Summer Time Means Family Time

I just love summer because that means I get to see my family. Last week Mitch and Amanda came from Arizona to support Brittney in receiving her endowment from the Bountiful Temple. That was really special for Jarin and me because that is "our temple". This was our first time doing an endowment session there together. We actually went back last year on our 10th anniversary to do some sealings. I just love that temple. It brings back some nostalgic feelings.

Mitch, Amanda, and their cute little kids stayed with us for the weekend, which was an ablsolute blast for my kids. Amanda and kids are still here in Utah, but went up north to help with wedding plans. Thayne and Jennifer and their little family will be coming this weekend. My kids can't wait to see their other cousins as well. Kamrie keeps asking if it is Saturday yet and how many days are left until then.

We have a busy week ahead of us. Brittney will be getting sealed to her soon to be husband, Shawn, on Friday. We will be heading up to the Tremonton area and staying the night on Thursday and Friday to get ready for the wedding and reception. On Saturday, we will be celebrating Courtney's birthday (and Kerrie's in my heart) while we are there. That night we will travel home to be with Jennifer and Thayne and to get ready for church the next day, which is bright and early--8:30 AM.

The following week we will be with family from both sides to celebrate the 4th of July and Taylor and Thayne's birthdays, to help Shad and Kati move to their new house in Payson, and just to hang out with everyone while they are visiting from Arizona. Hopefully we can plan some fun activities while everyone is here. We're looking forward to lots of fun over the next two weeks!

Feeling Better

At first I thought whatever Sienna had was viral because of the runny nose. But the red sores/spots on her nose, mouth, and eyes were really confusing me. I always like to look things up online, since we don't have medical insurance, to make sure the symptoms really warrant a trip to the doctor. I couldn't find anything that matched her signs and symptoms. However, when I got sick on Thursday, I was feeling so incredibly lousy that I started to think maybe it could be bacterial, but hoped it wasn't. By Friday, my tonsils and lymph nodes were so swollen that I was pretty sure it was strep throat; and since Sienna had some of the same signs, I brought her to the doctor with me.



We went to a local urgent care to a doctor we had never met before. The nurse, of course, took the throat swabs and the doctor came in to evaluate us. He checked out Sienna first and said it looked viral. In my mind I still questioned it. Within 10 seconds, the nurse popped in and said the throat swabs were positive for strep. The doctor (though nice) felt a bit embarrassed and said that I probably gave it to Sienna and that we caught it early. I agreed with him just because I can't stand it when people are embarrassed, even though I was pretty sure Sienna had it all week. So we came home with some antibiotics. I looked up online about strep in toddlers and found that children under the age of three can show signs of strep differently than those older; such as: a clear runny nose, slight rash between the nose and lips, fever, stomach aches, and their throat may or may not hurt. So I learned some new things: 1)that strep exhibits signs and symptoms differently in toddlers, 2) that adults feel much more sick than the young (maybe we're just bigger babies as we get older), and 3) that mother's instict always knows best.



Oh, and Kamrie ended up sick on Saturday with strep. She woke up with a cough and that was it. By that afternoon, her eyes looked swollen and she had a slight fever. I knew then, that she had it too. The same doctor said you couldn't tell by looking at her throat that she had strep. For some reason, this strain causes the eyelids to swell (probably from the pressure caused by the headache--owwwiee!) But Kamrie was tough and said nothing ever hurt but her eyes. It's so hard to tell with kids sometimes. As for anyone coming to stay with us soon, don't worry. We will wash and sanitize the house by the time you get here.

Sick, Sick, Sick

So Sienna started feeling sick last Sunday. She had a slight fever, really tired, and irritable. Then on Monday or Tuesday, she had a clear but very runny nose. Her eyes were slightly swollen and red dots appeared on her lips, around her nose, and inner eyelids. They disappeared after a couple of days. She hasn't acted terribly sick since Sunday night. She's been a little more irritable, but her appetite is good.

Then, yesterday I started feeling sick. My head started hurting in the morning. By 2:00 PM, my throat started hurting and I was feeling exhausted. By 5:00 PM, my head felt like it was going to explode, my body ached, my throat hurt, I was slightly nauseated, and I had chills and a slight fever. I woke up this morning feeling a little better; but Jarin stayed home (thank goodness) and I kept sleeping off and on until noon. My left eyelid is slightly swollen too.

So all you doctors or (wannabe doctors) :), do you have any ideas what we could be sick with?

The Blaze Game

Someone gave Jarin some free tickets to the Utah Blaze vs. San Jose Saber Tooths football game yesterday. So we attended the Blaze's last home game at the EnergySolutions Arena (formerly known as the Delta Center) last night. It was interesting to watch, even though we got creamed. The rules are a little different for indoor football. One of the first string offensive players is in our ward, Hans Olsen. I've seen him a couple of times on our local news stations. He's a super nice and funny guy. (Pretty special to have a famous person in our ward, eh?) :) We actually left right after the third quarter because it was getting late and they were losing by quite a bit. The best part of the night was the Trax ride back to our car. The kids really enjoyed hanging on the hand holders and letting the train force their bodies backwards and forwards as it would start and stop.

Our 11th Anniversary

Jarin and I celebrated our anniversary this week by staying at one of our favorite bed and breakfast places, The Hines Mansion. We like it because it's an old large home with some interesting history. The innkeeper told us that Butch Cassidy used to hide out in one of the rooms there. She said that it's rumored that he is actually buried somewhere in Utah because his grandmother wrote that in her journal. We stayed in "The Library" room. It has a hidden door to the bathroom and a spiral staircase up to the loft where there is a jetted tub with a sky light. We went to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. They served Jarin some gluten-free pasta that tasted pretty good.

Uncle Courtney watched our kids for us. They had a great day with him. He took them to the Hogle Zoo to see the "ghost of the bayou." It's a white alligator. Taylor thought it was so cool. Then they went to a park, ate some McDonald's, came home and watched "Richie Rich." He spoiled them rotten and they LOVED IT!

Our Super, Fun Week

On Tuesday, Dallin had a first grade singing program for parents. He did great. It was a good year with a good teacher and perfect grades. His report card this week said he had all Y's, which means "yes, mastery" and is comparable to A's. Here's a picture of him at his program:

Not the best picture. But you can still see him in the center, back.

Wednesday night, Kamrie had a preschool graduation and dance recital. Her preschool also offered dance to little girls after preschool one day a week. She was an adorable little bumblebee. I wish I could show you a video and pictures, but we don't have a fire wire to get them off our camcorder. Just know that she was super giggly and very cute.

Thursday evening, Taylor had a scout pack meeting. It was an end of school year bash (since school ended that morning) with a potluck and hot dog dinner. The boys tested their bikes for safety, learned how to fix flats, did a bike obstacle course, and learned the safety rules for riding bikes. He is close to earning his wolf badge. It'll take a visit to a local museum, helping make an outdoor meal, and answering some questions. He should be done by the end of this month. Good thing, because he'll be a bear scout in July on his birthday. We are cutting it close.

Friday, we had a great first day out of school. It was just me and the kids (meaning no friends) and I LOVED IT! First, we played Uno for a little while. Then we went to Thanksgiving Point to a Dinosaur Museum Gift shop. We didn't have the funds to actually do the museum; but the kids got to pick a souvenir for doing so well in school. Kamrie got a bracelet with seashells, Taylor got some Pokemon cards (from Wal-Mart because everything he wanted was out of my price range at the gift shop), Dallin got some cool rocks and a large green crystal shaped like a diamond, and Sisi got a magnet Zoo quiet activity thingy just for the heck of it. Well, hopefully it will keep her somewhat quiet during church. Afterwards, we went to a really cool ice cream shop at Thanksgiving point and shared some ice cream. We love ice cream in this family. Dallin said it was the best day he ever had. I think we all enjoyed it (up until the Wal-Mart experience, that is). When we got home, the boys helped pack their things for a Ward Father's/Son's camp-out at Camp Timpanookee in the American Fork Canyon. They had a cold, but fun time with everyone up there. Jarin and the boys slept in the van so they could get home in time for Dallin's soccer game which was at 9 AM the next morning. Jarin said the van was smaller than he realized. The boys slept well; but he was the sandwich meat between the boys on the air mattress. Too bad. Kamrie, Sisi, and I had a fabulous girls' night out. We ate out at Arby's and then went to a park. Afterwards, we came home and watched the latest Barbie movie and ate candy. I think the movie was called "Fairytopia, Magic of the Rainbow" or something like that.

We finished off the week on Saturday with two soccer games. Dallin played first and scored the only two goals for his team. It was a tie with the other team. But my go-getter was upsetting the other team and he got pulled down by the shirt a couple of times out of frustration. Dallin didn't care though. He'd just get right back up and play hard. Taylor scored two of his team's three goals. His team won 3-2. Some of the parents told us that they were amazed with Taylor because he didn't seem to notice that he was much smaller than the other team players and would take them head on. I think it helps that they started practicing with an awesome soccer coach from Peru a few weeks ago. His name is Willy Salinas. He is trying to build up a team of all star players from Saratoga Springs when he feels they are ready. He has practices twice a week and has been teaching some really good stuff to our boys. Taylor and Dallin are in the top five for his team. Who knows, maybe they can earn scholarships to college because of soccer. We'll have to see in the coming years if it is still an interest to them. One can only hope! Then we completed our Saturday with swimming in our friends' brand new swimming pool. It was so awesome! They had a twirly slide, a diving board, and water that shot out from the sides like a fountain into the center of the pool. What a fun week!

Memorial Day Fun

We had a busy, but fun day. We spent the day with the extended Stevens family. We started off with a bike ride in the morning. Present on the bike ride were : Shad and Kati and girls, Becca, Brittney and Shawn, and, of course, our little family. We tried out the Jordan River trail. It was okay. There was not much to look at and it was short. We prefer the Provo Canyon trail that starts at Bridal Veil Falls to this one. But, it was still relaxing and enjoyable. We rode home to our house and met more of the extended family (Dad, Landon, and Quin and Vanessa and boys) for a BBQ lunch. Mmmm. . . there were delicious steaks, potato salad, fresh fruit, veggie tray, pasta salad, 7 layer dip with tortilla chips, and several other kinds of chips. It was delicious! Afterwards, our family, along with Becca, Brittney, and Shawn went to the Lehi Legacy Center for a swim. It was somewhat cold, but fun. Taylor and Dallin were brave and went down the pitch black tube slide.

That's me! Jarin and the girls aren't in these because he was taking the pics and the girls were in his bike trailer.

Hi, Big "D"! See Taylor in the back?

That's Brittney with her future hubby, Shawn.

Work it, Shawn and Becca! Becca showed us a new way to ride her bike. She crossed her arms onto the opposite handle bars and immediately crashed. Thank goodness she was ok, but we all had a great laugh. I think she would tell you that it's not the best way to ride a bike.

Go Shad, Kati, Summer, and Shaylee!