Happy Birthday Kesley

Kesley turned 16 yesterday... I know, how is that possible??? She's a sophmore in high school... I don't know where the time went. She wanted Spence and I to take her to the Spaghetti Factory with her boyfriend Devon and best friend Tazia (who also turned 16 the day before Kesley). And then afterwards we went back to our apt and had cake. I think she had a great time....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KES!!!

Fun afternoon at the zoo...

We had a super fun afternoon at Hogle Zoo with our SIX kids... had a few moments with them all running in opposite directions, but it was a great afternoon. So many cute new baby animals at the zoo. Loved it...

Kids climbing on the bronze rhino.

Dallin, Hallie & Max

Audrey enjoying her ice cream - actually my ice cream that she stole ;)

Ashley & Kesley

Spencer and me =)

baby tigers

baby giraff

baby elephant


cute penguin


black bear

Ambulance, Hospital, Ugh!

Last Thursday Hallie was coming down with a cold, but was still well enough for preschool/daycare. At lunch I checked on her and she didn't want to eat, just wanted to lay down and rest... she was starting to wheeze. By 4pm I went down to check and she was struggling harder to breathe, so I took her home. I soon realized she wasn't getting better and was more lethargic, so I called her Dr and then took her to Kid Care (insta-care). As we are checking in, they tell me their facility isn't contracted with my insurance. Great... so where do I take my child??? About this time, the nurse came out into the waiting room and took her O2 reading, scooped her up and said, this kid's not going anywhere...

So we spent the next 3 hours giving her oxygen, albuterol, steriods... anything to get her to keep her oxygen levels up... nothing was working. So they transported us via ambulance to Primary Children's Hospital. After 7 1/2 hours in the ER, a chest x-ray, and more breathing treatments... she was admitted at 4 am.

She was NOT thrilled about being back in the hospital. Everytime someone walked in, she shreeked, "what are you going to do to me???" She even yelled at the janitor. Her lungs were all crackly sounding and her oxygen levels couldn't be stabilized... we got to spend the next 2 days confined to a hospital room... do you know what it's like to be in a room with a bored, overly-tired, very dramatic, bossy, scared, sick 4 year old??? I wanted to light myself on fire at several times...

But we made it. She was released Saturday night and diagnosed with severe asthma. She'll be on daily maintenance for a long time... hopefully it will help us avoid these scary flairups in the future. So scary to see your child struggling for air.

So even though she wasn't the best behaving patient... she was by far the cutest...

School update

Kesley started high school this year... seriously can she be this old??? She's taking drivers ed since she will turn 16 at the end of this month. After really struggling through jr high... at 4 different schools mind you, she loves high school. This is one relieved mom, I have really hoped this would be the case. It's fun because she is attending the same high school I did! She's excited about this weekend's football game and so far has straight A's... this is amazing!!!

Dallin is in fourth grade and is attending a brand new school... just built and opened this fall. It is a beautiful building and only a block and a half from our apartment. He has a super cute teacher and was thrilled to find out many of his friends from our old WX neighborhood are in his class! He's had a great start, now just to keep this kid motivated (and quiet... he likes to chatter). Oh, and he loves reading... yay!

Hallie is in the pre-school program at her daycare. She is so thrilled to be in the "big kid" class. She's looking forward to learning how to read and is figuring out how to sit still and follow directions... so hard when you are only four. But she wakes up excited for school everyday, especially today because she also starts dance lessons this afternoon. Seriously, it's all she's talked about for the last 2 weeks.

Audrey is attending her daycare class minus her big sister, which has really rocked her world. She's had a rough time and had a few tears missing Hallie. Yesterday was great though... she made it through the whole day without biting anyone AND she proudly stripped off ALL her clothes and used the potty all by herself! She had her teacher rolling with laughter when she found Audrey buck naked, but proud as could be. Ah, one step at a time.

Yep, I love back to school...

DISNEYLAND for my birthday

Spencer and I went to the happiest place on earth to celebrate my birthday... It was an awesome weekend... my best birthday EVER!!! And the best thing??? We didn't have kids with us. Now I know, Disneyland is so much fun to experience through the eyes of your kids (and we are taking all 6 of them back later this winter), but it was great to do what WE wanted to do, stand in lines without anyone complaining or whining, and seeing other people's kids meltdown and smiling because we weren't dealing with it. BUT, almost everything we saw or rode made me think about how much the kids would love it, so I am very excited to take them back, but was equally excited to be there with just Spence...

New Family Pictures

We spent this morning at Target getting some much needed picture updates of the kids. And they actually cooperated really well and I'm very happy with the results... There are some posted on my blog layout as well as a whole bunch below...

Summer...

Hard to believe it's already July... summer is one-third over with and it feels like it just barely started. We've had some fun adventures already, although with this being the first summer I have worked full-time in more than 10 years, it's a bit of an adjustment. Still, we've managed to get to the zoo, seen some movies, played in the pool, took the older kids to Las Vegas to see the Broadway Lion King, and just hung out and had fun. Dallin is spending part of the week at his dad's house this summer... I know he's enjoying spending time with his dad and his grandparents... and he's got some friends up there, so I feel really good that while I work, he's having a good summer. My little girls are at my work's daycare and LOVE it there... they call it their "school" and are especially excited fro Thursdays since that's Toy Day and they can bring something from home. Kesley has a Lagoon pass this year and is putting it to good use. She got her learner's permit to drive last week... scary she'll be 16 this fall (ugh, I'm getting old).

Here are a few pictures from our summer fun so far...

Hallie's Hospital Scare

A week ago today, I had an appointment scheduled with Hallie's pediatrician. After a week of her feeling so lousy and having a weird rash on her torso, her hands started peeling over the weekend, so I called her doctor and they wanted to see her. I also told them my suspicion that her symptoms were very much like Kawasaki Disease (thanks to BIL nurse Eric). So as we are walking into the lobby for our appointment last Monday morning, my cell phone rings... it's the nurse telling me to take my child directly to the ER. Information that would have been helpful 20 minutes ago when we were already in Salt Lake... grrrrrr! So off to Primary Children's we go...

Five hours later, an IV later, Many tears later, and an EKG... Hallie was admitted to the hospital with the suspicion of KD. Later that night... more blood work and an attempt at a strep culture (where she bit my finger). She made me sleep in her hospital bed with her... I was soooo exhausted, I was just happy to lay down. And she was so cute, I would have done it anyways. The next morning it was decided she probably didn't have KD because her fever broke after 4 days and one of her blood tests for a protein they look for was negative. She had every other symptom, but the head neurologist came and talked with us and said her was very confident she didn't have KD. They discharged her later that afternoon.

So what the heck was wrong with her??? Don't know... her doctor thinks it was a bad reaction to a virus she picked up, maybe strep. She is being treated for strep since if it's left untreated, it can lead to rheumatic heart fever later. She is still not fully recovered... her hands are still peeling, but healing (they look so raw), her feet has also started to peel, her skin is SO dry and she still has episodes of red bumpy rash on her bum and inner thighs. She complains her body aches too. It's frustrating, but her Dr still thinks it's from a stubborn virus. Guess I'm going to have to put my trust into their medical expertise.

Is this the happiest kid you've ever seen in the hospital or what? Don't get me wrong, she definitely had her moments of hysteria...

Hallie getting her EKG to make sure her heart was not damaged. It took us 20 minutes to get her to lie on the table. At one point she was kicking at me from one corner of the room.

My sweet little princess... she honestly looked so sweet and innocent sitting in her hospital bed.

AND.... as if staying in the hospital wasn't enough, later that night, we were taking the kids on a walk and Hallie tripped and face-planted on the road. Scraped all down her cute face and two swollen lips. Maybe I need to put her in a bubble.

Puerto Vallarta

Just week ago, Spencer and I got home from a fabulous vacation in Mexico, yeah I know - swine flu... Don't freak out (my mom already took care of that for everyone), we are fine - no illness here. We had a great time... the beach was amazing and the weather so beautiful. The town of Puerto Vallarta was fun to explore... we went to the flea market and walked along the boardwalk along the beach. It was so hard to come home and go back to the routine of work... wish we were still on the beach (((sigh))).

First night in Mexico

Beautiful beach view from our window

Soaking up the sun on the beach

All smiles after Spence went parasailing

Day we went home - but we'll be back!