2000

Time for more reminiscing, considering Jed's 10 year high school reunion is knocking on the door. Enjoy. Sorry if I exploited anyone.



Unfortunately I don't have a picture of what took place directly after this. Thankfully he still got his diploma.


All of ya

Has anyone seen this hot, sultry girl? I don't think I've seen her for about 11 years! She must have been in the grade above.

Remember this was before photoshop people. heehee

Survivor Party

Since we all survived Jed's schooling we had the party that has been two years in the making.
Complete with...

Ginormous, inflatable water slide with none other than a palm tree!

The boys

The girls

1,000 Creativity points go to Jed who did a back flip, somersault, cannon-ball, face plant and numerous other tamer tricks until he went over the edge. Once he went over the edge, and realized it wasn't so bad, he came up with even greater tricks, the kind that involved going backwards, with eyes closed and hands tied behind your back sorta thing. Pay up Jordan!

Cake

What you see directly in front of you, making it's debut, was the "Italian Creme Cake" which was 3 layers of cream-cheese frosting goodness. It was heavenly. I am squirrelling the leftovers away in my freezer, to save for a good time, there is no way any last crumb of this cake will be allowed to go to waste.

Grandma and the kids. Only one of those is mine in case you were wondering, but they all have the same last name!

Survivor challenges: human wheel-barrow contests, limbo challenge, mice-eating, shoveling victor, and puzzle solving


Puzzle Contest: each survivor had to pull letters out of the pool with their toes and proceed to unscramble the word. Team GIRLS won! Come to think of it team GIRLS won all but one contest, okay maybe two. In the above picture I had to abort my mission of being a human wheel-barrow due to the fact that I had consumed a large amount of food that I had been smelling/waiting for all week. Hanging upside down is not the best way to digest food. Sorry to let you down girls.

Limbo was closely contested by Ashley, think flexible ex-cheerleader and Jed. Who would have thought 6'5" of man could limbo? However Ashley prevailed.

This picture is the only one I ended up with of the actual limbo winner and no that is not her baby and yes you are seeing double babies. The other Wheeler's have twins! Wendy is champion of her own survivor campaign.

Not pictured:

The Shoveling Champion, which was slightly disputed between Paul and Kathy but undoubtedly the winner was GIRLS AGAIN!!! Making us the overall winners. I'm sad to say I don't have a picture for you. But I have a video! Which may work its way into a family reunion revival tape!

AND

Sam, who ate his mouse the fastest. Wendy how do you get those kids to eat so well?! Don't worry animal activists and CPS it was only a gummy mouse.

I had to include the picture below due to its cuteness factor. This little girl knows how to slide!

Numbers for the Week

3=how many cherry tomatoes my plant has yielded, they are the size of blueberries but the plant looks like it has potential towards withstanding my gardening curse.
2=the number of times I've dreamed in one week I'm in the Little Einsteins jet. YIKES!
11=UNLV FREE Days
12=the amount of cookies I've consumed in a two day period. I thought I'd keep it at an even dozen
7/8=the nights I've officially cooked dinner that didn't involve cold cereal or grilled cheese
4=how many shirts Jack can go through in a day
4=the number of "ballerinas" (skirts) Jara feels the need to change into
10=years Jed has been out of HS, the reunion is coming up, it would be shocking if I hadn't already gone through this milestone. The joy of literally being the "old lady"
2.5=the number of carrot bats my children beat each other with. Easter bunny keeps leaving them, hence, the carrot form

Hooray!

UNLV Class of 2010

College of Engineering

The big day has come and gone.

The hard work is over.

This ranks in our top 5 of "big moments."

The children were little angels during the 3 1/2 hour ceremony. (Which is equivalent to 10 hours in child land.) They even earned a compliment from the lady behind us and yes I am bragging because this is a recordable, treasure of a moment. Many thanks to Grandpa and Grandma A for entertaining and thanks to Grandpa and Grandma W for the after-party!

I am proud of Jed for sticking it out. When I graduated, I had worked hard to get through school, but I only had myself to worry about, I didn't have the demands of a full time career/job, children or church callings. I don't know how he handled all of the stress and the biggest stress of all ME. haha

Random Thoughts During, After and Before the Ceremony:

Jed's graduation is way more gratifying than my own. (I don't know which of us is more excited?)

The grad class this year was the biggest ever. Too bad the unemployment rate is hideous right now.

Jed, please don't do what you did during HS graduation. Remember that?

Jack, please don't hit the nice lady with the duct tape roses.

Please don't trip going up the stairs on the way to the bathroom carrying Jara.

UNLV has a big "A" parking lot I hope I remember where I parked.

SIGH!

WOOOOHOOO!

PS-We're not on vacation but pretend like we are and don't call Jed to do ANYTHING until he's been home a full month. We've missed him.

The FINAL final

Let us take a moment and REJOICE, Jed is taking his last final tonight FOREVER!
(Unless he decides to pursue further education, in a LONG LONG time from now. Heaven help us!)

Reasons to Celebrate:
#1 Jed is now a legitimate PE (if you don't know what that is and would like to, email me)
#2 Joshlyn did not end up in Sparks, NV (the location of the state mental asylum)
#3 Jed will see his children more than 2 days a week
#4 Joshlyn did not harm anyone, permanently, in the making of this degree
#5 Jed does not have to work 40+ hours a week and take 5 college classes anymore. How did you do it pet?
#6 Joshlyn will now be able to go places in the evening
#7 We can have family dinner and that means real food.

You get the idea.

Coming next...grad pics and PARTY!
Any ideas on how to keep the children from going crazy through a 3 hour ceremony?

The Dawn of a New Stage

Jara's new big-girl bed in all it's glory.

After a year and a half she finally gave up the crib.

I couldn't force to part with it for two reasons. #1 reason: When I started taking it apart, about a

year ago, she sat down and cried tears of deep sadness and clung to the bars. It seemed cruel to

take something she loved away from her. Especially since, #2 Reason: She spent 13-15 hours a

day napping and sleeping in it with no struggling/fighting/crying nada. I'd tuck her in after she

climbed in by herself and that was that. No mother in her right mind would ruin such a good

thing.

So, here we are, a month after sleeping consistently in her twin mattress we upgraded it into a

"Fancy Fancy" bed complete with lights, stars and tulle.

Sweet Dreams

It All Comes Out in the Wash

Besides the usual random objects that tend to make their way into the washing machine, for example, loose change, Kleenex, and chapstick Here are some of the more interesting specimens I’ve retrieved within the last month…

Screwdriver-Right before bath time Jack was running naked, screaming and flailing to avoid the tub. He was wielding the screw driver and I needed a quick hiding place. He tends to become attached to dangerous of objects.

Shoe-Jara takes everything off and deposits it in the basket, so occasionally random shoes will get mixed up with clothes. Surprisingly, this particular shoe came out shiny and fortified, apparently it agreed with the washer. Which is not always the case, i.e. sparkly, princess shoe with feathers.

Diaper-a used one at that! Oops Guess what? It stayed in one piece and maintained its integrity, must have been one my husband changed, he’s a good "roller." Is it bad that I didn’t rewash the clothes? Oh well, it was just the kids clothes in that load. Hahaha

Magazine-this was retrieved before blast off, thank goodness. Somehow it got mixed up in the laundry basket, a result of the basket being too close to the toilet I believe.

Baby-don’t worry it was just Jara’s stuffed donkey that was PURPOSELY put in. Ill-tempered donkey, smells as bad as he behaves.

Clothespin-my washing machine is trying to tell me something-"save energy, avoid the power sucking dryer" which can not dry as many towels as you can fit in me. My washer has no agitator, so I can fit A LOT of clothes in. However, the dryer has been on it’s last leg since 2004. One day it will rebel against my overloading.


I am grateful for my washing machine, may it continue to lead a happy and productive life and not die on me in a cloud of smoke (unlike washer #1) in spite of my abuse.