Buchmiller Party

It was our turn to host the family party this year. It is amazing how small your house can seem when there is 25 people in it.

We loved having everyone over, even though it was cramped.

Christmas Morning

It was chaos this year. With me in the ER Christmas Eve, it really put a damper on things. Bryon had to do most of the festivities on his own.


The kids didn't notice much of a difference I hope.

Ethen's reaction is great.



Sam's Favorite- His big dog


Ethen's Favorite-Star Wars Legos II for the Playstation.



Rebekah's Favortie- Roller Blades

Medical Fiasco Part 3

December 24th 4am

Beginning on Saturday I started not feeling well again. I was thinking that it was just left over flu bug, until dinner that night. I started to shiver. After laying in bed with tons of blankets and then draining the hot water heater trying to warm up I decided that something was wrong. I was even running a fever.
I went through Sunday not doing well and just wanting to sleep. We had a party at my parents house and though I went, I wasn't much fun. I went to sleep okay but then woke myself up and Bryon up with my shivering at 4am. I was mad. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I am pretty good at diagnosing myself (Bryon calls me Dr. Janet). So I looked up my symptoms online and at 6:30 when I finally stopped shaking I woke Byron up and told him I was going to the ER. I was pretty sure I had a kidney infection. Bryon's aunt was in ICU for 5 days with the same thing that didn't get treated and spread through her body, so I didn't want to mess with it.
I drove myself so that we didn't have to wake up the kids, and drag them.
Sure enough, I was right. The doctor was mad that I had let it get so bad and told me that I would have to stay. Then he changed his mind and said that I would have to come back for three days for IV antibiotics. Finally he calmed down and only made me have one IV and then drugs. I was shocked also that I hadn't noticed the symptoms sooner.
Christmas was a little hazy because I was so sick. We had to cancel going down to Price. It was the first time in 10 years of marriage that we weren't there for Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas To All!!!

We hope that everyone is doing well. Our last 6 months are laid out in the posts below. Feel free to browse.
We are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends that bless our lives.

We Love You One and All

Bryon
Janet
Rebekah
Ethen
Sam

Our Medical Fiasco Part 2

December 18th 6am

I was somewhat relieved to discover that the entire family had the flu. I knew there was a reason for me almost passing out. It took 3 days for everyone to recover.

Our Medical Fiasco part1

Let's start at the beginning.

December 17th 6pm.

I had just finished making shepards pie for dinner. Bryon and I were in the bedroom talking when Sam starting crying. He gets picked on a lot so neither one of us were concerned. Then Rebekah came in saying that Sam was bleeding. He had been playing in the garbage can and grabbed one of the opened cans I had used for dinner. I picked him up and took him to the kitchen sink to clean up his hands. I could see the blood, so I set him on the counter and tried to get him to let my put his hand under the water. While I was fighting with him Bryon walked in behind me. "Whoa, you have the wrong hand!" He told me. Blood was dripping down my back from Sam's other hand. The cut was pretty deep and after 20 minutes of applying ice and pressure, we decided to take him in. To avoid the huge co-pay at the ER we took him into Riverton to an urgent care. He LOATHES the doctor so he started crying as soon as the nurse came to check it out.

He was worried that Sam has severed a tendon, but after careful inspection (Sam screaming the entire time) the doctor felt that we were okay. I had to hold his hand in soapy water to clean the wound for about 15 minutes. I ended up with a wet lap. He is surprisingly strong.

I asked him if he wanted me to sing a song. Of course. I sang everyone I knew to get him to stop crying. He was calm when the nurse and the doctor started to prepare to stitch him up.

As soon as the doctor starting to give him the shot to numb him, he started screaming again. But instead of just crying he was yelling "Song! Song! Song!" It was sooo sad.

I watched for a minute before I realized that I was blacking out. The nurse heard me start breathing slow and looked over at me "Whoa mom, I think you better lay down." So as my baby is yelling for me to sing him a song as the doctor is tugging needle through his finger, I am laying down trying very hard to not loose consciousness. I have never been queasy so this really ticked me off.

They put a splint on his finger after 5 stitches and said he needed to leave it on for 24 hours. He had it all off, including the bandaid before we got home.

I had to stay laying down, with him on my chest for another 15 minutes before they would let me leave.

Surprise

I know that you are going to check this today so-
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALICIA!!!!

Nighttime Routine

Sam is getting used to the processes of sleep time. He has started to protest on most nights that he wants to go "nigh-nigh". This is a cuddle time when Bryon or I lay with him in our bed while we watch TV. What a little manipulator.
A few days ago I was putting him down for the night and told me he wanted a song. I took a few times for me to understand what he wanted. I sang him his song, then he requested another one. I ended up singing all of the kids individual songs plus a couple more.
Yesterday in church I had him out in the hall trying to get him to sleep during Sacrament Meeting. He laid down and then wanted a song. I sat in the foyer of the church and softly sung 4 or 5 to him. I got a lot of smiles from people passing by.
No he didn't go to sleep.

FYI- the lullaby's
Rebekahs- "I'll take you dreaming" Court Jester
Ethen- "You are my sunshine"
Sam- "God Speed" Dixie Chicks
Extras- "baby mine" Dumbo
Anything from Kenny Loggins CD "Pooh Corner"

US

We finally went and had our family pictures taken. It has been since Ethen was 3. Sad sad. You will all soon be receiving a copy since this is going to be our Christmas card this year.

Putting up the Tree

Bryon had been playing Christmas music for weeks, but the day after Thanksgiving was the official start of his favorite season. The kids were so excited to get everything up. They helped clean the house and rearrange things so that we could put it all out.
We had a problem with lights on the tree and so we had to pause to fix it. The kids all found things to occupy themselves with with they impatiently waited. Ethen and Rebekah decorated each other as the Christmas tree and Sam got a hold of the bulbs. He thought they were really shinny balls and starting throwing them. He broke a whole bunch before we put the lid back on the box. The older kid decided that it would need to be Sam's turn this year to put on the star.


I think that Bryon enjoyed it more than anyone else. He sure seems to be having a great time hanging ornaments.
All of these activities took place in the afternoon. I was having WAY too much fun shopping like crazy with my mom. We were awesome this year and got everything we went for.
We woke up at 2, left the house at 2:30 and were at Walmart and Kohls by 3. Kohls line wasn't too bad, but my mom stood outside for 45 minutes in the cold just to get me towels and pillows. Then it took her 90 minutes to go through the check out line.
Walmart was surprisingly crowded at 3am. I saw a ton of people I knew from work and realized that I need to quit telling people my secrets. I was able to get everything into my cart and ready to check out by 5:20, but my mom wasn't done yet so I explored the not crowded sections of the store.
Emily texted me at 5:30 and asked if I was awake. I had been up so long I was ready for a nap. Of course I wasn't as tired as she was. She had already been to 2 malls, Kohls and Babies R Us by then.
Crazy I know, but it seriously is my favorite day of the year.
Thanks mom for going with me even though you didn't by anything for yourself. It was a blast.

Thanksgiving 2007

We had Thanksgiving at my parents house this year. We went to see Enchanted with the extended family before heading to their house for dinner.
They have 3 pear trees in front of their house. They are always the last trees on the block to loose their leaves. They left them all on the lawn so that they kids could play in them this year.
Sam was so excited about the whole thing. He even wanted a rake to help get the pile bigger. He would rake a bunch of them and then just flop down into the pile. Ethen loved that the pile was big enough for us to bury him completely. Our camera takes great action shots, so we got a few of the kids jumping into the pile.
It really makes you want to have trees.
Dinner went off with only one hitch. The 10 lbs of potatoes that Bryon peeled, burned in the pressure cooker that malfunctioned. We all suffered through the fake potatoes without too many complaints.

Sam joins Rebekah in the Bath

Sam is a Fish!

It has been confirmed by 18 months of research. It isn't only his middle name anymore.

Rebekah was taking a relaxing bath and then she started screaming for me to come in. Sam and decided that it was time for him to get clean too and climbed on in. He hasn't been able to to that before so I was shocked when I saw him splashing with her, fully clothed.

Pictures of the cousins

Candice and CaMarley Kade

Ches, Bailey and Clatyton

Abby and Bubba

This is my favorite shirt

Saying goodbye to warm weather

Our last day of 60 degree weather. We spent the afternoon the park across from our house.

Darth Sam and Anakin Ethen

Ethen was playing with his Darth Vadar mask today. I don't know why he couldn't find any of his lightsabers, but today Darth had a cap gun. Sam of course loves everything that Ethen does so he wanted a turn. I let them both run around the house and fight each other for a while.
Sam's favorite thing to play was just to put the hat on backwards and walk down the hall bumping into things.

Great Therapy

Some of the girls from work decided that we needed to have some time to ourselves once in a while.

We made a date for the 10th and went to Chili's for dinner and then to see "Dan in real Life"

The Food was good, the movie was good, even the shopping was good. But honestly the best time that I had was just driving around in the car from place to place. We laughed so hard that Jamie started crying. I know that Laurie was having a good time, but half of the pictures that we took of her don't show it.
Emily had this great idea to smuggle microwave popcorn in the theatre. He purse was stuffed full of Halloween candy, cans of pop and two bags of popcorn. To bad we didn't eat any of it. She mostly just threw it a people.
I haven't laughed so hard in a really long time.

Moments to remember
1)Zit on my butt

2)Wenis-the skin on your elbow (Steph)

3)My neighbor Jack Asked (Steph)

4) Emily is a Chicken *!$@ (Janet)

5)Jamie Crying

6)Janet's Lemonade

7)The guy sitting next to Emily

8) the guy hitting on Hollie

9)remind me of some more. This list will get pretty thick if we keep going.

Why we don't play ball in the house

It is a very sad day at the Buchmiller's

Ethen decided that he wanted to play baseball downstairs. This activity went on with out parental knowledge. Rebekah came upstairs a little while later with the pieces of the Temple that Bryon and I had on top of our wedding cake. It has sat on the entertainment center for 10 years.

When Ethen saw that I was crying he felt really bad. I guess that we was only afraid of getting in trouble, then he saw how much it effected me. He promised me that he would save all of his allowance money until he could buy me a new one. He asked how much money it cost. When I told him that 10 years ago it was $40 and that it was probably more than that now, he told me "it's going to take me a while to save that much, but I will buy you a new one" Thanks bud!

And the Award goes to????

Micheal Hansen

We would like to express our appreciation to the Hansen family for sharing their contagious disease with us. There really is no better sign of friendship.
Thanks for the Croup. Sam is loving it.
Smooches

For details see Emilio's blog.

Sam's new words

Today he said
nanna - Banana
and echoed my "hmmmm" when I was looking for a banana.

Ethen also said some new words.
He told me this morning that he was "afraid (he) couldn't go to school today, because my leg hurts." Yes he went anyway.

Rebekah the Brain

We all know that Rebekah is really smart.
We discovered this year just how smart she is.
We got her results from the end of the year tests at her first parent teacher conference this year. She aced them all. She was above the national level, not to mention the school and district level. She is reading on a 4th grade level now and she read too fast (124 words per minute). Her teacher says she needs to slow down. Last year she got the Student of the year award. We got a note last week saying that she got the Student of the Month award for October. Starting a little early this year I guess. She just informed me that she got a pencil for the Student of the Week award in September. I didn't even know. If she comes home with the Student of the Day award next week, I think I giving up.

Giving In

I have wanted to put a family picture on here for a while but have been a little hesistant. I hate the pictures of me lately and for good reason. Last year I was diagnosed with post pardum thyrioditis. Basically when all your hormones calm down after having a baby, mine take off again. Apparently this has been a problem after each child. So instead of loosing weight, I gain. Now I am on medication to fix it all, but still...

So I am giving in and posting it anyway. This one was taken at my grandpa's funeral

Rebekah's Baptism

Rebekah was baptized on October 13th, 2007

She had a beautiful dress for the occasion. We had tons of family and friends there to make it even more special. Each one of our family had a part to play in the program.

Bryon of course baptized Rebekah, I sang a song and Ethen said the prayer (he practically begged us to let him). Sam of course was the meeting distraction. I let him wander around the chapel. He knew almost everyone there so I was okay with it. The next day was church and he thought he could do the same thing. That was a great meeting.
We planned on having the luncheon at the pavilion behind the church, but of course it had to rain. We crammed 40 people into our teeny house. I jokingly said that we should have everyone line up in the garage, pass through the kitchen to get their food and then downstairs to the basement. Nobody seemed to mind that even though there was enough chairs for everyone to sit, you had to be really friendly with the person you sat by.
Rebekah received scriptures from her grandparents as well as numerous other baptism and birthday gifts. It was an all out great day.

Halloween 2007

Halloween was so much fun this year. Sam really took to all the dressing up and of course the candy. We first set out to have a family theme. I was thinking that I could get Bryon to dress up that way. It didn't go further than the planning stages though.

Ethen wanted to be a death-eater and we got pretty close. He was really excited about his eyes glowing. Rebekah wanted to be something scary too. So much for all the fairies and princesses. She decided on a spider queen. I took my witch outfit from two years ago and hemmed it up for her. Sam was a last minute thing. I bought sweats and boxer briefs and turned him in to "Super Sam". Being a pirate was a work theme. Unfortunately, I was the only one that stuck with it. Bryon of course, was Bryon. For someone that really gets into Halloween, he sure is a humbug about dressing up in something other than just a scary mask. Candice and CarMarley came over and hung out with us, well with Bryon, since I took the kids out. Sam thought that every house we went to was going to end up a babysitter, so he was content to sit in the wagon and eat all the candy that Rebekah and Ethen brought to him. We did once side of the street and then took Sam home. Then we fired up the 4-wheeler and bundled up. I dropped off the kids every third house and picked them up when they had hit all of the ones in between. This is the BEST way to take your kids trick or treating. I didn't get tired or cold. Not surprisingly there were about 4 other wheelers out this year. Only in booney-ville right?