Best Little Orr House

Laughing Girl

2011-03-06T15:10:00.001-08:00

Kymra laughed at Kyler so hard! We all were laughing with her too!

Growing up

2011-01-22T15:38:00.000-08:00

Kymra will be 3 months old next weekend!! She is getting so big and doing so many new things. Her favorite new "thing" is getting her fist to her mouth. She loves to sit in her bouncy chair and play with the toys and listen to the music while STARING at the lights. She also enjoys bathtime, watching the other kids play, taking naps in her swing, and sleeping all night (ok, maybe I enjoy that one)!!! She has just started to "talk" and loves to coo at Mom, Ryker, and Zadyn the most.

The rest of the kids are also enjoying life and having a good winter. Avery has been practicing and preparing for the Cub Scout Klondike Derby coming up next month. He really likes the compass course. Kyler has been busy with the millions of legos he has and has been enjoying the lego table Grandpa Orr built for them. Zadyn has been keeping up with speech and therapy this winter and is looking forward to riding her bike in the Spring. Ryker is two and loves to be two......he loves Wipeout and mud, Tonka's and pestering everyone. He recently gave up the sippy cup (well, they were "lost") and he is completely potty trained!

We are loving our new suburban and all the extra leg room it gives us. Avery especially, since he doesn't have to be crammed between two car seats! It has really come in handy when the roads are icy or snow covered, as they seem to always be in the winter!

SMILING!

2010-12-22T13:55:00.000-08:00

Kymra is starting to smile at people and

she especially loves to look at, talk to,

and smile at Kyler.

Avery and Kyler's Choir Concert Finale

2010-12-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

Avery and Kyler sang in their homeschool choir concert on Thursday, December 16th. I didn't get any good pictures or video since I sat in the back to allow Grant and the younger kids a quick escape after the first part of the program. But, I did video the last song, which had all the kids singing....kids choir and older kids. It was pretty amazing. They all do a great job and the boys love being in the choir.

Kymra's blessing day

2010-11-29T17:07:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 26th, we blessed Kymra. We were able to have most of my family there and most of Grant's family as well. We celebrated Thanksgiving with a traditional feast that evening. I am thankful for those who were able to come and we missed those who could not make it. We had a great time and enjoyed the company of family and friends.

One Week Old

2010-11-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

Kymra is one week old today. It's amazing how fast the week has gone. Of course, just getting home yesturday didn't help. They were able to control the fevers and get rid of the infection through IV antibiotics and oral antibiotics as well. I am still on two different orals for a week and will hope it finishes off the infection. Kymra is our little princess of the house right now. All the kids love to play with her and kiss her and hold her and read book to her and bother her while she is trying to sleep! It's fun to watch them all interact with her. She amazes them with the amount of sleep she needs and with the amount of input and output she needs as well!

Kymra Lyn Orr

2010-11-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

SHE'S HERE!

Kymra Lyn Orr was born Friday, October 29, 2010. She arrived via c-section at 8:13 am. She weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces and was 19 inches long. She is so cute and cuddly! She loves to eat and sleep and open her eyes and stare out the window. Here are a few pictures of her and the rest of the kids on Halloween.

PUMPKINS!!!!!

2010-10-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

We decorated our pumpkins tonight -- our home grown pumpkins (at least the ones the mice didn't eat). The younger kids had a blast putting the potato head pieces into their pumpkins. Avery wanted to carve his today, but chickened out after having to put his hand into the pumpkin and scoop out the guts. I ended up carving his pumpkin, along with mine. Grant decorated one for the baby, using one of Ryker's diapers. The kids all thought that was funny!

Lego Day

2010-10-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

This year, we renamed October 9th,

LEGO DAY.

Ironically, it was also

Kyler's birthday,

so the renaming fit. He bought a couple lego sets at Target with the gift card Grandma and Grandpa Clark sent. We gave him another lego set and the Creationary Lego Game. He even had a lego brick cake! Needless to say we spent the entire day putting together lego cars, trucks, helicopters and playing the lego game (which is harder than you think). It was a fun day!!!!

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

2010-09-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

Today the boys finally got to put on the play they have been practicing all week. It was really cute. They each had a few parts and LOVED making the puppets out of wooden spoons. They did a great job, using voice inflections and "acting" out the parts with the puppets. They are excited to start a Halloween play for the month of October.

The Three Billy Goats

The Big Billy Goat and the Troll

The Middle Billy Goat and the Troll

Avery and the Goats

Kyler and the Troll

How many states can you go to in one day?

2010-09-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

Our answer is 3: Montana, Idaho, then Washington!

We went to Spokane for a couple days over the Labor Day "holiday". We were able to play and shop! I love going to Olive Garden and the kids enjoy Chuck E. Cheese. We also made stops at Toys R Us and Cabela's before coming home.

Many discoveries were made this trip: We all liked swimming at the hotel, especially Ryker who we had a hard time getting to WAIT for Mom or Dad before jumping in the pool on his own. However, we enjoyed amazing the night desk clerk with the sheer vast number of children we had (being pregnant was an added bonus!). Zadyn was offered a modeling job from a strange man at breakfast. He was implying she was cute????...still not too sure about this one. It was brought to our attention at Chuck E. Cheese that our children are well behaved, for their age (no other explanation given). And we have come to the conclusion that short/cheap trips will NEVER again be "short" or "cheap". We also discovered the aptly named "Discovery Park" just down the road from our hotel. Here are a few pictures of the kids at the park:

Avery and Kyler on the climbing wall.

Avery showing us that it is almost 3:00.

All the kids on the BIG chair.

Playing in the eagle's nest.

Zadyn is a dragonfly....who knew?

This one's obvious....Ryker is a bear!
Ryker and Grant posing at the "cave".

Avery, Kyler and Grant on top of the WORLD!

All the fam (minus me) in front of the waterfall.

Idaho Camping

2010-09-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

The Crew: Back- Heather, Cody, Avery

Middle- Kyler, Zadyn, Kaden, Jordan, Amanda

Front- Ryker

Extreme front- Cooper!

We were able to go camping near Challis, Idaho the 2nd weekend of August. We meet Grant's family there and had a great time. The weather was COOL and the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. We took a day trip to Custer and saw the neat old buildings and mining stuff. We look forward to this trip every year!

Heading to a Custer landmark....

Unfortunately, I spent most of the time with my hands in my pockets due to the cold and not enough time taking pictures! So, I only broke the camera out when we went to Custer......

Ryker and Cooper playing.....

Happy Birthday Zadyn

2010-08-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

Zadyn turned 5 on 8-9-10. She was super excited about her princess castle cake and counted down the days for weeks until her birthday. She loved the gifts that Grandma Clark brought for her, wearing her princess shoes every chance she gets. Zadyn couldn't even wait until we were done with singing Happy Birthday before she blew out her candle! She is growing up fast!

New Barbie scooter that Barbie can ride on also.

Tinkerbell playhouse.

The princess castle cake.

Baby doll care kit.

Princess shoes!

It's a girl!

2010-07-23T07:59:00.000-07:00

Team pink is making a come back.................

Ryker's surgery

2010-07-20T07:44:00.000-07:00

Being crazy in the ER with stickers....

The company that makes all the surgical equipment.....

Just coming out of the meds......

Reading books with Dad.......

Sporting some NICE ankle bracelets (he wanted to show Z).....

Ryker had his issues fixed on July 6. Things went well and he is healing nicely. We had an ER visit on the 16th due to infection and constipation, both issues we are working on with meds.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYKER!!!!!

2010-06-13T17:53:00.000-07:00

Ryker turned 2 this past week while we were camping. So today I made him a birthday cake and he opened his presents. He got lots of cars and enjoyed eating the candy and marshmallows off the ROBOT cake.

Avery's homeschool choir concert performance

2010-05-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

You're never fully dressed without a SMILE!!!!!

BABY #5

2010-05-03T07:23:00.001-07:00

.....is due November 5th. Stay tuned for more updates......

California

2010-03-23T07:34:00.001-07:00

Grant and I went to California for a few days last week. We had a great time and enjoyed the AWESOME weather and the beach.

The Ocean waves at Santa Monica Beach, just off the pier.
Grant and I getting WET!

The Shamu show at Sea World.

Touching a Bat Ray (NOT a sting ray).

Petting a dolphin!!! (so cool)

Fun at the park

2010-03-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

We went to the Florence Park for a picnic and to play on Friday. The weather was AWESOME!! It was about 50 degrees and sunny! The kids were not happy about leaving, but had a great time exploring the park and playing on the toys.

Ryker finally went down the slide on his own.

Ryker and Kyler taking a much needed rest.

Avery making it to the top of the backstop.

Kyler attempting to get to the top, he didn't get any further than this.

Eating lunch!!!

Ryker had to try.....

Ryker's favorite hiding place.

All the kids on the fish.

Ryker on his absolute most favoritest thing at the park, SWINGS!!!

My week:

2010-01-31T17:40:00.000-08:00

SUCKED!

Fishing!!!

2010-01-23T15:04:00.000-08:00

George came up for the weekend and we were able to get some good fishing in. We first went to Frenchtown Pond and did a little ice fishing. Nothing was biting so we decided to try again the next day. We went to the Bitterroot River, just down the road, at the Florence bridge today. George was able to catch 4 fish, letting each of the kids (and me) reel one in. They were so excited. It was cold and snowy, so we didn't stay long, but we had a great time.

Growing up.....

2010-01-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

Ryker is growing up so fast! He is now 19 months old. He is going to nursery on Sundays, although still not to happy about it. This last week, he didn't cry for a whole hour, so he is making progress. He is starting to talk more, his favorite words being milk, snack, brownie, pumpkin, princess and NO. He has that one down well. He loves Elmo and cars and books. Here he is playing an Elmo game on the computer while the other kids are working on their school work:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

2009-11-01T08:51:00.000-08:00

Grant's pumpkin carving a baby -- he won in his work carving contest!

Grant's cheeseball monster!

The kids!

Avery as Batman!

Kyler the ninja!

Zadyn the M&M.

Ryker the Scarecrow!

Pumpkins!!!!!

2009-10-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to the store to pick out their pumpkins for Halloween. They don't like to carve them, so we got out the pumpkin "potato head" pieces and they had a great time decorating them. Ryker especially loved his and he kept kissing it!!! It was cute!

Fire Season in Montana

2009-09-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

Well, it's here! Fire season in Montana. This year, we are privileges enough to have a fire just 15 miles from our house! Yes, that's right, just down the road is a nice raging wildfire! It is burning close to our favorite camping/hiking/playing in the mountain area, Bass Creek. Our biggest fear however, is it's burning close to the house of some friends of ours in our ward. They are packing and preparing for the worst since given warning that evacuations may be coming!!! Here are a few pictures I took of the fire. The flames were really big on Saturday afternoon/evening, but things have died down. Lots of firefighters from Idaho and Washington and all around Montana have come to help and it seems to be working!! Let's hope the winds stay down and the temps don't go too high and maybe this fire will be out by the time the snow flies.....

Camping with the Fam

2009-08-25T08:34:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were able to go camping with all of Grant's immediate family (minus Troy). We had a good time! We camped at the Cottonwood campground, just north of Challis, Idaho, right on the river. We had a great camp spot with access to the river and lots of trees to keep us cool in the 95+ degree weather! The kids had a blast playing with their cousins. They had a fort in the trees, played in the water, painted shirts, and played kickball in the open field. Avery and Kyler loved sleeping in the kids tent. We took a day trip to Challis and panned for gold at the visitor's center and then drove to the ghost town of Bayhorse to check it out. Zadyn was a little nervous when we first got there that she might see a ghost!!! It had some pretty cool old buildings, but not much else. We celebrated Grandpa Orr's birthday while we were there with peach cobbler! YUM!! I think the highlight of the trip was when Lydia got out the glow stick balls for the kids Friday night. Those were a lot of fun! Made for some cool pictures also! We are looking forward to doing it all again next year and hopefully Troy can make it.

Cherry Picking

2009-08-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we headed up north to Flathead Lake to pick cherries. We went to the Fat Robin (love the name!!!!) Orchard and picked around 23 pounds of cherries. They had two different kinds to pick from. One kind was grown on dwarf trees. This was nice since the trees were low enough for the kids to pick off of. After we picked the cherries, we went to play at the lake. We had never been to this beach before and assumed it was like the ones on the other side of the lake we have been to before, nice and sandy and crowded. Well, it wasn't. It was a rocky man-made beach that was mainly used for the boat dock. There weren't even very many people swimming there. There was NO sand on the beach, just lots of rocks, which was PEFECT for Ryker (he loves rocks). The kids didn't have swimming suits (again hoping for a sandy beach to play on) but they didn't have any problems getting in the water once they found out I had brought an extra set of clothes, just in case. They had a blast and I couldn't get them out of the water when it was time to go (I think Grant was the worst one!!!)! Since we got home, I have made cherry jelly and canned the rest of the cherries for pies and such later on.

Take me out to the ballgame...

2009-07-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

Friday night we had the chance to go see the Missoula Osprey play the Casper Ghosts. The kids had a great time. They got the meet Ollie the Osprey and get their hats signed. We went with a group of people from Grant's work, got VIP seating 4 rows up and free hats. The Osprey lost, but it was a good game. The kids said their favorite parts were getting popcorn and licorice ropes and soda to eat and watching Ollie sign their hats. There was a player on the Ghosts whose name was Avery and so every time he batted, our group would give our Avery a bad time. He loved it!

Saturday morning, we took the kids into the Missoula Library where 4 of the Osprey players and Ollie were. The kids had the players sign their hats and a couple baseball that they got from the game (just practice balls). They got more pictures taken and then had cracker jacks and peanut for a snack.

Summer Sports

2009-06-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

Even though the weather isn't really telling us it's summer, the kids have been enjoying their summer sports camps.

Avery finished up his week long basketball camp at Florence High School. They built on what they learned last year, and even played a little two-on-two. He loved it. He especially enjoyed the basketball and T-shirt he gets every year.

Kyler and Zadyn are in a Super Sprouts Summer Sports camp (say that 5 times fast!!!) in Missoula. It is once a week, on Tuesdays. Each week they will learn the basics (and I'm talking basics) of a different sport. This week was their first week and they learned soccer. They learned how to dribble the ball, stop it with their feet, throw it overhead in-bounds, and kick into a goal. They both had a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday to Ryker!

2009-06-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Ryker's first birthday, and I don't know who was more excited about it, him or the older three kids. He had a fun party with a drum cake since he likes to pat-pat things. Here are a few pictures of the cake and present opening festivities:

Kyler's T-ball and Avery's baseball pictures

2009-06-02T08:32:00.000-07:00

Since last night was Kyler's last T-ball game, I figured I better take the camera and take a few pictures. So here they are:Warming up
Catching the ball on a bounce
Looking good!
batting
running to second base

with the team and coach

his cool trophy with a baseball that spins and 3-D graphics

(he was way excited about this!)

Ryker starting early!!!

Tonight was Avery's last game. He has improved so much this season. He went 6/6 in his last two games, with 2 RBI's and scoring a run himself. Here are a few shots from his game:

Batting

On first base

Coming in to home plate

Baseball update

2009-05-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

The boys have been enjoying their baseball and T-ball games this past week. Kyler has only played one game, the second was rained out, and tonight's game is not looking good either. He loves to bat off the tee and loves that everyone on the team gets to bat each inning. He has played shortstop, and outfield and says he likes outfield the best because the ball never goes out there.

Avery has been getting better and better with each game. He is hitting about .500 and has even made it home a few times to score a run. Last night, in Victor, he asked if he could be the catcher. His coach let him and he did awesome! The coach let him stay there a second inning instead of rotating out into the field! He love it!! Here is a picture I took with my phone. I will try and remember the camera soon.

Birthday and Baseball

2009-05-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

Today is Grant's birthday. He is now as old as I am. We are going to make him a cake and have ice cream tonight, since it's our only night without baseball this week.

Avery and Kyler had their first games last night. Avery on machine pitch and Kyler on T-ball. Kyler went 3-3!! Avery went 1-2. They only get 5 balls from the machine, so he struck out swinging the first time. Then he had a great line drive past the short stop in the last inning. They both had a great time playing and are looking forward to their next games.

Birthday fun and other stuff

2009-04-08T09:02:00.000-07:00

This past month has been very busy for us. We ended our 2 week vacation to Phoenix/Jerome/Idaho Falls. It was fun to go away for a while, but it was even better to be back home.

We enjoyed General Conference. It was great listening to the prophet and the apostles. They are wonderful men. The kids enjoyed coloring their conference packets and doing the activities while listening to the speakers.

I had a good birthday. Grant tried to surprise me and invited a few friends over for cake and ice cream, but he's not very good at that sort of thing and I found out a few days prior. It was still fun though. The kids made me a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, then decorated it with flowers made from BIG Easter M&M's and Rolo's. Can you say chocolate overhaul??!?!?!?!? It was delicious!

We have moved back into the basement and have started working on all the little projects that need to be done. The bathroom is back in working order, just need to caulk. The school room is all set up, just need the second computer staged. The family room is all set up, but may need to reconfigure the furniture as their isn't much room to play Wii, but it works so far. The craft room, or Grandma's room as the kids call it, is all set up. I have even sewn curtains for Avery's room and started a new cross stitch project. I have many pictures that need to be scrapbooked, so I will start working on that soon, hopefully!

Avery moved downstairs and so far, has been enjoying his new freedom. He gets to stay up later than the other kids, reading books, listening to his radio, or just lounging on his bean bag. He is anxious for Dad to get his closet doors on, so Ryker will stop crawling into it and pulling out all his toys.

Kyler is enjoying the nice weather and asks to go play outside about every half hour. Yesterday, he only came in for lunch and dinner and was very dirty when it was bedtime. He loves to dig for treasure (rocks) and play on the pirate ship (swing set). He was the most excited when Dad set up the trampoline on Monday.

Zadyn was equally excited for the trampoline, but prefers the swings. She is doing well with her therapy, although is getting to the stage where she does only what she has to do and no more.

Ryker is 10 months old today. He is quite the little personality. He loves to play peek-a-boo with his bib at the dinner table. He had an appointment with a surgeon from Seattle this week about his LARGE belly button. He basically said that since the hole is still really small, there is nothing they can or should do at this point. They will re-evaluate when he is 5. I am not surprised, but I think they should have done something, at least for cosmetic purposes (however, insurance won't pay for that).

The whole family has been enjoying going for bike rides together. I got a new bike and Grant puts Ryker in the bike trailer behind his. My bike needs a little work on the gears -- they don't shift well. The other kids love riding around our subdivision.

We are all ready for Spring. With the 60+ degree weather for the past 3 days, it's been nice! However, we are not there yet. We are supposed to have rain and probably even snow for the next week. Why are teased so????

Basement shots

2009-03-06T13:23:00.001-08:00

I am finally posting new shots of the basement. We have painted, hung doors and had the carpet installed. We hung light fixtures and stained the door frames. All we have left to do now is paint the doors, varnish the door frames, install the trim (on doors and floor), hang closet stuff and MOVE BACK IN!!!!

Kyler's Glasses

2009-02-19T20:22:00.000-08:00

Kyler got his new reading glasses today. He was a little anxious about them, but he says he can see the words in the books better. The frames have soccer balls on the ear pieces that can slide back and forth and he got a cool sports glasses case. He only has to wear them when reading, doing school work, playing on the computer and (unfortunately) playing video games. He is glad that he doesn't have to wear them outside or when we go places. I think he looks CUTE!!!

Basement shots

2009-02-09T10:14:00.000-08:00

These are shots from Thursday, last week, after the 2nd coat of mud. They are coming to texture today. That means a nice romantic weekend of PAINTING!!!!

Changes....

2009-01-21T12:05:00.001-08:00

On January 4th, the boundaries of our ward were changed. We, thankfully, stayed in the same ward. Our ward doubled in size! We are so excited and were anticipating lots of changes. The first big change that effected our family came last Sunday. Grant was released from the Bishopric and called to be the ward employment specialist. They called a new counselor from the new set of members. Grant will miss the calling, but the kids are excited to have him sit with us during Sacrament Meeting again. We figured it has been 5 1/2 years since he's ridden to and from church with us as a family. I'm sure it won't last long, as changes are made frequently in the church.

The other change we have going on is our basement. We are packing up EVERYTHING and finishing the walls. We have someone coming in a couple weeks to tape and texture the walls and ceiling. Then, we will paint. We are hoping to install carpet, too, but will have to wait and see what the bids are. I am so excited to have this so much closer to being done. Avery will get his own room in the basement. He is very excited for us to finish!

With everything being packed up in the basement, most things will be stored in the garage for the next few weeks. The exception being the furniture and spare bed. They will be stored upstairs, making our house look very crowed. But, it's only temporary, so no big deal. We also had to move our school books and such upstairs in the kitchen. So, school has taken on a whole new area of the house!

A quiz.....

2009-01-14T20:22:00.000-08:00

What happens when you wake up sooner than usual and your mom wants you to wait until closer to your normal nap time to sleep?

Answer: You fall asleep in your jumper!

Christmas, Gingerbread houses, Snowmen, and Prison

2009-01-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas. Santa came (and yes, in case you were wondering, Zadyn is glad he didn't stay). He left the presents downstairs this year, which was convenient for Avery's 8:15 wake-up call. The kids had a blast playing with their presents from Santa. Avery got two Matchbox 360 pop-ups (a pirate and a haunted house). Kyler got a new tool bench (complete with a take-apart motor and car). Zadyn got a complete baby care station (with washing machine, ironing board, and stove). Ryker got a castle (with blocks that fit nicely in his mouth). Mom got a lovely set of lotion and Dad got the "Passage to Zarahelma" DVD. We dined on bananas from our stockings (Ryker got banana baby food -- that Santa is pretty smart). Then we had a great time opening presents and playing with all our new goodies! After all our chaos of gifts were finished, we had our traditional Christmas lunch of BBQ'd bacon hamburgers, potato salad and deviled eggs. It was cold and snowing, but Grant still braved the cold and cooked out on the grill. That is one tradition the kids LOVE!

Grandma and Grandpa Orr came to visit on the 30th and they will be here through Sunday. Grant and George are working on taping and mudding the room formerly known as the craft room. It will be Avery's new room once they are done and I have a chance to paint it. I think we will be hiring out the rest of the basement when the time comes. We were able to take a break this morning and make Gingerbread houses. The kids had a great time and probably ate more candy than they put on the houses. They turned out really cute.

With all the snow we've gotten, the kids have been having a blast playing outside. We built a snowman last week.

Now that Ryker is mobile, we have had a few stair scares. So, this week, Grant installed a gate at the top of the stairs. It has been great, eased my mind about his crawling around that house. His favorite place to crawl to is under the piano to play with the pedals, or in the kitchen under the table. He is definitely a mover and he doesn't seem to mind being in prison!

From the mouth of kids....

2008-12-23T08:50:00.000-08:00

Zadyn: "When is Santa coming?"

Mom: "Wednesday night."

Zadyn: "When is he leaving?"

My little group of actors!

2008-12-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

Saturday was our ward's Christmas breakfast. The primary children were asked to dress up for the Christmas story that the Bishop read from the scriptures. Avery was asked to play Joseph, Kyler was a shepherd, and Zadyn was an angel. They had a great time!

School Snack Creations

2008-12-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

The kids have been excited about our Thursday snack creations. We do science on Thursday's and read from their "Ranger Rick" and "Big Backyard" and "Baby Animal" science magazines. Each month, there is a snack idea that goes along with one of the highlighted animals. Last month, it was turkey's (since it was Thanksgiving of course) and this month was reindeer (think Christmas and Santa's sleigh). They really like making the treats, but LOVE eating them!

Happy Birthday to Avery!!!

2008-11-17T20:27:00.000-08:00

Avery turned 7 today. He had a fun day. We went to Pizza Hut for lunch to enjoy the lunch buffet. Then, when Dad got home, we opened presents. He got the movie Underdog, the game Battleship, a Speed Racer Car set, 2 transformers and a new bike.

I put the transformers in a box from Zadyn that had doll furniture in it. Avery was NOT impressed with the thought that he might actually be getting doll furniture. He was VERY relieved to open it and see the transformers inside. He later told me that was a pretty good joke.

I made him a cake with the Autobot and Decepticon logos on it. He thought it was pretty cool. He is having a party on Friday with his friends from church. They will be playing video games, eating pizza, chips and soda, and having another transformer cake. He is very excited about his party.

He got calls from Grandma Clark (who let him pick out a set of transformers for his birthday when they stayed with her last month -- bringing his transformer count to 4 now) and from Bailey and Braden, who sang him a lovely rendition of "Happy Birthday". He thought he was pretty cool!!!

Scrunchie McDoodle

2008-11-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

Ryker turned 5 months old on Saturday. Here are some of his favorite things to do:

Jumping in his Jumperoo!

Crawling backwards until he can't go any more!

Being Avery's evil sidekick "Captain Spit-up"

(who spits quick drying spit-up on the enemy).

Taking baths in the big kid tub!

Rocking on hands and knees!

Ryker is sleeping through the night, somewhat. He goes to bed around 10 and is up at 7:30 in the morning. He gets up once around 3 or 4 to have some one-on-one cuddle time with Dad for a few minutes, and then it's back to bed. He weighs 16 pounds and loves to eat. He has rice cereal twice a day and will start some veggies in the next couple weeks. He loves to watch his brothers and sister play, they are the most entertaining to him. Ryker likes any toy that he can fit in his mouth, which is pretty much anything he can get his hands on. He loves to play outside and take walks in his stroller. Now that the weather is colder, he doesn't so much like his snowsuit, but is getting used to it. He likes to smile and talk -- saying gagoo and screaching -- to anyone who will listen.

Halloween and an early Christmas

2008-11-03T14:49:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Halloween. The kids loved Trick-or-Treating around our subdivision and going to the church Trunk-or-Treat (although there were only 4 cars there, so we only stayed a few minutes). They loved dressing up as a ninja, Batman, Bedtime Bear, and Spidey Baby.

They loved to make their "potato-head" pumpkins. Grant carved one for work with inspiration from Collette's pumpkins. Thanks Letty for the idea!!! It turned out great!

Saturday, we went shopping to Costco and Grant and I picked out our Christmas present. It has been so fun to play. Even Ryker loves to hear it. The kids have enjoyed taking turns playing and Avery asks every few minutes if he can learn to play now.

Soccer, Haircuts, Crawling, Denver and Vomit

2008-10-30T10:07:00.001-07:00

We have been very busy the past few weeks.

Avery finished up his soccer season. He absolutely loved it and especially loved being the goalie. He did great! He is already talking about next year!

Kyler has started his Speech Therapy again. He is working on the R sound. Although, I think he has a really cute sounding voice without the R, it will make him more understandable!

Zadyn gave herself a haircut the day before we were to leave for vacation. She cut LOTS of her curls off and made a nice pile of hair in the craft-room. Luckily, her hair is so curly, that a friend was able to shape the top of her hair and blend it all in so it doesn't look too bad. Good thing it grows fast like mine!

Ryker is getting bigger and stronger every day. He is starting to crawl -- BACKWARDS!!! He gets on his hands and knees and pushes off with his hands and goes the wrong way. He gets SO mad that he is going away from his toys! He'll figure it out soon! He loves to eat his baby rice cereal and even tried chocolate shake in Denver!

Grant and I were able to take a vacation to Denver. Grant had a business conference to attend and so Ryker and I went along for a much needed vacation. We stayed at the downtown Marriot Courtyard right on the 16th Street Mall. I think Ryker had the shops memorized from all the walking up and down we did. It was a great little street with TONS of shops and eateries. We had a great time.

However, once we got home, we have all passed the flu bug around. Zadyn was the first to wake up throwing up. Then Avery got it. Grant and I have both been queasy off and on, but no throwing up yet. Kyler and Ryker and the only two that have successfully avoided being sick. Knock on wood that they won't be sick.

I will post later with pictures of pumpkins and kids in costume!

The Heat is ON!

2008-10-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

Literally, the heat is on in the house. It's been so cold here the past few days. I don't think we've gotten over 40 degrees in a few days. Kyler and I stayed home from church today with Ryker because Kyler has a sore throat today. We were cleaning the pictures off the camera when we noticed it was snowing again. We sat and watched the snow for an hour as it started sticking to the rocks, then the trampoline, then the garden, then the grass, then the housetops. It's still snowing as we write this. We are wondering what happened to Fall?!?!?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLER!!!!

2008-10-09T08:43:00.000-07:00

Today Kyler is 5!!!! We celebrated his birthday yesterday since we were in town for Ryker and Zadyn's doctor check up's and Avery has a soccer game tonight. Since it was his birthday, Kyler got to pick what we did. We went bowling, then to Pizza Hut for dinner. We came home and opened presents and had cake. Kyler wanted a Tonka cake and was pretty impressed with what I came up with. He loved his presents, too. He got a new lego set, a transformer, a matchbox foldable play set, and Bee Movie. They all have not stopped playing with them since he opened them.

Where's Ryker?

2008-10-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

Binocular Alphabet Nature Walk

2008-10-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

The kids and I took a walk through our wooded park area looking for things that started with each letter of the alphabet. We had to get a little creative with some letters, but here is what we came up with.

A -- ants
B -- bushes
C -- cars
D -- driveways
E -- exit to the road
F -- fence
G -- grass
H -- houses
I -- insects
J -- turn in the path
K -- tree branches connected like a "k"
L -- leaves
M -- mailbox
N -- notebook
O -- orange leaves
P -- pine tree
Q -- wheels on Ryker's stroller (brakes made the line of the "q")
R -- rocks
S -- signs
T -- trees
U -- upside down weeds
V -- dead weeds sticking up
W -- weeds
X -- crossed wire in fence
Y -- yellow leaves
Z -- Zadie

Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy and ...... Soccer Therapy?

2008-09-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

This week has been another busy one.

Last weekend, Ryker came down with an ear infection. We got him his anti-biotics and he's much better now! He was one cranky little guy. Now, he is fighting a head cold -- kind of funny that he got them in reverse -- the ear infection and then the cold! We are watching his ear closely with this cold. He is getting bigger and loves to sit in his high chair and play with his toys (mainly throwing them on the floor for others to pick up). He is trying to become mobile, but I won't let him! He lays on his belly and digs his toes into the floor and launches himself forward about an inch or two. Then does it over and over. He has a few bruises on his forehead from hitting toys as he goes. He is sleeping from 9:30 to 8:30 with one feeding around 4 or 5. That has been nice!

Zadyn had Physical Therapy on Tuesday. She is doing well. Her daily swinging has been keeping her shoulder nice and stretched. She stands up in the two-person sit down swing and "pumps" with her arms and legs. Man, can she get that thing going! Some days I think she is going to go up and over the top! Yesterday she had an evaluation meeting at the Florence Elementary School for her speech and possibly receiving additional PT and Occupational Therapy. They will begin her assessments next week and we will know if she qualifies for school services for PT and OT after they finish those assessments in the coming weeks. She will have speech from 10 - 10:30 on Thursdays and PT/OT right after, from 10:30 - 11:00. That will work nicely, since that is Ryker's morning nap time.

Kyler will be retested for speech next week. We think he will not qualify since he's age appropriate, but we will wait and see. He has been loving going places with everyone and since he isn't directly involved, all he has to do it show up and play. Plus, he is finding out that he usually gets the snacks or treats that everyone else does just for being there!

Last week Avery went to a birthday party at the Carousel in Missoula (and was pleased to report upon pick up that he got three rings off the dragon - if you get the gold ring you get a free ride, but he never got the gold one). Sunday he was Daniel in his class Sharing Time in Primary. He assured me that they were just going to take him by the arm and not THROW him into the lion's den. He also gave a talk on prayer in Primary. He had soccer practice Monday, but it was cancelled due to the down pour of rain we got right at 5:30. His first game was last night. They play 10 minute quarters, Avery played the whole game except for maybe 5 minutes in the 3rd quarter. Then, for the 4th quarter, the coach put him in as goalie! He loved it! He stopped 3 goals, and let one go by -- pretty good for his first game and no practice time! He is on the Meadowlark team, their jerseys are yellow and he is #2.

Last Saturday we took the kids to the University of Montana Homecoming parade in Missoula. They love parades. It was a nice long one (an hour and half). After, we went to the park for our picnic lunch and dined on PB&J and gogurt! We let the kids ride the Carousel a couple times and they had a blast. Then we took them bowling. We got the ramp for Kyler and Zadyn and Avery learned how to throw the ball on his own. We all did pretty good, sadly, my score was higher when I played Avery and used the bumper sides, than when I bowled with out them. I think Kyler had a better score than me! They had a great time and keep asking when we can do it again!

Tonight we have our Family Game Night in at the church. We will be setting up a volleyball net and playing board games on the stage. Hopefully we will get a good turn out since it's school sports night, too. We always enjoy going and playing new games that other families bring.

Ryker loves his brothers and sister!

2008-09-11T10:24:00.000-07:00

As you can see, Ryker LOVES to play with Avery, Kyler and Zadyn. Of course, they love to play with him, read books to him and take turns holding him! He is a very smiley boy! He started to laugh this week, too. It's so funny!

Avery Lost A Tooth

2008-09-09T16:51:00.000-07:00

This is the story in Avery's words (it's actually true): A few months ago Zadyn hit my gum with a rock. My tooth got loose and my gum bled. Sunday night, Mom pulled out my tooth. My gum bled. I put my tooth in my tooth box. The next morning, I found a dollar on my tooth box and my tooth box was empty! Right now when I say "F", it comes out whistling and I have to use my side teeth to bite an apple because it is not healed enough to bite into things. The End.

Are we in Idaho or Montana?

2008-09-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

Last week, the kids and I took a trip to Grandma's house. We had a good time playing with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Letty. We went to a couple parks, hit the DI for book deals, watched movies, and played with Grandma's toys. Collette and I went to the newly dedicated Twin Falls Temple and did an endowment session. That was neat -- a very pretty temple. I'm jealous that they have a temple so close! The kids did well on the drive to and from, it's a long drive, but they were able to watch movies and read books. Ryker loved being spoiled by Grandma and sharing his afternoon nap with her in the rocking chair! Zadyn was Grandpa's shadow again for the week. She was right there with him when he got home from work. They all loved helping to pick the veggies from the garden. They were impressed with the corn on the cob and the RED tomatoes (ours are still very green). We went and saw Grandma and Grandpa Orr one night. The kids were excited to get a new supply of homemade JAM from them! Mary and the kids came over Friday night. The kids played outside and then had brownies and ice cream while watching a movie. We were able to stop in Pocatello on the way home to see Jeremy, Sarah, Isaak and Mikelle. She is a little cutie! She seems so little compared to Ryker! Chad and Bailey stopped in, too, it was good to see them and Zadyn loved giving Chad kisses!

We had a great time in Idaho and the kids were sad to leave. Zadyn cried because Letty couldn't come home with us. Avery wanted to stay and play with Grandma's power rangers. Kyler wanted to stay and eat all the tomatoes from their garden! Ryker would probably be happy either way, but he sure loved telling everyone stories. But, they were glad to be home to spend some time with Dad. I forgot to take my camera, but Collette shared these pictures with me:

Is it really canning if you use a jar?

2008-08-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

Yesturday, the kids and I picked peppers and cucumbers from our garden. I cut the peppers up to freeze and filled a gallon zip lock! We use them on pizza, in green pepper steak and other things throughout the winter.

Then, when Grant got home, after dinner, we turned the cucumbers into pickles. We used a pre-packaged seasoning mix and water bathed them to seal them. It was really easy, but the house smelled like pickles all night. We were able to get 7 pints of pickles with twice as many cucumbers in the garden that will be ready to pick this weekend.

We are still waiting for our tomatoes to turn red so we can make our salsa and "jar" it. The kids are really excited. I was hoping to make some of Dad's infamous pickled beans, but alas, the mole in the garden really likes the bean plants and we only have 5 bean plants left. I can't get any beans off them after the kids have their share!

Birthday and Blessing Weekend

2008-08-12T08:39:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were able to celebrate Zadyn's 3rd birthday and have Ryker's blessing. We had many family members here and had a great time. Zadyn really enjoyed her birthday and tells everyone that she is 7. She used to say she was 8, but once she realized that she would be baptized, she quickly decided that 7 was better. She had a fun time playing with both sets of Grandparents at her birthday party. She enjoyed sharing her princess tiara birthday cake that night with her cousins. Here are a few pictures from her party:

Ryker was blessed on Sunday and true to form, like his brothers and sister, he cried through the blessing. Grant proclaimed that he was just crying repentance. He did good with all the people here this weekend.

We were able to have all the cousins here on Grant's side of the family. We tried to get a good picture of them all, but alas, Zadyn was not happy and Ryker was tired. So here's what we managed:

Since Grant's Grandma was here, we were also able to get a 4 generation picture.

All Smiles

2008-08-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

Ryker has begun to smile and coo at us. His favorite person to smile at is Kyler, but he spent a good 10 minutes smiling and "talking" to Grant last night. He also likes to have Avery read books to him. Ryker really loves it when Zadyn dances and moves around in front of him. He is so cute when he smiles!!

More pictures

2008-07-24T09:29:00.000-07:00

Mom posted about our trip to Idaho Falls and our meeting in Blackfoot. Here are a few pictures I had from that night.

I LOVE the Bishopric!

2008-07-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

Today was a day full of changes at church. Grant was released from his Stake Executive Secretary calling and called as the 1st Counselor in the Bishopric. I am so excited for him. He will be working along side our wonderful Bishop, Bishop Garth Stevens. Grant is going to be a wonderful leader and helper in our ward. I had MANY comments today about how excited people in the ward are to have Grant back in the ward and serving in the Bishopric. He will miss working along side the Stake Presidency, but is always willing to serve where he is called.

Grant is a wonderful example to me. He has such a strong testimony of service and church callings. I know he will do a wonderful job. He is a great father and loves me and our children very much. We love him and support him in whatever call the Lord chooses for him. I am greatful for his companionship and the love we share together. He is truly my best friend.

1 month has come and gone

2008-07-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

Ryker is now one month old. He is growing bigger and bigger. He is eating well and starting to sleep better (knock on wood that it continues). He loves to sit in his bouncy chair with the vibration turned on -- it will calm him almost instantly every time. He likes to listen to the older kids sing and read books. He isn't so keen on taking walks in the stroller or riding in the car when he's awake and he doesn't care for baths, either.

It's hard to believe it's been a whole month since he was born. Time sure does go fast!

Avery, the basketball player

2008-06-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

I had a week of basketball camp at Florence High School. We learned how to play one-on-one and defense. We learned how to make shots and how to do lay-ups. And when we were done, we got Skittles, a t-shirt, a basketball and a video of me playing basketball. I really liked my basketball camp.

Ryker's hospital pics and guestbook

2008-06-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here is the link for Ryker's celebrity photo op:

http://www.newbabynews.net/hospitals/com28/public/showBaby.pl?babyID=h28-59311768

Check it out!

Ryker Thomas Orr

2008-06-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

Ryker Thomas Orr was born at 8:20 am on Sunday, June 8. I was having contractions about every 5 minutes that Saturday night and went to bed and jokingly told Grant we weren't going to make it through the night. I woke up at 1:30, thinking I needed to go to the bathroom, got out of bed, and my water broke. We called a friend to come sit with the kids through the night and take them to church and we headed to the hospital. I got checked in and they set up my monitors. I was not contracting very hard or regular, so they let me just hang out. We had an ultrasound done about 3 am. They figured his stomach was measuring 41 weeks (stomach size is the number one indicator for shoulder discoxia), so we opted to go ahead with the c-section. My doctor was out of town for the weekend, so I ended up having the on-call doctor perform the surgery. He was wonderful, a very nice doctor who tried to help put me at ease. I got a spinal to numb me from the lower chest down. It didn't take the first time, so they had to do a second tap. That was not fun. It did finally work and Ryker was born at 8:20. He was 7 pounds, 12 ounces. He was 20 inches long. They took Grant and Ryker to the nursery while I was stitched up. I did not handle the medications well and was vomiting and had a fever and hot and cold flashes. So, I didn't get to hold Ryker for a couple more hours. The did give me something for the vomiting, but it made me so tired, I couldn't keep my eyes open. So, we all slept most of the day Sunday. The kids came to visit and see their baby brother later that evening. Avery didn't want to stop holding him. Kyler and Zadyn were a little anxious, but eventually warmed up to him. Zadyn kept telling people that the baby was not in mom's belly anymore. It was cute. Here are a few pictures of Ryker. We left in such a hurry, I forgot to grab the camera and so the picture are all from later in the day on Sunday.

2 weeks from tomorrow

2008-06-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

I had my doctor visit today. The doctor says the baby is healthy and fine. I had another non-stress test done, the baby passed (must be one smart baby!). I had an ultrasound done and the baby is measuring big. They are predicting a 9 pound baby. Lucky me. I am having lots of contractions, but nothing regular yet. If I go into labor on my own before the 13th, I will get to deliver. Anything after that, they will, if possible, stop the labor and proceed with the c-section because of the size.

So, we scheduled the c-section for Friday, June 20. I will be in the hospital for 3 or 4 days to recover and allow the incision to begin healing. I will keep everyone updated if anything changes. I go back to the doctor in a week.

Change in blessing date!

2008-06-01T16:33:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to pass along that we are changing the date of the baby's blessing from August 3rd to August 10th. There were lots of conflicts with that first weekend of August, so for all parties involved, we will have the blessing on the 10th. We hope to see everyone here that can make it.

Another (long) update

2008-05-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

I had my doctor appointment yesterday (Thursday) and we have tentatively set the c-section date for the 23 or 24 of June. Depends on what the hospital has open as we get closer. I will know more on that in the coming weeks. I had a non-stress test done, standard procedure for gestational diabetes patients, and things went well. The baby is moving and kicking and the heart beat is responding accordingly. The nurse couldn't find a heartbeat right away and in order to save time, they just turned the ultrasound machine on to find the heartbeat (the baby rides higher than she had thought). So, they confirmed it's still a boy. My blood glucose levels have been "perfect". I have not come close to going over my maximum level in almost two weeks. My morning fasting levels have even leveled off. I have a pretty good schedule going and know what I can and can't eat, so that helps. I go back in another week.

We planted our garden on Monday. The boys loved dropping seeds into the holes. Although, when we planted the corn, it was a couple days later and a little muddy. So, the seeds got muddy and the boys didn't want to help. Grant ended up planting it himself. Avery and Kyler wanted to know if dirty seeds grew muddy corn. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I have been taking the kids to the library each week before my doctor appointments and letting them check out some books. Avery is checking out 10-15 books a week (level 4 and 5) and is finishing them 4 days later. So, I found some of the Magic Tree House books, a little higher level chapter books, thinking it would take him a little longer to read them. Oh NO, I was wrong. He read almost one whole book on the ride home! Of the 10 books I got his yesterday, he's already read 3 and working on #4 right now. I have to take the books away from him and send him outside to play! He'd read all day if I'd let him. They start their summer reading program next week and are excited for that.

Zadyn has graduated to short pajamas for the summer, so in an effort to get creative and figure out how to attach her stimulus unit to her at night, I have purchased some glittery princessy belts. I will sew belt loops into the inside of her PJ tops and string the unit through and have it rest on her hip. (this allows her to still get to the bathroom in the night without fighting cords) We'll see how well it works out.

Kyler has one more week of Speech for the school year. He is going to get a lot of summer homework, he was told. He is starting on the R sound, which is difficult for him. But, I'm sure he'll pick it up soon, he always does. He is also starting to look for books at the library that he can read. He loves to sound out words and asked me the other day why K-Mart was "Big" K-mart after reading the word BIG on the sign. Sigh, I guess I have to rethink what I was going to order for him for school books next year.

Grant got all the sheet rock hung in the bathroom. He started painting the walls, with the help of the kids, but the smell was so bad, he had to stop. He will finish it when the weather is nicer and the kids and I can go outside and play while he paints. He has been busy working in the yard and we just purchased some new bushes and plants and border rock for his next project. (I think the neighbors think I'm a slave driver!!) I will post pictures of things as they are finished.

Painting on a Rainy Day

2008-05-22T19:55:00.000-07:00

It's been pretty rainy here the last couple days. The kids have had a little cabin fever. So, we decided to break out the wood project kits we bought at Michael's a while back. They come complete with wood, glue, paint, and paint brush. The kids glued their pieces all together and then had to wait to let it dry before painting. Grant helped them make chocolate waffle cookies and they ate them while the glue dried (I think they all told me at one point that I couldn't eat them because they have sugar in them). Once they were done with their snack, they got to paint. They LOVE to paint! Suprisingly, they didn't get too much paint on themselves, or the table, thanks to the bibs and craft paper. Here are some pictures of their works in progress. Avery made a tank. Kyler made a covered wagon. Zadyn made a stealth bomber.

Swimming, Speech, PT, Mother's Day, sheetrock, and MORE...

2008-05-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

We have been busy for the last couple weeks. I have been in Missoula or Hamilton, or somewhere in between everyday (except two) this past two weeks! I thought, with the higher gas prices, I would be staying home more, but NOPE, not happening.

Avery just completed his Level 3 swim class. He absolutely loved it! His two favorite things are knee diving and using the filppers to kick while swimming. He is getting much better at not plugging his nose everytime he jumps into the water.

Kyler is about ready to graduate from Speech Therapy. He still has a few sounds left, but they aren't "age appropriate" sounds for a 4 year old. But, the therapist is going to let us finish out this school year and then re-test in the fall. We will be testing Zadyn when she turns 3 in August. I already have her on my Christmas card list!

Zadyn had another visit with the Physical Therapist today. She is doing well. The therapist said her shoulder is MUCH looser than it's ever been, so that was nice to hear. All the extra stretching is really helping. Zadie just loves to go and swing and play games with her PT. This summer we will try and get her a couple rounds of pool therapy in.

Yesturday, while at Costco, one of the sample ladies asked Zadyn if she could buy Zadyn's curly hair. Zadyn said no, it was for Grandma Clark and Holly (her PT, who has curly hair like Zadyn's). So if you're interested Mom, Zadyn says she'll sell it to you!

For Mother's Day, the kids and Grant got me some flowers for my outside planters. We planted them Saturday and they look nice! I love the variety they picked and how much color it adds to the house. Avery said that you can tell if you love your Mother on Mother's Day if you don't get her dead flowers. Words of wisdom.....

I have been going a pretty good job of keeping my blood sugar levels in check. I had a couple mornings, after going back to sleep after eating my meager breakfast of one piece of toast and a glass of milk, that my levels were high. Plus, I found out that Costco pizza is a killer. I think it was the pineapple on it that got my numbers up. The doctor wasn't at all concerned with any of my numbers, so I guess I shouldn't be either.

Grant has been busy with the yard and trying to get the basement bathroom finished. George and Kim were here a few weekends ago and helped us finish the plumbing and install the shower/tub. Grant has a couple more pieces of sheetrock to hang, then he'll paint, lay the floor, install the toliet, sink and door, and the bathroom will be ready to go! That will be so nice to have!

We are trying to get the bathroom finished before the baby comes and before the baby blessing. We have the blessing scheduled for the first weekend in August, so August 3. For those interested in coming, we will have plenty of space in the house and in the yard for tents and that third bathroom will be finished! Hopefully we will see some of you for the blessing.

The baby is doing well. Kicking and flipping all the time. Zadyn doesn't like to feel the baby move, it kind of freaks her out. Avery and Kyler like to feel it when it has the hiccups. They think it's funny that the baby can have hiccups. I don't find it amusing in the middle of the night!

Outdoor fun!

2008-04-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

The kids and I have been enjoying the nice warm outdoor weather. We've had fun riding bikes, swinging, jumping on the trampoline (which I did until the contractions started and I had to get off!!!), digging in the garden plot, and going on backyard explores. Avery has figured out how to jump off the swing as he's swinging and is now trying to see how far he can jump. Zadyn got a new bike that she can pedal and she thinks she's a big girl. Kyler recently learned how to pump his legs and get himself going on a swing and he is always swinging now! All the kids love when Dad gets home and jumps them on the trampoline. They fight over who gets to go first! We have really enjoyed our big backyard!

Test results

2008-04-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

I had my 3 hour glucose test yestuday and the doctor called with the results this morning. Here are my numbers:

fasting was 92
(needed to be below 95)

1 hour was 184
(needed to be below 180)

2 hour was 194
(needed to be below 155)

3 hour was 162
(needed to be below 140)

Since I was above the cut off for all three hours, I have been officially diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. I will have an appointment with the diabetic clinic next week, start checking my blood sugar levels multiple times a day, exercise, and watch what I eat. Hopefully this will keep the size of the baby in check! I will keep you all updated.

Didn't Alisa Have a Birthday?

2008-04-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

Well Alisa has been so busy blogging about our trip that she hasn't mentioned much about her birthday. We didn't do much on the trip other than eat at Olive Garden to celebrate, but when we got home, I took the kids shopping. They thought it was great to pick out something for Mom. I had to help Zadyn, but the boys found their own things. All the kids picked out their own wrapping paper and bows and then wrapped it themselves when they got home. The kids got things that Mom could pamper herself with and allow her to relax. Avery just had to get puzzles for Mom. He picked some with boats on them because they were like the river boat in St. Louis. Kyler picked rubber stamps. He insisted he had to get two, so that led to Avery and Zadyn both getting two of their presents also. Zadyn got smelly lotion from Bath and Body Works. I think she wears more of it than Alisa!

For the birthday party, we celebrated one week late and had our friends, Lance and Nina, over for a hot dog roast, smores, and cake. Yes, this celebration may have been what led to the sugar levels! We had a lot of fun celebrating our wonderful mom, wife, and friend. She really is great and deserves a little pampering.

Gestational Diabetes

2008-04-22T09:17:00.000-07:00

I had my 1 hour glucose test on Friday and failed. I failed miserably!! My level after a 12 hour fast, drinking the sugar soda and having my finger pricked an hour later was 215!!! I have to have the 3 hour test done Thursday morning to determine how the levels are dropping. With an initial level of 215, they are saying that more than likely I had gestational diabetes. Depending on what results I get Thursday will determine whether or not I will have to check my blood sugar levels at home on a regular basis.

So, please keep the baby and I in your prayers. We are hoping that following a strict diet and watching my blood sugar will keep the weight of the baby down. We will have another ultrasound to check the size in a couple weeks.

Final two days, 4/7 and 4/8

2008-04-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

Monday we had some grand plans of going to the Magic House and the Museum of Transportation. Well, they were both closed on Monday's. Funny how they both went to Spring hours the first of April, so when I checked their hours online before leaving for our trip, they were still open on Mondays! So we asked the kids what they wanted to do instead and they said they wanted to go back to the zoo. Since we were going to pack and clean up that night, we let them swim for a couple hours that morning. Then we went to Olive Garden again for lunch (yep, my choice).

We thought we'd try and rent a paddle boat and take a stroll around the lake, but you guessed it, they closed early on Monday! So, we went to the zoo and took the train around to all the places we had missed the previous days and the kids rode the carousel. Kyler doesn't like to go up and down, so we found him an animal on the carousel that didn't move. While he was on it, the lady in charge came and told me that the giraffe doesn't go up and down. I said, yep, I know. She said, well, sometimes that matters. I said, yes, sometimes it does. Zadyn rode the zebra and told Dad, who was standing by her, that the zebra was her friend. She informed him that the polar bear was his friend. When the zoo closed at 5, we found a playground at the park and let the kids play for a while before dinner.

We had been seeing White Castle restaurants all over St. Louis. Avery has a White Castle T-shirt. So, it was only natural curiosity that we ate there for dinner on Monday. That was a mistake. The food was GROSS!!! The kids liked the fries, but the burgers, albeit were cheap and small, were very greasy and didn't have much flavor. Not the place to eat at again, that's for sure. So, we went to the Steak and Shake and got milk shakes to wash it all down!

We went back to the hotel and took showers and packed up as much as we could. Avery's favorite part of the day was swimming, the train ride, and EVERYTHING. Kyler liked riding the giraffe at the zoo (carousel). Zadyn liked the zebra that "go up, up, up down." Mom liked the milk shake and the train ride. Dad liked the train ride minus the screaming children in the tunnels.

Tuesday -- we got up very early (5:30 CST) and got the car loaded. All the hotel patrons were not happy with Zadyn screaming because she didn't want to get up!!! She finally settled down enough to get dressed. We took the rental car back and shuttled to the airport. We didn't need to be as early as before since Grant had his wallet this time! We got through security and went to the Burger King for a quick breakfast. The kids thought it was SO cool to eat breakfast in the airport! Our plane left St. Louis at 8:30 CST. Kyler and Zadyn both fell asleep shortly after take-off. They were tired!! We arrived in Salt Lake around 10:30, got the van and loaded it up and headed out. Once we FINALLY made it though the construction, we stopped for lunch in Brigham City. We stopped again in Pocatello to see Sarah and Isaak. Chad and Bailey came over to visit too. Sorry we missed Jeremy, he was working (or so they say). We got back on the road and stopped for dinner at the Pizza Hut in Dillon. All was well until just outside of Missoula (yep, close to home) when Kyler said his tummy hurt. So we slowed down and he said he was fine. So we kept going (famous last words). We made it all the way into Missoula when Kyler threw up. We pulled into a gas station and cleaned him off and continued on. We got home shortly after 10 pm and got the kids ready for bed. They were all tired and so were we. We unloaded what we had to and left the rest. Grant had to work the next day and I had to catch up on laundry.

We had a great time on the trip. The kids are still talking about it and can't wait until I get the pictures printed off for them to have a photo album to look at. I guess I need to do that soon!

Saturday, April 5 and Sunday, April 6

2008-04-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, I woke up to the kids singing me Happy Birthday. It was cute. We got up a little earlier than usual because if you made it to the children's zoo during the first hour it's open (at the main zoo), you could get in free. So, we went to the children's zoo, didn't really see much that we were all excited about, but they had a fun play area for the kids to play in. We rode the railroad at the zoo, Avery and Grant saw a 3-D dinosaur movie, we had lunch at the zoo and finished the day off at the monkey house. We went to a "turtle park" which has HUGE concrete turtles that the kids loved to climb and slide on. It is part of the Forest Park area also.
The kids were VERY tired of walking and just wanted to play for a while, so we drove out to the temple so they could see it. There is a park a little ways down the road from the temple, so we stopped there and let the kids play. We went to Olive Garden for dinner -- my birthday request -- and then headed back to the hotel. Zadyn and I sat in the hotel room and watched Cinderella on the laptop while the boys went swimming.

Our favorites of the day were: Avery liked the Dinosaur movie, Kyler liked the Elephants and the train ride, Zadyn liked the train ride, Mom liked eating at Olive Garden, and Dad liked seeing the temple. While we were eating that night, the baby got the hiccups. I told the kids this and that got them thinking. Zadyn asked if the baby cried in my belly. I told her my baby doesn't cry, it gets the hiccups. Then Avery asked if the baby pees in me and Kyler wanted to know if the baby poops in me. BOYS!?!?!?!?!

Sunday we stayed at the hotel for the morning and hooked up the laptop to watch conference. We were able to get a good stream from BYU TV and enjoyed watching the session. We ate a quick lunch in the hotel and then headed to the arch. The kids had waited ALL week for this day. We started by going on the Tom Sawyer Riverboat ride on the Mississippi River. They loved it! It was a little touristy, but fun. Then we walked around the arch, went to the gift shop and museum UNDER the arch (yes, underground, and you have to have your bags checked and go through a metal detector to get in!!!!), and then headed to Union Station, an old train station turned mall to look for T-shirts.

We let Avery pick the dinner spot tonight and not suprisingly he picked Red Lobster for Shrimp. We had to wait a while, but it was good food. We went back to the hotel and watched a little TV before turning in for the night.

The favorites for Sunday: Avery liked the boat ride and the shrimp at Red Lobster. Kyler liked the boat ride and the Arch. Zadyn liked the boat ride and looking for Mermaids in the river. Mom liked the boat ride and having to go through security to get under the arch. Dad liked leaving Illinois (we drove over the border so the kids could say they've been to Illinois), watching conference and having a nice steak at Red Lobster. Avery had the two funny quotes for the day. He informed us that "if your steak comes out mooing, you get to have milk, too!" Grant had ordered his steak medium. Then, while looking at the sea salt on the table, Avery asked if they had sea pepper, too.

Installment #3, Friday, April 4, 2008

2008-04-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

Today was a long, fun-filled day. We started at the Science Center (located in Forest Park, so FREE). It was a HUGE building with TONS of interactive, hands-on experiments and activities. The kids loved it. It starts in one building and you have to take a bridge over the free way to the rest of the center. The bridge is made out of glass and has a few spots in the floor made of glass so you can watch the cars go by. They have speedometers, machines that you can point at the cars that will tell you how fast they are going. Avery loved those! They had a scale that you stood on and it would tell you how much it would cost to send you into space on a space shuttle. That was funny. The kids enjoyed building bridges, making an arch (like the Gateway Arch in St. Louis), playing on the optical harp, playing hopscotch on the musical hopscotch, playing the giant foot piano with their feet, flying an airplane on a computer flight simulator, creating their own fish on a computer game, making a train go fast or slow by moving levers, seeing how big their feet compared to a dinosaur footprint, playing surgeon with a model of an open stomach that you could remove the organs and learn about each one, doing lots of optical illusions in the eye exhibit, and much, much more!

And I only thought my kids were expensive!

Building bridges with lots of different types of materials.

Building the arch, one piece at a time! It was tough, but we finally did it!

For lunch we went to a local favorite, Fitz. They make and bottle their own Root Beer, Orange and Grape Sodas. The kids got to see the whole process of bottling as they have the packaging line open to the public through a glass wall at one end of the dining room. They watched them bottle orange soda by putting carbonated water and orange syrup into the bottle, sending it to the shaker, which flipped the bottle a couple times to mix its contents, then it got a cap and a label. Avery and Kyler liked it when the lid didn't quite make it on and the soda fizzed all over the floor!

After lunch we took the hour drive to Meramac Caverns. For those who have been to Mt. Timpanogos, it's very similar, except you don't have to hike for 4 days to get to the caves, they start at ground level! The boys LOVED the caves. They have guided tours that last about an hour and half. They have some really cool history behind the caves. Train robbers used to hide out in them and stash their loot, so they have a nice statue they let the kids get their pictures with inside the cave. We had a great time there.

Avery and the Jessie James gang!

We had dinner, went back to the hotel to swim and play and then went to bed. We were all very tired, it was a long day! Avery liked the caves and building bridges at the science center. Kyler liked building a rocket out of big foam cutouts at the science center. Zadyn liked the smily face fries at Fitz. Mom liked the caves, but not climbing the 60 odd stairs to the wine room. Dad liked building the bridges and making the arch at the science center. We drove by the 6 Flags park on the way to the caverns and Kyler wanted to know why 6 Flags only had one flag! (It actually has 6 flags flying outside the park, but he just couldn't see them from the road!)

Next installment --- Thursday 4/3

2008-04-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning we woke up to rain! The "locals" were all complaining about the "cold" weather. When we went to the car, it was a balmy 50 degrees with a slight drizzle. It was WARM!!! We had a school field trip planned for the Missouri Botanical Gardens scheduled for 10 am and we were hoping the rain would subside. We brought our umbrellas and school notebooks with us and headed to the Gardens. They were awesome! They have a Japanese garden, a Chinese friendship garden, a Victorian garden (complete with hedge mazes), rose gardens, tulip and lily gardens, a rainforest in a climatron dome and numerous other gardens, fountains, reflecting pools, sculptures, and buildings.

A fish sculpture in a reflecting pool and the Climatron:

Pictures from the rain forest:

Victorian maze:

Path leading to the Japanese Garden:

Another Victorian Maze

(Kyler got lost in this one!!!! -- notice Avery running in the top left hand corner):

A nice shot of the popcorn trees:

We saw TONS of plants, some favorites being a cacoa tree, a pineapple tree, a manderine orange tree, the zigzag cactus, cashew plants, fig trees, many many flowers, birds and squirrels.

When we were done at the Gardens, we went back to the hotel for lunch and more importantly, to pick up Grant's wallet. We had asked Mom and Dad on Wednesday to overnight it to us, so Grant could drive, and it was already waiting for us at the hotel on Thursday! Talk about quick service! Thanks Mom and Dad and FedEx! We decided, since the rain had picked up, we would stay at the hotel for the next few hours and let the kids play at the indoor playground and kiddie pool while I did some laundry. Grant was going to go to the temple, but got on the wrong freeway and got lost and didn't ever make it in time for the session.

We took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner that night and they had a blast! Zadyn was glad Chuck E. Cheese himself was not there, she thinks she's scared of him! We went back to the hotel and went swimming again. Our favorites for the day: Avery liked the rain forest and Kyler getting lost in the maze. Kyler liked the mazes at the gardens. Zadyn liked going in the maze. Mom liked watching Kyler get lost in the maze and Grant getting his wallet. Dad liked the Climatron rain forest and Kyler getting lost in the maze!

St. Louis, lost wallets and airplane rides

2008-04-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

Well, we are finally home from St. Louis. We had a blast! The kids loved the airplane ride, especially the take off and landing. When we got to Salt Lake to fly out, Grant realized he left his wallet (and consequently his ID, credit cards, etc) in Jerome at Mom's house (I guess flying on April 1 wasn't really a good idea). We frantically called Southwest Airlines and they said he could get through security, it would just take longer. So, we went in and gave it a try. They got him through pretty quick compared to the time it took me to get the three kids through our security checkpoint. We got on the plane, flew for 2 1/2 hours to St. Louis and arrived with no problems around 7:30 that night. We shuttled to the rental car pick-up and then grabbed a quick bite to eat before checking into our hotel.

Wednesday morning was Zadyn's PT/OT and Dr. appointment. We found out that all was well. She is right on track, we are doing the right things and they were pretty impressed with what she could do at this point. They gave us a few things to work on and then said come back in two years. So, we were glad that there was nothing we weren't doing that we should be doing. That was a relief. We were also frustrated that we traveled that far to hear that everything is fine and there really isn't anything major we need to be doing that we aren't already doing. But, better safe than sorry. Plus, we got a fun family vacation out of it. Here is a picture of the sculpted bushes outside of the St. Louis Children's Hospital:

After the appointment we went to lunch, then headed to the zoo. This zoo is amazing. It is located in the middle of town in a 1371 acre park, Forest Park. The zoo itself is 90 acres! They have TONS of animals. In fact, it took us a couple hours each day for three days to get through the whole thing, and there were still a couple of parts we didn't go to. The kids loved watching them feed the penguins and the polar bear. We went to Walmart (because you can't go on vacation and NOT stop at Walmart) for lunch supplies for the next couple days and few bathroom things we didn't bring. Then we went to dinner and back to the hotel for swimming.

At the end of each day, I wrote down what we did and asked each member of the family what their favorite thing of the day was. So, for Wednesday, Avery loved EVERYTHING, swimming, looking at his map of the zoo, and watching the train at the zoo. Kyler loved the giraffe's and kangaroo at the zoo. Zadyn liked the zebra's at the zoo. Mom liked watching them feed the penguins and Dad liked watching the polar bear catch fish in its mouth.

Notice the fish in his mouth!

I will post the next couple days of the trip in a few days. I have TONS of pictures to go through on the camera and the computer (I ran out of space on my camera after three days and had to load them on the computer!).

Stimulate me .....

2008-03-20T07:50:00.000-07:00

Well, we FINALLY got Zadyn's stimulus unit yesterday at her Physical Therapy appointment. She wasn't too sure about it when she tried it on. It has two electrodes (long band aid types things) that wrap around her upper arm, just above the bicep, and around her lower, upper, arm, just above the elbow. Then the wires run to a little IPOD sized control unit. We are still trying to come up with a way to keep the wires from wrapping her up at night. We think we will go and get a sports waist band made for IPODs and see if she'll wear that at night with the stim unit. It's a pretty easy unit to work and get going. She will wear it 6 nights a week. It is designed to build muscle in her sleep. It is a long term process. We are starting with the bicep, triceps and deltoids. We probably won't see any results for a few months as the electrical current is not even great enough to feel, but still strong enough to do something. We hope this will help her develop more muscle tone in her arm and shoulder. Then, we will begin some more rigorous physical therapy in the next couple months. Probably more pool therapy, too. She is getting good splashing and being a Mermaid in the tub!

Sound Track to my life

2008-03-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks Collette for the inspiration to get some new tunes on my Ipod.

1. Opening Credits
"Back to Your Heart" ---Backstreet Boys

2. Waking Up
"Ellsworth" ---Rascal Flatts

3. First Day of School
"The Perfect Fan" ---Backstreet Boys

4. Falling in Love
"Unbelievable" ---Diamond Rio

5. Fight Song
"What Hurts the Most" ---Rascal Flatts

6. Breaking Up
"Cross My Heart" ---LFO

7. Life's OK
"Bent" ---Matchbox 20

8. Mental Breakdown
"Dreamlover" ---Mariah Carey

9. Driving
"Where do I Fit in the Picture" ---Clay Walker

10. Flashback
"Pieces" ---Rascal Flatts

11. Getting Back Together
"Think About You" ---LFO

12. Wedding
"Drowning" ---Backstreet Boys

13. Birth of a Child
"Smooth" ---Matchbox 20

14. Final Battle
"Never There" ---Cake

15. Death Scene
"Cool Thing" ---Rascal Flatts

16. Funeral Song
"I Don't Wanna Cry" ---Mariah Carey

17. End Credits
"Mad Season" ---Matchbox 20

The little things in life

2008-03-13T12:43:00.000-07:00

This week marks the two week anniversary of Zadyn wearing big girl underpants. She loves to show off her Tinker Bell underwear to anyone who will look at them. She thinks she is such a big girl!! We are so proud of her being able to pull her own pants down, something her PT didn't know if she would be able to do very well. We are still working on pulling them up, but that will take some time. Her upward movement in the shoulder is really lacking. But, I don't mind helping her if it means no more diapers! (at least for three more months!)

The kids and I were enjoying a nice day outside on the swing set when the boys got to talking about the resident frog we had living in our yard last year. They asked where it was and I told them that I thought it was dead. Kyler asked if Dad shot it. I had to laugh. They think Grant shoots everything that is dead. Guess they are reliving the day they saw his deer hanging in Lance's garage.

I am getting ready to order school books for next year. Yes, I'm ahead of the game, but want to be prepared before the baby comes. I am sad to think that Avery will be in 2nd grade and Kyler will be continuing with Kindergarten work. They are growing so fast. I'm taking a little extra help this next year and ordering a whole set of books for each of them through a Christian-based homeschool supplier. I am hoping that it will help eliminate a lot of the work I do now in preparing their unit studies. With a new baby, we are trying a new approach. I probably won't like it, because I like to be hands on with their learning, but can adjust what we do get to meet our needs.

The kids went to a story time playgroup at the church last week and learned about growing. They got to plant some pre-start Marigolds (yes, Mom, I'll stay away from them and NOT eat them) and a bean. They are way excited because the beans have started to sprout. Avery wants to plant them in the garden this year, but I don't think we will. We'll see though. Their Marigolds are doing well despite Kyler and Zadyn both dumping them in the garage when we got home. Will post some pictures once they have started blooming. Avery keeps reminding me that since we live in Montana, we can't plant anything outside until June (that is what the lady that helped them plant said). Sadly, she is right.

We took the kids to an indoor swim park in Missoula last Saturday. They loved it! They have a zero depth pool, starts at ground level and progressively gets deeper. There was about 15 feet that Zadyn could walk around in with the water up to her chest or lower. She had a blast. Kyler loves the bear shaped slide that lands in two-inches of water. Avery loved having the noodle tied around his waist and "swimming" in the deep parts with Dad. I just enjoyed relaxing in the water that was surprisingly warm. The baby liked it too, since it kept kicking and swimming around in me!!

Museum of the Rockies

2008-03-03T09:24:00.000-08:00

A couple weekends ago, we went to Bozeman. While there, we took the kids to the Museum of the Rockies. They have a great display of dinosaur bones and recreated dinosaurs. The kids thought they were awesome!

This is a steel replica outside of the museum.

Here is the world's largest intact T-Rex head.

What the bones look like while still in the ground.

The kids LOVED the dinosaurs.

It's a ......................

2008-02-26T18:01:00.000-08:00

BOY!

The ultrasound showed a baby, looked a little alien like to me, but it's definately a baby. The size looks good, measuring right on target. I had another round of blood work to check my blood sugar levels, which I will have every month. I will get the results in a few days. The doctor is 75% sure of the gender, we only got one really good shot when he first put the wand on me. He will double check again in April when he does another size determining ultrasound. The kids are dissappointed, they were all hoping for a girl so Zadie would have someone to play Princesses with, but oh well. They'll get over it. We are excited and now we're going to have to start making lists of names.

The Great Family Home Evening Boat Float

2008-02-18T08:48:00.000-08:00

Last night, for FHE, Avery had the lesson. He did a great job teaching us the story of when Nephi built the boat to take his family across the ocean to the Promised Land. I was in charge of the game, so Avery and I conspired to have the game and lesson go together. Thus evolved the Great Boat Race. We each constructed boats from cardboard and tested to see who's boat could float and who's boat could hold the most "kids". Dad and Mom tied for best looking boats. My boat, however, didn't float at all. Everyone else's did float until the kids were added. Kyler was the big winner, his boat lasted the longest and held an amazing 13 kids (we ran out of kids, or it would have held more). The kids thought it was fun. Zadyn, well, she just liked cutting with scissors.

(L to R) Avery, Zadyn, Mom, Kyler, Dad

A cute shot of Zadyn, just because she's cute!

Mom's boat didn't even float for a second!

Kyler's boat wins!!!!!!!

Is there an echo in here?

2008-02-12T18:31:00.000-08:00

Avery went in for his throat procedure (the Micro Direct Larynzascopy with Excision -- that's for you Cameron). All went well. We got up at 6 in the morning, left shortly after and made the 30 minute drive to St. Patrick's Hospital in Missoula. We checked in and waited out turn. They called us back to pre-op around 7:30 where the paper work and consent forms were done. We waited for an hour before the anesthesiologist came to give Avery the happy juice. The throat doctor, Dr. Haller, came and talked with us about the procedure. They took Avery back to the operating room around 8:30. A little after nine, Dr. Haller came to the waiting room and told me how it went. The flap of skin was REALLY REALLY REALLY small. A lot smaller than he originally anticipated. So, he went ahead and lasered it because he was there. He doesn't know for sure, given the size of it, if that is what is causing the breathing issues when Avery gets sick or not. We will have to wait until Avery is sick to find out. But, at least it won't cause any other problems down the road.
I had to wait another 45 minutes until Avery was finally waking up. He did really well coming out of the anesthesia. The first 15 minutes were like a broken record. This is how our conversation went:

Avery: "Did they put me to sleep already?"
Me: "Yes."
Avery: "No they didn't!"
Me: "Yes they did."
Avery: "Oh, did I have my surgery already?"
Me: "Yes"
Avery: "They didn't put me to sleep yet?"
Me: "Yes they did, you are all done."
Avery: "I had my surgery already?"
Me: "Yes, Avery, you are done."
Avery: "But they didn't put me to sleep!"

By this time it was pointless to continue, so I let it go. He did ask me a couple more times when they were going to start his surgery. He came out of the groggy state pretty quickly. Since the procedure ended up being less invasive and quicker than they thought, we were able to come home today. We ended up leaving the hospital at 11 am. Avery was hungry and the doctor told him he could eat and drink anything he wanted, his throat shouldn't hurt much after today. So, he talked me into stopping at McDonald's for a Mighty Kids Meal of a double cheeseburger, apple dippers and a chocolate milk shake. I even let him play on the toys since he was the only one there. We got home a little after noon and Avery played and watched a little TV. He was NOT happy that he didn't get to stay over night, but I think we made up for it by putting the travel TV in his room this afternoon and letting him "rest" and watch movies. He says his throat is feeling fine and doesn't hurt. We have to keep a close eye on him over night and then take him back to Dr. Haller next week for a follow up. Avery did great and we're glad that it is done and he is home.

No Teeth?????

2008-02-06T17:55:00.000-08:00

Today Avery went to the dentist. He got his primary teeth pulled out. They were the two front bottom teeth. Then, Avery picked out a telescope from the treasure chest. After we went to the dentist, we went to Gary and Leo's (IGA) to buy some soft foods for Avery. He picked out Scooby Doo Mac and Cheese, Batman Spaghettio's and Goldfish Chicken Noodle Soup. He also picked out some pudding, chocolate chip cookie and banana creme pie flavored.

I also went to the dentist today for my cleaning. And, true to form, I had NO cavities. Avery was very brave and didn't even flinch when they pulled, YANKED, his teeth out. They even gave him a cool little tooth box to put out for the Tooth Fairy.

Scavenger Hunt

2008-02-05T07:59:00.000-08:00

Grant had a night out with Kyler last night, so they (I) decided that they could slip a little trip into our local IGA store here in Florence as part of their night. Kyler didn't think that was fun until I brought up a scavenger hunt. They he was all for it. Here are the clues, see if you can figure out what was on their list:

1. Start on the aisle with bread and honey.

What animal shape does the honey come in?

What fruit rhymes with that animal?

Find that canned fruit and add it to your cart.

2. Now find the aisle with the yummy veggies.

Look for the carrots.

Go find 2 bottles of what you like to dip the carrots in

and 2 bottles of what Avery likes to dip carrots in. Add those to your cart.

3. Next, find the lunchables in the refrigerated section.

Look inside and think about what is crunchy in there.

Now find the boxes of these in the store and buy 4.

You and dad can pick which 4 you want to put in your cart.

4. Dad has a grill outside that he uses to do this to hamburgers.

The same name is a type of dipping sauce for Avery's chicken nuggets.

Find this sauce and put 2 in your cart.

5. Now you're all done and it's time for a treat!

Find the aisle with the candy and pick something to eat!

How smart were you? Did you figure it all out? Kyler and Dad DID come home with all the things on their list, so they must have figured out the clues. Kyler's answer for #4, was New Mexico Green (thanks Dale....).
Now, I'm sure Avery will want to do the same thing for his day out next week, good thing I have a few coupons that need used at Super One.

Two nights, PLEEEEEEEEASE?!?!

2008-02-01T08:27:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally took the plunge and scheduled Avery's throat surgery. It will be sometime on the 12th of February. He will have to stay overnight for observations and has already requested that Mom stay with him this time. They will be putting him out, sending foreign objects down his throat and removing things that shouldn't be there. Should be fun?!?!? He has already told us that he wants to stay TWO nights and we told him NO. In fact, I told him that if they wanted us to stay more than one night, we would go AWOL. Then I had to explain what that meant.
In other news, his tooth has NOT fallen out yet and the new tooth has already come up behind it. So, he is going to the dentist next week to see if the baby tooth needs pulled. They will have to wait until after the surgery, or I'll ask the surgeon to pull it for us. The baby tooth is not getting any looser and he won't let us tie the string to the door.

We were looking forward to having Elder David A. Bednar at our Stake Conference next weekend, but with the passing our beloved President Hinckley, Elder Bednar has been reassigned. We are a little bummed, but know he is probably needed else where. I'm sure he will participating in the Rexburg Temple Dedication.

We are going outside now, to shovel the 6 inches of snow we got yesturday. Should be fun. It takes longer to bundle the kids in their snow suits than it does to shovel the driveway. Is it worth it????

We're not taking the baby home?

2008-01-22T18:50:00.000-08:00

Today I had my monthly check-up at the doctor's office. The whole family came to hear the heartbeat. We got a nice strong heartbeat (150 bpm) to listen to. I lost a pound this month and I'm still trying to figure out how with Christmas and New Years, but I'll take it! When we went to leave, Zadyn asked where the baby was. I told her, again, that it was in my belly and we heard it today. She didn't quite get it and looked all around the office for a baby. The baby is doing well and I'm starting to feel A LOT more movements, especially at night when I'm laying down to sleep. I go back in a month.........

We've been busy......

2008-01-17T12:07:00.000-08:00

As the title says, we have been very busy the past few weeks. Here's an update on all that's taken place.

Zadyn had an appointment with her neurologist in Missoula after Christmas. He recommended that we take her back to St. Louis and visit with the surgeon and physical therapy team, to get future recommendations. So, we talked with the St. Louis people, our PT and this neurologist and decided it would be a good idea to go back and see how her progress is going in their eyes. So, we have that trip scheduled for the first week in April. Then, we took her to a plastic surgeon to have the hemangeoma (strawberry birthmark) on her nose looked at. Under his recommendations, we are waiting another year, at least, to make any decisions there. It's getting smaller on it's own, so why mess with it? We are still in limbo for the electrical stimulus unit, but it looks like it's getting closer to being here.

Kyler is still in speech and is picking up new sounds constantly. He is now working on the /f/ sound at the beginning, middle and end of words.

Avery recovered well from his ER/Hospital visit. He had his C-Scan done and there is a small something in his throat. So, today, we had an appointment with the ear, nose, throat guy. He said that it is a small pocket of skin, that fills with infectious fluids and expands when he gets sick and causes the throat to tighten up. This pocket of skin is NOT supposed to be there, but since it doesn't hurt him when he's not sick, it's not a HUGE problem. It looks like it has been there since he was little. We have been giving the choice of having it removed, or just treating his breathing issues when they arise. We are leaning towards having it fixed, but are still weighing all our options. If we leave it, it could get worse, or it could just not be a problem as his throat grows. PLUS..... he has a loose tooth.

I had my bottom mounted/bonded retainer (from my braces days) partially fall off last week. I had to go see an orthodontist to have the rest removed. I am going in next month to get a new set of retainers made. Tuesday is my next OB visit. I will post about that next week.

Grant has been busy with church and work. At church, they are gearing up for Stake Conference next month, where the visiting General Authority will be David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. They are all very excited and VERY nervous as a Stake Presidency to have an Apostle at conference. Grant, as the Exec.Sec., has been VERY VERY busy, trying to line everything up to make it go as smoothly as possible. (I'm just excited that the wives were invited to dinner with them on Saturday night!)

So, that's our life lately. It's been non-stop for a while and doesn't look like it getting any better soon. And it looks like we will be needing to do something about Zadyn as she keeps telling everyone that SHE has a baby in her belly. A phase?????

Emergency Room and Mario Kart

2007-12-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

We have had the crud going on at our house for the last couple weeks. Now that we are all FINALLY feeling better, I thought I'd come and blog about our fun experiences. Last Monday (the 10) Avery woke up with the croupy seal bark. He was fine after putting him on his nebulizer, but would cough and his throat would close up after an hour. So, he spent a lot of time in the bathroom with the hot shower going! He wasn't getting any better and still having a hard time breathing in the afternoon, so we decided he needed to go to the doctor and see if maybe he needed a different breathing treatment. Once we got to their, his oxygen count was dropping and his was having a hard time breathing. The doctor came in and took one look at him and sent us to the ER. By the time we got there, he was starting to turn blue and his oxygen count was barely 80. The ER nurses got him hooked up to a big machine and gave him an EPI (a breathing treatment) and got him on oxygen. The first treatment didn't really take as he was still having a hard time finishing a sentence, and his chest was still caving every time he took a breath. So, they gave him a dose of Decadron (a steroid) and another EPI treatment. Since he had to have 2 treatments in an hours time, he was admitted to the hospital for overnight observation. He had to have 2 additional treatments throughout the night, but was taken off the oxygen. Then, they were able to switch him back to the albuteral treatment, which he did once before we left that afternoon. Grant stayed overnight with Avery, so I could stay home with the other two kids, as they were sick also.
Avery absolutely LOVED the hospital. He got tons of attention. He got control of the remote control for the TV and I found out that he watched Food Network most of the time (that's my boy!!!). He like the food that they had. But, he especially loved the fact that he was the oldest kid on the pediatric floor that day and got full use of the Game Cube. He played Mario Kart all day on Tuesday. He thought it was great! Although, when the doctor came in that afternoon and asked if he was ready to go home, he said, "I'll have to think about it!"
We did make it home and he hasn't needed any breathing treatments since. He is doing 100% better. He went to the pediatrician on Monday (17th) and everything looks good. He is going to have a CTScan on January 2nd to find out what is causing his breathing issues. He should have outgrown the croupy cough by now, but hasn't. They think there might be some sort of obstruction causing the issue when he gets sick. Or, it could just be how his is! If there is some sort of blockage, he will have to have surgical intervention to take care of it. If it's just him, we will get a prescription for Decadron and possibly some EPI-pens to have at home, so we can treat it here, instead of always having to take him to the doctor. We already have a nebulizer and albuteral for his asthma, so we can continue to use that. They will keep a current prescription on file for him for that.
So, we are all better now, a few sniffles here and there, but nothing major. We will now just have to wait and see what the CTScan shows and go from there..................

Santa came to town on a TRAIN!

2007-12-10T12:55:00.000-08:00

Every year, Santa rides into the Bitterroot on Montana Rail Link's Santa Express. This past Saturday, was the annual trek. Kyler and Zadyn were sick, so Grant decided to take Avery for his early Dad's Day Out. Kyler and Zadyn wrote letters to Santa and had Avery deliver them(ended up giving them to Mrs. Clause). They decorate the passenger cars with Christmas decorations and let the kids line up and walk through the cars until they reach the one with Santa and Mrs. Clause. Avery said it was fun. He got a Frisbee, a University of Montana mini-football and pencil. They also give out hats, gloves and scarves, donated by local stores, to kids that can't afford them. Avery was glad that he got to see Santa, since he will be too busy to make it to our ward's Christmas party on Saturday. Hopefully the kids will all feel well enough by then to go!

Go Elf Yourself!

2007-12-05T10:51:00.000-08:00

This is super hilarious!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1178192504

Have fun!

And the winner is...........

2007-11-30T22:19:00.000-08:00

Tonight we had Grant's company Christmas Party at the Hilton Garden Inn in Missoula. They had a great dinner (I had chicken, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans), yummy dessert (a chocolate bomb with vanilla custard inside), and lots of door prizes. The first prizes were bags of Hickory Farms Melt Away Mints to the people who had pieces of tape on the bottom of their chairs. Mine was one of those! Then, throughout the night, they drew names for various prizes. They had flat screen computer monitors, thumb drives, mini-keyboards, an I-Pod Nano, a Zune and an I-Pod Touch. Grant's name was pulled for a bag of mints (yes we got two bags of mints! -- they will come in handy during the pregnancy I think). After dessert was served, we all played a rousing game of BINGO to see who would win the Zune and the I-Pod Touch. The I-Pod Touch was the last prize of the night and in order to win it, you had to make an X on your BINGO card. As the game started, I thought there was no way either Grant or I were going to win anything. Then, the game kept going and my X was filling in. I had only one square to go (the middle one which was "star"). Low and behold, the next word they called, STAR! I jumped up and yelled BINGO and ................... So did someone else! They had to "verify" our cards and fortunately (for me anyway) the other girl had misplaced a marker or something and had something covered that wasn't called.
So, I am now the proud (very proud) owner of an 8 GB I-Pod Touch! I don't really even know all the things it can do, but I guess I will be able to surf the net in the bathroom, or listen to music in the mountainous regions of our backyard. Plus, it has a calendar and other things that I will come to know and love. I think I can watch movies and it could probably bake a cake for me, but I will have to try that one out to be really sure! I'm really excited. Grant thinks that he is off the hook for Christmas gifts for me, since he intended on getting me a Sansa MP3 player. Little does he know, he's so far from off the hook. Now I need a carrying case, some I-Tunes, really cool headphones, and a LOT of other "extras" that I will realize I need as I get to know my new toy. He will soon learn that I-Touch, really translates to You-Touch, You-Die. It is MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since the cat's out of the bag...........

2007-11-27T07:53:00.000-08:00

As you can see, there will be an addition to our family coming in June. We are very excited. The kids are excited (except Avery thinks that Zadyn will poke the baby's eyes out, and he's probably right).

We had a great Thanksgiving visiting with family. The kids had fun hanging out with their cousins. We miss living closer, but we enjoy the times we get to spend together.

Happy Birthday to Avery!

2007-11-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

Saturday was Avery's 6th Birthday!
He had a fun party at home with Mom and Dad and Zadyn and Kyler.

He got lots of fun toys, including a Superhero Guess Who game, a dinosaur playset,

a velcro target with tennis balls, a Spiderman Domino game and a Batman hat and gloves set.

He wanted a dinosaur cake, so I made him one. It was really easy and turned out pretty good.

It didn't last too long, as it was yummy!

Bee Funny

2007-11-13T22:06:00.000-08:00

Kyler has been talking about it for days. He was so excited to go to the movies with dad since Avery got to go with dad to watch Underdog a few months ago. I took him to see Bee Movie. He thought it was great. Not sure if he was more excited to be in the theater or watching a movie with dad. He thought all the things they did with honey was funny. His favorite part was when Barry and Adam are in court and Adam gets mad and stings the attorney. Adam loses his stinger and goes to the hospital and they give him a pink sword shaped toothpick for his new stinger. He wears a mean pink sword stinger for the rest of the movie. Kyler has even been talking about it today. Dad's favorite part was at the end when Mooseblood, the mosquito, becomes an attorney and says, "I was already a blood sucking parasite, I just needed a briefcase."

After the movie, we went to McDonalds to eat since they have Bee Movie toys. Of course, Kyler was excited about that. I told him he had to eat all of his burger and fries before he could play with his toy, so he gobbled it down. He got a Pollen Jock Jackson toy. It shakes when you wind it up. He has been flying it all over.

We had lots of fun and know to beeware if a bee talks to you!

Daddy Deer-Killer

2007-11-06T14:56:00.001-08:00

So this Saturday, Grant shot his deer. It was HUGE!

He went hunting with his good friend Lance in the evening. They had been out a few times before, but Grant hadn't shot anything yet. After he shot it, they brought it back to Lance's house and hung in the garage.

Sunday, after church, we went to see it. The boys thought it was SO cool that Dad shot a deer. They especially loved it when the feet were cut off and Grant showed them that there was a tendon you could pull in the leg that would make the hoof "wave" at you. Zadyn, was not impressed. She thought it was a monster and wouldn't have anything to do with it. Grant de-boned the deer and we brought the meat home. Yesterday, I spent the majority of the day cleaning the meat and trimming the fat. We got about 12 good sized roasts, 20 steaks and A LOT of stew meat. We are going to wrap it all and get it in the freezer tonight. Grant and Lance went out elk hunting yesterday, but came back empty handed. He doesn't know if they'll make it out again before the hunting season closes. Avery said he can't wait until he is old enough to go hunting with Dad, then he will be Avery Deer-Killer!

Edited to add the final count: 30 pounds of meat!

12 Roasts

20 Steaks

16 (~1/2 lb) packages of stew meat

***and we learned that wrapping in freezer paper is not all that it's cracked up to be***

All Things Halloween

2007-11-01T08:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! We had a good time this year. The kids enjoyed dressing up and going trick or treating around our subdivision. Most of our neighbors give out full size candy bars, so the kids LOVED that. Then we went to the church carnival. They had some fun games, ring toss, bean bag toss, candy matching, a cotton candy and popcorn machine, balloon pop dart game and a spook alley (which the kids didn't go through). It was fun. Then we went to our friend's Lance and Nina's house for Root Beer and popcorn. We finally got home, scrubbed faces and made it to bed. Now, what to do with all the candy?!?!?!?

Avery loved being a vampire, complete with glow in the dark teeth. Kyler was a pirate with torn pants, painted on patch and sword with fighting sounds. Zadyn was a princess (of course) with a tiara and wand(?). She loved going to all the houses and having everyone dote over her.

These are the treats I made for Grant to take to work. They turned out pretty cute. I had quite a few trial rounds of different "spooky" treats, but this is the final product.

The kids got to make pumpkin faces. They don't like to carve them, so I got pumpkin potato head pieces at the store. Kyler made this one with snot coming out of it's nose. I guess it's just used to being outside in Montana weather this time of year!

Zadyn's pumpkin lost an ear and Avery was going for a evil look. They turned out cute. Too bad they won't last long, since I need to cook them and mash them and freeze them for treats!

Grant had to carve a pumpkin again this year for work. He carved a cannibal pumpkin. It was fun and turned out really well. He won most original pumpkin and a gift certificate. He dressed up as a cowboy for work (his whole department went as various cowboy themed people) complete with spurs, lasso and hat. I don't know how they get any work done there!