Take a Gander at the Gee's

Poor itchy Pace

This is a picture of Pace taking a nap on me. Again. I love these times so much!

I woke him up from this nap to take him to pick up the boys from school and he cried all the way there. I thought that he was just having a hard time waking up, but when we got there, he crawled up into the front seat and got on my lap and asked me to scratch his neck. This is when I discovered that he had all these welts all over:

His body was covered in them and he was going crazy because they were itching so bad!

So after the pick- the- kids- up- from- school circuit, we drove to see Doctor Harrison, our favorite doctor:

Pace had already been in a couple of days earlier because he has had a bad cough and was wheezing like crazy because he always gets asthma when he has a cold. Dr. Harrison said that what Pace had was hives, and gave him even more medicine because his lungs were full of fluid:(

This is Pace for the last couple of days, when he doesn't keep up on Benadryl during the night:

Hopefully he feels better soon! These itchy hives are no fun!

Pace writes a story

I always like to publish the kids first book ever! Beware that this one is a bit gory:D

"Once upon a time there was a monster in a mountain. It killed some people by eating some blood."

" And then it came over to a house and broke a house and then it killed some more people by not eating some blood. It just like ate up by eating the arms. And then bited their shirt."

" And then there was a bigger one monster that was on the other monster's team and then they got to their house and they went into the mountain and slept because they had a hard day."

"And then some people came and went in the mountain and thought there wasn't any monsters and the monsters woke up and the people didn't get killed. Because they ran away and never went back to the mountain again!" The End

The last of the January things!

I've been into sewing lately, and made these baby shoes.

They were cute on Anjoleena's feet:

Kami and her trainer, Sister Orines in the Phillipines:

Caden with his district in the MTC:

Nolan wrote Shawn and I the sweetest note. I seriously need to frame it and save it forever: " Dear mom and dad. You are the most amazing parents in the world. When I am older I hope that I am just like you. Both of you are so amazing and smart. I know that I am in good hands. You two are the coolest people I know. Love, Nolan"

Shawn and his little boys after FHE one evening:

Some pretty frost on the car one morning:

While we were experiencing this cold and frost, Kami was living in the tropics:

Abram read to Pace one day after school until Pace crashed:

Sometimes I read to Pace in the afternoon and then can't keep my eyes open for another second and we have to take a nap. I love it so much! I always wake up pretty quick, and Pace sleeps until it's time to start picking kids up from school. I pay for it later when he can't fall to sleep at bed time, though:

Other times it's endless games of UNO that get me feeling sleepy. But how can I say no to this face that is asking for "one more game"?!?

More January things

Caden spent lots of one-on-one time with each of us before he left, and none of us could get enough of him!

he's pretty patient...:

I helped him pack as much as I could, and watched him do the rest while I tried really hard not to get too teary:

And then we took off the next day to Provo. We left the little boys at mom and dads and Caden cried as he watched them waving to him as we drove away. They will be so much bigger when he sees them again...

We allowed Isabelle and Maddie to come with us. We had hopes of arriving early enough to attend a session at the Salt Lake temple, but found out it was closed, so instead we left Maddie and Isabelle at Aunt Lindas, where we stayed the night, and Shawn, Caden and I went to the Provo City Center temple. It may be our favorite so far!

Caden playing the piano at Aunt Linda's:

Yes, I was taking as many pictures as possible before he left:)

Aunt Linda took us to breakfast:

Aunt Linda and Caden - they have had a close relationship ever since Caden was a newborn-toddler and we lived in Provo near her:

Before we knew it, it was almost time for Caden to check into the MTC, so we took lots of last-minute pictures:

It's actually really hard to get serious pictures of Caden. He was really humoring me this day:)

And then it was goodbye and I had some of the strongest emotions I have ever felt. It was super hard to send Kami off, and something about doing it again so soon after was almost more than I could take. One last picture before he walked away. We all smiled for the picture, and then everyone but Caden was dissolved in tears the second after this was taken:

And I cried all the way to Tremonton. Again. It's hard, but it's happy and I wouldn't want it any other way. My grandpa Kerns always said, "What a weaning process!" It is for sure.

January things

The first day of January was spent at my parents house with lots of cousins. We were all feeling the need for a little exercise when we first arrived there, so we all hiked over to the Elk feeding station. It was beautiful and the kids found an icy hill that they slid down. This made me inwardly cringe a little bit because I just knew that Caden would fall and break something right before he was supposed to report to the MTC. Luckily that didn't happen!

Isabelle and Nolan:

Isabelle and Ann Bradford:

Nolan, Jonathan Kerns and David Farber:

Micah Bradford, Katie and Gracie Farber:

Caden, Eli and Ila:

I didn't get pictures of everyone. The view of the valley below:

After Caden went to the temple, we tried to get him to as many temples as possible before he left. Shawn's Uncle Bill passed away and was going to have a graveside service in Rexburg, so we drove to Rexburg, and while Shawn and the kids went to the service, Caden, Eli and I finished shopping for mission clothes and *tried* to go to the Idaho Falls temple, only to discover that it was closed:(

We stayed with Terry and Kristi and their family while there, and that was fun.

The servers at the funeral luncheon; l-r: Kristi, Isabelle, Ainsley, Maddie, Ellie and Abby:

Eli Anderson, Nolan, Sam and Isaac Anderson, Abram:

Pace and Hazel Anderson:

Kristi and Shawn with Hazel and Pace:

The trip was really fast, we got there late Friday night and left after sacrament meeting on Sunday. The kids saying goodbye after church:

Last time for Eli to see Caden for two years:

Pace and a little girl, Anjoleen Hart, that I watch on Wednesdays:

While shopping for mission clothes, Caden told me that he had hoped we could sew some "original" ties. He and Eli helped pick out fabric and then Caden helped me figure out a pattern and did all the ironing while I sewed. It was a happy thing to do with him and I am glad that he will have a reminder of me to wear every day on his mission. They turned out great!:

inside of the ties:

Shawn and I went to my friend Jan Leonard's birthday party:

She is one of my best friends in Pendleton and whenever we are at the gym at the same time, we exercise together. You would never guess that SHE JUST TURNED 80!!!!! She looks and moves much younger. Her son was also Kami and Caden's branch president before they left and he and his wife were so good to our kids!

Before we knew it, Caden's farewell was looming. Moving here, it was kind-of hard for me that we didn't all go to the same ward. Kami and Caden attended the singles branch because there was no one their age in the ward, but as a result, no one in our ward even knows my older kids. And it's nice when your ward family knows your family, you know?!?? So the kids only had farewells at the branch. We had family come for the event, Caden gave a great talk, and then we all came to the house for a luncheon:

Caden and Emmie: