Spring Break

I had really high hopes for the kids' spring break this year. After our wonderfully relaxing and warm trip to the park a week ago, I was pretty excited for a repeat of that day. But, NOPE! The weather has been so cold! Sunday it snowed quite a bit. We still have snow on the ground and it is bitter cold out in the wind. And, I guess that it is supposed to snow again tonight! :(

So, what to do with 3 kids who want to be outside or doing something fun all the time? Yesterday Dave worked half a day, so we took the kids to lunch. That evening I took the kids to see the 3D version of Monsters vs. Aliens. Okay, so I didn't stay and watch. My brother-in-law took his kids and was kind enough to let me drop off Easton and Paisley so that I wouldn't have to sit through it with Avery. The kids really liked it and thought that the 3D was awesome!



Today we went to lunch at a restaurant with a nice play area with my friend, Heather, and her 3 kids. That was nice. Avery is at a good age to be able to finally go play a bit by herself. It was nice to sit and have some adult conversation while the kids played and had fun. This afternoon Easton and Paisley have dentist appointments and then Easton has soccer practice.

So, I guess we are staying busy. But, just not in the ways that I had hoped and planned.

Oh, and after we ate lunch today, Avery fell asleep in the car. I love that because then I lay her in her crib and enjoy the next couple hours. As soon as we pulled in the garage today, though, she woke up. She had been asleep for about 10 minutes. I hurried her in and laid her down. But, to my dismay....

POWER NAP!!!

Totally! She was wide awake and even though I tried very hard to get her back to sleep, she is now up playing with a 10 minute nap under her belt. NICE!! She must not realize just how much I look forward to and NEED her naps! Oh well, she will go to bed early tonight for sure!



One last item...I just wanted to post how much fun I had this weekend with my sister-in-law and my mom on our trip to Utah! It was very relaxing, and tiring at the same time. We did a lot of shopping and I got some really good deals. The kids are pretty much ready to go for summer.

We had a fun time in Park City. We went clear downtown, away from the outlets, for lunch. I had never been to that part of Park City before. It is such a cute little place with lots of little shops and restaurants. We found a fun little candy store where I bought some really tasty chocolates, and ate lunch at a little pizzeria. Very fun. I wish we had had more time to look around there, but we had to get back to the outlets for round 2 of shopping! :)

Thank you, Dave, for so willingly staying home with the kids so that I could go. I really had a great time and loved that I didn't have to worry about anything because I knew the kids were well taken care of! Thank you, hon, I love ya!!!

Okay, one FINAL tidbit. I just wanted to share this about Dave...he is all of a sudden a facebook addict! I have had a facebook account for a while and once in a while he would get on mine and play around. But, he thought as a whole that it was dumb. Then, he decided to get his own account and realize he LOVES facebook. He has been reconnecting with a bunch of people from his past and just thinks it is the greatest thing! I just think it is funny. Personally, I think facebook is pretty boring and that blogging is way more fun. Apparently, Dave doesn't agree.



He is going to need to start going to FAA, Facebook Addicts Anonymous, if there is such a thing...

I had to steal it...

My sister-in-law, Stephanie, started a new blog recently. She is currently posting about things that she would have a while ago if she'd had a blog. Today she posted about her wedding to my youngest brother. She posted a picture of herself with Easton and Paisley. I thought it was so cute! I hadn't seen it before. They both look so little. So, I had to steal it and post it on my blog! Thanks, Steph!

I am really excited because Stephanie and my mom and I are heading out to Park City tonight for a weekend of shopping!! :) It will be fun! We went last year, too, and had a great time. So, Dave will be on his own for tomorrow. (We will be home late tomorrow night.) I am sure he is not really excited, but he will do fine. He is a good dad.

And, Jackie...I so wish you were coming!!!! Next time!!!

One more thing...

I was wondering if anyone knew of a good pediatric dentist...we seem to have some teeth problems...




Have a great weekend!!!

When is it going to END?!?!?!?

So here is the way it looked last night...




WHAT?!?!? I just posted about how Friday afternoon and Saturday we played outside without jackets and the kids were SWEATY!! TODAY the kids went to school with BOOTS!!!

Oh well...

Just a couple other random things to change the mood...

Avery loves setting up their little chairs and putting her babies in them to watch a movie with her. So cute!



And, I realized I didn't post any pictures of Avery's birthday parties...



Opening presents...



Blowing out candles with her cousin, Braylon...



I wasn't super good at taking pictures during her two family parties, it was always kind of crazy. But, we are very thankful for all the fun presents she got and for everyone helping to celebrate 2 fun filled years of our baby's life! :)

That's all for today! Let's hope for spring tomorrow!

Parent Teacher Conferences

Dave and I attended parent teacher conferences last night. Since Paisley started the preschool through the school district a couple months ago, we get to go to two conferences.

It was kind of funny, it was like we went to the exact conference twice. Both teachers told us that Easton and Paisley are doing very well academically. No problems there. And, both teachers told us that our children like to be the class clowns. :) I really don't know where they get this. I am pretty shy in group settings, and Dave is pretty funny, but not like the "class clown." The teachers were saying it wasn't necessarily bad. Paisley is really good about being quiet and still when she needs to be, then silly when she can be. Easton is working on that. :) He and the teacher have a little sign that she does to warn him that it is time to settle down. She said that works pretty well.

I am glad my kids are social and have friends. No parent wants the opposite. But, sometimes it just goes a bit overboard.

One "funny" story that Paisley's teacher told, I put funny in quotes because although I find it funny, I am not sure I should. :) But, her teacher laughed as she told it. One day, Paisley when in to use the bathroom. When she had been in there a couple minutes too long the teacher went in to check on her. She found Paisley crawling out from under the stall. She asked her what she was doing, and Paisley looked very guilty. The teacher tried the door and saw it was locked. So, she told Paisley she would need to crawl underneath again to unlock it. Just then another girl came in to use the bathroom and started trying to get in a stall, ALL of which were locked. So, she had locked one stall and crawled under to the next and so on until they were all locked! SERIOUSLY!! Who thinks of that??? Paisley does, that's who! What a mischievous little girl!

I was thankful to hear positive comments, for the most part. We are really proud of them and thankful to be their parents, even if we are a little embarrassed by stories we hear every now and again!

Weekend fun...

Another weekend has come and gone. They always go much too fast. But, it was another good weekend and we had some fun.

Friday the kids had a half day of school. As soon as they got home we had to go to Target. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and I told them that if they were good we would go get some lunch and eat it at the park. They were good, of course they were when there is a fun reward involved. So, we went to McDonald's, or they did, I got a sandwich at Jimmy John's. (So good!) We went to a little park that is usually not too busy. It was so nice that the kids didn't have to wear their jackets. We ate our lunch. Then they went to play and I had the luxury of just sitting in the sun reading my magazine and watching the kids play. It was really nice. I love that is Avery is getting to a good age for playing at the park. She was so content to go up the stairs and down the slide. This toy had 4 slides, so she would go up and pick a slide and do it over and over. She loved it. By the time we left she had little curls poking out all around her face which happens when she gets sweaty. She fell asleep immediately in the car, she was so worn out. But, it was a great afternoon!

That night Dave and I attended a work party. It was an event that they do about every 6 months with dinner, awards, and entertainment. It is a dressy occasion so I "had" to get a new dress. :) That was fun. We always have a good time at these events, and what is better than free entertainment and food??? Afterwards we went with our friends, Mike and Kalli, to a restaurant for a little more dessert and visiting. We had a good time.

Dave's parents were in town from Washington this weekend. So, Saturday morning we all met at Dave's brothers house for breakfast. It is always fun to get together with Dave's family. Always crazy with all the little kids, but fun. It worked out well that we had another BEAUTIFUL day on Saturday so all the kids could play outside.

Saturday afternoon, Easton had a birthday party to go to. So, while he was gone and Avery and Dave napped, Paisley and I went to a play that our stake put on. It was Esther and the King. They have put a lot of work into this play and it was very well done. Paisley really enjoyed it. She paid attention really well and understood the story of Esther pretty well when it was over. It was really fun for me to have a chance to be alone with my sweetie.

Saturday night we went out with Dave's parents and siblings for dinner without all the kids. That is always really enjoyable to just sit and visit. After the dinner we went back to brother's house to visit some more. We talked for a couple hours. A lot of it was the 3 brothers that were there reminiscing about their crazy childhood stories. They came out with some pretty funny stories that had us rolling with laughter and surprised even their parents. Good times!!

Today we attended church and had a relaxing afternoon. We had dinner and family home evening. We are going through the gospel art kit pictures. We are doing the Old Testament and do one or two pictures/stories each week. Tonight we learned about Moses liberating the Israelite people. The kids really enjoy learning the stories. They really look forward to it.

That was it. Nothing too exciting. Like I always say, it went too fast. But, it was fun. Monday is here again. Don't we all love Mondays???

I forgot to say that after the wonderful, wonderful weather Friday and Saturday, today it SNOWED!!!! It even stuck for a while. The rest of the day was rainy. I tell ya, I am sick of these teaser days! We just think spring is here, and then the snow comes. Oh well. Spring will come to stay soon enough...I hope!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Funny, huh? I bought the hat for Dave so that he would be nice and festive for St. Patty's Day. He trains a class of people for 10 weeks and he is right in the middle of it now. I thought his class would appreciate a laugh! I was surprised he wore it so willingly, but he is usually open to getting a laugh at his expense!

Also wanted to say Happy Birthday to my cute little nephew, Braylon, who turns 1 today!



We all tried to get them to give him the middle name of "Patrick", but crazily enough, they said no. Anyway, happy birthday, handsome!


One more thing...we all have a cupboard like this at one time or another, right?



Okay, maybe it is only me, but I like to believe that we all do. So, just humor me!! But, I finally got this cleaned out. I just kept shoving things in and not getting the empty boxes thrown out. It was quite embarrassing. So....here is the final product!



Better, huh?

Our weekend adventure

We survived our trip to Salt Lake and had a lot of fun. Nothing too crazy happened, we had good weather, and the kids loved our activities. Success!

Friday night we picked Dave up from work and headed out of town. We stopped in Pocatello to eat dinner at Butterber's. It was okay, and took us a long time. But, we finally got on the road again and made it to Salt Lake about 9:00. We stayed at the Embassy Suites. Very nice. Each room is a suite and so we had a living room and a separate bedroom. That is so nice when traveling with kids. Plus, in the morning they have a "cook to order" complimentary breakfast. You wait in line and they serve you up whatever you want, and cook your eggs to order. All for free! That is nice, it saved us quite a bit of money.

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Disney on Ice. We didn't tell the kids where we were going until we got there. They were really excited! We got to our seats with about 10 minutes to spare.



Avery wasn't too interested in sitting there with nothing to do and so, of course, there was a bit of drama from the 2 year old.



Once the show began she settled down and seemed to enjoy it. Easton and Paisley hardly took their eyes off the show.



At intermission I sent Dave out to get a lemonade for the kids to share.



The lemonade in the souvenier cup that Easton is holding was quite pricy!! It was $10!!!! That goes to tell you what the prices for things are like once you are at the show. That is the only thing we bought. We have learned our lessons from the 2 previous shows we have been to.

After the show we headed over to a mall to eat lunch and do a little shopping. The kids like to eat at the mall because we let them pick whatever they want to eat. We all ended up getting something different. The shopping was okay, but the kids were tired. We didn't shop too long and decided we had better head back to the hotel for a little rest. Avery fell asleep about 2 minutes into the ride back. Poor girl was exhausted!

After naps, (from Dave and Avery) we headed out. We didn't know what we were going to do. We drove up to the Avenues and looked at some of the cool houses. On our drive we saw the horse carriages you can ride. We decided that it would be pretty fun for the kids to go do that. We finally found a place to park and walked through temple square to get to the carriages. It is always neat to be so close to the beautiful temple. It is so peaceful there.




The carriage that we rode on was pulled by a horse named Charlie.




The kids had quite a bit of fun at first. The weather was really nice. Not bad at all with a jacket on. About 10 minutes into the ride, Easton started complaining about his eyes hurting. He kept rubbing and rubbing them.



We knew that he is allergic to horses, but we didn't think a carriage ride would bother him since he wasn't touching the horse at all. We were wrong. His eyes kept getting worse and worse.



By the end of the ride he was crying and telling us how miserable he was. We made a mental note to never take them on a carriage ride again! :)



Afterwards they did talk about having fun on the ride. Poor Easton. I felt bad for him.

At that point it was almost 7:30, the kids were hungry! So, we ate at a little diner.




Avery was happy as long as Dave would let her feed him. It was really cute.



The next morning was a miracle. We ALL slept in until 9:30! It was sooo nice! (I LOVE the black-out curtains in hotels!!) We really needed that. We took our time getting ready and headed out for our final surprise...Chuck E. Cheese!

The kids were so happy to be going back to Chuck E. Cheese. We got a bunch of tokens and they just played and played.



Avery had a ton of fun, also. She loved riding the rides.




Paisley was nice enough to take time out of her game playing and help Avery play on the toys and go down the slide.





The kids won a lot of tickets and were able to each pick out a couple prizes.



That was it. We were all tired by the time we left. Avery slept for a while on the way home and the kids watched movies. Nice and peaceful, (for the most part!)

We had a great time. I love to get away, even just for the weekend. The kids kept telling us thank you for the fun trip, and that was all that I wanted, for them to have fun.

My sister-in-law told me a quote last night. It said something like, "You won't remember the days, but you will remember the moments." I am so thankful that we had many special "moments" on this trip. We will definately remember those "moments"!

Weekend get-away!!! Yea!!

We are off to Salt Lake! We bought tickets for us all to go see Disney on Ice tomorrow morning. We have been to two other Disney on Ice productions and have loved them. So, this should be another good time.

We are also going to make a stop at Chuck E. Cheese while we are down there. We have only been there once, in Boise, but the kids still talk about it.

The best part about this trip is that the kids have NO idea we are going. I am not going to tell them until it is time to get in the car. And then, I am not even sure that I am going to tell them where we are going, I think it will ALL be a surprise. I just want them to have a really fun time. This trip is all about the kids.

I made Easton and Paisley a "fun kit". It has a sticker/coloring book, notebook, activity book, crayons, colored pencils, and a pen. I am going to surprise them with that sometime along the way. They love to draw, write, and color and so it should be plenty to keep them busy.

Anyway, it should be fun! I am sure there will be moments that we wonder why we did this, but there always are. I just hope the kids have a great time and enjoy their weekend! I am sure I will have a couple stories to blog about when I get back!!

(Don't worry, I already told Dave there WILL be a bit of shopping going on. I have to have a little fun, too, right?) :)

Have a great weekend!

A little scary...

Today I took Avery to her 2 year old check up. She is 35 inches (81st percentile), 30.5 pounds (88th percentile) and her head is 90th percentile. :) She has always been big for her age. Her height has gone down in percentile. For a while she was off the charts in her height, then like 99th percentile, and now it is creeping down. She must be leveling out a little. She is definately bigger that Easton and Paisley were.

Everything seemed pretty good until he listened to her heart. He asked me if he had ever mentioned before that she had a heart murmur. I told him that I didn't think so. He looked back in his notes and saw that nothing had been noted before. He was a little concerned because he did hear a fairly loud heart murmur and it concerned him because he hadn't heard one in her before. So, as a mom and a HUGE worrier, I began to worry. He said that it is enough of a concern that he wants to get it checked out. But he told me not to worry. He said he doesn't think it is an emergency or anything like that.

So, he made an appointment for us to see a pediatric cardiologist that comes to town from Primary Children's Hospital every couple months. She will have to have an EKG and a heart x-ray before that so they will have that to look at. I guess that most of the time it isn't a big deal. But, better safe than sorry. We will see the doctor April 15th. So, just a month of worry ahead of me is all!

Also, he is going to have her speech tested to see if she is in need of any therapy. He said she is probably on the line of qualifying or not. She should be speaking 50+ words, and she has about 10 really solid words. So, we will be getting that checked out, too.

Hopefully there is nothing to worry about. But, when it involves my children and their health, I always worry! I will be sure to keep y'all updated!

My baby is 2 today. Time flies so fast. I can not believe she has been in our lives for 2 whole years now!

I wanted to write a few of my favorite things about Avery, it is hard, because I have a lot of favorite things!

1. She is cuddly. (At least when she wants to be.) She will give me the biggest and tightest hugs. I absolutely love when she will hug me and just let me hold her.

2. Her word, "please". The cutest thing ever. She has been a little slow to talk. It is coming slowly, but surely. One word that she knows well is "please". It sounds like sheez. We LOVE to hear her say it! I need to record it!

3. Her kisses. She loves to give these big open mouth kisses. Every night before bed she has to go around and give each member of the family a BIG kiss. So cute!

4. Her spunk. If you know Avery, she is FULL of spunk. I will admit, sometimes it drives me crazy. But there is truly never a dull moment with Avery around!

5. Her love of everything "girly"! She is the girliest girl! She loves taking care of her dolls. It is a rare moment in our house if she doesn't have a doll, blanket, and bottle in her hands. She loves purses, shoes, clothes. Once, several months ago, we were in the mall and I tried a pair of really cute shoes on her. When I went to put them back, she cried and cried and cried. Now I know that I better be serious about the shoes if I try them on her.

6. Her smiley eyes. Avery and Paisley both have smiley eyes. Their eyes show so much emotion. I always say that we could cover up Avery's face except her eyes and we would know exactly what she was feeling, especially happiness. Her eyes "smile"!

7. Her dimples. I always wanted a child with dimples. Avery's aren't too deep or prominent, but they are there. She has one on her cheek near her eye that we saw from the minute she was born. My mom and I call it her "mad dimple" because you see it mostly when she cries.

8. The way that she is SUCH a mama's girl. Seriously, it is kinda sad, sometimes. She wants me to do everything for her. She often times won't let Dave do anything for her because she wants me. Most of the time, I love this.

I love my little girl so much. She has brought so much joy into our family. Easton and Paisley love her to death. Easton loves to give her kisses. He told me last night that he would walk 200 miles to give her a kiss! I am so thankful for her and all she brings to our lives, even the craziness!!!

CAUTION: No Adult Supervision for this post!!!

While I was doing this...



Avery was doing this...



And ended up looking like this...



Then, while I was still on the phone and then bathing Avery, Easton and Paisley took my camera and did this...





Okay, so there wasn't a lot of supervision. But, I was SO thankful for adult conversation from my sister-in-law that it was worth the craziness during the conversation. Thanks for the "break" and for bringing back my sanity, Erin! :)

I'm feeling a little crazy

This "single" mom thing is tough. Today Dave left at 7:45 a.m. and won't be home until at least 7:45 p.m. We have been doing this for 8 days. Only 45 or so more to go.

I am glad I have Enrichment to go to tonight. I need some adult conversation!!! And THANK GOODNESS they are providing a nursery!!!!!!!!

Ever heard of a Sacroiliac joint??

Ever heard of it? Neither had I, but I sure know what it is now.

A couple years ago almost exactly, I was right at the end of my pregnancy with Avery. I started getting pain in my lower back. But, it isn't in my spine, it is over to the left of my spine. It is always in the exact same spot. The pain is sharp. But, it is not constant (fortunately). When I first started getting the pain it would last for a while and then I might not get it again for a couple months.

This has gone on off and on since I had Avery. Then about 5 months ago I woke up in the morning with horrible pain there. I finally decided to go see a doctor, but being a Sunday, our family doctor was closed. So, I went to an Urgent Care. The doctor told me it was my muscles and prescribed Ibruprofen. The Ibruprofen does help, but I just did not think it was my muscles. When it hurts, I can push on the spot and it doesn't feel worse. It is a deeper pain.

Then about 2 weeks ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible pain again. It hurt so much more than ever before. I was up for about 3 hours with it that night. I decided I had better go get a second opinion.

So, today I went to see our family doctor, who I LOVE! He is a great doctor. So, I told him all about it and all my symptoms. He came to the conclusion that it is my Sacroiliac joint. It is a joint in your back between your pelvis and spine basically. It is a joint that doesn't move.



A lot of women have issues with this joint at the end of pregnancy, which makes sense with when mine started. I read about it online and sure enough, my syptoms match for sure.

There isn't a lot you can do for it. He told me to keep taking the Ibruprofen religiously for about 10 days and that should help a lot.

I am just relieved to hear that it is not something serious. I am such a worrier and always think about the worst-case scenario. So, of course, I thought I must have something really serious wrong with me. But, thank goodness, it isn't that bad.

I am thankful for a good doctor to put my mind at ease!

Our weekend

I am going to try to do a better job about blogging more. I blog fairly often, but only usually when I have pictures to go along. I am going to try to put more of our daily activities, just so I can have them documented in the future. And, my in-laws moved to Washington recently and I know my mother-in-law is a faithful reader. So, since I am a horrible phone person, Shirley, these "boring" posts are for you! :)

Starting out...Dave is doing a training class at work. These classes are 10-12 weeks long and are LONG hours for him. So, I don't usually see him until at least 7:30 p.m., and that is a good night. So, Friday night, I didn't feel like fixing dinner, and didn't feel like taking the kids out by myself, so we ordered pizza. The kids love it when we do that, so that was fun. (I love the Hawaiian BBQ Chicken pizza at Papa Johns!! See below)



Then we put on The Lion King and ate popcorn.



I had cleaned the whole house that day, but hadn't vacuumed the family room yet. Thank goodness, because Avery made a TOTAL mess with the popcorn. It looked very similar to this:



Saturday at 8:15 a.m. (too early!) was Easton's last basketball game for this season. He has gotten SO much better since the first game. They ended up with a good little team. I am so thankful for his coach, Megan, for putting so much time into helping them.



Anyway, after the game Dave had made a appointment with the chiropractor. His back muscles had been getting really tight and he was in quite a bit of pain. He has had this problem a few times in our marriage, but he hadn't ever tried a chiropractor. So, he decided to give it a try. We weren't sure how long it would take, so I dropped him off and took the kids to McDonald's to play while we waited for him to call and let us know he was done.



I brought a magazine with me to read at McDonald's for something to do. But, as I walked in, there was my cousin's wife, Chelsea. I was excited to see her and we ended up visiting the whole time, so that was nice. The kids had a bunch of fun playing, even Avery could play on the toys. Afterwards we went to pick up Dave. They had done a few things for him, one of them being a deep muscle massage. He really liked that and seemed to be feeling a lot better.

We then had to make a "fun" trip to Wal-mart. Wal-mart on Saturday is always crazy, but Wal-mart on Saturday with 3 kids is double crazy. So, we hurried through there as fast as we could and headed home.

That night we went to my Uncle Chad's for games. We love to get together to play the Curse of the Wolfen, which I have posted about before.



It sounds weird, but is so much fun with a big group. Chad has kids my kids's ages and so they all play together really well. Dave ended up leaving around 9:30 to take Avery home and rest his back. Easton and Paisley and I stayed until a little after midnight. Too late, but so worth the fun we have.

Sunday, Dave ended up staying home from church to rest his back with Easton and Avery. Pailsey and I went. It was actually really nice to sit in sacrament meeting with just Paisley. It was so quiet and relaxing compared to normal. I was able to listen to the whole thing and really enjoyed it!

That evening, Dave and I had to go have our temple recommends signed by the stake presidency. We had our neighbors, Brandon and Christy, come watch the kids while we went. (Thanks guys!!) On the way there I noticed that the couselor in the bishopric that interviewed me had accidentally marked me as a male on my recommend!! I didn't know if that would matter, but according to the stake president, it really matters. So, the stake president was able to interview me, but I have to go back and get a new recommend filled out and then take it to him to sign it. Kind of crazy!! Oh well.

That night we played games with our same neighbors, Brandon and Christy. We played Risk.



We have played with them before, and Brandon won. I was bound and determined not to let that happen again. But, it did!! I never realize how much I don't like to lose until I am losing!! Not too fun. But, we had fun playing, and eating too much candy! Next time...Brandon is going down!!! (Pass that on to him, Christy!) :)

So, that was our weekend. Sorry it is such a boring post for some. It was a good weekend and as usual, went by way too quick. Counting down the days until next weekend...