A Lovell walk for Bridger

There will be a Walk for Bridger held in Lovell WY on May 23 at 7 AM. The shirts will be different from the Dallas group and will be $10 for kids $15 for adults. Pre-register by May 14 for a shirt.

Contact
Tori (307)548-2581
Brooke (307) 250-0998
or
CaMee (307) 548-2570
for more information.

For those of us outside of the Dallas and Lovell areas please keep reading the following post for ways to help.

And a huge shout out to all the response we are getting. When the first donation e-mail came to me from pay pal I was on the phone with CaMee. We both started to cry.

Thank you.

Bridger Gustafson and the number... 5

Bridger

playing in EmRee's backyard during our Moncur Reunion last June.

5...

The number of earthquakes I have felt in Alaska. The biggest being a 4.7 that scared the snot out of me and the latest being a little shimmy about an hour ago. That would be the second I felt since yesterday, but apparently there were several others yesterday that I did not feel. Check out the USGS site and see how many earthquakes Alaska gets on a weekly basis.

It is also the number of kids in my family.

It is the number of people in my family with JaDee.

It is the number of siblings JaDee has.

It is the number of the month Ethan was born in.

It is the number of weeks Bridger Gustafson, our nephew spent in the hospital this past October and November

It is also how old my nephew Bidger is and he is a very sick little boy.

He has Chronic Granulomatous Disease. I took the advice of Dr. Ben and used Dr. Google and his Nurse Wikipedia to give you the links rather than explain it all to you. It is quite a complicated little disease and Bridger is lucky to be alive. In a nutshell Bridger does not have the capabilities to ward off the basic bacteria that our bodies naturally fight. It is extremely rare, in fact only 200 new cases are reported every year. However, the only way to keep him alive is with a bone marrow transplant. This can only take place after he undergoes intensive chemo and will have to live in Houston for 6 months for this entire procedure to take place.


Anyway, I am also including a link to the Walk for Bridger that members of his ward are doing for him in Dallas (where he lives with his parents). Now obviously most of my readers are not going to make it to this walk in Houston, and neither am I. However I signed up and plan on mailing my check as if I were going to be there and plan on running/walking that day with my kids in honor of their little cousin, whom we all love so much.

I am asking all of you to do the same.

Sign up at http://www1.mysignup.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?walkforbridger and pledge to donate $15 per adult and $10 per child. I can't promise a T-shirt so anything will be helpful. And walk a mile, run a 5K or heck run a marathon on May 23 in honor of Bridger and his fight to get better.

To send payment, e-mail me moncur1@juno.com and I will have more details. (I will post them as soon as I get them too, but I just had to get this post up as soon as I heard about the walk).

JanaLee is JaDee's youngest sibling. She married Blake 6 years ago and had Bridger a little over a year later. They are the sweetest family. Truly, JanaLee is a selfless human being. But from the beginning Bridger has been in out of hospitals in 3 different states. The last being in Dallas, TX for 5 weeks in October where he ended up on life support with only his heart and brain functioning on its own. It was in Dallas that they finally got the CDG diagnosis and hope to make Bridger well.

His 5th birthday was spent unconscious clinging to the machines that kept him alive.

Since his stay this past October-November, Bridger has been on a countless number of prescriptions. He is unable to go to church, pre-school, or the park for risk of the slightest infection. Infections that most of us fight off automatically have the potential to kill Bridger. So we call him our Bubble Boy, because that is what he essentially lives in to prevent exposure to the outside world. A bone marrow transplant has been proven as an effective way to cure him of this disease. A team of doctors in Houston have been working with the developer of this procedure for CDG, and have seen success in a number of cases of CDG treated with a bone marrow transplant. Bridger already has 6 positive matches for bone marrow waiting to make him well.

Our family has seen incredible miracles. I could write a book on the number of miracles we have seen in Bridger's case and others. But ultimately we have seen the power of prayer work towards this goal of making Bridger well. We have seen his cousins, our children, pray for his health, for JanaLee's strength to endure, and for Blake to continue being the support for his family. We desperately want this to work.

And we have faith that it will.

JanaLee and Blake, Bridger's beautiful parents.

JaDee, JanaLee and AshLee.

Poor Jana has these guys to put up with. When she was little JaDee used to stick her on the flat topped banister and leave her there because she was too little to get down on her own.

JanaLee, CaMee, EmRee

MitChell, JaDee, AshLee

The 6 Moncur kids. Look at all that red hair! They could be the Weasley's from Harry Potter! Now you know who I mean when I refer to a "red headed sister/brother." I couldn't ask for better in-laws. Seriously, I love this family and consider it a privilege to be a part of it.

UPDATE....

Here are ways that we can donate to Bridger.

1-I posted a Pay pal Button in the top corner of my blog. Click on this link and follow the instructions using a major credit card.

2-go to any Wells Fargo and ask to deposit in the Bridger and JanaLee Gustafson account

3-mail me a check to PO Box 771668

Eagle River AK 99577-1668

and I will get it where it needs to go

If you want a T-shirt commemerating the Walk for Bridger on May 23 we have to have these ordered by May 8. Leave a comment on my blog with desired sizes (S/M/L for adult or youth)and an e-mail address where I can contact you. We are having all out of town shirts sent to the Farm in WY and will distribute them from there. You will probably not recieve your shirt until the middle of June.

$15 for adult sizes

$10 for kids sizes

YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY A SHIRT TO DONATE!!

any questions e-mail me at moncur1@juno.com

Brotherly Love

This is me with my "little" brother Jared. He is the funniest guy to hang out with! And he has the most random things happen to him. For instance, he owns a house in Utah County and he rents his extra rooms to other guys. Recently he had Psycho Roommate. Yeah a guy who accused Jared of rearranging the furniture just so he would crash into things and Jared could laugh at him. That was just the tip of the ice berg. Psycho Roommate got a police escort out of the house with his eviction notice.

But Monday night of my trip Jared kicked my can in Scrabble. 198 points and I even played both the Q and the Z!! All the while Jared was playing while looking at the board upside down too. Genius I tell you. Genius.

But when he is not being a scrabble guru, or warding of the crazy people in his home (and I include the times when we were all living with our parents. Our parents, of course, being the crazy people) he is saving lives as an EMT. He knows how to do all sorts of cool things with shock paddles, needles, back braces, and answers the Bat Signal at a moments notice to help those running red lights on State Street.

Then this is me with my "wicked smooth," again "little" brother, Ben. He is a doctor in the pulmonary critical care fellowship program (that is after a 3 year residency and after 4 years of med school) at the University of Utah. In other words you never want to be sick enough to have to see him. With my sister and I both as middle and high school teachers and 2 brothers saving lives, the third brother who is not in the teaching or medical field, feels a bit displaced as a chef. His name is Stephen and he lives in Nashville. He is also the only one of us living east of the Mississippi River.

Anyway, Ben lives in Salt Lake and luckily saved me from certain airport hotel nastiness after I missed my flight on Tuesday. And miracle of all miracles he had Wednesday free, after a quick presentation on something to do with how to make people breathe again, to escort me and his lovely fiancee, Katie, around Temple Square in the afternoon (that is all of us on the roof of the Conference Center overlooking the Salt Lake Temple and all the construction on the City Creek center).

JaDee recently told Ben that he will be packing heat at their wedding next March. Partly because the nuptials will take place in New Jersey and partly to make sure Ben doesn't get any funny ideas at the last minute because frankly, we like Katie better than him. (J/K!! we love you both, but as his sister I was born to love Ben whereas Katie has a choice and for that she deserves a national holiday in her honor).

And check out these flowers that were everywhere in Utah and note the weather widget in my sidebar...not even close! C'est la vie.

Sisterly Love

I left my sister all teary eyed at the airport...the first time. See I missed my flight Tuesday due to a schedule change and had to spend one more day in Utah. At 77 degrees, let me just say there are worst places to be stuck. But yes, even though I will be back in June with all the Rug Rats in tow the parting from my sister, Courtney, was sad. As she is the new mom to a very delicious baby, we mourned our waistlines, decent nursing bras, the Twilight movie, jeans with a higher rise (but not granny style), and cute underwear.

But the true testament to sisterly love was the morning we awoke at our mother's house to our options for breakfast. "I have 2 packages of Strawberries 'n Cream oatmeal and 4 packages of Peaches 'n Cream," our mother announced to us from the kitchen after we both agreed oatmeal was the breakfast of champions.

Courtney and I paused. Each knowing it takes 2 packages of instant oatmeal to feed anyone and also knowing that we both wanted the strawberry variety. The pause grew longer and I also knew that while I prefer strawberry, peaches are just fine. Whereas my sister is notorious for her picky eating.

I call out, "I want Peaches 'n Cream." And almost hear the sigh of relief as Courtney quickly follows with, "I'll take Strawberry."

This is me with that yummy baby. Stay tuned for more Utah pics and posts.

My trip was wonderful!!

Wicked was...

Wicked COOL!!!

I went with pretty high expectations but also expecting said expectations were too high. I was pleasantly blown away at the level of talent, emotion, and academic thought that this musical inspired in me.

I am at my sister's house now and should be mingling with family and mushing on my cute niece (who loves me more than she loves my mom thank you very much even though this is our first meeting and since my mom won't take the time to come look at my blog even when I am here to show her how to do it, I can say whatever I want about ma mere...trust me, I feel a post brewing on this subject)

So I bid you adieu and so help my kids when I get back we will be listening to Wicked soundtracks in the car for the entire summer!

I leave you with this...

I am off to Utah for my much anticipated trip alone. Did you catch that? ALONE! No kids, no husband, no dog or cats. Just me. I am trying not to feel guilty...can you tell?

But as a last post, seeing as how I still have to pack, write a schedule for the hubby, a list of what not to pack in Ethan's lunch, and fill out a couple of school papers for the boys, I thought I would share this.

For weeks I have been wanting some of JaDee's family to get on Facebook. My sibs and I have fun on it so I thought how fun for my in-laws too! My friend (who was really the in-laws friend first) Kristy and I were bugging red-headed sister EmRee. But instead we got her brother, Ashlee, on Facebook.

He is the cool one, with the I-phone, trips to Mexico, super cute wife, and 3 well behaved children. Of course the cool people are on Facebook, right? Well he had a bad experience. AshLee put down all that pertinent profile information like where you live, graduated from, and hometown. Then he sat back and let Facebook do its thing.

Which is to send People You May Know alerts to everyone from the same places you are from. Poor AshLee got bombarded with people from his high school class (OK), JaDee's class (again not too bad since they were in high school together), then his older sister's class (weird, since they never hung out but still kind of OK), then from people in the little brother and sister's classes (not OK because AshLee does not even know them).

Then came the updates. AshLee would log onto Facebook and there would be "SO and SO is going to a meeting!" or "SO and SO is brushing her teeth!" or other mindless crap that we all put down to stay "connected." Except poor AshLee could hardly handle it. Does nothing important ever happen on facebook? Is this all there is, updates on what everyone ate for breakfast? So he politely closed his account. Called the half dozen or so whom he did not want to offend to tell us it was nothing personal, and resigned from Facebook. Forever.

We will miss you AshLee.

See the rest of you in a week!

Peep Peep!

I hope you all ate a lot of Easter candy, ham, homemade mac n cheese, fluffy fruit, cream and marshmallow salad, and rolls. I personally ate all of the above and plan on swelling like a balloon from all that salt. I finally got my Mom's roll recipe to taste right!! I am so happy to have figured out how to make them since there is no Idle Isle to order them from. I have been spoiled and now have to learn how to "rough it." That is, I now have to cook every bit of every festive meal because there are no relatives to pawn the less elegant tasks of meal preparation off too.

Because seriously, it cost me more to make these suckers than a dozen from Idle Isle ever did and it took like a billion times longer for the results. All of that kneading, rising, punching down, shaping and baking took all day! Where as a 30 second phone call and a 3 mile car ride got me the same results.

Now lets break down cost:

2 packages yeast $1.31

4 cups bread flour $1.84

2 eggs $.27

So far I am at $3.42 and I haven't added milk, salt, sugar, or shortening. 1 dozen rolls was $3 after that brief car ride into Brigham. Oh well. They were good.

The best part of Easter (aside from the fact that our Savior died for us and was resurrected on the third day) is of course the PEEPS!! I hope you all bit their heads off and left a few out the night before to get a little hard for extra crunch. And leave a few more out for the rest of the week to get even harder so that the marshmallow and sugar get stuck on your teeth, when you bite of their heads.

Click here here and here for some more fun about peeps

Eye did it!

Ha ha ha.

ha ha.

ha.

Aren't I funny. Because I dissected a cow's eye today. You know went to my local science store and said to myself, "Hmmmmm what mad experiments do I feel like doing today?" and the answer was to buy a preserved cow eye and dissect it.

Just kidding.

I went with Carter's 6th grade class on a field trip. And at the science museum we did a class on dissecting cows eyes. In fact I almost backed out because of this particular dissection. See I have problems watching people put in contacts and I can't even put eye drops in my own eye. Eye's freak me out.

So when the little teacher plopped 2 gigantic slimy, oozing eyes into my hands (gloved) to help her pass them out to each group of 2, I seriously almost passed out. I kind of left my body for that journey across the room and pretended I was somewhere else. Preferrably somewhere without a pair of dead cow eyes in my hands.

But as the kids got into it and as a "helper" I was there to help, I ended up cutting the eyeball's circumference, fishing the lens out of pool of jelly, and helped scrap a retina out.

I'm not sure if this was the sure thing to cure my little phobia or not.

A Dream Fulfilled

No my dream of fitting back into my capris from 2 summers ago hasn't come true yet but something else that is cool...

I saw 3 moose today! Right in downtown Anchorage on my way home from the mall!

I love moose. They are my favorite. Actually right up there with Polar Bears. So I guess I am in the right state for frequent sightings. Although polar bears are way up North, so not a great chance of seeing one in the wild here.

But there will be whales this summer!

Fashion and Alaska

This

or

this?

I am like going post crazy!! But I have been thinking about fashion and Alaska ever since we moved here. First because of all the talk that was given to Sarah Pallin's wardrobe during the campaign (personally I thought she should have been allowed to keep the clothes as a consolation prize). And second because of an article I read in the editorials shortly after my arrival that got me to notice what everyone wears here and was written as a result of Sarah's wardrobe during the campaign. .

We all heard about how VP-nominee Sarah Palin was supposed have been given a $150,000 wardrobe makeover for the campaign. Everyone was outraged by the price tag of such a wardrobe. I was bothered by all the hype over this particular subject (I can't call it an issue because frankly there was little talk about "issues" once she entered the McCain campaign).
What bothered me was the relatively minuscule amount everyone was shouting about compared to how much a presidential campaign costs. This small of an amount doesn't even show up as a sliver on a pie chart of expenses. Really, we are choosing the president and his VP, don't we have better things to focus on? (Like the fact that Obama had no briefing on classified information until after he was elected and yet he had already made promises, concerning some of this information; promises we in fact believed he would deliver and therefore voted for him without his really having the whole story).

So when I got to Alaska I was curious how the press handled the now famous governor and her daily doings and life. Turns out they don't much focus on anything but the policies she is putting forth and the government side of things. But one day an editorial article did catch my eye on how Governor Palin's questionable wardrobe had effected style in Alaska.

The writer commented on how whenever she flies down to the lower 48 she feels pretty good about how she is dressed. Comfortable shoes, pants and a warm shirt (read sweats, snowboots, and a flannel). But as she flies East she notices the heels of ladies shoes get taller and the pants get more expensive. She goes on to say how she inevitably felt a little more self conscience about what she originally thought was a perfectly nice outfit when she started out in Anchorage. She continued to comment on how the press Sarah Palin received about her clothes has put a new standard for fashion on Alaskan women and that as an Alaskan woman, the writer was urging fellow Alaskan females to not give up practical shoes and warm clothing over current fashion trends. She justifies this choice of clothing by citing lifestyle impracticalities of butchering a moose in heels and bringing in enough wood for the night in an Armani suit.

After reading this article I became aware of what was actually being worn around me. And the author of the editorial was right. Women, for the most part wear practical shoes and functional coats and sweats,which are more often than not, tucked into the functional shoes. And there is a lot of sense in that. There is ice everywhere. I just recently started wearing my high-heeled boots in favor of my low heeled riding boots (but not my snowboots you will note) when going to church. I wore my long johns under my jeans and opted for my down coat over my cute green and pink pea coats because wool just doesn't beat -30 degree weather. I had cute hats thanks to a sister's gift at Christmas and I wore turtlenecks everywhere and under everything. While I did not look like the fashion plate Sarah was during the campaign, I was practical and still stylish.

Then we moved into my house and daily life set in. You know what I mean. The 9:15 am call from your child at school who tells you we forgot it was debate day and he has to be in a shirt and tie in exactly 20 minutes. The urgency of that call leads you to strip off your ratted flannel PJ pants and throw on the nearest sweats. You forgo the bra because your big puffy coat will hide that. Tuck your hair into a baseball cap and shove your feet into a pair of Uggs without socks. Race to the school, drop off the shirt and tie and black shoes for the boy then proceed to Wal-Mart.

Because you know, no matter where you are in the world, but especially in Alaska, you will be the height of fashion in this get up at a Wal-Mart.

And there is something so oddly freeing about this that, while you don't make a habit of appearing like this, you are known to be seen dressed in said get up at least once every other week.

And you fit right in.

And so did Sarah. In fact I bet she truly needed that $150,000 make-over. After 3 years here, I will probably need one to.

Maybe I can run for Vice President.

Bittersweet

I have noticed something in the blogging world. Weekends seem to be a time out for bloggers. Most of the sites I stalk don't post on the weekends. And my sister had no new comments on her new post from Saturday. In fact I have not posted this weekend or done much checking of blogs myself.

This weekend was the 179th semi-annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was so nice to hear from our prophet and apostles. I feel a renewed sense of spirituality and purpose. And of course we continued our Moncur Tradition of cinnamon rolls Sunday morning (thanks Linda...I use your recipe). On Thursday the transcripts will be available on-line and I will be especially interested in studying a few of the talks as they are printed.

It was also bittersweet to see my lovely Utah again. We watched conference via the Internet or listened to it via ksl radio when the Internet servers were busy. If we had a satellite we could get BYU TV which also broadcasts it all over the world. That was my one regret for not getting TV here, but the computer served us just fine.

And speaking of my bittersweet feelings towards Utah...I will be there in 10 days!! I will be calling this week to work out my itinerary with the important parties and finding a ride from the airport and places to stay. I am most excited!!

But here comes the bittersweet part. I am really starting to like it here and I feel guilty for liking it. Like I am somehow disloyal to my dear friends, especially, for not pining away after their absence. Because family I will see and they will be what takes up a majority of my time on these trips to UT in April and again in June. And of course I want to see my family and spend time with them, but I love my friends just as much. I will be carefully dividing my time...as long as my friends don't hold it against me for liking Alaska now and being excited for the upcoming summer.

This is my story

My friend Linda has a story. It pretty much defines her life as one of unexpected and often embarrassing situations. It really is a good one. So click here too.

My story is much simpler. I pick the wrong line at the check out EVERY TIME !!!!Without fail I am the one behind the lady who's gift card won't swipe (today) or at the register that runs out of tape and the new kid doesn't know how to refill it (yesterday) or waiting 20 minutes at the book fair to buy a few new friends for our library (last week).

So if you see me standing in line at the check out, do not get behind me...it may take a while.

and on another note. I am about to comment on the economy. I have one course of economics under my belt and very little time to keep up on world news (hello, I am blogging). But I did happen to catch a bit about the great and all powerful G20 summit today.

It was also pointed out to me that the Dow was up in response to the meeting today.

So here is my solution. If the Dow responds positively to the fact that these 20 world leaders are in the same room why don't we just lock them all together until this whole economic crisis is over?

Problem solved.

Calgon Take me away

I remember watching this commercial as a kid. Too bad it is not nearly as cool now as I thought it was back then, but I always sympathized with the mother here. It must have been my brothers that acted like this. I was an angel. And now as a mother I find myself chanting Calgon, take me away!" more days than not.

Like today for example. I braved the Kohls of Anchorage grand opening with my friend Julie and her little girl. It was worse than any Black Friday experience I have ever been to (bear in mind I never go shopping on Black Friday for this very reason). After 90 minutes in this store, that while a great addition to most municipalities in not exactly what I would call a shopping Mecca, I was ready to scream. I call this my "Saturday at Wal-Mart," syndrome. You know the feeling. The one where you feel your skin start to crawl and you can hardly handle the stupidity of the average person (which I am clearly not).

This was after yesterday's Costco experience. I loved Costco in Utah. The one in Ogden is often virtually deserted on any given weekday except the first day of the new coupon circular. Then it is worse than a Wal-Mart on Saturday. I could easily complete my list without cause for hyperventilation.

Not so here.

My relationship with Costo was ruined the day I tried to get tires. In Anchorage it is a fight for a parking spot every day. The samples, where once a joy, have now become a nuisance as people queue up for a little taste and thus blocking my milk/eggs/goldfish crackers/cereal. I want to tell them all that these are optional and they are not required to stand in line for them! The worst is when they cut me off with the mammoth sized carts we all push that weigh roughly the size of a freight train. And after entertaining Olivia in one of the always open, yet always full checkout lines, we wait again for our receipt to get checked as passage out of the store. It makes me tired.

So I am trying to figure out what the deal is with Kohls, Costco, and alas, Target(also new here as of October). I am thinking it has something to do with my taking these stores for granted and as part of my normal life where they are still a novelty here. Except for Costco. It has been in Alaska longer than Utah. So I think that is truly a necessity that people literally fly in to stock up on any given day and to date this has been the only option for one stop shopping.

Then the real reason for my Calgon need: my boys. They make more noises, require more food, have more homework that is really mom-work, than I can handle. Can't these kids just raise themselves? And why do they think that throwing a pillow to get a helium balloon (thank you Kohl's grand opening) down from the vaulted ceiling in the living room is a good idea? This is after the soccer ball was banned and my new clock (Target) swung perilously from its hook.

I am so happy they are getting along, but can't they do it a little quieter?

So I bundled them up and sent them to the trees between our yard and the neighbors to wear some of this energy out. Because we are at 14 hours of daylight and at 9 PM, which is bedtime although it is still light outside at Chez Moncur, they had better be asleep.