Attention ya'll!

Just wanted to make a public announcement that (insert drumroll here)

I DIDN'T WANT TO LIVE IN BUFFALO NEW YORK ANYWAY!!!!

Haha, yep thats right, M&T Bank is a NO GO, and I couldn't be happier! I know Lohn will get a job, I'm not TOO worried about that, and now I can hope for somewhere a little closer to family. colorado, colorado, colorado, colorado, colorado

Sunburst June 2011

Well, Folks, I did it. I signed up for a 10K in 2 months. I am now running 3 miles 4 times a week, sometimes pushing a double jogging stroller with two hefty boys in it. I am going to gradually work up my distance, and hopefully be ready in a few months to run 6.2 miles. I got scared in the middle of my run this morning (during a tired moment), thinking, "I can't do a 10K, thats CRAZY!" All I hope to achieve is to finish the race. Thats it. I'm not going for any special time. The cool thing about this race, is the finish line is on the 50 yard line in the ND football stadium. I've wanted to do this race since we moved here, and now it seems like a nice way to end our time here at Notre Dame. If you decide to come run with me, list me as your reference. (I get 5 dollars knocked off my fee if you sign up under this link) Wish me luck and happy running!

Happy Holi!!!

Holi is an Indian Holiday, and the Village celebrates it every year. A big part of the celebration is "painting" your friends and loved ones. My kids went CRAZY! See evidence below...

I thought, all well, it's too late anyway to stop them and grabbed my camera. Just as I was taking a picture, Tamsyn threw a handful of powder in my face, eyes and mouth open. I had red boogers for the rest of the day, and I had to throw away my contacts as they were dyed pink. As are all the clothes.

But I have to say it was an interesting/educational experience, one of those that while it was happening, I thought, "We will look back on this time with fond memories."

I thank my Heavenly Father every day for leading us to the Village. I love it here and all the educational/cultural experiences my kids get to have. Even if it involves colorful boogers. (Also noticed at church today that my three boys have green/red ears despite 2 showers)

Kids history

Lohn and I love these ones. As you can tell, I've been on a silly kick lately.

For Whitney and Ondrea...

Good things about Idaho... (because in March, one must be reminded)

-Gorgeous rolling green hills
-Down-to-earth, super duper friendly people that wear cowboy boots and mud (they always pull us out of snowbanks, right Whitney?)
-Which leads me to my next, everyone has a truck.
-Family (miss this the most)
-Mountains
-Thus, hiking, camping.
-The fantastic Darby slide
-String Lake (ok, technically thats WY, but still)
-Mild PERFECT summers.
-Lots of big open GREEN spaces
-Junior Miss program
-Our Church
-Huckleberries
-Super small silly parades where you come home with an ice cream bucket FULL of candy.
-Watching the fireworks, camped out on a random persons front yard, just because everyone is nice there and they let you, and even feed you brownies.
-Wildlife (We actually had a MOOSE camped out in our backyard for a week.)
-The bike path
-The hippies (ha ha, just had to put that one in.)

Hang in there my fellow Victor/Tetonia-ites. Spring is around the corner.

Please feel free to add to my list :)

Ander man is sick. I kept him home from school yesterday because of a mild fever, but he played and acted fine in spite of it, and I never gave him medicine. I don't treat my kids' fevers unless they are miserable from them. He went to bed, with me assured that on the morrow, I could send him to school and safely watch my friends kid for a few hours early this morning. But lo and behold, he woke up with a "stomach ache." He seemed fine and ate two big bowls of cereal (which I later cleaned up, ewww). I tried to convince him that he was fine and should go to school. But I only have 30 minutes from the time my kids wake up to the time they get on the bus, so that isn't a very long time period to evaluate his health. So I decided Lohn could take him to school a little later after I've watched him for a bit. I am soooo glad I did, or right now I would be packing up my kids in the van and making the drive to the school to pick him up. Poor kid is now huddled on the couch with our famous, beloved throw-up bowl. And my poor friend had to take her little girl with her to her Dr. app. I didn't even have enough time to give her notice so she could find someone else.

So today, Lohn is interviewing with M&T Bank, which if we get it, it would be out of Buffalo, New York. BUFFALO. What EXACTLY do I pray for here, folks??? I guess, what I really want is us to go where the Lord would have us go, so I guess that is what I will pray for. And of course, I would like Lohn to feel pleased with the interview and learn from it. He applied for some jobs in Colorado, which after thinking about Buffalo, is starting to sound really appealing right now. These next few months should be interesting.

We got our van tuned up. They told us that there are so many problems with it, that we just need to buy a new one. They didn't even tell us that they wanted our money to fix it. Nope. Just, "this is a lost cause folks, time for a new one." So another addition to my prayers is that the van will last just 2 more months. I am getting the car looked at today, we will see what they say about that. That should be interesting. The car also has over 200,000 miles on it.

Okay, so I read back and realized I sound like I am grumping, but really, life is good. Life is interesting. I AM happy. My eczema explosion is almost gone, the weather is improving (72 degrees yesterday!), I've had Lohn home all week for spring break, my house is already clean and it's not yet 9 am, and I have my wonderful family here with me at my beloved Village. Yep, life is good!

UPDATE:
Ander seems a world of better and is keeping food down.
Just returned from the mechanics and the car is just as bad as the van (No surprise there really). Basically we cannot drive anywhere but around town with both our vehicles. I'm praying for them to last just TWO MORE MONTHS!
Also, Lohn had his interview, and said it went well, we will hear if he makes it to the second round of interviews next week sometime. Thanks for all the kindly thoughts and prayers!

I LOVE clean toilets and my boys know it.

Gunnar's song while in the bathroom (sung at the top of his lungs no less)

"I didn't pee on the toilet,
because I love my mommy.
I love my mommy,
and she loves me.
YEAH!"

Isn't that the cutest song you've ever heard? I just wish I had it recorded for you.

Japan

To prevent my children from nightmares, I DON"T think I will be letting them watch this. They know of the horrible earthquake and the tsunami and the meltdowns, but I think this would really freak them out, because it does me. THOSE POOR PEOPLE!



There are many people who think Lohn and I are CRAZY for having a years supply of food storage for our family, but this is EXACTLY why we do (and because the prophet has told us too). Never say nothing like this will ever happen to us. Life is full of surprises, my dearest peeps.

Village Carnival

And JUST in time. My family is STIR crazy in this apartment!




There are no pictures of Tamsyn because she was at a late over. Clowns came and put on a show for the kids and did the face painting and the balloon thingys. The boys all wanted light sabers.

On a side note, I went to the Dermatologist, and I have a new best friend! I had certain fears from a bad dermatologist I went to in Logan. He looked at my eczema (covering my body at the time) and gave me a pamphlet on how to control it. A PAMPHLET! No meds= no help=months of suffering. Anyway, the P.A. I saw today gave me meds, steroid pills for a week and a topical cream, and also some great ideas on controlling it once we get rid of my flareup. I can't wait to put my contacts in again! Wearing glasses makes me feel groggy, grungy, and like I need a shower.

The Seven Year Itch

I don't even know what that means. All I know is that is the name of some movie. But it seems to fit how I feel right now. Folks, I am ITCHY!!! My eczema has blown up like crazy. We are talkin' every single part of my body is covered in a insatiable tickley ITCH! I have a giant spot on my neck that looks like Lohn gave me a gigantic hickey, and it's spreading. My right eye lid is swollen and I am not even going to start on my arms and legs. The worst part is sleeping. All I can do is lay there, trying to convince myself I'm not itchy (NOT successfully), and I wake up several times in the middle of the night to SCRATCH! ARRRGH! I have a Dr. appointment, but not until the 25th. I think I will be calling them tomorrow and BEGGING for them to see me sooner. Did I mention I hate to look at my swollen ruddy face in the mirror? Bleh.

Light sabers have other uses too...

Sylas loves music. In church on Sunday, he was leading the music and pretending to sing. His arm was waving, his eyes were closed and his mouth wide open and he was bobbing his head up and down. (I sure hope he wasn't imitating ME *gasp*) It was super cute. And he dances to any song, and sometimes, I don't even realize there is music on somewhere until I see him swiveling his hips and nodding his head. I don't know where he has seen a person sing into a microphone, but this is his latest.

Notice I stopped recording when he started to lick his "microphone."

More Randomness...

-We are getting LOADS of money back from taxes. YEAH! Now I know for sure we will have enough money until Lohn gets a job.

-About the job interview... It's happening on March 18th at 10 am. If he gets the job, it could be in Pennsylvania, Buffalo New York, DC, and a few other places that I can't remember. (I'm not real groovy with NY...) But Lohn thinks this job sounds like a good fit. I'm not too worried. The Lord knows EXACTLY where he wants us, we just need to do our part, and be patient.

-I'm officially off chocolate forever. I have made a definite connection between my headaches and chocolate. I'm not too happy about this because it is Mini Cadbury Egg holiday, and THAT only comes once a year! (Easter? Whats Easter?) I am consoling myself with Skittles as we speak. (Or write in this case...)

-I finally finished my last Personal Training session today. I am happy to be done, that woman worked me HARD! Plus she wasn't very good at counting. (That was 17 lunges, not 14!!!) After she is through with me, I am complete jello, and popping the Advil's in preparation for pain the next day. But I learned a lot about strength training, and I am making it a part of my weekly exercise. Right now, I am running a 5K three times a week, and strength training for two days. (So you see, it's OK that I am eating Skittles)

-I have had a super productive day. The house was clean by 9 am, and two small quilts almost pieced by 12pm. I LOVE days like that. And the boys were off the computer and TV, and just using their imaginations. I love THAT too. And it is 50 degrees outside! And the birds are singing, and generally life is perfectly perfect right now. Thank-you Lord, for my wonderful life!!!

Some of the latest in the McKee home...

January quilts. I guess I forgot to take a picture of Decembers. There was only 2 quilts anyway due to barfing and ear infections. I canceled Quilt day like 3 times over the last few months! I take pictures because it is a good way for me to keep record of how many we have done.

Gym Bus! It is a hollowed out bus, and it comes to the Village a couple times a year, and the kids get to play for only 1 dollar for half an hour. They LOVED it, and Sylas's new favorite word for a week was "Gym Bus?" and Gunnar didn't want to wash his hands because he would lose his gym bus stamp.





One of the last things I made before my Bausch bit the dust. (Crumbled and fell apart is actually what really happened. No dust)
Also, my mashed potatoes last night tasted like they were cooked over a campfire. I guess my pressure cooker is on the fritz too. Sigh. I wonder what else is going to break down before we have money to buy new ones???


Also a few interesting things of note.
-Lohn started growing a Magnum PI mustache this last week. My usual threats of no more kisses had no effect. So then I threatened to grow out my armpit hair. Ugly stupid mustache was gone within minutes. I now have leverage. Lohn has always been scared of hairy women.
-Against my husbands wishes, I am announcing to the world that he has been accepted into the Beta Gamma Sigma, a membership only extended to the top twenty percent of the class, and the highest scholastic honor a MBA student can get. That's my man! And to think he had fears that he wouldn't do well in school (insert roll of eyes).
-I am making Gunnar take naps again. He hasn't needed them for two years, but lately he is so tired. Also, he ate more waffles this morning than the other kids. Growth spurt? I think so.
-Oh, and Lohn has another interview! I will keep you all updated.