Easter Event with Emilie

We took the boys up to Draper for the Easter Event by Photo By Emilie.  Emilie has a mini photo session for kids where there are live bunnies for the kids to hold and get Easter pictures with.  The boys did great and LOVED holding the bunnies.  Those bunnies are SO patient--they get man-handled all day by all the little kids and don't even flip out :)

Ryan thought Emilie was HILARIOUS!

Jake eating his treats from Emilie at the Easter event.

Ryan playing with the cool stuff he got from his treat bag.

After we were done with pictures, we drove up to Orson Gygi to look around.  Jim and I both love that store!  Thank goodness it is so far away from us or we'd spend way too much money there.

Afterwards, we went and got lunch at Noodles & Company--Ryan's request.  The boys had pretty much had it after lunch so we headed home.  The boys napped all the way home.  We even had to stop at the mall in Orem so I could do an exchange and they stayed asleep.

Clint called while we were on our way home to see if he could borrow a drill.  He had found a better option by the time we could get home so we just stopped by to see the projects he has been working on at his house.

I'm not sure why, but Ryan kept calling Clint "the policeman"??  It was pretty funny though.

Jim and Clint (being a dork, of course)

Clint's new dog, Captain Jack--with his creepy, two colored eyes.

The boys loved playing with Captain Jack.

Jim and I decided to do a little yard work when we got home.  We de-thatched the back lawn and it was HARD work.  It was so hot outside, and then to rake dead grass in the hot sun.  Whew!  We got 7 huge bags of dead grass out of our back lawn.  Hopefully it'll help our back lawn grow nice and lush this year :)

Little Mechanics

Lacy and I went shopping this afternoon to get some much needed Easter shopping done.  Let's be honest, we have haven't been shopping/ran errands in quite a while so we needed our fix :)  We were out pretty much all day.  We went to the gym early this morning, came home to get ready, and left again to shopping.  We had a great time.

When I got home, my boys were outside.  Jim was using his tools to fix the lawn mower so they used the tools to fix their jeeps. They were totally into it--little mechanics! :)

Fieldtrip to Two Jacks

Ryan's preschool class took a field trip to Two Jacks today aka the pizza store.  Jim had the day off so he was able to come on the field trip with us.  He was thrilled :)  On the way to the field trip, I realized I had left my camera at home.  Miss Tiffany came to the rescue and shared some of her pictures with me so I could blog about it, of course!

Class time was changed to 10am.  

We got to Two Jacks around 10:15am and started to learn how to make pizzas.

The pizza guy showed the kids all of the different kinds of topping and then let them feel the pizza dough.  He threw that dough away after all of the kids had touched it, thank goodness :)  He then showed them how he spreads out the pizza dough so he can make a pizza.  He made a couple of pizzas for the kids, put them in the hot oven, and then we went in the back to see some other cool pizza things.

The pizza guy showed us how they shred their cheese.  The mozzarella cheese comes in a big block that that huge stand mixer grates.  It grated the hole brick of cheese in like 15 seconds.  It was amazing :)  He then let all of the kids taste the cheese.  The mixer also cuts their onions and a few other toppings.  Ryan asked if he could try the onions, lol.  I didn't let him :)

We went back out and found a seat so the kids could eat the pizzas that were made for them.  Jake was in heaven because he got to sit up just like the rest of the kids and eat pizza and have root beer.

The kids enjoying their pizza.

After the kids were done eating, we got the mandatory class picture and then headed back to preschool.

Ryan and Jake had a lot of fun on the pizza store field trip.  I even learned a bit, too!

Ry's Follow Up with Dr. Matheson

After Ryan's 4 year old check up with the pediatrician and finding he has poor growth, I've been wondering if his steroid inhaler is the culprit for his growth problem.  I decided to make an appointment with Dr. Matheson to talk about Ryan's current allergy medications.

Ryan's appointment was at 10:15am.  I opted to skip the gym this morning and not go a sweaty mess to the appointment.  Some how the morning got away from me--couldn't be that I spent an extra 40 minutes in bed could it :)  Needless to say, I was rushing to get ready and get us out the door so we weren't late to the appointment.

Turns out, it only takes about 20 minutes to get to Dr. Matheson's office from our house not the full 30 minutes I had allotted so we were only about 3 minutes late.  Not too shabby considering...

The allergy clinic just got a new computer system so we had to update our information, they took new copies of our insurance cards, and they took a picture of Ryan for their files (must be a new thing because the ENT office took a picture of Jake at his doctor's visit, too).  He was so cute and said "cheese" on cue.  I would like a copy of that picture :)

The nurse came and took us back to a room shortly after we got there.  We talked about why we were there.  When I told her we'd like to see about weening Ry off of his steroid inhaler, she looked at me like I was cah-razy!  She still wrote down my request and told me the doctor would be in shortly.

Dr. Matheson's office is in the doctor's park south-west of Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.  His office looks down on a dentist office.  My boys thought it was cool to "spy" on the dental office.  They would ask me what those guys were doing?  They were people in the dental chair waiting to have work done, etc.  Too funny.

Dr. Matheson came in shortly after.  We discussed Ryan's current medications and if they were possibly linked to his poor growth.  Dr. Matheson explained to me that asthma, if left untreated, could permanently stunt growth.  Whereas the medications used to treat asthma only temporarily stunt growth and make it so Ry can breath and function normally.  We decided to try cutting down on using the steroid inhaler--so instead of 2 puffs twice a day, we are going to try 2 puffs once a day.

I also told the doctor about Ryan's reaction to pistachios that he had while in Levan a while back.  Dr. Matheson decided we should probably have Ryan tested for allergies to nuts so we are to come back in a couple weeks so he can have more allergy testing done.

For now, we'll cut back on Ry's steroid inhaler to see if that helps his growth.  He is going to continue with his other medications, too.

Jake's ENT Appointment

I took Jake to the ear, nose, and throat doctor today.  Since November 2010, we noticed Jake was really nasal-y, snores loudly (so loud Jim and I could hear him in our bedroom and Jake's bedroom is down the hall from us), and just cant really breathe that red hot through his nose.

I mentioned this to Dr. Fullmer at Jake's 2 year old check-up.  The dr. gave us a couple of options and we decided to try the less evasive option and have used a nose spray on Jake since he was 2.  He's now almost 3 and he still sounds very nasaly to me.  

While Jim was in Korea, Jake came in and slept with me one night.  During that night, he snored so loud it woke me up, his breathing was irregular, and sometimes he wouldn't breathe for a few seconds.  It was scary to me--I had a hard time getting back to sleep.  This is when I decided to make an appointment with an ENT for Jake.

After waiting 2 weeks for the referral to get approved by our insurance (seriously, so frustrating!), we finally were able to get Jake to the dr.

Dr. Ence checked in Jake's ears.  He has fluid in his right ear, which isn't that big of a concern.  BUT, if the fluid doesn't go away within 3 months it could have the tendency to cause problems.

Jake's tonsils are enlarged, but not large enough at this time to cause concern.  As the doctor put it, he wasn't "impressed" with the size of his tonsils even though they are larger than most 2 year olds.

We decided to change Jake's nasal spray to from Flonase to Nasonex to see if that makes any difference.  We're also going to take Jake back in 3 months to see if there is still fluid in Jake's right ear and to possibly use a scope to go through his nose to see what his adenoids look like.

I just hope he can either outgrow whatever problem he has that is causing to be "nasaly" or we can figure out the problem.

Baby Landon's Blessing Day

This morning we went to church in Saratoga Springs to watch Cory blessing baby Landon.  Cory did such a great job on the blessing.  Landon didn't make a peep during it either; he's such a good baby.

After church, we went back to Cory and Annie's clubhouse and had a luncheon.  The town homes where they live just finished putting in the play ground so my boys had a blast playing.  The weather was perfect, too.

As we were getting ready to go, Jim hurried and changed Jake in the trunk of the car.  Well, he set the keys down in the trunk while he changed Jake, and without thinking, he shut the trunk and failed to grab the keys. The car was locked.

Jim had to borrow Cory and Annie's car, drive to Spanish Fork to get our spare set of keys, and drive back to Saratoga Springs.  The boys and I stayed and played/visited while Jim went to get the keys.

The McEwan's

The Eyre Family

Isn't that the sweetest little face!  So cute!!

Aunt Julee and baby Landon

Annie's niece, Lucy

Ryan thinks its ok to just drop his drawers where ever and when ever and go pee!  He felt the urge so he dropped his drawers under the play ground and took care of business!  We've told him numerous times that this isn't ok, ugh.

My turn to hold baby Landon.  He snuggled right in and took a little snoozer.  I must have put out the sleepy vibes :)

Jim made it back a little over an hour after he left.  The boys were more than ready to go.  They didn't make it 2 blocks and they were both fast asleep in their seats.  They even stayed asleep after we got home and took another hour nap.  Jim and I even got a little rest.

We're so glad we were able to go see baby Landon get blessed.  He's such a cute, good baby.

Congrats Cory, Annie, and Landon!

Hunger Games!

We had a Girls Night Out tonight.  I thought it was well deserved this time since Jim has been gone for weeks :)  He didn't complain when I went though--he's good to me.

We decided to get tickets to the movie theater at Thanksgiving Point.  It has reserved seating so we wouldn't have to go hours before and wait in line to fight for a seat.  Let me tell you, it was worth the extra driving time.  Every theater should do reserved seating!

We went to dinner before the movie at Texas Roadhouse in American Fork.  Even though we made a reservation, they took forever to seat us and so we were in a rush.  THEN, Melissa had a nasty pube on her plate!  SO gross!!  When she showed it to our waiter, he had the manager come over and try to explain that it was just one of their brushes they use to put butter on the steaks while they're cooking.  BUT, he said the bristles are yellow.  Umm, this was definitely a black hair.  Melissa even took a picture of it with her phone.  The manager didn't even apologize.  He did comp Melissa's meal though and got her another steak.  But, she had to have it put in a to-go box because we were way short on time.

We made a mad dash to Thanksgiving Point, grabbed some popcorn as fast as we could, and ran into the theater.  Thank goodness no one had sat in our seats (I'd heard horror stories of people just sitting wherever they wanted to even though the seats were reserved causing some issues, ugh) and we only missed a few minutes of the beginning of the movie.

The movie was GREAT!  I'm so glad I finished the book before seeing the movie though.  The book has so much more detail and it made the movie make more sense.  I am NOT a reader and I would highly recommend reading this book.  I'm dying to read the second book now!

I had to get a picture of us--I'm a picture whore :)  From L to R: Linda, Me, Lacy, Merissa, Melissa, Robin (with her eyes closed, sorry), and Tiffany.  Yes, Tiffany had to bring her blanket, which made her fall asleep in the movie!  Yes, she fell asleep.  She hasn't read the book though...

Another picture since Robin had her eyes closed in the first picture.  She's just groping Melissa in this picture, ha ha.

On our way out of the movie, Melissa was hysterically laughing at Tiffany so we had to see what she was laughing at.  Tiffany had a piece of pepper stuck in her tooth and at 11p it was super funny!  Melissa is Tiffany's sister so it was ok for her to make a scene of the pepper in her tooth.

Then, Tiffany had her blanket wrapped around her on the way out.  She had her purse under the blanket with her so it made her look like she had a huge butt!  We got a good laugh over that, too.  Poor Tiffany was at the butt of our jokes after the show :)

Robin workin' the camera :)

One more picture for good measure :)  You can never have too many pictures, right?

I had such a great time with this gals tonight!  The movie was great and the company was, too.  Can't wait until we can go again.

De-Thatching the Front Lawn

Jim made it home last night--I won't lie, I was SO glad to see him walk through the door.  Ryan and Jake were, too.  While Jim was gone (mostly towards the beginning of the trip), my boys would ask if dad was coming home or they would cry for Jim.  They really missed him and didn't understand how long he really would be gone.  We're all glad he is back :)

Today was such a nice day out, we decided to do a little yard work.  Well, Jim de-thatched the front lawn; I soaked up some sun and read the Hunger Games.  I'm going to the movie tomorrow night and I HAVE to finish the book before I see the movie!!

Ryan had to have his new sunglasses on to do yard work.

The boys were more than happy to help Jim mow.  They had to get their lawn mowers out, too, and were right behind Jim as he mowed.  This made it super fun for Jim, ha ha.

It was a bit windy while Jim was mowing.  The grass was bothering Ryan's allergies so his eyes were itching and his nose was running.  It got to the point that Ryan was freaking out and telling Jim to stop mowing!  It didn't help that Ryan was playing in piles of dead grass--yet it was all Jim's fault that his eyes were itching :)

And, I ended up finishing my book!  I just didn't shower until 8pm, neglected my family, and didn't do any house work :)  Everyone needs days like that though, right?

Taco Tuesday

Julee is staying at Annalisa's house while Cory is out of town for work for a few days.  Julee knew Jim was out of town, too, so she arranged for a Taco Tuesday night.  I brought the taco fixings and Annie and Julee made the meat, taco shells, and cheese for the tacos.  I also made home made Oreos for a treat.  

I wasn't sure if my boys would eat a taco or not so I stopped at McDonald's and got them a happy meal for dinner :)

Troy, Julee's boyfriend, also came for dinner.  I was glad he was there.  He kept my boys entertained while I chatted with the girls.  Thanks Troy!  I'm not sure he was too glad he got to quasi-babysit though, ha ha.

Troy wrestling with Ryan and Jake

Taco Tuesday was a success.  The taco's were AWESOME!  Annie had made rice for the tacos that was really good.  She also heated up some refried beans that made the tacos so good, too. Yum!

Weekend with Grandma & Grandpa Mangelson

Thursday March 15, 2012:

Today we got up later than usual (only because we go to bed abnormally late).  I decided to go for another run around Levan.  It was plenty warm (40 degrees and rising) to go running when I got up around 8:15am, but I took my time getting my protein shake, getting the boys breakfast, etc.  I didn't get ready to go until 9:45am and then I had to hurry.  

My mom and I had planned on going to Nephi today to steam clean my Granny J's floor, but when my mom called to see what time we should come in, she asked if we could drive her to her hair appointment that was at 11:30am.  We would have to leave Levan by 11:10am in order to pick up Grandma J. and get her to her hair appointment on time.  If I still went running, I wouldn't have time to  really fix my hair.  But that was fine because I didn't want to get all dolled up to go and clean :)

I left to go running a little before 10am and was back by 10:35am.  I ran 3 miles and that includes my warm up walk to the church--not bad for me :)  I was proud that I ran all the way up the road to the canyon without stopping--that's an improvement for myself.

When I got back, I did a quick stretch and then hurried to get ready.  I just threw my hair up in a ponytail so I was ready by 11am--again, not bad for me :)  I was standing in the kitchen when my mom came out, ready to leave.  She thought I had just got back from running and was ready to leave without me.  I obviously didn't look too red hot, lol.

We jetted into Nephi and picked up Grandma J.  We had called her when we turned up her street so she could come out and jump in the car.  We got her to Dana's at 11:32am, whew!

Fros-T-Freez recently re-opened in Nephi so we decided to give it a try for lunch.  It was really good, all the grease just made my stomach a little ugh feeling afterwards.  We ate and then got to cleaning.

The boys chillin' watching a little t.v. at Granny J's house.

My mom and I cleaned until about 3pm.  By that time, my boys were more than ready to go.  I won't lie--my mom and I were ready, too.  When we got back to Levan, we put a movie on for the boys and we all fell asleep on the couch!  It was so nice to have a nap!

When we woke up, my mom and dad got ready and went to the Caucus meetings at 7pm.  The boys and I stayed home.  We rode bikes and wiggle cars outside--the boys even rode their bikes around the block!  They thought that was pretty cool. We came back inside and made breakfast for dinner.  Jake spilled his orange juice all over the floor.  Rather than just wipe it up, I decided to steam clean my mom's floor.  It was after 8pm, but I figured that the boys had had such a long nap that we could go to bed later. 

I thought my mom and dad would come home mid-cleaning, but they didn't get home until nearly 10 pm!  Ryan and Jake didn't want to go to bed since grandma and grandpa were finally home.

We didn't get to bed until after midnight...

Friday March 16, 2012:

We got up even later today than we did yesterday--it was after 9am when I woke up.  Jake got up later than that!  I decided to take a break from running (since that's the only exercise I can do while in Levan) today.  

We had our normal morning, got breakfast and got ready for the day.  Charlie was bringing Max and Katie down to stay over so the boys waited for them to show up.

They showed up around 1pm.  We all ate lunch and then decided to go to the park to play.  We stayed at the park for an hour or so.  There were a bunch of broken off limbs from the wind blowing so hard.  We decided to put them in grandpa's truck and take them to the dump.  After the dump, we went to the store and got the boys a ring pop.  They thought that was pretty neat :)

The rest of the day we just played and had fun.

Saturday March 17, 2012:

Today is St. Patrick's Day so we had to celebrate.  We made green pancakes for breakfast.  

Ryan and Max eating their green pancakes with more cooking on the griddle.

Ryan finished his pancake.  Not sure what Jake's problem was...just being his crabby little self :)

Even Miss Katie got her own green pancake!

I decided to go for a run after we got breakfast cleaned up (I actually left the griddle out so I could have a pancake when I got back from running).  It was windy and getting cold so I had to go or I would lose my chance.

It was so windy while I was running that when I ran against the wind I'm pretty sure it looked like I was walking!  I felt like I was barely moving.  When I turned the corner and headed away from the wind, that's when I realized the wind had blown my headband out of my hair!  BUT, I had ran this far without stopping so I just kept going.

I had to go to Nephi this afternoon to pick up a couple items at the grocery store for dinner.  When I went in to Nephi, I decided to drive my running route to see if I could find my headband.  I never thought I would find that thing--the wind was blowing so hard I thought it would be blown into a field by now.  Plus, its a thin, black headband...I just didn't think I would find it.  BUT, I actually found it.  I was so happy.

We stayed inside to play for the bulk of the day since a storm was blowing in, but we had fun.

After dinner, we made leprechaun floats with lime sherbet and sprite.  They were way sugary but still pretty tasty.  The boys liked them.  

The boys enjoying their green floats.

Funny story, just after I got the boys' floats poured Jake knocked his over.  It went all over the floor.  My dad flipped out (just a normal reaction) and it made Jake feel bad so he ran off crying.  My dad went and found him and brought him back.  We made him a new float and all was better.

When I got Jake in the tub he looked at me and said, "People get mad when you knock your float over."  I nearly died laughing.  Too funny!

Charlie and Eli came and picked up Max and Katie around 9pm to go home.  We all had a good time playing with them while they were at Grandma's.

Sunday March 18, 2012:

We woke up with intentions of going to church today, BUT we had a minor problems...the power was out.  It went off around 8:30a and we had no idea how long it would be out.  Of course, I needed to wash my hair, I hadn't got our clothes ironed last night, and just plain hadn't gotten anything prepared beforehand.  The later it got in the morning, the more I realized there was no way we'd be able to make it to church on time even if the power came back on.  The sad thing is, Madeline was speaking in church and we were going to miss it :(  Emilee called down and said she had spoke with the Bishop and they were still going to have church.

While the power was out, I got caught up on my stack of magazines that I had brought down to read but hadn't read yet.  Ryan kept asking to watch a movie or play on the computer.  He just didn't quite understand that all of those things require power.

The power finally came on around 1pm.  What a relief!  We started to make lunch and make my dad a German Chocolate birthday cake--his favorite

The rest of the day we enjoyed having power!  You don't realize how much you depend on having power until it is out!!

Later in the evening, we sang Happy Birthday to my dad and had cake and ice cream to celebrate his birthday.

My dad with his birthday cake.

Blowing out his candles.

The boys and I were going to head home tonight, but with all of the snow we decided to stay one more night in Levan.  Jim is coming home late Wednesday night, too. I can't wait!

The Bean Museum

Ryan's preschool class had a field trip to the Bean Museum today.  I've never heard of the Bean Museum before and had no clue what we would be going to see.  On Sunday, Paula said Nick and Sophie's preschool class went to the Bean Museum and said that it has stuffed animals in there.  I thought it sounded pretty cool.

I thought I might need a little help with Jake since we would be in a museum so I asked my mom if she would come up and go on the field trip with me.  I'm glad she was with me so I wasn't running in all directions trying to keep my boys in line :)

One of the first things you see when you walk into the Bean Museum. 

Ryan and Jake were fascinated with all of the animals.  It was all I could do to get them to stay off of the displays.

A museum worker talked to the kids for a few minutes and showed them some animal skins and real animals.

Here they are feeling a snake skin.

My boys loved touching all that the worker brought around.  Here they are touching a turtle.

My mom was so kind to take pictures of me and my boys.  The two top pictures, we are feeling a lizard.  I love the bottom left picture, Jake is so excited to see the snake!

The museum worker talking to the kids about the snake, eww.

After the worker was finished, we took the kids around the museum to see the rest of what was on display.

All of the preschool kids.

When we were getting in the car, Ryan looked at this tree and said, "Look mom, that tree has an eye!"  So observant :)

After the museum, we made a quick stop at Costco, picked up our bags in Spanish Fork, and then made our way to Levan for the rest of the week.  Since Ryan got kicked out of day care, I figured we'd go stay in Levan; we had no reason to stay home.

We brought the boys' bikes down to Levan so they could ride around.  They were having a blast riding around.  My dads daffodils are starting to bloom.  They look so pretty.

Ry playing on the rock.

My boys have this new bad habit of playing games on the website coolmathgames.com.  The bad things is, Ryan totally knows how to run the mouse and play the games, yikes!  It's helping him learn and get hand/eye coordination though, right? LOL!

I LOVE Jake's face in the top right corner.  He looks so mischievous!

This will be our last week/weekend in Levan until Jim comes home.  Yay!