becky, and family

Thanksgiving Dinner at the Larsen's house.

The "adult" table.

Becky and her sister's creating the shopping strategy.

Eliza, Emma, and Brittany showing off their new dressses.

Brittany, donning her scarlet and gray and cheering for the victorious Buckeyes.

Enjoying the lights at the zoo.

Halloween has come and gone

2006-11-03T06:26:00.000-05:00

As much as I love Halloween, I love the day I can take all the decorations down more. Maybe it's because I know it won't be long before I can decorate for Christmas. At dinner last night Ben reminded me that last year I put up our tree before December (by only a few days though) so wondered if we could put it up today. I must admit I thought about it for a second. With Barr out of town for work it would actually be perfect timing, but I refrained. I have enough projects going on right now in our house.

I finally painted Brittany's room. It's pink and green to match her new bedspread. She had been asking for one "that's really thick and fluffy". I think she meant a down comforter so I looked all around and finally found a nice one for a good price at Overstock.com. The first night she kept coming in our room complaining that it was too noisy! Sometimes I wonder why I even try with her! It doesn't matter though since she sleeps in the extra bed in Brooke's room everynight anyway.

We also have been fixing up the main bathroom. It only took 2 weeks, but I finally finished stripping off the wallpaper. It feels good to now be completely wallpaper free in this home. I picked out the new cabinet, counter top and sink in 1 afternoon which really impressed Barr. While I was doing that, he was helping Brooke with her walking all around Home Depot. She took 8 steps alone! What's funny is that she's always laughing when she's walking. Sometimes I think she loses her balance because she's laughing so hard. We must have been quite the site to all the Home Depot employees as we would get all excited. The next day Barr took out the old sink and cabinet only to realize we had a lot of wall repairing to do. So that's why it's 6 days later and we are still washing our hands in the kitchen. This morning I was trying to finish preparing the walls but after working for over an hour and only ripping 1 baseboard off I realized there are some jobs that can wait for your husband to get home!

The Fairfields, some old friends from Indiana, drove over to visit with us during their fall break. After not seeing them for 6 or 7 months the kids were so excited to play together again. We always love it when people come visit us (hint, hint)! It rained a lot during the week, but in Ohio there has to be a typhoon to cancel soccer so they got to watch Brigham sliding around in the mud during his last soccer game.

Brittany started gymnastics last week and loves it. She has got to ring the bell during both of her classes so far (meaning she did something really well). Ben still doesn't want me to sign him up for any sports yet. I think we've come to the realization that not all boys need to be athletes. He is enjoying scouts and the piano...well maybe enjoying isn't the right word. I have taken on a few piano students here which has been fun for me. Brigham kept asking me to teach him which I would always reply with "not until you're older". Then one day I hear Brittany giving him a lesson. Before I knew it, he could play the first 6 songs in her book so I had to go against my rule and start teaching him. I figure I should do it while he's still excited about practicing!

Brooke is making some great progress with communicating. She can sign: more, all done, eat, drink, bye bye, tired, twinkle twinkle, sing (she made up her own for that one), Max (I'm trying not to be hurt that she will sign Max and not Mom!), head, tummy, and please. What's great is that I can tell she understands more then just the words she can sign. She's starting to recognize: brush your teeth, let's go, play the piano (which is one of her favorite things to do), are you hungry, take a bath, change your diaper, put in, and hug. She loves feeling like she can communicate so lately whenever she sees someone, she will do the sign for eat just because I think that's her favorite one. So everyone thinks she is always hungry.

That's probably more then you wanted to read, so I'll stop and let Barr attach some pictures. Hopefully all of this won't be old news by the time that happens!

Love,
Becky

Brigham's soccer team

"Boo at the Zoo" - the kids had fun at the zoo wearing their costumes.

Fun with the Fairfields

Trick or Treating

Lead off

2006-10-08T16:57:00.000-04:00

This is our lead off installment of "The Hills are Alive" blog. Becky has been feeling guilty for not writing emails or sending letters to her family and friends. Her sister, Laurel, has been good at maintaining a blog site ever since she and her family took an international assignment to China. I think that has inspired her to create this.

Anything you want to add honey?

Hi everyone. I just sent Barr and the kids downstairs so hopefully I could have a few minutes to write something sensible. I wish I could do a soundbyte right now so that you could hear all the noise. Brooke, who has been so quite the first 2 years of her life, has found her vocal chords. She is doing what I call the witch screech. Brittany is jumping up and down in the kitchen, saying "boing, boing" or something like that, making Brooke break out in her hysterical scream. Ben is yelling--something about how the house is trying to kill him. I think he hit his head on a door. Brigham is still in the den with me looking at a scrapbook asking way too many questions for me to be able to concentrate on this! When I was thinking of starting a blog it was at 1:00 in the morning with just me and my thoughts. I should have gotten out of bed and typed it then. I'm sure most of my entries will be at odd hours of the night since I have been suffering from insomnia for several months now. But you'll have to bear with a scatterbrain on this one!

I love fall! It has been the most beautiful week here. My mom drove up Friday night bringing Austin and Adam, two nephews, with her. The kids had a great time with Brittany having just as much fun as the boys dueling Yugioh cards and sword fighting. We made quite the cheering section for Brigham's soccer game Saturday where he scored 7 goals. What made me the proudest though was that after I told him to be sure he was passing the ball to his teammates, he didn't score again but was always looking for someone to kick to.

Later that night, Mom watched the kids for us while Barr and I went and saw Superman Returns which we were highly disappointed with. There were some moral and political issues in it that really bothered us. We then took advantage of our free babysitter by going to a party at a neighbor's house. Thanks Mom!

The kids are enjoying school--especially Brigham who comes home everyday saying, "this was my best day of kindergarten". Brittany always fills me in on who got in trouble, or how the teacher wasn't fair, or how great the corn dogs were. With Ben, I'm lucky to get a quick "Hi Mom" as he runs off again either to his room to play Game Boy or back outside to play with a friend. They have all made some really good friends in our new neighborhood in the last few months. I'm still working on that with me!

I guess that's enough for now. I'm missing out on the Game of Life downstairs (Sponge Bob edition!). I hope they save me some popcorn....

Write ya later.
Becky

Getting on the school bus.

Ben and Brittany's first day of school.

Brigham getting off the bus after his first day of kindergarten.

You give Brooke an M&M and this is what you get!