How We Survived January Through March

So I know I had pics of The Guthrie Christmas Party, but I can't find them, so I'll put those up later.

We had a pretty decent New Years and started off the new year pretty well. We're trying to eat healthier things, get more exercise and get more on top of life.

Here are some pics of our Superbowl Party.

I tried a new dessert. 

Craig was way excited about a wings recipe he found.

We cheered for the Broncos, but ended up depressed by the results. Oh well.

We enjoyed a fun Valentine's Day with the kids

And Baby S got a toilet brush. He's always running off with ours so I bought him his own, clean, toilet brush to play with. 

We took a quick trip to Southern Utah to enjoy a free Zion's Park Day with Craig's family. 

We all had a yummy lunch, and a fun time visiting with everyone.

This is the scene of the rock slide in Rockville that took out someone's house. So sad.

After we got back from Southern Utah we prepared fro Little H's eye surgery. If you haven't heard the story of his eye here it is(as short as I can):

Little H's eye started wondering last summer, so we started trying to figure out what was wrong. An eye doctor confirmed that he couldn't see out of his right eye. We then took him to a specialist who said to have him wear a patch. The patch was miserable for everyone. I mean it was so incredibly miserable. It was a whole hour of Little H whining, asking to take it off, throwing full body fits and it never got any better. We took him back to the Doctor, I was not impressed with him at all he made us wait for unreasonable amounts of time for unreasonable things. He said that he didn't know what was going on and the patch wasn't helping. So he recommended that we take him to another specialist that had more experience with kids. I like this doctor much better. This doctor said he could see a growth in his right eye, and to stop using the patch. They then had us take him to same day surgery so that they could put him under with anesthesia and get a good look at his eye so they could figure out exactly what was wrong. The verdict: A detached retina. And not even the one common in kids, it's the one usually seen in adults. So a surgery was scheduled to reattach his retina. This happened on President's Day. My parents had just gone out of town. My Aunt came over and 6:00 AM to watch our kids for us-- we are so grateful for our amazing family!!! This ended up being pretty stressful. The fact that it happened the week my parents were gone made it even worse. But we survived the eye drops, the kicking, the screaming, the doctor appointments and Little H always yelling at us because we put essential oils by his eye-- no matter where I put it or what I put on he says it burns rubs it everywhere, gets in his eye and screams(even with lavender). It was fun. Now we're in March and we had another appointment with both the surgeon and the doctor. They both wanted Little H to go under again so they could get another really good look at his eye and make sure everything was good, and get a really accurate prescription for him. This time we went to the Utah Valley Outpatient Center. I really liked the staff there. They were all incredibly nice. The verdict this time: Everything looks good and he has a small cataract that they will probably operate on in the next 5 or 6 months. They will also try to take the oil, used to hold the retina down, out of his eye to see if it will be OK on it's own. If they do take it out we'll be getting another new pair of glasses (this will be the fourth time we have had to change his prescription). I know I had pictures from his actual eye surgery but I can't find them.

February also found us attending a baby blessing for Craig's cousin's new baby girl.

 This cute boy stopped when I pulled out the camera, posed and said, "CHEESE!" Look at him carrying that cucumber on a fork. It was his best friend while at the blessing.

March found us getting a surprise visit from Craig's Sister, and her family, from Missouri

 Silly boy eats corn like he's a dog.

 The boys got all dressed up for their cousins

I hope they enjoyed their unexpected time at our house. We enjoyed having them.

Later in March my mom and I entered the 5K that was organized to help raise money for Sergeant Cory Wride. He was shot to death in Eagle Mountain by a man who had violated his parole. The suspect then led police on a chase that ended in Juab County, shooting another cop in the head along the way (who ended up in critical condition). Sergeant Wride worked for the Utah County Sheriff's office, where my mom works, so we felt close to the situation and I was excited to show my support in the run. My mom and the boys decided to join me. I was so impressed with those kids. Big H would not give up while we practiced, and he was so determined to run the whole race. He would fall down because he was tired and I would tell him that it was OK to just get in the stroller and he would say, "It's OK mom. I'll just catch up."

 Getting to the race was crazy. It was freezing and the wind was crazy up in Eagle Mountain. We waited in line forever to pick up our registrations, only to find that they were sorting everyone by first name, so I could only get half of them. I was told to wait in another line to get the others, which I did. Only to end up with raffle tickets. I was cold and getting irritated so I went to find Craig and the boys. I found Craig all distraught because he had broken our only van key trying to fix one of the tires on the jogging stroller. My mom met us there, and she waited in line to get registrations only to be told that it was the raffle ticket line(just like me). She told the person she wasn't waiting in another line because we had already done this twice, and this was where she was told to go. Well she finally got all the registrations after all that. Then we moved on to the key crisis. My mom wasn't sure she could run the race so she was going to just wait at the finish line. Craig had gotten a hold of a Kia dealership in American Fork that could get us a new key, so my mom said she would help Craig with that while I ran with the boys. Craig then called and said that he had left his license at home and would need it to get the key made. I got upset because I thought I would have to miss the race and go down to the dealership to show them my license. But my mom said she would take Craig to Springville to get his license and then take him to get the key, all while I ran with the kids. So this was the plan. We finally loaded on the bus about an hour after we had arrived at Eagle Mountain, and headed up to the start. When I got out of the bus the man who unloaded my stroller said a piece had fallen off. I went to observe the damage and found I was missing some pieces needed to put the handle back on. A couple people helped me search the bus and the ground, and we finally found all that was necessary. Finally we were ready to race. I jogged the whole way minus the times the kids wanted to switch riding in the stroller. We were in the back, but I was still sure proud of everyone when we crossed that finish line.

I was so grateful to my mom for helping us get into the race, and getting me a cool shirt to wear. I even made some for the boys even though all of us had jackets on the entire time. It ended up being a good experience even with all the hardship. I'll probably post a little more about it on my other blog, just in case this long winded version wasn't enough ;).

Just a few more things.

The boys. . .and I. . .and Craig. . .have come down with Frozen Fever. The kids love it. We all love it. I was so excited to bring him the CD, and we play it all the time and sing the songs. We sing them in grocery stores, around the house, on walks, etc. Little M has started saying, "No mom, I'm going to sing it!" So I have to hold back and let him sing his little heart out. So cute!

Happy St. Patty's Day from us! We made fun shirts and ate Corn Beef, Cabbage and Potatoes for dinner.

The boys, especially Little M, love electronics. Here they are all watching a movie together (no one was screaming, no one was yelling, they were getting along and having a good time).

The boys love cooking! Here they are proudly eating the eggs they all made, with some assistance from me. 

And here they are displaying the rolls the made last Sunday when I made some bread dough for cinnamon rolls. They were so excited about it!

Big H loves airplanes and anything that has to do with science and scientists. He keeps telling me about how he's going to be a scientist that builds airplanes someday.

Strawberry boy! I'm happy to find my kids will usually make healthy choices. They love apples and bananas, and this boys loves strawberries and blueberries.

These are pictures of our family that the twins drew in Primary. I adore them!