Father/Son Campout Pictures

Sorry I'm a little slow with this, but here is the wrap-up of the father/son campout. I'm pretty sure pictures tell it best, so here we go (Scott took the pictures with his phone, so they aren't the best, but you get the idea):

The boys loved it all, except when Aaron had a little breakdown because he "missed mommy". He hid behind a tree and just cried. Poor thing.


Dinner time, drinking their capri suns.


On the way to the campout, Scott stopped at a store and let the boys stock up on snacks. Here Aaron is showing off his bubble tape.


The boys all nestled into their beds (cots).



As always, Josh had a great time playing with the fire (he's a bit of a pyro).



Saturday morning the boys were entertained by a potato launcher that one of the dads brought.


It was a fun bonding time for Scott and the boys. I love that our ward does father/son campouts, and I love that my husband takes his boys to them. Maybe next year Nate will get to go!

Today....

Today I was supposed to run a marathon. I worked my way up to 12 miles back in February, then had to give it up for the exhaustion of pregnancy. I still run with my friend 3 days a week (3 1/2-4 miles a day). But I miss the thrill of completing a LONG run. I miss feeling superhuman. I really, really miss it.

While the Boys are Away...

Scott, Josh, and Aaron are off camping tonight. It's our ward's father/son campout and my boys wouldn't miss it for the world. They have been so excited and this week has not passed nearly fast enough for my two little adventurers. Nate got to stay home with the girls--our rule has turned into them needing to be potty trained before they get to go with dad. Otherwise, Scott spends his whole time babysitting instead of hanging out with the older boys. They went to a hot springs this time, so Josh and Aaron were so excited they were going to get to swim. I can't wait till they get home tomorrow and tell me all about it.

In the meantime, I had the responsibility of providing a good time for us girls (and Nate). We started by going to Hobby Lobby and the girls got to pick out fabric for new summer nightgowns. Then we went to Carl's Jr. for dinner (Sara's pick). We ate and the kids played on the play-place for quite a while. Then we headed home, but first stopped by a RedBox for a girl movie. We just finished our movie and Sara is making a bed on the couch. I told them they could have a "sleepover" where ever they chose. Savannah chose my bed. Sara chose the couch. Sara has spent the last two hours thanking me every 10 minutes ("Mom, thank you so much for being so nice to us" and "Mom, thanks for taking us to play and have chicken nuggets and milkshakes" and "Mom, thanks for letting me camp in the living room" and on and on). Apparently, I put on a pretty descent girls night. Now if we can all just get some sleep....

Construction Site

Aaron is in love with our sandbox. We aren't allowed to call it a sand box, it's a construction site. And we have to refer to Aaron as Bob the Builder when he's working in his construction site. My kids spent every spare minute today out in the sand box. Scott cooked me a yummy halibut dinner, and when it came time to call the kids in to eat, this is what I saw:

They had dug a massive hole (which resulted in a rather large sand mound). I just couldn't help but find it incredibly cute to see Nate standing in the middle of the hole, thinking he was big enough to help with the whole operation. You have to forgive Aaron's lack of pants. He came home from church, took off his church pants (he know better than to wear good clothes into the sandbox), and headed straight outside. I have some pretty cute kids.

A Little Friday Night Excitement

Friday night we went over to the Mason's for a belated Cinco De Mayo celebration. Amy cooked sweet pork tacos, which were delicious. After dinner, we headed outside so the kids could take whacks at a pinata. The kids were having fun playing on the swingset and trampoline while we were getting the pinata ready. All of a sudden I heard Nate crying, and I looked over to see that he had fallen off the ladder to the trampoline. It's a little two step stool, so he hadn't fallen far, but it's metal so I was worried that maybe he'd hit his head. As I got to him, I noticed blood dripping down onto his shirt. He was crying, and there was blood in his mouth, so I thought he'd bit his tongue. I scooped him up and Amy and I rushed him into the house. She got me a cloth, and I tried to see where the blood was coming from. There was a little blood in his mouth, but not enough to worry about. Then I saw it--blood was pouring from the bottom of his chin. Scott had been upstairs trying to talk Aaron into coming outside for the pinata. I tried to stay calm as I told Amy, "There's a lot of blood. I need you to get Scott." She ran to get Scott, and when he got to the kitchen, I took the cloth off and showed him the cut. He said, "That's deep, he's going to need stitches. Let's go." I quickly asked Amy if she'd keep the other kids, and Scott and I rushed out the door with Nate.

Scott drove, while I held Nate on my lap and applied pressure to his chin. Luckily, Eagle has a couple of choices when it comes to emergencies. There is St. Al's with a small emergency room that is just 2 1/2 miles away. We started to head there, but Scott couldn't bring himself to pay emergency room fees if we didn't need to. As he drove, he googled on his blackberry to see how late the St. Luke's urgent care was open further up the road. As we got to the parking lot of St. Al's, the information came up on his phone and he said, "St. Luke's is open till 10, should we go there?". It was only another 2 miles away, so we kept driving to St. Luke's. When we got there, we were the only ones there, so we got right in. And the doctor that was working, was an ER doctor, so we were in great hands. He came in and took a look at Nate and determined they would be able to do dermabond to hold the wound together (much easier than stitches). He said they would put some lidocaine on it to numb it (and it would need to stay on for about 20 minutes), then they would do the dermabond and then we'd be on our way. The nurse that we had was wonderful--she gave Nate an otter pop to pass the time while the lidocaine was on. It was just a gel that they spread on, but it works better with a little pressure, so she placed a cotton ball on with the lidacaine, then wrapped his head to keep the cotton ball on. And then we had to just wait.

When it came time to do the dermabond, we had to wrap him up in a sheet to keep him from squirming. He really didn't appreciate that, but before we knew it, he was all done. All in all, he was very brave and did amazingly well. And the great thing was, that because it was an urgent care instead of an emergency room, it was only a $20 co-pay and nothing more (making it very worth the extra 2 mile drive). The whole way home, he talked about his night-night (blanket) and rock-a-bye baby. So, that's what he got. Lots of snuggling with mom in the rocking chair after we got home. Here's the after pictures. The dermabond has a purple color to it, but you can see the red cut through it.

Getting a little tired of this

I'm getting really tired of being sick. For me, it's not morning sickness, but evening sickness. I feel great in the morning. I am very productive and clean and do laundry and organize. And then 2 in the afternoon comes, and I hit a wall. I am so tired, I can't go on. I put Nate down for a nap, put Aaron and Sara upstairs with toys and tv, and I have to sleep. I nap till Josh and Savannah get home from school at 4, and then try and drag myself out of bed. But by then I'm sick. I can't even think about cooking dinner (the thought of food makes me want to throw up), so Scott has to do the cooking when he gets home from work. I spend the rest of the day just trying to hold it together till it's time for bed. I'm sure Scott is growing tired of it too, because the only time he's home, I'm feeling lousy. I'm so ready for this to go away. I'm half a week away from second trimester--isn't that when most people start feeling better? I have to tell myself every day that I just have to make it through, and that eventually it has to get better. IT HAS TO GET BETTER!!!

Sara

Going....

Going....

Gone!!!


Sara is pretty far ahead in the teeth loosing game. She hasn't even started Kindergarten, and she's already lost her bottom teeth and now her top teeth, too! She's pretty proud of her new smile, but is finding that she may have to give up eating apples whole for a little while.

Savannah's Piano Recital

Yesterday Scott took the day off. It was really nice having him around. We went to Home Depot and bought some flowers to plant (they are sitting in our garage till this freezing spell passes). I got an afternoon nap (which wasn't nearly long enough, but greatly appreciated). And in the evening, we all went to Savannah's piano recital. (Sorry the video gets a little shaky at the end, I had a squirmy one year old in my arms).


After the recital, we went to dinner at Red Robin to celebrate Savannah's success. It was so nice to be all together, even if the kids were a little on the rambunctious side.

Another Alaska trip down

So, we made it through Scott's trip to Alaska, but not pleasantly. Aaron and Nate both came down with nasty colds and kept me up all night taking care of them. My days were spent cleaning up the messes that the kids excessively make. The weather was cold and rainy all week, so the kids were trapped indoors the whole time. On Saturday I put Nate down for a nap and told the other kids to quietly watch a movie upstairs while I took a much needed nap. After a half hour of listening to them fight, I went upstairs and sobbed and pleaded with them to please just be good for at least an hour so I could get some sleep (I was so tired, I really was on the verge of completely losing it). They gave me an hour--no more. Scott has no cell phone coverage when he's at the mine, and he rarely has access to a phone, so we have to sit around and wait for him to call us. We got only one phone call a day from him (usually around bedtime). The lowest point of the trip was when he called Saturday night, and I had to hurry and hand the phone off to Aaron while I went to the bathroom to throw up.

Sunday I sent Savannah and Sara to church with our neighbors and the boys and I stayed home (Nate and Aaron were too sick to go to nursery and primary, and Josh decided he'd stay home to keep me company). Scott's plane was scheduled to get in at 4:30, but he called from Seattle to say he'd gotten on an earlier flight and would be home two hours earlier. I cried. It was a really good thing. After Scott got here (and we'd all gotten all our hugging out of our systems), we loaded up the boys and drove to the airport. Scott had gotten on an earlier flight, but his luggage was still on the later flight, so we had to drive back down to the airport to get it. Aaron and Josh enjoyed a few rides on the escalator while Scott got his luggage (and Nate and I circled the terminal so we didn't have to pay for parking). We all got home just before the girls got home from church.

It's always an adjustment when Scott gets back from trips. I work myself ragged trying to do everything alone, so when he gets home, I rely on him to take over and give me a break. Home always seems so great when you are missing it, and Scott always looks forward to getting back home to us--till he gets here. Then the chaos hits full force, and I always wonder if he isn't wishing he could just turn around and leave again. There have been so many times when I've wished he could walk away from this job because of all the traveling that is required. But it is such a great job--it provides well for our family and Scott loves it. So, the traveling has to be endured the best we can. But, sometimes it helps to be able to complain a bit.