New Job

It's been crazy the past few days. I have a new job that I didn't really apply for...but I'm happy about it. Here's how it all went down.
Last Saturday I was visiting my mother-in-law at Legacy (a skilled nursing facility) nearby and was walking in the hallway with her. As we walked back to her room there was a physical therapist getting a patient in the hall. My mother-in-law is quite proud that I do what I do and introduced me as "this is my daughter-in-law who is a physical therapist." Well this PT also happened to be the Rehab director, he looked at me and asked "When do you want to work?"
I had the boys with me of course so I asked if I could call him the following week. He later dropped off his business card to my m-i-law and she passed it to me. I called on Tues, he had left for the day. Wednesday I happed to be up in that area so I printed off a resume and wandered in to see what it was all about. He saw me and asked "Do you have something for me?" I told him I had a resume and he escorted me to his office handed me an application and told me that he had to have me fill it out to go through the proper channels and told me to just put "see resume" on most of it. As I did that he wrote down days that he needs in the next 2 months.
I walked out 20 minutes from the time I got there and had a job that I hadn't necessarily intended to apply for. I actually worked today and REALLY enjoyed it. So I'll be picking up a few more shifts. That's got to be some kind of record, beginning a job that I hadn't really applied for and starting less than 48 hours later.
Man, I LOVE that I have a job that I love and have so much opportunity to work and help others.

2 birthday parties, 1 day, EXHAUSTED

We may be a little crazy, okay a lot. But in the end We still feel that it was worth it. We decided to have 2 parties on the same day, 1 in the morning for Jace, 1 in the afternoon for Levi. We figured that for the most part is was about the same amount of work. We made the decorations interchangeable, rented a bounce house, made a bunch of cupcakes, a cake and a ton of frosting.

Jace wanted a Pirate Party so his invitations were a message in a bottle (forgot to take a picture of course, but they turned out super cute). I found pirate costumes for $1.00 at littletikes.com (1.50 with shipping) figured I couldn't put together a treat bag for that price.

Invited about 16 kids (not all were able to make it). Some kids weren't too thrilled about dressing up as they are a little shy. We even had cousins that were able to come down from Garden City to be here.

Levi showing his sword skills. I decided to do cupcakes for Jace's party, that was probably the way to go and should have done the same for Levi's party. Oh well, live and learn.

   

Levi wanted a transformer birthday and it was very important that there be a transformer on his cake, thus, I made a cake instead of cupcakes. The invitations were a shirt that had a silver autobot symbol on the front and a black decepticon symbol on the back (again cheaper than a goodie bag) The invitation read:

Are You an Autobot or a decepticon?

Choose your side and join us for the ultimate Battle to celebrate Levi’s 5^th Birthday

Yes, in this picture there are 23 kids (and a few weren't able to come), and a couple had already left to go home. This was definitely the more lively of the 2 parties as they are a little older and had a blast on the bounce house/slide.

Of note, Levi received 13 transformers and has be busy ever since. We grabbed a couple to the side in order to space the transformer mania out. This Friday is Levi's actual birthday and Rick has 2 more transformers for him and his Grandma Cook has another one. So it looks like we'll be getting a bigger bucket to keep them in.

All in all it was a super fun day, we even had pizza for all the cousins (who came to both parties) aunts and uncle for lunch in between the 2 parties. We tried to have some "quiet time" as well but the kids wanted to get back to the bounce house as soon as possible. My sis-in-law was able to get her younger ones down but the rest were too excited to be with each other and play.

But by the end of the day, Rick and I were EXHAUSTED. At 8:00 the boys had crashed with very little of the bedtime stalling. I felt like it was after midnight and I had been out partying (oh, the college days), boy, we're getting old.

Canning

Last week I spent a whole day canning. 9 quarts of pears, 34 pints of tomatoes. Still planning on apples, apple juice and hopefully grape juice. My sister-in-law just gave me peaches...and I got called in to work for tomorrow. Guess I'll be canning when I get home. It shouldn't be too many peaches, maybe 7 quarts.

Building

About a month ago I quit one of my jobs and am able to spend a little more time at home with the boys now. I'm still adjusting to having more "down" time. Actually I now get to pursue some of my interests.
So far I've done about 3 builds. I get most of my ideas from ana-white.com. It's a fanastic website that has tons of free intructions for building furniture and things. The first was a pantry shelving that attaches to the pantry door. It's definitely not perfect, but it gave me a ton more space for spices, etc. In fact, I now have an empty shelf in a cabinet. Of course I don't have a picture of it. The next build was this closet organization. before it was just a clothing rod with 1 long shelf over it and about 3 feet of unused space above it. So instead I built some shelves, moved the bar and added another one. So much more space, my clothes are no longer crammed in. Last build was a silverware drawer organizer, need to make a few adjustments to it still.

Little Helpers

The boys love "helping" out in the kitchen. On game day they were making the infamous Cook cream cheese dip. And yes, Rick is standing on a chair.

First day of School

Levi's first day of preschool was September 6th. He is attending the same one as last year and has really looked forward to seeing Miss Mindy again. About 1/2 the class is the same as last year. He's been sounding out words trying to spell them. It's crazy how much bigger he is than last year.

Jace's birthday

Jace had his 3rd birthday this month. I've been slacking a lot on blogging our happenings, but Jace wanted a Pirate Party. This was the birthday cake for our family party with the grandparents. A treasure chest, he was pretty excited to dig into it all day. I had to hide it for awhile.

Jace loved opening the gifts from his grandparents and has had a lot of fun playing with them since. His favorite present was from Levi, a gumball machine (Levi picked it out himself), this kid loves gum.

Tip-Toe

About a month ago we took the boys to Lagoon. As we were leaving Levi saw a group of Lagoon security officers and wanted to talk to them. He told them how old he was, his name, blah, blah, blah. One of them asked him what his favorite ride was and he replied "The one I had to stand on my tippy toes for" They replied "we didn't hear that"

That ride would be the roller coaster which he is just a bit too short for.

The Backpack

Since Levi got a backpack for preschool (of course he needed a new one, the one that he used 2 hrs/day, 3 days/week just wouldn't do) Jace inherited the one from last year. Since then he has been toting it everywhere.

Today we went with my sister-in-law and her daughter to scout out photo locations in Logan for her upcoming shoots. Jace got his back pack ready to go. The contents:

3 sippy cups (which actually came in handy)

1 flip flop (the one I've been searching for the last 2 days)

fish crackers in a baggy (a treat of course, not sure how he got those, maybe left from Sunday)

1 coloring book

1 colored pencil-blue

and a spindle of DVDs (no idea

Ready for Summer (maybe not)

Summer is just around the corner and we have a lot of plans for some fun activities, a family reunion, Raspberry Days, swim lessons starting next week.

Levi's last day of school was last week. I was able to take off of work in order to attend the little program. What we weren't counting on was Levi doing a "back flip" on the FiestaSac and splitting his eye open 90 minutes prior to the start of that program. I saw that it was deep and since it was on his face I decided to rush him over to the InstaCare. Luckily we walked in about 3 minutes before they opened so we were the first to be seen. A little over an hour later we walked out with "stitches". The were able to glue the laceration and we were on our way. He was able to participate in the preschool program, messy hair and all. Here he is with his preschool teacher "Miss Mindy". He has really loved preschool this year.

We also weren't planning on this past Friday rushing to the emergency room...

Friday night Rick was out getting a movie at Redbox when Levi came down and started talking to me. I reminded him that it was 8:45 and needed to be in bed. He went upstairs and I turned back to the laptop. A few minutes later I heard some rustling up in his room and seconds later heard him start crying... that hurt cry that you know something is wrong. As I hurried up the stairs, I turned the corner to go up the second flight of stairs and realized that the crying was from outside and the front door was locked. As I flung open the front door I realized a parent's worst fear, my child had FALLEN out of his bedroom window. I rushed to him and began to inspect him for injury but it was dark and so I scooped him up and got him inside to look at him. He was bleeding inside his mouth and had grass in there also. I couldn't find any evidence of concussion or major trauma but knew we needed to get him to the hospital.

I called Rick and asked where he was, he was almost home, I told him what happened and to get home. I next called my neighbor and asked if she would come sit with Jace who was in bed. She got here the same time Rick pulled in. I loaded Levi in his car seat and scrunched in next to him. Rick wanted to take him to Davis but I said "No way, go to McKay" He replied "I can be to Davis in 5 minutes" I said "I don't care, go to McKay" (since I work there I know the procedures there and am more comfortable with the care they provide, besides, they LifeFlight to Primary Children's if need be). I have no idea how long it took to get there, Rick drove pretty fast. As we were driving I called up to the Emergency Department and told them what had happened.

Rick pulled up to the door and I rushed in with Levi in my arms.

The staff was incredible, they asked if I was the one who had called and ushered my right back to a trauma room where a whole staff was waiting for us. They quickly hooked him up to monitors and the doctor examined him. There was no evidence of head trauma so following the exam we went for x-rays. While in the booth I could tell that his right arm was broken but of course they were very professional and wouldn't confirm what they saw.

During the waiting time that followed our Bishop arrived (he's our next door neighbor whose daughter was watching Jace), he had been at a movie with his son when she called and left a message. He and Rick administered to Levi and Levi was able to go to sleep and rest.

Awhile later we found out that he had fractured the radius and ulna bones in both arms and would need to be splinted tonight and then casted in a few days. And while swim lessons are now going to have to wait until August, at least that's all that happened. He is a lucky little boy.

Here he is with his new "robot arms".

He was much happier after his dad brought back a new "Lego Hero Factory" toy.

Evidently he was "waving good night to Kasyn" his buddy down the street. You can see where his little hand went right through the screen. We didn't think he could even open the window. Lesson to everyone out there, put a mechanism in the window to keep in closed, or at least not open easily. There were 4 other incidents like this earlier in the week and 1 even resulted in a death of a 2 year old. We were planning on putting something in the boys room soon. They're in place now.

We are very grateful to the staff at McKay Dee hospital. We are also very grateful and lucky to have great neighbors who dropped everything to help us out.

Now we just have to keep Levi "down" for the next few days until we get the casts.

The nicest Mom

A few weeks ago Levi asked if he could do something, I said "no". He said "but Kasyn's mom let's him" I replied "well Kasyn's mom must be nicer than your mom."
Well a few days ago we ere at the store when Levi noticed a boy doing something that I would not have allowed him to do and stated "HIS mom must be NICER than you" Yep. At least he realized that I wouldn't have allowed him to act that way.

Naked

Recently Jace likes to strip down to nothing and run around. Levi thinks it's part of a superhero game.

Levi: "I am Pajama Boy and you are my sidekick Naked Boy" (picture not included for obvious reasons)

Opening Day

Yesterday was opening day at the local amusement park, Lagoon. Originally we were going to go to Disneyland this May but the thought of 10 hours in a car each way with Jace deterred us. Instead we decided to do a "Stay-cation" (later this spring) which includes season passes to Lagoon. After a day at Lagoon, we made the right decision. Boy are we glad!!! The day started off great! Our first ride was the bumper cars, the boys loved them. Then we headed over to the Dragonfly...and that pretty much was Jace's last ride... They had to stop the ride so that he could get off. Can you see the look of terror? Then we tried the little cars, no go... The day continued on about like that. Levi on the other hand went on about 20 rides, big and little and LOVED it.

The weather was perfect, overcast but warm enough for short sleeves and jeans. That is until you go on the slide that you sit in a raft and go down a tube with water. Rick and Levi fared okay but Jace and I had a wave go over us and were both soaked. Brrrrr. Jace at least had a dry jacket so we stripped off his wet shirt at least. Luckily shortly after he fell asleep and I was able to bundle him up with Levi's jacket. Myself, I think I get mommy points for tuff-ing it out until we decided to go home 4 hours later. It took a 20 min HOT shower to not be chilled. Overall we had a great time and look forward to going again, hopefully Jace will warm up to the rides and get more brave. Pretty glad we didn't find out that Jace doesn't like the rides after spending the $$$ to go to Disneyland.

Spring

We've had some terrific weather the past few days, so we pulled out the sidewalk chalk and let the boys play for awhile. It was so nice to sit outside and enjoy the warmth.

A Much Needed Break

Rick and I decided to celebrate our anniversary a little early this year. We are anticipating big changes in the next 3-6 months or so and decided now was the time to spend some good ole one-on-one time with each other.

Saturday Feb 26th we flew to Los Angeles and boarded the Norwegian Star on a 7-day cruise to the Mexican Riviera. My brother & sister-in-law were brave enough to take our 2 little guys for us. It was nice knowing that they were being well taken care of and in good hands. Not to mention Levi would spend every waking moment if he could with his cousin Evie. The itinerary was to leave L.A., a day at sea, then a day in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerta Vallerta. Due to violence in the region and a unexpected medical emergency for another passenger, we ended up with a lot of days at sea and 1 day in Cabo and 1 in Puerta Vallerta.

We saw a lot of beautiful sunsets at sea, unfortunately didn't see any sunrises as we slept in every chance we got.

In Cabo San Lucas we went snorkeling at Santa Maria Bay (haven't taken the waterproof camera to get developed yet).

After snorkeling we had a few hours to grab some lunch at the Gigglin' Marlin, shop for a few souvenirs and hold an Iguana.

Next we were off to Puerta Vallerta, we got in early and took a taxi to town and walked around on the beach for a few minutes before we boarded a bus for our zip line adventure.

We had such a fun time. There was a total of 14 zip lines that spanned approximately 2 miles of the tropical forests there.

It was crazy fun speeding along the zip line over ravines. Some of the rides were tandem with one of the guides in which they spun us around and had us hang upside down.

A little dangerous but totally worth the ride. We had lunch, super yummy fajitas and guacamole, salsa and chips.

It would have been nice to do a little swimming in the river but we didn't think that we shad enough time. Then headed back to the ship.

While on the ship we enjoyed shows every night, ate way too much food and just relaxed. Most of the time it was really nice weather. I laid out on the pool deck and got a little sun while reading a book. We took naps every day (a rarity at home) and just enjoyed spending time with one another. When we landed back in L.A. Rick's sister and brother-in-law Chris and Jurgen came to pick us up and we were able to spend a few hours visiting them and seeing their new home before heading to the airport. We got home yesterday night and it was really good to see the boys again, we missed them a lot, even though we did need the break. They had SO much fun at their cousins but were excited to see us also. Jace wanted us to hold him the first 10 minutes and just kept stroking Rick's shoulder and saying "Daddy". Levi had just woken up from his nap and was a little groggy but said "do we get to go home now?"

A much needed break but good to get home.

My favorite picture of the trip...

From the mouth of Levi

The other day Levi came up and asked me if my belly was big. I replied "no, does it look big?" He simply said "yes" and walked away. Ouch, I know I've got a few pounds to lose but really???
The next day he came up and said, "Mom, Erin's belly is big because she has a baby in there, right?" Me "Yep", Levi "Mom, maybe we can get a baby and then go to the doctor and he can cut open your belly and put the baby in so your belly will be big too" Me "buddy, it doesn't quite work that way"
He put a lot of thought into that though. Can you tell there are 17 women in are ward that are pregnant? Some thing in the water...

"RC"

Levi has been going through a stage (I hope it's only a stage) where he has major tantrums. He'll run up the stairs, slam the door and stay in his room over the smallest things. We've tried many different methods and hopefully we've landed on one that works. We have a chart for each boy numbered 1-10. Each day that there are no major meltdowns and that he behaves, he gets a sticker. When he gets to the end, he gets a prize.
Well today was the day. He got the 10th sticker today (it only took about 3 weeks, and over 1/2 the stickers have been in the past week, he has finally caught the concept)!!! He was pretty excited. His first prize was a transformer "RC" which is a motorcycle one that he's been wanting.
He was so excited when that was what I gave him. He said "Mom, this is the very best present that I've ever got!" I asked "better than Optimus Prime, or spiderman?" Levi "oh yeah, it's the best, I'm going to sleep with it tonight."
He's up in bed asleep now, "RC" is resting on his tummy.

Barking Spider

In our home there are 3 boys and 1 girl. Needless to say crude humor is a given. Last week our home teachers were over and Jace was snuggling on my lap after his nap. David (who's 14) was sharing a scripture when Jace ripped the biggest, longest toot ever. His eyes got big and he looked around and said "Barking spider?". It was all we could do not to bust up laughing. I have to give David credit, although he had to suppress a giggle, he kept on going and share his lesson that he prepared.

New Years Resolutions

My attempt at "organization". I actually don't do much with New Year's Resolutions. But it just so happened that I was working on this and it is the start of 2011. We had most of the bins before but hadn't put the labels on. HUGE difference!!! Now the house isn't sparkling clean but it is significantly more picked up since the boys can sort the toys into the appropriate bins. Plus, when they want a particular toy, they go to the right bin instead of dumping 3 to find it.

Christmas 2010

We had a very Merry Christmas. It was a very fun year. The boys are beginning to understand the true meaning of Christmas and were very excited about all the presents that Santa would bring.














A few of the favorites were a bunch of "dress-ups" (boy style). There were transformers, spiderman, ironman, Captain America, power rangers, and pirates (thank you Halloween clearance). The boys love to get dressed up and run around for hours.














Another favorite was Imaginext Bat Cave. It's been great for the boys to play together with and learn to share better. They actually do play together very well with it.















Rick got his new girlfriend (a 47in HDTV) and I got a vacuum and a compact camera.
We have been very blessed this year, and know that the next year will bring new challenges but are looking forward to facing them head on.
We are looking forward to many more Christmas' together.