Happy Father's Day!

For Father's Day we had my Mom and StepDad Jack out for Dinner on Saturday. It was WAY fun just hanging out and playing Trek West. I won, which made for a great night! I tried a new recipe and the pork was delicious, but the rice was yucky! Our dogs still haven't eaten the stuff!!!

On Sunday we had my Dad and StepMom Lorelie, Roni and Tadd, and AJ out for dinner. It was a great time. I have been trying to be all "cook-like" and it actually was pretty good that night. I made Honey Mustard Chicken. I was happy even though I was about a half hour late! It was a great night. AJ stayed late and we played Trek West. A long weekend, but totally worth it!



The best part about Father's Day was that my kids could spend it with their dad! He is so great to take time for them, even when he is tired or stressed out. He loves them both and I have loved watching the man I fell in love with become a Daddy. Yes, a daddy. One day he will be a dad, but for now it is perfectly fine that he watches Tangled, eats pink pancakes, and paints finger nails! Uncle Tadd and Taylor got to ride horses with us after dinner! It was so fun even though poor Shoshoni was pretty muddy from all the rain. We just let the kids ride her because she is pretty sore in the back legs right now.

Out on the deck watching the horse rides.

A fun picture of Aunt Roni and Uncle Tadd. Notice the height difference, it is a little exaggerated here.

My cute little man and his his grandpa! He is getting so big!

This enormous moth was hiding under the siding. AJ took a great fascination in it! I think they made a special bond....

The Second best part about Father's Day was spending it with my dad! He rocks!

Gymnastics!!

Now that Hailee is 3, she can start taking dance!! I LOVE that we are in this stage and that she LOVES dancing!I started dancing at 3, actually from Curt's mom, Trudy. I took several dance classes and a couple of years of gymnastics from my mom. My mom was a very talented gymnist and is as excited as I am to get Hailee dancing. She will be in ballet in September, but I thought a more active group activity, such as gymnastics would be a good ice breaker. So far Hailee talks about it all the time. It is the highlight of her week! Her favorite part----the PIT---- it is a big pit filled with square foams, that you jump into.

I am a thorough believer in getting your kids active early. I know it helps with coordination, communication skills, and team work among many more areas. So far I like the gymnastics.

Mother's Day!

The BEST part of Mother's Day was spending it with my Mother!!! Yeah! My kids love having Grandma here to play and cuddle with them.

My little brother changed his first diaper, EVER, not a bad one, but it was a nice gesture. Carter was a little worried, I could tell.

Hailee and I made lovely playdough flowers for grandma! Too bad our colors got mixed, now they are more mud-colored!

At nursery Hailee made me this cute flower bouquet. Each flower has a special job she could do, like "hugs", "clean up", "kisses." It was really sweet.

Memorial Day Weekend!

We spent another great Memorial Day Weekend in Island Park with the Hills. It was a great time full of yummy food, good times, and WARM cabins! Every family had their own cabin due to sNOw. It was fun being all crowded together!

We spent a little time playing at home with Nic who was up trying out his new camper with his parents! Aunt Cathy has some totally cool water paints. Trudy and Hailee also fit in a tea party--no pics for some reason. It was fun, and we are SOOOO excited to spend more time with them this summer!

While at the cabin, we also took advantage of other modern convienences, such as the Wii. Cabelas Big Game Hunts was the popular choice.

Aren't these grandmas cute!! They were actively observing the Minute to Win It Games. (Normally this would be outside in the wide open forests, but this year, a garage was the arena.)

A very fun, relaxing weekend! Can't wait till next year!

Comforting

Can I just say that after the past few weeks, I am so comforted to know that whatever happens Curt will be by my side. With our surgeries, our work, the changes at the Inn, family drama and whatever, it is so good to know my best friend is always by my side. We miss him terribly when he is off working and I am wracking my brain to find a way for us to be together more.

We have so much loving support around us. I know that no matter how crazy our life has been or will get, we will always have each other. It is scary watching the most important person in your life have surgery or having to leave to have your own. I feel very blessed that everything went well. We have a lot of important decisions weighing on us and I am so lucky to have loving relationship based off of our faith in the Lord to rely on.

Surgey

We always tease that you can tell that I am pregnant because Curt gets a kidney stone. I think it is just a way for him to sympathisize with me or something.


Well the Monday before Easter, Curt got rained out from the drill and decided to come home for the night. He started feeling a little stomach pain on his way, but it kept getting worse as the night went on. By dinner time he was pacing with pain, throwing up, and hunched over with the cramps. He was just going to fight it, thinking it was another kidney stone. I finally couldn't take it and he was really scaring all of us. Hailee would cry and tell him to stop, but of course he couldn't. I got her all ready for bed and packed her bakpack. I threw a couple more diapers in the bag and hauled everyone to the car.





Hailee stayed with my dad and Carter slept while I drove Curt to the hospital. Curt was really upset and I just kept telling him, "count your blessings." Not only was my dad home to take care of Hailee, but Carter was sound asleep in the back so I could focus on helping Curt.





We got to the hospital and they got him on some pain meds. Carter slept the whole time. My brother AJ ran over and was able to get Curt a blessing, which comforted me a lot. I knew it wasn't a kidney stone at this point, and I was scared it would be something really terrible.





It turns out his appendix was about to burst. We were within hours of having a much more serious problem. Curt, Carter, and I stayed at the hospital for two nights. It was great to know Hailee was taken care of and that I could be there for Curt.





We were so lucky that he wasn't in the middle of a field hours away from us. I am glad that I was able to help him and that he recovered so quickly. He was back to work on Friday. I am also so lucky to have such loving people around to help us as we needed. Family is such a great blessing!

Well we had a great Easter.

We had a great Birthday and Blessing.

Then we had another Emergency Surgery.

Well it was only two weeks later that I decided to match Curt and have a surgery of my own. We had just finished having dinner at Big Juds for Hailee's Birthday. I started have chest pains and knew that it would be a long night.

I had my first chest pains like this right after Hailee was born. It lasted a couple of hours and I had to call Cathy in to help me take care of Hailee. It hurt so bad that I couldn't walk or even hold my precious newborn. Curt was at work delivering calves. I almost went to the hospital then, but it went away. I had a couple more attacks, but then nothing until I was pregnant with Carter.

I would have a few attacks every week towards the end of my pregnancy. Curt was home and he would help. I usually just ran hot water on my back and waited a few hours for it to go away. I thought it was heartburn. I then had Carter and a few more little attacks. Granted they were painful, and usually lasted the whole night, but I could handle it.

After Hailee's birthday dinner the pain came on fast and hard. I made it home and got both kids to bed. Then I was up the entire night in pain and vomitting. I really didn't want to wake the kids and cause a craze waking up my support system (Curt was out of town). In the morning I called and had Cathy help me get the kids to the sitters and my little brother, AJ drove me to Rexburg.

I spent the whole day getting tests done, and visiting with doctors. My galbladder needed removed.

My mom and Jack came that night to help take care of the kids and me. It has been extremely helpful to have them here. I hated being told I couldn't carry my kids. It was good to know that they were being taken care of, even if I couldn't do it.

The next morning I went in for day surgery and got it out. The surgeon said it was terribly infected and that it was important that I had it out. I went home a few hours later, sporting four new belly-buttons.

I cannot believe how sore I am. I don't remember being this sore with either of my children. It is hard to be told you can't carry your kids, when I do all the time. I have cheated and held them a bit but it really does hurt.

It was pretty crazy that Curt and I had our surgeries so close together. We must just be so connected that we love sharing our pain as well!

So in the end we know that NO I am not pregnant, but yes, we like to share the pain. We have matching scars (new belly-buttons according to Hailee). His are lower around his belly button and mine are up around the ribs. We had so much support during both operations. It is comforting to know that we were able to support eachother during these painful time periods, and that our kids were well taken care of.

I go back to work on Monday, and I am hoping to feel a lot better. Right now I am still on the pain meds, and it isn't a big help. Soon it should feel better. My mom is also headed back to work on Monday so it is going to be a pretty interesting week going back to flying solo.

Happy Easter!

My Easter Post is going to be pretty random. I am currently in surgery recovery and on some strong meds. I don't have the energy to get these pictures in the right order. But I promise it is all cute and Easter was a blast!

This is Hailee the day after Easter. I didn't have school and so we decided to play with some of the cool stuff the Easter Bunny brought her. She got these colored bubbles. They were really fun in the freezing wind and snow! I especially love how she was wearing capris and sandles the day before, but boots and a hat the next day. This has been a CRAZY spring! We tried to take a few family photos at Easter in our church clothes, but it is a little difficult. We have a few good ones, but mostly it is just us. We are amazing, no matter how the pictures turn out!

My Dad and Lorelie made a super tastey dinner for Easter. It is always nice to stop by after church and just relax. The kids love playing at Grandpa's, and I love visiting with everyone!

Curt was home for Easter, which was nice. He went back to work for a couple days after his surgery and you could tell he was pretty worn out. He was good to take a nap with the babe though! After having a surgery of my own, I cannot believe he went back as fast as he did. He is a pretty tough guy! It was great to have our family together over Easter!

My mom and Jack were able to spend Easter weekend with us. It was really a fun weekend, as most weekends are when we have visitors! Hailee was able to go on a couple of different Easter Egg Hunts. Grandpa Layne put on a great one for her. She got ALL of the eggs, and then wanted to hide them for us! She had more fun hiding the eggs than finding them.

We actually missed the town Easter Egg Hunt, I am just a little crazy these days:) She looked super cute though, and so we had our own Easter Egg Hunt at home!

This guy is just so much fun. He didn't get to find very many eggs at all, but he enjoyed watching his sister chase from his comfy bumbo!

Hailee and Carter got their new Easter duds from their Dad and I. They looked so cute in their little outfits. Hailee loves her new "high-heeled" princess shoes. Carter wasn't too hot on the tie, but he looked good.