The Suisse Family Robinson

We were waiting at a gas station in Charleston, West Virginia for my family to catch up with us. Reed let Lara into the driver's seat and this is their conversation.

Reed: Do you want to drive?

Lara: Yeah! *climbs onto Daddy's lap and puts her hand on the wheel*

Reed: *makes car noises* Brrrrr..... Beep, beep!

Lara: Uh, Daddy, I need the keys!

They start young.

We recently returned from a week at the beach (a post and facebook pictures about that to come later) and while there, I cultivated a love for the spotlighted product today- Hydrogel. All of us got sunburned on our first full day at the beach but thanks to Hydrogel, it wasn't too bad. Hydrogel soothes and moisturizes sunburned skin and it feels oh so good after a day at the beach. It contains a formula of algae (who knew algae could be so cool), aloe, melaleuca oil, and advanced E (an antioxidant).

Take a look at these eyes...

Notice how clear and blue and beautiful they are? Yay! There is no gunk in her eyes!

Our wonderful Genevieve was born with clogged tear ducts and the doctor assured us that she would grow out of it. Her left eye cleared up within the first month but that stubborn right eye kept gooping up. Sometimes it would get so red and irritated because of the oozing and me trying to keep it clean. But today I noticed that her eyes were clear and that I hadn't had to clean them for a while! And not a moment too soon. I was getting mighty tired of people asking me if I knew that my daughter had an eye infection. Did you know that any liquid that is concentrated changes color? It is a common misconception that if any liquid oozing from facial orifices is green or yellow that means an infection. It might mean that there's just a lot of liquid. Anyways, we're all happy that Vivi's face is gunk-free and beautiful!

My cousin, Matt, came home from his mission to Pheonix, AZ last week and so my grandparents flew in from CA to visit. We don't get to see them very often so it was exciting for them to meet Genevieve and see Lara again. We were able to visit with them at a park down in Zanesville on Saturday and then they visited Monday before heading off to Dayton for their flight. Now, did I take any pictures at Matt's homecoming open house? No. Did I take any pictures at the park? No. Silly me. But we did get some pictures of Grandpa and Grandma Laulusa with the girls.

Vivi was only too happy to oblige. She loved showing off her pre-crawling skills and loved Grandpa's glasses.

Lara, on the other hand, was in her shy mode and refused to smile for the pictures.

I knew that as soon as they left Lara would be talking about Great-Grandma and Great-Grandma "Loo-sa" and all the fun she had with them at the park. And sure enough as their car drove away... "Mommy, Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Loo-sa! We go to the park!" She still talks about them this week.
*sigh* Hopefully the next time we see them she'll have grown out of that phase.

Melaleuca's cereal is part of their Fiberwise product line. All of the Fiberwise products contain psyllium husk, herbs, vitamins, and antioxidants dedicated to help your digestive tract be the healthiest it can be. My favorite cereal is the strawberry but Reed prefers the cinnamon clusters. This cereal contains more grams of soluble fiber than Kashi and is at a comparable price! Did you know... "As the soluble fiber in psyllium husk absorbs liquid while moving through the digestive tract, it also absorbs cholesterol and bile acids, allowing them to pass out of the body instead of being absorbed by the intestines. The result is a natural lowering of blood cholesterol levels."
One more reason to add the Fiberwise products to your daily diet. I might highlight some more Fiberwise products at a later date.

Don't miss it, don't even be late.

Name that musical.

Anyways, it's a tradition for our family to attend the state fair and I was excited this year because I knew Lara would be way into everything- animals, food, entertainment... She might have been into the rides if we had gone, but we never do the rides.

Originally, Reed wasn't going to be able to take the time off of work to go with us to the fair. But he decided that it was his duty as a dad to take Lara fishing.

He's sure glad he came!


Another highlight for Lara was seeing Uncle Jonathan, who had spent the summer working at a scout camp. In fact, whenever I told her that we would be seeing Grandma Flute and the rest of the crew, she knew to tell me "Jonathan at work." She didn't believe me that we would actually see him the day of the fair.


I'm pretty proud of this next picture because I have been wanting to try a back carry with my wrap for a while. I needed Reed to help put Vivi on my back (not comfortable doing that by myself) and she loved it. She stayed in that carry for about an hour and fell asleep there too!


For the first time this year we watched the draft horse hitched team competition called the Governor's Cup. Pretty exciting, I think we'll go see it again next year. Lara loved to clap along with everyone else. And begged to stay and see more horsies. Alas, it was past bedtime so home we went.

All in all, it was a fun visit! Can't wait for next year. In tribute, a clip from the musical that I quoted in my title and opening post line. Not the title song (couldn't find it on YouTube) but one of the better known ones.

I asked Reed which product should be this week's highlight and he said "Melaleuca oil." Therefore, Melaleuca oil- Melaleuca is the scientific name for tea tree oil. It's an essential oil and has 6 properties, each of which does something different and you can read about those properties here. We've mostly used the oil in the humidifier and in steamy water to help Lara with her bouts of croup. I've also diluted Melaleuca oil in another carrier oil (like olive) to put in Lara's ears for her ear infections. (I love the smell of Melaleuca oil, mmmmmmm. Some people say it takes some getting used to but I love it). Reed says that he sometimes uses it straight on cuts and they heal faster. It's very versatile :)

Yesterday Reed and I took the girls to the fair with my family, minus a few siblings. I'll post more pictures of that later but today I wanted to post about something that happened at the fair.

Some of us had gone to the Ag building so that Kimmi, Josh, and Jonathan could climb the climbing wall. There were a few other things for Lara to do so Kimmi, Josh, and Jonathan waited in line without the rest of us. When Reed and I got back to watch the climbing Reed remarked that he thought someone was hitting on Kimmi. I looked over and I saw her in line with Josh and this guy who obviously had taking a liking to her. I knew just by the one look that the young man had some mental delays and that Kimmi was trying to be nice but was really uncomfortable. But it was too late to do anything, she was at the front of the line and about to climb. Lara was anxious to see her beloved Auntie Kimmi so we waited at the end of the climb for her. After Kimmi was done we rushed her out of the building (the young man was still climbing) because it was obvious that she was really nervous. Apparently he had started talking to her and somehow came to the conclusion that after the climb they would be exchanging numbers. I had to run back into the Ag building to get Jonathan who was still climbing and then gave him a what-for talking to about how he should have been looking out for his younger sister. I mean, that's what older brothers are supposed to do. (Usually after lectures like this Jonathan is in a bad mood. He must have realized I was right because he still talked with me for the rest of the day). The poor young man was still wandering around the building, probably wondering where Kimmi had run off to. I assured Kimmi that he probably had no idea that he was making her uncomfortable but I'm not sure if that helped her feel better or not.

Anyways, I have been thinking about this incident and wondering what I would have done in Kimmi's shoes. I remember giving a guy a made-up number one time but he was D-R-U-N-K and he probably wasn't going to remember anything in the morning anyways. So, I would like all ladies to post your opinions or stories here and I'll share them with Kimmi :) It might be nice to laugh about it now!

Happy 27th Birthday, Reed!

In honor of Reed's birthday, the girls and I put together a list of 27 things we love about Daddy (Reed).

1. Happy Daddy, Grumpy Daddy. (This is a game that Reed plays with Lara. She tells him an emotion and he makes the face.)
2. He plays outside.
3. He makes everything into a game- going to bed, changing a diaper, eating, you name it, it's a game.
4. He pulls weeds, rearranges mulch, and generally comments on every landscaping detail... in a mall parking lot.
5. He is very handy around the house. He can fix leaky pipes, tile our floor, garden, carry heavy bookshelves, unclog toilets, etc.
6. He has good spatial awareness. He can look at a room and visualize a better way to arrange it. This also means that he is good at packing up boxes and packing up trunks. Everything fits neatly when he packs stuff.
7. Vivi's face lights up when Reed walks into the room.
8. He is quick to admit when he needs to work on certain aspects of his life.
9. He cooks.
10. He does the dishes every morning before I get up for work.
11. He works hard for our family- at work and at school.
12. He loves to sing and he has a wonderful voice which blends well. Lara loves singing with him and they do it quite often.
13. He can pick up his cello after years of not playing and sound like he has been practicing every day for months.
14. He magnifies his callings as a counselor in the Elder's Quorum, and a father. Sometimes it is hard to balance, but he does a wonderful job.
15. He is willing to help whoever is in need. About a month ago, one of our neighbor's came and asked him if he would clean up a dead bird that had appeared on her walkway. He's not the only guy around the area, but she must have known that he would be ready and willing.
16. He tries to keep up with his French speaking and I love it when he talks en francais avec Lara et moi.
17. Lara loves when Reed plays horsie with her. Especially when he sings Trot Trot while they're playing.
18. He has learned how to sing books in rhyme and Lara listens with rapt attention whenever he does. He could be a great music therapist :)
19. He makes up the best songs. In that respect, he's a better music therapist than I.
20. He does not like all the shows that I do (any show with dancing or reality shows) but I appreciate that he'll mostly keep the snarky comments to a minimum while I'm watching.
21. He knows that I jump at scary parts in movies so he offers his arm automatically when he knows one is forthcoming.
22. Vivi loves when Reed plays rhythm sticks with her or when he sings to her.
23. She also loves it when he kisses her cheeks.
24. He shaves his face just for me.
25. He calls me or writes me little notes at random times.
26. He scoops the cat litter.
27. We know that he loves us because he shows us every day.