A new addition to the family

No, we're not pregnant. Yesterday we got ourselves this....





Isn't she beautiful? This was totally not planned. We had just been talking about getting a minivan at some point. We've always wanted an Odyssey, but knew we wouldn't be able to afford one so we decided to check out Kia Sedona's. Yesterday we decided that I would go test drive just to see what I liked better. I drove a Sedona and I liked it. Then I went to the Honda dealership and test drove a 2008 Odyssey Touring and I HATED it. It actually surprised me at how much I disliked it and at that point was determined to get the Kia. But then I test drove the above car, a 2011 EX-L-Res. I fell in love with it when I first saw it, without even looking on the inside. It "spoke" to me. I became even more in love with it when I learned it had everything I wanted, leather interior, entertainment system, and dual power sliding doors. The salesman was kind enough to let me drive it home to show Sam and the kids. They all fell in love too. Logan said it was "a pretty car" a "cool car". We decided that instead of buying it, we would lease. With all the specials going on for the Memorial Weekend, we got a pretty good deal. So this is our new family car for the next 3 years. We're all pretty excited about it.

On a side note, we traded in our Accord. The AC had just recently gone out and it needed a new windshield. Hence the reason we were discussing getting a new car at one point. We loved that car, but were very surprised to find out that it had been totalled at one point and rebuilt. It was missing parts! We had a carfax done when we bought it, and it didn't show any report of an accident. We were scammed. Lesson learned, don't buy from a private dealer.

I need to take more pictures

Lots has happened lately, and I have no pictures to document. For starters, my recovery went better than I expected. By day 10 I was almost back to normal, day 13, pretty much normal. The only thing now is a tiny sore throat that's really not any worse than normal (for me anyway). I'm excited to have this be over with and to be able to not be sick ALL the time!

The kids had lots of fun while I was "away", but they were so excited to see that I was, as Logan put it, "not sick anymore". My kids are great. They drive me absolutely insane at times, but they are so fun.

Currently Sam's brother Joel, and his wife LeighAnn are visiting. They have a cute little girl, Bailey, who my kids absolutely adore. The three of them have been having fun playing together. It'll be sad when they have to leave. I think Logan will take it the hardest. Bailey and Logan are getting along great, so much so that Olivia has gotten a little jealous that she's not getting as much attention from Logan as she's used too. Wrestling has become a favorite sport of hers, not so much for Logan. It'll be interesting to see how she reacts to Logan going to pre-school in the fall.

The young women in my ward at Church have been fantastic. They've been coming by in the afternoons after school to help with the kids so I can continue to rest a bit and get 100% better. That has been a tremendous blessing for us. The kids love the attention, and I love being able to rest some more.

I am so excited for the summer. I just hope the weather cooperates and warms up a bit. There are lots of little hikes I want to take the kids on and a bunch of other little outdoor things. Some day soon though, it will all happen.

While the cat's away the mice will play

Since I've been laid up in bed, I have had my wonderful mom, husband, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law and wife help out with the kids. It seems that every time I'm laid up, the kids always have so much fun. One day though, I'll be having that fun with them. The kids have been pretty good, as far as I can tell. I haven't heard too much screaming from my room and that's always a good sign. Logan has become very helpful around the house. It seems my vacuuming days are over. Logan loves to do it. My mom told me that he wanted to vacuum so much that she told him to pick up the toys and then he could vacuum. Apparently he got so excited that he picked up the toys really fast and then vacuumed, not one room, but pretty much the whole house! Way to go Logan! While Logan is cleaning and such, Olivia has been keeping herself busy with coloring, art projects and tv. I'm glad the weather has been semi-decent, it gets the kids outside every now and then. They've even been so lucky as to go to the Children's Museum and Jump Planet. I'm glad they are having fun. I don't know if Olivia even misses me, but I know that Logan does (every now and then at least). He asks every now and then if he can lay down in bed with me because "that will help mommy be better". Really, he just wants to play in our room, which is off limits.

But my favorite thing to hear was a couple of days ago when Sam came up and told me that just before they said prayer for dinner, Logan said to Sam "we need to bless to make mommy better". So, he did, and once the prayer was over Logan said "Yeah, now mommy is all better!" Ah, the simple faith of a 3 year old. He was quite ditraught that I wasn't actually completely better, but he was reassured that it helped me to feel better, even for a little bit and that I'll get better faster. It still brings tears to my eyes. He is such a sweet and caring little boy!

Tonsillectomy

So those of you who know me well, know that I get sick about every other week or so. It's almost always tonsillitis. So I saw a specialist and he agreed that my tonsils needed to come out. So last week they did. While I was getting ready I had a few nurses ask me some questions, one of them being, "Are you sick now?" my answer "No, not really, but my throat hurts." The anesthesiologist came in and asked some questions and asked me to tip my head back (they were going to put in a breathing tube and she needed to look I guess) once I did, she exclaimed "My goodness, I know why those are coming out!" Apparently they were pretty swollen, which I knew but had been used to it since it had been so long. Once I woke up and was in the recovery room the doctor came in and told me that it's a good thing we took them out. They were completely infected. Eww gross!

I had been told some rather horrific stories of adults getting their tonsils out. It freaked me out so much that I wanted to cancel. But my loving husband insisted that it be done. But those stories helped me prepare. I prepared myself for pain like I've never felt before. After a wonderful blessing from Sam the morning of, I was ready. Well, as ready as one can be for such things. It's been a week, and yes, there have been days that have been harder than others, but it really hasn't been as bad as I was expecting. True, there is pain, but it's just like having tonsillitis only a tad worse. I was told to stay in bed for 10-14 days. I'm on day 7 or so. Yes, it hurts, but I'm so glad I did it. I'm halfway through the "worst" of it. I'm anxious to get back on my feet and get back to a normal life. Who knew that having your tonsils out would be so exhausting. Of course, being on percocet every 4 hours is probably contributing to the exhaustion, and possibly helping me think I don't have as much pain as I could. I am so glad I did it and can't wait for summer to come and to actually be able to enjoy it with my kids. :)

Family Pictures

I found a deal online one day for a 30 minute photo shoot with a professional photograher for only $40, which included pictures. I thought it was a great deal, so I signed us up for it. Normally I take the kids to JC Penney or do them myself, or my favorite, have my wonderful sister-in-law take the pictures...Seriously, she's amazing! But I thought it would be fun to try this out, for $40 I thought it would be worth it. It was a $350 value, so I figured why not? I'm glad we did. He was very patient with us. Sam and I do not photograph very well and the kids tend to go crazy after 2 seconds. But Les Hays did a wonderful job. Our pictures were scheduled for the week before Easter. To my surprise, he had a couple baskets with easter eggs and a live bunny rabbit as props. I was impressed. But I was even more impressed that he got Logan to smile. He didn't want to be there and nothing Sam and I did worked. But Les worked his magic and we got some great shots.

A day at the zoo

The other day was beautiful. The sun finally showed and it was even a little warm, not too warm, but warm enough for jackets, not coats. :) A friend of mine was planning on taking her boys to the zoo and invited us to go along. At first I said no. I had no intention of taking my two crazy kids to the zoo without their dad to help. Even with my friend, we were still outnumbered, two 3 year olds, a 22 month old, and a year and a half old. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to chase after them. But after the awful beginning to the day, I quickly realized that staying at home would not be any good. I was quite proud of myself though, I got the kids fed and dressed, myself dressed,a picnic lunch packed and everything we needed for the day ready in about 20 minutes. We even made it to the zoo before my friend. We had planned to meet at 10. We live about 45 minutes away, and we planned this around 9ish. Needless to say, I felt really rushed, but I'm so glad we did it. The kids were very well behaved and had a great time!

This bear was awesome. He knew how to pose for the camera. He smiled for pretty much everyone and then proceeded to show off. I wish I had video of it. Hilarious!

She makes me smile

The morning started too early for me. I'm not a morning person and therefore was in pretty much a bad mood. Kids wouldn't let me get them dressed (until I bribed them with the zoo), they kept running from me, wouldn't eat breakfast, etc... I took a time out. When I came back I found Olivia trying on my shoes. How can you not smile at this?