Happy New Year!

From our family to yours. We hope that 2009 brings blessings and happiness to you and yours!

And yes, I am again, behind the camera (on purpose). Until the baby weight comes off, I'm not showing my fat face online. Thankyouverymuch.

Maddie's scared face

You know you laughed...because I do. Every time.

The house is a disaster...

We returned from Arizona Saturday. Thankfully the roads weren't bad at all. We drove both cars since I went several days earlier than Todd.
We arrived home and unloaded the car and I started in on the mounds of laundry. Really though, the entire house looks like it threw up all over itself. It's bad. Really bad. And I don't even know where to start. Todd left in a hurry to get to Arizona before the storm hit, so some things weren't taken care of before he rushed off. I'm staring into a sink full of week old dirty dishes and I can't get myself to even start on that project.
I need to go grocery shopping. I have a few presents to exchange (doubles). And more laundry to do.
I'm tempted to throw stuff in bags and donate it to the children's shelter here because I don't want to deal with it, but I don't think that will go over very well. Heh.

Any suggestions on how to start this monumental task? Maybe I'll go hide in the closet...at least I can see the floor in there.

Merry Christmas Eve...hohoho

Sorry, no pictures yet but there will be when I get home. We're in the White Mtns visiting family. I'm sick with something weird. (nothing contagious I don't think) I'm kind of scrooge-ing it at the moment, but I'm sure tonight will be much better when the craziness starts.

So Merry Christmas everyone!

PSA re: norovirus/norwalk virus aka: the stomach flu

Tis the season to spread the germs...but please try to keep this bug to yourself, my kids tend to end up in the hospital due to dehydration.

Some myths and facts about the stomach bug that you may not know.

#1 Purell and similiar "anti-bacterial" hand sanitizers do NOT kill the stomach bug, sorry. You're just smearing them around on your hands. If you want something that KILLS it, use something with the active ingredient "Benzethonium Chloride" found in "Wet Ones" brand wipes and at www.thegermzapper.com. I love wet ones because you are actually WIPING the germs off. This, of course is second only to proper handwashing.
#2 Handwashing. Please wash your hands after using the restroom. Warm water and soap. Rub together and make lots of bubbles while singing "Happy Birthday" or your "ABC's". (Approx 20 seconds)
#3 Lysol also does not kill this virus. Only bleach and the Benzethonium Chloride. Bummer because I LOVE my Mr. Clean w/ Febreeze. If someone gets sick, BLEACH everything possible. And wash your hands again.
#4 You are contagious for up to 2 weeks. Yup. You read that right. But as long as #2 is being done, you shouldn't spread it.
It is not airborne like a cold. It is spread "fecal-oral". Don't ask me to explain that please, but suffice it to say that if everyone washed their hands like they were supposed to, this wouldn't be a problem.

Don't ask how I know these things. If you really want to know, google "emetophobia" and you will understand why I'm neurotic.

Thanksgiving and other fun stuff

So about a year ago I caught the Disneyland bug in a bad way. When Todd was at USC we had season passes and went all.the.time. This was, of course before we had kids. As kids, we grew up doing Disney a lot because my grandparents lived in Southern Cali for a LONG time. I wanted to see if we could do a trip with as many of the sibs as possible. It turned out that back in June (July?) one of my brothers (Josh) was accepted to the Police academy so he and his beautiful wife couldn't make it. And for a variety of other reasons, Justin and Trina couldn't make it either. So it was Adam and Tiff and baby J, our parents and 2 youngest siblings Cody and Lacey and the 4 of us (Todd, me, Dallin and Maddie). I commendeered the entire procedure, including scoring us a killer deal on a hotel within walking distance, getting tickets before the Sept. 1 price increase, reserving T-day dinner for 15 etc. We had a lot of fun, and I think everyone was glad I was "the boss" because we never ended up waiting for more than 10 minutes for anything. (Get there early and you have the park to yourself). Of course, directing that many people and trying to keep everyone happy was exhausting and I need about a week to recoup.

Overall it was a great trip, even if we did have to drive oh...15 hours each way. I'll post more pictures soon...

Sorry...

I don't know why my pictures are getting chopped up but I've been trying to fix it and I'm totally at a loss...so enjoy HALF of the pictures I took. Ugh.

Happy Halloween...late again.

Maddie's surgery Tuesday went well. She had her second set of tubes put in her ears and had her adnoids taken out. Unfortunately Dallin brought home a pretty nasty cold bug that she has caught (along with Todd and I) and with it and the post-surgery sore throat she's pretty miserable. She's been watching Shrek 2 and 3 a lot (better than Dora or Max and Ruby for 4 days straight!!)Thank goodness for good medication...

Maddie wanted to go TOTing last night so we went to the churches Trunk or Treat. She was SO cute saying "Twick or Tweet" "Thank YOU" to everyone who gave her candy. She decided last minute that she did NOT want to be Cinderella, she wanted to be a pirate like her brother so I threw her costume together in about 5 minutes...no one knew what she was but she was cute anyway.
















Dallin was Captain Jack Sparrow (again) This costume will probably fit again next year too but he said he needs a sword.


And what is this? Gum in Maddie's hair. Her hair is very fine and if I cut that part out she'd have a pretty significant bald spot. So I took the Peanut Butter to it. Thankfully it all came out with little effort, although she was ticked I had to wash her hair out but there was no way I'd sleep with her next to me smelling like minty peanut butter. Blech.

Fun in Arizona

Man I miss Arizona. I miss family. It's hard being so far away, but this is the closest we've been since Todd and I got married 7 years ago. About 3 hours and 45 minutes will get you to my mom's house and another 45 to Pinetop. That's with no potty breaks though. Heh. That rarely happens.

The kids had so much fun at Nana's house on the big swing. We had a small birthday "party" with family Saturday night and it was such a blast. Adam and Tiff came up too for Jocelyn's birthday and it was so much fun seeing them. It really makes me miss everyone and I wish we lived closer. Right now Todd's job is ok but if anyone knows of an office looking for a kick-butt dentist let us know! Hahaha!

Picture overload

Errm...yeah. So it's been awhile since I posted any pictures of my beautiful kids so I think it's long overdue. Yes, a picture loaded post. You can shout "hooray" because I know you were thinking it. Heh...no? Ok then, I guess this is just for me. And no photography criticism please...these are straight out of the camera, I'm too tired to photoshop (plus I'm really not that good at it) I know there is a serious white balance issue here.

I have to say that this is probably my favorite picture of my kids because it really shows how much they love each other. Although they don't always show it, this picture captured their love and it makes my heart melt. Dallin is an amazing big brother with a big heart and a sweet spirit. I'm so grateful for him.



So silly and so fun!Because she's so beautiful when she's asleep. It doesn't happen often. She's not a good sleeper.



Dallin was letting me try out my new camera on him.

And that's it for me because I've got to get my rear to bed. See...I'm trying to lose weight. The "baby weight" is stubborn and won't come off so I've been going to the gym for the last 6 WEEKS at 5:30 AM (yeah you read that right) for an hour on the elliptical. And you want to know how much weight I've lost? 4 pounds. Not happy. Weight watchers can kiss my shoes. I'm trying South Beach.

You know...sometimes my heart just breaks...

I was reading a friends blog and her daughter (about the same age as mine) was eating a huge cupcake from a bakery. It made me sad for Maddie, who will never be able to eat a cupcake from a bakery, or a donut from Krispie Kreme, or a regular birthday cake from Safeway. Of course none of these things are healthy but to never even be able to have that treat, it just made me sad for her.

For those wondering, Maddie has a severe gluten intolerance or Celiac disease. We had her tested in May and found out that she also had a severe malapsorption issue, which is why her little self only weighed in at 21 pounds. Since taking her off gluten in May, she has gained a whopping 3 pounds, which in toddler pounds is a LOT. She's still very petite at 24 pounds and 32 inches she's about the size of an 18 month old but otherwise you'd never know she's different. She's so smart and talks like she's 13. Oh heavens we are going to have a blast with her as a teenager.

At church we've had to bring her gluten free bread for sacrament. Nursery presented a challenge but the leaders have been wonderful. They HAVE to wipe her hands before she eats. I bring her a special snack. Every once in awhile she gets glutened and it's very obvious but for the most part they do an awesome job.

As a mother you don't want your child to suffer. From the time Maddie was VERY young I knew something wasn't "right". I felt very proud of myself when I finally decided to do the testing (we went through an independant lab because the doctor's didn't believe there was any problem).
I'm glad we have answers. It's not easy (a lot of the time it's a huge pain in the rear) but it's worth it.
But it makes me sad. I'm scared to send her to school. People don't understand "gluten sensitive" like they understand "peanut allergy". She won't be able to have birthday cake when it's another child's birthday. Even some ice creams have gluten. She can't trade food with other kids because it could be cross contaminated. I try not to think of the "stuff" she'll miss out on because it really breaks my heart. All of it is food related, which is silly but our society is very focused on food. You don't realize it until it's taken away. No pizza parties, no sub sandwiches, no flour tortillas.

But I'm so grateful it's not anything worse. Her "problem" is taken care of simply with diet. That's it. No medication, no special exercises, nothing. Just diet. And it's so worth it to see your child respond the way she has. The difference is astounding.

She's an amazing little bug. She's sleeping on the couch behind me (we have sleeping problems with her, but that's not related) and giggling in her sleep. I tell you what, there is NOTHING cuter than that. And I'm so grateful for her.

Happy Birthday Dallin!!

My buddy is 5 today! I can't even believe it. More coming tomorrow when I'm not so tired. I got up at 5 this morning to go to the gym (and yet, I'm STILL not losing weight *sigh*).

Be back later :)

mmmkay...

For NOW I'm going to stay public. I have had many long-lost friends contact me through this blog and I'd hate for someone to stumble upon the front page only to have them see that it is private and they can't contact me. At some point in the future, I may go private (if I get any more weirdos commenting) but for now I'll stay public.

Dallin has started preschool again. He missed the cutoff for kindergarden by 1 month and 1 week. He doesn't care though because he LOOOOVES preschool, and I LOVE having a little bit of quiet in the afternoon. I don't have any "first day of school" pictures because he had STREP and missed the first day. So sad.

Maddie is now potty trained (wooo-hooo!!!) so that's her major accomplishment. We're working on staying in her bed all night next. *yawn*

And for those who have been eagerly awaiting pictures...here are a few from our most recent trip to Silverton, CO a couple of weeks ago. The kids wanted to play in the stream and went "fishing" with sticks. They had SO much fun.

Not yet...

We haven't gone private yet because I'm lazy...but it will happen when you least expect it!

Going private

Please post your email in the comments section if you would like to be able to continue to read updates to our blog. I will be going private at the end of the month.

Happy 4th of July...late

Sorry. I've been dealing with more bodily fluids than I care to mention. Here are a couple of my favorite shots from the 4th (and 5th) of July :) Sorry a couple are pretty pixelated.

Prayers for Peanut

Maddie got mowed over by a 4 YO friend yesterday and hit her head on the tile floor at the house we were visiting. We watched her and she seemed ok (despite the goose egg on the back of her head) but she woke at about midnight and started throwing up. I'm not really one to take my kids to the ER but head injuries aren't to be messed with so I took her in. They bypassed most of the other patients and got us in quickly. As soon as they brought us back, she had a REALLY awful diaper. I knew at that moment we were dealing with rotavirus. Dallin had it when I was pregnant w/ Maddie and I will never ever ever ever forget the smell.
They did a CAT scan and it came back normal. Now I'm just watching her for dehydration. Any prayers would be appreciated. My kids don't do well with stomach viruses and we've ended up in the ER more often than not because of them. I don't want to go back. *sigh*

And Todd is headed out of town tomorrow...please pray Dallin doesn't get it while he's gone.

Sleep

Maddie fell asleep on the couch yesterday in nothing but her little pettiskirt (the only thing besides her swimming suit I can get her to wear). I took these and some people on ILP photoshopped them a smidge for me (popped color, added texture to the couch).

Just in case...

Anyone checks my blog, I thought I'd give an update. :)
We've been enjoying summer vacation, finishing up "moving in" and traveling home to visit family. Everyone is doing well and we are enjoying our new home. It's finally CLEAN! (you know how it is when you move and it takes a million years to find new homes for stuff).

Anyway. That's about it. I think I have about 3 readers out there but I wanted them to know we're doing ok :)

The crud...

I'm not sure where it came from but it has joined our family for the last week or so. It started with Maddie and a runny nose. It caught Dallin and gave him a tickle in his throat. I got that tickle Monday. Dallin's tickle turned into a cough. A cough so intense that he would throw up and turn blue, Then a fever. And a "mom it hurts in my ear". After 2 doctor trips (why we didn't catch the ear thing the day before is beyond me, but the doctor said his ears were fine 24 hours earlier). So D and I are on antibiotics. Maddie has started coughing tonight (it sounds like drainage, and I'm praying it doesn't get worse!!) We were supposed to leave for Arizona today for a week, but that trip has been postponed. We are leaving Monday if everyone is doing better. Wednesday is as late as I can leave so we all BETTER be well by then!

That said, I can't complain too much. We haven't been too sick since February. I think that's pretty good considering Dallin is still going to prechool.
And speaking of Dallin, he finally fell asleep (he took a LATE nap 5-7PM) so I'm going to get my sick rear in bed too.

Mother's Day at Home :)

We took a short trip home again this weekend to spend Mother's Day with our mommys :) It was a wonderful trip and I got 2 GREAT pictures of the kids. Aren't they cute!

Unfortunately when I loaded them they look kind of weird, but you can still see how beautiful they are.

7 years today!

Todd and I have been married for 7 years. I can't believe it! Woohoo!

Grateful

I am so grateful for SO much. I am so blessed. I wanted to list some of the things I was thinking about tonight. (And fair warning, some are really silly!!) In no particular order (although my family IS what I am most grateful for)

1. My Family
2. My family's health
3. My health
4. Our new house that is so insulated that it only varies about 5 degrees inside when it varies 50 outside. LOVE that!!
5. Our church, and the peace it brings to my life
6. Food (yeah I like to eat, but more importantly, I'm grateful we can feed our children)
7. 2 cars that run. And mine gets 26 mpg. Love it.
8. Todd's job that provides for our family
9. Gluten free foods for Maddie. I'm grateful we live in a time when they are available
10. Ok this is super dumb, but I'm grateful for my new fridge that doesn't smell like butt. The fridge we used at the rental was clean (after I took BLEACH to it, but still stunk). Oh, and I'm grateful my fridge has a water dispenser. Cold water mmmmm...
11. Bathtubs with slanted backs so I can lay down and read. You know, when I have 5 minutes to myself. The kids think this feature is a slide. "I slide down mama" Maddie says. Oy!
12. An incredibly talented little sister who cut and dyed my hair at cosmo school for $37. Last time I went to a salon it cost me $100 more that that!!
13. Reading with my kids. They are SO smart. It amazes me.
14. The 2 hours between the time when the kids go to sleep and I go to sleep. Ah...quiet.
15. Good friends
16. Outside and sunshine
17. Temps in the 70's.
18. Cute shoes that don't hurt my feet.
19. Garage door openers that work. Let me tell you how not fun they are when they DON'T work.
20. Ok I could keep going but it's late. SO this is the last one...I'm grateful for baby/toddler kisses. Nothing is quite as sweet as your child giving you a hug and a kiss and telling you "I wuf you mama". Awwww.

Please pray for Samuel and his family

I have been following his story for 4 years and my heart is breaking for this family. They have been through SO much. Please pray that his passing will be swift and he will be free from the pain he has endured for so long.

*Warning: VERY sad*
http://www.samuelbackus.com/SamuelsUpdates.html

Silverton and Durango again :)

What can I say? We LOVE it there. We found an awesome NEW place to stay too. It's clean and NEW and comfortable. Did I mention it's NEW?? Not 100 years old. Not that I don't LOVE sleeping in old brothels, but hey...something new and comfortable. I'll take it. It's called Lola's Place and I HIGHLY recommend them. Tell them we sent you. Tommy is very nice and will talk to you forever and his wife is super sweet as well.
Anyway, before we headed up, we stopped at the Durango Fish Hatchery. I was trying to take pictures while keeping Maddie from swimming with the fish. The ugly fish. Ew.

Here are some pictures. They are straight out of the camera, and I wasn't really going for "great photography". Sometimes, on vacation you can't stop to mess with settings or you'll completely miss the vacation. So I just tried to get some decent shots.

Trying my hand at photography...

As much as I love my little point and shoot camera, I wanted to try it the hard way. With a digital SLR and in manual mode. I'm still new (only at this for a week) but so far I'm pretty pleased. Of course in a year I'll come back and laugh that I ever thought these were worth putting up, but hey...for now I like them :)

Moved in...almost!

95% of our stuff is now at the house and put away. The other 5% is still over at the apartment. I have another week to get it out and clean up. I've been picking up a load or two when I drop off/pick up Dallin from school since it's right around the corner and I have to pick up the mail there anyway.
It's amazing how wonderful having extra space is. Dallin is SO happy to have his own room and lots of floor space to set up his train tracks.
Here are a few pictures for anyone wondering. I'm not showing the front because I don't want any weirdos coming to my house ;)

I know you all missed me...

To all my 3 readers out there, I'm sorry about the couple days I haven't posted. Well, no I'm not. We've been gone with my parents and youngest brother Cody (who will be 13 in about a week). We spent some time in Silverton, CO and Durango, CO for the last few days. This included staying at the historic (and kind of crooked) Teller Hotel. I think it threw Maddie off a little because she kept laying down in the hallway like it was making her dizzy. We were the only ones there that night so we got the whole place to ourselves. It was an adventure. Let's just say I was SO grateful for the king size fluffy bed at the Hampton in Durango the next night!
We walked around a little bit, ate at the Brown Bear cafe for both dinner and breakfast because in the winter just about everything in Silverton is closed. We went sledding at Kendall Mountain which was REALLY fun, but Maddie wasn't sure what to think of the snow.
We went to the Venture snowboard shop and I stayed out in front with the kids while the rest of the family went "backstage" to see the factory. The kids LOVED the resident cats that live in the shop. They were fat and friendly.

We left Silverton after our sledding adventure and returned to Durango where we walked around on Main street, ran through the train museum because it was closing, saw one of the steam trains pull in (and run over some pennies).

We returned to the Hampton a wee bit early because really, we were all exhausted.
This morning we got up and puttered around for awhile. We ate the complimentary breakfast that the Hampton provided, and went to the Durango Museum.

We walked along the river, went to the health food store and decided that because Maddie, because she is the royal princess in charge of everything was throwing a fit, we should return to Farmington and let her sleep in the car. It worked out well and no sooner had we started out of town when we heard her snoring from the back seat. *phew*
We ate a late lunch at Red Lobster before they returned to Taylor.
It was SO wonderful spending time with the family, I wish everyone could have come. It's kind of weird only having ONE of my siblings with us, but it was still really really fun. I hope they come back soon.
And if anyone else wants to come visit, we are 45 minutes from Durango, about an hour and 45 from Silverton. We love visitors! Oh and we'll have a HOUSE in about 2 weeks! Woohooo!!