Finally - pictures from our trip!

I know, it takes a while, but we've been busy getting caught up on all the stuff we missed while we were gone! Ahhh, life. I just doesn't stop. Well, I guess it does, eventually, so I guess I'd rather be busy than not have one at all. Enough philosophising...

We had a great time in Southern California! We shared a beach house with our dear friends from Sacramento, the Droubay family. Their two boys and our two oldest are great friends, which was always a bonus when I was looking for someone to watch my guys... (smile!) Upstairs was 2 bedrooms (each with two queen beds), a bathroom, kitchen, and dining and living room. Downstairs (connected by an outside stairway) was a master bedroom, a small sitting area, a bathroom, and kitchenette. We found it on www.vrbo.com (it is rental #128732, if you want to go look at some more inside shots), and it was right on the beach!

Our first full day there (Saturday)was spent on the beach. That turned out to be the boys favorite thing!

Sunday we went to the Oceanside 4th ward, then spent the day relaxing, eating spaghetti and scones, and walking the beach and the pier.

Monday was SeaWorld day! Jordan has decided he no longer likes dolphins, since they wouldn't stop splashing him at the dolphin show.

Tuesday was another beach day. We were actually planning to go to LegoLand, but because there are a bunch of water rides, and it really wasn't warm enough to be wet in an amusement park, we decided we'd stay on the beach again. The boys would get in the ocean, get cold, roll in the warm sand, warm up, and then get wet again. And when they'd get too tired of it all, we'd hose them off, put them in a warm tub, and let them play inside. Boy, they were great sleepers!!!

Wednesday was our Disneyland/California Adventure Day. The boys decided their favorite rides were California Screaming (a loop roller coaster) and Space Mountain. Who'd have thought? They either are really getting big enough to love a little more of the thrill rides, or they were trying really hard to impress their friends...

Thursday ended up being another beach day, and a wash/get ready to leave day. And Friday we came home. I've got over 100 pictures, and I'm not sure how to post them! How about a slide show?

Jordan's Arrow of Light Ceremony

Hello, there! We're back! We had a great vacation, and we will be posting pictures throughout the week. To start with, the night before we left was Jordan's Arrow of Light Ceremony. He achieved his Arrow of Light ranking this last month (it is the award given after they have earned their Webelos rank, plus a few more achievements...) Anyway, it was really cool. The scouts had a Shoshone shaman come and perform a ceremony for Jordan and he was given a bear claw necklace. He blessed both Jordan and Aaron and me in the tradition of the Shoshone indians, that we will always know the direction we should travel. It was a good night...


Then it was home to pack for our trip to California!

Kelly's Quilt

Last month, my sweet sister Kelly was involved in a very sad accident, and we wanted to put our arms around her and give her a hug. Unfortunately, she lives in Texas and we're in Utah. So we decided to make her a "hug" and send it to her. She got it today, so now we can post our pictures without spoiling the suprise:

Zachary was the first to want to help sew. Jordan, of course, then decided he was man enough to help, even if it was pink. (After doing some sleuthing, we discovered that Kelly's favorite color was "pink, pink, and more pink.")
All in all, the boys did pretty good. We only got off line once, and it wasn't noticable enough to change. We also got a some help from a few women in our neighborhood, and we were able to finish it before April - yay!

I hope she likes it - It's big, soft, fluffy flannel filled with love from me and my boys.

I think he's feeling better

Levi getting into cookie dough:

I do believe that Levi is feeling better. He is eating better and only has a rash on his belly... I'm hoping we're done with all that's been going on around this house!

Easter!

I hope everyone had a great Easter! We only have 2 small patches of snow in our backyard, and I'm thinking they'll be gone today (We're hoping for 60's today!) We don't do new Easter outfits, but we do have an egg hunt, so here's our pictures:

Before the hunt, filled with anticipation...

The swingset is always a treasure chest of plastic and sugar!

The bunny must have hopped along the side of the basketball court, too.

Luckily, Jacob got a few before his more experienced brothers found them all.

All in all, it was a pretty good day. There has been no vomiting of blood, very little fevers, everyone is sugar-saturated, we colored eggs, played "Seek" for our Sunday game night, had fish for dinner (I don't know why, but this has become a tradition), and everyone had a happy day! We hope you did too!

Poor Levi

Well, we're back from the doctor with Levi. After 3 days of 102+ fevers and this morning he was coughing up blood and was extremely lethargic, so I took him in to be checked out. He's got a double ear infection, but thankfully his lungs are clear and they think the blood came from his nasal cavity, which went down into his stomach, which made him nauseous... Poor kid lies around while his fever is high, but once the tylenol kicks in, he acts more himself. So maybe we'll get this thing kicked after all!

You know it's a sad day when the boy falls asleep eating!

For all of you who don't have Pokemon obsessed boys...

OK, I'm getting comments that Pikachu looks pretty good, for a cartoon character that no one has seen. It's obvious that you all are not living in a household with young men! For everyone who has no clue what Pikachu looks like, this is for you:


So, now, I ask you: Does the cake look like Pikachu?

As for the welfare of our house, Levi is running a fever close to 103, Jordan threw up all night last night, and Aaron is (gasp!) sick, too! I'm thinking of buying vitamins in bulk this weekend...

Update!

Hello, again! It's been a while since I've updated about our family, so here it goes. We've been sick, and so we've done nothing except hang out around the house and contaminate each other. Levi and I have had it twice, Zachary has an earache today, and Jordan, Caeden, and I have all been nauseaous the past few days. Ugh. Jacob ran a fever for a few days and was a little lethargic, but I think he's doing alright now. Levi would just be crawling around and then stop and lie down on the carpet and rest for a while. (That's what he is doing in the picture above.) The only one who has escaped unscathed is Aaron. I don't know how he does that. We all get it (some of us get it twice), and Aaron walks. This all started about 3 weeks ago, and we're all hoping that it's all gone by the 28th, which is when we leave town for out SoCal vacation! I'm scheduling the carpet to be cleaned next week right before we leave, then the house can dry and air out while we're gone.
One fun thing that has happened since the boys have been off-track (they "tracked-off" on March 3rd, and will go back after spring break on March 25th) is that Jordan and Zachary did snowboarding lessons for a few days up at Snowbird. I figured that since they live in Utah, they need to know how to ski and board! We gave each of them a disposable camera, so when I get that developed I'll post some pictures.

Another fun thing was Caeden's birthday! He turned 6 on March 7th - he's getting so big! We really didn't do anything great big, but celebrated as a family. He wanted a "Pikachu" cake (a Pokemon thing), so I figured out how to make one with one rectangular cake and one round one. Here's how it turned out:



I don't think it looks half bad, for not having a template or pokemon shaped pan!

We also worked on a project for a family member, but since that family member hasn't yet received his/her gift yet, we can't post pictures... But we will when it won't spoil the secret!

Well, back to work. I hope everyone has a great day and stays away from whatever it is that we have!!!

Here's a great tribute...

I know, I haven't posted in forever... Sick kids have taken all of any free time for the past few weeks... But when a friend emailed me a clip of Glen Beck (a mormon talk show host) giving a tribute to President Hinckley, I started looking at a few other tributes posted on Youtube, and this one brought tears to my eyes. I really do miss everything about him. I love President Monson, but I just haven't gotten used to him sitting in the center chair yet! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this clip!

More rambling thoughts from a cold-addled mind

Where has this week gone? I've been trying to organize my relief society binder, so I have it spread out all over the floor of my office. It hit me today that it has been lying there for over a week now. Ugh!!! What do I do with my days??? In my defense, I have kept the kitchen semi-clean for a few days in a row. And I did get my hair washed yesterday. (That's always a bonus) And all of my boys are still alive and we actually got Caeden's kindergarten homework done BEFORE Friday this week. In our household, that's huge! I did get Jacob's and Levi's rooms organized - finally. They both had clothes that were too small that needed to be cleaned out, and new clothes from the boxes in storage to be rotated in. (One of the great advantages of having 5 boys - Hand-me-downs!) We've made it to scouts this week and we have even got some piano practicing done. It's just a constant thing to try to keep boys where they're supposed to be, fed, and mostly happy.
At this moment, Jacob is upstairs mad at me because he wants to come downstairs. I installed a gate to keep Levi from falling down the stairs, and it keeps Jacob in one place, too. Jake hates it. In fact, he's yelling right now, "I'm just stucking!!!!" It doesn't matter that I have lifted him over the gate 4 times in the last 5 minutes. He just doesn't like to be confined. But sometimes mom needs him to be confined. My brother calls him "Houdini" for a reason. The last time Jacob came downstairs, he was muttering under his breath "I'm so sorry..." I still haven't found what he's so sorry about. I'm a little nervous about that one.

Just a thought from a rambling mind. This week Levi and I have had colds. Every morning starts with a few nasal drop for Levi followed by some suctioning with a nasal aspirator so he can breathe while he nurses. As I nurse, I listen to the news on the radio. The politicians are so concerned with torture techniques like water-boarding, but have any of them ever tried to use a nasal aspirator on a baby? If Levi could talk, I'm sure he would be crying torture! Or let's talk about the new car seat laws. They want to keep kids in car seats until they're 8. Have you ever been on a long trip with kids strapped in car seats? Poor kids sleep sitting up, have red marks on their bodies from the straps, and when they do wake up, parts of their poor bodies have fallen asleep because they can't move around. Again the word "torture" enters my mind. Next story is about flu shots. All kids should have them. Because 6 shots in the leg of a 6 month old isn't enough. So please forgive me for not being too sympathetic to people who want to blow up every American because they don't like being wet. (Yes, I know it's more complicated than just getting them wet - but we're not killing them, are we?) It all goes back to the greater good, I think. Nasal aspirators, car seats, flu shots, water boarding, it's all to save lives, right? My goodness, I think I need some more cold medicine and a nap...

I guess I'd better go. Jacob has calmed down and is now asking, very politely, "I just need to come down now..." I guess I can accomodate a polite child.