Park time & Joe and Mary's visit

Since it was such gorgeous weather (80's) we took the kids to a couple of different parks while we were there. It was so nice to be able to spend time outside having fun without having to bundle up!

My brother, Joe, and his wife, Mary, live a few hours south of Jess so they were able to come up and visit for a day. The kids loved chasing Uncle Joe around and I think they were glad to have a man in the house, even if it was just for a little bit. I'm pretty sure they were all missing their Daddies very much. That night we took the kids to In-N-Out Burgers which was a nice treat.

Joe with Maddie and Parker

Mary, Maddie, & Parker

Syd, Joe, Jess, & Lincoln

Jess let loose and let Clark have his first french fry. Yum!

Just a few more...

K, This is the last of my pictures (I told you I had a ton!). I got a few pictures of the kids in their cute church clothes, so here they are.

Syd and brother Clark

Me and the kids (the sun was very bright)


My mom loves little sailor outfits, so she always finds cute ones to send us. So here's Maddie in her sailor outfit from Grandma Haroldsen

So I'll tell about a few of our misadventures that we had amidst the fun. To start out, Maddie got an ear infection the day after I booked our tickets, just a week before we flew. So we got her on antibiotics, but went back the day before we left and found out that it had not only not cleared up, but now she had a double ear infection! We had to get her on new antibiotics, drug her up for the flight, and hope for the best. She actually did quite well on the plane and didn't seem bothered by her ears at all (thank heavens!!). Then I ended up forgetting her new antibiotics in Utah, had to have the doctor fax down another prescription, and paid $135 for her new one. Oy!! She also started getting her molars while we were there, which I would never have thought to looke for except I just happened to glance in her mouth at the right moment. She only has two of her top teeth and three of her bottom, so her molars are totally unexpected. It made her not the happiest of kids while we were there, but we managed.

Then I got a real good cold (which I hardly ever get sick, so good timing!) the day before we left as well and I ended up getting a double inner ear infection a few days later. So I was naseous, sick (vomiting), and miserable for a good day or so. My doctor had to fax in yet another prescription for us down there (good thing he knows us so well!) and we had to pay out of pocket again. Although the pain and the sickness finally passed, my ears are still completely plugged up. I went to our doctor on Monday when we had gotten back, and I still have fluid stuck in both ears. They did a test on my eardrums, and my left eardrum isn't moving at all (which explains why I can't hear!) and my right one is moving just a little. All they can do is give me a decongestant and antihistimane and hope it will help open my ear passageways. If not, it could be 3-6 MONTHS before they would try something further. Great, huh? Let's hope I'm not deaf for that long! Other than that, as you can see from the pictures we had an awesome time. Parker really misses Sydney, and keeps asking about going back to her house. It is so sad to try to explain why we won't see them for a long time. :-( Luckily Jess and the kids have something to look forward to: Renn comes home from Kuwait in a week! Yeah! We miss you, Jess, Syd, Linc, & Clark so much!!

In Tucson

Last Friday (a week and a half ago), I booked a flight for me and the kids to Tucson to visit my twin sister, Jessica, and her three kids. Jessica's husband is in the Air Force and has been in Kuwait since November, so we thought now would be a great time to visit them (and it's perfect weather right now!). So we are here for another week and a half and then I will have lots of pictures to share. In the meantime, we are having a blast with Jess and the kids and loving the warm awesome weather!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just wanted to say Happy Valentine's Day from two of my littlest valentines. Love to all!

Happy Birthday Grammie Lewis!

Parker really wanted to sing to Grammie Lewis for her birthday, so I had him do it on video so she could see him (and Maddie) also. We wish we were there to celebrate with you Grammie! We love you!!

Baby wipes are for play, right?

Madisyn has always had a knack of finding any wipes that I've accidentally left around the house. She finds them and then proceeds to throw all of the wipes all over the place until they are all gone. I learned quite fast to make sure I always put them up high once I'm done with them. Well today we were at my cousin Esther's house after church and she wandered upstairs to the kids' bedrooms. I went after her a few minutes later when she was a little too quiet, and this is what I found....

She had found a brand new container of 140 wipes, and had them almost all out by the time I found her. Man she is quick!

She was so proud of herself!

Here are some more fun pictures we took of Maddie. She was going to town with her spaghetti the other night (apparently she really likes spaghetti!) and she just couldn't get enough of it!

Feeding the ducks by the frozen river

Parker loves feeding the ducks down by the Snake River here in Idaho Falls. He asks for it all the time, and usually I have to say no because we don't have the car, or it's snowing/raining, or it's just too cold. On Saturday we decided to brave the cold and we took him to feed the ducks. It was about 28 degrees when we went (BRRR!), but he was so excited I just couldn't say no. We bundled up every inch of us that we could and took bread with us to feed the ducks. Madisyn really likes the ducks and is mesmerized by them when we go. We got a picture of the Idaho Falls Temple and falls when we went and it will show you just how cold it's been here.

The kids by the river

Even with the falls going the water still froze!

I have a few random pictures and video over the last two weeks that I've taken, so here they are.

This is another of Parker's birthday presents, this one from his Grandma & Grandpa Lewis. It's a cool treehouse with people and animals, and there's a lot of stuff he can do with it. He involves his new dinosaurs with it too, of course. He loves it!!

Madisyn loves trying to sit in anything that she can. In this picture she dumped out Parker's dinosaurs so she could sit in the container.

Parker has been obsessed with the movie "Cars" lately. If any of you are familiar with it, his favorite part is the tractor tipping scene where Lightning McQueen and Mater go tractor tipping together. Well Parker acts this scene out with all of his toys, over and over again. Here he is with some of the "tractors" tipped up.

Another thing that Madisyn Loves to do is find something to put over her head to "hide", and then usually she ends up walking around the house with it over her. I don't know how she manages not to run into things, but she doesn't. She loves hiding and us "finding" her. What a nut!

When we had a baby shower here a while ago, Parker had so much fun helping put up the balloons. He thought it was so cool that he could put the balloons up without tape and all by himself. It is so fun to see him figure out things!

Another favorite of Parkers is music. Mostly we listen to Disney songs. One of his favorite songs is the "Circle of Life," but only the first part of it. He loves to sing his own version of it. So I got him to do it on video.