Thanksgiving Vacaction at Grampa and Grammie's

After 12 hours total in the car with an overnight stay in St. George we were so relieved to arrive "home" in Southern California at Grampa and Grammie's house Saturday evening. Sunday we got to visit Shane's old Ward that he grew up in and had dinner at Uncle Joel and Aunt Sandy's house. Jeff came by too and it was fun for the cousins to visit. Monday, Grampa and Grammie took us out to dinner at Ruby's Diner on the end of HB pier. We always love to visit this spot when we are in California. (Thank you Dad and Mom.)

Tuesday, we went to Disneyland. Rain was in the forecast but that didn't scare us away. We actually didn't see the rain until late evening but the park was relatively empty. Our longest line was for Space mountain at 30 min. but everything else was no longer than a 15 min. line without the fast pass. It was a great day to be there.

Disneyland was all decorated up and ready for the Christmas season.

The girls couldn't resist the Princess Castle.

Dumbo...Lindsay ran into his ear before we got on the ride so it took a bit for her to get excited about the ride. ( You can see the fresh red mark on her forehead.) She also had a hard time with the concept of waiting in line for her turn.

Lindsay and Emma enjoyed the merry go round the best. Hum... could have gone to South Coast Plaza for that.

Emma's favorite all time ride was the Buzz Lightyear ride. We rode on all the kiddy rides in the morning with the intention of taking Lindsay back to Grammie and Grampa's at her afternoon nap time. We were going to go back and introduce Emma to the fast rides, but she protested and asked if she could stay with Lindsay at Grammie's and Grampa's. We tried to convince her to come back with us to no avail. So, Bradley, Shane and I all went back and had a blast riding all the fast rides that made Shane and I feel like kids again. We were able to go on everything at least 2-3 times. We had SOOO much fun. Emma and Lindsay were happy to be with Grammie and Grampa. ( Big thanks to Grammie and Grampa for watching them and helping them be happy.)

The Castle looked amazing at night, the girls would have loved it. We stayed until about 10:30pm although Brad and I would have stayed until midnight. The rain had turned into a down poor and Shane threw the towel in. All in all it was a great visit to Disneyland.

Wednesday we spent relaxing and recovering from our long day at Disneyland. Thursday was a great Turkey day. Good food, good visiting with the family.

On Black Friday we stayed as far as we could get from the early morning shopping scene. We slept in and then went to the Discovery Science Center in the afternoon. Here the girls are destroying a tornado.

Brad and Emma are making clouds.

Emma and Lindsay playing in the aqueduct tables. Sand and water, always a fun combo.

Brad is lying on a bed of nails. Pretty cool.

On the way out, the girls wanted to try to launch a tennis ball with the suctioning of a bowling ball. It was a fun experiment.

Saturday the Girls helped Shane wash the car. Not something we can do in Nov. in Utah.

Then on to Huntington Beach. It was sunny and about 70 degrees. Too cold to swim in the frigid water but perfect for playing.

Lindsay wasn't too sure at first.

Shane and Brad dug for sand crabs... Looks like he found one.

Once she was comfortable in the sand Lindsay just dug and dug and ran and ran. She chased birds and waves. We had to pry her away from the Beach.

Emma has always loved the Beach. She collected shells all day. Here she is posing with the HB pier in the background.

Brad with the sand castle he and Shane built.

The Leavitt's posing in front of the sand castle.

After HB we went home and got all cleaned up to go to Little Corona to have Aunt Jill take pictures on the beach for our Christmas card. She did a good job. (See top picture of post.)

Sunday, we went to the Ward I went to growing up and saw Uncle Dave and Aunt Jill's baby Olivia be blessed. Afterwards we had a great dinner to celebrate her blessing day. Then we had to prepare for our return trip. It was a great vacation and we truly enjoyed our time in between the outings just visiting with Grampa, Grammie, and GG (Grandma Hovik.) Thanks again for the great stay.

Halloween Time 2008

Carving Pumpkins the Monday before Halloween. Everyone is all smiles until they figure out they have to be gutted first.

Lindsay enjoyed making hers with dad.

Emma..."are you kidding me...I have to put my hand in there?"

Brad..."almost done here, just a little bit more...yuck."

All finished, L-R: Brad's, Mom's, Emma's and Lindsay's (with dad's help)

Halloween Night: Ready for Trick Or Treating

Indiana Jones (Brad), Belle (Emma) and Cinderella (Lindsay)

I finished the girls dresses long before Halloween and they played in them everyday before. Brad's costume I was sewing on the jacket, shirt and pouch until the literal last minute. Next year I'll get them all finished early!

"Erella" as Lindsay fondly refers to her. All ready for the royal ball. Added touch the turtleneck to keep warm.

Belle has been singing her little heart out and loves to pretend she is a princess.

Indiana Jones ready for adventure. He went out with his friend Hunter to their neighborhood and then ours. He had a blast.

I took the girls out and Lindsay was so cute... she would say "an treat, please." And then follow with a "thank you" and "bye" with a princess wave. Emma was darling helping Lindsay along the way. Emma also wanted me to tell every house about her thumb. (See previous post.) I wonder if she was subconsciously playing the sympathy card? Hee, hee. Shane stayed home to give out candy. He set up the yard this year with some scary monsters and our girls were afraid to come home. (No pictures of the yard this year, but I'm sure he'll do it again next year with more added.)

Emma's Thumb And Brad's Door Hinge

Disclaimer: The following post is NOT for the squeamish, faint of heart, or little children...injury images ahead. (You have been warned.)
On Oct. 23 a little while after school, Bradley accidentally closed Emma's thumb in the Hinge Side of his door. It smashed her thumb pretty tight and did some big damage to her nail. Poor Emma was so brave and poor Bradley felt so bad. Just Awful. Right before we drove her to the doctor Brad was in tears and Emma just says, "Oh, Bradley, don't worry, it will be okay." We took her up to her pediatricians office and this picture sums up all Emma was feeling. She was so brave but in some pretty bad pain. Here she is soaking her wound to clean it. Dr. Jorgensen was on duty for the evening appointments and she did a great job. She discovered after soaking and cleaning it that her nail base had come completely out of her nail bed. Protocol for this would have been to give her several shots in the thumb and then to stitch down the nail into the bed again. There was not much left to stitch the nail down to and it was still attached at the tip. So, She pressed it back into place as best she could, wrapped the dead tissue around it and steri stripped it all in place. The main thing was to get connection reestablished for a new nail base to grow. We did not get a picture of it on the first day, but day 6 and 7 were bad enough (see below.)

She had to go back twice (every other day) for redressing and to check for infection. She was also put on an oral antibiotic to fight infection.

Day 6 She was turned over to us for her wound care and we clean and redress it every day. She will eventually loose that nail, but we need it to have contact with the bed for a week to establish a new base. If not she will not regrow a nail and just have a stubby thumb. Even at that we won't know if her nail has regrown for about a month.

Pre-cleaning day 6... Post-cleaning day 6...

Day 7 on 10/29 Looking less swollen but quite a ways to go and again eventually that whole nail will fall out.PS... Big thanks to our neighbor and friends the Fitzgeralds for all their help the day it happened.

Grandpa and Grammie's Visit

Grampa and Grammie came to visit for a week and it was so fun. They arrived on the 10th of Oct. We have missed them so much as they have served faithfully on their mission and we are glad to have them back. We were so busy having fun with them that the camera just sat on the counter. So very few pictures... what a shame. Grammie and Grampa gave Lindsay her b-day present which was a little cradle for her new doll and a back pack just her size. (She is always trying to put on Brad or Emma's and falling over -kinda too big for her.)

We enjoyed having them stay with us...playing, visiting, shopping, eating, relaxing. It was a pleasure to have them here. This is the morning that they left and we had to pry the girls out of their beds at 10 am (ha, ha -what princesses they are) to say goodbye. They were quite sad to see Grammie and Grampa go. I think the kids were hoping they had moved in. Only consolation was that we will see them in Nov. in California. Thank you for your visit Dad and Mom. We love and appreciate you both and all you do.

Happy Birthday!

Lindsay turned 2 on the 9th! She was so excited to see all her gifts on the table and the kitchen decorated after her afternoon nap.

Emma wanted to get in on the picture action...hamming it up for sure.

Dinner we had one of her favorites...grilled steak. Brad is always the tease but a cute one.

We had Nanny, Papa, Mark and Carrie with the boys come over for cake and gifts. We should have saved her new doll for last. She opened it first and loved it. After that she wanted no other gifts. She wanted to just play with her new baby. We had to coax her to put it down long enough for me to get it out of the box and then also to get her to open her other gifts which she loved too.

Her sister and cousins were willing to help. Lindsay had a great Birthday. She got the new Ariel movie and gift set from Nanny and Papa; Mark, Carrie and boys gave her a cute doll set with interchangable snap on clothes; we gave her a Baby Doll, a Stroller, a Disney princess phone, music player, slippers and chair and some new outfits. She loves them all. (And not spoiled in the least bit...Ha, Ha.) Thanks everyone for coming and for your gifts...you made her day great.

My First Tag (or so I thought)

Cally tagged me with this one thinking I had never been tagged, but little did I know Marci had tagged me 3 weeks ago (see last post.) So Cally's tag...

6 Quirky things about me...

6- I have not read a fictional book cover to cover since I got married (over 12 years) until now...despite my amiable protest I was sucked into the Twilight series and read all four books in 2 weeks. Now I need something else to read...what a great escape from normal everyday life fictional reading is!

5- I was born with blond eyelashes on my right side and brown on my left. So, NOBODY see me without mascara on in public. You might catch me at home though but I usually have my prescription glasses on as a "mask" -Ha, Ha like that hides it.

4-I robbed the cradle. Shane is 1 year and 2 months younger than me.

3-I have epilepsy. But it has been controlled with medication and I have been seizure free for 14 years. I feel pretty blessed there.

2-My hands sweat for no reason and have all my life. Occationally they will be dry, but usually not. I probably need to have some nerve or gland removed to stop it all. So, If I don't shake your hand willingly, I'm not snubbing you. I'm just a bit embarassed by this condition. Good thing Shane doesn't mind. ;)

1-I love to sew. My mom taught me to sew when I was 9 years old, I had my own machine by the time I was 12 (Or was it 14.) Anyway, by the time I was in highschool I was taking different patterns and mixing them up to make my own creations. I just don't have as much time for it with 3 kids...So, Halloween I usually go big and make everything.

Now I tag Jen O, Emily H. and Bonnie (Oh, yeah sis, I'm going get you posting somehow- Kiersten if your mom doesn't you have to. Hee, hee)
Hum, I think I want to tag Shane for his "Garage" too.

I Missed Marci's Tag

Okay, So I was telling my friend Cally that I had never been tagged and so she tagged me, only as I checked her comments on her blog noticed that my friend Marci had tagged me on SEPT. 9th and I missed it. Sorry Marci. Okay so hear is my Reply to Marci's tag and the next post will be Cally's.

How long have you been married? Over 12 years

Where were you married? Los Angeles California Temple

Honeymoon? 3 nights Newport Beach, 2 nights Laguna Beach (And we never touched the sand/ocean...but we grew up there so the sand was not as, um, inviting)

How old is your spouse? 35

Who eats more? Shane

Who said I love you first? Me

Who is taller? Shane

Who sings better? Me, definitely

Who is smarter? Depends...Book smarts:Me, Common sense/logical thinking smarts: Shane

Who controls the T.V. remote? Shane

Whose temper is worse? Could be either one, depending on the situation

Who does the laundry? Mostly me but Shane does his share to help

Who does the dishes? Mostly me, but again Shane steps in to help

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Looking at the headboard, I do

Who cooks dinner? 90% me, but when Shane does cook it is usually pretty tasty =)

Who is more stubborn? Shane would say me, but I think it is a TIE!

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Um, hum... We both take a bit of persuasion to admit it

Whose parents do you see the most? Shane's, they are only 10 Miles away, mine are in California

Who has more siblings? Me-4, Shane- 2

Who wears the pants in the family? I think we each have one leg, sometimes it is a bit hard to walk that way Ha, Ha

I Tag Bonnie, Emily (my Sis) and Jenn Luce

One Last Trip...Brrrrr!

Sept. 12 2008 we ventured off for one last camping/fishing hurrah. We went to Chesterfield reservoir just past Grace Idaho. Mom and dad brought their camper (which they did a great job restoring this spring) and we brought a large tent. Next time we are putting the babies in the camper to sleep with the bigger babies so Becky and I can get some sleep and keep the covers from being kicked off in 30 degree weather. What were we thinking!

Papa kept Lindsay safe from the fire ring that night much to her dismay.

The whole clan chillin by the fire. Little does Lindsay know that my small bite means Half..... Like stealing Zingers from a baby!

Happy campers.

Becky and Emma were in charge of dishing out Smores.

After our frigid night sleep in the tent, with the sound of elk, coyote, and other various animals tromping through the water, we welcomed the morning sun. Papa on his and Brad on my pontoon. It was such a great day for fishing.

The catch was alright...enough for a good fish fry!

"Oh, Papa...eew, the fishy." Papa gutting the fish just blew Lindsay's mind...She wasn't meant to see that.

The view from our lakeside camp spot.

Going home.