nationals...day 1

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Molly had her tubes put in and her adenoids removed Wednesday morning, and I Mary and I flew out Wednesday afternoon.

It was definitely a crazy day, but it helped so much that Jolene was here, and I had an extra set of hands around to help.

I was definitely worried about Molly, even though she seemed to be doing really well, and I was extremely nervous about navigating all of our travel details on my own.  We don't fly much at all, and I have never rented a car, or found my way around a big city on my own before.  It was definitely a little nerve wracking.

With some last minute traveling advice, some hugs to the kiddos, and some good lucks to Mary, we headed off.

I was pretty relieved to find our way around the parking lot, shuttle and airport pretty smoothly.  Once we got to the gate, and we were all settled, I did a huge sigh of relief.

I glanced over at Mary, and her jitters were just beginning.  The poor girl was very scared for her first flight.

She sat like this until it was time to board the plane.

The flight was actually very turbulent, but Mary loved it, and by the time we had our layover in Houston, Texas, and were ready to board our second flight of the day to Fort Worth, Mary was completely fine.

The only hiccup was trying to figure out how to work the dang airline wifi....and they didn't serve Rootbeer, much to Mary's dismay.  ha!

Due to some flight delays and the extra time it took to park and ride the shuttle to the airport, we didn't land in the Fort Worth, Texas until 1:00am!  We were dang tired, and I had NO CLUE where to go to get a rental car.

We stepped off the airplane, and BAM, heat and humidity like nothing we had ever felt before.  Seriously!  I checked the weather and it was 92% and 40% humidity.  1:00am. Boo.

We followed the signs that took us outside, in the dark, into a creepy alley, and then....nothing.  Absolutely nothing, but two white, small town Heber girls, in a deep, dark alley, in the middle of Texas, surrounded by some pretty scary people.

Not good.

I had finally just decided to sleep in the airport and figure it all out in the morning, when a big bus pulled up with flashing lights blinking "Car Rental."  Apparently, the car rental shops were not in the airport.  Nope, they were 25 minutes away on a bus.

We were so relieved to finally know what the heck we were doing, and we got on the bus.  Poor Mary was so tired, and had an early practice that day, or the next day, depending on how you look at it.

We finally got to the rental shop, and the line was an hour long.  Yup, 2:00am by the time it was my turn at the counter.  Mary was sound asleep on a little chair in the corner.  The rental car guy told me that the only thing they had left was a small pick up truck.  Totally fine with me.  I didn't care.

He gave me the keys, I woke Mary up, and we headed out to find our little truck.  We walked out the door and almost fell over with the wave of heat that welcomed us.  Geesh!  We started looking around for a little truck.

This is what we found.

I about died!  This does not look even close to how big it really was.  We literally had to crawl up on to the seats to get in.  We learned quickly that everything, and truly everything, is bigger in Texas!!!

We got everything in the "small pick up truck" and trusted our fate to Siri, my beloved GPS in my phone.

Luckily, it was 2:00am, so there wasn't a lot of traffic.  Otherwise, I would have been terrified to drive this massive truck around Dallas/Forth Worth freeways, not knowing where I was going.  I literally could not see over the giant steering wheel without sitting on the very edge of my seat and sitting up as straight as I possibly could.

I cranked up the country music, and drove us and our big truck through the Texas freeways.  It was pretty fun actually.  Poor Mary was completely zonked out next to me.

The hotel was a good 30 minutes away, but thankfully we found it, check in went smoothly, and we crashed into our big (really, they were huge)  comfortable beds around 2:30am.

Welcome to Texas.  Go us. Few!

tubes in, adenoids out

This sweet baby girl of mine has had a terrible time with ear infections.  She has had 8 that we know of in the past 10 months!  Antibiotics have done nothing, and even when her ears aren't infected, they are always full of fluid. 

Sound familiar???  Anyone else thinking of Luke right now.

We got the go ahead to see Dr. Tagge our awesome ENT, and he said that Molly's ears were so bad that he would expedite the order to get tubes in, as well as take her infected and nonfunctional adenoids out.  He said that she had chronic ear pain, and it would not go away until he could drain her ears and get the tubes in.  That broke my heart.

The only day he could get Molly in was the very day Mary and I would be flying out to Texas.  It was also during a two day window between getting home from California and leaving to Texas.  It was either that, or wait until September, which was an absolute no.

Talk about a tight schedule!

So, we got home from Idaho for the 4th of July celebrating on a Sunday evening, we left a day and a half later for California on Tuesday.  We arrived home from California late Sunday evening.  Jolene came the next day, Monday, and Molly had tubes and Mary and I left for Texas on Wednesday.  Yup...crazy.

Ben ended up taking Molly to the procedure, because I needed to be home getting things ready for Mary and I to leave.

It was so extremely hard for me not to be there, but Molly adores her daddy, and he adores her, and I knew that she would be just fine.

My heart just about fell out of my chest, when Ben sent me this next picture.

Ready...brace yourself.  Here it is.

Oh my sweet honey bunch of baby cuteness.  I still can hardly stand the cuteness of this picture.

Molly did great, and all went well.

The kids here at home were very concerned about her, and they all took turns kissing and hugging her when she got home.

Mary was really cute with her, and I think she just wanted to see Molly smile to be re-assured that she was OK.  She sure got her smiling!

Molly seemed to be doing great, but either way, it was extremely difficult to leave her later that evening.  I was so grateful that Ben was still there for another day.  He left for a business trip a day and 1/2 later (that is why Jolene was there), but it was comforting to know that he would be there for the first night after her procedure.

She did wonderfully while Ben and I were gone, but within a few hours of me being home, she spiked a fever, and has been terribly sick since.

The doctor thinks she caught a "bug" while getting her procedure done at the hospital.  It is a virus, but it feels just like strep throat to my poor Molly girl.  She has been absolutely miserable since I have been home the past 2 days.

I am so grateful that she was healthy and OK until I could be here to hold and comfort my baby.  I don't know what I would have done knowing that my baby was sick, and that I couldn't be there.
Poor little baby girl!

Regardless of her being so sick, we have all noticed a pretty big jump in Molly's "speech."  She doesn't talk yet, but she is making way more noises and sounds than she was before, and we can tell that her hearing has greatly improved.

I am so excited for her to finally be rid of those nasty ear infections, and to see what the world is all about without constant pain and stuffiness in her ears.

Thank goodness for modern medicine and good doctors!

"cool"aid

One of Mary's friends at her gym gave Mary the idea that you can color your hair with Koolaid.  Mary is all about fashion, and loved the idea of being able to color her hair in a way that is not permanent.

She asked me about it, and I figured that it was summer, and it wasn't permanent, so why not!

So, we boiled a bunch of water, mixed up a bunch of colors, and let the coloring begin!

It turned out pretty cool.

I guess some little people were watching and thinking it was pretty cool as well.

A few days later, as the three boys were getting their hair cut, William made a special request, and came walking out with red hair gel.  He felt like the coolest kid on the block!

He insisted on a photo shoot, but also insisted that he show off his talent of spinning his spinny toy.

These kids are great!

good morning

A few weeks ago, William saw a scuba diving kit at the store.  He decided that he desperately wanted it.

He worked "hard" to earn enough money to get it, and so I picked it up one night during a last minute run to the store.  I placed it next to William, who was sleeping, so he could be surprised in the morning when he woke up.

I woke up the next morning to the feeling that someone was staring at me and the sound of Darth Vador breathing.  I opened my eyes, and saw this, about 6 inches from my face.

I'm pretty sure that I was the one surprised that morning!!!  And definitely about wet my pants.

William has proudly worn his scuba gear all around 7 Peaks, as well as the neighborhood.

Geesh, I love this boy.

california or bust!...part 2

Friday night, Sam and Sherean treated Ben and I on a double date to a really yummy steak house.  Kendall was an awesome sport, and watched all of the kids...aside from Molly, who came with us.

It was so nice to eat outside on a perfect evening, and talk with Sam and Sherean.  The food was amazing!  Definitely on the list of things to do again next year.

On Saturday, we went to the beach.  We totally lucked out.  The weather had actually been very cool while we were there, which was perfect for the kids to be able to play outside...but not so great for the beach.

Luckily, the day we went, the weather was perfect!

We had a great time at the beach.  Even Molly enjoyed it.  I think she ate about a gallon of sand!

The boys LOVED catching sand crabs, and they were really good at it.

Mary found a big shell. Pretty cool!

Sam and Sterling doing tricks

Mary and the older cousins grabbed some boogie boards, and we didn't see them back on the beach for hours!

Luke LOVED feeding the seagulls and chasing them.  He also loved lying in the sun and playing with his favorite cousin...Kendall.

Mary and Sam and the cousins decided to make a seagull trap, to try to catch seagulls.  They buried Mary in the sand a put a towel over her face.  They then put bread on top of Mary, and then watched and waited.
Three seagulls came right over and stood on top of Mary to eat the bread.  As soon as she lifted her arms, they went flying in every direction.  It was one of the most hilarious things I have seen in a long time!

burying Mary and placing the bread on her

waiting for the seagulls



The first one to go for the bread

After a full day at the beach, we got hamburgers and ice cream cones and a really good café down the street, and headed home.

It was a great day at the beach!!!

Every morning we were there, I got to do the most beautiful run of my life.  It was absolute paradise!!!  I ran through orchards, vinyards, and gorgeous fields.  I saw hot air balloons, jack rabbits and other wildlife.  Every morning was crisp, clear and cool.  I just grinned every single morning, the whole time.  It was a runners dream come true.  At the 1/2 way point of each run, there is a big hill that I ran up.  On top of the hill is a HUGE oak tree.  We call her momma oak tree, and I hugged her every day.  Oh, I sure miss that run.

After we got back from the beach, the kids all went out to the dry creek to catch toads and lizards.  Sammy boy was in heaven!  He had been looking forward to doing this the whole time.  He was not disappointed.  They caught frogs and lizards to their hearts content.

It was such an awesome trip, and we were all sad to leave.  Poor Sterling just stood in the doorway and waved and waved and waved.  Mary and Sam were very sad to say goodbye as well.  It was hard to see the cousins to sad, but it also warmed my heart to know that they bonded and had enough fun to make it hard to say goodbye. Priceless in my eyes.

Good thing we have next year!

california or bust!...part 1

Tuesday morning, just a day after we arrived home from Pocatello, we headed off for California.

Ben and I were both really worried about the 13 hour drive, and how Molly and Luke would handle it.  We had a few rough times, but overall, they did way better than expected.  Molly ended up being the easiest traveler!  Amazing.

We pulled in to Sam and Shereans house around 10:30pm.  Not too bad.

The kids were so excited to play with their cousins, but we had tickets to go to Alcratraz in San Francisco that day, so we woke up, ate and headed to the big city.

The traffic was absolutely terrible, and Molly and Luke struggled during the drive there, so by the time we got out of the car, we were all a bit frazzled.  The kids calmed down and were pretty excited to ride the ferry boat out to Alcratraz Island.

Unfortunately, William, Luke and Molly were complete wrecks during the entire tour.  It was an absolute disaster.  We didn't even get to come close to finishing the tour.  Ben and I were beyond our limit, and the three kids just kept screaming, crying and tantruming.  We were getting dirty looks from everyone, and it was so, so, so stressful.

We had about a 2 minute window of peace, where I was able to snap one picture.

cracks me up. Luke is trying to fix the sink in the jail cell. haha!

I felt terrible for Mary and Sam, because they were being so good, and they were very interested in the prison.  I wanted to be able to go through it all with them and explain everything. 

Instead, Ben and I took turns holding screaming babies and standing outside with one of them in time out about 10 times.

We left Alcratraz extremely upset and discouraged.  Maybe in 6 years or so, we will try it again, or at least leave the babies home next time.

Luckily, the rest of the day in San Francisco was great!  We ate dinner at a yummy place called the Chowder Hut at Fisherman's Warm.  They had some awesome calamari, and we had the traditional sour dough bread bowl with clam chowder.

After dinner we walked around and watched some cool street shows, bought a painting that we watched a guy do, and ate cotton candy and churros.  Molly has a nice nap on Ben's shoulder, and the kids did really well the rest of the time there.

watching the guy make our cool painting

San Francisco is a pretty cool place to visit, and I like that my kids can experience a big city, and a new culture.

The next day the kids played and played and played with their cousins.  They live in a kid wonderland!  The kids spent hours out in the fig tree fort.  It is the most amazing fort!  I would have spent my entire childhood there, if I had a fig tree like that.

The view of the fig tree from the house...it's HUGE

inside the fig tree

monkeys

The fig tree fort had a zip line, and log roll, tables, chairs, a fire pit, and lots and lots of figs.  The kids had so much fun playing in there.

Uncle Sam took Luke on his dream ride, and pulled him behind a tractor!  Soon, all of the other kids joined as well.

Farmer Ben

Sherean took the older kids to the creek where they swam and played.  Sam found and caught a king snake, which bit him.  According to Sherean, Sam was so excited that the snake was biting him that he didn't even act scared!  He came home absolutely beaming and told me the story over and over and over again.  He cracks me up!

Sam proudly showing his king snake bites!

Mary was obsessed with the horses and spent every second she could out with them, feeding, grooming and riding.

the boy's turn

The kids also love the chickens, and goat, the sheep and every other part of ranch life.  It truly was a wonderland for them!  I loved seeing them have so much fun with their cousins and making such great memories.

We did pull the kids away from the ranch long enough to take a visit to the Jelly Belly Factory.
It is a fun place to visit, and this year Luke was completely enthralled with all of it.  He just sat with his face plastered to every window at each station, watching the machines do so many cool things!

To be continued......