I've got more pictures of the kids up on my photo blog...
http://newtonaaaa.blogspot.com/
Monday, July 23, 2007
ONE MILE!!!!!!!!!
Ok... so I've been exercising. It's kind of a two fold thing. I'm trying to loose weight since I really needed to loose about 40 pounds. I'm trying to exercise 6 days a week, but not stressing if I miss a day here or there. I'm also trying to get into running. I enjoyed running in jr high school, but have not really run since, and what running I did back then- wasn't intense or any long distance or anything.
So I've been slowly running short amounts of time, and walking between- doing intervals... last week I decided to just try and see if I could run for 10 minutes straight... and I did! It was so close to a mile, that today I decided I would try for the mile.
I ran a whole mile straight! I didn't stop, I didn't have to slow down throughout the mile. I went a whole mile at the same steady pace! WOOO HOOO!!! After the mile I did bump the pace down a little bit, but then I was still able to jog about 1/3 mile afterwards before I went down to walking. I'm finally seeing some progress and it is really cool!!
Also I lost 6 pounds since the begining of the month. I'm trying to stay away from the sweets, but I have eaten some- usually at special occasions. I'm not dieting, but just eating smaller portions and really thinking before I just munch and grab stuff to snack on. I've cut out a lot of my snacking and am finding out that I'm not really hungry when I snack, I'm just snacking to snack, and that makes it easier to just not grab those snacks. :)
So I've been slowly running short amounts of time, and walking between- doing intervals... last week I decided to just try and see if I could run for 10 minutes straight... and I did! It was so close to a mile, that today I decided I would try for the mile.
I ran a whole mile straight! I didn't stop, I didn't have to slow down throughout the mile. I went a whole mile at the same steady pace! WOOO HOOO!!! After the mile I did bump the pace down a little bit, but then I was still able to jog about 1/3 mile afterwards before I went down to walking. I'm finally seeing some progress and it is really cool!!
Also I lost 6 pounds since the begining of the month. I'm trying to stay away from the sweets, but I have eaten some- usually at special occasions. I'm not dieting, but just eating smaller portions and really thinking before I just munch and grab stuff to snack on. I've cut out a lot of my snacking and am finding out that I'm not really hungry when I snack, I'm just snacking to snack, and that makes it easier to just not grab those snacks. :)
Monday, July 16, 2007
If there is one type of sick that I would choose to NEVER have...
it's vomiting... and diareah. I can handle the head colds, ear infections, sinus infection, pain from other ailments... but the sick whole body wrenching spasms and out of control feeling I get when I have the flu... is just the worst sickness that I have every experienced.
Yep... that was me last night... I felt a little bad when I went to bed, couldn't ever get comfortable and go to sleep and BANG! 2am and I was in the bathroom. Then it was back and forth through the night.
I am so glad that Rich is able to take sick days. He took a sick day to stay at home and take care of the kids- so I could basically lay there and zone in and out of consciousness all morning long.
On a much more happier and brighter note...
My sister had her baby boy this morning!! I haven't felt up to calling her on the phone yet to tell her congratulations, but I heard she had a tougher delivery than some of her past deliveries. Her little baby boy is just too adorable, and now the grandchild boy/girl balance is getting a little closer to even. We just need two more boys in the family to even things out. lol!
Yep... that was me last night... I felt a little bad when I went to bed, couldn't ever get comfortable and go to sleep and BANG! 2am and I was in the bathroom. Then it was back and forth through the night.
I am so glad that Rich is able to take sick days. He took a sick day to stay at home and take care of the kids- so I could basically lay there and zone in and out of consciousness all morning long.
On a much more happier and brighter note...
My sister had her baby boy this morning!! I haven't felt up to calling her on the phone yet to tell her congratulations, but I heard she had a tougher delivery than some of her past deliveries. Her little baby boy is just too adorable, and now the grandchild boy/girl balance is getting a little closer to even. We just need two more boys in the family to even things out. lol!
Friday, July 13, 2007
Hello...
Well this week has been another week that has flown by. I went and exercised at the Y mon, tues, and wed. Yesterday I took the day off and today I stayed home, but did some new workout video's I got for days that I'm just not feeling like driving down to the Y. I'm sure a video of me trying to follow the kickboxing and pilates video's would be hilarious, but I'm not ready for anyone to watch me trying to do it yet!! I've never done either type of workout before so it was definitly a new experience. lol! :)
I have a new idea about turning our office into a playroom, so we'll see if it happens. If we can pull it off and get it to work- I'll post some before/after pictures.
I was looking through the newspaper adds on Sunday and noticing that they are already starting to have school supplies in stock and on sale... then I realized that we only have a little over one month left of summer break! Then I'll have 3 kids in school! WOW! Even though Alyssa will only be in half day- it makes a big difference in our daily routine.
Oh and I did something I've never done before this past week too. I had set up an appointment for Angela to have her 2 year check-up. When I made the appointment I was at the dr's office and just put the little card in my wallet to transfer it onto the calender when I got home. Well I forgot to. On Wed I was doing some stuff and got to thinking about the appointment that I knew was coming up and wondering when exactly it was... I went and fished it out of my wallet and was shocked to find out it was for 1/2 hour before when I went searching for it... whoops!! Luckily our dr's office was very nice and let me reschedule the appointment and they didn't give me any hassle about it at all.
I have a new idea about turning our office into a playroom, so we'll see if it happens. If we can pull it off and get it to work- I'll post some before/after pictures.
I was looking through the newspaper adds on Sunday and noticing that they are already starting to have school supplies in stock and on sale... then I realized that we only have a little over one month left of summer break! Then I'll have 3 kids in school! WOW! Even though Alyssa will only be in half day- it makes a big difference in our daily routine.
Oh and I did something I've never done before this past week too. I had set up an appointment for Angela to have her 2 year check-up. When I made the appointment I was at the dr's office and just put the little card in my wallet to transfer it onto the calender when I got home. Well I forgot to. On Wed I was doing some stuff and got to thinking about the appointment that I knew was coming up and wondering when exactly it was... I went and fished it out of my wallet and was shocked to find out it was for 1/2 hour before when I went searching for it... whoops!! Luckily our dr's office was very nice and let me reschedule the appointment and they didn't give me any hassle about it at all.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
PICTURES!!
I finally got all the pictures uploaded on my other blog site where I do pictures...
http://newtonaaaa.blogspot.com/
enjoy!! :)
http://newtonaaaa.blogspot.com/
enjoy!! :)
Monday, July 09, 2007
New Template
So I thought I'd change to a different template... Any thoughts?? Do you like it? Better, or worse than the ones I've had in the past?? Let me know! :)
100
This is my 100th blog post. Wow... I really do enjoy having this blog to just write in and record things in. I used to be a great journal writer, but now I seem to do more emailing and writing on here instead of in a journal. My mom mentioned I should print these out and put them into a notebook to have a hard copy. I guess with 100 posts I am well on my way to filling up a small notebook. :)
Last week I exercised 5 out of the 6 days that I have available to exercise (no exercising on Sunday). This week we'll see if I can get all 6 in, but I'll be perfectly happy if I can average 5 days every week. :)
Tonight Alex is so excited because he will get his orange belt at Karate. He tested last week and he will get the new belt tonight at his class. He really does enjoy it and I'm glad that he is feeling confident with it. The only drawback to him taking Karate (Taekwondo actually- I just type Karate because it's easier!)is that I have to keep the three girls entertained for 45 minutes, and it's right before dinner time- when they are cranky and fighting and not very fun to be around...
Last week I exercised 5 out of the 6 days that I have available to exercise (no exercising on Sunday). This week we'll see if I can get all 6 in, but I'll be perfectly happy if I can average 5 days every week. :)
Tonight Alex is so excited because he will get his orange belt at Karate. He tested last week and he will get the new belt tonight at his class. He really does enjoy it and I'm glad that he is feeling confident with it. The only drawback to him taking Karate (Taekwondo actually- I just type Karate because it's easier!)is that I have to keep the three girls entertained for 45 minutes, and it's right before dinner time- when they are cranky and fighting and not very fun to be around...
Friday, July 06, 2007
Exercise
So... again I'm re-dedicating myself to exercise more. I'm also not eating as much now too... so hopefully I can see some results. I've exercised every day this week, and today I'm feeling very sore. I am so tempted to not go and to just stay home and take a break today- but I know that in my mind if I miss one day- it leads to two and on and on. For me routine is so critical. I did sleep in later that I should have this morning, so I will wait and go to the Y this afternoon when the childcare is available then. If I went now, by the time we got there we would only have an hour until childcare was closed- until later today when they open it up again.
I've gone to the Y on Mon, tues, and thursday this week. On Wed it was closed because of the holiday and I went over to the highschool and ran and walked on the track there. There was a group of people doing a workout with sprints and stuff when I got there and a few of them had artificial legs. It was really neat to watch them working out and running at such a great level- they were the ones leading the workout and you could tell that they pushed themselves even harder than they were pushing the other runners. It was really inspiring to watch. I also enjoyed being outside on the track. It was hot and humid and if I'm going to start doing it on a regular basis I'll have to go earlier in the day when it isn't quite so hot, but it was a nice change of pace to working out inside at the Y.
I've gone to the Y on Mon, tues, and thursday this week. On Wed it was closed because of the holiday and I went over to the highschool and ran and walked on the track there. There was a group of people doing a workout with sprints and stuff when I got there and a few of them had artificial legs. It was really neat to watch them working out and running at such a great level- they were the ones leading the workout and you could tell that they pushed themselves even harder than they were pushing the other runners. It was really inspiring to watch. I also enjoyed being outside on the track. It was hot and humid and if I'm going to start doing it on a regular basis I'll have to go earlier in the day when it isn't quite so hot, but it was a nice change of pace to working out inside at the Y.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Our vacation
Our June 2007 Family Vacation:
We just got back from our family vacation and I thought I’d write up about it while memories were fresh in my mind.
THURSDAY
Thursday we left. We left in the afternoon so Rich could go to work that day and just come home early and not have to take a full day off of work. Alyssa and Ashley had their very last swimming lesson that morning at the YMCA and then we ran to the bank to get some cash for the trip, and to Wal-Mart to exchange some capri’s I had bought that were too small for the next size up (and then I forgot to pack them... oh well!), and the pharmacy to pick up a refill I had forgotten to pick up the previous day. Rich actually wound up getting home before we did, and then we quickly finished packing up the van and feed everyone lunch and we were off.
The first day of a road trip is usually realtively calm and quiet. The kids are cooperative and I can usually get a lot of reading done instead of refereeing. My mom called us sometime during the drive and we realized that we had forgotten to bring the wedding present I had bought for my sister- it was still sitting in the garage waiting to be loaded into the car. No bid deal though and we knew we could just pick up an identical present at Target when we got there. We made great time and got to our hotel at about 10pm. There we discovered that instead of what we thought we had reserved a double queen bed room, we had actually gotten a double- double bed room… no big deal though… we just would have a little less space in the beds. Then we unloaded all the suitcases and sleeping bags (with four kids- two get the priviledge of using sleeping bags at hotels), got all the kids changed into pj’s and then worked on getting them to go to sleep.
This is the one thing both Rich and I really do not like about going on vacation. Trying to get four kids to sleep all at the same time after having been cooped up in carseats for a long drive. It really just does not go smoothly- ever… So there we were with four kids in pj’s and two girls fighting over space in a shared bed, and one little girl giggling and laughing and refusing to stand still much less lay down… So I got dressed again and took the biggest offender (Angela) out to the lobby to let her wind down a little bit more, while Rich seperated Alyssa and Ashley to separate beds and sat and watched sportscenter- something that is sure to drive the girls to boredome and to sleep.
Angela and I stayed in the lobby for about an hour and a half until I felt like she was starting to get tired. She made friends with the desk clerk and had some crayons and coloring pages to play with and we looked at all the stuff that would be out for breakfast the next morning (empty serving stuff set up). We read newsweek (that was cute… too bad I didn’t have the camera) and she “counted” the apples in the bowl on the coffee table in the lobby. (counting… one, two, one, one, two, one, two, two, two, etc…) We headed back to the hotel room and it still took about ½ hour for me to get her to go to sleep. I think I went to sleep around 1:30am Albuquerque time… so 2:30am Oklahoma time.
We just got back from our family vacation and I thought I’d write up about it while memories were fresh in my mind.
THURSDAY
Thursday we left. We left in the afternoon so Rich could go to work that day and just come home early and not have to take a full day off of work. Alyssa and Ashley had their very last swimming lesson that morning at the YMCA and then we ran to the bank to get some cash for the trip, and to Wal-Mart to exchange some capri’s I had bought that were too small for the next size up (and then I forgot to pack them... oh well!), and the pharmacy to pick up a refill I had forgotten to pick up the previous day. Rich actually wound up getting home before we did, and then we quickly finished packing up the van and feed everyone lunch and we were off.
The first day of a road trip is usually realtively calm and quiet. The kids are cooperative and I can usually get a lot of reading done instead of refereeing. My mom called us sometime during the drive and we realized that we had forgotten to bring the wedding present I had bought for my sister- it was still sitting in the garage waiting to be loaded into the car. No bid deal though and we knew we could just pick up an identical present at Target when we got there. We made great time and got to our hotel at about 10pm. There we discovered that instead of what we thought we had reserved a double queen bed room, we had actually gotten a double- double bed room… no big deal though… we just would have a little less space in the beds. Then we unloaded all the suitcases and sleeping bags (with four kids- two get the priviledge of using sleeping bags at hotels), got all the kids changed into pj’s and then worked on getting them to go to sleep.
This is the one thing both Rich and I really do not like about going on vacation. Trying to get four kids to sleep all at the same time after having been cooped up in carseats for a long drive. It really just does not go smoothly- ever… So there we were with four kids in pj’s and two girls fighting over space in a shared bed, and one little girl giggling and laughing and refusing to stand still much less lay down… So I got dressed again and took the biggest offender (Angela) out to the lobby to let her wind down a little bit more, while Rich seperated Alyssa and Ashley to separate beds and sat and watched sportscenter- something that is sure to drive the girls to boredome and to sleep.
Angela and I stayed in the lobby for about an hour and a half until I felt like she was starting to get tired. She made friends with the desk clerk and had some crayons and coloring pages to play with and we looked at all the stuff that would be out for breakfast the next morning (empty serving stuff set up). We read newsweek (that was cute… too bad I didn’t have the camera) and she “counted” the apples in the bowl on the coffee table in the lobby. (counting… one, two, one, one, two, one, two, two, two, etc…) We headed back to the hotel room and it still took about ½ hour for me to get her to go to sleep. I think I went to sleep around 1:30am Albuquerque time… so 2:30am Oklahoma time.
Friday
FRIDAY
Well sometime around 6:30 am the kids started to wake up. I had wound up sleeping in a bed with Alyssa, and while sleeping she seemed a bit warmer than usual, but I normally don’t sleep with her and thought perhaps she was just warmer because of the shared body heat. I jumped in the shower and got myself ready and while Rich was showering I started getting the girls changed and ready. By then Alyssa was awake and I could tell she had a slight fever. She started coughing and wound up coughing up the yellow acid that sits in your stomach when it’s empty… oh.. the night before she really didn’t want to eat much for dinner- I guess that would have been a sign she wasn’t feeling all that great. So we drugged her up with ibuprophen and finished getting ready. We loaded the suitcases back in the car and went to breakfast. Sometime in there we lost Angela’s baby blanket. We went to breakfast and the kids behaved great. We actually got compliments from others on how cute and well behaved our children were. Shocking I tell ya! ;-)
Then we loaded into the van and hit the road again. We had driven 8 hours the previous day and had 10 hours on the itenerary for that day. The drive went relatively well. Alyssa had her fever and wasn’t feeling great, but she didn’t throw up anymore- until we stopped at the gas station. I had her out of her seat to go to the bathroom and she threw up again. Luckily my hand caught most of it and a bag was closeby so we didn’t have a huge mess all over the van and her. I gave her some tylenol to help the fever and lots of water (with a pull-up on so she didn’t have to worry about having an accident), and went back to driving (what else can you do? ) We wound up taking an alternate route by accident that turned into a fun drive. We had a map printed out we wanted to follow, but we also pulled up the car’s GPS system and had thought the map it pulled up was identical. Instead it was slightly different and took us by the north rim of the grand canyon. A scenic drive that was fun, but not really quicker than the original route. The kids did well on the drive and got along fairly well. Alex and Ashley cooperated and took turns choosing movies and didn’t complain when it was the little kids turns as well.
We got to St. George and the hotel where my parents, and three sisters and their family, fiance, and boyfriend were staying at. I checked in at the front desk for a key and they gave me a key to room 241. Angela and Alyssa had fallen fast asleep so Rich and Alex and Ashley took a load of suitcases up to the room and I stayed out in the car with them. I called my parents to let them know we were there and unloading and my dad came out to greet us. Of course Alyssa woke up and being sick I had my dad take Angela and I took Alyssa and we went into the hotel. (It was 105 degrees outside so sitting in the parking lot was not comfortable). Rich came around the corner with the kids and told me there must be a mistake because he opened the door to the room and someone elses suitcase was sitting on the bed. So I went up to the front desk and at the same time my dad realized that the desk had gotten things mixed up. Our entire party was all registered by my mom and dad and they had given us the key to my sisters fiance, and boyfriends room, instead of the adjoining room to my sisters hotel room which we were supposed to have. So we got that all straightened out and suitcases deposited into the room.
In the meantime my dad was holding Angela and she woke up and got frantic that she had no idea where she was, or who she was with and cried so much that she threw up… all over herself and my dad. I took her and calmed her down and changed her clothes. Then we went and ate pizza that my parents had gotten delivered to their room. Rich stayed in our room with Alyssa since she had the fever. I made a plate up with some pizza and fruit and took it over to him and he had realized that we had forgotten to put the garment bag into the car when we loaded the car. The garment bag had all of our church clothes for the entire family in it, and Rich’s dress shoes. Luckily I had stashed dress shoes for the kids and I into our individual suitcases because the garment bag was full.
So… my sisters family and my other sister were planning on heading to the pool. Alex and Ashley wanted to go and I just put Angela in her swimsuit and sent her with them too. Rich and I took Alyssa with us and we went on a shopping trip. My sister Nancy had made new skirts for she and I, so I needed to find a shirt that would go with the skirt for me, and dresses for the girls and shirt and pants for Alex and the expensive stuff was Rich’s shirt, pants, tie, belt, and shoes… Kohls really is a great one stop shopping place and we were able to get a shirt for me, dresses for Alyssa and Angela, and shirt, tie, pants, belt and shoes for Rich. Ashley is at such a hard age to find a dress for. There were absolutely no dresses in her size at Kohls. We did find one cute shirt that was nice and I knew I had seen lots of skirts at the wal-mart at home, so we got the shirt and then went to wal-mart to look for a skirt for her and get pants and a white shirt for Alex. At wal-mart it was easy to find Alex a shirt and pants… then we went to the girls section and started looking for dresses. The only dress I found at all was one with a halter style neckline- no sleeves of course. The skirts they had were like denim shorts cut offs, with a lace ruffle… and they were short… not something I would find appopriate for a six year old to wear. So we decided that she had a pair of gaucho’s that could kind of pass as a skirt and she would just have to wear that.
We went back to the hotel and went to our room and our room key wouldn’t work. So I went to the front desk again… and we figured out that my sister with my kids had gotten into the room through her room (which was the point of having connecting rooms) and when they left someone had turned the deadbolt on our door, so the key won’t work. My kids were hanging out with my parents, since my sister and her boyfriend and our other sister and her fiance had taken off to go watch a movie- so we didn’t have the key to my sisters room either… so the front desk opened up her room and we got into our room through the connecting door. That night luckily the kids went to sleep relatively easily and quickly. The time in the pool helped wear them up and we all got to sleep before midnight.
Well sometime around 6:30 am the kids started to wake up. I had wound up sleeping in a bed with Alyssa, and while sleeping she seemed a bit warmer than usual, but I normally don’t sleep with her and thought perhaps she was just warmer because of the shared body heat. I jumped in the shower and got myself ready and while Rich was showering I started getting the girls changed and ready. By then Alyssa was awake and I could tell she had a slight fever. She started coughing and wound up coughing up the yellow acid that sits in your stomach when it’s empty… oh.. the night before she really didn’t want to eat much for dinner- I guess that would have been a sign she wasn’t feeling all that great. So we drugged her up with ibuprophen and finished getting ready. We loaded the suitcases back in the car and went to breakfast. Sometime in there we lost Angela’s baby blanket. We went to breakfast and the kids behaved great. We actually got compliments from others on how cute and well behaved our children were. Shocking I tell ya! ;-)
Then we loaded into the van and hit the road again. We had driven 8 hours the previous day and had 10 hours on the itenerary for that day. The drive went relatively well. Alyssa had her fever and wasn’t feeling great, but she didn’t throw up anymore- until we stopped at the gas station. I had her out of her seat to go to the bathroom and she threw up again. Luckily my hand caught most of it and a bag was closeby so we didn’t have a huge mess all over the van and her. I gave her some tylenol to help the fever and lots of water (with a pull-up on so she didn’t have to worry about having an accident), and went back to driving (what else can you do? ) We wound up taking an alternate route by accident that turned into a fun drive. We had a map printed out we wanted to follow, but we also pulled up the car’s GPS system and had thought the map it pulled up was identical. Instead it was slightly different and took us by the north rim of the grand canyon. A scenic drive that was fun, but not really quicker than the original route. The kids did well on the drive and got along fairly well. Alex and Ashley cooperated and took turns choosing movies and didn’t complain when it was the little kids turns as well.
We got to St. George and the hotel where my parents, and three sisters and their family, fiance, and boyfriend were staying at. I checked in at the front desk for a key and they gave me a key to room 241. Angela and Alyssa had fallen fast asleep so Rich and Alex and Ashley took a load of suitcases up to the room and I stayed out in the car with them. I called my parents to let them know we were there and unloading and my dad came out to greet us. Of course Alyssa woke up and being sick I had my dad take Angela and I took Alyssa and we went into the hotel. (It was 105 degrees outside so sitting in the parking lot was not comfortable). Rich came around the corner with the kids and told me there must be a mistake because he opened the door to the room and someone elses suitcase was sitting on the bed. So I went up to the front desk and at the same time my dad realized that the desk had gotten things mixed up. Our entire party was all registered by my mom and dad and they had given us the key to my sisters fiance, and boyfriends room, instead of the adjoining room to my sisters hotel room which we were supposed to have. So we got that all straightened out and suitcases deposited into the room.
In the meantime my dad was holding Angela and she woke up and got frantic that she had no idea where she was, or who she was with and cried so much that she threw up… all over herself and my dad. I took her and calmed her down and changed her clothes. Then we went and ate pizza that my parents had gotten delivered to their room. Rich stayed in our room with Alyssa since she had the fever. I made a plate up with some pizza and fruit and took it over to him and he had realized that we had forgotten to put the garment bag into the car when we loaded the car. The garment bag had all of our church clothes for the entire family in it, and Rich’s dress shoes. Luckily I had stashed dress shoes for the kids and I into our individual suitcases because the garment bag was full.
So… my sisters family and my other sister were planning on heading to the pool. Alex and Ashley wanted to go and I just put Angela in her swimsuit and sent her with them too. Rich and I took Alyssa with us and we went on a shopping trip. My sister Nancy had made new skirts for she and I, so I needed to find a shirt that would go with the skirt for me, and dresses for the girls and shirt and pants for Alex and the expensive stuff was Rich’s shirt, pants, tie, belt, and shoes… Kohls really is a great one stop shopping place and we were able to get a shirt for me, dresses for Alyssa and Angela, and shirt, tie, pants, belt and shoes for Rich. Ashley is at such a hard age to find a dress for. There were absolutely no dresses in her size at Kohls. We did find one cute shirt that was nice and I knew I had seen lots of skirts at the wal-mart at home, so we got the shirt and then went to wal-mart to look for a skirt for her and get pants and a white shirt for Alex. At wal-mart it was easy to find Alex a shirt and pants… then we went to the girls section and started looking for dresses. The only dress I found at all was one with a halter style neckline- no sleeves of course. The skirts they had were like denim shorts cut offs, with a lace ruffle… and they were short… not something I would find appopriate for a six year old to wear. So we decided that she had a pair of gaucho’s that could kind of pass as a skirt and she would just have to wear that.
We went back to the hotel and went to our room and our room key wouldn’t work. So I went to the front desk again… and we figured out that my sister with my kids had gotten into the room through her room (which was the point of having connecting rooms) and when they left someone had turned the deadbolt on our door, so the key won’t work. My kids were hanging out with my parents, since my sister and her boyfriend and our other sister and her fiance had taken off to go watch a movie- so we didn’t have the key to my sisters room either… so the front desk opened up her room and we got into our room through the connecting door. That night luckily the kids went to sleep relatively easily and quickly. The time in the pool helped wear them up and we all got to sleep before midnight.
Saturday
SATURDAY
Saturday morning we all woke up and Rich and I got ready for the wedding. My youngest sister and her boyfriend were watching my kids and my sisters three kids at the hotel while we attended the wedding at the Temple. It was a beautiful wedding. After the ceremony my sister and I and our husbands (Rich and Jacob) went back to the hotel to pick up the kids and bring them over to the Temple for pictures. Nancy and I made a quick bouquet with some flowers my mom had bought the day before, while our hubbies got the kids changed and into the cars. We didn’t take too many pictures because it was unbelievably hot… 105 or something like that. Then we went over to a luncheon at a church building. The kids got to run around and play a bit more and we could relax in the air conditioned building.
We left St. George around 2pm and drove up to Midway Utah. There would be a reception down in Orderville, Utah for my sister and her new husband that night, but we were going to be going to the reception the following Saturday up near my parents house, so we skipped that reception that night. The drive from St. George to Midway was 4 ½ hours. In Midway we went and got some McDonalds for dinner and let the kids get rid of some extra energy in the play area. Angela had a blast climbing up and going down the slide over and over and over and over again. Then we went and meet up with Rich’s parents and sister Sharon and her family over at the house we had rented for the whole family to stay at.
The house was a great house for a reunion. There were six bedrooms. One master bedroom with a king size bed, four bedrooms with queen size beds in them, and one large bedroom with three daybeds in it. Under the daybeds was another mattress that we could pull out and we had six twin size beds in that room. There was a good size kitchen/dining/living room upstairs, and a large game room downstairs with a pool table and fooseball table and big screen tv. Rich’s brother showed up and the kids all loved playing with their Uncle Dave until it was bedtime and we got them all in bed. Alex and Ashley and Elijah (Sharon’s oldest) got to stay up a little later, but when it was bedtime they still had to be reminded a few times to be quiet and not to talk. Three of our kids and three of Sharon’s kids all slept in the room with the six twin beds. The best part of renting a house and all staying together was in the evenings. We would get the kids in bed and we could sit up and talk or play games and have some adult time together.
Saturday morning we all woke up and Rich and I got ready for the wedding. My youngest sister and her boyfriend were watching my kids and my sisters three kids at the hotel while we attended the wedding at the Temple. It was a beautiful wedding. After the ceremony my sister and I and our husbands (Rich and Jacob) went back to the hotel to pick up the kids and bring them over to the Temple for pictures. Nancy and I made a quick bouquet with some flowers my mom had bought the day before, while our hubbies got the kids changed and into the cars. We didn’t take too many pictures because it was unbelievably hot… 105 or something like that. Then we went over to a luncheon at a church building. The kids got to run around and play a bit more and we could relax in the air conditioned building.
We left St. George around 2pm and drove up to Midway Utah. There would be a reception down in Orderville, Utah for my sister and her new husband that night, but we were going to be going to the reception the following Saturday up near my parents house, so we skipped that reception that night. The drive from St. George to Midway was 4 ½ hours. In Midway we went and got some McDonalds for dinner and let the kids get rid of some extra energy in the play area. Angela had a blast climbing up and going down the slide over and over and over and over again. Then we went and meet up with Rich’s parents and sister Sharon and her family over at the house we had rented for the whole family to stay at.
The house was a great house for a reunion. There were six bedrooms. One master bedroom with a king size bed, four bedrooms with queen size beds in them, and one large bedroom with three daybeds in it. Under the daybeds was another mattress that we could pull out and we had six twin size beds in that room. There was a good size kitchen/dining/living room upstairs, and a large game room downstairs with a pool table and fooseball table and big screen tv. Rich’s brother showed up and the kids all loved playing with their Uncle Dave until it was bedtime and we got them all in bed. Alex and Ashley and Elijah (Sharon’s oldest) got to stay up a little later, but when it was bedtime they still had to be reminded a few times to be quiet and not to talk. Three of our kids and three of Sharon’s kids all slept in the room with the six twin beds. The best part of renting a house and all staying together was in the evenings. We would get the kids in bed and we could sit up and talk or play games and have some adult time together.
Sunday
SUNDAY
Sunday morning we all got up bright and early and got ready for church. It started at 9:30 am and we were lucky that it wasn’t far away, or we might have been late. We went to church with Rich’s grandfather- my mother in law’s father. During the middle of the service I had to get up and quickly go to the bathroom because I had a nose bleed… fun fun… Rich’s youngest sister meet us at church with her family- their flight had gotten in late the night before and they decided to stop at a hotel instead of driving all the way down to midway that night. After sacrament meeting was over all of us kids and grandkids headed back to the house while Rich’s parents stayed to attend the other meetings with his grandfather. We had a nice afternoon at the house with everyone playing and reaquainting themselves with each other. Then we loaded up and headed down to Mona, Utah.
Rich’s uncle bought the little house that his dad’s dad grew up in and it has a wonderful yard that makes it a perfect gathering place for large family gatherings. We were there and starting to wonder where Rich’s brother Dave was when he drove up. Ashley had ridden in the car with him and they had left at the same time we did. It was a good 20-30 minutes later when he drove up and surprised us by having his girlfriend with him. She had driven up with him from Arizona and stayed with some cousins in Orem the night before, but decided to come and join us for the dinner.
We had a traditional Newton taco dinner with all the cousins, and extended family that could come and visit. The kids had a great time running around and playing in the yard. We brought out some toy helicopters that my dad had given my kids and they all had fun chasing those around and launching them. We even had it get stuck up high in a tree and on a roof and Sharon’s husband- James had to climb up and get it down. Through this all Alyssa still had the fever, so we were trying to keep her away from others and since she wasn’t feeling well that was fairly easy to do and she clung to Rich or I almost the entire time. We stayed till it was starting to get dark and then left. I was in charge of an activity the next day and had to print out some stuff, so we stopped at my parents house on the way back to midway and printed off the stuff I needed- and then got back to the midway house. All of Sharon and Laura’s kids were already in bed and it made it much quicker to just change our kids into pj’s and have them go to sleep without cousins to lay and giggle with late into the night.
Sunday morning we all got up bright and early and got ready for church. It started at 9:30 am and we were lucky that it wasn’t far away, or we might have been late. We went to church with Rich’s grandfather- my mother in law’s father. During the middle of the service I had to get up and quickly go to the bathroom because I had a nose bleed… fun fun… Rich’s youngest sister meet us at church with her family- their flight had gotten in late the night before and they decided to stop at a hotel instead of driving all the way down to midway that night. After sacrament meeting was over all of us kids and grandkids headed back to the house while Rich’s parents stayed to attend the other meetings with his grandfather. We had a nice afternoon at the house with everyone playing and reaquainting themselves with each other. Then we loaded up and headed down to Mona, Utah.
Rich’s uncle bought the little house that his dad’s dad grew up in and it has a wonderful yard that makes it a perfect gathering place for large family gatherings. We were there and starting to wonder where Rich’s brother Dave was when he drove up. Ashley had ridden in the car with him and they had left at the same time we did. It was a good 20-30 minutes later when he drove up and surprised us by having his girlfriend with him. She had driven up with him from Arizona and stayed with some cousins in Orem the night before, but decided to come and join us for the dinner.
We had a traditional Newton taco dinner with all the cousins, and extended family that could come and visit. The kids had a great time running around and playing in the yard. We brought out some toy helicopters that my dad had given my kids and they all had fun chasing those around and launching them. We even had it get stuck up high in a tree and on a roof and Sharon’s husband- James had to climb up and get it down. Through this all Alyssa still had the fever, so we were trying to keep her away from others and since she wasn’t feeling well that was fairly easy to do and she clung to Rich or I almost the entire time. We stayed till it was starting to get dark and then left. I was in charge of an activity the next day and had to print out some stuff, so we stopped at my parents house on the way back to midway and printed off the stuff I needed- and then got back to the midway house. All of Sharon and Laura’s kids were already in bed and it made it much quicker to just change our kids into pj’s and have them go to sleep without cousins to lay and giggle with late into the night.
Monday
MONDAY
Monday was our BYU/Provo day. We all meet down on the BYU campus (where Rich, his siblings, all of us spouses, his parents and many of his cousins went to school). When we had been thinking of the reunion and things we wanted to do, we thought it would be neat to show the kids BYU campus where all of us meet our spouses… I came up with the idea to do a scavenger hunt of places throughout the campus that had a significant memory for people in the family. I took “clues” that people wrote about a significant place and described the event, and told where it was and then we had to guess which family member had submitted that event. We broke into three groups with three different lists of clues, so each group didn’t have to walk all over the entire campus. Then we would walk to the place, read the clue, decide who we thought it was about, and take a picture of someone in our group holding up the name of who we had decided it was about. It really was a fun activity and I had a lot of fun tagging along with the group and playing the poker face while they tried to figure out who the clue went to…
BYU Scaveger hunt clues (from memory… I can’t find my copy that I had)
Group A:
1. This person described this as the “best class on campus” he took it three times. It was intermediate golf and held on the field south of the Smith Field House. {Dave}
2. Two people in our family went on their first date to a volleyball game at the Smith Field House. Afterward they walked over to the Grandparents house and had dessert and played games. {Rich and Julie}
3. Two people had their first kiss on the steps of the Smith Family Living Center. The steps are no longer there, but there is a new Smith Family Living Center built in it’s place. {Lamar and Eileen}
4. First impressions are not always true. These two people were paired together for a ward dance, and ditched each other at the dance held at the Smith Family Living Center and left with other friends. {Rich and Julie}
5. Two people in our family meet while going to an Astronomy class lab on the top of the Kimball Tower. {Sharon and James}
6. One person in the family spent “a lot of time” at the computer lab in the Talmage building. {Bob}
7. One person in the family spent some time at the jewelry counter selecting matching CTR engagement rings for herself and her intended. {Laura}
Group B:
1. Two people in our family went on their first date to the DeJong Concert Hall. They saw “Magic Flute” {Laura and Bob}
2. Two people in our family had a special spot. It was a fountain on the south side of the Smoot Administration building. There they would practice their two step around the fountain. {Lewis and Dianne}
3. One person in our family spent a lot of time at the Harold B Lee library. He would spend 3-4 hours a day there studying. He was found there one evening by the Hewlett Packard Recruiter with the help of a special significant other. {Lewis}
4. The Wind Tunnel in the Engineering building is where this person spent a lot of time. They would test wing shapes in it. {Troy}
5. The Bike racks at the Knight Magnum building would usually not be considered a romantic spot. For two people in our family it was though. He proposed to her there and after three more hours of talking she said “yes”. {Laura and Bob}
Group C:
1. The museum of Art holds some memories for one person. She had the “Dining plus” on her meal card and would meet her sister there for lunch during her first year at BYU. She also took an Art Appreciation class that left her not appreciating art quite as much. {Laura}
2. Two people in our family went on their first date to the DeJong Concert Hall. They watched “Sunday in the park with George”. {Lamar and Eileen}
3. This person lived in Deseret Towers in “R” Hall. She invited her future spouse to an “R” hall dance for their first date. {Dianne}
4. One person in our family spent a lot of time in the south parking lot of DT practicing with the BYU Marching band. There was a white “tower” that the band members jokingly referred to as the “Rameumptom” where the director would watch to see the formations and shapes the band created. {Heidi}
5. The BYU Basketball team had a thrilling game against Utah and beat them in a close finish at the Marriot Center. One member of the family was there to witness the great game. He was also at a lot of their other games with front row seats as BYU only won that one game that year. {Dave}
It was fun. Afterwards we went to the Wilkenson Student Center and had lunch and then we all went bowling afterwards. It was fun to see the kids try to bowl. A lot of them had never bowled before. After we were all done bowling we went over to Rock Canyon Park.
Rock Canyon Park is where Rich and I took our engagement photo’s at. It has changed sooo much in the past 10 years. I barely recognized the turn off to it because what used to be empty areas surrounding it are now full of houses! We spent the afternoon and early eveing playing games, eating, laughing and just having a great time together. We didn’t leave until dark- and on the way home the Alyssa and Angela fell fast asleep since they hadn’t had any nap at all that day. That made bedtime really fast since we just transferred the little ones into their beds fast asleep. Then again us adults got to stay up and talk and play games probably later than we should have, but it was fun for all of us.
Monday was our BYU/Provo day. We all meet down on the BYU campus (where Rich, his siblings, all of us spouses, his parents and many of his cousins went to school). When we had been thinking of the reunion and things we wanted to do, we thought it would be neat to show the kids BYU campus where all of us meet our spouses… I came up with the idea to do a scavenger hunt of places throughout the campus that had a significant memory for people in the family. I took “clues” that people wrote about a significant place and described the event, and told where it was and then we had to guess which family member had submitted that event. We broke into three groups with three different lists of clues, so each group didn’t have to walk all over the entire campus. Then we would walk to the place, read the clue, decide who we thought it was about, and take a picture of someone in our group holding up the name of who we had decided it was about. It really was a fun activity and I had a lot of fun tagging along with the group and playing the poker face while they tried to figure out who the clue went to…
BYU Scaveger hunt clues (from memory… I can’t find my copy that I had)
Group A:
1. This person described this as the “best class on campus” he took it three times. It was intermediate golf and held on the field south of the Smith Field House. {Dave}
2. Two people in our family went on their first date to a volleyball game at the Smith Field House. Afterward they walked over to the Grandparents house and had dessert and played games. {Rich and Julie}
3. Two people had their first kiss on the steps of the Smith Family Living Center. The steps are no longer there, but there is a new Smith Family Living Center built in it’s place. {Lamar and Eileen}
4. First impressions are not always true. These two people were paired together for a ward dance, and ditched each other at the dance held at the Smith Family Living Center and left with other friends. {Rich and Julie}
5. Two people in our family meet while going to an Astronomy class lab on the top of the Kimball Tower. {Sharon and James}
6. One person in the family spent “a lot of time” at the computer lab in the Talmage building. {Bob}
7. One person in the family spent some time at the jewelry counter selecting matching CTR engagement rings for herself and her intended. {Laura}
Group B:
1. Two people in our family went on their first date to the DeJong Concert Hall. They saw “Magic Flute” {Laura and Bob}
2. Two people in our family had a special spot. It was a fountain on the south side of the Smoot Administration building. There they would practice their two step around the fountain. {Lewis and Dianne}
3. One person in our family spent a lot of time at the Harold B Lee library. He would spend 3-4 hours a day there studying. He was found there one evening by the Hewlett Packard Recruiter with the help of a special significant other. {Lewis}
4. The Wind Tunnel in the Engineering building is where this person spent a lot of time. They would test wing shapes in it. {Troy}
5. The Bike racks at the Knight Magnum building would usually not be considered a romantic spot. For two people in our family it was though. He proposed to her there and after three more hours of talking she said “yes”. {Laura and Bob}
Group C:
1. The museum of Art holds some memories for one person. She had the “Dining plus” on her meal card and would meet her sister there for lunch during her first year at BYU. She also took an Art Appreciation class that left her not appreciating art quite as much. {Laura}
2. Two people in our family went on their first date to the DeJong Concert Hall. They watched “Sunday in the park with George”. {Lamar and Eileen}
3. This person lived in Deseret Towers in “R” Hall. She invited her future spouse to an “R” hall dance for their first date. {Dianne}
4. One person in our family spent a lot of time in the south parking lot of DT practicing with the BYU Marching band. There was a white “tower” that the band members jokingly referred to as the “Rameumptom” where the director would watch to see the formations and shapes the band created. {Heidi}
5. The BYU Basketball team had a thrilling game against Utah and beat them in a close finish at the Marriot Center. One member of the family was there to witness the great game. He was also at a lot of their other games with front row seats as BYU only won that one game that year. {Dave}
It was fun. Afterwards we went to the Wilkenson Student Center and had lunch and then we all went bowling afterwards. It was fun to see the kids try to bowl. A lot of them had never bowled before. After we were all done bowling we went over to Rock Canyon Park.
Rock Canyon Park is where Rich and I took our engagement photo’s at. It has changed sooo much in the past 10 years. I barely recognized the turn off to it because what used to be empty areas surrounding it are now full of houses! We spent the afternoon and early eveing playing games, eating, laughing and just having a great time together. We didn’t leave until dark- and on the way home the Alyssa and Angela fell fast asleep since they hadn’t had any nap at all that day. That made bedtime really fast since we just transferred the little ones into their beds fast asleep. Then again us adults got to stay up and talk and play games probably later than we should have, but it was fun for all of us.
Tues/Wed
Tuesday
Tuesday we woke up early again and drove over to “This is the Place” park in Salt Lake City. It is a pioneer village that has really grown in size in the past few years. We got to see a lot of different houses and buisnesses that would have exhisted in the pioneer days. There is a petting zoo, blacksmith shop, printing shop, bank, carpenters shop, leather workers shop (I can’t remember the official name) church, school, pony rides, wagon rides, “train ride” (the train was not really a train). The kids had a great time.
That afternoon we then went over to Temple Square. We took some family pictures in front of the Salt Lake Temple, and then went on a short tour Rich’s mom put together for the kids. She did a great job with some simple facts and clues that kept the kids attention. The tour included the top floor of the Joseph F Smith Building, the Beehive house, a walk by the Lion House, the Tabernacle, the North Visitors Center (with the Christus statue) and the new assembly hall. Angela fell asleep during the time at the Tabernacle, so I sat down in the visitors center and had a wonderful time chatting with my brother in law’s girlfriend while the others finished the tour.
After our tour was over we all headed over to Golden Corral for a big family dinner. Again we had a good time and then it was time to say goodby to the family members that we had reaquainted ourselves with during the trip. The kids had a great time getting to know cousins that they don’t see as often. Then we headed back to the house to sleep.
Wednesday
Well kind of Wednesday… Angela had the hardest time going to sleep that night. She would wake up after an hour or so and cry… around 3am she started screaming in pain. Poor girl. I wound up sitting up on the couch in the game room for the rest of the night with her sleeping on my chest. With all the excitement and going going going that we had had that week I had forgotten to give her one of her allergy medicines and she had become really really stuffed up. The congestion got to her ear and she was in pain and had a fever. So… after that loveley night we all slept in a little later than the past few days and the morning hours were spent getting kids fed and dressed, and Sharon’s family and mine needed to pack up our suitcases and search for missing items around the house.
We went and had a fun little picnic lunch up at a state park near the house and the kids had fun exploring the little structures they had there. We went from there and ran to a grocery store to pick up more pain reliever for Angela with her ear ache, and then we went to the Heber Valley Railroad. We rode the train down provo canyon. It was a fun and scenic ride. It was a little bit hot though, so on the return trip we “had” to get the kids some ice cream to help them cool off. Poor Angela though was just not feeling well and spent most of the time on my lap and dozing off and on. She did however find enough energy to play on the play structure at Vivian park- the halfway point on the round trip down and back up the canyon. It just amazes me the energy she can find when she gets near a slide- even when she is feeling sick!
After our train ride we said goodby to everyone and drove down to Orem to stay with my parents for a few days. At my parents house my dad took the three big kids over to the park to play with the helicopters he had given them again. Alex had a great time getting to know Mom and Dad’s dog Tasha. He kept sneaking out to the garage to toss her a treat. For Alex this is huge since he has always been so fearfull of dogs.
Tuesday we woke up early again and drove over to “This is the Place” park in Salt Lake City. It is a pioneer village that has really grown in size in the past few years. We got to see a lot of different houses and buisnesses that would have exhisted in the pioneer days. There is a petting zoo, blacksmith shop, printing shop, bank, carpenters shop, leather workers shop (I can’t remember the official name) church, school, pony rides, wagon rides, “train ride” (the train was not really a train). The kids had a great time.
That afternoon we then went over to Temple Square. We took some family pictures in front of the Salt Lake Temple, and then went on a short tour Rich’s mom put together for the kids. She did a great job with some simple facts and clues that kept the kids attention. The tour included the top floor of the Joseph F Smith Building, the Beehive house, a walk by the Lion House, the Tabernacle, the North Visitors Center (with the Christus statue) and the new assembly hall. Angela fell asleep during the time at the Tabernacle, so I sat down in the visitors center and had a wonderful time chatting with my brother in law’s girlfriend while the others finished the tour.
After our tour was over we all headed over to Golden Corral for a big family dinner. Again we had a good time and then it was time to say goodby to the family members that we had reaquainted ourselves with during the trip. The kids had a great time getting to know cousins that they don’t see as often. Then we headed back to the house to sleep.
Wednesday
Well kind of Wednesday… Angela had the hardest time going to sleep that night. She would wake up after an hour or so and cry… around 3am she started screaming in pain. Poor girl. I wound up sitting up on the couch in the game room for the rest of the night with her sleeping on my chest. With all the excitement and going going going that we had had that week I had forgotten to give her one of her allergy medicines and she had become really really stuffed up. The congestion got to her ear and she was in pain and had a fever. So… after that loveley night we all slept in a little later than the past few days and the morning hours were spent getting kids fed and dressed, and Sharon’s family and mine needed to pack up our suitcases and search for missing items around the house.
We went and had a fun little picnic lunch up at a state park near the house and the kids had fun exploring the little structures they had there. We went from there and ran to a grocery store to pick up more pain reliever for Angela with her ear ache, and then we went to the Heber Valley Railroad. We rode the train down provo canyon. It was a fun and scenic ride. It was a little bit hot though, so on the return trip we “had” to get the kids some ice cream to help them cool off. Poor Angela though was just not feeling well and spent most of the time on my lap and dozing off and on. She did however find enough energy to play on the play structure at Vivian park- the halfway point on the round trip down and back up the canyon. It just amazes me the energy she can find when she gets near a slide- even when she is feeling sick!
After our train ride we said goodby to everyone and drove down to Orem to stay with my parents for a few days. At my parents house my dad took the three big kids over to the park to play with the helicopters he had given them again. Alex had a great time getting to know Mom and Dad’s dog Tasha. He kept sneaking out to the garage to toss her a treat. For Alex this is huge since he has always been so fearfull of dogs.
Thurs/Friday
Thursday
Thursday morning we took it easy and slept in. That afternoon Ashley went with my mom and Susan to go shopping. It was her birthday present from Grandma- so they were going to try and find a dress for her since we hadn’t had much luck the Friday before when we had to buy new clothes for the family. After they had been gone for about 15 minutes, my mom called me and told me that they were headed back to the house. Ashley had thrown up in the car on the drive. So she brought her back home and she had a fever so we gave her some meds and Rich went and laid down with all the girls. They were so tired from the busy schedule we had had the past few days. They all fell asleep down on the bed Rich and I were using and took a nice long nap.
I had a wonderful opportunity to go and visit with an old Highschool friend for a few hours that afternoon. Originally we had intended to get the families together and the kids could play, but since my kids were sick we thought it would be better for me to just go and visit with her while her kids were taking naps. It was so good to see her and just sit and talk for a while. Email and phone are nice, but it isn’t the same thing as sitting and chatting together.
That evening Angela’s fever was getting progressively worse and she was in more and more pain, so we took her into the Urgent Care clinic. I was very happy with the clinic- they took our out of state insurance and they bill it as a regular office visit- even though it was open in the evening and they could choose to bill as Urgent/emergency care. Angela’s ear was very swollen and the dr asked us if we had noticed any discharge from it- it was close to rupturing. We got a prescription for antibiotics for her and left. By then it was 9pm and we soon discovered that there are not very many pharmacies open past 9pm in Orem. We finally found a Wal-greens that was open 24 hours and got it filled.
Friday
Friday we had planned on going to the zoo, but since Ashley was sick and Angela was sick, we sent Alex and Alyssa with my sister Susan and her boyfriend. They would meet my brother and his wife up at the zoo and the four of them would be with the kids. Alyssa and Alex were so excited to go to the zoo with Susan without mom and dad along. Lol!
Ashley was feeling a little bit better, so by that afternoon we decided that she could go shopping with Grandma again. She had a great time and came home with two dresses, a shirt and a skirt that she talked Grandma into buying. Rich and I had the unusual experience of running errands with just Angela along for the ride. We ran a bunch of errands for ourselves, and my mom and even stopped at my dad’s uncles house and visited with some extended family members that were there for a little luncheon that day.
That evening after dinner we went and meet up with another friend of mine. I’ve been “talking” to her via message boards for about 4-5 years now and this is the first chance we have had to meet each other. It was fun and her kids and my kids seemed to get along well and play together. The time went by much too quickly though and soon the kids were starting to get cranky and tired and we had to say goodby and head back to the house for bedtime.
Thursday morning we took it easy and slept in. That afternoon Ashley went with my mom and Susan to go shopping. It was her birthday present from Grandma- so they were going to try and find a dress for her since we hadn’t had much luck the Friday before when we had to buy new clothes for the family. After they had been gone for about 15 minutes, my mom called me and told me that they were headed back to the house. Ashley had thrown up in the car on the drive. So she brought her back home and she had a fever so we gave her some meds and Rich went and laid down with all the girls. They were so tired from the busy schedule we had had the past few days. They all fell asleep down on the bed Rich and I were using and took a nice long nap.
I had a wonderful opportunity to go and visit with an old Highschool friend for a few hours that afternoon. Originally we had intended to get the families together and the kids could play, but since my kids were sick we thought it would be better for me to just go and visit with her while her kids were taking naps. It was so good to see her and just sit and talk for a while. Email and phone are nice, but it isn’t the same thing as sitting and chatting together.
That evening Angela’s fever was getting progressively worse and she was in more and more pain, so we took her into the Urgent Care clinic. I was very happy with the clinic- they took our out of state insurance and they bill it as a regular office visit- even though it was open in the evening and they could choose to bill as Urgent/emergency care. Angela’s ear was very swollen and the dr asked us if we had noticed any discharge from it- it was close to rupturing. We got a prescription for antibiotics for her and left. By then it was 9pm and we soon discovered that there are not very many pharmacies open past 9pm in Orem. We finally found a Wal-greens that was open 24 hours and got it filled.
Friday
Friday we had planned on going to the zoo, but since Ashley was sick and Angela was sick, we sent Alex and Alyssa with my sister Susan and her boyfriend. They would meet my brother and his wife up at the zoo and the four of them would be with the kids. Alyssa and Alex were so excited to go to the zoo with Susan without mom and dad along. Lol!
Ashley was feeling a little bit better, so by that afternoon we decided that she could go shopping with Grandma again. She had a great time and came home with two dresses, a shirt and a skirt that she talked Grandma into buying. Rich and I had the unusual experience of running errands with just Angela along for the ride. We ran a bunch of errands for ourselves, and my mom and even stopped at my dad’s uncles house and visited with some extended family members that were there for a little luncheon that day.
That evening after dinner we went and meet up with another friend of mine. I’ve been “talking” to her via message boards for about 4-5 years now and this is the first chance we have had to meet each other. It was fun and her kids and my kids seemed to get along well and play together. The time went by much too quickly though and soon the kids were starting to get cranky and tired and we had to say goodby and head back to the house for bedtime.
Saturday
Saturday was the 2nd big day for my sister. The wedding was the previous Saturday, and this Saturday was the reception. We slept in again (we were down in the basement… no sunlight to wake us up… yep!) and filled the day up with last minute preperations for the reception. My brother and his wife showed up around lunch time and Alex really enjoyed being around their dog. Their dog had a rough life before they adopted her and she is very skittish around other people. Alex being so timid around dogs really seemed to click with her and she would let him sit and pet her. They took both dogs up to the park with Alex and he had a great time playing with the dogs and learning more about them.
The few hours before the reception were busy. I made a big dinner for any who were hanging out at the house beforehand, and for people to eat afterward if they were hungry. We also had to get Rachel back into her gown and her hair done. A photographer came and took pictures of Rachel getting ready. Angela was clinging to me all afternoon and when it came time to get myself dressed I sat her down on our bed. I then went and changed and turned around and she had fallen fast asleep on the bed. She resisted waking up or even letting us change her while she slept, so Rich stayed at the house with her while I went down to the reception. The reception turned out very nicely. It was a beautiful night and the decorations were nice. The food was yummy. Alex got a little bored, but he survived. Rich showed up after an hour with Angela. He said she woke up and he asked if she wanted to put her dress on and she tried to put it on herself, so he decided that she would be up to coming for a little while.
After the reception it took at least an hour- hour and a half to clean up most of the stuff. Then we had to load up trucks and vans with chairs and tables and all the stuff used in decorating. We cleaned it up and then everyone went back to the house and watched while Rachel and Nathan opened presents. It was fun and we had a good time sitting and talking and just spending time together. We went to bed late that night… I’m sure it was past midnight by the time we got all the kids in bed and in bed ourselves.
The few hours before the reception were busy. I made a big dinner for any who were hanging out at the house beforehand, and for people to eat afterward if they were hungry. We also had to get Rachel back into her gown and her hair done. A photographer came and took pictures of Rachel getting ready. Angela was clinging to me all afternoon and when it came time to get myself dressed I sat her down on our bed. I then went and changed and turned around and she had fallen fast asleep on the bed. She resisted waking up or even letting us change her while she slept, so Rich stayed at the house with her while I went down to the reception. The reception turned out very nicely. It was a beautiful night and the decorations were nice. The food was yummy. Alex got a little bored, but he survived. Rich showed up after an hour with Angela. He said she woke up and he asked if she wanted to put her dress on and she tried to put it on herself, so he decided that she would be up to coming for a little while.
After the reception it took at least an hour- hour and a half to clean up most of the stuff. Then we had to load up trucks and vans with chairs and tables and all the stuff used in decorating. We cleaned it up and then everyone went back to the house and watched while Rachel and Nathan opened presents. It was fun and we had a good time sitting and talking and just spending time together. We went to bed late that night… I’m sure it was past midnight by the time we got all the kids in bed and in bed ourselves.
Sunday
Sunday morning we got up- not too early since we had been up late the night before, but early enough that it was still a short night. We got the car packed up and breakfast for everyone and got on the road by about 8:30 or 9am.
Now… we had three kids that were running fevers and I knew it would be a long drive. Within the first three hours Alex and Ashley had both had coughing attacks that left them coughing up phlegm… we had a bucket and some old towels in the car just in case and after a while we were able to get them dosed up to keep their fevers down and when their fevers were down they didn’t seem to throw up. It was a long drive home. 17 hours and we got home around 4am. We were slowed down through the Rockies when traffic was travelling at about 20 miles an hour for about an hour- we still don’t know what caused that, but when your driving 17 hours, what’s one more right? The kids had times when they cooperated great, and times when it seemed like all four of them were demanding something we couldn’t give them at that moment, and so they were all crying and screaming. Normally our kids travel amazingly well- which is why we usually drive home straight after trips like this, but this time it definitly was harder on me to keep them happy or content on the ride.
Monday we slept… and slept and slept. Rich was supposed to work that day, but he called in sick to help me with the kids.
Now… we had three kids that were running fevers and I knew it would be a long drive. Within the first three hours Alex and Ashley had both had coughing attacks that left them coughing up phlegm… we had a bucket and some old towels in the car just in case and after a while we were able to get them dosed up to keep their fevers down and when their fevers were down they didn’t seem to throw up. It was a long drive home. 17 hours and we got home around 4am. We were slowed down through the Rockies when traffic was travelling at about 20 miles an hour for about an hour- we still don’t know what caused that, but when your driving 17 hours, what’s one more right? The kids had times when they cooperated great, and times when it seemed like all four of them were demanding something we couldn’t give them at that moment, and so they were all crying and screaming. Normally our kids travel amazingly well- which is why we usually drive home straight after trips like this, but this time it definitly was harder on me to keep them happy or content on the ride.
Monday we slept… and slept and slept. Rich was supposed to work that day, but he called in sick to help me with the kids.
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