Oh my gosh....where did the time go???

So, even though I made a commitment to post once per week...I haven't this past 6 weeks.  I have posted twice.  Not twice a week, twice in the whole last six weeks.  Dreadful me.  Bad, bad word-breaking liar.  Oh well.  I am a legend in my own mind and like to think that you all just wait on baited breath to read my blog each week anyway....but you don't all.  I have to harrass my parents just to get them to read it.  I don't really even think my Dad does.  I think he acts like it when I ask, but the genuineness isn't really there.  I've decided to stop asking him...ha ha ha.  Save myself some approval cup drainage.

To update you all, you can be assured that even though I haven't been posting, we've still been living.  We've been super, super busy kids.  After going to Nevada to attend Todd's sweet Grandma Hardy's funeral and connecting with lots of family and cousins, we came back to the routine that is our lives.  A routine with lots of kinks, additions, snags, and surprises.  Over the course of the last 6 weeks, several things have been going on.  To list them they are:

• Todd's attendance, with my Dad, at the "2009 Annual Shot Show" in Orlando, Florida for Phoenix Alloys.
• The celebration parade for the University of Utah's Football team, fans, and undefeated season/2009 Sugar Bowl win.
• Logan's 1st Birthday!  Yay Lo lo Bear!
• Jeff earning his Wolf badge in Cubscouts.
• Jackson becoming a kick butt reader.
• Saffron getting so sick she might die and then miraculously (with antibiotics) perking up and becoming a pain in the butt again.
• The chickens producing a million eggs.

There are so many other things that have happened.  So many details I am leaving out.  I hate to do it.  I brings me pain to list just those above life events in such a blithe way.  As if they are ho- hum, as if they don't warrant a blog each, as if they aren't monumental in one way or another.  All of them are SO monumental.  If I did do much more than list, this blog would be 9 miles long, if not longer.  I will say a few short things.

At the Shot Show, Todd and my Dad got some great interest and leads in their alloys.  They came home with renewed faith and vigor.  They have a new project they are working on with

excitement, partly because of great interest on the part of First Choice Armor and partly because they both feel passionately about it.  They are developing (have developed?) an armor (for use on body and vehicle) that is lighter and stronger than the stuff our law enforcement and military members are using now.  It could mean everything in so many ways.  GO GUYS!

The celebration for the U football teams was so fun!  13-0 and Sugar Bowl Champs.  We couldn't wish for more.  The boys and I went to the parade and pep rally in downtown Salt Lake with my Mom, Jeff, and Jen and had such a great time!  Go Utes!

Logan was so fun on his birthday!  I swear he knew it was a special day for all of us because we got to re-live his birth and celebrate his life.  He was happy all day long (even when he was tired).  We took him to a toddler soft play land at the mall, rode some quarter rides, gave him real chicken (not baby food) and ice cream.  That night we had a small family party with dinner and cake and boy did he love his cake!  He was so much fun.  He still plays with his birthday toys more than any others and enjoys his new skills.  He'll be

walking in a matter of days and often stands alone for long periods without sitting down.  He has taken up to 6 steps before falling.  He now has 8 teeth and is always looking for ways to escape out of the play area we have created called "The Arena" by Todd and the boys.  Go Lo-Lo!

Jeff earned his Wolf badge for scouts this month.  We are so proud of him!  Just in time to turn 9 and go into Bears.  He worked really hard on it and earned it honestly.  He loves scouts and with parents who have callings in scouts, even if he didn't love it, he'd get to do it regularly.  I am so glad he does like it though.  Scouts is very important.  It teaches valuable skills and lessons, and is critical in the endeavor to raise our sons

to be contributing human beings.  I love it, love it.  Go Jeffrey!

The lights have come on for Jackson.  He can read like nobody's business all of the sudden.  Blending sounds, remembering what

 sound each letter makes, and combining words to make up sentences that he understands, are all skills he wields every day.  I am so proud of him and his success.  He is quite proud of himself.  He was getting frustrated but he soldiered on and is glad he did.  Go Jackie!

Saffron, who suffers from a chronic and congenital skin disorder that results in massive and multiple hives all over her body, is starting to head down hill...unfortunately I don't know how long we've got her.

To make a long story short, she is on several medications to try to control her symptoms.  She used to go into remission but doesn't seem to be able to do that

anymore.  She is coming up on 10 years old this summer and so she has had a long and good life with us.  However, I don't know that we'll see her 10th birthday.  She gets sores now that don't heal well due to her medications and she often gets infections.  I give her antibiotics but that won't last forever.  She became quite ill this week, she wasn't able to eat or anything.  I thought we might lose her but she rebounded with another round of antibiotics.  We bought some more time and she is happy again.  As long as she is happy, I will keep her around but if she gets depressed for too long and I'm unable to revive her, we'll have to send her to Rainbow Bridge.  That's the bad news about our pets....rarely do they outlive us.  That's one reason we have a parrot.  With a 70-80 year lifespan, he may make it beyond our years.  I don't know that I like that he's yelling "Grandpa Bird!" at the top of his crop right now, but oh well.  The rest of the animal farm is great and is scratchin' around with fervor.

The chickens, while bound in their wire coop/yard, are at it.  They are so self-important it cracks me up.  I can't get enough of it.  I watch them strut around and cackle and they just think that the world revolves around them.  Maybe they have something.  Maybe they are secretly geniuses and can solve the world's problems but no one will give them a chance?  NO...that's not the case.  I'll tell you a secret...they are the STUPIDEST animals on the place.  That's why

they think they are so great....they have NO idea.  Now that the days are getting longer, they are starting to lay eggs again with regularity.  With 12 hens, we are getting 5-9 eggs every single day.  That's a lot of eggs.  What happens when it's summer and they are all laying?  Please buy eggs people...I promise you'll love them.  They are yummy!

So that's 6 weeks in a (relatively) short post.  I will post again next week.  The hard part is getting back in the grind.  I'm there now...so you can count on me.  Ah, I'll probably just be here by myself.  Reading and laughing at what I write.  Getting a bigger kick out of it than anyone.  I'll make Todd read it....but that's enough for me...I guess.

Love to you all!