Stomach Bug and Pumpkin Guts

We decided to carve pumpkins at Nessa's house on Saturday with Jakey (who decided to make a detour to visit us on his way home from fishing in Canada) so we quickly ate breakfast, loaded the car, and headed out.  The girls were laughing and playing in the car and then as we neared Nessa's house Lila asked if I would hold her and I said I couldn't in the car, but as soon as we got to Nessa's.  Then out of no where she started throwing-up.  I jumped back trying to help and console her.  We changed her at Nessa's house (thankfully she has recent hand-me-downs from us that would work) and then threw the car seat and everything exposed into her washer (since we don't currently have one).  We relaxed and Lila fell asleep on me for almost an hour.  Then we decided to start our pumpkin decorating. 

Poor Lila, in her fourth outfit of the day because she was still losing the contents of her stomach.

Steve working on our pumpkin and Jakey did a little free-lance painting on Ellie's face.

Once Ellie completed her striped pumpkin she played in the yard with Diesel.  They caught falling leaves, collected pine cones, and played fetch with some sticks.  They were both in heaven.

She also started planting pumpkin trees so we could grow more pumpkins.  We tried to explain that pumpkins grow on vines like the one Nessa grew, but she was determined to grow a pumpkin tree.

Lila and her final pumpkin.  When she finally started feeling better she wanted to go back and paint some more.

We then went inside and made jack-o-lantern pizzas.

Lila relaxing with Daddy.  We went home she took a nap and I thought we were making progress.  Then she started throwing-up again.  I could not leave her side.  If I left to use the restroom or anything she would holler for me, "Mommy, Mommy I need you!"  After changing my outfit for the third time I told Steve, "I sure have been thrown-up on a lot today."  Lila in her soft, little, sad voice said, "me too".  I hugged her and said, "You're right this is worse for you--I'm sorry."  At midnight she had a burning fever, but Sunday morning she was acting better, but didn't eat quite normal yet.  We decided she would stay home with Steve since I had primary commitments as Ellie and I were getting ready Lila said, "I want to go to Church."  She is such a sweetie!  I wish that was the end of it, but unfortunately Steve and I were both hit with the bug today--what a wasted day feeling like crap.  The girls have been wonderful though playing together and busying themselves and not bothering us too much so we can rest.  Hopefully Ellie doesn't get it and we can move on to our haunting plans for the weekend!

Over the River to Mimi's House We Go

Ellie is in year around school and is on a break for a couple of weeks and Grandpa went fishing in Canada and left Mimi all alone so we decided the girls should stay with her for a few days to keep her company.  I have to admit, I was nervous.  I have only left the girls on a couple of occasions: *I left Ellie with Steve for a long weekend when she was about 9 months old so I could attend the sealing of a dear friend in the DC temple--I got snowed in and ended up staying a couple of days longer than planned.  *We left Ellie with Mimi for 5 days so we could celebrate our 5 year anniversary in Florida.  *I let my Mom take both of the girls back to her house on a plane so that I could attend girls' camp.  So it is still a relatively novel thing for me to do.  I kept telling myself they would only be a couple hours away and I could go get them any time.  Steve and I drove them up on Sunday after church and got them settled.  They love their grandparents and I enjoy seeing the relationships they build with them and each other as they spend time away.  Mimi took them to see Cars 2, they went out to lunch with extended family, went shopping, and made sweater dresses.  I'm off to get them today and totally excited to see them again!

Pumpkin Bonanza

We started off the day by getting our Bountiful Basket of produce and stopping to get Ellie's free Krispy Kreme doughnuts because of her good report card. This year my sister found a deal on Fizook (a Groupon like site) for Black Island Farms pumpkin picking.  So we spent the day there with Steve to find our perfect pumpkins.

After purchasing our tickets we ran straight for the hayride because there was one loading and ready to go. So out to the pumpkin patches we went.

We took our pumpkins back to the car and did a quick wardrobe change because they day ended up being warmer than expected so the girls put on short sleeved shirts and headed to the playground and corn maze area.

The animals were a hit with Lila she would make the sounds and point, "Bock for chicken and cocka-a-doodle-doo, moooooo." It was cute they also did pig races which Lila thought was hilarious and she would quickly raise her hand to be picked as a volunteer for the next round.





















They had all of these great slides to play on and the girls and Steve spent a couple of hours on them.  I even went down a couple with Lila.  The animal choo-choo train was also a hit and they rode it twice. 

   









 



 

Fun swings.

The teeter-totter, we were all on it at one point.

Corn maze fun.  There was a bridge the girls thought was fun.

My pumpkins!

Shining Star, Ellie

Steve picked Ellie up from today by himself because Lila had fallen asleep on the couch so I stayed home so she could continue sleeping.  Ellie burst in the door and came back to the room where I was so excited to tell me something and Steve says, "I think she got some kind of award or something."  I guess they called her to the office to take her picture and presented her with a Shining Star (they are the Antelope All-Stars) award.  She got a cool pencil that is heat sensitive and changes colors, a gift certificate for a free milk-shake (she said she could have chosen a sandwich, but wanted the shake), and a certificate with a note from her teacher that says, "Ellie is a great Shining Star! She works hard in her school work. She also knows our school and classroom rules and remembers what she should do.  I love having her in our class!"  Way to go, Ellie!

Go, Fight, Win!

This has been my war cry.  It has been a physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging year.  The good news is, it is almost over.  Steve has set a date for his defense and is on his way to Utah--yippee!  We get to spend a little over three weeks together before he has to fly back for his defense on Nov. 9.  He has completed is dissertation and given copies to all of his committees, but still has one other paper to finish and his defense presentation to organize.  Amidst all of this he hopes to start working with his new company, Moore Good Ideas (MGI).  We are all excited to be together again.  Steve did say that he had some unexpected sadness to be leaving Tucson.  The goal has always been to finish up and get here that I think he didn't think about how it would feel to leave the land that we grew to love, Tucson, but what a sweet reunion tomorrow will be.

It's Like Riding a Bike

is what people would say whenever I would mention my fear of experiencing a Utah winter again.  Let me say this, riding a bike is fun and exhilarating whereas trudging through the rain in frigid temperatures (a high of 37 today) with all of the gloominess of winter, well . . . not so fun.  Fortunately I watched the news on Monday and saw the weather forecast so I had prepared myself, as well as an Arizona Mama can prepare herself.  I went through the girls' closets and at least made sure their long pants and shirts were available and checked the coat situation.  After experiencing today we will be doing some more winter shopping for the whole family (I did not even have a decent coat to wear today).  All that said, here are the girls sporting their new winter caps.

The girls were excited, as we walked home from school, to see snow on the mountains.

Homework Fun

Lila thinks she is the teacher. :)

I know this sounds crazy, but we enjoy homework here--okay it is only kindergarten homework, but we enjoy the dedicated time to learn and work together.  I have also had the opportunity to volunteer in Ellie's classroom a couple of times which has been fun to see what she does and learn how to better help her learning experience.  We have improved her writing numbers, number recognition with double digits, and counting past 100.  She can sight read about 10 words now and is making tremendous progress on sounding out words.  The school started the Book-It program this month which I have fond memories of as a kid--you know you read so many days a week and you get a certificate for a free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut.  Ellie is so excited about this.

I also try to have some fun teaching moments with Lila.  She likes telling me all her colors and can count to 20 as long as you get her past 4 (for some reason she starts at 1 goes to 5 then 3 then 4 but once she hits 7 it smooth sailing all the way from there).

Love these little monsters!

Hogle Zoo

Mimi came to visit for a few days so we decided to take all of the girls and go to the Hogle zoo on Saturday.

Here they all are loaded in the jogging stroller.  Pushing that thing was a workout (not to mention the stuff you can't see cameras, purses, diaper bags hanging or shoved underneath).

My monkeys observing monkeys.

I wonder if they were all trying to hunch over like the gorilla?

The carrousel was a hit.  Ellie and Lila rode it twice and baby Izzy got so excited and was bouncing around--so cute.

Of course we had to ride the train on the way out.

I feel somewhat like a zoo connoisseur with all of our recent adventures with different zoos and all I can say is the company made this zoo worth the adventure.  I think the biggest disappointment for the girls was not getting a smashed penny for their books (the zoo removed them a couple of weeks ago and their were tears over this).

It has been nice being close to family.  The girls and I spent Labor Day weekend in Idaho cleaning the car and doing laundry (I felt like such a college student again).  We went on the boat for the last time this season and visited with grandparents and cousins.

Steve is making progress and we all keep praying he will get to set a defense date soon (the work won't be over then, but at least there will be light at the end of the tunnel).

'My Gym"

So before we moved to Layton, I did a little research into gyms.  Lila and I had been doing a mover and shakers class through parks and recs in Tucson so I wanted to find something we could do together.  Also Ellie had asked if she could do a gymnastics class when she saw them next door to her sports class.  So I found out "My Gym" was doing a two week free trial and was waving membership fees and reducing tuition rates so we tried it and the girls love it.  They each get a 1 hour class during the week and then there is an hour of free play each day they can both go to (we usually only got to one or two free plays a week).  They also offer unlimited classes a couple of times a year for a couple of months so when we first signed up the girls were going to two classes a week and doing two free plays so we have enjoyed the gym.  It has been a nice break from apartment life.  Here are a few pictures from our last free play experience.

Lila loves to do pull-ups.  She says "I'm exercising."  She really does pull-up, but doesn't hold it which is obvious from the waving picture.

Just hanging out.

Each week they rearrange the gym to provide different obstacles and this week they have this rope climb the girls like.

We had baby Izzy come into the ball pit with us for a little bit.

Every time we pull in to the parking lot the girls yell, "my gym" which I find ironic since it is called My Gym. :)