Spotlight on Alyssa

Spotlight on Alyssa written by Alyssa 

 I am the 5th child out of 6 in my family and I'm the only girl. 

My favorite color is light green. 

If I could travel anywhere it would be to Canada to see my best friend.

 My favorite outfit to wear is a sweater with a chunky scarf. 

 I play flute and piano. 

 I might want to go on a mission, but I don't care where because I'll go wherever they send me. 

 I don't have any future plans currently. 

 My favorite place to shop is at thrift shops. 

 My favorite animal is a Snow Leopard. 

 Favorite dessert is brownies.

Never Give Up

If you ever feel like giving up, then take a few minutes to watch this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ZsvJ8bq2I#t=17

Oh boy...

Here we go.  Another new calling.  As soon as Greg Stewart (one of our high counsellors) said he needed to talk to Michelle and I, I knew what was going to happen.  You see, Greg is the HC over Seminary and Institute.  It turns out I was right.  I am being called to teach seminary to the juniors and seniors.  Thankfully, I will be team teaching with Brad Jones who was our bishop when we moved here and our former Stake President.  I find that teaching seminary is easier than teaching Institute but teaching every day or every other day depending on how we split up our responsibility is going to be a challenge.  I am not sure how excited I am for this calling but I will of course do it to the best of my ability.

Spotlight on Brenden

Here is a spotlight on Brenden.   Written by Brenden.    I am the 4th child out of 6 in my family.

Favorite colors are brown and blue.
Favorite candy is dark chocolate with nuts.

I don't like soda pop at all, it is gross.  I do love hot chocolate with chocolate chips and marshmallow cream.

Favorite musician is Bob Marley.

Loves Batman and wants to be Batman.

Best vacations ever were Disney World and Wisconsin Dells.

I like to fish.

Favorite cookie:  Oatmeal Raisin

I walk my dog more than anyone in the house and I teach her tricks.

I want to travel to Alaska and Wyoming.

I like all kinds of foods so I can't pick a favorite.

Favorite show on TV is The Following.

Spotlight on Scott

Here is a spotlight on Scott.  He wrote the rest of this:


I am the 6th child out of 6. I am the youngest. I am the baby. That's what Mom calls me.  She also has a lot of other nicknames for me.  They are all funny.

My favorite candy is green skittles.

My favorite subject in school is recess.

I have ran a 5K and an 8K.  I still don't like running.

I am the best troll dancer in all of the world.

I share a room with one of my brothers.

I like to tease my dog, Abby with her stuffed squirrel.

I am a wrestler.

I like the Iowa Hawkeyes.  I am the only child that was born here in Iowa.

My favorite vacation was Wisconsin Dells.  Next time I go, I'd rather go with a couple friends.

Favorite Color:  Purple and Green.

Favorite sport:  Football

If I could travel anywhere it would be to somewhere warm that doesn't flood or get tornadoes.

When I grow up I want to Engineer.

I want to go on a Mission someday to Jamaica.

I know how to cook brownies.

I really like treats, a lot.

I love pie, any flavor.

a movie night, well sort of . . .

Every once in a while I like to have a movie night with the children. This time it happened during the day. The children were supposed to go to school, but it was too cold (negative 39 below with windchill too cold) to go to school. I asked them to pick out movies they wanted on Redbox and I picked them up. We had some left over candy from stockings and pooled it all together into tiny dishes. So for about $5.39 and the cost of the popcorn and left-over candy they had their movie day. Scott seemed the most excited. Here are some pictures and now that I look at them it looks like a TON of candy. Rest assured there were 5 people eating all this AND there is a ton still left over for the next movie night.

Candies of all types, popcorn, brownies and movies = FUN!

All the candies.  We had most of this left over, especially the mint m-n-m's which are my favorite.

If you have to pop popcorn in an air popper, I am suggesting you try the hull-less popcorn.  It is awesome and there are NO sharp pieces.  Best stuff I've ever found.

Kalona morning trip with Alyssa

Last night Brenden and Alyssa said they wanted to go to Kalona to go to our favorite places there. So bright and early this morning at 6 a.m. I woke up Alyssa, then woke up Brenden. Brenden was less than thrilled and told me I smelled bad and he didn't want to go. So I left him in bed. Alyssa and I ventured out about 10 minutes later. The pictures tell the story. If you want to see any of the pictures bigger, just click on them.

First we stopped at Central Discount to get a number.  Apparently there has been fighting over the years getting in that store, so the Amish set up a number system and you have to arrive super early to get your number.  I have gone as early as 6a.m. before, but it was SUPER cold out and I figured a lot of people would stay in bed so I didn't worry about getting there too early.

We arrived about 6:30ish a.m. I think, can't remember now, but we both got a number.   The numbers are on a number wheel and start off where they left off the last time the store was open, so you never know what number you really are.

We had number 149 and 150 which what we found out later that we were 4th and 5th in the store which is really good.  Usually I'm like #30 in the store, so we had almost our first pick of everything.  I always run to the

Aunt Jemima Butter Lite Pancake Syrup (24 oz.)

 very first so I can grab whatever is on the shelves.  That syrup is usually $4.49 in the stores.  I never get to buy it and it's my favorite.  However  at this store it's only $1.25   SWEET!!!!!   There were only 2 bottles, but I'm okay with that.  Yum.

Our first stop after grabbing a number at the discount store was Kalona Bakery.   Here is Alyssa in front of the bakery.  We were about to go inside and have super yummy items.

The breakfast sandwich, which is better than any breakfast sandwich I've ever had in my life.  Seriously, that good.  It's probably 1000 calories so it's a twice a year treat only.  This was a sausage, egg and cheese on a biscuit.

A cream filled Long John that we shared by the way.

This was a sign on the bakery.  Seriously you wouldn't see this sign in very
many places in the world.  

The sign for the bakery.  Super yum.  I have yet to try all of it.

Next stop was Central Discount and wait outside until the store opened at
8a.m.  You have to wait until they call your number.  Then you run in the store
as fast as you can to get discount food.  It's like a garage sale for food.  It's kinda crazy.

Then we went to Stringtown Grocery.  This is where you get all your bulk items.  We picked up
a few fun things.  You can find just about anything in bulk.  Plus they have handmade candy.

I've never caught a picture of this before because usually it's summer time and you can
see the people and they don't want their picture taken.  However it's freezing cold Iowa
winter and the Amish people were all inside the carriage.  So I got this cool picture.

Alyssa and I attempting to take a picture of ourselves.  I'm not so good with doing that with this
new camera, but getting better all the time.  This was our next stop, The CHEESE House!  We tried all
kinds of fun cheeses.

Today they were making cheese.  That was fun to watch.

Alyssa getting a "cheesy" picture!

I found my most favorite cheese in the world and had to have a picture with the big wheel.  Can you guess what cheese this is?  I asked the store clerk how much the entire wheel would cost and she said $85.00    WOW!  That can't happen on my budget.  I ended up leaving with a small piece for $3 something.

Last stop on the way home was The Rug Cottage.  Such a fun store with all kinds of cute things in there.
This store is so great that I've actually been able to get Jason to go inside twice.

Not the best picture, but we wanted pictures of horses.  We were calling
out to them and they kept looking at us. 

Just missing him a lot

Caleb has been out on his mission now for 14 months. That's a long time for a Mom to not see their child. I miss him a lot. I did get to Skype with him at Christmas and that helped.  Two years is a very long time, but then again, 14 whole months have passed pretty fast.  People say to me, "Before you know it, he will be home."  Yes I know that, but it doesn't help me right now.

This picture is one he had taken out in California.  I think it's great.

I am grateful he is making good decisions.  I am grateful he is alive and happy.  I am grateful that I will see him again in October.  I just can't wait to hug him again.

I love you Caleb.

Ending 2013

Last night I did something I haven't done in a REALLY long time.  I puked and puked.  I was just thinking to myself a few days ago that I hadn't puked in so long that I couldn't remember.  Well that streak is gone folks.

I woke up yesterday feeling awesome, went to work, went to donate plasma right after work, then went to Aldi's to go grocery shopping with Jason.  We needed milk and that place is the cheapest place in all of Iowa City to get milk at.  At the end of grocery shopping I felt a serious hot flash.  One that made me nauseous.  I couldn't believe how sick I was suddenly.

Jason said, "Well you are wearing a really thick coat and we have been inside shopping for a while, maybe that's why you are so hot.  So I took the coat off and even went outside with the coat off.  The cool air felt nice.

We got home and my stomach hurt a bit, but I hadn't eaten anything since lunch so I figured that with donating plasma and the long space without eating was what was making me sick.  So I had dinner.  Some pizza, some tortilla chips with guacamole and some caramel popcorn.  Ok, a bit much which I would later regret.

Instead of my stomach feeling better, I only continued to hurt.  I even mentioned to Jason that I felt like I might throw up.

Sure enough by 8:30 ish p.m. I was extracting my entire stomach through my mouth.  Gross.  Yes that's disgusting.  I hated every single moment of it.  Would be creepy if I said I liked it now wouldn't it.

I must have thrown up at least 10 times.

I was SOOOOOOO bummed out for I wanted to teach Zumba this morning at Body Moves at 9a.m.

I wrote the girl that was team teaching with me and told her what was going on and I wrote the owner of Body Moves and told her how sick I was.

I secretly hoped the worst was over because my stomach felt MUCH better now.

I went to bed at around 9p.m. which has to be a first for me on New Year's Eve.  I woke up around midnight with a major fever.  I was burning up, like I was being put in a fire.

By 3 a.m. and still not sleeping well I knew I wouldn't be teaching 6 hours later.  I was sad.

By 10 a.m. Jason made me toast and to my surprise I kept it down!!!!

around 12 noon I ate a pear, kept that down.

Around 3p.m. Jason brought me a smoothie.  I kept that down, it was awesome.

Now I'm going to try dinner.  Hoping it all works out for I have a Zumba class to teach tomorrow and I really want to show up.  My body feels weak, but I'm sitting up and happy the worst is behind me, or at least I think it is.

This experience has made me grateful for my overall heath.  For the most part I feel great most of the time so I really can't complain.  I can't imagine being terminally ill or even someone with a poor immune system that gets sick often.

Here's hoping 2014 is awesome.  I just signed Jason and I up for a 5K race that is in April through Trekman Racing.  We both got in FREE!!!  Yes totally FREE.  It was a great gift to us.  Jason and I both won free entries to this race through the last race we were in.  We won these entries as door prizes.