Friday, July 6, 2012

Happy 4th (and 5th) of July!

Happy 4th of July!  We are so "Proud to be an American where at least (we) know (we're) free!"  I love that song.  Any way thank you to all the service men and women that keep this country free. 

Unfortunately, we were kind of boring this year though.  Russell was working because it was one of his required holidays this year.  I was in bed sick with a lovely combination of mono and morning sickness.  (Yeah!)  So Colby and Emily missed the parades and the hot dog barbecue we normally have and got to watch movies as I was trying to feel better.  We have been hit with what seems like our share of sickness lately.  A couple weeks ago, we found a rash all over Colby and we found out it was that stupid Hand, Foot & Mouth disease the is going around.  We kept him home from church and everything for about a week when we found the same rash on Emily's feet too.  So they were both Quarantined to the house and Russell and I (well mostly Russell due to my before mentioned circumstances) sanitized all of the toys and the house and locked the toy room door so they couldn't re-infect the toys.  Luckily Emily's case was very minor compared to Colby's and they should never get this again.  After about another week, they are finally feeling better and their appetites are back.  Colby is so funny, he is eating everything he can because he didn't eat hardly anything for like two weeks.  Now that is appetite is back, he seems to always be hungry.  He will go to our cupboard and bring me cans of beans or fruit or even mushrooms so I can open it and feed him.  He is so funny.  Then to top it off, I went to the Instacare last week to be checked because my throat was killing me and I thought I had Strep and I wanted to get better fast for the baby.  Well, no I didn't have Strep, I had Mono (don't ask me where I got this because the only person I have been kissing is Russell and he is fine!).  Mono is a virus so there is nothing you can do about it except wait it out.  So mono and pregnancy really explained my constant fatigue over the last few weeks and then there was my enlarged spleen, and my tonsils that had swelled to the size of golf balls (literally!).  Yeah I spent last week in bed trying to get over this thing and at the same time trying to keep the baby safe too.  The Instacare doctor said mono wouldn't hurt the baby but I wasn't taking any chances.  Russell has been great in taking care of the kids and fixing meals. Thank You!  And like I said before, I have awesome primary counselors that have stepped up to the plate in my absence.  Thank You!  Thank you to my mom as well for coming over and fixing lunch for my kids, putting dinner in the crock pot, bringing yummy cinnamon rolls, and vacuuming and sweeping my floor while I slept and Russell worked.  My work has been great too by letting me have a few weeks (or more) off.  I am feeling a little better.  My tonsils are back to normal size and I am not sleeping all day and night anymore.  I am still tired and taking it very easy but for the most part better.  Thank You to our Home Teacher for helping Russell with a blessing and to his wife (also my secretary) for bringing us a very delicious dinner.  Any way enough of my sob story because I am blessed to have great helpers and a great family. 

And on to the 4th of July:  I was feeling much better by that night so Colby, Emily and I drove up to the old airport to see the fireworks.  Emily had been looking forward to this for days or even weeks.  Russell was doing his first assignment as a fire fighter and was watching standby in case the fireworks started a fire.  Because of this, we got VIP parking up on the old airport away from everyone else.    

The city set off fireworks in three different locations, the red hill, the Sun bowl, and the old airport.  It was really cool but I wish they would have done one location at a time instead of all together because there was no way you could watch everything at the same time without missing something.  We were about 200 or 300 yards away from the fireworks on the airport so it seemed like we were right under them!  I thought it was awesome but Emily hated it because of the loud booming.  She cried every time the airport fireworks went off.  Colby was mesmerized by the whole thing and didn't make a sound.  I did have to cover his ears when the airport fireworks went off because they were kind of loud.  I love watching fireworks.  When they were over, we spent close to a half hour getting home due to the traffic.  It seemed the entire city of St. George was up on the airport road trying to get home.  Emily and Colby fell asleep almost as soon as I started the car which was perfect.  Russell got home at close to 1 am after having a blast chasing fires with the other firefighters.

The next day was my 27th birthday! Yes I have come to the realization that I am getting OLD!  Despite my circumstances, it was a good birthday. 
Russell, Emily and Colby had a blast making my birthday cake.  Colby loved chopping the cake instead of spreading the icing.  We all laughed at him.  For my birthday, I got a new folding table for the camp trailer; we have been needed one of these forever.  Also for my birthday, Emily put on her dance outfit and shoes and did her own special dance for me.  Then Colby joined in on the dance and they had such a good time.  It was so cute to see them dancing together.  Definitely a great birthday present.

After dinner, my parent and Russell's mom, Traci and Tyler came over for cake and ice cream.  It was fun to have them over and I was glad I was feeling well.  After everyone had left, we went outside and lit our fireworks:

We lit Sparklers and Russell stole two Flowers from Tyler and he lit those.  Emily loved waving the sparklers around.  The neighbor kids Taryn and Trayton even came out and did some sparklers too. 
I tried to play with the shutter speed on my camera so we could write things with our sparklers but it requires a little more practice I guess.  I did get some cool pictures of the sparklers though.
Colby's favorite fireworks were the little poppers.  He would throw them and they would pop.  It was so cute to watch and so fun.  Finally we used up all of our sparklers and poppers and it was time to go inside for bed.  What a great day.

I had to put in these pictures because who said Colby could grow up so fast?  He is getting tall and is at Emily's shoulders now.  Look how big he looks brushing his teeth:

And Russell is trying to potty train Colby but I think he is still too young.  He is only 16 months!  But on a hopeful note, Colby went to the bathroom in the toilet for the first time today!!!  Russell was so proud of his efforts.  Who knows maybe he will be potty train at 18 or 19 months like Emily was.  Colby does like sitting on the toilet but mostly he thinks it is a fun game.  He will tell me he wants to sit on the toilet but it is usually when I taking him in the bathroom to change is diaper.  What a funny boy.  Russell says he needs to be potty trained before the new baby comes which I totally agree with because I don't want two kids in diapers but I just don't know if Colby is ready yet.  Who knows.

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