Meli will be here tomorrow and other things!

Tomorrow Meli will be arriving!  I am so excited to finally meet her after talking to her and her family for the last 5 + months.

She has been in New York for the last few days and so hopefully her jet lag won't be as bad.   She starts school on Wednesday too.

Steven left to go to the MTC this week.  He and his family stayed at our home.  He is going to be a terrific missionary. I love his enthusiastic, energetic, spunky personality.   He is such a cutie; he is sure to get in a lot of doors.  He is called to serve in the Anaheim California mission.

Below are pictures from the morning he went into the MTC.   We love you Steven and we know you will be a terrific missionary!!!!

The MTC is so blessed to have her and other things

 Colleen entered the MTC on February 6th of this month.    She will spend 8 weeks in the MTC before she heads to Thailand.

Above is a picture of her 1st time going to the temple with her family and friends.  She chose to go to the Manti temple. I am really hoping to have this young woman become a member of our family someday, but for now she will be one terrific missionary!!!

 

I had a moment of fame when I was asked to be in a Time out for Women video several years ago. It was a lot of fun. I had checked out the video  this last week and Diane (she is the friend I went with) and I were taking pictures since we didn't buy the DVD.   

 Pictures of where I work. I am getting so sad about leaving. This Wednesday is my final day at Heartland.  I am going to miss it so much.  Above is the place were we have our planning time.   I took pictures to help me remember it.  Below are the bags we carry with us to each classroom.

Everyday my boss leaves an uplifting message to all of her employees. I am going to miss her very much.  I will be pleasantly surprised if my new boss is as wonderful as she is, but I sure am hoping he or she is!

 Yummy food my boss brings once a month to celebrate birthdays.  She is always buying chocolate.  Well that is one thing I certainly won't miss.

 Below is the letter I posted to each of the ladies I work with. Some of them I don't see each day so I wanted to say good bye.  I have done a terrible job at telling them, only because it is so hard.  I love them all so much, so it has been a challenge to bring it up. 

Dear Amazing Women,

Many of you are already aware that I will have my last day here on Wednesday, February 27^th.  Starting in March, I will be working at Ebay.  Since I don’t see each of you each day, I wanted to make sure I said good bye to everyone, thus the reason for the letter.

After a lot of consideration I have made the decision to switch jobs.  I made this decision due to financial reasons.  This decision is full of mixed emotions and has been very hard for me to make.

I want to thank all of you who have supported, guided and encouraged me over the last 3 years. I have felt so privileged to work with each and every one of you. 

Warmly~

Cami 

 
I finished my 6 week fitness challenge. I came in 3rd place.  There was a tie for 1st place so it isn't as good as it sounds. I had a perfect total, until I was vacillating between which job I would take.  Then my computer broke and I had always tracked electronically. It didn't work so well by hand, or maybe I wasn't as motivated for two days.  So I was happy.


The next day I was done, I started another challenge.   In this challenge you pick 6 things you want to work on and you can switch them after 3 weeks again. It last for  a total of 6 weeks. I really like the challenge.  Here are the 6 things I picked. Anyways, I am hoping it goes well. I like how this challenge helps me focus on being more well rounded, which is always my goal. I am grateful for friends who start these challenges.  Thank you!!!

1. Limit technology (leisure time on computer is 15 minutes). If I have an assignment, lesson, or something then I only get on and off to do it.  2. Read uplifting literature (scriptures) for 20 minutes.
3. Lose weight
4. Exercise 30 minutes a day. (rotating cardio/strength training)
5. Stop eating before 8pm.
6. Track everything I eat/stay within calorie goal.

Busy couple of weeks!!!

This last week as been filled with a lot of adventure.   Matt has been having a lot of dental pain in his  mouth.  He finally went to the dentist and found out he needed a root canal.  Of course he decided not to go that route.  Silly man---he decided to just have the tooth pulled.  It was the last tooth on his top right side so he figured he didn't need it.  Anyways, when they took it out they also took out some of his bone with it, so it was pretty bad and he was pretty miserable.  After they took it out the dentist said it was smart he chose to go this route as it was worst then he could have imagined.  

  Unfortunately, I already had plans to go to a  TOFW event  here in SLC, with my girlfriend so I wasn't home to pamper him.  Not to mention he also had to work on Saturday.  And we had one of Kara's friends over for the weekend while her parents were out of town.  

I loved the TOFW and I will record some of the things I learned there in a few days.   It was fun to go with Diane.  We have been friends since we were 18.  We always have so much fun together.

Kara also had a performance that I missed, but that Spencer was able to attend with Kara.  She did really good and luckily, she will be performing the same song next month!

Matt and I had an opportunity to dress up for Halloween on Saturday.  We were Thing 1 and Thing 2. I love seeing what others dress up for Halloween.  I am excited to see the cute trick or treaters who will be coming to our home tomorrow.  

Kara has her first choir concert at her new school last night.  All of the musical groups did wonderful!  It was so fun to watch.  They did a Halloween themed concert and it was fun to see them all SHINE!!!!

They did a Thriller song and it reminded me of going to Thriller a couple of weeks ago with some of my friends.   Below is a picture of us and one of their Zombies.  Thanks Camille for sharing your picture. 

 

Also this weekend Coby went to Manti with his girlfriend Colleen. She got her endowments out there. She will be leaving for her mission in early February, to serve in Thailand.  I know she will be an awesome missionary..

This and that!!!

 Spencer has been traveling a lot recently.  Because he came home early from Fiji his summer has been a little clear.  I think he has been in like 7 states maybe more.  

 Spencer and Kara went to see the Demi Lovato concert together this week.  They sat on row 7.  They said Demi did an amazing performance.    

I took Colton back to the doctor.  He saw several doctors and has done several tests.  He needed to go back so the doctor could check everything again before he could turn in his mission papers.  Well, we went on Thursday and all his levels were worse than before.  He actually had new problems as well with his levels.  Needless to say we were very frustrated.   So we might be back at square one again.  Yikes, Colton says he feels fine so it isn't something that he is  in pain with, which is good.   I am very concerned about it, but Colton doesn't seem worried at all.

 7-13 is Chick Fil-a's  dress as a cow day.  If you dress like a cow you get a free entree, side dish, and drink.  Kara dressed like a cow and I didn't.  It was really fun doing some people watching there.  A lot of people really went all out in their costume.

 Here is a picture of Colton working at Chick Fil-A.  It was fun to watch him!!!  He is such a hard worker. 

 The cow did the Hokey  Pokey with some of the kids there.  Colton dresses up like a cow from time to time.  He says it is really fun, except some of the little kids are terrified of the cow costume!!!

Mission papers, root canals, MRI's, wisdom teeth and a new job

 Colton met with the bishop at the end of March to start his mission papers.  We  kind of figured we would have the mission papers all  filled out in a couple of weeks.  Incidentally, from the time Coby started his mission papers until the time we got his call it had only been 6 weeks total.    So, I kind of expected the same, but unfortunately, it hasn't gone as smoothly with Colton.  He had his extended health exam on the 2nd of April and we have hit one road block after another since. 

The specialists have done a lot of tests   The biggest test he took was one that they injected dye throughout his body and interestingly enough, this test cost a whopping $8 thousand.  Wow!!!! Isn't there a cheaper way to find out what the problem is; apparently not.   Since Matt has a new job, we also have new insurance and I have learned that it isn't as good.  We have a $2500 deductible per person, per calendar year and then we still have our 20%. Ouch!!!!  If this was the only test I think I could be happy , but it isn't. We have been really spoiled with our last insurance, but we just didn't realize it until it was too late.  We have had several more additional tests and many doctors appointments, but we still are waiting.  We had thought that he would be able to turn his mission papers in by now, but now we will still be waiting and possibly be waiting  till August before he can even turn them in.  I just want him to be healthy!  But what we do know is that his kidneys aren't functioning at their best and we know he has many infections throughout his body.

Yesterday I took Colton in to get a few root canals.  When he was in the 8th grade he ran into a dumpster which resulted in three new teeth and  a lot  of stitches on his face.  We have had this tooth  repaired twice, but the dentist said that  he needed a root canal. before he would sign his mission papers. They weren't able to finish his root canal yesterday because the infection in the teeth was so bad and it was draining so much that he wanted to wait 2 more weeks to finish it.  I was expecting Colton to be in a ton of pain after this, but he wasn't, which was very nice!

Today I took Colton to get his wisdom teeth out and he was sure a trooper  going in.  I loaded up on tons of popsicles,  yogurt, pudding, jello etc and got a lot of movies at Red box.  He was in and out of the appointment in under twenty minutes.  Boy was that fast.  As I was walking out of  the office room there before he was completely sedated,  he wanted to give me his  last message if something were to happen.  He let me know he loved me, but that he loved Kara the most.   I thought that was hilarious and so true. Kara is all of her brother's favorite!  

Getting the wisdom teeth out was a lot more painful then the root canals.  He has been in a lot of pain, but he has handled it very well and he has caught up on a lot of movies.  And the bad  news we have learned is that our dental insurance only pays out $2k a year before you are responsible for the rest.  Guess, what I learned,  root canals are extremely expensive.   WOW!!!!!   Fun times!!!! 

 

But one good thing is Colton got a new job.  He won't be taking the bus anymore to his job in Orem at UVU catering.  He now as a job at Chick-Fil-a!!!  He works at the Chick-fil-a at the District!!!   And this is a win-win, because he gets free food and discounts.  Yum, we all love Chick-fil-a

 

More Miscellaneous pictures

Well as soon as Coby came home from his mission BYU had already started their Fall semester on August 31st. So when he went to classes on September 4th he was busy getting caught up. What a transition to go from being a full time missionary in another country to all the sudden being a full time student studying and commuting to school each day all in a different language. Coming home from a mission is an adjustment. Staying busy is really a good idea, but it is hard to, to be able to balance everything between work, school, friends, family, and everyone wanted to talk to you and hear all about your mission. I was very grateful that Coby could live at home his first semester even if it was a sacrifice for him to commute to BYU each day. It was a great blessing for our family.

Here are the few pictures I took last fall which were mainly taken by Kara and Colton!

Coby and his friends the night before his "unhomecoming talk"

September 3rd the Day Elder Vail arrived home!!

We have been counting down for this day to happen for a very long time so when it finally came we were so excited. We had all made posters expect for one of us and below is a picture of us just waiting. Some of us even change our look for shock value (grew a beard). We waited at the airport for over a half and hour and could hardly contain ourselves). It had been 735 days since we had seen Coby--Elder Vail. There were other families waiting for their missionaries too and they seemed to be exhibiting the same looks we were showing.

All the action was up the stairs so finally Kara decided to go up the stairs, but we couldn't stand the idea that she might see him first so Colton and I joined her. But then we waited up there with her for an additional 15 minutes. But finally we saw him. Although all of those pictures turned out very blurry.

First good picture! (Matt is taking the picture and for some reason Spencer wanted to hide in the back ground.

Dad and son!

Labor Day up Little Cottonwood Canyon all of our children together for their first picture!
9-6-09

Father's Day Happenings!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there! Today for Father's day Colton and Spencer woke up early to make Matt an early breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage. And then we all went to church. Matt was asked to teach the Gospel Doctrine class and he did a great job and led a great discussion. After we came home from church (we were a little late) Colton had a hot lunch waiting for Matt on the kitchen table.
Later on we opened some presents for Matt that the children were working on. Kara had gotten some clear back when she was in school and couldn't wait to give them to her daddy. Colton was a little tired as he had just gotten home from youth conference and it had rained most of the time while they were there and they had froze at night too. But he was so glad he had went. I had three of the youth leaders come up to me just to let me know how well behaved he had been; things every mom loves to hear!

After Matt opened his presents the missionaries came over for dinner. They are two great missionaires with great attitudes. Such a great example for our family. And then after they left one of the elders mom that had served with Coby in the International ward for a couple of months last year called me up after just coming home from visiting Vienna and seeing him. She just called to let me know how he was doing and said such sweet things about him that every missionary mom LOVES to hear. I love hearing from other missionary moms and getting pictures from them which is why I need to go and send this picture below and several others to two fine missionaries moms.