Happy Reunion

It was so much fun to be together with all of my siblings and (most of) our families again (Jared and John didn't join us). 

All of us Paulson girls had a fun shopping trip to the local outlet mall where we didn't do any shopping for kids -- just us! It is so much fun to hang out with my sisters. I wish we lived closer to each other so we could me more a part of each others' lives.

Lacey hangin' with Davey and Charlie in a dressing room.

It was great to have the adults outnumbering the kids!

Davey had so much fun hanging out with his cousins - and even got to meet a new one this trip: Desiree brought her new little one Tommy (John Thomas) who was only 6 weeks old. He is such a beautiful, sweet little baby. 

Lacey and Ben admiring Tommy

Davey was excited to be inducted into the Paulson grandkid dollar store trip tradition. Grandma and Grandpa Paulson take the grand boys (as they call them) to the dollar store and they each get choose $5 of merchandise. Davey had a blast! (The pictures turned out a little blurry, but they're still fun to look at!)

Serious shopping (and already lots in the basket!)

Michael, Peter and Joseph... decisions, decisions!

Davey enjoyed wearing this hat in the store but it didn't 

make the final cut.

Wow, this is overwhelming.

The weather was great while we were in SE Michigan, 70s and 80s, so the boys spent most of their time outside playing. Davey was in heaven to be always outside and have playmates.

Adventures on the playset Grandpa built for us when 

we were kids.

Peter pushing the boys on the rope ladder

Somehow one of the boys got a hold of a bottleful of plastic be-bes from Ben's be-be gun. Davey and his cousins had hours and hours of fun playing with these things. It was amazing to watch how busy it kept them. Ben would scatter them in various places - on the driveway, in the grass - and they'd have fun seeing how many they could pick up. Then they'd make games out of rolling them down the slide in various ways and trying to catch them.

They're so small you can't even spot them in the picture,

but Davey is proud of his cupful of them!

The Family Buggy

On Wednesday we were all excited to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa Adams at an Adams family tradition: The Family Buggy. The boys enjoyed seeing Grandma and Grandpa and sitting with the Buggy Bear!

Afterward, we hung out for a while at their apartment. Davey enjoyed exploring the outdoors with Grandpa while Charlie showed off for Grandma...

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Charlie loves to do what Grandma Adams calls "crowing," a loud squeal/scream that is usually happy. (He was doing a ton of it for Grandma but of course stopped when I started taking the video above....) Apparently Dave did it all the time when he was young. And my mom tells the story about how when we lived on the base in Iceland, my dad would hear me screaming like that (though not happily) 1/2 a mile down the road on his walk home. So I guess one of our kids was bound to be a screamer.

We had a really nice time with them and it made us more excited for our week up north with the Adams!

Obama's Health Plan

Here is an email that Dave sent out today. I thought it was worth posting here. I am planning to call our congressman and woman to let them know I am seriously opposed to this health plan and urge you to do the same. You can find contact information for your congressmen/women here: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt. Generally you will just leave a voicemail for the, so it only takes a minute to do.

"I am really sorry to bother you with such a long email. I hope you find it worth your time to read.

 

"OK, let me first admit that these are preliminary thoughts about Obama's Health Plan. I don't know every detail on this (and frankly neither does Obama) but so far I don't like what I see. The debate is heating up as competing Senate and House bills are weighed but with Dems hot to get a bill passed soon we all need to be aware how our health care will change. So research it for yourself but here is what has me extremely concerned at the outset;

 

• First - Health Care Rationing - Dems voted down a measure to prevent "health care rationing" in the current legislation that Republicans offered. This means (and the President and others have conceded) that your care can (under proposed plans) be rationed with decisions being made in DC. So suppose you have say a rare disease with a funny name. And suppose surgery is available to fix the damage from said disease. Well, it would be up to the Government to decide if you are a good use of rationed health care. Is this example a little to specific? Let me try another example being used.

 "You have advanced kidney cancer. It will kill you, probably in the next year or two. A drug called Sutent slows the spread of the cancer and may give you an extra six months, but at a cost of $54,000. Is a few more months worth that much?

 

"Apparently most ethicists (i.e., the types of folks that will be hired to make such decisions) agree that your continued life might not be worth that much. Or at least that such costs and benefits are best weighed by your government. But the issue at hand now isn't about whether health care should be rationed. Some argue (perhaps accurately) that health care is now being rationed by it's high cost. But as a solution, do you want our Federal Government to ration that care? Is that more fair? A government that still can not locate my FBI application, pays $1,000 for a hammer, and is completely immune to lawsuits! This is the best solution to high costs that are a barrier for some?!

• Second - You Can Keep Your Current Provider - This is one of those "true lies" of the health care debate from what I can see. According to the current legislation Government run health care would be "managed care". Do you currently have "managed care" aka an HMO? I don't. So what they aren't telling you when you hear "your provider doesn't have to change" is that the provider may not change but the form of coverage will. So if you are like me with a PPO, gone is the ability to select any doctor and see specialists at my discretion. Sure, I'd still have Aetna but not Aetna PPO. I'd be forced to use Aetna HMO. This is necessary to keep costs in line with what the government thinks it can afford. Apparently the current billl provides a brief "grace period" before you are forced to convert.

• Third - Care for Seniors - Do you happen to know anyone who is retiring? Well, then as you may know their primary insurer automatically becomes Uncle Sam (Medicare - other insurers are always secondary). The current bill intends to trim overall Medicare spending 10%. Not a huge change but at the same time those cuts take place, Medicare will see a 30% increase in their participant rolls. Huh? More people but less money for seniors care? I wonder how they will pull that off (you might ask)? Well, apparently we don't have to wonder. As one example, the current plan intends to enforce limits on care for dementia. This is more of the fun "rationing" described above. Apparently the doctor tasked by the White House with health reform (Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel) has spoken publicly about severly limiting seniors care, specifically the care for dementia. He feels that those who are of a certain age aren't the best use of limited health care resources.

"So do you like what you hear so far? Well if you don't then the next item may be the coup de grace.

• Fourth - Who is Exempt from Participating in Federal Health Care - Think about this one for a minute. Who might be allowed to skate on participation in FEDERAL health care? Who would our legislators favor in such a way that they are not required to participate is such a bad plan? That's right, themselves! Our elected officials have written into the current bill that THEY do not have to participate in a Federal Health Care program. It won't be their care that is rationed. It won't be thier kid with a rare disease whose life hangs in the hands of someone in DC. Gee, if their plan is so great, why not participate?

"Last, if you are wondering how you and I will be forced into a government run plan, I am not completely sure on the details (like I said, I am still looking at this). But from what I understand, the idea is that as employers are offered the option of a federal plan that is (on the surface) much cheaper, they will likely shift in droves. Afterall, can you really imagine a company like GM declining the opportunity to offload much of it's health care burden? further, in Canada private insurance that competes with goverment offered insurance is simply not allowed. Do they intend to do the same here? I don't know.

 

"Look, can I see that some in our society go without important health care? Sure. Is this the best solution? Not in my opinion.

 

"Maybe you know someone who is old and may suffer from dementia. Maybe you know someone who is young and has a rare disease. Maybe you know someone about to retire. This isn't a hypotherical exercise in an Ivy League course on the benefits of socialism. This is for real and it will impact us all. So what do you think?

 

"Dave"

(7/21)

My Brother Ben

I know I'm partial, but my little brother Benjamin is the best. He is such a great kid. He is definitely someone worthy of the honor that comes with being an Eagle Scout, which was the reason for the timing of this trip to MI (to attend his Court of Honor). The evidence was strewn all over this trip.

Even though I was in Michigan 2 weeks before Dave arrived, it still felt like a vacation for me. I didn't think it necessarily would in the beginning because I knew my mom would be super-busy finishing up all of the details for the Court of Honor (she goes all-out for an event like this), but it still did, largely due to Ben. He was such a big help, not because he was necessarily trying to help, but he spent a lot of time with Davey and Charlie. Even his friends Brad and Eric came over several times just so they could play with my boys. What great kids!

I needed to do some shopping for myself and my friend Amy and I have started a tradition of shopping trips to Birch Run when I'm home. My mom watched Davey for me for the day and Ben gladly agreed to come along to help with Charlie. He was such a life saver, though I'm sure it was boring for him.

Davey woke up several mornings to find new, elaborate train track designs for him to play with...

You can imagine his excitement!

They were way better than anything we've ever

built for him.

Ben also set up this pirate set for Davey to play with

to help Davey with his imaginative play. So thoughtful!

I caught this picture through the kitchen window

 of Ben spending time with Charlie.

Can you imagine a better uncle?

Cincinnati

About a week into our Michigan trip, I loaded the boys into my parents' van and drove to Cincinnati to visit my brother, Colter, and his family. We arrived late Wednesday night and stayed through Saturday night. I was nervous about the drive (5 hours with stops) but it went very well. Davey watched a move and Charlie slept, waking at just the right time when the movie was over and both Davey and I needed to use the restroom. I fed him and then both boys drifted off to sleep.

Thursday night, we all went to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. It was a wonderful concert! We arrived early and got seats at the front of the lawn and the boys enjoyed playing around together.

Our gang waiting for the concert to begin.

The choir.

Thank you  Colter & Kelly for such a treat!

The next day was Joseph's 8th birthday! My parents drove down in time for the party and Davey enjoyed playing with the balloons.

Joseph loved his "cake." It was delicious!

I can't believe Joseph is eight! He is such a smart, well-behaved boy.

Saturday was Joseph's baptism. It was neat to be there for that special day for him.

Colter and Kelly with their boys

Jospeh, Michael, Peter and Enoch

Joseph all dressed and ready to be baptized.

Davey liked watching him go under the water and kept saying that he wants to get baptized. I'm sure we'll be there before we know it!

After the baptism, we hung out at Colter's and were able to visit with Kelly's brother and his family who live in Dayton. Davey and Charlie had fun playing on the floor together...

My two boys look quite different from one another,

but something about their expressions in this picture 

looks similar to me.

Such silly boys!

We had a wonderful visit with Colter and Kelly and the gang. Kelly definitely impressed me with the running of her household of 6 with baby boy #5 on the way! Davey absolutely loved playing with his cousins. Luckily goodbye wasn't for too long since they joined us in MI less than a week later. Thank you for a wonderful visit!

Fun with the Romneys

It has been so fun to be able to hang out with my friend Amy and her daughters since we have been here. The first thing we did was go to the zoo. Davey and Ada really enjoyed hanging out and really seemed to remember each other, though it had been almost a year since they've seen each other.

The fountain was a big attraction for these two.

Davey loved the flamingos.

Several beautiful peacocks were roaming the zoo.
It's so fun when Davey sees a new animal in person
that he's known only in pictures!

Charlie was a bit crabby (this was while he was still adjusting to sleeping in the crib - so he was very sleep deprived). Sitting him backwards in his car seat so he could see out worked for a little while, but it was still obvious he wasn't happy...

But he's a cute little grump!

The kids loved riding the zoo train...

Davey was so excited about his ticket.

The next day we got together at the park for a picnic. This time, the babies, Charlie and Lucy, got to hang out...

Notice how huge Charlie's head is?!

(He's 1 month younger than Lucy)

I thought it would be nice to get a picture of the three of us, but Davey did not want to be pulled away from the play structure...

Charlie thougt his antics were pretty funny!

Later in the week we went to the acquatic center and had a blast as well.

We're looking forward to the day (hopefully it will happen someday) when we can live near our friends again and see them more.

Larry the Logger

When I got home, my dad had just finished chopping down a huge pine tree from the backyard that had been damaged in a storm.

Dad and the trunk of the tree that he conquered.

The large dirt patch in the background is where

the tree used to be.

There is now an impressive pile of firewood in the back yard consisting mostly of logs from this tree. My little brother Ben and I helped him chop up the roots so they could be removed from the ground.

It was fun using the axe. It felt so rugged! :)

We Made It

Yea! The kids and I made it to Michigan without too much trouble and headache. I was definitely nervous about traveling myself with the two of them.

Davey, being the good boy he is, was no trouble on the plane. It helped that I brought him a new backpack filled with a new train, new Thomas DVDs, and an almost endless supply of treats for him...

I think he spent more time looking at the "train book"
(the catalog that comes with each train) than he did

playing with the train itself. Good marketing....

Charlie did pretty well. Even though I knew we'd only have two seats, I brought Charlie's car seat on, thinking that he'd sleep no problem once I fed him and the hum and rumble of the plane kicked in and that would be worth squishing with Davey into the other seat. He did, but only for 15 minutes. So the three of us had to squish into the two seats with a car seat that a tired Charlie definitely did not want to stay in. At least the flight was only 3 hours.

Charlie's favorite entertainment: the plastic cup.

As it turns out, I should have spent my money on a kid's suitcase for Davey instead of the cute backpack...

Davey loved the tunnel between Concourses in the
McNamara Terminal with its changing colors.

He insisted on rolling our carry-on all the way from the gate to baggage claim. And it was a very long walk (we landed Concourse B). By the time we got to baggage claim, they were loading the remains as unclaimed. But he was proud of himself :) He even would walk next to me as I pushed the double stroller, with one hand on the bag and one hand on the stroller asking, "You need help, Mommy?"


So the beginning was pretty smooth, but the time since has been rough for Charlie. Because of Charlie's acid reflux, the pediatrician advised that I sleep him in a swing (not moving) to elevate him. Knowing he'd been sleeping only in the swing for a few months now and that he doesn't stay asleep in the car seat even, I was worried about how we'd fare once we got here. I borrowed a swing from a friend, but he wanted his same feel apparently.


The first night I tried to sleep him in a bouncy seat since it was shaped more like our swing at home, but it didn't work well. The next day my parents were willing to purchase a swing to keep here for their grandkids, but I decided that I should just use this opportunity to break him of the swing habit. He's over the reflux now (happily!) and getting too big for the swing anyway. But it has been very rough going. For the next two days and night he barely slept. He was an extremely tired and cranky child until he finally crashed and slept well Sunday night. Thank goodness. I am going to have to work at getting him to put himself to sleep (all over again) but at least as of this morning (Tuesday) he stayed alseep for a decent nap in the crib when I put him down already asleep.


I just need to remember - sacrifice now for benefits later...

10 Years

10 years goes by so fast!! It's hard to believe that Dave and I just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on May 21st. It was so fun to have the opportunity to think back on all of the wonderful memories we have and how far we've come since that day in 1999... here are a few tidbits summarizing our lives together so far...

We've lived in 9 homes/apartments and 4 states (UT, MI, CA, TX),
Earned 3 degrees (My BA and our MBAs),
Visited 13 countries (canada mexico france austria hungary italy malaysia singapore cambodia thailand philippines guatemala costa rica),
Seen our family grow by 11 people (2 wonderful sons, 1 sister-in-law, 3 brothers-in-law, 5 nephews),
Endured one major surgery (Dave's open-heart),
And grown in love too much to measure!

2 months into marriage

10 years later

We have such great neighbors -- two of them offered to watch our kids for us while we celebrated, so we took advantage of them both by leaving them with the Gilders while we went to dinner at Perry's and then Mendy came over and stayed with the kids after we came home and put them to bed while we went to a movie. It had been since before Charlie was born that we had been out together and we had a really nice time.

The morning of our anniversary, Dave's sister Carrie sent us this darling poem:

Roses and Red Violets are blue

Your Anniversary is here

8 years plus 2!!

Your wedding day

Bright sunshine, romance

Then we picked Dave up for a picture

And almost split his pants

A beautiful bride and her adorable groom

Happy wedding guests and family

Filled the festive room

Who knew back then

Where your future would lead

What states you would live in

Moving with such speed

Michigan, Utah, California and now

You live in state where your boys can see cows

And what did you think

You would think when you thought

An MBA sounds good, and

so you both sought

And learned and grew,

debated and analyzed,

a career that would challenge

would be your winning prize

And now for your family

Two boys of your own

Happy bouncing and fun

Already they’ve grown

My love for you both

And the memories we’ve shared

Means so much to me

To have family that cares

So Happy Anniversary

I can’t believe it’s ten

So many good times ahead and

A quick look back at where you’ve been