Valentine Dinner

For Valentine's this year Hannah and I decorated the table and we celebrated with a Valentine's dinner.

We ate Hannah's favorite main dish, which was sweet pork burritos.  We had pomegranite 7-up to drink and made some chocolate chip cookies that had pink and red chips in them.  YUMMY!

Each of the girls had a boquet of flowers, a valentine note pad, and a little cute valentine trinket.

The roses in the middle of the table were given to me by Dave.  Sweet!

Meet Ed the Snowman

One Monday evening after a nice snowstorm we came home and the girls called Dave to see if when he got home, he would take them outside and make a snowman.  Dave agreed and convinced me to come out and help.  So, outside we went.

Hannah realized that it really is alot of work to create a snowman.  The snow just doesn't come together very quickly.  Ashley was more in to playing and eating the snow and Nicole was more interested in poking her fingers in the snow.

After the snowman was created, Dave and I asked what we were going to name him.  They came up with Ed.  I think they named him after my mom's neighbor Ed.  Too cute!

Funny Girls

Here's some fun pictures of the girls. These are the great moments to capture.

Here are two pictures of the girls when Hannah did everyone's hair. She did her's first but needed a little assistance with the braids and then had Ashley and Nicole sit on the stairs so she could do their hair.

Ashley could not fall to sleep one night. I came down from upstairs to head to bed and found that Ashley had come out of her room and was in Hannah's bed. So Hannah could fall to sleep, I made Ashley a bed on her floor so she could be in the same room but not be "scared".

The next morning when I went to wake Hannah up for school this is how I found the two of them.....snug as bugs in a rug! They might not show it all the time but I think they DO like each other.

The girls and I had a little party for the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics. We had flags to wave and cheered. I believe Dave was at a Mt. Crest basketball game. The girls almost made it to the end, which was 11 p.m. Hannah asked Ashley if she could lay by her and that was it. Out they went!

Nicole's Ears

Back in December Nicole got her very first ear infection. In fact, she is the first of the three girls to get an ear infection. A round of antibiotics was given and we returned two weeks later for a follow-up appointment. At the follow-up appointment (Dec 24), Nicole was given a clean bill of health on her ears and we were good to go.

At the initial appointment for her ear infection, the doctor indicated that her ears were full of ear wax and that we should take her in to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor and have them cleaned. We knew exactly what he was talking about because Hannah has been taken in multiple times to have her ear wax cleaned out (lucky girls to have inherited major ear wax from their dad). So, I made an appointment with the ENT doctor to have all three girls' ears cleaned. Hannah because it had been two years since she'd been, Ashley because she'd never had hers done and I was curious as to whether or not they were full, and Nicole because we knew hers were full.

We went for the ear appointment on February 5. The girls were seen by the doctor in order. Hannah had some ear wax but it wasn't too bad. This was the least amount of wax she'd ever had. That's great news where it had been two years! Her ear drums looked great!

Ashley was next. She was a bit nervous and a little freaked out because she'd never had it done nor seen anyone else have their ears cleaned by the doctor. Ashley did end up having a bit of "sticky" ear wax to clean out. She had more than Hannah but not too bad for being 4 and never having it done. Her ear drums looked great too!

Now we have Nicole who was not thrilled in the least to be the next one up for the ear cleaning experience. Thank goodness my mom had come with me. She took Ashley and Hannah out of the room so they didn't have to witness me and two nurses holding Nicole down. Nicole ended up having the most ear wax, which wasn't surprising because we knew from the other doctor that her ears were full.

After the ear wax cleaning of the first ear, the doctor checks her ear drum and informs me that she has a bunch of fluid behind her ear drum. I'm a bit in shock at this moment because Nicole has been acting fine. She has not complained once about her ears. He moves to the other side and once again, after clearing the way, notices there's fluid behind this ear drum too. We left the appointment with an antibiotic for Nicole to take for 10 days to clear the fluid. We have to come back in two weeks for a follow up appointment. If the fluid does not clear up, I am informed that we will need to put tubes in her ears so we don't run in to hearing loss. Wow! This is totally not what I expected from this appointment. I was simply going in to have the ear wax cleaned and that was that.

Today was the follow up appointment for Nicole. The downfall to this doctor is that you have to wait SOOOOOO long to even be seen by the doctor. I was excited that her appointment was today because last night she came down with a cold. I wanted him to be able to check her over and ask questions as to what we do now to prevent this cold turning in to another ear infection.

Once we saw the doctor, Nicole quickly covered her ears. She remember from the time before! Smart little stinker! With her on my lap and me holding her arms and head, he checked the left ear. It was red but probably because she had immediately started crying when he entered the room. He could possibly see a bit of fluid. Then came the right ear. Well, this one didn't fair too well. He immediately could see that it was still full of fluid. This is after being off the antibiotic for only one day.

We're now off to another room where a technician performs a pressure test on Nicole's ears. This is to tell them exactly how much fluid is behind her ears and if the fluid is thick and won't move or if it's thinner and moving around. Once again, Nicole is not a happy camper to have someone going after her ears. Once again, I hold the arms and head while the test is performed.

The right ear is done first. This is the ear that the doctor indicated was still full of fluid. The line on the screen that we are looking at is suppose to peak as the test is performed. Well.....for the right ear the line is flat. This indicates that she has quite a bit of fluid behind the ear drum and that it's the "sticky" kind and won't budge.

For the left ear, there is a peak. However, the peak is suppose to occur at the zero mark. Her peak occurs at the -100 mark, which means she does have fluid in this ear but it's the "movable" kind.

Back to the room we go to chat with the doctor. When he comes in, we look at the charts again that printed from the machine and the verdict is that Nicole needs tubes in her ears to drain the fluid. From this point forward it's a whirlwind. The doctor would have put the tubes in Nicole's ears this coming Tuesday had she not started with a cold. Instead, we are holding off a week and were given another antibiotic to get us through the cold so that neither a sinus nor ear infection occur. We are then given to the nurse who checks Nicole's heart and lungs and then takes us through the pre-op procedures.

From the nurse, we are taken to the front desk where they call the surgery section at Logan Regional to schedule Nicole's surgery. We are scheduled for the surgery on March 2. It may have to be postponed if Nicole's cold is not better or if for some reason she can't "bump" others and be the first surgery of the day, which would be 7:30 am because she has to fast for 12 hours and they can't make a 2 year old fast until late in the day.

Our appointment today was at 3:15 and we left the doctor's office at 5:10. By the time I hit the van, I was exhausted as to all that had transpired. Again, I was not expecting what occurred as this appointment. I thought for sure we'd go in and the doctor would say that all was good and she'd be given a clean bill of health. Not so.

However, I try to look on the bright side. Had I not taken the girls in to have their ears cleaned I never would have known Nicole had any problems. If her ears have been bothering her, she never showed any signs. There has been no crying, no tugging, no irritability, no nothing. I am grateful for the prompting and the events that occurred prior so that I made the appointment. A rough road could have been ahead of us had we not found this out sooner. Especially, before we ran into hearing loss issues.

As of now, we have started round 2 of the antibiotics and we'll plan for March 2!

Two Accidents in Two Weeks

I wanted to post all of our happenings in chronological order and I've been trying to find the time to catch up for December and January. However, I need to take a moment and intercede and go out of order for just a minute.

I have been involved in two accidents in the last two weeks. Are you kidding me?!?!?

Two weeks ago the girls and I were heading to Logan as we do every weekday morning for work, school, and Traci's. I turned on to the road below our house and noticed a bicyclist. That was odd. I'm not sure I had ever seen a bicyclist on this road so early in the morning. Especially on a morning that there was a skiff of snow on the road.

Heading down the road I'm "assuming" he'll keep going. I look in my rear view mirror and start the process of going around the biker. I look back to the road and I'm committed to the "go around" when all of the sudden his lifts his had to signal a turn and WHAM! We hit. Hitting someone with my vehicle is one of my worst nightmares and on this day the nightmare came true.

I quickly realized how lucky both me and my neighbor were. Yes, my van has some scars. The passenger mirror is broken and when I returned home from work I noticed the LARGE scratch down the side of the van from his handle bar. But....he didn't even fall off his bike! He stayed upright and wasn't hurt at all. Phew! I hate to think of what a few more seconds would have done. I don't think I could have handled it if I would have run over him. It makes me sick to my stomach to even think of it.

I called him that night just to make sure he was still alright. Thank goodness he was and is! He actually leads the music in sacrament meeting. The next Sunday we end up sitting two rows back from the front right in front of where the music is lead. Hannah asked me what I was going to do. I told her it would be fine. Well, he wasn't there to lead the music. You should have seen the look on Hannah's face. She thought he wasn't there because he was hurt. He appeared the next Sunday which put Hannah's mind to rest!

Then today, which is the next day that there has been snow on the road. It ran through my mind as I was getting ready this morning that the last time the roads had snow on them I hit the neighbor.

The girls and I left again for our morning routine. The roads here in Mendon were EXTREMELY slick. We slid through the stop sign and railroad tracks as we were stopping to turn on to the same road that the prior accident occurred on.

We made it all the way to the next stop sign before needing to stop to turn on to the "Old Mendon Road". As we approach the stop sign, I notice a car off the left hand side of the road in the ditch. I tell the girls to look out the window and see the car in the ditch. Hannah asks if anyone is in it. I look and say, "nope." Then, SMACK. We get rear ended. I thought it was the bishop that was behind me on the road. I actually work with the Bishop at BATC. Hmmm....how odd is this going to be to get out and "chat" with the bishop. As I got out, I was taken back to see that it wasn't the bishop it was his son. We accessed the damage while trying to keep from falling on the ground. The damage isn't too bad. We left and I will need to get with him about fixing the bumper.

I have now endured two accidents in two weeks. I think I should be done now for the next 10-12 years! Poor Hannah has been traumatized by the three accidents she's now been involved in. Poor thing might be in counseling for them. Kidding! She did cry this morning as we were driving in. However, she handled this one better than the one two weeks ago when I got a call from the school because she had an upset stomach. These accidents have been a good learning lesson to the girls as to how important it is to ALWAYS wear a seat belt!

So I'm done....or at least I'm hoping to be done for quite awhile! Let's hope sooner or later my stars align and I'll be left alone!

Christmas Vacation

The day after Christmas we loaded in the van and headed on a road trip to visit family.

We didn't leave Mendon as early as we had hoped on Saturday. We didn't get off until noon. So, the first night we only made it to Kanab, UT. The closer we got to Kanab we needed to make the decision as to whether or not to continue on to Page, AZ for the night, to get a hotel in Kanab that had an indoor swimming pool (the hotels in Page do not have indoor swimming pools), or to save $50 and get a hotel in Kanab without a swimming pool. We made the decision to get the hotel in Kanab with the swimming pool where this would be the only night on our entire "road trip" that we would be staying in a hotel. All of the other nights we would be staying with family. We thought it would be fun to let the girls have a chance to swim.

After checking into the room, we ordered pizza from Pizza Hut that was two blocks away and had a pizza party. The girls were dying to swim so we told them that we'd eat first, wait a few minutes and then go swimming at 8:15. Hannah made the comment that you should wait awhile after eating before you swim so you don't get sick. That's probably a good idea but we'll start getting ready at 8:15 and by the time we make it to the pool we should be good to go.

We get to the pool and Hannah and Ashley instantly turn into fish. There's a section of the pool that is only 3 feet deep so Ashley is in heaven and swimming hard. She's swimming from side to side and up and down in the water multiple times. After about 45 minutes in the pool, I look over at Ashley by the side as she pukes! I yell to Dave that Ashley is throwing up. He turns and she pukes again in the pool (I have Nicole in my arms). Dave grabs Ashley and gets her to the side of the pool where she walks to the drain and pukes two more times!

We exit the pool quickly and Dave gets all of the other hotel guests out of the pool. He then leaves to go and inform the front desk. I am getting the three girls pulled together and ready to head back to the room. Hannah asks, "Why is everyone staring at us?" Well....that's probably because we're the ones that have caused the entire pool to be evacuated.

Back at the room, everyone takes a bath and Ashley seems to be back to normal. In fact, after the tub she said she was hungry! I'm sure it was from eating before swimming and then swimming SO hard. I guess we should have listened to Hannah and swam BEFORE the pizza! Next time!

The next morning as we go down for breakfast we pass the pool area. There's a sign on the door that the pool is closed until noon for maintenance. Bummer! We felt bad for the other guests that they couldn't swim. I guess at least we got 45 minutes of swimming and a great story for our extra $50!!

We were on the road Sunday morning by 10 a.m. and on our way for the rest of the journey to Thatcher, AZ to spend time with Dave's sister Wendy and her kids. We arrived at 6 p.m. as they were getting home from church. Their church was 2:30-5:30 p.m. (and I complain about 1-4 p.m.).

We weren't there long before Lauren took Hannah and Ashley upstairs to do their hair and makeup. Of course, Hannah and Ashley were in heaven with all of the attention and someone there to make them look pretty.

Here's the finished product.....

Nicole didn't have her hair and makeup done but she sure didn't want to be left out of the picture taking.........
After hanging out with Wendy and her family during the day on Monday, all of us headed to the theatre to see "The Princess and the Frog". It was a cute movie. Hannah only had to pee once, which was a bonus because we usually have to visit the bathroom at least twice. This was actually Nicole's first movie in a theatre and I was a bit nervous as to whether or not she would make it but she did amazing. It was only about the last 5-10 minutes that she was restless.

On Tuesday, we drove two hours to Tucson to take the girls to the zoo. It was the perfect zoo. It had just the right amount of animals and they were right on the path. We spent about an hour and a half walking around seeing the animals and that was just the perfect amount of time.

We stopped at the elephant statue to take pictures of each of the girls sitting on it. Well, Nicole wasn't too sure. "I not like it! Daddy! I not like it!"

Here's some of the animals.........

This polar bear was awesome. You could go down a ramp and see him swim in the water through the glass. He would swim right next to the window. Cool!

Gotta stop and take a group picture on the rock........

Here's Nicole showing me the turtle......

and talking to the birdie.......

It's a lot of work walking around the zoo! You've got to stop and rest. This is one of my favorite pictures. Ashley is obviously in deep thought. I love the "natural" pictures.

You also need to take some time and play.......

More animals. At this point, Hannah has taken over the camera and become the photographer.

Another group shot of the girls.......

I can't remember the name of this animal but it looked like the biggest hamster I'd ever seen!

They even had a llama!

Wednesday morning we left Thatcher and made the eight hour drive to Farmington, New Mexico to spend a few days with Dave's parents who are there serving a mission. Dave took the first stint of the drive and turned the wheel over to me as we reached Holbrook, AZ. As I took over driving it started to snow. As I'm driving it kept getting worse and worse. I finally pulled over, dug my fingers out of the steering wheel and Dave drove the rest of the way. We drove most of the way in the snow. We had a break for a little bit as we were driving across the reservation. Does it seriously snow in Arizona and New Mexico? Yep....it does!

Dave's Dad is adamant that you not drive across the reservation at night. This is because of the possibility of the drunken Indians. Well, we did end up having to drive across the reservation at night and we DID see a few drunk drivers. One guy was driving on the side of the road and was only going about 20 mph. Further down the road we saw a cow on the side of the road. If the driver kept in the lane he was in, he was definitely going to hit the cow. We weren't about to turn around though. We kept on a truckin' with our adrenaline pumping!

We arrived in Farmington, New Mexico at 7:30 p.m. Just in time for some homemade chicken soup made by Grandma Welker. A lot of people think we're crazy for driving such long stints in the car with our kids. All I can say is that they girls were amazing! It could have been the fact that they were in heaven being able to watch movie after movie but whatever it was they did great!

Thursday was laundry day and hanging out and chatting with Grandma and Grandpa. There's a lot to catch up on when you don't see them for a few months! Thursday afternoon we went and visited a museum. As we were walking in, Nicole fell and hit her head on the sidewalk. She got a nice goose egg and I could tell as we were inside that she wasn't feeling well. The next thing I knew, she puked on me! We were all a bit nervous because she puked after hitting her head so a call was made to Uncle Glade to see what we needed to do. It seemed as though she needed to puke once and then it was out of her system because she perked right up and turned back into her crazy self!

The highlight for the girls on Friday was going to the park and feeding the ducks. And there were ducks! LOTS of ducks! These pictures do not do justice as to how many ducks there were.

At the park we were able to take a little trail and walk to a War Memorial and look around, take some pictures and read some interesting stories and see some stats about the Wars the United States have been involved in.

Why do you people keeping putting me in these bizarre situations?

A great end to a great day!

Saturday morning we got up early and we back on the road by 10 a.m. heading home. We weren't in the car an hour when Ashley started crying in the back because her stomach hurt. Then Hannah starts crying because she doesn't feel good. I look in the back to see Nicole puke in her car seat. We pulled over at a convenience store somewhere in Colorado by a ski resort and pulled everyone out of the car for a trip to the bathroom, some fresh air, and MEDICATION. Everyone got a dose of Ibuprofen and Benedryl. We loaded back in the car and everyone did fine. The next stop was Spanish Fork, UT. Phew!

We arrived back home at 7 p.m. Saturday night. We recuperated on Sunday and Monday had us back to our regular routine. I know some thought we were crazy spending our entire Christmas break on a road trip but it turned out to be a fun vacation as a family. I'd do it again!