Weekend Getaway

Darren had to go to Vegas for two days so we went with him. I saw many old friends on this trip which is always nice. It is great to travel somewhere- anywhere around the world or just around here.... and be able to call up people and re-visit.

This is the Bellagio- always impressive. It makes me eager for spring.
After two days in Vegas we headed over to St George. We played around in Snow Canyon most of the day on Saturday.

We were all pretty tired after three days of sleeping in the same room. Sleeping in the same room means we all go to sleep at the same time and get up at the same time. And it means mom gets up a half dozen times to try to get Ella to go back to bed without waking up Tyler and Darren who are in the same room. I am grateful she doesn't wake up that many times at home.
Ella got her naps in when she could. I have always been very ...stressed... over making sure my kids get naps and stay on my/their "schedule". This vacation, I tried to let go and not be so stressed about it.

Today is Sunday. We are home. She has already been napping for almost 4 hours. She was exhausted. Beyond exhausted.

kid update

I got this tent when I was a little girl. It doesn't fit me anymore. In fact I remember when it stopped fitting me and I had to lay diagonal to fit in it, and pretty soon my feet just had to hang out the door.

Now we get it out and let the kids play in it for special occasions. Tyler even slept in it one night in his room.

Tyler's eye has mended great.

This was my mom's "birthday party" according to Tyler. I would have called it Sunday dinner to celebrate my moms birthday but Tyler said it was a party! I think it was because he loved the crepe dessert.
Luckily my mom wasn't there to see this part. She had stepped out to talk on the phone. (a daughter calling to wish her happy birthday)
I am trying to take some pictures of our Ella. These are some typical every day shots of her.
I was in the middle of changing her diaper when I got a phone call and came back to this!

- two bow ties

- one head band (around the neck)

- one tipsy hat

- one pink purse

- one "friend"/baby in her hand

- one pink tie

- no pants

She loves those accessories.

An eye update

I cant even tell everyone how grateful I am for Tyler's good recovery.

Yesterday he had two friends over because ...well, we already had them scheduled to come and a distraction from his eye hurting was good. They did all these puzzles!

Here is a picture of Tyler's eye today.

Yesterday it was still extremely red. I was concerned it wasn't healing because it was so red. But this morning we could see white on his eye ball. The membrane that was peeled away is pretty much smoothed over. (as much as I can tell anyway) but the shovel hit the middle of his green and black part and scratched down into the white part.

A friend told me the tongue and the eye are the two fast healing parts on the body. I AM GLAD FOR IT!!! Here's to a good.... continued recovery!

We are grateful for eyes

Today we had some friends over. The little boys were digging in the dirt with shovels. Tyler was standing too close leaning over one boys back, and when the little boys shovel came up... it scratched right down Tyler's eyeball. The shovel was filled with dirt, so my initial reaction was get the dirt out, I noticed the spot right where the shovel had hit his eye but that was all.

My friend looked at Tyler's eye and noticed more.

The shovel had scratched away part of the clear coat on top of the colored part of his eye. Our optometrist wasn't in today, family emergency, the optometrist down the street from them had just relocated, but my pediatrician would squeeze us into his packed day.

He said it was the worst abrasion he had seen on an eye. even showing me it (they put a stain in his eye and used a florescent light to see the scratch). It was big, ugly, and still had dirt under the eye flap. About the size of the top of my pinky in length and width.

So we got some medicine, some tylenol and some love and hopefully things will improve. Today but more so tonight-- was pretty rough!

Lamb-in

Tyler

Definition-

according to Tyler

(who just learned about the phrase ...In like a lion and out like a lamb in school)

Lamb-in : Weather we have in March, not a lamb day, and not a lion day..... a mix of both days.

We all went skiing yesterday at Solitude, taking turns with Tyler. He is getting so much better.

If you want to watch the video Darren took of him click on the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mpPOL5OUxA

Ella:

I wish I could show you all the funny pictures in my mind of Ella.

She loves to accessorize!!!

She was given bows, bracelets, necklaces, purses, etc... for Christmas.

So she wears them all- all at the same time, all the time!

She is into sunglasses too and needs to wear them in the house ... on top of her head.

We also made sugar cookies the other day, It was a fun, messy project.

I love cooking with my kids.

Ella had just got her whole shirt wet so we took it off BUT she had to leave on her pink tie- it was "pretty" she said.

Just a few more calories

This cute little girl ate the biggest dinner ever last night. I was so excited. We are really hoping to have her on the charts for her 2 year check up in a month. She has been below zero for so long. so every calorie counts.

Well-- As soon as she finished eating, she jumped up and started running around. This, along with the food not quite swallowed all the way in her mouth, made her cough and ... throw it up all up! All those precious calories! Gone to waste!

Our kitchen is starting to feel more like a room, than an empty room that is. Add two rugs and we are set! The couch we ordered is set to come in 4-6 weeks!

On a side note- Two friends and I are signed up for a half marathon on April 17th- Your welcome to join us. I am also planning on signing up for a hundred miler - The Little Red Riding Hood in Logan on June 5th! Any takers!?- you can do less than 100, like 25, 50, 75 ....

Tyler's spider web

Tyler built a huge spider web in our kitchen on Monday. He caught Ella in it, or rather, it caught Ella and she landed on a sharp edge of our stairs and split a good cut right between her eyes. Goose Egg!

Then Tyler got sick. Last night he still had a raging fever of 102. He said I wish Dad was a doctor- we had just returned from the doctors an hour before. It was nice to remind him that dad wasn't a doctor but he did have the priesthood and could give him a blessing. The fever finally calmed at about 3 am. I have never experienced that before. I slept with him all night. His pillow, sheets and pj's were just drenched in sweat.

I just watched the clock tick waiting to give him more tylenol and motrin. So a cough, an ear infection, a high temp and missing all week of school... we are on the mend. And so is Ella's head!

Valentines

Our neighborhood had a "Dance through the Ages" last night. Lots of yummy food and fun music. We learned some swing moves and had some rap music too. You could dress up if you wanted too. I needed to find a gangster hat for Darren to finish his 20's attire (he did have a boy tie on too earlier in the evening). I wore my sister's prom dress from years ago. It was fun!

The bunny hop!
There are only a few more weeks of snow left for Tyler to learn on. You can ski free every day from 3-4:30 at Alta. He is getting so much better.

Ella fell 4 times on Saturday. She looks pretty banged up. Cut her chin really bad, black bruise on her face, cut on her lower lip, and a skinned knee. She is durable!
Pictures of the kitchen soon. I just want to wait until we get our new couch.

To answer a few question from the previous post: We did buy a new table. I shopped forever and found one I absolutely love! We didn't repaint. We sold our old white couches for more than we paid for them on KSL! score!!

Floors

Well- we have found a few nights here an there that we are all home at night- It doesn't seem to happen very often- but we sure are trying. I think Darren and I both just need to say no to some of the things we are being asked to go do and attend. Family time at home in the evenings is great.

One night we played Mancala

We have also been very busy redoing our kitchen a bit.

These are the new floors- dark coffee color - and the table- and thats it! Give me a month and I will post better pictures.
These are the old floors - a natural color (orange, yellow and amber- no more!!!! yeah!!!)