Myth or Fact?

Last week we got TWO whole days of free cable! It was great while it lasted. It must have been left over time from the last tenant. But, of course it was too good to be true and only lasted a few days. But, it was a great few days. We had a few channels that we watched the most... one being The Discovery Channel. We esp. like the show Mythbusters. I love when the show is about one those myths or facts that you have heard all your life and have always wondered if it's true. So, here are a few of the myths that you may have heard about at some time or another:

1. Chocolate is toxic to dogs and can kill them?
True! Chocolate contains a substance called theobromine (a compound related to caffeine), which can sicken and kill family pets. Three factors determine how toxic the sweet stuff will be to a particular animal: the type of chocolate, the size of the animal and the amount of chocolate ingested.


2. The combined weight of all the world's ants is equal to that of all the humans on earth? (I haven't heard this one before, but thought it was interesting!)
True! What ants lack in size, they more than make up for in sheer numbers. According to renowned entomologist E.O. Wilson, there are an estimated 10,000,000,000,000 ants on earth, and their combined weight is equivalent to the entire human population. That's roughly 1.6 million ants for each person.


3. Did Seinfeld have it right... poppyseeds can cause you to fail a drug test?
True! Opiate drugs, such as heroin, morphine and codeine, are made from the seeds of opium poppies. The poppy seeds used in baked goods often come from the same or a similar type of poppy. Several people have lost their jobs solely because they ate a poppy-seed muffin or bagel for breakfast before taking a drug test. As a result, the test is being revised to account for this eventuality.


4. A poinsetta plant is highly toxic and can kill a child or pet who eats it's leaves?
False! A study by Ohio State University and the American Society of Florists fed rats high doses of pulverized poinsettia leaves, which failed to kill them or even cause any side effects. A 50-pound child would have to ingest more than 500 poinsettia leaves to exceed the doses given to the rats. While it's still not a good idea to eat poinsettias, or any other houseplants, the worst that could happen to your child or pet is an upset stomach.

5. Students who take the SAT are automatically awarded 400 points for spelling their name correctly?
False! The scorers of the SAT do not award points for being able to spell your own name — nor do they penalize you for misspelling it (although perhaps they should).

6. If you go swimming less than an hour after you eat, you will get stomach cramps and can drown?
False! Not once has a drowning death been attributed to "swimming with a full stomach." Yes, swimmers can develop cramps in the water, but few are the result of eating right before swimming. And unless you can't swim, no cramp would be serious enough to prevent you from swimming to safety.

Adventure Island Playground!

Park

We finally made it to the cool new park on Saturday. As I mentioned earlier, they were having a Resource Fair for families with special needs children. It was very cool and EXTREMELY helpful! I am so glad we went!

They had about 30 tables/booths with many different businesses promoting their services. Everything from all sorts of therapy, to gov. agencies, hospitals, rehab. services, adaptive epuipment companies, prosthetic/orthotic stores, developmental preschools....and much more. We went home with TONS of information and of course candy and little toys for the kids.

Jordyn's favorite booth was called "Dustin's Paw". It is explained as "integrating assistance dogs into learning experiences and therapy sessions". It was very interesting and sounds like something we will definately look into! They had a couple of dogs there and Jordyn held the leash and got to take one for a walk! We put her hand on the dog and she didn't even pull her hand away, which she usually does when feeling stuff!

We also started talking to the Park Director. She actually came up to us and was asking about Jordyn's diagnosis. I gave her a brief background of Jordyn. She said that her daughter has Rett Sydrome. Yes, the syndrome that EVERYONE thinks Jordyn has. The director said she had been watching Jordyn earlier and thought she was a Rett Sydrome girl! I just laughed to myself and told her all about Jordyn being tested etc. She said that her daughter had also been tested and had recieved all negative results! Her daughter had been clinically diagnosed at around age 4, now age 11. Wow.... I couldn't believe it! She also said they have a Rett Syndrome group of girls around town. I got her e-mail and will def. be making contact and asking more questions!

The kids had a GREAT time at the park, esp. Jordyn. It was the coolest park ever! You can see in the pictures that she could go almost anywhere all of the other kids could go! And of course she loved the swing too!

PS: Today was our first day in our new ward. So far, it seems like a pretty great ward. Everyone was really friendly and glad we were there. Jordyn even went to the sunbeam class! The Primary Pres. approached us, before church even started, to ask about Jordyn. (I'm so glad she came to us and was so helpful and interested in Jordyn!) I went to class with her today, but we will either just leave her with the two teachers or get someone just to assist her in class. We'll see! She seemed to really like it in class!

Up and Running!

What a crazy few weeks we've had. I'll give you a short version of our move. (even though it looks very long... it is the short version!) Well, first I'll start with Friday the 15th. We had an AWESOME BBQ! I kept saying it was the best food I had ever had at a BBQ. Tom's parents grilled steak (SO good!) and we had baked potatoes, salad, rolls, watermelon, drink, and then Texas sheet cake and icecream for dessert. No hot dogs and burgers for us! It was really a tasty and fun BBQ. Sat. morning Andersen parents, Bybee parents, and I went to graduation. (it was 3 hrs. long and Susan and Kurt offered to watch the kids. That was a GREAT idea because it WAS long, cold, and windy and the kids would have been miserable!) We ended up getting a parking spot on a street above the stadium and we could see everything! So we just stayed sitting in the car or there was a little ledge outside you could sit on too. It worked out great because we could see and hear everything! It was fun seeing Tom graduate and I'm glad he chose to "walk" in graduation. Later in the day everyone came over and we loaded the truck and cleaned. Yes, the men loaded and the women cleaned! We worked until around 10:00 pm! Then Sunday morning Tom's parents left and we finished cleaning the last stuff. With only a few minor setbacks, we ended up leaving around noon. It was very sad and strange to leave Spokane. I already miss it and everyone there! Then we drove and drove. I was lucky to have mom for company and to help with the kids. After a few stops and breaks, we got to Boise at around 11:00pm. We stayed in a very luxurious hotel and we were all VERY tired.
Monday was very crazy. We had a place lined up and had only seen pictures of it online. The photos looked "ok", not our dream place, but we ended up getting it last minute after a few other places fell through. So, we went to look at the house (3 bdr., 2 bth) before we signed the papers. We thought the neighborhood wasn't the greatest and we were pretty iffy on the inside too. It was older and had some good and bad features. So we were pretty worried and decided to drive through a neighborhood of duplexes and houses we had previously looked at online. (We were so blessed that my mom and dad came with us! They were so patient and watched the kids for us most of the day while we ran around town setting things up!) The duplex we wanted in this neighborhood had gotten rented before we could get our hands on it. Sure enough, there was another one for rent. We called the management and it sounded perfect! We went to get keys to look inside and the management people told us there was a house a few doors down for rent... exactly the same price and features! So, we jumped on it immediately. We went and looked and about passed out because it was so nice and perfect for us! And luckily it worked out that we filled out paperwork/paid dep/ and the house was ready for us in ONE DAY! (we signed the papers at 5:00pm as they were locking the business doors! ) I couldn't believe we found a place in one day and we were moving in that night! What a miracle! And the craziest thing of all... it was the same price as the old house we had been looking at! We couldn't believe the diff. and that they were charging the same price! We are in love with our new place and still are in shock that we are living in it. It was has so many awesome features.... best of all, it came with a w/d and lawncare is provided!
We also got FAST internet set up today and I love it! I can actually watch videos now and load things so much faster. I guess we are living the good life now... haha.
So far we like it here too! Just as everyone told us, it's not quite as pretty as Spokane or MT, but it's not too bad. It is pretty dry and VERY HOT! Todays high was going to be 98! So, we haven't gotten outside too much because it's so hot. There are stores/shopping and restaraunts everywhere! We are about one block from Walgreens, Fred Meyer, Baskin Robbins, 2 pizza places, and my favorite.... TCBY! We are excited for the weekend to check out the town some more and go to our ward for the first time. I am pretty excited for a Resource Fair for special needs kids and their families at the Adventure Island Playground this Saturday. It will be GREAT to see what resources their are for Jordyn! And she can finally go to her cool park we keep telling her about!
Tom likes his job and the people he works with. This week has been a lot of getting set up and acquianted with everything at his work. He said he has met two of his clients already... one from CA and one from NY.
I am sure I will be blogging a lot because of our new FAST internet and because I don't know anyone and don't have much to do during the day! Well, besides all the unpacking I should be getting done! Actually, I do have a lot of stuff to get done....

On the Move

Wow, Tom cleaning!

All loaded up and ready to go.

Evan doesn't want to leave Spokane.
Or he wanted a snack or something.


Momma K cleaning. Thank you to EVERYONE who helped!
It was a long process but we got it done!

quick update

Well, the packing and moving process has begun. We will head out this Sunday morning and then unpack in Boise Monday morning. Then, Tom starts work on Tuesday! The time has flown by and now I think I am in panic mode because I have so much to do. We should have our living arrangements finalized by today or tomorrow. We kept going back and forth between a few places and I think we have finally decided on one. I will post pictures once we are 100% sure we've got it!
Yesterday was our last day at church and it was pretty strange saying goodbye to everyone. I am sure we will be back in Spokane sometime soon and go to our old ward and see everyone.
Tom was officially done with school this past Friday! We are having a BBQ this Friday night and then the ceremony is on Saturday. I will try and post pictures if our computer isn't packed! But, if not, pictures will have to wait until next week I suppose. I will send out our new address and phone numer as soon as I can too. Wish us luck!

Here is a picture of Jordyn sitting up all by herself!
I would say she sat there for about 15-30 seconds.
Yeah Jordyn!