Lemonade Anyone?

I had to put this down in writting because it was so cute.  No picture though, sorry.  Today Erica really wanted to have a lemonade stand.  So when McKay got home from school they got everything ready and all set up outside.  They charged .10 a cup of lemonade (bathroom cups because I did not have that much lemonade).  I did not think they would get anyone to come, but Erica decided to advertise.  She apparently went around to our neighbors and friends in the ward around our house and went and knocked on their doors and solicited their lemonade.  People were so nice and came out and bought their lemonade.  They got some kids from the park to come buy some and even a whole family came strolling out from down the street.  I was amazed at who came and supported these cute kids.  They ended up making $3.90.  I watched the whole thing from my office window as I worked.  They want to do it again tomorrow.  I am not sure if our neighbors will come out a second time.  I think Erica is planning on selling some of her toys she does not want anymore as well.  We'll see how it goes.

Update From Earlier Post

This afternoon Kason was crying and covering his ears and said they hurt.  He also was taking his glasses off a lot during the day and has been doing this for a couple of days.  Right away I had a feeling I needed to get him to see the doctor.  I called his pediatrician and they got us right in.  I was surprised to find out both of his ears are infected and he has a little left-sided pneumonia.  I had no idea he was so sick.  So now he is on an antibiotic and some cough medicine.  I am so glad I followed through on that prompting so that he can feel better and get better faster.  When they told me what he had, I thought, "If he is that sick, I wonder what I have?"  I see my doctor next week.  Maybe I have pneumonia as well.  I guess we shall see.

Sickness, again

I should be cleaning my house instead of writting a blog, but I thought I would take a minute to update what has been going on around here.  We finished our play of Savior of the World.  It was great, even better than the last time I did it.  It was fun to do it with Erica and watch her with makeup on and her hair all pretty and she was so good and excited about the whole thing.  I think her favorite part was her new friend she made, a boy name Royal.  He was quite a bit older than her, but I think she was in love.  We had just finished a scene and she wanted to go find Royal but I had to go the bathroom.  She ran off and I asked a friend if she would watch out for her while I was gone.  I came back and my friend told me that Erica went up to her and asked where I was.  She told Erica I was using the bathroom and would be right back and she was to watch out for her.  Erica then said, "oh that's okay, I am with Royal."  My friend told me to watch out for her when she gets older.  We were tired and exhausted by the time it was over and ready to move on to a new week with less stress.  But then, the sickness crept in.  Kason ended up with a rash all over and a fever and then came the nagging cough.  Then I got it, but worse.  It came on about Thursday with fevers and chills, unrelenting.  I could only take Tylenol but it was not helping me much.  I laid around all weekend long with no energy, freezing or burning up, hurting every time I moved, miserable, wondering when I would ever get better.  I was more concerned about the baby than me.  I wasn't sure if all the Tylenol I was taking or the hot baths I had to get in to control the chills was hurting the baby.  She kept kicking me letting me know she was still there, so hopefully no damage was done.  I started trying to find the blessings of being sick.  There were a few.  I was so glad I got sick after the play was over and not during it or I could not be in it, I was glad that the worst part of my sickness came during the weekend and Kory took very good care of us, and it forced me to my knees more in prayer and more meaningful scripture study where I read quite a few scriptures about having patience, trust, and faith.  The fever and chills finally subsided byTuesday but it left me with a terrible cough and no voice.  So Kason and I have been coughing all week.  One night I could not stop coughing and I was waking Kory up so I decided to sleep on the couch with my upper body elevated to try and stop the coughing.  That was a terrible night.  I think I only sleep about 3 hours.  So the next night, we put some mattresses in our bonus room with our noisy humidifier and Kason and I have been sleeping there for the past two nights coughing to our hearts content with the moist air around us.  I think we are getting better but it is extremely slow.  So with the play and my sickness, the house is quite dirty.  I better start cleaning now.  Next week is crazy with work.  I am working extra hours and going in for all day training on Tuesday as our department moves into a new technological phase, voice recognition.  This is something that I have been hearing about from my supervisors of where we want to be some day for so many years I can't even remember and it is now becoming a reality.  We have had 3 people quit within 2 weeks, my supervisor during our meeting yesterday said she was "nervous," but overall I think everyone else is excited.  I don't know what to think, honestly.  I convinced Kory to take a day off work that day to help take care of the kids.  He is nervous himself about taking care of the kids and wondering what to do with them all day and how he is going to handle it.  I think that is funny.  I told him I would trade places with him anytime, he can go to my training meeting.  Life is not dull around here.

Gardening

I am really excited about gardening this year.  I am getting a bit of a jump start on things so I am totally prepared.  When we first moved to our home five years ago and I started my first garden, it turned out to be the best garden yet.  We called it our jungle.  We had tons of food and it was a great success:

Ever since then, our garden has gone downhill.  I'm not sure why.  Last year was the worst.  We ended up with only 2 tomato plants and a couple of jalapeno plants (this is because I bought them already started and growing from Walmart) and one little cucumber plant.  It seemed throughout the whole spring and summer I was planting, and replanting, and replanting, and nothing ever wanted to grow.  We had a very wet spring at first and I think the water drowned our first batch of seeds, but even after that and replanting again and again nothing would grow.  Our stawberries came back for the second year and actually provided quite a few for us, but our rasberries (second year in a row) grew no berries at all.  It was really depressing. 

So this year, Kory dug out all of the clay rocky dirt from our main big garden and some from the strawberry garden and put in a draining system and then filled them back up with good top soil and manure.  I also got the idea from our Stake provident living specialist to start growing plants inside.  I was not sure how to go about doing that but she posted pictures on her blog and made it look really easy.  So for spring break we went to Walmart and for $3.00 purchased a seed starting kit.  The kids had a blast filling the little holes with dirt, labeling them, putting the seeds in, watering them, and finding a new home for them to incubate in with lots of hot sun.  I am hoping with new dirt, lots of little plants, and lots of prayers that we will have a glorious garden this year and that our strawberries will come back alive and our raspberry plants (3rd year) will finally produce some berries.  Wish us luck!

 McKay was my main helper in this project all the way through to the end.  He was quite a bit into it as you can tell by his face in this picture.  In fact, I told the kids that if we broke open the seed starter and planted all the seeds that day that they would have to fold laundry for me afterwards so I could start working.  They agreed on the deal and even folded the clothes and had a blast doing that and did a great job and helped me out a ton.

 My box of seeds.  I got lots of new seeds this year.  Another theory about the dwindling garden was I thought the seeds were too old.  My mom sent me brand new seeds and I bought a few as well.

The finished product with labels and all.  I may have started some of these plants too early (like pumpkins), but I can always throw them out and start again in a month or so.  I also started watermelons and cantalopes.  They take forever to grow and I am hoping that if I start them now that by the time August comes we will have lots to eat.

Catching Up

I have not blogged in awhile.  We have had a few very busy months.  One big news that happened the last day of February is our ultrasound.  We found out we are having a girl!!!!!  Very excited.  The baby looked healthy and well and we feel very blessed. 

McKay for the last two months has been playing basketball for the first time and did really well and enjoyed it.  We just finished up the season last Saturday.  Here are a few pictures from his last game:

And of course Erica and Kason.  The first couple of games we took them along and things were a little rough.  They watched for a little while and quickly got bored and decided that tormenting each other was more fun.  We had to split up the family and either Kory or I went and we would only take one child with us.  Much more peaceful.  However, at McKay's last game we brought the whole family back together again and they actually did not do too bad.  They enjoyed making silly faces at the camera, eating snacks, and coloring.  Here are some funny pictures of them during the same game as above:

Along with basketball, Erica and I have been involed in a play put on by our Stake called "Savior of the World."  I was in the Christmas version (act 1)  two Christmas' ago and now we are doing the second act which teaches about the Resurection.  It has been very time consuming and we have the practices on Tues, Thurs, Sat, and Sun each week.  I have had to continue to work just earlier on in the day on Tues and Thurs and sometimes late at night to make up my work I did not get in earlier.  It is a wonderful play though and I am happy to be apart of it and to be able to have Erica with me.  She steals the show in all of her scenes because she is so cute.  When we perform it, I will post some pictures from that later on.  Needless to say, we have all been a bit tired around here and I even caught Kory and Kason taking a little snooze together after Kory got back from work one day:

SNOW

It has been a warm winter this year, but we finally got one big snowfall.  Here are just a few pictures I took.  I did not feel well that day and so I got the kids bundled up and out the door and took a few.  They eventually convinced me to come out and make a snowman.  I finally did and we put it on top of the fountain.  It only lasted a few hours though and then melted.  The snow was great but only lasted a day and then the rain melted it all.  It was fun to drive around in it and watch kids all around go to the park to sled.

 The kids at first were a little nervous to go out in it.  It took them awhile.

Erica's 5-year-old Birthday

Right after we got home from our Christmas trip, it was a tough time.  We had to take down the Christmas decor, I taught preschool for a week, and then we ended up with the stomach flu.  We were all thowing up, except Kory (lucky) and Kason got it a few weeks earlier (just before our Christmas trip).  Kason was spared a second round.  On one of our really sick days, Kory volunteered to take Kason to his eye doctor appointment.  He was there for like 2-1/2 hours and ended up buying Kason $300 glasses because the astismatism in his droopy eye was getting worse and warranted glasses.  I am so glad he took took Kason instead of me because while they were gone I got a call from the school nurse who told me McKay threw up in class and I needed to come get him.  It was quite a day.  Amazingly the sickness only got us for a week and we were soon better and ready to have a birthday party.  Erica turned 5 years old on January 16.  We had a princess birthday party in the morning with all her friends.  They all dressed up in their princess dresses and attire.  We had princess music and decor.  The girls made crowns and neclaces and then we had a Ball and everyone danced in our living room.  While they were dancing, a prince showed up to dance with all the princesses (McKay).  It was so cute.  Then we ate cake that was a princess castle that took FOREVER to make and in the end while we were making I think the neclaces, part of the cake fell over.  It was a little top heavy.  It still tasted good.  At the end of the party we played hot potato and then it was time to go. 

 That night we went to Bounce for some jumping fun.  The kids had lots of fun.  Afterwards we went to dinner at Applebee's.

What a great birthday!!!!

Christmas 2011

I am super behind on my blog.  So here I am catching up.  First is Christmas.  It was a great time!  We left out of town and traveled forever to So. Utah to Mom and Dad's home.  It was great to be there and not have any responsibilities and take a break from our life at home.  I was sick most of the time and had terrible headaches almost daily.  My mom was great and insisted I take lots of naps and just take it easy.  The kids had fun playing on Grandmas's hill and with toys from their home and from Christmas.  Kory and McKay went on a four wheeling ride with Kory's old friend Wade.  Kory also got together with his landscaping boss and had lunch with him.  We went out a few times to some favorite places to eat in St. George.  Also the night we got to So. Utah we went to a concert my brother-in-law put on in the old St. George Tabernacle.  He had all his boys involved and we enjoyed a really wonderful concert focusing on Christmas.  It was great spending time with family, playing games, going on walks, and just taking it easy.

Almost every day the kids and I went over the Leif and Julie's home where they are storing Grandma's chickens.  We would feed them and gather the eggs and give them a little pat.  The kids liked going over there, especially Erica.  They also liked playing on the trampoline afterwards.

Leif and Julie went to California on Christmas, so we had an wonderful Christmas Eve Dinner with them and the boys.  The best part was of course Mom's great cooking.  Those are always the best meals that we treasure.  Here we are eating and having a great time together.

Julie came up with some games to play.  One was putting pictures on everyone's back and they had to ask questions to figure out what their picture is because they could not see it.  Everyone eventually got theirs but it was hard with some of them.  We also played a game of rolling the dice and breaking open a present with oven mitts that were passed around.  Of course, there were three presents and they were all stuffed animals with blankets and eventually all my kids ended up with them in the end, because they convinced the person who opened the package to give them to them (some tears were involved).  Strange enough, at this time, McKay is now the owner of 3 of the stuffed animals and 2 of the blankets.  He sleeps with them every night and loves them.  Thanks Julie.

 Christmas time!  The kids all loved their presents.  Even Kory and I got a few this year.  We enjoyed opening them and playing with them all week while we were down at Mom and Dad's. 

 Here are the stuffed animals my kids got the night before.