Back to School

Kenzie started school on Monday, Cierra started school on Tuesday, and Caden started school (toddler class through EI) this morning. The girls are both doing good and haven't had too many complaints so far. Caden did great when I left him this morning, but was crying when I got there to pick him up. Hopefully next week will be better for him. Here are some pics!

A new baby in the family!

Ben and Karen added #3 to their family this morning. Parker Johnson was born at 7:15am and weighed 7lbs 12oz. Congrats Johnson Family!!! We're excited to have another nephew and we can't wait for Jaklynn to join our family this week, too.

A camping we will go, a camping we will go........

Erick and I had been promising the kids all summer that we would take them camping. Well, somehow the summer passed us by pretty quickly and all of the sudden we only had a couple weekends left to go camping before school started. Erick couldn't get work off either weekend, but I decided that I would be just fine with the kids until Erick got off of work each day. BAD IDEA! We got up to The Spruces Friday afternoon (after getting up at 6am and going up there to reserve a campsite) and the kids were so excited, except Caden who cried because he was in a different place and well, he just doesn't like new places. I was confident that I could get the tent set up without a problem. Not the case. I tried forever and then Kenzie and I tried forever and then Kenzie tried by herself forever and we had no luck. When we got the tent earlier this year, Erick set it up and promptly threw away the instructions because he said that it was so easy that he didn't need them anymore (thanks again honey!) I called Erick near tears and he was able to leave work a little bit early to come and rescue us and get the tent set up. But he got stuck in traffic and it took him an hour and a half to get there. Erick finally arrived around dinner time and got the tent set up in five minutes flat. So then we were finally able to unload the car and get dinner started. The rest of the evening went great. The kids had a blast feeding the chipmunks and watching them stand on their hind legs and eat. We roasted marshmallows and made smores and everyone went to sleep just fine. The next morning, Erick had to go into work again bright and early, so I was alone with the kids again. The morning went just fine. Everyone ate and got dressed and brushed teeth and so on. My Mom and sisters were planning on coming up and eating lunch with us and it was about mid morning that I realized that we had no shade, I mean zero shade by the eating area. So the kids and I hopped in the car and drove down the canyon to Target to buy a canopy. We found a great deal and headed back up to the campsite. I was again confident that I could put this thing together just fine. I had instructions this time, so it would be easy, right? Wrong yet again. Shortly after starting to set it up, a piece got lodged inside another piece and I spent the next 45 minutes trying to get it out with one of the marshmallow roasters. My persistence paid off when it finally came flying out and then quickly disappeared down the side of the mountain. The girls and I searched and searched, but never found the piece. I gave up and put all the pieces back in the bag and put it in my car. My family came up and we had a great time cooking and eating and talking. It was so nice to have them there to break up the day a little bit. It was about the time that they were leaving that I started to realize that I was in pain. I had gotten sunburned, badly. The kids and I spent the next three hours in the tent because I couldn't stand to be in the sun at all because my burn hurt so bad. I was a very grouchy Mom for a little while. I tried to get everyone to take a nap, but that didn't fly with anyone, especially Caden. When we finally had some shade, we all came out of the tent and spent the next little while feeding the chipmunks and getting things ready for dinner. We were planning to have canned chili. It was about the time that I got everything setup to cook that I realized I hadn't packed a can opener. I seriously wanted to cry. Thanks goodness that Erick got there just in time and figured out how to get them open with a screwdriver and pliers. The rest of the trip was uneventful. We made hot cocoa that night and sat around the fire and talked (except Caden who is terrified of fires, he sat in the van.) Actually Caden spent a good amount of time in the van. I think because it was the only familiar thing there, so he felt safe in it. We had planned to hike Donought Falls Sunday morning, but my sunburn hurt too bad, so we just came home instead. We had several other outings planned, but Caden has such major sensory issues and is so scared of EVERYTHING, that we weren't able to do them. I hope that by next summer he is able to enjoy himself more when we're camping. Today we are still putting things away and folding laundry and unpacking (the joys of trips.) I learned my lesson and will not be camping as a single parent, ever again. Camping with three kids is a two-parent job. But overall, we did have a great time and had some good family time and I'm so glad that we went, despite all of the hardships and I can't wait to go again next summer.

My three happy campers

Caden singing at the top of his lungs

Chippy the chipmunk eating chips of course!

Erick and Cierra starting a fire

This was when I held everyone hostage in the tent

My handsomest boy ever!

Liberty Park

Last week, my Mom planned an outing to Liberty Park with my kids, my sister and her boyfriend, my nephew and me. We stopped at my brother's duplex that he's working on, on the way there. It is looking great and I think that he moves in this week. We ate lunch, played on the playground and then headed over to the little streams and pools. It was also playgroup that day, so a lot of families from our ward were there. My kids were happy to have some friends to play with for a little while. Overall it was a great day. Caden even dared to walk through the streams a few times. Thanks for planning all of it Mom!

Another month, another trial

This morning, Cierra and I, along with Erick and my Mom got up early to go to Primary Children's Hospital to meet with Dr. Lloyd, who is a pediatric neurologist. We went over the results of the EEG that she had last week and discussed all of her symptoms. She is having seizures and they officially diagnosed her with Epilepsy. She is having Complex Partial Seizures and Simple Partial Seizures. They affect only the right side of her brain. We are doing further testing next week (MRI) to make sure that there isn't an underlying cause for her seizures. About 25% of the time, they find a structural abnormality in the brain when people have partial seizures. It's nothing they can fix, but it helps to know that it's there. About 5% of the time, they find a growth of some sort, but that would be a whole different trial and I've had enough trials for the time being, so it's just not going to be that. They started her on medication and hopefully within the coming weeks, we will see a decrease in the amount of seizures that she's having and she can start to feel better. Cierra has really been great throughout all of this. I am so proud of her and I am so proud to be her Mom. Her only worry is about getting a shot, blood test or IV and so far, we've avoided all of those. I love you Cierra-Bear and I really hope you start feeling like yourself again soon!

Being a champ during the EEG

Just Cierra

Family Reunion

This last weekend was Erick's family's reunion. Not all of his siblings were able to make it because of pregancies and other things, but we still all had a great time. Saturday we went to Seven Peaks and Sunday we went up to Heather's parent's new cabin and spent the night. Overall, everything went smoothly. But what would a family reunion be without some kind of injury or accident? Dave and Heather, I'm starting to see a trend here..........lol. Here are some pictures from our weekend.

Caden and Cierra (Cierra was laying down because she didn't feel well)

Caden and his cousin Drew (do you see the family resmeblence?)

My girls and me

Erick and Carter

Erick and I up at the cabin

Cierra and Drew holding their newly caught snakes. I was so proud of Cierra for being brave and holding a snake.

And then it bit her

Bruce and Viv (aka Bubba and Nana) just chillin' at the cabin

Dave and Chuck during the "Variety Show"

Kenzie building her rocket for the rocket launch

The winners of the rocket launch-Caden and Erick

Mackenzie, Caden, and Cierra

The whole family that was there

The cows liked us so much that they didn't want us to leave, so they blocked the road for a little while

Book Group

Last Thursday we had Book Group at Nicole's house. I hadn't read the book, but went anyway. It was so nice to be ME for an evening. Not a Mom or a wife, just me. I had a great time eating yummy food and talking to everyone. We were having such a good time that we all stayed until 1am (I've never been before, maybe they always go until 1am?) Anyway, thanks for a fun night ladies!

Draper Days Parade

I feel like all that I have posted lately are complaints and whining, so I thought I better brighten things up around here. A couple of Saturday's ago, Dave and Heather invited us to go to the Draper Days Parade with them and Heather's family. I had never been and I have been missing out. It was a lot fun. The kids loved all the floats and of course got lots of candy. Caden even seemed to enjoy himself. Heather and I took turns covering his ears for him when the sirens went off, but other than that, everything went fine. After the parade, we went swimming at the Downs' indoor pool and then had a BBQ. It was a great day. Here are some pics from the event. Don't mind Caden, his new favorite thing to do is close his eyes when I'm taking his picture.....silly boy!