Hogle Zoo

Hogle Zoo has greatly changed since I was younger. The newest edition is called Rocky Shores and hosts a variety of eagles, otters, seals, sea lions, polar bears and other bears.

We bought a year pass which also allows 2 visitors in free. So if you're in the area and want to go to the Zoo, call me, I'll get 2 people in free! :)

Polar Bear Awesomeness.

My favorite animal - Snow Leopard.

Life, Universe and Everything

Here's a little bit of what we have been doing.

The kiddos and I made finger puppets out of pipe cleaners and pom-poms. I hot glued a small piece of fabric over a glue stick then wrapped the pipecleaners around and decorated them. The kids love them!

Here's the animals the kiddos requested: Antelope, Mountain Goat, Parrot, Doggie, Giraffe, Tiger, Bunny, Crazy Caterpillar.

I added the aliens. Evil Mr. Pineapple, Green Dude, Ms. Squiggles, Flower Head and Cherry Crab.

James first experience with rice cereal. He is so big (97% percentile) the doctor is having him start now. He was so excited he started trying to eat through his bib.

James is also teething.

I've been making/canning homemade applesauce - delicious!

He rolled over for the first time on July 28th!

Pardon my foot!

Antelope Island- I drove there with my kiddos and two of my best friends Kaitlin and Tiffany. I have known Kait and Tiff since I was in elementary school.

Kaitlin was awesome and requested to carry James.

Sarah wouldn't look at my camera she was too busy running to the salt water.

Looks like she's flying.

Mikey is right behind her-they got sandy and wet but had a blast.

Chub, Chub - I've never had a baby this tiny! Sarah was 2 when we adopted her and Mikey was 1. So, having a baby in the house is a new experience for us.

If the sound doesn't work-sorry. He was giggling.

2012 Pictures

Sarie and Mikey love having a baby brother. James giggles at everything they do.

James is a very sweet baby. He doesn't cry very often. He smacks his lips to tell you he's hungry and it's very easy to get him to smile. (Getting all 3 to smile at the same time is another challenge!)

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

My oldest 2 children are both meth, alcohol and other drugs affected. Several people have continued to tell me that my kiddos are perfectly normal and that they don't need any extra help. So, I'm writing this To be informative. I know my children. I know where they struggle. Yes, for short times my kids seem just like normal kids- but you don't see the everyday. Meth has issues of its own a lot of which haven't been pinpointed yet. Instead I will focus on FAS or fetal alcohol syndrome. Yes my oldest 2 have FAS. "An FAS child can have a spectrum of problems, ranging from learning disabilities to severe mental retardation.  FAS are usually very likable and sweet, generous to a fault, and usually have poor impulse control.  FAS children can have short term memory problems and be very untrustworthy because of it.  FAS women (in the moderate to severe range) tend to have FAS babies.  They don't have the ability to reason through the consequences of their actions.  They tend to be very sexually active when they are old enough because they don't reason well cause and effect.  They are extremely trusting yet resist anyone who tries to control them.  As younger children, they are apt to wander off, can't always remember simple instructions.  But always appear very capable and normal.  They are brain damaged.  The result of a birth-mother who drank while pregnant.  The severity of the FAS is normally related to how much the mother drank, but there is no way to tell until the child is older as to what disabilities she/he will have. parents of FAS children need to provide as much stability and routine as possible.  They they have to keep their eyes on them and give them a lot of wiggle room if they forget to do something after you told them the 100th time.  That their impulsiveness is a result of brain damage, not because they don't want to obey.  An older FAS child needs an advocate at all times.  They don't have the ability to make good decisions about where they go after school or with whom.  They are likely to get themselves into compromising situations." wifeandmommy.blogspot.com Sarah-Ruby has low impulse control. She likes to hoard things that aren't hers. She struggles with short term memory loss. She is very sweet when she wants to be. Michael has a speech delay, he struggles with partial hearing loss. Forgets simple instructions.

Content?

As an early adult I was content. Happy in my knowledge that I would someday marry, have children and spent my life as a stay at home mom. Life was simple and uncomplicated. I never intended to use my degree. I wanted a degree to stand as an example to my kids, a way to teach them to accomplish their goals. I have 4 days left to teach. Actually less than that if you consider that Mon no school, Tues is a full day, Wed yearbooks and a dance, Thurs all day assemblies and Lagoon, Friday school is 3 hours long and basically no one comes. So, I have 1 day. T'was the week before the end of school, I've gone through my class, I've packed up my 'admiral rosenvall' pencils but left the orange hall pass, I scrubbed all the sinks, my tables, my walls. They look sad and lonely, just like the school halls. The kids have all left, school year is over! I hope they've had fun, learned something or another. The core curriculum is hard to fully cover, "See you next year!" shouted with delight, Sounds bitter when followed by, "oh, you're leaving. That's right." My 8th graders wonder what fate they await, Some fear the future, imagine their plight. Mr. Nichols my replacement; I hope he's alright. My 9th graders angry, bitter at a loss, Mr. Anderson said, "Devastated." he's my boss. I made Kathi cry when I told her and then, Todd soon followed the grief parade. That's when I decided to end the tirade, And not say a thing, for as long as I could. Until rumor spread, I knew that it would. 8th grade do you remember: When I ate play dough in half? To show you the layers of a rock, what a laugh! The play dough stuck to my teeth all day long, Tasted way salty-- super gross. How about when I burned Ryan's paper for the class? And Zandons I cut into a string of little men. To show physical and chemical change. Will you join my particle party? Fusion? Fission? Convection dance! Will you remember the song? Convection fueled by fission forms mid-ocean ridges, Ridge push leads to sea floor spreading, slab pull and subduction, Weak subduction zones good for Earthquakes, melting plutons and volcanoes, Silicic volcanoes they constantly flow, Pyroclastic volcanoes get stuck and then blow, Volcanic gases help form the atmosphere. Spewing gases, carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrogen. Layers divided due to density. Troposphere, Stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere. Exosphere is the beginning of space, Welcome to the final frontier, Our sun, the medium star,and her satellites, Mercury, Venus, earth, mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Eris. So many songs, things to remember. Fair well, my 210 teenager children, My 3 kiddos at home need their mommy.

Love

As beautifully stated by Elder Wirthlin:

"The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude."

What cha Doin'?

Still need a camera. But I did finally figure out how to post pictures from my phone. These pictures range from winter 2011 to today.

Short hike up Provo Canyon, the lake is completely frozen, kids were running across it and fishermen are ice fishing in the background. I refused to let my kiddos run across the lake-though Sarie really wanted to. I'm not that brave... I was also 6-7 months pregnant at the time.

James in the NICU. He is in a warming unit with full oxygen. We received his medical bill. Never has $37 K been so worth it! I'm also grateful for good insurance.

The day James came home.

Mikey holding his brother for the first time.

James sporting his amazing oxygen. One morning he woke up, tore the oxygen off and refused to take it back-we monitored him for 10 days off oxygen (oxygen monitor still on his foot though.) And thankfully his oxygen levels never dipped down too badly. A couple of nights we had to put it back on and swaddle his arms down but otherwise he has done great!

Easter egg decorating. It's a huge tradition with my family. Rew not so much. For the first 4 years we were married I dyed all the eggs. But now the kiddos are old enough to join it, it is a blast! Rew helped too.

Rew and I both make an "Earth Egg" without realizing that we both made one, until we turned to each other and said, "Hey, check out my earth egg." Mine is on the left. Rew's on the right.

Sarie loved it!

No oxygen! woot!

The annual Rosenvall Easter egg Hunt. Easter Egg hunts- is a huge Rosenvall Family tradition. Each family brings some plastic eggs with candy and the daddy's go outside and hide them.

Meanwhile inside the house, Grandma and Grandpa have already hidden Easter Egg Baskets. They are hidden in difficulty according to the ages of the grandchildren. The first year I was married the basket for Rew and I was hidden in the attic, behind several boxes and up in the rafters! According to Rew his dad once hid an Easter Basket inside the swamp cooler. This year our family basket was in the closet-easy enough for Sarie and Michael to find.

A few weeks ago the kiddos and I made "treat buckets". I used 2 old ice cream buckets and turned them into treat buckets for the kids. -The kiddos decorated them with stickers.

They are filled with small bowls (maybe 1/2 cup-1 cup each) with goldfish crackers, cherrios, granola bars, popcorn, dried fruit, 1 fruit snack. I also took the Easter candy and I have been putting in 3 pieces of candy a week. I've been letting the kiddos pick one or two 'treats' from the treat bucket during snack time. I only fill the bucket once a week and I love it. It has really cut down time on trying to pull out things from the cupboard then having to put it back. The kiddos love it too.

As a thank you to the families that brought in dinners to us while I was in the hospital I made root beer suckers and chocolate dipped strawberries. (Yes, it sounds like diabetes heaven in my house... Easter treats and now these treats... )

Finished suckers. They really are fun to make.

Chocolate teddy bears (you cannot tell, but they are filled with walnuts)

Chocolate frogs filled with toffee bits (this picture is blurry, but they have cute little smiles and eyes.)

Strawberries. Everything has now been delivered and hopefully enjoyed...

James today. 14.3 pounds. He is a chunk, already his feet extend past the edge of the bouncer. I've had to adjust the straps in his carseat twice.

I will be going back to work for 5 weeks. Get my students through CRT's and then after that I'll be staying at home. My friend Karena will be watching my kiddos while I finish the year.

Rew loves his job at Wencor Aerospace Engineering.