Utah visit

Here are some more pictures from our trip to Utah.
Hanging out at the Howard's is one of our favorite things to do whenever we are in town. Grandma Howard and Vicky laughing with Kiersten. While we were in Provo, my sisters and I spent a day shopping together. It was lots of fun and something I really haven't done in a while. It was a little challenging keeping up with 11 kids though. Maybe next time we will leave the kids home with their dads. We let them play in this play area for quite a while to burn some energy. The older cousins were so good about keeping an eye on the little ones. Here is Jayden helping Kiersten down the stairs.

my dad kicked Nic out of his room for the week so we could stay in there. We brought some late Christmas gifts with us for everyone.

Victor and Nancy were able to come down for a few days while we were there. Here is their cute little Tommy being fawned over by all of us girls. Me, Kiersten, Kara, Nancy, and Chloe. Kara wanted to hold him, but got bored, and just walked away, dumping him into Nancy's lap. Kiersten was really fascinated by him. At first she kept calling him a cute puppy. But by the end of the trip she started calling him baby. She had a hard time keeping her hands out of his face, and I really had to watch her when he was down in his moses basket, because she would throw toys in there, or try to get at him.

I loved holding this little cutie!

Kara and Kiersten both loved hanging out with Chloe. They had lots of fun together. I took Kara to Jackie's baby shower with me, and she was disappointed that Chloe wasn't there.

Danny got a new juicer, and it was juicing madness for an afternoon. You would have to be there to really appreciate the true juiciness of the day, but here's a picture of the action. That same evening, Grandpa wanted dinner, but Vicky and Pam were gone, so Danny, Ben, Katie and I worked together to improvise a taco mixture that actually turned out pretty good. Grandma was wishing we had all been recorded trying to figure out what we were doing.

It was a good trip and we had fun seeing everyone. I don't know when we'll be up for another trip, but I know we wont want to stay away for too long.

Papa and Grams

Ben's dad, Kerry, and step-mom, Lana came out on saturday for a visit. Ben took Kara with him to pick them up from the airport. She was so excited to go, and even more excited when they all arrived home together. She loved showing off by spelling words and reciting the pledge of allegiance for them. Here is a picture of the girls "helping" me make a cheesecake. Ben made a blueberry glaze for it that turned out really good. Especially since he didn't really know what he was doing, he just threw it together.We let Lana take a nap, since she was up since 1AM getting ready to leave. While she slept, we watched Tropic Thunder. It was pretty funny. We took them to dinner at Ben's favorite mexican restaurant, La Palma. Then we came home and watched Kara's new movie, UP, and had the cheesecake.

Sunday we decided to go to the NW trek, since everyone usually likes going there when they visit us. It was raining the whole time, but not too cold. We didn't mind the rain too much, except I forgot to change my shoes I had thrown on to run to the store. I meant to change into boots, but forgot, so I was walking through puddles and rain with slip-on ballet flats and no socks. Here we are watching a beaver show off.

Ben got a picture of the mountain lions since they are not always out on exhibit, so we don't see them as often as the other animals. Kerry and Lana said one of them looked like she had recently given birth. I can't tell those things, but if anyone would know, it'd be those two.

After NW trek, we went home and had the roast Ben started the previous night. He made up a really good recipe that everyone seems to love. It was tasty as usual. Kiersten, Lana, and I took naps while the guys watched football. Then we watched Transformers 2. It was an okay movie. That evening, we all watched old movies of the girls when they were babies. They were pretty fun to watch and remember all the silly and adorable things they did, and how cute and little they were.

Monday morning, Papa helped the girls ride their bikes around the block several times. He is always such a great sport about playing with them and letting them do whatever they want. Lana made us all a delicious breakfast, and of course we had to have her make some baked beans. Ben made sure I took note of all the ingredients for the beans, and I was supposed to watch her make them, but she had them already done and cooking in the crock pot by the time we woke up. They are much earlier risers than we are. Lana took Kara and me shopping for clothes, and she is just too generous. I kept trying to tell her I was just letting her get me one thing, but she kept taking everything I so much as looked at, and handing it to the cashier. She took the receipt and ripped all the tags off everything on the drive home so I wouldn't know the amount to reimburse her. She also insisted on getting Kara anything she wanted, and got a stuffed toy for Kiersten too. It was fun shopping with her, even though I now have to think of a good way to pay her back.

Kerry and Ben stayed home from shopping. They played in the backyard with Kiersten. It is so cute to hear her say, "papa! where are you?"

After we got back from shopping, Ben grilled some steaks for all of us, and we had Lana's baked beans. It was a tasty dinner. All of us girls took naps again while the guys watched more football. the girls played with Papa and Grams the rest of the evening and got just spoiled with love and attention. Here is Kiersten perusing a toy catalog waiting for us to come home from the store. I asked Kara to look through the toys r us book, and circle the things she would like to ask santa for. She circled all but 6 items, which she crossed out, so I will have to go through it with her again to find out what things she would most like to ask santa for.

They flew out early tuesday morning, and we all miss them already. Kara has a list of things planned out that she wants to do with them the next time we go to Idaho for a visit.

10/6/09

Friday night, we went to the halloween store to get costumes for the girls. We didn't end up with one for Kiersten, but we got Kara's, and mine. Kara had to pee while we were there, but they don't have a public restroom. Ben was asking one of the employees where the nearest place was that would have one, and she took one look at Kara, and said we could use their employee bathroom. On the way back there, a zombie was crawling across the floor and lunging at Kara. I don't think I've ever seen her so terrified. It was hard to catch her, but I did. She calmed down after I picked her up, but after that she just wanted out of the store. I have to say, I can see why they don't usually let customers use that bathroom. It was a pretty scary experience as well. Then we went to dinner at Ruby tuesday, and had barely any leftovers for once.
Saturday, I made Ben clean out the garage, while I packed away all of Kiersten's 12 month clothing, and Kara's 3T clothing. I also packed up more than half of their baby blankets. They still have around 15 that I left out for them, but we were getting sick of having blankets strewn everywhere, so hopefully it will be easier to contain them now. Then I had to go to the post office, and I had a load of things to donate to goodwill, then I stopped at the store for some things. I came home and made some banana bread, and got some items cleaned up to get posted on craigslist. The garage is looking really great now.
Sunday, Ben and Kiersten stayed home to watch football and cartoons, while I took Kara out and about. I haven't had much one on one time with her since she started preschool. First we went to lunch, and then we went shopping at the mall. I needed new pants, since I'm getting sick of wearing skirts and shorts all the time. I only had one pair of pants that fit, because I had given away all my "skinny pants" to good will after I had Kiersten, thinking I'd never get that small again. I found some great deals, and was happy with what I got, while actually sticking to a budget for once. Kara wanted to get something too, so I let her get one dress. I was tempted to let her get more stuff, but I was determined not to overspend. After we left the mall, I talked Kara into getting her hair trimmed. When she heard me mention it to Ben earlier that morning, I called it a haircut, and she freaked out. She started crying and saying she didn't want to get her hair cut off. After changing the term to "hair trim", and explaining to her how little would actually be coming off, she agreed, and actually got excited about it. She did become a bit hesitant when we got there and she saw scissors, but I reminded her that she was just getting a trim. It was a 20 minute wait, and she had to go to the bathroom, so I took her over to fred meyer to go. I also let her pick out a treat, and told her we would open it after her hair was done. When I told the stylist it was her first haircut, she wanted me to stand right next to the chair. After she got started, she realized Kara was not going to melt down, and said I could go sit. I heard parts of their conversation, and I could tell Kara was driving it. They talked about her bee sting, her school, and the upcoming trip to the pumpkin patch, and Kiersten. The stylist was very impressed with Kara for doing so well. Kara is thrilled about her trim. She doesn't realize it basically looks the same as before, just a little cleaner and straighter. Afterward, we went to wal-mart to get a movie that ben called and requested I buy, then we headed home. I got dinner made and cleaned out my car before we put the girls to bed. We watched the movie Changeling. Ben didn't think I would like it, and he was right. I was up all night thinking of the different oppurtunities someone might have to kidnap one of my kids.
Yesterday I took Kara to school, then came home and played with Kiersten until it was time to go to the gym. I was working out with one of the trainers, so of course I was late. I got stuck on the way there, waiting for a train. I've never once seen a train on those tracks before, and even wondered if they were still used. So I was a few minutes late, but I still had a little time for a warm up. I decided only to stay for the training session, and not work out another hour since I was there later than usual, and I didn't want Kiersten to be getting hungry. After lunch and nap time, we picked Kara up from school. She started crying and said she never wanted to go back. So I called the teacher to see if she knew what had happened, because I couldn't get an answer out of Kara. Mrs. Wright said the only thing she could think of, was when they were supposed to be practicing marching in line, Kara kept stopping up the line and then running forward and pushing the girl in front of her, so she had to sit out the rest of the time. But that had happened earlier in the day, and she said Kara had seemed to get over it. I couldn't get Kara to talk right then, and we needed to hurry to pick Ben up from his Dr.'s office. Of course Kara had to go potty, so I had to pull off the freeway for that. It took forever to get back on, but we got there around the time his surgery was to be finished. As I walked in the door, my phone rang, and I was trying to answer it while holding a thrashing Kiersten, and trying to hold Kara's hand, who also wanted to be held, and was whining about it. I dropped my phone and had to call ben back. I told him I was there, and would be up in a minute. I dragged the kids upstairs, and by the time I got there, he was calling me again. I guess he was anxious to leave, but we still ended up waiting for the doctor to come speak to us for another 15 minutes. They took 4 biopsies from his throat. They confirmed again that he has eosinophilic esophagitis, and also a hiatus hernia. He has a new prescription that he will be on indefinitely, and to make sure he actually remembers to take it, I am supposed to get him one of those grandpa pill cases with the days of the week. We'll have the biopsy results in about a week or so. He still needs to follow up with the allergy doctor as well. The Dr. dilated his throat again, but said if he starts having any trouble swallowing, they'll need to do it again. The only problem is that he never notices he has trouble swallowing until food is stuck in his throat. Hopefully the new prescription will help. We finally got Kara to talk about getting in trouble at school. She also told us how much fun she had, so she decided she does want to go to school. We reminded her that she needs to listen to the teacher, and when she gets in trouble, it's because she needs to learn. She said she will not push the other kids again. We stopped and got dinner, and then went home. Ben and Kiersten both crashed on the couch, so I just cleaned up the house, and let Kara play. A lady came to buy my diaper genie I put on craigslist. She actually paid me with 4 dollar bills and 10 dimes. I was glad she got it for such a great deal. she had 2 boys the same ages as my girls, and they were an obvioius handful for her, just trying to get from her car to my door. She said she thought her little boy was potty trained and gave hers away. but it turns out, he isn't quite potty trained and her hubby didn't want her buying another one brand new. After a while, Kara got bored and asked to make cookies, so I figured that was a good thing to do. She picked chocolate chip, and I was glad she picked an easy cookie. I clipped coupons while she watched the cookies bake through the little window on the oven door. By the time all the batches were done, it was time for bed, so I woke up Ben and sent him upstairs, and brought the girls up to bed too.
This morning I had to wake up early to take Ben to get his car from the Dr.'s office parking lot. His throat is still hurting, but he felt fine to drive to work. The girls both took early naps, and I'm just working on laundry. I am really sore from my workout yesterday. I can barely get up and down the stairs. But it's a good kind of sore, like the soreness of fat being burned away, ha!