MAYLIN2007

I KNOW I have Austin's blog to post his letter's on, but since this is the first letter from California I just had to post it!!! If you didn't see the other post I did today about Maylin's teeth pulling, check out the post after this one too! Hey family! It was so nice to be able to talk you all at the airport! It was nice to hear your voices and talk to you all! I love you so much! I miss you all a lot!  The trip was fantastic. Airplane ride was like an hour and a half. Tried to sleep, but couldn't so just read my Spanish scriptures. When we arrived, it was so awesome! We were met at the gate by all the missionaries that were leaving, that we were replacing. They were going home that day. We then walked down to get our bags and met President and Sister Wade there. Yup! They looked exactly like the pictures I saw. He saw me and shook my hand asked me how I was and said he was really excited and grateful that he could get me as a missionary. (*My father was thi...

 We went to the dentist today to have Maylin's two front baby teeth pulled out. You can see the permanent tooth on the left is completely in. The one on the right has just barely poked its head through. She started out pretty scared. Lots of crying and screaming. Once I left the room, the dentist did his magic and she calmed right down and the teeth were gone. He really is a great dentist. She is talking slurred. Think she is still numb, but she reports it isn't too bad. I just have to remember the tooth fairy is back in our house. She had left for awhile....years ago, even when the kids were still loosing teeth. We chalked up to her bad memory! Guess she is going to have to come back, every child needs a few visits! Especially, after loosing the teeth this way. We aren't sure when Austin's P-day is. We were hoping it was today as most missionaries have their P-day on Monday. We haven't heard from him yet though. I am getting anxious to hear from him.

Dear Clerk, Thank you for checking my groceries today. I had a great experience until you opened your mouth. I know you are in your 20's and everyone in the world looks old, but we aren't. People live great lives after 30. Really they do. I am doing my best not to be offended, but its hard. If I go through your line again, I am hoping I don't punch you out. You see, I work hard to "look good." I exercise my behind off everyday. I eat right. I went without that good, moist piece of cake last night. I use moisturizer. I use wrinkle cream. I try to dress young. So when you asked me if Maylin was my GRANDDAUGHTER..........I was deeply hurt. Really? Granddaughter? Austin would have had to have married at 12 to have Maylin by 13. Thanks a lot. Now I am considering Botox. I will be sure to send you the bill. Sincerely, Laurel - The mother! Not Grandma.

It was the best phone call ever!!! We got to TALK to Austin this morning for 20 minutes. He was able to call us from the airport before he boarded to fly to California. It was so good to hear his voice. I only cried when I first heard him and at the end when I had to say good-bye. He sounded so happy and excited. He said he felt that way, but was nervous too. There are 14 missionaries going with him to Oakland/San Francisco. Three are girls. Some are Spanish speaking like Austin, some are going Chinese speaking (they were in the MTC 12 weeks to learn the language) and some were going English speaking. Austin certainly sounded grown up and he said he really likes the ones he is traveling with....he obviously doesn't know those speaking Chinese, they were in a different part of the MTC. He has a long day ahead of him. He will land in California, will be picked up by his Mission President, will eat lunch, have training, have dinner, have more training and then he will meet his c...

Last night I was getting Maylin out of her car seat. I saw this white thing in her mouth. I thought it was a piece of paper. I asked her to let me look in her mouth. My gosh! I was so shocked to see a permanent tooth behind her baby tooth. It was almost completely in. The tooth next to it, was just barely poking through the gum. Holy cow! Her baby teeth aren't even loose. I mean, not at all! You can see the one tooth really well in the picture below, but it is hard to see the other tooth that has just started to poke its head through, but you get the idea. After a bit of panic, I got online....thank heavens for the Internet and found this is a pretty common thing. Because the permanent teeth are in, the baby teeth pretty much won't come out since there is nothing to push them out. A trip to the dentist to have them pulled is the solution. Great. Last time she had to have teeth pulled they had to put her under. $2,200 later she had four shiny...

(By the way, we got a letter from Austin. It is on his blog.) This past weekend we went and saw my parents in St.George. The weather was in the low 70's. It was so nice. We went to a ghost town that was once a town of 2,500 people that worked at a mine. Now there are just a few remnants of buildings, a couple of old mine shafts and 3 cemeteries. One was Catholic, one was Protestant and one was episcopalian. It was all great to look at. There was some interesting info about all the Chinese people that used to live in this town. In fact, one of the buildings that was still standing (sort of) was a Chinese Laundry. There used to be a Chinese Cemetery, but one of the ancestors of those buried there had the bodies all dug up and had them shipped back to China where he had them buried. I thought that was very interesting. We also went hiking, but due to Kenzie being sick (She has been sick for over a week) and Jay falling earlier that week and taking out his knee, Alex and I were the ...

Austin leaves for San Francisco/Oakland in 8 days. It is kind of scary for me. I know where he is now, and he doesn't get to go far from the MTC at all. Now, he will be driving in a big city, he doesn't know, and that makes me scared. Maylin isn't sure about it either. We were watching a repeat of Storage Wars the other night (love that show) where they traveled to San Francisco for an auction. As they were driving around town, I told Maylin that is where Austin will be living for two years. She said, "No. Its too big." Then she said, "No. Its too far away." Then she said, "Is he really going to hang out with the Storage War guys?" I died laughing. I couldn't believe she thought San Francisco meant being with the Storage War guys. I guess, not understanding the whole TV thing, could get her confused. I told her no that they were just there on a trip. She seemed happy about that. We have been on a little trip. I will post pictures once I...

It was Maylin's 6th birthday yesterday (March 5th). She has been so excited for this day for weeks. She started the day by taking donuts and juice boxes to her school. After that, we went home and made her b-day cake! She asked that her Barbie cake have a green and blue dress. We worked hard together to design it. I think it turned out great. She wanted a marble cake so daddy who likes vanilla would be happy and mommy who likes chocolate would be happy too. What a thoughtful girl! We went to dinner and she got to pick the place. She chose Costa Vida.....she loves this place and we eat there for lunch at least once a week. When we got there they were closed due to having their floor refinished. So her second choice was Olive Garden. We had a fun dinner. Alex was hysterical the whole time. When we got home we opened presents. That was her favorite part. She was jealous of Kenzie's party so she wanted to make sure she had more presents than Kenzie. She picked out the ...

Maylin had her last swimming lesson on Thursday. She did really well. They moved her up two levels. We will sign up again in a couple of weeks. She was so brave in the water. When they had the kids jump off the side into the teacher's arms, Maylin would have none of it. She would either jump over the teacher or to the side so she could do it completely by herself. On Thursdays, Alex has his self defense class during Maylin's swimming lessons. He has been taking them for a month and loves them! He thinks it is the greatest thing on the planet. I am so glad he loves it. He comes home and likes to practice on dad. Now, on to the big news!!!! Maylin turns 6 on Monday, March 5 and Kenzie turns 16 on March 6. My kids only get parties every 4 years (yep, they think I am awful, but that's life). This was one of Kenzie's 4 years. Being her 16th, we went all out! I have never done a party like this ever . We rented two rooms in a convention/party building that w...

Some people, and you know who you are......mom, can't get to Austin's blog. So, here is another description. Type in the address bar the following: (word for word) www.austinmission.blogspot.com Or here is the link again.  www.austinmission.blogspot.com Also, those of you who are avid readers and gave me suggestions last time here is what I have read. Note, I bought or have in my wish list the books you suggested. Thanks! The Immortal Life of Hennretta Lack s - by Rebecca Skloot Totally awesome! This is a non-fiction, true blue book, found in the science section. Don't let that freak you out! It was SOOOOO GOOOOOD. It is the story behind the HeLa cells. Those are the cells used in the Polio vaccine, the new cervical cancer vaccine, invetro fertilization, AIDS meds, anit-depression pills, chemotherapy, cloning (yep, the sheep named Dolly is because of HeLa cells) and the list goes on and on. These cells have been into space for testing against radiation, nuclear fallo...