Add more to the list...

So now we can add more to the list of what Lila's allergic to. Yesterday she came home and had some ice cream after school. Then, she had some Reese's candy. I'm not sure how many pieces of candy she had - but according to Brooke, several. After dinner, she was supposed to practice her piano. She had a headache, so she laid down for a couple of hours. When she woke up she had red itchy eyes, her mouth itched and her nose ran for ever! We weren't too worried because she didn't have any problems breathing.

After giving her Zyrtec, Pepcid and then even some Benedryl she didn't seem to get much better. She went through almost an entire box of Kleenex. Still....not the huge face swelling she gets from the strawberries and not the immediate reaction. Then, the wheezing started and the tightness around her chest. So she ended up having to use her Epi-pen anyway. The good thing is that her symptoms cleared up immediately. The other good thing, we had 2 since she was away so much for the summer.

The bad news, she might be allergic to peanuts as well as strawberries. Luckily, her appointment with the allergist is coming up. Hopefully she will develop all her allergies prior to her appointment! She was able to go to sleep after all that medication. Blake got home shortly after all of the excitement and she was able to use his inhaler too. That helped clear up her breathing as well.

Andrew went into the MTC!

We're excited, really we are. We're also a little sad. Andrew went into the MTC yesterday. Brooke's fingers are twitching. She isn't texting as much. She had a hard time going to sleep last night. She started texting Clint from her room late last night when he got home late. (She claims she was worried about him because she didn't hear him come in and check in with me when he got home) But, we all think she's really going through withdrawals since she would text Andrew every night before she fell asleep.

We know he's going to be a fabulous missionary. He has so many adventures ahead of him. He's such a fine young man. He'll meet the challenge of learning such a challenging language and living in such a different culture. I'm sure the people in his new country will love him as much as we do.

Pretty soon Clint will be there with him. The MTC may never be the same!

I got a really great email last night from a fellow missionary mom. Her son is BJ's new companion. You can see a picture of them on the mission's blog. http://chilesantiagonorthmission.blogspot.com/search/label/Photos%20again

Their picture is down at the bottom under arrivals/departures. It was fun to hear that he's doing a good job welcoming his new elder into the mission. I'm so happy he wrote the family too. His trainer did that when he arrived in the country and it was so comforting to me. I thought I'd share.

Hello Sally,

We just learned today that your son is our son's trainer! We are so excited about this since you helped us (through emails) as we packed our son the night before he went into the MTC. He says your son is nice, and he "really like(s) Elder Lasson too. He is a good missionary." He also said the 65 active people in the ward are "so nice and so generous."

You son sent us this wonderful email today. We are so impressed with his maturity. We are grateful he is Matthew's trainer--what a blessing!

Let's keep in touch,
Jeff and Allison Bean

¡Hola Bean Family!

I'm Elder Lasson the trainer of your son here in the Santiago North Mission. I know that many times parents are worried about who their missionary´s first companion is so I thought that I would write you and let you know who I am.

I have to say that your son is a great young man, I have been able to feel the strength of his testimony and his conviction of the truth of the gospel when I have heard him testify thus far in the lessons. he truly will become a great missionary.


I want you to know that I am taking care of him and that I am making sure that he has the best mission experience possible. He is going to be a great warrior of truth here in Chile.

sincerely,

Elder Lasson

Chicago Pictures

We're going through the summer kind of backwards! Here's some pictures from our trip to Chicago.

It's an UP week!

Last week was my down week, meaning; the girls were at EFY, I didnt' have anything major to do, most of my summer responsibilities were over, I had a down week! I had a cold, so I simply CHILLAXED! I read about 5 books, I did only the minimum I had to do, basically I took the week off.

So fast forward to this week. Life is catching up to me, and hence to my kids. This is the UP week. We have one week until school starts. I know, I know...we homeschool. We can set our own schedule. We aren't at the mercy of the local school board, we can start school any day we want. That's all fine and good until you factor in seminary. If we have to get up at 5:30, we might as well do school! So...since seminary starts August 3, school starts August 3! YIKES!

During my "down" week Anna, Clint and I (with some last minute help from Blake) painted Lila and Anna's room. All of their stuff was moved out to the bonus room a.k.a. the school room. Oh yeah - we might need that room! Nothing makes me crankier than an unorganized school room the first week of school (eventually it gets like that by Christmastime, but honestly it should be organized until at least Columbus day!)

Then there's that nagging little issue of Clint getting ready for his mission...socks, suits, coats, a bike to buy that list seems endless! And anything I might need him to do before he leaves for the MTC, things he can do that could help ease the pressure off of Blake...

Oh yeah....this is an UP week.

Wake up kids. We have LOT to do this week.

Colorado, Colorado Springs Mission

Clint received his mission call while Blake, Brooke, Lila and I were on the stake handcart trek. If he would have received it one day earlier, he could have brought it out to the trek to open it with us all. But he received it on Friday, which he had to work. So he had to wait until we arrived home on Saturday to open his letter. He didn't get off work until that evening.

We anxiously awaited his arrival home from work! When he finally opened his letter - Colorado, Colorado Springs Mission!!

Once he actually looked at the envelope, he knew he was going English speaking based on the postage. A friend at BYU had figured out the postage of the English speaking missionaries and the foreign speaking missionaries. (The foreign speaking packages get one additional page in their packet - we compared BJ's to Clint's!)

He's very excited and now we're in the process of getting his things together for him. The luxury of going stateside is that we've already received 2 different letters from his mission president - one for him and one for us his parents. We didn't receive one from BJ's mission president until after he was in the MTC.

Now on to the preparations, the list making, and saving money - well, spending it too.

More Cousin Pics

Just a note of explanation....the kids had a "theme song" during the vacation. It was Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me." It sounds really cute until you realize that we live in the South and people here used to marry their cousins. So just to clarify...the lyrics to the song have nothing to do with it being the theme song. It's just that the kids heard it a gazillion times every time they were in the car, so it became the theme song!