Going Home

I moved to Utah on August 18, 2001. I went back home in February of 2004 for my grandpa's funeral and hadn't been back since until my dad's funeral. When I left home all my brothers still had prepubescent voices and they were all shorter than me. I know that people change over time but I always thought that I would be able to recognize my siblings anywhere and at any time no matter how long it had been since I last saw them...boy was I wrong! When I was exiting the terminal area at the airport in Dayton I recognized this girl that my mom use to babysit when I was younger standing by the door. My very first thought was, "Becky?" Next thought, "Then the other girl must be Angie and that boy must be Walter." How embarrassing to realize that I NEVER would have recognized my own siblings if they were to pass me on the street. Even

scarier, Walter drove us from the airport in Dayton down to Cincinnati. I thought I was going to DIE! I made sure to take a ton of pictures while I was there. I knew that I was home sick but I didn't realize how bad it was until I was on my way home. I actually had a layover in Cincinnati and then flew up to Dayton...go figure and when I was landing in Cincinnati I was so happy but the minute my plane that was going to Dayton got off the ground my heart sank and I felt so sad to know that I was so close to home but I had to fly away and then drive back down...how pathetic of me! Anywho, I enjoyed my time there even with the given circumstances surrounding my visit.

Pictures:

Grandma and Mom

Me with Angie

Ronnie

Walter

Kenny

The Passing of Dad

At 5:00 am est my dad began having trouble breathing. He was pronounced dead a short while later. The funeral is going to be on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 in Cincinnati. He had just turned 55 back in February. He leaves behind a wife, five children, three grandchildren, and two sisters. This past year he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and diabeties. After his diagnosis he got progressively worse over time. He fell a couple of weeks ago and went to to the hospital for x-rays which came back clear. He got really sick after that and was admitted into the hospital. He had blood poisening and something wrong with his liver but he refused to allow the doctors to treat him. They decided to send him to Blue Ash nursing home for rehabilitation and was only there for a few days when he passed.
My dad and I never really had the best relationship but I do have several good memories of him. I remember going grocery shopping with him when I was like 4 years old and bugging him because I wouldn't follow him and I would disappear. I remember being at my parents wedding and watching him look like he was about to die from the early August heat! When I was old enough to begin dating he tried to scare away the boy that I liked but it didn't work...I think he was a bit aggrivated by that at first. When Spencer talked to my dad to get permission to marry me my dad had him on the phone for like 15 minutes just giving him the third degree. I was suprised that it didn't scare Spencer away! I went home back in 2004 for my grandpa's funeral and I took Pyper with me. He wanted to hold her and she just screamed as loud as she could. Trying to carry a conversation with him was always very interesting and to be honest kind of scary sometimes. He will be missed.

Name That Smell

Spring cleaning always seems to bring interesting things my way. I am doing my spring cleaning this weekend so of course nothing is working out the way I want. First, the closet door to the washer and dryer closet fell off because a big piece of the wood holding the door in place broke off. Second, I moved my dryer and found all the crap in that picture under it. Third, well third is a bit nasty. I removed the the hose from the back of the dryer to clean out any lint that may be in there but there was this large clump of lint that wouldn't come out. I grabbed a flash light to see what it was stuck to and I was about to reach my hand in to see if I could reach it when I realized what it was....A FREAKIN' DEAD BIRD!!! It took forever to get it out but it finally fell out and of course the kids were trying so hard to see it. For the longest time I have been noticing an odd smell in my house even after I've cleaned for two or three days straight and I just couldn't figure it out...now we know!

The other pictures here are just some random ones that I have. Pyper took a picture of me and look like I have these huge spider legs. Jordan likes playing with the remote...my little man. Ashton loves the cat and thankfully the cat is very good with him. He likes to pet the cat when he's not trying to lay on him or bite his tale. I think the worst thing I've ever seen him do to the cat was when the cat was all sprawled out on the floor on his back and Ashton laid down next to him and grabbed the cat by his private area! I thought the cat would bite at him or something but instead the cat just cried out and jumped up. Spencer and I weren't much help because we were too busy laughing about it...rude, I know!

FUN FUN FUN

There is always something interesting going on in our house in case you haven't figured that out from all my previous posts! Having three kids can be a bit overwhelming but it's all worth it plus I have a helper and no it's not just Spencer...I have PYPER! She reminds me of myself when I was her age. She loves helping me do house chores like dishes, laundry, and changing diapers! She loves to play with Ashton and Jordan while I am cooking or doing some massive cleaning. Jordan may be a pain in the butt and drive me insane but he is AWESOME with Ashton. He's a very protective big brother. If Ashton has anything in his hands (even if it's okay) Jordan will take it away and tell Ashton no and bring me whatever he found. If I'm holding Ashton and I'm sitting on the couch then Jordan will climb onto the seat next to me and demand to hold Ashton. If I tell him no then he'll through a temper tantrum. And I thought that growing old, being married, and raising kids would be boring...boy was I wrong!

Devil or Angel?

I have to admit that I HATE the terrible two's almost as much as I hate the horrible three's! This kid drives us insane. He gets into anything he can find a way to open. Because of this, we recently added two new locks in our home. One lock on the pantry and one lock on the fridge. The white stuff on the carpet is yogurt that he got out of the fridge and decided to smear all over the carpet in his room. He climbs on chairs to get into things that were purposely put up high so that he couldn't get them. He loved to climb into the pantry to get into Spencer's cup-o-noodles. He would take the cup into his room and eat the styrophome and leave the dried noodles and veggies all over his bed and his room! I think the most aggrivating thing about him is that he will not talk. He still "baby babbles" and if you don't understand him or he gets mad he will bite or hit himself. I just realized the other day how angelic he looks when he's sleeping and then I realized that the rail on his bed looks like jail bars. If he's anything like his dad he'll be there some day especially if he keeps up with this temper he has!