Sunday, February 19, 2017

Well Rick has been gone for 3 weeks now, with one short weekend trip home for his brother, Wesley's mission farewell (more on that in another post). It is so hard having him gone for so long. It's like being a single parent, and it has been hard at times, especially this past week when I was having major throat issues that just would not go away. It lasted for a whole week before I started to feel some relief after being on an antibiotic for a couple days. But we have made it though 3 weeks and only have 5 more to go! We can do this!! At least that's what I keep telling myself, haha. Thank goodness for modern technology though! It's awesome to be able to FaceTime and have the kids see and talk with him. I took a few screen shots during our last FaceTime chat. Rick was doing silly faces to the kids and making them giggle and laugh. And Brenna was pulling her little tongue face she's been doing often lately.

Garrett loves to do poses and have me take pictures...

...and so does Kimbri.

My mom brought over these long skinny boxes
that the kids made beds out of. They love them!

I got to go in and be a parent helper for Kimbri's class Valentine's Day party. For the activity I brought, I made little stuffed, felt hearts and made a little heart toss. We cut 3 big heart shapes into a big piece of card board and poster board. The kids had to try and throw the hearts and make them into the heart toss. I think they had fun with it. 

Also, the week before, Kimbri did her "Show & Teach" where she taught the class how to make homemade playdoh and she passed out little samples of the playdoh we made at home to all her classmates. She did such a great job and I'm so proud of what a smart little girl she is growing up to be!

Heart hair for Valentines Day!

Brenna and Ava having a milk party
 with Grandma Haycock.

The weather has been slightly warmer an most of the snow has melted! We have been able to have some fun outside and has been good for my soul. I have truly missed Arizona winters so it has felt good to be able to go outside and enjoy the sun for a while during the last week.

Ava in one car...

...and Brenna in another. :)

Brenna has a berry obsession. She loves strawberries, blueberries, raspberries & blackberries. Any time I open the fridge, it's like she can sense it and comes running. I usually have a bowl of already washed berries sitting on one of the fridge shelves. So she goes for the bowl of raspberries and pops a few in her mouth... then decides to get a whole handful and shoves them ALL in her mouth at once. Then with her mouth literally stuffed, she tips the bowl sideways and shows me they are all gone and then tries to give it to me and grunts (because her mouth is still stuffed) wanting more, before she has even finished chewing the ones she has. 

Let's just say, she LOVES food!!!

All finished with dinner- chicken and broccoli
pasta with homemade alfredo sauce. 

I decided to give the kids a bath last night, Saturday, so we'd be all ready for church the next day. I was bathing Brenna while Kimbri was getting pjs on after she had already had a bath. I got the girls all taken care of and ready for bed when I went to find Garrett to get his bath started.... this is how I found him:

He fell asleep at 6pm! And because of it,
he woke up way too early at 6am.

Kimbri is getting pretty good at writing! We are working on having her make spaces between words but she is getting good at sounding out words and writing what she hears. Anyway, she writes people notes all the time. Since I haven't been feeling good the past week, she made me a card and taped some of her Valentine candy she got at school on the card for me. She is such a sweet, thoughtful little girl. 

In case you can't read kindergarten writing (haha) it says:

"Dear mom, I hope you are feeling better today.

I love you. I want to play with you today.

I love you.

Happy Valentines Day. Bye."

 (she even turned the "V" in the word, Valentines into a heart, so cute!)

I seriously love her so much!! And it was hilarious because right after she gave me the card she said, "Even though I gave you some of my candy, I really want to eat the jolly rancher still."  She is just so darn funny and I said, "of course you can eat the jolly rancher" :) What a sweet little girl.

Brenna all ready for church today!
It was her last Sunday before she will officially
be in nursery! How is she that old already?

A Trip to the Fire Station

So this last week for our ward play group, we took a trip to the Mapleton City Fire Station. I'm in charge of the play group as part of being on the RS activities committee so when someone mentioned the fire statin idea, I called and they were so willing to host play group for us! We had a good turn out with 20+ kids plus parents. 

First, 2 ladies who are volunteer EMTs showed the kids the inside of an ambulance and explained a few things about what they do. Then the real hit was when they let all the kids take a ride on the stretcher. They sat about 5 kids on it at once and made it go up and down like a little ride for them all. It was pretty funny and I got a video of when it was Kimbri and Garrett's turn. 

Penn, Garrett, Kimbri

Then one of the firemen showed all the kids what kind of tools they use and what they have to wear. He gave any kids that wanted to, a turn to dress up as a fireman. Then he took us out back and pulled a fire truck around and sprayed water out to show the kids how far it can go. They all thought that was pretty awesome too. At the end they let the kids climb into one of the fire trucks and passed out fireman hats, suckers, pencils that change colors when they warm, and a firefighter coloring book. I think everyone loved it and had a great time! 

A Weekend with Rick

Rick came home last weekend for his brother's farewell. Wesley is headed to the Ciudad Juarez Mission in Mexico! So Rick was able to drive up on Friday after his rotation and be here for the weekend and drive back Monday. It was a quick trip but it was so nice to see him and have him home for the weekend. 

Saturday morning we got up and it had snowed a little, so we all got warm clothes on and went outside together and built a snowman. The kids had a blast building it. Then my dad hooked up the sled he made to the snowmobiles and pulled us all on the sled. There wan't a whole lot of snow but there was just enough that we got to have a fun little family ride :) 

After playing in the snow, we went inside and got changed out of all our snowy clothes and headed up to Orem to go out to lunch together. We went to Texas Roadhouse. Yum! The kids looooved the rolls with cinnamon butter. And I think they filled up so much on them that they didn't eat much of their actual meal, haha. We also used a coupon for a free appetizer so we got cheesy fries. Rick got chicken smothered in gravy with a side of mashed potatoes and I got a chicken salad. We had a lot of leftovers. I love having leftovers! 

We headed back to Mapleton to see Olivia all dressed up and ready for her "Sweethearts" dance. Then my mom offered to tend the kids so Rick and I could go run some errands together without the kids. We ended up just going and getting some grocery shopping done so I could be all set for the week when he had to head back to Arizona on Monday. It was nice to just have some alone time together, even it was just going grocery shopping. 

The next day we got up early and got everyone dressed and ready for 9am church for Wesley's farewell. We headed to Salem and dropped off the beans and Cafe Rio style ranch dressing for the luncheon afterward, and then headed on over to the church. It was great that Rick was able to come home to see his little brother before he leaves on his mission. 

We spent the rest of the day in Salem, relaxing and visiting with one another. It was fantastic. And can I just mention one more time that it was such an amazing weekend with Rick home?! These weeks apart are hard so it's just extra sweet when we get to be together, even if it's just for a couple days.

Pulling the girls on a sled. 

Rick, Garrett & Kimbri

Garrett helping build the snowman!

Brenna was really loving walking around in the snow.

Kimbri gathered up rocks for the mouth and buttons and we
used baby carrots for the eyes and nose.

We were all on the sled while my dad drove the snowmobile
that pulled the sled. It was so fun!

North Carolina... Here We Come!!!

We found out a little after 6am on February 6, 2017 that we got assigned to the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina for residency!! We are thrilled and so excited to start this next adventure in our lives together. I'm so proud of Rick and all that he has accomplished. I can't believe that in just a few more months he will graduate! Yay! 

North Carolina, here we come!

February 5, 2017 - Sunday

Well today marks one week since Rick has been gone for his cardiology rotation in Arizona. The morning actually went pretty smooth. I did baths for Garrett and Brenna yesterday so I only needed to get Kimbri through the bath this morning (which she can basically do it on her own now anyway). 

I had the diaper bag and snacks packed and ready to go with kids' shoes on and ready to walk out the door in good time! And sacrament even went pretty smoothly. My mom took Brenna during the second and third hour so I could play the piano for the primary. Brenna took a nice little nap on my mom's shoulder during Young Women so that was good she got a nap in!

After church we came home and made some veggie side dishes, carrots and lima beans, to take over to my parents house for dinner. We had mashed potatoes, meat, a fruit salad and rolls. It was so yummy! Especially on a fast Sunday.

I tried to snap a few pictures of the 3 kiddos before church and I'm pretty sure I can never get all 3 off them to look at the camera and smile at the same time without it being blurry, haha. So here's what I got:

And then Garrett wanted to do a super hero pose...

 We were taking Brenna's church clothes off and they got stuck on her head and I thought it was too funny to not snap a pic real quick. And... yeah, that's our lovely way of stacking food storage in the background. Someday I want to have shelves! But for now, the floor works.

After church Kimbri was begging to get her picture taken, standing up on the wall outside my parents back door. This was the pose she wanted to do in the picture, haha! She's SO in to getting her picture taken all. the. time. I love it! She also wanted a picture of her hair :) Such a fun girl, that Kimbri.

February 2, 2017 - Thursday

We went to our ward play group today. I'm part of the Relief Society Committee and in addition to helping plan RS activities, I was put in charge of play group each week. This week we just held it at the church gym and the kids had so much fun running around getting some energy out. There are SO many little boys in our ward. It's awesome that Garrett has so many boys to hang out with. In our AZ ward there were tons of little girls his age so it's a fun change for him to hang out with other boys :) 

Garrett also still had his $3 gift certificate from Toys R Us from his birthday. So after dropping Kimbri off at the bus stop we made a trip up to Orem to let hime pick out something from their dollar section. He picked out a plane and a pack of 3 little boats to play with in the bathtub. They also gave him a birthday crown and balloon along with their "Geoffrey the Giraffe" stuffed animal and a book to go with it. On our way out he and Brenna took a ride on the Tonka truck by the exit and they loved it! Then we headed to Garrett's follow up appointment for his ears at the pediatrician. He had a ton of compacted ear wax that was making him not be able to hear. They had cleaned it out (and I still can't believe how much ear wax came out of his ears!) and they wanted to follow up. It was a busy day! 

Also, Rick left last Sunday morning to head to Arizona for his cardiology and ICU rotations for 8 weeks! It's going to be a loooong 2 months without him. We are hoping that he'll be able to come home once in a while. Once he gets his schedule we'll hopefully be able to figure out how to make it so he can come visit at least a couple times! 

Bye Bye January....

Well I can't believe January is over and we are headed into February. 

A few other things from January that I don't think I blogged about:

-We set up dentist appointments for Kimbri and Garrett at Cascade Family Dental. A guy in our ward works there and we heard great things about it so we went there and it really was amazing. They were so good with the kids! Especially Garrett- he was so nervous but they took their time with him and showed him all the tools, including "Mr. Thirsty" who sucks the water out of your mouth. They let him take a ride on the chair as they moved it up and down so he could see there was nothing to be afraid of. Oh, and the prizes at the end that they got to pick out were so fun for them. And they both got t-shirt as part of the "No Cavities Club". They thought that was pretty cool :)

-Kimbri had a Walking Report Card for the end of the term. It was where parents could go and watch their child show what they had been learning in school. It was pretty fun to see Kimbri in action, although it was a little difficult bringing the other two kiddos along with me.  She also got another pizza coupon for a free personal pizza at Pizza Hut for completing her reading so we went and picked that up for her to have for dinner. Kimbri thinks it's pretty cool that you can earn a free pizza for reading, ha! I think it's cool too!

-I had a dermatology appointment, finally! I saw a dermatologist when we were living in Arizona when my eczema had flared up super bad on my hands. Because I was pregnant with Brenna, he said there wasn't much that could be done. So, I started using all fragrance-free soaps, lotions, face wash etc... and use gloves when I do dishes, wipe counters off, or bathe the kids. I also have switched to Tide Gentle detergent for my laundry. It has been hard to change so many things, not to mention I can't wear any fun smelly-good stuff anymore, but I am grateful that doing all those things helps and the steroid cream I can use now has helped the insane itchiness on my hands/palms go away! 

-Connie and Brenda also came up to Utah, from AZ, to attend a funeral. It was a quick trip for them but we got to go ever to the Stone's house one of the nights they were here and visit them. Kimbri fell in love with Connie when we lived in Arizona and so it was fun to go visit them with the kids. Connie always had a room full of fun things for the kids to play with when we would visit their house in Arizona. Kimbri especially loved the Beary Bears. She was a like a Grandma to them while we lived in AZ. We made some great memories at Connie's house! 

-The week before Rick had to leave for his Arizona rotations we went on a date! Nolan and Brooke had given us a gift card 2 Christmases ago that we never used. It was dinner/movie gift card for Red Robin and Cinemark Theaters. Well, living in AZ they only had Harkins Theaters so even thought they have Red Robin in AZ, we never were able to use the gift card for the movie.... anyway, that was a long tangent. So we went to Red Robin and saw the movie called, "La La Land". It was pretty good! It wasn't like a, I'm dying to see it again show but I like it a lot and it has some good meanings in the movie. It was really fund to go on a date before he will be gone for so long. And the wonderful Olivia offered us free babysitting so that was super nice of her!

-One more thing... I didn't realize there was so much that went on... was that I was able to attend and AMAZING Stake Women's Conference. There were some incredible speakers and some really interesting and thought-provoking stories that were shared. One of the speakers was and LDS author that has written many book about the temple. It was really interesting to hear his remarks and have a discussion about how to prepare our kids to attend the temple. About how we should teach them, when reading scriptures, about symbolism, to prepare them for learning and understanding for themselves symbolism they will see in the temple. Anyway, it was a very uplifting conference to go to and I loved it!

Finally, here are a few random pictures from the last week or two:

A little hard to see because of the shadow, but
they have been loving playing in this crazy big
box! We've made fort after fort with it!

That can't be comfortable, Brenna... 

Brenna snuggling with her baby doll
Gma & Gpa Haycock got her for Christmas.

So. Much. Snow. Check out the fence and mailbox... crazy!
This is at the corner of our road where we drop Kimbri off at
the bus stop.

Brenna loves books. Enough said...

When they were sick, we watched a lot of movies
and snuggled on the couch.

Brenna loves yogurt... but makes a MESS!

But she sure was enjoying it!

I was doing Kimbri's hair for church (see next picture)
and I came out to find this lovely mess that Brenna created. Ha!
Game pieces, movies, books and more game pieces, everywhere!

Kimbri's hair-do she requested.

She sips her sippy cups in the weirdest places.
How is that comfortable?!

I have no words....

Kimbri loves asking me to take her picture.

I often find Kimbri like this when I check on her before going
to bed, ha! She love sleeping with her stuff. I love that the
light saber is on right next to her Jesus picture, jewelry box,
doctor kit/set and piles of books. She is too funny! Also, how
is this comfortable?! hahaha!

Kimbri's 100th Day of School!

So last weekend we invited cousins over for a pizza party. I picked Oaklee, Bridger and Kimbri up from the bus stop and brought them back to our place. And Olivia picked up Luke while she was out and about and brought him over to join us. We got pizza from Papa Murphy's and they all had a blast. While I cooked the pizza they all played Candy Land. Then we turned on some fun kid music and they all had a picnic on the floor. After dinner we played Bingo and then Dawson came and picked up Oaklee, Bridger and Luke. We sure need to have some fun cousin time while we like in Utah because it will be a while before we visit again once we move!

Bridger, Luke, Garrett and his grumpy face, Kimbri, Oaklee

Silly face picture!

She wants her picture taken all the time...
model face much? The not quiet a smile and
those deep, soul-searching eyes. Wowza!

Garrett has really been loving playing with his batman toys!
Apryl Bradford, a fellow med school wife, was getting rid
of a lot of her son's toys he outgrew and gave this to us when we
moved from Arizona. We kept it hidden till his birthday and
gave it to him then. He loves it!!

This little baby of ours loves babies!