Taylor's Baptism

Taylor got baptized today! Robert did a great job. Taylor is so excited. He will be confirmed tomorrow.

Stake Conference

This last weekend we had Stake Conference and we were priviliged to have Jeffrey Holland be our visiting general authority because our stake presidency was getting reorganized. I think I know why Lynn was dreaming in Italy that he was interviewing for the Pope because he was worried about an interview that was scheduled when we got home with Pres. Holland. All of the Bishops were interviewed and asked who they thought should be the new Stake President. Lynn's interview went well and he was told to stay by his phone in case he and his wife needed any follow-up interviews. We then went to Taylor's piano festival where he was so energetic and excited about performing. He did awesome and we were relieved that when Lynn's phone rang it was only work people, not church people calling.
That night and the next morning we were spiritual fed by Pres. Hollands words. He was so personal and funny and powerful in what he said. I've never experienced anything like it before. We were excited to find out that our new stake president was Michael Nelson who was the 1st councilor in the stake presidency previous. A few days earlier he had interviewed Lynn for a temple recommend and I commented to him that he only had a week left to which he responded he only had 5 days left. I laughed and told him he was trunky. Well, I guess he had to have a whole new train of thought to be willing to say yes to 9-10 more years of intensive service. He really is a neat man and will do a great job. Incidentally he is Lynn's sister Amy's boss so we have been teasing her that she will be doing more church related work for him now.
Our old stake president's wife has cancer and she was able to recieve a blessing from Pres. Holland while he was here. He also gave an apostolic blessing to the audience on Sunday. It was a neat week-end.

Immunizations

Here it goes. My first time to try and write on our blog by myself. I think I feel more comfortable writing an e-mail because people just browse your e-mail once and never see it again, whereas what I write on a blog stays there forever.
I do have a story about Dallin's immunizations that I'll share. Most of you know my personality is a worry wart. You would think by the time #5 child got their kindergarten immunizations it wouldn't be a big deal for me but it still is. I think I probably worry more about it now because I've read more about immunizations and yet I believe it is important so I finally took Dallin to the Dr. yesterday since he is already 5 1/2 and registration for school is next week. Kyle had to have 1 shot and Dallin had to have 5 ( one was a Chickenpox booster which they must have just started recently). Anyway they were both very brave and got stickers and a sucker from the nurse. I was so proud of them that I took them both to Mcdonalds and let them each get their own happy meals. (something that doesn't happen often). Then I even let them play in the playland. There were in 7th heaven especially when they told Grandpa and Grandma Vickie about their shots and received tattoos from them.
I was relieved that they didn't seem to be having any side effects and carried on with my busy day of helping at the school, doing the primary activity day (where a 4 yr. old got out of my sight and started walking home by himself-Stress!), then it was home to help the kids with homework, make brownies and a cake for Taylors b-day (with 3 kids helping) and then the plan was to go to my literature group and relax a little. But, plans changed when Dallin all of a sudden started saying his stomach hurt and then he started crying and saying he couldn't breathe! He turned white as a ghost and after trying to reach the Dr., Vickie, and Lynn without any luck I finally headed for the emergency room. By the time I got there he was doing better but of course once you walk in the door they don't let you leave until you've paid your dues. His color slowly returned and then we noticed he was starting to break out in hives. They basically gave him an asthma treatment and some benadryl (both of which I had at home) and sent us home . The Dr. doesn't want to say the immunizations was the cause but it is funny that his lung sounded fine earlier in the day. That was the first time he has had an asthma attack that bad. I know hives aren't supposed to be contagious but I am beginning to wonder why 3 of my children have had them in the last few weeks. The Dr. said he has a dermatologist friend who said his fear is that he will go to hell and his assignment will be to try and find the cause to hives. That is hell for him because it is so difficult to figure out what causes hives.
Well, as were we headed home Dallin said, "I'm the luckiest guy in the world!" When I asked why he said because he got tatoos, stickers, a sucker, and his very own happy meal and then he added that he decided he liked shots but not 5 just 1! I'm glad I was reminded to look at life through a child's eyes and see just how lucky we are by acknowledging the simple yet important things in life.

Making the news

This is the latest craze in swimming pools. We installed this system and have about 30 more to install by memorial day. After you watch it and hear how much they cost dont get out your calculator and start imagining us driving a lexus. The $ was not correctly reported. still not bad though. when this ends up on youtube I will repost it so it is cleaner. You will be hearing more about this in the news in the coming weeks. Just a little side note: we built the pools too? Take note of the post time. The body clock still thinks it is in Italy.

http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=184F82CD9DA5289A1914AA76ED1ED82F?contentId=6016199&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

Venice Pictures

This is standing in St. Marks Square.

In the back ground you can see the "Bridge of Sighs" on the left is the mayors palace and on the left is the prison. Trials for criminals were held in the palace and if they were sentenced to jail they would walk across this bridge and let out a sigh. The inside of the prison is unbelievable

When you get off the train this is what you see. It is like a dream world. You look around and almost can't take in the sights, sound and smell at the same time.

Where's Waldo

Thought you might like to see some perspective as to where we are EXACTLY!!!. (Click the link)Yea its 3:30 a.m. Can't Sleep! Might as well Blog. I will be in a meeting all day today. Hopefully Lisa will get on and give some of her thoughts. Tentatively we are going to Venice on Friday and Verona on Saturday. I love the feel of this place. It is like going back in time. Everything seems so simple. I can hardly wait to ride the train to Venice (2 hours on high speed with only 3 stops) The train station is only a 5 minute walk from our hotel.
Our dinner last night was so good. All home made Italian food including the Ice Cream by the owner of the hotel. I will see if I can get a picture of her. Looks as though I will need to wait another week to start that diet I have been wanting to start for the last decade. I will for sure need to keep popping the heartburn meds though!! I never thought I would see the day that I would need one of those little pill boxes with the days of the week on it. I can appreciate the fact now that I am in my forties the magic of not only having the assurance that I took the pills but that I know what day of the week it is. Hope all is well. Love ya.


http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hotel+desenzano&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.461748,81.738281&ie=UTF8&ll=45.465759,10.536919&spn=0.013153,0.039911&t=h&z=15&iwloc=H

We made it

We made it. Made a mistake of taking a nap which will spell disaster trying to get used to the time differance. This is a picture from our balcony. Our Hotel is sweet our bathroom has two toilets. :)

Italy

Lisa and I are leaving for Italy on Monday morning. I will try to post some pictures during our trip. We will be staying in Milan. I could see how this Blog thing could get addicting. I really enjoy looking and reading everyones. Keep it up

Trying to figure this thing out

This was the day that we cancelled church. The snow just kept coming down.