Easter Week-end 2013

This year we had a great Easter! My mom came up from Salt Lake and the kids loved having her here and playing with her. Our Easter this was very low key. It was really nice to not get all caught up in the Easter Bunny stuff. They went an egg hunt at my friends house and then we had one today, but we've been talking a lot about the Savior and the atonement. Mason is comprehending what we say and is actually remembering what we tell him. Sam is just enjoying all of it! 

I can't remember what she got into, but it was a mess! Max had a good time cleaning off her hands, and she just thought it was the best thing ever!

Drew waiting on his eggs to get the "perfect" color. In the end his patience didn't last and he took them out before they were as dark as he wanted them.

Sam getting some help from Grandma.

The boys had a great time doing it and I am glad my mom was here to help them. Sometimes I have a hard time letting them do their own thing and it frustrates me!!

FaceTime

I'm a little slow at learning all the cool tricks my new phone can do, but I finally figured out how to take pictures while doing FaceTime! Sometimes when Vaughn is done with patients I will call him on FaceTime while he is doing his computer stuff. Taysom just lights up and loves seeing his daddy!

Vaughn isn't usually so animated, but he had Taysom just laughing and laughing! 

Bye Bye Baby Teeth!

Drew finally lost his two front teeth! He has been working on getting them out for the past week or so and Vaughn tried last week to take them out, but Drew panicked and wouldn't let him do it. After he pulled them out we could see the two teeth behind already coming in! I guess it's just another sign of him growing up! 

1st Grade Easter Egg Hunt

I volunteered today to go and help with the Horizon Easter egg hunt for the 1st grade. Drew has been saying lately that I never go in and help anymore. He really knows how to make me feel guilty! Since it was on a Friday, Vaughn was able to watch the other kids while I went in. I was supposed to help "hide" the eggs, but with thousands of eggs and no where to "hide" them it turned into throwing the eggs all over the ground! 

They were only supposed to find 25 eggs, but after everyone had their lot there were still tons of eggs, so they let them go back out and pick up more. The hunt didn't last very long, which I am so glad, because the wind was blowing and it was so cold. I think Drew was happy I was there, if only for a few minutes. I do need to go in and help out more. It is just a lot harder with three kids at home. Excuses, excuses. I know!

Happy Birthday, Connie!

My sister Connie celebrated her birthday on Saturday and so we had a birthday dinner at my mom's house on Sunday. Tom and Connie had literally just got home from Moab and we were getting ready to  head home, so it all worked out perfectly!

Tom, Mason and Connie

My boys love their Aunt Connie

It ended up being a great weekend with seeing both of our families and spending time with each of them! 

Adult Family Dinner

Our reason for going home to Utah was to attend the adult family dinner that Vaughn's parents put on every year for Valentines. This year there were many conflicting schedules, so it was held in March. Craig in Boise and Shauna in Colorado weren't able to be there, hopefully next year we'll all be able to come.

Aaron & Jana, Kevin & Rachel

Molly (on the end) & Scott, and Brenda. 

David was preparing the food...he really should have been in the picture! He did most of the hard work! He made some of the food from Japan where he served his mission. It was so good! 

Dad & Mom 

Grandpa & Tays

After dinner we played a conversation game about different things we are grateful for. I can't remember what all the different questions were, but mine was "what is your most treasured possession". After thinking of all the big things like Vaughn, my family and the Gospel, I decided to also mention that my pictures are my most treasured possession. Someone said my camera and I thought, no, I could lose or break my camera and I could replace it. But if I lost my pictures (which I have a few times) I would be truly heartbroken. 

It was a fun evening with all the siblings and spouses and we had a really nice visit. It is always nice to go home and catch up with everyone!

Crazy Allergic Reaction

Friday morning Drew woke up and said he didn't feel very well. I looked at his face and it looked like his pink eye had come back. I called the school to let them know that he wouldn't be there and made him some breakfast. 

10:02 am

About an hour and a half later he said his lip was starting to get fat. It did look a little funny, but I wasn't too concerned about it.

10:06 am

I was amazed how quickly it really started to puff up. At this point I called the doctors office and made him an appt. They were able to get him in pretty quickly, so I threw in the bath tub and that is when I noticed that he had welts all over his body. And also there were other parts of his body that were swelling. Not just his face.

11:23 am

12:30 pm

While at the doctors office he was checked to make sure he was getting enough oxygen and that his breathing wasn't effected, and we were still pretty stumped. 

We were given some steroids for him to take and on our way to the store to get the prescription when he started noticing the pain. While we were at Walmart he was in so much pain. I talked to the pharmacist and she told me that I should give him more of the medicine than the doctor prescribed for his first dose and then go back to the directions on the bottle. She said it would help bring the swelling down faster and take some of the pain away.  

2:44 pm

The swelling started going down and he seemed to be in less pain. We had plans to go down to Salt Lake that day, but they had been up in the air with all of this, so we finally decided to just go ahead and go. 

4:14 pm

While on the drive home he was pretty out of it. He slept for most of the way down and we could tell he was pretty miserable. We could see some of the swelling going down, so we thought we were on our way to free and clear.

When we got to Bountiful we met up with Vaughn's parents and his brother for dinner. We had a nice dinner and a good visit and headed over to Vaughn's parents for the night. When we got there we checked the rest of Drew's body to look for swelling and welts and we were shocked to see that some of the swelling was not going down and that it was even worse! He said it was still very painful and started crying. We weren't sure if this would just resolve on its own or if we needed some sort of other medication. We decided we better not risk it and headed into the emergency room at Primary Children's. 

When we checked in and told them what was going on we were taken right back. The charge nurse was very concerned and took us to an actual room. Our nurse came in and was so sweet. (Found out that she was born in Jerome!) She took some information about Drew and then left. A few minutes went by and finally she came back with two doctors and a pharmacist. They were all just as complexed and said they were calling in the on call specialist. 

While we were waiting Drew watched a slide show from our Disney Cruise on Aaron's phone. He had come with us to offer moral support and he did a great job. The slide show kept Drew preoccupied. Finally the on call doctor came and she was just as perplexed! She said that she needed to consult with her attending and left the room. While she was in the hall we could see her pacing back and forth. After about 20 minutes she came back in and said her attending was just as perplexed, but he wasn't as worried about it, even though he had never seen anything like it before. He said that the swelling would go down and told her what to prescribe him. So we were sent home just after 1 am Saturday morning with the specialist's pager number and told to page her if we had any more concerns or questions. She also wanted us to page her the next afternoon just to check in and let her know how he was doing.

Finally back at Grandma Hixson's and so tired.

 He had had quite the week. He has never been to an immediate care center or the ER and he hit them both within a week!

So we have racked our brains all day as to what could have caused the reaction and the only thing we think it could be is Quaker Oatmeal. Usually I buy just the store brand of instant oatmeal, but at the last case lot sale it was the Quaker that was on sale. We think it was either the cinnamon in their brand or maybe a preservative or a dye. We also think the pink looking eye was probably part of reaction he had from the day before. He had had the oatmeal as a snack after school and by bed time he said he was itchy. So Vaughn gave him some Benadryl and sent him to bed. He probably had a reaction while he was in bed and we didn't notice it or the Benadryl took care of most of the swelling. 

I just wanted to note how impressed we were with Primary Children's. They were completely awesome with us and Drew. When they saw our address and noticed we were from out of town they were even more accommodating! They kept asking if we had a place to go or if we needed a place to stay. They even said that they would admit Drew and keep an extra close eye on him if we were worried about taking him far from the hospital. All the nurses were awesome and the doctors we fantastic! I am so glad that we went there and got the peace of mind that they gave us. We probably would have been ok by not taking him in, but it was so worth it to be able to rest easy and to have a pager number of a great doctor if we needed anything, anytime! 

Lazy Week

After Drew was sick it seemed to go through the whole house. He was the one that it hit the hardest, but we all took turns feeling like we'd been hit by trucks! I guess the only good thing is that we all got it the same time, so it was easier to just take it easy and not have Sam and Mason demanding things all day. We took naps a lot and it seemed like every time Taysom took a nap we all did too! 

 Taysom wasn't sick. So that was awesome and I spent a lot of time on the floor next to him. It was easy to take little cat naps while he was next to me playing. He was happy, as usual!

He is now 6.5 months and still not crawling. Definitely the slowest one of the four!

I'll take it though. He is so stinkin' cute just laying around! 

He has moved up to the table from his bouncer and we all enjoy having him next to us during meals. He looks at our food with envy, but once his comes to him, he can't contain his squeals! 

So I had started making some blocks for some people and I got sick before I could finish, so Mason had so much fun playing with the wood! He is so easily entertained!

He has a great imagination.

 I love all the clever things that he plays with little or no supplies! 

(He was obviously feeling better towards the end of the week!)

Tays eating his foot. Such a funny kid!

Taysom's First Haircut

Today Taysom had his first haircut! He's been needing one for awhile and my friend, Stacy, said she'd come over and do it! 

Before Stacy came over these two were out playing when I caught them playing so well together! I love how sweet Mason can be towards her! It just makes me smile! 

Before!

(I actually forgot to get an after, oops) 

Stacy getting ready to make the first cut!! 

Look at his hair on the table! Oh, it is so much hair!! 

This is another before picture. It is just out of order.

He has discovered his toes and is constantly reaching for them and trying to eat them!

Later that night Drew mentioned that he had to make a leprechaun trap. He had an idea of what he wanted and he did most of it all by himself! Such a funny kid. He knew the concept and he know the colors. 

He makes his daddy so proud with his choice of decoration!

Puppy Sitting

When we got home Saturday night we got to babysit my bff's little dog, Ivy! She is such a cute little thing and the kids all love her! They were so excited when they found out that she would be staying the night! She is a cute thing and is so good. She doesn't bark, shed or cause any trouble! What more could dog lovers ask for?! 

Tays loves her! He just laughed and laughed when she would kiss him! It was so stinkin' cute! 

I don't know if you can tell, but he was giggling in this picture!

She was so nice to let him pet her and pull on her ears. She was so very gentle with him. Max is great at that too, but Ivy was a little less intimidating and I didn't have to worry about a huge tail knocking him over or taking him out! 

When we went to bed I tried to put Ivy on our bed, and then on the rocking chair in our room, but she kept trying to sneak out of our room. Finally, she managed to get out without us noticing and when I did notice and went on the hunt for her I found her all cuddled up to Drew. It was the most sweet thing ever. I had to take a picture for Drew, because I knew she would be gone by the time he woke up and I wanted to prove to him that she did in fact sleep with him. She stayed there all night! 

They have enjoyed having her visit and she seems to like it here too. Maybe we'll get to puppy sit again sometime! 

Happy 35th Birthday, Vaughn!

This year Vaughn turned the ripe age of 35! It was probably the easiest birthday I've ever had to do for him in the 11 birthdays we've spent together! He is in the Young Mens in our ward and went on a camping trip the night before. They didn't return from their trip until late Saturday night, so when he got home he helped me get the kids into bed and then we just crashed and went to bed ourselves. 

For their camping trip they went up to Redfish Lake. A family in our ward owns the Redfish Lake Lodge and they are always so generous to let the ward use it! There was so much snow on the ground that everyone had to ride snowmobile to the lodge! 

While they were up there they went swimming in a natural hot springs, had a devotional, went snowmobiling, played ice hockey, and played on the frozen lake. I talked to Vaughn a few times on another leaders phone and he sounded like he was having a blast! He said it was one of the best birthdays he's ever had...which makes me think....really? I've planned some pretty awesome birthdays for him, but you know. Whatever. ;) 

The frozen lake. It is so beautiful up there! 

This is the dock that goes out to where they keep boats that you can rent. It is crazy to see it completely frozen! 

I would just like to say thank you to the leaders in the 4th ward for making Vaughn's birthday so great. And to the Clegg's for giving them all a place to make such fun memories! I'm glad he had fun and it took no effort on my part!

Idaho Falls

This last weekend Drew, Taysom and I rode over to Idaho Falls with my Aunt Ilene and Grandma. We went to attend the funeral for my Uncle Marlow's dad. We had a good drive over and once we got to IF and met up with my mom we had dinner at a diner across from our hotel and then headed out to Rigby to the viewing. 

This was the first viewing that Drew has been too and he did a great job. I was worried about him while he was viewing the body, but he stood there respectfully and was so well behaved. 

When we got back to the hotel Drew wanted to go swimming. He had been asking ALL day long when were we going to go swimming! So when we got back my mom finally took him down to the pool. He didn't stay long (long story) and once back in the room started complaining about his ears hurting. I knew he must have been in pain, because he just laid on the bed and watched tv. Around 1 am he started crying in his sleep. He was in so much pain and I felt so bad for him. I was going to take him in the an immediate care or ER, but he fell asleep before I got all the way ready, and I didn't want to wake him up to make him go. 

Finally asleep next to Grandma

Tays and I were WIDE awake! He slept great once he talked himself to sleep.

He slept for the rest of the night and said he felt better in the morning. So we got ready and headed back out to Rigby for the funeral. Drew was pretty good for the funeral. He was a little restless, but he did a great job. He fell asleep during the service and when he woke up, I could tell immediately that he was still not feeling well and if anything was even worse. One thing I noticed for sure was when he woke up he had one very pink eye and green goobers coming out the corners. Poor kid. I felt so bad for him. We left back to IF to eat a quick lunch at Chick-fil-a and then we were back on the road to Jerome. We stopped near Burley to let Grandma stand up and stretch her legs and that is when I noticed that both of Drew's eyes were now infected. Grrrr.

Tays is awesome in the car!! He has such chubby fat cheeks! Oh, I just love kissing them!!

When we got back to Jerome I threw the boys in Vaughn's car and sped into Twin. Drew needed to get to the immediate care and I had decided last minute to try and make it to Costco for a cheesecake. Did I mention that it was Vaughn's birthday? He had been gone all day with the youth in our ward and I had to do at least one small thing for him. So I raced into twin and I got the there at 6:10 pm. They close at 6:00. 

The entrance doors were closed, but the exit door was still open letting shoppers out. So I walked in through the exit and the lady marking receipts told me they were closed. I must have looked like I was abut to cry when I told her that I knew they were closed, but I just needed a cheesecake. She looked at me and said she would have to ask if it was ok, as she started to walk away, she stopped, came back and told me just to go on in! I wanted to hug her!!! I told her thank you probably five times before I did my speed walk back to the bakery. 

After checking out, which there were still TONS of people in there shopping and checking out, I went back to the same lady at the door and told her that I had been to a funeral, had a sick kid going to immediate care and it was my husbands birthday and that she was a HUGE lifesaver! She just smiled and told me try and have the rest of a good night. I still wanted to give her that hug that I owed her! 

We made it over to the immediate care about 45 minutes before they closed and while we were waiting three other families walked in, all with at least one little boy and they all had the same complaint. Pink eye! I didn't even know that it was going around, but man, oh man. When the PA came in, it didn't take him long to diagnose him with double pink eye, double ear infections and a respiratory infection. He wrote out the prescriptions that he needed and as I was walking out the door I figured I should double check to see what pharmacy's were open on a Saturday night. Glad I did. There is only ONE open! Even more glad I asked because it was Smith's and I don't think I would have even gone there to check. 

We finally headed home with our medicine and cheesecake and Vaughn still was not home. I went out to my Aunt Debbie's house, where Malita was watching Sam and then picked up Mason from a birthday party that had ended almost two hours earlier! 

Reading Nook

Sammie's new reading nook!

I remember when I was little I thought it was so exciting and fun to find new places to hide away and read. I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree with this little girl!