Busy, busy, busy

We've had a really busy summer. So, needless to say blogging was traded in for trips to the lake and soaking up every bit of summer we could. I'm losing my tan fast but at one point I had a pretty nice tan, the kind I used to get as a kid! We practically lived outside for the entire months of July and August. If we weren't up at Palisades we were running through sprinklers or cooling off in cold hot tubs. We had lots of picnics at the lake and on friend's lawns. All in all we've had one of the best summers I've had in a long time! I felt like a kid again. No worries. Very little stress. Even though I'm not ready to be done with summer, I'm very excited for fall time. Now that it's cooling off we can do more hiking and horse back riding. Also, another exciting fall thing is that Jaxon started pre school! He has been looking forward to it since April! He has so much fun and is learning so much! Linkon misses him the whole 3 hours Jaxon is gone and Jaxon is always so excited to see Linkon when we pick him up from school. When we get home I give the boys a snack and they sit at the table and Jaxon has to show Linkon all the things he brought home and tell him everything he learned and did at school. It makes my heart so happy to see them be such good friends. Anyway, here are a few more pictures of our summer fun!


Making raspberry jam! The boys were awesome helpers! I'm still finding raspberry jam splatters under the cupboards!



A day at Palisades with Amy and Matt and their boys and Emily and her boys.



After playing in the water we had a hot dog roast. Left to right is Samuel, Linkon, Lulu (my friend Jenny's little girl), Matthew, Jaxon, Stratton, and Jude. They had so much fun and got so dirty at the campground! At one point I overheard the boys talking about taking Lulu on a date. She was a huge hit with all those boys!


Tyler and Jaxon tubing. Nate, Emily, Matt, Amy and all their boys came up for a couple days and we went boating and tubing a ton!

Me and my friend Jenny tubing. This was my first time in probably 10 years and I was a little scared but we had so much fun! And we never fell off! Our ride consisted of a lot of these jumps. It was really windy that day and the wind would pick up the tube and it would act like a sail. But with Nate's mad driving skills and me and Jen's mad hanging on skills we stayed on!

I wish I had more pictures but I'm awful at remembering to take pictures. I will try to do better!

Random Pictures

These are just a few random pictures of what we've been up to the last few weeks.

Link's mosquito bite on his ear. The poor guy, his ear was so swollen and big that when he ran it litterally flapped up and down!

Playing in the "pool", or cold hot tub up at our friend's house. The little girl in the picture is my friend, Jenny's little girl, Lulu. She is just 2 weeks younger than Link. Jax and Link just love her. Everyday they ask if they can do something with her. One day one of my boys will marry her.

Grandpa Barnes gettin some Joseph loves while relaxing in the shade with Grandma T at our house after a lovely Sunday dinner.

Linkon and Matthew eating an ice cream cone at our house. This picture reminded me of a picture I have of me and my cousin Shantay when we were probably 3 or 4 at my Grandma Green's hosue eating ice cream and giggling.

Family Reunion

This year we had our Barnes Family Reunion in Island Park. It was perfect, except for the massive swarms of mosquitoes. Seriously, when we ate we had to watch very carefully to make sure we weren't taking a bite of mosquitoes. I've never seen so many mosquitoes in all my life. We played a game where we were moving around and being really active. Because we were sweating and our blood was pumping we were mosquito magnets! We were literally covered head to toe in the little winged vampires. The only way to avoid them was to go on four wheeler, motorbike and mule rides, which we did, a lot! Went up to Big Springs to feed the fish. I think we saw 2 or 3. But there were a ton of seagulls and a muskrat, so we fed them instead. I didn't take a lot of pictures, because I was usually too busy swatting away mosquitoes! Ok, I don't really have an excuse. But, I hope you enjoy the few I took.

I had two paragraphs typed up about our trip to Utah a few weeks ago and the internet froze so we had to do a forced shut down and it erased all my work. So, here is the condensed version. We went to Utah for Tyler's step-grandparents 58th wedding anniversary party. We decided to stay for a few days, went to Lagoon, I'm a chicken and can't ride roller coasters like I used to so Gail came to ride rides with Tyler, I had just as much fun taking the boys on rides, after every ride Linkon exclaimed, "Mom! I had fun! I'm not scared!" although his face rarely displayed much excitement, Jaxon loved the Dino-Drop, I did NOT, we ate Bajio's two days in a row sine it's Tyler's favorite place and we don't have one in Rexburg or Idaho Falls anymore, and we had an awesome time hanging out with family! That's pretty much our Utah trip in a nutshell! And here are some pictures:

Kittens

Linkon would get really upset when the kitties followed him. He'd start yelling "kitties gunna get me!"


I'm so excited to have kittens! I haven't had kittens in a long time. I don't know why but for some reason animals make me feel like a little kid. I get so excited. I feel like skipping and I often even squeal in delight, although I try my best to not let anyone hear. We got 2 girl kitties from my sister's mother-in-law last fall and this spring they got pregnant, yay! The fist mama kitty had kittens the day before mother's day. But when they were only 3 weeks old the mama disappeared. She was a really good mama so something must have happened to her. Anyway, I brought the kittens inside and dropper-fed them every few hours. Unfortunately 1 died about a week and a half later and another died about a week after that. But the other 3 are doing great. My sister Amy took 2 and the other is renting out my laundry room. My other mama cat had 5 kittens last weekend, so at one point we actually had 10 cats. Tyler was not too trilled about that. I have to keep reassuring him that kitties are easy to give away and they'll be gone in no time. So, if anyone wants a kitty or two or three, let me know! The new batch is really cute. I have 4 peach colored ones and 1 solid gray kitten. (I have a picture below.) They will be ready to go the last week in July.

Birthday's and More

We celebrated Tyler and Linkon's birthdays this past week and also Desi's graduation. Amy and I went to Des's graduation on Wednesday, which is also Linkon and Teresa's birthday. Unfortunately Amy's boys and my boys all had nasty colds so we left them with their dads and went to a birthday lunch for Teresa and then to the graduation. We skipped the big BBQ afterwards at Aunt Paula's house to go take care of our sickly kids and to spare everyone from our sicky germs. Teresa gave me a cupcake to take to Linkon for his birthday so we let him blow out candles on that the next morning for breakfast. Over the weekend, once the kids were feeling better, we celebrated Tyler's birthday by going to the BODIES exhibit in Idaho Falls. Then we went to Pocatello and Tyler's sister Emily made an amazing dinner for us. We got a hotel so the kids could swim and on Saturday Emily watched the boys for us so we could go to a movie and grab a bite to eat. Thank you so much, Emily for the wonderful dinner and watching our boys! We had a great time! We had dinner at our house on Sunday with some of my family to celebrate the birthdays. I made a Monsters Inc. cake for Linkon and Amy made Tyler's favorite waffle cookies. I went outside to holler at the guys to come in for cake and ice cream and when I got back inside Linkon had thrown up all over the kitchen floor. So, needless to say, that put an end to our party pretty darn quick. I cut a few pieces of cake to send home with family and they all headed home. I felt so bad for Linkon. He didn't even get to blow out his candles or anything. So here it is Tuesday and I've eaten 1/2 the cake all by myself - I didn't want it to go to waste so I didn't really have a choice. Oh, and a little interesting point... Last year at this same time, all three boys were sick. They got sick the day after Linkon's birthday and were sick till the day after Tyler's. So Linkon has yet to have a real birthday party where he doesn't end up sick. Sad, huh? Anyway, I think that about sums up the past week.



Linkon's present from Grandpa Barnes and Grandma T.



He really was excited about his Toy Story toys, he was just really irritated that I made him stop and pose for a picture.


The cake. Linkon LOVES Monsters Inc. I wasn't about to attempt a Sully cake so this was what he got!


I found Jaxon just hanging out on this shelf one day.


Amy, Desi & I at Desi's graduation. We are all so proud of you Des!


These are the kittens my cat had the day before Mother's Day. I haven't had kittens in so long! I thought it was a great present!

Just for the sake of posting...

I am mostly just posting to say I have nothing to post. There's not much going on here in the Campbell house. I am starting to feel a little more comfortable as Primary President but I still have so much to learn. I love working with the kids, though. There is a little girl in primary who always calls her brother names, the favorite so far is "Creature." I swear every Sunday I find myself laughing hysterically, on the inside since laughing out loud would not be reverent, of course, about something one of the kids said. Like when Jaxon announces in the middle of Sharing Time that his "privates" are bothering him. Actually a comment like that usually results in my face turning bright red and my hand quickly covering his mouth. Anyway... We had a great Easter. We celebrated Easter with my family on Friday. We had dinner at Nate and Em's and it was also a birthday party for Samuel and a farewell dinner for Lyn and Rhett who just moved to Kentucky. On Saturday we went to the Easter egg hunt in Irwin and the boys both won big stuffed animals in the drawing they had. Sunday John and Ryan came over for dinner and we had a really nice day. Other then that we are just hanging out, waiting for the weather to warm up a bit so we can get outside more. I've done a terrible job at taking pictures lately and promise to do a better job in the future! And hopefully I will have something more exciting to post next time!

Funny Story... Kind of

This is a very long story so... Here is a condensed version and then if you want to read the whole story you can find it below!
Sunday morning 4:30 Jax throws up, I take him to the bathroom to clean him up, I faint, bonk my head and begin convulsing. The nurse on the "nurse hot line" tells Tyler he should have called 911 and that I needed medical attention immediately. Neighbors come to watch the kids until my parents can get here. Tyler drives to hospital very quickly. I only want to speak Spanish. Get to hospital and learn I fainted from stress, dehydration, and getting up too quickly. And I have a concussion from hitting my head. Yay, no brain damage or heart problems! Come home, Teresa made lots of food and cleaned my kitchen. My accident is announced at church, people text, call, and stop by. Everyone disappointed that it's only a concussion. Jax and Link sick till Wednesday.


Longer version:
So Sunday was quite an eventful day for our family. It all started at 4:30 in the morning. I was dead asleep when Tyler woke me up saying he thought Jaxon was throwing up. I jumped out of bed and hurried to him and sure enough, he had thrown up all over himself and his bed. I took Jaxon into the bathroom to clean him up while Tyler took his bedding to the laundry room. On my way to the bathroom I started feeling really weird. My body felt tingly and I felt really sick to my stomach. I just assumed I had the same thing Jaxon had. Jaxon had throw up in his eye so I started washing his face. I thought I was going to throw up so I hurried to put my hair in a ponytail. I got really dizzy and confused and didn't know what was going on. The next thing I knew I could hear Jaxon saying "Mommy, do you think you can get up?" I opened my eyes and I was laying on the floor. I was so confused. I asked Jaxon what happened and he told me that I fell down. I yelled for Tyler and he came running into the bathroom. I told him I think I passed out. He helped me up and sat me on the toilet. Everything was so fuzzy and confusing. Tyler told me later, because I don't remember this, that I convulsed and was talking crazy and saying that the night before I knew I was going to die and more crazy stuff like that. I do remember that Tyler's voice was shaky which scared me. I also remember looking at myself as we passed by the mirror on our way back to my bed and I looked freakishly white/gray/green. I'd never seen anyone that color and it scared me even more. Let me just explain that I seriously had never experienced anything like this before. I felt so strange all over. It felt like my body wasn't mine. I wanted out of my body, if that makes any sense at all. Anyway, I'm laying in bed, convincing myself I was dying, while Tyler was calling my dad. Then I called my sister, Emily. One of them, I'm not sure who, gave Tyler a number to a nurse hot line so he called a nurse and explained everything that had happened. She told him that because I was convulsing he needed to call 911. Well, of course we're not going to call 911 for a couple reasons. 1. that would cost an arm and a leg. 2. Tyler could drive us there faster then an ambulance would. and 3. We had to find someone to watch our kids before we could go anywhere anyway. So Tyler started calling neighbors and ward members, by now it's about 5:30, and he finally got ahold of the 1st councilor in the bishopric and he and his wife came over to sit with the kids until my parents got here. When Tyler said someone was on their was over I told him I needed to clean the house but of course he made me lay back down and told me no. It was also about this time that I noticed the humongous bump on my head just above my right eyebrow. Bro. Christiansen and Tyler gave me a blessing and I asked if they would call my 1st counselor so she could fill in for me at Ward Council, which was in an hour and a half. My dad and Teresa left their house about the same time but they live 50 minutes away. So... to make this story a little shorter... Once at the hospital they did a CAT scan, an EKG and blood work and decided that I had a concussion from the fall and had fainted from dehydration, stress, and getting up too quickly. At first I was really irritated that we went to the hospital for nothing, not that I wanted something to be wrong, but Tyler assured me that it was good we went just to make sure that nothing was wrong like bleeding in my brain or a heart arrhythmia. Side note: for some reason I only wanted to speak Spanish. The only problem is that I don't actually speak Spanish. And I remember being really frustrated that I couldn't speak Spanish and thinking that if I couldn't speak Spanish, I just shouldn't talk at all. So I sang De Colores a few times. Then, at the hospital I thought everything was really funny. I had to try really hard not to laugh and kept saying, "That's so funny! Everyone is so funny!" When absolutely nothing was happening. Ok, back to the story. By the time we got home it was about 10:30. My wonderful, amazing step-mom had made a huge pot of chicken noodle soup with thick homemade noodles - my favorite! And a bunch of mashed potatoes for Tyler. And jello for the boys. Plus she had cleaned my kitchen! My parents made sure we were settled and then they headed home to get some much needed rest. I got a text that afternoon from a friend in our ward saying that it was announced over the pulpit that I fainted, hit my head and was in the hospital. Great! I know that it was announced out of love and concern but I was pretty embarrassed and felt a little silly. I wasn't seriously injured and I didn't want people to worry needlessly. Plus, I feel like people got all worked up and when they find out it's just a concussion I think they will all be sorely disappointed. I've been trying to think of some sort of made up condition so maybe people won't be so let down. Anyway... Jaxon was had stopped throwing up by Sunday afternoon. Then he threw up again Tuesday morning. Linkon got sick Monday night and was sick most of the day on Tuesday. Today they were both feeling much better and so far no one else who came in contact with them is sick. The massive bump on my head is barely raised anymore and luckily it hasn't bruised, yet. I also bruised my right shoulder on the heat vent that sticks out of the wall and I bruised my hip/butt on a toy Jaxon had left in there the night before. So, other than the constant migraine I am feeling just fine! I am so grateful that I wasn't hurt any more than I was. Our bathroom isn't huge and I was lucky that I hit my head on the floor and not on the bathtub, toilet or sink. I am also indescribably grateful for the wonderful people in my life who are so willing to help out, even at 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning! Plus 2 different ladies in our ward brought food. There, I'm done! Sorry, it's so long but that's the whole story!

Jealous yet?

I just wanted to show off the beautiful view from my window and one of the reasons I love it here! As the sun sets, just before it slips down behind the moutnains to the west and as long as its not hid behind the clouds, it shines across the valley onto the mountains in the east. Its one of my favorite views in the valley! I snapped this picture tonight just before the sun disappeared in the west. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE it here?!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We put our tree up right after Thanksgiving and the boys had so much fun! Of course it took a lot of coaching to get them to put the ornaments on the tree rather then throw them at each other or hang them on their ears and toes. And by the time we were done the ornaments were all on the same four branches. Also, I found a record player here and bought a Christmas record at D.I. so we got to listen to old time favorite Christmas songs while decorating the tree. There's just something about that fuzz and crackel coming from the record player that makes me feel so warm and cozy! Jaxon keeps asking if it's still Christmas time and about a dozen times a day Linkon has to point out all the lights and the tree. I am so excited to share Christmas with these two little guys! They make everything so much more exciting and fun!

Picture update

These are just a couple pictures from the last week or so. I still haven't got pictures from Halloween but hopefully I will soon. The above one is of Jax in the snow. When it snowed last week we got almost 2 inches and I could NOT keep Jaxon inside! He played till well past dark and woke up before me the next morning to go out and play.
The one below is of Jaxon pulling Linkon. Jax loves to tie his bike to everything and pull it around.