Payson, Parowan, and St. George

This last week I made the error of boiling eggs--then forgetting, then going to the park for 3 hours.  When we came home the house was filled with smoke from floor to ceiling.  We have some AWESOME neighbors that have been helping us with cleaning up the smell (thanks Tressa and Ryan).  We decided to get away from the smell and take a little trip down south to St. George.

On our way down, we had a little car trouble and we spent the night at Payson Quality Inn.  The kids LOVED it!  They loved the breakfast the next morning--especially the "Friday Drinks."  (I try to only give my kids sugar drinks once a week, and we chose Friday, so the kids call them 'Friday Drinks.')

The kids (mainly Andrew) needed another break on the way down and we stopped in Parowan which is the cutest little town, and I'm so glad we stopped! 

Shortly after getting to St. George, it was time for a nap.  I love this picture of these two cuties!

Mom and Dad gave Matt this cool spider-man parachute thing.

And we played some croquet. 

That night we went to the park and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

The kids on the train to bed.

The next morning we saw this cool hot air balloon floating directly over mom and dad's house!

Our neighbors, the Cleverlys, are on a mission serving over the St. George Visitor Center.  We stopped by to visit them and they gave us a wonderful tour and it was really fun to be with them!  We love the Cleverlys!

After the temple we went to Brigham Young's Winter Home.

The kids were a little whiny and we didn't last very long. 

And this is my favorite picture from the trip!

Thanks mom and dad!

Busy Andrew

Alphabet Dates--N Date

Darin planned our “N” date.

(Originally he told me we were going NOWHERE with NO one and doing NOTHING)

He invited our friends the NICHOLS to join us.

We went to a NEW restaurant where we’d NEVER been.

We ate dinner at the NACHO house in NORTH Salt Lake.

We played the NOT-so NEWLYwed  game.

Later that NIGHT we watched a show on NETFLIX with NO children.

We often take our kids on the alphabet dates, and I think they were a little sad not to come, but Matt took this picture of us holding one of the kids' bath toys letter N.

#10- Buy a new or refinish my current kitchen table

I am just a little beyond thrilled about my purchase today!!

I was going to refinish my current kitchen table, but I found one today for a really, REALLY good deal!  I couldn't pass it up!  And I am THRILLED!!

Here is my old table.  (That I am grateful I had--thanks to the help of my siblings!)

But, as you can see, it has seen better days.

And here is my NEW table!!
It also has a leaf so it can comfortably fit 8--and more if we squish! 

I didn't think I'd get this one crossed off my 40 before 40 this early, but I am glad I did!

Hooray!

#5 Do the iFly

Well, I did my 1st goal in my 40 before 40--and it probably is my most exciting one!
I did the iFly!!

Darin gave this gift to me for my 30th birthday!  It was a hoot!  I laughed and screamed the whole time!

 Here is a short video (recorded by Matt).

And here is a link to another video HERE.

Surprise #2

Do you know how you can REALLY surprise someone? Throw them a surprise party after they JUST had one!

I was a little sad that Darin was going to have to work late on my birthday, so my sweet sister Heather offered to have me come to her house for dinner at 6:00, but she had to leave at 7:00.  I felt bad to put her out, but I was also REALLY glad to have something to do on my birthday.  I told her that I would bring dessert, because I just got a new tip for my birthday that I wanted to try out.

I was late getting to my sister’s house, and Heather answered the door.  When I walked in, I saw my dad sitting in the family room.  I thought that was so nice of Heather to invite dad, because mom was helping out with the dance recital.  Two seconds later Rick, Heather, Annie, Grace, Ben, Kristy, Eliza, Reese, Greg, Becca, Ellie, Sarah, Rachel, and my mom ALL popped out from behind the couch with,

“SURPRISE!” 

I was SHOCKED!  We went into the kitchen and Heather reused my “Hayleewood” sign, but instead of a “Hollywood” theme, she did a “Bollywood” theme, and did a TON of Indian food!  It was so DELICIOUS, so fun, so cute, and SUCH a SURPRISE!!

I SERIOUSLY have the BEST family in the WORLD!!! 

Thank you SOO SOO  much Heather and Greg!!

Lindsay's MRI

On Wednesday we took Lindsay in to Primary Children’s for an MRI.  She has been “borderline” for the past 3 years and the CT scans weren’t as detailed as her doctor would have liked.  I was a little nervous about the appointment, but it went well.

Before the MRI started the cute nurses (I LOVE PCMC nurses) brought out a treasure box for Lindsay to choose a prize.  Originally she chose a pair of women’s socks, but then she switched to a ballerina Barbie.  When the nurses gave her the sedative they said it might cause short term amnesia. 

We said goodbye to Lindsay, and the nurses where laughing at her because she kept calling the MRI “Tinkerbelle’s cave,” but she couldn’t find Tinkerbelle.  All the red lines that went on her body, Lindsay thought were Tinkerbelle’s tracks. 

When she woke up, the nurses came and brought me to the recovery room.  She was SOO funny coming out of the sedation.  When I came in with the Barbie, Lindsay said, “I chose the Barbie?  I thought I got the socks!”  She downed 3 juice boxes, sting cheese, and crackers.  While she was eating the crackers she said, “mom, could you please ask that lady if I can have some crackers?”  I said, “Lindsay, you are eating crackers!”  She said, “Oh ya.”

After an hour in recovery, I helped Lindsay stand up.  I asked her if she could walk and she said yes.  I let go and she completely collapsed.  We tried again about 5 more times, but she kept falling.  The nurses took her to a table to choose a treat and as she leaned in for the “Roar-ee-ors” (Oreos) she kept leaning and leaning and face planted into the table.  Poor girl!  Darin carried her for the rest of the time.

We had an appointment with her neurosurgeon right after, Dr. Bolo, and Lindsay was so loopy!  She kept saying Bo-lo, Bo-lo, BO-LO!  The doctor measured her head (she and I have the EXACT same size head, and Lindsay head is now bigger than my sisters).  They looked at the scans and said that it look pretty similar to last years, and that they would just continue to weigh the pros and cons of doing another brain surgery.  As for right now, Lindsay is doing well cognitively and physically, so they won’t consider the surgery for at least another year (unless she has side effects like loss of balance, headaches, decrease in academic abilities, etc). 

Dr. Bolo asked Lindsay if she ever had headaches.  She said yes (which surprised me), but then said, “only when I eat ice-cream fast and get a freeze brain.”  It was a great appointment and we are glad she is doing so well!

After the appointment, Darin took us to Market Street (one of my all-time favorites) for lunch.  Lindsay loved EVERYTHING!  When she ate the oysters she said, “Get out of here.  You have got to be kidding me.  This is DELICIOUS!!”  Funny girl!!

This is her brain scan.  The one on the left is this year, the one on the right is last year. If you look at that big 'blob" on the far right of her brain, that is her cyst.  It was the size of a baseball when she was born, and it is even bigger now, but they said as long as it doesn't grow too fast, she will be ok.