What a FISH Story!

Yes I do have an awesome fish story for you but it is not until the end of this post so you can either skip ahead or just read about all of our Memorial Day fun.  We did have a good Memorial Day weekend minus the fact that I got a cold. (Really who gets colds in the summer?  Yeah me...).  Anyway the fun started on Friday.  Jen came down with her kids and we spent the day at Unity Park in Ivins.  We played on the splash pad and the playground all morning.

Then Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth brought us peanut butter sandwiches and we had a picnic.  It was so nice to sit in the shade and just relax and enjoy.  Poor Logan got a little sunburn on his arms though.  What a bad mom I am.  I don't know how he got red because we sat in the shade the whole time. 

After the park, we came home and I put the kids down for a nap while I packed the trailer so we could go camping.  We thought about not going because Logan had been sick but he was doing so much better that we decided we could go.  We were originally going to leave when Russell got off work on Friday but then we heard about a free Shriner's screening clinic being held on Saturday.  When we started wearing shorts for the summer, we noticed that Colby's feet were very flat and it looked like it was starting to effect the way he walked.  He walks on the inside of his feet instead of the outside.  We decided to take him to this Shriner's Hospital screening to see if there really was something wrong with his feet and if it was something they could help us with or refer us to someone else. 

On Saturday, I took Colby to the screening and the nurse practitioner said that Colby definitely walked on the inside of his feet but she said it was definitely something that could easily be corrected.  I was glad we took him in because the NP said that if we didn't fix it his knees would start to be effected too.  The walk is really subtle and really if you didn't know what you were looking at, you would think he was just fine.  So the NP thought we could easily fix it by getting some nice shoes or orthodics.  The Shriner's Hospital is supposed to call us soon to let us know if they can help us or if they can refer us to an orthopedic doctor.  So we are waiting to hear from them on what to do next.

While we were at the screening, Russell and Emily finished packing and getting the trailer ready to go so we could leave when Colby and I got home.  Then we headed up to Enterprise for a fun weekend. 

We parked on the flat between the lower and upper reservoirs.  We camped with my parents, the Hughes', and the Pryors.  Saturday we had a blast fishing.  Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) we did not catch any fish that day.  In fact the wind was blowing so hard it was difficult to do any good fishing.  Jared, Jacob and Clint caught crawdads and made them have fights.  That was pretty funny.  Then Emily's chair blew over and her chair bag flew into the lake.  Russell tried to cast his pole out to catch the bag and Jared and Jacob even tried to swim out into the freezing water to get it but the bag sank to the bottom of the lake before they could get it.  Emily was so sad and mad that she would not stop bawling.  About this time Logan woke up too and was screaming his head off too so we packed up and headed back to camp.  Yeah a good day of fishing...

Back at camp we made Dutch Oven potatoes and chicken and a cobbler.  At home I only had a spice cake and pears so I decided we could experiment and have pear cobbler.  It actually wasn't that bad in fact I liked it better than peach cobbler.  Then it was time to hit the sack.  That night was not the best for me because I could feel the cold coming on and my throat was killing me.  And to top it off I got no sleep because Logan woke up every half hour it seemed like wanting to nurse.  Finally the sun came up and Logan and I headed home to go to church. 

We made it in time for Ward Council at 9 and then we came home and slept for a couple hours and headed back to church for Primary. This was the longest church ever because I felt like crap.  I was glad I didn't have to do Sharing Time. After church, I was going to drive right back up to Enterprise but instead, Logan and I took another nap so that I wouldn't fall asleep driving.  We got back up to Enterprise at about 5:30 pm.  Russell and the kids had fun up on the mountain while we were gone.  While the rest of the family headed out on a four-wheeler ride, Russell and the kids had fun at camp.  Because it was still windy, they colored, read books,  and even took a 2 hour nap!  Russell said it was the best day of camping ever!

That night we cooked S'mores inside on the trailer stove because it was too windy for a fire.  That was totally okay with me because we got to have S'mores without smelling like a campfire!  Lacie's and Tami's families headed home Sunday night.

Monday was a really fun day and the day of the awesome fish story!  The wind finally died down so we headed back to the lake to go fishing again.  We really got into the fish this day.  Well everyone but us that is...  My parents and Clint were on the left of us and they were catching a lot of fish.  My Uncle Bill and Sandy were on the right of us and they were catching a lot of fish.  And we were in the middle not catching anything!  So when do we get to hear the fish story you are asking? Well here it goes: 

Clint had two poles in the water which is probably illegal but oh well.  He had one pole resting on his four-wheeler and the other pole propped up with a rock on the ground.  He was catching fish with both.  Then while he was messing with the pole on his four-wheeler, the pole on the ground got a huge bite.  The bite was so huge that it yanked the pole clear into the lake and we watched it get dragged to the bottom of the lake.  Clint was yelling "NOOO!" as we were all in shock and laughing!  We could not believe that the fish would pull the pole clear into the water!  Just for the heck of it, we were joking that maybe we could cast out and catch the pole and drag it back to shore.  Since Russell wasn't catching anything anyway, he decided to try it out.  He put on a big lure and cast out right where we saw the pole go down.  Not thinking he would ever in a million years catch the lost pole, he started reeling in.  Then he realized he had snagged something so he reeled faster.  As his line came in, it was attached to more line.  Then as he continued to reel, we saw the lost pole come closer to shore and on the other side a fish was attached to the line!  Clint and Russell kept pulling the line and low and behold, Russell had caught the lost pole and the fish was still attached to the line!  They pulled in the lost pole and we were all amazed that on the first cast Russell had done the impossible and caught not only the pole but the fish too!  Clint was so happy and grateful that he told Russell he could have one of his Mountain Dews!  If you know Clint, you know that offer is priceless.  We were all in shock at what had just happened and we knew no one would believe us but it is true it really happened! 

Our fishing luck turned around after that.  Clint caught even more fish on the lost pole, and Russell and Emily even caught some.  Emily caught her first fish on her Barbie pole:

And Russell showing off his big whopper.  Emily's fish was a pretty good sized trout too.  She was so proud of her fish.  Between us, Clint and my parents, we ended up keeping about 9 good sized trout.  After cleaning them, we headed back to camp for a fish fry.  The fish were really good but we had way too many to eat.  Emily, Colby and I ate Emily's fish while Russell ate his two fish.  Emily loved eating her fish. I was worried they were going to get a bone so I double and triple checked every piece I gave Emily and Colby.  Colby didn't make it past the first bite before he fell asleep.  After my mom and dad and Clint ate one each we still had a few fish left over but everyone was too full of fish to eat more.  What a great day of fishing and what a great true fish story!

After eating, we packed up and headed home.  We had a great weekend and it was nice to get away and just relax and fish.  We are looking forward to more camping trips this summer.

Sicky...

Poor Logan has been sick with the croup on and off for the past month.  For some reason he just can't seem to kick it.  We thought he was over it until Tuesday.  He had been acting fine and breathing normal so we decided to get ready to go camping for Memorial Day by cleaning out the trailer.  The dust must have aggravated his throat because that night the croup started acting up again.  At 1:30 am Wednesday we woke up to Logan coughing the barky cough and wheezing and screaming.  He was so bad that he could not seem to catch his breath.  He was getting so upset that he couldn't breathe and he was retracting a lot.  Russell rushed Logan to the ER to be checked out.  He told me he had never driven to the hospital so fast!  When he got to the ER, the nurses and doctors looked at Logan and could hear him breathing and see his chest retracting and told Russell it was good he came in.  They immediately started a breathing treatment, and IV, and administered a steroid to open Logan's airway so he could breathe.  I was at home praying and trying not to freak out.  Russell called me a few minutes later and told me to come in because they were going to admit Logan to the peds floor for more observation and breathing treatments.  I called my mom at 2 in the morning to have her come watch Emily and Colby while I went to the hospital.  My parents came right over and got Emily and Colby to take them to their house and dropped me off at the hospital on the way. 

Logan and I got to take our first ambulance ride that night!  The hospital transport team that Russell works for took us over to the 400 E campus to the Pediatric Unit.  Logan was already feeling better and was smiling at the Paramedics as we were being transported.  We finally got settled into our room on the Peds floor so Russell headed home to get a few hours of sleep.  He had testing for the Fire Department that morning.  During the night, Logan had a total of 3 Racemic Epi treatments as well as one Albuterol breathing treatment.  By the morning he was feeling much better.  I was finally able to get about 2 hours of sleep. 

He doesn't look very sick does he?  He was hooked up to so many monitors that it was hard not to get them all tangled up.  And the poor thing had an IV in his arm so I had to watch to not bump it too much.  The nurses on the Pediatric floor were way nice.  They were also way surprised at how big Logan was!  The must have just been told that a 3 month old baby was coming over so they got set up for a little baby.  But when we arrived they realized that Logan was not a little baby!  The little blood pressure cuff would not fit around his leg so they had to get the next size bigger.  And the onesie they set out for him was too small too so I just wrapped him in his blanket.

The respiratory therapists kept checking on him to see if his stats  and breathing were okay.  By the time it was time for his next breathing treatment at 11, Logan was doing much, much better so the RT decided he didn't need another treatment.  Logan continued to improve and we were able to go home around 2 that afternoon. 

This was definitely a scary experience for me.  You never want to see your baby in the hospital and you definitely never want to hear your child breathing like that!  I am very grateful for the doctors and modern medicine that were able to help Logan.  We are still keeping an eye on him and keeping him under a cool mist humidifier.  Hopefully he will kick this soon!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!  I had a fun Mother's Day spent relaxing.  I didn't wash a single dish!  (Unfortunately that meant a lot of work to do on Monday...)  Any way it was a good day.  First we started the day by getting homemade gifts and cards from Russell and the kids:

Don't I look so beautiful in my pj's and bed head!  Russell helped Emily and Colby make me paper flowers and Russell gave me a fun coupon book with some good coupons I will use over and over.  Like clean the house unlimited use coupon!  Ha ha ha (my evil laugh!) 

During church, the primary kids sang "Mother Dear" to their moms in sacrament meeting.  They did an awesome job.  Even some of the Nursery kids came up.  Then, during Primary, I had the kids take little gifts to all of the moms in the ward.  We took a little field trip to the Relief Society room and the ladies loved seeing the kids and receiving a gift.  And as a plus, we only lost two kids on the way...but we won't get into that!  Anyway we handed out little bags of M&Ms and the saying said "Mom's are the Sweetest" (Moms was in the M&M's logo)

And for our mom's and grandma's we made these way cute flowers out of toilet paper rolls.  Emily and Colby had a blast painting them and then I put them together.  I think they turned out cute and our Grandma's (and moms) loved them.

To celebrate, we went out to eat at Chuck-A-Rama with the Morwood side.  It was really good and a great change from Golden Corral. Then, after eating out we went over to Traci's house for another Sunday dinner with the Farnsworth's.  We tried not to stuff ourselves but Traci's dinner and fruit pizza was so good.

I had a good Mother's Day and I love being these three kids' mom!  If only I was better at being their mom by being more patient and teaching.  I really could do so much better.  I am going to keep trying the best I can to be a good mom and hopefully my kids will turn out all right. I love you guys!

Father & Sons

May 10-11 was our ward's annual Father and Sons outing.  This was the first time Russell has taken Colby and they had a blast.  I told him to take Logan too but he wouldn't... something about not being potty trained and still attached to mom!  Poor Logan.  Well with the boys gone, Emily and I (and Logan) decided to have a girls night, a mother and daughters outing.  It was really fun.  We went out to eat at Red Robin (Yummm!) and then went shoe shopping.  We both got a new pair of scandals for the summer.  We thought about going and getting our hair done too but the salon was closed by the time we got there.  On our way home, we stopped at Dairy Queen for a couple of Blizzards.  After getting into pajamas at home, we sat down and ate our ice cream and watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!  It was awesome!  Then we had a slumber party in mommy's bed. We had a great mother and daughters outing and Emily has told everyone about it over the last few days.  I gave the camera to Russell to take pictures of Father and Sons so, unfortunately, don't have any pictures of our fun outing.

Now here is Russell to tell about his fun Father and Son experience. 

Mine and Colby's first fathers and sons together. We had a blast together. The ward went to a place called Saucer Five just below Baker reservoir. As soon as we got up there, there were cow pies everywhere and Colby managed to find a lot of them and step in them before I could catch him. It was funny because he did not know what they were. He was just walking and managed to step in them. After his exploring adventure we found a place to put up the tent and get our beds ready. Colby wanted hot dogs and chips for dinner, so that is what we ate. After eating the funny adventures began. 

He was such a funny boy for the whole camping trip. Some of the activities that Colby and I did was throw rocks into the river and play with the other kids that were there. When we were done throwing rocks, Colby said "Dad lets go pishing for a pish." So off we went. He loved casting his pole in the water and reeling it in. Here is Colby and I right before bed playing in the tent making funny faces and chillin'. I am really bad on remembering flash lights on these little over nighters, so my friend John had a head lamp that we borrowed. Colby loved the little flashlight, he would not even let me take it and use it. Before bed, we had a program on the importance of the priesthood.

Here we are in the morning after are wonderful night sleep. For those who do not know Colby, when he sleeps he moves a lot and rolls around. I figured since it was still a little cold, I would bring just one bed and keep him warm. We were warm but the sleep part was minimal. Before we left the bishopric made us breakfast, camp pancakes and eggs, sausage and juice. The whole camping experience was so much fun. I went with my dad to fathers and son and had a blast, but it was a whole new fun experience being the dad and watching my son have fun camping and learning. I am so grateful to have a wonderful son like Colby, I love you so much son. Thanks for a great time. I cannot wait to take Colby and Logan together in the future. 

Preschool Graduation Party

Sad day! Preschool is now finished.  Three of the kids in the group will be going to Kindergarten this year so that will just leave Emily and Eva who have one more year.  As a celebration of a fun year in preschool, we had a party!  Anna said she was going to do graduation hats and such but then decided that the kids would rather just play games and have fun than have a graduation ceremony.  I think she was right.

For fun we played a game with all of their sight words.  When we said a word the kids had to swat the word on the board with their fly swatter. 

Next they practiced counting to 20 while playing Hopscotch. Afterward they played Alphabet Bingo.  When the kids got Bingo, they received their prize of a water shooter and we spent the rest of the party playing in the water:

The kids absolutely loved it!  They had a blast spraying each other and running in the sprinkler and splashing in the little pool.  We also had various snacks in different shapes and colors to help them review the shapes.

This was a very fun party/graduation.  I am sad to see preschool end because Emily loved going and looked forward to it each week.  I know I need to keep working with her on her sight words and numbers so that she doesn't forget anything over the summer.  I am debating on if I should put her in the preschool offered at the Elementary school or just put together another Joy School preschool with some other moms next year.  I don't know I guess I will look into both.  This Joy School has also been good for Colby.  Even though he wasn't technically in the preschool, he still learned all of the songs, and can sing the Alphabet, the Days of the Week song, and some of the others.  So that is a plus for doing Joy School again but the school offered one would be good for Emily socially and get her ready for an actual school setting.  Anyway this has been a fun year and we are sad to see it end but we are looking forward to playing this summer!

Taylor's Baptism

May 4 was Taylor Hughes' baptism.  It was awesome to go and see her make this important step in her life and get baptized.

I know that baptism is the first and most important step we can take in returning to live with our Heavenly Father.  Without baptism we cannot do that.  I also know that without the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, which we receive when we are confirmed a member of the Church, our lives would be much harder.  It is through the Holy Ghost that we receive the assurance that what we are doing and learning are right and it is through the Holy Ghost that we receive the guidance we need to make the right decisions that will lead us back to our Heavenly Father. 

I am so grateful for the Gospel and the blessings it brings to my life.  I am also glad that we were able to attend Taylor's baptism and support her in this great decision and ordinance.  I could really feel the Spirit.

After the baptism, Emily told me that Taylor looked so beautiful in her white dress and she couldn't wait to be baptized too so she could have a beautiful white dress like Taylor!  We all headed to Lacie's house for dinner after the baptism to celebrate this important step in Taylor's life.

Congratulations Taylor!

Field Trips

The last 3 weeks in preschool, Emily has been learning about different occupations and hobbies so we have been going on some fun field trips.  The first week they learned about trains and train conductors so we took a trip to our neighbor who collects trains:

Brother Storm in our ward has an awesome collection of train sets that he has built over the years.  He was so nice to let us come and look at his collection and also talk to the kids about trains.  All of the kids were amazed at the fun train sets and they were also very good not to touch anything.  Thank you Brother Storm!  As a way to keep the kids in line and together as we walked to the Storm's house, Lori Olsen taught the kids about the different sounds a train whistle makes.  She taught them that different combinations of short and long whistles mean stop, go, and reverse.  She used her train whistle as we walked to keep the kids together and have them stop and go at the right times.  The kids loved it and stayed right together.

The next week Anna White taught about school and teachers so she took the kids to Sunset Elementary for a tour.  I didn't go with them but Emily said it was really cool to see her school so she will be ready for Kindergarten!  She is so excited for school but she still has to wait one more year.

Finally I talked about Fire Fighters and we were able to go to the Fire Station for a tour.

First, Russell and his friend Vasu Mudliar explained the gear and turnouts the fire fighters use and wear.  They also explained what to do in case of a fire or if our clothes catch on fire.  Then we headed out to the bays to see the fire trucks.

Here is Eric White, Colby, Levi (Junior) Joseph, Noble White, Faye Olsen, Emily, and Evamarie White posing with FF Mudliar.  Too bad Eva Joseph didn't want to be in the picture.   

We got to see all of the gear inside of the fire truck and the kids even got to sit in the driver's seat.  Afterward they all got to spray the fire hose.  I think the kids liked spraying the hose best of all.  They all had huge grins on their faces as they did it.

The kids have really enjoyed this last unit in preschool and the field trips.

3 Months Old

Logan is now 3 months old!  He is a growing boy and weighs 16 lbs!  He is also a really happy baby.  He is always smiling and has also began to be a little chatter box making lots of little baby noises.  Look how cute our little man is:

Logan loves his brother and sister and is constantly watching them.  I can tell that he cannot wait until he can run around and play with them.  As you can see, Emily loves being with Logan too.  She had to have a picture with him and I think it is the cutest picture.  Now if I could have just had Colby's head on the other side it would have been prefect but Colby hates taking pictures and I have to totally bribe him to look at the camera.

Logan has been sick with croup this past few weeks the poor little thing.  But he was still all smiles for the doctor as he was checked that is until the doctor tried to look at his tonsils with the Popsicle stick.  Logan got so mad he just clenched his jaw and would not open at all!  The doctor said he had never seen a baby hate that so much.  Thankfully he is doing much better and does not have that raspy breathing anymore. 

Logan is definitely becoming more active. I got out the baby gym and he loves playing with it (don't mind the pink my boys are tough enough to play with pink toys!):

Logan loves batting a the toys and tries to pull them to his mouth.  We are in the process of teaching him to roll over.  He has rolled over from his belly to back twice but that was more of luck than actually knowing how to roll over.  Unfortunately he has began to rub all of his lovely hair off of the back and sides of his head so now he has a funny comb-over/crew cut like hairdo.  But it is still dark and handsome with baby blue eyes!  Logan has also discovered his feet.  Whenever he is on the ground he tries to grab his toes.  Because of his big belly though it is sometimes hard to do so you hear him grunting and groaning as he is doing his leg lift workout to try and get his toes.  This often lead to puking!  Yes, unfortunately, he is still a spit-up king. Logan has also found his hands and because of that will no longer take a pacifier but prefers to suck on his fingers and hands.  He is a cute little man and we sure love him.