Adventures of late:
I took the kids on their very first trip on an airplane! We went to Houston,TX to visit with Rachel, Bruce, Hailey, and McKalya! It was only my 3rd time flying and I, for whatever reason, was convinced that I would be just fine traveling with three kids 5 and under all by myself. That was probably my first stupid thought but in the end it was a fantastic adventure! The kids flew very well without any major melt downs from anyone. During the actual act of flying Eliza graced us with a round of vomiting on the way to Texas. We endured a 3 hour delay in the airport while trying to return home. I was reminded just how thankful I am for the novelty of trains you don't have to sit on and moving walkways it made our 5 hours in the airport far more enjoyable! Just before we boarded though, Parker graced us with severe diarrhea and a blowout earning him the right to fly home in nothing but a t-shirt and diaper due to those being the only things not covered in poo. It was an adventure to say the very least!
The time in Texas made up for any and all traveling woes so I would do it again in a heartbeat! But maybe not in the summer again. Our adventures in Texas included a trip to the beach, Body boarding, a gross amount of sand consumption, pool time, parks, mini golf, crafts almost every day including making our own texas t-shirts, Chucky Cheese, countless walks, a trip to downtown Houston to walk the tunnels, and lots and lots of time playing with cousins!
I think the highlights of the trip for Eliza was the time on the beach! Once she got brave enough to let me help her go body boarding she was hooked! She didn't ever want to leave playing in the awesome and warm water!
Alayna says that her favorite part of the trip was getting to go to the store and buy new flipflops. She also got really good at riding a bike while we were there as well so I have been excited to have her work more on it at home as well!
Parker's favorite part there was probably all the time spent with mommy! That and the time he facetime with daddy! That little man loves to explore so he took full advantage of all the extra freedom of other kids to follow around!
My favorite part was being with Rachel... and possibly church. It was such a silly thing but I really had to giggle when the RS president in Rachel's ward ask me why I wasn't in young women's doing my calling... I laughed and told her that I was actually Rachel's sister. We also managed to confuse a number of other people because Rachel spoke in sacrament meeting so she wasn't sitting with Bruce, myself and the kids. So most of the others sitting by us wondered who's kids Bruce and Rachel brought to church and when exactly had she lost the baby she was pregnant with!? HAHA I look anything but pregnant and apparently Rachel doesn't look very pregnant yet either if she could miscarry and loose all that weight that fast! It never crossed my mind that we still look so much alike! (at least as long as we are not right next to each other!)
Ben spent the week we were in Texas at home puttering around and staying busier than he expected! He went to the lake with his family on Memorial Day to put the boat in the water (per tradition) and had a good time. He got his very first sun burn a few weeks ago when the ward came over and painted the exterior of our house (thank you to those wonderful men and women who came and made that happen!). After his burn we bought a new pop-up tent so it wouldn't happen the following weekend! The other happenings for Ben are that he is a SUPER STAR! I mean honestly! He is doing so awesome right now I have not a single complaint or even concern about him or his health at this moment! It is such a nice and novel feeling to not be super stressed about him or his risks, makes me hopeful that soon we will live life more in this world than the other! He had his 6 month post transplant, bone marrow biopsy last Monday. We wised up this time and had Ben take a good pain killer before the procedure this time so that made it much easier for him to get through the hardest parts of that process. It is a miserable one but we also need to know what that test can tell us so he is a tough amazing man and does what has to be done. We will get results from that test in about a week. He has also gone back to work part time! He is working about 2 days a week anywhere from 6-8 hours on the days he is at work. I think he is really happy to be back at work even if it wears him out he is still happy to be busy there! And I am thrilled to have him going back to work at all it gives me that feeling of normalcy that I love so very much!
Eliza started piano lessons last week! She is having lots of fun with it and we learned that she has a real knack for counting and keeping time. I am very impressed and she must have gotten that from her dad because I can't count or keep time for the life of me! She also has a weekly play date with her best friend Sophia. They are so cute and just can't get enough time with each other! One of these days I will get some good pictures of them playing!
Parker managed to get roseola and of course exposed Ben to it as well but so far we have not seen any indication that Ben caught it. Whew!
Alayna spent Friday of last week very sick. The poor kid could not keep a single thing down all day. To the extent that I was forced into scrubbing every single upholstered object on my main floor. Despite my efforts of providing a bucket it seemed to always hit her so suddenly there was no stopping it! Thankfully it was some kind of 24 hour thing and then she was fine!
I am busy as always and some days are worse than others thanks to my apparent ability to overbook myself, but for the most part I am doing everything I can to enjoy the ride! Life is Good!
Now for the fun part: Texas Pictures!
