Christmas Morning

And here are the pictures from Christmas day. I had to get a shot of the pretty snow in the back yard. The boys enjoyed opening gifts, and I think my favorite part was watching them give hugs each time they opened each others’ gifts. Isaac’s favorite part was pulling off one little piece of wrapping paper at a time and handing them to Grandma. And, of course, here are the shots of Michael and I each opening the same board game that we got for each other. The boys look so cute in all their new outfits. And this last shot is of Isaac when he was starting to get tired and ready for brunch – he laid down to rest for a minute inside one of the toy boxes. Pretty cute!

Snow, A Hospital Trip, and Christmas Memories

So, we’ve gotten some snow here this week. Last weekend there were a couple colder days that actually started to remind me of the Milwaukee winters a bit, but it hasn’t seemed quite as cold here the last few days. And yesterday we got the most snow of this winter yet, but Michael and I were both commenting that it didn’t seem that bad (even though everyone was commenting about what a big storm it was). I guess we got used to the Milwaukee winters, because this storm yesterday left several inches of snow, but it surprised me that here in Utah (where they should be used to snow in the winter) it took me half an hour to drive out to the hospital yesterday evening when it would normally have taken just over 10 minutes or so, because of the traffic and all the cars were moving so slowly. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I think that this mild winter has been nice so far, and the fact that the snow actually melts here in between storms is a nice contrast to Milwaukee too. It kind of makes me want to find some little internet gadget to put on my blog that shows the weather temperatures and snowfall in the different places that we have lived and will be living in the future – it’d be kind of fun to compare the winter weather in Milwaukee, Salt Lake, Rochester, and San Diego, huh? We’ll see.

On another note, I spent several hours in the hospital last night. All day yesterday I was having what I guess you would call shortness of breath, but it was different than anything I’d had with any of my other pregnancies. I used to think that shortness of breath during pregnancy meant that you got winded after climbing a flight of stairs, but what I was having yesterday was different than that. I couldn’t take a deep breath without my chest hurting, and it lasted for several hours. In the late afternoon I finally called the midwife on call, and she said that since she couldn’t really tell much over the phone I should come in to Labor and Delivery to have it checked out just in case. So, after the half hour drive into the hospital and the long wait after checking in and again after getting into a room, I wasn’t having much pain or difficulty breathing by that point at all anymore. They took my history (the nurse did say that one good thing about my visit was that they wouldn’t have to ask me all those questions again when I come in to have the baby in February). And since it was after hours and I wasn’t just going to the clinic, they had me lay down and put on all the baby monitors and everything – which showed that the baby and I were healthy. They drew my blood, and then it was another long wait for the on call midwife to show up. Michael happened to be on a 30-hour shift in the internal medicine wards and since the snow storms seem to make his patient load a little lighter, he came over and stayed with me, waiting to be paged back if there was an admit. Luckily no new patients came in while we were there, so he got to stay with me for the entire time. When the midwife came, she said that everything looked ok. I was glad that she seemed to take me seriously, even though the problem had gotten a lot better by the time I finally got in. She asked me about a number of things, and said that she couldn’t see anything wrong with me at that point, but to call or come back in if I got a number of other symptoms that she listed. I guess that, although they are pretty uncommon, there are a few things, such as blood clots, that they would be concerned about with this kind of thing in pregnancy, so I guess it was better to have it checked out just to be safe. So, after I got home last night and went to bed, Camden woke up around 2am and I changed his diaper and put him back to bed. When I went back to bed, my heart started racing really fast and beating strongly so that it was uncomfortable for about 10 or 20 seconds. Since this has never happened to me before, you can imagine that I was a little alarmed, especially since one of the things that the midwife had asked me about at the hospital was if I had had any heart palpitations. So it took me a little while to fall asleep again after that, wondering if something could be wrong or not. This morning I called the other midwife who was on call today, and when I got ahold of her this afternoon she reassured me that she would only be concerned if the palpitations lasted for about 15 minutes and happened 2 or more times a day. So, she wants me to write down whenever it happens, for how long, and what activities I am doing at the time, and she said I only need to come back into Labor and Delivery if it happens more often or if it doesn’t go away. So, I guess everything is ok. We’ll just chalk it up to “more weird things that happen during pregnancy for no other apparent reason than the fact that I am pregnant.” Hopefully I won’t have any other problems with that, and everything else with this pregnancy will be uneventful.

So, on an entirely different note, I saw this “Christmas Tag” on a friends’ blog and decided to do it, since it is something a little different than all the other “tags” I’ve seen.

Christmas Tag
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Although I’d like gift bags for everything because they’re easier, they’re too expensive and it’s too hard to plan all the correct-sized bags when getting all the Christmas gifts, so I usually end up using a couple rolls of wrapping paper.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial, so far. We have a cute little artificial tree that my mom got for us when we were first married because we weren’t allowed to have real trees in our apartment complex because they’re a fire hazard. I’ve always planned on having a real tree when we get into a house and have a little more room in the future – I always loved picking out a tree with my family, and I think cutting one down together would be especially fun.

3. When do you put up the tree? If it’s up to me, it goes up sometime soon after Halloween. :)

4. When do you take the tree down the tree? In January – usually after we return home from visiting family for Christmas and New Years.

5. Do you like egg nog? Oh yes – I think that it’s probably a good thing that egg nog is not available year round, because it is often one of my impulse buys at the grocery store in the winter time. Although I like it how my family always had it growing up: half egg nog and half 7-up, I also like it just by itself.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? One Christmas that I really remember was when my parents didn’t have as much money one year and my sister got home-made doll clothes for her American Girl doll and I got a pet rabbit (I believe someone was giving the rabbits away or selling them for not very much money that year). That little bunny was so cute – it was grey and white and I named it Sweat Pea.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? I have a Willow Tree nativity which I love that my mom and grandma have given me the different parts to over the last few years. We also have a couple other smaller nativity sets – a little ceramic one that Michael’s grandma sent him when he was on his mission in the Dominican Republic and a few little ceramic ones that my grandmas sent for the boys last year. Oh, and we have the little painted wooden set that my parents had when I was growing up – it is kid-proof and so we can set that one down low and not worry about it getting broken. And, if you promise not to tell our boys, I’ll tell you what we got for one of their Christmas gifts: the Fisher Price “Little People” nativity set – it has Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, shepherds, wise men, the innkeeper and his wife, some little buildings, and lots of animals. I think they will have a lot of fun with that. Someday I’d love to have a collection of different nativity sets that are special to us – maybe from different places we have visited or something like that. I’d love to have one someday like my mom’s that she got at the yearly craft fair in Eureka Springs – they are wooden pieces with beautiful colored yarn wrapped around them and they are so unique. Someday. :)

8. Hardest person to buy for? Maybe my brothers (since I think it’s easier to buy for girls than boys in general), except I didn’t have too hard of a time thinking up ideas for them this year.

9. Easiest person to buy for? My boys – toys are always fun for them, and I enjoy getting them cute new clothes when they need them.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? We tried printing and mailing out Christmas letters the first year, but postage was so expensive that we ended up only sending them to relatives and a handful of friends. Since then I’ve sent them out by e-mail each year so we can include more of our family members and friends. (And of course I post it on the blog too).

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Can’t really think of anything at the moment.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Hhmmm . . . let’s see, I quite like the old one, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I can't think of a time.

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Egg nog, hot chocolate with candy canes and whipped cream, peppermint ice cream.

15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? I like white lights – they are so pretty and go with all the other holiday colors.

16. Favorite Christmas song? I think probably “Silent Night.”

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We have always gone to visit family in the past – alternating each year between my parents and Michael’s parents – but this will be our first year staying here, since Michael only gets one day off the week of Christmas (the day after Christmas) and this wouldn’t allow us to get there and back in time for him to get back to work.

18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Rudolf, Commet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Vixen – is that all of them?

19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning. (Except for the one gift on Christmas Eve that is from Santa to the entire family and is always a game that we play together after driving around town looking at the lights – that is a tradition from Michael’s side of the family).

20. Most annoying thing about this time of year? I don’t like the annoying “new” pop Christmas songs that are always on so many radio stations – why not stick with the good old ones – all the wonderful songs about Christ and the good old ones we grew up with, like White Christmas, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, etc. And why would any artist want to take those good old songs and change the tune or the words so much as to ruin them?

21. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like the traditional colors – a nice, dark red, green, white, maybe gold. Someday I’d like to have two different trees in different rooms in the house (so we can still use our little artificial tree when we start getting real ones), and the little one would just have pretty, breakable ornaments and the cute little silver frame ornaments that I put in a little family picture every year – and the other tree could have the assortment of all the children’s and other ornaments on it.

22. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Nothing in particular – just to share it with family.

23. What do you want for Christmas this year? I am so looking forward to enjoying Christmas Eve and Christmas day with Michael and the boys and seeing them all open their gifts from me, because I know they’ll love them. (I have to admit, I’m also curious about what Michael got for me, since I haven’t figured it out, and I am notorious for figuring out my gifts beforehand, even if I’m not really trying to).

Merry Christmas!

Snow Fun

After the recital on Saturday the boys all wanted to go out and play in the snow. We got them bundled up and took a couple pictures, and then Michael decided to go out and join them. The boys all had fun eating snow (something that I remember loving to do as a child), and Isaac enjoyed watching his big brothers play from the window (and watching Daddy throw snowballs at the window where he was standing). Before too long they all came in and got out of their wet clothes. I had hot chocolate (actually, “warm chocolate,” since they can’t stand anything too hot, so I just get the tap water as hot as it will go and then add the coco to that) waiting for them, as is tradition for our family after we play in the snow. It snowed just a bit today, and I think it is supposed to snow some more this week. The last couple days have been quite cold and rather windy here (for the first time this winter), and it is starting to remind me of the beginning of a Milwaukee winter. But with how mild the winter has been here so far, I assume that it won’t stay this cold out for too much longer.

Bear Lake Trip

So, after we got a little settled in here in Utah, we got to go on a really fun trip with Faith and Tyce to Tyce’ grandmother’s cabin in Bear Lake. The first day we went on a little hike and the next day we tried to go swimming, although it ended up being rather cold and rainy so we ended up playing games for most of the day. Then on the third morning we woke up to an inch of snow on the ground (yes, it is June!). And even though I was rather cold, it was a very fun trip. We are looking forward to many fun trips with you guys in the future!

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Feeling Rather Gypped

I have been feeling rather gypped lately. It is not quite Spring yet here in Milwaukee (I don’t care what the calendar says), but I can tell that it is getting close. It has been up in the low 50s a few days recently, although it’s still usually too cold out for t-shirts. One thing that is kind of fun about Milwaukee is that after the snow starts to melt and you can see some of the grey, muddy grass again, once there is a good rainfall or two, the grass is noticeably greener overnight. It is nice to look outside and see green instead of grey. The grass isn’t bright green yet, but it does look much better after the rain this week. But I have still been feeling kind of gypped – I have officially survived the second snowiest winter on record in Milwaukee history (I don’t think we had quite enough snowfall to break the record, did we?), and now we are going to move next month before we have barely anytime at all to enjoy the nice things about Spring and Summer in Milwaukee. Oh well. I guess we’ll just have to enjoy summer in Salt Lake.

Snow, again.

Snow, again. This storm was the day before the first day of spring (and two days before Easter). We had an Easter egg hunt in our living room again this year. We heard that this winter got the second most snow on record, ever, for Milwaukee. (We would need 13 more inches to make it the snowiest winter ever recorded in Milwaukee). And before this storm, the snow had just started to melt and we could see the little brown blades of grass and mud that had been covered in snow for months. Oh well. Hopefully spring will come before we move in May or June.

Snow Day

In the spirit of catching up on posting photos to the blog, here are some from a fun snowstorm that we had on February 6th. It was the biggest storm that we were around for this winter (I don’t know if Milwaukee got any bigger storms while we were gone in December and January). It was actually a “fun” storm because everything got cancelled – Michael’s school, the kid’s preschool, swim lessons, and church – and our whole family just got to stay home and spend time together (and none of us had to go dig out the car to get anywhere on the icy roads). That night, after the big snowfall, the Kearls came over and we took the kids out to play in the snow (except Isaac and Katie, they were happy to stay inside where it was nice and warm). The boys (including Michael and Tyce) had a lot of fun playing in the snow out in front of our apartment building. And then we all came in afterwards and enjoyed some hot chocolate – this is a tradition with our boys every time we go out to play in the snow – they would probably feel like some great injustice had been done to them if we went out in the snow and then they weren’t promptly offered a sippy cup of “warm chocolate” [they don’t like to eat/drink anything that is too hot, so I have to tell them that it is just warm chocolate to get them to drink it]. I got some fun video of Michel throwing the boys into the deep powder, but later realized that I hadn’t changed any of the lighting settings on the camera and it was dark out, so you can’t really see anything on the videos. Oh well, the pictures turned out cute too. (Oh, and in case you couldn't tell what the one close-up snow photo is, it's the handle to our back door totally covered in snow). Enjoy!

Last Week

The past week was our first full week back in Milwaukee, and we had so much fun playing games and spending time with friends. It took a few days to get everything unpacked and back in the right places. We also got the Christmas decorations down and put away. After taking all the Christmas boxes and luggage to our storage unit, we had room to finally move the piano out of our bedroom and back into the front room, which has been so much nicer to play. The boys always want to play with it too.

I started into my new rotation, which is surgical pathology. I am with one other student and we sit in a room and look at pathology slides with the residents and fellows. I am amazed at how fast they can look at a slide under the microscope and know within seconds what they are seeing. This is good for me to start getting used to looking under the microscope, since I will have to do this in my dermatology residency.

Last Wednesday we had a huge snowstorm that swept through the area, dumping about 12 inches of snow. There was also a really gusty wind, so being outside and on the roads was bad. The director of our rotation on Tuesday said to not come in Wednesday if the snow was bad enough, so I ended up having a snow day, which was so nice. Steph and I were able to get a lot of little things done at home that day and that night we had the Kearls over for games. We played out in the snow when they first got here and the boys had so much fun because there was so much.

Thursday night we went to dinner with Tyce and Faith to celebrate Faith’s birthday, which was Saturday. We went downtown to the Pizza Shuttle and they had really good gourmet pizzas – we got a bbq chicken, alfredo vegetable, and spinach with feta. We thought it would be more than enough food, but the boys ate so much, and there were no leftovers. They have definitely gotten their appetites back since coming home.

Friday was Eli’s first day of preschool. He is in the same classes with Kolby. We got some really cute pictures of him and Kolby dressed up for his first day. He had so much fun and loves school, especially since he is with Kolby – they are such good friends. Steph said that as soon as they got there the boys were off playing and didn’t need her to stick around.

That night the Kearls had asked us to babysit for them so they could go curling. We went to their house to help out, and when they got back some others showed up for cake and ice cream and games. By the time we were done playing Killer Bunnies, it was pretty late, and all the kids were already asleep, so we just decided to spend the night in their front room. It made me feel like I was back in college. Saturday morning Nathan came out around 6:30 with a little flashlight, and when he saw Steph sleeping in the recliner, I guess he thought she was his mom and got really excited that she was out in the front room. He came over and shined the light on her, but when he realized that she wasn’t his mom, he started screaming and ran back to his parents’ bedroom. It was really funny.

Saturday we got to listen to the worldwide leadership training conference over at the church. The topic was on raising a righteous posterity and the focus was on how to better help our kids to learn the gospel in the home and to make sure that we made our homes safe havens from the evils of the world. I thought it was neat how often they spoke about making the sacrifice of faith to have a family while still in school and not making a lot of money, and that if you would obey that commandment to multiply and replenish the earth, then you would be blessed immensely for it. As I look back on our marriage so far, I can definitely see how much we have been blessed and helped as we have tried to follow the counsel of the prophet and keep the commandments. In the conference they also gave advice on things to do to have more love and unity in the home. Steph and I are continually trying to improve on making sure that our children always feel loved and that we are spending good quality time with them. We decided to set up a weekly night out with one of the boys so that we could spend more individual time with them. We will start with Kolby this week. Saturday night we had Peter and Cynthia Hedgecock over for games and had fun catching up on each others lives for the past few months. They brought a new board game that is now our favorite game for the time. It is called Carcassonne and is similar in some respects to Settlers of Katan, but easier to explain and quite a bit faster to play. Basically, you take turn picking up pieces to add to the table as you build up cities with fields and roads and you get points based on what you build.

Sunday was probably the coldest day that we have had so far since being back – the high was only around 10 degrees, and there was a really cold wind blowing all day. Kolby gave a talk in primary on the topic of how the scriptures teach us about Heavenly Father and Jesus. He said that his favorite parts of the scriptures are those about the Lamanites, and his favorite stories are Nephi building the boat, Noah and the Ark, and Ammon and the sheep. He wanted to do the talk without our help and he did a good job with the primary president helping him. I am really looking forward to next month when Camden will be old enough to go to nursery, because one of us ends up spending the hour in the hall with him because he just doesn’t want to be quiet. :) I also got released from my calling as the ward physical facilities representative and my assignment as the stake building coordinator. For now I will just be doing home teaching, which is different, especially since I have had those callings for almost the whole time we’ve been in Milwaukee.

After church we had dinner over at the Hedgecocks. Peter is an excellent cook and we love eating his food. He made us salmon that was so delicious. I had to run for a few hours to do my home teaching with Jason. We had fun catching up on the lives of Steve and Kara and Kyle and Tracy and their kids. When I got back to the Hedgecocks we got the kids in bed and then played another round of Carcassonne. We are so grateful to have such wonderful friends here in Milwaukee and are not looking forward to possibly having to leave them when I graduate.

Grandpa McIntosh also had his back surgery on Wednesday. It sounds like everything went well, although things were a lot worse than the doctors had thought once they got in and started working. He is out of the ICU but had to have a blood transfusion Sunday night. It is good to hear that he is continually improving, if not as fast as he had hoped. You are in our prayers grandpa and we hope that this will help to alleviate some of the pain you have been dealing with for so long.

We hope everyone else is doing well and love hearing from you.

Winter in Milwaukee

I know I complain about the winter here in Milwaukee, but there are some nice things about it:

• If I don’t feel like bringing in the groceries from the car, it is cold enough to just leave them in the trunk until Michael gets home from work to help me.

• My children’s constant runny noses that last all winter long here make me look forward to visiting my family in San Diego where the noses clear up almost immediately.

• We don’t have to wait for the water from our kitchen sink faucet to cool down – it is always nice and cold right away.

• Every once in a while the schools and businesses close for a snow day.

• It’s nice to stay inside sometimes and light some candles, wear fuzzy slippers, and wrap up in a blanket to get cozy – as long as you don’t have anywhere to go.

• The snow provides an opportunity for service – there is always someone in need of shoveling their car out or giving their car a push.

• The few times that there is a big snowstorm, it is really fun to bundle up the kids and go out to play for a few minutes, as long as it isn’t too cold and windy.

• Hot chocolate.

• Sometimes it’s fun to change up your wardrobe twice a year when the sweaters come out and then when they go back away again.

• The snow is really quite pretty after it falls (and before the cars drive by and make it all grey by the sides of the roads).

Actually, we had a beautiful big storm yesterday and then went out to play in the snow with the boys last night and it was very nice. As long as there is enough snow that Michael doesn’t have to go to work and all of the kids’ classes and appointments get cancelled so we don’t have to go out in it with all the kids, it is really nice to have a big storm every once in a while. But I have to say, visiting San Diego in December and being able to walk outside with the kids to play in the yard barefoot sure is a pleasant contrast to the lengthy bundling and un-bundling event that takes place every time I have to take the kids out of the house in the winter here.

La Crosse, Wisconsin Dells, and back to Milwaukee

So, I started writing our ‘weekly update’ in the car on our drive to Michael’s interview in La Crosse on Thursday, and I haven’t had a chance to finish it until now. So, I’ll go from where I left off. (Things have been crazy with being away for so long and then trying to catch up and get everything reorganized after returning home, and I am hoping to get back on a better schedule of Michael and I writing our weekly updates every week).

So, Michael’s interview went well in La Crosse. The night before his interview we went to visit some families who were in our ward in Milwaukee last year and are now in La Crosse for their residencies. We went to the Kennard’s house and visited with Julie and her kids, and Stephanie Sharp and her daughter came over too. It was nice to see them and for Michael to ask some questions about the transitional year program there too. Then we slept in the hotel in La Crosse that night (we were glad to find that it had two beds so that we didn’t have to have the boys in our bed with us). So Michael and I shared a bed, Kolby and Eli shared a bed, Camden was in the play pen, and Isaac slept in his car seat – I think it’s pretty amazing that we were able to get them all to sleep in the same room! In the morning the boys and I went back again to Julie’s house and Stephanie came over again too, so the kids had fun playing together while Michael had his interview. He said that the interview went well and he liked the program, all except for how cold it was there. But from the pictures we have seen it looks like La Crosse is a pretty place, especially in the Autumn, and Michael was interested when someone mentioned that it was a nesting ground for a lot of bald eagles in the spring time (his favorite animal).

After lunch we headed out for Wisconsin Dells, which is between La Crosse and Milwaukee, and is known as the water park capitol of the world. We were very grateful to receive so many interview invitations, but at the same time Michael and I were both happy to celebrate the end of this long process. It was a nice feeling to drive away from that last interview, knowing that we have done everything that we can and now we just need to wait and find out what happens on match day (March 20th).

So, then we had a fun little family vacation at the Dells. We stayed at the Wilderness resort, which was fun for the boys because there were all sorts of forest animals displayed in the lobbies and restaurant at the hotel, and they were very excited to ask me what each one was. We checked into our room and had a nice dinner, then get changed and went swimming at the water park. There were three water parks all associated with that resort, and each one was connected by walk ways through the hotel, so it was nice to see the snow through the windows, but not to have to walk through it to go swimming. The first water park we went to that night ended up being our favorite of the three. It had a lazy river with inner tubes that went around the whole room, a little toddler area with a little slide and swings that bounced in the water, a larger play area for older kids that had a huge bucket that dumped a thousand pounds of water every few minutes, and some big slides for adults that Michael went on. First we went on the lazy river – we each had a two-person tube and Michael had Eli and Camden and I held Isaac while Kolby sat on the other part of my tube. It was nice and relaxing, and Isaac was quite content for several laps around the river until we went under a little waterfall and he got wet. After that we wrapped him in a towel and he quickly fell asleep in my arms. Camden enjoyed the bouncy swings and Kolby and Eli each took turns going down the baby slide. Michael enjoyed some of the slides while I had fun watching the boys play. Then I took Kolby and Eli into the kids play area and we each went down a water slide that I thought was pretty big for them – it was about 20 feet tall and looped back and forth a few times – they loved it! And they really liked playing where the water sprayed out on them. Towards the end all three boys were getting closer and closer to the giant bucket of water each time it dropped. And when the park closed at 10pm none of us wanted to leave. The life guards even had to blow their whistles to tell the boys they had to get out.

So, our hotel room was a little bigger there – it had two beds and then it had an area separated by a wall with a couch that folded out into a third bed. Kolby and Eli actually slept there in the same bed so we had one bed that we didn’t use because Camden was in the playpen again. In the morning we went on a little tour of their timeshare condos (because they told us they would take $50 off our hotel bill if we took their tour). The condos were amazing – their 2-bedroom condo was nicer than our apartment and the 4-bedroom was amazing. And then, of course, they said all sorts of things to try to get us to buy into their timeshare plan, but we told them we needed to save for a house before we could do something like that. It was funny, because the lady said she didn’t want our house money, just our vacation money because this deal would save people money on vacations in the long run (I guess she didn’t understand that the one night in that hotel was our only vacation – other than staying with family for free – that we had taken in two years). After the tour we went to the second water park.

This one had a children’s area and toddler area that were similar to the first park, and it also had a ‘beach’ area with waves. And along with the adult water slides there was a family slide with a big raft for four people. The water was colder in the children’s area than in the first park, but it was warm at the beach, so we went there first. Kolby, Eli, and Camden rode in an inner tube and then waded near Michael and I when the waves started up. Isaac slept in his car seat on the side while we were in there (it worked out pretty well, but we found that a water park vacation would probably be ideal if our youngest child was at least Camden’s age – then we wouldn’t have to worry about the baby getting cold, having a dry place to sleep if he got worn out, or needing to stop and take a bottle). Michael went and did some slides, and when he came back I took Kolby and Eli on the family raft ride. It went through a large tunnel in the dark – the tunnel went outside the building and came back in, and it went pretty fast. I was actually pretty nervous going on it – I know there’s no reason to worry because hundreds of people have gone on the ride and been fine, but I am afraid of heights and even climbing the stairs (50 or 60 feet up) gave me butterflies. But I’m determined not to let the boys see my fear of heights so that they won’t miss out on fun things like that (and so they hopefully won’t develop that fear either). Kolby said he liked the ride but didn’t want to go again, and Eli loved it, so he and Camden went with me the second time. Then the boys went with Michael on some slides in the children’s area. Camden fell asleep in the stroller – it was pretty cute with him in his life vest, wrapped in towels. When he woke up he was cold and grumpy, and we decided to stop for lunch.

After lunch we went to the third park. It had a large beach area, a little toddler area, and some slides. That park was in one giant room with a glass roof so that people could get tan year-round and plants could grow indoors. So it was kind of fun to have palm trees and ferns growing around the seating areas. All three older boys really liked the little slide in the toddler area and went down it over and over. And Camden also found some play pipes with a big handle that he could turn to make water spray out, which kept him occupied for quite a while. Kolby liked the beach part, and wanted to play in the inner tubes there, but by that time Eli had gotten cold and was quite fussy, so we didn’t spend much time in that area. By the end Eli and Camden were cold and tired, and Isaac had to have a bottle, so we stopped for a dinner break. After dinner we only had a couple of hours left before the water parks closed, so we decided not to get everyone changed back into their swimsuits again. Instead we stopped at the indoor playground and let the boys play a while. Another incentive we got for the timeshare tour was 80 free arcade tokens, so we let Kolby and Eli play some games. They were excited to get tickets, and they traded them in for bouncy balls with plastic fish in the middle. They were all ready to go by the end of the night, and all four boys fell asleep as soon as we got them in the car. It was a really fun little trip – I just wished we had more time to enjoy it. We kept thinking that it would be fun to go back again with friends –especially since it is so close. We had thought that the Dells were 6 or 8 hours from Milwaukee before we looked into going there, and when we found out that it was only 2 hours from here, we wished we had made the trip earlier.

So, Sunday was our first official day back home. Church switched to 1pm, so we had some time in the morning to start getting organized after returning home. We unpacked all of the suitcases from our San Diego trip and started to put things away, although we ended up with piles of folded clothes, papers, and other odds and ends covering our bed (we slept on the couches that night before finishing putting everything away the next day). I wanted to make a batch of bread that morning before church, but ran out of time with all the stuff we had to do, so I’ll have to get to that another time. Church was really nice – so many people welcomed us back and seemed like they had missed us here. I kept thinking it will be difficult to move from our friends when we go for residency in a few months. Everyone commented on Kolby and Eli’s haircuts and how old Kolby looked. And a few people complimented me on how I looked, (since we were in the hospital so much after Isaac was born and then we left for two months, the last time most people here saw me I was pregnant, so I’m sure I look a lot different), but it was still nice to hear.

After church we had lunch and then tried to rush and get the Christmas tree and all the decorations taken down that were still up in our apartment. We almost got all the ornaments put away before the Kearls came over for dinner. It was fun to see them again. We put the kids down to bed and played a new game that we got for Christmas, Blokus, and then just talked.

Then Monday was my first real day back home with just me and all four boys. Kolby and Eli would have started their preschool class at the YMCA, but Eli had his 3-year-old check-up scheduled for that morning. We got off to a late start in the morning, and it was about 10 minutes until the doctor’s appointment, and I only had two kids ready to go. Camden was still asleep and Isaac was taking a bottle, so I thought I should be realistic that I wouldn’t make it to the appointment on time, and I called. I told them I could try, but didn’t think I would be able to make it, so they rescheduled. So I was feeling pretty bad that the boys were missing their preschool class and the doctor’s appointment, and I rushed and got them all ready super quick to see if we could still make it to the doctor’s office. I called several times before we left to see if we could still come, but their phone was busy, so I just decided to go. We got there only 10 minutes after the appointment time, but the receptionist told me she had already scheduled someone else for that time. She probably thought I was crazy when I started crying. I walked out of the office and calmed down, then I returned and told her I was just really stressed and rescheduled for later on. I wasn’t really stressed, but thought that seemed like the easiest explanation – it probably would have seemed even more strange if I had attempted to explain that on top of feeling bad about the boys missing preschool for no good reason, the idea of packing all the kids back into the car again and then having to get them re-dressed in all their winter layers and bring them all back to the office again later that afternoon for when we had rescheduled the appointment was just too overwhelming. But oh well, you just do what you have to do. So we went to the grocery store and got all stocked up after our trips. Then we went to Target to make a return and get a few more things. (Taking the kids home, taking off all their layers, and then just having to re-layer and get them all in the car again for the appointment later didn’t sound fun, so I was trying to stay out until the appointment, but just ended up wearing the kids out and coming home with a couple hours still to go before the appointment. I was very relieved when Michael got off early (he has a very nice rotation this month) and he kept the other boys while I took Eli to the doctor’s office. (I think I am getting into the hang of being back with all the boys now, and not feeling so overwhelmed by such little things). Eli’s appointment went well. He is healthy, and he is about 37 inches tall and 33 pounds. That night we finished putting away everything from the trip, which felt nice. And we had a fun little family home evening. We also moved the piano back out into the front room where the Christmas tree had been, and it’s nice to have that out again so Michael can play for us.

On Tuesday we had a good day at home, getting more things organized after coming home. That evening I went to a fun little enrichment at Julie Williams’ house where we made family home evening jars with ideas in them for family night lessons, scriptures, and songs. And last night we watched the news because it was Super Tuesday. I was disappointed that Mitt Romney didn’t do as well as I had hoped he would do in that part of the election, but it looks like he’s not dropping out yet. I hadn’t really researched the different candidates’ views on the issues yet, but I listened to a speech by Romney in December and was really impressed. I guess you never know how things will turn out.

This morning it has been snowing a ton. Michael and the other student in his rotation were told to stay home for the storm (which he hasn’t been told before on any other rotation). It’s been nice to have him home, for both of us to be able to get a lot done today, and the Kearls just called and are coming over tonight, so that will be really fun too. I’m glad we’re staying inside today. Michael ran to the store earlier, and I heard the tires spinning and went out to help him get out of the parking spot. I ran up and started pushing the van, and I slipped and my hand caught on the license plate holder. It cut my wrist a little and broke the plate holder in half. But we were able to get the van out. The news earlier was saying there is supposed to be up to about 20 inches of snow before this storm is over, so the preschool classes, swim lessons, and Isaac’s doctor’s appointment were all cancelled today. So, hopefully all of our Milwaukee friends are staying nice and warm inside today too.