Just wait until it's your turn

Ashlee and Brett posted some pictures on the Reed Family blog of their nine-month old daughter, Elyvia (my only Niece [hint, hint]).

http://reedfam.blogspot.com/2006/03/welcome-to-name-that-object.html

Elyvia swallowed a tiny pair of fingernail clippers this week. These are pictures inside her little tummy. Yikes! The emergency room didn't believe them when they took her in. They didn't see it happen, but they heard her scream and it looked like she was having a hard time swallowing something. They had just trimmed her nails and couldn't find the clippers anywhere. They finally had the emergency room just trust them and take the pictures. Sure enough! But they had to then go to a neighbhoring town's emergency room that had a doctor there that could remove the clippers endoscopically.

How do our kids ever live to become adults?

I am thankful for animals

For anyone who has taught young children in Nursery or the Sunbeams class, you will appreciate the lessons that are taught to the young-uns. Some of the lessons includes "I am thankful for my hands", and "I am grateful for rain", etc.

Each lesson usually involves a photocopied coloring picture that is scribbled in blue, green, and yellow waxy crayon marks by the youngster that they proudly bring home to share with their family.

We have found, lately, that we do not need the colorful photocopies anymore to tell what lesson Aliece has had in her Sunbeam Church class. Lately, Aliece's class has been grateful for different animals. Two weeks ago they had a lesson on being grateful for fish. That same day after church, Aliece asked Amber if we could have Fish Sticks for dinner. We didn't think anything of it.

We finally made the connection however, when last Sunday, after church, Aliece asked Amber if we could have dog. Amber said, no, we don't have pets. Aliece so, know, can we have dog for dinner? Amber and I asked her if she had a lesson on dogs in her primary class. "Yep!" was her answer.

So, I am going to have to check in on the Primary teachers just to see how "grateful" they are for the animals in their lessons. Something tells me, however, "eating" the animals is probably not a part of the lesson - just another one of Aliece's entertaining personality traits!

Picture

California Colalge

Here is a collage that I put together to share with you some of the sights that I was able to enjoy this last weekend.

The "Crack of Dawn"

Last week Amber took a picture of my back after I got the stitches out. I thought that this picture was a little tamer than the last, so I am including it with this blog.

The way my little incision site looks, one might think I have developed a second "crack" - as any good plumber would consider it. I hear that it is the latest rave for plumbers whose pants ride up - they can implant these for the same visual effect that their low-riding peers enjoy.

Anyway, that is not the only crack I have been experiencing this past week. I went off my medicine a week ago with out too many side effects. Last Sunday, Amber and I decided that we were going to start getting up earlier each morning. On Monday morning, I was proud of myself when I arose at 5AM sharp - at the crack of dawn. I was alert and fully awake. I hopped out of bed and got some work done. Tuesday morning I woke up at the same time. Again, I didn't feel drowsy, I was wide awake so I got up and started on some more work.

Tuesday night, however, we had a young man stay the night that used to live in our ward whose family had moved to Ohio. He was going into the MTC on Wednesday. Since he was here, we visited with him until about 11pm. So, I got to bed a little later than I had expected, but to my astonishment, I was wide awake at 4:00 AM the next morning. This time however, I wasn't really productive, I tried to be, but couldn't really function well mentally, but I couldn't fall asleep.

I still did pretty well though as the day wore on. But on Thursday morning, I found myself waking up at 3:00 AM. I was totally unproductive and mostly just stared at my computer screen all morning long. During the day I felt pretty wasted and had the kind of head ache that gives you a nauseated feeling. It was a horrible day. I shouldn't have even stayed at work, I really got nothing done.

My body was shutting down, I was tired, miserable, and dry heaving all evening. Amber had a practice with some women that night, so I decided I was going to bed early. I rummaged through our dusty supply of forgotten drugs in the laundry room until I found some old sleeping pills. I had never taken them before in my life, but I was getting pretty desperate. I took one and laid down by 8pm. I slept fairly well through the night all the way until 7AM. Oh, it felt good to "sleep in" that morning. On Friday evening I followed suit with half of a sleeping pill and was able to sleep until 7am again. Last night, I tried abstaining from the pill with good results.

Amber and I believe my brief bout with insomnia was probably related to going off all of my medicines so abruptly and all at once last week. Hopefully I am over that. It was a terrible feeling to be so tired and not be able to get the sleep that I was craving.

I am feeling pretty good these past couple of days and I am looking forward to a great week.

The Birthday Girl

As you know, last week we had Aliece's birthday. It was quite the busy day. I couldn't believe everything that Amber did for that birthday. Of course, Aliece woke up to a decorated house. Pink streamers were dangling from the ceiling and posters of the birthday girl hung around the family room and kitchen.
As the day wore on, Amber threw a party for Aliece and all of her friends. Aliece wanted a Princess Party, but she also wanted to invite her male friends to the party. Seeing a possible incompatibility, Amber convinced her to rename the party to a "Palace Party". Girls came donned as princesses and boys were able to come as handsome princes' or heroic knights.

One of the boys that came to the party is one that Aliece enjoys a lot. He knocked on the door at the beginning of the party. When Aliece opened the door, she found this handsome prince standing on her doorstep with a small bouquet of flowers. He won Aliece's heart and quickly became the "best man" of the party.
After the festivities with friends, we had an enjoyable evening with our family having cake and ice cream in celebration of Aliece's special day.

And a little child shall lead them

I have a friend that is not a member of the LDS church. He lives in Utah, and has a lifestyle very compatible with his member counterparts. He looks the part and lives the part for all that I can tell.

We were visiting today at the end of work and he was saying how difficult it is to find a wife. He really wants to get married - he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life single. He is only nearing his mid-twenties, but he is starting to worry about his marriage-ability due to his not being a member.

One of the hard parts about it all is that has the lifestyle of a Mormon, so he attracts Mormon girls. Those are the types of girls he is attracted two. However, when it all comes down to the relationship, they want a covenant living member of the church.

He is to the point where he is considering being baptized into the faith so that he will become an "eligible" bachelor. He is willing to live the gospel (he already attends the weekly meetings) and do what is required to be a "active" member so that he may enjoy the blessings of a family.

I was discussing this with Amber at the dinner table, trying to get her advice on the subject. We both feel terrible for the situation that my friend finds himself and we were just at a loss for good counsel.

In this frame of though, I asked the kids what they thought my friend should do. Aylee, who of course has been visiting with Amber and I often about the gospel as she is preparing to be baptized, simply stated, "he needs to read the scriptures more and pray about them more". She then quoted James 1:5.

Not one whit behind Aylee, Johnathan added, you can't "buy" the gospel. Aylee followed that thought with some scriptural examples. First she said, yeah, like the time the man wanted to buy the priesthood from Peter. He didn't understand where the priesthood comes from. Johnathan nodded in agreement, that this was the idea he was getting at.

Amber and I looked at each other in amazement, and Aylee continued. "It reminds me also of the people that built the tower of Babel that wanted to get to heaven so that they wouldn't have to deal with problems here - it was the easier way."

Amber and I had nothing else to add. The counsel was given - the appropriate counsel. Taught to us by our children, none of whom are even old enough to qualify as members of the church through its ordinances.

The dinner table is such a great place to share these ideas and thoughts. Not only to impart wisdom to your children, but obviously, to receive wisdom from their own lips and glimpse into the spirits that are within them. Besides that, I will probably borrow their thoughts next time I visit with my friend.

You can tell that it is March

We woke up early this morning to see that we got a few inches of fresh snow in the wee hours of the morning. Amber donned her coat and gloves and shovelled the walks for me this morning. However, when she was done there was another light layer of the fluffy stuff on the ground. I am sure it won't last long today, but it is fun to see for the morning.

I have to admit though, these past few warm weeks have me set on Spring arriving. So, I do hope the snow goes away by later today :)

The day March blew in

Yesterday felt like March. The wind had picked up, and our seasonally warm weeks told on a chillier face as the day was mostly grey and windy.

Johnathan brought a homemade kite home from school which caused a chain reaction in the Andersen household as all the other kids had to make kites. They had a fun time "flying" them outside.

My first day at work

Well, yesterday I woke up feeling pretty good about myself. I decided that I would try to go to work for the day.

My morning routines are a little slower with my back still healing, but I got to work just before 9:00. I lasted most of the busy day. There were so many people needing to visit with me about work with my 15 day absense that I spent only minutes in front of my computer and the rest of the day in meetings and in conversations.

By four I was mentally dead and I was ready to come home. It was nice to get out of the house - it had been a week since I had even been out of the house except for a daily walk around the block.

Beans, Jumping Jacks, and Heartbeats

The other night, the kids were having a hard time eating their green beans. Each had a nice little pile still on their plate, and Johnathan was on the verge of tears when we mentioned that he still had to eat his beans.

Hoping to avoid a night of weeping and wailing and gnashing of green vegatables, we started to talk about their latest cartoon craze character - Popeye the Sailor Man. We asked them what made Popeye get strong and they appropriately responded that it was Spinach. Amber and I just happened to have some spinach salad on our plates, and we told them that spinach helped us get strong, but canned green beans would help them get strong like Popeye.

They were starting to buy it, but we wanted them to be eagerly convinced. So, I had all of us show our bicep muscles. Then I said, let's each our beans and spinach and then we will see how much our muscles have grown. That got them all excited, so we each did our muscle display show and then everyone vehemently dug into their previously detested vegatables.

Within minutes, the food was devoured and we began comparing muscles. Sure enough, everyone's muscles had grown a bit. This really got them excited. Talk began to turn to how many vegatables the kids were going to eat every day. We then told them that vegetables helped them to be strong for a few minutes, but exercise and vegetables helps them to be strong for a long time.

Johnathan went with that idea and started running, doing kindergarten push ups and jumping jacks. It wasn't long before all the kids joined in. One of the kids mentioned how their heart started beating fast. So we got out the stethascope that Grandma Andersen gave them for Christmas. We let the kids listen to each of their hearts after a vigorous exercise routine.

It was a fun dinner, to say the least. Amber and I enjoyed our spinach salad as we launched and watched the entertaining exercise show before us.

Andersen Ranch & Farm : HOME

Well, we've known it was going to happen but it's still a shock when it finally does. Yesterday was the hardest day I've had at Nu Skin, watching people I've worked with for a few years and have really enjoyed. . . . as they packed up their belongings and walked out the door. This is the following article that appeared in the local paper today. Thought you might be interested. . . . . .


Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Nu Skin lays off about 50

GRACE LEONG - Daily Herald
Nu Skin Enterprises on Tuesday laid off about 50 workers at its Provo corporate office as part of a restructuring of its global direct-selling operations that's expected to be completed by March 31.
Unfavorable foreign currency fluctuations had weakened the company's revenues, prompting it to lower its fourth and first quarter earnings guidance, and to launch plans to "eliminate organizational redundancies and revamp administrative support functions," said Truman Hunt, Nu Skin's president and CEO in a statement in December.
"We're in early stages of restructuring. That's why we adjusted our earnings guidance," said Blake Roney, founder of Nu Skin. "We're looking for redundancies companywide, and may combine some of our research and development functions globally. Currently, the Nu Skin personal care line is completely independent in terms of its R&D functions from our Pharmanex division. We may try to combine the two divisions' backoffice functions wherever it makes sense."
Kara Schneck, senior director of public relations, said the company had announced the planned restructuring a few months ago and has provided "very generous severance packages and outplacement services" to the affected workers.
Nu Skin has around 1,400 workers in Utah County. Among those laid off Tuesday was John Petersen, who had served at Nu Skin for about 15 years in community relations, and was most recently the director of corporate public relations, a position he held for two years.
Petersen said he had heard that up to 10 percent of Nu Skin's work force was laid off, but couldn't confirm if those numbers were accurate. Schneck declined to specify how many layoffs have occurred to date and how many more are expected in the coming weeks.
"The layoffs are an ongoing process. Some occurred today and it came from various departments in Nu Skin's corporate office. In some cases, the layoffs were due to redundancies in some departments," Schneck said. "But those that used the outplacement services get jobs twice as fast as those that didn't."
Petersen said he wasn't surprised by the company's move and described his severance package as "very generous."
"There've been rumors of planned layoffs for the past few weeks," Petersen said. "Kara invited me to her office this morning and both her and someone from HR said my position didn't exist anymore, and they explained the severance package to me, and the package was very generous. Kara made it as humane as possible. I had as much time as I needed to say goodbye to my colleagues."
"We've been told that the company is doing well, but it can always do better. The business would be better because of the changes they're making. I'm sorry I was of the people that were let go, but I already have other irons in the fire. This will give me the chance to try something I wasn't able to do before in a 9 to 5 job," Petersen said.
In its fourth-quarter earnings statement issued Feb. 8, Nu Skin lowered its guidance for the first quarter ending March 31, anticipating a 12-cent to 22-cent loss per share because of restructuring charges.
"The restructuring charges are expected to include $10 to $15 million of severance expenses and approximately $5 million of expenses related to other streamlining initiatives," Hunt said in the statement.

Basketball Star

Last week was Aylee's first week in the city basketball program. She surprised Amber and I this winter by wanting to learn basketball. Amber enrolled her where she is the only girl on her team. That doesn't let it stop her...she mans her position well and enjoys navigating with the ball.

Financial Woes - Just raise your credit limit

A very small (two paragraph article) in today's Provo newspaper got me all fired up. Ka-wow-wow-wow! (As Aliece would so eloquently put it)

The articles I have found on the internet are as follows:

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7002681164

Essentially, the US Treasury Secretary is asking Congress to raise the government's credit limit so that we can avoid the FIRST EVER default on the nation's debt obligations.

They claim that they have done everything legally in their power to avoid this, but the time has come to raise the credit limit before having to shut some of the government operations down. Not only this, but it is the FOURTH time the Bush Administration has requested (and received) a raising of the government credit limit.

This type of fiscal policy and habits of spending make me wonder if President Bush is truly a conservative Republican. In my book, Republicans believe in smaller government and fiscal responsibility. You would never know with our President.

Granted, I voted for Mr. Bush. I support the War on Terror. But from day one, I have never supported or agreed with his spending theories. In my mind we need to cut the overbloated government programs and (am I really saying this?) increase taxes until we can get control of our nation's debt.

Whew...Man, I am glad I got that off my chest. Anyway, I need to get back to work. I would like to do a little extra on the house and I hear that I can up my credit limit online by $10,000...That should just about do it.

Clarification of the term: Uteris

Ok, so Dad caught me on this and replied to an inside joke. In my last post about Aliece coming up missing, I mentioned that Amber's Uteris kicked in. A year or so ago, Amber's brother, Reed, was jokingly responding to the question "Why can women find things in a home when a man has looked five times without success". His hypothesis was that it was the uteris that acts as a homing device (pun probably intended) and allows women to find things better than men. Of course, for women who have had a hysterectomy (I know I probably murdered that term with my spelling) one would modify the claim that ever having "had" a uteris provides that gift.

Anyway, I used the term with out reference to it's origin. I knew better, but wondered if I would get away with it. Anyhow...as dear ole Paul Harvey would say,

"And that's the rest of the story!"

When do you issue an Amber Alert?

It is amazing that Aliece doesn't get herself killed or in trouble of some kind.

Today, Laurel Sprouse came over and watched our kids in the morning while Amber went to some camp meetings for church. I still can't really do much with Alayna because of my back and I had some interviews I was going to take care of at home. So, Laurel came and stayed with the kids for over an hour today.

Soon Amber returned from her meeting just as I was finishing up my interviews and phone calls. We let Laurel return home to prepare for church and we thanked her greatly for her help.

When the kids were saying goodbye to Laurel, Aliece started to throw a fit saying that she didn't want Laurel to leave. I told her that she would see Laurel again soon.

Amber and started visiting about our morning and we worked on getting the kids ready for school. It was about then that Amber realized that
Aliece was not in the house. We started searching for her. As we went to the front of the house, we could see Aliece in the far distant end of the block walking toward Laurel's house. We don't know if she ever made it there or not, but we called to Aliece and she returned without much incident.

After church today, everyone came home and changed their clothes. Aliece inisted on wearing her slip and only her slip. She thinks thats her dancing outfit. She was dancing around in the living room and then she started nursing one of her dolls.

The next time I walked by the room, however, she was not there. I checked all of the rooms, yelling in each one, calling for Aliece to respond. I checked the back yard, and the Smart's backyard. No where. I then went and started around the block. I met some members of the ward that had come from the east end of the block. I asked them if they had seem our little girl in a silky white slip. They said that they had come from that direction and had not seen her.
I was a little more concerned now, and so I headed over to the other block where she has been known to travel on occasion. However, my searching was in vain. No Liecey.

I was starting to panic now. So I hurried home, wondering how to best get the word out to the neighborhood. I ran into our bedroom and alerted Amber to the situation. She started getting scared too and she rechecked all of the rooms, yelling Aliece's name. Good thing Amber was involved in the search, her uteris kicked in and she found our soon-to-be four year old. She was fast asleep in the guest bed, with all of the covers completely over her. I would not have been able to tell she was there. It was a good thing Amber checked the covers because I was ready to sound the alarm and alert the police!

Sometimes, even asleep, Aliece can make her parent's fret!

Back Surgery

On Monday, February 27, I had my Lumbar laminectomy surgery. They went in and trimmed my L4/L5 disc that has been herniated for the past six months.

My notes from February 27...

Dr. Richey will be performing the surgery. I have met the man for only a few minutes a couple of weeks ago. And now I am trusting him to open my up around my spinal cord to do som mme trimming. That really is an amazing thing. However, I am not too worried. I have had a blessing by my brothers and Dad last weekend and I have had many prayers on my behalf. I feel comfortable with the surgery. I hope and pray that this surgery will help me get back to my regular routine

It has been a very humbling time for me. I have had to rely on a lot of people -- especialy my dear wife for these Months. Amber has surprised me with her support and patience and love during this long period of time of dealing with me in this state. I am a lucky man to have her. I know it has been hard on her, but she has borne this burden like a saint. It would have been so much harder for me to be hurting like this if Amber weren't so supportive.

Yesterday during church, I had many prayers given in my behalf. I had tears in my eyes several times as I was prayed for in the early morning meetings before church. Sawn Miller touched my heart as in his closing prayer in Sacrament meeting he prayed for those who were suffering and going into surgery. It was a touching thought from him. Then in Deacon's quorum, Jeff Smith said the closing prayer and prayed for my surgery. I was very emotional contemplating the number of people who were concerned and praying for my health and success in the surgery. There is a calm that is felt with such support. I hope that after this is all said and done, and that I am healed, that I will remember these feelings while I have been hurt so that I may better know the needs of others and be able to empathize with them.

I now know what people mean when they say trials have been a learning experience for them. I have learned more by going through this problem than I ever could have without it.

---Present day... Nearly a week after the surgery...

I have been feeling a lot better these past couple of days since the surgery. I was so glad that Mom came over to stay with us. She stayed until Thursday. Amber and I were so blessed to have her there with us. Amber got a few outings on her own to run errands, and we were able to nap together while Mom watched the kids. I can't stress enough how helpful and thoughtful it was for Mom to be here with us.

Last Wednesday was probably my worst day - mostly emotionally. I had a lot of leg pain like I had before the surgery (but not nearly as bad as it was before) but I also had the surgical pains. I was pretty depressed about the surgery fearing that it may have done no good. However, that night as I prayed, the comfort of the spirit whispered to me to remember the prayers that were being given for me and my recovery. I felt a great deal of comfort from that moment. I have been pretty happy and positive since then. The gospel is such a blessed thing.

Now the leg pain is minimal - mostly comes after I have been laying down for a while. I think it is the pressure of my laying on the surgical site - it somehow must be touching the nerve. The more I am up and walk around the better I do.

I have decreased my Lortab to 1 tablet every 5 or 6 hours. I started out with 2 Lortab every four hours. I am hoping to work from home the first part of the week and then hopefully go to work near the end of the week.

Amber took a couple of pictures of my incision site. Can't really see much but a bloody mass, but if any of you are interested, I'll be happy to send you a picture!

Toyota Corolla Trouble

Whenever I thought of quality in relation to an automobile, the first names that came to my mind were Honda and Toyota. Not anymore. Shantell has a '96 Toyota Corolla (believed to be one of the most reliable cars in existence) with only 115k miles on it. Well, this last weekend we stared hearing a knock under the driver-side floor. A couple of days later the knock got pretty bad so I took it to a mechanic. I guess the differential oiler stopped working for some reason and so my differential was spinning with no lubricant. They say it will be $950 to fix.

The Corolla has also had transmission problems lately. Shantell said that when she is on the freeway, the car sometimes has trouble shifting into overdrive. We were also told previously that our clutches were burning. So, I am taking this opportunity to get the transmission overhauled as well. They said that they would do it all for $2200. I whined and told them that if they could do it for $1500 I'd have it done. They said that they couldn't so I told them to just repair the differential. About an hour later they called back and said they'd do it for $1650 and I said, "ok."

I just hope that this is the last repair I have to do to this car in a long time. The engine is strong. It had better last me another 100k miles.