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!

WAY too busy!

A few weeks ago I decided to do a boutique today. It kept me so busy making enough jewelry for the show and getting all of my supplies put together for my booth. It turned out to be a great experience, the only problem was that it was supposed to be outside at Wheeler Farm, and it was a very stormy day. Luckily, they moved the boutique inside, but not many people came. I don't blame them, a rainy cold day is not ideal for taking your kids to a farm. I did have a good time though and sold a few items and got a few orders! Yay!

This is all in the midst of planning a Primary Activity for 110 kids, which I pulled off last weekend. And planning Sharing Time for Sundays, which is a huge task for me. I am not a fan of being up in front of people, especially when I have to entertain and teach them for 15 minutes. Not my favorite thing to do, but tomorrow is the last time until September! Maybe I will have a little time to clean the house and cook meals for my family! We have been eating out a lot lately.

I am so grateful for Andy and all of his help with everything while I was so busy the last few weeks. He has spent hours designing my business cards, order forms, etc. while helping out with the house and kids a ton. He is the greatest husband and best friend I could ask for! What a lucky woman I am! I count my blessings every day. I am so blessed.

Where is your mother?!

Kayman loves to give Dallas his milk bones, so I gave one to Kayman to take to Dallas and let him outside with it.  About 1 minute later Kayman walked up to me like this.  Yea, that's the milk bone he is eating.  Not sure if he ate the top part, or if Dallas ate it and at Kayman snagged it back from him.  Either way, Kayman was quite enjoying his little snack.  He didn't mind when I made him give it back to Dallas though, he just laughed as Dallas ate it.  Silly kid!

My big helper Syd asked me if she could take Dallas and Kayman on a walk this afternoon.  Seeing as I HATE to take the dog for a walk, I was thrilled that she would volunteer to do this chore for me.  Don't worry, she only went about 2 houses down and back a few times, not around the neighborhood.  She strapped the leash through the handle of the stroller and took off with the boys.

Apparently Dallas saw a cat or something he just couldn't resist because suddenly I heard screaming coming from the front yard.  I ran to see what was going on.   Dallas had pulled his leash so hard that it dragged Syd to the ground and she skinned her elbow, and the stroller was literally upside down, with Kayman strapped in.  The poor guy was face down on the street!  He had a bloody nose and the scrapes you see here, but he was more scared of the blood than anything.  He's not a big fan of blood.  So we had an eventful evening.  Dallas was banished to his dog run as I cleaned up the bloody kids.

Strawberry-licious

My favorite fruit has always been strawberries, so naturally I grow them at home.  I grew up with them in my garden and remember eating them all summer as a child.  I loved picking them fresh and having a little treat right there without having to go inside.  Strawberry is my favorite flavor in most candies and flavored drinks, etc.  I love it!

Two years ago I planted 5 strawberry plants in my back yard and they have spread to about a 4 ft. by 12 ft. area.  We already have tons of strawberries, and now my kids love to go out and pick them.   Nothing better on a hot summer day, or an extremely rainy summer day in our case this year, than fresh strawberries from the garden!

Farm Day

We went to Wheeler Farm last week and I got some priceless shots of the kids that I just love!  Had to share...

Syd and Kayman feeding the ducks bread.

Jess playing in the club house.
Syd, Jess, and their friend Samantha looking at the cows.

Here are all 3 kids looking at the cows.  I wish you could hear Kayman's impression of a cow, it's hilarious!

Kayman playing in the dirt.
Watching the cows.  I love that he was looking through the bench, he was just chillin' there for a few minutes!
Kayman's favorite animal at the farm was by far the ducks and geese.  He would just watch them like this with his hands behind his back, or he would chase them quacking.  
Peeking through the club house window.
We love Wheeler Farm.  It's a few hours of free entertainment for the kids.  Pack a lunch and make a day of it!  We go there quite often.  The kids love it.

Dancin' in the Rain

The girls took ballet and tap and had their recital at the Sandy Amphitheater on June 1, and it rained harder than I remember in years!  It was insane.  The recital went on for a little bit, and then right after my girls' dance they cancelled the recital.  It was miserable for the dancers and most of the audience had taken off by then anyway.  Only the parents remained.

Here is a picture of syd dancing with some of her friends.  Syd is the 5th from the right.  She did the dance well and loved being on the stage.

Jess, on the other hand, was not a huge fan of the stage.  She is on the left with her hands in her mouth sobbing.  Her friend Rebecca is next to her wondering what on earth could be wrong, and her teacher Tiffany is trying to console her right before the dance started.   It didn't work.  Jess looked like this through the whole dance and by the time I got to her backstage she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown!  She was so upset!  Poor little thing got scared at the last minute and was cold in the rain.
Here we are after the show was cancelled.  I look like I just got out of the shower.  My mom was holding Kayman and kept him pretty dry, he loved watching the rain.  They rescheduled the remainder of the recital for the following week.
Here are Syd and Jess just before the second go at the recital, which also had a terrible rain storm.  Don't they look beautiful!  They were more excited to wear make-up than to dance!  Well, when it was time go to on stage, I saw that Jess didn't go out next to Syd like we had talked about.  Then I saw her in the arms of another mother who was trying to console her.  She got scared again and didn't even walk out on stage this time.  She had a slight case of stage fright! :)

As soon as Syd finished the two dances beautifully we went to Dairy Queen for ice cream.  The girls are changing to a studio my friend just opened and we are so excited!  They love to dance!

Preschool Graduation

Sydney graduated from preschool!  I can't believe my child is going to kindergarten next year!  I always told myself that when I had kids old enough to Elementary school I would officially be old.  Well, I guess it's official.  

Syd had a wonderful time at Preschool and is ready to go to Kindergarten in a couple months.  She learned a lot from Ms. Teresa and will always remember her.  For about a week after school got out she kept begging me to go visit her.  She loved her experience there.  She memorized her part for the graduation ceremony and said it perfectly, and she was one of the only kids I could hear singing the songs.  I really love my Sydney.  Here are some pictures...

Here I am with my sweet graduate and my 2 other very cooperative children.  Andy was out of town, but my mom and mother in law both came to support Syd.

Syd said her part perfectly!

Me and my Syd.  She's looking more like me every day!
Syd and her teacher, Ms. Teresa.  She is a wonderful woman who always had very nice things to say about Syd.  She will get to teach Jessica in a few months!  Thank you Ms. Teresa, you are wonderful!