My first bridal shoot!

Check out the Photoblog to see more!

Brusha, brusha, brusha

Last Friday Drew had a dentist appointment where she had to get six, yes six, cavities filled.  Our dentist explained that Drew's teeth are very close together, that they usually don't get this close till they're almost six.  Why does that sound familiar?  Oh yeah because I had the same problem when I was her age.  Her teeth are screwed!

We get to the dentist office and while we wait this little boy who just had work done comes out and looks like he's in Lala land.  Top right hand corner.

She plays a little longer

in this awesome pediatric dental office that has this log home, country, ranch feel.  As we are watching the movie Spirit about a wild horse getting captured they come out and bring her, her sedative drink.

She became VERY happy.

Then VERY loopy.  And then she started getting emotional as she kept watching Spirit.  The receptionist had to change the movie because Drew was on the verge of tears when the soldiers were capturing Spirit.

Why don't they have a sedative like this for adults?

They ask the parents to remain in the waiting room so the kids don't freak out and try to get to their mom.  When the doctor came to get me he said that every child reacts differently to the sedative.  Most of them become calm and happy.  Drew became very talkative and kept asking the dentist if he was putting shinny teeth in.  They had to tell her not to talk a couple of times.  Before we went to the dentist Drew asked what they were going to do to her and I told her that she had ugly cavities and that they were going to take out the ugly spots and make her teeth shinny.  She was obviously worried about her shinny teeth.  I had to carry her and the assistant had to support her because she couldn't walk straight.  If the kids do good in the chair they get a prize.

When we got out to the car she wanted to see her shinny teeth and was so upset she couldn't see them.  She was weird for the first two hours after and then she became ornery!  She called her numb lips squishy and she kept hitting them.  As we were driving home she was complaining that she was talking funny, that her lip was squishy and then she said she was bitting something.  I looked back and she was chomping on her lower lip, hard.  She didn't break the skin but she left a huge impression.  She seriously wasn't herself till the next day.

But it was a funny experience and don't want to do that again for a while.

I shot a bald eagle

I like birds.  I love to watch birds and listen to them sing when they come back in full force in the spring.  Thursday's carpool called and said they couldn't take Drew to school.  As I was driving home wishing I could've slept in a little longer I quickly woke up when I realized what this big bird was in the tree.  It was a Bald Eagle and the first one I'd ever seen in real life AKA not on TV.  I raced home got my camera and luckily it was still there until I drove it off acting like the

"papa, paparazzi."

Ballerina

My very good friend, Cheryl, decided to teach a ballet class for a bunch of her friends' girls.  We were lucky to be one of them.  A year ago we did a couple of trial mommy and me ballet classes and it didn't work out too well.  I was pregnant with Alia and not patient with a three year old girl who all she wanted to do was look in the mirror.  She is now four and I am not pregnant.

She did SO well!  She was the most attentive.  Look she's pointing her toes!

She really wanted to dress up like a ballerina and we were lucky enough to find her black 3T onesie - I know, too big to still be wearing a onesie, but it actually was perfect for this - her black tights she just got for Christmas and her tutu that her Aunty Nikki made for her.  Then I had to do her hair like a ballerina.

She had so much fun and can't wait for next time.

Did I mention we had a good Christmas as a family?

Well we did.

And then we went to my sister's house.

And then we came back home to a popsicle house.

Our house had literally frozen.

It took hours to heat it up.

So we went to bed kind a cold.

And woke up to gushing water at 3 am.

The pipes had finally thawed.

And had bursted.

In three different locations of our house.

We had to shut off our water for three days.

We were dirty.

Our house was dirty.

I was depressed.

Our house is finally clean.

Our water has been on for awhile now.

And everything runs smoothly.

I am happy.

:)

Update on the Goose: She did great for her surgery.  Woke up cranky and was screaming for 15 min straight but now she's doing great and she can hear!

YAY!

Rasmussen Family visit

This past weekend we were so lucky to have our friends the Rasmussen Family, visit us.  It was a quick visit on their way to and from Logan visiting family but we'll take what we can get.  We knew the Rasmussen's from BYUH.  The first couple of times we hung out were pretty rough.  Drew was a teething baby and made it a chore to do anything but finally the third time we hung out together we had a ton of fun and they became one of our best friends there.

This, now big boy Jonah was their only child they had in Hawaii and since they moved they have multiplied

and had adorable Ryker

and sweet Evva!

Jonah and Drew were best friends in Hawaii and although they didn't remember each other very well they hit it off like they were never apart.

It was so fun seeing my good friend Laura again.  It had been too long.  I'm seriously so grateful for all the friendships we made in Hawaii.

Alia was asleep, missing out on all the fun at Cafe Rio, which we introduced Mike and Laura to (you have to in Utah), so we woke her up for pictures.  She was a little out of it but Evva was eating the camera up as you can tell.

Then we went through another timer shot which never turn out quite as well as I would like but I'm just glad we are all in the picture, blurry or not.  We love you Rasmussen Family!

They live in California only 8 hours away so when we said bye we said we were going to drive some time soon to see them.  Drew thought we were going with them to California right then.  When we headed home she got very confused that we weren't following their car.  When I told her we meant another day she started crying.  A song came on the radio and she asked if it was a sad song.  I said no, it's a happy song and started dancing.  She then asked if I would find a sad song.  Is it because you're sad Drew.  All she could do was nod and cry.  I had to take a picture of this momentous occasion because this was her first sad song experience.  One of many she's going to have throughout the years.  Boy, she started young!

I guess sad songs and waltzes ARE selling this year.

Grinning from Ear to Ear

I went in to an ENT (Aka Ear Nose and Throat) Doctor and finally found out what was wrong.  After looking in her ear for two seconds he knew what was wrong.  Two seconds!  It irritates me that there can be such a run around having to work with both an ENT and audiologist.  I understand they have different roles and you need to work with both of them but... why?  Enough venting!  She has fluid in her middle ear and needs a tube.  It's also only in her left ear, nothing wrong with her right, and we go in on Wednesday morning.  They say it only takes 5 minutes... really?  That quick?  And they put her down with gas for only those 5 quick minutes.  They say after she wakes up she'll be fussy because they aren't used to surround sound and it makes them disoriented and takes a little getting used to.  They also have the tube in until it falls out on it's own anywhere between 12-18 months.  Hmm...  And we can't lay her down in a tub, and have to be super careful while giving her baths or taking her swimming so as not to get water in her ear.  That STINKS!  But hey, do I sacrifice my child's hearing just because I like to humptey dumptey her in the water?  Of course not.  I'm actually excited to get her hearing on the right track and I guess we don't go swimming as much as we did in Hawaii.  That kind of thing has got to be devastating for any child near the water.  As for it being anything else besides fluid the doc can find out when he suctions it out and sees things clearly.  So I'm glad we finally know what's up and that it's only in one ear.  Hopefully it's nothing more.  I'll let you know how everything goes Wednesday and wish me luck because Kurt leaves on Monday for training in Ohio and I'll be a single parent till Friday.  YIKES!

Photobooth Fun

What can be more fun than a bunch of girls and Photobooth?

We R Family

After we had our own family Christmas in Cedar we drove up and spent the rest of the Christmas weekend with my family.  My mom and Joe had flown in from Hawaii that morning and it was the first time we were all together since last year for Breana and Mack's wedding.  Let me say through all the chaos with the stomach flu, 6 kids, work, eating, sleeping, movies, and the wii, we had a BLAST!!  Santa brought Nikki and her family the wii with rock band and steering wheels for mario kart and we decided to have a battle of the bands.  We split up in groups of three, with Kurt being the judge, and each group had to perform three different songs with each team member playing a different instrument each time.  There was a point system Kurt was judging by and also on enthusiasm/dancing... you get the picture.  It started simple enough with a few moves like the rubber band, jumping, guitar throws and marching.  Then on the next round everybody kicked it up a notch and by the end the last group was in full costumes with moves like the cockroach and a few other ones that I can't mention on my family blog! ;)  The other team won by two points but if we were to combine forces I know we would go platinum!  

We all had SO much fun!  I sincerely love my family.  I'm SO grateful that we are all in good places with our lives and that we are all doing what we are supposed to be doing.

:)