Less-Teeth Grin

Sorry for the big cheesy grin, but that's the only way I could get her to show her new gaps. Sophie had 4 teeth pulled yesterday. Her orthodontist said they needed to come out, and then he wanted to send her to an oral surgeon to attach a gold chain onto two of her permanent teeth that need straightened out and helped pulled down. She would have to have braces put on as well to attach the chain to. Here's a video we found that does a much better job of describing it than I have done.

I thought we should find a new orthodontist that was closer if we were going to be doing all this work, and our old one was happy to give me a referral. We went and saw him. He agreed those baby teeth needed to come out to make room for the impacted teeth to come through, but we wasn't quite as eager as the old doc to get moving on things. He wants to give her 6 months and see if mother nature helps things along. I absolutely loved that idea. I don't ever like causing my children unnecessary pain, or rushing into big decisions. I like this plan much better. So, yesterday she got the teeth pulled. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. We just went to our regular dentist. He numbed her and had the whole job done in less than 15 minutes. Sophie got spoiled yesterday as she had to take things easy. Only soft, cold foods so we treated her to smoothies and got ice cream, along with yogurt and applesauce.

A-Camping We Didn't Go

We had another super fun weekend. The Spencers invited us to go camping with them. After brainstorming a few ideas, we decided we would like to go to Capitol Reef. We were planning to go later in the summer, but since this came up we just moved the trip. So, we had everything planned out but the weekend before they came over to our house after the lamb festival so we could finalize plans. I expressed my fears about finding a camping spot over Memorial Day weekend. So, we discussed our options in the event that we couldn't get a campsite. Well, let's just say the options weren't that appealing so we discussed going somewhere else. Yadira really wanted to go to Zion, so we looked around there but of course there was the same issue so she suggested we just get a hotel and let the kids play. Oh yeah, she knows how my kids work. My girls were in heaven.

We met Saturday morning and drove down together. We planned to stop at Cove Fort for lunch. We got there just ahead of the Spencers. It was so cold! Freezing and windy. I ended up changing my clothes while we waited. When they got there we just agreed to eat lunch in our cars. What a picnic! We ended up doing the whole tour. They had never been before, so it was great for them to get to see the fort. As you can see from the pictures, some had blankets wrapped around them but the wind was blowing them all around. Our tour guide felt bad for Chloe who didn't even bring a pair of pants or a jacket, so she loaned her her jacket. That's why Chloe is playing missionary for the day. Even though it was my third time there I still learned some new things.

Once we got to the hotel we rested for a little bit, ate some dinner and then hopped in the pool. Well, I had to run to Target to get some goggles for Chloe and Sophia.

Sunday we spent the day in Zion. We got there early in the morning and rode the shuttle up to Zion Lodge. We got off there and did the Emerald Pool hike. This was the same hike we did the last time we were there, only we did it in reverse order. We ate our lunches underneath the waterfall. Then we got back on the shuttle and rode it through the rest of the park. After getting back to the visitor center we went and drove through the mile-long tunnel that goes to Mt. Carmel. That was pretty cool. Sophie was especially sad to see it end. We turned around and went back through it, then headed back to the hotel.

Once we were back at the hotel the girls just wanted to swim - again. They were in the pool for over 3 hours. Yadira gave Sophie some great swimming lessons. She was really starting to feel pretty confident by the end. She even told me she wished Yadira could be her swimming teacher. If only I could get that girl back into swimming lessons! Well, at least she had fun for one day. We ate watermelon and gingerbread cookies by the pool. The girls were really hoping to stay in the pool until after dark so they could watch the stars from the pool, but we finally realized that with all the lights around they weren't going to see much. We got them out of the pool and into the shower and pajamas and then went out to look at stars, but you really couldn't see many at all. The Spencers wanted to leave really early in the morning, so we were trying to say our good-byes which was hard for the girls so we let them stay up late and play in the hotel room.

Monday morning the Spencers left before we got up. I wasn't in a hurry to get home. We went over to the temple and toured the visitor center there. They had a couple really neat displays and a movie to watch. Then we started for home, and ended our amazing weekend.

Here's a link for anyone interested in viewing all the pictures in album format.

Lamb & Wool Festival

What a fun weekend we had! Our old neighbors and friends from Centerville came down to attend the lamb & wool festival at Thanksgiving Point on Saturday. We didn't have far to go. The girls just had fun being together. I mostly relived the 8 years I raised my 4-H lamb. That wasn't fun -- much better watching someone else. I'll just let the pictures tell the story.



That night I did a first -- I paid somebody to take our family pictures. We actually had them scheduled for a few weeks ago, but the photographer cancelled it due to the mosquitoes. She said they were so thick she had to Photoshop them out of a previous shoot she had done. I'm grateful we didn't have to deal with that. It was a gorgeous night to have pictures taken. The mosquitoes were still present, and even with bug spray we still got a few bites, but they weren't too bad. Chloe got the worst, but I think that's because she did her bug spray herself and probably wasn't the most meticulous.

Yesterday they announced at church the need to add a new nursery. That now makes 4 for our ward. For someone who doesn't tolerate noise very well, this is proving to be a new challenge. I find myself having to leave Primary shortly after music time starts.

Last night I got to attend my first fireside in who knows how long. Our ward invited Robert Millet to come speak. Wow, what a change that was! Not only was the attendance pretty small, but there were so few children. I think I heard every word he said, and he did such a great job. He talked about our friends of other faiths, and our need to truly understand the gospel. He had a lot of good advice.

Time For an Update

I'm not sure what this post is about, but I need to write regularly so I feel like I need to say something.

I can't even remember what I did last week, so I'll just jump to Sunday. Mother's Day. My husband is always so good to me. He asked me Saturday night what I wanted for breakfast, and honestly all I could think of was this yummy Cascadian Farm granola I use to buy. We quit buying cereal a while ago, so I thought that would be a good treat and it was. Chloe and Sophie got me some dish clothes I desperately needed. They almost bought me something I didn't need, but I was able to convince them there were things I needed much worse. Sophie also made me a coupon book to go along with it, only I'm guessing she's having a hard time coming up with new coupons because this book was blank. She told me to fill it in with whatever I want. Whoa! Does she know how dangerous that is? Brandon gave me a food dehydrator. Sophie knows how bad I've wanted one, so she had been saving her money for a while to get me one. I finally convinced her she didn't need to buy me one, but it was nice getting one from Brandon. Here's me with my girls:

Yesterday we had to make another Centerville run. The poor people are really going to wonder if we actually moved or not. We've been there at least once a week since we left. This time Sophie had a follow-up appointment with her orthodontist. I figured if we were going to be making the trip I might as well try to schedule our dentist appointments that same day. I finally found a dentist I'm really happy with there, and I don't want to give them up. I figure every 6 months we can trek up there for that -- and all the other things we do. So, after dentist appointments we went out to lunch. Then we ran errands and visited our favorite library. Then I ran Chloe to her friends house. She stayed there while I took Sophie to the orthodontist. Our report there wasn't as smooth as I was hoping for. There are some pretty big problems going on in her mouth, so he explained this whole regiment that he wanted to do. I explained how we had just moved and asked him if this was going to be worth it to keep coming back for. He quickly said no and gave me a referral for someone in Lehi. I've got an appointment for next week, so we'll see where this takes us.

After the orthodontist I had to go pick up Chloe, and then I told Sophie we could go visit her friend. I really intended for it to be a quick visit, but they always seem to suck much more out of me. We were there for over 2 hours! It was good, though. Nice weather, we could just sit outside and visit. We finally got home at bed time, but I was nice enough to give them some food before sending them to bed.

Today I finally had an opportunity to use my dehydrator! We made a batch of strawberry fruit leather and dried some apples. I should have posted a picture, but they were devoured before I could even think of taking a picture. I think that thing may be running full time for a while, until I can get some reserves stored.

Nigel Todd

My littlest brother Ross and his wife Melanie just had their first baby. We drove up to Logan yesterday to meet little Nigel and attend his baby blessing. He sure is a cute little guy! Right after church we all met at a nearby park to have a picnic. I managed to snap a few shots of the critter hanging out in his car seat:

This is what I got of everyone else. They mostly wanted to hang out in the sun to stay warm.

Five - Five

Who needs a reason to celebrate? Apparently we do! Saturday was Cinco de Mayo. We were discussing what the holiday was really celebrating, so Brandon went and did a little research for us. Contrary to popular belief it is not Mexico's Independence Day. We learned that it's actually a bigger deal in America than it is in Mexico. I pointed out that only in America do we need to steal other countries holidays to have a reason to celebrate. So, in honor, Brandon made us some sopaipillas. Sophie thinks they're named after her because I often call her "Sopa."

It was also the Kentucky Derby! We really don't have a fascination with this annual race, but since we have been to the track it made it a little more interesting. Chloe remembered a ton from what we learned there. We all chose a horse, and none of us won. Good thing we're not real gamblers. My second choice got second place. Does that count? We all wore our Kentucky Derby shirts we got at their gift shop. Here's a little collage I made of mine in honor of the occasion.

And last, but not least, it was also Jessica's birthday! We didn't get to celebrate with her, even though she was in town, but we had to add her to our list of celebrations. We hope she had a wonderful day with her family.