I Was Deaf, But Now I Hear

I lost my hearing last week. While on vacation my ear started acting funny, but after getting home it just kept getting worse. Friday I finally called a doctor (anyone who knows me knows what a leap of faith that was)! Of course, they couldn't get me in until Monday (which in itself is a miracle). I couldn't get the doctor I wanted, but at this point I was willing to make a sacrifice. So, Saturday we had to take off and go to Star Valley for little Ross & Melanie's open house. Being in a car with a broken ear was painful, but the noise at that house was even worse. After the open house Brandon and I took my grandma back to her house and stayed with her. Sunday morning was so nice. We just hung out in her quiet home, all alone. I almost thought I might be healed -- but then we went to church. The minute I walked into their Relief Society room I knew it wasn't going to be good. But this is an older ward, with lots of old people so they use microphones for all their classes. I thought that might help me hear, but NO -- it just made it worse. My ear did not like that. The one in the chapel wasn't so bad, so maybe it just needed more space. Anyhow, we made it home and I made it to the doctor. I really can't remember ever being excited to go to a doctor before. The good news is he fixed me! It was just ear wax. He looked at my "good" ear first, but was quite surprised it wasn't the one bothering me. So, now both ears are nice and clean -- and I can hear! He told me I'd be hearing things I haven't heard before. I'm not sure I've heard anything new, but things sure do sound different.

Here are a few photos for you from Saturday's festivities:

Palmyra, Kirtland and an Eight Year Old

We have had one fun filled week. It all started last Saturday when we left for Cheyenne. We stayed with Brandon's sister, Nicole, and her family. The girls had fun playing with their cousins and we were well fed (cooking is a little bit more than a hobby for Doo Sung). On Sunday we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for a birthday party! That's right, Sophie turned the magical 8. She opened some gifts and then ate cake and FRUIT! But then we had to head off to Denver for we had a very early flight the next morning. We were up Monday morning at 3:45 AM. We flew to Rochester and then drove to our hotel near Palmyra. We stayed there for three days -- seeing all the sights and watching the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Of course, every day we spent some time at the pool.

On Thursday we left Palmyra and drove to Niagara Falls. When I first saw the "Maid of the Mist" boat tours I was so excited, but Sophie was extremely scared and since this was her trip I wasn't going to make her do something she didn't want. But then the week before we left I was talking to some people at church and they told me we HAD to do it. They told me I could blame them if Sophie was upset. So, then I was all excited again and thought I couldn't pass it up. After telling Sophie I really wanted to do it she relented -- as long as I promised to hold her the entire time. She was still pretty scared up until the minute we started to get wet. And suddenly it became fun and amazing. She took her rain coat off and laughed through it all! Well, there's another lesson learned.

After Niagara we drove to Kirtland, Ohio. We just hung out at the pool that night and then went and saw all the sites the next morning. We did all the "Historic Kirtland" stuff, then went and had lunch and finished up with the Isaac Morley Farm and the Kirtland temple tour in the afternoon. Saturday morning we drove an hour out to Hiram to the Johnson farm. We tried to find something else to do to kill a little time afterwards, but the one place we went was closed so we just went and grabbed lunch before heading to the airport. We flew in to Denver at 9:30 (but we were still on Eastern time), then drove to Ft. Collins where we had a hotel reservation, but we had to go do some shopping first to stock up for our drive home. It was a late night, but we were used to a crazy schedule. We drove home Sunday and had a few hours to relax a bit -- while we waited for the air conditioner to kick in and cool our house back down.

Then this morning we were up bright and early again, as I had to send my girls off to their first Activity Girl's day camp. They're growing up, and going off to places without me.

Clothes Cost Money

How do you teach kids about money? I think this is a problem most parents wrestle with. I have a lot of ideas, but not much that I think my kids are ready for yet. But I just solved one problem at our house. Clothes! I'm raising girls, so I know I have a tough job here. For some reason our issues with clothes almost always seem to arise on Sunday mornings. I am tired of buying my children clothes, only to have them tell me a week later that they don't fit or they don't like it anymore. So, I've handed their clothes shopping over to them. I took our clothing budget and divided it into 4 (Brandon, Candi, Chloe, and Sophie). Now we'll each get equal amounts every month instead of it going into one big pot. They know how much money they have. The responsibility is off my shoulders so I don't have to worry about it anymore. They can buy whatever they want (as long as it meets our modesty standards). And I already see them making smarter choices. Someday I hope to do this on a large scale, but right now I know if they did the grocery shopping we'd all be sick, and what happens when they don't pay the utility bills because they'd rather have a toy? Yeah, we're not ready for that yet.

Good TV?

As much as we try to avoid TV at our house, I do have something to say about good entertainment. My husband likes to hang out on his laptop and occasionally one or both of the girls will come in and hang out with him, and they end up watching crazy movies online. I don't mean bad crazy -- just things I wouldn't normally go looking for (like things about animals). They're usually very educational, and I'm grateful for those opportunities. One time they got hooked on Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution." I don't know if it's still out there, but that's good TV. I don't really agree with all of Jamie's ideas, but I know he got people thinking and moving in the right direction. Last week I found a show that drew the girls in. I had actually seen it advertised a long time ago, but since we have so little time for TV we never got to sit down and watch it. The show is called "Who Do You Think You Are?" I love that the girls will come and sit with me and watch it together. We get to talk about all the historical events they deal with, not to mention the main point of working on your family history. So, this is my plug for a show. It's online until September 18th. There are 7 different episodes. Don't ignore more important responsibilities to go watch it, but if you have some down time it's definitely worth it.