President's Day

On Monday, we headed out to Stone to spend the day with Sean's grandparents. When Sean got home from his mission, his grandparents gave him on old Chevy truck to drive. Sean has decided to fix it up and drive it again. So him and his grandpa spent some time working on it- while his grandma showed me how she makes her YUMMY bread. Which I have since made by myself and it was even good! We had such a great time out there. We played out in the snow and got pulled on sleighs behind the 4-Wheeler. I haven't done anything like that in a long time. The gals had a blast and Gracie kept yelling, "YEE HAW!" Sean's grandparents are so great! I have lost both sets of my grandparents and I always feel so blessed to have them!

Me and the gals with Sean's grandpa- I was so glad that he let me wear his Dickies overalls!

Sean and the gals with his grandpa- I am sad we didn't get any pictures with his grandma.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Photo Challenge

My cousin is having a photo challenge on her blog so I decided that I would also take part of the challenge. Since today is February 5, I looked in the 2 folder in my pictures and the 5th picture and this is what I came up with.

This picture is taken just above the Laie Temple on Oahu, Hawaii. We had been to the Polynesian Cultural Center and it was SOO hot so we hopped on a bus and came over to the temple. It is SOOO gorgeous. In 2006, Sean, Brooklyn, and I, my mom, my sister, my cousin Janalee, and our friend Karen went to Hawaii. My cousin Jessica was getting married in Maui and we decided that it would be great if we could go and support her. We spent some time on Oahu and then flew over to Maui. It was the best of both worlds because we had Brooklyn with us and we also had people there to help us with her. If you ever get the chance to go to Hawaii- DO IT!! It is so gorgeous. We had a blast on Oahu and saw the touristy places- the PPC, Pearl Harbor, we stayed in an AWESOME house on the North Shore, Waikiki, lots and lots of snorkeling, and saw the most breathtaking sunsets. Maui was more laid back and more restful for us- not as much running around. I have never in my life seen as much beauty as I did on our drive of the Road to Hana, more snorkeling, we went on a snorkeling cruise, and I went Parasailing with Nat. Geez- writing this post makes me want to be there right now.

Our little family in front of the Temple- isn't it something? I crave to go back to Hawaii it was such a fun time. (This was a fun thing to do- if you don't know what to do for your next blog post- pick a random picture.)

Miss Abigail

We are so excited around here! My sister had her baby on tuesday and they came home today! Brooklyn could hardly contain herself with the excitement of seeing her new little cousin. As of now, they are naming her Abigail and are going to call her Abby. She is a precious little thing and her and Nat are doing great! The gals were thrilled with seeing her and given the chance I think they would have eaten her up. I think I will fighting Brooklyn over who gets to hold her! :) I was a little worried about how Gracie would feel about her- she LOVES well both the gals love Nat. I thought Gracie might be a little jealous- but she loved her! I don't know if there is anything better than the happiness a new baby brings into your life!

Ice Skating

Brooklyn has a little friend from school that takes ice skating lessons and so for weeks she has been BEGGING us to take her ice skating. We decided we would go for family home evening this week- tonight was the night. We went to the Eccles Ice Arena. We all got skates- they even had them small enough for Gracie- they were so cute. They also had little walkers that the gals could hold onto. Sean thought they needed the helmets- so they wore those too. Gracie lasted 2 laps- she actually enjoyed the 2 she did and then her and Sean watched Brooklyn and I the rest of the time. Brooklyn was really unsure when she first got on the ice. I think that she thought she would be able to go out there and skate like a pro. She wanted to give up, but we wouldn't let her- she finally got the hang of it (holding onto the walker thing) and had a BLAST!! (The lighting in there was really wierd and our camera didn't take the best pictures)

Gracie is all ready to go- cute little skates

Brooklyn is all ready- I made her take the helmet off for this picture

She is such a goof-ball sometimes

At the end she was really enjoying herself and having a lot of fun

We had a fun time skating together. She got to the point she wanted to go do spins on all the circle she saw.

Bring it On!

So we thought Brooklyn having strep was bad- although- she never did have a sore throat so that was lucky. We put Gracie to bed last night and Sean and I sat down to enjoy part 2 of the season opener of 24. (On a side note- Gracie has had a cough for the past 4 weeks off and on. And this girl has the most sensitive gag reflexes. Two days ago she was coughing so hard she threw-up 3 different times.) Back to the story- we are about through the first hour and Gracie wakes up coughing. I went in and got her and was shocked to hear awful she sounded from the hour and half earlier when she had gone to bed. She was coughing terribly and sounded like a seal. She fell asleep on Sean and I decided that I would just sleep on the couch with her- I got her all propped up and about an hour later she wakes up coughing and throwing up. This time her breathing sounded horrible. Brooklyn had Croup when she was around this same age and it was the worst illness she had- as far as scaring me. I figured Gracie must have it too. I bundled her up and went and stood outside with her (because the cold air is good for the airways.) I decided that maybe we should take her to the ER because she might need a breathing treatment. But she fell asleep in my arms. She was able to sleep off and on through the night. I think we watched "Shek" (Shrek- she is obsessed!) 2 times. About 6 I realized that she was burning up and decided that I would take her to Instacare when they opened at 8. She woke up at 7:30 coughing, bawling, and was just plain miserable. So I loaded her up and headed to Instacare. I really wanted to see a Pediatrician and ours is out in Tuesdays (of course)- I called the office and I was able to get into another one. Let me just tell you that Gracie is NOT of fan of the doctors office. As soon as we walked in the door she was bawling. She had a fever of 102.7 and it was determined that she does have Croup. She got a dose of a steroid, had her oxygen level tested (it was 97%- Good), got our prescription, and headed home. Her and I laid down and had a nice 4 hour nap. She is currently sleeping- but Croup is worse at night- so please wish me luck! On a good note- I saw BLUE skies today- it was pretty exciting! I hope the inversion stays away!

She has What?

We were going to go to Moab or St. George this weekend, but it just didn't feel like we should. Yesterday Brooklyn woke up and her asthma was terrible and then at noon she got a bowl and said she felt like she was going to throw-up. She then held the bowl the rest of the day- just not feeling well at all. Everyone in my house fell asleep and I headed to my sister's to help paint. I had been there about an hour when Sean calls and tells me that I need to come home and we need to take Brooklyn to Instacare. When she woke up she was in SO pain in her stomach and was holding it and moaning in pain. We got to Instacare about 15 minutes before they closed- I bet they were thrilled to see us! The doctor looked her over and felt her stomach- then he looked at her throat and said it was REALLY red. He asked her it it was sore and she said no. The doctor told me they would do a strep test and if it came back negative then they would do on X-Ray and blood work. I was thinking to myself- let's just start that now- because strep tests hardly ever come back positive. You can imagine the shock I had when he came back in a couple minutes later and said it was positive. I took her in there thinking that maybe something was wrong with her appendix or something and found out she has strep. It was crazy! Now I know why it didn't feel good to go on vacation!