4 Bits and tidbits

Lyle's family

We reported last week that Lyle has been visiting various of his family members in Washington State. First, he was with Stan and Patty in Aberdeen. Later in the week he was heading north to Bellingham to see Terry and Becky. He was going to stop and visit Chris and Camilla's Great Harvest bakery in Everett on the way up to Bellingham, but we have never heard if he found it or made contact.

Kay's family

In less than six months now, Kay and Karen will return home from their mission in Peru. You can follow ongoing updates and see pictures on their blog, Called to Serve.

Nicolle reported that "for Christmas Uncle Rhett and Aunt Celeste had our family for Christmas. They gave us games. Easton absolutely loves board games and Gretchen is starting to love them now that I let her play. Today we played the best game ever. Okay probably not the best game ever, but they can play this one [Ants in the Pants] with out any help from me. I like this because I sometimes get frustrated playing board games with them."

Our daughter Eliza responded: "Hooray! Peter got that game for Christmas too and it is sooo nice that he can actually play the game like it is suppose to be played and he can play it by himself if he wants to."

And so there you have it: If you're looking for a great game that little kids love and can actually play by themselves without intervening supervision from mom or dad or an older sibling, then consider Ants in the Pants.


Dean's family
An interesting health week this week in our family. I was home all week with a bad cold, extremely sore throat, and such. On Tuesday and Wednesday Michael underwent tests at Salt Lake's LDS Hospital to confirm that he has Graves' disease, an autoimmune disorder that causes hyperthyroidism (which in layman's terms means the thyroid produces too much thyroid hormone, which gets the body's normal metabolism all out of whack). And then on Friday afternoon, nine-year-old Jacob slipped during a game at school and hit the back of his head, knocking him out and causing him initially to forget his name and what had happened. After some hours of testing at Salt Lake's Primary Children's Hospital, which determined he had had a concussion, he got to go home and by the next morning had a monumental head ache.

Oh, and snow days (with very little snow actually, compared to what we are used to seeing here in the Mountain West) closed down schools this week in both Harrisburg, Illinois (where Robert and Rachael live) and in Atlanta (where Paul and Eliza live). It sounds like the eastern two-thirds of the country have really had it socked to them weather-wise.