Sad, Neglected Blog

It has been so long since I've updated this blog. I now have one forth of 2011 to catch up on. For our family, those three months can be summed up in these three words, sickness, sickness, and sickness. I feel like we haven't been healthy forever.

January started for us with a wicked stomach flu, now known in our family as Satan's Flu. The entire family had it, but Emery was hit the hardest. She was so dehydrated she had to have IV fluids and many tests to make sure it wasn't something more serious than the flu. Three weeks went by before she was feeling better. It was all very scary.

Fortunately, by January 5th we had reached our insurance deductible. Why is that fortunate you ask? Because the rest of January and February and March involved more doctor's visits for everyone. Sinus infections, strep, bronchitis, random coughs, asthma problems. Spring please come so we can be healthy!!

On to happier thoughts...

Emery's 2nd Birthday!

She picked out her own Tinkerbell cake.

Sadly the dentist said that 2 year olds must say goodbye to their binkies. Cutting the top of off didn't work, so we went cold turkey. The result...72 hrs of non stop screaming.

Emery's favorite birthday present was this doll house. After she opened it her brothers helped her put it together. They all played so gently and sweetly together with the little Fisher Price family. After about a half hour I was in complete disbelief that my boys would play with a doll house. It was at that point that I hear Marc say, "Hey Rylan, where did you put the dad doll?" Rylan responds with, "He's back there behind the couch, he got beat up, and robbed!"

Oh yes, these are the boys I know!

Two year old's need big girl beds. So here is the first night in the Tinkerbell bed. It was a success!

I'm pretty sure this girl will become a great missionary. She spends much of her day sharing the scriptures with Daisy.

Science Fair

Marc took 2nd place at the science fair with his project Worthless Weatherman? For one month he tried to predict the weather using folklore, and then he compared his forecast to KSL's.

His forecasts were correct 50% of the time, compared to KSL's 58%. It was an awesome project and he worked really hard on it (so did his mom.)

Eat Your Heart Out Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Eat your heart out Macy's, the Cedar City Storybook Cavalcade Parade has what you don't.

Sure, you've got giant balloons, but we've got semi-large ones.

Do you have a really freaky monkey?

Or an even freakier goat, doubt it.

Do you have wild things?

Or kids stuck in a shoe?

I know you don't have clone troopers,

(my boys favorite part)

and I'm certain you don't have a girl this excited about smarties.

Mean Mom

Can you guess what's happening in this picture?

I had just started the laundry when I heard a blood curdling scream come from the laundry room. I had been discovered, beloved blankie was inside the washer. She tried for 20 minutes to free him. The harder she tried the harder I laughed. The harder I laughed the harder she cried. I'm a mean mom.

...and we have a winner

Marc won 2nd place the the 3D division of the reflections contest for his project "Together We Can Keep The Earth Clean." He is quite pleased with his medal. We are waiting to hear how he does in the district competition.

Thanksgiving

I've been looking forward to our quiet little Thanksgiving at home, but it seems a little strange as I've been getting ready today. I'm cooking for seven people, it seems like there should be a 4 or 5 in front of that seven. My turkey is 13 pounds, looks more like a big chicken to me. I've been dreading getting up in the middle of the night tonight to put it in the oven, because that's what I remember Mom doing. Turns out you don't have to cook a 13 pound turkey for twenty hours, so I'm going to sleep in. I made two pies, just two. (Maybe I should of made more though, because I could eat two.) Still need to make the homemade blue cheese dressing tonight. I always think of Aunt Chris when I make that.

I'm so grateful this Thanksgiving to have come from an awesome family, to have married into an awesome family, and to have my own awesome little family. I hope each of you have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Boo

What's worse than Halloween? Having to do it twice. I hate when Halloween doesn't fall on a school day and we get a "Double Halloween." Boo! Not a spooky boo either, just boo. I know, I know, every party has a pooper. But I didn't even like dressing up as a kid, and I always felt like a beggar when I went trick or treating.

So here's how it went for my kids-

Friday- Class parties, candy, candy, candy, rootbeer floats, donut, and another donut. Cupcakes for entering the pumpkin carving contest, licorice, homemade oreos, more candy. Pizza for dinner (my fault), then costumes on and we're out the door heading to the PTA carnival. Pixie sticks, candy bars, more cupcakes at the cake walk, suckers at Frankenstein's lab, smarties from the haunted fish pond. Ahhh, finally home.

Saturday-12:53 a.m. I wake up to Rylan standing next to my bed whimpering, "Mom, I think I'm gonna fro up." And he did.

9:00 a.m. livestock parade, then eat more candy.

1:00 p.m. off to get the blazer inspected (since it was the last day of the month). Didn't pass without new brakes, boo. (Once again, not a spooky boo, just boo.)

4:30 p.m. on with the costumes, on with the mullet, off to the ward trunk or treat. Oooo, windy and cold. To Grandma Sylvia's house, and finally back home. Off with the costumes, except for Darren who loved his mullet WAY too much. Mmmm, chili and bread sticks taste better than candy. And it's over until next year, and that's the part I liked.

Cute Kiddos

Last week Mindy come to town and took our family pictures. The fall leaves in Cedar Canyon were unbelievible, so unbelievible in fact that it looks like we were at Sears in front of a backdrop in many of these photos. Rest assured, we were not. Thanks for making the trip Mindy, we love them.

(Marc and Rylan appear to love each other here, do not be fooled.)