Easter and The Tulip Festival

For Easter this year my parents were in town! We were excited to have a fun weekend with them and then....it hit! The pukes! 

We were on our way home from Costco when Tyson started erupting like a volcano in the car. We got home and got him cleaned up and he did it again! In the mean time, Madi was going potty and started crying. When we checked on her we found that she had erupted as well! I gave both kids showers and put them to bed. 

We began a game with my parents to try to enjoy what was left of the evening, and we were interrupted twice by Madilyn and at least one more time by Tyson with more eruptions. After changing the beds and cleaning the kids numerous times, we were finally able to get ourselves to bed. 

The next day they seemed to be doing better, but we decided to forego the egg hunt with my cousins, just in case. Sure enough, Tyson woke up from his nap screaming and covered in puke! Luckily, Madilyn was done with it! We were well enough to have a fun egg hunt from the Easter Bunny at our house on Easter and everyone seemed to be doing ok! It had been more than 24 hours since the last eruption, so it seemed we were out of the woods! There was a get-together at my grandma's house that night. Lucas, unfortunately, was starting to feel sick, so he stayed home, but the rest of us went. We had a fun time, but Lucas texted me saying that he had started puking! We went home and as soon as we got in the house, Tyson puked again! Seriously?!? That night my mom joined in the puke war. 

The next day I took them to the airport to go home and on the way back from the airport, Tyson went at it again! At this point I was going a little crazy! I'm just glad I didn't get hit with it because puking is one of the worst things in the world to me. This seemed to be the end of it, and we made it three whole days with nothing. It must be over with, right? On thursday evening as I was headed out the door for a meeting, Tyson puked! Luckily, this was the last of it! I don't think I could have handles any more!

 It was definitely an Easter unlike any other! I at least got some pictures of the kids in their Easter clothes at a time when they were feeling ok!

A couple of weeks later, Lucas's mom came to visit. We decided to all go to the Tulip Festival. It was so beautiful! The only other time we had been to the gardens was last Fall for the Scarecrow Festival. It was neat to see the different flowers that were in bloom now, and it was fun to try to re-create some of the photos that we took in the Fall. It was really windy, but we had fun and enjoyed sharing it with Grandma!

Bathroom Reveal

Lucas and I love doing projects around the house. We love it so much that I refer to Home Depot as "my happy place".

Since our hallway bathroom seemed so plain, I sketched out a plan for it and Lucas was on board. It started with finding the right shower curtain, which we did over a year ago. It just took some time before we finally got the rest of the plan in motion.

Shopping at my happy place!

BEFORE:

I got a little excited to start and started sanding before I got the "before" pictures!

I was the designer and Lucas was the muscle. I did help with the work, though. I helped paint and I sanded down the cabinet. Lucas built the frame for the mirror and raised the light fixture to accommodate for the frame. He hung everything and made sure it was caulked and looking nice. We added hardware to the cabinet and swapped the towel bar for some hooks. We picked out a new towel ring and TP holder to match all the new hardware.


AFTER:

I think the frame on the mirror made the most difference. We are very pleased with how it turned out and it was fun to see what I had sketched out over a year ago finally come together!

Tyson's Birthday... and Other Happenings

My baby boy is a year old now! His birthday was January 15th and it came way too fast. He started walking just a week or two after his birthday! Now his favorite thing to do is to practice walking. Tyson is always laughing and is one of the happiest babies I know. He loves going to the store, especially when we get a race car cart. He is starting to talk more and can now say: Mamma, milk, uh huh, no, ok, thank you, prayer, amen, more, night night, and love you. Lucas taught Tyson how to shake his head "no" and it is the cutest thing. He always does it with a big smile on his face! Tyson has started folding his arms for prayer and exclaiming "Amen!" when it is over.

Tyson loved his cake! After both of his hands were coated in cake and frosting he stared at the cake for a moment then went for it face first!

                        

Tyson keeps us entertained. He loves to take off his socks and carry them in his mouth like a puppy! The other day he was playing with blocks while I was resting on the couch. He got quiet for a moment then started to laugh. I looked up and he was walking toward me with the blocks bag over his head! He thought he was so funny!

One day Tyson decided to climb into this drawer in the kitchen. He was so proud of himself that he does it all the time now!

One day I was making dinner and Tyson stole my towel and put it on his head. He crawled all around the room and put it back up every time it fell. He thought he was so funny! (I thought so too!)

Lately when I tell Tyson to go upstairs he will go straight to the toys and pick a toy to carry up the stairs. Silly boy!

Madilyn is the cutest 2 1/2 year old and she keeps us entertained as well. We were at my parents house over the holidays and there were some water bottles and sparkling juice bottles in the fridge. Madi went up and pointed to each one saying, "water, water, water, bubbles, bubbles. There are three waters!" Now she can count to ten all on her own and is working on the teens. She can also sing her ABC's.

Madilyn saw me straightening my hair and asked me to do hers. Ever wonder what she looks like without all those curls?

Madilyn loves to be independent and her new thing is to dress herself in the morning when she wakes up. This is what she picked out the first time she did it. She was so proud!

Me: Did you have a good nap?

Madi: No!

Me: Why not?

Madi: Cuz Snow White (her doll) was taking a nap, too. She was snoring! It was noisy!

One of Madi's favorite things to do is have me chase her around the room until I catch her and tickle her. Then she chases me. At least we are both getting our exercise and I am getting my steps on my fitbit!

Madilyn has become very aware of emotions and for a long time would pout and say "I'm so sad!" Sometimes she had a reason, but a lot of the time she couldn't tell us why she was sad. We started talking a lot about being happy. Sometimes she is still sad, but more and more I am hearing her say, "Mom, I am SO happy!" That makes me happy, too!

Madilyn had her first sinus infection in January. She and Tyson had both had colds and she kept pointing to her sinuses saying it hurt. We took her to the doctor and got her some medicine. One of the worst things about being a parent is seeing your kids suffer.

We got to go to the Provo City Temple open house. It was beautiful! I was neat to see because I had been to this building several times in college when it was the Tabernacle.

Madi and Tyson have gotten very used to shopping with Mommy! They love the race car carts at Smith's.

My sister had another little girl in January. This is my beautiful new niece, Kate!

A Colorado Christmas!

A few weeks before Christmas, we found ourselves in St. George for the weekend. We went and saw the lights at the temple and Madilyn was in awe! She was so cute running around saying, "Look! Pretty lights!"

This year we got to go to Colorado for Christmas. We drove over two days before Christmas. On the morning of our trip, we woke up and looked outside. There was no snow at all! We started getting the kids ready and loading the car. All of a sudden, with-in the time span of about 3 minutes, it went from no snow at all to a blowing white-out blizzard! We panicked a little, thought, "Holy cow, we have to leave NOW!", and ran around like chickens with our heads cut off. We made it on the road just a few minutes later and traveled very slowly up the canyon. Visibility was not very good and we just prayed the car in front of us did not go off the road because we would follow! Once we got to Price the weather and roads were a little bit better. 

Things started to pick up again just before we reached Vail. By the time we got to Silverthorne, traffic was stop and go. And the "go" part was only about 3 mph! Cars all around us were spinning out because we were stop and go on a (snow-packed) hill. We had 4-wheel drive and never had a problem, but we saw at least 12 cars just abandoned in the middle of I-70 because they could not go anywhere. Our wiper blades kept filling up with ice so Lucas would reach out the window every now and then to snap them to make the ice break off. On one snap the wiper went flying! Luckily, it landed on the hood and he was able to grab it. He then had to reach his arm out the window to wipe the windshield with the wiper in his hand until we were stopped long enough for him to jump out and put it back on! I was laughing hysterically! As we made our way towards the Eisenhower Tunnel, they closed the freeway not very far behind us. We were lucky to be one of the last to make it through because every hotel in Silverthorne filled up fast! A trip that normally takes us about 7 1/2 hours took us 11, but we will never forget it! The kids were so happy to be out of the car when we finally arrived at Lucas's parent's house!

Normally you can see beautiful mountains!

We waited until Christmas Eve to see Santa because we wanted to go with our friends, the Wastarts. The only problem was that they were out of tickets to see him at the Bass Pro Shop (where we love to go) and he was no longer at Cabellas. The malls still had Santa, but they do not let you take your own pictures and they charge an arm and a leg for their photo packages. Luckily, we had the hook-up with Santa and he made a special visit at my parent's house!

The kids got new pajamas on Christmas Eve! This is a tradition that my parents did with us that Lucas and I decided to carry on with our kids.

In addition to normal gifts, my family does a Secret Santa gift that we exchange the first time that we are all together. This year I had my dad and I made him this shirt!

Madilyn and her cousin, June. Christmas is magical!

We had a fun Christmas seeing all of our family! Lucas's family all lives in Colorado, my parents and sister do, and my brother was there from Texas! Since all of our family was there, we took a few family photos.

It was so freezing that we didn't take off our coats for the group shot. I would love to go to this location again next time we are in Colorado and it is warmer!

On the drive back to Colorado we we in a little bit of traffic and suddenly smelled something strange and sour. We thought Idaho Springs was having a stinky day! about 45 min later we pulled over thinking that the smell had to be coming from the truck. Lucas discovered the source- Tyson! He had puked all over himself and then just went to sleep. Since he is still rear-facing, we had no idea. When Lucas opened the door to get him out, Tyson woke up and just had a huge smile on his face! It was -1 degrees outside and all we had to clean him up was a pack of baby wipes. We wiped him down, wiped his seat, and changed his clothes. We had to drive the rest of the way home with the stench! So, I guess we will never forget our trip home, either!