What a wonderful idea. Dad, asked me if I received the email, and like most of you probably thought, "So COOL! Our dad is SO COOL!" And then the week started and I didn't have a chance to get back to it.

I am so excited to share my life and the lives of my family with a family I have been a part of my entire life. (I said life and lives a lot in that sentence, but oh well!) I often think of each of you and what you are doing. What your children are doing. I am always shocked at how much everyone has grown! Now with this blog maybe the time won't skip to months and years before I see them.

This last week beat me up. Logan was diagnosed on Wednesday with Bronchiolitis/RSV in babies. His oxygen levels were low, due to the constricting of his bronchial tubes, and before we could leave the doctors office we did a breathing treatment. I was required to do a breathing treatment every 2 hours for the first 24 hours. Now that doesn't mean you get 2 hours of sleep because the treatment takes 20 minutes. So pretty much you are up every hour and a half. NO REM SLEEP FOR ME. The treatments changed to every 3 hours with the second 24 hours, and down to 4 hours the following 3 days. On Monday he was given the a-okay on his breathing and we just need to treat him when he is wheezing or can't stop coughing.

I have been taking photography classes which I LOVE!!! I have some great pictures I cannot wait to share as soon as I figure out how to post them. j

I can't keep my house clean to SAVE MY LIFE!! Honestly, you would think I have a 6 month old in tow all the time. He definitely is starting to show signs of recognizing if I leave the room. You would think that he just lost his favorite toy! But he really is a doll. He is a VERY BIG personality.

Today he started crawling like an inch worm. SO CUTE!!

Cortland bridges from cub scouts to boy scouts tonight at his first Court of Honor. He played a great baseball game last weekend, and is a fantastic kid.

McKay just played in his season opener in baseball and batted really well. He is my sweet child who always thinks of Logan. On Sunday's we will send dad on ahead to save a pue and McKay will stay behind to hold Logan while I get ready. Many times he will rock him to sleep. Mom used to say that even as a child I gravitated toward babies. Now I know what she meant. My McKay has a special place in his heart for the ones fresh from heaven.

Ashton is awesome, but going through a fake whine and whale stage. Not a fan!! He's working on it though. He is a snuggler though. Every night wanting someone to snuggle. I love him.

That's it for these two days. And yes, this did take me two days to type, so, you know I love you because I came back to finish!

Love ya, Allison

Trip out West

Your Mom and Dad took a trip two weeks ago. I left Saturday and had the great pleasure of watching McKay enter the waters of baptism at their Stake Center in Texas. McKay was baptized and confirmed by his father. Both his grandfathers were present. What a wonderful experience! We are so proud and happy for you McKay! We testify to you that you are in the path the Lord has set. He will bless you for your decision. Your parents are leading you in the right way.
I traveled on to Salt Lake, and Mom traveled on Tuesday to Salt Lake as well. I picked her up and we spent the night in Little America. Next day Leslie spent the day with her mother, June, who you know lives in the Legacy apartments next to the South Jordan temple. She is more frail, but in good spirits. They had a great visit.
On Thursday Jared had arranged for a recording session for the music in First Freedom. We had three of the original cast members from Rock Springs in the recording study of a talented recording engineer. Leslie and Grandma Steiner came to listen as well. They stayed for five hours and we thoroughly enjoyed listening to the recording of these wonderful voices singing our favorite music from First Freedom.
We had to leave the next day. Leslie got out on the first airplane and was home in good time. I missed a few flights because they were full. I was able to hop a ride on a flight that had diverted from Eagle, Colorado (Vail) because of fog. So, I flew to Eagle, and then on to Miami, where I spent the night and finally got home late the next day. All in all an enjoyable yet stressful trip. What else is new?

Invitation to the Larry and Leslie Sidwell Family

I have just returned from the Charlottesville Family History Conference. There I learned the advantages and blessings of having a blog where I could post things for others to see and/or participate in. I came home straightaway and created this very basic family blog, in which we, your Mom and Dad, Mimi and Papa, hope all of our family will participate. There are a number of reasons we are doing this:
First, we want to keep up with all the activities of our marvelous family. I want to see entries of what you are doing, pictures of your children and your families. Anything--whether happy feelings, triumphs, concerns, needs, that you would like to share with each other, I hope this will provide a way to do so.
Second, we will want to share with you our thoughts, our testimonies, our great love and hopes for each of you. Perhaps we will find information and articles we wish to share.
Third, we want to provide a place that might serve as a central planning site for a future family reunion. I have talked with several of you, our children, and you all seem amenable to the idea of a family reunion. Too often we delay, and then the moment and the year has passed without planning or executing this family reunion. For a family so close as ours, I am sure you all agree that we should have a family get-together, perhaps on a regular basis. I know that with being so far from each other, and each with young children that such an endeavor takes real and timely planning, so let's get started.
We are not locked in to the way this blog looks nor even the location, i.e. blogspot.com. We have very talented website designers in our family, and some of you even have your own blog. Please feel free to change this site around to make it better or even propose moving our information to a new website. We are open to any such suggestions. I have made each of you, our children--Shannon, Jared, Allison, Melinda, and Nathaniel--contributors to the website. You just need to sign in. If you want your spouses or children to contribute, let's make it happen. Please let me know.
I also need guidance as to who we should allow to see our website. Should we allow the world to view our site, or should we restrict access to our family only?
Please tell us what you think. Post your own profile, post your own thoughts, add pictures, we hope you will participate. Love Mom and Dad