Sunday, May 7, 2017

Amazing April with some Annoying added in...

Ha Ha, Love these pics of Kayzee pulling some funny faces.  Love my crazy Kayzee.  Now on to April!

April is my favorite month of the year.  The weather starts warming up...except this year it was so cold and snowed even up to the end of the month (argh) but it's my birthday (April 2) and spring break!  I always celebrate big.  This year my best friend Amy and I did a lot together.  Our families went to Brick Oven for dinner which is my favorite restaurant and we invited Danny's sister and also his brother and his family so we got our own room there.  YUM.  We went and saw the new Beauty and the Beast movie (loved it).  We also went out to lunch another day and then went and got pedicures.  Kayzee tagged along with us.  It was so fun!  Too bad I didn't get any pics of me and Amy.  


 On my actual birthday I drove up to Washington to see my family.  It was the best trip ever!  Except for one day (see below).
 Woodinville, Washington must have known we were coming to visit Mon-Thurs because the weather was nice enough to go out and do fun things!  Yay for SPRING BREAK!
 On Sat Apr 1 I drove to the airport to pick up my sister Alicia.  She was so nice and flew to Utah  from California and drove with me on the long drive up to Washington.  Our husbands couldn't go on our weeklong trip and Danny was nervous about me driving 14 hours by myself and two kids so thank you Alicia!

Finally arrived!
 Waiting for luggage...
 Me, my sister Alicia, and her baby Max so grown up!
 After we picked up Alicia and Max from the airport we drove to Idaho.  We didn't know how well Max would do on a long car drive so we drove 6 hours to Caldwell, Idaho and stayed in a hotel over night.  Max actually did really well in the car.  As soon as we got to our hotel we had to go swimming!
 Max took too many naps in the car so at 11pm he was still wide awake.  Alicia was so exhausted from flying in the morning and then driving the rest of the day so I let her go to sleep and I walked the halls with max to wear him out.  I got some good bonding time with my cute Nephew and I am so glad I could.  Wish I could see him more often.  We became good buddies by the end of the trip.  If Alicia wasn't around he would only come to me and I loved it.  Love you Max!
 The next day (my birthday Sunday, April 2!) we drove the rest of the way (8 hours not including stops to eat and get wiggles out) to Woodinville, Washington where my parents live along with my other sister (Alicia's twin) and my brother.


 As soon as we got there I ran inside because I knew my new nephew James was there.  He was born in December and I hadn't been able to actually meet him in person yet.  BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER!  Getting to hold him for the first time.  He is so cute.  My sister Annalyn did good!
 My mom made me a yummy dinner for my birthday and invited family over.  It was so good and the best part was I got to celebrate with my family.  My parents, my aunt and uncle, my sister Annalyn and her husband and baby, my sister Alicia and her little boy, my brother, me and my kids.  Thank Mom!
 Of course my mom got me books for my birthday!
 Later we had cake and ice cream.  Happy Birthday to me!
 And yes, I blew out all 34 candles in one breath!
 The next day, Monday, we went to a trampoline play place to get wiggles out from the long car ride.

 Memphis split his pants doing a jumping trick while we were there.  Luckily we had just come from the store where I bought him a new swim suit so he wore that the rest of the time we were there.  Oops!


 Cousins James and Max meeting each other for the first time.  So cute!
 Tuesday, my parents had to work and so did my sister and brother that live up there so me and Alicia took our kids to Cottage Lake.

 They changed the playground they have there and it was a lot more fun!






 After my mom got off work she took her grandkids to Build a Bear Workshop.

Awwww...
 Giving her new kitty a bath...
 Memphis didn't want a bear so he helped make James'

 Grandma let Memphis pick out a lego set instead of a teddy bear.  Grandma is too nice!
 While I was in Washington Danny called me about our basement. Painters were supposed to go in and paint the color we chose (repose gray) and yes they did!  They actually painted every inch of the basement gray.  Even the doors and trim and shelves.  It was so hideous.  I called our contractor and told him the painters better fix it.  Danny sent me this pic later with white trim, doors, and shelves but still gray on the walls.  Much better.  Love it!
 We went out to eat one night.  My dad is so cute with his grandkids.  I love it!
 Love James' smile!

 On Wednesday, on my VACATION, in another state, I woke up with Strep!  YEP, STREP.  So frustrating.  Luckily we found an urgent care close to my parent's house that took my insurance.  ARGH!
 And Alicia had it too!  We spent the rest of the day hiding so we didn't give it to anyone else.
 Cute cousins.  Love that my twin sisters each had boys first and so did I.  Now my sisters need to have another and both have girls.  That would just be perfect;)
 Thursday we went to our favorite restaurant Maltby Cafe.  Huge portions of yummy food!


 Kayzee loves holding babies...
 Love my adorable Nephew James...
 Had to get pics of my parents with all four of their grandkids.  This doesn't happen very often because we all live too far away.  Washington, California, and Utah.  Wished we lived closer to each other.

 Love my cute nephew Max...
 On Friday we got up and drove to Boise, Idaho to get more than halfway home.  Sad our trip was coming to an end.
 Pit stop at Dairy Queen...

 Spent the night in another hotel...
 Went swimming the next morning before we drove home.  This was Max's first time swimming.  He loved it!





 The drive home on Saturday was horrible.  It snowed the whole way and there were so many accidents.  Glad we made it home safe.  When we got home we went shopping at Maurices and then we went to dinner at Porter's Place.  My sister had to go there before she went home to California.  They make the best scones!  This is Max talking to his dad on the phone.  So sweet.
 Sunday we got up and drove Alicia and Max to the airport for them to fly home to California. What a fun week we had for Spring Break!

I was excited to get home so I could see the progress on our basement.  Painting done!
 Electrical done!
 Danny found these walkie talkies he had from a long time ago.  They still work and the distance is amazing.  My kids go to a park and we can still talk.  They go everyday and I don't have to go so I can get stuff done around the house.  The kids love talking to me on them.
 Because I took the kids for a week and Danny stayed home alone he surprised me and took the kids camping for the weekend so I could have the weekend alone at home.  It was so nice!  But it was also really quiet.  It was weird!  I read a lot...
 I watched a couple movies of books I just finished reading...I also cleaned the house, went shopping, and ate yummy food.  Thanks babe for the relaxing weekend.
 This is a picture Danny sent me while they were gone.  He went camping in Price with his best friend and his family.  They went four-wheeling and Memphis and Kayzee loved it.  Kayzee looks so grown up...
 The Easter Bunny came to our house...
 Kayzee found her hidden basket.  Memphis was still looking for his...
 Yay, he found it!


 This is the aftermath of camping with dad...bruised, dirty, and sunburned.  Danny said he could tell he definitely wasn't a mom.  Ha ha.  He forgot sunscreen and didn't watch them close so they found a mud puddle and fully immersed themselves before he could stop them.  They were covered in dirt head to toe when they got home.  Kayzee's hair was so bad I had to wash it three times.  They were covered in bruises especially their legs.  Kayzee hit the handle bars with her cheek on a four wheeler. She had a nice scratch and bruise for a week.  Now she has a permanent dent.  We will call it a dimple:)
 Memphis's legs were bruised and he scraped up his arms crashing a few times.  He had his own dirt bike to ride and he rode it all weekend.
 He also got some big blisters on his hands.
 Even thought they were bruised, dirty, and sunburned they had so much fun!  Danny is such a fun dad and brave taking them camping by himself.  Here are some more pics of their fun weekend...



 Kayzee FINALLY has a loose tooth!  And actually four teeth are loose!  Can't wait for her to lose her first one...
 The basement flooring finally went in...laundry room!
 Carpet...new carpet is so soft!
 Love love love the flooring we chose for the bathroom and laundry room.  My contractor came to see after the company installed the floors and the contractor said he couldn't believe we would spend so much money on wood flooring.  We actually didn't spend a ton of money on wood flooring.  It's actually really nice laminate that is made to look like wood flooring but it's waterproof and more durable but way cheaper in cost.  So much nicer than the linoleum the contractor told us to put in.
 Gray is my new favorite color...
 James turned 4 months old.  Getting so big!

 Kayzee is my breakfast buddy every morning.  Memphis starts school at 8 but Kayzee and I don't start till 9 so she hangs out with me.  We sometimes go get smoothies and then she helps me set up for the day at school for my PE classes.  I am going to miss her next year when she goes to 1st grade and starts at 8 like Memphis.  But it will be nice for her to be full-time in school so we don't have to get her to Day Care anymore.
 And strep striked again!!!!!!!!  I had strep in October, December, March, and twice in April.  Yep, TWICE!  I had it up in Washington at the beginning of April and again at the end of April.  I talked to the doctor and said maybe I need to get my tonsils out.  Memphis had strep so much he got his out and he hasn't had it since.  His recovery was awful (11 days of awful) and I just heard that the surgery and recovery in adults was a lot worse so it makes me nervous to think about but if it made it so I never got strep again, well, that might be worth it.  The doctor told me to try this first...once all four in our house are 100% healthy we all go to a doctor and get tested to see if someone is a carrier of strep.  That might explain why I keep getting it.  Someone in our house keeps giving it to me.  They can treat the carrier and get rid of it then I shouldn't get it anymore.  Unless I really just don't have a good immune system and I keep getting it from my school kids.
 We were going to go to the zoo but it was so cold we decided to go to a fun arcade place with Danny's brother and his wife and their baby Max.  Danny's brother Benny and his wife Kayla have birthdays in April too so we spent the weekend together celebrating.  The arcade place was fun.  We did Bumper cars...




 Black light mini-golfing...and the arcade with lunch after.  It was a fun weekend.

 Along with strep I told the doctor I haven't been feeling well since March.  I am not  a nap person.  I never take naps.  You can even ask Danny who takes naps all the time he knows I don't nap.  But I started taking a nap every day especially in April.  I would come home from school and go immediately to bed and take a nap.  Sometimes my naps were 2 hours!  I had no energy all the time like I usually did.  I thought maybe my b-12 levels were low because that has happened in my past but the doctor did some blood tests and found out I have MONO.  NOOOOOOOO.  Worst timing with it being the last month of school.  But it definitely explains why I have been so tired.  While at school I sit in a chair a lot.  Being the end of the school year I can just have my classes play games that they know and enjoy so I can sit and rest and watch them.  I don't have the gym a lot so I take a camping chair and sit outside under a tree while my classes play outside.  I also get subs as often as I can or need every few days so I can stay home and rest.  I need to get through the rest of the school year somehow right?

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

March Madness, Gladness, Sadness and just a little bit of Craziness...

March Madness...yes, March made me so mad.  I had been feeling so good and I made it two whole months without feeling sick and then March hit.  We had a stomach bug go through all of us and then I got strep.  Strep again.  I have been getting it too much lately.  I have been taking ImmunoPoint.  An Immune system support pill and I credit that for helping me stay healthy for two months during the winter and when I got strep this time I got through it so fast.  Usually I get a really high fever and it hurts so bad I am in bed for a week.  This time while on that immune support I literally only laid in bed one day.  I never really got a high fever but I knew I had it so I went in to the intstacare.  Tested positive and I got the penicillin shot and then I was fine.  It was amazing!

March also had some good times...

Gladness...Kayzee always gets an amazing report card from school but last term Memphis didn't have the best of grades.  This term he had straight A's!  We celebrated with straight A coupons we got for free kids meals at Applebee's.   Proud of my kiddos!
Just a little bit of craziness...Our couch arrived when the basement was supposed to be finished but of course it is not.  We had to do some major rearranging and get rid of a couch and we had to put a lot of furniture in the kitchen to store our big huge basement couch in our front room.  At least we get to break it in.  We love it!

Madness...This is our faces while waiting hours for a diagnosis at the dr.  Got a 2nd opinion on some pain I have been having in my head.  Instacare dr said I had cluster headaches.  Did some research but I felt like that was wrong so I went to my primary care dr.  Cluster headaches are out. I am suffering from a form of neuritis basically a bundle of nerves in the side of my head are firing off electrical impulses when they shouldn't be. Painful but luckily the pain doesn't last long. Going on a medication to stop it and hopefully I will be better and can wean off of it in a month.  So far I have not had another painful attack since I went on the medication!
Gladness... Memphis started scouts and had his first pack mtg where he earned his first award...his bobcat! Proud of him and he loves scouts so far.
 Craziness...I decided to deep clean my kids rooms and declutter.  Basically de-baby their rooms and get rid of toys that they don't play with anymore.  Memphis used to stuff everything under his bed when I asked him to clean his room.  Until I started checking under his bed.  Then I found out he has been stuffing it under his dresser.  I can't move his huge heavy dresser so I am glad I decided to have Danny move it so I could clean behind it.  After going through and cleaning up both bedrooms we had 6 large black trash bags full of toys/junk taken out.  CRAZY!
 Sadness...Found out that my dear sweet grandpa passed away. It hit me that I no longer have any living grandparents and that makes me so sad. I tried really hard all day at work the day I found out to keep it together (didn't do very well) but when I got home I really started crying and Memphis came over and just held my hand. I am glad my grandpa and grandma are finally together again. My grandma and grandpa Astle and my grandma Thorpe were the most amazing people and I know they loved me because of how supportive and involved in my life they were. Till we meet again. Families are Forever.
My dearest friend Amy brought over flowers for me when she found out about my grandpa.  Love my best friend.
Gladness...Memphis and Kayzee are the best of friends right now.  They play so well together and they are both into Minecraft right now.  This makes my heart happy.
Sadness...Went to my grandpa's funeral in Logan.  I learned a lot more about my grandpa.  He was an amazing man.  Because my grandpa served in the military they did a 3 volley salute.










My mom and her two sisters.  Also their sister-in-law who married their brother.  He died from cancer when I was little.  Glad he can be reunited with his parents once again.
All the grandson's wore a pair of my grandpa's suspenders at the funeral.
All the granddaughters got one of my grandma's rings.  These are the 3 me and my sisters got.
Love you Grandpa!
Madness... I only say the basement makes me mad because it is taking FOREVER!  We came home from the funeral to shelves and texture done so that was an improvement.
Shelves in the huge closet.
Closet doors and a door on the crawl space were up.
Shower surround finished!  LOVE IT!
I wanted a closet in the bathroom in the basement but there was no where to put it so my contractor built these cool corner shelves in the bathroom.  I am excited for more storage.
Teacher appreciation week was this month.  Last year I missed the whole week because I had pneumonia so I was excited I wasn't sick this year and could enjoy the whole week of being spoiled!
We got free lunch and musical entertainment with a bag of goodies on Monday.  Tuesday a parent watched one of my classes so we could have an hour for lunch so we could go out to a restaurant.  Wednesday we got breakfast but I actually did miss this day (see below).  Thursday Texas Roadhouse catered a free lunch for us.  YUM.  And Friday we got a bag of goodies and I won a hammock in a drawing.

They also decorated my door...


Teacher walk of fame with our names in stars!
Craziness...For 4 days Kayzee had hives.  One day it happened at 1pm at day care.  3 other days she woke up with it.  The hives were literally all over her body except her face until one of the days (wednesday the day I mentioned I missed school above) she woke up and her whole face was swollen.  I took her in to the emergency room.  They were not able to determine what actually caused the hives but they put her on a steroid for anytime it goes to her face and then zyrtec.  The doctor told me to keep a dose of zyrtec in her everyday for a week and if hives showed up while on it or after we took her off then we would need to take her in for allergy testing.  She had it one day she was on it but never again.  It has been a week and I didn't give her any today and she has been fine.  We will just watch and see.

Can't believe it is April and so far it has been the best until today.  But I will explain that in another post....