We're sending our son to Siberia!

After what seems like an eternal wait, Trevor's mission call finally came.  Let's just say that his portion of paperwork was done September 1st and his call came November 27th.  I guess the Lord is still trying to teach me patience.  But I digress.  Elder Trevor Wade Jewkes will labor in the Russia Vladivostok Mission, reporting on January 30th.  It is perfect for him.  He's excited to get a real Russian accent, and he loves to fix things the "Russian" way.  The things that we have learned about his mission area are mind boggling.  Serious, mind boggling.  His mission boundaries are the size of the United States, the biggest geographical mission in the church.  It is one of the three smallest in terms of church members.  His mission borders Mongolia, China, North Korea, Alaska and is just across the sea from Japan.  Siberia is literally in his mission boundary as well as the Arctic circle.  He will be 1,000 miles closer to Logan, Utah than to St. Petersburg, Russia.  I will save the rest for his mission blog that we'll start in January...except for the fact that it gets to between 40 and 60 degrees BELOW zero.  Poor kid.

Benjamin Coy

Ben is 16!!!!  Ben was born weighing 8lbs 15oz (but had they weighted him seconds earlier, before he "relieved" himself he would have been over 9lbs).  Big boy.  Of all our kids he is the one that takes after his dad.  It is nice having someone reach those top shelves for you.  A lot of people don't know that Ben didn't say his first word until he was 4 years old.  When he was little, he had so many ear infections that his hearing was affected.  We just thought he was a perfect little guy that would play by himself for hours and rarely cry.  When he was 2 1/2 we discovered the problem and started him in a special preschool.  His brain is wired a little different than most.  He is very literal.  He is always very intelligent.  I think a lot of people under estimate Ben.  He's quiet, but when he speaks we love to hear his vocabulary.  He uses the best words ever!  Things that people his age don't usually say (all in a good way, though).  I think his passion is headed in the direction of track...he's a thrower.  His goal is to break some records, and I have no doubt that if sets his mind to it and really wants it, he can accomplish it.  Ben's bond with Kyall has always been super strong.  She adores him, as do all of us.  Happy Birthday, Ben, love you tons!

Charlee Ann

This is our gorgeous daughter, Charlee.  She is our exact middle child.  It seems impossible that she is already 13 years old.  I remember the day she was born.  I had gone in for an ultrasound to check fluid levels (with our 5,4, and almost 3 year olds of course).  They wouldn't let me leave the hospital.  There was no measurable fluid and they were worried she would compress her cord or other bad things.  I called a neighbor who rushed up and took the kids.  Wade came straight from his route - I think he may even have had his package car - dressed in his UPS browns.  The doctor came in and told him that this would be his best "delivery."  I remember when she was born, she didn't cry.  Not one sound.  I thought the worst had happened, and kept asking if she was okay.  She was beautiful!  Of course, she has made up with whining and crying since :)  She is truly a miracle baby, in more ways than anyone will ever know.  Charlee is an amazing, intelligent, talented, friendly, beautiful, tender hearted young woman.  We love watching her grow into her own and are excited to support her in a new sport...volleyball!  We love you, Charlee!!!! 

Happy Birthday, Dad

My dad is my hero. I love him more than words can describe. I guess I am still mad that he died. I wish that my kids could have had more time with him. I wish I could have had more time with him. I am so grateful that we got to move to Logan and live just a few blocks from him for the last few years of his life. I saw him every day. I hugged him every day. I told him I loved him, every day. I know without a doubt that he knew how much I loved him, and I know that not only did he love me, but that I was his favorite :) We have such great memories of my dad. Even Ryanne remembers the "hubba hubba" day. She spent so much time with Gramps, he even bought her a shirt that said "Grandpa's Little Sidekick". Randi knows she was named after an amazing man and tries her best to represent it well. I love that his computer password was always "Trevor". All my kids knew that he loved them. I treasure the time I spent working along side him in "Santa's Workshop" his last Christmas. We made some pretty impressive things that hopefully will be passed down through the generations. I wish that I was stressed over what to buy him for his birthday this weekend instead of visiting his grave, but I know without a doubt that he


watches over me and my family.

A Very Special Day

All my kids love each other and watch out for each other. I love how close all seven of them are! When we were going around the family, saying what we admired about each other, they all had such wonderful things to say. When we got to Randi-and she got to Trevor-she simply said "he's my big brother-that says it all." Ryanne was baptized this month. That in itself is such a wonderful thing, but she had an added bonus. Her brother baptized her. It's hard to put into words what it's like to see your oldest son baptize his little sister. It still brings a tear to my eye. Ryanne's day was fantastic! She had a beautiful program that she shared with a sweet little guy, whose family we adore. The musical number had 6 of us, joined by 4 McAllister's playing an "orchestral arrangement" of If the Savior Stood Beside Me. Randi did a great job speaking on the Holy Ghost, even quoting some of Gramps' talk he gave at Ben's baptism. Sure do miss that man. She was glowing in both her sweet white baptismal dress and her confirmation dress. There were even a few drops from THE River Jordan in the font that day! Trevor did great with the prayer and it was witnessed by Uncle Bart and Grandpa Jewkes. Wade then confirmed her and gave her a beautiful blessing. Of course lunch afterwards was delicious and visiting with family precious. To top off her special day, we took Grandma and headed to the Brigham City Temple Open House. Not many people can say they were baptized and went through the temple the same day! I'm grateful for the incredible family I am blessed with, and for the knowledge that we will be Together Forever.

Homecoming and Horace

Homecoming. That time of year when you realize that it was 23 years ago that you were playing powderpuff and going to the dance. Man I'm old. Randi followed in my footsteps and was on the Gold Team. Randi played great when she was in, making a huge stop after an interception and quite a few big runs. I loved hearing her name over the loud speaker "Randi-Horace-Jewkes". Yep, Horace. It seems that she has kind of dedicated her senior year to her grandpa. Both her powderpuff shirt and her cross country jacket read "Horace." Now, why would she pick that? you may ask. Well the story is this... Whenever people first hear Randi's name they ask her if it is short for something. She used to explain that no, it's just Randi and that she was named after her Grandpa. The story then evolved to the fact that her Grandpa's name was Randall...well, Horace Randall. Now when people ask if her name is short for something she simply replies "Horace." I love it. I think Gramps would, too.

Of course she looked beautiful for the dance and had the sweetest date. She's happy to be running again, but said that in the back of her mind she knows that there is something different about her heart. We go to Primary Children's next week where hopefully most of her fears will be put to rest after speaking to the cardiologist. My hope is that her senior year will be one filled with great memories, friends, and accomplishments. Love you, Randi!

Interesting

It seems that my kids love to keep it interesting! After her first cross country meet, Randi went down at the finish line and couldn't get up without becoming super dizzy and was having problems breathing for about ten minutes. The next meet, she went down at the finish line again, taking probally 15-20 minutes to get up and going again. At her third meet, which of course was in Murray so we weren't there, she collapsed about half-way through the course. She said she laid on the course for 10-15 minutes before walking herself off. My question...where were the coaches? Where was any medical help? ANYWAY...we took her into the doctor where he said it could be her asthma, but maybe her heart. No running allowed. Really? Randi lives to run. Seriously, she does. We couldn't get her into an echo before friday. A whole week of no running. Our favorite tech, Doug, said results should be back to her doctor by monday, tuesday at the latest. By thursday, we were on the phone asking where the report was. Of course, it was lost. Well, not really lost, but in a certain doctor's basket, not finished and of course it was his day off. Then we're told sorry, but the second cardiologist wouldn't read it because first said doctor had "called" it. Randi had already missed a meet and almost two weeks of training. After many calls and many words, we did get a call back from Doug. He said he knew how frustrated we were and went and got the third cardiologist, who luckily enough had already looked at the echo, consulting with first doctor. He told us what was going on and said he felt that she could run again. Her diagnosis is a bicuspid aortic valve (which is leaking...along with at least one other valve). He said it is a congenital heart defect that occurs in 1 in 10,000 births. Put into Logan's population...five people have it. No wonder they are all fighting over it. It is an "interesting" case, so says doctor #3. Randi was SUPER excited to be able to run friday - two weeks after she went down. Sadly enough, I get a phone call from Doug on friday morning. Apparantly Doc #1 was back at work, saying he had been studying her images for a week and wasn't sure if she had a hole in her heart or not. Could I please bring her in, on our schedule, free of charge for more images. Randi was SUPER not happy when I picked her up right before cross country. Get to the hospital, take more images, call in Doc #1 to look at test real time, debate between the two of them if it was leaking at the corner of the valve or the wall of the heart, lots of blah, blah from Doc #1 covering his behind about taking so long for results, but in the end cleared once again to run. Hallelujuia! Of course, the euphoria didn't last long. Tucker had been complaining of hip pain for a couple of days. He missed a soccer game it hurt so bad. Tucker doesn't miss soccer. We just get Randi squared away, and Tucker comes to me, complaining that he now has a rash on the hip, all the way down to his knee. Once again, a call to Dr. Armstrong after they closed, race the kid down to the office where he lets us in (only 3 people there) and are told that Tucker has shingles. Yes, shingles. Thought that was an old person disease. It it is 95% of the time. Doctor said it was "interesting" that he would get it and how it presented. Poor kid. I've heard it is super painful for a long time. Hopefully since he's young and otherwise healthy, and we started anti-virals early, he won't get too severe of a case. Since things always happen in threes, we're taking bets on who's next. "

Hours drag, but years fly by.

It seems no matter how hard I try to hang on to these moments, time goes by so fast. Some days it seems like we'll never make it to bedtime. So many activities, homework and stuff to do. Days can drag on forever. But then I realize another week has gone by and I have no idea where it went. I love having Trevor around during the day, but that means he is in college. College. How is it that I have a child in college? Then there's Randi. Homecoming week of her senior year. She has turned into the most beautiful, amazing young woman. Ben is a full blown teenager. Yep, he's even got sass. And I'm soon to have 3 kids on our car insurance. Yikes. Charlee amazes me with her beautiful smile and happy attitude, well most of the time. Tucker seems to be well beyond his years in so many ways. Sometimes I need to remind the 18 and 19 year olds that no, Tucker can't "play" past 8 on a school night :) Ryanne is 8. Eight. She is so smart and such a great friend to everyone at school. Now if we could just cut out the "it's not fair" and "I don't like that" -s. Kyall continues to be spoiled rotten by everyone around her. I literally tear up thinking she won't have any memories of life with all her siblings still at home. I try to savor each minute with them. I have truly been blessed with the best kids. Ever.