Spring Break-Trip to TX-Part 1

Since the end of summer/beginning of Fall of last year we have talked about going on a trip for spring break this year since Mikkele's birthday would also fall during spring break. We thought it would be a fun way to celebrate her birthday. We had a ton of different ideas, but we decided at the last minute that we would drive to San Antonio and surprise my parents. Here is the video that Aaron got. It is a different angle and a little longer than the one that I shot.

We left Sunday night about 7:30pm and drove straight through the night and got to my parents house about 8pm Monday night. It was so much fun to surprise them. Aaron and Brittany were in on the surprise and so they were there when we got there as well. That night we visited for a bit and then went to bed. We were all exhausted from driving for 23 hours straight.

TUESDAY

We spent most of the day just relaxing, shopping, and of course eating. We went to lunch at Rudy's. My old bishop/home teacher, Bishop Bohman from when we were kids came and met us for lunch. It was good to see him and his wife again. Hallie thought the ribs from Rudy's were delicious...smart girl!

WEDNESDAY

We went to a new amusement park for people with special needs called Morgan's Wonderland. They were just getting ready to have their grand opening that weekend, but we were able to get tickets for the soft opening. All of the kids had such a great time. It was so neat to see all the different rides and activities that were tailored to people with special needs. Grant had a great time! I really hope that one day we have one of these up here in UT.



A swing that we were able to put his whole wheelchair onto.



Ronnie fell asleep swinging. It was really cute.
Riding the train around the park.
Riding the carousel.


Pretending to be news/weathermen.


Mikkele's shirt blended in with the green wall, so the parts of her shirt that were green, blended in with the board. It was kinda funny to see.The kids got to play store.

A driving simulation.
Giddy-up horseyThis room was really cool. The pictures worked off of your shadow. The butterfly's would land on your shadow.

In this one you could catch rocks with your arms' shadow.

Remote control pirate ships. We tried to shipwreck each other. Good times.
Christian our awesome little fisherman.
Hallie wanted to touch and eat the fish.
A big tee-ter tot-er. The kids had a great time on this.
Round 2 on the train.

Round 2 on the carousel. This time we left Grant in his chair to ride. The wheelchair sea horse even went up and down just like the other animals on the carousel. Pretty cool!
We had a great time, and can't wait to go back next time we visit SA.

Easter 2010

Easter this year was quite a bit different for us. It began with a pretty big snow storm. We woke up and it looked like it was Christmas, not Easter or the beginning of the month April. It was also the beginning of our spring break and we had decided the day before that we were going to drive to TX. So we got up and the kids opened their Easter baskets and then we spent the rest of the day doing laundry, packing, cleaning and listening to conference. Once we were all packed and ready to go, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Dorene's and had a family dinner and an Easter egg hunt with Dillon and Connor. From there, we left for TX. (See next post for details on that.)

Easter Baskets

Mikkele, Dillon, and Conner waiting patiently to start the Easter Egg Hunt. Since it was yucky weather, we had to do it inside this year.

Since General Conference was on Easter this year, the kids wore their new Easter outfits the Sunday before Easter while my mom was in town for the Scrapbook Expo. She made the girls their outfits this year. Hallie's dress matches Emma and Audrey's. And Mikkele's skirt is out of the same material. They turned out so cute. My mom really over did it this year. We didn't get a picture of all three kids together, but here is a pic of the girls.

We have had a busy last week with Easter, spring break, and Mikkele's birthday. I have a lot to post about and it's going to take a few days. In the mean time, here is a video to show what we did for spring break.

10 Months Old

I'm a little bit behind in getting Hallie's 10 month post out. The last couple weeks has been crazy busy. So here we go.....

Stats
Weight: 22 lbs. 4 oz.
Height: 28 3/4"

Other Tidbits
*Loves her blankie that her big sis made for her. She has to have it to sleep, and it's getting to the point that she wants it by her all the time.

*She got 3 teeth this last month. Her bottom 2 popped through basically together, and then her top one popped through a couple days later. Her other top one is close, but not quite through.

*She LOVES the cat. She chases after that poor cat all day long. He is so patient with her, even when she climbs all over him.

*We had some allergy testing done to help us figure out what she is allergic to. It came back that she is allergic to eggs...both the yolk and the white. There is a chance that she can outgrow this, but no eggs for her for the next 2 years. Then we will retest and see how it goes. My theory is that most of her eczema has been caused by her flu and H1N1 shots and booster shots that she received in the fall/early winter, because flu shots and MMR contain egg protein. That is about when the main skin issues started, so I'm hoping that once those are out of her system, the eczema will taper off. We still are working with her daily on trying to keep it under control. Her hands and face are the worst right now, with an slight overall scaley feel to the rest of her body. I also figured out that she is allergic to the Mirilax that we were giving her for constipation. So we have quit giving her that, but now experimenting with which is the best laxative to give her some relief in the area. I am still backing off on dairy until she is closer to one. We went back on milk based formula, but no cheeses, yogurt, etc. Now to do some experimenting with some egg substitutes so she can still have a birthday cake.
*She is starting to get a little more opinionated on what she wants to eat. She's getting more independent and wants to do things herself. Spoon feeding has been a little more difficult lately. She made it quite clear in Costco the other day that she wanted some of my fruit smoothie. And she also made it quite clear that she wanted more when I would take it away from her. It was really funny. Now I just have to find things she can feed herself that doesn't have eggs in it. Cheerios are getting a little old.

*She is getting into EVERYTHING. I haven't baby-proofed in 9 years because I never had to with Grant. She is helping me to figure out what things I need to baby proof better...like this plant. I had just finished vacuuming the entire house so I decided to take my vacuum apart and wash out the filter. While I was doing so, she dumped the plant on the floor and proceeded to eat the dirt and leaves off the plant. This is how I found her after cleaning out the vacuum...with a BIG smile on her face. Needless to say, I had to borrow a vacuum from the neighbor since mine was then out of commission. And the plant was a complete gonner. Good thing she's cute!

*She has learned how to pull herself up to a standing position. We have to make sure the crib railing is all the way up now so we don't have any accidents out of the crib. She pulls herself up along the couch and fire place. She is just starting to take steps along the couch also.

*We set up the tramp the other day. She loves to go out and bounce with the kids. She makes funny sounds while they are bouncing her.
*She still has the funniest crawl. She is getting faster and faster. It's almost a sideways crawl. Here is a short video of her from behind so you can see how she keeps her left leg bent and her right leg more straight. It's really funny to watch.

I have a hard time believing that in 2 more months my baby girl will be 1. I am excited to continue to see her personality show through. I think it's a good thing Grant will be in all day Kindergarten next year, cause I think she's gonna keep me running. Love you Hallie May!

Fun Snacks 4 Kids

I have just been introduced to this awesome blog. It belongs to Grant's wonderful preschool teacher, Miss Rachael. We have been so lucky to be on the receiving end of her great ideas. Her blog is dedicated to fun treats to do with your kids. She has such great ideas.

Right now she is doing a give away for a really cool ice cream maker. Check it out! Hurry...the contest ends on Sunday, March 21st.

Springville Women's Volleyball

My friend Michelle and I have been talking about playing volleyball together for years and it has never happened. We were all set to play last year, then we both ended up pregnant and decided that playing while 7-8 months pregnant probably wasn't the best idea. This year we went for it again and we were able to get a full team together. She recruited her friend Stephanie, and I recruited Kim who is Grant's PT and she recruited Jessica and Connie. We just lucked out to have Tia sign up without a team and she was placed on our team. She was a great asset to our team, and her husband kind of ended up being a coach to us. We had a lot of fun playing together as a team. We ended up finishing regular play tied in 5th place. We lost our game against the team we tied so they ended up taking 5th and we took 6th. For the tournament, they divided the teams into an upper bracket and a lower bracket. (We wont' say winning bracket or losing bracket cause it sounds worse.) We ended up winning the lower bracket! Since we won, we all got T-shirts that say "Springville Volleyball Champs". Ya...that's right, we're the champs! Even if it is in the lower bracket!

Back Row: Michelle, Connie, Kim, Me, and Stephanie

Front Row: Tia and Jess

During the championship game we started doing this silly victory dance of sorts. Every time we scored a point we would say "wahoo" and kick our leg up and put our hands up. It was really dorky and really cheesy and it was really bugging the other team, so we kept doing it. This is a still shot of what our cheer was like.

Showing off our prize. Stephanie's little boy Tristen was our most consistent cheerleader. So he wanted to be a part of the pictures too. And notice how Connie is giving Kim the bunny ears. Yes...we are so mature! :)