Random pics

I found a few pictures on my phone that I haven't posted yet. Enjoy!

Preston riding his "little bike"

Preston's friend Bentley riding his go-cart bike thing

We got Preston a new hat--definitely necessary on those really sunny/hot days

I think he looks pretty similar to Mark Wahlburg
(aka Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch) ;-)

Preston fell asleep in the car....his position looks very comfy, don't you think?

All the neighbor friends have a trampoline and/or a play set, so we decided to get a little swimming pool and all the neighbor kids LOVE coming over and playing in it!
(Haillie, Jasna, Preston, and Ashleigh)

Preston and I made a Domino-house. He loves his Dominos.

Ashleigh, once again, had an awesome report card at school. She just keeps improving and doing so well! We are so proud of her!!! Nick took her on a daddy-daughter date to IHOP (her favorite restaurant) for French toast. Doesn't she look cute? She's SO excited!

At dinner last Sunday Juli found a conjoined mushroom! Ha ha...I've never seen one of those before.

And finally, my beautiful girl reading in the car. I love my kids SO much!

Gifts from Italy courtesy of Charlie

My sweet friend Charlie who came to visit me in January from England (lives in Ireland now) went on a trip over Easter to Italy. Venice to be exact. I have been dreaming of going to Venice, Italy since I was about 10 years old! I WILL get there someday....I just KNOW I will!!! Anyway, She went to Venice and sent me back a few things from there! I was SO surprised and excited! I finally have authentic Italian things in my house!!! YAY!

Chocolate pasta (YUM)
glass tray and glass candies
theater mask
post card of the canals and gondolas

Close up of the postcard
.....sigh.....
I want to go there SO bad!!!

--Thank you SO much, Charlie!!! You are the best!!! :) And don't worry, I'll be sending you some fake cheese soon!!! ;-)

Hailstorm-4-21-10

We had the most AMAZING thunder-lightning-hail-rain storm yesterday. It started so suddenly! Preston come home from playing for a quick minute to tell me he was playing at his friends house and behind him the sky looked very brights and very dark all at the same time--looked like a storm coming in. About 5 min later I looked out our front door in time to see Preston's little red bike rolling in to the street from the strong wind. I ran out to get it and bring in the other bikes just as the rain started. I got them put away and ran inside to get my camera and by the time I got back outside it had started to hail--HARD! I took some pictures and a couple videos. The whole storm lasted only 15 minutes, but wow, it was amazing! (Preston took cover at his friends house which resulted in puffy eyes and hives from their dogs...sigh)

Just before the storm hit---dark and bright skies!
Backyard

Storm rolling in--on the right side you can see the hail/rain coming down--about 2 miles away from my house
South view

Another shot of the hail/rain coming down less than a mile away
South view

Please ignore the crazy person talking in the videos....I need to remember to keep my mouth shut!

Towards the end of the storm
Front yard

End of the storm--dime size hail :-)
Front yard

NO CIRC

A while back I did a ton of research and made a blog post, as part of my own personal journal,
about my feelings (and the facts) behind infant circumcision. I've since decided that I need to
simplify it.

THIS website is very informative and one that every parent who is having a son should check
out to help them decide whether to circumcise or not!

THIS video is very medically informative and very important to watch. it's about 19 minutes,
but definitely necessary...

THIS article is also very interesting--I've heard from a few mom's that their son "fell asleep"
during the circumcision! Babies do not sleep through circumcisions. Some babies may
appear to be asleep because they withdraw as a coping mechanism. When the baby is
monitored for signs of stress and pain, medicated and "sleeping" babies have elevated levels,
indicating that they do feel what is happening.

THIS website is also very informative!!!

IF you decide to circumcise your son you NEED to look at THIS consent form first....read it
carefully....

Here is some other information about infant circumcision (by a U.S. Physician)

Circumcision was first adopted in 1860 as
a misguided attempt to curb masturbation!

A Short History of Circumcision in the U.S. in Physicians' Own Words

1860: 0.001% of the U.S. male population circumcised
"In cases of masturbation we must, I believe, break the habit by inducing such a condition of the parts as will cause too much local suffering to allow of the practice being continued. For this purpose, if the prepuce is long, we may circumcise the male patient with present and probably with future advantage; the operation, too, should not be performed under chloroform, so that the pain experienced may be associated with the habit we wish to eradicate."
Athol A. W. Johnson, On An Injurious Habit Occasionally Met with in Infancy and Early Childhood, The Lancet, vol. 1 (7 April 1860)


1887: 10% of the U.S. male population circumcised
"There can be no doubt of [masturbation's] injurious effect, and of the proneness to practice it on the part of children with defective brains. Circumcision should always be practiced. It may be necessary to make the genitals so sore by blistering fluids that pain results from attempts to rub the parts."
Angel Money, Treatment of Disease in Children. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston. 1887, p. 421.


1971: 90% of the U.S. male population circumcised
"There are no valid medical indications for circumcision in the neonatal period."
Committee On Fetus and Newborn. Standards and Recommendations for Hospital Care of Newborn Infants, 5th edition. Evanston, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics. 1971. p. 110.


1994: 60% of newborn males in the U.S. circumcised
"Circumcision causes pain, trauma, and a permanent loss of protective and erogenous tissue ... Removing normal, healthy, functioning tissue for no medical reason has ethical implications: circumcision violates the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 5) and the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 13)."
Leo Sorger, To ACOG [American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology]: Stop Circumcisions, Ob Gyn News, 1 Nov. 1994, p. 8.

March 1st, 1999: 57% of newborn males in the U.S. circumcised (33% in California)
After a two year investigation, the American Academy of Pediatrics(AAP) concluded that the "potential medical benefits" of infant circumcision aren't significant enough and therefore, they do not recommend it as a routine procedure.

Parents have been brainwashed into thinking the intact penis is ugly and a source of disease.

Fathers erroneously want their sons to look like them.

Why?

Social tradition syndrome

The male ego will not allow itself to accept that infant circumcision is sexually destructive and that he is not 100% as nature intended.

So, after all this...are you still going to consider circumcising your son??? I hope not, but more importantly, I'm sure your son is hoping you don't!

Circumcision SHOULD BE your SON's decision!!!

Construction joys and woes

We live out in basically the middle of nowhere...there is only 2 roads to get out of our
neighborhood to get to town. (I drew a picture to help you understand what I'm talking
about,but I can't get it to load on here...dang it!) 1 road is "new", and adds about 10 min to our
time getting from our house to town. The other road is the one we usually use...it's an annoying
bumpy windy road, but it's basically a "strait" shot to town. From our house using the windy
road it takes me about 4 minutes to get Ashleigh to school. BUT....on the 12th the city started
construction on our windy road--repaving it, and adding another road off it to make a
direct/strait road to town! YAY, no more windy road!!! once it's done it will be great, but for
now, it SUCKS!!!!!! This morning it took me almost 30 minutes to get to Ashleigh's school! There
was an accident in the road, which didn't help matters, but still....

This picture is of the road right by our house--the beginning of the windy road it's blocked off and
all torn up! bummer.

This is the other end of the windy road at the turn for Ashleigh's school... Its all torn up too!
bummer. They are widening it and repaving it. Yipee!

More construction pics....

This is the traffic jam I had to deal with taking ash to school....took me 11 minutes to go about half
a mile!!! Looked a lot better on my way home!

Here's the accident that was also holding up traffic too....

Later in the day I heard really loud rain outside so I went to check and saw fairly big hail coming
down really hard! it was loud!!!

This is an odd picture, sorry....but the entire sky was dark, grey, dreary except for in 1 spot
where the sun was shining through--the whole sun! It was creepy, but really pretty!

Preston's Accident

On Sunday I was working out...ran on the treadmill then was doing an exercise video. Preston
was working out with me for a bit then ran off to play. About 10 min later Nick and I hear an ear
piercing scream and look over to see Preston with his finger in the treadmill (while it was going!)
Nick got to him before I could and pulled his finger out. (Right pointer finger). Preston was
crying, but Nick didn't request my help right away so I kept exercising. A few minutes later Nick
yells for me. When I got to him he says "I don't know what to do????" I took Preston and
examined his finger. The treadmill had pulled up a whole bunch of layers of his skin (his finger
print was pulled clear off) OWIE! I ran up to change (I was sweaty, it was gross!) and took him
to urgency care. They were wonderful with him!!! Preston, in spite of his pain, kept his sense of
humor--the receptionist asked me his name. I said "Preston Call" and Preston chimed in and
said "No mom, my name is Preston ADAM Call and I'm 3!". It was so cute! My sweet boy.

The (male) nurse came out and gave Preston some Ibuprofen and some thick numbing solution
to put his finger in. This picture is after about 5 min in the solution...it's making the extra skin
"die" and get soft so they can cut it off.

Me and my sweet sad boy
We both look bad!

Yay! A happy boy again! :) After the numbing solution they did a cleaning solution bath for his
finger. And they gave him some juice.

After the cleaning solution

The doctor came in and cut off the extra skin. Preston got scared when he saw the scissors and
thought they were going to cut off his whole finger! I told him that I would beat up the doctor if
she tried.

They treated the cut like a 2nd degree burn and wrapped it in what they call a "bulky bandage"
(amazing how they put those things on!)

And then they wrapped it in neon green to "make it look cool". He looked like E.T. lol. he was
supposed to keep it on for 2 days, but when he woke up Monday morning it was already off--fell
off during the night. I was able to wrap it back up as best as I could....we'll see how long it holds.
My boy was so brave and I'm so proud of him! There will be NO more playing with/on the
treadmill for either of our kids anymore!

Baptism

We got to go to Teriesa's baptism on Saturday. It was nice to be with all the family and especially
to see Grandma Ballard and Uncle Ron who came in from Elko for the special event.

Kevin and Teriesa before the baptism

Girl cousins
Ashleigh, Teriesa, Maura
(wished Bridget were there!)

Proud grandparents and Teriesa

Preston loves hitching a ride on Todd's scooter.

My adorable nephew Nathan. HeeHee

After the baptism....

Ashleigh, Maura, Nathan, Ethan, Sheridan (in seat order)

Braeden, Amelia, Ashleigh, Maura, and Nathan

The whole group who came to support Teriesa

Kevin (proud daddy!), and Teriesa after the baptism
Proud mommy and Teriesa
Jana made the dress....isn't it beautiful =-)

Before we left, Preston hitched another ride from Todd....look at that spread eagle! sheesh!

Then we all went to Teriesa's house for fruit and french toast with the most amazingly yummy
buttermilk syrup! We enjoyed visiting and eating.....

My dad and me. :)

Then Jana's Grandpa showed us his "Obama money"....lol...I just HAD to take pictures of it!
Hilarious!

My mom always embroiders a blanket (representing the Holy Ghost) and gives
it to their grandchild who got baptized. This is Teriesa's. Pretty, huh?! :)

Amelia, Nathan, Cooper, Braeden, "great big Grandma" Ballard, Maura (in front), Teriesa, Ethan,
and Sheridan. (Sunday picture)