Spring Break Our Trip to Utah

After Lily's dental surgery she recovered really quickly. She only had one dose of the pain killer they sent home with her. So we packed up and headed out to visit family the very next morning. For this trip it was just the girls and I. Gordon had to stay home to study. I was worried because it was a 12 hour drive that I was doing alone. Lily really stepped up to take care of her sisters since I couldn't be the one doling out treats while driving. The girls watched movies and did really well. We stopped every two or three hours for a stretch and a bathroom break. So I made it, without falling asleep! Hooray!

We stayed with my sister, Amber, since she's the one with the kids (cousins) but were able to draw in several of my family members who live nearby to come and play with us too.

Our first day we went to a place in SLC that was a cute village. I don't recall the name. It was a freezing cold day, where the temperatures felt even colder because of the wind. Brrrr!

We ate lunch, then explored a little. We fed ducks that looked domesticated since they were so friendly and unafraid of the kids.

The kids at lunch (what a crowd!)

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The Moms (two of them are Amber's friends who met up with us)

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The village had a candy shoppe. We let the kids each choose a candy (the highlight of their trip!)

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From 2009_03_26

The second day the wind died down and let us have a pleasant day. We took advantage and had a picnic at the park. I didn't take my camera, so pictures can be found here.
Later that day we stopped by a feed store and held chicks and ducklings. They were so cute and all the girls were convinced we should take one home. We mean parents held our ground and didn't give in, we didn't take any birds home with us.

Saturday we went to the Utah House. This was a field trip for the adults. It's a house built trying to be the most efficient it can. They have carpet made out of recycled water bottles. The fridge is extra insulated. It's landscaped with the trees in just the right spots to give shade to the windows that would get too much sun. It gave us ideas of things we could do to our own houses (someday when I own a house again). :) The girls weren't too impressed though. This was Abigail's take on the whole thing.

From 2009_03_28

Sunday we drove the twelve hours home. The weather wasn't encouraging. It was snowing and windy, the visibility was low. I was tempted to turn around and wait another day to make the drive. But once we were past Spanish Fork Canyon the snow stopped. The wind didn't though, I tried to take a couple pictures to show you...

From 2009_03_29

We had dust storms the whole rest of the way. At one of the gas stations I stopped at the satellite had been knocked out and they couldn't dial in for credit card purchases. I was the lucky first customer right after that happened, so it was with my card that the cashier had to call on and figure out why she was getting weird messages.

Here are the girls on the way home:

From 2009_03_29

From 2009_03_29

Lily's New Smile

Lily had some extremely reluctant baby teeth. Her dentist suggested we pull them. I was hesitant so a friend recommended we see her orthodontist for a consultation. He suggested the same thing, so after seeing another doctor, and missing a bunch of school, Lily had FIVE teeth pulled out during spring break!

Before:

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And After:

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Her new adult teeth should be able to grow in now that the baby teeth aren't in the way. And we'll be heading back to the orthodontist in a couple of months to start talking about straightening them out.

Lily's Baptism

The day after Hannah's wedding, while we were still in Utah with so much family, Lily was baptized. It was a Sunday evening in my sister's ward building. Setting it up in another ward took a little work, but I think it was worth it in the end. Lily was able to have all her grandparents there, and most of her aunts, uncles and cousins. She was glowing in all the attention and love that was showered on her that day.

The program was filled my members of the family that Lily had asked to participate and it went really well.

From 2009_02_15

Lily was really excited to be baptized and Gordon and I are proud of the growth she's made in the gospel. She's gone with Gordon as his hometeaching companion and has taught lessons. She is also great at reminding us to have Family Home Evening. She is growing into her testimony and we are so happy to have her as our daughter.

A Weekend trip for a Wedding

My sister Hannah got married! Hooray! We drove up to Utah so we could witness the ceremony and celebrate.

Part of the fun of a sibling getting married is doing our "Sister's Dance". This time we chose the song, "All You Really Need is Love" by Brad Paisley. It seemed to fit since Hannah kept on trying to have a really simple wedding but felt pressured into having more and more of a traditional wedding. Here is the video of me doing the dance. I don't have any pictures of all of my sisters lining up to do this (shout out to all of those to may have these pictures, I need them e-mailed to me, please.)



Our dance appropriately embarrassed Hannah in front of her new in-laws. Tee-hee :)

The wedding was beautiful on that cold, snowy day in Provo. And the reception was fun, despite being more than Hannah had wanted.

Hannah and Will

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The cake Amber made

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Corinne napping

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The wedding was an early one and left time for more fun in the day. So we headed up to Amber's house and celebrated Ashley and Lily's birthdays (since they were both within the week and Valentine's day all in one. The kids made Valentines, and we ate yummy food and played games.

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Gordon was really proud of his streamer hanging:

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We finished the night off with chocolate fountain for dessert, and I think Jaxon approved:

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Annika too:

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The whole day was full and fun!

Lily had a birthday Shout Hooray!

Lily turned eight! She really wanted a star science party which took a lot of brainstorming for me to come up with something fun, star-related, for the kids to do. We could have, of course, taken a couple of kids to the planetarium, but that seemed like too much effort and to much $$$ right now. So I brought the planetarium home by buying this:

From internet

This little toy projects the starmap onto the ceiling and comes with a CD tour of the constellations. So we blacked out the window in Lily's room and ushered her friends in there for a planetarium lecture as our first activity. After that I handed out paper and pins for kids to punch their own constellations out of paper.

From 2009_02_07

After they were done punching holes I turned off the lights again and the kids could use flashlights to make their new constellations glow.

We served pizza for lunch then cake right after...

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From 2009_02_07

The kids beat up the most star-looking pinata I could find.

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From 2009_02_07

After presents we sent the kids home with glow-in-the-dark star stickers and star-shaped sunglasses.

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The kids all seemed to have fun, and I didn't go crazy, so mission accomplished!

Sorry I'm so behind

I've been incredibly tired for the last little while and haven't done much at all. My house can prove it. I have several excuses, I'm sure you'll believe me that all of them are valid, but I do promise to post a couple of events.

Lily's birthday

Lily's baptism

My sister's wedding along with our "sister's dance"

But onto my excuses...

Excuse #1: I'm expecting!

I don't yet know what I'm expecting (hopefully human, probably a girl) but he/she should make an appearance in September.

Excuse #2: I'm having thyroid trouble

This is mostly resolved now, but during the mess I was really stressed and worried about it. My first blood tests had shown thyroid hormone levels that were high. I was referred to an Endocrinologist who found a lump on my thyroid that could be causing the hyperactivity, and also could be cancerous. Now, after the biopsy, I'm much more calm. The results were still inconclusive, but my doctor reassured me that I'm very low risk. My thyroid hormone levels, while being higher than normal, aren't high enough that they pose a risk to the baby or myself. So we will watch my lump by ultrasound, and I'll be having a few more blood tests than normal, but I get to stay as a low-risk pregnancy, hooray! I will have a more thorough surgical biopsy later, after the baby is born to make sure there's no cancer.

Hopefully you can find it in your heart to forgive me for taking a month off of blogging, I'll try to be a little more consistent from here on out.

A Memorial

Three years ago today, my dad passed away from cancer. Sometimes it seems so cruel that we've all gone on living our lives without him here. He was supposed to be a part of it. But most of the time when I think of him I remember the good things, and hope he would be happy with how things are turning out for all of us. It takes a while, and there were songs I couldn't listen to for a long time, and movies I couldn't watch. They would make the pain too raw. But it is much better now. I think the hardest times are still the big events that he is missing. My sister's wedding four weeks ago. I was feeling that my dad should've been there. A father should get to see all his children get married. Then, right when I needed it my dad's life-long best friend came in the room. I felt like my dad came with him. This man has known us all our whole lives and gave us all hugs and it was a big spiritual comfort to have him come.

I felt like Heavenly Father knew I needed my dad that day, and he sent my dad's best friend, to help me feel his love.