Yankee Meadows

Oh, my poor, neglected blog. I've got to do a better job at posting. I recently read Stephanie Nielson's, Heaven is Here, and she talks about starting her blog when she moved to New Jersey with her husband. She would get so excited about each post, and would check multiple times a day to read all the new comments she was receiving. Those were the good old days of blogging. Now that everyone's moved on to Facebook and Instagram (myself included), blogging has really been left behind. But I do love to look back at everything that was going on in our lives, so I have decided that I'm going to try to blog once a week. That should be doable. 

A couple weekends ago, we went down to Yankee Meadows to go camping. Just a few minutes from Brian Head, it was a good meeting place between Orem and Las Vegas for a family campout.  My parents, Pat and Heather's family, and the Alofipo's were all planning to go. At the last minute, Wayne's dad died and they couldn't make it, but the rest of us went on without them. 

The kids had a BLAST with their cousins!

Heather was nice enough to let Kyla do her makeup.

The kids thought a dip in the lake would feel nice. They were only in for a few seconds before they took off for the warmth of this tree trunk.

McKay, Carter and Beckett formed the "little boys club," and their motto must have been "get dirty," because that's what they did. One night they took a bag of chips into their tent. We should have known that was a bad idea, but we were busy singing songs around the campfire and playing games. We'll know better next time...

Cool action shot of Damon jumping over the water

Nude boys that we tried to hide the best we could. 

Fun times everyone! Let's do it again!

Threes

For us, it seems that accidents and injuries happen in threes. It certainly was the case while Jeff was in China (of course. Another given, that Jeff would be out of town when these things happened).

First, McKay cut his foot on a broken jar in the garage. It didn't bleed a ton, but it was pretty deep, so I cleaned it and wrapped it up. It was still looking pretty bad the next day, so I took him in to see if it needed stitches. They decided that it would heal on its own and we kept it wrapped for several days until it finally did heal.

A couple of days later, Carter fell in my shower and hit his nose on the tile ledge. It swelled up immediately and he looked pretty funny for a couple of days.

Then, after the swelling went down, he had a couple of good black eyes. No pictures did it justice. It looked painful!

Finally, we went to St. George for Memorial Day, and took Bex with us. I took her outside in the park to go to the bathroom. Sitting about 100 yards away, there was a boy with his pitbull on a leash. Bex, who has no fear of other dogs, ran at it, barking. I chased after her. The boy tried to keep the pitbull away, but he wasn't strong enough. And I wasn't fast enough. Once Bex got close, he latched on and wouldn't let go. I jumped on the pile, fighting back. Bex was being thrown from side to side and whimpering. I thought the dog was going to rip her neck open and that I would watch her bleed to death. It was awful!

Finally, after a terrifying amount of time (probably 15-20 seconds), the dog let go. And thankfully, he didn't latch on to me. I quickly checked her out, and she wasn't actively bleeding, so I took her back to my mom's, visibly shaken. At first, the wound didn't look that bad. It looked like she had been scalped, but nothing more.

But as the days went on, she started scratching at it a lot, and it started to smell. I washed it, kept neosporin on it, and wrapped it in a bandage. I went and got a collar so she wouldn't try to pick at it...

...but it kept getting worse. The skin was pulled away from her body, and the more she scratched at it, the bigger the wound got. It got about five times the size it started out as, and I finally took her to a vet.

My neighbor suggested I try Coleman's in Provo, as she said he was an older guy who was really only in for the animals, not the money. Even though they were full for the day, they had me bring her down to get checked out. And, as we expected, she needed stitches. The lady quoted me $100, which I thought was a steal! I left her there at the vet's office for a few hours while they put her under anesthesia, cut away the dead skin, and sewed her closed.

I went back to pick her up a few hours later, and they gave me my invoice. $75. Total. $65 for the anesthesia and stitches and $10 for her antibiotics. Amazing, and such a huge blessing! I am still dreading the bill from Instacare for McKay's foot, where they did absolutely nothing but look at it and wrap it back up. I'm sure it will be a whole lot more than the $75 I paid to get my dog all fixed up!

We counted 11 stitches, and it was obvious that the wound was a lot worse than we had originally imagined. She took her antibiotics like a champ (in a hot dog, like my dad suggested) and she was back to her spunky self in one day. She gets her stitches out this week, and I sure hope she has learned a lesson about other dogs. I doubt it, though. She's not a quick learner. And she's going to have to be on a leash in public from now on, even when she's just out to go potty. 

We survived the curse of the three injuries. And I know it's just a matter of time before we are struck with another set of three.

Kyla's birthday

For Kyla's birthday this year, she wanted to do a makeover party with her friends. Sound familiar? It should. It's the same thing Allie did for her party last year. 

Kyla invited 10 friends and 9 were able to come. Jeff was in China for her birthday, so luckily I found some good helpers to pull off the party. My neighbor Megan and Jonny's friend Kenzie both were free to help do hair, makeup, and even paint nails! Kyla thought it was the best thing ever! The girls put on a fashion show. Here's Kyla's pose:

She also wanted a pink Skittle cake. Just like Allie had last year. Simple enough, and quite tasty!

She had to blow out her candles twice, because Damon blew them out the first time. This is the second time, and she is holding Damon off with her hand!

Her friends spoiled her with Barbies, dolls, makeup and everything she loves. What a lucky girl!

On her actual birthday, she opened up her Kyla doll (Journey Girl doll actually named Kyla). It wasn't a surprise, but she still pretended that it was. Gwen was here to share in the excitement.

Kyla is such a fun girl. We have really had some challenges with her this year (especially with honesty), but she has been so much fun to be around. She loves sugar with all her heart, and has the cavities to prove it! Hopefully she will be faithful in brushing and flossing, because the baby teeth are starting to fall out and she will have big problems with her permanent teeth if she doesn't take care of them!

Kyla has such a tender spot in her heart for animals. She cries nearly every Sunday when we watch nature shows, because animals are being eaten. She still loves Bex as much as anyone. 

She had a really good year in kindergarten, although I'm pretty sure she was extremely bored. She started telling me toward the end of the year that she didn't want to go anymore. I'm hoping the challenge of Spanish in first grade will motivate her a little more! She is an excellent reader, but really needs to work more on her handwriting. She just wants to get things done and I can't read what she's writing half the time. She loves to write notes to her friends, especially to Gwen when the boys are coming over in the morning for exercise. She also put a letter in the mail to Santa Claus at the North Pool (that cracks me up), and I meant to take it out of the mailbox before the mailman came, but I didn't get it in time. I'm sure it will be returned in the days ahead. I asked her what she said to Santa, and she said she asked for an iPad and a phone. Good luck with that one, honey.

Kyla can get extremely giggly during church or other inappropriate times, and it's hard to get her out of those moods. She has also had some anxiety recently (nothing like Allie's but still unusual for her). She says she's worried that I won't pick her up from her class or that she'll get lost or other things like that. It doesn't happen often, so when it does, it's a bit of a mystery. I'm sure it's just her age and learning to deal with changes. 

I sure love my Kyla girl! She is boy crazy, makeup crazy, and fashion crazy. Nothing like me. It will be fun to watch her grow up. I hope I can KEEP up!

Allie's Baptism Day

My mom happened to find the dress she made for me when I got baptized. It was also worn by my sisters and a few other lucky girls. Allie decided she wanted to wear it too. It's too hard to tell, but the picture in the top left corner of the paper she is holding is me wearing the dress when I was eight.

Some pics from the day

Yummy food afterward

Allie was so funny when she came out of the water. She was squealing because she was cold. I don't usually think of her as a dramatic person (at least not in public), but she had us all laughing. She and the other two kids in our ward who were baptized sang When I am Baptized together for the closing song. Allie had a bit of a cold and wasn't able to sing as well as she wanted to, and she got a little giggly. Sunday morning, when the bishop introduced the three children as the newest members of the ward, he mentioned how nice they had sounded when they sang. Allie, unbelieving, rolled her eyes on the stand. Again, she got a lot of laughs. My little comedian.

It was a great day and I'm so happy for Allie. She told me she didn't feel any different, just cleaner. I told her that's the way it's supposed to be. The gospel doesn't necessarily change who you are, it just makes you better and more worthy.

Allie Karen

The pictures from Allie's baptism are currently in China with Jeff, so that post will have to wait until he gets back. In the meantime, let's talk about Allie. I do love my little girl.

It's no secret that she has suffered from some pretty severe anxiety. It comes and goes, but when she is going through a rough time, it's really rough. It was really bad when Jeff and I went on our cruise and for a month or two after that as well. She didn't even like the thought of me leaving, even if Jeff was home. She had unexplained pains every day and didn't want to go to school. It was rough. I asked her one day to make me a list of everything she was afraid of. Here is what she wrote: "I am afraid that there will be an earthquake, tornado, hurricane. I am afraid that I will have a heart attack and I could stop breathing. Carbon dioxide, break my neck, get robbed, get shot, get really hurt, die, have a stroke, and get locked in and cannot get out."

That's a pretty serious list of worries! For her birthday, I got her a workbook called What to Do When you Worry Too Much. We haven't really looked at it at all, because suddenly she is doing so much better. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I mentioned that we could talk to the pediatrician about going on some medication? I don't know. But I know that her struggles are not over, and we'll use that as a reference soon. 

Allie is such a sweet, tender girl. I had to give a talk at relief society about finding joy in the journey. She got to come, because all the girls 8 and up were invited. As part of my talk, I told the story about Chance. She was very emotional as I talked about her brother, and was visibly crying. I had to keep myself from looking at her because it made it hard for me to keep from crying. I know she was feeling a lot of love and sorrow for her brother in that moment. I hope she will always stay close to the Spirit throughout her life.

Of all my kids, she loves music the most. She ALWAYS wants to listen to music, tinker on the piano (it's time for her to start lessons in the fall), write songs and sing them on her guitar (if she thinks no one is listening. She is also rather shy). I am excited to see where music takes her.

She still isn't great with time management. She is usually running late, even if she has had plenty of time to get ready in the morning. She still HATES to have her hair brushed, and prefers ponytails most of the time. She reads like crazy and has started reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish. Her goal is to read it both in Spanish and English so that she actually understands it. My mom has promised $100 to any grandchild who will read it, which is amazing motivation. 

Allie would hate me writing this, but she has very weak muscles surrounding her bladder. While she hasn't wet the bed in years, she still wets her pants often when she laughs too hard or jumps on the trampoline. The pediatrician told her about some exercises (read: Keigels) that she can do to strenghen her muscles. He said it's not something that will get better on its own, but something she is going to have to work it. Darn it, poor girl! I don't know what's going to happen to her when she grows up and has babies!

While Allie can be very social, she also needs her own space. Having her own room has been good for her. She often times is heard to say, "just leave me alone!" Kyla, on the other hand, loves and craves the company of other people and doesn't always understand why Allie would rather stay inside and play by herself than be out with friends (to be fair, Allie does both. Kyla just doesn't ever want to play alone).

I do love my sweet girl, and am so excited to watch her grow and develop! It may not be a smooth ride, but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun.

Photo Dump

A bunch of pics from my phone

The kids set reading goals in March, and everyone who met their goal got to walk the "red carpet" and have a movie event. These are the pics the kids had taken that day.

I found the boys asleep like this on the last night of our trip to Arizona. Precious.

A shot of our favorite store. Until we see you again...

McKay getting his first "real" haircut. He was so shy, he wouldn't look up and make eye contact with any of us.

Carter has been asking for a daily foot rub for a while now. It's part of our "rest time" every day.

Peanut butter in the hair

Cute brothers that play well together

Funnies

I haven't posted these in a while. I just didn't have enough. Either I'm not very good at recording them, or my kids just haven't been very funny lately. Ha! Here are the ones I DID manage to write down:

Damon was trying to do his homework one day, and our house was rather chaotic (just as it is every day). He said, "I can't think! There's too much din in here!"

Carter likes to watch movie trailers on the iPad, and one of his favorites is Life of Pi. He was watching it one day and I asked him what he was doing. He said, "I'm watching apple pie!"

I was having a discussion with Allie about why I don't like sleepovers. After going over many reasons, I highlighted this one: "Your friends might have a crush on Damon, and they could spend more time trying to impress him than spending time with you." Allie thought about this for a second and said, "Why would they like Damon? He's not even cute!"

The girls in Damon's class had their maturation assembly. Damon came home and told me, "the girls weren't in class today, because they had maternity."

Carter is always hungry. On the same day, he said, "my skin is hungry," and then "my neck is hungry." Poor boy needs food!

I made a "to do" list for Kyla one morning of all the things I wanted her to accomplish that day. She read the list, then added "get marid" to the bottom. Fortunately, she didn't get married, and that one remained unchecked for now.

We went to Golden Corral with the kids in Arizona, where a woman kept coming over to clear our plates. Kyla was mesmerized, and said, "It's like she's our servant!"

We also visited a pioneer museum while we were on our trip. One of the buildings there was set up like an old store, filled with artifacts on the walls, counters, etc. There was a man working there behind the counter. He was in a wheelchair and had an eye patch, and I assume he was there to keep an eye on all the stuff inside so that nothing was stolen. But he wasn't immediately visible to the kids until he started talking. Kyla was startled, and screeched, "Ahhh!" We tried to cover it up so that he wasn't offended and hustled the kids outside. Jeff and I were laughing about it, and when Kyla told us he looked like a pirate, Carter piped up, "He WAS a pirate!"

One Sunday during sacrament meeting, McKay fell off the pew and hit his head on the hymnal holder. He started crying, Jeff took him out, and brought him back in when he had calmed down. He had a red mark on his forehead and Allie touched it, asking, "what's that?" He pointed to the spot and said, "my head." Duh.

Kyla had to write down three wishes for school. Her list said: 1. to be a princess, 2. to look cuot (cute), and 3. to be a mom. That about sums her up right now.

On our drive to Arizona, Damon told us, "The Navajo used the buffalo hides for their tee-pees." Allie immediately asked, "They had tvs?"

We were listening to The Spirit of God on our drive, and at the end, Carter called out, "cock-a-doodle-doo!" I guess he thought the song called for it.

We played some car games on our long drive. Allie was making up new acronymns for the Never Eat Soggy Waffles, and came up with "Never Eat Soggy Whales." Kyla, not really understanding the game, came up with "Never Sniff Stinky Butts." Also good advice.

We also played a game where each person adds one word to the phrase until we made a sentence. Here were a couple of our favorites:

I bathe occasionally in oil.
I smell stinky bums and mozzarella.
My arms ache regularly.

McKay came upstairs and told me he was poopie. Carter, not believing, wanted to check. He couldn't see anything. Then I went in for a peek. As soon as I pulled back his diaper, McKay said, "Ewww, Kayters!" Always believe McKay in matters of poop.

After Allie got baptized, McKay got interested in it. He asked me, "Bexley get baptized?"

Allie is Eight!

More on Allie's baptism coming, but here are the pics from her birthday party. She wanted to have a late night movie party, and this is what we came up with:

She said she loves my homemade cakes. I'm not sure why, I'm no cake wizard, but it was important to her, so I made her one. She picked Barbie and the Pink Shoes as the movie to watch, so that's why we went with the ballet slippers.

The girls decorated some aprons, played games, ate mini pizzas, watched the movie had cake and ice cream and then opened presents and played. It was a lot of fun!

We got her a new bike for her birthday

And she got her ears pierced. 

She and I went to dinner at her favorite place, Pizza Pie Cafe, and had our first "Talk." It went well. I think
she was fine with everything we discussed. We talked about basic anatomy and how babies are made. She had one question. "Does the mom and dad have to do that in front of the nurse?" I quickly corrected her, reminding her that babies take nine months to grow. Other than that, though, she just listened and frequently changed the subject.

Allie is a very sweet girl. We have had our differences, and I know we will continue to have differences in the future, but I'm so lucky to be her mom. She certainly has made me a better mom, as I have had to come up with multiple ways to try to help her learn and grow.

More to come...