A Day Out

As one of the final Saturdays of summer, we decided to spend the morning as a family outside in the beautiful mountains that surround us. We went up Provo Canyon to Bridal Veil Falls. It was so beautiful. It was just a short walk from the parking lot down to the base of the falls. We are so lucky to have so much beauty around us.

Jess spotted them first!
Kayman didn't love the cold water on his feet, but he tolerated it for a little bit.
Kayman and me.
These girls had so much fun climbing on the rocks and playing in the COLD water! They were nice enough to pose for a picture for me.
Syd walked Dallas on the way back. She's giving an impromptu peace sign. Not sure where she learned that! :)
Man and his dad.

Cowabunga Bay

We surprised the girls and took them to Cowabunga Bay, a water park in Draper, yesterday with our friends! We got a babysitter and left Kayman and Annabelle home so we could enjoy the big slides with the girls. They have been begging to go ever since they saw it from the freeway when it was under construction. It was so fun! We spent 4 hours there and went on every slide. The girls loved every minute of it! There are spraying hoses and buckets of falling water everywhere! Half the fun of waiting in line for a slide was spraying people along the way! The guys especially had fun with that! It was a great way to spend a hot summer day before fall rolls in.

I wanted to get some pictures inside the park, but I really didn't want to have to worry about my camera...so here you go.

Hard to get

Kayman has become quite the ladies man. He gives the girls this look that just begs them to come play with him, then he runs away. He is such a tease. He's started to play hard to get a little young!

When it was time for our friends to leave, little Addy couldn't get enough hugs from Kayman! He was a little unsure of how to respond to all her hugs, but he didn't protest. How could you refuse a hug from such a beautiful girl? Aren't they just so cute! Thanks Jon and Laura for a great night! Kayman appreciated it too! :)

My big girl!

Syd started kindergarten on August 4th and she LOVES it! Her teacher, Mrs. Black, is great with her and Syd couldn't be happier. She was a little bummed that she didn't know anyone in her class, but she is already making friends. She finds some of her preschool friends at recess and gets to play with them a little bit too.

Syd went in for testing the week before school started, and I think she did great. Mrs. Black asked her to spell a few words and Syd froze. She has never spelled before and didn't really know what to do. Mrs. Black just told her to do her best and Syd started writing something (I didn't get to see what) and ever since then she has been very interested in how things are spelled.

She is already such a good student. Each of the kids is supposed to read or be read to for 15 minutes every day. Syd makes sure she gets her reading in, and she uses it as an excuse to stay up late in bed with her light on. "Mrs. Black said we have to read, so I have to stay up and read my books!" How can I argue with that?

So now that Syd is in the big school and going every day, she is trying to figure out her new place. She is acting up a lot and just waiting to see what my reactions will be. She has been a little difficult to be around, we are butting heads quite a bit. Hopefully as we get into a routine things will get better. Of course, as soon as we establish a routine, she will go off track for 3 weeks. Gotta love year round school.

Annual Powell Trip

We went to Lake Powell with Andy's family and spent a week on the house boat in Iceberg Canyon. It was a wonderful week! The only downfall was that we had to come home 2 days early due to 7 people getting swimmers ear. More people got symptoms once we got home, so it's a good thing we came home when we did. We had a great time while we were there though. Here is our family, minus Kayman, who was staying with my parents.

Jess on the tube.
Jess and Syd
A typical picture face from Jess. She has so much personality! :)
Pretending to water ski behind the boat.
Syd helping Daddy drive Grandpa's boat.
Watching skiers.
Syd tried to ski! She attempted once and didn't want to do it again, but I was surprised she tried! I think it helped that her cousins her age were all doing it.
Going down the slide on the house boat.
Jess wasn't a huge fan of the slide.

SOOOO Cool

The girls got to go out on the town with Grammy (my mom) and she took them out in the convertible bug! They loved it! They fell asleep by the time my mom brought them home, she wore them out! What a cool Grammy they have!

Garden Fresh Dinner

If you read the previous post, you know that my garden sucks this year due to the grasshoppers. I did manage to get a few things, but this is about the last of it. I have a few tomatoes left, but everything else was destroyed. What a yummy dinner I was able to make though. Garden salad and fried squash. I added a side of fruit and some BBQ chicken for a complete meal, and it was a big hit!

They eat them in other countries! EWWWW!

We have had a terrible time in the yard this summer. I started out really motivated to keep it looking great, but then it got out of control before I knew it. We had vacations and the weeds took over. I finally got that back under control, but then the infestation came. We have thousands of grasshoppers invading our yard! It's disgusting! Take a loot at the damage they have caused to my plants.

These are the raspberries I was SO looking forward to eating! They beat me to it.

This is the bark on one of my trees. I am not positive they did this, but I haven't seen any other critters I can blame at this point.

My garden pretty much sucks, this is what most of my vegetables look like.

I don't think the broccolli is going to work out this year.

My hollyhocks have nothing but stems left. Look how big those suckers are! Those ones are about 2 inches long.

We had a fire the other night and Andy started catching what he could and roasted them up. Even though there are probably thousands of them, he still felt better watching a few of them burn. Dallas ate a few for us as well. He has a good time catching them.

Here is a roasting grasshopper. We got so many that the yard started to smell pretty bad. Sorry to any of you neighbors who may have smelled something strange Friday night. KILL THE GRASSHOPPERS!

Hyphema

July 19, 2009 we were at Andy's parents house visiting with family. His sisters and brother were in town with their families for their annual summer visit to Utah. We took Dallas with us and tied him up in the back yard with a long bungee cord. The cousins were out playing with him for a while and having a great time. Kayman and I went to check on them and I noticed that Syd had tied his cord up pretty short so he couldn't move around a whole lot. I set Kayman down and fixed the cord so Dallas wouldn't go nuts.

As I was fixing the cord Syd and her cousin disappeared from the back yard and the gate was open. I went out front to find them playing in my sister in law's car and was nervous they would get hurt. I got them out of the car and when I turned around, Dallas was out front. I thought to myself, "How did he get up here?" I went around to the back yard and saw Kayman on the ground crying and Dallas had broken free from the bungee cord. My sister in law grabbed Kayman as I was coming around the corner, so I tied up Dallas again and went to talk to the girls about the dangers of playing in the car.

Andy was holding Kayman and he wasn't calming down. If you don't know Kayman, here's a little about him...he cries a lot, and something very minor can cause quite the tantrum from him...a little frustration sends him into raging fits that turn the heads of strangers who probably think I am hurting him...his shrieks are pretty regular and intense...but once he gets some comfort he usually calms down pretty quick. Once I noticed that he wasn't calming down I went to see him. His forehead was covered in welts and my mother in law told me his eye had a little blood on it when they brought him in.

We got him a popsicle to calm him a bit and when he stopped crying and opened his eyes we started inspecting them. They looked okay at first, just a little red, then after a few minutes his right eye started filling with blood. Andy and his dad and brother gave him a blessing and we rushed him to Primary Children's Emergency room. By the time we got there, the blood was up to his pupil. This picture was taken in the ER waiting room. As you can see, Kayman is in good spirits by this point. It took about an hour to get a room.

We were seen by the nurse, then the Doctor on call, then her boss who told us she thought it was a hyphema, but she was going to call Ophthalmology to check it out and in the mean time not to let him touch it. I asked what could happen if he touched it. She told me that if he has high pressure, rubbing his eye could cause a ruptured globe and that it could fall out. That was a little scary to hear, and we didn't let Kayman touch his eye at all after that. She also told us not to let him eat any more of the crackers and juice he had because if they need to admit him and perform eye surgery, he shouldn't have anything in his stomach. Ah! Eye surgery on a 20 month old?! By now it was bout 9:00 p.m. (this happened at 5:30) and Kayman missed dinner and was starving!

Ophthalmology made it down shortly after and confirmed the hyphema. He called it an "8 ball" because he whole eye was black by this point, as you can see below.

The Dr. took his eye pressure and had a hard time hiding how nervous the results made him. He said "Ooh, I hope that isn't right." He took it again 2 more times and the same result each time. Normal eye pressure is about 15, and Kayman's was at 44. We were told that if the pressure didn't go down by 8 a.m. he would need surgery. The high pressure can cause glaucoma and blindness. Kayman was prescribed 3 eye drops (one for the pressure, one to dilate it so it can heal, and a steroid) and an oral medication to decrease the pressure in his eye. We finally got out of there at midnight. We were to have Kayman sleep upright so the blood could drain from his eye and return to the ophthalmology department first thing in the morning.

Kayman slept fine and by the morning, the blood had drained from his eye, but his color was way off. His eye was green!

The Dr. couldn't see anything in his eye because it was still filled with blood. His eye basically got squished in half and ruptured all the blood vessels inside. We were told to continue the medications and not let Kayman do anything, he was basically on bed rest. (yea right! Have you seen the energy this kid has?!) Any kind of trauma could cause the bleeding to start again and cause blindness. The Dr. stressed that this is a very serious injury and that it is very important that he be as still as possible. We were to return in 2 days to check again. That appt. went fine and not much changed. It was healing, but he still couldn't tell if there was any damage to Kayman's vision.

I took Kayman in today for another appt. and the Dr. said his vision should be just fine. We can stop giving him the drops and he can resume normal activity! Yay! Kayman has nearly made a full recovery. We are thrilled that his vision is okay, as far as they can tell at this point. They can't find any damage to the optical nerve. My only concern was the fact that his eye is still so dilated and he has been off the dilating drops for a week. The Dr. said that sometimes it can take a few weeks for the drops to wear off. Hopefully that is the case. The other reason that it may be dilated is if the pupil muscle was torn or damaged during the accident. If that is the case, this is permanent. Here is my little man today. He looks so much better and is back to his old self! Hopefully the pupil will go back to normal, but we are just so grateful that he didn't need surgery and that his vision is okay. We have truly been blessed. This accident was so bizarre, and we are very grateful that more damage wasn't caused by this. Love you buddy!

Make up

The girls are so obsessed with make up. I never let them wear it, unless it is for a dance recital, so they get creative. Syd figured out that the pollen from the lilies is pretty easy to get on her fingers, so she put on some eye shadow...

...and then Jess thought it was a good idea. How beautiful. FYI: It's a lot harder to get off than it is to put it on.

First Girlfriend

Kayman has found himself an older woman. Bella is just a month older than he is, and they are two peas in a pod! These two are so cute together! They were actually holding hands last week, but today they just partied outside.

Too cute!
They both like to pretend to be dogs. Kayman is lapping up the water that collected in the back of his car from the sprinklers. They kept taking turns getting drinks.

Happy Birthday Jessica!

Jessica turned 4 today! She has been so excited to be 4. For some reason, it is just so much better than 3! She is very excited to go to preschool in a few months and start doing things her big sister is doing. In February, right before Syd's birthday, Syd kept talking about going to Chucky Cheese's for her birthday, and she ended up choosing Boondocks when the day actually came. Ever since then, Jess has been saying that she is going to have her birthday party at

Chucky Cheese's. I couldn't let her down.

Here are the kids being themselves, after LOTS of sugar...if you couldn't tell!

Kayman got to play a little ball and couldn't have been happier! He loves to play ball!
The girls played lots of games and rode lots of little rides together.
Jess chose the party hat cake pan at the store the other day. This was my first attempt in decorating a cake in a creative way. She chose the colors and I did my best. I could use a little practice, so it looks like this may be the traditional birthday cake from now on!
Jess is the sweetest little girl. She is still very into princesses and dressing up. (She slept in her Cinderella dress last night!) Her gift from Andy and me was a Princess vanity for her room, and she was sitting at it all day long! She loves to put on make-up, paint her nails, and dress pretty. It is rare when she doesn't have a skirt on.

Jess loves to sing songs she has learned at church and on movies. She doesn't like to be caught singing too often, she gets a little shy. Jess is a funny girl who makes me laugh every single day. She even makes me laugh when she is in trouble. She knows just the right face to pull at just the right time to get off the hook. It's hard to discipline when she does that, but somehow I manage. :)

I am so lucky to have Jess in my home. She is a wonderful child. She is happy and energetic and very creative. I love her originality and unique personality. She likes it when I lie down with her at night and the talks we have are hilarious. I learn a lot about her during this special time with her. I admire her and try to be as carefree as she is. Happy Birthday Jess! We love you!

Newborn Goat

Syd got to hold a 1 day old goat today! Our home teachers own quite a bit of property and they raise goats and hens. They have 2 female goats and one just gave birth yesterday to two cute little baby goats. We were excited for the invitation to come hold them. Jess was a little hesitant and didn't want to touch them, but Syd loved it! They also had kittens and bunnies there. A few months back these wonderful people brought us a few dozen fresh eggs from their hens! We are so lucky to live where we do and have such great neighbors! Who needs Wheeler Farm anyway?!

Independence Day

We had a wonderful 4th of July. We went camping at Bear Lake for a few days before the 4th and avoided all the Holiday crowds, and them headed up to the cabin on the 4th. The kids had a great time playing outside, riding bikes on the dirt roads, and Dallas gave himself a bath in the river. (I guess he was tired of waiting around for us to give him one.)

Here are the kids at the house before we headed to the cabin. They love the flag and were excited to have one in our yard. Kayman kept shaking the pole and making the flag wave, he loved it! They are all decked out in their red, white, and blue!

Smile!

This is what happens when we turn Syd loose with the dog and an old Halloween costume! Syd loves to dress up and she thought shed let Dallas have a turn. He didn't seem to mind too much, he is smiling for the camera!

I can tell he is just a little embarrassed though. This dog puts up with a lot!

Fathers Day

Andy got a tie for Fathers Day, and Kayman got one to match. So cute! Look at my handsome guys! I am so lucky to have them in my life. What a wonderful father Andy is to all the kids, and we are all so luck to have him. He is such a devoted and loving father. Thanks babe! We love you!