A morning Lula-bye

This morning I woke to a SCREAM from poor Harley J. She apparently was helping Grandma Howell let Daisy in and somehow didn't move her hand before Grandma shut it in the door.......Hard! Needless to say it was very sad. Bryant's sister Francis(Auntie Franny) was super sweet and didn't wake me when Harley decided to get up an hour early at 7:00am, had already fed Her pancakes and eggs and had stepped away for half a minute. I jumped out of bed and rushed to a very sad daughter who asked me while crying, "Nigh night?, rocky rocky? Rocka baby in top top? Pleassse, pleassse!" Which interpreted means, "Rock me in my rocking chair and sing 'Rock-a-bye baby in a tree top' so I can fall asleep because this is all to much for me!" I asked her back, " You want to go back to bed?" Still sad and crying she assured me, "yeeeaaahh". So that's what we did. Rocka baby in a top top. It still makes me smile and kinda giggle just thinking about how I started my day and how she ended her morning. Poor baby.....

Killing time till summer comes

Something to do to pass the time! We've had a few cold but sunny days these past few weeks and we took the opportunity to get Uncle Buck's little quad out and let the kids go crazy! Harley loved riding the quad as long as SHE was driving. After,we had a picnic on the porch with ham and cheese sandwiches, string cheese and apple slices... yum! My favorite part is that my daughter wanted her nails painted and helped put on my make up and then couldn't wait to go get dirty! By the way, I had my ultrasound appointment Monday and found out we're having a.......................Baby!

Ha ha just kidding, it's a BOY!!!!! ( as mom would say, "I'm so funny, I kill me")!!!

This Journey Called Life

Hello friends and family. I've decided to just give a quick update on life here in Howell Town. Bryant's mom was diagnosed with a lung disease called COPD(Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)a few years back. It's pretty much chronic bronchitis and emphysema from about 50 years or more of smoking. Recently she came home from the hospital only to be admitted again yesterday because she refuses to quit. This will be her 3rd stay in less than 12 months. At this point we're told that if she doesn't stop smoking immediately, she'll continue to get infections in her lungs that her body can't defend. Her lungs need steroids to open and enable her to get and use oxygen, but being on long term steroids has weekend her immune system and bone density to an untreatable degree. So in a nut shell we're told this disease has run it's course and Mom Howell is on the last leg of her journey.

We're also struggling with Bryant being away, dealing with responsibilities in Yakima. Needless to say, he'd much rather be here with his mom and family for what little time is left and isn't able to. Other than these recent trials, we've been getting along okay. Harley's been talking up a storm and is getting so tall! I can't believe she'll be two this year. My belly's getting noticeably bigger and we'll be able to find out what the baby is in less than two weeks!!! I've been struggling with mixed emotions from pregnancy, and the above mentioned situations but realize how grateful I am for the knowledge that I've been able to obtain young. The Word of Wisdom and The Plan of Salvation have given me a perspective that most of the people around me are oblivious to. I'm grateful I have these things to comfort me. So family, add the Howell's to your prayers tonight and know we love you all.

Some of This and That

We made it over the mountain for Halloween so Harley's first trick-or-treating experience could be with family. This year she was a Dragon. When we bought her costume we were told to go home and try it on to make sure it was perfect because they would only be excepting returns for one more day. I was a little nervous of making her wear it more than once but I did want to make sure she could walk with a big tail and the hood wouldn't cover her eyes etc. Silly me... We got it on and it was perfect. The only problem was trying to get it off. She kept running to our closet mirror and checking it out! She wore that thing the rest of the dang night!

Halloween Day is also Kamden's Birthday(Harley's cousin) so we had a fun weeny roast and costume party for Him.(He's Alfalfa) Later we went to trick or treat Jen's neighborhood where Harley thought it was actually more fun to go into houses rather than stop at the doorway!

Not much else too exciting going on. Here are some other pictures of the windings down of summer.

Sometimes blessings are like presents wrapped in garbage bags with diamonds inside.

How cute is my family!? I know it's ridicules. I think you'd be jealous except for most of you, they're yours too! Ahhh, This is the first time in a month I even touched my computer. We've been so busy. I spent a week packing our old house up and then crossed the mountain to wait for our new house to be available. While I was home visiting I stayed with Jennis because Justin was actually working on my side of the mountain in Ellensburg. (These pictures are actually from my trip before but I have a lot of catching up! ) After staying with Jen for a few days I headed over to the Howell's and we visited there too! Sunday they had a family dinner and Emily came to join in the fun. Saturday night Harley started to get a fever and she was miserable all Sunday. She wanted to be held and even ate dinner slumped on her Aunt Mary Ann, with her head to the side. She'd whisper, "bite" when she was ready for a little more. It was really sad. Her fever actually broke and she started acting a little better so Emily and I made a trip to the Bald Hills to shake the apple trees. We visited for a bit then went back to Em's farm with our 5 gallon bucket full of huge yummy pie apples. Harley woke in the night burning up at 104.6 , We decided we'd call the hospital and ask a few questions before getting too worried. Em looked up the number and went to call but there was no dial tone! Strange, considering we'd used the phone a few hours before. Quickly I to ran out to my truck to grab my dead cell phone and plug it in, but couldn't find the dang charger to save my life! I decided we'd go to the emergency room, just to be safe. So I packed yet again because I had to be home(in Yakima) Monday no matter what, to sign papers to move in and hoped we could leave from the hospital. Our game plan was that Em was going to grab diapers and call Jennis from her cell when we got on the road and she had reception, and we'd meet at Jen's where I'd borrow a charger so I could get a hold of Bryant and let him know what was going on. Strangely when Em called, Jennis and Justin were awake(at 4 in the morning) because they heard a noise that scared them to death. For no apparent reason, movies on a shelf shelf simply fell off and crashed to the floor. Forcing Justin to grab the nearest weapon and run from their room, assuming there was something much more threatening than a pile a DVD's in the closet.

I left Harley asleep in the car to run and grab the charger. Only to find out when I returned, she'd thrown up. Amazing. About the time I had all of Harley's yucky stuff pulled of and thrown in the bathtub, Emily arrived. She helped rinse blankets and clothes while Jen and I got cold washcloths ,Ibuprofen and Tylenol. Poor baby. While Justin got ready for work, Jen called a neighbor to come help give a blessing. Unfortunately he was already on his way to work but there was a newly returned missionary staying at their house.Only a few short minutes later a tired young man walked through the door, ready and willing to do the lords work in a moments notice. Harley Jane was blessed with strength from our Heavenly Father early Monday morning, and then slept.

Jennis, Emily and I stayed up and talked about the nights events. Why was my charger missing when I new exactly where I'd put it? Why were the phones not working? Why did movies jump from a shelf ? Why was that young man staying that particular night just a few houses down? The answer in simply because I needed them to be. I don't have the blessing of the priesthood in my immediate home and Heavenly Father knows that. He wanted my sweet, sick baby to have a blessing and made it possible. I know I've rambled a bit but I want you all know the blessings that we're showered on Harley and I. I couldn't ask for a better family to take care of us and drop what they're doing. I'm truly moved from the experience and know it was My Heavenly Father watching over us.

I'm going to stop here and force my self to blog and continue filling you all in another day. Love to you all!

"NO NO NO!!!"

"Get DOWN! Get out of there! NONONO! OUT!!" This is what I yell all day. Not to my child but to my HUGE dog Duke. He jumps our fence effortlessly and lately I've been rotating him from being tied up to being down in the basement and when he's done that for 10 hours straight then he gets to be free to play with Daisy. Unfortunately his freedom doesn't last long because he's always into something! Everyone on 14th Avenue knows his name because they've either brought him home or heard me yelling it as I run down the street in my pajamas barefoot, clutching a baby. Sadly he killed one of the two big goldfish in the pond and now it's time to find a new home for him before I throttle him to death. Now, I've tried for three months I really have! This yard is just not big enough or our fence tall enough for two dogs, especially one his size. He's a mammoth. I really do love him though and he's sooo sweet that I'm at my wits-end and heavy hearted for feeling the need to be rid of him.

On to other things. Our Land Lords called and said they're thinking of putting the house back up for sale. "Just a heads up" they said, "nothing to worry about" they said. Yea yea. Yesterday I got two calls from interested buyers to come take a look .One for today at 3:15pm and one tomorrow morning at 9:30am. I cleaned and scrubbed the whole house, reorganized and deodorized the basement(because remember Duke's been spending a lot of time down there) and those dang people didn't even show. Not to mention I kept Harley up because I thought they'd want to look in her room and didn't want to risk interrupting her nap. So I ended up with a really clean house and a really tired baby. I've sent two E-mails to available rentals but still no reply. What can I do? "Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.." On top of being stood up, I've been stuck at home for four days now. Not that I have any thing really pressing to do but the option would be nice. Bryant's work car got a flat tire a week ago while he was on the freeway. The lug wrench that was in the car didn't fit the tire so he was a little irritated,( to say the least) luckily he didn't have to wait long. A cop stopped and rescued my damsel in distress! So Bryant's had my truck and I've been waiting for him to work less than a 12 hour day so we can go get a new(slightly used) tire for the dang thing. I know I should be able to do it, but He doesn't trust that the people in our area would give me a fair price for a good quality tire.

But don't worry my family, I don't want to rip my hair out or yell at any one that tries talking to me or anything. Nope I don't have cabin/bad dog/stressed renter fever at all....

"And that's what it's all about!"

Harley's been cracking me up lately. She's so smart and funny it just kills me! Today after I changed her diaper I went into the bathroom to use some hand sanitizer. I saw Harley walk past the doorway carrying her dirty diaper. She rounded the corner, walked straight into the kitchen and droped it into the garbage can. She didn't know I was following her and you could tell when she turned around it startled her! She smiled sooo big and clapped her hands, meaning, "good job to me" I was so amazed I called Bryant to tell him that minute!

Lately we'll see her toys on chairs or the lower shelves in the pantry, just finding a place to set them down I guess. She always turns her motorcycle around so it's facing forward and she stands everything up. I'll go into a room she'll have just left and there will be her animals all standing nicely on the floor. Another thing that kills me is she's a stacker. Today I found a bottle sitting(standing up right) on top of a plastic baby wipe container! I can't believe how big and grown up she is, and how fast it went.

I pruned some of the roses today. I love the rose bushes but they're a lot of work! While I did that Harley picked blades of grass and fed them to daisy. Which also proved to be a lot of work!

(Oh man! I had a picture of the roses here and just deleted it on accident! And there's no way to get if back without messing everything up or starting over... that;s annoying =( )
Carolyn Kay came home from her mission last week so we went to visit and listen to her speak on Sunday. We had tons of fun playing with all the Kay Kids. Some of the games included, 'London Bridge's Falling down', 'Ring around the Rosey', 'Duck Duck Goose' and my personal favorite 'The Hokey Pokey!'

"You put your head in...."

"You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around..."

"And that's what it's all about!"

I'm so happy to have our home and to be able to be spending time together as a family. Bryant's been working hard so I'm blessed and able to stay home and not missing any of these moments with Harley......And that's what it's all about!