King of the Hill

All geared up and ready to go... our Favorite sledding spot... Wing Mountain, AZ

We went to Flagstaff to play in the snow yesterday... and Ian was almost as happy as he is on Christmas!

He couldn't get enough...

when everyone else was tired...

and wet...

and cold ...

and hungry...

he just kept going and going and going...

kinda like the energizer bunny!

It was really hard for me to get any decent pictures at all... it was crazy crowded up there yesterday! Everytime I had a good shot lined up, someone would walk right in front of it, or some wayward sledder would nearly take me out because they don't know that it's wise to stop your sled with your feet before you run into the spectators...

Seriously, why does all common sense fly out the window when you are in the snow? We saw some pretty darn close calls, including a kid about 10 years old get pummelled by a intertube holding 3 grown adults... yeah, it wasn't pretty! Thankfully, he was able to walk away unharmed, but he was probably mentally scarred for life!

All in all it was a good day, but I'm hoping we can make one more run later in the season when it's not so darn crowded... last year we went up in late February and it was awesome. We are thinking that Ian might have bobsledding in his future....

Repetitive

If you are tired of me blogging about Pink Eye, you can bet I'm that much more tired of fighting it. Megan was a false alarm, whew! But tonight as we gathered kids together to read scriptures together, we noticed Brayden's right eye... red, swollen and yellow goop oozing from it.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????????

I was totally gearing myself up to make my grand reappearance at the gym where I've only been once in the last 6 weeks due to injury and then chicken pox and then pink eye and then a horrific head cold... Just as I thought I could resume my normal routine, I get slapped with this one AGAIN!

If I thought treating Pink Eye was a pain with my older boys, it holds nothing to pinning down a screaming 3 year old and trying to get Antibiotic eye drops in his eyes. Of course, I'm treating both eyes now, because with a 3 year old, there's no chance that it won't spread to both eyes by tomorrow. The first drop wasn't too difficult, but the second drop was torture. He kept screaming, "That hurts me!!! That hurts me!!!" and was it so hard for me to administer the medicine anyway. I felt so bad. Five more days of this.... oh joy!

Tomorrow I'm gearing up for a long day filled with Laundry and Sterilizing. I'm thinking that maybe they are picking it up from each other on the couch cushions... one thing in the house that everyone touches, but never gets washed in the washer. I'm going to be using my steam vac tomorrow to clean the couches and lots and lots and lots of Lysol. And of course, I get to wash the boys bedding... again... for the second time in a week.

Aren't you glad you aren't me?????

Shhh....

Megan woke up with blotchy red eyes today... after she showered she showed them to me and I said, "looks like you've got pink eye too... guess you're staying home...." ....ugh....

Then twenty minutes later, I looked in her eyes and they looked completely normal... and I thought, maybe it's not pink eye... maybe she just got soap in her eyes and rubbed them a lot in the shower... maybe we are just overly sensitive to blotchy eyes around here and I'm over reacting....

so I did what any mother would do in my shoes ... I gave her some leftover drops from Ian's bottle (I didn't touch his eyes with them, so the bottle should be clean) and I charged her with a vow of silence about the potential pink eye problem. I also told her to avoid too many "girlfriend hugs" and other things that might spread germs, that we may or may not have... just to be safe, you know... and told her to finish getting ready for school.

Yeah, I know, you think I'm terrible... sending my daughter to school when she may be carrying a very contagious virus.... but... if you were in my shoes and spent the last 3 weeks of school vacation taking care of sick people that had to be quarantined in my house, you'd do the same.

Trust me...

Cuteness

I have the cutest 3 year old EVER.

First, a few days ago we decided to see which Wii game would be easiest for Brayden to play... we picked boxing. He LOVED it! Check out this clip... he wins everytime!

Yesterday, after I suffered through a movie with the kids (we saw Bedtime Stories and loved it!) I took the kids to Target. They all had Christmas cash and allowance that was burning holes in their pockets. Brayden immediately was drawn to the Thomas the Train stuff. His favorite train is Percy and they had this little $10 set with Percy in it. He carried that box around the store while I finished my shopping and had it open before we even got home. He spent the next 4 hours playing with Percy and our other train tracks... skipped dinner, skipped dessert and left us in peace to have a FHE lesson and play Clue while he happily played in the family room with his Percy train. Last night I got on Amazon to see if I could buy matching tracks to go with the Percy set... Eureka! They have them online and they aren't terribly expensive... considering the play value I've gotten out of this train already, I'll gladly shell out another $20 for the matching track pieces.

He didn't want breakfast this morning either... he just wanted to play with his trains. I'm going to have to produce one AMAZING lunch to lure him away to eat... wish me luck!

Misery

I'm bogged down with a nasty headcold and I just want to go back to bed, but here's the deal... everytime I lay down, I start coughing uncontrollably. When I sit in most positions, I cough a lot too. My head feels like it's going to explode from the sinus pressure and I've already wiped out one whole kleenex box this weekend. I'm most free from my cold symptoms when I'm standing up, but how is that helpful when I'm just so dang tired?

I went to church yesterday and sat through Sacrament meeting in total misery. I spent the second half of sac mtg trying to figure out how to delegate my repsonsibilities to someone else so I could go home. I was successful... after I watched my baby go to Sunbeams for the first time. I No longer have any "ties" to the Nursery! Can I just tell you what a weird feeling that is??? For the last 16 years, I've either served in Nursery or had a child in Nursery, or had a baby that I wish could be in Nursery.... there's always been some connection. It's strange... my baby isn't a baby anymore!

After I came home early, I took some sudafed, some advil, ate a granola bar and went to bed. Then I got up to have a snack when everybody got home from church and went back to bed once Brayden was settled in front of a Thomas video.

Last night I thought I was getting better, but sleep was elusive last night due to the continual cough and this morning I feel worse than I did yesterday. Today is Eric' first day back to work after almost 3 weeks off on Shutdown. Tomorrow the kids go back to school after almost 3 weeks at home. I really don't want them going back to school tomorrow before they help me clean the house. So, I might bribe them... if they clean the house we'll do something fun this afternoon. I want to take them to see Bedtime Stories, but I don't know if I can sit through a whole movie without coughing up a lung. I also have a coupon for free bowling, so we might do that too... Bowling Alleys are loud and no one will notice my hacking there, I hope. But the movie seems so much more relaxing.... I'm hoping that once I've been up for a while, my chest will clear out a bit and things will settle down.

I haven't been this sick in about a year... I guess after taking care of sick kids for the last month with chicken pox and pink eye, it's my turn.... sigh...

Happy New Year!

We're starting the New Year off right around here... it wouldn't be a complete holiday without a trip to an Urgent-Care Doctor. After finally defeating the Chicken Pox, we are now fighting Pink Eye. Ian woke up with it yesterday morning (after we'd had a party with two other families on New Year's Eve!) And now Taylor has it... at least my regular pediatrician is fine with calling in a scrip over the phone... like I want to waste anymore of my Healthfund getting pink eye diagnosed!

I decided to try the Walgreens Take Care Clinic to get treated for Ian' pink eye. They take my insurance and I didn't have to make an appointment or wait longer than 5 minutes. It was a nice change from the regular Holiday Urgent Care scene.

Sedona Rocks!

Imagine having THIS right in your backyard....

After living in Phoenix for almost 4 years, we finally made a trip to Sedona. Eric and I celebrated our 16th anniversary on Tuesday with a much needed adult only getaway Monday night. We used Eric's Hilton Points he collects when travelling and sprung for an upgraded King size suite with a balcony, a gas fireplace and a giant whirlpool tub. It was heaven on earth!

The view from the road as you approach Sedona and Oak Creek...

Highlights included 2 days and one night without kids... gorgeous scenery... dinner at a fabulous Mexican Restaurant... going to see Seven Pounds... hiking in the Sedona Wilderness... Geocaching... Shopping (the only things we brought home were some "lucky bamboo" and 2 bottles of different flavored Hot Sauce)... a stop at the Outlet Mall in Anthem on the way home... and two whole days kid free! (I love my children dearly, but everyone needs a break now and then!)

This was my favorite rock in Sedona... Bell Rock

We drove to a Trailhead that was supposed to be a "moderate" two mile loop, but we parked at the wrong trailhead and 45 minutes later, we got this georgeous vista! We had no idea what trail we were on, didn't bring the map with us, left the GPS in the car (low batteries), and only had one bottle of water between the two of us, so we decided to play it safe and not get stranded in the middle of nowhere. We headed back to the car after I snapped a picture of this dead tree... not sure why I liked it so much! I just thought it looked cool!

After we got back to the car, we stopped at a convience store and paid $17 for 4 AA batteries, 2 ice cream bars, a diet coke and a bottle of water. We decided to count the ice cream for lunch because you can do that when you don't have children with you, right???

With fresh batteries in the GPS, we decided to do a little off-roading and Geocaching in the "Loveable Mutt". That's one of our many nicknames for this car... also known as the "Mighty Montero". How this car has gotten so many interesting nicknames is the subject of another post altogether!

Our Cache took us on a dirt road that the famous Pink Jeeps use. Thank goodness they didn't make fun of our ride as they drove by!

We found our cache in a an area very close to this... hard to believe this is Arizona, huh?

This is the happy dance that he did after finding the cache... or was it after he realized he's successfully survived 16 years with me? Only the two of us will ever know....

Happy Anniversary Eric - I LOVE YOU!